fic - A Night of Surprises
note: look, danny and lily! this contains *gasp* het smut, which i am waaaay out of practice writing. also i have no idea where it goes in the general timeline of their relationship. also also dolley is lily's dog.
Danny is at the gym when he gets a text from Lily:
I'll pick you up at 5:30 tonight. Wear a nice suit. Not black.
Fortunately he gets the message in time, and at 5:30 he's freshly showered and shaved and wearing a charcoal gray suit with a maroon shirt and color-coordinated tie with a nice Art Deco print. Lily calls to tell him she's downstairs, and he doesn't know what he was expecting but he isn't surprised by the double-parked taxi with its sidewalk-side door open. Danny slides in the cab, slides across the seat, and kisses Lily on the cheek.
"You look very nice," she says.
"So do you," he answers, because of course she does - her sheath dress is short and high-necked and dark blue and shimmery, her strappy high heels are silver, and she's wearing a red pashmina around her shoulders. Her hair is pinned up in a bun at the back of her head, and elaborate silver chandelier earrings swing from her ears. She leans forward, towards the cab driver.
"Shiro, please," she tells him, and the cab pulls into traffic.
"Where are we going?" Danny asks. He's pretty sure "Shiro" is a Japanese restaurant, but after that? Because 5:30 is early for just dinner.
"It's a surprise." And Lily refuses to say anything else about her plans.
Shiro is indeed a Japanese restaurant, and from what Danny can tell, a very nice one. They take off their shoes to sit in an alcove on tatami mats, and Lily orders the omakase for two - "Chef's choice," she explains, although he knows what omakase is, even if he's never had it - and they toast each other with tiny porcelain cups of hot sake.
Dinner is a series of beautifully composed plates of things Danny can't always identify, and thank god for the waitress who can explain what everything is. Lily tells him about her day - her dog, her flower shop, her friends - and he tells her about his - his gym, his friends, his roommate - and Danny resists the urge to rub her leg with his sock foot under the table. This seems like too classy a place for footsie.
He eats everything, especially the things he's never had before, much to Lily's evident delight. Dessert is tiny Japanese pastries with porcelain cups of tea, and when the waitress brings the check, she leaves it on Lily's side of the table so Danny can't even pretend he might be paying for dinner.
Their next stop, Lily tells him, is within walking distance, and it doesn't make sense to take a cab. He snakes his arm around hers and takes her hand as they walk, enjoying the sound of her heels on the pavement and the nearness of her body and the softness of her hand in his. She chatters on about nothing in particular, probably distracting him from asking about their destination, and he's completely charmed by her insistence on keeping everything a secret.
She really is an amazing woman.
The next destination is Lincoln Center and the ballet. It's Giselle, which Danny knows nothing about, but Lily takes his program before the lights go down so he can't read about it, and during lulls in the performance, she whispers the storyline in his ear. It's romantic and tragic and the principal dancers are absolutely stunning together.
During the interval Danny gets himself and Lily glasses of wine from the bar.
"What do you think so far?" she asks him.
"It's so sad," he admits.
"Well, it is a tragedy." Lily smiles over the rim of her glass. "The next act is more supernatural. Did I tell you it's partly a ghost story?"
"Does Giselle come back and haunt Albrecht?"
"In a way. You'll see."
"Everything tonight is a surprise, isn't it."
"Yes." Lily's smile widens. "I thought I'd do something for you, for a change."
"You don't have to do - "
"I know. But I want to."
Back at their seats, right as the lights in the auditorium dim, Lily leans over and whispers "You're good to me. You're good for me. I just want to take you out for once and show you a good time." She kisses his cheek. He takes her hand. The orchestra starts and they turn their concentration to the stage.
Lily is in no hurry to leave the auditorium after the show, and so it seems to Danny that they're the last people out of their section. He doesn't mind. "Where to now?" he asks.
"Home," she says.
