The gentle, musical clinking of expensive silverware against equally expensive porcelain brought Steve gently back to his senses, as, for the third time in a row, he found himself in a calm, semi-conscious stupor, mesmerised by Leon's eyes to the point where his voice had become nothing more than background noise. Last time it had been his lips. The time before that it had been one of his hands, which was rested elegantly against the corner of his wine glass on the table.

They had finished their meal several minutes ago, and were waiting for dessert. The restaurant Leon had chosen was the kind that seemed so upscale and expensive that Steve would have felt ridiculously out of place there, had he been alone. But with Leon, for the first time in his life, he felt as though he could comfortably fit in. They 'had' received a few strange looks from the other patrons…probably based on the fact that they were both…well, guys…but aside from two or three snooty, disapproving glances, they hadn't been bothered at all. The only thing, really, that made Steve feel uncomfortable, was the idea that Leon was the one paying for all this. He had no idea how much it cost for a three course meal in this kind of restaurant, having never been to one before, but he was positive that there would be more than one zero on the bill.

Luckily, Steve had distracted himself from thinking about it by instead keeping one hundred percent of his attention focused on Leon. It was becoming rather unbearable for Steve to focus on anything much more than those kinds of things, anyway…the way he subconsciously stroked the tip of his index finger across the bottom curve of the glass while he talked…how soft and inviting his lips always looked…the way the silvery hue of his irises lit up and glittered whenever any kind of light hit them. And every time Steve noticed any of those things, he would fixate on them, sometimes only for a few seconds, sometimes for several minutes, sometimes even longer than that, until he had mentally noted every tiny detail he could pick out. Until he had listed, in his mind, every perfect and beautiful thing about them.

It was becoming something of an obsession. And he was all too aware of it.

Sometimes so much so that it almost scared him.

He was pretty sure that it was unhealthy…the way he felt about Leon. And it didn't make sense. Why now? Why Leon? Why couldn't he think about anything else anymore? He questioned it daily, but no matter how much he told himself that it was all just excitement, because it was something new, and something so unbelievable, he couldn't shake the feeling that he needed to pull away. Even if it was just a little.

"So I've always wanted to get a dog, rather than a cat, but I'm never in one place, so getting a pet would be irresponsible, I guess."

Steve's eyes rested on Leon's face again, and he nodded subconsciously along to the conversation. What were they talking about again? Animals?

"Then again, after some of the things I've seen, I'm not sure I even want to own a pet anymore. It's all zombie dogs and mutated fish and giant tentacle monsters."

Leon chuckled slightly to himself, and Steve couldn't help but smile, enjoying the sound of his laughter. There was something very sweet and delicate about the way he laughed. It was strange, really. Leon was always so strong and decisive and in control, and Steve had never seen him lose his cool before, even in the toughest situations, but, at the same time, there was this other side to him that was completely dorky and awkward. It was unbearably adorable.

Leon held his hand up from his glass a little, "Oh, and don't even get me started on the insects."

Gladly, before he could talk about the insects, Leon was interrupted by a waiter, who placed the long awaited desserts down in front of them. Leon had ordered the classic New York cheesecake. In many ways, Steve thought, it suited him perfectly. Steve had ordered the chocolate parfait, which he was almost one hundred percent sure was just chocolate mousse with a fancy name and a little bit of green crap balanced on top of it.

"It's mint." Leon chuckled, eyebrows raised slightly as he watched Steve flick the little piece of green 'crap' off the top of his dessert with a fork.

"I totally knew that."

"Of course you did."

Steve chuckled, looking at him and eating a spoonful of chocolate parfait, shrugging a little, licking a stray smear of the creamy dessert from his bottom lip slowly.

"Okay, so I'm not as 'high-class' and 'refined' as you are. I'm sorry that I'm a normal human being and not a classy, well-mannered secret agent who has his own tailor."

Leon laughed, and Steve very clearly noticed the older male's line of sight flicker briefly to Steve's lips, hovering a forkful of cheesecake halfway to his own mouth as his attention was distracted. It seemed to catch him off guard a little, and he quickly tried to conceal it by drawing his attention across the room to the maitre de.

