ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU !
꒰warnings꒱ N/A
⠀꒲ ` synopsis . . . genshin characters as fluffy christmas tropes and cliches!
⠀꒲ ` characters . . . lumine , aether , venti , albedo , tartaglia , scaramouche , nilou , cyno , gorou , ayato, flins, nefer, lauma
⠀꒲ ` notes . . . merry early christmas and happy new year ♡♡♡ i finally found these damn headcanons after clearing out my fucking notes so enjoy 😭
LUMINE — ⋆⁺₊❅.
xmas cliché: very competitive secret santa.
as per request of lumine herself, you two were spending your beloved holidays in the wonderful city of mondstadt. this year, the knights of favonius had planned out a very inclusive game of secret santa in order to bring the people of the wind even closer together, and, being closely associated with the knights of favonius you and lumine were allowed to pick out your person first (totally not because somebody rigged it, nope).
lumine starts having a sudden ambitious urge as she stares at the note in her hand: the note with your pretty name on it. her instant thought as to reading your name was, “i HAVE to get them the most extraordinary gift.” for what reason exactly? to swoon you of course!
being an outstanding and well renowned traveler certainly has its perks, and lumine was ready to (positively) exploit a majority of them. from mondstadt to liyue, inazuma and even sumeru—an abundance of people, including archons mind you, were happy to oblige to the illustrious travelers request. yet, the “extraordinary” gift she yearned for was still missing.
mondstadt was brimming with festive cheer. snowflakes littered the once sunny-scape of a city with an icy gloss. the streets were crowded, each person exchanging a gift and a smile; it was a type of homely magic that could only be found in mondstadt. the best part of the holidays, however, was finally seeing your beloved for longer than a single tea break, but as of a couple hours now you couldn’t quite find her.
“hey, [name]!” you hear a husky and resonant voice boom in your ears. you swiftly turn around to see the calvary captain himself stride over to you with his signature grin.
you could only look at him quizzically, “and what business does the calvary captain hold with me?”
“well, i’ve been sent by a certain someone’s lover to guide you to a particular place, if you will?” you rolled your eyes at his dramatics and asked him to lead the way. what could lumine have planned that she’d have to ask for the help of that rascal kaeya…
ah.
you couldn’t help but let out a very audible giggle. lumine was staring at you with a quite prominent blush covering her face and ears, her entire body covered with colourful wrapping paper. “and what do we have here, hmm?” you silently trudge past the light chuckles of the knights of favonius towards your beloved.
“well, since you were my person for secret santa, i thought of getting you the most extraordinary gift,” she sighed “and i couldn’t think of anything that would portray my intentions perfectly…” you caressed her face with a laugh and a gentle kiss.
“but then i thought: what’s more extraordinary than a lover from the stars?”
yes, she did get you an actual gift—but this was much funnier.
AETHER — ⋆⁺₊❅.
xmas cliché: cooking a christmas dinner.
the sweet aroma of herbs, spices and various steaming vegetables (as well as a few fruits left out on the counter) filled your bright kitchen with a wonderful scent of festivities in the making. the array of specialties from several nations led to piles of dishes that you were going to be most likely cleaning with your tears later.
you heard the sizzling of the pan in the background as you prepared the delicious honey glaze adding the perfect ratio of: maple syrup, brown sugar and soy sauce to the pot. usually, cooking with other people in the kitchen is an irritating hassle, but aether manages to make the process so much more enjoyable: especially when you both begin to act like an old married couple absentmindedly.
“[name], could you pass me some of the red wine for the gravy?” aether gently calls out, lightly turning his head to look in your direction. mostly to catch a glimpse of your face after an hour of staring at steaming swirls in a pot.
“‘course, dear, here you go.” you hand the wine over to him with a smile, he kisses you on your cheek as thanks.
you proceed to return to your area of work, adding rosemary, coriander, some thyme here and sprinkling paprika, garam masala, crushed garlic—basically whatever would inevitably lead to morning bloating and way too many extra portions. with every dish you both prepared, the room smelt even more remarkable, so much so, that the abundant scent of christmas cheer was seeping through your open windows.
why are your windows open mid-winter? well, its your teapot so the harsh frost of reality cannot bite you (yet...).
after what certainly felt like endless hours, aether had snapped you out of your cooking daze, “hey, love, come try this!” wiping your hands on your apron you rushed over to his side. a premature bite of a festive feast was something only a food could resist.