They walk back to her apartment. Danny thinks about the ballet, about Giselle's heart giving out when she learns that her lover isn't who she thought he was - that he is in fact a nobleman and not merely a peasant, and not only that, he's engaged to a princess - and that her love for him is still strong enough to transcend her own death and save his life.
"What are you thinking?" Lily asks.
"About the ballet," he says. "What people do when their lovers betray them. But I don't think Albrecht betrayed Giselle intentionally. He couldn't tell her the truth. He knew it would hurt her too much."
"And lying to her was kinder? Should he have broken it off with Berthilde and married Giselle instead?"
"Yes."
Lily squeezes his hand. "Are you about to tell me that you're really a duke?"
"What if I was?"
"I'd tell you that you have a very convincing disguise." She laughs. "But I'd love you the same. Dolley might demand a better class of chew toy, though."
"She'd have the best squeaky toys money could buy." He stops, pulls Lily close, puts his arms around her, and kisses her. "And you'd have anything you ever wanted."
"I already do." She smiles against his lips. His heart skips with a romantic's joy and he kisses her again. Her pashmina is soft against his hands and he wants to pull the pins out of her hair and run his fingers through it. He releases her mouth and dips her suddenly, feeling ridiculous and silly and so overcome with love for her that he can't contain it. She grabs at his arms, surprised.
"Let me up, you crazy person," she demands, laughing, and he does. "What are you doing?"
"I don't even know," he admits. "It just felt like the thing to do. We should go dancing."
"We should."
"Can I lead, at least?"
"Of course." She twines her arm around his and starts up the sidewalk again. "But let's go home first."
Dolley is excited to see them, to the point Danny thinks she might need to be walked, but the dog-sitter apparently came over while he and Lily were at the ballet, and Dolley has been walked and fed and watered and played with and needs nothing except some love and attention from her person. Danny pulls off his tie, takes off his suit jacket, and slings them both over a chair to keep them out of her way, and he and Dolley play tug-of-war with one of her rope toys while Lily goes into her bedroom to take off her shoes and earrings and put the pashmina away. When she gets back, Dolley transfers her attention until Lily manages to coax her into one of the spare rooms and shuts the door.
"That was mean," Danny says.
"Do you want her to interrupt us?" Before he can answer - it must be a rhetorical question, but his mind spins away into all the things Lily might mean, the things they could do that Dolley would interrupt - she goes to the bar, asks if he wants a drink, and pours Amaretto into two tiny cordial glasses.
They sit on the couch and sip their drinks and Danny is still thinking about the ballet, but now he's wondering if Giselle even deserved Albrecht. No woman deserves a man who would conveniently forget to tell her that he was engaged to someone else.
"Are you thinking about the ballet?" Lily asks.
"I don't think he deserved her."
"Is that what you think."
"That's what I think. How can you say you love someone if you can't tell them something as important as 'Oh, by the way, I'm going to marry another woman'."
"Are you engaged to someone else?"
"Of course not! I wouldn't be here if I was."
"You said before you thought Albrecht was being kinder to Giselle by not telling her the truth."
"I was wrong. He should've told her. If he wasn't going to break it off with the princess, he should've broken it off with Giselle."
Lily laughs. "You're so strange sometimes." She turns his chin to face her and kisses his mouth. "You're weird but I love you."
"How convenient. I love you too."
She takes his glass and puts it on the table, then takes his face with both hands and kisses him much more deeply. He digs his fingers in her bun, pulling the pins out of it so her hair falls onto her shoulders. Her mouth tastes like Amaretto and white wine and her hands are warm on his face and he concentrates on their kisses, shutting out everything else.
After a while she slides across him, straddling his thighs and leaning over him. She runs her hands into his hair, settling on his lap and biting at his lips. His hands stroke up and down her back. He can feel himself growing hard underneath her.
Her kisses grow deeper and more determined, and before Danny even realizes what she's doing, Lily has slid back towards his knees and is feeling for his belt buckle, undoing it, and unzipping his pants.
