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chase_acow
Title: Cameron Mitchell and the Unlikely Boyfriend (1/5)
F/P: Stargate: SG-1 AU (Cameron/Daniel)
Rating: NC-17 (for later parts)
Disclaimer: not mine.
Summary: “So, I just need you to come to the party tonight and pretend to be my boyfriend.”
Beta: Thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kinneas, you helped me out so much, I really appreciate it!
A/N: Marriage of Convenience prompt for10_romances
part one
part two
part three
part four
part five
coda
The late afternoon market was buzzing with activity. Color and light shouted from every direction the eye turned, while laughter and shouts blazed from one corner to echo against another, and the sweet scents of flowers and fruit tag-teamed to launch an assault of the senses. The square was roughly the size of a city block, fenced off with high walls made of adobe, but with openings on each side. Inside the market a person could find everything from food to crafts to entertainment.
In the middle of it all stood Cameron Mitchell, former officer of the USAF, holding up a cantaloupe to his nose, testing its ripeness. He rested his basket on his good hip, keeping it stable with one hand while he picked over the fruit with the other. He added the cantaloupe to his wrapped bread and bottle of milk, put the basket down and moved over to pick through the grape bunches.
There were grocery stores closer to where he lived, but he liked the market; it reminded him of the good memories of his time in the Middle East; it was the perfect place to spend an hour or two for the neighborhood families. People came from all over town to shop and see everything there was to see. It was usually crowded, but the locals could always tell who else was local - it was in the easy smile for the family children and the change always ready for the street entertainers.
Cameron wasn’t quite local, but neither was he an outsider to the market’s owners. The woman who ran the bakery was old enough to be his mother, but never let him out of her sight without some sort of food, a pinch on his butt, and the promise that one day he’d come around. He thought if he were ten years older, or she ten years younger, he’d take her up on that offer. He probably wouldn’t be getting a better one anymore.
Since his return to the ’States, he’d mostly gotten over reverse culture shock, but sometimes he still thought of the West Coast as a foreign country. It hadn’t helped him make many friends, except for those others who like him, were not very interested in city life.
“Daniel!” a voice shrieked from across several aisles.
Cameron turned at the high-pitched squeal that pierced the general noisiness of the square just in time for a man roughly his size and weight to crash into him head on. They went down to the ground in a tangle of limbs, and for Cameron a flash of pain. The ground was hard-packed gravel, and astonishingly enough did not feel wonderful digging into his back. He opened his mouth to start cursing, but found himself looking into a pair of the most amazing blue eyes.
“You know, usually I expect at least a first date before I let a guy get to second base with me,” Cameron drawled, reaching up with his hands and trying to ignore the shooting pain racing up and down his leg. It hurt now, and that meant it would hurt worse later.
“Oh, I’m, uh,” the man said, blinking down at Cameron as if to show off his eyelashes. Somehow he managed to be both pretty and masculine at the same time, his stubble shadowing the planes of his face while his lips pouted.
Cameron smiled despite himself, a lopsided grin at the other man’s stutter, “I think this is where you apologize and then get off me.”
“Right,” the other man scrambled up, nearly kneeing Cameron in a very unfortunate place while searching for his feet. He was very tan, well muscled and had a very absent-minded air around him. Cameron’s niece would have labeled him a “Himbo” on first sight. The man held a hand down to Cameron, “I’m very sorry.”
Taking his hand, Cameron pulled himself to his feet, using his good leg to take most of his weight. It threw the other man off-balance, but since it was his fault anyway, Cameron really didn't feel any sympathy. “Well, as fun as this has been, I think I’ll just move on before you decide to play some more tackle football,” Cameron said, trying very hard not to jostle his leg. He’d have to get Henri to call him a taxi to get home because there was no way he would make it walking.
“Oh, geeze, I’m so sorr-” the other man started, but was interrupted by another screech of his name, and leapt about a foot off the ground. “Oh, for crying out loud!”
“I take it your name is Daniel?” Cameron asked, lifting an eyebrow as the man dropped to the ground on his knees, searching frantically with his hands. “Lose something?”
