Work Text:
Subjects: Parkson-Gibbs, Andrew | Rider, Alexander
Date: December 2020
Locations: Virginia, U.S. | Colorado, U.S.
For many people, winter was the best time of the year. It meant warm drinks, sitting by the fire, blankets and cuddles whilst you avoided the cold outside. It meant everything good about being close with those you loved, and giving gifts as much as you gave love from day to day. Honestly, that was how it was to many of the people Andrew associated with.
When he'd been a child, that was how it had been to him. After all, with parents around who tried to be as around at Christmas as they could be, he took advantage of it as much as he could, and they did too. And it only got better when his little sister had come along, with ample more cuddles and time together when his mother had been on maternity leave.
After they'd passed, it had been… significantly less fun for him, admittedly. The hugs and jokes of his childhood had gone with them, leaving himself and his sister alone with people who cared for them but, in comparison, were complete strangers. It took time to adjust to all of the differences — a larger family, yes, but not the same one they'd grown up with. It was hard to get used to.
Over time, though, it had been possible to get more used to having so many people bustling around the house they hadn't grown up in, the multiple quirky personalities mixing as newbies came and old family members left over time. It was hard, and it was weird, but eventually Andrew got used to it and grew to love it. Some of the personalities truly were fun to get to know, really.
That night, though, he wasn't spending time at home with his family. Everyone was busy at work, and Gibbs wasn't home, leaving Andrew and Jessica to do what they wished. Of course, Jessica had voted to go over to her friend's house — she was having a group sleepover at the beginning of the holidays up until a couple of days before Christmas, which Andrew thought was a good way to help their parents get the stuff they needed for Christmas without them getting in the way. He also thought Gibbs considered it a good idea because then she wouldn't be in the house causing trouble or inviting people over, since she was more prone to doing that as a teen.
No, he was over at his girlfriend's, spending as much time with her as he could before they both ended up on their next deployment. He didn't mind working overseas the majority of the time, but sometimes he wished their leaves coincided more often. At that moment, he was sat by the fire in her lounge with Alice curled up against him, her arms around his waist and head on his shoulder.
"This is nice," Alice murmured softly, and Andrew only gave a sigh in response. It was nice, but there wasn't much else to say about it. All he really wanted to do was relax with her for hours, maybe just fall asleep there. He was pretty sure her mother wouldn't mind.
(Oh, and they also hadn't got round to getting an apartment together yet, but that was a discussion for after Christmas apparently.)
"When are you headed home?" she asked, shifting her head to look up at him. He glanced up to the ceiling for a few moments, taking the time to think on it.
He wasn't quite needed home anytime soon — not until Gibbs was confirmed to be on his way home. It would be just him in the house until the case was over, and all of the supplies for Christmas had already been bought and shoved in the freezer to defrost closer to the date. He was technically free to hang out all night.
After all, he was a grown adult. Just because he was living at home didn't mean he had to submit to the rules he'd had to follow as a teen. Not that Gibbs had always been too strict on the rules, since he'd been a work a lot… but when he was home and on the holidays? Their curfews were very strict.
"What time do you need me to go ?" he asked softly, shifting a hand to run his fingers through her hair softly. It was considerably longer than it had been when they'd been teens, so it was a lot easier for him to just run his fingers through it when she let her hair down. He really enjoyed doing that.
Alice gave a soft sigh as she thought about it. "Maybe by midnight? I'm out shopping tomorrow for Christmas presents—"
"Need me to come along for that?"
"No, thank you."
He frowned a little and looked down at her, spotting the small smirk on her face. She didn't want him to help out with her Christmas shopping? "What? Why?"
She gave him a look as if to say the answer to that was obvious. "Your present is on my list."
"I can pretend to be surprised on Christmas day if I see it."
"You're a terrible actor, so no."
His lips quirked up into a small grin as he gave a little chuckle. "What, not even if I just don't follow you around the store where you're getting my present? Please?"
"No thank you."
"Who's going to be your muscle?"
"It's going to be me and the girls. And Morgan. So we don't need you."
Andrew huffed, before shifting a little and drawing her in closer, beginning to pepper kisses on her cheeks. "I guess I really have to treasure our time together tonight, even if it's just a couple of hours.."
Alice found herself giggling as the kisses were peppered all over her face, leaving her squinting and a little flustered. They may not have been teenagers anymore, but Andrew really loved the fact that he could still reduce her to giggles and blushes like he'd been able to when they were younger.
Or, at least he'd been able to when she wasn't doing the same to him with a wink and a kiss. He'd been a stuttering mess as a kid whenever she'd done that. At least he was a whole lot better now that he was an adult and able to, you know, slightly better control his feelings.
