I see a lotta different tags on posts that get reblogged from me, but theres one tag that I love more than anything, one tag that warms my heart whenever I see it be used, and that tag, is when someone reblogs a Dragon and add the tag #A Friend
✉: Your muse hits mine with a snowball in order to start a snowball fight. (Riley/Christian)
Riley was just minding his own business as he walked down the drive toward the apartment building, headphones in and a light melody playing that he was pondering over a lyric for, when it happened. He didn't even hear the thwump sound that he knew must have accompanied it hitting him, but he did feel the sudden cold patch in the middle of his back, and for a moment he was too surprised to even take his headphone out and respond to it properly. It must have just been kids playing out in front of the building, right? Yes, surely.
Except, as he started to walk again, another ball hit him, making him pull out a headphone and whip around to see who was throwing snow at him in the middle of the day. Of course, when he turned, there was Christian just down the drive, another ball of snow already in his hand and laughing brightly at Riley's face. He should have known it would be Christian. Most of the kids that lived in the building were too nervous around him -- a product of his tattoos and piercings or their parents' warnings? -- to throw snow at him that way.
As the third one came flying at him, though, he ducked out of its way, crouching down and scooping up a handful to ball up quickly and throw back at him as he started down the drive toward him. Christian didn't quite manage to duck that one, but let out a loud laugh nonetheless, darting out onto the snow-covered lawn as he scooped up another handful of his own and prepared it for throwing. Riley had another handful and was jogging after him by the time the next throw came, and he returned it as quickly as it had come.
This was familiar; he could recall snowball fights nearly every winter when they were kids, usually involving more of the neighborhood kids and his own sister along with them, inevitably ending with just the two of them hurling snow at one another until they finally caught one another and shoved a handful into one another's faces to call a truce. That was the sign of the ending of a fight. A handful of snow shoved in your face, and you knew it was over. You'd been caught, and there was nothing left to do now that your skin was freezing.
Riley found a laugh bubbling up from his throat as he tried to dart after Christian again, but Christian wasn't up for being caught yet. He had another handful of snow and hurled it in one direction, darting the other way as soon as it had left his hand in hopes of escaping Riley's grasp again. He could tell already that this would be one of their longer fights; sometimes they were as short as a half hour, while others could last a full afternoon. Riley was certain this would be hours as he threw another handful in his direction.
"Here, over here! This one's perfect." Riley and Christian had been walking around the tree lot for the last hour, trying to find just the right tree to add into their living room to decorate for the season. More specifically, Riley had been being picky for the entire last hour, trying his best to find the one that he thought was just perfect. He was always picky about that on holidays, though, wasn't he? He'd been particular about the tree, about the decorations, about making Christmas as perfect as possible, for as long as Christian had known him, he swore.
Christian, on the other hand, was just humoring his boyfriend's eternal notion that there would be a perfect tree somewhere, letting him fuss and frown over tree after tree until he could swear they'd seen each one in the lot no less than twice and several of them at least three times in search of the right one. It was just a good thing it wasn't as cold as it usually was at this time of year, really; he might have complained if it weren't warm enough that he didn't even need gloves to keep his hands from going numb.
Riley had finally found one, though, it seemed. Christian recognized it already even from a distance. It was the one that he'd stopped at three times already, assessed the height and width to be proper but complained a bit over how sparse the branches seemed to be, how little decorations they would be able to put up onto it. He knew that would be the one he settled on. Those ones were always the ones Riley wound up picking; they'd gone tree shopping with both their families enough times since their youth that he knew just what he looked for.
Still, he made his way over, painting a look of perfect curiosity on his face as Riley stood beside the tree he thought he would pick, beaming. "It's a little sparse, but it's taller than me, and it's rounded enough to look nice," he commented as Christian reached his side, a hand reached between the branches and wound around the trunk as though he was going to pick it up on his own. He wouldn't, of course; that was just his manner of making certain he had the right tree, and that it would support all the decorations he had.
Christian let out a little laugh at his explanation, offering up a nod of assent as he made a show of looking it over as though he were assessing it as well. "I'll go get a guy from the front, then," he offered, squinting down at the number written on the tag near the base before making his way away with Riley's smile bright in the background. It would be another few hours still before Riley settled, he knew, and that meant another few hours of fussing with the tree until it was set up properly, but they'd found one.
