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Despite the morning having started off roughly for him, Danny found himself growing more and more at ease once the two men arrived at the local University. Although it was the weekend, the population on the square hadn't hindered for headcount; several students were out on the grassy lawn, studying, napping, tossing frisbees. Daniel couldn't help but wonder what life would have been like, had he been able to afford college.

It wasn't sensible to dwell on the what if’s, so he shrugged it off as he buttoned up the borrowed shirt.

He'd been hesitant to confess his earlier failures, but the visible tea stain painted across his chest was by far the most obvious of his blunders. His cheeks had grown pink as he'd admitted to the spill and before he knew what was going on, Tristan had already begun unbuttoning his shirt, causing the blonde to almost swerve the car off the road.

Thankfully, Tristan was quick to explain his reasoning, having a habit of wearing multiple layers and why would Danny need to wander around in a dirty shirt when he could simply borrow one of his?

Reluctant but grateful, he'd waited until the car was parked before stripping off his own shirt, tossing it in the backseat as he made quick work of putting on the new one.

“Thanks again,” he added, not quite mumbling, but almost, “I'll wash it and get it back to you soon. Can't believe I was so clumsy, ha.”

The short laugh was forced, his feet already making their way towards the Fine Arts building, which had fashioned several of their larger rooms to host the student-run gallery.

Hands in his pockets, one shoe kicked a pebble a few yards ahead. Glancing towards his companion, he felt some art-related questions were in order.

“So can I ask what got you into photography, yourself?”

“To the States?”

He echoed the comment, the blonde caught by surprise. Oh, right! He'd said he was from France, hadn't he? Why would anyone want to travel to a place like Destiny City when they could spend time having adventures anywhere else in the world?

“It must have been amazing, living over in Europe.”

Memories of the foreign words Tris had muttered back at the cafe flashed across his mind, Danny now realizing that he probably had been speaking in his native tongue instead of quoting a proverb, like he'd assumed. “That's really cool.”

Making their way across the pavement towards the Fine Arts building, one hand took the railing as he descended the staircase. “I've never been out of D.C. before. Would love to do some traveling, one day.”

One day. Always one day, never today.

Returning back to the original question, he offered a hesitant smile. It was a peculiar response, one that Danny didn't quite understand….but then again, Danny had settled into his comfortable state of likes and dislikes early on in life, so trying out new things was few and far between.

“Well if it's something that makes you happy, I think that's wonderful.”

Musing aloud, he reached out and opened the door to the building, gesturing for his friend to enter first.

“Do you do things old school, like with one of those dark rooms?”

"I think I'll stick to working my way out of Destiny City before I take the figurative leap across the pond."

He watched the other man run his hand through his hair as he sought out the words to finish his thought. "Hey, at least it sounds like you've found a productive way to take care of things. I tend to shut the world out and hole myself up with a book or a show, honestly."

Allowing the door to close behind him, green eyes gazed up in search of signs for the gallery showing. It didn't take long to find one of the familiar looking posters, the same print that had been taped up inside the cafe's window. Beside it, a handmade sign pointed in the direction of the gallery's location and he took the lead, stepping forward to where he was once again alongside the brunette.

"If you wanted to put up an advertisement for your services at the Cube, you're welcome to, y'know."

His attention was on the conversation, though his eyes were still trailing along the walls as they walked, looking at all of the various displays and school notifications. "We have several people trying to get the word out about their independent businesses. Seemed like it might be up your alley, I dunno. How are you currently getting the word out, can I ask?"

Hands found their way into his pockets as they finally arrived to the large double doors with the Art Gallery sign written across the front in less-than-quality poster board. So, less professional, more student. Hey - everyone had to start somewhere, right?

It was Danny's turn to look momentarily confused at the question, before realization dawned across his face.

"Oh, no - I mean, like, taking a trip or whatever? Go out and see the world?" He laughed, the smile on his face turning sheepish, "I don't know if I'd ever find anywhere better to live than here; it's all I've ever known and I'm pretty content with sticking to that."

One hand left his pocket, reaching out to open the door to the gallery entrance for the both of them. Inside, a world of color was ready to jump out at them and Danny found himself momentarily distracted by the sights as the poor girl at the ticket table patiently extended her hand out for theirs.

Pulling the two creased tickets from his wallet, he offered them to the student while his attention remained on the various paintings, portraits and oddly shaped objects scattered throughout the room. For the small size of the auditorium, the university had filled the walls and tables to the brim, even bringing out dividers for additional painting space.

Fiona and Charlie once again reentered the conversation, Danny unable to keep the smile from off of his face. After all, if it hadn't been for those two particular friends, Tris would have never bothered wandering his way into the shop in the first place - a blessing in disguise, really. Perhaps one day he'd actually be able to put a face to the names.

"I think that sounds like a wonderful way to volunteer your services. I'm scared of going out there, myself - I'm the kind of guy who'd want to adopt them all, I'm afraid."