“here, open wide.”he hovered a crumbly cookie over his right hand, gently gesturing it towards you. taking a messy bite, your head filled with a twinkle of bright stars. the sweet chocolate chips melting in your mouth. “mmmtheyre rherry goud!” (translation: they’re really good).
“haha, slow down, love, you’ve gotten crumbs all over your mouth.” he gently swipes his thumbs across your lips, staring directly in your eyes for a good couple seconds before getting embarrassed and looking away in panic.
“you alright there, sunshine?” you ask teasingly. he huffs in frustration.
laughing to yourself quietly, you slowly push him closer to you by the waist. turning his head to look at you with a swipe of a hand beneath his chin. “why are you getting all embarrassed for, hm?” you purposefully lower your voice. unfortunately, you get no answer in return—well, expect for a bright and vivid blush that quickly spread from his face to his ears.
“c’mere, darling.” you pull him close to get easier access to his face; even with aether trying to protest in his flustered state, he couldn’t ever disallow you to drown him in affections. therefore, every kiss that he got from your pretty lips he cherished eagerly with a kiss of his own.
the best treat for aether’s christmas was you. (please take that in whatever way you wish LOL).
VENTI — ⋆⁺₊❅.
xmas cliché: gift opening drinking game.
to indulge in this years christmas joy, you and venti decided to come up with a small drinking game that festively included gift opening—listen it’s NOT a holiday with venti if there’s not at least a little bit of drunken shenanigans happening. he loves you, but liquor still comes at least a close second.
the way the game worked was: you both make a list of five things you want as a present, then during the morning of christmas, you’d take turns opening said gifts—however, you’d have to guess what the gift is, and, if you get it wrong you take a sip of alcohol. (if you can’t have alcohol you just drink something you don’t like—it’s supposed to be a punishment after all.)
on the morning of christmas, the fire was ablaze in the hearth. the lights of the christmas tree reflecting bright colourful lights all over the room, the fractals helping you clearly see your perfectly serene fiancé already opening a bottle of wine.
“ventiii, it’s only mornin’...” you walked down the stairs in your fuzzy state with a yawn, wiping the sleep out of your eyes absentmindedly.
venti only giggles and smiles at you, “ehehe, my love, it being morning is precisely why i’m drinking!” he entraps you in a hug, sighing contently as he does so. “mm, windblume can we start with the present opening now?” you obviously know why he’s asking, but it’s impossible to reject someone who was now leeching warmth off you with that infuriatingly sweet smile.
you sat near the fire cross-legged, the lights from the tree illuminating you both in colour. “well, my precious windblume, why don’t you start first?” he closed-eyes smiles at you in humble anticipation. you graciously oblige, starting with the gift closest to the tree.
seemingly hours of drunken laughter passed you by in a daze, with you both successfully guessing some of the gifts and having to drink for wrong answers (venti may have gotten it wrong on purpose at times). despite your tipsy mind, you could decipher the tinge of mischief that displayed itself on venti’s gorgeous yet deceitful face.
“hey, windblume, you forgot my last gift.” he feigns a hurt expression, staring at you in playful disbelief.
you roll your eyes. “oh really now? i’m pretty sure i got everything, dear.”
venti let’s out a drunken giggle, slipping you the old paper he had given you with his wish-list. and there it was, in cute, pink, frilly writing: “6. your heart ♪(´ε｀ )” . heaving out a sigh you cross your arms at him, “what’s the point in wishing for something that’s already yours?”
you weren’t sure if it was just the alcohol or venti being flustered, but his face had grown the prettiest shade of red you’ve ever seen. he coos at you, “aaah i didn’t know my love could be such a smooth romantic~”
“well, since you already own my heart is there anything else you’d like?” you ask, pulling him in close to you.
“haha, kisses from your pretty lips shall suffice more than thoroughly, my love.”
venti undoubtedly would make sure you knew you owned his heart as well.
