by
Fandom: Salton Sea
Rating: R
Pairing: Danny/Jimmy
Author's Note: The Salton Sea is one of the best movies that nobody ever saw. It's a gripping tale of obsession and revenge. It's also a dead-on look at crystal-meth culture. And it also has one of the slashiest friendships ever to hit the screen.
Copyright and Disclaimer: The Salton Sea and the characters of Danny Parker (Tom Van Allen) and Jimmy the Finn are copyright Castle Rock Entertainment. I make no claims to ownership or creation. This bit of not for profit modern folklore (thank you Prof. Jenkins) is mine.
So.
Bed.
A few beams of sunlight leaking in through the blinds, dust-moats swimming in the golden shafts of light, Jimmy's body against his, warm and slack, breath playing softly against Danny's neck.
He looks over just as Jimmy's eyes flutter open, and Jimmy smiles in that sleepy-shy way of his. Desperation, fear, and hungry love all bound up in one expression. Danny smiles in reply and lazily trails a finger across Jimmy's lips, pauses a moment, and then rolls out of bed and slips into his jeans.
Jimmy's still in that saggy, sorry ass bed, his body slim and pale, half covered by the faded flower print sheets, and ….
Okay.
Back up.
Rewind.
Tom Van Allen replays the moment in his mind as he stuffs his foot into a boot.
The kitchen table. The kitchen. Still fairly clean from Jimmy's last crank induced cleaning frenzy. He's about — no — Danny Parker's about to take a deep breath and tell Jimmy the Finn the truth. Danny Parker is a lie.
But, Jimmy's all excited —not crank wired— excited, bouncing up and down, and happy, and before Danny can open his mouth and get a word in, tell Jimmy the truth, and then on top of that ask for a HUGE favor, Jimmy proudly lifts his sleeve and shows his new tattoo. A crude but recognizable likeness of Danny Parker.
Jimmy smiles, like a puppy looking for approval.
Danny Parker/Tom Van Allen/Whoever the hell he is these days feels his tongue go to cotton in his mouth.
It's not that Jimmy loves him. It's that Jimmy is IN love with him. Shy, crapped on since birth, starved for affection, and still a good person in spite of everything Jimmy is in love with him.
And, it's immensely cool, really.
So he opens his mouth and tells Jimmy the truth and watches Jimmy's face crumple. He stumbles over words and tries to explain that it's the every thing else that's the lie, not the friendship between them. He tells Jimmy the plan, and Jimmy —bless him— agrees to it. But it's not enough. He needs Jimmy to really understand how it is between them. That, he, Danny Parker, wasn't lying when he said what was between them was real. Danny stands and says, "There's one more thing, Jimmy."
"What?"
"This." Danny pulls Jimmy into a hug and kisses him tenderly, lovingly, on the cheek. Just below his eye, where the skin is the most sensitive. Jimmy stiffens for a moment and then Danny can literally feel the happiness radiating off of him, and the both of them turn their heads just a fraction.
And.
Jimmy's lips are there.
So.
He kisses them softly.
A flood of fear and longing fill Jimmy's eyes and he sputters, "Danny. Guys, I've never —"
"Shhh. Neither have I."
"Oh. Okay." And Jimmy gives a slight shrug of yes, so Danny takes his hand and leads him to the bedroom and undresses him.
It's not about sex, even if it is sex.
It's not about power, or ego.
It's not a pity thing.
It's not a favor.
It's about taking Jimmy into the bedroom, stripping him naked, and for once in Jimmy's miserable, shit life letting him be the most important person, the one the world revolves around. It's about showing Jimmy just how much Danny loves him back.
Jimmy shakes with nervousness, afraid and eager to please, wanting so badly in that kicked puppy way of his to be loved, but Danny's not having it.
Danny doesn't feel the least bit nervous and he's been hotter and harder in his life, but right now the important thing is pushing Jimmy back down on the bed and covering his speed skinny body with kisses.
And getting HIM rock hard.
And blowing him.
Jimmy comes like a freight train.
Danny takes his turn, fucking Jimmy's fist as the bed skweeches in protesting time, and he licks and kisses the big vein throbbing in Jimmy's neck and whisper-gasps into to Jimmy's ear all the words of love that no one else has ever given him.
Not heat of passion words.
The truth.
That Jimmy is a true friend.
That Jimmy is kind.
That Jimmy is brave.
That Jimmy is beautiful because his soul is pure and white and clean, and that all of the things that Jimmy said he saw in Danny that day at the bar are what he sees in Jimmy, and that's what he loves most in him.
And.
Almost as good as the feel of coming is the feel of Jimmy's body, warm against his, the whisper of Jimmy's breath against his neck. Dust moats sparkle in the beams of golden sunlight. Danny Parker knows he needs to get up and be Tom Van Allen in a few minutes, but for now, he lies in bed next to Jimmy and closes his eyes, wishing the moment could stretch into infinity.
Last Updated: 3/12/2004