Merry Christmas! Trail Mix 11
Author: Casey
Story: Nothing is Ever Easy (NIEE) universe, Just Post NIEE
Challenges: Trail Mix 11 (balcony)
Toppings & Extras: Caramel, Cherry (first person)
Word Count: 555
Rating: PG
Summary: Beau gives Jez a slightly early present.
Notes: I have shamefully neglected Beau on this site, considering he’s wonderful. Merry Christmas, all :) Just a little Christmas fluff!
I stood on the balcony, looking out over the countryside, watching lights appear in the windows of the farms that sat in the castle’s shadow. In less than a week, we would be celebrating our first Yule holiday in the capital. It was hard to believe that only a year ago, we had announced the beginning of the final push to take everything back over. We had come so far since then and we were all exhausted. It would not be that much of a holiday because of it.
Letting out a breath, I let myself relax, remaining in the cold a few more minutes before heading back inside and returning to the rooms that Beau and I shared. Not surprisingly, my new husband was nowhere to be found, no doubt off busy with his brother and running the country. I flopped on the couch, deciding my best idea - having no duties of my own at that moment - was to catch a nap before the next crisis, of which there was sure to be one.
I had just settled in and closed my eyes comfortably when, “Hey, Jez, didn’t hear you come in.”
I cracked open one eye to find Beau leaning over the back of the couch, smiling down at me, hair tousled just the way I liked it.
“You’re here! I’m sorry, if I’d known you were...”
The smile grew. “Quite all right. I meant to surprise you.”
I lifted an eyebrow, the smile on his face far more appropriate on Jay or Bri’s. “Oh?”
He nodded solemnly. “It’s almost the Yules. Time for giving and surprises and all that.”
“Well, yes.” I eyed him. “What do you have up your sleeve?”
“I have a present for you.”
“The Yules aren’t for another week.”
“I don’t want to wait,” he said, expression edging towards cocky.
“Oh?” I said again.
His head disappeared from view and, a moment later, he reappeared at the end of the couch. My jaw dropped. Here was Beau, Mr. Steadfast And Reliable, not Mr. Romantic, wearing an outfit I had never thought I would see again. Wrapped artfully around his shoulders - my first thought was that someone had to have done it for him but dismissed that as both uncharitable and impossible, since he would have never let another soul know he was wearing it again - was a leopard print wrap, accented by the decidedly skimpy bottom piece in the same pattern. He had worn it only once before and had sworn up, down, and sideways that it would never happen again.
“Happy Yules,” he said as my expression slowly crept from astonished to, well, even more astonished with a bit of embarrassed, a blush heating my cheeks.
“You...you,” I stammered as he moved down the couch and sat beside me, pulling me up and to him so that he could kiss me.
“Thought you might like it,” he murmured as he pulled back for a second, eyes twinkling.
“You do realize I’m just going to tear it off you, right?” I asked, now more amused than anything.
“Of course.”
“Where in the world did you even find that thing?”
“Just a little Yules magic,” he said, kissing me again. “Like it?”
“Oh absolutely,” I said, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him down to the couch.
Story: Nothing is Ever Easy (NIEE) universe, Just Post NIEE
Challenges: Trail Mix 11 (balcony)
Toppings & Extras: Caramel, Cherry (first person)
Word Count: 555
Rating: PG
Summary: Beau gives Jez a slightly early present.
Notes: I have shamefully neglected Beau on this site, considering he’s wonderful. Merry Christmas, all :) Just a little Christmas fluff!
I stood on the balcony, looking out over the countryside, watching lights appear in the windows of the farms that sat in the castle’s shadow. In less than a week, we would be celebrating our first Yule holiday in the capital. It was hard to believe that only a year ago, we had announced the beginning of the final push to take everything back over. We had come so far since then and we were all exhausted. It would not be that much of a holiday because of it.
Letting out a breath, I let myself relax, remaining in the cold a few more minutes before heading back inside and returning to the rooms that Beau and I shared. Not surprisingly, my new husband was nowhere to be found, no doubt off busy with his brother and running the country. I flopped on the couch, deciding my best idea - having no duties of my own at that moment - was to catch a nap before the next crisis, of which there was sure to be one.
I had just settled in and closed my eyes comfortably when, “Hey, Jez, didn’t hear you come in.”
I cracked open one eye to find Beau leaning over the back of the couch, smiling down at me, hair tousled just the way I liked it.
“You’re here! I’m sorry, if I’d known you were...”
The smile grew. “Quite all right. I meant to surprise you.”
I lifted an eyebrow, the smile on his face far more appropriate on Jay or Bri’s. “Oh?”
He nodded solemnly. “It’s almost the Yules. Time for giving and surprises and all that.”
“Well, yes.” I eyed him. “What do you have up your sleeve?”
“I have a present for you.”
“The Yules aren’t for another week.”
“I don’t want to wait,” he said, expression edging towards cocky.
“Oh?” I said again.
His head disappeared from view and, a moment later, he reappeared at the end of the couch. My jaw dropped. Here was Beau, Mr. Steadfast And Reliable, not Mr. Romantic, wearing an outfit I had never thought I would see again. Wrapped artfully around his shoulders - my first thought was that someone had to have done it for him but dismissed that as both uncharitable and impossible, since he would have never let another soul know he was wearing it again - was a leopard print wrap, accented by the decidedly skimpy bottom piece in the same pattern. He had worn it only once before and had sworn up, down, and sideways that it would never happen again.
“Happy Yules,” he said as my expression slowly crept from astonished to, well, even more astonished with a bit of embarrassed, a blush heating my cheeks.
“You...you,” I stammered as he moved down the couch and sat beside me, pulling me up and to him so that he could kiss me.
“Thought you might like it,” he murmured as he pulled back for a second, eyes twinkling.
“You do realize I’m just going to tear it off you, right?” I asked, now more amused than anything.
“Of course.”
“Where in the world did you even find that thing?”
“Just a little Yules magic,” he said, kissing me again. “Like it?”
“Oh absolutely,” I said, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him down to the couch.