Work Text:
The Amnesty Lodge annual Christmas party is a well-anticipated party for the people of the lodge, for many reasons, the loge is decorated with lights, candles, bows, leafy and/or beaded garland, cute little knick-knacks, and of course, the large Christmas tree covered from the bottom to the top with mix and matched ornaments, some of them hand made, combined that with the roaring fireplace, and it all makes the already homely lodge even cozier, there was also the all the great food that Barclay makes, including at least five different types of cookies, the yearly game of ‘Rob Your Neighbor’, and of course, that fact that the party gets absolutely buck wild by the end of the night, like last year when Ned found an ornate bottle in Mama's office, he asked if it was whisky or perfume, Duck, black out drunk, took the bottle, downed the whole thing, and calmly said ‘its perfume,’(and it was), then later that night Ned and Aubry got into a drunk and heated debate over what's the best Christmas horror movie (Ned preferred Silent Night, Deadly Night, while Aubry was adamant about Black Christmas and Krampus,) which roped in a bunch of other party goers to trough in their two cents on the matter, it was great.
The party had started an hour ago, and everyone is enjoying themselves, Aubry and Dani are killing it at karaoke (Black Magic by Little Mix, as usual, even if it doesn’t match the theme.), Duck is teaching Minerva the ins and outs of the holiday, since not only is it their first Christmas together but it’s also Minerva first real Christmas on earth (or in general,) she had become quite fond of the idea of mistletoe, mainly because she always happy to find an excuse to kiss her chosen one, even though Duck insists that she doesn’t need an excuse to kiss him, Barclay is piling up his plate at the food table, excited to enjoy the fruits of his labor, when Stern sneaks up and hugs him from behind, Barclay smiles and turns his head to kiss his boyfriend and while he’s distracted Stern steals a cookie from his plate and runs away, Barcley looks down at his plate and notices he’s missing a cookie, he puts two and two together and his face goes red when he realizes he had been tricked, and in general, everyone is enjoying themself and having a good time.
Well, almost everyone.
Jake has been kneeling backward on one of the couches and staring at the lodge front door for the past 25 minutes, occasionally looking at his phone, and looking more than a little worried/anxious, his odd behavior does not go unnoticed, as Aubry and Dani finish their song, they see that Jake is still sitting there.
“He’s been sitting like that for almost half an hour,” Aubry says, “I’m starting to get worried about him,”
“We should talk to him,” Dani says as she grabs her girlfriends hand and walks over to the couch, “Hey Jakey, what up with you,”
Jake looks up at Dani, “Oh, hey Dani, nothings wrong,”
Dani doesn’t believe him and sits next to him, “Really, so you’re just staring at the door for fun, huh?”
Jake looks down and sighs, “It’s-it’s Hollis, they left the party a while ago, saying they needed to pick something up and that they’d pick up more drinks while they were out,” he sighs again, turning around and sitting properly on the couch, “I told them it was dangerous to go out right now but they insisted that they were just as good on a snowmobile as they are on their bike so that they’d be fine on their own,”
Dani grimaces, Kepler had just gotten hit by a big snowstorm the night before and it had been advised to stay off roads unless necessary, Mama convinced everyone that would attend the party to stay the night so they wouldn’t get caught up in the storm and not leave the party until the news says it's safe, but of course, Hollis, rebel without a cause they are, wouldn’t listen.
“I’ve been checking my phone for some kind of update, like if there's an accident or something,” Jake says quietly.
