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“I don’t know Alex…” The dirty blonde miqo’te paced a little up and down the room. “Come on! It’ll be great! We do this every year and they’re the only family I have left.” The shorter man pleaded, he knew it would take some convincing but he didn’t assume it’d take this long. “You say that like you’re introducing your boyfriend to your parents” the other man laughed.
The words cut through Alex like knives, for a moment Rowan could swear he saw mismatched eyes widen. “Does he know?” “Is it that obvious?” The thoughts raced through Alexander’s mind, but he couldn’t let his anxiety show, he decided to avert the conversation from the topic altogether.
“You know what I meant… Christmas was the most special time of the year for me growing up, it’s the only childish part of me I’ll never let go of. Circumstances may change, like instead of being with mom and her friends in a small house in the woods,” he closed his eyes, recalling the memories for a short minute, any longer and he may have to fight back tears. “I now spend it with a slightly bigger family in Mor Dhona’s Rising Stones.” he opened his eyes and chuckled. He looked towards the other man, “As I said, circumstances may change, but it’s still about spending time with the people you love…, and you never experienced a proper Christmas either! I couldn’t ask for better company.” he beamed at Rowan.
The comment about love did not slip his attention, he didn’t give it further thought though, better not to have false hope. “Are you sure? All those people around, and the scions besides… I don’t think I’m the right company, I’m scared” he couldn’t help fidgeting with his hands. The smaller man gently clasped Rowan’s hands, the sudden touch causing him to jerk his head up, only to lock eyes with a pair of orange and blue. They stood there for a moment that felt like eternity.
Alex spoke first, breaking their silence. “You are the right company, and truth be told,” there was a hint of anxiety in his voice “they insisted I bring you along.” “They what?” Rowan asked immediately. Alex let out a nervous chuckle as he let go of the other man’s hands and anxiously brought one of his own to his neck. “ I may have, ” the first words came out at a higher pitch than he intended, “brought it up to them earlier that you never had a good Christmas, to which they all decided that I - “simply must remedy that and bring you along.” -” He imitated Alphinaud’s voice and posture.
“Come on, please! I’ll make it up to you, I promise!” he took Rowan’s hands in his again as he pleaded. The taller man looked into those pleading mismatched eyes, he couldn’t say no even if he tried. “Fine, alright, I’ll go” he sighed. The other miqo’te beamed up at him. He’ll survive somehow, besides, it’s already been worth agreeing to just for that smile alone.
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The familiar walls of the Rising Stones were decorated with all sorts of festive lights strewn about. Green, red, blue, white, yellow and purple, mismatched colors that certainly shouldn’t look well together but somehow they gave the place an inviting feeling, not even the scions were perfect, it would seem. To the side of the antecedent’s room stood a massive Christmas tree, the lights on it all a warm white color with the small decorations placed at specific coordinated locations, as if their spots were mathematically calculated to be where they were. Perhaps the scions were perfect after all?
“What’s the deal with all these lights dear sister?” Alphinaud’s voice could be heard from the distance.
“Since *you* got tree duty this year, *we* knew we had to liven things up a little! All the colors represent one of us! The white is..well, self explanatory” she let out a small chuckle, “the green is for Coultenet, the red for Hoary and I, blue for you, yellow for Riol and Lyse and the purple for F’lhaminn and Alexander! I’d say we did a fine job of balancing your “perfect” tree.”
“We sure did, leave it to Urianger and Alphinaud to calculate the perfect space ratio between decoration and light placements” Thancred chimed in.
“W-well we had to…”
Alex let out a laugh at hearing the snippet of their conversation. “Only here could you see order and chaos balancing each other out.” He turned to the taller man standing next to him. “The moment Alisaie joined us, we had to come up with a solution to decorating. There’s two groups every year: Alphinaud, Urianger and Krile in group one, Alisaie, Thancred and Tataru in the second. It’s decided at random who will handle the tree decoration and who will do the rest.” He leaned in closer and whispered to Rowan: “Tataru and Krile are the secret pair who work together to ensure that something presentable comes out of the competition.”
