Hey folks, another drabble – I wrote around Christmas, that was inspired by a post from JJ on the Fake Second Chance-RPG. I hope you like it. :)
Characters/Pairings: Drake, JJ, Dee, Ryo, Ted (mentioned)
Warnings: Mild language?
Spoilers: Not that I am aware of...
Disclaimer: Not mine. All Sanami Matoh's and/or the RPG's. Except for the plotbunny. My preciousssss. Hehe.
Notes: Dedicated to JJ's and Drake's players! ;) Thanks to Grace Musica for proof-reading this ficlet. Thanks, hon:) All remaining mistakes are mine, if you find any, feel free to point them out to me! Thankies. :)
Of Christmas Trees and Eggnog
a christmasy ficlet by DeeRyoFan
JJ and Drake, bundled up against the cold, waited for their turn at the Christmas Tree stand on the corner one block down from the street where JJ lived. The two men were lucky since it did not rain nor snow on that cloudy Sunday in New York City. It was already cold enough though for JJ to have an excuse to wear his fancy winter attire - a black Ralph Lauren coat, shiny black Armani boots, a pair of dark gray leather gloves, a white cashmere scarf and a white cashmere hat.
Drake however, hadn't expected to be out in the cold for so long, his mind solely set on the eggnog JJ had promised him upon calling to ask for help for carrying JJ's soon-to-be-Christmas-tree back to his apartement. He had donned his favourite pair of blue jeans, a woolen sweater over his shirt and a rather thin leather jacket... in other words: Drake was freezing his shapely behind off.
To make matters worse, once they had the salesman's attention, JJ turned out to be rather picky concerning Christmas trees and so the two detectives had spent half an hour in the cold and JJ still hadn't chosen a tree.
The sharpshooter was just inspecting the upteenth potential Christmas tree, making his third round around it, when Drake's impatience finally got the better of him. Without words, his lips pressed into thin (blue-tinged) line, he shoved a bundle of crumpled dollars into the Christmas tree seller's hands, and after that grabbed the tree's top with one hand and JJ's left arm with the other to haul them both off the stand and down the street.
"Drake! Wait, I..." JJ started, struggling against the iron grip his partner had on him.
"JJ. I'm hungry, thirsty, out of cigarettes and freezing my fucking balls off! This tree is exactly what you told me you were looking for before we came here! Down to the turned-up limbs and the green of Laytner's fucking eyes, so, I'm not going to wait till it grows a Versace-label for you to finally consider it good enough! Now, stop fighting me and let's go home!" Drake barked out, stomping down the street as best as he could while dragging along a tree and a struggling human energy bundle.
"But Drakey-pooh!" JJ whined, but gave up the fight, when Drake stopped dead in his tracks and threw him a murderous look over his shoulder. "Okay, okay, at least let me help carry the tree, so it won't get completely ruined on the way back to my place!"
And with that the two detectives and the Christmas tree went their merry way.
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"How about that?" Drake asked from somewhere under the tree.
"Pull it to the right a bit." JJ answered from his position in the middle of his living room, supervising the installation of his tree.
Drake pulled.
"Stop! Hold it! That's it! Now it's straight!" JJ's suddenly exclaimed, rushed to the tree and crawled under it to help tightening the screws on the age old tree stand.
"About the only thing straight in here, huh?" Drake muttered under his breath, but JJ heard it nonetheless.
"You sure, Drakey-pooh?" JJ teased, peering around the tree's slender trunk to wink at his partner.
"Oh please!" Drake just rolled his eyes and continued tigthening the screws on his side of the tree.
Once they were finished, they crawled back from under the tree, and JJ jumped to his feet in an instant to run around it excitedly.
"Perfect! It's perfect! Oh, thank you, Drakey-pooh!" He cried, bouncing up and down, tugging on Drake's arm.
"Yeah, yeah, you're welcome, Jeez! At least rip off my non-weapon hand, will ya!" Drake replied, rolling his eyes again yet smiling indulgently down at his partner. "So, what about the eggnog? Do I get a drink now after all my hard labour?"
"OH! Of course! Sorry, Drakey-pooh!" JJ clapped his hands together and dashed out of the room and into the open kitchen.
"And stop calling me that!" Drake yelled after him, plopping down on the stylish dark brown corduroy couch.
"Will do, Drakey-pooh! ... Hah, that rhymes!" JJ yelled back from the kitchen, followed by childlike giggles.
Drake couldn't help but giggle himself at his partner's goofiness. It was always good to see JJ in this happy and bouncy mood even if it could drive him nuts at times (especially when it caused his partner to decorate their office in all sorts of blinking -- 'Christmasy', as JJ would call it -- lights and to hum christmas songs all day long).
