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It’s cold, and Cuteguy was painfully aware of that. His wings had fluffed up and the few small patches of feathers across his body were doing their best to keep the warmth in, but there was no avail when he was going around, building to building, working. Hotguy was close on his tail, especially as they were supposed to be working together tonight, but he just wanted to get home in time for Scar.
Hotguy was blissfully unaware of Cuteguy’s plans, for he had plans of his own, they were both unaware however, that they were only leaving one another to meet each other later that evening. Not that either of them was aware of this simple fact at all. As Cuteguy landed on the roof of another building, his wings circling him to keep him warm, Hotguy followed soon after, using his skills to follow quickly after the avian.
“Woah, bit fast today aren’t we birdy?” Hotguy joked, making sure that he had good balance as he comfortably stood across from the other. In reality, this was a bit less of a joke, but the other had said it as a joke regardless. “ I-It’s just- It’s Christmas Eve, and I have plans tonight,” Cuteguy grumbled back, taking a moment to warm up and catch his breath as he evaluated anything he needed to do for the rest of the evening.
“Ooooh, have a date do we? Or perhaps family?” Hotguy asked, teasing him about it easily. Cuteguy flushed a little but otherwise didn’t say anything, he just moved to look over the area and then at the time. “Ah- It’s almost 9 pm, ‘bout time to leave you alone,” he instead replied, giving a grin to the other. “Aha! Same for me, not too late for me tonight! But you do make it sound like you don’t like me birdy,” Hotguy singsonged, grinning to himself as he stared almost lovingly at the other.
Cuteguy blushed as his wings fluffed up even further at that statement, only proving the other’s statements true - to an extent of course. “It’s not like that! You… You’re not the worst person I’ve worked with, but I usually don’t like working with others! It’s just, difficult,” he vaguely explained himself. Despite not doing a good job of it, Hotguy understands what the other is trying to say anyway, but he tries to make it out as if he completely misunderstood.
“So you’re saying you like me?” He asked, getting a little closer. Cuteguy doesn’t notice it at first, so he only groans and covers his eyes with his hand. “Of course not like that you silly little!-” He cut himself off, trying to come up with a safe word that also explained his emotions, but he only came up short. “Silly little?” Hotguy prompted, grinning silly. He was having way too much fun with the other, and it was obvious.
“Ugh, you know what? Let’s just forget about it, I take it back, I said nothing, let’s move on!” Cuteguy said, his voice speaking with finality as he scrunched up his note in that cute way that Hotguy had recently come to enjoy. The other hummed a little as he took another little step forward, and this time, the other noticed. He realised that the gap between them was slowly decaying, but he tried to ignore it.
Sometimes Hotguy had been either a little pushy or a bit clingy at times when they were outside of battle, to the point he had to fly off of a building one time to get the other to let go of him. Cuteguy wasn’t one to admit he enjoyed a bit of clinginess from partners, but he didn’t like it from work partners, and Hotguy was indeed a work partner, and nothing more. No, the only crush or any semblance of a crush Cuteguy held was on Scar, his loveable friend. The goofy, enjoyable and charismatic guy he’d known from childhood.
Not Hotguy.
“Awwww, why won’t you tell me? Surely it’s something you would wanna say, maybe use to make me jealous or something,” Hotguy persisted, grinning helplessly to himself. He knew he wouldn’t get jealous, but if that idea gave Cuteguy the impression that he could flaunt his secrets, then it would just make him all the happier. Cuteguy didn’t take it like that, however.
Hotguy took another step forward. “I said that we ought to forget about it, so I elect we change the subject,” he snapped, but there was no bite to his words. The other made a soft chuckle as he slowly took another step forward. It was blindingly obvious to Cuteguy now how close the other was. There had been quite a bit of space, but now he could see the other’s breath in the cold, winter weather. He could almost feel it against his hair, but he didn’t say anything.
Not a word about the closeness, how uncomfortable it might be, or even the weirdness of being so close to the other. Not a word. Hotguy took this as a minor success and shuffled a little closer. Instead of ignoring it like he had been trying to do, Cuteguy instead stared at him for a long moment. First, his hair looked fluffy to the touch, the beautiful brown locks, he’d felt tempted to touch them for a while now, just like Scar’s, but there was no way in hell he ever would.
He then brought his eyes a little further down to the other’s eyes, those wonderful green eyes about him. Shifting slightly as they watched Cuteguy carefully, as if trying to look into his soul, but he wasn’t quite there yet. Trying to avoid further eye contact, he flicked down to his lips, those plush, stunning lips. It almost made him want to close the gap that Hotguy had closed mostly himself. Luckily, or unluckily, even if Cuteguy wasn’t too sure whether he wanted to close it or not, Hotguy did it for him.