✰: My muse invites your muse to dance to Christmas songs. (Riley/Christian)
How much had they had to drink? Riley couldn't even be sure anymore, but he knew it had to be a lot, for when the music switched from something upbeat and dancey to something festive, he still found himself with the urge to continue dancing along to the beat, even as he spotted Christian moving back to the bar. For another drink or to avoid the music at hand? Riley couldn't be certain, really, but he spotted him nonetheless and found himself filtering through the crowd to get to him nonetheless, holding a hand out immediately upon reaching his side.
"Come dance with me," he insisted, oblivious to the grin turning up the corners of Christian's lips already and the slur in his voice as he spoke. He didn't know how drunk he was anymore, honestly, but it was evident that Christian did, even as he took Riley's hand as he requested. He wasn't on his feet, though, and so Riley shot him a pout, tugging his hand gently. "Come on, please? It's Christmas!" he insisted, trying to reason with him despite the fact that there was no need to, despite the fact that Christian was going to follow anyway.
"It's not Christmas yet, you're just drunk," he returned with a laugh and a shake of his head, though he conceded the other's wish at last and got to his feet, following him out to the floor. "Drunk and ridiculous." Of course, Riley was always ridiculous when he was drunk. He and Christian could both be, as they had long since learned when they began drinking and, together, had gotten into endless amounts of trouble simply while they were drinking a little too much and exploring in places that they really ought not without a sober chaperon to aid them.
Riley couldn't keep the grin off of his face when Christian finally conceded him, leading him out onto the dance floor again and starting to move along with the beat again. It was odd, dancing to music that wasn't meant to be danced to this way, but he was laughing regardless, all too amused by the movement and the knowledge that Christian looked as ridiculous as he did. This was one of his favorite things about the other man, he had to admit; no matter how foolish his wish might be, he always gave into it before long, always conceded.
Christian wondered why he gave in so easily sometimes, really. There was no reason he ought to be dancing along to this music now, and certainly no reason that he should be humoring Riley moving exaggeratedly along with it, and yet, there he was, letting himself be pulled into dancing without a thought. The grin on Riley's face, though, had him laughing again and letting him pull him deeper into the crowd as the music finally switched back to something normal. That was always what it took, really; a pretty smile, a laugh, and Christian gave in to Riley's wants.
➸: Our muses decorate their house together. (Riley/Christian)
The tree was finished, finally, and though there was a mess of tinsel around it and the rest of the apartment already, Riley couldn't resist the insistence that they had to add more decorations in. "You know just a tree isn't enough, it's barely festive," he insisted as he tried to determine where they could add in more lights, hang more bulbs, maybe even get some kind of stickers and add them onto the walls or windows. There had to be some way to make more of the house prepared for Christmas, after all; they just had to find it.
Christian was already tired of decorating, and tossed himself onto the couch with a groan. "Can we add more later?" he questioned, a hint of a whine in his voice as though that was going to slow Riley down. Of course it wouldn't; Riley had always gone overboard for Christmas when he lived with his mother and sister, so it would stand to reason that he would continue to do so now, even though they were barely going to be home on Christmas day anyway and it was just the two of them in the apartment. That was just Riley.
It helped that this was their first relationship as a couple; Riley was going even more overboard than normal, insisting that they had to make it something really special so that it stood out in their minds from the dozens of other holidays they'd had prior to now. Christian didn't see much point in it, personally. Christmas was going to be the same no matter what they did to the house, in his opinion, considering they were going to hang out at Pete's and open gifts with the rest of the band as they had when they were on tour.
Still, he could see the gears turning in Riley's mind, and so he finally pushed himself back up again, pointing to the window on the far side of the living room, where the keyboard and their guitars were stacked. There wasn't much space there, but it would be a good spot to start, at least. "Let's get lights up there, and you can grab some of the smaller ornaments to put up on the string if you move the keyboard out of the way," he offered, managing not to sigh at the prospect of adding even more decorations around them.
He was glad he'd suggested it, though, for Riley's face lit up in a bright smile again, and he made his way over to the wall, moving the keyboard without a second thought. He knew Christian would give in before long if he just continued trying to decorate despite his objections, of course, and he had been proven right. Little did he know that the reason for him giving in wasn't just being worn down, but was actually because of the smile he'd watched spread across Riley's face. He would give in a dozen times over to keep that smile.
