Christmas Prompt
Rating: Mature
Pairing: Gerard/ Cesc
Summary: Gerard has to spend the Christmas home alone because Cesc decides to stay in London, but he changes his mind and makes a surprise visit to Gerard's place just in time to decorate the Xmas tree.
A/N: This is a prompt for angelicmercy
It starts with his phone sinking in the toilet. Tiny bubbles rising to the face of the water and popping morosely. While Gerard stands debating whether it is worth fishing out of the golden fluid or not, he absently notes that today is not going to be his day. With the fleeting prediction he shuffles out of the bathroom and back into his room to ready himself for training.
The second straw is when Bojan kicks a ball in his direction, one that he stands and watches kind of dumbly as it spins rapidly, bordering on having been belligerently provoked by all the muscles in Bojan’s leg, right into Gerard’s face. While he could have moved, just like he could have fished out his mobile before it sunk to the full depths of the toilet, his limbs feel a little too heavy and a rather ignorant part of him wants to see what would happen if he doesn’t move.
He’s nursing a bloody nose while Bojan is still fighting chuckles when Puyol shoves a phone into his face. He eyes it wearily for a moment, because most of the time when Puyol shoves something in his general direction it’s something that has recently been horribly abused or mutilated. He eventually figures that Puyol wouldn’t do anything too terrible to his own phone, so he takes it, and glances quickly at the screen to see who’s on the other line.
“Hey Cesc,” He tries not to be frustrated with how congested he sounds through the blood filling the tissue he’s holding to his nose. Tries even harder to keep his tone pleasant.
“I’ve been calling you all morning,” Cesc mutters, and Gerard is about to explain but Cesc decides quickly that he doesn’t really care so he keeps on talking, “I think I’m gonna stay in London for Christmas this year.” Gerard has to focus for a moment to make out the scrambled words, and he’s about to ask Cesc why, although he’s not too sure he wants to know or if Cesc will even tell the truth, but Cesc must feel like he has some explaining to do so he doesn’t wait to be asked.
“I think I should spend it here, you know in the snow how it should be, with my team.” Gerard bites back his correction of how Christ was born in Bethlehem and it doesn’t even snow in Bethlehem so that is just a load of crap. He knows somehow that he shouldn’t give Cesc another reason to be annoyed with him. Understands why Cesc doesn’t want to spend Christmas in Barcelona. Knowing does little to console him though.
“Oh.” It’s not really a reply, but Gerard can’t think of anything cool, or even harsh to say so he settles because sometimes sacrifices have to be made. The part of him that caused his bloody nose and sunken cell phone wants to tell Cesc to fuck off because he doesn’t want to spend Christmas with him either way and the other part of him that was looking forward to a ceremonial Christmas night on the beach until it was too cold to stand still, agreed whole heartedly.
He looks around for Puyol but he’s not there so he hands off the phone to Bojan, grabs his bag from the bench and drags himself to the parking lot. He makes an attempt, however half assed it is, to excuse Cesc’s not wanting to be with him during the long Christmas break, but quickly gives up because it doesn’t really help that annoying pounding in his head.
Gerard doesn’t go home, and even though all he wants to do is go home and get shit faced until he can’t remember just how far London really is all he does is drive around Barcelona until he’s not quite certain where he is. It’s weird for a moment; being lost in a place you’ve been for so long but Gerard vaguely realizes he’s never really known where he’s stood even though he’s been there for years.
When Gerard finally deals with the phone ordeal, roughly three days after it drowned, it starts ringing almost immediately. Like Cesc knows or something, and Gerard honestly considers answering but he’s stuck in Christmas shopping traffic because he never has been capable of planning ahead, ever. So he simply doesn’t, or the day after, or even the day after that until the battery gives from the non stop ringing, and suddenly its time to start decorating the tree and all the ornaments keep falling off the tree and smashing to bits when he may or may not have chucked them into the cold fireplace.
Then he gets bored, and frustrated and why the hell hadn’t he just answered Cesc’s calls because he misses him and his chest feels tight but he sums it up as the feeling he gets when he wears sweaters? He starts dribbling one of the glass ornaments and everything is working out fine until he’s bored and tired again and it just ends up in the fireplace in a variation of red and green glimmering bits.
He calls Puyol, but Puyol hangs up in his face when he asks him if the lights go on first or the ornaments and Gerard can’t really blame him but he still wants to know. He ends up wrapping himself up in the lights, plugging them in and walks around singing Feliz Navidad into his blackberry until he trips on a chord and the lights get too hot and burn a little from where he’s laying on the floor.
Gerard is halfway through and epic performance of Hotel Room Service when he opens his eyes through the passion of his singing and finds Cesc standing over him and giving him a look that could be amused if it hadn’t put so much effort into attempting to be neutral. He’s almost embarrassed but mostly he’s mad that Cesc is in his house, as well as being elated that Cesc is there.
He sits up slowly while Cesc sets down his bag near the tree. Gerard watches Cesc like he’s something in a movie, or heaven sent. He doesn’t know what to say when Cesc kneels down beside him and wordlessly leans over to unplug the lights and unravels them from around Gerard.
