Fluffy Christmas fic, n.1: Noche Buena
Christmas is coming.
I feel fluffy. I felt fluffy this latest period, especially when before a white empty screen to fill with words. I wrote two Christmas fics and a drabble... okay: let's start with the first one. This was originated by the project for an exchange of fics sent by mail in the community
secretsantafic. I didn't know that its name was based on an actual anglosaxon usage of giving a gift to a colleague in secret. I received a thorough prompt, and tried my best to accomplish my task in a warm way. Therefore, the first of my two fluffy fics:
Title: Noche buena
Pairing: Danny/Martin
Rating: PG-13.
Warnings: a bit fluffy. It might induce appetite.
Spoilers: none.
Disclaimer:
Without a Trace and Danny and Martin belong to CBS & Warner Bros. I wish they were mine, but they aren’t!
Author’s note: this fic was written to take part to the exchange of gifts in
secretsantafic.
My many thanks go to
redfairie19for her incredible beta and to
le_mot_mo, for her emergency beta on a few sentences that I added later.
As I modified a pair of sentences, all the mistakes are mine.
Prompt of the story was given to me by
averisimilitude.
Noche buena
The receiver made a distinctively crashing noise when it met with its base. Martin glanced around to see if anybody had noticed the rage he was taking out on the innocent phone. His eyes mercilessly met with Danny’s.
Martin babbled something that sounded like an excuse and then snapped,
“My mother. She wants me there. I mean, Christmas dinner with my parents! Can you imagine? My father preaching to us about what it means to behave as a Fitzgerald and questioning me about how I’m doing with the job and Jack and the team… I don’t think I can handle that!”
“You should tell her the way you feel about it,” Danny soothed. “It is high time you do something like that, Martin. And, if your unconscious dread is to spend the Christmas Eve alone, here is an invitation for you to spend it with me and my well… my family.”
Martin was tempted. He gave Danny a meaningful look,
“You mean you’re going to have dinner with Rafi and his family?”
“Yes. Rafi is out on parole, so… him, Sylvia, their kids, Sylvia’s brother… There’s gonna be a lot of excitement. That’s for sure.”
Martin didn’t respond this time. He turned around and lifted the receiver again, uncertain of what excuse he was going to come up with, but sure that two Hispanic children and a few noisy adults would be much more fun and warmth than his father’s elegant, ostentatious guests. He had been there before: Christmas’ dinners had been extended to not family members and instead of exchanging warm looks of affection with his mother or his sister he had ended up doing small talk with hoity-toity strangers.
When he turned to Danny again, he saw something mysterious and unreadable in his eyes. After a moment Danny’s mouth curled in a smirk, and Martin’s heart re-started to beat.
He would have a different Christmas.
…………
As the big day approached, Martin tried to behave as normal and pretended with himself he wasn’t nervous about it.
When he caught himself staring indecisively at the contents of his closet for more than half an hour that afternoon, he painfully realised how important this had become to him. Christmas Eve was going to be either torture or heaven, but Martin didn’t give himself the time to wonder why he was trembling. He assumed it was for the big step he had taken by challenging his father’s rage, nothing more.
…………
“Ehr, are you sure? I mean, you’re definitely going to speak Spanish and last thing I want is to screw your Christmas…”
“Can you stop worrying for a moment? My family is able to speak English, thank you.. If some sentences in Spanish will skip their attention, I’ll make sure to translate them to you, unless they are speaking behind your back, which in case…”
“Okay, okay! I get the hint. But do they know I’m coming?”
“Jesus, Martin. You’re making too much of it. Relax, will you?”
Danny went ahead and knocked on Rafi’s door.
Martin was almost behind him, feeling his cheeks violently flushing for the embarrassment. He didn’t belong there, he wondered how he could have been convinced to spend such a traditionally important day with someone else’s family… and their friends… oh, yes, that was it! And his father’s inquiries. Now he remembered! His train of thought was travelling in useless loops!
He heard a few Spanish words, that he could recognize thanks to his school classes, and then Danny moved aside, allowing Martin to peer inside the apartment, Rafi there, smile in place and a virile hand-shaking to welcome him. Danny introduced him as they stepped inside the apartment. It smelled of hot plates and incense. There was a Christmas tree on the background of the living-room. It was of a medium size, green, with multicolored ornaments and glass balls. Under the tree some tiny figurines of the Nativity stood out from the several pied packages wrapped with garish ribbons, ready to be opened at Midnight.
