Page 2 of Mistletoe and Mayhem
“That’s a neat trick,” Avery commented as he slid out of Ozen’s lap, heading for his own desk. “I know you’re nervous, but I’m looking forward to the party. I’ve only ever been to the shadow realm the one time, and I didn’t get to see much of it.”
Ozen’s lip lifted in annoyance of that particular memory. He hated that Avery’s first visit to his home realm was tainted by the demon trying to block his entrance. Ozen had been so pissed off about it, he’d been unable to control his own magic and ended up needing to apologize to all his friends the following work day for what he’d done. Thankfully, none had been upset with him. He’d actually gotten a few ‘thank you’s’ since anyone who had attended had enjoyed their evenings quite immensely. Then again, so did Ozen.
He glanced at his mate, considering the possibilities. Perhaps after Korath’s party, he could take Avery to some of his favorite places. It had been his intention the first time. He could do better this time around. He watched Avery typing, his mate lost in a world of romance and magic. His brows drew together slowly. This party, while he didn’t normally attend, was an annual tradition for his family. Did Avery have any traditions?
“Firefly?”
“Hmm?”
Ozen knew better than to start talking before he had Avery’s full attention. His author mate lost himself sometimes in the scenes of his book. It took him a minute to come back to reality when he was writing.
Avery’s fingers finally stopped typing, and he looked up, giving Ozen his full attention with a sheepish smile. “Sorry, what?”
Smiling indulgently, he asked, “I realize I’ve never asked what your family traditions are for the holidays. Human yule traditions are different, are they not?”
They’d been together for a few holiday seasons now, but with Avery’s writing schedule and Ozen’s work taking up a great deal of their time, they hadn’t done much in the past. Last year, they enjoyed drinks with friends on the solstice, but that was about as celebratory as they got. He was remiss in not asking Avery sooner about his own traditions.
Nodding slowly, Avery pursed his lips. “They are. They celebrate something called Christmas on the 25th of December. There are decorations, presents, and a tree decorated for the holiday. I haven’t had a celebration like that for years, though. Not since my parents died.”
“Is it too painful to revisit?” Ozen asked cautiously. He wanted to experience Avery’s traditions but not if they were painful for him.
Avery shook his head, his smile a little tentative as he admitted, “I’ve actually missed the traditions a little. My last Christmas celebration was when my mom was in hospice. Dad was too heartbroken to celebrate anything after she was gone. He died a year later. After that–” Avery shrugged. “–I couldn’t stomach the thought of celebrating alone.”
The pain of the loss he felt through the bond wasn’t a sharp pain. More of a dull ache after so much time had passed. He rallied with a smile, asking, “What parts did you want to try?”
“All of it,” Ozen insisted. “Every part that made you happy.”
Avery looked like he was fighting a grin when he pointed out, “We’ll have to do a lot of shopping then. And we’ll need to buy a tree.”
Ozen frowned. “A tree?”
“So,humans cut down trees and bring them into their homes to decorate?” he asked, confused, as they walked through the aisles of evergreens.
“That used to be the tradition,” Avery nodded. “Nowadays, most people buy the trees with the roots intact so they can replant them after the holiday season is over.” He gestured to the red bags around the bottoms of the trees that kept the roots and soil covered until replanting.
“Why not just decorate it outside?” Ozen wondered aloud as he considered the trees. There were some bigger ones that were obviously fake, with glitter and fake snow sprayed onto the branches. Avery had bypassed those in favor of smaller, replantable trees. Ozen appreciated that. While reusing a tree wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, he liked the idea of giving back to the earth after their holiday season was through. And they could revisit the tree later if they wanted, which made him smile.
“Some do, I’m sure, but I think space is a big reason people don’t. I don’t know if you’ve been to the human side of town, but the housing situation isn’t great, and you have to spend a small fortune to have even a small yard. Most humans wouldn’t waste that space planting trees when it could be used for other things.” He finally pointed at a tree amongst the bunch. “That one. Can you watch over it for a second? I want to get a staff member to help us–”
Ozen didn’t wait for that, picking up the tree and putting it in their cart. It wasn’t like it was heavy, and it didn’t even takeup the whole space of the cart. He raised an eyebrow at Avery, a cocky smirk on his face. He did love surprising his mate.
Unlike most times when Avery would get turned on by Ozen’s strength, this time Avery crossed his arms over his chest, giving him a raised eyebrow of his own. “I wasn’t asking for a staff member because I didn’t think you could carry it. I was asking for help because I didn’t want you to get covered in sap.” He gestured to Ozen’s suit, which had some sticky residue on it now, and smirked. “Your dry cleaner is going to be pissed.”
Yes, he really was. He tried wiping it off, but it only got on his hands as well, and did nothing to get rid of the residue on his very expensive suit.
Cackling, Avery stood on tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “Thanks for grabbing it for me. Now, come on. Decorations are this way. I’ll take your suit to be cleaned on my way to see my agent tomorrow. She wants me to talk to her through the spin-off I’ve been working on.”
Always so diligent, his mate. Ozen let himself be dragged away, pushing the cart so Avery could have his hands free to pick the decorations he wanted. He could ignore the stickiness on his clothes if it meant Avery was happy. And the smile on his face said he was pleased with Ozen’s suggestion to celebrate the way his family used to.
That smile was worth a thousand sticky suits.
Chapter Two
Taking a step back, Avery considered the placement of the ornament in his hand thoughtfully. His dad used to be a stickler when it came to ornament placement. They had to be a certain distance apart, and colors had to be intermixed properly so no two ornaments of the same color ended up next to each other. His organization skills were what made Avery so good at his job as a temp. He’d become just as particular as his dad, despite his mom’s best effort. She’d always been more go with the flow, picking whatever ornament ‘spoke to her’ and putting it wherever there was an empty place. His dad would follow behind her later and reorganize when he thought she wasn’t paying attention. Avery was pretty sure she did it that way just to give his dad a project he enjoyed.
He smiled warmly at the memory. It’d been over a decade since he lost them. His mother from cancer, and his father a year later from his own illness, though he’d refused to go see a doctor to find out what. He was too heartbroken to fight. Avery had missed them terribly at the start, but as time went on, he learned to let go of the pain and just enjoy the happy memories. He couldn’t change them getting sick, but he could share their memories by doing things like this.
Warm arms wrapped around him from behind, Ozen pressing kisses to his neck in an attempt to distract him. Again.