"Okay, okay, stop," she giggled out, pushing him away slightly before beginning to push herself off him completely and to her feet. "Enough with the kissing."
He pouted a little. "What, you don't like me kissing you?" he asked her, trying to appear all innocent. She, however, simply rolled her eyes at him as she pushed herself to her feet fully.
"I know what you're playing at," she pointed out, before turning to head towards the exit to the room, "and before you decide to go any further and start to dramatically exclaim that I don't love you, would you like me to make you a hot chocolate?"
Andrew's mouth opened and closed a couple of times, as if he were trying to decide what to say, before the pout that had been on his face broke into a hopeful smile. "With all the fixings?"
Alice just grinned at him. "I guess you'll have to get up and see for yourself."
Getting time off work was always pretty rare for Alex. He supposed that came with studying a degree based in Politics and International Relations after taking one in linguistics, but the constant studying meant that he often had very little time to himself. Of course, he had more time than his friends who were all out working and so had to book off holidays, but he felt sure that the workload he had was enough to rival what they did day to day.
That meant that the time he actually did get off was pretty special, and it honestly made him love the holidays — which was amusing since he hadn't particularly been a fan of them when he'd been a child. After all, it wasn't as if Ian was home for all of the holidays, and the only thing that had made his holidays better was having Jack around to get him presents and actually make him a Christmas dinner worth remembering.
Now all of those memories were just those: memories. He couldn't go back to those times even if he wished for them. But with the kinds of holidays he'd had since coming to the States, he couldn't say that he wanted to go back to those memories and live in them again. After all, now he had friends around who wanted to spend time with him whenever he was free, who were willing to call him and make sure he was okay and not running himself into the ground.
He and said friends were spending their first week of the holidays, up until Christmas, at a ski resort that Chrissy's family had visited a few times before. Of course, it also turned out that Alex had also visited the place once with Ian, and with two of the Brits and none of the Americans having visited the place before they were automatically dubbed as the posh ones. When Alex began to try and pull Tom in, he'd automatically wiped his hands clean of the whole "posh" implication. Of course, being at a ski resort it meant that they spent days where they weren't visiting the nearby village and browsing through the various activities available to take part in actually on the slopes. Chrissy turned out to be a decent skier and took Estefania and Jasleen under her wing (whenever she actually decided to leave her room or the local library to actually join them on the slopes). Brad had almost joined the skiing squad at first, but had quickly switched to snowboarding with Alex, Tom, Abbie and José. The two groups all had fun out on the slopes, definitely, but they also ended up coming back in cold and a little bruised, all of them heading straight for hot showers to warm themselves up on the outside and hot chocolates to warm themselves up on the inside.
Their evenings, though, were more spent in front of the fire in the main foyer of the main lodge. Apart from Tom and Chrissy, who were classed as an official couple and therefore were "allowed" to share a room, everyone else was basically split between guys and ladies. Including Alex and Essie. Who had been crushing on each other for years, and everyone knew this.
The only reason why they hadn't started dating properly yet was because of her uncle, really. Alex had to get out of the mindset that they were still children who could be told what to do.
Regardless, they were currently sat in front of the fire, all of them in onesies and fluffy socks with hot chocolates in hand. Of course, the onesies were Chrissy and Abbie's idea, and the others had been pretty willing to go along with it considering they were actually very warm and kept out the cold. They'd spread out over the couches and were chatting softly as they drank their sweet hot beverages.
And then Tom almost snorted hot chocolate out of his nose.
"You did not just say that you meant to snowboard right into that tree, José," Alex laughed, with the others in various states of smiles and giggles. Tom seemed to be the only one losing his mind over what had been said, and Chrissy had to take his mug from him to make sure he didn't just spill it everywhere.
José himself was trying to fight back a laugh, as if he found what he himself had said pretty funny. "Okay… so maybe I didn't mean to board straight into that tree—"
"If you did, you definitely had some damned good aim," Abbie commented, sending the group into a fit of giggles.
"Okay, but at least I made it halfway down the slope," José pointed out, looking pointedly at Bradley. He started floundering as the others started laughing again.
"The board slipped!"
"Of course it did."
As the conversation and bickering went on, Alex turned a little to glance out of the window. To get to their rooms, the guys had to walk outside for a little before getting to their building. The ladies were staying in a building connected to the main one by a walkway, but the guys hadn't got so lucky — apparently, Essie's uncle had caught herself and Chrissy trying to book rooms, and had watched them until they made sure the guys were staying away from the ladies. And then, when he'd left, Chrissy had booked an additional room for herself and Tom.