Martin followed Danny to lay their gifts for the children next to the others.
A quick clap and Sylvia unwaveringly commanded everybody’s attention, guests included, to go wash their hands if they wanted to start their Christmas dinner. When Martin was back from the bathroom, the table had been covered with all kinds of pots and plates, filled with smoky roasts, a hot broth and funny small packages apparently wrapped in a fiber of some sort.
“Corn kernels, if you’re wondering. They are called Tamales. There are pork small chops inside wrapped in corn kernels tied together with a string. You’ll need to untie them before eating, okay?”
Martin cracked a smile, amused by Danny’s obvious teasing.
Danny was like encouraged by Martin’s good disposition and added,
“But first, Fitz, you have to taste some chicken broth. Pass me your bowl, please, so I can fill it up.”
Martin was sitting next to Danny, and when he glanced at his neighbour, he recognised the same untranslatable look he had spotted back at the office. Martin considered frowning at him, but just looked away and handed Danny his bowl.
The people around him were talking, laughing, making a lot of noise, just as promised by Danny.
Nicki was restless and Sylvia was very busy to spoon little Consuelo, their toddler named after Danny and Rafi’s mother. She was hardly keeping still on her high chair and was whining to get free. The men made jokes in Spanish that were apparently very funny, had only Martin been able to understand one of them. Maybe they were really laughing at him.
Martin chuckled by his silent ironical joke. Their laughter was contagious, however, and Danny was kind enough to translate some of the jokes to Martin, when he could stop from laughing to tears.
After they had eaten broth and tamales, Danny introduced Martin to the star of the evening,
“If your endless stomach is still empty, here is the centerplate of the Cuban Christmas Eve dinner: el lechon asado. Roasted pig, if you prefer. Not too smoky, we don’t like too much smoke in our meat, but there’s garlic, pepper and all the good spices that make our dishes so hot and tasty.”
That look again. This time Martin ventured to give it a name: pride of his culture maybe, because Martin would chase away the thought that it could deal with having him as his special guest.
The rest of the dinner went smoothly. When everything was set for dessert, Danny stood up, rescued the little Consuelo from her personal prison and lifted her on his shoulders. They disappeared to Martin’s sight jogging and giggling together.
He was waiting politely for Danny to be back to taste a piece of the cake, when Rafi invited him to go ahead. He explained that Danny used to love it, but the rum cake was called that way because its main ingredient was a generous quantity of Cuban rum.
Martin couldn’t help but wonder if Danny had been away on purpose, though it was odd as Danny had been able to resist alcohol under any form for ten years. It wasn’t his style.
Either way, Martin, plate and fork in hand, stood to join Nicki who was before the TV screen, playing with his uncle on an old Playstation 1, the only one they could afford. The kid was excited on the virtual race he was going to win, while Sylvia’s brother turned to ask Martin if he wanted to replace him and compete with his very gifted nephew. Martin nodded and smiled.
This was a very odd Christmas Eve, but he was enjoying it, even when his mother had called, during the roasted pork entrée, to sweetly reproach him for not being with her Martin reminding her that the weather hadn’t allowed him to fly to Washington. He blushed while telling her the lousy lie. Thank God he didn’t use a video-mobile.
Danny came back announcing that he had changed Consuelo and sat at the table with his relatives. The men were having a weary conversation about politics and Martin was thankful to Nicki for not being involved in that.
He started his virtual car and was trying to figure how that joystick worked when Nicki asked him,
“Do you know why Uncle Danny invited you tonight?”
“No, I… I don’t know. Why?”
“I know why!” Nicki grinned. And when did he learn to wear the trademark smirk of Uncle Danny?
“Really?” now Martin was getting nervous. “Are you going to tell me?”
“He loves you.”
“Yes, well, I love him, too. We’re very good friends.” Martin was starting to feel uncomfortable.
Nicki’s voice became softer, the whisper of a shared secret,
“No, he is in love with you. I know it.”
