Danny Williams was used to this kind of shit. Hell, half his bookings were idiot guys on stag parties or drunken fraternity hazers wanting to screw over their straight friends for a cheap laugh. 'Oops did we book a male stripper by accident?' was heard so often it was just background noise now.

But he still got paid, and if he got to take his money from morons then it was all the same to him. He might get some verbal abuse – physical abuse wasn't often an issue because he knew how to fight if required – and hear some name calling and stupid remarks, but he'd learned to ignore the vast majority of it over time.

And this evening was no different, because he was being led into an apartment where a bunch of young men in their twenties were gathered – according to his booking sheet it was some guy's birthday – and the man ushering him through had his fingers to his lips to ensure the stripper stayed quiet. He'd had to travel from Jersey across into New York to a crappy apartment building for this job, but his pay would easily cover a comfortable cab journey home and go towards his bills, so that's all he could ask for.

He never really enjoyed New York, so it was bad enough to have to head all the way over to the city, let alone suffer the fools who occupied the room tonight, but he would push through it regardless and do the best job he could.

The man of the hour was blindfolded in the middle of the room and handcuffed to a chair with those crappy, easily-breakable novelty handcuffs you could get in cheap sex shops, and his friends were all shoving at his shoulders and whooping and cackling.

"Oh Steve, man! Have we got a gift for you!" One of the idiots danced about and smacked the restrained brunette playfully. "We told you we were getting you a stripper, right? Well say helloooo to Danielle!"

Danny resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he was beckoned forward. Oh yeah, Danielle, that was a new one...

He was guided to straddle the birthday boy – the dancing idiot had called him Steve – and he sat lightly in his lap, facing him. Danny was slim, but he wasn't exactly light as he had a lot of muscle on him, so he didn't drop all of his weight, letting the boys have their fun and try to keep the illusion they'd bought their friend a female performer.

The guy actually blushed and squirmed slightly, and that gave Danny a little hope for humanity.

"Uh, hi Danielle..."

He didn't reply, his voice would give it away instantly, so instead he cupped the guy's chin and smoothed one thumb playfully along his jawline, swerved his hips to grind down against him a little, and then backed off.

Douche no.2 laughed. "She don't talk much, Steve. She's a little shy!"

It was a 25th birthday, he knew that much, so that put his brunette client a couple of months younger than him. At least he was cute and seemed to have a nice body – that helped.

"Come on then," one of the guys called out, pulling out a video camera and beginning to record, "Put the music on and lets have this girl do a little lap dance!"

Someone turned up the music which had been playing in the background and switched the track. Pour Some Sugar On Me started up, and Danny was glad it was a song he knew and actually had a routine to, and he kicked off his shoes.

He turned and backed up against Steve, nudging his legs apart so he could stand closer, rotating his hips and bending forward, undulating his pelvis so his butt bumped gently into the guy's chest. He was close enough for the outsides of his thighs to move against Steve's legs, and he dipped low enough to rub his ass against the guy's crotch, looking over his shoulder for a response.

The brunette had the decency to look uncomfortable and a little embarrassed, which was endearing in a man his age. If his supposed friends were anything to go by, the standard of young men these days was slipping drastically, and they seemed to be pretty typical from what the stripper regularly saw in his line of work.

He made quick work of shedding his clothes, unbuttoning his dark blue shirt as he rolled his hips sensually, ensuring he made regular contact with the bound man, and eased it off his shoulders before throwing it to one of the drunken audience. The dark-haired man who caught it looked a little freaked out and batted it away like it was a live grenade, and Danny smiled. He did love making the homophobes uncomfortable.

Everyone else continued to shout out encouragement to 'Danielle' and inform Steve that his stripper was 'the hottest girl ever' and tell him how lucky he was.

Danny's dark slacks had velcro holding them together at the side seams, and he gripped the fronts of the thighs and ripped the fabric forwards and away from Steve at a dramatic point in the music, his ass still in the guy's face. He considered how pointless it was to follow his usual routine when Steve couldn't even see it, and the other guys' pleasure was only derived from his making bodily contact anyway, each ass-bump producing a new round of celebratory noises from the audience, but he was a professional so he was just going to continue on anyway.

