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Vash has noticed that Wolfwood usually isn't aware when he's being flirted with.
At first, he'd assumed the man was playing coy with him. He felt like he'd been fairly obvious with getting just a little closer than he might usually, risking a few little touches and glances he normally wouldn't dream of. And Wolfwood does pay such close attention to him. It felt like he'd see it from a mile away.
But he hadn't reacted. And yet before Vash could assume it was a gentle rejection, he'd watched a girl at the bar lean to close, eyes lingering over him too long as she asked him for a light for her cigarette and Wolfwood had...
Well, he'd given her the light. Deftly reached into his pocket, flicked the lighter open, and let her use the flame, leaning too close to him, before flicking it closed and putting it back in his pocket with a simple "you're welcome" after she'd thanked him. Then he'd turned his attention back to his beer when she was still there, leaning close to him.
She'd taken it about how Vash had been about to--a simple rejection of her advances--and moved along down the bar trailing cigarette smoke. But now Vash is curious. He's not so sure Wolfwood even meant to reject the attentions. He's not sure he even knows he was being offered anything.
It's worth testing to see what happens if he's a little more... forward.
When they go back to their room for the evening later, Vash stays close. Leans into Wolfwood's side, feigning a little more drunkenness than he really has. Wolfwood helps him along, dutiful if complaining, and lets Vash lean against him as he unlocks the door and nudges it open.
"Go on," he huffs, nudging Vash with his hip once they're in the room. "Get yourself ready for bed."
Vash, however, remains leaning against his side. He shifts a little, resting his chin on Wolfwood's shoulder. He watches the promising rise of pink in Wolfwood's ear as he lingers.
"You know," Vash murmurs, angling his face so his breath will fan against Wolfwood's neck. "That girl was flirting with you earlier."
Wolfwood makes a small, confused sound. "Wh--don't be weird," he says finally, firmly.
Vash laughs and sways a little, making Wolfwood squeeze his arm around his waist to balance him. "I'm not. She really wanted you to look at her chest..."
Wolfwood sighs at him and nudges Vash with his hip again. "I said stop bein' weird," he grumbles.
"Can you not tell when people are flirting with you?" Vash asks, yawning and still refusing to pull away. "I don't think you can."
"People don't flirt with me," Wolfwood shoots back firmly.
He really doesn't know. He really seems convinced of this. And it's almost the easiest possible in Vash could ever ask for.
"I could, if you let me," Vash purrs, leaning even closer. So the sound rumbles softly in Wolfwood's ear. He grins to himself when Wolfwood's spine straightens immediately.
Wolfwood huffs and heaves Vash off his shoulder and onto the bed. Vash lets himself go with the motion, even knowing he could resist it, but keeps hold of Wolfwood's arm and drags him down with him. The resulting scramble for his balance pulls an annoyed yelp out of Wolfwood and he shoves his hand against Vash's cheek, smooshing his face into the blanket.
"You're drunk," he huffs loudly. "Don't do shit you'll regret."
Shit he'll regret? Vash can't imagine a single thing he could do revolving around flirting with Wolfwood that he'd regret. He's not even that tipsy... But, again, Wolfwood isn't on a need to know basis for this.
"Quit squishin' me," Vash grumbles, voice muffled from the smoosh of Wolfwood's hand against his cheek.
Wolfwood huffs out a simple "be regular, then," but does let him up. He stands in front of Vash, arms folded, as Vash sits up and rubs his cheek.
"Can just say no if you don't want me to," Vash offers, letting himself let on the fact he's a little more sober than he first appeared. "I said I'd do it only if you let me."
This seems to bring Wolfwood some real pause for a moment. He frowns, chewing the unlit cigarette in his lips, and then shakes his head.
"It's not--"
"It's a simple yes or no, Wolfwood," Vash presses gently, leaning forward to prop his elbows on his knees. "So which is it?"
Wolfwood makes a strange little noise in the back of his throat and shrugs. "Either you're messing with me or you're drunker than I thought," he says, "that's all I can figure out here."
That one makes Vash feel a little sad. Wolfwood really can't conceive of a scenario here in which Vash actually wants him?
"I'm not messing with you," Vash tells him, voice more gentle than before. "And it takes a lot more than two beers to get be drunk, you know that."
Wolfwood sighs. "Sure," he mumbles.
"Sure?"
"Sure," he says, a little louder. "Do your worst."
Oh, Vash will make him regret that one...
Smiling, Vash holds his hands out toward Wolfwood. He's met with a confused little frown so he wiggles his fingers until the message comes across and Wolfwood holds his hands out to him. He seems unsure what to do when Vash takes his hands, fingers twitching a little, but he lets Vash bring both of them up to his lips and doesn't pull away as Vash presses a kiss to the knuckles of both of them.
"I think that girl just didn't realize what you need," Vash tells him fondly, rubbing his thumbs between Wolfwood's knuckles. "You need someone to woo you, not someone that wants you to take the lead." When Wolfwood just makes a small, uncertain sound Vash keeps going. "You deserve someone who treats you right. Shows you a nice time, buys you things, kisses the ground you walk on. I bet no one's ever hit you with one of the classic pick up lines."
Wolfwood makes a confused sound and then asks, "Like what?"
"Did it hurt?" Vash asks, glancing up at him then and looking at Wolfwood through his lashes.