Martin froze. His virtual car wrecked against a wall on the screen. He didn’t know what to answer. A joke? A shrug? A laugh to play it down? He went for an earnest question behind a teasing mode,
“Why’s that? C’mon, I’m sure you’re making this up.”
“No, no. I heard him telling Papa that he was a bit down because he had fallen for you and you were oblivious. Papa laughed and suggested him to either find a woman or ask you out. Did he ask you out? Well, I guess this invitation is like asking you out. Do you like my uncle? Are you gay or do you like women?”
Martin swallowed at the increasing rhythm of the kid’s naughty questions. And now what was he going to answer? That he liked men and he liked Danny, but he was sure he wasn’t returned? That this was breaking news?
Light steps behind him suggested him to keep quiet.
“Hey, nephew! Are you annoying my guest with your obsession over cars? I honestly can’t get where you inherited it. Uhm, might be your father or maybe your uncles?” and, chuckling, Danny moved forward to tickle Nicki under his armpits.
“Switch this stuff off, it’s time for opening your presents!” Danny physically dragged Nicki away from the couch and sat him on the floor, beside the tree.
The family gathered around the tree and Rafi invited everybody to join their hands in a prayer. Seated beside Martin, Danny whispered in his ear that they would go to the Midnight Mass if it wasn’t that Consuelo had had a cold very recently and they didn’t want her to fall ill again.
Martin shivered, and not for the news Danny had just granted him.
As they had repeated the Padre Nuestro, it was time for the joyous unwrapping of the presents.
Everybody reached and they started to unpack the few gifts, with Martin aside, still shocked for the conversation he had had with Nicki.
There was laughter again, and spread joy. Sylvia’s eyes sparkled with excitement when she opened Rafi’s present, a silver necklace she had seen on a shop-window, but didn’t have the courage to buy because “It wasn’t time to waste money”, with two kids and a husband just out of prison with an unsteady job.
Nicki got a Ferrari model from Danny and a DVD box of the Harry Potter movies from Martin, obviously indicated from Danny who knew his nephew’s tastes. Consuelo got new toys and outfits. She was growing so fast!
Martin was sitting on a chair, visibly distracted and mesmerized by the warm scene. Those people were poor and they were enjoying the cheap presents they had received from the people they loved. He was even tempted to feel guilty for having bought Nicki probably the most expensive gift of the night. But the kid’s wide smile and light in his eyes reassured Martin that he had done well.
Uncle Danny is in love with you.
The innocent voice of the kid was resonating in his brain over and over.
Martin had been spent the few latest years in denying that what he felt for Danny was less than legitimate and orderly.
The times he had felt slightly uncomfortable when Danny showed up at the office with a wide grin and shimmering eyes, looking as if he had been happily laid the night before, weren’t a sign of jealousy, but only an annoyance, being that kind of attitude inappropriate in a morning briefing.
The times he would hug Danny if he showed signs of sadness or pain for a tough case or was downhearted for some personal reason were just a normal impulse of friendship and affection.
The times when Martin had felt an arousal just because Danny had leaned on him while at the computer or spoken softly to him and Martin had surprised himself to stare at Danny’s mouth, observing his tiny teeth and cosy lips.
But they were only a slight physical attraction, easy to take under control. Everything had a justification. Except that now, suddenly, everything had clicked and Martin found himself stuck at a Christmas dinner with the family of the person who he had been sharing his days and most nights and whose sentiment he was reciprocating.
He would work on this. Later.
Busy to follow his imaginary train of thoughts and freaked out by his own conclusion, he didn’t register that most people had stood up and gone back to their activities, but one.
“Hello! Where are you, Fitz? This is for you.”
And now two hesitantly pleading brown eyes were staring at him, a package in Danny’s hands, waiting to be handled.
Martin swallowed, tensing his face muscles involuntarily. He held Danny’s soft gaze and tried an embarrassed answer,
“I… I thought we had agreed to just bring presents to the kids. I mean, you gave presents to your family too, but I… Danny, you just…” he swallowed again, defeated by his own lousy justification.
God, how could he not buy a present for Danny? He may guess the answer, now, but it wasn’t that he could tell Danny he hadn’t because it would be too personal and involving.
