darker_london | Private Dancer (Quinn, Flynn)

Quinn walked back into the bedroom he occupied at the Wakefield house, to find Flynn perched cross-legged at the end of his bed, staring open-mouthed at his tiny TV. Sounds of pleasure were issuing forth from the idiot box, and Quinn stepped around the end of the bed so he could see what Flynn was watching. Only then did he recognise it as a porn video he had forgotten he owned years before. "Hah! Where did you find this?"

Flynn merely pointed to a shoe box on the floor and he continued to stare.

"Ooh, the shoe box of love!" Quinn dashed over to it and he picked it up from the carpet. It was covered in dust, though a few tiny patches were dust-free where Flynn's fingers had made their marks. Quinn opened it to find a few magazines and a very old, very empty bottle of lube. "Oh, this makes my high school experience look sad... Love in a shoe box..."

"I thought it was shoes..." Flynn muttered, still sounding horrified as he stared at the telly. On the screen, one man in army fatigues was giving another man head because he hadn't cleaned his tent thoroughly, even though Flynn was completely sure that wasn't acceptable army decorum. "That one kneeling on the floor keeps calling the other one Sarge. You know...when his mouth isn't occupied."

"Oh trust me, I know." Quinn laughed easily at the spectacle on screen. "In a minute he'll bend over the bed."

"Why?!" Flynn squeaked.

"Don't ask, don't tell." Quinn quipped quickly. "Where was the box?"

"Under the bed. I dropped my plectrum." Flynn pointed at his acoustic guitar he had clearly been playing when he dropped his plectrum. "And I bent over to get it and it was under there. I thought maybe you were missing some shoes, and you'd want them back."

"Ah, that's where I left it! I didn't miss it, but I did wonder. It's surprising it's still there. I bet you Mum found it while cleaning and she just put it back because she didn't want to say anything." Quinn chuckled. The idea of Maree's face upon finding Quinn's porn stash was very amusing.

"Why do you have a shoe box of love?" Flynn finally asked, tearing his eyes away from the screen as the Private did indeed strip off his fatigues and stretch out over his bunk.

Quinn's amused expression faded slightly then, but he shrugged. "It was easy."

"What?" Flynn was confused. And Quinn was usually much more verbose than that. Quinn's answer had actually been very typical of something Flynn would say, necessitating further questioning to get to the bottom of the topic at hand.

Quinn put the box on the bed and he crawled onto the mattress beside Flynn. "I was sent here, without you, and I didn't really want anyone else. It was just easy. Easier than falling in love with someone all over again. I was uhm...too afraid."

"You were too afraid to love?" Flynn whispered, as that sounded like the most horrible thing in the world, even though he himself had been through the very same thing. He had never thought of Quinn experiencing that. Once Quinn had been sent here, he had been surrounded by a loving family. Flynn had been on his own. He felt bad he hadn't thought of it.

"Yeah. I loved you and you were gone, and I didn't feel like going through that with someone else. I don't know. I think I was jaded at an early age." Quinn found it easy enough to smile now, though he certainly hadn't then. Now it was okay. He had his Mal back. "So you know...magazines and Private Dancer there..."

"But...didn't you have anyone?" Flynn himself hadn't really had anyone special, though he had slept with people. Lots of them. Some for money and some for the hell of it.

"Not in high school. Not until I went to Uni, actually. And then it was just a fling with Dorian. He was a actor. And then there was a girl for about a week. Selena. She was in my writing classes. I didn't really want anything with anyone. Both Dorian and Selena were the ones who started things, not me. And I was the one who ended them because I couldn't be bothered. I was quite happy without it. I think...Jade was the first person I ever connected to like that. She was the only one, really, who I might have..." Quinn trailed off. Jade was dead and it still hurt to think of her. He was relieved when Flynn didn't leave him there, floundering for words.

"Loved." He said, easily enough. "I get that. Jade was wonderful. I just...I guess I didn't realise you were..." Flynn sighed. He hadn't realised Quinn hadn't been interested in an intimate relationship with anyone after him. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. It was my choice. I didn't have to have a shoe box of love instead of a person. It was just easier than intimacy I was too afraid to open myself up for. I guess it is sad but, you know...not in a pathetic way." Quinn paused. "...right?"

Flynn chuckled then at the adorable look on Quinn's face. "Right."

Assured, Quinn grinned. "So, how do you like Sargent Cox, there?"

Flynn turned back to the telly and he shrugged. "I dunno. It's confusing."

Quinn laughed out loud. "Confusing?!"

"Yeah. I mean, he's all happy because some jerk tells him to give him a blow job as punishment? That's not realistic. And wouldn't the Sargent get kicked out for that?"

Quinn raised his eyebrows. "I don't know, Mal..."

"And Private Dancer just lies down on the cot then, all 'oh take me Sargent Cox' and he does, not even caring that he's messing up the bed he just got in trouble for not having made correctly. The characterisation is non-existent. I think it's bollocks."

"You are so adorable." Quinn said, taking Flynn's face in both his hands and kissing his nose.

"Really?" Flynn blushed immediately, and he looked down, hiding beneath his eyelashes.

"Oh yes." Quinn kissed him again, this time on the lips. "And hey...I have you now. I don't need a shoe box of love anymore. Nor do I need this video." Quinn turned off the television and he climbed up into Flynn's lap. He leaned forward to nibble Flynn's ear and he smile as Flynn shivered below him. "Hmm?"

"Mmmmm." Was Flynn's only response before a pause. And then he said, "as long as you don't call me Private Dancer."

Quinn's laughter was quickly silenced by Flynn's lips as he kissed him.