ALBEDO — ⋆⁺₊❅.
xmas cliché: decorating the christmas tree
after a few minutes of careful negotiating, you had convinced albedo to come join you and klee with decorating your christmas tree. while you would’ve loved to do so in dragonspine, because who would pass up the opportunity to spruce up that snowfall den, the drastically decreasing temperature in mondstadt had left the snowy mountains in a flurry of rage, ones you weren’t ready for. plus settling down at home is much more fitting for the holiday, no?
so here you are, covered in tangled christmas lights with a reindeer headband on your hair (provided by albedo himself) as albedo holds up klee in one of his arms to help her reach the highest points of the verdant branches springing off the leaning bark of your tree. it was the first time you’ve seen albedo so concentrated on something so childishly simple. but honestly, without albedo’s artistic critiques you were sure the tree would’ve become a wreck.
as you stared at him helplessly, he blurts out: “please, don’t put the same coloured bulbs so close together--“ albedo picks up a bulb with a sigh and places it elsewhere “and don’t put them in sequence either.”
you laugh at his subtle frustration and he playful glares at you, “do you find my artistic suffering amusing, love?” you cheekily smile at him, getting up to kiss him on the cheek.
“klee wants one as well!” klee cheered, gesturing her tiny hand towards her own cheek. you and albedo both laugh simultaneously, proceeding to smooch klee’s chubby cheeks, her adorable giggles bouncing off the walls.
as you both pulled away, catching each others eyes in a heartwarming gaze, albedo grins. he quickly, but gently enough, switched klee so she’s sitting on his other arm and whispers something in her ear, causing her to close her eyes with a light laugh. you tilt your head to the side in confusion, before albedo uses the tangled lights that entrapped you to pull you closer. it only takes a second before your lips are more intertwined than the red-green lights flickering on your skin.
the kiss lasts for a short while, but the tingly feeling in your stomach certainly lingers. there’s an awkwardness in the air that settles as you two pull away and you both just see klee’s bright eyes staring at you in that bug-eyed wonder.
“can we continue with the tree now? (｡･ω･｡)” she asks almost too politely, albedo only chuckles and nods, yet before leaving you to your own devices he sneaked in one last quick kiss to your forehead. klee catches that one too.
TARTAGLIA — ⋆⁺₊❅.
xmas cliché: ice skating.
“ajax, no, there’s absolutely no way.” you held onto yourself in fright, staring out at the vast horizon of ice that displayed itself before you.
“come on, kochanie! it won’t be as bad as you think it is, i’ll be holding onto you the entire time too there’s absolutely nothing to worry about.”his attempts to comfort you were sweet yet completely futile.
“i’m going to fall and then i’m going to blame my cold wet ass on you.”
“honey, i promise you, you won’t fall, just take my hand! i’ve done this with my siblings countless of times, and look, they’re all fine aren’t they?”
you sigh in defeat, gripping onto his reached out hand in pure fear, the rush of adrenalin silencing your ears. stepping onto the ice, tartaglia quickly pulls you into his warm chest, which helped soothe the anxious ache in your stomach for a good minute. “see? nothing to worry about, my love.” he whispers, sending a pleasant shiver down your spine.
tartaglia helps you adjust so that you’re able to move around but are in arms distance of him, so, if at any moment you catch yourself slipping, you’re able to latch onto him no problem. or take him down with you, that also works. he begins softly telling you instructions, awkwardly guiding your duck walk with great patience to ensure your comfort.
as he was explaining how to easily slow down or speed up using your skates, he noticed your grip tighten on his hands in slight discomfort. “hey now, don’t overthink it okay? you’re doing great.” he tries to ease the anxiety by rubbing small circles onto the back of your hand with his thumb, giving you a firm, reassuring smile which you couldn’t help but return.
in passing time you got quite a good hand on how to confidently control yourself on ice. being able to have short and sudden races with your overexcited and proud fiancé. he skates over to you with a shining smile adorning his face, “i told you you’d be fine!” he swipes his thumb across your cheek, pressing a chaste kiss directly on your soft lips without hesitation.
it would be complete ignorance to suggest you didn’t get a little out of hand. his warm arms around your waist, bodies completely melting together with a forced proximity from the slippery skates leaning your body forward, the way his tongue felt warm against yours—it made your head woozy. hands gripping at his mess of ginger hair to drag him back down for another kiss. then another—and another. tartaglia’s hand twitched against your back.
