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hsavinienAuthor: H. Savinien
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Wilby Wonderful and its situations and characters do not belong to me, rather to the writers and actors.
Pairing: Duck/Dan
Wordcount: 300
A.N.: Written for the ds_snippets weekly challenge prompt "mouth". The journey from fear to courage is an unending road.
***
Dan's never sure what's going to come out of his mouth when he looks at Duck. All his defenses malfunction, the deflections and pleasantries trip over themselves until he can't be sure he's said anything at all. It's worse when Duck looks back at him like he means something, something special and particular, and the language centres in his brain just go circle round a drain lined with "rough" and "hands" and "cowboy", caught by the welcome he sees there.
Duck's settled into the obscenely comfortable, horribly ugly couch next to Dan, his knee nudging gently at Dan's. When Dan looks over, licking his lip nervously, Duck says,
"Something eating at you?"
all clear-eyed, like he's not scared stiff of this thing between them. That's part of the problem, a big part, that Dan's still so fucking scared, even knowing that Duck won't back down from Dan's fear, will keep on being there and giving whatever he's got - an ear, a plain truth, a home, a life, a new start. It touches Dan so deeply he can hardly breathe for it sometimes. Duck left Wilby, but came back, he wouldn't let the small-town fear drive him away, just stayed here and refused to be driven out of the place he saw as home.
Dan sucks in a deeper breath of air and leans in to cup Duck's face, the side of his neck, fingers sliding down to trace the angle of his shoulder and kisses him. It's dry and sudden, but Duck's mouth moves under his. Dan's eyes drift shut and all his attention shifts to the scratch of Duck's chapped lower lip under his tongue. Words can wait. His courage will have to fight fear every step of the way, but Dan will get there. He's got a guide.
