this doesn't count
Every Night,
“Hey, you wanna hear something hilarious?” Al asked Arthur out of the blue one night, arm around his shoulders as they drank hot chocolate and watched the stars from the back porch of their house in the desert.
Arthur hummed and burrowed closer into Al’s body heat. “Hmm?”
“I think we’re in love.”
Arthur snorted into the other’s shirt, but didn’t bother to open his eyes. “Brilliant deduction, Holmes,” he said sarcastically. “Now, pray tell, what brought about this subtle insight of yours?”
Al shrugged a little, taking care not to move enough to dissuade Arthur’s cuddling, and took a long, shallow sip of his cocoa. “Well, I guess it’s obvious when you think about it, but I’ve never really thought about it, y’know?” he replied, quiet enough not to disturb the chill night surrounding them. “I usually don’t think about us that often.”
“Such a treat to know that, America. Please, flatter me more.” It seemed Arthur was in his ‘I have a sarcastic quip for everything’ mood.
“Oh, stop whining, you know what I mean,” Al joked, squeezing him tighter for a moment. “We’re kinda weird when you think about it,” he continued. Arthur sensed that he was about to start a lecture, so he drained the rest of his hot chocolate and set in on the floor beneath their swing, settling in for the long haul.
When Arthur had curled up into him again, Al resettled his arm around his torso and set his chin on top of his choppy blonde hair. “We’ve been thick as thieves since we first met, and we’ve never gotten tired of talking to each other,” he went on.
“Except when you’re acting like an idiot,” Arthur interjected, mumbling into his shoulder. Al’s chuckle shook through him.
“Yeah, and when you’re acting like a grumpy old man.” Arthur made a face and gave him a light slap to the stomach, to which Al only laughed more. “But, really, it never lasts long, and it’s always kind of cute anyway.” This time, Arthur didn’t even bother protesting that he wasn’t cute in the vaguest term of the word. He’d given up winning that argument a long time ago. “And once we got over the whole sex hurdle, we’ve been strangely uncomplicated, considering, you know, how messy that usually is…” he trailed off into silence, eyes slipping closed as he dipped his chin a little and laid his cheek on top of Arthur’s head instead. “I love us.”
Arthur nuzzled into his chest. “I think you’re supposed to say ‘I love you’ now, not us,” he murmured, smiling all the same. Al shrugged and dislodged himself from Arthur’s grasp enough to bend forward and put his own mug on the floor. He stretched, then hooked his right arm under Arthur’s knees and pulled his legs over his lap. Arthur simplified matters by crawling up to sit properly across his lap, wrapping his arms around his torso and tucking his face into the crook of Al’s neck, legs bent to the side. Al held onto him by his waist and kicked his feet to send them swinging.
After long moments of content silence and listening to the desert winds, Al shifted under Arthur’s weight and let out a heavy breath. “So, do I get ‘finally figured out the obvious’ sex?”
Arthur laughed hard enough to shake. “Oh, Alfred.” He pressed his mouth to the skin just above the collar of Alfred’s overlarge shirt. “Not tonight.” Alfred cursed. “Nice try, though.”
“I do what I can.” He pushed his toes against the porch floor to keep the swing’s momentum up. “I love you,” he said, testing the phrase on his tongue. It felt foreign, but he could see himself getting used to it.
Arthur simply hummed in reply, but Al could feel his smile through his shirt. “And I you.”