Nick squealed excitedly as Tony guided the toddler into the Chuck-E-Cheeses, his eyes bright and wide with excitement as he bounced in place, joining in the laughter of all the other children around, meanwhile Tony was searching almost frantically for a six foot four tall man, somehow expecting to see the admiral in his uniform.
Tony's breath caught in his throat when Harm comes up with a blonde haired, blue eyed toddler attached to his leg, he was walking with a slight limp to compensate for his clingy little girl and god, he looked so damned handsome in his blue jeans that were tight in all the right places and that royal blue button down shirt that just accentuated those bulging muscles that were always hidden underneath his winter uniform.
The second Nick and Elizabeth spotted each other, they released their respective parents and then stood toe-to-toe with one another, Harm and Tony both looked down at their toddlers, their breathes held in their throats as they waited to see if the two would get along or not. The breath knocked out of both men's bodies as their two children squeaked with excitement and then begged to go play, so Harm and Tony easily agreed, taking their children further into the playing area, where both of them could keep a close eye on their kids while they sat on the padded benches to talk.
Harm was seated beside Tony, their knees and shoulders just lightly touching as they watched Nick and Elizabeth climbing in the toddler-sized playground "So, the kids passed their test… Where does that leave us?" Harm asked curiously, glancing over at Tony with a small smile on his face.
Tony shrugged as he looked over at Harm as well "This leaves us with getting to know each other, without things… hanging over either of our heads." Tony stated, obviously hesitating on certain words that would surely capture the attention of other parents around them.
Harm nodded, sliding his hands along the faux leather of the bench "Guess that seems about right. Just never been good at the meet and greet part of relationships… Or relationships…" Harm said, rubbing the back of his neck with a sheepish grin on his face as he flicked his gaze over in Tony's direction.
Tony chuckled nervously, nodding his understanding "I've never been good at either part myself, guess that explains a lot of my failed attempts at relationships before…" Tony trailed off, sighing as he locked his eyes onto the ground, blinking away the tears yet again that seemed to come out of nowhere.
Harm frowned as he scooted just that bit closer and slung his arm around Tony's shoulder, pulling the younger man close to his chest. Tony let out a shuddering breath and just let the emotions run over him as tears silently run down his cheeks; Harm felt the shaking of Tony's body and just held him a tad tighter, letting whatever emotions that Tony had inside of him, out now, it was in a way better, much better than some months down the road when – or if – they established a relationship.
After a few more minutes, Tony sniffled and swiped at his eyes and nose, sitting up just a bit, but still staying in the safety of Harm's arms "I'm sorry… I… I sometimes… I just can't control it…" Tony whispered hoarsely, his eyes still averted towards the ground as he blinked away the last of his tears and cleared his vision.
Harm shook his head and tenderly kissed Tony's temple "Don't apologize, Tony… This is going to be hard on you, but it'll get better with time…" Harm whispered, blinking a few times when a small hand came in contact with his kneecap repeatedly, he turned his head down to look at Nick slapping his leg rather hard for his age.
Nick finally stopped and looked up at Harm with what could only be described as a disgruntled scowl on his face "You kissed my daddy!" he proclaimed loudly enough that a lot of the parents around stopped what they were doing to see what all the commotion was about.
Harm and Tony pulled apart and Tony lifted Nick up onto his lap, "And what is wrong with that Nicky?" Tony asked quietly, pulling Nick's hair back off his forehead so that the toddler could see clearly.
Nick shook his head and bit at his bottom lip as he contemplated his answer "I… I don't know! You never kissed anyone else afore besides daddy!" Nick stated, his bottom lip wobbling as he pulled his sock-covered feet up onto Tony's lap, his small arms encircling his shins as he closed his eyes against the tears that started pooling in his emerald green eyes.
Tony frowned as he kissed the top of Nick's head lightly "I know I haven't, but it's really going to be okay Nicky. Your daddy would be happy that I've found someone who makes me happy again, and he would be happy knowing that you have someone else you can depend on when you need it…" Tony said sadly and Harm just smiled as he collected his daughter into his arms.
The four were silent for a little while, Tony and Nick seemingly thinking over what had just happened and Harm was giving them that time, Elizabeth was always a quiet child and hardly made a noise unless it was necessary, and when the silence was broken by her, it was clearly necessary "Daddy, I hungry and I gotta potty!" Elizabeth said, tilting her head back to look up at her father's chin.
Harm chuckled as he kissed his daughter's head lightly "Then let's go get you to the restroom and then we'll get some pizza." Harm said as he stood up, cradling his curled up baby girl against his chest, her feet dangling precariously over his arms.
Tony grinned as he stood up with Nick hugged to his chest as well "I could use the restroom as well." Tony admitted as the two men began walking towards the sign that directed them towards the restrooms.
Once bathroom breaks were completed and a large pizza was delivered to their table, Harm and Tony set out to cut up one slice of pizza for their toddlers and then proceeded to grab their own slices "Sorry this isn't exactly the best first date idea." Harm said after he'd eaten down about four bites of his pizza.
Tony shook his head as he clasped Harm's unoccupied hand, interlocking their fingers and locking his eyes on their joined hands – he couldn't help but to think about how perfectly their fingers connected together – "I think that it was the perfect idea for our first date… Our kids got to know each other, which was important if we were to ever try and start a relationship… It was a great idea." Tony said quietly, keeping half of his attention on the two toddlers and the other half on the man he could definitely see going somewhere with in the near future.