“[name]…” he panted lazily, having to close his eyes purely to not get tempted to chase your lips again. “don’t do this right here, i’m supposed to be a very patient teacher! not a patient lover!”
while you were hazily entrapped in the moment, enjoying the heat that radiated from tartaglia, the subtle yelling of his siblings drew nearer. before you allowed yourself to steal another kiss from your beloved, you got interrupted by a cute yet surprising holler, “babcia asked if you guys wanted rosoł!”
SCARAMOUCHE — ⋆⁺₊❅.
xmas cliché: drinking hot chocolate.
scara was insistent on not needing to wear his coat: or his scarf, or hat, or gloves. okay, you could understand the phrase “a hoe never gets cold” but please, the degrees were in MINUSES. no, it did not register that he was a puppet incapable of feeling heat. such a fact did not matter when you used to put sweaters on your dolls out of pity for them during winter.
“i’m fine.” he reiterates once more, this time with icy annoyance filtering into his tone.
“you’re making ME feel cold just by looking at you!”
“then stop looking at me, simple.”
“now, come on—you know i cant do that.” you tease him with a kiss to his cheek, scara can only turn away in embarrassment at your sudden affection. “why do you insist on being outside anyways? we could so easily be cuddling near a fire with hot chocolate in our hands…”
in truth, he wanted to take you out on a cute little date. but due to unforeseen circumstances (scara forgot the weather gets bitterly cold during december) you two were instead standing amidst the snow, holding hands while you shivered with every passing minute. scara let out a deep sigh, a frosty hoard of air emitting from his pretty lips (it was yours), “fine. let’s just go home. this was a waste of time.”
you pinch his cheek to garner his attention, “any time spent with you is worthy to me, love.” he can only roll his eyes. but you can feel his grip go tighter. while the journey home was unsurprisingly quiet, you could certainly feel that scara was anticipating the domestics the afternoon held.
without the judging and pestering eyes of pedestrians, scara behaved like an entirely different person: his public and social personality is volatile and cunning, only deadly poison spilling from his tongue. his private attitude, more so his behaviour towards you, is much more bitterly reserved. there’s still that hint of sarcasm, he can’t simply let that go, but there’s a hint of something beneath the frost. something that, when scraped by a familiar touch, makes him melt into a minty sweetness.
“here’s your hot chocolate, filled with extra love just for your grumpy ass.”scara responds with a subtle smile and a complimentary eye roll before flattening out a space next to him for you. “what a great boyfriend you are, huh?”you coo. normally he’d give you an annoyed nudge or a pissed off insult—but this time, he merely wrapped a snug arm around your waist. you lean into his chest, letting out a content hum. scara remains utterly silent, taking small sips from his steaming cup.
his face slowly shifts into that soft look you so adored. he leans over to press a tender kiss on the top of your head, something he attempts to hide with a jerk of his head to the side. you giggle quietly. “i love you.”he mutters against the mug, words muffled by the steam.
“i love you too, dear.” a soft smile invades scara’s static features, but for once, he allows it to happen.
NILOU — ⋆⁺₊❅.
xmas cliché: writing to santa clause.
a choir of giggles crescendoed in the grand bazaar , this came as absolutely no surprise to the employees of zubayr theatre who witnessed this increasing festive cheer every day leading to the special holiday. the theatre, specifically nilou herself, reserved a special area of the marketplace to allow children to write letters to santa (or i guess, teyvat’s version of him..?).
you observed each vendor and stall with delight, all the while, unbeknownst to you, nilou was desperately glancing around the hoards of people to at least catch a glimpse of you—and that she did! as you were carefully examining some decorations at a nearby vendor, you heard a polite sing-song voice call out your name, turning around swiftly to see your pretty beloved running towards you with her arms out.
“[name]! you’re here!!” she engulfs you in a warm embrace, leaving you with very little room to breathe. you pat her on the shoulder in a way to signify your need for air. she giggles and rather reluctantly lets you go, “sorry sorry haha, i’m just so happy you’re here! come with me, i’m supervising the children who are writing letters to santa, you should totally join!” she, as gently as she could with her bubbling excitement, drags you out of the crowd and towards the bundle of energetic kids that covered the decorated floor.
