the OH MY GOD JUST DATE ALREADY AU (Felix & Eugene)

[sadoldmen]

ft. two dudes who aren't quite sure how talking about your feelings really works

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[scanninggaydis]

[It's not really unusual for Felix and Eugene to grab a drink together these days. Far from it. They're friends, so of course they end up hanging out on a regular basis. On the Iskaulit, when they're visiting a system...it's totally run of the mill.

It's why Felix definitely hadn't thought anything about this latest invitation to hang out at a bar on the current planet the Fleet has stopped at. Why would he? It's not like the conversation's been any different from the usual anyway.

He's just...glad in general, that he hasn't managed to frak this up. It's weird to kind of get a second shot, without all the weirdness that clouded the end of that relationship. A little bit like he's gaming the system. But he knows a little better now, how to approach Eugene. And it's not like he's trying to manipulate him, or anything. He's just...trying to relate to him better.

And their relationship is...good. He's really happy that Jack eventually turned up, it was nice to see Eugene genuinely happy. Felix has a vested interest in seeing Eugene happy. He likes it when he is, because it makes him feel...good? Something he's felt for a while, if he's being honest. Which he is...partially. Kind of. He's never looked too hard at that feeling. Eugene's his friend, a really good friend, and you want your friends to be as happy as possible. Right?

Right. So. They're at this bar. Chatting. Like normal.]

[survivalistcookbook]

[One of the benefits of having done years in journalism - even if some might raise an eyebrow at calling 'writing about food' journalism - is that chitchat comes easily even when his brain is spinning in three or four other directions at the same time. Years doing interviews and more years manning the radio alongside Jack, and the rhythm of conversation, questions and observations and quips, comes easily. He usually tries not to think about how remarkably easily it comes with Felix, in particular, even if he's a far cry from Jack's bright, quick counterpoint.

He thinks he shouldn't compare the two of them. He thinks that Jack, also, should probably stop comparing himself and Felix. Especially in that sly, encouraging way he's been doing it for awhile now, most recently peppered with sharp points of exasperation when Eugene unconvincingly tries to feint or change the topic.

Which is stupid, he's been telling himself, almost all the way up until he left to meet Felix at tonight's bar. He's fine with what this is, he keeps telling himself, because the answer is always a possible no, and Felix is a good friend regardless of whatever crazy idea Jack's nursing along and enabling. He's fine.

Whatever this is.]

You know- [It comes after a lull in the conversation, when there's room for a wry observation, a perfectly neutral rollout of an idea before he dares pose any kind of real question.] We've hit up at least one bar at every system we've been at for awhile now. Jack says we're practically dating.

[scanninggaydis]

[It still surprises Felix sometimes, how easy it is for him to talk to Eugene. Maybe it's because they're pretty similar people. Different enough that they don't just clash, but...Eugene gets him, he feels like. He thinks he gets Eugene.

Which isn't to say this kind of friendship hasn't ever happened to Felix before. It's just...you know. He's not always a people person. Less so after all the mess that was his life back home.

But with Eugene? The conversation comes easy, most of the time. Especially when they hang out like this. Felix is as warm and at ease as he's probably ever going to be. He definitely smiles more.

Eugene's observation - or anyway, his passing along of Jack's observation - gets Felix to tilt his head to the side a little. He has a look of consideration on his face, though it's very much not that serious.] Yeah? [He thinks about it for another few moments, and then shrugs with an easy (okay maybe slightly wry) smile.] I mean, that's definitely one way to interpret this. I guess I can see where he's coming from. I didn't realize we had that much of a routine.

[He's pretty nonchalant about it. Maybe that's a sign?]

[survivalistcookbook]

[All right, not an outright laugh, good. Good . . . if he was someone with actual game, who could flirt when it isn't a sure thing. Which he is very much not, at least not right now, with Felix, here in this bar where the comfort of habit and a few good drinks makes pushing his luck feel even stupider than usual.

Even if imagining this to be something more than the usual routine makes his stomach flip giddily. Even if low light and no demands but a few hours of conversation settle his usual intensity into a warmer, subtler thing that he couldn't imagine not taking every excuse to draw out.]

Hey, sometimes you just want to go somewhere quieter and relax a little, right?

['Sometimes' of course, meaning, 'at least twice a month,' especially in systems that actually got something like a pub aesthetic.]

[scanninggaydis]

We do have a pretty hectic life, after all.

[His smile is smaller, his tone very faintly teasing. There are occasionally some high-drama, high-stakes moments in the Fleet. Raider attacks, parties that double as heists. Things that keep the audience amused. Apparently. But it's quieter than life back home, quieter than life had been in Camp. Quieter, he figures (knows) than Eugene's life back home too.

But then he leans back in his chair a little, nodding. His smile ends up softening a little.]

No, I get what you mean though. It's...nice. Doing this.

[Not drinking to get drunk or anything. Using the excuse of 'getting a drink' to hang out, to have a background activity. He really hadn't actually being paying that much attention to how frequent this behavior had become, but he's not surprised.