The man found a pair of glasses, and shoved them on his face without bothering to wipe the lenses clean first. He looked back up at Cameron, “Yeah, I’m Daniel, and yes, I lost something – my manly dignity.”
Daniel’s face was scrunched up, and his hands fisted loosely on his thighs. His jeans were well worn, but looked designer, and his t-shirt hadn’t faded from a deep black. Cameron felt a cheap thrill race through his gut at the sight of the other man on his knees in front of him. It had been so long since he felt that for another man, that the surprise of it hit him like a ton of bricks.
“I don’t know what makes dignity so very manly,” Cameron teased distractedly, ready to turn and gather up his basket to move on. This had not been on his to-do list today.
Without warning, Daniel jumped up and toward him again, making Cameron reel back and step on his bad leg. He gasped and found himself with an armful of man, and another set of lips crushed painfully against his.
“Daniel!”
This time the voice was closer, right beside them, and sounded decidedly more irritated. Daniel broke off the kiss and turned his head, though he kept his hands clutching the front of Cameron’s jacket. “Oh, Vala,” he said faintly as if he hadn’t just been running from her. “I didn’t see you there.”
Cameron turned to look and saw a very beautiful, petite woman standing with her arms crossed, tapping her foot, and looking like she wanted to flay Daniel alive. Her dark hair was tied back into two pig-tails that looped back under the rubber bands. She didn’t look like anyone Cameron would care to cross, and his astonishment at Daniel ratcheted up another notch.
“Daniel? What is this?” she demanded, gesturing at Cameron before angrily dropping a fist to her hip.
“Vala, I was going to call,” Daniel said, finally letting go of Cameron and facing her, squaring his shoulders as if going to battle. “I just had to get settled again, and -”
She marched up to them, poking Daniel hard in the chest as she spoke, and shooting hateful glares at Cameron the entire time, “I can see how well you’ve ‘settled’!”
“Hey!” Cameron said, insulted as he finally understood what was going on and almost gave up the game by laughing out loud. Instead, he looped an arm around Daniel’s waist and pulled him in to brush against his body.
That was when Daniel understood the insult and echoed his “hey”, pushing his glasses up on his nose and then tried to find a good place to put his hands. Luckily for them, Vala just turned up her nose and flounced back the way she’d come.
Cameron waited until she was out of sight, before he detached himself from Daniel’s side and said, “I can tell who wore the pants in that relationship.”
“You and everybody else,” Daniel said wearily, slumping where he was standing looking like he’d just survived certain death, but wasn’t sure if it was a good thing. “Thanks again, and I’m sorry about kissing you.”
“Now that, is the one thing you don’t have to be sorry for,” Cameron said, finally reaching for his neglected basket, knowing he needed to get home and get some painkillers in his system. “But you’ll understand if I break up with you for boyfriend abuse.”
“What? Oh right,” Daniel said, blushing red from his neck up to his hairline. With the glasses on it was much harder to see his eyes, he looked much less approachable. “I’m really, really sorry about that.”
What happened next could only be described as a comedy of errors. Daniel stuck his hand out to shake but pulled back right as Cameron was going to grab it. He then tried to jab his hand back out but Cameron had already dropped his. Cameron laughed and Daniel looked at his hand like it was its fault they couldn’t quite meet.
“Obviously, we’re just not meant to be,” Cameron said smiling, enjoying this conversation much more than he thought he would. “We’ll always have our memories though.”
Daniel snorted and dropped his head, looking up at Cameron through his eyelashes, “Right. I’ve got to go.”
“I’d say don’t be a stranger, but I don’t think that I could take another meeting like this,” Cameron said waving a hand. “I hope your day turns out all right.”
“Oh it has,” Daniel said, then turned to leave in the opposite direction from Vala and headed off, immediately tripping over a couple of kids that darted past.
Cameron rolled his eyes and took his basket, heading off to find Henri so he could get home. This had definitely been one of the more surreal episodes of his life. And that was saying something for a man who’d been dead and brought back to life.
**
“Cameron!”
