Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2003 15:08:30 -0700 (PDT)
From: Nick Stockbridge <storyboi03@yahoo.com>
Subject: The Danny Chronicles

  A few notes: Danny Roberts is a real person, and is
gay, but this story is fictional. The real Danny is
still happily with Paul, last I heard.

 There is no sex in this chapter. There will be sex
later, but it's not going to be the main focus. Sorry.
The story will focus on Danny in Hollywood and several
actors will come and go in the story. I know the
sexualities of none of these people.

 And, lastly, yes it's true. Kelly is engaged to Scott
Wolf. I guess she wants to ad professional beard to
her resume? :)

 Enjoy. And please let me know what you think.
storyboi03@yahoo.com


   Danny Roberts watched as Los Angeles became visible
below him, the clouds parting to reveal it's smoggy,
crowded presence.

   He hated L.A. He truly did.

   While his season of the Real World was airing on
MTV, he'd headed to L.A. and tried to make a break
into acting while he was still the fresh new face.

   Being openly gay hadn't helped, of course. It made
the powers that be in L.A. more likely to make passes
at him and less likely to hand him any real roles.

   In the end, he'd only taken one acting job, a small
role on one episode of Dawson's Creek.

   After that, he'd fled L.A. realizing he'd loved the
idea more than the reality.

   And of course, there was always Paul to go home to.
That had made the collapse of his Hollywood ambitions
easier to deal with.

   Paul. Danny and Paul had been blissfully happy
once, and for quite a long time.

   They'd survived many ups and downs, including the
necessity of Paul being closeted for the sake of his
military career and Danny's drunken fling in New
Orleans during Mardi Gras. Not that there was much to
that. He'd let some dude suck him off in the
confessional room.

   Paul hadn't been pleased, but they'd worked through
it.

   And now... it was all over.

   Things had started to fall apart when Danny left to
do a season of the Road Rules/Real World Challenge in
Cabo San Lucas.

   The Battle of the Seasons. What a mistake that had
been, Danny reflected.

   Sure, it had been a lot of fun. He'd even won some
money. Returning home, though, there had been a new
distance between him and Paul.

   Danny hadn't understood it at first. Paul suddenly
seemed resentful of Danny's connections to the MTV
reality empire in ways he never had before.

   And then it had all come out one night, shortly
after Danny's return, during a fight.

   Paul had met someone else while Danny was gone. It
wasn't even just an affair. it was much worse.

   Paul had always been terrified that Danny's public
exposure of himself and their relationship would lead
to his outing and expulsion from the military. He was
even more afraid these days, given the climate created
by those in charge in Washington. There were more
expulsions than ever with Republicans back in the
White House.

 And then, just when things had started to die down,
Danny had gone back to do another reality show for
MTV, to remind the public of their existence.

   Danny could understand how Paul, fearful of losing
the only career he'd ever wanted, had turned in a
moment of anger and fear to someone else.

   Danny had made his own mistakes, after all. He
could have looked past it.

   But Paul hadn't just had a fling. He'd developed
feelings for this guy. This quiet, non-famous guy who
wouldn't be any threat to Paul's career.

   Everything had happened so quickly. Danny felt like
the rug had been pulled out from under his life.

   For the first six months, he'd been a total wreck.
It was only because of good friends, like Kelly and
Julie, rallying around him that he hadn't lost it
completely.

   After those miserable first six months, the next
six months had been wild and reckless. The party
scene, clubs, sex, sex, sex. Anything to live in the
moment and forget what he'd lost.

   Then, he'd gone through another few months of
readjusting, realizing that he didn't want to live the
sort of life he'd fallen into.

   Re-evaluating what he did want, Danny got a phone
call from his agent in the dreaded L.A. This agent
usually only called when there was something up at
MTV- a new season of the Challenge, perhaps, or a
reunion special.

   The calls had become less frequent, given that
Danny's show was now several seasons in the past. MTV
was all about the new, the fresh. Danny who? Real
World New Orleans? You mean, they did Real Worlds
before Paris and Vegas? Even before Chicago? Wow.
Ancient history.

   But this time, Danny's agent had been calling with
a different offer. There was some interest in Danny
playing a role on an episode of Will & Grace.

   "Why me?" Danny had asked. "Why not Chris from
Chicago? He's a fresher face. And a model. Or this new
guy from Paris. He's even got an accent."

   "So do you!" his agent had laughed. Danny often
forgot the hint of Georgia in his voice, which sounded
perfectly accent-less to him.

   "Why me?" Danny asked again.

   "Listen kid, I don't know. They called with the
offer. It's a one episode shot, but you never know
with episodic TV. They like you, you could end up
doing a few episodes here and there."

   It was on the tip of Danny's tongue to say no. He
was done with any attempts at acting.

   At the last second, though, he stopped himself.
He'd been looking for a fresh start, hadn't he? And
while L.A. wasn't exactly fresh in any sense of the
word, it was just a one time thing. He could use the
money and maybe meet some new people. Certainly it
would be a change of scenery, anyway.

   "What's the part?" Danny asked, fully knowing that
he'd take it regardless.

   The plane landed smoothly and Danny let out of sigh
of relief. He hated flying.

   Gathering up his carry on bag, he started for the
exit, the cute steward who'd been very attentive
during the flight catching his eye one last time and
wishing him a pleasant stay in L.A.

   Danny wondered fleetingly what the guy would be
like in bed, but shook the thought from his mind. He'd
have enough meaningless sexual encounters in the past
year. It was time to focus on making a real life for
himself again, without Paul.

