More Than Human

Chapter 97: Under the Mistletoe

For the first time since the team had set foot within the bounds of Price's estate, it was cold. He had dropped his enchantments for the occasion.

The occasion being Christmas.

"As much as I love our eternal spring here," He had said, "I cannot abide a warm Christmas in the UK."

They all agreed on that front. Even Rudy and Alejandro who had both only ever had green Christmases. As much as Price claimed to simply be dropping the enchantments for the two day period, the whole team doubted that was the case. The amount of snow that blanketed the entire property couldn't have possibly been natural accumulation. That and Nikolai had tattled on him about walking around the grounds to ensure all of the plants would be fine in the cold weather. Probably not something the average magic scholar would think to do, but for a man whose son was a dryad, it made perfect sense.

Simon couldn't remember the last time he had been remotely interested in celebrating the holiday. Too many bad memories, but with his newfound closeness to the pack, thanks almost entirely to Soap, he found himself feeling light where he once felt heavy. The memories that weighed on him no longer felt so oppressive. So, where he once would have retreated to his room on whatever base they were staying at while the rest of the team and soldiers celebrated, he was totally fine to spend the time with the others.

Gaz had gotten Roach a handmade cover for his sensitive wings. He had sewn it together from old sweatshirt material. It was basically a giant drawstring bag that he could slip his wings into and keep them safe and warm. Ghost couldn't help but smile at the sight of his friend, who he had once thought to be dead, looking so safe and cozy with his partner. He was glad that he and Gaz had found each other. If only so that Ghost didn't have to be the one to ensure that the moth was eating things other than cotton.

Rudy and Alejandro were spending quite a lot of time outside, excited about the snow since they didn't often encounter it. It was the first time Rodolfo had been in the stuff, and he was fascinated. He and Alejandro rolled around in it until Rudy's nose was as bright red as that one fucking reindeer and they had to retreat inside. Soap called him Rudolph for the entirety of Christmas Eve.

The three couples conspired together to get Price and Nikolai to stand under some mistletoe. They were all pretty sure they were together, but not even Ghost had been able to catch the pair kissing or doing anything beyond cuddling on the couch. It didn't seem that they were hiding anything particularly, but they had just never seen it and were eager to know the exact nature of the pair's relationship. So Gaz had pinned some in the doorway to the kitchen, now all they had to do was watch and wait.

A pair did end up walking under it, just not the one that they were expecting.

They were working on baking some cookies in the kitchen, Kate's wife had sent them the recipe for the peanut butter cookies that Soap had liked so much, when Soap looked up and his eyes widened.

"Oh! Wait, wait, wait!" Soap waved his hands frantically toward the doorway.

They all turned to see, not Price and Nik, but König and Horangi coming to see what they were up to.

Soap smacked a hand on his face and groaned as he had inadvertently startled König into running his tall ass into the door frame, effectively getting the sprig of mistletoe stuck onto his masked forehead, "Ah man!"

König mumbled slightly pained, Horangi turned to see if he was alright from where he stood just in front of him, "Owie."

For a massive man that they had all seen absolutely wreck so many people before, they all had the strange desire to "Aw..." at his use of the word "Owie."

"Sorry, König!" Soap told him, "Didnae mean to startle ya. Just didn't want you two to feel pressured about anything."

König tilted his head, mistletoe still very much in place on his mask, clearly he couldn't see it, "Pressured into what, Hündchen?"

Gaz giggled, gesturing at his face, "König, you have a little, um..."

He looked at them all confused. Horangi began to blush slightly as he realized what they were referring to. König was tapping around at his cheeks trying to find whatever stray debris had attached itself to his face. The team was all giggling at the little incident as it was unfolding.

Horangi took some initiative. All of a sudden he seemed to make some sort of firm decision and reached upwards and tugged König's face down to his by the bottom of his mask. The whole team's eyes widened in shock, all laughter ceasing as the smaller man pressed a little kiss where the tip of König's nose presumably was beneath the hood.

König's own eyes widened and he felt something heat within his gut. Horangi's face was bright red, brows furrowed. His tail had slowly grown out in the heat of the moment and was lashing back and forth in his agitation. The griffin suddenly reached up and plucked the little sprig off of König's forehead and tossed it onto the counter. By the time he was turning back around, König had his hands around his waist and was lifting him up and off the ground as he stood back up to his full height.

Horangi yelped a bit in surprise before one of König's tentacles reached up to lift the mask slightly. Horangi's head joined him beneath the hood and König was pressing their mouths together. Horangi felt his worries and any apprehension about continuing to entice König instantly melt away, letting himself become loose and pliant in his arms. He felt a little warbly purr work its way up his throat as a tongue found its way into his mouth. In response to his noise a tentacle wiggled in as well, and then another. A deep throaty noise escaped König.

From the outside of the hood, the team all stood in slack jawed awe at the scene before them. They could only hear the pleased noises that the pair was making alongside some slightly wet sounds. König turned around and carried Horangi back the way they came, presumably back to one of their rooms, paying the rest of them no more mind.

They all stood in silence, staring at the doorway after they were gone for a moment before Ghost reached over and closed Soap's gaping mouth with a finger on his chin. Brought back to reality through Simon's intervention, he slowly turned to look at the rest of the team.

"I think... we just caused something." He blinked a few times.

There was a smattering of clicks, chirps, rumbles, and buzzes of affirmation from the other monsters.