By the time JJ dragged the box with his christmas tree decoration out of his bedroom, Drake had downed four or five cups of eggnog and felt all happy and bouncy himself due to the booze JJ had added to the eggnog as promised. Hanging out with JJ outside from work was always fun, Drake thought. They bantered and talked, teased and joked around and Drake could just be Drakey-pooh and that was it.
No pressures, no expectations like when he was with his girlfriend Marisol. He was always on edge when he spent time with her, never really knew what she wanted him to say or do. But with the guys from work, most of all with JJ, he could just be himself and relax - plus they understood when he didn't feel like talking or like going out, when he just felt tired, over-worked and didn't want to do anything but have a Budweiser, watch some football and go to bed early. No wonder Dee and Ryo spent most of their free time together instead of finding themselves some nice girlfriends despite surely being the two best-looking guys of the 27th precinct, he mused.
"Earth to Drake!" JJ's voice pulled Drake from his thoughts.
"Oh, sorry, zoned out there for a minute." Drake explained, leaning forward to put his empty cup on the coffee table in front of him.
"So I noticed. What's up?" JJ asked, switching on the light chain he had just finished putting into the tree.
"Nothing really, just feeling a bit... "
"Boozed, eh?" JJ finished for him, smirking.
"Yeah. Just how much alcohol did you add to the eggnog?" Drake raised one eyebrow at him, challengingly, but got up to get himself and JJ another round of eggnog nonetheless.
JJ was kneeling next to the decoration's box when Drake returned and handed him his refilled Winnie-the-pooh-cup, simultanously sipping on his own Eyeore-cup.
"So, do you prefer red balls or blue ones?" JJ asked, rummaging through the box.
Drake almost choked on his eggnog.
"W-what?" He squeaked, coughing.
JJ looked up from his position on the floor, staring at Drake as if to ask 'What the heck is wrong with you today?' and held up a red christmas tree ball and a blue one, both in one hand, for Drake to see.
"Oh!" Was all Drake could say, smiling sheepishly. "Uhm, I don't really know. I like the red ones, I guess. They look... mhm, I don't know, they look..."
"Cozier." Both men said at the same time and had to laugh at that.
While JJ busied himself putting the red balls of various sizes into his tree, Drake sat down on the coffee table, peered into the box and occasionally lifted an item out of it to get a closer look at it.
JJ was standing on one of his chairs from the dining area and in the process of tying a red bow around the very top of the tree, when he heard Drake first giggling then laughing out loud. He turned his head to see what his partner found so amusing, and almost toppled off the chair when he saw what exactly Drake held in his hands: his Christmas tree photo album!
"Drake, don't!" JJ cried out, jumped down from the chair and almost would have landed on Drake, if Drake hadn't moved to the side, open photo album in his hands and still laughing.
"Gosh, JJ, only you... ", Drake gasped out in between guffaws, "...o-only you would have such a thing! A... a ph-photo album of all your christmas trees, complete with a... a name for each tree and their individual date of installation a-and date of dismantling! In-incredible!"
The more pages Drake turned, the harder he had to laugh. Meanwhile JJ turned a crimson red and in vain tried to take the photo album out of Drake's hand. Only, Drake was quite a bit taller than JJ and just needed to lift his arms to get the album out of JJ's reach.
"Drake! Give that back!" JJ cried, pulling on Drake's arms.
"What ever happened to poor Matthew?" Drake laughed, ignoring him, and turned the photo album for JJ to see the pic of a slightly dishevelled tree.
"Damn you, Drake. Give me my album!" JJ whined, pouting.
"First you gotta tell me what happened to Matthew." Drake teased, stepping back from JJ, who still clung to his arms.
Now, JJ had already opened his mouth to answer his partner's question, but in that exact second Drake's left foot caught on the corner of the coffee table, causing the slightly tipsy detective to lose his balance and crash backwards down onto the floor right between the couch and the coffee table, tearing JJ down with him in the process, the younger cop landing on top of Drake with a loud 'oof'.
There was a moment of silence, when bright blue eyes looked with warm brown ones, noses inches apart, one warm body pressing almost intimately into the other.
"Uhm." Drake commented oh so eloquently after two seconds, a smile already tugging on the corners of his lips, breaking the awkward mood.
"Yeah." JJ replied in a low voice and quickly snatched the photo album from his partner's now loose grasp but otherwise didn't make a move to get up.
Drake was the first one to lose his composure, bursting out into giggles that quickly turned into hearty laughter. At the same time JJ's face broke out into a huge childlike grin and he started to bang his head on Drake's shoulder, his breath tickling the side of Drake's neck, when he started to laugh out loud, too.
The suddenly fluttering sensation racing through his stomach took Drake completely by surprise. He hadn't felt anything like that for ages, not since his teenager years, and he sure as hell didn't know if he liked to have that feeling now or if he didn't. Something deep inside of his subconscious mind told him, that he shouldn't have that feeling with JJ laying on top of him. With Marisol, yes. With any other girl, sure. But not with another man, not with JJ.
