Disclaimer: I don't own a THING.
Warning: Slash and use of a "bad" word that starts with f.
Perry sat on the couch with his legs neatly crossed, studiously avoiding looking at Harry's gaudy Christmas decorations that littered the room and instead focused on the detective novel he held in his left hand, his thumb holding it open while he held a glass of champagne in his right. He smirked slightly at the shallow plot and the over exaggerated and highly dramatized assumed life of detectives.
Harry sat at the desk across the room with his feet propped up on the glass top as he examined the puckered scar of his missing ring finger. He held the missing digit up to his eye to examine the scar for a moment more and then sighed in boredom as he let the hand drop heavily on to the arm of the chair. Harry drummed the fingers of his mutilated hand on the arm for a second before his face lit up suddenly with a thought.
"Perry, I need your help." He said quickly as he sat up slightly in his seat.
"No." Perry replied, not bothering to take his eyes from the book.
"You don't even know what I was going to ask." Harry's face fell into a look of utter dejection.
"Don't care."
"I could be having a crisis."
"Still don't care, Chief."
"I'm starting to feel as if you have contempt for me." Harry said as he put a hand over his heart in mock sorrow.
Perry brought the glass to his lips and drained it in one go then set it on the matching glass end table before turning over the book and setting it down to keep its place. "Fine. What do you want?" He asked as he threw his arm over the arm of the couch and stared impatiently at his companion.
"I need you to teach me to dance." Harry's face brightened as if Perry had already agreed. "Slow dance."
"What, fuckhead? What makes you think that I can slow dance let alone have the patience to teach you? No, I'm not doing it."
"Come on, Per, don't be a shmuck. Harmony's throwing her party tonight before she leaves for Indiana in a few days and I want to do something right. Be a friend for once."
Perry didn't respond except to rise smoothly to his feet and cross the room to turn on his stereo.
"Is that…Billie Holiday?" Harry asked as the distinctive soulful voice echoed throughout the room.
"You surprise me, Harry. All along I thought you were completely lost when it came to good music."
"Yeah, well, my mom was a big jazz and blues fan. Couldn't go anywhere without her singing something from Ella Fitzgerald or Nat King Cole, you know."
"Alright, enough talking. Get over here before my patience runs out." Perry stood in the center of the room, his hands tucked into his pockets as he waited tolerantly for the other.
"Hold on a second, Slick, I'm coming." Harry leapt to his feet and in his haste almost knocked over the chair.
"Alright, how do we do this?" He asked as he bounced to a stop a few inches in front of Perry.
"I'm going to do the guy's part so you see how it's done and then we'll switch. OK?"
"Yeah, sure." Harry replied quickly.
"Now, put your hand on my shoulder and get a little closer. No, don't crush me, Harry."
"Sorry." Harry backed up a little so that their chests just barely touched. "Like this?"
"Yes, that's fine. Move your feet with mine. Yes, like that but loosen up. The song is named 'Tenderly' for a reason. Harry, relax. I won't bite."
Harry shrugged faintly. "It's not you; I've just never done this –dancing - before."
"You've never danced before?" The Detective asked incredulously.
"Well, I mean I have but at family stuff and that doesn't really count." Harry looked at their joined hands with a bit of apprehension. "This is right…right?"
"You're doing fine, moron. We can switch now if you'd like."
Harry proved to be a quick learner in dance if nothing else and after less than half an hour, Perry deemed him suitable enough to dance with Harmony.
As he walked away, Perry felt his hand grow cold without Harry's touch and his body feel as though it was missing something without the other's touch. Perry shook off the feelings, dismissing them as the notion that his body had just grown use to the prolonged touch.
-KKBB-
"What do you mean you're not going?" Harry's voice rang throughout the house.
Perry leaned against the kitchen counter with his arms tightly folded across his chest. "Just go without me. I'll stop by tomorrow and drop off Harmony's present."
"No. Come on, you have to go." Harry said as he leapt down the stairs.
"For God's sake, you moron, you can't go out like that." Perry sighed when he saw Harry's wild hair and un-tucked light blue shirt under his suit jacket. "Is that a brown belt?" The Detective asked incredulously.