✌: Our muses argue over which Christmas movie to watch. (Riley/Christian)
"Please god, not A Christmas Story again, we've seen that a hundred times this season already," Christian groaned, throwing himself back onto the couch with his exasperated statement. It was an afternoon off, with the band taking a break for the winter break, and though they had only been off for three days now, it felt like the movie had been on repeat since they'd come home. He knew it was Riley's favorite Christmas movie, but there were only so many times he could hear 'You'll shoot your eye out!' before he felt the urge to actually do so.
"What do you want to watch then?" Riley questioned with a pout, unable to hide the fact that he really wanted to watch it again. He hadn't watched it that many times, had he? It was the one movie that he and Sarah were always allowed to watch when the season came, for his mother wouldn't fuss if he did put it on, and Sarah would watch it quietly just the same was he would. It felt like nostalgia, mostly, with just a hint of humor to it now that he was old enough to understand some of the jokes.
When he looked over at Christian's thoughtful face, though, he was sure he knew what was coming already. They hadn't been living in the city together for three years without him learning what the other's favored Christmas movies were, after all, and the twenty-one year olds could never seem to agree on which ones were the best, despite knowing one another like the backs of their hands. "The Grinch," he answered predictably. "But the live action one, not the cartoon one. We should definitely watch the Grinch this time around." Of course he picked that; he always picked The Grinch.
Riley let out a groan of his own and tossed himself onto the couch beside Christian, grabbing a throw pillow and pulling it into his lap. "We've watched that like twelve times this week," he insisted, though he knew it had only been once. Just as A Christmas Story had only been on twice; the two of them were kings of exaggeration, really, and this was just further proof of that as they tried to come to some agreement over what movie to let play while they were occupied, inevitably, with things besides what played on the living room television.
"That's less than we've watched yours!" Christian insisted, grabbing the pillow on his side and smacking Riley in the side with it. That drew an affronted sound from him, and a returning hit, before grins started across their faces. "Come on, please? You know you want to let me win this time." As though it would better his argument, Christian accompanied that with a pout, letting that be the distraction he needed. Another smack of his pillow ensued, and the laughter that bubbled up from Riley's throat told him he'd won this time even as he was hit in return.
At ten years old, it was impossible to say no when the adults in the neighborhood insisted that you go out caroling with your little sister and your best friend. Riley had learned that the year before, when they'd been stuck going around for hours in the cold until Christian's parents took pity on them and brought them inside at last. It wasn't as though it was their fault, either; when carolers had gone around once a couple years ago, they'd made the error of excitedly singing along with them. That had been the start of the yearly caroling tradition.
It wasn't as cold as usual that day, at least; there was snow on the ground still, but the sun was out and they didn't even need to wear hats to keep properly warm. That was a rarity at this time of year, and though Sarah had already given up on them and run off home to pretend Riley and Christian had sent her home, they were still going around. Christian's parents would call them in when they thought they were done, as they did every year, and they had to stay out until then, they had been told earlier.
"I wonder if we're almost done yet," Riley offered as they walked over to the next house, scuffing his feet against the ground. Christian was kicking at a snow mound as they walked, seemingly trying to knock it over, and gave nothing more than a shrug in return, making Riley sigh quietly. This was fun when they started, but it got boring once they'd been to a few houses, and the boys wanted to go off to play. As fun as singing to the houses could be, singing the same songs over and over was getting boring, especially Christmas songs.
"We should just make up our own songs for the next house," Christian suggested as he jogged the couple steps to catch back up to Riley's side and started down the driveway to the Odell household. "I bet they would like that better than hearing jingle bells for the hundredth time this year." Of course, they didn't have any songs to sing them, and they didn't know what to sing about for Christmas. They had never tried writing their own songs, except for the goofy ones from when they were really young, but it was worth a shot, wasn't it?
Riley found himself grinning at the suggestion, and nodded in agreement just before they reached the door. "Let's make one up right now," he offered. "We'll do a couple normal ones, and then one of our own, and see which one they like better. If they like ours better, we'll just make up new ones for the next few houses." That would be fun, he hoped. As they reached the door, he knocked three times to announce their arrival to the Odell's, smiling brightly when the door opened and they launched into their first song of the set for them.
