❅ MERRY CHRISTMAS @exorcist-cross ;;
I wish I had more time to edit this since I’m clueless about how to write either of these two or this ship. I started over a couple times and now I have another, half-written Cross/Maria thing sitting on my computer that I’ll have to finish at some point because of it.
But I hope you like this and have a happy holiday! ;w; Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, so on and so forth!
Maria's goal is simple: To get a kiss from Cross Marian, to pull him out of that stereotype he's trapped himself in. Everyone looks at him and sees a flirt, a womanizer, but she knows better. She knows better than to blindly accept the false persona that he insists is Cross Marian.
How many times has she told him that she knows better, that she's no stranger to living behind a mask for the benefit of everyone? After all, she's the same way. How often do people assume she is little more than a harlot whose only intention is to steal a woman's husband or whisk away a child's father?
Lending to a stereotype is easy. Playing the part is easy, but Maria knows how to see beyond the surface and beyond the facade he wears is a good man—a decent man. He's no saint, but when had she ever claimed that was what she wanted?
But that's why she's set out to do this: Because she knows he's more than meets the eye, that he cares about her and that those feelings are mutual—though whether or not he reciprocates her deeper feelings...
For now, she casts aside such thoughts in favor of taking the last decoration for the Christmas party from the finder offering it to her. A smile lights delicate features as she thanks them, hanging the mistletoe from the garland she'd just finished hanging. It's centered over the door that leads into the room. There's only a few present, but it's her hope that it will be plenty.
All she needs to do is drag him under one and tradition will do the rest.
But first, she has to find him and in a room that would soon be filled with the Order's staff—Exorcists and otherwise—that would be easier said than done.
... What a weak deterrent.
Stepping off the ladder she'd previously been situated on, her hunt begins by simply asking after the scientist's whereabouts. But, of course, this is Cross. The answers she gets are varied—and incorrect, she finds when she steps away from the dining hall to investigate each new lead.
Maria doesn't find herself frustrated. With every failure, her determination to track him down and ensure he comes to the party instead of hiding somewhere only grows. Everyone is as clueless as she is, guessing about where he is more than providing facts.
When finally she finds him, it's with the help of no one but herself. He's hunched into the corner of some lab, stooped over that strange, golden golem that he always is. The technique he's using is unfamiliar—probably forbidden, considering his… unique skill set. Never has she seen a predictable man with so many unpredictable and downright impossible abilities.
"Cross," she greets cordially, that same irresistible smile on her face. He barely glances up at her, more focused on the task set before him that she surely wouldn't fully understand. "Are you coming to the Christmas party?"
For a moment, he doesn't breathe a word, but she knows his answer. A resounding no vibrates through the silence.
But that's not what comes out of his mouth. "Will you be there?"
There's a hint of a smile on his face and she matches his half-assed enthusiasm with twice as much.
"You don't honestly think I'm going to say no, do you?"
He'd have to be an idiot to think that. He knows how she is about the holidays. It would be impossible for her to not celebrate. "Of course I'm going. You're going to come, aren't you?"
The look in his eyes gives her his answer, but she's not a woman that understands the word "no". One way or another, she'd ensure he was in attendance.
"Don't be a stick in the mud," she says, as if that's any likelier to convince him. Pressing just as quickly annoys him as it does convince him to come, but she has no doubt its her dazzling smile that keeps him from snapping at her and has him sighing. The sound of him loosing a heavy breath is exactly what her victory sounds like.
"Fine."
At long last, he relents. Her will is barely strong enough to keep her from jumping into the air and wrapping her arms around him—she's already annoyed him, after all. She doesn't want to piss him off so much that he leaves before her plan can come to fruition. All she needs is to get him there, get him to walk through one particular door...
Maria reaches down, takes his hand in her own and tugs. She turns back around to lead the way before she notices the ghost of a smile on his face.
When they arrive back at the dining hall, it's already bursting with life. Judging by the laughter, one of the lightweights have already found the alcohol and Maria's grip tightens on Cross's hand when she feels him pull in that direction.
"I don't think so," she says, humming when he turns to glare. "I didn't bring you here just so you could wander off and drink yourself into a stupor."
A lone eye glances up at her, as if he was expecting less from an enigma such as she. As long as they've known each other, he should know better, shouldn't he? A dainty fingers points upwards, mouth twisting into a devious smile; this had been her evil plan from the start, after all.
A red eye follows the gesture, looking up at the berry pinned at the top of the door frame, hanging from the garland. Her hand comes back down, whisking a lock of curly red hair behind her ear.
The look he shoots her is... amusing, to say the least. He squints at her with his one visible eye, mouth falling open like he's just swallowed a bug. It's so unexpected that she bursts into laughter. Honestly, one would think she'd grown a second head, but that simple request has apparently thrown him for a loop.
But it was amidst this laughter that the expression disappeared. She didn't even notice until he had leaned down, until she found a red eye staring directly into her own, until lips were pressed gently again hers...
Those few seconds passed quicker than she'd like. One minute he was there, giving her a sweet and simple kiss and the next... the next he had turned and stepped away.
"Cross?" she calls out, but all she saw was his long, red hair and retreating back as he disappeared into the crowd. A brief smile flickers to life on her face. He's headed for the booze, isn't he? Typical.
It's okay; she'll get back at him for that weak kiss later.