Danny eased him with a shrug, and all Martin could do was to open his gift. To his wonder it was a box with two of the most famous science-fiction novels by Jules Verne, elegantly bound. Danny had obviously taken notice of some of their small talk when Martin had recalled he had read Verne when he was a kid and dreamed over the fantastic voyages the 19th century writer had foreseen in his visionary imagination.
Martin raised his head to look in Danny’s eyes with a thankful look, not even trying to dissimulate the emotions that were overwhelming him.
Again, they got interrupted by Rafi asking if they were up for a poker, while the kids and Sylvia would head to bed. Martin stared at Danny, finally letting his intentions show, to his own astonishment. After a moment of hesitation, Danny returned the look and quickly turned to mock his brother about the money he would lose if they only moved toward the table, adding casually that he would take Martin home, instead, before the guy passed out right there for the exhaustion.
Though startled, Martin stood up before he could regret it and went thanking everybody for their warm hospitality. Things were going on so fast that Martin couldn’t think.
Danny passed him his coat and wore his own. In a minute they had rushed outside and walking the few stairs to the street.
The air was chilled, but dry. Danny’s car wasn’t parked far from there, just a few cars away. Martin, books-box in hand, walked before Danny. He felt his mouth getting dry and his stomach clenching in a knot. He could also feel a side effect of the twitching of his lower part, but he would ignore that.
While slowing walking on the cold pavement toward the car, he tried to focus on what move he might do to show Danny that he was ready for whatever was in Danny’s mind. He wasn’t at all, but this was a detail he wouldn’t tell Danny.
Danny stopped,
“Noche Buena. Cubans call it Noche Buena. It means that it’s the Christmas Eve and this is the Christmas Dinner. But it’s more romantic if you call it ‘the good night’, isn’t it?”
When Martin turned around at the sound of Danny’s questioning tone, as if, more than explaining it, he was asking Martin for a reassurance, he saw Danny tilting his head and looking at him with slightly narrowed eyes, and mouth shutting tight to show his cheek muscles tensing. His expression was sweet and insecure, though.
Martin smiled back at him,
“Noche Buena. I like that. Danny… I…” he swallowed hard before going on, “I think this Christmas has been the best one I had in years. Actually, it’s the best one. Period. I loved being with your family and the kids are spectacular. I have to say that the kitchen was…”
He couldn’t finish the sentence. His mouth was claimed by Danny’s lips and he felt lost.
He let his lips part to allow Danny’s tongue slide inside to touch with his, while their lips were meeting in a dance of muscles and soft flesh enjoying the easy contact with the other man’s magical door to heaven.
With them still kissing, Martin’s right hand stretched out to look for Danny’s hair and started to grasp and uncomb them. In the mean time his left hand was finding its way under Danny’s coat and jacket to reach his back and Martin found himself in a tight, warm embrace with the man he had for so long denied. They were passionately kissing, in each other’s arms, and, while Martin’s was secretly afraid that Danny would feel his arousal, he was pushed toward by a sudden Danny’s movement and felt his, against his stomach.
They finally parted, forced by the life-need to breathe.
Martin seriously felt his stomach jumping up to his throat. He got close with his face just an inch from Danny’s, to breathe his breath, and stared at him. Danny was gazing back upon him and his eyes were filled with a mix of joy, wonder and passion.
He opened his mouth to ease the moment, but no words would fill the air. Danny muttered,
“Martin, I didn’t think that you… how did you know?”
“I think you should thank your smart nephew, unless you are the one who suggested him to spill the beans to me.”
Danny’s mouth curled in a mute smile,
“I do have a smart nephew. I didn’t know he knew that I was hitting on you.”
“Were you? I thought you just like flirting.”
“And you like to be in the closet, don’t you, Fitz?”
Martin wanted to protest, but again his mouth was taken while Danny’s hands pulled him by his coat collar.
He surrendered to the warmth that Danny’s lips, Danny’s body, Danny’s Noche buena had wrapped him in and promised himself he would wish Danny Merry Christmas as soon as their kiss would be over, so as late as it would be possible.
Fin.