"Nice underwear, baby!" one of the morons cried out and wolf whistled.

Danny was just down to his tight black boxers now, and he turned to face his client as he threw his legs astride him again and danced in his lap to make him squirm. He put his hands lightly on the brunette's shoulders to skeep himself stable, and felt the heat of his body through the cotton, solid muscle underneath. Steve had a small smile on his face, but his cheeks were burning pink... and he was more than a little aroused by the situation if the bulge in his jeans was anything to go by.

Another drunk guy giggled manically and jumped up and down, obviously enjoying their prank way too much. "I think our man looks too hot in that shirt, Danielle. Time to cool him down!"

Danny continued to move in Steve's lap, and brought his hands from where they'd been rested to drift up his sides and go to the collar of his shirt. The top three buttons were already undone to expose a healthy dose of chest, but the stripper began to pop the rest one by one until Steve's body came into view.

And what a view it was; solid pecs, a smooth stomach, and glorious abs had all been hidden under the black cotton. Steve licked his lips nervously as his shirt was pushed down over his shoulders by Danny's nimble fingers and, dear god, he had tattoos decorating his biceps in technicolour. This was definitely not a difficult job for the blonde.

Danny shifted a little closer and glided his fingers up over that stomach and chest, purposefully caressing the bound man's nipples and making him jerk and gasp at the touch, still swaying his pelvis and bending his knees to slide his butt against Steve's denim-clad thighs.

"Give him a little kiss, Danielle!" whooped a particularly drunk idiot.

The stripper's eyes darted around the room at the laughing crowd before coming to rest on Steve's upturned face. Upon hearing that outburst, the young man had tilted his head upward to where he thought his female companion would be looking down on him.

Danny was clean shaven, so there were no whiskers to give away his gender as such, but he was still hesitant. He always felt a little guilty in this sort of situation, because the victim wasn't necessarily willing, and kissing was a little more intimate than a lap dance.

"Come on, kiss him!" The first douchebag hollered, glaring at the blonde when he glanced up before silently mouthing 'Come on man, we're fucking paying you!' He shook another twenty dollar bill at Danny, implying he'd get a tip for the additional request.

Danny shrugged inwardly. If Steve had an issue with this after he realised his entertainment was of the male persuasion, he could take it up with his buddies.

He looked back down on that handsome, blindfolded face, slid his hand under his strong jaw, and leaned down to kiss him. Boos filled the room when all he did was peck Steve on the lips, mouths only joined for a moment.

"You can do better than that!" a man sneered at him and downed the rest of his beer.

Danny looked back down at the man below him for some sort of confirmation. The brunette's lips curled up in a small smile and he made a little shrugging motion, indicating he didn't mind. Of course, he also didn't know it wasn't some hot girl called Danielle locking lips with him.

Regardless, he was about to disappoint the people who were giving him the money if he didn't, so he ducked down again to take those soft lips in another sweet kiss, longer this time.

A loud cheer went up from the men surrounding them, each one laughing and having their own fun at the birthday boy's expense, some making immature barfing noises at the sight of two men kissing, and some high fiving in their revelry... but Danny barely noticed any of it because Steve's lips were silky smooth and opening up to him, and he couldn't stop from sliding his tongue inside.

The brunette's stubble was rough in contrast, scraping a little at Danny's lips and fingers, and their tongues slid against each other as Steve actively kissed him back, moaning softly against his cheek. He tasted of beer and tequila, which would have been a turn off normally for Danny, but on this guy it was deliciously pleasant… or maybe it was just him as a whole package that appealed.

The kiss was electric, and as he slowed his undulations so he could focus on his client he lost himself to the sensations briefly, and his skin broke out in goosebumps while he sighed and huffed hot breath from his nose over Steve's face.