Cameron turned at the familiar voice, smiling before he even found Henri trying to swim through the crowd to get to him. He hated to miss one of his visits to the market, but after his run-in with Daniel the previous week, Cameron had had to take it easy at home, he’d missed talking to Henri and his other friends. “Hey!” he called in greeting, waving a hand over the heads of some children running past him
“Cameron, we missed you on Wednesday,” Henri said as he made it to Cameron’s side and clasped his arm in a friendly greeting. He spoke with an Eastern European accent that was now so muddled with western United States that Cameron was unable to place it.
He ducked his head a little, holding up his cane as if by answer, “Yeah, I’m sorry about that, Henri. Didn’t feel like getting out and about.”
“Ah,” Henri said, shaking his head. “There has been a man here looking for you.”
That didn’t happen to Cameron very often, not unless the man in question was wearing dress blues, and Henri would have mentioned that, “A man?”
“Yes, he’s been here everyday of the past four,” Henri said, leveling a humorous look at Cameron, his brown eyes dancing. “You can imagine how tongues are dancing.”
“I’ll bet,” Cameron closed his eyes shaking his head. Gossip might as well be the number one commodity in the market; it was valuable and highly sought after. “Has he shown up already today?”
“Not yet, but soon,” Henri nodded, stepping to the side and waving at somebody behind Cameron. “He always darts in from the south and races like a dervish through the aisles before harassing the stall-keeps about your whereabouts.”
“Man, I’m sorry, why didn’t you just get rid of him?” Cameron asked trying to think of who would be looking for him. Any of his service buddies would be able to find him easily, and his family would just call his grandma to find him.
“Because it is not everyday a handsome young man is determined to find you. It was a mystery we could not resist,” Henri smiled broadly at Cameron’s scowl and stepped away toward his tent, walking backwards. “But go; Tshaya is worrying over you.”
Cameron rolled his eyes, but did as he was bid, making his way first to the bakery area. Predictably, Tshaya immediately hauled him back to the private area and sat him down with a glass of sweet tea and a plate of fresh pastries.
“You’re too skinny, Camio!” she said, hands on her hips as she stood over him watching him eat. “And since you haven't been here for a week, you’ve missed out on seven days of news.
“S’okay,” Cameron said popping a berry tart in his mouth and talking with his mouth full. “I knew you’d be around to fill me in.”
Before she could begin, a small boy ran in and tugged on her skirts until she turned around to face him. “He’s here!” the boy shouted jumping up and down and running over to Cameron. “Mr. Mitch, that man’s here to see you!”
“Yeah?” Cameron asked, wiping his mouth and scooting his chair away from the table. “Guess it’s time we find out what all this fuss is about.”
The boy whooped and was off like a shot out the door, no doubt to tell one and all that the showdown was about to occur. Cameron followed at a more sedate pace, leaving his cane inside and taking it easy. He made it out just inside to see the man who’d run into him last week slump his shoulders at a negative answer from the vendor next door.
Daniel began walking slowly away, so Cameron called out to him, “I understand you’re looking for a man.”
“Yes, I-” Daniel turned around, his hands rising and then saw who he was talking to and his hands fell back to his sides. “Oh, that’s funny. Listen, I need your help.”
“Cut right to the chase, don’t you?” Cameron smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. He’d never met anyone like this guy before, so honest and slightly clueless. It was a pleasant change from staring at the blinking cursor over the blank page that was supposed to be the beginnings of his memoirs.
“Well, yes,” Daniel said, blinking behind his glasses, and then shaking his head as if to clear it and advanced on Cameron. “See, Vala is my ex-girlfriend.”
“You don’t say.”
At that Daniel blushed, lifting a hand to rub the bridge of his nose, “Obvious, huh?”
“’Bout as obvious as how henpecked you turned out to be,” Cameron teased. From what he’d seen Vala would have fit in fine with the other female Air Force officers he’d met: feminine and fearsome.
“Anyway,” Daniel glared, clearing his throat and resting his hands on his hips. Cameron noticed that said hips were slim, but tapered down to muscled thighs. “We’re also coworkers, and she’s been telling everyone about you.”
“I fail to see how I can help with that,” Cameron began, this whole conversation, hell this entire . . . whatever between him and Daniel was bordering on bizarre. Against all odds, Cameron was attracted to the man, but that didn’t have to mean anything. He was starting to suspect that Daniel was a little crazy.
