Title: The Way in Which Danny and Flack Came Out
Author: Kimmychu
Fandom: CSI: NY
Rating: M
Pairing: Danny/Flack
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Hah, I think the title says it all for this one.
Disclaimer: They belong to the Spaghetti Monster God, it's true. They were touched by his noodly appendage, you see.

***

A sheer robe patterned with drawings of gigantic, colorful flowers was the last thing Stella ever expected Danny to wear.

"Stella, look, uhm, this isn't the best time," Danny mumbled, running the fingers of one hand through damp, spiky hair. His blue eyes were large and imploring. "Could you come back later? Please?"

Stella quickly closed her gaping mouth. She tore her gaze away from Danny's exposed chest, coughed once to clear her throat and said, "Danny, I called your phone but you didn't pick up. I'm sorry, I wouldn't have come here to your apartment if it wasn't an emergency." She waved the brown folder that contained her case's documents in the air between them. "I need your help in identifying the bullets found at my crime sce-"

"Ohh, Daaaaaaaanny, are ya ready for round fouuuuur?"

Stella's green eyes widened till the whites were visible. Slowly, very slowly, she turned her head in the direction of what was most likely Danny's bedroom, to her left. The room's door was half open, but that voice, that low, baritone voice … Stella would recognize it anywhere, no matter how muffled it was.

Her lower jaw was sagging again.

No way, no way -

"Daaaanny, I'm coooooomiiiiiiin'."

The voice was louder now, fast approaching them from behind the bedroom door.

"I'm gonna tear that flimsy girly robe right off you, ya sex maniac, just you wait!"

The bedroom door swung open, and lo and behold, Flack swaggered into view, naked as the day he was born. The only part of him that was covered was his head, wrapped up in a dark red towel as he dried his hair with great enthusiasm.

"Oh yeah, you just wait right there, babe!"

The towel was lowered to the shoulders, revealing Flack's dark hair tousled and standing up in tufts and a wide grin arching up Flack's lips.

"Okaaaaay, here I … here I … I …"

A profound silence reigned over the three occupants of the apartment's living area for many moments.

If it wasn't for the trembling of Flack's lower lip, he could have been mistaken for a very lifelike, very wet statue, frozen to the spot, an almost cartoonish, wide-eyed expression of abject terror upon his visage.

Danny had shielded his eyes with his hand. He shook his head from side to side.

It took Stella every drop of willpower to stay motionless and maintain a straight face. It also took every drop of willpower to not eyeball Flack's lean, fit body, or that certain portion of his anatomy dangling between long legs.

"Ste-Stella?"

Right then and there, Stella decided she was going to milk the situation for all its worth.

"Hello, Don," she drawled, lifting one eyebrow.

Flack stood where he was, towel around his broad shoulders, hands clutching onto either end of the dark red cloth, for at least another minute before he blinked. Then he glanced downwards.

"Oh," Flack murmured like an afterthought.

Stella bit her lower lip. No, she was not going to look down, not going to look down, not going to look down -

Flack must have broken some speed record when he whipped the towel off his shoulders to cover up his groin.

Stella had no choice but to look away for a second; she was so damn close to cracking up at Flack's apparent blush and his desperate attempt to act normal even though he was dripping and nude in the presence of a higher-ranking, femalecolleague. A female colleague who, by the way, knew how much the lanky homicide detective sneaked glances at her cleavage and breasts whenever they worked together.

"So," Stella said, displaying feigned innocence. "What are you doing here in Danny's apartment at this time of the night, Don?"

Danny stared at Flack, then at her, then back at Flack again.

"Uhmm, I, uh …"

Stella never realized how animated Flack's face could be. One instant, Flack was grimacing, the next, he was frowning, and the next he was pouting, sticking his lower lip out while wracking his brain in the hopes of coming up with a viable explanation for his current … predicament.