One moment his eyes were open, watching as his work partner kissed him on the lips, and then the next moment he was lost in the feeling, closing his eyes and pushing on those wonderful lips of his. The feeling was immense, vibrant, immaculate. He could feel the other’s hands gripping his own hair, and he was suddenly struggling to find something for his hands to grip as well.
And then, all too soon, Cuteguy inwardly thought, it was over. The two separated, panting for breath as they both took time to digest what had just happened. Cuteguy— No, Grian’s head was a whirlwind, and his fight or flight was beginning to set in. Kissing Hotguy? Someone he didn’t even know? He took a step back, staring at the other for a moment as he stared longingly back.
“Birdy, wait—” He shouted, just as Grian began to turn. He didn’t even try waiting for the other to explain himself either, he jumped off of the building and began to fly, fly away from the situation. What had he just done? He wasn’t in a relationship with anyone, not even Scar, but it felt as though he’d just cheated on him regardless. He covered his mouth, his cheeks reddening as he mindlessly brought himself back to his own house.
“I just— I just need to calm down,” he mumbled to himself, slowing down a little as he finally started to look around at his surroundings. He wasn’t far away from his house and if he checked his watch… Oh yes, most definitely late for Scar. Grian knew that they were both fashionably late people, but he just hoped that Scar would be considerably later than he usually would, just so he could calm himself down from what had just happened.
Hotguy, on the other side of the coin, had a lump in his throat. He hadn’t moved an inch since he’d stepped back from that wonderful kiss with his little birdy. Well, he wasn’t his per se, but he wished for it more than he’d like to admit. He only began to move when the cold weather began to get quite biting and he had to. He jumped off of the building and quickly ran to his house in the snow. After all, he had to get dressed out of his outfit now that he should have been most definitely out of work.
Once he did arrive back at his own place and began to take his outfit off, Scar realised the time, and suddenly everything was a rush. He was late! Late for the evening with Grian! His good friend had offered for them to stay together on Christmas Eve due to not really having anyone else. He had wanted to ask the same thing of Cuteguy, but Grian had gotten to him first. Not that he minded, he wasn’t ever going to cancel on Grian for a crush, it was just a little… Disappointing at times.
When he finally sorted himself out and half-wrapped his present for the other, he managed to get there quickly. He was around 45 minutes late… But he’d been later, and he was sure that Grian had been expecting some lateness to an extent. After all, the other was usually late to his own events. Scar fervently knocked on the door, happily awaiting for his dear friend to open it.
It took a moment or two, but Grain eventually got to the door. He was still flushed from earlier, but the ever-oblivious Scar didn’t notice a thing about the slightly odd appearance the other gave. How his jumper wasn’t fully pulled down, and that his hair was a mess. It was as though he’d only just gotten dressed. But the other just smiled at Grian and offered a hug.
“Grian! Merry Christmas, I hope you’re keeping warm,” he said, his energy still radiating from earlier. He nodded a little, his gaze averted from Scar’s eyes. The other paid no attention though, and walked through the doorway and into the living room. “Well uh– Guessing you got held back by something?” Grian asked, closing the door behind Scar and turning around to see the other already sitting down.
“Something like that, hey Gri, did you know that your house is covered by snow? Isn’t that amazing?” He asked, his childish wonder bristling with light. Grian could only chuckle in response as he sat himself down. “I’m sure it is Scar, just to note, I didn’t have enough time to cook anything, so things that I was going to cook, are now in the oven… Everything else is here,” He motioned to the coffee table. It had a wide range of goodies.
From savoury snacks to chocolate goodies, there was a little bit of everything on Grian’s table. Scar gasped at all of them and took a few things without even thinking about it. He hadn’t really had time to eat at home, nor before his shift at Hotguy, so he was starving now he was staring at a large amount of food. Grian merely chuckled as he watched his friend dive into the food.
“One moment Scar,” he suddenly said, moving away from his friend and into the kitchen. The other paid him no mind, however, and continued to eat at a quick pace. The male hurriedly went to the kitchen to bring things out of the oven. It also gave Grian a moment to recollect himself. He was sure that Scar hadn’t seen anything out of place with him, which was more of a relief than it should have been.