“I thought you’d be part of the decoration team, didn’t you say you love doing it?” Rowan asked curiously. “And risk losing my vision amidst their competition? Hell no.” he laughed. ”At least this way they somehow don’t tear each other apart, I’d rather not shake that flimsy balance.”
Rowan chucked at that. It was as he expected, all the noise, people and lights were hard to tune out, but it seems that he had a living tuning fork at hand, one who was tugging at his own hand, leading him to some different part of the room. He couldn’t explain it why but he felt safe with Alex, being near him drew his focus, even the crowd of people was tolerable when he was around. And gods was it worth tolerating, for the shorter man’s eyes lit up and sparkled everywhere he looked, during every story and explanation he gave Rowan, it was mesmerising to look at, so mesmerising in fact, that he forgot to pay attention to the words spoken by his lead.
“Rowan?” Alex repeated. “Yeah? Sorry, I got distracted.” Not technically a lie, although he wouldn’t tell the man that he was the source of his distractions. “Hmm, should we go somewhere quieter? That table there?” He asked while pointing towards an empty table, with no people in sight near it. “Yeah, that’s perfect”.
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“So that’s Alex’s friend?” Y’shtola asked. “Mhm, I’m glad he finally brought him!” Tataru answered. “Hmm” she took a sip of the wine in front of her, “those two are 16 yalms deep head over heels for each other, that Alex can’t see it I’m…not surprised by” she sighed, “but that no one else does? Please tell me I’m not the only one with her wits intact.”
“Y’shtola!” Krile shushed her. “Tataru and I, and you it seems, *can* see it, perhaps the others can too. We don’t discuss it out of respect for our friend. I’ll admit, it’s a tad frustrating to see their back and forth but it is not our place to intertwine.”
“And besides” Tataru cut in, “you may not have dealt with it firsthand, but we all saw what happened after G’raha… I’m just happy to see him love and be loved again.”
“What’s this I hear? Speculation on our great friend’s love life, without me of all people?” Thancred joined their circle, and the other scions followed behind him soon. “What’s the small gathering for?” Alisaie chimed in as she approached. “Our dear friends here think that Alexander and his friend are pining for each other.” Thancred kindly informed them. Everyone looked to miqo’te pair at that moment, who thankfully didn’t catch their staring.
The circle of friends got taken aback first, but only moments later, they were all deep in thought. “I think they might be right.” Urianger was the first of them to speak up. “Thank the gods.” Y’shtola muttered under her breath. “Whatever gave you that idea?!” Alisaie blurred out. “I think I’ll have to agree with my sister on this for once, I don’t see it.” Alphinaud reluctantly shared. “As the professional on all things regarding attraction and love, I’m taking the twins’ side.” Thancred said. “Oh you can’t be serious…” Y’shtola sighed out of frustration.
“Come on you guys! Whatever they are to each other, at least let them figure it out on their own, we shouldn’t speculate like this on his love life…” Tataru tried to reason with the group. “Well I know a way to keep everyone out of interfering.” Thancred wore a smug grin on his face. “We should all bet on it! 100.000 gil per person on whether or not they are dating by the next Christmas party. That means if we lose and they get together, you all get 300.000, and if we win we get 400.000!”
“Really? Betting on his love life? Are you kidding? I won’t take any part in this” Krile said and soon enough left the table, with Tataru following close behind, “Count me out of this too” she shouted back. “I’m not too sure about this bet myself either, besides, you all know how bad I am with coin, Alisaie would gut me if we both lost, I’ll sit this one out as well.” Despite what he said, Alphinaud still stayed at the table, too curious to leave.
“Well, with that we’re even, 200.000 gil on the line, you three still in this with me?”
“I don’t see why not, I’ll be glad to watch you lose that coin.” Y’shtola smirked.
“I never back down from a challenge!” Alisaie said excitedly.
“And I am sure of my conviction.” Urianger added calmly.
With the four of them all in agreement, they shook hands on the matter and settled into idle chatter, the pair of miqo’te men none the wiser to their gamble.
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The two men were so immersed in conversation that none of them noticed the two lalafell heading their way. “Oh hi!” Alexander greeted them, “Tataru, Krile, this is Rowan, Rowan, Tataru and Krile!” Rowan gave them a nervous wave.
