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Solo had never been much of a Christmas person. What he loved most about the holidays was getting together with his family, when everyone on the island was together eating barbecue, enjoying the bond forged through food. When everything started to change, Solo stopped celebrating anything, really—his birthday, Christmas. He didn't feel motivated to celebrate anything if, at the end of the day, he was alone. But this year was different. He didn't have to cling to blood ties anymore, not when he had the people he needed right in front of him.
The table was having a quiet conversation, or at least, a quiet one. JC was always the quietest, so his conversation with Tonga was relaxed, even if the topic was stupid. Who talks about Twilight at Christmas? On the other hand, the less quiet area was Tama, who was silent but tearing apart the turkey on his plate, along with everything else around it. The potatoes? Gone. The applesauce? It was the first thing to disappear. He was the one who didn't seem to want to talk, and that was fine; no one was going to interrupt him.
Sitting together were Solo and Talla, each in their own world. Solo was eating a bit of apple pie, the dessert they had chosen; obviously, he'd preferred to eat something sweet first. The taller man had his arm draped over Sikoa's shoulders, his gaze fixed on him, just...watching him. Solo could feel those eyes on his face, watching him like a hawk, so attentive as if they were about to miss a single detail.
— You know I'm not going to disappear if you stop looking at me, right? — The blond man looked up from his delicious dessert, meeting his partner's eyes. A small, lopsided smile played on his lips; there was no aggression in his words, just him being a bit funny, teasing the other with little comments.
— What, I can't look at you now? I'm just looking at your stupid sweater, not at you." — But over time, Talla had learned just fine how to respond to the other, replying with the same little smile. Now his eyes, which had observed every detail on Solo's face, shifted to his ugly sweater. Yeah, all of them were wearing horrible sweaters. Tama had thought it would be funny.
— Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. — Solo rolled his eyes as he cut a small piece of pie with his fork and brought it to Talla, who took the bite, silently savoring the dessert. After their brief moment, they returned to their usual routine. It was quiet, but comforting. Solo leaned against the older man's side, his eyes watching the other three seated at the table, where it seemed Tama had joined the other two's conversation, but they appeared to be having disagreements, judging by the way Tonga was speaking to him with a finger pointed at his face, and JC was sinking deeper and deeper into his seat.
Dinner passed without much further incident, and now, They were in the living room. They had organized a small Secret Santa to exchange gifts. First, they had played some board games, where Solo ended up losing every single one, and JC was crowned the Monopoly champion, being the only one who didn't go bankrupt. On the sofa, Solo was resting his head on Talla's arm. He was somewhat dissociated, lost in thought, his gaze fixed on a point in the distance. Talla kept him close, watching lazily as his brothers chatted amongst themselves, discussing who had given the best gift.
couldn't have asked for anything better, because now he had a reason to celebrate the holidays, because now there were people waiting for him for dinner, people who were more excited and somehow, that excitement rubbed off on him. And nothing was better than celebrating Christmas with your family and your partner. It really had been a good year.