I don’t have a better place to put writing, so I’ll put this under a cut so as to not clog up anyone’s feeds, but Merry Christmas @iocane7 ! Sorry it’s a little late, but I was your person for the @dbhevents secret santa event!!
It was that time of the year again. Christmas. But it was different this year. Every time before had been as a servant to humans, shopping with no credit or thanks given if they had even been in a household that celebrated Christmas to begin with. This year they could truly enjoy the holidays and celebrate their new-found emotions with their newfound friends and family. The looks of wonder on their faces at the sights of snow on colored lights and trees decorated just for them was a sight to see. Being deviant had put a brand-new perspective on the old traditions they had seen before and finally partaking in them was a new level of excitement, even if they fumbled with some of them…like mistletoe.
“And voila. The apartment is finally finished. And just in time for everyone to come over. This is the last time we wait until last minute to decorate.” Markus stepped back from the Christmas tree in the living room of his and Josh’s shared apartment with a satisfied grin as he took in their hard work. He turned to look at his roommate when he heard shuffling in a box and Josh pulled out a small thing of green, plastic leaves and white berries with a grin. “What’s that?”
“It’s called mistletoe. If you catch someone under it then you’re supposed to kiss them. I used to watch people chase their friends around with it and now I’m thinking it’s your chance to finally snag a kiss from Simon.” The mischievous grin on Josh’s face was enough to worry Markus without what he said to go with it.
“No, no, no, no, no. I’m not doing that. Do you know how bad I’d embarrass myself if I tried that? I mean, come on, Simon doesn’t even like me like that.” Blue tinted Markus’s cheeks at the thought of kissing Simon and even moreso of kissing Simon in front of everyone and potentially embarrassing himself. The last thing he needed was to somehow push Simon away. He had feelings for his friend for sure, but he’d rather it be unknowingly one-sided rather than ruin a perfectly good friendship.
His mind was suddenly racing with ways it could go wrong when Josh bust out into a fit of laughter, doubled over and shaking his head. When he stood back up, he jokingly wiped away a tear. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Simon? Not like you back? Markus. Tell me. Are you seriously that blind? Even Connor can see it and you know how oblivious he can be about that kind of stuff. If you kissed him, he’d probably thank you for making the first move.”
“I’m not doing it. I’m not taking that chance. It’d be suicide. And honestly, I’d probably get sick before I could actually do anything.”
“You know that’s not possible, right?”
“Yes, but my point still stands.” Markus turned away, rubbing his face. “I can lead a revolution but can’t admit feelings to someone.”
Before Josh could even rebuttal there was a knock at the door and he went to answer it while Markus composed himself. North practically let herself in, Simon and Connor in tow with everyone’s gifts in their arms. They dropped them under the newly finished tree and Simon smiled at Markus.
“Seems you really went all out on decorating. It looks good.” Simon smiled at Markus who was still recovering from the mental image of kissing his best friend in front of everyone.
“Oh, uh, yeah. It was mostly Josh. I just handed him things.” Markus chuckled sheepishly, only half looking at Simon during the conversation. He didn’t understand why he was so nervous, but he was, and it was suddenly making this Christmas party almost unbearable. He spent almost every day either with or talking to Simon and yet, here he was, nervous as all hell.
“At least you helped. North came over to help me decorate and I’m pretty sure she just sat on the floor watching Christmas movies the whole time. I don’t know why I’m surprised if I’m being honest.” Simon chuckled with a shake of his head. Despite being opposites, he and North had become pretty good friends and it was hard to find them separated for too long. And little did Markus know, Josh was the only ribbing them to do something.
“I will literally push them together if that’s what it takes.” North stood across the room with Josh, watching Simon and Markus talk.
“I think you two are just going to make matters worse, if I’m being honest. They’ll get to it when they get to it, we can’t force them to realize they’re being painfully oblivious.” Connor stepped into the conversation from the kitchen. “We don’t want to scare them into it.”
“No, you don’t want to scare them into it. They’re making themselves miserable being all ‘Poor me. Does he like me? Does he not? Whatever will I do?” North put the back of her hand to her forehead, feigning passing out into Josh’s arms.
“Extra as always.” Josh rolled his eyes despite chuckling at her act. “They’ll come around. They just need reassurance. And if you’re thinking what I’m thinking, then I think mistletoe done correctly could be that reassurance.”
Connor shook his head and left them to plan whatever scheme they were trying to conjure up and went to sit by the tree, inspecting a particularly intricate ornament as he waited for the others to get the hint to join him for presents. He watched as Markus took a seat on the arm of the couch, allowing Simon to take a seat. There was no ignoring the gentle look they gave each other and yet they were both in denial that the other could like them. It was sweet and sickening at the same time and Connor just hoped North and Josh didn’t ruin it near Christmas of holidays.
Simon found himself leaning ever so slightly against Markus as they all sat down to exchange gifts. He was usually the quieter and more reserved one of the group, but this time he was feeling a little more bold as he let his touches linger a little longer than usual, allowed himself to get closer and stay closer, but while he felt more bold he still was afraid to push it without validation. For now, he was just hoping for some sort of Christmas miracle.
“And! The last gift of the night, from one Mr. Markus to everyone’s favorite blond.” Josh snatched up a small box from under the tree and Simon looked to Markus before taking it, but the look on Markus’s face said he had no idea what was in that box. Josh knew. North knew. It was their last second plan they managed to sneak in without the other androids being aware.
Markus shot Josh a look and his friend just smiled as Simon worked the ribbon off a small red and green box. He didn’t know what to expect and his heart was racing in his chest. What if this ruined the day? How was Josh so certain everything would be okay that he would risk this in front of everyone? How would Simon react? Was North in on this? Connor? Were they all that okay with taking a risk of ruining a friendship? Was he maybe just really overthinking this? What if it was actually nothing? But the risk was still high enough that it would certainly turn into something. He would kill Josh for this.
He finally managed to tear himself away from his own whirlwind of thoughts to pay attention as Simon lifted the lid off the box to reveal nothing more than green leaves with little white plastic berries.
Mistletoe. It was a box of mistletoe and while they both processed what and why, North reached into the box between them and held it up between them with a smirk as she waited for them to get the hint. Before Markus could even react, apologize or get angry or anything, Simon took this as his Christmas miracle and leaned forward to kiss Markus. He was always slightly shyer than the rest, but not this time. This was the confirmation he needed. Simon started to pull away when he thought Markus was going to kiss back, but the other man gently reached to hold his hand while his other hand reached up to rest on his cheek. Maybe they had been that oblivious after all if this was going as well as it was.
Once they finally pulled away as to not make things awkward for the others in the room, they glanced around to see the others grinning like idiots. Needless to say, mission accomplished.
“Merry Christmas?” Markus chuckled sheepishly as he looked back to Simon who was genuinely smiling in a mix of so many overwhelming emotions.
“Merry Christmas.”