It is, after all, probably, the best thing he's got going for him in the Fleet.]

[survivalistcookbook]

[Felix does have him there, and he snorts rather than rise to the gentle ribbing, rolling his glass between his hands. It reads as a nervous gesture, which he'd probably recognize if his brain wasn't entirely occupied with the fact that he has to ask, should probably ask now before he can telegraph or blurt something that just makes it weird, except his mind is as blank as it's ever been in front of a blinking cursor five hours before a deadline.

Nice. Doing this is nice. He agrees, except that him and his stupid husband have made it temporarily excruciating and- right, okay, fine, he has to say something or he's going to explode.]

Yeah. [He pauses. Hopes he pauses, and doesn't just blurt into asking-] So, uh- do you think this is the kind of nice that could be a date? Hypothetically?

[Smile. Take a drink. Play it cool oh god this was a mistake he's never listening to Jack again about anything, ever.]

[scanninggaydis]

[.....Oh? Okay, that's not remotely in the range of anything that Felix was expecting. At all.

Although maybe he should have seen, in the few moments before Eugene sprung his question, the warning signs. He did see them actually but just hadn't had time to adequately interpret them. The fact that Eugene hadn't teased him back was probably the most telling part. Still, he's been lured into a sense of safety by the comfortable routineness of this thing that they're currently doing.

And then Eugene comes out of nowhere and asks......]

....Oh. [Felix looks completely surprised. His eyes are a little wide, and he's very still in his seat. It's a little bit like a deer in the headlights, if comparisons have to be made. But the look on his face is at least pure surprise. Not awkwardness (that can come later) or reluctance just....uncertainty. It completely wrecks his easygoing demeanor of a few moments ago and is in distinct contrast to Eugene's behavior. At least his outward behavior.] That's, uh-- You're not joking, right?

[I mean, Eugene is smiling but Felix doesn't have any reason to think that he'd do something like jokingly ask him out. That doesn't seem like Eugene's style. Which only leaves the option that he's serious, and that's....really? Felix, of all people? Oh.]

[survivalistcookbook]

Uh. No?

[He gives a crooked grin, and that's where the nerves start to show through, a subtle restlessness in contrast to how absolutely still Felix is.

(Shit, shit,shit-)]

I mean, if you're really monogamous or a strong 'no' I can definitely pretend I was joking. If that would help.

[scanninggaydis]

No, you don't have to do that.

[That...comes out in more of a rush than Felix really meant it to. He just doesn't want Eugene to suddenly take back the offer before he's had time to process it, and he certainly doesn't want Eugene to think he's not interested, he just...

But it's embarrassing how quickly he answers and his stillness breaks so that he can run a hand through his hair. Felix smiles, but this time it's faintly awkward.]

Sorry. I mean...it's not that. I just didn't, um, think that you... [Oh my gods, he's embarassed for himself, this is terrible. Felix actually laughs, though, glancing down at the bar. This is ridiculous and he kind of knows it.] I was just surprised.

[survivalistcookbook]

[His shoulders sink in a - well, not a sigh of relief, but he definitely hadn't realized he was holding his breath until Felix gave him a reason not to. He can't resist a smile at that laugh, though, the slow tumble and crack tension breaking as infectious as the nervousness had been.]

Well I wasn't going to be creepy about it or anything. And you know, you don't want to gamble a friendship and make everything weird.

[scanninggaydis]

[It is kind of infectious, actually. He laughs, Eugene smiles, and just like that, Felix's own smile isn't as awkward as it was a moment ago. As he processes this, as it actually becomes a little bit more real to him...

Gods. It's a tempting offer. It's surprising how much he wants it, even if he's not entirely certain it's a good idea. A date, though. How bad could that go?]

What, uh...what made you decide to take the risk?

[Why now, of all times.]

new thread new thread sexy times I guess (gonna be NSFW)

[scanninggaydis]

[They've been doing...whatever this thing is they're doing for a little while now. Dating. And the funny thing is, not a lot has really changed. Felix has gotten to know Jack a lot better and maybe he checks in with Eugene a little more often than he used but...they were already friends. They already talked regularly. It just means that now sometimes he wakes up next to him and it isn't something that their gracious hosts engineered. (Not that...the Atroma have ever done the mid-sleep teleportation thing. But, you know, he'd woken up next to Eugene before this. The...other one.

And it means that their bar dates...end differently. Sometimes. A lot of the time.

They've got a hotel room for the night on this latest planet they've been parked at. Felix closes the door behind them, and then leans against it lazily while he looks at Eugene for a moment. He's a little tipsy, which is generally as intoxicated as he ever lets himself get these days. Between one thing and another, it's been a couple weeks since they've done anything together and he's...ready. He's missed it.]

Hey.