“Why’d you come?” Gerard asks even though he’s almost sure that Cesc must think he’s an absolute idiot who is incapable of taking care of himself never mind decorating a tree. Gerard watches Cesc as he continues to unravel the string of lights while not touching Gerard once. He can’t help but be disappointed when every expected brush of fingers against his body doesn’t come, and while he knows that this whole mess is a result of that wretched tightness in his chest and groin when Cesc is in touching distance he does little to fight it.
“It doesn’t even snow in Bethlehem,” Cesc mumbles and Gerard hugs him because it’s all he can do to hide the childish grin on his face, but he doesn’t bother trying anymore when he realizes that Cesc has one to match.
“I didn’t get you a gift though. I was kind of mad,” Gerard admits as soon as he realizes he doesn’t really have anything to offer Cesc on Christmas morning. Cesc only laughs and pulls back from the hug. Which makes Gerard worried again because Cesc may not want him still and while he’s okay with that he’s not ready to be led on again. So he figures he can pretend to misunderstand Cesc’s real reason behind coming for the sake of saving them both the trouble of talking about it later.
So when he leans over and traps Cesc into a kiss its really just him making sense of everything and not because his chest has knotted itself dry of any blood. Until Cesc is pressing back and leaning up on his knees to press further against Gerard a little hungrily while cupping Gerard’s face to keep him in place, then Gerard figures there’s no reason to pretend anymore because Cesc is letting him kiss him.
Gerard grabs onto Cesc’s hips, presses himself flat against him and moves his lips anxious to get whatever he can of Cesc before he changes his mind, but Cesc doesn’t, stays there kissing Gerard frantically until they’re grinding their hips together tangled up in the cooling strand of Christmas lights and panting against each other’s skin, and until a part of Gerard that loves to be tortured stops and whispers a slur of feelings into the curve of Cesc’s ear.
“Do you?” He asks incapable of forming the rest of the question and he’s almost worried that Cesc doesn’t understand what he’s asking because he’s only laying there, panting, whining and trying to pull Gerard back down.
“Yes, Jesus, I do,” Cesc moans out in a way that would lead Gerard to think that he hasn’t gotten off in over a month which if Gerard knows Cesc as well as he thinks he does he would say that it wasn’t that farfetched. Gerard is quick to unbuckle Cesc’s pants and pull them and his briefs down past his knees. He has to close his eyes to not come from the way Cesc looks while he’s so turned on and a third naked.
He fumbles around for anything he can use, but there’s nothing and a part of him argues with the part of him that thinks he will never have a chance to do this again, to see this again.
“Geri, please,” Cesc begs and it’s a quality I him that Gerard never expected and is mildly disappointed to find out about because there’s no way Gerard will ever last ever with Cesc begging like that.
Which makes Gerard give in and settle for pressing a spit covered finger against Cesc’s hole. Which cesc jumps at but doesn’t retreat. Gerard nibbles on Cesc’s earlobe while he works the finger in and tries not to hump against Cesc. He panics for a moment when he notices that he has no idea what to do with the finger he’s worked in because he’s never done this, ever, and oh good God, he’s fingering Cesc on his floor all tangled up in Christmas lights.
So he buys himself time buy working in another finger and slapping Cesc’s hand away from trying to relieve himself. Gerard tries everything he can think of until he has Cesc grabbing his shoulder and moaning in a way that Gerard has never heard before.
“Geri, fuck me, yes,” He groans out and Gerard takes it as his cue to use his free hand to tug down his sweat pants and hump against Cesc’s bare thigh. Then he can’t think anymore and all he can do is pant Cesc’s name over and over again until he feels Cesc shuddering against him and coming hard all over the place. Giving a long whine from the base of his throat that make Gerard shake and come embarrassingly quickly.
Gerard rolls off of Cesc and catches his breath before daring to look over at Cesc. Mostly he feels humiliated. When he looks over he finds Cesc looking at him, and they look at each other for a second before they both break out in laughter at how unsexy they both look.
Cesc drags Gerard into the bathroom to clean up but after a considerable amount of tugging and promises of making out. When they clean up they head back into the living room to decorate the tree. Which is standing bare in the corner and looking over all pathetic.
They giggle hopelessly while wrapping the lights around the tree. Gerard can’t help but lean in and kiss Cesc every few minutes because he’s a little worried that he won’t be able to again after Christmas. Cesc complains about his flight while they place the ornaments and while the tree still looks like two tasteless men decorated it in the end, Gerard is certain that it beats anything he could have done alone.
Cesc starts a fire in the place and the red and green glass bits pop and he says they sound like fireworks which Gerard find kind of girlishly adorable so he kisses him into the sofa until Cesc pushes him away to breathe.
“I’m sorry,” Cesc says with a serious expression and Gerard gets what he’s sorry for, but he forgot the feeling anyway so he shakes his head and wraps himself around Cesc and they lay there until the popping glass in the fire place stops and they’ve both drifted off to sleep.