Yummy research was made on these internet sites:
http://cuban-christmas.com/tamales.html
http://cocina.cuba.cu/
http://cubapratica.altervista.org/comida/cucina_cubana.htm
I feel fluffy. I felt fluffy this latest period, especially when before a white empty screen to fill with words. I wrote two Christmas fics and a drabble... okay: let's start with the first one. This was originated by the project for an exchange of fics sent by mail in the community
secretsantafic. I didn't know that its name was based on an actual anglosaxon usage of giving a gift to a colleague in secret. I received a thorough prompt, and tried my best to accomplish my task in a warm way. Therefore, the first of my two fluffy fics:
Title: Noche buena
Pairing: Danny/Martin
Rating: PG-13.
Warnings: a bit fluffy. It might induce appetite.
Spoilers: none.
Disclaimer:
Without a Trace and Danny and Martin belong to CBS & Warner Bros. I wish they were mine, but they aren’t!
Author’s note: this fic was written to take part to the exchange of gifts in
secretsantafic.
My many thanks go to
redfairie19for her incredible beta and to
le_mot_mo, for her emergency beta on a few sentences that I added later.
As I modified a pair of sentences, all the mistakes are mine.
Prompt of the story was given to me by
averisimilitude.
Noche buena
The receiver made a distinctively crashing noise when it met with its base. Martin glanced around to see if anybody had noticed the rage he was taking out on the innocent phone. His eyes mercilessly met with Danny’s.
Martin babbled something that sounded like an excuse and then snapped,
“My mother. She wants me there. I mean, Christmas dinner with my parents! Can you imagine? My father preaching to us about what it means to behave as a Fitzgerald and questioning me about how I’m doing with the job and Jack and the team… I don’t think I can handle that!”
“You should tell her the way you feel about it,” Danny soothed. “It is high time you do something like that, Martin. And, if your unconscious dread is to spend the Christmas Eve alone, here is an invitation for you to spend it with me and my well… my family.”
Martin was tempted. He gave Danny a meaningful look,
“You mean you’re going to have dinner with Rafi and his family?”
“Yes. Rafi is out on parole, so… him, Sylvia, their kids, Sylvia’s brother… There’s gonna be a lot of excitement. That’s for sure.”
Martin didn’t respond this time. He turned around and lifted the receiver again, uncertain of what excuse he was going to come up with, but sure that two Hispanic children and a few noisy adults would be much more fun and warmth than his father’s elegant, ostentatious guests. He had been there before: Christmas’ dinners had been extended to not family members and instead of exchanging warm looks of affection with his mother or his sister he had ended up doing small talk with hoity-toity strangers.
When he turned to Danny again, he saw something mysterious and unreadable in his eyes. After a moment Danny’s mouth curled in a smirk, and Martin’s heart re-started to beat.
He would have a different Christmas.
…………
As the big day approached, Martin tried to behave as normal and pretended with himself he wasn’t nervous about it.
When he caught himself staring indecisively at the contents of his closet for more than half an hour that afternoon, he painfully realised how important this had become to him. Christmas Eve was going to be either torture or heaven, but Martin didn’t give himself the time to wonder why he was trembling. He assumed it was for the big step he had taken by challenging his father’s rage, nothing more.
…………
“Ehr, are you sure? I mean, you’re definitely going to speak Spanish and last thing I want is to screw your Christmas…”
“Can you stop worrying for a moment? My family is able to speak English, thank you.. If some sentences in Spanish will skip their attention, I’ll make sure to translate them to you, unless they are speaking behind your back, which in case…”
“Okay, okay! I get the hint. But do they know I’m coming?”
“Jesus, Martin. You’re making too much of it. Relax, will you?”
Danny went ahead and knocked on Rafi’s door.
Martin was almost behind him, feeling his cheeks violently flushing for the embarrassment. He didn’t belong there, he wondered how he could have been convinced to spend such a traditionally important day with someone else’s family… and their friends… oh, yes, that was it! And his father’s inquiries. Now he remembered! His train of thought was travelling in useless loops!
He heard a few Spanish words, that he could recognize thanks to his school classes, and then Danny moved aside, allowing Martin to peer inside the apartment, Rafi there, smile in place and a virile hand-shaking to welcome him. Danny introduced him as they stepped inside the apartment. It smelled of hot plates and incense. There was a Christmas tree on the background of the living-room. It was of a medium size, green, with multicolored ornaments and glass balls. Under the tree some tiny figurines of the Nativity stood out from the several pied packages wrapped with garish ribbons, ready to be opened at Midnight.