"What - " is as far as he gets before she tugs his cock free.
"Shh," she murmurs against his lips. She tilts her hips sideways, struggles out of her panties, drops them on the floor, and sits up on her knees. She's still straddling his thighs. She reaches down, strokes his cock, and slowly, to his great surprise and greater arousal, sinks down, guiding him inside her.
"Lily," he says, and then his words desert him as she starts to move.
Her dress is pushed up around her waist and the fabric is a little scratchy under his hands as he runs his palms up and down her back. She tilts his head back and covers his mouth with hers, her tongue pushing past his teeth to claim him. He lets her do whatever she wants. He gives over any control. He'll follow her anywhere, and this is no exception.
He could never count time during sex, and he has no idea how long they sit like this, Lily on top of him, riding his cock and moaning softly into his mouth. He wants to pull her dress off over her head, wants to unhook her bra and fondle her breasts and kiss her everywhere. He wants to come. He wants her to come. He doesn't want her to stop.
"You never asked what was next," she murmurs against his lips. "When we came in. You never asked."
"I knew," he says. "I thought I knew. You wouldn't - you wouldn't bring me home if you weren't - if you didn't - ahh, god - "
"Are you surprised?" She smiles.
"Yes."
"Good." She licks at his lips, puts her hands on the back of the couch, and rides him harder.
He grabs her ass, her hips, trying to push himself deeper inside her, trying to return the pleasure she's giving him, trying desperately not to come. She's leaning over him, looking down at him, her hair in her face, her skin flushed with arousal. He can't hold back any more and groans with something very like relief as he lets go.
Lily continues moving on top of him until he stops gasping for breath. He pushes her hair away from her face with both hands, then lets it fall through his fingers until it's loose again. She's smiling at him. She's so beautiful.
"I love you," he says.
"I know." She ducks her head to kiss him, a light kiss this time, more an acknowledgement of his words than anything else. "We should go to bed." She climbs off him, stretches, pushes her dress back down. "Would you like a minute?" She grins.
"Uh. Sure. I guess." As if he can claim any privacy after that. Lily just grins wider and heads for her bedroom. Danny tucks himself back in and slouches on the couch for a minute, gathering whatever remains of coherent thought. He stands as well and goes into the bathroom, where Lily is spitting toothpaste into the sink. She's already changed into a nightgown.
She rinses, takes her brush, and gives Danny privacy to pee. After he's done in the bathroom, he goes into the bedroom where Lily is sitting cross-legged on the bed, brushing her hair. He sits on the mattress behind her, still wearing his suit pants and dress shirt, and takes the brush. He pulls her hair back and runs the brush through it, over his palm and down to the ends of the strands.
They're both very quiet while he brushes her hair. It's at least as intimate a gesture as sex, and Danny feels his heart swell with affection.
"Did you have a good time tonight?" Lily asks, finally breaking the silence.
"Yes," he says. "I really did. Thank you." He pulls her hair to the side and kisses her neck. She rests a hand on top of his head. "It was perfect. You're perfect."
She tugs on his hair. "I'm going to sleep. You should get undressed and join me."
So he gets off the bed, puts the brush on the dresser, and strips down to his boxer briefs. He feels the cold prickling his skin and climbs under the covers.
"We should do that again," Lily says, resting her head on his shoulder. "Maybe for the symphony. We'll try a different restaurant and - "
"And I'll climb on you on the couch," Danny finishes. Lily chuckles.
"You could do that. I'll wear pants and foil all your plans."
"You're mean."
"I just want things to be interesting for you."
"Oh, they are. You don't have to try for things to be interesting."
"That's good to know." She settles against him. He reaches for her hand and laces their fingers together.
"Good night, my Lily, my love," he whispers.
He doesn't think she can hear him. He's pretty sure she's asleep. He listens to her even breathing and strokes her fingers and thinks about the whole night, the dinner and the ballet and the couch, and starts planning for their next date. He'll take her somewhere fun. They'll do something silly.
