okay so for this scenario to work i imagine that ted and trent are in this strange flirtatious limbo where from trent's pov, his already generally touchy and affectionate and secure-in-his-STRAIGHT-masculinity crush has been a little more touchy and affectionate lately but he's not too worried about it really even though he is thinking about it. so much. namely ted kinda put hands on his waist and gently moved/guided him aside the other day and trent still thinks about that at night, staring up at the ceiling and replaying the moment, because wow. wow wow wow. anyway, generally, it's pretty normal business for him although i assume this is a post-canon fix it so take that as you will and their friendship and banter are normal and of course still bring him so much joy buy are entirely platonic, at least on ted's end.
meanwhile from ted's pov he and trent have been flirting for ages now and maybe he thinks he lowkey casually came out to trent a while ago but it sailed directly over trent's head. anyway, so they're pretty good friends at this point, but trent's oblivious while ted thinks they are slowly but steadily heading directly for a relationship, which beard (highly intelligent but shares that highly intelligent braincell with ted) agrees with and so do the diamond dogs or rebecca & keeley or whoever else he may have talked to about this (because you know, it's obvious trent likes him back, and ted's been flirting, and it's so sweet! they're taking it slow, maybe trent's a little cautious ted's going to leave again, but ted's showing him he's serious and they're flirting and touching so much and it's disgustingly adorable) and etc.
everyone else: living in a rom com, ted's doing great at this whole wooing trent thing
trent: living in a warm but bittersweet story of friendship and unrequited gay love
so we've set the stage. now we're ready to utilize a classic trope. now, two ways i've thought of to set this up. one: ted sees trent putting on lip balm. two, a little more detailed: trent's daughter has been getting into (body safe kid friendly) "make up" (it's mostly like. glitter and wacky lip gloss and skin-safe markers) and in this case has just gotten some lip gloss. maybe it's glittery, maybe it's not. maybe it's themed, maybe it's not. whatever it is, she wants daddy to try some too. in this case, trent, either running late or just indulging, is now at nelson road with glossy lips. however as entertaining at this situation is i think it goes down a whole new rabbit whole of ted staring at glossy slightly glittery lips and trent is a bit embarrassed thinking he looks silly while ted is going ouuhhhhhhhhhhhhh thinking about kissing those lips and/or Those Lips In. Other Scenarios. and that's shockingly not QUITE where we're going. but i hope you enjoyed the detour because it's both sweet and really funny.
SO. trent's wearing lip balm, or chapstick, something less visible than lip gloss but still nice. and ted, definitely borderline flirtatiously but honestly the kind of thing he would have commented on/asked about even before, asks about it. oh, trent crimm, of course he has excellent grooming skills, look at him he's always gorgeous, etc, what's that you're putting on your lips anyway? is it nice? where'd you get it?
one thing trent likes about ted is that he's just genuinely curious. he wants to know things, both because he likes you and just because he's curious. he likes knowing things about people. he likes knowing things about trent. when he asks what in the hell trent is putting on his lips he is being 100 percent unironic and sincere. he just wants to know. (this is all true, of course. it's just that ted is also flirting.)
(one thing ted likes about trent: he never gets tired of ted's endless questions and stories and puns and quips and curiosity and words, really, ted's endless talking, and genuinely appreciates the attention rather than finding it annoying or suffocating or overwhelming. and he even asks questions back!)
so trent answers--just says a little sheepishly something like, oh, it's chapstick, my lips get a little chapped sometimes and if it gets too bad i pick at them which doesn't end well, or maybe oh, it's lip balm, honestly, it just feels nice (which is more of an admission than he'll say without prodding, because it's not very masculine, is it, and he's come a long way being willing to even admit something like that).
and ted says, oh, nice! that makes sense! hey, what flavor is it? wait--no. lemme guess.