“miss nilou, can you read my letter please?” a young boy held up a piece of paper with a bunch of illegible yet endearing scribbles. nilou gave out a sweet laugh, a beloved melody of yours, and ruffled the boys hair, “i heard that if you let another person read your letter, it won’t reach santa, so keep this hidden, alright?” she winked with a kindhearted smile, the child nodded vigorously and left to play along with the rest of his friends.
“that’s quite a nonsensical rule.” you laugh, nilou chuckles along with you before replying, “i unfortunately don’t make the wish-making rules! (^_−)−☆” she hooks your arms together to take you towards a surprisingly quiet table, it had scattered cards, paper, colorful pens, and a few sets of sticker sheets strewn across— perfect for the occasion.
as you sat down, you couldn’t help but smile at how cheery one person could get over such a simple childish tradition—it was truly endearing. to find joy in something so fruitless and seemingly dumb? it was a type of whimsy most could only dream of. nilou burst you out of your lovesick daydreaming with a polite and sudden kiss, “stuck on what to write, darling?” she lovingly stares at you with her head jutted on her palm.
you shake your head and proceed to cover your paper out of her view, leaving nilou rather bemused. not such a stupid rule now, was it? taking a brightly visible pen, in bold and cursive letters you write “dear santa, all i want for christmas is for nilou and i to be happy.” is it absolutely cheesy and wholeheartedly cringe? yes, but that was the exact wholesomeness that nilou loved.
“i’m done with writing my letter.” you tease her by waving the blank side of it in her field of vision. “
“you’re so mean sometimes, darling.” she laughs, leaning to kiss the tip of your nose. “using my own rules against me? that’s an unbelievable type of torture!”
jumping up from her seat, nilou proceeds to snap her fingers toward the flapping paper. beaming with utter bliss. “if santa can’t fulfil your wish when i see it, i’m sure i’ll manage to do it myself just fine.”
CYNO — ⋆⁺₊❅.
xmas cliché: loving snowball fight.
for the first time in decades, the wonderful deserts of sumeru experienced some heavy snowfall. while you were certainly enjoying yourself, a certain general remained stoically peaceful in his stance (despite the clear excited shine in his eyes).
cyno was trapped inside his own thoughts, what exactly was he pondering about? who knows. perhaps he’s wondering about his duties in the akademiya, or he’s wondering what horrid pun he can say to elicit a pitiful giggle out of you. the second was his favourite to dwell on.
trying to catch the attention of your beloved shouldn’t be that difficult , yet every time you spoke to him he would reply with a quick kiss. every reply only a short phrase or a shake or nod of the head. perhaps the only true way of snapping him out of his work trance, was to ‘lovingly’ bully him with the very snow that spreads across the land. you could say you were up to snow good.
picking up a handful of snow and shaping it into a malnourished ball, your face held a mischievous grin. however, before you could actually be a lovable menace, cyno was out of your field of sight. you stand there awkward and clueless, sceptically turning around like a cat chasing its own tail. a sudden cold splash of snow splats against your back.
“icy what you were trying to do there.” cyno says, a grin that outmatched yours in devilishness adorning his lips. “snow happy to play against you.” he teases, throwing another snowball up and down in his palm as if getting ready to throw.
the playful atmosphere crescendoed when the two of you began a dramatic chase through the snow, both of you looking like bunnies frolicking in the misty fog of ice. even with your ample speed and agility, getting even playfully chased by a powerful general with impeccable aim was proved to be difficult.
the next few minutes went on like this: you two playing childish games, hiding amidst the snowy peaks and sneakily throwing snowballs at each other during seemingly serene intervals of peace. sometimes you’d laugh at his witty, painfully awful jokes, other times you’d be falling victim to his merciless attacks of snow.
as the two of you were running around one of the accumulated snow piles, laughing loudly with frost bitten noses, you trip directly on-top of him; thus ending your chase rather anti-climactically. “oh, deer.”he jokes, you instantly place your chilly hands onto his flushed cheeks, leaving him to shiver and melt into your gentle touch.
