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"I’ve got the lube and strawberries," he announces the moment the door opens, Eddie looking a picture of fresh air, or a crisp winter breeze, or whatever else causes him to lose some of the oxygen in his lungs. The words out of his mouth are decidedly not the ones he wanted to start the night off with; he’d hoped for something more tactful, perhaps even romantic, but it seems that even meta-humans are worth little without enough oxygen running to their brains. "We’re all set!"
Eddie lets out a breathy laugh, so he’s assured that whatever bullshit he just spewed translated into he’s so adorable, rather than I can’t believe I’m sleeping with this idiot, even though experience taught him one didn’t necessarily preclude the other.
"You really know how to romance a guy, Allen," Eddie says, giving the aforementioned items in his left hand a quick once-over, his curiosity peeked by the right hand that hides behind his back.
"Is that what we’re doing then?" He raises an eyebrow, heart beating yes yes yes involuntarily.
"Why not?"
He shrugs, his eyes tracing down Eddie’s body uselessly, because they land on the floor and he’s left with an ache around too many secrets; Eddie’s the one thing he shouldn’t hide from anyone, so why is he making this so complicated? “I just figured since we’re not–”
"Out?" Eddie prompts. It’s not a word he particularly likes; everyone knows Eddie’s gay, and the most important people in his own life know he’s bisexual. Out isn’t quite the word he’d use. The word he would use, honest, might be one he struck from his vocabulary altogether.
"Yeah." He finds Eddie’s eyes again, lips setting in a tight line. What if he just said it? What if he went up to Joe and told him I’m dating Eddie, it’s been going on for a while, but we’re getting serious – that reasoning only ever works until all the things he hasn’t told Eddie outweigh his bravery. Would Eddie ever forgive him?
"Come in," Eddie insists, and he slips past Eddie while he reveals the bouquet of flowers he’d hid behind his back. It’d taken him a full twenty-seven minutes to decide whether or not to buy them, but it’s Valentine’s and for once he can spend it with someone. In hindsight he definitely should’ve opened with the flowers.
Eddie’s eyes shine with mirth. “Are those for me?”
"Too cheesy?" His eyebrows rise, before a heavenly smell spread all through the apartment catches his attention, a pan sizzling in the kitchen. "Are you– cooking?”
Eddie’s eyes set in expectation, while his nose does that adorably crinkly thing he’s almost tempted to nibble at. “Too cheesy?”
"No." He breathes a laugh, pulling closer so that he can force their lips together, flowers flattened between their bodies. His boyfriend cooked for him on Valentine’s Day. He can’t believe he’s dating this idiot. "No, not at all."
- fin -