He watches Wolfwood's expression melt from uncertainly to genuine confusion. He glances down at himself briefly, like he's looking for an injury he was somehow unaware of.
"Did what hurt?" he asks.
"When you fell from heaven, angel?"
Wolfwood makes a loud, ugly sound that boils over into laughter. He doesn't pull his hands away but he does shove at Vash's, knocking them against his chest.
"That's stupid as fuck, tongari," he says.
"Maybe," Vash hums, swaying a little. "But it made you laugh, didn't it?"
"I laugh at a lot of dumb shit," Wolfwood counters. "Doesn't mean every single person who says those things are flirting with me."
Fair. But Vash can vouch for at least one person in this equation.
"I like to make you laugh," he says.
"Well, ya do," Wolfwood replies, a little quieter now. He wiggles his fingers in Vash's hold but still hasn't pulled his hands back.
Vash hums softly to himself, still watching Wolfwood's face as he goes on. "You have a nice smile," he says, "A good laugh. Pretty eyes... Has no one really ever told you?"
Wolfwood shrugs. He keeps shrugging at these questions, like he's not completely sure. But Vash knows Wolfwood, he knows if he has gotten a compliment like these he certainly didn't conceive of it that way.
No matter. Vash can tell from the color in his cheeks now that Wolfwood is at least taking what he says seriously at this point. He'd been worried he'd have to really push for Wolfwood to understand he meant this...
"You deserve to be taken out," Vash remarks, more thoughtful. "Given anything and everything you could ask for."
Vash isn't particularly sure where the idea he could do this has come from in his head. Usually he wouldn't dream of talking like this; of promising Wolfwood the world, even if he deserves it. He deserves it, most of all, from someone else--someone who isn't a walking natural disaster.
But perhaps it's the alcohol, or perhaps it's the high of making Wolfwood's cheeks rosy; either way he can't help himself. Can't help but promise Wolfwood everything he deserves.
"Maybe that's why you've never noticed people flirting with you," Vash reasons, looking back down at Wolfwood's hands fondly. "They weren't doing what you deserved from it. They weren't treating you like you need. Like you deserve to be treated."
Wolfwood makes an unsure little sound. When Vash looks up at him his cheeks are even more flushed and he averts his eyes, suddenly unable to meet Vash's full on.
"Now I know you're messing with me," he says.
Vash tugs gently at Wolfwood's hands to get his attention, so he'll look at him again. So he can meet those beautiful, dark eyes and smile up at him when he speaks again.
"I can't give you the world, Wolfwood," he says softly. "I'm not all you deserve. But I can show you how wonderful I think you are, if you let me. If I... if I deserve to be close to you at all."
He's afraid he may already know the answer. That he may never be truly enough. That simply by virtue of being Vash the Stampede he'll never be what Wolfwood deserves and needs.
"Is this flirting or proposing, tongari?" Wolfwood asks him bluntly.
Vash laughs. That high, ugly sound he makes when he can't help himself. Leaning forward, he presses his forehead to Wolfwood's hands and keeps laughing. The rush of feelings is too much. Wolfwood deserves better. But he makes Wolfwood laugh. But he's a danger to anyone he cares about. But also, but also, but also...
But he might be a little more tipsy than he thought.
"You're so pretty you make me a fool, I think," Vash tells him finally, shaking his head and rubbing against Wolfwood's hands a little. "Sorry, sorry. That was off topic."
When he looks up, Wolfwood is looking down at him with a mix of concern and confusion. He shifts his weight on his feet, brows pulled together.
"Tongari--"
"Let me--" Vash cuts him off, shaking his head. "Let me just... Maybe I could try courting you? When I'm less of a mess?"
Wolfwood's expression slowly shifts into a concerned little frown. "I knew you were drunk," he says. Vash doesn't like how he says it. Like it's confirmation that all this was just the alcohol talking. Like he has proof now that it wasn't what Vash said.
"I will," Vash tells him, firmer. He presses his lips to Wolfwood's knuckles again. Once, twice, then again. "I'll show you. I'm not much but I can show you..."
"Don't talk about yourself like that," Wolfwood says.
Vash bobs his head once, nose bumping against Wolfwood's hand a little. If that's what Wolfwood wants he can try. He can try...
"Should get some sleep," he says.
Vash nods again. He lets Wolfwood slowly pull his hands away and lingers there for a moment, hands in the same position they were, like he's not sure what to do with them now. His head feels strange; not hazy from intoxication but floaty anyhow. He can't say he enjoys it much.
Then, very gently, Wolfwood brings his hands up to cup his face. He tilts Vash's head up to look at him. His hands are warm and gentle, thumbs carefully rubbing at the rise of Vash's cheekbones.
And he's so red he could hide in Vash's coat like a chameleon. He doesn't seem sure what to do for a moment--like he didn't expect he'd be allowed to touch Vash like this. Or like he'd break the spell somehow simply by touching Vash at all. Then he clears his throat, leans down, and presses a quick kiss to Vash's forehead. When he pulls back all Vash can do is stare at him, eyes wide.
"Go to sleep, tongari," he says, "if you remember this tomorrow, you can try flirting with me again."
Vash giggles softly and nods, leaning into Wolfwood's hands happily.
"I will," he says, doing everything he can to iron the blush across Wolfwood's nose into his memory forever and ever. "I promise."