Re: Danny/Flack #5 - Kinka-Poodles Don't Cuddle....Or Do The
Hmm, I haven't posted in here since the 17th. A bit neglectful, methinks.
However, I will now make it up to you with more than a thousand words in a single post. Yayness!
Hmmm, it seems we're reiterating the same issues, which makes me sad because it reminds me we've had nada Danny/Flack scenes for ages now.
When pursuing one possibility, a lot of other possibilities fall by the wayside. I like it when the canon leaves us endless possibilities instead of forcing us to wonder what we might do if one of the characters were to cheat. I'd personally rather enjoy what time we still have without having to consider these things, rather than immediately jumping into them before there is a need, but meh. Relationships aren't always hunky dory and peachy keen.
For me, everything is possible until canon limits the possibilities. The very nature of this type of speculation and discussion makes it inevitable that everything you say or think will most likely become obsolete and/or impossible at some point. We don't know if Flack has any siblings, so we can create them to our hearts' content until the show has one little line that defines his family and
poof, all of that fanfic is automatically against canon or AU--one line is all it takes. *shrug* I see other relationships the same way.
We've been able, since season one, to define Danny and Flack's relationship however we wanted, to choose for ourselves when things started and how they progressed and where they are now, not to mention everything in between. We could choose if they were living together, if they'd chosen to make a more formal commitment to each other, and anything else that occurred to us. As time goes on, however, canon is starting to close in.
Now, unless we choose to disregard canon entirely (which is a possibility some people will choose, I'm sure
), we have to make do with what they give us. So, in my opinion, that leaves two options--either continue with the relationship that we've created in our minds, and consider infidelity; or redefine the relationship. Neither possibility is more valid than the other, I'm just putting them both out there.
However, that's not the point of this discussion.
So I'll assume for the moment that they've been in a relationship prior to the current point in the season.
1. If Danny cheated, Don would feel utterly betrayed. And given the betrayal by people that he's trusted in recent years, I can't imagine that he would take it well. The other people who have betrayed him haven't considered how their actions would affect Don, but if Danny were to cheat he would do so knowing
exactly what it would do to him. If Danny is unhappy with Don, wants to try something else, etc--he'd be much better off hurting Don by breaking up with him. Honesty is better in this situation, IMO.
2. I can't see Don wanting to give Danny back his trust easily. He might accept him back in some way, but that deep level of trust would be
gone. Don would have to look at Danny and know that nothing he does, no amount of love and devotion, can guarantee that Danny won't betray him again. Consider what Don has done for Danny so far--if he would cheat on Don after all of
that, then Don would be well within his rights to feel that granting Danny any kind of trust isn't worth the possibility of pain.
3. If Don didn't take Danny back, then Danny would have to feel guilty and blame himself for the fact that Don is with someone else. Ultimately, in a close professional relationship, that kind of personal baggage could cause major problems. At some point, the tension would boil over.
Now, let's switch things around. Our interpretation of the canon has nothing to do with what actually happens on the show, so we can't put all of this blame on Danny for being the puppet on the strings. (Although it would be nice if the fandom could remain no-strings-attached.)
So, the same questions, considering if Flack cheated on Danny:
1. Danny doesn't place trust easily, and for Don to earn his trust and then toss it aside like that would wound Danny very deeply. He would be hurt and confused about why Don would put so much time, effort and love into their relationship, and into gaining Danny's trust, only to betray it for someone else. However, I don't really see Flack as the cheating kind--nor do I see Danny cheating on someone who truly loves him, but that's not the point of the questions.
2. I'm not sure Danny is always willing to give second chances when it comes to trust. With Louie, he learned that he'd felt betrayed because of miscommunication and secrecy--with Don, he would feel betrayed by a deliberate abuse of that trust. While Danny will give Louie another chance and even feel guilty for having a reasonable reaction all of these years, with Don I get the feeling that he would only begin to feel that he'd been the fool for all of this time. Could Don really make amends for building such a strong foundation with Danny and then taking a sledgehammer to it? Probably not.
3. Don would feel guilty, and while it would hurt him, if he loved Danny in the first place, and as strongly as we feel that he does, he would put his own feelings on the back burner because he would want Danny to be happy.
Now, of course, all of that was taking into account that the cheating would be intentional--not a drunken one-night-stand with Sally or Jeff from the lab.
While all of this could make for great realistic fanfic, I think I'd rather gravitate toward the possibility that offers less pain and more hope--namely, putting my already-completed fanfics lovingly to the side (and calling them AU if someone demands it) and starting to write the relationship from a point that it hasn't actually become established yet. In fact, I have a fic idea that I might write once the season is over and I can plan it out to include events from earlier in the season (when I originally came up with the idea) up until the finale.
Whether canon screws me over or not, I'm not giving up on these two.
They'll be together eventually, one way or another.
