“Danny,” Lynn chided him.
Andre just stared.
“I slept great,” Danny said, but not as a challenge. He looked at Andre with pleading in his eyes.
“Well I for one don’t need to hear any details of the cause,” Lynn said, “but I will definitely enjoy the effect. Thank you, Danny.”
“Of course,” Danny brightened as he turned to her. “I know I haven’t been the best company lately. I just wanted to do something small to show you guys how much I appreciate what you do for me. During the day and off hours.”
Lynn smiled warmly.
Andre gave an inaudible but very animated sigh from behind her back. “Hey, Lynn? Can you grab the M.E. report on the Spillman case for me? I want to make sure I didn’t miss anything before I file my portion, and I can get through it way faster down here.”
“Oh, of course. Thanks again, Danny.” She set her fritter back in the box with a claiming bite already taken out of it and left the room at an unhurried pace.
Andre still didn’t rise from his chair. Plucking the other two coffees from the holder, Danny approached his friend with what he knew was his saddest, sorriest ‘puppy dog expression’, as his father once dubbed it, since, “You are not allowed to use that look on me when you’re in trouble, young man.”
He held Andre’s coffee out to him, a hazelnut latte from Pronto; no foam, extra whipped cream. “It’s your favorite.”
“So it’s hoes before bros now?” Andre crossed his arms. “And coffee’s supposed to make up for it?”
Danny would have laughed in any other situation. He knew he deserved this treatment, but he’d just been so angry last night. “You know how Lynn hates that phrase,” he smiled sheepishly.
Andre fought a twitch at his lips.
“I’m sorry,” Danny said with conviction. “The whole point of last night was to not get caught up in everything wrong inside of me lately. I turned it all back on you and that’s not fair.”
“No, it’s not.” Andre dropped his arms, his stony expression crumbling like a non-existent wall between them. “But it’s not fair what you’re turning back on yourself either.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“I don’t think you’re a killer—”
“Stop.” Danny wished he wasn’t holding the drinks so he could do something with his hands. They weren’t supposed to talk about it—ever. “This isn’t about that. Not only that.”
“Then what—”
“It’severything. All the things I’ve done, all the things that have happened, justimplodingand…” clenching his eyes shut, when he opened them again, Andre was watching him patiently, “…being a burden to everyone.”
“Danny,” Andre said in that sympathetic tone that Danny was getting so sick of hearing, “you’re not a burden to me.”
He wanted to believe that. He knew Andre cared, that Andre was his friend, but a persistent voice in the back of his head still parroted the same thing he’d been telling himself for months.
You wouldn’t feel that way if I wasn’t Zeus.
“You know you’re nothing like…” Andre started to say, but stopped himself.
“What?” Danny prompted.
The way Andre looked at him wasn’t sympathy; it was pity. “Nothing. Look, Danny, I didn’t mean to bring up Prometheus last night. Obviously, you have plenty of reason to hate on the guy. I do too. His gorgeous sister aside, he’s a thief, a criminal,and he turned his back on us when we needed him most. I’m practically president of the anti-Prometheus fan club—”
“I get it, Andre,” Danny interrupted; he didn’t want to talk about Cho right now either. “I’m sorry I blew up. It was stupid to get so upset.”
“No. It wasn’t stupid, it was…harsh. Maybe a little cold-hearted, no pun intended, but not stupid,” he said, causing Danny to crack a smile. “It’s okay, Danny. You’re working through some things, I get that.”
“But that’s not an excuse for me to be a dick to you. You being understanding doesn’t mean I don’t need to apologize.”
Andre smiled back at him, a little sad but better than looking at Danny like there was something wrong with him. “I appreciate that, man. And the coffee, which…is really starting to sound good about now.”
