Danny wasn't comfortable here.

This wasn't where he belonged.

But what could he do? This is what Lute had told him to do. To come here. To the Wandschrank.

When he'd told Lute he didn't want to have sex with her, he'd blurted the first thing that came to mind: "I'm not attracted to girls!"

He got the reaction he expected.

She gave him a look of shock and anger, with just a pinch of pain thrown into the mix. He'd felt really bad about it, especially when she'd gotten up and stormed from the room, her disappointment handing over her head like a thundercloud. She'd ignored him for two days, which had left him lonely at lunch since she was his only friend with that lunch hour (Angelo and Jake both had fifth lunch to spite him).

Then, this morning, she'd sat next to him and grinned.

"I figured that if it's not me, at least it's not some poser like Sammy or Cindy." she scowled for a moment, then looked up and smiled at him. "I did a little research and found this." She held up a small, white piece of paper, and he took it, confused. As he opened it, she explained. "It's a gay/lesbian club. If you're not attracted to girls you're attracted to boys. You might meet someone nice."

He'd blushed as he'd read the information: The Wandschrank. Located on 44th street, just past the blues/swing/jazz club, Coconut Champagne, that he'd met Lute at.

Hell, his girlfriend… sorry, ex-girlfriend… had even gone as far as to help him choose an outfit: gray tennis shoes, blue jeans, and a sky blue vintage tee. She'd also fluffed out his hair, making his curls more noticeable.

"You look cute." She'd assured before they parted ways that night, her to Coconut Champagne and him to the Wandschrank. "You'll do fine." There was obvious disappointment in her voice, and Danny wanted to hug her tight; he did love her. "Trust me."

And he did trust her, even though he was sitting alone on this tawny vinyl barstool, drinking a virgin piña colada and watching girls dance with girls, and guys pretend they were only here to see the lesbians, even though half of them were holding hands with another guy.

"Are you new?"

He spun around, surprised. Behind him was a pretty boy with red-rimmed eyes and a cigarette dangling from his thin lips. Bright red bangs stood out against dark brown hair and hung in thunderstorm eyes that seemed to see Danny into the deepest depths of his existence.

This made him blush. "Yeah… I only just… came out."

"To your family, your friends, or yourself?"

"My friends." Then, as an afterthought: "And myself."

The boy smiled, and Danny saw a brilliant glow come from somewhere in his eyes. "Got a name?"

"Danny."

"I mean a nickname. We all have nicknames here." He smiled at Danny again. "Like my real name is Isaac, but they call me Skittery."

"Oh," Danny replied, feeling a little stupid.

"So you got a nickname we can use?"

Danny thought on it. "Sometimes, my girlfriend calls me Snitch." Then he winced. "Ex-girlfriend. Just friend now."

Skittery smiled. "Yup. You're new. Welcome to the Wandschrank and the gay lifestyle." He took the barstool next to Danny and ordered a strawberry daiquiri while Danny studied him.

"You like?"

Danny considered. Skittery was a very pretty boy: tall, lanky, dressed well in a black duster, red muscle tee, and khakis over brown loafers, with a silver ring in his ear, a silver cross at his neck, and a gold ring on his finger.

"I like." Danny said finally with a shy smile.

"Good." Skittery responded, sipping at his drink. "I like too."

"I would hope so. People should be happy with themselves." Danny sipped his drink as well, trying to look a bit more at ease than he felt here. Then Skittery laughed, and Danny felt a sensation of melting into warmth. That laughter brought good memories bubbling to the surface of Danny's mind: staying up late, watching Adam Sandler movies with his little sister; A silly string fight with Angelo, Jake and Danny versus Lute and her friends, Casey and Corey; playing on the swings after junior prom… with Lute…

"Hey, you okay?" Skittery shook Danny's shoulder, bringing him crashing from his memories with a mental 'thud'. "Hey, Snitch, you okay?"

Danny blushed and kept his attention on his drink. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just… the smoke. It's getting to me."

Skittery grinned and put his own cigarette out. "It's really no wonder they call us fags; a good half of us are gonna die of frickin' lung cancer."

Danny frowned. "What does smoking have to do with the term 'fag'?"

"'Fag' is also slang for a cigarette." Skittery finished his drink and ordered a glass of water. "Snitch, you mentioned a girlfriend before. She here?"

Danny grinned at the absurdity of Lute in a gay/lesbian bar. She'd had girlfriends before, but decided boys were 'just ever-so-much sexier!' "No, she's next door, at Coconut Champagne."

"She bring you here?"

"Yeah. Why? Does it matter?"

"No." Skittery grinned that glowing grin again and drank his water. "Why'd you date a girl?"

"'Cause…" Danny thought about it. "We met at Coconut Champagne, trying to get into the floor band. She played trumpet, and I played sax. We really hit it off while waiting for our auditions." He pushed his now empty glass away and smiled. "When I found out she went to my school, I was desperate enough to ask her to go to Junior Prom with me, which was two weeks away, and she was desperate enough to say yes. After the dance, she took me to the park instead of to a hotel room or a restaurant. We had a lot more fun than some of the other people." He sighed. "I asked her to be my girlfriend that night."

Skittery nodded. "How long were you with her?"

"A year."

"Wow." Skittery drank from his water. "Long time for a gay-in-denial."

Danny frowned. "I was never in denial. I really love Lute." He didn't catch his use of present tense. "It's just that…"

"It's just that the thought of sex with her scares you. Right?"