"Yeah. Why?"
"Who taught you to dress? You're wearing a black suit. Go change your belt and get a comb."
"Then you'll come?"
"No. Now, go. Vanish."
Harry came walking smoothly down the stairs a moment later as he combed down the sides of his unruly hair.
Perry had to do a double take to make sure it was the same Harry he was used to. It wasn't. This one radiated instinctual maturity and suavity that most guys had to work to achieve coupled with a tamer version of his usual joviality.
"Well, how do I look?" Harry asked, showing off his neatly tucked in shirt and carefully combed hair.
Perry pushed himself off the counter and fixed Harry's collar just a bit, his fingers brushing the other's jaw and lingering a second longer than called for. "You clean up nice, Chief."
"Thanks." Harry tapped the comb against his other hand. "Well, you're already wearing a suit so you're good to go. Hurry up and let's go before we're late."
"No, Harry. Just go without me. This isn't my crowd. I'll say goodbye tomorrow."
"Fine." Harry leapt up and sat on the granite countertop. "Then I won't go."
"Don't be childish."
"I'm not being childish. Just one night to hang out and have fun, that's all I ask. Please, Per?"
"An hour." Perry held up a finger. "I'll stay for an hour."
"I'll take it." Harry leapt off the counter, a triumphant smirk etched across his face.
Perry sat at a small table outside the gazebo, glancing over to his right to see Harry and Harmony dancing under the gazebo with her head resting lightly on his shoulder and a smile on her face. Perry had to admit that for all his faults, Harry was a quick learner at least when dancing was involved. An unfamiliar feeling of disappointment settled in his chest at the notion that Harry and Harmony fit so well together and he tried to drown it with a glass of Scotch.
Just as he got up to find another drink and leave, Harmony came up from behind and slipped her arm around his.
"Hey, Perry." She said with a sly smile that instantly put him on his guard.
"Hi, Harmony. I'm sorry to hear you'll be leaving. Now, I'll have to listen to Harry whine about it for a week." He said pointing at his roommate who was leaning against the rail as he chatted with a petite blonde. "You'll come visit, won't you? For Harry's sake."
"Probably." She replied. "For New Years of course." She swept her hair from her face and tucked it behind an ear as she looked around almost nervously. "Listen, you take care of him, won't you? He really…looks up to you, Perry. Maybe you should spend more time with him while I'm gone." She said with a mischievous glint in her eye.
"Yeah, sure. I'll drop him off at the zoo. He'll love it." Perry cleared his throat to try and mask some of the misconceived annoyance as he glanced fondly over at Harry.
Harmony nudged his shoulder with his own. "Maybe you should go with him. Oh, hey, the last dance is coming up and Dabney asked me for the last dance. It's probably an excuse to feel me up but I promised him anyway. So, call me tonight and let me know how it goes."
"Let you know how what goes? Harmony? Harmony!" Perry glared as he watched her jog back toward the gazebo and disappear through the throng.
"Hey, Per. For a second I was worried you left me." Harry said as he walked up to the Detective, hands shoved deep on his pockets as he looked around anxiously.
"Well, you're in luck, fuck up. Actually, Harmony just left to dance with Dabney. You probably wanted the last dance so…sorry, I guess."
"No, it's cool." Harry replied. "I kind of wanted…well, if you wanted…"
"What are you babbling about?"
"Nothing. It's nothing. I just had a thought but it's stupid."
They stood in silence for a moment, Harry not daring to look at Perry and Perry staring at Harry with slight confusion as the song Feeling Good broke the silence and cut through the gentle murmur of the crowd.
"Will you dance with me?" Harry asked suddenly.
"What?"
"You're right it's stupid. Never mind. Forget it."
They stood in silence for a moment, Perry staring at Harry and Harry looking around anxiously as his fingers tapped at his pant leg, restless for a cigarette.
"Why?" Perry asked quietly but loud enough to be heard over the music and crowd.
"It's just that you're not dancing with anyone and—"
"And what? You want to dance with me?"