He definitely had something about Alex, and he knew exactly why, but he also knew it was a very stupid reason and he didn't approve of it. Because his past was his past, and none of the man's business.
But that was a completely different topic that Alex didn't need to get into.
Outside, though, it had begun to snow pretty heavily — not to the level of a snowstorm with possible thunder and lightning, but just heavy snow — and Alex wasn't looking forward to walking through all of that when they eventually decided to head off to bed. He could only hope that it died down in the next half an hour, really.
As he turned back to refocus on the conversation, he locked eyes with Essie. Essie who he had had a crush on for the better part of six years and still hadn't had the guts to ask on a date. Tom called him a wimp.
He was highly inclined to believe his pretty astute observation.
Estefania's dark hair was braided back today, meaning that Alex couldn't just sit there and admire her curls… which was a good thing, because then he wouldn't be getting so distracted. But at the same time, it meant that if he was looking at her he could be more focused on her face, and then get more distracted by how beautiful he thought she was—
"Hey, Al."
Alex was startled out of his thoughts by someone nudging him, and he quickly looked over to see Tom smirking at him. The others were still laughing and chatting, but Tom seemed to be the only one who had caught onto Alex's quietness. Considering everything that had happened for the past few years, it was pretty common for Alex to randomly go silent during conversations or drift off into thought. The entirety of his teenage years had been a mess, really, and only Tom and Sabina were the ones who had any sort of idea what had happened to him. The others didn't ask in case it bothered Alex too much, so they didn't know some of it. They did know a lot of it, though.
The only other person who had any sort of idea how much Alex had been affected by the later stages of his childhood was Essie. He hadn't understood how easy it had been to open up to her in the first place, but it had been, and he'd been so grateful for it. He'd met her family too, and they liked him enough. (At least, everyone except her uncle liked him enough.)
"You can stop googling now," Tom teased lowly in his ear, making Alex's cheeks tint pink.
"Prick," Alex grumbled back, which only made Tom burst into laughter again as everyone turned to stare at him.
Drinking hot chocolates by the fire was a pastime of Andrew and Alice's that he was sure he never wanted to give up. Sure, when they'd been kids, it had been more of a fun thing that they'd coupled with s'mores before Alice's dad had passed away, and then had had s'mores reintroduced to cheer Andrew up after his parents passed away, but now it was more of a… connection sort of thing. When they both had hot chocolates, they could just sit and chat and be together, almost like the old days.
It was comforting, and not because the hot drink warmed him up from the inside.
"So what else have you got planned for your leave?" Alice asked casually, resting her feet on the ottoman in front of her so that her feet were warmed up by the fire. Andrew had his feet up on the ottoman beside Alice's, almost tempted to tangle up his legs with her own. He knew that she didn't always feel in the mood for it, but he found it kind of cosy sometimes.
He gave her a shrug, glancing over at her as he took a sip of his hot beverage. Her blonde hair was sort of glowing in the firelight, and he was almost tempted to reach over and run his fingers through it again. Although she would probably tell him to stop it and focus on his drink before he spilled it all over himself, which he had done a few times before. "I don't really know," he admitted sheepishly. "I was just going to chill, see everyone over at the office, maybe take a trip to San Fran if I've got the time."
Alice's eyebrows rose a little. "San Fran, huh?"
"Yeah, Alex should be home from college, so I'd thought, y'know, it would be a good idea." It felt like it had been ages since he'd last seen Alex, what with them having completely different career paths. He supposed one day they may cross paths career-wise, but for now they were on pretty different paths.
"You need any company on the journey?" Alice asked curiously, smiling as Andrew's eyes widened. "I haven't been to Cali before, so I think the trip together would be nice."
A soft smile formed on Andrew's face. She wanted to travel with him to see his friend? "Yeah, that does sound nice," he agreed, before deciding it would be a good idea to tangle their feet together on the ottoman. Alice's lack of complaint made him realise that it actually had been a good idea.
"It would be nice if you came along," he agreed, humming when she tangled their feet up even more than he had. "You know the others already, right? You'd get on with them."
"The only time I've ever seen them is on your screen," Alice pointed out.
"Well, now you could meet them in person." He actually really liked the sound of that. Even if they hadn't been his friends first, he knew they were genuinely nice people, and he also knew that Alice would get on with them. If he could get on with Alex despite the differences between them, he was pretty damn sure she could get along with someone like Chrissy. The idea made him hopeful.
Alice shifted a little closer to him, so that their arms were touching as they drank their warm drinks, their body heat only adding to the warmth of the room. "That does sound fun," she agreed. "They're a riot when you talk to them."