“There’s a party tonight and they have a bet going on whether you’re real or not.”
Revising his thought to definitely crazy and knowing that they had just ventured into territory way past bizarre, Cameron wondered if maybe Daniel was an escaped mental patient. “Well, that’s quite a predicament,” he said slowly, drawling just a little bit more than necessary, trying to guess where this conversation was going.
Daniel nodded, smiled, and rushed on, “So, I just need you to come to the party tonight and pretend to be my boyfriend.”
Cameron wanted to laugh, couldn’t resist a rueful smile and hoped that someone out there had a camera to catch his expression, because he bet it was a doozy. He shook his head and said, “’Just’ huh?”
“I asked around, nobody thinks you’re seeing anyone,” Daniel said, making it clear to Cameron just why Henri and Tshaya were so eager to witness this meeting. “And you didn’t seem to mind last time.”
“You didn’t give me much of a chance last time,” Cameron reminded him thinking back to how Daniel had lunged at him to kiss. It wasn’t the worst kiss Cameron had ever had, but it sure hadn’t made the top ten. He looked back to Daniel, and saw how the other man’s face had fallen, felt something tighten in his chest and puffed out a sigh, “What’s in it for me?”
Looking up hopefully, Daniel asked rather tentatively, “The pleasure of helping another human being?” At Cameron’s eyebrow quirk, Daniel exploded, “Okay, I’m desperate! You can have whatever you want as long as I don’t have to see Vala following me around with her smug look and listen to her tell me – ‘I told you so’! all night.”
“Bad breakup?” Cameron asked, keeping his face carefully neutral.
“I had to leave the country,” Daniel said sadly, the tone of his voice conveying resignation, fear, and exhaustion all at once.
Cameron laughed so hard that Tshaya had to give him a few hearty slaps on the back and give him another glass of tea just so he could clear his throat. “Okay, okay, I’ll do it but you owe me. Big time.”
“Wonderful!” Daniel smiled and his whole face glowed, reminding Cameron of the flush of excitement he felt when they’d first met. “I just need to know one more thing.”
“What’s that?” Cameron asked.
The sheepdog expression was back as Daniel dropped his voice, and asked plaintively, “What’s your name?”
**
part two
F/P: Stargate: SG-1 AU (Cameron/Daniel)
Rating: NC-17 (for later parts)
Disclaimer: not mine.
Summary: “So, I just need you to come to the party tonight and pretend to be my boyfriend.”
Beta: Thanks to
kinneas, you helped me out so much, I really appreciate it!A/N: Marriage of Convenience prompt for
10_romancespart one
part two
part three
part four
part five
coda
The late afternoon market was buzzing with activity. Color and light shouted from every direction the eye turned, while laughter and shouts blazed from one corner to echo against another, and the sweet scents of flowers and fruit tag-teamed to launch an assault of the senses. The square was roughly the size of a city block, fenced off with high walls made of adobe, but with openings on each side. Inside the market a person could find everything from food to crafts to entertainment.
In the middle of it all stood Cameron Mitchell, former officer of the USAF, holding up a cantaloupe to his nose, testing its ripeness. He rested his basket on his good hip, keeping it stable with one hand while he picked over the fruit with the other. He added the cantaloupe to his wrapped bread and bottle of milk, put the basket down and moved over to pick through the grape bunches.
There were grocery stores closer to where he lived, but he liked the market; it reminded him of the good memories of his time in the Middle East; it was the perfect place to spend an hour or two for the neighborhood families. People came from all over town to shop and see everything there was to see. It was usually crowded, but the locals could always tell who else was local - it was in the easy smile for the family children and the change always ready for the street entertainers.
Cameron wasn’t quite local, but neither was he an outsider to the market’s owners. The woman who ran the bakery was old enough to be his mother, but never let him out of her sight without some sort of food, a pinch on his butt, and the promise that one day he’d come around. He thought if he were ten years older, or she ten years younger, he’d take her up on that offer. He probably wouldn’t be getting a better one anymore.
Since his return to the ’States, he’d mostly gotten over reverse culture shock, but sometimes he still thought of the West Coast as a foreign country. It hadn’t helped him make many friends, except for those others who like him, were not very interested in city life.
