◍ HOWDFY!! i have been told that we are allowed to submit entries for this contest that have already been shared and so i went "hmm yea!!! easy easy lemon easy!!" and here is my entry!! it is part 2/5 in a series of short stories i shared a little while back, and the other stories do not need to be read for context. the characters used are avior viator and marcus gill, from the series i'm writing on my account @spinch-- , 'the miscreants of xiphoid camp'. enjoy :) on the off chance that i win this contest, please direct all rewards and credits for the entry to my writing account, @spinch-- . thanks!! cw: this story contains a small amount of kissing near the end and the words 'hell' and 'damn' are used throughout. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- avior was not a fan of parties. or holidays, for that matter. the two combined disgusted him. so how exactly had he ended up at a christmas party? that was up to interpretation. it might have had something to do with warm hazel eyes. a blindingly white smile. marcus. that charming mother[censored]er. avior loathed everything about this party. from the ancient record player (which he honestly had no idea still existed) playing loud festive songs, to the crowding, sweaty bodies of the other guests. he was miserable. and it certainly didn't help that someone nearby had decided to blast their own christmas music from their phone. the competing noise was a cacophony of misery. he sipped lukewarm punch from a plastic cup as his eyes darted around the room. there wasn't much of a chance that the literal demon (alfonso bubze, 483, male, world-renowned journalist and surprisingly adept with a poisoned dartgun), would follow him and marcus to a second-rate christmas party, but one could never be too sure. yes. that was why he was there. surveillance. "oi!" avior jumped. a mildly angry-looking man was striding over to the guys with the phone music. whether this guy was the host of the party or the owner of the record player was up to interpretation. personally, avior thought he looked a bit too young to be the latter. "you can't play that here, we already have music!" he said. the guy holding the phone shook his blond hair out of his eyes. "yeah, and what's it matter to you? you can't possibly actually enjoy listening to music on that dusty old thing," the man seemed to consider this. "you have a point," he said finally. "all right, go ahead. i'll tell al to put the record player away. he's not going to be happy, though," he disappeared into the crowd. avior narrowed his eyes. sure, there could be any number of guys named al at this party, but there was only one al that avior knew of who was actually old enough to own a record player. alfonso. -§- marcus was having the time of his life. he didn't just enjoy environments like this, he thrived in them. which was, of course, why he brought avior with him. his partner (strictly referring to demon hunting business. of course) really did need to lighten up a bit. speaking of avior, where was he, anyway? marcus pushed through the throng of people, bumping into a tall blonde girl and spilling a shirtless man's drink. eventually, he emerged on the other side of the room and leaned against a wall with feigned casualty. his hazel eyes flicked from one person to another, in search of the ever-elusive avior viator. a cold, pale hand closed around his wrist. he jumped, his red plastic cup flying out of his left hand as he moved his arm up to protect his face. avior laughed. he released marcus's wrist and lowered his phone. "avior!" marcus exclaimed, "what the hell?" avior's pale blue eyes glittered with mirth. "check this out," he said, turning the phone around so marcus could see the screen. the picture was blurry, sure, but it was undoubtedly him. eyes blown wide in shock, mouth agape, arm midway up to his face. marcus locked eyes with avior. "don't you dare," he said. avior still looked amused. "don't i dare what?" "don't post that! delete it! now!" marcus reached for the phone. avior moved it away. "you'll have to catch me first!" he said, and a moment later, he was hightailing it away. marcus cursed and gave chase. at least avior looked like he was finally enjoying himself. and really, how fast could a guy who was only 5'4 run? the answer was fast. very fast. avior led marcus all the way across the room and towards a flight of stairs that was blocked off by the sort of small gate you'd use to keep an infant from falling down the stairs. clearly, it was meant to keep guests from going upstairs. avior hopped right over it. marcus cursed again and followed.
-§- avior hadn't had this much fun in a while. then again, most of his joy came from torturing (metaphorically!) marcus, and he hadn't seen him since mid november. it had been almost a month, and anyone with any sense knew that you could simply not go that long without bothering your worst enemy. avior reached the top of the stairs and darted down a hallway, marcus in hot pursuit. he ran into a bedroom —and had been planning on putting a chair or something in from of the door— but inspiration struck in the form of a chilled, drafty room and a window that had been left wide open. avior went over to the window and looked out. it overlooked the roof, which mean that he most certainly could jump out of it without falling to his demise like a baby whose parents neglected to put up a gate. and jump he did. -§- the hell did avior go? marcus stood in the doorway of a bedroom that he was one hundred percent certain avior had run into. maybe ninety-nine percent. marcus checked underneath the bed. he looked in the closet. "this is incredibly immoral," he said out loud. and it was, wasn't it? you don't just poke around in a stranger's bedroom. inevitably, his gaze turned to the window. "he did /not/," marcus said. he was forty percent sure that avior was still in the room. he checked the closet again. twenty percent? he looked out the window. "hi," avior said. marcus yelped and jumped back. he returned to the window. sure enough, avior was sitting on the roof like it was not at all out of the ordinary. "come join me, it's lonely up here," avior said. marcus sighed. he carefully climbed out the window, sitting beside avior. avior turned off his phone so marcus couldn't see what was on the screen. lightly, it began to snow. -§- avior was cold. it was cold out. he was only wearing a thin, long sleeved black shirt and jeans. marcus had to be even colder, in that white t-shirt of his. he threw his head back and sighed dramatically. in the unexpected silence that followed, he could hear the festive morons inside. from the sound of it, they had a karaoke machine. "OUR CHEEKS ARE NICE AND ROSY AND COMFY AND COZY ARE WE," a woman half-sung, half screamed from inside. "RING-A-LING-A-LING-A-DING-DONG-DING!" the enthusiastic crowd yelled back. it was a monstrosity. -§- it was glorious. marcus was sitting on the roof of a stranger's house, at night, and it was freezing, and it was glorious for the sole reason that avior was next to him. ("we're snuggled up together like two birds of a feather would be,") even the cacophony of misery inside sounded amazing. "hey," he said. avior turned to him. "did you delete that picture yet?" ("ring-a-ling-a-ling-a-ding-dong-ding!") "nope," avior replied. "i hate you so much," marcus said. "i hate you too," avior said. he was so close to marcus. he could have counted every snowflake clinging to his dark eyelashes. ("let's take the road before us and sing a chorus or two,") and then they were kissing. it was better than anything marcus could have imagined. ("ring-a-ling-a-ling-a-ding-dong-ding!") -§- avior moved back and out of the kiss. he couldn't do that. he couldn't fall in love with his mortal enemy. side note: it wasn't love. they were both fifteen. it couldn't ever amount to anything. and he wasn't gay. yeah. that was it. his drink was probably spiked with something and that's why he was acting that way. probably. ("come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you,") marcus was staring at him, a look of total shock and amazement on his beautiful, wonderful face (avior wasn't gay!) neither of them spoke. until marcus did. "ring-a-ling-a-ling-a-ding-dong-ding," he whispered, dumbstruck. avior slapped him. "ow!" marcus cried, "what the hell was that for?" "you're an idiot," avior said. and even though he totally wasn't gay, he kissed marcus again. -§-