"Now imagine being around them in person."
"How do you survive?"
Andrew laughed. How did he survive? "Adaptation."
"Military tactics."
"With you there, we could divide and conquer."
Alice was grinning now, and she leaned over to peck him softly on the cheek. "I like the sound of that."
Andrew turned his head to capture her lips in a soft kiss. "Good. Because I do too."
There was Christmas music playing softly in the background as the group continued to drink their hot chocolates and chat by the fire. Somehow over time — pver the course of about an hour — they'd all switched positions to talk in smaller groups. There was something about them not wanting to speak in as big a group the closer they got to wanting to go to bed, and it had been there since they were teens. A shared trait that they took full advantage of, in all honesty. In those small groups, Alex had ended up sitting with Essie, Chrissy and Tom, with Chrissy and Tom cuddling on the floor in front of the couch Alex and Essie were sitting on. When they'd first settled down, Alex had definitely complained about them both blocking the heat coming from the fire, which Tom and Chrissy had retorted to with a challenge. It had only taken a shared look between the pair on the couch before they were resting their feet up on their friends' shoulders, as if they were foot-rests, and this was obviously met with complaints and arguing from Tom and Chrissy as they pushed the feet off. The little bickering the followed afterwards ended in a playful tussle between Alex and Tom, which Alex obviously won. Chrissy, of course, was laughing by this point, and Essie had a smile on her face but had rolled her eyes.
Now they were sat calmly as they chatted, with Alex and Essie leaning against each other as the group chatted. It was comfortable and quiet, and a moment later Abbie came around carrying a couple of plates of gingerbread men for them all to share. Tom was quick to grab a handful, earning indignant cries and glares from the others. Alex took this distraction as his chance to grab a handful himself, sharing them with Essie who was, by now, laughing at his behaviour.
He realised with a start that he really liked making her laugh, and not just hearing her laugh as he had previously laugh. It had taken him years to realise this.
For an ex-spy, he was realising more and more that he was more oblivious to human nature than he'd previously thought. It bothered him a little.
"So, what are your plans for after your second degree?" Essie asked, nibbling on the head of a gingerbread woman in a decorated dress.
Alex gave an awkward laugh. When she'd asked the original question at the start of his first degree, his answer had been a mix of "I don't know" and "hopefully staying away from government employment with a ten-foot pole until I'm old enough and have experience doing something else", and then he'd ended up studying another degree. It was almost as if he was putting off leaving education.
If he ended up staying in academics and studying a PhD, he would be so amused with himself.
"Maybe I'll actually look for a job this time," he responded, before taking a bite of one of his gingerbread men's arms. "I don't know where I'd work, though." He was still trying to avoid any sort of government-based jobs considering his past. The CIA was definitely out of the question, and that wasn't even because they were a shady government agency.
He was pretty sure he'd end up working for them anyway.
Essie rolled her eyes a little at him. "Oh, I am sure you do know," she responded with a smirk. "You probably are trying to avoid admitting to yourself."
How she managed to understand him so well, he didn't understand. Only Sabina had been able to catch him out like that before. Luckily she was too busy taking a holiday in Hawaii with her boyfriend and so wasn't there to judge him on his words and verbal assumptions with Essie.
When those two were targeting him together, it was scary.
"Are we talking about Alex's job prospects again?" Chrissy asked as she and Tom turned to refocus on their little group's conversation. She was taking pretty large bites out of her gingerbread men with no sort of remorse visible on her features. Whilst part of Alex knew this was just Chrissy loving sweet things and really enjoying her sweet snack, he also couldn't help but think her big bites were kind of… scary and mildly sociopathic.
He would never tell her that to her face unless he wanted to be crushed under her feet.
Before he could say anything about her butting into the conversation like that, though, Essie responded with, "Yes, we are, but he isn't really giving me much to go off."
And that started up the conversation that Alex didn't really want to hear right then: Chrissy and Tom going on about the different job prospects for Alex after college whilst Essie sat there and laughed at his apparent despair.
It was a lot later when Alice asked the question of when he was leaving again, and by this point he'd been stuffed with so much hot chocolate and sugar cookies that he didn't really want to go. He could have fallen asleep right there on the couch.
He was pretty sure, though, that if her mother or brother walked in at that precise moment, he'd be expected to leave. Not because he wasn't allowed to stay (because he was, since he and Alice seemed to be in it for the long haul and he was practically one of the family now), but because he respected them too much to sleep over on a whim. He knew things worked better when they were planned. He didn't have a curfew, but these guys may have had plans for tomorrow that didn't anticipate him being there in the morning, and he didn't want to disrupt them by taking up shower space first thing when they needed to hop in and clean up before going out.