“Daniel!” a voice shrieked from across several aisles.
Cameron turned at the high-pitched squeal that pierced the general noisiness of the square just in time for a man roughly his size and weight to crash into him head on. They went down to the ground in a tangle of limbs, and for Cameron a flash of pain. The ground was hard-packed gravel, and astonishingly enough did not feel wonderful digging into his back. He opened his mouth to start cursing, but found himself looking into a pair of the most amazing blue eyes.
“You know, usually I expect at least a first date before I let a guy get to second base with me,” Cameron drawled, reaching up with his hands and trying to ignore the shooting pain racing up and down his leg. It hurt now, and that meant it would hurt worse later.
“Oh, I’m, uh,” the man said, blinking down at Cameron as if to show off his eyelashes. Somehow he managed to be both pretty and masculine at the same time, his stubble shadowing the planes of his face while his lips pouted.
Cameron smiled despite himself, a lopsided grin at the other man’s stutter, “I think this is where you apologize and then get off me.”
“Right,” the other man scrambled up, nearly kneeing Cameron in a very unfortunate place while searching for his feet. He was very tan, well muscled and had a very absent-minded air around him. Cameron’s niece would have labeled him a “Himbo” on first sight. The man held a hand down to Cameron, “I’m very sorry.”
Taking his hand, Cameron pulled himself to his feet, using his good leg to take most of his weight. It threw the other man off-balance, but since it was his fault anyway, Cameron really didn't feel any sympathy. “Well, as fun as this has been, I think I’ll just move on before you decide to play some more tackle football,” Cameron said, trying very hard not to jostle his leg. He’d have to get Henri to call him a taxi to get home because there was no way he would make it walking.
“Oh, geeze, I’m so sorr-” the other man started, but was interrupted by another screech of his name, and leapt about a foot off the ground. “Oh, for crying out loud!”
“I take it your name is Daniel?” Cameron asked, lifting an eyebrow as the man dropped to the ground on his knees, searching frantically with his hands. “Lose something?”
The man found a pair of glasses, and shoved them on his face without bothering to wipe the lenses clean first. He looked back up at Cameron, “Yeah, I’m Daniel, and yes, I lost something – my manly dignity.”
Daniel’s face was scrunched up, and his hands fisted loosely on his thighs. His jeans were well worn, but looked designer, and his t-shirt hadn’t faded from a deep black. Cameron felt a cheap thrill race through his gut at the sight of the other man on his knees in front of him. It had been so long since he felt that for another man, that the surprise of it hit him like a ton of bricks.
“I don’t know what makes dignity so very manly,” Cameron teased distractedly, ready to turn and gather up his basket to move on. This had not been on his to-do list today.
Without warning, Daniel jumped up and toward him again, making Cameron reel back and step on his bad leg. He gasped and found himself with an armful of man, and another set of lips crushed painfully against his.
“Daniel!”
This time the voice was closer, right beside them, and sounded decidedly more irritated. Daniel broke off the kiss and turned his head, though he kept his hands clutching the front of Cameron’s jacket. “Oh, Vala,” he said faintly as if he hadn’t just been running from her. “I didn’t see you there.”
Cameron turned to look and saw a very beautiful, petite woman standing with her arms crossed, tapping her foot, and looking like she wanted to flay Daniel alive. Her dark hair was tied back into two pig-tails that looped back under the rubber bands. She didn’t look like anyone Cameron would care to cross, and his astonishment at Daniel ratcheted up another notch.
“Daniel? What is this?” she demanded, gesturing at Cameron before angrily dropping a fist to her hip.
“Vala, I was going to call,” Daniel said, finally letting go of Cameron and facing her, squaring his shoulders as if going to battle. “I just had to get settled again, and -”
She marched up to them, poking Daniel hard in the chest as she spoke, and shooting hateful glares at Cameron the entire time, “I can see how well you’ve ‘settled’!”
“Hey!” Cameron said, insulted as he finally understood what was going on and almost gave up the game by laughing out loud. Instead, he looped an arm around Daniel’s waist and pulled him in to brush against his body.