"I'm gonna order some coffee. Do you want anything?"

Steve quickly suppressed any kind of expression that would show amusement, clearing his throat a little and shaking his head.

"Uh, no, thanks."

Once Leon had ordered his coffee, he turned back to Steve and smiled a little awkwardly, before returning to eating the cheesecake. Steve still had to try hard to stop himself from laughing. While he was definitely no prince charming himself, and his social skills still left a lot to be desired, he knew quite well that he was more openly confident in awkward situations than Leon was. Leon could put on a good show, sure; he could feign any kind of conviction, fake his way through conversations, and always play it calm and cool, but underneath, his personality could easily be described as 'reserved', maybe even 'timid' to a lesser extent. He was just very good at hiding it.

It was pretty cute.

Therefore, far be it from Steve, being the clownish, no doubt slightly irritating person that he knew he was, not to take advantage of such a situation.

He lifted another spoonful of the mousse to his lips, watching it as he did so, making perfectly sure that it looked as unintentional as possible as he rested it into his mouth and pressed his lips against the silver, sliding the dessert off onto his tongue. He was very aware that Leon was watching him, but he made sure not to look, instead keeping his gaze fixed on the candle in the middle of the table distractedly as he flipped the spoon on his bottom lip, allowing him to clean the delicate, concave metal with his tongue. He saw Leon shift in his seat from the corner of his eye, but noted, delightedly, that Leon was otherwise no longer moving, and was paying no further attention to his own food. Steve managed to suppress the smirk that twitched at the corners of his lips, and instead focused on lowering the spoon again just as delicately as he'd first picked it up.

"So, what are we gonna do when we get home?"

Leon hesitated before his answer. It was obvious that he'd only been paying attention to one thing.

"Uh…I don't know…what do you mean?"

Steve chuckled, shrugging casually.

"I mean, we could watch a movie or something, there's probably nothing on TV."

"Yeah…sure." Leon chuckled quietly, tapping one of his fingers against the table lightly.

"But we don't have to…we could do…something else."

Steve mentally held his breath as he said it, watching Leon carefully for any hint of reaction.

"W…"

Leon paused, as though mulling over the sentence in his mind, his expression tensing a little, but most strongly reflecting discomfort. He looked conflicted.

"Something else like…what?"

Steve gulped back the little lump that formed in his throat, shrugging his shoulders slightly.

He didn't have to question it. He knew exactly what he wanted to do when they got home. But that didn't mean it was going to happen. And it definitely didn't mean that he should say it out loud.

"Uh…"

He still felt Leon's gaze boring into him. Suddenly it didn't seem so funny anymore. He'd really dropped himself into it this time, and there was no backing out.

"Uhm…like…scrabble…"

"You're doing it wrong."

Steve looked up from the spot he'd been staring at on the tablecloth, meeting Leon's eyes.

"…H…huh?"

Leon sighed a little, before his expression relaxed and he chuckled, his voice softening.

"If you're trying to get someone to wanna sleep with you, then making jokes isn't really gonna cut it."

"…What?"

"You're supposed to be romantic. And try not to sound too desperate."

At this, Leon cocked an eyebrow slightly, looking amused.

"I'm not…" Steve paused, still watching him questioningly, waiting for the punch line. "I don't really get what's going on here."

"I'm giving you advice, because you're very readable and kinda bad at lying."

"Are you telling me…" Steve tipped his head to the side slightly, still not sure what do say or do, "…Are we like, flirting, or…"

"No, 'you' were flirting…badly." Leon chuckled, looking smug.

"Oh, great…"

"But you're pretty lucky that it works for you anyway."

Steve raised his eyebrows slightly.

"It does?"

Leon nodded slowly, still looking very amused, rubbing the back of his neck a little.

"Yeah."

"So…does that mean…"

"I'm gonna go pay for dinner."

Leon watched him a little longer, before standing up.

"Get your jacket."