Okay, so maybe he had one cup of boozed-up eggnog too many? Maybe he was just drunk? Yeah, that had to be it.
Before Drake could make any more sense of his confusing feelings, his partner distracted him by getting comfortable on his chest with a contented sigh (or was that actually a purr?) escaping his lips.
"I almost burned down Matthew, using real candles on him." JJ answered the question from earlier, looking at the picture, completely unaware of his partner's troubles.
"Uhm, hey bud, as cosy as you are as blanket, you are rather heavy for such a small person. Would you mind...?" Drake asked gently, already attempting to get into a sitting position, gesturing for JJ to get up.
"Oh, yeah, sure. Sorry. Damn, you'd make quite a good pillow, you know?" JJ answered, pulling away, closing the photo album in the same movement and smiling brightly up at Drake, who was now standing next to him and offering him a hand up.
"Aw, not you, too! I know I probably should lose some weight." Drake pouted, grateful that the awkward moment had passed by without JJ noticing anything off, and patted his own belly affectionately after he had pulled his partner up from the floor.
"What the hell are you talking about? You look great." JJ answered, absentmindedly, stuffing the photo album back into the with the exception of the blue balls now empty decoration box and throwing a last, examining look at his Christmas tree.
"Uhm, thanks, I think." Drake replied, hastily downing the rest of his eggnog. "Look, I had better get going, it's late and we are on early shift tomorrow..."
"Oh, you are welcome to stay the night, if you want?" JJ asked, still completely oblivious to Drake's confused state.
It wouldn't have been unusual for Drake to crash at JJ's place. The younger cop's apartement was closer to the station than his after all and the big couch was very comfortable, so Drake often stayed the night there. Drake declined nonetheless.
"Nuh, thanks, bud. All those blinking lights would keep me up all night and I know you hate to switch them off during the night. Plus I promised to call Marisol when I'm back home."
"Ah, okay, I see. She controlling you or what?" JJ winked and smiled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. Even Drake could see that there wasn't any love lost between his partner and his girlfriend. He sighed.
"Well, yeah, maybe." Drake shrugged, smiling a bit too, and put on his leather jacket, that he had thrown over the back of the couch when he had entered JJ's apartement earlier.
"I guess, I don't need to comment on that, huh?" JJ asked, raising a challenging eyebrow at Drake.
"Nope. Come on, Mr. Christmasy, be a good boy and show your guest of honor to the door, will ya?" Drake said, guiding JJ to the front door by the shoulders.
JJ just laughed at his partner's antics.
"Well, I guess, I'll see you tomorrow", the tall detective said, still feeling a tadbit awkward.
"Yup, I'll be bringing unboozed eggnog, too!" JJ beamed, playing with the locking chain on the front door's frame.
"Great. Just don't let Ted anywhere near it. He always drinks half the bowl, then complains about feeling sick."
"Yeah, I know. I planned on it though and made enough for Ted AND the rest of the bunch."
"You and your Christmas habits, Adams!" Drake shook his head, smiling down at JJ.
"Aw, but you know you love me anyway, Parker!" JJ teased, wiggling his eyebrows. Drake swallowed.
"Yeah, yeah. Sure. See ya tomorrow, you loony." Drake ruffled through his partner's weird-coloured hair, just to do anything with his trembling hands.
"Sure thing, Drakey-pooh! OH! Wait!" JJ left the front door for a moment and Drake wasn't sure if he feared or hoped his partner was getting the mistletoe to trick him into a kiss (like he tried every single year with Dee), but then his partner returned with the white cashmere scarf in hands and Drake felt completely stupid for suddenly feeling so weird around his partner. He gave himself a little shake – definitely too much eggnog!
"Here. At least put the scarf on, it's goddamned cold outside. I'd give you some gloves, too, but your hands are way bigger than mine." JJ explained and didn't wait for Drake's reply, simply wrapped the scarf around his partner's neck and even tucked it into Drake's jacket, pulling the jacket's collar up afterwards.
"There." He commented, patting Drake's chest in a friendly gesture, when he was done.
"Thanks, JJ. What would I do without you?" Drake replied and was surprised at how much he actually meant that.
"Oh, most likely freeze to death or starve. Probably both simultanously, hehe." JJ answered, grinning his charming boyish grin.
Drake couldn't help but smile back. He shook his head in feigned exasperation, patted JJ's head once more, then he left.
JJ waited until Drake disappeared down the stairs and out of his sight, then went back into the living room. As was his habit he walked over to the big window to wait for Drake to show up on the other side of the street. And as always, once on the opposite side of the apartement building, Drake stopped, turned around and saluted up at JJ's window. JJ waved back, laughing when Drake bowed and went on his slightly tottering way.
Later that night Drake fell asleep, a white cashmere scarf clutched in one hand, his nose buried in the soft material. He hadn't slept that well in months...