My Friend, My Roommate, My Heart
Chapter 17/30
Please see here for Chapter 1 and fic description :)
“This is the best!!!” Daisy exclaimed, bouncing up and down on her toes.
“I figured you wouldn’t mind that it was only the second week of November,” he laughed.
“No one ever wants to do this with me so early,” she said.
He smiled warmly and took her gloved hand in his, the cotton of his mitten making her fingers extra warm. It still had yet to snow, but it was officially winter weather and they stood at the entrance to an outdoor Christmas market, bundled up and smiling like fools. He pulled her in and she immediately felt the magic of the holiday season. Music was playing, different smells floated through the chilled air, and people milled about happily. They walked slowly through once, just taking in everything. When they reached the end, he looped them back around to a stall that was baking cookies on the spot. They had these huge, chunky, steaming chocolate chip cookies and they made her mouth water. She looked up at him and he grinned.
“I knew you’d want one.”
“I really do,” she nods with wide eyes, turning her gaze back to the glistening chocolate. He buys them each one and they talk and laugh with the vendor as he makes them fresh ones. He even gives them each a big spoonful of dough.
“Don’t tell anyone else, I’m not supposed to be doing that,” he nodded to their spoons, which were already in their mouths.
“Dan, we would never,” Daisy assures him and Felix gives him a mittened salute.
They start to walk again, chewing on their cookies, and decide to pull over to the side and sit on a bench that has lights all around it and garland on the back after they cause a traffic jam a third time. The first time, Daisy had closed her eyes in bliss after her first bite and walked right into a light pole since she couldn’t see where she was walking. The second, Felix threw his head back with a groan of appreciation and his hat had fallen off, nearly trampled on. The third and final straw was when Daisy started to move her shoulders and upper body in a little happy dance (something she and both her sister and aunt did when they ate, unconsciously) as they walked. Felix had giggled, finding it cute and, of course, started to do it too. Egging each other on led to more dramatic movements and when they’d had to move over to let a mom pushing a stroller who was decidedly not amused by them, they’d finally agreed to be menaces off the main walkway.
“This is so much more fun with- well, with you,” Daisy smiled at Felix. She’d been about to say ‘with someone who didn’t act like her existence embarrassed or inconvenienced him,’ but it was definitely too early for her to be bringing any of that up to Felix. Maybe she’d never have to. In her opinion, knowing everything about someone you love was normal and what she wanted; but maybe she’d heal now. Finally. Maybe that could just be a blip in her life; a chapter that felt like a novel but really was small. Small enough to not even have to address with him.
“I always have fun when I’m with you, too,” he smiled.
They finished their cookies and he pulled off a mitten then reached over and swiped some melted chocolate from the corner of her mouth. She didn’t have time to be embarrassed because he brought that thumb directly to his own mouth, sucking the chocolate off in a very manly way. Her stomach took a deep dive as she watched him. Her cheeks were already pink from the cold and a little more heat spread over them. He went about his business like what he’d just done wasn’t the hottest thing ever, taking her napkin from her and going to throw them away before returning to her. Jingle Bell Rock came on as he walked back and he danced at her, mouthing the words and making her giggle. He sat back down and she slid his mitten back on his hand.
“Excuse me,” a voice had them looking up. It was a middle-aged woman and she was smiling apologetically, “I’m so sorry if this is strange but the two of you were so cute, I took a few pictures of you and thought you might want them.”
“Oh my God, mom,” a teenage girl behind her said through clenched teeth, looking mortified.
“That’s really sweet!” Daisy gushed, “I would love to have them.”
The lady handed her phone over to let Daisy send them to herself. They were really cute and she was so glad that someone had captured them. One of Felix pointing at her, mid-lyric with his face all screwed up and her laughing on the bench. One of her putting his mitten on and him watching her with a tender expression. One of them looking right at each other with huge smiles.
“Wow, thank you,” Felix said, looking over Daisy’s shoulder then up at the woman, “That’s very thoughtful. Would you like some of you and your daughter?”
“Oh really? That would be so nice! She’s off to college next year so I can put this up to see her while she’s away.”
“Mom, you have a million pictures of me already,” the girl laughed, but Felix was far too charming for her to resist.
Daisy and Felix got off the bench and Felix held the mom and daughter’s bags as Daisy took a bunch of pictures. Everyone laughed when she crouched down to get all angles for lots of options, posing them so they looked their best.
“Thank you so much,” The mom gushed when they were done, taking her phone back, “You two are angels.”
“Happy to help,” Daisy said genuinely, smiling. The daughter took the bags back from Felix, blushing and looking down.
“Merry Christmas!” the mom called and she and the daughter smiled and waved as they moved on. Daisy and Felix waved back.
“Well that was really sweet,” Daisy said with a big smile.
Felix offered his arm and she curled her hand around his bicep, letting him lead her on. They stopped at several stalls, chatting and trying and buying too much. They were a little too similar in that regard, they both had a hard time saying no.
“Ok one more thing,” Felix said, turning to her, “I know we’re going to your storage unit to get your decorations after this, but how would you feel about splitting up and each picking out a decoration for the other to put in their room?”
“I feel very positively about that,” she said enthusiastically.
“Thought you would,” he smiled.
“Sunshine, you were written by a woman,” she told him fondly.
They parted and she branched off to try to find some stalls they hadn’t looked at yet. She chewed her lip as she looked. This was such a fun idea; exactly the sort of thing she absolutely loved. But nothing seemed good enough. He wasn’t just her friend now. He was her boyfriend. And that put pressure on it. Finally, she stopped. An old couple sat behind the booth, folding chairs close enough to share a blanket. The man’s head lay on the woman’s shoulder and she hummed along with the music as she crocheted something. There was a plethora of handmade things here; jewelry, wood carvings, crocheted things, and stained glass ornaments hanging along the awning.