“Rowan, we’ve heard so much about you!” Tataru smiled at him. “O-oh.. only good things I hope?” Rowan let out a weak chuckle. “Of course! Alex always talks about you so happily!” “…Huh, Is that so…?” Rowan looked to the man next to him, a slight shade of pink adorned his cheeks. “I-it’s only fair I tell them about you, after all, I tell you about them as well!” Alex tried to deflect. Rowan chucked, “Fair enough, I heard all about your time in Ishgard with him.” Alex’s deflection seemed to work, thankfully.
“Oh yes! It was lovely! Could have done without the trial and the cold but it truly is a beautiful city, perhaps Alex could take you there someday! Oh and I learned so many great Isgardians recipes! They aren’t the greatest at sanitation but once I put my own spin on their cuisine, it was divine!”
Rowan’s eyes lit up at that. “Could you perhaps share them with me? Alex’s recollections touched on anything but the food.”
“Oh-ho-ho, a fellow culinary soul I see! Alex failed to mention that about you!” Tataru stared daggers into the shorter man.
Seeing the two of them find common ground, Rowan visibly relaxed, Alex decided to take this opportunity to raid the bar, bringing some wine back to their table. It was nice seeing Rowan getting along with Tataru, even Krile could occasionally chip in to the topic with her own exotic culinary findings. Rowan seemed quite lively, his tail excitedly swinging left and right. If Alex had known all he needed to do to see him like this was talk about food, he would’ve started paying more attention to cuisine ages ago.
As the hours passed by he started feeling himself getting slightly tipsy from the wine. Soon the crowds started dispersing, the bell rang out and bumping his hand together with Rowan’s were enough signs that they should start heading home. They said their goodbyes and left the Rising Stones.
“Alex?”
“Hm?”
“Where do you live?”
“Mostly inns, or in the Rising Stones, I travel around too much to warrant having my own place.”
“Aren’t inns closed tonight?”
“Yeah, why do you ask?
“Why did you leave with me then? If you’re staying at the Rising Stones…”
Alex chuckled. “Oh simple, I couldn’t let you just walk home alone, especially on Christmas!”
Rowan stayed silent for a short while, in deep thought, before finally speaking up: “Would you like to stay the night at my place?”
Silence. Was the question too much?
“…I’d like that.” Alex finally answered.
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The walk to the apartment was mostly uneventful, Alex occasionally bumping into Rowan in his tipsy state. Once they entered, the heat that hit them was both a blessing and a curse, for they were both wanting for warmth but it didn’t help remedy Alex’s state.
“I’d love a tour of the place but…I feel like I’m gonna pass out Ro…” Alex got cut off by a yawn, proving him right.
Rowan helped him to the bedroom and left the man to change while he grabbed a glass of water for him. By the time he returned, Alex was already curled up in bed. “Bummer, I would’ve liked some time with him before he passed out. Maybe in the morning I’ll have better luck.” he thought to himself. He sat the glass down on the nightstand, undressed and got in bed himself as well. He was about to close his eyes when he felt the bedsheets shuffle and a hand over his stomach that pulled him into an embrace. Is Alex cuddling him in his sleep? Soon his entire body was pressed up against the smaller man’s.
It felt great. It was far better than he imagined it to be. He fantasized about getting to cuddle Alex many nights while he was alone in this room. He only wishes Alex was awake, consciously cuddling him, rather than in his sleep, but he‘s not complaining…
“Mmm…Rowan?”
He never took Alex for a sleep talker, but then again, he never thought he’d cuddle another man in his sleep either.
“Yeah?”
The bed shifted again, followed by silence. Rowan opened his eyes and found a pair of orange and blue staring back at him.
“Merry Christmas.”
“M-merry Christmas Alex.”
In the dark he couldn’t quite make out the other man’s facial expression, but he saw his lips curl into a smile and that was good enough for now. Alex moved back and nuzzled his head in the crook of Rowan’s neck. Feeling the rhythmic rising and falling of the other man’s chest so close behind him lulled him into sleep soon enough.