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.