That was when Daniel understood the insult and echoed his “hey”, pushing his glasses up on his nose and then tried to find a good place to put his hands. Luckily for them, Vala just turned up her nose and flounced back the way she’d come.
Cameron waited until she was out of sight, before he detached himself from Daniel’s side and said, “I can tell who wore the pants in that relationship.”
“You and everybody else,” Daniel said wearily, slumping where he was standing looking like he’d just survived certain death, but wasn’t sure if it was a good thing. “Thanks again, and I’m sorry about kissing you.”
“Now that, is the one thing you don’t have to be sorry for,” Cameron said, finally reaching for his neglected basket, knowing he needed to get home and get some painkillers in his system. “But you’ll understand if I break up with you for boyfriend abuse.”
“What? Oh right,” Daniel said, blushing red from his neck up to his hairline. With the glasses on it was much harder to see his eyes, he looked much less approachable. “I’m really, really sorry about that.”
What happened next could only be described as a comedy of errors. Daniel stuck his hand out to shake but pulled back right as Cameron was going to grab it. He then tried to jab his hand back out but Cameron had already dropped his. Cameron laughed and Daniel looked at his hand like it was its fault they couldn’t quite meet.
“Obviously, we’re just not meant to be,” Cameron said smiling, enjoying this conversation much more than he thought he would. “We’ll always have our memories though.”
Daniel snorted and dropped his head, looking up at Cameron through his eyelashes, “Right. I’ve got to go.”
“I’d say don’t be a stranger, but I don’t think that I could take another meeting like this,” Cameron said waving a hand. “I hope your day turns out all right.”
“Oh it has,” Daniel said, then turned to leave in the opposite direction from Vala and headed off, immediately tripping over a couple of kids that darted past.
Cameron rolled his eyes and took his basket, heading off to find Henri so he could get home. This had definitely been one of the more surreal episodes of his life. And that was saying something for a man who’d been dead and brought back to life.
“Cameron!”
Cameron turned at the familiar voice, smiling before he even found Henri trying to swim through the crowd to get to him. He hated to miss one of his visits to the market, but after his run-in with Daniel the previous week, Cameron had had to take it easy at home, he’d missed talking to Henri and his other friends. “Hey!” he called in greeting, waving a hand over the heads of some children running past him
“Cameron, we missed you on Wednesday,” Henri said as he made it to Cameron’s side and clasped his arm in a friendly greeting. He spoke with an Eastern European accent that was now so muddled with western United States that Cameron was unable to place it.
He ducked his head a little, holding up his cane as if by answer, “Yeah, I’m sorry about that, Henri. Didn’t feel like getting out and about.”
“Ah,” Henri said, shaking his head. “There has been a man here looking for you.”
That didn’t happen to Cameron very often, not unless the man in question was wearing dress blues, and Henri would have mentioned that, “A man?”
“Yes, he’s been here everyday of the past four,” Henri said, leveling a humorous look at Cameron, his brown eyes dancing. “You can imagine how tongues are dancing.”
“I’ll bet,” Cameron closed his eyes shaking his head. Gossip might as well be the number one commodity in the market; it was valuable and highly sought after. “Has he shown up already today?”
“Not yet, but soon,” Henri nodded, stepping to the side and waving at somebody behind Cameron. “He always darts in from the south and races like a dervish through the aisles before harassing the stall-keeps about your whereabouts.”
“Man, I’m sorry, why didn’t you just get rid of him?” Cameron asked trying to think of who would be looking for him. Any of his service buddies would be able to find him easily, and his family would just call his grandma to find him.
“Because it is not everyday a handsome young man is determined to find you. It was a mystery we could not resist,” Henri smiled broadly at Cameron’s scowl and stepped away toward his tent, walking backwards. “But go; Tshaya is worrying over you.”
Cameron rolled his eyes, but did as he was bid, making his way first to the bakery area. Predictably, Tshaya immediately hauled him back to the private area and sat him down with a glass of sweet tea and a plate of fresh pastries.
“You’re too skinny, Camio!” she said, hands on her hips as she stood over him watching him eat. “And since you haven't been here for a week, you’ve missed out on seven days of news.
