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“Thank you,” he said, looking around. “Are Issac and Felinus asleep still?”
“In the shower,” Seong explained, clipping the video to edit out his fall and horrendous cackling.
“Together?”
“Considering Brutus and I have been here for about an hour and they haven’t come out yet, I think it’s safe to assume they are together,” he smirked, opening his texts messages. Merry Christmas! Did Santa Claws visit you?
Tiger hummed, the sound deep in his chest. “Do you want that?”
“Want what?” he asked, watching his phone to make sure the video sent before he glanced up at Tiger.
Tiger wasn’t looking at him. Instead his eyes seemed to shift from the hall towards the bedrooms and greenhouse and the kitchen where Brutus and Bat were talking.
At least Seong hoped it was talking. It had been six years from when their relationship changed from “together” to “it’s complicated.” No one talked about what happened, at least not near or around Seong, but from his own misguided snooping he knew that it was connected to Bat’s gambling addictions and the Capo that Felinus and Brutus had started their careers under.
“Want what,” he repeated when Tiger continued to look between the two spots.
The same deep hum came from the other man. “Someone to be together with.”
Seong blinked, taken aback by how innocent the question sounded. It was half a joke at this point to assume that if Felinus and Issac were alone for at least five minutes, they were going to be all over each other. Seong had thought that’s where Tiger was heading, for a teasing suggestion of finding someone that couldn’t keep his hands to himself or that Seong couldn’t stay away from for more than five seconds without wanting to fuck him against the nearest wall.
In spite of all the things he knew Tiger had gone through, the larger than life man had always been simpler in his desires. Of course he wasn’t thinking of the dirtier aspects of a relationship. He was thinking of the companionship, of someone to call his own.
Seong swallowed as a deep aching longing reopened in his chest, that same longing he had felt watching Thomas with the other young men at O’Hare’s. “Sometimes,” he admitted quietly. “But I still have you lot.”
Tiger looked down and smiled. “Ja,” he agreed. “We can be together at least.”
Seong smiled back at him, still trying to shake the aching. His phone buzzed, the cyberpunk sound effect playing briefly. “What the hell is ‘Daddy December?’”
“It’s a possible translation of the Irish phrase for Santa,” Issac’s voice called out. He and Felinus finally emerged dressed in matching sweaters. “Tell Thomas I said good morning.”
“How did you know it was Thomas?” Seong asked, frowning as he glanced down at the text messages. His eyebrow shot up as the picture of the new computer Thomas had received came through, its stickers revealing that it could almost rival Seong’s laptop.
“Because O’Hare is Daddy December,” Felinus said, rolling his eyes. “Apparently it’s an annual tradition among the Clovers and the kids to get him wound up about it at his Christmas Eve party.” He did a double-take at Bat, looking him up and down. “Are you and Tiger forming a holiday tradition of themed onesie pajamas?”
“Hm, maybe,” Bat smirked. “We’re gonna find ones for everyone next year.”
“I’m not fucking wearing a cat onesie, Zeno.”
“Not even if I get a mouse onesie for Issac?”
“I’m not wearing that,” Issac said bluntly as Felinus’s eyes went out of focus for a moment. “Nichts für ungut, Alex.”
“Keine sorge, Issac,” Tiger replied, smiling at him. “Frohe Weihnachten.”
“Frohe Weihnachten,” Issac said, slipping away from Felinus to come over to the tree.
Seong couldn’t help but smile as the two continued to speak German, not only at them becoming comfortable in the shared language but also when he noticed a chain just under Issac’s sweater. He looked back at his phone, at Thomas’s name peering up at him. Three dots danced under the photo.
I know you are probably busy but do you think we can get together some time? To talk more?
I’d like that, Seong messaged back immediately, without thinking. When do you go back to school?
Communications
“Hey, Thomas!”
Thomas leaned back to look around his locker to see Danny’s head pop up over the crowd, his wide smile disappearing with the rest of him as he fell back down. He shook his head, unable to keep the smile from growing on his own lips as he closed the locker and moved into a doorway to wait for Danny. “Danny, what are you doing up here? Aren’t you on the first floor last period?”