One of the guys moved forward from the group, chuckling to himself, and flicked open the cuffs to disconnect them from the chair legs. "Give your new girlfriend a little grope there, Stevie!"

Two large hands came up to Danny's butt tentatively, because the brunette was obviously a nice guy but maybe he could also feel that spark of connection between the two of them. He squeezed the stripper's ass cheeks before Danny straightened his back and broke the kiss, loving the tiny disappointed whimper it brought from the other man. He'd enjoyed it at least, although that was likely about to change.

It was the moment of truth, because Steve's right hand moved from the blonde's ass to tug up his blindfold.

Hazel eyes blinked hard and gazed up at Danny, before confusion wrinkled his brow and his hands dropped away.

"What the f..?" Steve whispered almost to himself, eyes darting down the stripper's very male body before going back to his face. "You're a guy!"

Danny gave him a sly lopsided grin and backed off him to give him some distance, going for humour to shield himself. "You noticed that, huh babe?"

Steve stood and gave an evil look to his friends; one in particular whom the blonde could only assume was the one who had been entrusted with purchasing the entertainment. "You're such a dick, Tyler..." the brunette hissed.

Danny sighed internally. It had been nice while it lasted, but apparently this guy was just like the others, and ashamed of being kissed and touched by another man. He always felt a little sorry for guys like him, not because of their heterosexuality but because of the negative emotion that had been instilled in them regarding any other 'abnormal' sexual preference.

His lips were still tingling from that kiss… it had been amazing. Such a shame.

Steve turned to look at Danny again, and their eyes met briefly again before the birthday boy quickly turned away and pulled his shirt back around him. He looked embarrassed as hell, and Danny couldn't help but feel bad for him.

His buddies were all laughing and moving in to clap him on the back and tease at his misfortune, so the stripper grabbed up his discarded clothing and began to redress.

There were several jeers along the lines of 'Caught you out, Steve!' and 'You kissed a guy man, that's so gay!' and 'You fucking loved it didn't you? You had his ass in your face and you loved it!'

He allowed himself the scowl his soul required while he put his back to the room and pulled his shirt on. He was being left alone, which was a plus. What a bunch of idiots, it was such a pity that people with those attitudes still existed, really. Guys who liked other guys were still a subject of mockery for a lot of straight men, and it was kind of pathetic that they were happy to use someone like Danny, who advertised as a stripper for male or female parties, to humiliate guys like Steve.

When he faced the room again he let his expression fall back to a neutral smirk, but he noticed that the birthday boy was watching him carefully while his buddies told him how hilarious his face had been.

The guy called Tyler approached him, slapping some bills into his hand, and he counted it to make sure it was all there, plus the extra twenty. "Fucking brilliant man," he cackled, and Danny wasn't sure if he was congratulating the stripper or himself, "The look on his face when he saw you were a dude! Too fucking funny!"

"Yeah, fabulous," Danny tried not to make his tone too biting, but wow he wanted to slap these supposed friends so hard, especially when he heard the words 'poof' and 'homo' being thrown about in the drunken banter between them.

He allowed himself one last glance at the man of the hour, who looked like he was going to hurl with the embarrassment and attention while rolling his eyes and downing a drink, and nodded at Tyler. "No problem, man."

He turned and headed out the front door of the apartment, shaking his head. It wouldn't do to punch a customer, not when they might recommend him to other morons... uh, he meant 'clients', of course...

He jogged down the stairs, through the small foyer, and hit the street, soaking up the cool city air, pulling his phone from his pocket to call a cab back home. The building's doors opened behind him, and he looked up to see Steve emerge onto the sidewalk, handcuffs still dangling from his wrists.

"Hey," the brunette spotted him and advanced towards him.

Danny almost went into a fighting stance, aware the guy might be angry about what happened – it wouldn't be the first time – but his expression appeared more worried than pissed.

"Danny, right?" the taller man stuffed his hands into his pockets hesitantly, stopping a couple of feet away, "Steve."

