Boldly Burning: Nicolai & Skulker's Mystical Romance

“Danny,” Skulker said, “I think I’m falling in love with you.”

Danny was lying on his side, facing away from Skulker, curled into a ball. He paused for several seconds before answering in a quiet voice, “That’s a shame, because I don’t feel the same way. I don’t know if I ever will.”

Skulker lay flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling. He cleared his throat. “Is there someone else?”

Danny didn’t reply right away. When he finally did, he said, “No. There isn’t anyone else. You are... you are very interesting to me and I enjoy your company immensely. You make me laugh. And feel safe in my own home when it doesn’t even belong to me anymore. But that’s all this is, Skulker. Friendship and attraction and nothing more than that. And that is not enough for me to fall in love with you because I know what kind of person you are at heart, and it isn’t good enough for me to give you my feelings like some sort of Valentine Day gift or something equally as lame like that because I deserve better than that and if I can give myself some more time and space maybe I can figure out what those feelings should be and who they should be directed towards and the last thing I want to do is hurt you in any way because if anything happened to you then Danny would never forgive himself for causing it so please don”— Danny cut himself off there and rolled over on his stomach so he could face Skulker as he said, “Please don’t say things like that again or ask questions like that again because it makes me feel like shit after being with you all night long like this and not wanting today to end but at the same time feeling incredibly grateful to have been given such a wonderful experience all while keeping one eye open the entire time just in case something bad happened or someone showed up or an emergency situation unfolded or whatever else so maybe next time we can just have another date night instead of bringing this subject up because yes, it might make us both feel a bit better about things but it does no favours for either of us in the long run and God knows how much more stressful things could get once Vlad finds out about this relationship between the two of us which by the way is his fault anyway."

The atmosphere between them was suddenly strained by Danny's outburst; the temperature dropped as well as Skulker's peripheral vision became blurry and he went into shock at what he had done earlier that morning which now seemed like ages ago when Danny had first mentioned Vlad's name since then they had been too caught up in their passions to think about him but now here they were having this confrontation which only made everything seem worse than it already was although there was something darkly humorous about the situation considering how genuinely curious Skulker had been about becoming more intimate with Danny during their 'date night' but now there wasn't anything funny about their impromptu argument which only made everything seem worse than it already was but despite that Skulker smiled faintly as Danny retracted his words which had hurt him more than he wanted to admit but at least now he knew how Danny really felt about him which was important information for him to have so he couldn't be too mad at him for what he said to him earlier even though there was still something sour inside of him which told him otherwise but regardless of whether or not he felt upset with Danny's choice of words they were both naked together where they had spent hours earlier kissing and touching each other so why did things have to change now after everything that they've been through together tonight?

"It's okay," Skulker whispered back softly while holding onto Danny's hand tightly. "I'll try my best to understand."