“i’m glad you didn’t do this at the beginning, i would’ve been at your mercy.” he kisses the inside of your palm with a small smile.
GOROU — ⋆⁺₊❅.
xmas cliché: kissing underneath the mistletoe.
this was your first christmas with gorou as an official couple, therefore you wanted to go all out. nothing was too big or too small in the name of love! each window was decorated with lights and stickers, candles illuminated each corridor and room with a festive spark of orange, not to mention your christmas tree that was beautifully arranged with your artistic vision.
gorou showed absolutely no defiance when you ordered him to change the angle or direction of a decoration multiple times, feeling complaisant with the fact he’s being useful to you. “is there anything else you need help with, [name]?” he tilts his head to the side as he turns on the final lights near a window.
you playfully frown at him, “still calling me by my name, love?”
gorou’s ears perk up in surprise, his face turning a bright red out of embarrassment, “o-oh, sorry! uhm i can call you something else if you’d like?” even though you laugh, he was VERY serious. beginning to ponder with a hand on his cheek for support. “oh uhm,” he awkwardly averts his gaze to anywhere but you, “can i call you honey..?”
you laugh at him once again, caressing his cheek gently with your warm palm, “of course you can. anyways, i have one last thing to put up, could you wait here for a moment?” you let go of his face (he swears he didn’t whine).
gorou coughs into his hand and replies, “sure, ho-honey…” you smile at his awkward stutter before heading off to get what you needed. gorou stood there motionless, face in his hands, body heating up with every rapid beat of his heart against his ribcage. he was a general, for goodness sake. not a lovesick pup eager for his owner’s pets. though, the thought of you petting his head had his tail wagging with an uncontrollable fervour. curse his biology.
“gorouuu, darling, could you come help me out this up?” you yell across from another room, he quickly shakes off the nerves and rushes over to you, stopping in his tracks upon seeing the teasing grin on your face and the mistletoe that you were swinging back and forth. he’d take execution over this.
“are-are you sure you need my help with this..ahaha…i can always get you a step ladder? or something…” he laughs anxiously, eyes widening with the way you so easily pull him in closer by his waist. dangling the mistletoe mischievously above his head, bopping it up and down a few times before finally, gorou gives in and kisses you. he knew it would be a losing game otherwise. your hands find themselves on his waist once again, pulling him in ever so closer to the sweet scent of your perfume.
gorou ‘accidentally’ whimpers into the kiss, a weak sound that practically rolls right off his tongue toward your own, leaving you pridefully satisfied, but him a flustered mess. he abruptly breaks the kiss and hides his face in shame, the sudden slip of mouths making a streak of saliva smear at the corner of your chin. “gods..im so sorr-mpf??-“ you cut his futile apologies with another passionate kiss.
you would find out just how many times the general could sing so sweetly.
K. AYATO — ⋆⁺₊❅.
xmas cliché: “baking” cookies together.
oh may the archons above forgive you both because thoma will absolutely not. lord knows who allowed ayato in the kitchen— he claimed that he simply wanted to ‘spend some domestic time with his beloved after being away for so long’, but you dared doubt his claim.
“ayato, my beloved.”
“[name], my wonderful spouse.”
“you put any weird shit in these damn cookies and i swear i am going to—“
“ah ah my love, no foul language in the kitchen.” you were about to retort with ‘the atrocities that come out of this kitchen when you’re finished cooking is far worse”, but decided against it. choose peace, not violence, during the holiday season.
“i promise, i will follow your guidance every step of the way. so, what’s first?” while he looked rather ready to get started, you remained rightfully hesitant and suspicious. placing down the ingredients you’d be using for the special christmas treats, ayato’s eyes stayed heavily fixated on the recipe that you left beside him (for obvious reasons).
you hear a loud crumpling of paper. it draws your attention very quickly, and yet entirely way too late. that blue-haired bastard. “AYATO??” you blink slowly with your mouth agape.
he merely laughs and pecks your nose, “there’s no need for recipes and measurements, we can use our heart to dictate the sweetness. that’s how the best dishes have been invented, no?” he’s so lucky he’s pretty.
taking out the mixing bowl, you try to run things down in your head, roughly estimating what amount of each ingredient you need—ayato disturbs your astute train of thought by eyeballing a bunch of icing sugar, butter, and vanilla extract into the bowl…
you woefully crack an egg into the mixture, as your pitiful hand went to grab a spoon to mix the travesty of ingredients. whisking away the sickly overly-sweet stench of vanilla, you felt your head renew with plans to save this mess. thinking on your feet was an admirable skill you’ve honed over the years of being wed.
