The First Kiss is Sweetest

Pairings: Ike/Soren, Mist/?

Warnings: Male slash, language

Summary: After a conversation with Mist, Ike begins to wonder what a first kiss is like… One shot, fluff… (I know it's been done… but I had to)

Ike strolled the current base casually, enjoying the day off from frantic fighting. He had to admit, he liked to let his mind wander and float, settling in a bubble of peace. It was a welcome respite from all the frantic battle plans, that was for sure. Though Ike did enjoy a good-natured spar now and then... He reflected on how glad he was to have Titania and Soren by his side, otherwise, he didn't know where he'd be today. Except that it wouldn't be here, and it probably wouldn't be good. They really helped him keep his head on straight…

As he crossed the courtyard, Mist came running over to him, her blue eyes alight. "Hello big brother! Guess what?"

"Hi, Mist," Ike smiled down at his sister as she came to a stop beside him. "You look awfully happy. Having a good day?"

"Yes!" Mist squealed, holding a hand over her heart, and nearly swooning. "I think I'm in love, brother!"

"With who?!" Ike asked, startled. That had been the last thing he'd expected, not knowing what a lovesick girl looked like, since he had little experience with it.

"I can't tell you!" Mist cried, shocked.

"Well, why not?" Why would she bring something up and then not tell him who her object of affection was?!

"Because, he's sweet and nice…and soooo handsome…" Mist swooned again. This answer didn't make any sense whatsoever to Ike. "What about you, brother? Don't you have someone special?"

"Ah…me?!" Ike thought about it. He didn't think so. He'd never really thought about it before, what with the time constraint and all. It wasn't like people had been all over him or anything (with the exception of Aimee, of course…) "I guess not…"

"Well, there are people who have their eyes on you," Mist teased.

"Really?" Ike asked, surprised. "Like who?"

"I can't tell you!" Mist said again.

"WHY? Why not?" Ike asked, exasperated. Why did she even keep bringing these things up if she didn't want to answer for herself?!

"Because," Mist answered primly. "It's not my place. If they want you to know, they'll tell you."

Ike sighed, and lowered his head, rubbing the back of his head absentmindedly. He thought the conversation was over, but then his sister piped up again.

"Ike? Brother?" her voice was timid. Ike looked up. Mist looked at him shyly. "Have you even kissed anyone yet?"

"No." Ike told her, wondering what she thought about that. "No, I haven't. Is that pathetic?"

"No!" Mist blushed. "I haven't either! I just wondered, is all."

"Why do girls care so much about their first kiss?" Ike wondered.

"Because!" Mist couldn't really think of an explanation that would make sense. "They just do!"

"Mist!" Rolf called at the other end of the courtyard. "Let's go play hide and seek!"

"Okay!" Mist flashed a smile at her brother. "I'm going now! Have fun, Ike!"

"Uh, right!"

He thought over what his sister had said. Girls just did?!

"Huh…" Ike still didn't understand. But he knew someone who would!

Ike wandered for some time before he spied the minute black-haired mage in the storeroom, looking over some report, and glancing in a bunch of barrels every now and then.

"Eh!" Ike called out, waving an arm. Soren looked up. "What're you doing, Soren?"

Ike made his way over to Soren. Soren looked at him and shook his head. He couldn't quite believe that Ike gad to ask. Wasn't it obvious? "Inventory check," he told his commander.

"Oh…" Ike snatched the papers from Soren's hands. Before Soren could say anything, he tossed them onto a table nearby. "Come on, Soren! You need to relax a little."

"I have little time for relaxing," Soren said stiffly. "We could be ambushed or—"

"Soren! Just forget that for a moment!" Ike cried, shaking him slightly by the shoulders. Soren looked at Ike's hands on him, and Ike removed them, embarrassed.

"Not a very good line, coming from a commander," Soren commented, forgiving Ike for the invasion of his personal space.

"Yeah, I know," Ike rubbed the back of his head. "But, just this once, okay, Soren?"

"Hmm…" was all Soren said in response.

"Well, listen," Ike looked sheepish now. "I actually wanted to talk to you about something."

"Hmm? What is it?" Soren asked.

"Well, not here," Ike looked around. Oscar and Boyd were playing Hangman in the corner and Princess Elincia was poking through a barrel across from Soren; evidently she'd been helping him. "Hi, Princess," Ike greeted her.

"Hello, my lord Ike," Princess Elincia smiled graciously.

"If you'll excuse us?" Ike asked.

"Of course, my lord," Princess Elincia inclined her head. Soren gave her a look of great disdain.

"Well, let's not dally," he said shortly, heading out. As they left the storeroom, Soren made as though to stop outside the room. Ike grabbed him by the elbow.

"This way," he told him.

"Okay…" Soren followed him down the hall. They eventually made it out to the garden. Ike sat in the grass and stretched out his legs, falling back on his palms. Soren sat beside him, though he was a good half an arm's length away.

"Okay, well, the question I have for you is this…" Ike began. He hesitated a moment, then looked at Soren. He was watching him intently, waiting for his words. "Why do you think people put so much stock in their first kiss?"

Soren looked utterly shocked. "This is what you dragged me all the way out to the gardens for?"

