hackthis_archive | O11 – The Cooldown

It is a shrewd and cunning individual who can say 'I'll write you something' and then somehow convince you to write something for them. I'm telling you,

ethrosdemon is evol! But she's my girl, so what can you do? Plus

serialkarma said, 'Look!

yahtzee63 is holding an AFI quote challenge!' I couldn't help myself.

Improv: stammer, highball, c-note, lettuce.

Ocean's 11
Danny/Rusty

The Cooldown

8:29 pm

The problem with hanging out in ventilation shafts is that they never make them roomy enough for two people to lay side-by-side comfortably. Someone should look into that, and then Rusty wouldn't have to spoon against Danny's flack jacket. Not that they are spooning. That wouldn't be acceptable at all. They're just working. This is just a job. Rusty's not thinking about warm beds and rumpled sheets. He's not thinking about room service and grade-A hamburgers or warm, crisp French fries that are hot on the inside and slathered in salt and catsup. No, not at all. He can't help it that his stomach growls -- it has to be better than thrusting a hard-on against Danny's ass at a time like this.

"Shhh," Danny says.

Rusty scowls even though Danny can't see it. "I'm not telling my stomach to growl on purpose," he whispers.

"I thought you ate already."

There's not enough room for Rusty to shrug. "I did. Twice."

"Then why are you hungry?"

"I didn't say I was hungry."

"You didn't have to."

8:45 pm

Danny's hair is getting long in the back. He needs a haircut. "You need a haircut," Rusty whispers. Danny's hair flutters from Rusty's smooth exhalations, but Danny doesn't twitch at all. Rusty's not sure there's even room for Danny to twitch if he wanted to.

"I just had a haircut last week. I went to Reuben's stylist." Danny's voice is quiet; it should echo in the tunnel, but it doesn’t. Danny never does what he's supposed to; it drives Rusty crazy. No stammering or stuttering even though Rusty is literally breathing down his neck. It's a nice neck. Smooth, warm, and marked by a huge love bite.

"That explains it," Rusty says matter-of-factly.

"That explains what?"

"Nothing."

"I hate it when you say nothing."

"Stop getting distracted. Don't you have some diamonds to steal or something?"

"What's this 'you' business? Did you become an independent contractor in the last sixteen minutes?"

"We -– I meant we."

11:38 pm

The problem with doing a con isn't the con itself. Rusty doesn't lose sleep worrying about logistics or munitions (although keeping Basher out of jail is a job in, and of, itself) or drivers or greasemen. He could lose sleep over these things, but his sleep patterns depend more on his eating habits than anything else. As long as he eats regularly, nothing really phases Rusty, so all he has to do is eat at regular intervals and everything is fine. When Rusty doesn't get to eat then bad things happen. Right now Rusty is hungry, and a hungry Rusty is an unhappy Rusty, and an unhappy Rusty trapped on the 405 in Friday night traffic is not a good thing.

He can feel Danny's eyes boring into the side of his head. "You're not driving on the shoulder," Danny says.

Rusty just nods.

"I'm serious, Rus, don't do it. We don't need to be pulled over by the cops.

Rusty nods again.

"Don't nod," Danny says crisply.

Rusty just glances at him out the corner of his right eye. There's a In-and-Out just off the exit. It's not even an 1/8th of a mile. Rusty wants a hamburger. "I'm hungry," he says pointedly.

"Rusty. No."

11:45 pm

Rusty hates the LAPD, but he loves female cops.

Even better, they love him.

12:23 pm

The problem with iceberg lettuce is the water content -– iceberg lettuce is all water, and frankly, if Rusty wanted a water sandwich he could've just left the bread and bacon out of it all together. It's wrong to insult good food this way. The fries are good though. Rusty loves the fries from In-and-Out.

The milkshakes are only okay though. It's not really a chocolate milkshake if you've just added Hershey's syrup.

He shakes the box and holds it out to Danny. "Do you want a fry?" he asks.

Danny just glares.

He takes two.

12:53 pm

Rusty likes living at the Standard. It's clean and trendy and close to everything. Everyone knows where the Standard on Sunset is. It's hard to miss –- kind of like Rusty. "Thanks, Victor," Rusty says, slipping a c-note into the hand of the valet.

A hundred dollars can buy you a lot of things from valet parking, like a car that doesn't get scratched 'by accident' or a head turned the other way when you unload three silver attaché cases, two harnesses, and a bag of fast food trash.

A hundred dollars can even get two highballs and a medium rare steak delivered to your room after the kitchen is closed.

1:12 am

Rusty's always keyed up after a con. He has to eat, and wash, and then eat again. And then there's the sex; it helps to have sex after a con. This is why Rusty likes working with Danny; Danny understands that Rusty needs these things. He's the only person Rusty knows who doesn't get offended when Rusty stops mid-blowjob to let in room service.

2:08 am

Rusty's head is hanging off the edge of the bed because he's bored, and all the blood is rushing to his head and making it hard to breathe. He's bored and tired and sticky and naked. The sheets are sticking to him in weird places like the crease of his thigh and the small of his back.

"Are you bored?" Danny legs are really hairy from upside down. Of course they're hairy from right side-up too, but since Rusty's hanging upside down, his point of view is a bit skewed. "You look bored."

"I am bored," Rusty admits, rolling over onto his stomach. There's a white towel wrapped around Danny's waist, and he's still damp from his shower. Rusty's eyebrow climbs upward instinctively. "Okay, I was bored," he says, pushing himself up onto his knees, his dick hardening rapidly. "I'm not bored anymore."

2:26 am

There's a Bogart movie on cable. Rusty could probably use a shower, but it's Bogart. He likes Bogart. Bogart had style. "I don't mind if you don't like my manners. I don't like them myself. They're pretty bad. I grieve over them long winter evenings," he quotes over the voices on the television.

Danny looks over at him from the other side of the bed. He's got one of those jeweler eyepieces stuck into the socket of his left eye, and it makes his eye look the size of an eight ball. "Uh huh," Danny says before going back to inspecting the diamonds.

"It's The Big Sleep," Rusty says.

"You should take the hint," Danny says looking pointedly at the bed beneath them.

3:26 am

It's five hours post-show, and the cops haven't come barging in yet. Rusty can sleep now. He just needs something before bed. He calls the front desk. "Room service? Yeah, can you send up a bowl of Jell-o with whipped cream? And some fruit. Oh, and some hot chocolate."

Danny slumps further down the headboard and shakes his head from side to side. "Actually, can you just give me the whole can of whipped cream?"

4:15 am

Rusty's feet are cold. "You're hogging the blankets," he says, poking Danny in the side. "Stop hogging all the blankets."

"There's perfectly good room next door," Danny says pointedly, even though he relinquishes some of his hold on the duvet.

Rusty makes a derisive noise and elbows Danny in the back as he rolls over on his stomach. "Yeah, but what's the point in being a team if you sleep by yourself?"

Danny doesn't say anything, but he does burrow closer. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

Rusty can feel Danny laughing against the side of his arm. "Remember that the next time we go through drive-thru and you don't get enough for me."

"I didn't know you were hungry."

"Rus, it's impossible to be around you and not eat."

"I must be my magnetic personality."

"Yeah, well, whatever it is, tomorrow we're cutting back on the whipped cream."

-end-

Dedicated to

ethrosdemon. Some dialogue misappropriated from the film.

Inspired by Quote #13 and #17 from Detour and The Big Sleep respectively.