Just when she was going to prod Flack some more, inspiration struck Flack. His blue eyes opened wide. Smiling a little too broadly for it to appear natural, he exclaimed, "It was rainin'! Yes, yes, it was rainin' and I just happened to be nearby and I had to take a shower 'cause I didn't wanna catch a cold! Yeah."

Stella had to look away another time. If she laughed now, the fun would be over far too soon!

She glanced at Danny instead. Now that the initial shock of seeing Danny in, as Flack so eloquently put it earlier, a girly robe was gone, she noticed that the shorter man's hair was a lot wetter than she'd presumed. In fact, if she didn't know any better, Danny had probably been in the shower when she came a-knocking on his door.

And if Flack was still so wet …

"Huh." Stella tapped her chin with the tip of a forefinger, her eyebrows raised. "So, both of you took a shower at the same time?"

Danny and Flack sent each other panicky looks.

"N-no, we didn't!" Flack shook his head frantically from side to side. "Danny took one first, then I did!"

"So … Danny was out with you and got caught in the rain too?

"Yeah, yeah! That's right!"

Flack's mad smile was back.

Stella waited a minute, then said, "Don. It didn't rain tonight."

It was so quiet one could hear an ant crawling across the floor.

Flack had sucked his entire lower lip into his mouth.

Danny looked like he wanted the floor to swallow him up whole, sheer girly robe, black thong, furry slippers and all.

"Uhm … uh …" Flack scratched at his lower jaw with his left fingers while holding his towel to his groin with his right hand. "Oh yeah! It didn't rain! No, we needed to take a shower 'cause - 'cause somebody poured trash on us while we were walkin' back after the movie -"

"You two went to watch a movie together?"

"Well, uhm, yeah, after dinner at our favorite place -"

"You had dinner together?" Stella grinned. "And you have a favorite place?"

Danny was shaking his head once more, sighing heavily.

Flack turned his head to gaze at Danny. "I'm makin' it worse, aren't I?"

The intense affection that filled Flack's eyes made Stella's breath catch in her throat. She'd heard from Mac now and then that Flack's face was as readable as a children's book any time Danny's name was mentioned. Softened like dough, Mac said. Lit up like a bulb, Mac said.

It was one thing to hear about it, quite another to see it with her own eyes.

Flack's features lighting up like a bulb at the sight of Danny was the understatement of the decade.

"I dunno, Don, think nothin' ya say at this point can beat you bein' in the buff."

The equally intense fondness Stella saw in Danny's crinkled eyes prompted her to make a mental note: the next time she and Mac met up, she was going to inform him just how capable Danny was of being calm, collected and still have his heart on his sleeve. Or rather, in this case, have his heart show on his mien without a single trace of fear or doubt.

Stella abruptly felt very much like an awkward third wheel.

Somehow, Danny must have picked up on this because he said to Flack, "Don, aren't you feelin' cold?"

It took Flack at least eight seconds to snap out of his reverie that included him blatantly staring at Danny and smiling like dork.

"Oh. Oh yeah, right, it is kinda drafty."

Flack let out a nervous chuckle. It was one Stella had never heard coming from Flack before, and it caused a gentle smile to spread across her face. Amazing how a mere laugh and happy smile could make Flack seem like a young boy.

"I'll, uh, I'll go get dressed."

Stella finally caved in to the temptation and unashamedly ogled Flack's buttocks as the tall man scampered away to the bedroom. Oh my, Flack's suits definitely concealed a very … aesthetically pleasing and ample posterior.

And judging from the unquestionable satisfaction on Danny's visage, Danny had no complaints at all about it.

"You hit that every night?" she asked, smirking.

Danny stared into her eyes for a couple of seconds, as if he was searching for something only he could recognize. Whatever it was, he must have found it; his pearly teeth soon flashed under the illumination of the living area's ceiling light.

"Hit it? Amongst other things," he answered, and Stella smacked him on the upper arm with her folder, laughing quietly together with her fellow CSI.

***