Links to other sites on the Web
Fic Page
Previous Chapter
Character Page
A/N: Disclaimer! I know nothing at all of Cruise Y Cruz and do not think for a moment that I do! This is fiction every last drop of it! Oh and Max Kelly does not exist, I made him up and if there ever was a sports writer named Max Kelly hells bells I don’t mean any sort of similarity to such person living or dead! And the Denver Blue Stars never existed either.
Chapter 78: Danny X—The Land of Nuts and Fruits—Beautiful Boy
"Wow," Danny said peering at the ratty, frizzed, moth holed sweater in the case. "So that’s really King Clancy’s old jersey?"
"Yeah," Cruise said. "It really is, I was blown away when I touched it for the first time, it smells terrible but wow, when your fingers touch the cloth, you can actually feel a charge of the past just, whoosh! Buzz right into ya!"
Danny took a deep sip from his drink and stared at the glass case. "Wow," he finally said.
"You wanna touch it?" Tom asked and Danny met his gaze and swallowed another drink. It was amazing the way things go sometimes and he could not believe the way the past twelve hours had gone. Blake’s goaltending, underage prostitutes and now talking about old hockey jerseys with Tom Cruise? Having a drink made by him?
"Nah," Danny said. "Not if it smells bad, it’s enough to look at it. Where’d ya get it?"
"Oh a friend of mine in Toronto got it off of someone who found it rotting in their attic, great piece I gotta tell ya," Tom said.
Danny finished off the drink and nodded. "Amazing," he said.
"Hey," Tom said. "Maybe someday we’ll be long gone and two shmucks just like us will be gazing at one of your old jerseys just like this."
Danny laughed and so did Tom, that deep-throated laugh that Tom was famous for. "No, no, no," Danny said. "I don’t think I’ll be nearing any legendary status anytime soon. Maybe all my other teammates, but not me. They don’t give awards for ice pests."
Tom raised his eyebrows and met eyes with Danny again. Danny could feel a warm blushing on his cheeks but he decided that the drink was to blame for that. "You never know," Tom said seriously, losing the laugh and smile. "All it takes is one brilliant moment, one brilliant game, and like that, you’ll have a division named for you in forty years."
Danny swallowed and looked into his empty glass, he suddenly felt embarrassed and awkward. "Yeah," he said quietly.
As he stood there looking down, noticing the dark color of the carpet, Danny could feel Tom still looking at him. Now what? How did one entertain a world class celebrity?
"Hey," Danny said quickly, looking back at Tom, "I have a friend...eh Teammate I mean, he collects old jerseys and shit. He’d definitely flip over that jersey. He has tons of old stuff in his basement, collects hockey cards from like... early 1900’s."
"Wow," Tom said, nodding his head slowly. "Sounds great, maybe I should meet him sometime when I’m in Colorado. I have a house in Aspen, I should drop by."
"Well, you should know of him," Danny said gesturing a bit with his glass. "Patrick Roy?"
For a moment Tom paused, looking at Danny out of the corner of his eyes almost and Danny felt awkward all over again. Had he said something wrong? And then Tom broke into a laugh again, his eyes squinting some as he did.
"Yeah," he said. "Sure I know of him, ‘Hey I got this friend some guy named Patrick Roy’ hahaha that’s priceless."
Danny smiled. "Hey come on, I’m sure if we were talking about your circle it’d be like for you, ‘hey that old guy? That’s just Bobby de Niro!’"
Gradually, Tom stopped laughing and he nodded, wiping a tear from his eye. "Sure," he said. "Just like that I guess. So tell me, what’s old Patty like? I hear he likes his fun!"
"Yeah," Danny said carefully, not meeting Tom’s gaze. "He’s just a crazy Quebecois goalie."
"Aren’t they all," Tom said softly.
Another awkward silence ensued and Danny shuffled his feet, looking at the carpet again as Tom cleared his throat. Suddenly, Danny began to wonder what Tangers was doing with Penelope. That wash of excitement poured all over him again, Alex was alone in a room with Penelope Cruz! How cool was that, and here he was with Tom. Maybe he should ask for an autograph, he knew that Cecile was a catalogue of every Tom Cruise movie there ever was, she would just die of... On, second thought, Danny decided, maybe she shouldn’t have an autograph.
"Well," Danny said, realizing that Tom was just standing there, that they were just standing there. "Thanks for showing me the jersey, that was really cool...."
"Hold on," Tom said putting his hand on Danny’s arm. "Wait a sec..."
Danny looked up at Tom and at the soft expression on his face, Danny felt an uncomfortable twinge. Something was odd. "Tangers," he said quietly. "He’s all alone with your girlfriend and.. and..."
"Hey you know about Max Kelly?" Tom said, letting go of Danny’s arm and taking a step back for him. Danny glanced at the door and noticed that Tom wasn’t blocking it in any way... but why was he nervous all of a sudden? It had to be the drink!
"Um.." Danny said looking up at the ceiling. "I don’t really recall much about Max Kelly... when did he play?"
"Oh he wasn’t a player," Tom said. "He was a sports writer for the Denver Blue Stars, you know that expansion team from the fifties."
Danny thought for a moment, forgetting his momentary nervousness and he brought the image to mind. "Oh yeah," he said. "That team lasted what.... two, three seasons?"
