As Danny deliberately scraped his Audi along a brick wall - gouging the paint and knocking off the side mirror - he was forced to admit that he might have a bit of a fixation. This was the third time in as many months he'd intentionally beat up the exterior of his car to find an excuse to take it to the auto body shop.
The first time had been a genuine incident. Danny had arrived in his hometown for his father's funeral. Some dickhead had rear ended him and he'd needed a new bumper. A quick Google had led him to the highest rated body shop in the area. To his horror, he'd known the owner, Henry. His school nemesis and crush.
Initial shock behind them, Henry was unfailingly polite and professional. When Danny arrived to pick up his car the next day, Henry was shirtless under a vehicle. Danny had nearly drooled at Henry's rippling abs as he emerged. There was a smudge of grease on one of Henry's firm pectorals that he longed to lick, though that was a bad idea for one than one reason.
There was a twinkle in Henry's eye the second time Danny showed up after that, this time with a broken windshield. Danny didn't appreciate it. It had taken him a lot of tries to hit the baseball just right to shatter the glass.
"I'm sorry," Danny had blurted out.
Henry blinked with confusion. "Why are you sorry?"
"For being an asshole to you, when we were in school," Danny forced himself to say.
"You were a bit more than an asshole," Henry said.
Danny had been. He'd terrorized Henry from middle school up until they graduated. He relentlessly made fun of Henry's poverty, his looks, the fact that he was a fucking orphan. He'd then jerked off angrily nearly every night to the memory of Henry laughing with his friends, wishing he was on the receiving end of his smile for once. Danny had grown in the 15 years since, but apologies were still hard.
"I was a horrible bully to you, the stuff you read about in books," Danny agreed. "I am sorry."
"Okay," Henry said, nodding once.
"Okay?"
"Okay," Henry said, smiling slightly, making Danny's heart flutter. "You apologized. You've grown up. And you're such a disaster magnet that your repairs have nearly paid my rent for the year."
Danny blushed furiously. He was supremely careful with all his possessions! Especially his beloved car. But he supposed there was literally no way for Henry to know that, given the amount of damage he'd inflicted on her for a chance to be in the same room as the man.
He was down bad and he knew it. Danny wanted Henry. Wanted him fiercely. Had wanted him before he knew what wanting was. It would never work. His younger self had destroyed any chance of the attraction being mutual. But Danny was very bad at not getting what he wanted, so he scraped the paint off his car to get another few moments with the man he desired.
His mother called as he turned down the road to the shop.
"Hello mom," Danny said, answering her call.
"Danny, darling. Will you be joining us for dinner?" his mother's voice hissed down the line.
Danny swore silently to himself. He'd completely forgotten the dinner his mother had planned this evening. She'd been estranged from his father for nearly two decades, but she was enjoying playing the part of the grieving widow with many dinners to toast her late husband. He thought quickly.
"Mom, I was just about to call. I've been held up at work. Important new client, insisting I accompany him to the... strip club," Danny lied wildly.
His mother scoffed, "Men. Well, your father always said it was part of the business. I understand, darling. Don't go knocking up any girls while you're there." There was a murmur of "Nancy," in the background. "I'd better go darling. Lunch tomorrow?"
"I'll be there at noon," Danny promised.
He shook his head to himself as he pulled into the shop. Who told their mother they were going to a strip club to avoid saying they were going to get their car repaired? Closeted, pining idiots, that's who.
"I was just about to close up," Henry said, emerging from the office as Danny parked.
God, he was hotter than the time with the cracked windshield. His biceps bulged in his thin blue shirt with his jeans slug low on his hips. His hair remained a windswept nest that Danny longed to sink his fingers into. There was grease on Henry's forearms but his hands were clean, as though he'd just washed them. Danny shook himself a little to stop staring at the veins that disappeared beneath his shirt.
"Sorry, I can come back tomorrow," Danny acquiesced immediately. It was later than he'd thought. It had taken ages to find the right wall.
"Scraped up the side pretty bad," Henry observed. He flipped the sign in the door to the street to 'Closed' and sent the garage door rattling down.
Danny hummed, non-committal. His brain was still trying to process the swell of Henry's ass as he walked.
"You know what's funny, Danny?" Henry said, coming to stand in front of him where he leaned against his car.
The twinkle was back in Henry's eye. Danny swallowed roughly. "What's funny?"
"It's strange," Henry said. "Most people who fuck up the outside of their cars as often as you do get in big accidents. Damage the engine, hurt other people."
He took a step towards Danny, within arm's reach now. Danny felt his heart speed up.
"Not you though," Henry said, amber eyes boring through him. "You only ever damage the outside. Just enough to need repair here, not enough to go to the dealership."
Henry stepped forward again. His chest was nearly touching Danny's. Danny's head swum and he had to remember to breath.
"It's almost as if..." Henry trailed off, searching Danny's face.
