Three Sports Night drabbles
Two double drabbles and one regular one from the drabble request meme. I still have two outstanding, but they're going to turn into ficlets, I think. Now I feel guilty about the people who only got drabbles. Sorry, people-who-only-got-drabbles!
laylee asked for 'Dan and Casey being happy for no reason':
A Certain Smile
Dan is smiling.
The very fact that Casey notices it brings home to him how long it's been since he's seen that smile, and how badly he's missed it. Oh, sure, Dan smiles every night on TV, just as Casey himself does, but that's showbiz, that's the job. It isn't real, and Casey knows the difference.
Dan's been under a lot of pressure lately. In a few short months, almost everything that could go wrong had, personally, professionally, you name it. There'd been problems with the network; there'd been that godforsaken list, and the blow it had struck to Dan's always tenuous sense of self-worth. Relationships with his parents had cooled to sub-Arctic temperatures; his love-life had slowed to a crawl - if you discounted Rebecca, and the very special, hellish brand of disaster created by her return. Through it all, Casey had watched, helpless; he'd longed to help, to reach out a hand, but everything he did, all his grand gestures, had only made matters worse until in the end he had withdrawn, defeated.
Casey has no idea what's brought on this change. He doesn't care. Today, Dan is happy and, seeing him smile, Casey accepts it and is glad.
***
leiascully wanted 'Danny and Dana and Casey in a bar' (don't we all):
Slow Hand
There were margaritas that night, tequila flowing under the hot southern sun, and, as the evening wore on, there were touches, furtive at first, becoming bolder, becoming blatant, flagrant; then there were warm, lingering kisses and dancing, slow and dirty, bodies pressed so close that they shared sweat, droplets trickling from breast to belly and pooling downward, down toward the fire that burned, unquenchable.
Dan watched them, eyes hooded. He watched and he wondered, a little viciously, what Lisa would say if she knew. If he told her.
He'll never tell her. Dan, at least, knows how to keep faith.
There was another night, long ago (he remembers; Casey forgets). Jaegermeister it was then, and snow on the ground outside, a world away from the heat and swelter of Texas in July. I'm cold, Casey had whined, and, in the icebox of the empty elevator had pressed his chilly hand against Dan's cheek. Then, Warm me up? he had whispered, low and yearning and sloppy-drunk. And Dan had done so, done so with the brush of his tongue and the slow, sure touch of his hands; he'd set a fire that he'd thought would burn forever.
Dan will never tell.
***
And raietta asked for a drabble about Kim and Natalie. Sadly, I'm a bit crap at writing female characters, so this is all she got:
Women Beware Women
Kim is to Natalie as Sally is to Dana: a rival, a contender, a danger. Sisterhood be damned. That's an ideal, there's no room for it in the workplace. Jobs are tough and hard to come by, jealously guarded once won, but there'll always be someone just as good, just as smart (and younger, greedier, more ruthless … with, yes, admit it, better breasts) snapping at your heels.
Kim looks altogether too comfortable, on Dana's nights off, when she takes over Natalie's chair. Not that Natalie's not quite happy where she is, in Dana's seat. But that, of course, is different.
***
laylee asked for 'Dan and Casey being happy for no reason':
A Certain Smile
Dan is smiling.
The very fact that Casey notices it brings home to him how long it's been since he's seen that smile, and how badly he's missed it. Oh, sure, Dan smiles every night on TV, just as Casey himself does, but that's showbiz, that's the job. It isn't real, and Casey knows the difference.
Dan's been under a lot of pressure lately. In a few short months, almost everything that could go wrong had, personally, professionally, you name it. There'd been problems with the network; there'd been that godforsaken list, and the blow it had struck to Dan's always tenuous sense of self-worth. Relationships with his parents had cooled to sub-Arctic temperatures; his love-life had slowed to a crawl - if you discounted Rebecca, and the very special, hellish brand of disaster created by her return. Through it all, Casey had watched, helpless; he'd longed to help, to reach out a hand, but everything he did, all his grand gestures, had only made matters worse until in the end he had withdrawn, defeated.
Casey has no idea what's brought on this change. He doesn't care. Today, Dan is happy and, seeing him smile, Casey accepts it and is glad.
***
leiascully wanted 'Danny and Dana and Casey in a bar' (don't we all):
Slow Hand
There were margaritas that night, tequila flowing under the hot southern sun, and, as the evening wore on, there were touches, furtive at first, becoming bolder, becoming blatant, flagrant; then there were warm, lingering kisses and dancing, slow and dirty, bodies pressed so close that they shared sweat, droplets trickling from breast to belly and pooling downward, down toward the fire that burned, unquenchable.
Dan watched them, eyes hooded. He watched and he wondered, a little viciously, what Lisa would say if she knew. If he told her.
He'll never tell her. Dan, at least, knows how to keep faith.
There was another night, long ago (he remembers; Casey forgets). Jaegermeister it was then, and snow on the ground outside, a world away from the heat and swelter of Texas in July. I'm cold, Casey had whined, and, in the icebox of the empty elevator had pressed his chilly hand against Dan's cheek. Then, Warm me up? he had whispered, low and yearning and sloppy-drunk. And Dan had done so, done so with the brush of his tongue and the slow, sure touch of his hands; he'd set a fire that he'd thought would burn forever.
Dan will never tell.
***
And raietta asked for a drabble about Kim and Natalie. Sadly, I'm a bit crap at writing female characters, so this is all she got:
Women Beware Women
Kim is to Natalie as Sally is to Dana: a rival, a contender, a danger. Sisterhood be damned. That's an ideal, there's no room for it in the workplace. Jobs are tough and hard to come by, jealously guarded once won, but there'll always be someone just as good, just as smart (and younger, greedier, more ruthless … with, yes, admit it, better breasts) snapping at your heels.
Kim looks altogether too comfortable, on Dana's nights off, when she takes over Natalie's chair. Not that Natalie's not quite happy where she is, in Dana's seat. But that, of course, is different.
***