hot toddy…

startswithhope:

“You caught me goofing around with
holiday-themed lingerie in the store and now everything is awkward and I’m
still holding this fur-trimmed teddy, aren’t I?”

This one was requested by a number of you, I
wonder why? Here’s some smutty, holiday cheer!

The only sound in the
apartment beyond the “click, click, hiss”
of the burner beneath the tea kettle as the gas finally ignites is his long
overdue sigh of frustration. The clock on the microwave shows 2:27 am, two hours
and twenty-seven minutes since he tried to go to sleep with certain visions
dancing behind his eyelids. Visions of his roommate, his best friend, his Emma…and
sheer red fabric trimmed in white fur. Fake fur, undoubtedly – but that’s not
really what’s been keeping him up.

It was just supposed to
be a fun day of holiday shopping, and it was – until it wasn’t. All it took was
finding Emma in the lingerie department, holding the top of a racy holiday
themed negligee up over her sweater clad breasts to send the rest of the
afternoon into a series of awkward laughs, uncomfortable silences and meaningful
looks. Well, the looks had certainly been meaningful to him, anyway. It’s the
question of what he was seeing behind those beautiful green eyes of his best
friend that has him up at almost 2:30 in the morning, making tea to add to his
rum.

They’ve had moments
before – him pulling her close to
cuddle on their couch as they watch television and him kissing her softly on her cheek to say goodnight at the door to
her room after one too many drinks. He’s pretty sure she knows his feelings,
even if he has yet to find a way to put a voice to them. The fragile nature of
his own heart has made him a bit uneasy at the prospect of opening it up to be
shattered. His friendship with Emma is too important to lose.

So lost in his own
thoughts, he doesn’t realize he’s no longer alone until the glow of the white
string lights taped to the edge of their kitchen island catch the white of Emma’s
sleep shirt from where she’s standing on the other side. Her high ponytail has
loosened and a few tendrils of her blonde hair have escaped onto her shoulder,
which she quickly pushes back behind her ear as she catches him staring.

“Apologies, Swan. Didn’t
mean to wake you.”

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