the twink in black tights - hank x connor

Christmas Time Comes Rollin' In

SUMMARY: The staff of the cafe, as well as some friends, come in to help decorate for the holidays.

It was well into December in Detroit, and no one needed a calendar to figure that out; the deadly cold outside was very much enough of a giveaway. It was a Friday, and it marked the day that Connor was to decorate the cafe with the rest of the staff. He'd been texting Hank a lot more often now, too, and he asked Hank to come along with him. After all, Hank knew the entire staff and was at least well-acquainted with them.

Hank accepted, and that day Hank came bearing an obnoxious amount of Christmas decorations. He was also dressed as Santa- although that was an overstatement. He'd thrown on a Santa hat, but it worked well enough. Connor was dressed as a reindeer. He had antlers, a painted-on black nose, and was even wearing a maroon collar with bells on it that matched a slightly tattered maroon sweater.

It took a while to move the decorations from out of Hank's car. Hank helpfully even brought a Christmas tree, which Kara almost put together wrong. It took a lot of frustration and swearing on her part before her boyfriend, Luther, helped set up the tree instead while Kara sat and sulked. Kara was useful, though, and ended up sharing a recipe for chocolate mint cookies to Simon. Simon immediately took the opportunity to learn the recipe and tried to bake based on what Kara was telling him. In Hank's words, the cookies were:

"Really fucking good," Connor had hung up a mistletoe, which Kara and Luther immediately kissed under. Ralph, another patron invited by Jerry 1, had gasped. Jerry 2 had invited North and Chloe, who were also frequent patrons. Anyone who had been coming into the cafe for a while was invited, and Hank was grateful for the fact that it wasn't anyone he hadn't already met.

Connor knew that Hank definitely noticed the mistletoe, despite hanging up ornaments with North and Jerry 2. Connor had caught him eying it on many occasions. Hank had just found out that North and Chloe were a couple. As though to prove it, North yanked Chloe under the mistletoe. With embarrassment, Chloe kissed back, her face flushing red. Ralph had seen this, too, and looked away after glancing at Jerry 1. Ralph hurriedly walked over to Jerry 1, and though he didn't take him under the mistletoe, he grabbed his hand with his own scarred one, and Jerry smiled fondly at him and laced their fingers. Hank had his own smile at the loving display he'd accidentally witnessed. Hank then looked at the mistletoe, and then at Connor. His cheeks reddened when Connor caught him looking. He turned away and continued to help set up streamers in the kitchen. Connor was a very observant person. He noticed these things.

He wanted to kiss Hank- he had since he met the older man- but knew it wasn't the right time, as much as he felt the urge to do so. He set up tinsel around the counter at the front as Hank drunk hot cocoa and Simon tried to memorize the recipe. He kept using Connor as a tester for the cookies, so Connor ran back and forth between the back of the kitchen where Simon was making the cookies and where he was attempting to hang tinsel. He caught Hank staring at him, whether it be his ass or his sweat-plastered forehead, he had no idea, but he made eye contact and winked at him, grinning when it earned a blush from the lieutenant.

After the third cookie, with all three having turned out better than the last, Connor told Simon to stop or at least get someone else as a test monkey. Connor didn't want to throw his meticulous diet out the window because Simon was a perfectionist. After deciding he'd done enough, at least for a little while, Connor sank into an old swivel chair with a long sigh. Chloe, who was nearby, leaned on a table and startled to talk to him.

"Hi, Connor," Chloe said, voice quiet as it usually was. Connor looked up at her and gave a small smile.

"Hello, Chloe. You look nice," He complimented. She was wearing Christmas tree earrings, which matched her green and red eyeshadow and the ugly Christmas sweater she wore that was a little too big for her, but it suited her regardless.

"Oh, thank you," Chloe smiled, "North got me the sweater. I think she got it too big on me on purpose. She always says she likes how big clothes look on me, but I think I look stupid."

"Eh. I can see what she means," Connor shrugged, tapping his feet to "Winter Wonderland."

"You look nice too, Connor," Chloe returned the compliment with a smirk. "And I don't think I'm the only one who thinks so," She gave him a friendly shove, which made Connor's chair spin a bit, and Connor made a confused noise, but she was already walking away to join Markus and Josh where they were setting up Christmas lights outside.

Connor swayed in his chair to "Jingle Bell Rock" and hummed the familiar song quietly as he took in the environment. Everyone was having a good time and it felt really nice, Connor realized, being around people you care about and having fun. It wasn't something he did often. He did a full spin on his chair and dizzily watched as Hank walked over to him. He greeted Hank with a huge smile, which Hank returned shyly as he stopped next to Connor.

"You know what, Connor?" Hank asked, looking out at the activity in the cafe.

"What?" Connor said, his heart skipping beats.

"I'm really happy I met you." Hank had turned and was looking at Connor with a smile. Connor, knowing it wasn't always easy for Hank to communicate these things, felt his heart clench at the words. He made eye contact with Hank and cautiously grabbed the older man's hand. Hank didn't pull away.

"...Yeah. Me too," Connor replied honestly, squeezing Hank's hand. Happy was an understatement. Connor looked over at Hank and smiled back, hoping it conveyed what words could not.