Page 4 of Bad Daddy

Danny’s hand fisted in the material. It was so stupid and so ungrateful, but he hated this coat. He hated being cold.

It suddenly struck him that in his haste to get himself out of an uncomfortable situation, he was packing up in front of Nakamura, who had come out all this way to tutor him. If he left now, he’d be disappointing Lily and…probably disappointing Nakamura too.

He’d come all this way. It would be so ungrateful and selfish to leave like this, just because Danny was a little uncomfortable.

“Sorry,” he said, fingers clenched around his coat. “I didn’t mean–”

“It’s okay,” Nakamura said. He sounded kind. “If you’ve got to get going, I understand. I wasn’t aware that Lily was surprising you with me. I should have though, that’s par for the course with Lily.”

“Yeah,” Danny said without thinking. “It took me a while to figure out if she thought I was a person or a computer. Then again, I make way too many mistakes to be a computer.”

“Mistakes are how you learn,” Nakamura said with a shrug.

“Mistakes get you in trouble,” Danny muttered, before he realized he had said that out loud. “Shit–” he looked frantically up at Nakamura. “I mean, sorry, I—” Fuck, even if Nakamura weren’t a high-powered lawyer who could literally break Danny to pieces, he didn't want to get Lily’s friend mad at him either.

“It’s okay,” Nakamura said, holding up a hand. Danny couldn't decipher the expression he made then, but the next moment he was smiling as though they were sharing a joke. “I’m not going to write you up for cursing, promise.”

Danny let out a weak chuckle. “Still uh. Sorry.”

Nakamura’s smile slipped for just a moment before it slid back into place. “No harm done. But really, am I making you late for something? Or are you just uninterested in tutoring? Because it’s fine if either thing is the case. It’s not your fault Lily blindsided you.”

“I’m not late for anything,” Danny said, because that was true. Clint had already had him all night. He probably wouldn't be bothering Danny until at least the coming evening. Danny was just planning on going home, scrubbing himself down again, and then collapsing into bed for a nap before rousing himself once more to try and focus on more school stuff.

It really, really sucked sometimes having to do extra work because of how he was. He couldn’t read his textbooks in class while the professors went over the material, so Danny had started blocking out time to read ahead as best he could, memorizing as he went.

He knew it was foolish—he couldn't imagine other people had to memorize their textbooks in order to not get lost in class—but it was the best way he could come up with to pass. It ate up most of his free time, but that was the trade off.

Nakamura was waiting on an answer.

The thing was…

The thing was, if Danny were smart, he’d be jumping at this opportunity. Nakamura was a name. He was important. If Danny managed to not fuck up—managed to maybe even do a decent job on what they worked on together—he might even get a good referral out of being tutored by him. A good referral would be worth so much.

This had the potential to be a genuinely good thing, if Danny could keep from messing it up or making a fool out of himself. He could just never tell Clint. But… there was no reason to tell Clint, was there?

“I’m not late for anything,” Danny said again. “I—sorry I was just. Surprised. Since I didn’t see this coming.”

“I understand,” Nakamura said genially.

“But I’d like to,” Danny continued quickly. “Take you up on your offer. If it was still on the table. If that’s okay.”

Nakamura beamed at him. It was unfairly devastating, a fact which made Danny mad. He knew better than to fall for nice-guy stuff from handsome, put-together men. Clint had been a nice-guy once.

“Oh hey, great,” Nakamura said. “Of course it is. I’d love to help you however I can.”

“Thank you.” Something tight inside Danny loosened against his will in the face of Nakamura’s enthusiasm. “I’d really appreciate it.”

“Sure,” Nakamura said. He pulled out his phone. “What days and times work for you? I certainly remember being a full-time college student with a packed schedule.”

Danny did his best not to boggle. Nakamura was an important person with an important job. Why in the world was he trying to acquiesce to Danny’s schedule? “Um… I’m free now? I mean—it’s just that you’re here now. So if you’re free, we could maybe… just see if you want to really work with me? Before scheduling any more sessions.”

There, that was good and diplomatic, right?

“That sounds great,” Nakamura said. “I want to help and I can’t imagine that changing, but I appreciate you giving me a trial run to see if you think I’d make a difference.”

That… wasn't at all what Danny had meant. “Okay,” Danny said weakly.

Nakamura looked around the little study room, then down at his watch before giving Danny another smile. Was he like this all the time? Just…smiling that brightly at everyone and anyone? “How do you feel about changing locations? My treat.”

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