As it was, Alice was already going out tomorrow and shopping for Christmas presents with some of the others.
He was half-sat on the windowsill when she asked again, having just finished a cookie as he stared out of the window. The weather outside was pretty terrifying — there was definitely heavy snow, but combined with what he could hear were pretty strong winds made him more than a little nervous about actually going out and finding his truck. Which he also happened to park all the way down the street.
Smart thinking, Andrew.
"What time are you headed to bed?" he asked, turning to look at Alice. At some point, she had gone and switched into her bunny onesie — the one that he thought made her look super cute. It made him really want to ask if it was possible for him to stay the night, but he didn't want to push his luck. She was already asking him when he'd be leaving.
"Probably in about ten minutes?"
He pouted at her. "Ten minutes?" That was so soon… he was going to need more time than that to mentally prepare himself to actually go out into that snow. Heck, he wouldn't be surprised if he got snowed into his truck at this point.
Or if his truck was absolutely caked in snow and refused to move.
Granted, he'd taken the truck purely because of the fact that snow had been predicted for that day anyway. But now he was wondering whether the vehicle could take what was being thrown at it right then.
Alice saw the pout and rolled her eyes, heading over to him and joining him on the windowsill. One look outside was probably enough to tell her why exactly he was so reluctant to leave, but even he knew that if he didn't leave now it would only get worse. He needed to put on his big boy pants and winter hat and actually head outside, or he would never leave.
"If you want, I can walk you to your truck?"
He shook his head, frowning at her now. "In that? It's way too cold for you to walk outside with me. I don't want you catching anything out in that."
The look she gave him clearly told him that they were both smart enough to know that it wasn't just the cold that gave them colds, but an actual virus. But then she seemed to back down before arguing with him. "Okay, fine. I'll see you to the door?"
He seemed to hesitate on that for a moment, not quite wanting her to get anywhere near the cold, before remembering that they were both military people. He was a marine, she was in the navy. They were both used to braving worse conditions, and she wouldn't let him stop her. So he gave her a smile.
"Sure."
About five minutes later, Andrew was thoroughly wrapped up and ready to go, prepared to depart on the mission to recover his truck in the horrible snowstorm and get out of there. It almost felt as if he was leaving on the biggest mission of his life, and his girl was there seeing him off.
Except she wasn't tearful at all, just tired and waiting for him to leave.
"Well," he said with a little laugh, looking out at the snow as he stood just beyond the threshold and out on the porch, "wish me luck."
Alice moved a little closer, turning him to face her and pulling him into a tight hug. Her face buried itself in his neck, in that way she liked to when she was given standing cuddles, and he wrapped his arms back around him as he rested his chin on the top of her head. The hug was so warm, even though he had so many layers on that he probably shouldn't have been able to feel the warmth emanating from her, and his eyes closed for a moment. And then they were both pulling away, and he leaned in to plant a soft kiss on her lips as a final farewell.
"Speak to you soon."
"I'll call when I get home."
"Please do. I don't want my boyfriend dying."
"You think I'd let this snow kill me after everything I've been through?"
She laughed, but they both knew he meant more than his tours.
"It's just a couple of flakes."
"Yeah, it is." Before he could keep stalling, she spun him around and pushed him out, making him laugh. "Get moving! I'm cold!"
"Yes, ma'am!" he responded, giving a little mock salute before heading in the direction of his truck, dearly hoping that his truck would be in a condition that he could drive off in. There was no way in hell he was walking home in this.
The rest of the evening was pretty fun, in Alex's opinion. Just when the group thought they were getting too tired to keep their eyes open and were about to fall asleep by the fire, Tom jumped up and asked the reception desk to turn up the music and put on some more upbeat Christmas music.
Trust Tom to ask for the music to be turned up for Wizzard.
As soon as that had happened, he dragged Chrissy up to dance, making her laugh as her cheeks flushed. The two looked absolutely crazy dancing in the middle of the foyer, being the only two dancing about, but soon enough the others got up to join them until only Alex, José and Essie were left.
And then suddenly, José was right behind Alex and leaning down to whisper in his ear so that his younger sister wouldn't hear,
"If you don't get up and ask her to dance, I'll personally kick your ass all the way back to our rooms, Alex."
A playful threat, but it was enough to give Alex the confidence (or was it the fear?) to turn to Essie and ask her if she wanted to go up and join the others dancing. The pair of them were pretty comfortable snuggled up beside each other on the couch, a throw blanket over their legs to keep them warm. That was why she looked so uncertain about actually getting up from their spot to go and dance. Alex wanted to change his mind and just snuggle with her there.
