Work Text:
There's been a few first times, ones he thanks god Bal can't remember.
Times when his glasses fell off as he ran to him, times Cavendish himself took them off to wipe away tears.
Times he tries to block out like all the others, because what else is he gonna do?
Worse were the gentle times, those hands removing his glasses shaking not from pain but from nerves and laughter.
Times when Bal would kiss him gently, let Vinnie take him in his arms, so many confessions ruined by a slight misstep or a car out of control or-
But the only time that really matters, the only one he lets himself dwell on was when it happened for keeps.
A mission going... well, about as well as it ever did.
Chopping down pistachio plants in the woods, Vinnie had been singing to him when it happened. The light was low, dusk around them as he'd lowered his glasses for dramatic effect, grinning wide at Balthazar as he struggled to chop through the wild sapling.
He glanced over at just the right time, and for a second, Bal was staring at him with lips a perfect little O beneath his moustache. A splotchy blush spread rapidly, up to the tips of his ears.
And he dropped the axe on his foot.
It landed on the flat top luckily, the moment broken as he danced around clutching it and cursing, Vinnie's name included amongst other things.
But Vinnie was laughing, and even as they got back to work, even as Brick and Savannah crossed their path.
Even as they got demoted.
It was alright.
This time, he got to keep that memory. And so did Bal.