And whatever happens after the silly, he'll let Lily decide. He now knows just how well she can plan an evening.
Danny is at the gym when he gets a text from Lily:
I'll pick you up at 5:30 tonight. Wear a nice suit. Not black.
Fortunately he gets the message in time, and at 5:30 he's freshly showered and shaved and wearing a charcoal gray suit with a maroon shirt and color-coordinated tie with a nice Art Deco print. Lily calls to tell him she's downstairs, and he doesn't know what he was expecting but he isn't surprised by the double-parked taxi with its sidewalk-side door open. Danny slides in the cab, slides across the seat, and kisses Lily on the cheek.
"You look very nice," she says.
"So do you," he answers, because of course she does - her sheath dress is short and high-necked and dark blue and shimmery, her strappy high heels are silver, and she's wearing a red pashmina around her shoulders. Her hair is pinned up in a bun at the back of her head, and elaborate silver chandelier earrings swing from her ears. She leans forward, towards the cab driver.
"Shiro, please," she tells him, and the cab pulls into traffic.
"Where are we going?" Danny asks. He's pretty sure "Shiro" is a Japanese restaurant, but after that? Because 5:30 is early for just dinner.
"It's a surprise." And Lily refuses to say anything else about her plans.
Shiro is indeed a Japanese restaurant, and from what Danny can tell, a very nice one. They take off their shoes to sit in an alcove on tatami mats, and Lily orders the omakase for two - "Chef's choice," she explains, although he knows what omakase is, even if he's never had it - and they toast each other with tiny porcelain cups of hot sake.
Dinner is a series of beautifully composed plates of things Danny can't always identify, and thank god for the waitress who can explain what everything is. Lily tells him about her day - her dog, her flower shop, her friends - and he tells her about his - his gym, his friends, his roommate - and Danny resists the urge to rub her leg with his sock foot under the table. This seems like too classy a place for footsie.
He eats everything, especially the things he's never had before, much to Lily's evident delight. Dessert is tiny Japanese pastries with porcelain cups of tea, and when the waitress brings the check, she leaves it on Lily's side of the table so Danny can't even pretend he might be paying for dinner.
Their next stop, Lily tells him, is within walking distance, and it doesn't make sense to take a cab. He snakes his arm around hers and takes her hand as they walk, enjoying the sound of her heels on the pavement and the nearness of her body and the softness of her hand in his. She chatters on about nothing in particular, probably distracting him from asking about their destination, and he's completely charmed by her insistence on keeping everything a secret.
She really is an amazing woman.
The next destination is Lincoln Center and the ballet. It's Giselle, which Danny knows nothing about, but Lily takes his program before the lights go down so he can't read about it, and during lulls in the performance, she whispers the storyline in his ear. It's romantic and tragic and the principal dancers are absolutely stunning together.
During the interval Danny gets himself and Lily glasses of wine from the bar.
"What do you think so far?" she asks him.
"It's so sad," he admits.
"Well, it is a tragedy." Lily smiles over the rim of her glass. "The next act is more supernatural. Did I tell you it's partly a ghost story?"
"Does Giselle come back and haunt Albrecht?"
"In a way. You'll see."
"Everything tonight is a surprise, isn't it."
"Yes." Lily's smile widens. "I thought I'd do something for you, for a change."
"You don't have to do - "
"I know. But I want to."
Back at their seats, right as the lights in the auditorium dim, Lily leans over and whispers "You're good to me. You're good for me. I just want to take you out for once and show you a good time." She kisses his cheek. He takes her hand. The orchestra starts and they turn their concentration to the stage.
Lily is in no hurry to leave the auditorium after the show, and so it seems to Danny that they're the last people out of their section. He doesn't mind. "Where to now?" he asks.
"Home," she says.
They walk back to her apartment. Danny thinks about the ballet, about Giselle's heart giving out when she learns that her lover isn't who she thought he was - that he is in fact a nobleman and not merely a peasant, and not only that, he's engaged to a princess - and that her love for him is still strong enough to transcend her own death and save his life.