Sighing a little, he fixed his jumper, sorted out his unkempt hair a little, and fixed his glasses. Once he had been sorted out and looked a little more presentable, he put the food into nice little trays and brought them into the living room, where Scar had mostly resigned himself to staring at the food instead of eating it. The other hummed a little as he wearily watched his cru— friend.
When he finally sat down, Scar turned to him with a smile, watching his friend carefully. Now that the male had calmed down, he took a full account of how his friend looked. He looked a lot better than earlier, but his face was still quite flushed. Scar finally decided to take interest in this and to show he took interest, he leaned a little further towards Grian, not really taking into account that people had personal space.
“So, what’s gotten you all flushed tonight? Had some alcohol whilst waiting for me?” Scar asked, his smile turning lopsided as he watched the other with contentment. Grian avoided eye contact as he shook his head a little. “No, I haven’t had any alcohol,” he replied, keeping his explanation short. Scar hummed a little and watched the other carefully, thinking of other things that might make his good friend blush.
“Has someone embarrassed you?” He asked earnestly, moving back a little. Grian appreciated the newfound personal space, even if it was small in comparison to what he felt as though he needed. “...Look, it doesn’t matter, let’s just focus on the evening,” Grian muttered, avoiding eye contact again. Scar whistled, knowing he’d found the source. He mildly thought about talking about it with the other, trying to tease him more… But with the way Grian was trying to avoid the conversation… It was probably a bad idea.
And that was how the first half of their evening went. They did their little Christmas unwrapping (and Grian jokingly commented on the bad wrapping courtesy of Scar) and settled down to watch a movie, a Christmassy one, despite neither of them really enjoying Christmas movies at all. One thing they’d unusually found enjoyment in was watching those TV shows that showcased houses or the construction of a house.
But, that was not on their list tonight, as there were only a few hours left until it was Christmas day. The two stayed on two separate parts of the couch, neither touching, and neither really making much conversation throughout the movie itself. There were a few questions, mainly about the movie, but other than that, there was mostly silence between them.
It gave Scar time to settle himself after the hectic day of being Hotguy, and it gave Grian some time to calm down and let the heat in his cheeks die down from the kiss from earlier. Even if that was what his thoughts kept rolling back to during the movie. By the time the movie itself had ended, Grian was perfectly settled physically, even if his mental state was like a room so messy you couldn’t see the floor.
“So, what do you want to put on next?” Grian asked casually, moving through the Christmas options. None of them really spoke out to him, so he was hoping Scar had something he wanted to watch out of their selection. After all, that was what the late-night meeting was for. The other hummed for a long moment and nonverbally asked for the remote for the TV. Grian gave it up and let the other cycle through them quietly, thinking to himself.
After around 5 minutes, it seemed as though Scar had settled on the ‘Nightmare before Christmas’, the perfect Halloween-Christmas movie, and something Grian had watched with others several times before. There was no argument against the movie, and as a result, they put it on quickly, letting it fill the silence within the room.
Yet, instead of keeping the conversation at a minimum again, Scar turned to the other momentarily before sighing and turning back to the movie. “So uh, d’you wanna talk about what was bothering you earlier?” He murmured, keeping his voice low. Grian silently cursed under his breath, feeling his cheeks redden a little again. Right after he’d gotten his little problem sorted too.
“It was—” Grian stopped himself from trying to escape the conversation again, thinking to himself about the way he could explain it without outwardly saying he had kissed Hotguy without pushing. When he eventually settled on a subtle explanation, he cleared his throat, letting the movie go on in the background.
“I just– I got kissed earlier… I don’t even know if I like them either,” he mumbled, letting Scar barely hear him, but it still got picked up on. Scar gasped a little, getting excited for the other. “Oh oh! Was it under the mistletoe? Is that why they kissed you?” He asked, his voice easily overpowering the movie with him being so excited for his friend.
“No, it was… Heat of the moment type thing,” he replied, blushing even further and keeping his eyes darted away from Scar. In reality, the way his friend was reacting made him feel bad, more because he liked his friend than anything, but the enthusiasm just confirmed his worst fears. Scar seemingly held nothing but friendly appreciation for him, and he could feel his heart slowly being eaten and shredded into little pieces.
“So… Do you like them? Who was it?” Scar asked, his eyes twinkling a little as he watched on, completely focused on his friend and friend alone. “I… Like someone else, but I don’t think they like me back,” Grian admitted, avoiding the ‘who was it’ question nicely. Despite his avoidance, however, Scar noticed and prompted the other once more.