   Feeling like a fish out of sea, Danny wandered over
to claim the rest of his baggage and looked vaguely
around for the driver that was supposed to be waiting
for him.

   There were several chauffeurs holding up signs, but
he didn't seen any that said Roberts.

   "Great," Danny muttered beneath his breath. This
was just what he needed to start off the new chapter
of his life. A long wait for a cab at the airport.

   "Danny!"

   Danny turned his head and felt a grin spread across
his face when he saw who was striding across the
airport lounge in his direction.

   "What on Earth are you doing here?" Danny asked as
his former cast mate and friend Kelly approached him.
He hadn't seen her in a few months.

   "Picking you up! How was the flight?" Kelly gave
him a kiss and a tight hug.

   "The usual. Hey can you sign my copy of US later,
Mrs. Party of Five?" Danny asked with a grin,
referring to the news he'd read a few weeks before in
US magazine that Kelly and Scott Wolf of Party of Five
were engaged.

   "Ha, ha! Come on, traffic is going to be a
nightmare!"

   "I thought they were sending me a car?" Danny asked
as he followed his friend.

   "I wanted to pick you up myself, so we could have a
chance to talk before you get all swept up in L.A. and
being a big star," Kelly smiled.

   "Yeah, right! I'm just here to land me a movie star
husband," Danny grinned.

   "Aren't we all?" Kelly asked flashing her
engagement ring in front of his face with a laugh.

   After surviving the ride from the airport and
checking into his hotel, Danny found his script for
Will & Grace waiting, along with his call times and a
note from the director about when to show up for the
round table reading of the script where they tested
out what was funny and made any necessary changes.

   He'd agreed to have dinner with Kelly and Scott
that evening, but he saw that he'd have to make it a
short night. He'd need to be at the studio pretty
early.

   Danny pulled his shirt over his head and headed
toward the bathroom. Turning on the water in the
shower, he went back out into the room and stripped
off his jeans.

   Picking up the script, he began reading it over,
his right hand absently playing with the light dusting
of hair on his chest, wondering if he should wax it or
not.

   The episode, he quickly saw, called for a shirtless
scene. Smooth chests seemed to be the rage, but Danny
liked what little chest hair he had. And why should he
change himself to fit L.A.'s standards?

   Putting down the script, he was halfway back to the
bathroom when there was a knock at the door.

   Glancing down at himself in just his boxer briefs,
Danny grabbed a white terrycloth hotel robe and
slipped into it before going to answer the door.

   "Danny! How are you?"

   Danny was taken aback, to say the least, to see
Kerr Smith standing in front of him. They'd met
briefly on the set of Dawson's Creek a few years
earlier, but hadn't really connected. Danny had felt
pretty sure that Kerr was at least bisexual, but at
the time he was committed to Paul and not really
interested.

   Not that Kerr had even shown him any interest.
Unlike James Van Der Beek, that raving queen, who'd
been all over him.

   "Kerr? Um.. I'm fine. How did you know I was here?
I just checked in twenty minutes ago," Danny said,
wondering just what was going on.

   "I saw you across the lobby when you were checking
in. I was in the bar with a few friends. Can I come
in?" Kerr asked.

   Danny stepped aside and Kerr came in, glancing
around the modestly sized room, not one of the hotel's
grandest, but nice.

   "So, how are you? What brings you to Hell A?" Kerr
grinned as he flopped down on a chair and looked up at
Danny.

   "I'm doing an episode of Will and Grace," Danny
explained, glancing in the direction of the bathroom,
which was quickly filling up with steam from his
unused shower.

   "Cool, cool. I'm looking for work myself these
days," Kerr said, shaking his head. Danny nodded, he'd
heard that Dawson's Creek had gone off the air.

   "So, how is Peter?" Kerr asked.

   "Paul," Danny corrected him. "I guess he's fine. I
wouldn't know."

   Danny saw an unmistakable look flash in Kerr's
eyes, just for a second. The look that anyone got when
they discovered that someone they were interested in
was single.

   "You guys broke up, huh? That's too bad, Danny."

   "Yeah, so I was just going to get in the shower,
man. I appreciate you dropping by. We'll have to go
out for drinks or something before I leave," Danny
said, clearly ushering him out of the room verbally.

   "Hey, sure man. I just wanted to say hi. You know,
I always thought you were pretty hot," Kerr said,
suddenly lowering his voice.

   Danny raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? With all that
talk you did about how much of a chore it was to kiss
a guy on your show once a season? All that poor
straight little me suffering for art by making out
with a dude crap?"

   "Hey, man, you know how it is. I have to think of
my career. Look at the Beek. He just got married. I'm
sure the bride had to wear a strap on on their wedding
night," Kerr laughed.

   Danny was hit full force once again with why he
hated L.A. All the hypocrisy and lies. All the
fakeness.

   "Yeah. Anyway, I'll see you around," Danny said,
opening the door.

   Kerr stood up and sauntered over to Danny. He
stopped directly in front of him and gave his arm a
quick squeeze.

   "Call me. We'll have some fun. I give great head."
Kerr said with a wink, slipping a card into the pocket
of Danny's robe, his hand lingering just a bit longer
than was necessary.

   Danny closed the door behind him and shook his
head. In spite of himself, his dick was already half
hard. Kerr Smith was a good looking guy, after all.

   Being in L.A. was going to be a bigger temptation
than I thought, Danny realized.

   Heading for the bathroom, Danny decided he'd better
make it a cold shower.

 To be Continued.