Notes: The arc begins between one and two years after Endless Waltz. Duo POV in this story.
Life With Heero Arc Part 65
Ice Cream Kisses Part 1
Duo looked away from the TV screen and over to the couch. He caught a flicker of blue as Heero hastily returned his own gaze to the TV. 'This is so stupid. Both of us sitting here waiting for the other one to break the ice and make the first move...' And frankly - it was his "turn", he supposed. Heero had taken the risk this morning when he woke up by reaching out to stroke his cheek. Yeah, Heero had second-guessed himself, leaving Duo to stop his withdrawal and show Heero again that he really was okay with this, but Heero had made that all-important first move. And they'd ended up just lying there cuddling for - well, he didn't really even know how long. Quite a while, anyway. And of course, Heero had made the first move last night at the wedding too... 'Yep, definitely my turn,' Duo decided. It just felt so weird...
'Maybe we're thinking about this too much. Spending too much time worrying about how the other one's going to react...' Maybe he should start with something that they'd done before. Something they'd almost done again, except that he - and Heero, he guessed - had been a little worried how much they might give away under those circumstances. Now - well, they already knew they were attracted to each other, so they didn't have to worry about hiding that. And sitting here on opposite sides of the damn room seemed like a hell of a waste of a perfectly good opportunity to snuggle. Okay, so he didn't exactly have much experience at snuggling other than after nightmares, but it felt damn good then, so surely it would be even nicer if the preceding nightmare was skipped.
Duo dragged himself out of his beanbag chair and crossed to where Heero was sprawled on the couch. "Move over," he ordered, nudging Heero's hip with his knee before turning to sit on the edge. He waited while Heero shifted onto his side and slid over against the back of the couch. If Heero had hesitated at all, he might have reconsidered; might have thought he was pushing too fast, but Heero didn't. However, before stretching out in front of him, Duo still caught Heero's gaze and asked, "This okay?"
Heero smiled and answered simply, "Yes."
"Okay," Duo grinned in return before swinging his legs up and stretching out in front of Heero. He held himself close to the edge, not sure whether he should shift back tight against Heero or not.
"You're going to fall off the edge like that, you know," Heero said, his voice sounding slightly amused. "If we're going to share the couch, we might as well do it properly."
Duo gave a startled laugh as Heero wrapped one arm around his waist and dragged him back more tightly against Heero.
"Better?" Heero asked.
"Mm-hmm..." Duo answered, shifting a bit to get settled more comfortably. It still felt a little weird at first. He was a bit tense and self-conscious, and judging by Heero's arm around him, so was Heero. But after a little while, they both started to relax. "I was right. This does feel even better without the nightmare beforehand..." he murmured.
Heero chuckled and said, "I would hope so..."
By the time the movie finished, they had completely relaxed and forgot about being self-conscious. Duo sat up a bit reluctantly and asked, "Do you want to watch something else or play chess or something?"
Heero sat up as well, stretching before he answered, "Chess sounds good."
"Okay. Go ahead and set up the board, I'm going to get a snack."
Nodding, Heero headed over to the shelf to retrieve the chess set while Duo headed off to the kitchen. Opening the fridge door, Duo checked the shelves, thinking, 'What to have... Hmm... Well, kind of warm weather today, ice cream sounds good. Hopefully...' He opened the freezer compartment. 'Yep, there is - well, some. Just a little in the bottom of the tub. Oh well, a little bit's better than none. Strawberry, though. Heero's favourite. But there isn't enough for two bowls...' Well, Heero hadn't asked him to bring a snack for him too - maybe he'd just grab a spoon and take the tub back with him. If Heero really wanted some, they'd just have to share. Unless of course he had it all gone by then. 'First come, first served,' Duo decided with a slight smirk. Spoon and tub in hand, he headed back to the livingroom, plopped down on the couch, and dug in.
Duo tried not to grin as a throat was cleared pointedly. "Excuse me? Where's mine?" Heero asked.
"There isn't enough for two," Duo answered, "so it's first come, first served." He smirked unrepentantly, "Sorry."
"You don't sound very sorry," Heero observed. "Come on, best friends are supposed to share..."
Duo turned sideways on the couch, putting his back to Heero as Heero tried to snatch the spoon out of his hand. "Nuh-uh. Finders keepers."
"Oh really? Maybe I should change that to 'Winner takes all'..."
Duo eeped and folded up around the ice cream tub protectively as Heero reached around him. Then suddenly he was trying to protect his sides as well as Heero started to tickle him. "Okay, okay, I'll share, I'll share!" he gasped out between laughs.
"Hn. That's more like it," Heero observed, kneeling behind Duo and leaning over his shoulder.
Duo dug the spoon in and offered a bite to Heero before taking one for himself. The small amount of ice cream in the tub dwindled rapidly, but it lasted long enough for the mood to change. The friendly teasing that they'd started off with shifted into something else. Heero's arms wrapped around Duo and Duo leaned back against Heero's chest, mischief replaced by affection. 'Well, maybe not exactly replaced by... More like joined by...' Duo thought, scraping the last bit of ice cream out of the tub. He had promised himself that he'd find an opportunity to kiss Heero today, after all...
Offering the last spoonful of ice cream to Heero, Duo managed to smear it all around Heero's mouth.
"Duo..." Heero complained, releasing him.
"Oops... Sorry about that... Here, let me clean that up for you..." Duo offered, twisting around to face Heero. Taking Heero's face in his hands, he grinned and said, "Wouldn't want to waste any, now would we?"
Heero's slightly annoyed expression changed as Duo leaned towards him. "No, we wouldn't," he breathed softly.
Duo pressed his lips to Heero's in a series of small kisses, staying off-centre and flicking his tongue out to lick the ice cream around Heero's mouth away. He fought the instinct to close his eyes, wanting to watch Heero's reaction and make sure that he wasn't overstepping his boundaries. Wasn't moving too fast.
Heero's arms closing around him, one sliding up under his shirt and the other snaking around behind his head, fingers sliding through his hair and cradling his head as if to urge him closer, negated any worries over that. Having removed every trace of ice cream around Heero's mouth, Duo brought their lips together properly in a full-fledged kiss.
TBC...
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