“love, can you put in the flour? not too much, i beg you”. he laughs at your remark, pouring in the flour gently as to not upset you further. the couch didn’t feel good to sleep on.
“don’t you worry, my darling. my mother and i used to do this all the time.”
“gods she’d be so disappointed wouldn’t she..”
“mhhm, say something, love?” he asks. you shake your head in denial. ayato sneaks his way behind you, sliding his hands around your waist and getting purposefully close to your ear before kissing it, warm breath ghosting delightfully close to your cold skin.
one kiss led to many, and that many turned into too much as ayato left you laughing in adoration, leaving you to forget the mixing bowl that was in your precious hands—nothing exactly registers in your peripheral. mostly because you didn’t want to look down and catch the culprit of the powerful stench of vanilla clinging to your clothes.
rightful silence erupted in the kitchen.
“maybe the real cookies were the memories we made along the way.” ayato teases you by placing the grotesque batter on your nose.
“kamisato ayato, i will not hesitate to turn you into next nights hot pot.”
“now, don’t be sour, my love, you were clearly enjoying yourself.”he kisses your cheek, you grimace.
“my lord…[name]…i…” thoma stood speechless at the kitchen entrance, tears pricking his eyes as an invisible cloud rained above his head, wilting his all ready heavy shoulders.
“i’m sorry.” you and ayato say in unison, though your words held actual compassion unlike ayato who was still adamant on holding onto your waist with a smirk.
K. C. FLINS — ⋆⁺₊❅.
xmas cliché: collecting wood for the fireplace
as per tradition, you and flins set out in the far forests of nod krai to search for the perfect oak tree. it would sound odd to anyone outside of the frosty nation—after all, you had all ready accumulated quite the hefty collection of adequate bark and bundle of sticks for the hearth warming your home, but it was the tradition behind it that made the long trek worth it.
flins didn’t let you touch a thing once you found the victim for your fireplace. you had done enough for the day, he assured you (if the way you had to limp from your heavy backpack wasn’t quite enough of a tell). muttering a single prayer of forgiveness beforehand, you barely see any swing of movement before the tree tumbles in a spritz of wood chips and grassy ash.
hoisting one firm bundle of bark on one shoulder, flins turns to you. his smile turning a little brighter from its usual pleasant tilt.
“milichka,” he murmurs, wrist rolling to turn his palm toward you, “may i?” it was the usual question. holding your hand through the dark wasn’t a simple show of affection, it was a duty he took more seriously than most probably would. but when your hands did reach, his own nearly immediately dropped with an odd amount of grace. free arm sliding beneath your knees to help bend them over his shoulder. two very precious cargo needed to be transported with upmost safety.
with each gift of wood to your blazing hearth, the fire crackled louder. a symphony of warmth now burning through the cold frosting your fingertips. “is that all of it? i could go for a really nice cup of cocoa right now…”
“nearly, but i can always make you a cup as you wait?” he gestured toward the kitchenette, the kittenish yellows of his eyes bright against the fumes.
“mm, nah. i prefer it when we do stuff like that together.” together. right. that word felt so foreign sometimes when accompanied with the warmth of a willing body, and not the cold touch of shadow.
“then, i hope you could just let me do this one simple thing.”
picking up the very bark of oak tree you two had trekked way too many slippery slopes of nod krai for, he skilfully wraps it in a white linen cloth before throwing it into the hearth. the gesture was odd, even for someone filled with oddities like flins, but you didn’t dare question it. not when his hands found yours in a manner that spoke of hours learning your heart and skin as if it were his own.
“i pray that the next year has us just like this. together, and a little more in love. though,” he leans down, cold lips pressing right against your knuckles, “i doubt such a thing is possible, for i have been blessed with an abundance of affection for you that contradicts my years.”