"What are you thinking?" Lily asks.
"About the ballet," he says. "What people do when their lovers betray them. But I don't think Albrecht betrayed Giselle intentionally. He couldn't tell her the truth. He knew it would hurt her too much."
"And lying to her was kinder? Should he have broken it off with Berthilde and married Giselle instead?"
"Yes."
Lily squeezes his hand. "Are you about to tell me that you're really a duke?"
"What if I was?"
"I'd tell you that you have a very convincing disguise." She laughs. "But I'd love you the same. Dolley might demand a better class of chew toy, though."
"She'd have the best squeaky toys money could buy." He stops, pulls Lily close, puts his arms around her, and kisses her. "And you'd have anything you ever wanted."
"I already do." She smiles against his lips. His heart skips with a romantic's joy and he kisses her again. Her pashmina is soft against his hands and he wants to pull the pins out of her hair and run his fingers through it. He releases her mouth and dips her suddenly, feeling ridiculous and silly and so overcome with love for her that he can't contain it. She grabs at his arms, surprised.
"Let me up, you crazy person," she demands, laughing, and he does. "What are you doing?"
"I don't even know," he admits. "It just felt like the thing to do. We should go dancing."
"We should."
"Can I lead, at least?"
"Of course." She twines her arm around his and starts up the sidewalk again. "But let's go home first."
Dolley is excited to see them, to the point Danny thinks she might need to be walked, but the dog-sitter apparently came over while he and Lily were at the ballet, and Dolley has been walked and fed and watered and played with and needs nothing except some love and attention from her person. Danny pulls off his tie, takes off his suit jacket, and slings them both over a chair to keep them out of her way, and he and Dolley play tug-of-war with one of her rope toys while Lily goes into her bedroom to take off her shoes and earrings and put the pashmina away. When she gets back, Dolley transfers her attention until Lily manages to coax her into one of the spare rooms and shuts the door.
"That was mean," Danny says.
"Do you want her to interrupt us?" Before he can answer - it must be a rhetorical question, but his mind spins away into all the things Lily might mean, the things they could do that Dolley would interrupt - she goes to the bar, asks if he wants a drink, and pours Amaretto into two tiny cordial glasses.
They sit on the couch and sip their drinks and Danny is still thinking about the ballet, but now he's wondering if Giselle even deserved Albrecht. No woman deserves a man who would conveniently forget to tell her that he was engaged to someone else.
"Are you thinking about the ballet?" Lily asks.
"I don't think he deserved her."
"Is that what you think."
"That's what I think. How can you say you love someone if you can't tell them something as important as 'Oh, by the way, I'm going to marry another woman'."
"Are you engaged to someone else?"
"Of course not! I wouldn't be here if I was."
"You said before you thought Albrecht was being kinder to Giselle by not telling her the truth."
"I was wrong. He should've told her. If he wasn't going to break it off with the princess, he should've broken it off with Giselle."
Lily laughs. "You're so strange sometimes." She turns his chin to face her and kisses his mouth. "You're weird but I love you."
"How convenient. I love you too."
She takes his glass and puts it on the table, then takes his face with both hands and kisses him much more deeply. He digs his fingers in her bun, pulling the pins out of it so her hair falls onto her shoulders. Her mouth tastes like Amaretto and white wine and her hands are warm on his face and he concentrates on their kisses, shutting out everything else.
After a while she slides across him, straddling his thighs and leaning over him. She runs her hands into his hair, settling on his lap and biting at his lips. His hands stroke up and down her back. He can feel himself growing hard underneath her.
Her kisses grow deeper and more determined, and before Danny even realizes what she's doing, Lily has slid back towards his knees and is feeling for his belt buckle, undoing it, and unzipping his pants.
"What - " is as far as he gets before she tugs his cock free.
