A Good Thing

by Nix

"Is there something you want to tell me?"

Napoleon smiled as warm arms slid around his waist and a firm body pressed up behind him. Illya rested his chin on his lover's shoulder but didn't even try for a kiss, his attention fixed firmly on the pot that Napoleon was stirring.

"No Illya," Napoleon said, amused. "Dinner is not ready yet."

"Why not?" Illya demanded, inhaling surreptitiously.

Laying the wooden spoon across the top of the pot, Napoleon turned and wrapped his arms around Illya in turn. "Maybe if someone would stop distracting me," he murmured and leaned in to brush a kiss across Illya's lips.

He allowed the caress, but leaned back before his lover could get serious about it. "If you didn't persist in being so tempting," he argued, "I wouldn't have to keep distracting you."

"Tempting?" Napoleon glanced down at himself. He'd discarded tie, suit jacket, and shoes just inside the door. Starting dinner had prompted him to roll his sleeves up to his elbows and unbutton the top two buttons of his dress shirt. He wasn't exactly dressed to impress. "This is tempting?"

"Hmmmm." Illya considered, then nodded his head decisively. "Yes. This is you the way no one but me gets to see you." A twinkle crept into his eyes. "Now if only you'd taken off your socks..."

"So that you could have me barefoot in the kitchen?" Napoleon laughed and turned back to the stove. "If you'd wanted a woman," he said over his shoulder, "you only had to ask."

"Really?" Illya slipped a hand down and cupped it over Napoleon's groin. "I didn't know you could switch genders, Napoleon."

Napoleon pressed back against Illya for a moment. "I meant I'd have set you up. Idiot."

"Would you have?"

Napoleon could feel Illya leaning forward, could feel the brush of his nose against his cheek as he turned to try and get a look at Napoleon's expression, but kept his eyes trained on the smooth circles of the wooden spoon. "Yes. I would have."

Illya's hand drifted up from Napoleon's groin and came to rest over his heart instead. "Good thing I didn't ask, then," he murmured.

Napoleon smiled and turned his head to claim another kiss. "Yes. A very good thing."