And then he remembered José's threat and the fact that his threats weren't always so empty, and he didn't want to see whether this one would be real or empty. So he threw the blanket off (almost dramatically) and began to pull her up to the dancefloor as she laughed. She went along with him surprisingly easy for someone who had seemed uncertain about actually joining the others, and they all cheered when Alex and Essie finally joined them in dancing and crowing out the lyrics to the various pop Christmas songs.
It made it almost disappointing when The Christmas Song came on, and whilst most of the others headed back to the couches, Tom and Chrissy stayed up to sway in a slow dance, embracing each other softly.
Alex was almost tempted to head back when he saw José's glare. He knew what that meant.
He wasn't sure how he felt about it.
Still, he turned to Essie and held his hand out to her, watching as he eyes widened at the action. He offered her an awkward half-smile, hoping his hands didn't get sweaty because that would have made the situation really awkward straight away.
"Come on."
He didn't expect her to actually take his hand, resting one hand on his shoulder as he placed a hand on her waist, the two of them beginning to sway slowly. Almost naturally.
They hadn't done anything like this since senior prom. And even then, he'd only thought that had happened because she was trying to be a good friend and not leaving him alone at an event where many people had dates or partners. There hadn't even been a hint or any sort of idea that maybe, just maybe, she might like him too.
Now? Maybe. He was hoping.
The pair of them swayed slowly, staying what seemed to be a very respectable distance as they danced to the soft music. Alex didn't know when it happened, but somehow they ended up in a soft embrace as they swayed from side to side. All he knew was that when he realised it, he didn't make her aware or push her away — instead he just continued to hold her as they swayed, letting her choose when to let go.
It didn't happen until the end of the song, when José placed a rather heavy hand on Alex's shoulder and pulled him away from his sister, getting a rather disgruntled look from Alex and an amused look from Essie. Just seeing the look of amusement on Essie's face calmed him down, though, and he shrugged José's hand off.
"We're heading back now," the older man announced, giving his younger sister a smile and a little wink. "You want to join us, Al, or are you too busy flirting?"
Both Alex and Essie's cheeks flushed pink, and Alex opened his mouth quickly to cut José off before he could laugh or say anything about their apparent embarrassment. "I'm tired enough to head back, I guess." He glanced to Essie. "I mean, I'm guessing the girls want to head off to bed now…"
Essie glanced from Chrissy, who was standing off to the side, and back to Alex. She couldn't see any of the other ladies in the room. "I suppose… I think everyone else has gone to bed."
"…Ah." Which meant that it was definitely time for him to head off. After all, they'd all been just about to nod off when Tom had asked for more upbeat music to be put on, and then they'd worn themselves out by dancing on top of being tired. Alex wouldn't be surprised if he couldn't even speak the next morning from screaming his throat raw. "Well, uh, I guess—" He didn't expect Essie to suddenly grab him by the arm and begin walking with him towards the main entrance, where Alex undoubtedly had to walk out into the snow to get to his room.
The heavy snow falling just made him more and more reluctant to go out into the snow and head back, but he knew that he had to. Otherwise he wouldn't get to sleep in a bed that night. Essie, however, was still holding onto his arm when they reached the door, staring out into the snow. He didn't know why she'd grabbed his arm like that, but he certainly didn't mind it.
"I guess this is where we part ways," Alex told her, even though he knew that they could have parted ways earlier on. Because, you know, her room wasn't in this direction.
She gave a nod, seeming to hesitate a little before leaning up and pressing a kiss to his cheek.
Alex knew from the way his ears heated up that he was now blushing from the tips of his ears to the ends of his toes, if that was even possible. He didn't even get why he was blushing like a teenaged boy, but he was. The hug she accompanied it with just made him blush even more, and it wasn't even like it was a loose hug.
It was one of her squeezy, warm hugs that made his toes tingle.
And when she let him go, giving him a smile and heading back over to Chrissy, he felt more than ready to go out and face that snow.
After all, he'd be in a nice warm bed by the end of it.
By the time Andrew found his truck, he felt well and truly frozen from his fingertips to his toes. The truck was layered in snow, and the snow just kept falling and adding to that. He let out a huff, his breath coming out in puffs of vapour, and he dug his hands into his pockets to try and pull out his keys whilst he could still feel his fingers enough to open the door to the driver side. Soon enough, he'd unlocked the door and climbed in, shutting the door behind him and taking a few precious moments to warm up as much as he could inside the now-very-cold vehicle. His breath was still coming out in vapour, and he rubbed his hands together to try and warm them up as much as he could before he began the inevitable job of scraping as much snow off as he could whilst the vehicle warmed up.
