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God, he smells amazing, Thomas thought, swallowing as he felt his own pants grow tight. What is that? Cinnamon… and pine? Does he have a Christmas cologne?
Fergus’s heavy boots passed the door, heading back to the party.
They stayed still for another ten seconds before Danny slowly moved his hand from Thomas’s face. Almost reluctantly, Danny took a step back, rubbing at the back of his neck. “Sorry,” he whispered. “Are you alright?”
“Y-yeah, I’m good,” Thomas breathed back tugging at his sleeves to make sure they hadn’t ridden up in their scuffle. “Thanks.”
“Sure but… what was that about?”
Thomas swallowed, rubbing the back of his neck as well. “I- I don’t know. But it was private. I didn’t want to interrupt and I didn’t want them to think I heard any of it.”
“That explains shoving me into the wall out there,” Danny said, smirking. “You are a lot stronger than you look.”
Now Thomas could feel himself blushing and looked away. “It’s just leverage really. I caught you by surprise.”
“Yeah you did,” he chuckled. He glanced towards the door. “Did you want to wait a little longer or should we head back now?”
Thomas glanced over at the door, the sounds of the party muffled by the barrier. “If it’s alright with you,” he said, leaning back against the wall and pushing his hands into the pocket of his hoodie, “I could use a minute.”
A smile lifted Danny’s lips and he leaned against the wall next to him, his own hands sliding into his jean pockets. “Take as many as you need.”
“Thanks,” he whispered, resting his head back and soaking in the quiet. “Dark in here though.”
“Hm.” Next to him, he could see the white of Danny’s teeth flash before the little lights on his Christmas sweater lit up, shining brightly through the darkness as they both dissolved into a fit of laughter.
* * *
Seong squinted as he tried to lean back far enough to get the entire tree into frame.
“You know you could just stand up and step back,” Brutus suggested from the galley kitchen.
“Enough with you and your logic,” Seong scoffed, pushing back on the couch to get a better angle. “Remind me why this thing is nine feet tall?”
“Because Felinus built his apartment with fifteen foot ceilings and they were sold out of twelve foot trees that first year,” Brutus replied, grinning over at him. “But since he didn’t fuss about putting it up this year, maybe it’s time to upgrade.”
“Pretty sure he didn’t protest because Issac’s eyes went so wide I thought we were going to get sucked into the twin black holes,” Seong chuckled, remembering a month earlier when they dragged the boxes back up from Brutus’s apartment to decorate the usually boring gray and modern apartment into a winter wonderland.
“I’ll take it,” he said, shrugging as he turned back to the oven.
Seong laughed again, finally getting the shot of the tree just as the elevators opened. “Morn-” he started, turning his head to look around and snorted. “What in God’s name are you wearing?”
Bat grinned at him as he and Tiger walked into the apartment, rolling his shoulders so the fabric wings on his back flapped and turning his head to make the bells on his green hat jingle. “I’m the Christmas Elf-Bat, obviously,” he said, stepping out of the way. “Special assistant to Santa Claws?”
Tiger, at nearly seven feet tall and wearing the custom tiger onesie that Bat had managed to find the first year Tiger had joined them, stepped inside the apartment with an actual sack of presents. A Santa hat had been altered so the cute tiger ears of his hood stuck out.
Oh, this is going to be good, Seong thought turning his phone from pictures to video to point at the elevator.
Tiger looked at Bat for a moment then over at Seong, raising one massive hand that Seong knew could crush a man’s skull like a grape. His fingers curled in, his almost cream colored palm facing him, then his hand dropped at the wrist. “Rawr!”
Seong fell off the back of the couch as he cackled in delight.
“Don’t die on us, Snake,” Bat called as he walked into the kitchen while Tiger approached, looking concerned as Seong continued to laugh.
“I’m fine,” he gasped, falling into another fit of giggles when he noticed the Santa hat had tilted sideways on Tiger’s head. “I’m good.” He sucked in air as Tiger set his bag of gifts down and reached down to lift Seong off the ground. “Ah man. I was not prepared for the rawr.”
Tiger smiled, looking pleased with himself. “That was my idea,” he said in his slow voice. “Originally, Bat was going to be Santa.”
“Nah, you make a better Santa,” Seong told him, smirking up at the man as he sat on the back of the couch.
