#barky

“don’t you wanna wrap me up and mistle-touch under the tree?

he won’t bring you somebody that loves you more than me.”

you were placing a few last minute ornaments on the tree when you heard sasha come home, the sound of the key in the front door followed by his footsteps alerting you to his presence.

“hey,” you smiled as you walked over to him, greeting him with a kiss which he returned.

it was the night before christmas eve and the panthers had just played a tough game against the tampa bay lightning, filled with rough hits and a few injuries, tampa winning 4-0 in the end.

“hey,” he replied, and you could tell from his voice that he was tired and a little frustrated; though he rarely showed it. he managed to crack a smile as he gently plucked a stray piece of tinsel out of your hair, and wrapped you in his arms, walking you further into the living room towards the tree.

“i’m sorry the game didn’t go well,” you murmured, and sasha rested his chin on your shoulder, your back pressed flush against his chest as his arms encircled you from behind. he only hummed in response, swaying side to side softly. “is chucky okay?” you asked; the left winger having been hit knee on knee during the first period. miraculously, he had returned to play the other two periods of the game, but it still wasn’t enough for the panthers to walk away with the win this time.

“yeah, i think so. the days off should help as well,” he replied, referring to the four days off the panthers had for the holidays.

“that’s good.”

he hummed again, and you let a silence fall over the two of you as you stood admiring the twinkling lights on the tree. your eyes landed on your favourite ornament, a small red picture frame in the shape of a stocking with a photo of you and aleksander together on your first christmas together a few years ago.

you looked down at the gifts beneath the tree, a few for sasha from you, some for your families as well as his teammates, and a few clumsily wrapped packages from sasha. it was endearing to you that despite trying every year, his wrapping skills never improved.

“what are you smiling about?” he asked, squeezing you tighter.

“i’m just happy,” you admitted. it was the truth; you were feeling the warmth of the holidays, and the physical warmth of sasha’s body against yours. you turned around in his arms, snaking your arms around his neck, your fingers lacing through the short honey blonde hair at the base of his skull.

“i love you,” you whispered, and he smiled back at you.

“i love you too.”

you leaned up to kiss his lips, and his fingertips dug into your hips softly, your t-shirt riding up slightly as he slid his hands beneath the fabric to touch your skin with his warm hands. the kiss deepened as you tugged at his bottom lip with your teeth, and he pushed you gently towards the couch, tumbling into the sofa after you.

•

you were nearly asleep when you heard a quiet beeping sound, and felt sasha moving beneath you, a subtle disturbance as your head was resting on his chest.

you weren’t sure exactly when the two of you had ended up on the floor, a blanket beneath you and another one covering your tangled bodies as his fingers traced shapes on your bare thigh absentmindedly.

“it’s midnight,” he said, the beeping having been his watch, signalling the change of the hour.

“it’s christmas eve,” you realized, snuggling closer to him as his arms wrapped around you.

“we should go up to bed,” aleksander mumbled, his voice deeper, and you could tell he was as close to falling asleep as you were.

“yeah, probably not a good idea to sleep on the floor,” you laughed. “although it is pretty, looking up at the lights,” you said, gazing up at the tree.

“yeah,” he agreed; although he was looking at you rather than the tree. “come on, let’s go to bed.”

you followed sasha upstairs to your shared bedroom, flopping face first into the bed, causing sasha to laugh softly.

“someone’s tired,” he teased, crawling overtop of you and placing a kiss on your shoulder as he caged you beneath his large frame.

“mhm,” you mumbled in response, already half asleep again. you protested at the sudden absence of his body weight on top of you, and felt him slide the blanket from beneath you so he could tuck you in, before crawling into bed next to you.

“goodnight,” he kissed the top of your head as you wrapped your arms and legs around him.

you were asleep before you could reply, and sasha leaned over to switch off the lamp on the beside table, before pulling the blanket up higher over your body, and drifting off to sleep to the sound of your heart beating in time with his <3