The Holly and the Tentacles (Tinsel and Tentacles 2.0)

Chapter 5

Chapter

Five

L egacy sat back, staring at his computer. He’d done it. And the order would get to the station in plenty of time for him to install his gift for Aeryn.

Aeryn had decorated the apartment, and Legacy had been coming back to home-cooked meals and fresh baked cookies now for like, three days.

“Wow.” His heart raced. It hadn’t even been that expensive, because he was assembling the thing from a kit. The patent had been paid for hundreds of years ago by a med corp, so the proliferation of companies selling the stuff for pleasure market meant it was less expensive.

He blew out a breath. Then he grabbed his communicator.

“’Lo?” His buddy Jameson answered right off the bat.

“Hey, man. I need help day after tomorrow to install something in the apartment. And I need it to be on the down-low.”

“Oh, a mystery. Sure. I’m down. I’ll clear some time.”

“Cool. Thanks, man.”

“No problem. Hey, how’s Aeryn?”

He blinked. Jameson knew about Aeryn. Hell, Legacy talked about him all the time. But Jameson had never asked after him before.

“Good. Good. He’s making cookies.”

“Wow. Do I get some? I mean, I did save his ass the other day.”

“What?” His voice rose, but Legacy couldn’t help it. “Why did his ass need saving by you?”

“He ran into some meathead at the shops. The guy was about to clean his clock when I stepped in.”

“Shit.” Miners were a superstitious lot. Between the red hair and the bad leg, Aeryn would be considered bad luck by a lot of them. “He never said anything.”

“Well, I’m not trying to tell tales on him or anything, but he had a scare. He handled it really well, but the guy was gonna really do him some damage, I think.”

“Fuck. Okay. I’ll talk to him about it. I mean, there’s not much I can do, I guess.” He hated that when he was down on planet working, Aeryn was in a bad situation.

“You can let people know that he’s under your protection as an alpha.”

His heart skipped a beat. “That’s kind of a statement, Jamey. I don’t know what to think about that.”

“You mean it, don’t you?”

“Sure, I do; you know that.” He talked to Jameson about it all the damn time. “But I don’t know how he feels.”

“He sure was excited to hear that you talk about him when he’s not around.”

“You did not tell him that,” Legacy exclaimed.

“Yeah, kind of did, just sort of casually.” The laughter in Jameson’s voice made him grit his teeth.

“Shit I’m gonna beat your ass when I see you again.”

“Not if you want my help installing whatever it is you’re installing.”

“You’re never gonna believe this.” Jameson would tease him forever about this gift, he’d bet.

“These days with you, buddy, I would believe anything. Just let me know what time. Text me.”

“Will do. Thanks.”

They rang off, and Legacy shut off his vid screen so that he could go look for Aeryn in the main room of the apartment.

Aeryn was in the kitchen working on his cookies. That was adorable because he had on an apron, and he was mixing something very vigorously, which made everything sort of bounce, and made his butt clench, oddly enough. Legacy watched for a little while. Then he casually wandered to the fridge to grab a beer.

“So I was talking to Jameson,” he said.

Aeryn’s back stiffened. “Yeah?”

“Uh-huh, he says you had a run-in with a miner at the stores.”

“Define run-in. I mean, we smacked arms, and then he got really mad at me, but I was going to handle it.” Aeryn shrugged.

“And then Jameson handled it instead?”

“Pretty much, yeah. He’s a nice guy.”

“He is. I’m glad he was there for you.” Really, Legacy thought that a mining station was no place for a guy like Aeryn, who was so smart and so different and…

He didn’t know what Aeryn would do if he wasn’t an admin on a mining station, he guessed, but it really hurt his heart to know that Aeryn was so alone.

“Me too. That way, I didn’t get myself beat down. So much for the Christmas spirit, huh?” That wry grin made him want to kiss Aeryn and hold him tight.

“Yeah, sometimes there’s not a lot of that going around.” Legacy grabbed a cookie. “These are good.”

“Thanks. I’ve just been on a mission this year. Why don’t you take some of these tomorrow to work?”

“The guys would love that.”

“Sure. I mean, you and I aren’t gonna eat all of them, are we?”

“Hey now, don’t be giving my cookies away,” Legacy teased.

Aeryn laughed. “I can make you more, no problem.”

He kind of liked this side of Aeryn, a little bit domestic. That must be the alpha in him coming out, but he could totally see the fantasy that everybody had around the station. A little place on a terraformed planet to call theirs. A great big king bed. Aeryn home all the time. Having kids.

Shit where’d that come from?

“So, um, are we gonna hang out on Christmas Day?” Aeryn asked, head down over his bowl again.

“Yeah, I thought we would. I mean. I don’t have any other plans, do you?”

“Nope.”

“Not that it matters if I did. I want to spend it with you.”

Aeryn turned to look at him, cheeks pink, lips parted. “Really? I mean, you want to? It’s not just because you don’t have anywhere else to go?”

“I told you we were going to have to talk about this stuff at some point. Hell yeah, I want to spend it with you.”

Aeryn shook his head. “I don’t think this was what you told me we were gonna talk about.”

“Well, it’s all part of it, isn’t it? I don’t think that I’m feeling very roommate-ish about you these days, man. I think it’s more alpha-omega.” His palms got all sweaty just saying it.

Aeryn set the bowl aside and walked over to stand right in front of him, putting both hands on his chest. “I don’t feel very roommatey about you either.”

“Maybe we ought to do something about it.” Legacy reached up and slid one hand behind Aeryn’s head, holding him in place so he could bend down and take a kiss. The kiss that he had been thinking about for weeks now. And the glide of his lips on Aeryn’s was the most perfect thing he could ever imagine.

Merry Christmas to him.