Dani smiles and troughs her arm around Jake, “Hey, chin up, Jake, it’s gonna be ok, trust me,”
Aubry sits on the other side of Jake, “Yeah, Hollis is going to be fine, they’ve gone through way more than a snowstorm, hell I’m pretty sure they’ve driven through plenty of snowstorms before, so they gotta know what they’re doing,”
Jake keeps looking down, “I guess so,”
Dani pulls him closer, “Hey, I know you’re worried about them, and that’s ok, but remember, Hollis can take care of themself, even if they can be stubborn and thick-headed sometimes,” this makes Jake laugh a little, “There’s a smile,” Dani stands up and grabs Jakes hand, “now come on, we’re at the biggest party of the year and you’re missing out on it by moping,”
Jake sighs, puts his phone in his pocket, and gets up, Aubry gets up and Dani pulls Jake to the rest of the party, they do what they usually do at these kinds of parties, they eat some snacks, bother Barclay for a bit, teases Duck and Minerva for being gross, and as time goes by, Jake stops worrying about Holles and starts actually enjoying the party.
A half an hour later, the three hear the door opening and Mama reprimanding someone, the three of them walk over to the front, Jake smiles when he sees Hollis, a plastic bag in each arm and brushing show of themself.
“I told you not to leave the lodge till the storm was over.”
“I know,”
“Ya coulda gotten yourself killed,”
“I know, but it was important,”
Mama sighs, “Ok, I’m gonna let you off with a warning because its Christmas but don’t do that shit again”
“I won’t Mam-” Hollis is interrupted when Jake hugs him, holding them tight and burying his face in their shoulder, they chuckle and hug him back,(a little difficult because of the bags) “Hey icy, you missed me?”
“Yes,” he says, his voice muffled, he pulls away a little, tears in the corners of his eyes, “you really scared me,”
Hollis’s face softens, they push their goggles to the top of their head, (the same goggles that Jake gave them earlier that day,) “I’m sorry babe, but I promise it was worth it,”
“It better,”
The party continues as usual, Jake much more relaxed with his partner safe and sound, it ends up being a rather uneventful night, but really, after all they’ve been through the past couple of years, they really needed it, eventually the party starts to wind down, and everyone, tired and/or drunk, snuggle up on the couches, most of them with their sweethearts, Jake and Hollis cuddle on the couch in front of the fire.
Hollis puts his hand in his pocket and pulls out a small present wrapped in red wrapping paper covered in candy canes, “Merry Christmas, Jake”
Jake takes the present and unwraps it, revealing a thin square black box, he opens it and gasps when it reveals a beautiful chunky silver bracelet with five charms, Jake picks the bracelet to examine the charms, a skateboard, a pair of skis, a seal, a hornet, and a snowflake, he smiles, “Oh, Hollis, I love it!”
Hollis chuckles, “You better, damn near risked my life for it,”
Jake looks up at them, “This is why you left?”
“Yeah, I got it custom made and today was the earliest it would get done,” they explain, “it was either go through the storm or wait till tomorrow to get it,”
Jake sighs, closes the box, and puts it and the bracelet down on the coffee table, “Babe, you didn’t have to do this,”
“Hey, I spent like a hundred bucks on that bracelet,”
“Nonono, it's not that, you just-you didn’t have to go through the snow just to get it, I would have been fine waiting till tomorrow to get it, you could’ve gotten hurt.”
“But I didn’t, plus I’ve gone through way more than a small snowstorm,”
Jake sits up, “It wasn’t just ‘a small snowstorm’, there’s at least a foot and a half of snow and most of the roads are covered in ice, what if you got stuck, or crashed, this whole town is a dead zone, you’d have no way to call for help, your life isn’t worth getting me my present in time,”
This makes Hollis guilty and they look down in shame.
Jake sighs again and rests his head on their shoulder, “I’m sorry, I don’t wanna seem ungrateful, but…”
Hollis interrupts him, “No, I’m the one that should be sorry, I didn’t mean to make you so worried,” they pull him into a hug, “I’m really sorry for being a dumbass, baby, and for scaring you,”
Jake smiles, “I forgive you,” he sits up to look them in the eye, “But you better not do that again,”
“No promises, but I’ll try,”
“Good enough for me,” they meet in the middle for a kiss, “I love you,”
“I love you too, Merry Christmas Jake,”
“Merry Christmas Hollis,”