“Uhhm… It’s not important,” he murmured, continuing to avoid eye contact. Scar only whined in response this time, however. “But– Grian! I’d tell you if I was bamboozled by someone kissin’ me, please!” He went on, trying to encourage the other to ‘fess’ up. This went on for quite some time, even to the point where they were halfway through the movie and Grian still hadn’t told him who he’d kissed. But at this point, the dirty blonde was finally having enough of the constant questioning.
“Fine, fine! I’ll tell you,” He angrily mumbled. The other wasn’t really angry, he was just a little tired of the questioning by Scar at this point. The other waited quietly, watching on in hope and excitement. “It was Hotguy,” he mumbled, ever so quiet. Scar blinked once, twice, thrice. Hotguy?
Hotguy?
“Waitwaitwait, let me just confirm,” Scar said, his face now reddening. He sat up properly on the couch, turning to face Grian head-on. “ Hotguy? ” He asked, looking a little embarrassed himself now. Grian, a little curious but also very confused, nodded as the other digested this information. It was silent between them for one, two, three minutes. The only sound left was the bated breath of Grian and the whizzing of the movie next to them.
“Gri… Birdy… ” Scar began, and instantly Grian shivered, knowing exactly where that term came from. “I am Hotguy ,” he confessed, his cheeks burning as he stared at his work companion. At hearing the admittance, Grian felt as though cold water had drenched from all over again. Realising what it meant for work, personally and the recent events.
Scar, still a little flustered, but staring at Grian with a new sense of longing, took control of the conversation. “Well, I didn’t know who was gonna be behind that mask, but I didn’t realise that the name was so true,” he whispered, getting a little closer. Suffice it to say, the other’s face was the equivalent of a bright red Christmas light on a tree, or Rudolf’s nose on a dark, cold night.
“Oh my god Scar… We— We—,” he tried to say, stumbling through his words as he desperately tried to understand everything. The other looked quite red himself but he could only laugh at how the other was reacting. “Did you enjoy it?” He asked, whispering a little as he shuffled a little closer to the smaller. Grian took a deep breath to calm himself down a little as he tried to gain composture.
“I… I did enjoy it… I just felt so bad because I didn’t know it was… Well, you,” he shyly explained. Scar raised his eyebrows at that, grinning a little as he watched the other finally catch his eyes. “I didn’t know that you liked me in that way! I suppose that it does make sense when I really think about it though,” he murmured, glancing away from the other momentarily as he indeed, did think about it.
Grian only shook his head which only caused Scar to look back at him with a smile on his face. “Well, I do think that this is one of the best Christmas present we could get! I mean, to find out you’re Cuteguy? Awww, you should’ve said sooner!” He exclaimed, giggling to the other. Grian glanced briefly at the TV before giving the other a small smile himself.
“Yeah, I guess it is a good gift,” He said, glancing up at the other. Scar chuckled and got a little closer.
“Do you know what would be an even better gift?” He asked, his voice low and enchanting.
“What is it, Hotguy?” Grian quietly asked, watching the other carefully.
“Getting to kiss you again,”
“Are you sure?” Grian asked, frowning a little. Scar only scoffed at the reply though.
“Of course I’m sure,” he replied, getting closer to the other. All of a sudden, Grian felt heated again, the familiar feeling washing over him once again. Scar laughed a little as he brought the other’s chin closer to his and began to initiate the kiss. Even though this had only been the second time they had both experienced one another, the slip of familiarity from last time fell on them, as Scar tried to go further from a standard kiss.
Almost immediately, Grian tried to situate himself properly, with one hand grabbing the back of the other’s hair, and his other hand clutching a leg, keeping him in place. Scar kept the other close, kissing him with all the love and adoration he held for the other, and they were both drowning in their own feelings as a result. They lost track of the time, simply enjoying tasting one another as they kept going and going until they couldn’t anymore.
By the time they had to separate to breathe, they were in a completely different position than when they began. Scar was almost on top of Grian, panting as he stared down at his newfound lover, whilst Grian still appeared to be entirely disorientated from the events. Scar smiled at the other, enjoying the view as he sat the other back up, making sure he was comfortable as he blinked and came back to Earth.
“That was…”
“Wonderful?” Scar asked, a grin showing clearly on his features.
“Yeah…” Grian mumbled back, moving a little closer to Scar subconsciously.
With the film close to finishing and the clock just turned midnight, the two quietly enjoyed their quiet night together, cuddling on the couch as they finally settled for the evening. They could talk tomorrow, it wasn’t their issue now. What was important now was to keep one another close and sleep. And that is exactly what they did.