While he hadn't the faintest clue on how to care for an animal, the desire to own a dog had always resided in the depths of Danny's heart. He probably didn't have the time to care for one, he reasoned, but... well. What boy didn't want a dog at least once in their life, right?

"I bet having your name tagged to the photos would be good publicity too. I know a few coworkers who would probably love having pictures done of their critters."

Prissy had mentioned getting a new cat, hadn't she? From the blurry phone photos, she seemed to enjoy dressing it up too - surely there were other enthusiastic animal owners who would pay to have professional pictures made of their beloved pets?

"You don't ow--"

Danny's words were quickly swallowed as Tristan argued to pay his way into the gallery. The blonde wanted to point out that it had been entirely his own idea to come to the affair and therefore his responsibility to pay, but it was clearly not sitting right with the other to be treated to an afternoon out.

In all fairness, Danny couldn't say that he wouldn't have felt the exact same way, had the circumstances been reversed. Then again, he might have been too thrilled at the prospect of the afternoon lingering on into lunch with his new friend to be concerned about who paid for what.

"Alright," he conceded. "You can do lunch, but only if you pick the place."

Moving along to the first section of artwork, he found himself far more excited about the idea of both playing with dogs and spending more time with Tristan to pay proper homage to the bowl of fruit plastered against the mural.

"I'd be happy to help - but you have to stop me from adopting all of them, in exchange."

"I'll eat anything that doesn't eat me, honestly," he said with a half-laugh, borrowing a phrase his mother used to say. "No allergies, just a dislike of anything too rich, really."

They passed along through several paintings, lingering as they took the time to study the notecard attached to the artwork. Most were students, one or two came from one of the Masters classes and one weirdly shaped thing was apparently created by one of the professors.

He'd turned to continue on when he was suddenly caught off guard by a young girl asking him for the time. Digging into his pockets, he withdrew his cell phone and was happy to offer it, watching her smile as she thanked him and disappeared into the quickly growing crowd. One of the various classes on campus appeared to have come in as a collective, the many heads of young adults - bored and interested alike - creating a sea of faces among the colors.

"Anyways," he uttered aloud, returning to their conversation, "I have a feeling I'll enjoy whatever it is you pick simply because you pic--Tris?"

Turning around, his dark haired companion was nowhere to be found. Where Tristan had been standing was an elderly woman, seemingly fascinated by the painting in front of her, enough to be snapping an image on her own cell phone.

Oh no!

"Tristan? Tris?"

He tried calling, but his voice was drowned out by the sound of the growing crowd. Crap - where had he gone??

Danny had attempted his cell phone as well, noting the unfortunate lack of bars on his own device. The gallery must have been buried too deep within the building for a signal to pick up - drats, of all times to lose connection!

It wasn't as if Tristan could leave without him, since he was his ride, right?

And he wasn't the type to sneak out, surely. Not when they'd been having a more than decent morning between the two of them - aside from Danny's tea fumble and near car-wreckage, of course.

Oh god. What if he had ditched him?

Forcing himself to breathe slowly (in through the nose, out through the mouth, in through the nose, out through the mouth), green eyes continued to scan the area as he found himself wading between groups and couples, all sorts of hairs and heads crossing his vision as he sought out one particular handsome brunette's.

Finally - finally - he spotted the familiar shirt of the man who'd loaned him his button-up. Tristan's head was turned away from where Danny was standing, the tall boy clearly doing his own searching as he slipped his way in between strangers.

Not wanting to lose him (after all, he'd just found him!), the blonde reached forward and without thinking, grabbed hold of the other's hand with his own.

"There you are!"

The relief in his voice was almost palpable, Danny holding his ground to keep the brunette from wandering off further as fingers laced between fingers. Laughing lightly, he added, "You had me worried for a second there."

Green met green and he suddenly felt lightheaded. Strange, was he supposed to feel this way about reuniting with friends?

Deep inside, festering quietly in his heart, Daniel McKay wondered if he was looking too much into this friendship, searching for something else.

Finding himself tugged forward, Danny shoved away the worrisome thoughts and pushed his way past a particularly robust looking man to make his way towards his companion. At Tristan's apology, he laughed, running his free hand through his hair. It was a nervous attempt as the blonde did his best to shake off the sudden butterflies fluttering around in his stomach. "Y-You don't have to be sorry, it's my fault for getting distracted."

Green eyes managed to drag themselves off from their joined hands, finding sanctuary in studying the swarm of visitors that had entered the gallery, "There's a lot more people here than I expected for a school function."

So many, in fact, that it was becoming almost a hassle to try to wade one's way through the crowd. Surely the University would be pleased with the turn out, but perhaps should have thought of a better way to deal with the foot traffic.

Swallowing hard, he nodded his head at the other man's reassurance. His mouth was dry and his voice was more raspy than he'd have liked as he responded, "Sounds like a plan. I'd hate to lose you."

Danny, what are you thinking??

Keeping his gaze averted, he glanced over towards the wall of photography themed art. "Did you want to check those out before we bail? I'm not sure how much more we'll get to see with all of this crowd around."