Page 25 of Mistletoe and Mayhem
Shima nodded, squeezing his arm. “That’s right. Now, get to decorating. I’m going to sit with my favorite grandson. Be good.”
He gasped, mock offended. “Be good? Me? But that’s impossible!”
She snorted, shaking her head as she walked away. “Of course that’s what you focus on. You never change, Nayeh.”
Taron beamed at her. Of course that was what he focused on. He wasn’t going to argue with Tony being the favorite. His sweet mate earned that spot just by being who he was.
Chapter Five
Tony couldn’t stop smiling. His cheeks were starting to hurt from smiling so much. He’d thought a Christmas party would be bitter sweet without his family here, but he didn’t have a chance to feel sad for even a second. He was never alone long enough to even think of his family. He moved from decorating the small tree with Shima to helping with the pies in the kitchen with Isaac. His friends never made him feel like a burden, and he loved that he could help with everything without having to sit out and watch from the sidelines.
Taron and Zephyr checked on him every once in a while, stealing kisses before going back to their own tasks, then their own activities when decorating was done and the board games were brought out. It was the right amount of hovering to make him feel loved without reminding him that he couldn’t do as much as everyone else.
The house was crowded with friends and family, laughter and Christmas music filling the air just like he remembered. Except this time was better, because no one was hiding how they truly felt about him. They were all happy to see him and not just putting on a mask for the day. It was better than any Christmas party he had ever been to, and he never wanted the night to end.
“Present time!” Avery called, laughing as Brennus’s kids squealed in delight. Taron looked just as excited, bouncing over to ‘help’ until Avery shooed him away with a smile and a shake of his head. Collette joined him instead, passing out gifts and announcing who they were from.
Taron settled on the floor at Tony’s feet, rubbing his hands together almost like an evil villain. Zephyr must've seen it too, because he narrowed his eyes on their mate suspiciously.
“You know, I never saw any gifts from you in the car. What did you make?”
“That would be telling.” Taron tipped his head back with a grin. “Don’t ruin the surprise, Z. Just enjoy the ride.”
“He’s saying all the things to make me worry,” Isaac mumbled from where he was seated across Maverick’s lap in the armchair nearby.
Maverick grunted in agreement, shifting his mate a little farther away from Taron. Tony just shook his head. Avery had let it slip that this party had technically been Taron’s idea. He’d gone looking for ways to cheer Tony up and recruited their friends to help. Without him, none of this would have happened. He didn’t think Taron would do anything too crazy. He wouldn’t want to ruin the vibe.
“And these are from Taron…” Collette began, frowning at the envelopes. “Though they’re surprisingly tame.”She muttered that last part under her breath, and Tony could see her suspicion grow. Hers and everyone else’s.
Each envelope had a name on it in pretty gold script, with a different pattern for each envelope. Everyone looked a little wary opening them, so Tony went first, tearing his open and pulling out the card inside. It looked like an old fashioned ticket, the edges perforated and the paper thick like cardstock. And on the front was a…
“What is it, Tony?” Isaac hissed.
“A coupon,” he said, bemused. His was for a full body massage, but when he looked at Zephyr’s it was different. His coupon said ‘When used, Taron will go a full day without mischief’.
“I think I struck gold,” Zephyr muttered.
Once it was established that nothing crazy was going to happen, everyone was curious about the coupons they got. Avery’s was Taron being a free sounding board for plot holes in his next book, though that seemed like more of a gift for Taron than Avery. Maverick’s was not touching Isaac for an entire day. Tony heard Maverick asking Isaac to photocopy the ticket, then grumbled in annoyance when Isaac pointed out the ‘limit one per customer’ stamped on the bottom.
They moved onto Zephyr’s gifts, little figurines the size of a thimble with intricate details that Zephyr carved himself. Tony’s was a tiny thunderbird that he absolutely loved and planned on keeping on his desk at work.
Compared to everyone else’s presents, Tony felt a little dumb about his. They were just drawings in simple frames, and he winced when Avery handed out the messily wrapped presents he’d tried wrapping himself. He should have asked Avery for help. His presents all looked professionally wrapped.
“Baby…” Zephyr breathed, staring at the picture in his hand.
Tony grimaced.“It’s, uh… not much. I’m not really good at hand making things. I usually just cook something, but I wasn’t sure how to do that without you guys finding out, so…”
Taron didn’t say a word, one hand covering his mouth as he stared at the picture. Tony had done his best to draw a portrait of everyone, but that felt childish now. His face was burning as he ducked his head, suddenly ready for the night to be over.
“This is beautiful, Tony. When did you learn to draw like this?” Avery asked.
He blinked his eyes open, surprised. When he looked around again, everyone was looking at their pictures with awe, not polite disinterest like he’d expected. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
“Um… I picked up drawing while I was in the military. Not a lot to do between missions sometimes. I carried a little notebook and pen with me and scribbled a bit whenever we had a break. It’s nothing, really…”
Taron scoffed, spinning around to look at him incredulously. “Nothing? A thaisce, these ‘scribbles’–” he made air quotes with his fingers– “belong in a gallery! I never knew you could draw like this! This is amazing!”
He felt his cheeks heat as everyone started agreeing with him, complimenting the pictures like they were something special. He’d put effort into them, they were gifts after all, but they were rushed. He hadn’t had a lot of time between when they started planning the party and when he needed to be finished.
