AN: Time for a hurt/comfort, once again crossposted from ao3. "The Touch Of Your Hand Says You'll Catch Me Wherever I Fall", title from When You Say Nothing At All by Ronan Keating.

Staring at the wreckage of his latest inator, Heinz Doofenshmirtz fell to his knees, swallowing back tears. He'd failed, yet again. Nothing new, but while he normally tried not to let it bother him, there were days when he couldn't escape the feelings of inadequacy.

Worst of all, his nemesis had already turned away, walking out the door.

"Curse you, Perry the Platypus," he whispered without force as he curled around the familiar ache in his chest, sure his nemesis wouldn't want to see him like this.

Already halfway down the hallway, Perry stopped. Turned around. He had, over the short time they'd been nemesis, developed a strange affection for his nemesis. In Heinz, he'd found an enemy he respected, a friend he trusted, someone so much more than either of those things alone.

Returning to the lab, he pushed the door open just a crack. The sight of Heinz there, smaller than Perry had ever seen him, twisted in his heart.

Flinging the door the rest of the way open, he crossed the room to his nemesis, steps slow and measured, not wanting to spook the man. He, for once, couldn't predict what Heinz would do or how he'd react, not when his nemesis was in such a heightened state.

A gentle chirr brought Heinz's tear-filled eyes up to meet his. "You came back," the man croaked.

Perry, just out of reach and not daring to come any closer, nodded, offering his paw to his nemesis. Yes, yes he had. Heinz needed him.

Wiping his eyes, Heinz sniffed, taking the offered paw. To his surprise, Perry didn't make any motion to pull him to his feet, instead drawing closer, his other paw coming up around Heinz's jaw.

His bill followed a moment later, pressing to Heinz's lips in a crude approximation of a kiss, informed almost entirely from overly dramatic soap operas. Despite all this, Heinz had never before been kissed with so much genuine emotion and longing.

"You-"

Covering the man's lips with his thumb, Perry shared a soft smile, nodding again. Yes, yes he did mean it.

Heinz swallowed, suddenly re-evaluating his friendship with his nemesis over the last while, and the feelings he'd long convinced himself could never be reciprocated. How long had Perry been thinking of this? Of closeness, of intimacy, of kissing. Of kissing him.

Longer than Perry himself knew, the magnitude of what he'd done just hitting him now. Even as he wondered, he stayed in place, staring into Heinz's deep blue eyes, feeling no regret for his actions. What was there to regret? It had felt right, like Heinz's hand in his own, like this friendship they'd built. A natural progression, as inevitable as their fights.

Besides, he was off the clock, and if he chose to spend that time with his nemesis that was his own business. Goodness knew the man needed the company.

It was Heinz who brought their mouths together the second time, a strangled whimper deep in his throat. All this time, he'd been worried about what his nemesis thought of him, if Perry actually liked his company or just showed up because he was paid to, if he'd gone too far, all because Perry tended to be understated in his affection.

And yet, for those who knew where to look, that affection was evident in his every gesture. It wasn't something Perry had needed to hide. He'd be there with a blanket, a comforting paw, a bus ticket, whatever Heinz needed.

Such gestures came easily to him. Recognition had never been the point, nor had it ever been an option with his family, in disguise as he'd had to be.

As he'd become more comfortable with the duality of his relationship with Heinz, nemesis and friend, Perry had found himself letting down not only his walls but his need to fit a role. A mask. His family expected one thing from him, his superiors another, but all Heinz had ever wanted from him was a listening ear. Through that freedom, he'd found room to grow, to be open, with the one person who could see the whole of who he was and accept that without question.

Heinz hadn't noticed, not until this moment. A lifetime of having affection, adoration, paraded around in front of him, a performance as much for the observers as the recipient, had left him unable to recognise anything less than a public demonstration as love. He'd never been the focus of it himself until Charlene, who'd made up with money what she'd lacked in attention.

All this had left him blind to Perry's quiet expressions of love. Though neither of them could put that word to it, their bond was built on love, patient and kind and thoughtful, love that carried them through when their mistakes put strain on their relationship.

They'd made many such mistakes already, and would make many more in the years to come. Mistakes that left them hurting, wounded, unmoored without the other. Mistakes they'd overcome together.

"Will you stay?" Heinz breathed into the space between them, eyes squeezed tightly shut in apprehension, still asking himself if this would be the moment Perry left him, if this was too far. And yet it was only here, with his nemesis, that he could uncover his deepest aches without fear, the scars of his life laid bare for Perry alone to see, for he'd come to trust Perry with all his heart. A feeling that was emphatically mutual. Oblivious as he was to his nemesis's quiet affection, Heinz had come to rely on Perry's steady presence on a deeper level than he knew, some part of him recognising the underlying meaning of his nemesis's actions, though he lacked the words to describe it.

Only now, with his nemesis's quiet words lingering in the air, words Heinz had wanted to say out loud for so long, did Perry set about pulling Heinz to his feet, paws tucked firmly into shaking fingers. Of course he'd stay. Whatever pain had brought this man to his knees still hung over him like a shadow, but as he urged Heinz into a nearby armchair, climbing into his lap to listen to his steadying heartbeat, he hoped Heinz was through the worst of it.

And there they stayed, entwined around each other, until Heinz's breathing evened out. "Thank you, Perry the Platypus," he murmured, pressing a kiss to Perry's brow.

Perry chirred softly in acknowledgement, turning to meet Heinz's mouth with his own, their newfound intimacy already second-nature. Nothing much would change, in the end. Only the things that already had.

And yet, at the same time, everything would change. Just as Perry himself had learned, through his relationship with his nemesis, that he could be enough as he already was rather than somehow lacking some unknowable part that could make him whole, so too would Heinz. And Perry would be there for him, by his side, every step of the way.

AN: For the record, I do love Charlene, her relationship with Heinz is great. Best brotp. I just also think that they do not work together romantically, and their divorce is good because it freed them up from trying to meet their needs in a relationship that could never give them that. Way better than staying together "for the kids" and growing to resent each other and Vanessa for it. So, because they didn't do that, they still get on pretty well, now that Charlene's out of the immediate blast radius and Heinz has a willing and able outlet for his neediness/issues/etc in Perry, and I just think that's great. :D