It starts simple. Most things with Simon do.
Kyle’s kicked up on the rec room couch, feet propped, a lazy stretch of quiet settling between missions. The telly murmurs in the background, some cooking show rerun neither of them are really watching. The light's low. Warm.
Simon’s beside him. Mask still on. Comfortable. Not relaxed exactly, but Kyle can tell the difference between Ghost and Simon Riley. This is the latter. Simon’s got a little plastic tub of whatever the hell Soap convinced him to try: some kind of pasta bake, picked at and now abandoned on the table. One of those days, then.
Kyle’s got a peeled orange in his hand. Thoughtlessly picking at each segment, fingers a bit sticky, citrus sharp and sweet in the air.
He notices Simon looking, not at him, not really, but at the orange. Long pause. Then his gaze flicks away like it didn’t happen.
Kyle doesn’t say anything. Just pulls off a wedge and, gently, holds it out. His arm rests across the space between them. Simon glances at it, then at him. Silent question.
Kyle just raises an eyebrow, like go on, I don’t bite.
Simon takes it. Bare fingers brush his. The orange disappears beneath the edge of the mask, lifted just enough. A quick bite, then the mask drops back down.
There’s a silence again, but it’s softer now.
So Kyle peels another slice. Then another. Slowly. Piling them up in the crook of his palm. He doesn't rush it. Just... offers one now and then. Sometimes Simon takes them. No words. Just that quiet rhythm of offering and accepting.
Then, somewhere in the middle of it, Simon peels one slice himself. Turns a little. Holds it out to Kyle.
Kyle blinks, but he grins, wide and easy, and takes it between his teeth.
Their fingers brush again. Kyle licks a bit of juice off his lip. “Not bad, yeah?”
Simon huffs, the faintest exhale of a laugh. Then shifts just a little closer.
The telly hums on, forgotten. The oranges are nearly gone. And Kyle thinks, not for the first time, that he’d peel a hundred more if it meant keeping this little corner of peace.
a/n aka me always going back and forth b/t Si being a feral little dog who forgets he's human and being the most capable human in the task force. (This is the former.)