Harm smiled shyly, his cheeks tinging a hot pink color as he ducked his head – Tony mentally snapshotted this moment, seeing an Admiral of the US Navy blushing was definitely something to keep as a memory. "And, do you see us starting a relationship?" Harm asked quietly, after having cleared his throat a few times to get the words out of him.
Tony released Harm's hand as he returned to eating his first slice of pizza, a thoughtful look on his face as he carefully contemplated the pros and cons to the can of worms he'd just opened up; he could see some sort of future with the man in front of him, he could see going somewhere, but where he was not quite sure yet, he would have to give that time to develop. On the other hand, he had Nick to think about, and while it was clear that Harm was okay with being around Nick, considering he had a child of his own, Nick was still his main priority through it all. And that brought him back to Harm himself – He was a navy man, probably going to stay in it until the day he died, which given his career choices, that could be sooner than either of them might think if something were to happen, and that brought his thoughts back around to Chris and losing him way to soon.
Tony sighed, nodding his head slowly, somewhat still unsure "Yes, I do." He replied honestly, because, really, what could it hurt to actually try and get a handle on his life and start fresh? With a guy who clearly was interested in him, for more than just the reasons that most guys were just interested in him for – He was not interested in just sex, not after having found out that relationships, when both parties were in it for the long haul, were definitely more productive than just sex.
Harm smiled warmly as he captured Tony's hand in his again, bringing it up to his lips and tenderly kissing the younger man's knuckles "I'm glad." Harm whispered against Tony's hand as their eyes locked with one another's, a lot of emotions passing between each man's expressions – Fear, uncertainty, the beginnings of love… So many things that couldn't be put into words.
"Daddy, can we go play again?" Nick asked, breaking the silence and the staring contest that Harm and Tony had found themselves in.
Tony quickly pulled his hand out of Harm's hand and turned to face his son, whose face was absolutely covered in pizza-sauce, "Sure buddy, let me just get your face cleaned up and then we can go play." Tony said as he grabbed one of the napkins off the table and began swiping the sauce of Nick's face carefully.
Harm was on the other side of the table, doing the same with a squirming and restless Elizabeth, clearly ready to get back to playing herself – Once the two kids were cleaned, they both took off, hand-in-hand towards the ball pit close to the skee-ball games "Perhaps we could catch a round of skee-ball?" Harm suggested as he came around the table, tossing the used napkins into the trash can.
Tony grinned, nodding his head a little too enthusiastically "You are so on!" Tony exclaimed as he grasped Harm's hand, interlocking their fingers again – he couldn't seem to get enough of just holding Harm's strong hand in his own – and then practically drug the older man over towards the skee-ball machines.
Harm and Tony found side-by-side machines and inserted the first of what would be many coins into the slots; Harm knew he had a competitive side, but he didn't know that Tony also had one, and once they started playing it became more like a sport, trying to one-up one another, rather than just a game inside of a kid's play place.
By the time the two men had ran out of coins, fifty between the two of them – They had what seemed like over a million little golden tickets "Well, that was surely exciting." Harm said, grinning as he swiped sweat off his brow, then glanced over at Elizabeth and Nick who had long since abandoned playing to watch their fathers gain more and more tickets.
Tony nodded as he bundled up his tickets and shoved them down into his jean pockets, "It was definitely fun – We should do this again." Tony stated, grinning as he walked over to Nick and Elizabeth, looking down into two terribly tired looking faces "Although I think it's time to get some small people home for bed." Tony said as he slowly lifted Nick up, nestling the toddler against his chest.
Harm collected Elizabeth as well, nodding as the two men headed towards the ticket counter, "What do you want for a prize, Lizzy?" Harm asked, jostling the almost-sleeping little girl to get her to pick something out – Elizabeth managed to raise a tired arm up to point at an overly large pink stuffed dog, then dropped her arm back to Harm's chest, snuggling in deeply.
Tony already knew what Nick would want – He'd had his eyes on it for a long time now, so Tony pointed out the large neon green and orange dinosaur, hoping the damned thing would fit in his SUV. The counter attendant quickly gathered both prizes and handed them over, it was awkward to try and carry the toys and the children, but somehow both men managed to get out of Chuck E Cheeses without incident.
Harm shoved the obscenely large pink dog into his trunk, then shifted Elizabeth in his arms to join Tony over at his car "Need a hand with that?" Harm asked, noticing that Tony was struggling to open the trunk of his SUV while balancing Nick in his arms at the same time.
Tony nodded as he stood back, his car keys falling to the ground by his feet, both men sighed as they looked down at the silver keys "Today was a great day, until we left the safety of drooling and screaming children." Tony commented idly as he watched Harm gracefully bent over, keeping Elizabeth somehow cocooned against him and picked the keys back up, then unlocked and opened the trunk to Tony's SUV.
Tony managed to shove the huge dinosaur into the almost full to capacity trunk, then sighed as he shifted Nick in his arms "I can't wait to do this again." Harm whispered as he reached up with one hand, tucking a stray hair of Tony's behind his ear, keeping his warm palm against Tony's cheek afterwards.
Slowly, ever so slowly, the two men's bodies draw closer together, and their lips touch for the first time in an electrifying way; their eyes sliding closed as they tentatively explored one another, first with just lips, then slowly their tongues met, twisting and caressing in an dance as old as time.
When they finally pull apart, having two squirming toddlers breaking their kissing-concentration; Harm and Tony are both flushed and slightly breathless as they stare into one another's eyes "I'll call you… tonight?" Tony whispered questioningly, his green eyes lit with amusement and just a bit more love than what he should probably be feeling at this point in their relationship. Harm just nodded his head, pecking Tony's lips once more before turning on his heel expertly to head back towards his own SUV.