NEFER — ⋆⁺₊❅.
xmas cliché: exchanging well wishes
nefer blames you wholeheartedly for this farce.
she stated numerously, no, i will not be joining you at the christmas gathering. no, your status as my partner does little to change my mind. but she was here. drink in hand, a pinot noir from the earthy tones of mushroom mingling with the horribly sweet cherry, and absolutely feeling burdened by the cheeriness in the air.
it wasn’t because she hated the company. kind of. it was more the fact it was all ready getting late, people were drunk—and drunk people love to talk and make bad decisions. decisions that nefer wasn’t on the clock for. letting her back rest on a velvet lounge, her eyes meandered on the party crowd. mostly searching for the face she was going to very politely scold soon as they got home.
“nefeeeer!”
she didn’t need to be a particularly keen listener to recognise the cheer in that voice.
“[name].”
“why do you all ready look so angry? cheer up, we’re with friends! it’s supposed to be fun!” you chuckle, wrapping your arms around her neck from behind.
“i don’t consider hours of people chattering about nothing particularly fun, but i suppose if—you have an opłatek in your hand.” she observes without so much as a glance toward your hand.
flaunting the white wafer between your fingertips, you couldn’t help but grin. “yup! and you know what that means, right?” nefer nodded. “time to exchange good wishes! c’mon, you have to—it’s the law!”
“not true, but i will humour you as always.”
breaking off the thin paper, you pass it over with a keen smile. “i wish you many more clients, more juicy gossip that you say you won’t share with me without a price but do so anyway…aaand, for us to be happy together next year!”
“adorable, but i don’t share anything that would be detrimental. you just forget everything i tell you in the span of two minutes—your makings of a very horrid spy make it easy to trust you to keep quiet.” she smiles fondly even as you pout, taking another piece of wafer from the package to break off in return.
“as for you…” she trailed off, her eyes glancing off to the side where a black cat sat in anticipation for her attention. “i wish for us what endures: that time recognizes us, and happiness stays, having learned our names.”
she didn’t even let you reply before smacking your lips with her own. “go off now, i’ll be here to drag you home when you inevitably drink too much.”
technically, she was meant to be committing to this tradition with everyone, but with all honestly—she was more than ready to call it a night after being so disgustingly sweet with you. she might never drink wine after this night again.
LAUMA — ⋆⁺₊❅.
xmas cliché: fortune telling games
sometimes you cursed yourself for how easily you could be convinced to do anything lauma asked for. because how the words “wax fortune telling” didn’t register as anything but bizarre to you was an enquiry that needed to be answered by kuutar herself.
regardless, you were here. sitting in a field far off from the chatter of other devotees with a cold bowl of water sitting between the two of you, and a burning candle flickering ghostly shapes on lauma’s soft cheeks.
“lauma?” you drawl, and she immediately tilts her head, horns nearly bumping against you. “i hate to ask you again, but what exactly are we doing?”
she chuckles, giving your head a single pat. “fortune telling. it’s a…withstanding tradition in nod krai. by letting candle wax drip into water, the shapes that form can be interpreted as clues to the future.”
“well, what do you hope it says?”
lauma doesn’t answer that. instead, her hands carefully transport the burning candle over the water, tilting the base at an angle to allow the steaming wax drool into the bowl. the water ripples and congeals, you two sit there for a moment in the silence. the whispering sound of wind breezing past you (and thankfully helping the wax cool quicker).
then, soon as the wax settles, you prod your head over the bowl. eyes scanning the gentle shapes and edges of… “yeah, this just looks like a bunch of blobs.” you snicker, and while lauma joins with a light laugh of her own, she continues staring.
“really? because i see…two hands. joined together as one.” you peek your head over again, sliding an arm around lauma’s waist as if the intimacy would help entice your own eyes to see what she does.
“if you say so…but hey, does that mean the next year we’ll still be together? just like this?” you smiled in earnest.
“of course, širdelė. i have no doubt about it, especially with kuutar herself accepting our union.”
it really was just two blobs; but lauma saw beauty in anything that involved you.
©STARYUEE do not copy, steal or repost ♡ ᴜsᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ɪʜᴇᴀʀᴛɢᴀɴʏᴜ