"Well…yeah. I…like you. Now, wait." He said as Perry opened his mouth to reply. "You can call me a fuckhead, a moron, a fuck up later but for once just listen. I think you're an ass and could possibly be the worst friend ever. Yes, I know I screw up but you never listen to word I say, never bother to ask how I'm doing but you do these little thing that make me feel better and it's like you read my mind. It's so fucking weird, Perry, and even when you're completely trying to humiliate me I think you're amazing." Harry paused to put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it. "It's like when I'm with you, we're invincible and I don't think about any of the stupid shit around."
"How much did you drink?"
Harry groaned and took a long drag with exasperation. "I had a glass of Bourbon but that's not the point."
"You are straight, Harry. You do recall last time I kissed you, you gagged. Remember?"
"That's not fair; I wasn't ready for it."
"Look, I don't know if you've somehow ingested some drug or something but we're going to forget this happened because you're not gay."
"That's just it." Harry replied, his voice rising slightly. "I don't feel gay with you or straight or bisexual or whatever. All I know is I like you. I really actually like you."
"Alright, Harry, let's say that you like me. What now? Where do you think we go from here? What do we do now?"
"We go home. We go to bed and we—"
"We share a bed? Hold hands? I don't do relationships, moron, I have sex, once maybe twice if I'm feeling nice or they were just that good the first time, and then I move on."
"Do you like me? Even a little?"
"When you don't flap your mouth then, yes, I find you attractive."
"I'll take it as a yes, you like me. So, enough to start a relationship?"
"God, Harry, leave it alone." Perry turned on his heel and started toward the car.
Harry jogged to catch up and walked alongside the Detective, close enough that their shoulders touched. "What if we start slow? We could just—"
Perry stopped so suddenly that Harry almost walked past him. "We are not doing anything but going home and forgetting this night happened. Maybe this is a mid-life crisis thing you're going through, I don't know but don't include me. Find a cute little blonde, tell her you're a producer and when she's got her hands all over you, you can tell me how gay you are."
"Kiss me." Harry ground his cigarette into the dirt with the heel of his shoe.
"What? No."
"Kiss me." Harry said again and closed the gap to press their lips together. He grabbed fistfuls of Perry's Armani shirt to stop him from pulling away.
"Harry, let go." Perry said as he turned his face away. "I get it. Now, let go; you're wrinkling my shirt."
"I'm sorry."
"Yeah, well, you should be. It's an expensive shirt. Is that a chocolate stain? Fuck, Harry, you're like a five year old. I have to get it washed before it sets in." Perry gave a heavy sigh at the chocolate stain the size of Harry's thumb marring the once crisp light pink shirt.
"Fuck the shirt, Perry! Fine, you know what? Forget it." Harry threw his hands up and turned around to walk back towards the gazebo.
"Where the hell are you going?"
Harry turned around and continued walking backwards. "You care?"
"Come back, you idiot." Perry called, his heart hammering in his chest.
"Why?"
The Detective glanced down and then back up as he shoved his hands in his pockets. "I like you."
"What was that? You spite me. Well, that makes sense."
"No, you moron. I fucking like you. God knows why. You're dense to the point of stupidity, you have no suavity in day to day life, you're vocabulary seems to not extend past grade school and let's not mention you're complete lack of taste in fashion. Since I met you, I've had to bring a change of clothes almost everywhere and have the police on speed dial and yet if something happened to you I don't think I could stand it. I like your idiotic smile and poor word selections and even you're disregard for personal boundaries I find endearing."
They paused for a moment, not yet able to look at each other. Harry crossed the distance to stand in front of his friend.
"So now what, Slick?" He asked.
Perry shrugged slightly. "Let's go home. Spending more than an hour with you is exhausting."
"So, we…"
"Yeah, I think we are."
Harry's face split into a grin and he nudged Perry with his elbow. "Come on, partner. Let's get a drink before we go."
"You better watch it or they'll start calling you Gay Harry."
Harry merely shrugged. "I think I can handle it."
First KKBB fic EVER! Let me know if this was a complete waste of time or not in one of those things called a review if you please.