Martin followed Danny to lay their gifts for the children next to the others.
A quick clap and Sylvia unwaveringly commanded everybody’s attention, guests included, to go wash their hands if they wanted to start their Christmas dinner. When Martin was back from the bathroom, the table had been covered with all kinds of pots and plates, filled with smoky roasts, a hot broth and funny small packages apparently wrapped in a fiber of some sort.
“Corn kernels, if you’re wondering. They are called Tamales. There are pork small chops inside wrapped in corn kernels tied together with a string. You’ll need to untie them before eating, okay?”
Martin cracked a smile, amused by Danny’s obvious teasing.
Danny was like encouraged by Martin’s good disposition and added,
“But first, Fitz, you have to taste some chicken broth. Pass me your bowl, please, so I can fill it up.”
Martin was sitting next to Danny, and when he glanced at his neighbour, he recognised the same untranslatable look he had spotted back at the office. Martin considered frowning at him, but just looked away and handed Danny his bowl.
The people around him were talking, laughing, making a lot of noise, just as promised by Danny.
Nicki was restless and Sylvia was very busy to spoon little Consuelo, their toddler named after Danny and Rafi’s mother. She was hardly keeping still on her high chair and was whining to get free. The men made jokes in Spanish that were apparently very funny, had only Martin been able to understand one of them. Maybe they were really laughing at him.
Martin chuckled by his silent ironical joke. Their laughter was contagious, however, and Danny was kind enough to translate some of the jokes to Martin, when he could stop from laughing to tears.
After they had eaten broth and tamales, Danny introduced Martin to the star of the evening,
“If your endless stomach is still empty, here is the centerplate of the Cuban Christmas Eve dinner: el lechon asado. Roasted pig, if you prefer. Not too smoky, we don’t like too much smoke in our meat, but there’s garlic, pepper and all the good spices that make our dishes so hot and tasty.”
That look again. This time Martin ventured to give it a name: pride of his culture maybe, because Martin would chase away the thought that it could deal with having him as his special guest.
The rest of the dinner went smoothly. When everything was set for dessert, Danny stood up, rescued the little Consuelo from her personal prison and lifted her on his shoulders. They disappeared to Martin’s sight jogging and giggling together.
He was waiting politely for Danny to be back to taste a piece of the cake, when Rafi invited him to go ahead. He explained that Danny used to love it, but the rum cake was called that way because its main ingredient was a generous quantity of Cuban rum.
Martin couldn’t help but wonder if Danny had been away on purpose, though it was odd as Danny had been able to resist alcohol under any form for ten years. It wasn’t his style.
Either way, Martin, plate and fork in hand, stood to join Nicki who was before the TV screen, playing with his uncle on an old Playstation 1, the only one they could afford. The kid was excited on the virtual race he was going to win, while Sylvia’s brother turned to ask Martin if he wanted to replace him and compete with his very gifted nephew. Martin nodded and smiled.
This was a very odd Christmas Eve, but he was enjoying it, even when his mother had called, during the roasted pork entrée, to sweetly reproach him for not being with her Martin reminding her that the weather hadn’t allowed him to fly to Washington. He blushed while telling her the lousy lie. Thank God he didn’t use a video-mobile.
Danny came back announcing that he had changed Consuelo and sat at the table with his relatives. The men were having a weary conversation about politics and Martin was thankful to Nicki for not being involved in that.
He started his virtual car and was trying to figure how that joystick worked when Nicki asked him,
“Do you know why Uncle Danny invited you tonight?”
“No, I… I don’t know. Why?”
“I know why!” Nicki grinned. And when did he learn to wear the trademark smirk of Uncle Danny?
“Really?” now Martin was getting nervous. “Are you going to tell me?”
“He loves you.”
“Yes, well, I love him, too. We’re very good friends.” Martin was starting to feel uncomfortable.
Nicki’s voice became softer, the whisper of a shared secret,
“No, he is in love with you. I know it.”
