Work Text:
Bright yellow, duck patterned water wings.
Did Duff think he was six? Steven huffed, crossing his floatie-adorned arms over his chest with a grumpy pout. He narrowed his eyes as he stared down into the shallow water of the kiddie pool, his discontent obvious in his expression.
Steven’s lower half barely fit the length of the small, plastic pool, but he was left with enough room to stick his legs out straight in front of him. He looked a bit hilarious, the hairy man he was sitting in an environment fit for a child. He felt ridiculous too, refusing to look up from his angry glare at the few inches of water he sat in.
“C’mon, babe! Smile for the camera!” His boyfriend called out to him with glee. One could hear the utter amusement in Duff’s voice from his first word. The taller blond was grinning wildly, their polaroid camera held up to his eye and aimed directly at Steven.
The shorter man let out a disgruntled mumble, refusing to look up into the camera as Duff asked. “Stevennnnn...” Duff coaxed, drawing out his name as he chuckled. “Just one picture? Please?”
The drummer wrinkled his nose in disgust, his mouth still a deep and annoyed downturn. Despite Duff’s best efforts, Steven still refused to look the slightest bit enthused about the situation. Duff sighed, still smiling at his adorably grouchy boyfriend, and clicked the shutter on the camera.
Lowering it from his face, Duff stared fully at the pouting, smaller blond. An idea came to mind, sparked by Steven’s unenthusiastic attitude, and the bassist felt his smile widen at the thought. He turned off towards the house, rushing inside and returning a minute or so later with something clutched in his palm.
Making his way back over to Steven, Duff reached out to lay his free hand on the younger boy’s shoulder as he approached. “Aww, do I have a grumpy ducky on my hands?” He cooed, climbing into the pool beside Steven and drawing his knees to his chest to fit inside. The drummer simply made a small “hmph!” of disregard, refusing to look up at the other.
Duff then slid his hand from Steven’s shoulder to his jawline, tracing the solid bone before using his fingers to tip up the pouting man’s chin until their eyes met. Duff leaned in quickly, closing the gap to press their lips together firmly before Steven had time to protest. He kissed his boyfriend sweetly for a few moments before pulling away, feeling Steven already softening at the affection. Sure enough, when he pulled away the drummer’s cheeks were tinted a rosy pink color.
“I got you something,” Duff murmured with an adoring smile, admiring his boyfriend’s flushed face beneath all his fluffy, blond hair. Steven watched curiously, frustration fading quickly as Duff held out a small rubber duck in his palm towards Steven.
Glancing up into the drummer’s eyes, then smiling even larger, Duff started to sing goofily: “Rubber ducky, you’re the one...” He grinned, obviously delighted at his own surprise.
“You make bathtime—“ here, Duff held the duck between his fingers and began pecking the beak across Steven’s chest. “....So much fun!” The drummer squealed as the firm plastic tickled his torso, wiggling away from Duff as best as he could in the cramped kiddie pool. The bassist chuckled boisterously, pulling away from Steven as his eyes crinkled with laughter.
Still beaming, Duff began to settle his laughter and placed the duck in the water between Steven’s legs, surrendering his tickling weapon. Steven glanced up at him, a gentle smile crossing his lips before his gaze fell down to the rubber duck floating by his knees. He reached out to take it in his hand, turning it over in his fingers a few times before grinning even wider and beginning to push it around in the water.
Duff watched, absolutely charmed, as Steven immediately took to playing with the rubber duck. The drummer would shove the toy under the surface, squeeze the body to fill it with water, then squirt the liquid out through the duck’s mouth. After experimenting with this a handful of times, Steven turned to Duff after filling the duck and aimed the stream of water directly into his boyfriend’s chest, unable to keep himself from giggling.
Duff cried out in surprise, shoving Steven’s arm away by the yellow floatie cuffing his bicep. “Hey! Not fair!” He protested, but the younger boy laughed at him all the same. “Oh yeah? I’ll dunk you, watch out!” Duff threatened, wrapping an arm around Steven’s neck and pulling his head down towards the water.
Steven squealed, trying to shove Duff off and keep himself from being shoved beneath the surface. “Duff, noooo!” He screeched, clawing at the bassist’s arm around his shoulders.
Duff laughed deeply, releasing Steven from his hold but not without rubbing a closed fist against the top of his blond, curly head. “Leave me and Mister Duck alone,” Steven pleaded, straightening up and grabbing his fallen duck out of the water.
“Alright, alright.” Duff submitted to his boyfriend’s begging with hands held up defensively, though his smile gave him away. “You’re real cute, you know that ducky?” He added with a wry grin, pecking Steven on the forehead before settling back to watch him play with the toy.
The drummer flushed heavily, and didn’t respond. Rather, Steven began pushing his duck around in the water once more, the two now completely content on a hot summer afternoon in the backyard.