Suit & Tie

Chapter 55-snowman sweater & birthday boy

"Cheers."  

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  By the time Ian showed up with Eryn and Niall (who had four men carrying a suspiciously large package behind him), we were all four shots deep,Russo had the music blaring, and Shawn was caring less and less about his snowman sweater, all signs pointing to a good night.  After that, the sound of the music increased along with the amount of party guests, each wearing their own hideous sweaters and holding various presents. They greeted Russo with warm hugs and kisses, and he immediately shoved drinks in their hands and brought them to greet us, Stan and Ellis and Aiden and so many names I couldn't even begin to remember with all the drinks in my system.  Things were starting to get a little bit blurry, and then Brian craigen showed up with fiancée alessia  on his arm and three bottles of the 40k Dom Perignon White Gold Jeroboam in his hands

. Niall immediately grabbed all of them and popped them while standing on the kitchen table, and after that it was sort of game over.  Through all of it, though, shawn was at my side, warm fingers curling into the back of my sweater, the sense of holiday giddiness apparently even getting to him. He even kissed me under one of the many mistletoe, lips tasting like expensive champagne and the red velvet cupcakes that we'd been sneaking all night.   

"I love you," He said in between mistletoe-induced kisses. 

 "And I love you," I said, and then Alessia was there, dragging me back to the kitchen for more shots with her and Ian and, in one occasion, dragging me screaming to see Brian and Shawn both doing body shots off of Niall Horan. I probably should have been more surprised about that one.  The party continued into the night, a constant blur of Christmas lights and ugly sweaters and people kissing in between drinks. At some point, Russo opened his presents to find a new pair of Marvel printed Vans from me, some Broadway tickets from Shawn, and a male stripper in a birthday cake from Niall that explained the abnormally large box.  

"The stripper doesn't have to wear an ugly sweater," Shawn complained, wrapping his arms around my waist from behind. I sagged back into his touch as we watched the dancer attempt to give various people lap dances. "Neither is Brian " 

 "Brian  is a robot alien Greek god," I slurred. "Doesn't count."

  "I'm the one writing Brian Craigens's paychecks, and yet I'm still here in a sweater."  I tilted my head back on his shoulder, kissing his jawline blindly. 

"You're so cute though, like, in the sweater. Cute sweater Shawn. Don't fire him. You're so cute. Kisses, please."  If anything, the alcohol made me more charming.  

*   *   *   *  

Apparently the stripper was the high point of the night, because after that people began to leave the apartment, flooding out into the unforgiving New York air in search of taxis and their own warm beds to wake up in. The venue emptied out until only the original bunch remained scattered across furniture.

  "Christ," Niall groaned, shutting the door behind the last few guests. There was a dash of icing across his cheek in between all of the lipstick kiss marks. He collapsed into the couch, feet in Sophia and Alessias lap, head in Ian and Brian's. 

"Don't know if I've had more alcohol or cupcakes."  

"The battle for space in your stomach," Russo yawned. He and Tyler were curled up against one another in one of the kitchen chairs, surrounded by wrapping paper and empty glasses. 

"Everyone get out of my apartment."  Brian who had a dick drawn on his face and therefore was not an alien robot Greek god, scoffed.

 "Mate, do you really want to clean all of this by yourself?"  Niall groaned dramatically and buried his head further against Ian's stomach. "