Danny blushed. "Exactly."

"Well, did it ever occur to you that maybe it isn't her? Maybe it's you?"

"Never occurred to me." Danny considered, a little surprised.

"Okay then. Think about having sex with me. Turned on?"

To his own surprise, Danny wasn't. Thinking about it just made him blush and want to change the subject.

Skittery smiled at his silence. "Thought not." He took a drink. "Were you attracted to her? Physically?"

Danny thought about it. She wasn't the type to win a beauty pageant, no, not with her dull, brown hair, the slightly pudgy area around her waist and her pear shaped body… but when she smiled, you couldn't help but smile with her. And that on it's own was beautiful to Danny. "Yes. I guess I am. Was."

Again, Skittery smiled at Danny's troubles. "I understand now."

"Explain it to me, then." Danny sighed. "'Cause I have no clue what's wrong with me."

"It's easy." Skittery began. "You're in love with Lute, but afraid to go all the way." He sipped his drink thoughtfully. "Maybe you're bisexual, as you are honestly attracted to me, but your feelings for her are stronger, that's why you don't want to break her."

"That makes no sense."

"Think on it. Sex can be both a physical and a spiritual experience. The physical experience is what happens between drink teenagers, whores, pimps and the like. The spiritual experience is what happens between two people who are truly in love with each other." Skittery paused to order a Coke, which he promptly gave to Danny as soon as it arrived. "Your problem is that you love her so deeply, you're afraid the sex will be all physical, and that would be a disappointment. But that's not true. Not true at all." He smiled. "That's your problem. In a nutshell."

Danny stared at him, absently drinking the Coke. "How do you know all this?"

"I'm not what you think I am."

"I think you're a gay teenager with psychic powers."

Skittery laughed. "I'm what's called a fairy godfather. One of few, inspired by a guy named Melvin." He sighed, finally losing that glowing smile he'd had throughout the entire conversation. "I'm dead. Killed by a pair of jocks that thought I'd looked at them funny. They beat my head in with a brick." He fingered his red bangs with glazed nostalgia in his eyes, and Danny shuddered.

"That's awful… but…"

"Don't believe me?" Skittery's smile returned, amused. "Take a drink." he said, nodding at the glass of Coke. Danny frowned, then took a drink.

"Oh!" he cried, almost dropping the glass. "It's strawberry soda!" After studying the beverage again and deciding it still looked like Coke, he took another drink. "My God, it's strawberry soda!"

Skittery was grinning with sheer delight. "Your favorite."

"How did you do that? How did you know? How did you do that?"

"Told you already. I'm a fairy godfather."

Danny stared at him for a moment, looked at the drink in his hands, then stood up, placing the glass on the counter. "Why are you here?"

"To guide you."

"Guide me where?"

"To where you belong."

"And where's that?"

Skittery stood up and put his hand on the small of Danny's back. He pushed him towards the door, the sparkle in his thunderstorm eyes glowing brighter with each confident step.

"Think over what I've told you tonight." Skittery commanded softly. Danny was positive the flow in his smile had spread to every pore of his body. "Then decide for yourself." He opened the door and shoved Danny into the fresh, cool night air, which was a great relief on Danny's face. The teenager turned to thank his godfather but was surprised to find he'd disappeared, and there was no sign of him in the diminishing crowd.

Danny stood in the doorway, neither in nor out of the Wandschrank, until he finally took a step and walked away, towards Coconut Champagne next door.

A homeless man sitting on the sidewalk watched Danny pass. That kid was the one here earlier… he thought, with that chubby chick… but he's walking different. Like he knows where he's going now…

And he did know.

Lute was surprised when Danny appeared next to her, his shoulders bouncing to 'Chattanooga Choo-Choo'. "What are you doing here?"

"Met someone nice." Danny said with a smartass grin.

"Came to show him off?" No one could miss such blatant disappointment. It made Danny's smile widen.

"No. He was an angel, but he wasn't my kind of angel. I already have my kind of angel." When Lute looked up at him, her green eyes wide, he stopped bouncing and took her hand. "The someone nice I met in the Wandschrank helped me sort out where I belong." He kissed Lute's cheek. "I took you to junior prom. Can I take you to senior prom too?"

"If you're not gay."

"Not gay. Not fully, anyway." He added with a sheepish grin.

"That works, I guess." She smiled at him as the band started to play 'Attitude Dance'. "I might go to senior prom with you if you dance with me right now."

Danny grinned and squeezed her hand as he led her to the dance floor. "Happy to."

Danny was comfortable here.

This was where he belonged.

***AUTHOR'S NOTE***

Okay… ^_^;

Originally, this was gonna be a Snitch/Skitts story.

Then I got another idea.

I had to change practically the ENTIRE THING.

If you look at my rough draft, it's got all these sexy descriptions and such… but I went back through it and crossed them out and fixed it so it would be easier to do this.

I don't know. SHUT UP.

Oh yeah, I mentioned Melvin? That's a character from Bruce Coville's short story 'Am I Blue?' in the 'Am I Blue?' collection of Gay/Lesbian stories. Good stuff. Go check it out.

NOTES:

Wandschrank: German for 'Closet'. XD I'm so silly.

Coconut Champagne: A song the jazz band played last night. XD It was too cool.

Next story will be slash. AHAHAHAH, Shortie! XD XD XD

Chow!