Page 21 of Mistletoe and Mayhem
“Well, cooking a meal is an act of service, isn’t it?” Isaac countered. “If it’s something you enjoy, you can always do that.”
He pursed his lips thoughtfully, pausing to think about it while the waiter dropped off their food. “I guess? I think I’d prefer the way Isaac celebrates. I know Zephyr appreciates handmade gifts. He still has a song Taron wrote for him when they were together the first time. And they wouldn’t worry so much about me as long as I wasn’t doing anything crazy.” He turned his attention to Isaac again. “What do you make?”
His friend rattled off a list of things he’d made for his family in the past, but they were all magic-based. If Tony wanted to make something for his mates, he’d have to do something more simple.
“Does giving signed copies of my books count as handmade?” Avery asked with a pout. “I’m not great at crafting. I can draw stick figures, but that’s about it. And no one is allowed to trust me with hot glue. I nearly burned my fingers off once trying to make an entire book from scratch.”
That made Tony laugh, and Isaac snickered.
“Now I kind of want to see your stick figures,” Isaac teased. “Can I have a drawing?”
Avery stuck his tongue out, but Tony considered the idea more seriously. He wasn’t an expert by any means, but he did some rough drawings during his time in the military. Sometimes there was nothing better to do while out in the middle of nowhere. He hadn’t tried drawing again since his injury, but he had another appointment with Doctor Chapman in a few days, and he was usually pretty loose and limber right after. He should be okay to draw a few pictures.
“I think signed copies are fine,” Isaac said, drawing Tony’s attention back to the conversation. “It’s technically handmade, because you had to put the time and effort into writing the whole thing. I couldn’t imagine writing an entire book.”
Tony nodded in agreement. For one thing, he was too busy wrangling Taron to write an entire book. Avery had skills to be able to remember all the information in his books and still have time for his mate at the end of the day. He even took on some admin tasks for Ozen if his secretary was out. His friend was a really smart man.
“What else?” Isaac prompted once they moved on from the gift idea conversation. “What other traditions do humans do for the holidays?”
“I think my favorite part was watching movies together. Cheesy holiday movies were our family go-to. What about you, Tony?”
Rubbing his chest where the ache throbbed every time he thought about his family, he admitted, “My favorite part was the quality time. No one was fighting or complaining. We all worked together to make dinner and sat down to eat as a family. It didn’t happen often enough, and I loved it.”
Isaac’s hand settled on his good shoulder, and when Tony looked up at him, his smile was warm and comforting. “It’s okay to say you miss it, Tony. It sounds like a really nice tradition. I can see why you liked it.”
Avery, who looked close to tears, gave a decisive nod. “You know what? We’re not going to let them take that tradition from you. We’re having Christmas dinner. What day works best for everyone?”
They discussed dates and shared calendars before Isaac suggested, “We should invite more people. Make it a party. I’ve never celebrated a human Christmas before. I’m sure a lot of our friends would be curious.”
Avery nodded slowly. “Okay, sure. But the kitchen at my place wouldn’t be big enough for more than four or five people, I think. Unless we rotate people in and out? How many people do we even need to cook the meal?”
“Would Maverick’s kitchen be better?” Isaac suggested, then wrinkled his nose. “Somehow I get the feeling he’ll be a butthead about it, but it’ll probably be fine.”
While they discussed logistics, Tony felt the ache in his chest ease a little. Drawing in a breath, he let it out slowly, ignoring the way it shuddered at the end. He was not going to cry about it. His family made it perfectly clear he didn’t belong with them. He had a new family now. He’d much rather spend the day with friends and his mates instead.
Chapter Three
Zephyr was on the phone with a client when Tony and Taron came into his office. They were both in discussion about something but lowered their voices to a whisper when they noticed he was still busy. They moved to sit on the couch, waiting for him to be finished. They always headed home together so it wasn’t that unusual that they showed up at the end of the day. Though, usually they met in the lobby so Tony could avoid extra standing. What made them head up here instead?
He hummed a few acknowledgements to the man on the other end of the line. They were discussing a tech expo Zephyr used to attend back when he was running his old company. Generally, Spellbound didn’t join in on those expos, they didn’t need to, but it was a good place to network, and sometimes Zephyr found a smaller company he wanted to work with at those events. It was worth the effort to show up.
“I think that’s a good idea. I’ll talk to the research department, see what they want to bring to the table. Yeah. You too. Have a good night.”
He hung up, scribbling down a note to check with research the following morning about what they might like to demonstrate at the expo.
“All done?” Taron chirped when he finally looked up.
Zephyr nodded, stacking the paperwork neatly on his desk as he stood. He hated coming back to a messy desk. He couldn’t concentrate if there was too much going on.
“Hey, who do you think I should talk to about a demonstration at a tech expo?” he queried, coming around the desk and bending to press a soft kiss to Tony’s lips before doing the same to Taron. Taron, being Taron, grabbed his tie, pulling him back down for a kiss that was half a battle for dominance, half flirty fun. His mate was such a brat.
When they pulled apart, Taron grinned at him. “I love that suit by the way. I’ve wanted to do that all day.” He popped to his feet like he hadn’t just gotten Zephyr half hard with just a kiss. “As for research, talk to Hugo. He’s the genius for all that tech-y goodness.”
Tony was slower to stand, but that was normal this close to one of his appointments. His body got stiff near the end, and he’d need a procedure to move more fluidly. Luckily, Zephyr’s magic helped a little too, so he moved to Tony’s good side, putting his arm around him so his hand could rest on Tony’s bad hip, giving him a gentle flow of magic.
Tony sighed in relief, leaning into him with a soft smile. “Thanks.”
“Any time, baby. What are you two doing up here, anyway? I thought we were meeting in the lobby.”