"Yes, I know," Ike rolled his eyes. "Stupid and silly, I know. But, ever since I talked to Mist about it, I can't stop thinking about it…"

Soren looked at him oddly. "Why? Is there someone in particular you've been thinking about?"

Ike looked at Soren and grinned, about to say something like, "not really," but those crimson eyes…looking at him like that… His grin faded.

"Yes," he said, and even as he said it, he couldn't believe the words were coming from his mouth. "Yes, I have…"

"Hmph." Soren looked away from him and picked at a blade of glass. He looked angry and hurt at the same time. Ike wondered why. Maybe he was… jealous?

"Well, what do you think, though? Objectively?" Ike prodded Soren. "I need your objectivity, Soren."

Soren sighed, a small exhaling, then looked back at Ike. "The first kiss in particular, or the first kiss between two people?"

"Uh, either, I guess." Ike shrugged.

"Hm, well, people probably believe the first kiss in general will be special because it's something they have never before experienced and have heard only good things about. Such can be said for anything one hasn't experienced; they base their anticipation upon what they have heard. Death, for example, is something widely feared, because nothing good has ever, or rarely, been said of it. The reverse is true of the first kiss."

"So what about that other theory of yours?" Ike asked, drawn in by the spell of Soren's voice talking about kisses.

"People base their entire relationship off a first kiss sometimes. The so-called sparks are what set off the romance in the first place. The…" Soren faltered for a moment, because Ike was looking at him deeply with those blue eyes of his. He cleared his throat. "Ahem… The desire to kiss someone results in the feelings of infatuation, often mistaken as love. Are you satisfied?"

"No," Ike replied, still looking at him with that strange expression. Soren tried to ignore it.

"Then what's left?" Soren asked impatiently.

"What do you think?"

"Did I not just tell you?"

"No, I mean, what do you think, un-objectively now? You're true thoughts on it."

Soren looked away, his face one of contempt. "I think it is a foolish and silly notion. A kiss is nothing special, first or otherwise."

Ike lay back in the grass, his eyes closing halfway lazily. "Wanna try it, then?"

Soren looked at Ike as though he were crazy. "You and I?!"

"Yeah, I mean, it's nothing special, right? And maybe I'll quit thinking about first kisses and all if you show me it's nothing special."

"Hmph," Soren gave him a condescending look. "And you assume I have never been kissed."

"Have you?" Ike asked, astonished. And maybe a little envious. There was something about Soren he didn't know?

"No, but it's so nice that you automatically assume otherwise."

"Sorry," Ike apologized, a little relieved. "But…do you wanna?"

"It's nothing, so who cares?" Soren shrugged nonchalantly.

"All right, then!" Ike sat up almost eagerly, but he noticed that Soren sat where he was, looking back at him, not moving. "You're going to have to move closer than that, Soren."

Soren shivered at Ike's use of his name in that low voice. He obligingly moved a nudge closer. Ike sighed and he moved closer to Soren, so close…

"Okay, now," Ike put a cautious hand on Soren's cheek, then under his chin, so that Soren was forced to look up at him. Soren hoped fervently that Ike couldn't see the blush staining his cheeks now. "You gotta close your eyes, Soren."

Soren looked at him steadily with those beautiful crimson eyes. Ike stared back, suddenly feeling confident, now that he'd seen Soren blush. He had to have some effect on him for that to happen.

"You aren't closing yours," Soren said defiantly.

"I will," Ike said. "When you do."

"How will I know that?"

"Soren!"

Soren let his eyes close slowly, and as his lashes met the curve of his cheek, Ike moved closer… Soren's eyes opened just a crack. "Your eyes aren't closed."

They were so close now, that Soren's breath grazed Ike's lips. Ike wanted to kiss him even more. Oh, screw the whole open-closed eyes thing! Ike closed his own and let his lips meet Soren's. Softly, at first. Ike had never felt anything quite like it. The feel of Soren's lips under his own… soft and sweet. Ike felt Soren's hands on his chest, clutching at the front of his shirt. Soren's lips moved slowly under his, and Ike moved the hand under Soren's chin to the back of his head, feeling the soft raven hair in his hands after all this time of wondering what it felt like. It was soft, so soft… Why was everything about this cold, analytical mage so damn…soft…? Ike brought his other hand around to the middle of Soren's back, barely aware that he was doing so. He just wanted Soren closer to him.

The kiss deepened, until Ike felt Soren's lips part and his breath spilled from him. Ike finally pulled away, and they both sat breathing heavily. Soren looked down, so his hair was in his face, but Ike remedied that by gently sweeping Soren's hair from his face and causing Soren's eyes to jump to him. Soren looked so much tinier than normal, with that look in his eyes and the flush of pink across his cheeks. His lips remained parted.

"Was that special?" Ike asked playfully, but his eyes were serious.

Soren jolted away from Ike's touch. "Of course not!" Soren said harshly, but his voice gave him away, so breathless and…something Ike couldn't place. His eyes averted away from Ike.

Ike smiled.

"You liked it," he said teasingly.

Soren refused to grace this with an answer, but his expression was enough for Ike.

-END-