“S’okay,” Cameron said popping a berry tart in his mouth and talking with his mouth full. “I knew you’d be around to fill me in.”
Before she could begin, a small boy ran in and tugged on her skirts until she turned around to face him. “He’s here!” the boy shouted jumping up and down and running over to Cameron. “Mr. Mitch, that man’s here to see you!”
“Yeah?” Cameron asked, wiping his mouth and scooting his chair away from the table. “Guess it’s time we find out what all this fuss is about.”
The boy whooped and was off like a shot out the door, no doubt to tell one and all that the showdown was about to occur. Cameron followed at a more sedate pace, leaving his cane inside and taking it easy. He made it out just inside to see the man who’d run into him last week slump his shoulders at a negative answer from the vendor next door.
Daniel began walking slowly away, so Cameron called out to him, “I understand you’re looking for a man.”
“Yes, I-” Daniel turned around, his hands rising and then saw who he was talking to and his hands fell back to his sides. “Oh, that’s funny. Listen, I need your help.”
“Cut right to the chase, don’t you?” Cameron smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. He’d never met anyone like this guy before, so honest and slightly clueless. It was a pleasant change from staring at the blinking cursor over the blank page that was supposed to be the beginnings of his memoirs.
“Well, yes,” Daniel said, blinking behind his glasses, and then shaking his head as if to clear it and advanced on Cameron. “See, Vala is my ex-girlfriend.”
“You don’t say.”
At that Daniel blushed, lifting a hand to rub the bridge of his nose, “Obvious, huh?”
“’Bout as obvious as how henpecked you turned out to be,” Cameron teased. From what he’d seen Vala would have fit in fine with the other female Air Force officers he’d met: feminine and fearsome.
“Anyway,” Daniel glared, clearing his throat and resting his hands on his hips. Cameron noticed that said hips were slim, but tapered down to muscled thighs. “We’re also coworkers, and she’s been telling everyone about you.”
“I fail to see how I can help with that,” Cameron began, this whole conversation, hell this entire . . . whatever between him and Daniel was bordering on bizarre. Against all odds, Cameron was attracted to the man, but that didn’t have to mean anything. He was starting to suspect that Daniel was a little crazy.
“There’s a party tonight and they have a bet going on whether you’re real or not.”
Revising his thought to definitely crazy and knowing that they had just ventured into territory way past bizarre, Cameron wondered if maybe Daniel was an escaped mental patient. “Well, that’s quite a predicament,” he said slowly, drawling just a little bit more than necessary, trying to guess where this conversation was going.
Daniel nodded, smiled, and rushed on, “So, I just need you to come to the party tonight and pretend to be my boyfriend.”
Cameron wanted to laugh, couldn’t resist a rueful smile and hoped that someone out there had a camera to catch his expression, because he bet it was a doozy. He shook his head and said, “’Just’ huh?”
“I asked around, nobody thinks you’re seeing anyone,” Daniel said, making it clear to Cameron just why Henri and Tshaya were so eager to witness this meeting. “And you didn’t seem to mind last time.”
“You didn’t give me much of a chance last time,” Cameron reminded him thinking back to how Daniel had lunged at him to kiss. It wasn’t the worst kiss Cameron had ever had, but it sure hadn’t made the top ten. He looked back to Daniel, and saw how the other man’s face had fallen, felt something tighten in his chest and puffed out a sigh, “What’s in it for me?”
Looking up hopefully, Daniel asked rather tentatively, “The pleasure of helping another human being?” At Cameron’s eyebrow quirk, Daniel exploded, “Okay, I’m desperate! You can have whatever you want as long as I don’t have to see Vala following me around with her smug look and listen to her tell me – ‘I told you so’! all night.”
“Bad breakup?” Cameron asked, keeping his face carefully neutral.
“I had to leave the country,” Daniel said sadly, the tone of his voice conveying resignation, fear, and exhaustion all at once.
Cameron laughed so hard that Tshaya had to give him a few hearty slaps on the back and give him another glass of tea just so he could clear his throat. “Okay, okay, I’ll do it but you owe me. Big time.”