accounts conflict on what happens next: does he try throwing out a few guesses first, some seriously calculated on what he knows trent likes, some a little out there and ridiculous to make him give that bright little grin? or is it immediately that he strides forward, firmly though not tightly takes trent by the shoulders (or was he bold enough to go for the hips?), and gives him a warm kiss directly on the lips? or maybe he didn't offer to guess at all but instead asked if he could try some and that's when he kissed him. the details don't really matter, and anyway--
trent could not fucking tell you. he is feeling ted's lips on his, and also ted's tongue he thinks, and he really couldn't be thinking less about lip balm or chapstick because ted's hands are on him and ted's lips are on him and--
ted pulls back, eyes bright and dancing, and declares, with some cat-got-the-canary satisfaction and gently teasing, merry delight, ah! now that's strawberry.
again: you must understand. ted is thinking some shit like FINALLY. finally i have gotten the courage to kiss him first and he is SO cute when he's stunned and his lips are warm and dry but soft, and i taste the strawberries, and would it be inappropriate to make a little joke about how he's sharing the lip balm/chapstick now? i don't want him to think i didn't like it. but he's so cute i wanna make him smile
TRENT, THOUGH???? trent is thinking. well. nothing because ted just kissed him, but you know, in a minute, he's going to mostly be thinking something along the lines of
because he had no fucking clue this was coming. at all. ted thinks this was a sweet culmination to a slow build up. trent just fell off a gay cliff.
not that trent is complaining about the gay cliff, mind you. he has fallen through the clouds of bewilderment into the seas of MY CRUSH LIKES ME BACK?!!??!?!? MAYBE?!?!?! only now he is swerving dangerously for the sharp perilous rocks of but is this some sort of bizarre tedism or joke. because a thought has just occurred to him:
was this literally actually just about the lip balm/chapstick.
it couldn't be, right? if it were anyone else trent might think this was some sort of joke, that the teasing lilt to ted's grin was some sort of knowing taunt, but no, ted would never do that, so maybe this was an innocent joke??? but surely not, right????? that can't be it. that's nuts.
so somehow trent wearing lip balm or chapstick (god i should have decided which at the beginning but it's too late now, i'm sticking to it, lipsticking to it if you will,) has lead to ted lasso kissing him on the lips and tasting it and this is trent's life now. yeah. yeah. ted lasso says he tastes like strawberries.
ted notices his lack of reaction, and the fierce blush that's stolen across his face and fled across his cheeks and high to the tips of his ears. he blinks--still holding trent in place btw--and then offers, strawberries and cream?
(he may or may not offer to check again, to which trent--voice uncharacteristically high--squeaks, which honestly nearly makes ted kiss him again anyway.)
(they will have to discuss this, and their little misunderstanding will soon come to light--something something 'ARE YOU FLIRTING WITH ME?' 'have been for several months but thanks for noticing babe' post--but first, one of three things will happen, and i am entirely unsure which:
trent, in a flustered, delighted panic, kisses ted first. ted isn't sure what to make of this development other than that it's positive, and therefore kisses back enthusiastically. hands wander. in the background, money changes hands at least once.
trent, in a flustered, mortified, uncertain panic, straight up flees like a scared mouse. ted, unsure what to make of this development other than that he's pretty sure it isn't positive, definitely does not have a panic attack (barely) and later trent will return (possibly after rebecca or roy or colin or someone followed after him to reassure him he definitely hadn't embarrassed himself nor was anyone making fun of him and he's very sheepish and apologetic about running away.)
trent, in a moment of divine revelation, realizes The Truth and suddenly out loud with enormous eyes goes "oh my god were you FLIRTING WITH ME?!??!?!?!" which makes ted laugh, bright and happy, because he hasn't processed the full implication of that and the idea of trent being kissed and going "WAS THAT FLIRTING?" is very cute, which then stops when trent flinches and is followed up with hugging him which is followed up with trent also laughing because wait no actually this is very funny. and then as he's laughing and ted's grinning ted goes wait. wait hold on you didn't know i was flirting this whole time?!?!?!??!?? AND ETC
but they'll figure it out eventually)
anyway this is all started bc i just thought trent wearing something like chapstick or lipstick or lip gloss or lip balm or whatever and ted kissing him to "guess the flavor" when really he's just flirting. and of course flustering the hell out of trent in the process. but it kind of ballooned. i was supposed to be cooking like forty minutes ago. so like: ted kissing the strawberry flavor right off trent's lips. cute.
(and when ted kisses trent at their wedding he tastes strawberries.)
