“And for that, you can pay the tab.I’ll meet you outside.Let’s go tree shopping.”
Chapter Three
Groceries, decor, and everything else could be ordered for delivery, even at this time of night, but a tree?That demanded the personal touch.
That meant a trip to the tree lot.
One Google, one Uber, and several wrong turns later, James and Cillian piled out of a sturdy mid-range sedan and into the parking lot ofPeter Piper’s Pickin’ Pines, a fine Christmas season pop-up establishment within shouting distance of their apartment.
James stood under the sign and whistled.He had to admire that much alliteration and willingness to commit to the bit, but that was before the rest of his senses were consumed by -- everything.Campfire smoke, popcorn, apple cider, something sweet and cinnamony and freshly baked, a hundred different colognes and lotions, and above all else, the sticky-thick scent of every kind of pine tree.Needles crunched in a thick carpet underfoot, with string after string of fairy lights cat’s-cradled above to light the footpaths.
James loved it.He could have lived there, especially if they were willing to share hot apple cider and some of those cinnamon doughnuts he pinged as big contributors to the sensory overload.
But it wasn’t only his choice.Cillian, as excited as a child, bounced on the tips of his toes before grabbing James by the bicep and giving him an exuberant shake.“Would you look at all of them?I didn’t reckon there’d be so many left this time of year.We’ll be spoiled for choice.Well?Come on!”
And away he went.Look at him go, ladies and gents and all other Ents, diving bodily into the winding labyrinth of holiday merriment.James shook his head, amused but also oddly charmed by all that boyish glee.Maybe that was one of the reasons he liked Cillian so well.He’d never forgotten how to get excited over things, and he never let anything stop him from enjoying himself.
No.’Tis the season, so be honest with yourself.No weasel words.
Maybe that was one of the reasons he loved Cillian.
There.He’d said it, if only to himself.Even going that far rocked James on his toes and made him lose his balance.Luckily, he could blame it on the pine needles.Slippery, don’t you know.Not that Cillian missed a step.James tucked his hands in his pockets and followed more slowly, always keeping Cillian in his line of sight, all the better to admire the view.Cillian walked like a dancer, light on his toes.Though he was too keyed up for spatial awareness, darting from tree to tree, no one he careened into or off of seemed to mind all that much.Not when Cillian flashed them a brilliant smile and an “Oops, my bad!”in that buttery accent.
Hell, one woman with more salt than pepper in her hair fanned herself after he’d blasted past.“To be young again,” she said to her companion, a shorter woman with a buzz cut too short to tell what her hair color was or had ever been.“He’s a pretty one.”
“Preach it,” her companion agreed.Sharper of eye or keener of her surroundings, she glanced directly at James.“Is he as much of a handful as he looks like?”
James chuckled quietly.“More.”He couldn’t take his eyes off Cillian for long.Those beautiful bright red curls of his shone like a handful of rubies tossed among the velvety evergreen trees.“But he’s worth it.”
Both women sighed, sounding pleased.“I do love true love,” Salt commented, leaving James reeling.How obvious were they -- was he -- if total strangers could see his affection for Cillian?She smiled at him.“How long have you been together?”
“Not long,” James said.It felt right, and honest.“Not long, and forever too.”
The women chuckled and nudged each other.“Must burn up a ton of energy bounding around like that.He’s a hummingbird,” Buzz Cut said with a twinkle in her eye.She nudged James’ arm and pointed back the way he’d came.“Hot apple cider and cinnamon doughnuts back there.Take that sweetie some sweets.”
James recognized marching orders when he was given them, and made it happen.The folks at the table were mostly too distracted swiping cards to notice him collecting a double share of treats, though one grizzled fellow winked at him, and by virtue of walking slowly and carefully he made it back to Cillian with the whole kit and caboodle intact.
He found Cillian bent almost double, studying the trunk of a Fraser fir with the kind of intensity he’d once saved for final exams.He’d pulled his hair back with both hands so it wouldn’t get in his eyes and chewed thoughtfully at his lower lip.Barely even noticed James strolling up, but turned straight his way when James said, “Having any luck?”
“Always the sparkling conversationalist,” Cillian teased.He stood up, his back popping, and beckoned eagerly.“Come on, have a look at this one.I figure it’ll fit into our living room, but what do you think?”
“I think we’re both getting old.Did you just hear your spine do a drumroll?”James shoulder-checked him, gently, and nudged one armful’s worth of treats at Cillian.He coughed to cover his confusion.“You can’t fool me.When you stand up you get Rice Krispknees, don’t you?”
“Oh bite me, you’re a full year older than I am.”Cillian tossed his arm around James’ shoulders and gave him a squeeze, then a smacking kiss in the general area between ear and temples.“These for me?Don’t mind if I do.Those for you?Don’t mind if --”
A hug.A kiss.Both would have knocked James on his ass if sugar wasn’t the next best thing to sacred.They were on the same page.They had to be.Feeling as giddy as Cillian, James roughed up those red curls with a careless tousling caress and dropped his own kiss atop Cillian’s head.“Mine,” he said.“All mine, and don’t you forget it.”
Cillian rolled his eyes, but he hadn’t stopped grinning.They’d always been like this, hadn’t they?James just hadn’t seen it for far too long.“Thetree,” he pleaded.“Go on.Take a proper look.Will it work?”
James honestly wouldn’t have minded a tree made of pipe cleaners and tinfoil at that point, but Cillian was so earnest that it did funny things to his heart.He sipped his cider thoughtfully, eyes on the tree, and gave it every bit of focus that he could spare.
It wasn’t a perfect specimen, despite being surrounded by others without any noticeable flaws.Sturdy when prodded and held up to a light shaking, sure, but there were a few holes at the back that not even carefully fluffed branches could hide.It had a slightly drunken lean to the side that made James cock his head at an uncomfortable angle while studying it.Nothing that couldn’t be concealed or patched with a little TLC, though, and itwasshort enough for their living room.Not too bulky for them to carry for a few blocks or manhandle up the stairs, either.
James polished off his cider and the last crumbs of doughnut, only teasing Cillian a little with the delay, then nodded.“You have a good eye, Cillian.This is the one.Let’s take it home.”
Cillian hooted with glee and thumped his back.His cider and doughnut had disappeared down the hatch while James judged the tree, leaving nothing behind but a spray of cinnamon-sugar crystals trailing from the corner of his mouth to fan across his cheek.James clicked his tongue and reached for Cillian without thinking, meaning only to brush off the sugar crumbs and maybe razz his friend a little for being such a messy eater, throw in a joke or two aboutwho’s old now?
Only… it didn’t quite work out that way.He didn’t think either of them had expected it, somehow, but the smoothness of Cillian’s skin, broken only by the faint rasp of stubble under his fingertips, almost took James to his knees.And wasn’tthata pretty mental image?He swallowed hard, so hard he could hear it and knew Cillian had too.