“Wonderful!” Daniel smiled and his whole face glowed, reminding Cameron of the flush of excitement he felt when they’d first met. “I just need to know one more thing.”
“What’s that?” Cameron asked.
The sheepdog expression was back as Daniel dropped his voice, and asked plaintively, “What’s your name?”
part two
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2007-05-23 01:03 pm (UTC)Maaaaan, now I want to work on my Marriage of Convenience story. But I gotta write this other one first. *whine* But, I get to look forward to more of yours, so that's okay! \o/
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Date: 2007-05-23 02:26 pm (UTC)I love MoC stories. They are a total button pusher for me.
This one seems to have gotten off the beaten path though. I don't really do angst all that well, and that's one of my favorite parts of MoC.
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Date: 2007-05-23 03:05 pm (UTC)And I like this! A lot! Poor Daniel. And I like how Cameron seems to have a lot of humour.
Just a question though: What is a 'himbo'? Never heard this word before.
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Date: 2007-05-23 03:22 pm (UTC)A himbo is just a male version of the word "bimbo". Somebody hot, but most likely an airhead. It's just a stereotype that I think is hysterical.
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Date: 2007-05-23 05:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-24 02:00 am (UTC): )
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Date: 2007-05-23 06:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-24 02:06 am (UTC)I was a teeny bit afraid of people hating this Vala right off the bat, but I have plans for her. *cackles maniacally*
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Date: 2007-05-23 06:14 pm (UTC)Silly Daniel. 'What's your name?' *giggles more*
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Date: 2007-05-24 02:08 am (UTC)Thank you!
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Date: 2007-05-23 07:02 pm (UTC)I simply love how Daniel had to LEAVE THE COUNTRY after he and Vala broke up. Sometimes, I know exactly how that feels.
And I think I'll stop by that comm and check out some of the other fics.
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Date: 2007-05-23 07:12 pm (UTC)And somehow I ended up asking for a Firefly 'Verse claim.
Dude, I am a glutton for punishment.
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Date: 2007-05-24 02:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-24 02:29 am (UTC)I hope the mod approves my claim soon. I've written down a couple of bunnies for Jayne/River, Jayne/Kaylee (YES! Don't look so surprised), Jayne/Simon...and I have ideas for more.
Now, I jsut need to finish typing these two fics that are long overdue. One my first attemt at real femmeslash (Kaylee/River) and another Jayne/Kaylee OMFG!PRON!!!
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Date: 2007-05-24 02:39 pm (UTC)It's my first attempt at an actual community. Too bad it isn't going better... But you're definitely on the list over there.
Femme slash scares me. I'd really like to write some sort of Sam/Vala buddy!fic but alas, I have great intentions and no inspiration. Good luck on yours though!
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Date: 2007-05-24 06:08 pm (UTC)And as for Comms...tell me about it. I'm a Mod at
*shrug*
Live and learn.
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Date: 2007-05-24 06:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-24 02:11 am (UTC)Daniel and Vala have the oddest relationship ever. I might have to go back and figure out how they got together and then broke up. It would have to be quite a hilarious story.
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Date: 2007-05-24 02:31 am (UTC)Of course, I simply adore her character so that might have something to do with it.
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Date: 2007-05-24 02:44 pm (UTC)I agree about Sha're, Daniel and any other female just does not seem right, even though I know he's probably at peace with that part of his life now.
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Date: 2007-05-24 01:35 am (UTC)I am re-friending you for my new account.
Previously Falcon_lw
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Date: 2007-05-24 02:18 am (UTC)Vala is great to play with, even though sometimes what they do to her character on the episodes ticks me off. But you're right, they've really found a niche in SG-1 away from their Farscape characters.
Yay, new account!
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Date: 2007-05-24 02:51 am (UTC)WONDERFUL WORK!!!! Can't wait for the next part.
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Date: 2007-05-24 02:29 pm (UTC)Check out
: )
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Date: 2007-05-24 04:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 07:24 pm (UTC)Mind if I friend? This and your Mckay Mitchell stuff is just great.
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Date: 2007-06-03 11:43 am (UTC)Friend away! I love meeting new people! I'm just in a weird place without internet at home, so I post and comment slowly and randomly, but it'll get better.
: )