Near Miss
"Daddy, Daddy, it's Oliver!" Marshall lifted his daughter up into his arms and turned to where she was pointing.
"Dude, Hailie, be polite. That's an actor, so what's his name?"
Hailie squirmed and rubbed her fists into her eyes. She'd been up late last night with a cough but no power on earth would have kept her from the Harry Potter movie premiere.
"He's Sean."
"That's right, baby, you're brilliant."
Shit, the kid musta heard Hailie. He had a dumbshit grin on his face as he walked over to them. Marshall sighed and shifted Hailie in his arms so that he held her mostly with one hand. Sean, shit his last name was something stupid couldn't remember what, looked straight at Hailie. Smart kid. Knew how to play to his fans.
"Good evening. Whom do I have the pleasure of meeting?"
A smile wide and bright enough to give anybody an aneurysm spread across the pretty boy's face. Hailie giggled, turning her face into Marshall's shoulder. He rubbed her back as he looked at Sean.
"Sorry, man, she's a kid, whaddya gonna do?"
"'Salright, honestly. I've got a baby sister so I'm used to it."
"Yeah, kids." Marshall tried to get Hailie to turn her face from his shoulder. The limpness of her body made him groan. She was fucking asleep. Goddammit. Now she'd wake up half-way home and get all cranky and shit and he'd have to stay up for hours getting her to settle down.
"Yo, man, what're we still doin' here?" The smaller copy of Marshall known as Nathan slouched up next to them.
"Nate, have some respect, man. Hailie's gettin' to meet Sean, guy plays Oliver. Sean, my baby brother Nathan. Nathan, Sean. Say hello, Nathan."
"Hello, Nathan." Nathan smirked but Marshall glared at him and Nathan rolled his eyes. "Nice to meet you, Sean." Sarcastic emphasis on the name but it satisfied Marshall.
"Nate, take Hailie back with you, she's asleep, k? Right back home."
Nathan didn't protest, he only held his arms out to the little girl. Marshall felt a flash of pity for his baby brother before he turned back to Sean. Kid probably wanted an autograph or something.
"Sorry to put you on the spot there, man. She takes after me with her big mouth." He half-smiled and Sean responded in kind, bouncing up on his heels.
"It's fine. Honestly. I'm just not used to getting screamed at so much. I get less than the stars, yeah? I'm surprised she even knows who Oliver is."
Knew Oliver? Dude, this guy had to know. Hailie squealed all the way through that damn Stone movie. When Oliver appeared, clad in red and yellow, she bounced and squealed. Hurt the ears.
"Dude, fuck the humble shit, 'kay? Oliver's got his shit all over the place. He's like Harry's Quidditch mentor, right? He's a great character."
"Thanks." Sean blushed. He fucking blushed and it made him look kinda girly.
"Uh, no problem, man." Marshall felt his skin tingle. He squinted and saw Melissa Rivers headed their way.
"Fuck, I gotta get outta here." In his dash to flee the sharp-nosed, harpy bitch from hell, Marshall didn't notice that Sean had followed him until they reached the basement. It was cool and dark and quiet. Then Marshall heard footsteps so he grabbed the gangly teen lurking behind him and hauled them both into an open side room.
"Christ, you're easy too look at, you know that?"
"What?" Marshall missed most of what the kid said. One hand on the cool steel door, he leaned his head out and snapped it back in quick as two security guys took up station at either end of the hallway. He stared at Sean. All the damn kids fault. Fucking?wait?
Beautiful? What the fuck?
"Dude, you a fucking fag?"
"No, it's just that?you're just?you're beautiful. In a very manly way. All those tattoos." The boy's eyes went soft and he ran his hand up over Marshall's forehead. Marshall, for his part, froze. Fuckin' kid had his hands on him and what was he doing? Running away? Fuck no, that's be smart, right? He couldn't make himself move to save his heterosexual ass and this was just bad. This wasn't the kind of thing his fans and the world at large would drop.
He'd rather be a criminal than a fuckin' fag. Still wasn't movin' though.
"What the.." Marshall cleared his throat. "Whaddya mean, beautiful? I'm not a fucking girl, man."
Oh, fuck, the boy had a pretty smile. Not a girly smile, just nice, right?
"Men can be beautiful, too. It's a little wilder, a wee bit more primal, but it's beauty, yeah?" When Sean said "primal," it came out somethin' kinda like "praimail." Marshall started to back up but Sean grabbed his arms.
"Fuck man, get off."
"Don't run away, please."
"Dude, fuck, I don't wanna hurt you, okay? I got enough fucking problems without beating up my baby's favorite movie star, but you keep touching me, I'm gonna have to smack your ass down."
The boy's smile started slow and spread over his face.
"You promise?"
Not the common response to his threats.
"What the fuck you mean?"
"Do you promise to," Sean leaned in and whispered the next word against Marshall's ear and he felt the shiver right down to his dick, "smack me?"
"Fuck." He broke the kid's grip on his arms. In a smooth move, Marshall had the kid down on the ground, throat under Marshall's Nikes. He was all kinds of fucked up, shit. But man, he was gettin' his throat smashed and he was smiling and squirming like something else was going down.
Shit.
Tentatively, Marshall lifted his foot. Kid didn't move, just closed his eyes and leaned up on his arms. His eyes opened and he looked at Marshall. Fuck if that wasn't a challenge. Dude wanted a beating. Or something. He'd heard about crazy stuff like this. Getting off on getting hit. Marshall understood the high that kicking ass gave. Nothing else like it.
His foot removed totally from Sean's throat, the kid took the advantage, grabbing Marshall's leg and using it to throw him to the ground. He fell hard, wincing as his spine smacked against the hard cement floor. As Marshall blinked and tried to move, Sean straddled him, grinning.
"See? Fun, yeah?" The smile fell and Sean pressed his knees into Marshall's ribs. Hands held Marshall's wrists against the floor. The rapper struggled, but fuck, the kid was pretty strong.
Sean spoke matter-of-factly into Marshall's face, so close their lips were almost touching. "This is why guys are sexy. We get mad, we get stupid, we get our fists out, and we get bloody." He feinted off to the left as Marshall got a hand free and swung at him. Sean failed to miss the second swing and grunted when Marshall's fist connected with his chest.
Marshall scrambled to his feet. Braced up against the door, he wiped his mouth. Stupid kid almost kissed him. Stupid kid had a fucking hard-on.
A quick check in the hall told him that the guards had left. He stared back at Sean.
The Scottish teen blew a kiss at him. "Anytime you want to play, call my agent. It's been a thrill."
Goddamn. Marshall dashed out of the room, wiping his mouth again as he went. So much for a nice uncomplicated night out with his baby girl.