“So… tell me how this would work?”
“Uh.” Danny scratched the back of his neck. “I haven’t thought a lot about the exact details, but like… we’d start being seen in public together, maybe go to a few events and stuff. As if we were actually dating. In exchange, I’ll pay you.”
“Pay me?” Eliot asked.
A moment later, he felt stupid for it. Of course Danny was going to pay him. What else would he be getting out of this deal, since they were faking it?
Danny didn’t actually want him. He just wanted the image boost being seen with him would give him.
That stung. That stung a lot more than Eliot would have expected it to.
“Obviously,” Danny said. “Plus, I figure I can get you access to some connections you might not otherwise be able to talk to.”
“How much?” Eliot asked. He hated himself for it, but the ad revenue bonus he’d gotten for the online version of his article about Danny had paid for his car repairs.
It had really brought home how badly he needed the money. LA wasn’t cheap to live in. His rent alone was eating over half his paycheck most months, unless he got really lucky with a hit article.
None of them had ever performed as well as one simple interview with a guy people actually cared about. Eliot had barely realized that many people readanyarticle.
He understood now what Ben meant about taking opportunities.
“I was thinking five hundred a month, plus expenses.” Danny chewed on his lower lip.
Eliot got the impression he could push for more, but he didn’t want to seem greedy. Five hundred dollars more per month would solve all his problems, and then some.
“That’s a very generous offer,” he said.
Was he going to do this? On the one hand, it was a lot of money, and for very little effort. On the other hand, it did seem… morally grey.
But then, it was morally grey to ignore gay men unless they had cute boyfriends, too. It wasn’t as though it was actually going to hurt anyone. It was a lie, but as lies went, it wouldn’t even have been the worst one Eliot had ever told.
“So…” Danny trailed off. He looked so hopeful.
“Why me? Why not find an actual boyfriend?” Eliot asked. There was his curiosity again, getting in the way of taking a good deal at face value.
“Honestly?” Danny shifted, playing with his coffee cup. Neither of them had touched their coffee, and it was probably cold by now.
“I would prefer an honest answer. This is a big lie to tell for you,” Eliot said. Really, he just wanted the truth.
“I’m not ready,” Danny said. “I’m not ready to go look for love. I’ve wanted it for so long and I’ve never been allowed to have it. I can’t handle an actual romantic relationship now if I want to finish this season without embarrassing myself. I’d be needy and clingy and pathetic, and I know it.”
Eliot wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting to hear, but that wasn’t it. His heart clenched in his chest for Danny, for the quiet, defeated way he’d said all that.
He was a lonely man. More lonely than Eliot had first thought, even. It ran deep, and he wouldn’t even let himself look for relief from it.
This was a terrible idea. Pretending to date a guy he both had a crush on and felt sorry for could only end in tears.
But Eliot was only one more financial hit away from having to move back home with his tail between his legs. One busted refrigerator, one illness or injury, one rent hike. He needed the money more than Danny could possibly realize.
Desperate times, and all, as the saying went.
“Okay,” Eliot said. “Okay. We can do this.”
Danny blinked at him. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.” Eliot offered his hand. “You’ve got a deal.”
Danny shook his hand eagerly, relief written all over his face. “Thank you, man. You don’t know what this means to me. Do you want lunch, or something?”