Martin froze. His virtual car wrecked against a wall on the screen. He didn’t know what to answer. A joke? A shrug? A laugh to play it down? He went for an earnest question behind a teasing mode,
“Why’s that? C’mon, I’m sure you’re making this up.”
“No, no. I heard him telling Papa that he was a bit down because he had fallen for you and you were oblivious. Papa laughed and suggested him to either find a woman or ask you out. Did he ask you out? Well, I guess this invitation is like asking you out. Do you like my uncle? Are you gay or do you like women?”
Martin swallowed at the increasing rhythm of the kid’s naughty questions. And now what was he going to answer? That he liked men and he liked Danny, but he was sure he wasn’t returned? That this was breaking news?
Light steps behind him suggested him to keep quiet.
“Hey, nephew! Are you annoying my guest with your obsession over cars? I honestly can’t get where you inherited it. Uhm, might be your father or maybe your uncles?” and, chuckling, Danny moved forward to tickle Nicki under his armpits.
“Switch this stuff off, it’s time for opening your presents!” Danny physically dragged Nicki away from the couch and sat him on the floor, beside the tree.
The family gathered around the tree and Rafi invited everybody to join their hands in a prayer. Seated beside Martin, Danny whispered in his ear that they would go to the Midnight Mass if it wasn’t that Consuelo had had a cold very recently and they didn’t want her to fall ill again.
Martin shivered, and not for the news Danny had just granted him.
As they had repeated the Padre Nuestro, it was time for the joyous unwrapping of the presents.
Everybody reached and they started to unpack the few gifts, with Martin aside, still shocked for the conversation he had had with Nicki.
There was laughter again, and spread joy. Sylvia’s eyes sparkled with excitement when she opened Rafi’s present, a silver necklace she had seen on a shop-window, but didn’t have the courage to buy because “It wasn’t time to waste money”, with two kids and a husband just out of prison with an unsteady job.
Nicki got a Ferrari model from Danny and a DVD box of the Harry Potter movies from Martin, obviously indicated from Danny who knew his nephew’s tastes. Consuelo got new toys and outfits. She was growing so fast!
Martin was sitting on a chair, visibly distracted and mesmerized by the warm scene. Those people were poor and they were enjoying the cheap presents they had received from the people they loved. He was even tempted to feel guilty for having bought Nicki probably the most expensive gift of the night. But the kid’s wide smile and light in his eyes reassured Martin that he had done well.
Uncle Danny is in love with you.
The innocent voice of the kid was resonating in his brain over and over.
Martin had been spent the few latest years in denying that what he felt for Danny was less than legitimate and orderly.
The times he had felt slightly uncomfortable when Danny showed up at the office with a wide grin and shimmering eyes, looking as if he had been happily laid the night before, weren’t a sign of jealousy, but only an annoyance, being that kind of attitude inappropriate in a morning briefing.
The times he would hug Danny if he showed signs of sadness or pain for a tough case or was downhearted for some personal reason were just a normal impulse of friendship and affection.
The times when Martin had felt an arousal just because Danny had leaned on him while at the computer or spoken softly to him and Martin had surprised himself to stare at Danny’s mouth, observing his tiny teeth and cosy lips.
But they were only a slight physical attraction, easy to take under control. Everything had a justification. Except that now, suddenly, everything had clicked and Martin found himself stuck at a Christmas dinner with the family of the person who he had been sharing his days and most nights and whose sentiment he was reciprocating.
He would work on this. Later.
Busy to follow his imaginary train of thoughts and freaked out by his own conclusion, he didn’t register that most people had stood up and gone back to their activities, but one.
“Hello! Where are you, Fitz? This is for you.”
And now two hesitantly pleading brown eyes were staring at him, a package in Danny’s hands, waiting to be handled.
Martin swallowed, tensing his face muscles involuntarily. He held Danny’s soft gaze and tried an embarrassed answer,
“I… I thought we had agreed to just bring presents to the kids. I mean, you gave presents to your family too, but I… Danny, you just…” he swallowed again, defeated by his own lousy justification.
God, how could he not buy a present for Danny? He may guess the answer, now, but it wasn’t that he could tell Danny he hadn’t because it would be too personal and involving.