And it was a gruelling job. He spent the whole time scraping the snow off swearing at the weather, and his choice to leave Alice's right then, and the fact that his truck seemed to be taking forever to warm up. Eventually, he got off enough to drive safely, at least in his opinion, so he got back into the truck. The warmth that hit him, however little it was, made him sigh pleasantly.
He was pretty much ready to head off. Except the front windscreen had steamed up, meaning that he couldn't see anything until it cleared.
Great.
Sitting there with the engine running, he quickly realised he was getting bored waiting for the truck to warm up enough for him to start driving. So he pulled out his phone and (rather clumsily, since his hands were a little numb) began to scroll through whatever social media he could think of at that moment.
When he spotted a photo on Alex's Instagram of him on holiday with friends, he realised he had a very good idea. So he quickly backed out and scrolled through his contacts until he got to Alex's name, and dialled the number. Setting his phone on the dashboard, he put it in speaker and waited for him to pick up.
The walk back to the guys' rooms wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. Alex thought it was partially because he wasn't walking over alone, with Tom and José walking beside him, but in reality he knew he was still riding off the high of Essie's affection that evening. He was pretty sure the other two could see it in the way he was bouncing a little as he walked through the snow. Of course, they didn't comment on it until they got into the building that housed their rooms, where they proceeded to tease him mercilessly all the way back to the little lounge area between their rooms. By the time they got there, Brad seemed to be still up waiting for them, and he grinned when he spotted Alex.
"You alright there, lover boy?"
"Can we not?" Alex asked with a sigh, turning to head straight to his room. The fatigue was starting to set in, and he wasn't sure he was in the mood to deal with all of that rubbish. Not tonight, at least. Maybe tomorrow he'd be better able to tolerate the bullshit the others would be throwing at him.
"I think we have to at least give you a taster of what you'll be getting tomorrow," Tom teased, moving to stand between Alex and his room. Alex's eyes narrowed.
"You know I could beat the shit out of you right now, right?" It was an empty threat, and he knew that Tom knew it, but he liked to put it out there in case he ended up actually giving into the urge and literally kicking Tom in the ass to get him out of the way so that he could go to bed.
"Yeah, but you won't."
Tom's grin was infuriating, and it told Alex all he needed to know about what he thought of Alex's empty threat: baseless and belonged in a dumpster.
"Guys, please," Alex sighed, running a hand over his face. He had been too people-focused today. He needed to unwind on his own for like an hour before he could actually fall asleep. If they could just—
He was startled out of his thoughts of irritation by a buzzing in his pocket, and he reached in quickly to pull out his phone. His phone was buzzing. Why was it buzzing?
He was getting a call?
"Is that Essie?" Tom teased as Alex quickly checked who it was that was calling him. The smile that spread on his face definitely suggested that it could have been Essie, even though it definitely wasn't her. Which was why he just pushed past Tom instead of just, you know, telling them who exactly was calling.
They'd been little shits to him. He didn't think they really deserved to know who exactly had called him. Not unless they decided to listen in on the conversation, of course. And that was why he kicked his door shut in their faces and locked the door, before sitting against it and essentially barricading the door with his body. Which meant that no one could get in.
Not even Tom, who was sharing a room with him.
As soon as he was settled, he answered the call, putting his phone to his ear. "Hey."
Andrew didn't know whether he should have expected Alex to pick up or not, but he definitely was more than a little surprised to hear Alex pick up and not sound groggy. Normally when he went on adventure or sporting holidays, he was absolutely wiped out by like twenty-one-hundred hours. How Alex was still up and sounded pretty awake baffled Andrew.
"Hey."
"What are you still doing up?" He didn't mean to sound like a parent, but he realised very quickly that he had sounded like a parent. Maybe he was too used to calling his sister and finding her up at stupid hours.
"Hello to you too, dad."
Okay, yes, that was called for. That didn't mean he liked it, but it was certainly called for. "Okay, yeah, sorry," he responded, rubbing his hands together to try and get them to warm up. He was tempted to just let them warm by the truck's heaters, but then he knew they would feel very cold once he moved them away, so he'd just keep rubbing them. "I just thought you'd be sleeping."
"…So you wanted to wake me up?" Alex fired back over the line, which made Andrew smirk.
"It's not as if you haven't done that to me before."
"Yeah, but you're an asshole, so it's fine."