"Shh," she murmurs against his lips. She tilts her hips sideways, struggles out of her panties, drops them on the floor, and sits up on her knees. She's still straddling his thighs. She reaches down, strokes his cock, and slowly, to his great surprise and greater arousal, sinks down, guiding him inside her.
"Lily," he says, and then his words desert him as she starts to move.
Her dress is pushed up around her waist and the fabric is a little scratchy under his hands as he runs his palms up and down her back. She tilts his head back and covers his mouth with hers, her tongue pushing past his teeth to claim him. He lets her do whatever she wants. He gives over any control. He'll follow her anywhere, and this is no exception.
He could never count time during sex, and he has no idea how long they sit like this, Lily on top of him, riding his cock and moaning softly into his mouth. He wants to pull her dress off over her head, wants to unhook her bra and fondle her breasts and kiss her everywhere. He wants to come. He wants her to come. He doesn't want her to stop.
"You never asked what was next," she murmurs against his lips. "When we came in. You never asked."
"I knew," he says. "I thought I knew. You wouldn't - you wouldn't bring me home if you weren't - if you didn't - ahh, god - "
"Are you surprised?" She smiles.
"Yes."
"Good." She licks at his lips, puts her hands on the back of the couch, and rides him harder.
He grabs her ass, her hips, trying to push himself deeper inside her, trying to return the pleasure she's giving him, trying desperately not to come. She's leaning over him, looking down at him, her hair in her face, her skin flushed with arousal. He can't hold back any more and groans with something very like relief as he lets go.
Lily continues moving on top of him until he stops gasping for breath. He pushes her hair away from her face with both hands, then lets it fall through his fingers until it's loose again. She's smiling at him. She's so beautiful.
"I love you," he says.
"I know." She ducks her head to kiss him, a light kiss this time, more an acknowledgement of his words than anything else. "We should go to bed." She climbs off him, stretches, pushes her dress back down. "Would you like a minute?" She grins.
"Uh. Sure. I guess." As if he can claim any privacy after that. Lily just grins wider and heads for her bedroom. Danny tucks himself back in and slouches on the couch for a minute, gathering whatever remains of coherent thought. He stands as well and goes into the bathroom, where Lily is spitting toothpaste into the sink. She's already changed into a nightgown.
She rinses, takes her brush, and gives Danny privacy to pee. After he's done in the bathroom, he goes into the bedroom where Lily is sitting cross-legged on the bed, brushing her hair. He sits on the mattress behind her, still wearing his suit pants and dress shirt, and takes the brush. He pulls her hair back and runs the brush through it, over his palm and down to the ends of the strands.
They're both very quiet while he brushes her hair. It's at least as intimate a gesture as sex, and Danny feels his heart swell with affection.
"Did you have a good time tonight?" Lily asks, finally breaking the silence.
"Yes," he says. "I really did. Thank you." He pulls her hair to the side and kisses her neck. She rests a hand on top of his head. "It was perfect. You're perfect."
She tugs on his hair. "I'm going to sleep. You should get undressed and join me."
So he gets off the bed, puts the brush on the dresser, and strips down to his boxer briefs. He feels the cold prickling his skin and climbs under the covers.
"We should do that again," Lily says, resting her head on his shoulder. "Maybe for the symphony. We'll try a different restaurant and - "
"And I'll climb on you on the couch," Danny finishes. Lily chuckles.
"You could do that. I'll wear pants and foil all your plans."
"You're mean."
"I just want things to be interesting for you."
"Oh, they are. You don't have to try for things to be interesting."
"That's good to know." She settles against him. He reaches for her hand and laces their fingers together.
"Good night, my Lily, my love," he whispers.
He doesn't think she can hear him. He's pretty sure she's asleep. He listens to her even breathing and strokes her fingers and thinks about the whole night, the dinner and the ballet and the couch, and starts planning for their next date. He'll take her somewhere fun. They'll do something silly.
And whatever happens after the silly, he'll let Lily decide. He now knows just how well she can plan an evening.