Danny eased him with a shrug, and all Martin could do was to open his gift. To his wonder it was a box with two of the most famous science-fiction novels by Jules Verne, elegantly bound. Danny had obviously taken notice of some of their small talk when Martin had recalled he had read Verne when he was a kid and dreamed over the fantastic voyages the 19th century writer had foreseen in his visionary imagination.
Martin raised his head to look in Danny’s eyes with a thankful look, not even trying to dissimulate the emotions that were overwhelming him.
Again, they got interrupted by Rafi asking if they were up for a poker, while the kids and Sylvia would head to bed. Martin stared at Danny, finally letting his intentions show, to his own astonishment. After a moment of hesitation, Danny returned the look and quickly turned to mock his brother about the money he would lose if they only moved toward the table, adding casually that he would take Martin home, instead, before the guy passed out right there for the exhaustion.
Though startled, Martin stood up before he could regret it and went thanking everybody for their warm hospitality. Things were going on so fast that Martin couldn’t think.
Danny passed him his coat and wore his own. In a minute they had rushed outside and walking the few stairs to the street.
The air was chilled, but dry. Danny’s car wasn’t parked far from there, just a few cars away. Martin, books-box in hand, walked before Danny. He felt his mouth getting dry and his stomach clenching in a knot. He could also feel a side effect of the twitching of his lower part, but he would ignore that.
While slowing walking on the cold pavement toward the car, he tried to focus on what move he might do to show Danny that he was ready for whatever was in Danny’s mind. He wasn’t at all, but this was a detail he wouldn’t tell Danny.
Danny stopped,
“Noche Buena. Cubans call it Noche Buena. It means that it’s the Christmas Eve and this is the Christmas Dinner. But it’s more romantic if you call it ‘the good night’, isn’t it?”
When Martin turned around at the sound of Danny’s questioning tone, as if, more than explaining it, he was asking Martin for a reassurance, he saw Danny tilting his head and looking at him with slightly narrowed eyes, and mouth shutting tight to show his cheek muscles tensing. His expression was sweet and insecure, though.
Martin smiled back at him,
“Noche Buena. I like that. Danny… I…” he swallowed hard before going on, “I think this Christmas has been the best one I had in years. Actually, it’s the best one. Period. I loved being with your family and the kids are spectacular. I have to say that the kitchen was…”
He couldn’t finish the sentence. His mouth was claimed by Danny’s lips and he felt lost.
He let his lips part to allow Danny’s tongue slide inside to touch with his, while their lips were meeting in a dance of muscles and soft flesh enjoying the easy contact with the other man’s magical door to heaven.
With them still kissing, Martin’s right hand stretched out to look for Danny’s hair and started to grasp and uncomb them. In the mean time his left hand was finding its way under Danny’s coat and jacket to reach his back and Martin found himself in a tight, warm embrace with the man he had for so long denied. They were passionately kissing, in each other’s arms, and, while Martin’s was secretly afraid that Danny would feel his arousal, he was pushed toward by a sudden Danny’s movement and felt his, against his stomach.
They finally parted, forced by the life-need to breathe.
Martin seriously felt his stomach jumping up to his throat. He got close with his face just an inch from Danny’s, to breathe his breath, and stared at him. Danny was gazing back upon him and his eyes were filled with a mix of joy, wonder and passion.
He opened his mouth to ease the moment, but no words would fill the air. Danny muttered,
“Martin, I didn’t think that you… how did you know?”
“I think you should thank your smart nephew, unless you are the one who suggested him to spill the beans to me.”
Danny’s mouth curled in a mute smile,
“I do have a smart nephew. I didn’t know he knew that I was hitting on you.”
“Were you? I thought you just like flirting.”
“And you like to be in the closet, don’t you, Fitz?”
Martin wanted to protest, but again his mouth was taken while Danny’s hands pulled him by his coat collar.
He surrendered to the warmth that Danny’s lips, Danny’s body, Danny’s Noche buena had wrapped him in and promised himself he would wish Danny Merry Christmas as soon as their kiss would be over, so as late as it would be possible.
Fin.
Yummy research was made on these internet sites:
http://cuban-christmas.com/tamales.html
http://cocina.cuba.cu/
http://cubapratica.altervista.org/comida/cucina_cubana.htm