“Hello,” Daisy greeted them with a smile.
“Hello, dear,” the woman smiled too.
“These are beautiful,” Daisy said, picking up a bracelet to admire it. She didn’t even wear bracelets very often at all but this one was beaded and sparkling, the colors in it silver and white and a beautiful light blue that was a bit iridescent and just a touch purple. It looked like Cinderella.
“Thank you! We make it all,” the vendor smiled proudly.
They conversed for a while and Daisy looked as they did, picking something else up every few moments. She forced herself to put it all back down, though; she couldn’t spend that much. But she did want to buy something (ok she wanted to buy it all but she literally could not). She looked up at the ornaments and one caught her eye. It was a snowflake, delicate and beautiful with silver metal and a slightly pearlescent sheen to the glass, which was the same light blue/purple of the bracelet. That sold her and she purchased the snowflake and the bracelet, handing over a few cookies from her pack that they’d went back to buy for later after they ate their fresh ones as well for the couple to enjoy from their chairs. She was excited when she found Felix again, bounding up to him. He smiled when he saw her and stepped in, leaning down to plant a kiss on her lips. She hummed and kept it chaste but pressed a little harder, just loving the feel of his lips.
“Mmm I love that I get to do that now,” he murmured, eyes sparkling as he pulled back.
“Not as much I as I love it,” she said.
“Doubt it,” he replied.
“I know you’re competitive, but I’m sorry. I am the winner here,” she insisted.
“Sweetheart, you’re the prize.”
“Oh my God, you flirt! You’d better watch it, I have a boyfriend now,” she pushed playfully at his arm.
“That so?” he raised a brow, “Well where he at? Is he getting you refreshments? Is he tall?”
Daisy’s laughter pealed through the air. “He’s getting me Mike n’ Ikes,” she played along.
“Is he coming back??” Felix asked and they both laughed. She was so glad to be with someone who was like her and Elora with their pop culture knowledge and quotes.
They decided to give their decorations at home and loaded the car with their purchases then drove to her storage unit, loading the car with as many bins as they could fit. Once they were home and everything was inside, he turned on the silent fireplace on Netflix and she put on her Christmas playlist. Once again, she couldn’t help but compare this experience to the last she’d had with a boyfriend like it. The difference was stark and astounding and she could not be more grateful. This was easy; no one yelled at her or made her feel like she was annoying them or taking too long. Where to put everything was a discussion, every bit of labor was a partnership. She felt as warm and fuzzy inside as the fake fireplace on the TV.
She had this weird stage fright of singing in front of people. She could get on a stage just fine but one on one like this, it was like it stuck in her throat no matter how hard she wanted it to come out. But Feilx’s presence was such a balm on her soul that she realized at one point that she was singing along to the music. She hadn’t even noticed and she didn’t know how long she’d been doing so.
“Aw, why did you stop?” he pokes his head around the tree to look at her, “That was really lovely.”
“Really? Sorry I actually just noticed I was doing it.”
“Don’t be sorry,” he smiled, “I like it.”
She smiled back and decided that she was going to roll with it. Even when the Pentatonix version of White Winter Hymnal came on, she didn’t stop. It was one of her favorites and she loved loved loved to sing it but it was very high and that always extra stopped her in front of others. But not today. In fact, Felix sang it with her. Of course he knew it too. It felt so good to sing with him and they sounded nice together, too. Winter Wonderland came on next and she perked up.
“Ohh! This is my favorite Christmas song,” she said.
Felix sang this one, too; and this time, she stayed quiet, just listening. It was so lovely, she stopped decorating and just closed her eyes, listening. She sighed when it ended, smiling.
“Stop that,” Felix said and she opened her eyes to find him smiling at her too, “It’s too cute I can’t get anything done.”
“Well sorry,” She laughed, “I can’t get anything done when you sing.”
“We are going to have a hard time with chores from now on, huh?” he said and they laughed.
They worked until the entire apartment, including even their bathrooms, looked like a Christmas wonderland. It took long enough that they were too tired to do the from-scratch cookie-baking extravaganza they’d originally planned, so that got tabled for a later date. They’d had to remind themselves that it wasn’t even Thanksgiving yet so they had time. Felix sat on the couch at Daisy’s insistence as she worked her magic with her hot chocolate maker in the kitchen. She asked if he was excited for his first Thanksgiving. He told her stories from past Chuseok celebrations with his family and how nice it was to have Chris and the guys here to be with this year since he wasn’t at home. Daisy agreed; she knew from her friendship with the boys how important of a family holiday that was. Lee Know and Han went home every year, no matter what, but the others couldn’t afford it other than every few years so they spent it with each other.
“I know we’re having a Friendsgiving, but I wanted you to know you’re invited to my family’s Thanksgiving as well. If you want to go! No pressure at all; I know it’s soon and if you’d like to spend it with Chris’ family, I don’t mind,” she said, carrying the mugs out to the living room. She joined him on the couch, tucking one leg up under the other and handed over a mug.
“Well first of all, wow,” he said as he took it from her. It was a monstrosity with marshmallow whipped cream that she’d toasted on top, a chocolate syrup drizzle, and a candy cane heart. He took both mugs and set them on the table, adjusting them this way and that with the tree in the background, taking a few pictures. Finally, he gave hers back and sat too, a little closer so their knees were touching. “And secondly, I would be honored to spend Thanksgiving with your family.”
She melted and they clinked their mugs together in cheers. Her family would love him, especially her mother after she saw how Felix treated her.