Danny let out a little snort, watching the other man carefully. "Yeah, I guess we weren't properly introduced, huh?" He hadn't expected to be followed, let alone have a conversation with the guy.

"I'm sorry, man," Steve threw him an understanding smile, "Those guys can be a bunch of douchebags sometimes..."

He froze, trying to comprehend the fact that this guy was actually apologising to him for the men who had hired him. So he wasn't like those guys after all... Danny had thought there was something a bit more special about this one compared to his companions.

"Uh, that's okay... used to it," he shrugged it off and cocked his head to one side, "You uh, you don't seem all that angry. I mean, I wouldn't blame you. You were kinda victimised up there..."

Steve blushed again – god that was adorable – and he tugged absently at his shirt. "Nah it's okay, I shouldn't have expected anything else from them, really. They think it's funny to put people in shit situations without thinking about anyone's feelings... If I'm honest, I don't really know why I hang out with half of them... They actually seem to derive fun from each other's embarrassment."

"Schadenfreude," Danny muttered.

"Uh... gesundheit?" the brunette responded carefully, crinkling his brow.

The shorter man snickered. "No, schadenfreude... it's the act of taking enjoyment in another person's misfortune. German or something."

"Oh, I see," Steve rubbed the back of his neck and moved a little closer, "That's cool... Listen, I just wanted to catch you before you left and say sorry for those guys. It can't be fun having to provide a service for idiots like that and put up with... well, with the stuff they said, and the whole 'Danielle' thing..."

He'd managed to ignore the vast majority of the homophobic undertones to the evening, but Danny appreciated the man and his apologetic attitude. It was rare for the victim to want to make amends.

"Yeah, I guess it's kind of part and parcel of the job, y'know?" God now that he was only a foot or so away he could really see the colours in Steve's eyes again. They weren't just hazel like he'd thought they were up in the apartment, but a mix of browns and blues and greens all swirled together. He had to swallow hard and look away, but that only brought his gaze to the other man's solid chest.

"It shouldn't have to be," Steve said softly.

Their eyes met again, and there was a moment when all Danny could think about was that kiss; how it had flipped his stomach in a good way, sent waves of excitement through his body, and how much he wanted to have it happen again.

Two of Steve's friends burst out onto the street, lighting cigarettes and chatting loudly, and one whooped when he spotted their buddy talking to the stripper.

Danny shook himself and backed away.

"Hey! Steve's got himself a girlfriend!" the drunk idiot yelled.

"Shut up, Mark!" Steve's tone was joking, but the slight curl to his lips told Danny he didn't like the way they were acting.

He figure now was a good time to take his leave.

"You have a good birthday, okay buddy?" he smiled awkwardly, and lowered his voice a bit more, "And as for your friends, if they don't bring something positive to your life then maybe you don't need them?"

Steve nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, I think you may be right there... Here, I also wanted to give you this."

He held out some folded cash, frowning when it was waved off by the stripper.

"Nah, it's okay, I've been paid."

The taller man reached out and took Danny's hand, pressing the notes into his palm. "Take it, it's a tip. For keeping your cool with them, and a job well done..." He flushed a little pinker around his cheeks. "You deserve it."

The blonde hated the fact that he had to remove his hand from Steve's grip, because his touch was so firm and warm and inviting, and it was making the hairs on his arm stand to attention. He stuffed the money into his pocket alongside his cell phone.

"Thanks," he nodded, having to clear his throat. "I've uh... I've got to go. Thanks," he repeated, and internally criticized his own awkwardness.

"Bye," Steve smiled in a way that made Danny's chest tighten. He was gorgeous, and the blonde was having to walk away before he embarrassed himself, or punched one of the jeering men at the door for their continued lewd comments.

He got to the corner, once again pulling his cell out to call for a taxi, and the cash fell to the sidewalk at his feet. He bent to pick it up, finding a scrap of note paper poking out of the folds.

Danny opened it up and grinned, shaking his head as he read the digits scrawled haphazardly on the paper.

Okay, maybe making the journey to New York wasn't so bad after all...