[A little dopey, the way he says it, the way he smiles. Especially with the way he's a bit loose-limbed. But then again, he's never been that smooth. Whatever, Eugene doesn't seem to mind. (Or, well, Felix does get teased about it sometimes, but hey. They're still doing this, aren't they? Also, Eugene isn't always that smooth either. So there.)

Felix pushes off the door to approach his boyfriend, putting his hands on Eugene's forearms as he leans in to kiss him.]

[survivalistcookbook]

[Hotel rooms always carry a twinge of nostalgia, of sweet strangeness - something that he'd become exhaustively familiar with, then sure he'd never seen again, then again rediscovered in such a literally alien context that almost everything that happens in them happens in a skewed, exciting light. Clean and anonymous and convenient, and it's such a contrast to Felix there, soft-edged in the half-light just inside the door. Felix who at some point has moved from surface-smooth ease to the warm rough-textured familiarity, to the place where it's easy to catch that greeting and laugh a little more coarsely. More derision, but more affection too, more self-effacing concession that he actually loves that cheesy, terrible bullshit and he's so relaxed and lost in loving that he even gets to see him like this that the kiss more or less catches him off guard. Which doesn't mean much more than that he lags a second before kissing back, laughs and mumbles around the edges warmly as the heels of his hands find Felix's hips.]

Hey.

[A shade of a tease in the echo, but then he's nuzzling past the kiss and into that soft, warm dark behind his jaw to kiss for a few lazily possessive seconds before murmuring with a smirk.]

Good pickup line. Classic.

[scanninggaydis]

[As Eugene kisses behind his jaw, Felix arches his head slightly to make that easier. It doesn't matter that he can hear the teasing in Eugene's voice and laugh because well, a) even he knows that it was cheesy and b)the affection speaks for itself too. He knows the fondness is there. The fact that is makes him feel...light-headed. A bit. He's not sure when he's going to stop feeling like this and sort of hopes he never will.

One of his hands starts slowly drifting up Eugene's arm with some sort of intention but the murmur halts it. Felix huffs, even as he smiles.]

I'm pretty sure I've already picked you up.

[That's accompanied by the faintest shove of his palm against Eugene's shoulder. A mockery of protest that isn't intended to move him anywhere. But it's symbolic, anyway.

It would carry more weight if that hand wasn't leaving Eugene's shoulder to start to skim up his neck.]

[survivalistcookbook]

Mmmmidunno. [It starts as a murmur and ends shivery, nerves lagging and skipping under the influence of something he hadn't been able to pronounce but that he can still feel at the back of his tongue like cardamom and blackcurrant, something that melts easily under the salt-bitten taste of skin. Just something in knowing that he has Felix is enough to make him want that much more, like forgetting thirst until the first taste of water. Going from shoulders brushing in a bar to fingers to his neck and suddenly he wants his hands everywhere, everywhere.] You just got me in your hotel room. What's your plan from here?

[scanninggaydis]

Hmm.

[He likes the way that Eugene's voice goes shivery, even if he doesn't know where it comes from exactly. Felix's hand finishes its journey, threading into the curls at the nape of Eugene's neck.

He's not...always super confident in the bedroom. Definitely prefers Eugene to lead a little. And he definitely didn't already have a plan for tonight but...sure. He'll try. Pulling back to smile a bit, gaze dropping to Eugene's lips and then returning to his eyes.]

Figured I'd play it by ear but...I'd start by kissing you breathless.

[Good thing cheesy bullshit is a turn on for Eugene.]

[survivalistcookbook]

[It's cheesy. Borderline cliche. It's worth giving Felix a whole other round of shit, except that would mean talking instead of kissing and that - that's a compromise he's not willing to make just in the name of being a jackass.

Anyway, if he ever had to admit exactly what about all of this he loves, there's more than enough of him that just adores this genuine and imperfect openness. He doesn't have a ton of room to talk when it comes to being a sap.

So he doesn't. And as long as Felix is concerned with kissing him, he walks them back to the bed one careful step back at a time, until he can sink down and really get down to that 'breathless' part without having to contend with gravity.]

[scanninggaydis]

[Felix is waiting for the teasing to be honest. When it doesn't arrive at all, his smile becomes just a little bit amused. That probably shouldn't have worked at all, and the fact that it did says something about Eugene. Which is...endearing.

He follows Eugene step by careful step until Eugene is sitting down. Now, Felix can't really straddle him but he can do the next best thing. One knee up on the bed, the other leg slipping between Eugene's. Not straddling, but hovering slightly over.

Just for a second again, he hangs there. Hand still in Eugene's hair, drinking him in. It's hard for him to be genuine sometimes. He's spent a really long time wanting Eugene to only see the polished version of himself, not the with so many chipped edges. But being open gets him...this. And it's better, maybe. Better than Eugene wanting the sanitized version.

Still. It can be nervewracking to think about. So he doesn't. Just dives back in, his free hand on Eugene's shoulder to steady himself. Starting out light and soft as his thumb strokes the back of Eugene's neck.]