A/N: Wow I'm bad at titles. Obviously I don't know how things may or may not have gone down, but I like to think that they weren't able to spend New Year's together in 2009, so this is their first New Year's kiss, taking place shortly after Dan's appendectomy surgery (which happened mid-November)
Anyway, here's your daily dose of tooth-rotting fluff.
December 31, 2010
Dan's fingers tightened their hold on my shirt as he shifted in my lap. I knew he was feeling somewhat overwhelmed at the large number of people crowding the lounge. Luckily for us, our friends knew our status, and when Louise and Zoe had rented out the building for an impromptu celebration, they'd also declared that it would be 'internet-free'. It wasn't like them to host such a huge event without their vlogging cameras, but here we were now, surrounded by people and a basket full of electronics in the corner. All of these things meant I could hold him as close as I wanted, could press my lips to his as often as possible, without worrying about someone accidentally exposing us to the world. We'd be able to watch the ball drop- all the way across the ocean in Times Square- and nobody would be watching us to see if we slipped up because they already knew.
Neither of us was saying much, and that was okay. It was a comfortable silence, even if there were people shouting all around us. I smiled when I felt his face pressing into my neck. I didn't think I'd ever get over the way it tickled my ears when his fringe brushed across my skin, or the way my heart sped up just because he was that close to me. He shifted again, this time to turn around so he was facing me, one leg on each side. It might have looked a bit voyeuristic, but we were safely tucked into a corner of the room, and they were politely ignoring us. We were two scatter-brained boys who hadn't seen each other in almost a month- they were lucky we'd managed to keep our clothes on.
"Care to let me in on the joke?" he asked then, watching me with twinkling eyes. I hadn't even realized he'd pulled his lips from my neck or that I was laughing out loud at my thoughts. My mind went blank for a moment as I searched for the words- I wondered if he knew he did that to me.
"We're practically giving them a show," I replied, snickering. His thighs tightened on my hips, exaggerating that point, but his smile faltered slightly, and he started to move. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him right back, bringing him close enough that our chests were touching. "I didn't say it was a bad thing," I said softly, touching my forehead to his. His beautiful smile returned full-force, revealing a dimple in his right cheek.
"Countdown's begun," someone yelled out from across the room. Both our heads snapped up to look at the large-screen TV on the wall, where the ball was preparing to drop, and then to each other, grinning like mad. Everyone gathered in the center of the room, and we stood up to join them. It was the longest ten seconds of my life, and my heart was barely contained when the ball reached the bottom of the tower.
There was a chorus of Happy New Year's being sung around the room, people kissing softly and briefly and then shifting their eyes around to watch other people hugging and clinking glasses together. None of it appealed to me. All I cared about in that moment was pulling the boy next to me into my arms, twisting a handful of fingers into his fringe, the other on his back. His arms hung at his sides at first- he was still painfully shy about these things- but as our lips moved against each other and his tongue poked out to slip into my mouth, his hands found their way to my neck and fingernails grazed over my skin as he became more confident.
Eventually, we pulled apart, practically gasping for air. He'd wrapped his arms around my neck and held himself to me tightly, and I had mine around his waist with a grip just as strong. His face was buried in my shoulder, and I knew he was probably blushing furiously at the display we'd just showcased. "Happy New Year, Bear," I whispered, low enough that only he'd hear me. A few seconds passed before he raised his head to look at me, cheeks flushed a brilliant scarlet. The color was breathtaking, especially knowing it was my fault.
"I love you," was his response when he finally broke his silence. My lips curled up almost involuntarily and I placed a palm to his cheek; he leaned into it slightly. And then his eyes lit up with a signature glint that I knew would be followed by some kind of sarcastic remark. Sure enough, when he opened his mouth again, he said, "This holiday might not suck so badly if this is what I get from now on."
