Emo Trinity x Reader

Advent Calendar - Dec 14

"I guess... Pete," Brendon grinned, but Pete shook his head. "Josh?" Josh, too, shook his head.

"Last guess," Andy reminded.

Brendon tapped his index finger against his lips, looking into the many faces around him.

"Joe."

"Nope, not me, mate," Joe grinned.

Brendon furrowed his brows in confusion, and you could have sworn that for a moment his gaze flickered over to you, but you could not be sure.

The next few minutes Andy read out more names, but you continued watching Brendon. He seemed to pay attention to Andy and the gifts that got discovered, but sometimes he looked down on the box with the tiny bottles, his fingers running over the carton, as if that would tell him who had gotten this for him.

Then your name got called. It took you a moment until the information got progressed before you quickly jumped to your feet. You scooted past Tyler, and hurried over to Andy who handed you a shapeless package, wrapped in golden sparkly wrapping paper. You took the present, and sat back down again before you carefully pulled away the paper. The first thing that tumbled into your lap was a cube and for a second you thought it was a Rubik's cube, but then you noticed the numbers on the wooden toy.

"What's that," Josh asked interested as you turned the cube in your hand.

"A Sudoku cube, I believe," you answered, throwing the cube over to him, who caught it skillfully. "and..." you pulled a bag of sweets out of the golden, foil like paper, " chocolate coated popcorn. Uh, someone knows my vices," you joked, gently placing the bag aside.

Just when you wanted to crumble the wrapping paper to a ball to kick it aside, you felt something hard inside, so you checked. It turned out that there was one last, tiny gift in there that you almost had missed.

"A wind-up toy," you asked surprised as you inspected the sheet metal toy.

It seemed to be old, like something that your parents would have played with when they had been children. The metal was a little rusty at the edges, but the colors with which it was painted were still vibrant. Amazed you wound up the toy, gently holding it in your hands before you placed it on the glass table in front of you. With a quiet humming the toy started hopping over the table.

You had loved these toys when you had been a child, especially the really old looking ones, like the one that only slowly came back to rest on the table in front of you. Who could have known that? Was it a coincidence?

"Guess," Tyler asked, gently nudging you with his elbow.

You shook your head trying to find back into the present. Who would get you sweets, a Sudoku cube and a wind-up toy? Maybe Patrick? Out of all the people in the room he was the closest to you. But when you said his name he shook his head, mumbling 'I wish I knew you this well'. Your second guess was Andy, since he always had a very good intuition what people liked. But he too shook his head no. Just like Brendon earlier you looked around wondering who would get you these things. Your eyes stopped at him, like always, but now it was because he was nervously fumbling with his fingers.

"Brendon," you asked, making him look up at you with wide eyes.

For a moment he stared at you, then he grinned and nodded, but his hands were still tensely wrapped together in his lap.

Andy immediately continued reading out the next name, not giving you a chance to thank Brendon, but leaving you a lot of time to think about it.

The evening continued slowly. Pete brought snacks and eggnog, and hot apple juice with cinnamon. There was banter and laughter, and you hardly noticed how the time passed.

Only when the big grandfather clock in the hallway rang two o'clock in the morning, you realized that it was time for you to leave, since you had planned on doing some Christmas shopping in the morning. Everyone whined when you got up, saying your good byes, but they did not try to make you stay. They knew you well enough to let you have it your way.

"I'm leaving too," Brendon suddenly spoke, getting up from the sofa as well. "Need to catch up on some sleep."

He yawned as if to underline his words and followed you into the hallway after he had said good night to everyone.

In silence you put on your coats, and Brendon held the door open for you. The air outside was cool, as you walked towards the gate of the property.

"It was you, wasn't it," Brendon suddenly asked.

"Your secret Santa," you asked back, wanting to be sure you were thinking about the same thing.

"Yes."

"Yes."

Brendon stopped, and when you stopped too, to look at him, he watched you with gentle eyes.

"How did you know I was your secret Santa," he wanted to know.

"Truthfully, you were fidgeting with your hands, as if you were nervous," you confessed. "How did you know that I always wanted one of these old wind-up toys?"

Brendon chuckled softly and continued walking.

"You told me," he answered, "the same evening I found you riddling over a Sudoku, the same evening we went to that midnight market or whatever that was, where we got chocolate coated popcorn."

This time it was you who stopped in their tracks. You furrowed your eyes and looked at Brendon who was standing a few steps away from you.

"That was years ago," you stated, "and you still remember that?"

Brendon chuckled again, but this time it sounded almost sad.

"I remember every moment I spent with you."

For a few seconds it felt as if the world stood still. Your heart was hammering in your chest, as you tried to tell yourself that this meant nothing, but you failed. Slowly you reached your hand out and brushed your cool fingers over Brendon's cheek, who closed his eyes at the sensation.

Hesitantly you stepped closer, leaning towards him, whose eyes fluttered open again when he felt your breath fanning over his skin. For a moment you stood like that, staring at each other, trying to deny what was so painfully obvious now. And then Brendon could not take the tension any longer. He had suffered through this tension for five years now and enough was enough. So he leant in, and crashed his lips against yours. Without a second thought you answered the kiss, wrapping your arm around his neck, while he pulled you closer by the waist. His lips were soft and cool from the freezing air, he smelled like vanilla and cinnamon and you wished you could just cuddle against him and fall asleep like that.

When you pulled away, swollen lips and blushing cheeks, he smiled triumphantly.

"No offence, but this was a better gift than the alc," he grinned, his hand taking hold of yours, intertwining your fingers.

You shook your head with a smile, rolling your eyes at him.

"Wasn't 'secret' Santa though," you reminded him, and he giggled.

"I still very much enjoyed it," he confessed, making you blush more than you already were.

"Whatever," you laughed, and started walking again, still holding his hand.

Brendon followed you down the moon light lit street, a dreamy look on his face, wondering, what he could say to make you kiss him again as soon as possible.