"I think you forget that you're an asshole too, but it's okay. We'll let that one slide." Hearing Alex's laughter over the line made Andrew's grin widen ever so slightly. It had been so long since he'd actually spoken to his friend, and even longer since they'd caused any sort of dangerous chaos with their antics. The pair of them left in the same room as Tom was almost as dangerous as setting off a nuclear bomb, particularly because someone was bound to end up screaming bloody murder.
It was almost always either Sabina or Chrissy. It was great.
"So I'm guessing you're on leave?" Alex's voice was casual, like someone who was just trying to make conversation. But, as much as he disliked small talk, he didn't mind this so much. It was less like small talk and more like catching up on general life.
"Yeah." He paused for a moment. "I'm not going to ask how you knew that, more for my own sanity than anything, but I'm on leave for a few weeks. And then I'm back out there."
"Cool."
Andrew knew they could go on about that for ages — talk about how it was out there being deployed, having friends and comrades who would die for him, and he would do the same for them. Being out there protecting the country he loved, fighting when he was needed. But he also knew that if they did that, he'd forget the original reason for the call.
Which was why he cut in as soon as he heard Alex take a breath to speak. "Hey, before you ask me any questions, are you in San Fran for Christmas?"
Alex paused for a moment, as if he was really thinking about it, before he answered. "Yeah, I am. We get back on Christmas Eve eve." Another pause. "Why, are you coming to join us for Christmas?"
"Maybe just after." He was actually excited about it now. He was actually flying across the country just after Christmas to see one of his closest friends, and his girlfriend was joining too. Oh wait— "Oh, and Alice is joining me this time."
"As damage control?"
Andrew had to try very hard to hold back laughter there. He had a point, but he totally wasn't bringing his girlfriend along as damage control. Whether or not she ended up doing that herself whilst they were there was a completely different matter. "No. For your information, I don't need damage control. Maybe you and Tom do, but not me."
Alex sniggered over the line, clearly not believing a single thing Andrew was saying. And Andrew didn't blame him. "Yeah, sure. Of course. No damage control for you, Mr. Nerf-Gun-Adapter."
…Okay, Alice didn't need to know about that one. "If you know what's good for you, that one will never see the light of day when Alice is there."
"I know what's good for me, and I also know she loves me too much and that I'll be absolutely fine if your skills with modifying Nerf Guns somehow came to light and you mercilessly attacked the others. Just saying."
"Asshole."
They were both laughing now. It was almost as if nothing had changed between them in all the years they'd been friends, and Andrew really hoped that they didn't change at all. He knew they'd grow up — that was inevitable — but he didn't want this relationship to change. Ever.
"So when are you turning up in San Fran, then? Just so that I know when I should prep you guys' room for."
"Oh come on, you don't have to do that," Andrew protested as he peered through the screen and turned on the window wipers. The snow had already started to build up again, but the windscreen was a lot less foggy than it had been before. Soon enough, he was pretty sure that he'd be able to start heading home. "We can just as easily stay in a—"
"If you suggest a hotel, I'll apparate myself to wherever you are right now and knock your head in."
"Well, considering I'm sat in my truck waiting for things to warm up, I think it would get a little cramped in here."
"That doesn't mean I can't knock you."
Andrew gave a sigh, which quickly turned into his breathing on his hands to warm them up just that little bit more before grabbing the steering wheel. Which was… still very cold, but not as cold as it had been when he'd climbed in. The truck had warmed up considerably. In all honesty, he could start driving off now and he'd be fine. "Okay, okay, fine. We're staying at yours. Do you even have the space?"
"Sab isn't staying round for Christmas this year, so we've got space. She'll let you borrow her room, as long as you don't snoop."
"I'm not the snooper."
"…Touché."
Andrew leaned his head back with a grin, before deciding it would be a good idea to at least start making his way home now. He tapped on the steering wheel a couple of times, before moving his phone from the dashboard to the seat beside him where it wouldn't slip off as he drove and was easier for him to reach. And then he could keep chatting with Alex as he drove, which he knew would inevitably happen. "So, I'll call or text you later to confirm details?"
"DM me on Instagram? I'm on there too much for my own good."
Andrew laughed as he span the steering wheel and put the truck into drive, beginning to head off slowly. "Yeah, I know. I've been watching you." He glanced around a few times to see if there were any other vehicles coming, before beginning on his drive home. "You know what, you might as well tell me how your first semester has gone. I'll stalk you on there when I get home."
Alex gave a little laugh. "Okay, yeah sure. Where should I start?"
"From whatever dumb thought led you to decide to take a second degree." Andrew was moving at a snail's pace as he moved through the snow, so he thought he may as well fill the long drive home with conversation. Which would be worth it.
It always was with Alex.