"Four," Tom said. "Lasted as long as their goaltender. Anyway, Max Kelly used to follow the team everywhere and write all the articles on them."
"Sure," Hinote said. "Why does that sound familiar... hey didn’t he like rape a girl or what?"
Twisting his mouth a bit, Tom shrugged. "Maybe," he said. "See she was the mistress of the goalie, I forget his name all of a sudden, and Kelly was real antagonistic to her... he didn’t want her wrecking the guy’s marriage, shit like that. He confronted her about it, tried to get her to leave and then... he died."
"Oh yeah," Danny said, nodding and holding out his finger, remembering the hockey tales he’d heard as a junior. "The old fart had a heart attack after he attacked her, died on the sidewalk."
Tom nodded a slight smile on his face.
"Sure I remember," Danny said. "What’s so special about that?"
"I’m a scientific man, Danny," Tom said and then he held his hand out to him. "Can I call you Danny?"
Danny nodded, that odd feeling coming over him again.
"And as a scientific man, I look at a story like that and I think cause, effect and outcome." Tom held both of his hands out as a mime does when he imitates touching a pane of glass.
"Right," Danny said slowly, really feeling uncomfortable, "Sounds smart."
"It is," Tom said. "You see if you apply that sort of thinking, it really helps your life. Look at Max Kelly. The man was in love."
"In love?" Danny said, "He raped the woman he loved?"
"No," Tom said. "Not with Dinah, he hated her. It was that goalie he was in love with... God what was his name?"
"OK," Danny said. He really wanted to leave now.
"He was in love with the man, and probably had been in love with countless men before but he never, ever acted out on his feeling, always denied his feelings." There was a completely dead set earnest look in Tom’s eyes now and Danny couldn’t avoid the eye contact with him. "He repressed himself, Danny." Tom took a step closer to him and Danny took a step back. "He denied the yearnings of his heart and it ate and ate..." Tom got even closer to him and Danny couldn’t back any further cause he was stopped by a piece of furniture. "....and ate at him until he became this desperate older man, loving this goalie chastely from afar and finally, his repression exploded into this horrible crime that killed him that very day he released it."
"Oh," Danny laughed nervously.
"Repression, Danny." Tom said putting his hands on his shoulders. "Repression is what kills us all, makes us old, makes us bitter and afraid. If you have no inhibitions, if you have no repression, then you have no fear, and you become... younger."
Danny’s lungs were hurting from holding his breath, Tom’s hands were burning but he resisted the strong urge to shrug them away. "Oh," Danny said. "Um I guess that works... I mean... you don’t look a day over twenty-five... so it works for you huh?"
A dazzling smile spread over Tom’s face and he nodded. "Yeah it works for me. I have no inhibitions, when I see something or someone that just.." he squeezed harder on Danny’s shoulders, "grabs me I take it! I don’t deny myself what my eye covets. And look at me! Look at you!"
"Look at me?" Danny repeated, "What?"
Tom removed one hand from Danny’s shoulder and he brushed it slowly down Danny’s cheek. "You’re such a beautiful boy," Tom said. "You do know that? It would be a shame to let such beauty just dry and whither away because you consistently deny what you crave."
"Uh...." Danny said shrugging off Tom’s touch. "I think I better be going it’s late and...."
Before Danny could finish the sentence, Tom placed his hands on his cheeks and threw Danny into shock and denial, into an amazing swirl of fear and anger by pressing his mouth against his. So shocked was Danny that he stood cold and numb for a moment, his mouth going limp and that provided enough to allow Tom’s tongue to slip in, his breath hot and his arms slid down around Danny’s arms encircling him. Still, Danny couldn’t move he was just that scared. No man had ever touched him like this, he had never imagined that any man would!
This isn’t happening! Danny kept thinking over and over. I’m going to wake up! This is only a nightmare!
Tom pulled back from him, a loud wet smacking sound as he broke the kiss. Danny closed his eyes, he didn’t want to see Tom’s expression. "Wake up Danny!" he muttered. "Wake up!"
"This isn’t a dream," Tom whispered into his ear, his tongue touching it briefly. "This is real!"
With a light shove, Tom pressed his hands on Danny, and Danny easily fell down onto the soft recliner behind him. His eyes were still closed and he simply couldn’t move.
"I’ll make this something you’ll never regret," Tom said. "Just lie back, I’ll do everything."
Danny’s mouth fell open a bit and he tried to shut his eyes even tighter as Tom’s damp lips pressed against his neck. This wasn’t happening! His brain screamed. It’s impossible. And then there was the horror of each and every button on his shirt being opened and a quick, sharp kiss on his skin with each one unloosened. Goosebumps were springing up all over his body and then the final repugnant horrors of Tom’s mouth just over his belly button and his fingers unzipping his fly.
"Jesus!" Danny screamed and he jumped to his feet, shoving Tom aside and dashing towards the door.
"Come back!" Tom yelled. "You don’t have to be afraid!"
"No!" Danny yelled.
"But the repression!" Tom yelled. "Think of the repression!"
Danny stopped with his hand on the doorknob, and he looked back at Tom. The man was so pale and young and perfect looking. "I’ll take my chances," Danny said. "I’m a hockey player. Our faces are gonna get mashed to shit anyway."
Links to other sites on the Web
Fic Page
Previous Chapter
Character Page