5 - All I want for Christmas

Carleen beamed at Horknath the moment she saw him. Theseus didn't look too impressed, to be honest. In fact, he was even disappointed it wasn't Asterius who opened the door for them, but- he had promised Carleen in the car he would try to be patient with everything and everyone. "Merry Christmas, Horknath!" He replied, cutting his sister who rolled her eyes some more with a fond smile, getting inside before her.

"Merry Christmas, Carleen finally managed to tell to Horknath. She was about to maybe close the distance between them, see if he would greet her with a kiss-
But Theseus forced the gift basket into her hands before she could even make a step.

"ASTERIUS!" He yelled without any ounce of self-restrain, before he ran into the living-room and literally jumped into Asterius' arms.

Horknath did indeed have the intention of greeting her with a kiss - but was definitely thrown off by Theseus' sudden entrance, and by him running fast past him to go and reach for his brother. He blinked, but shrugged it off in the end, hiding a chuckle as he noted Asterius' flustered expression.
He turned back towards Carleen. He leaned down for a sweet peck on the lips. Then he cleared his throat, uselessly fighting a blush from creeding up his neck. "Come in. I'll introduce you. I'm afraid it's too late to do the same for your brother."

Indeed. Asterius had barely the time to aknowledge Theseus' presence after he had yelled his name before he found himself tackled by him.
"... Theseus. Hi", he greeted him, feeling himself getting more flustered as each second passed by with his boyfriend at his neck. He looked at his side, and felt even more embarrassed when he noted the perplexed expression on his father's face. "Dad. This is... Theseus. My boyfriend."
Ga'roh grunted. "I had managed to catch that somehow, yes."

Carleen sighed. "Yeah. Will you believe me if I tell you I had him promise to behave himself?" She let out a laugh, and handed Horknath the basket. "Here. It's from my parents to all of you - there are Indian pastries inside, and champagne." She felt a bit self-conscious about giving the basket to Horknath to keep her hands free - but cut her some slack, it was heavy, and it had been unfair of Theseus to just shove it in her hands so he could greet his boyfriend as he saw fit.

Theseus would have kissed Asterius already, but he still wore his cast, so it would have been difficult to find a right angle. Still, he had been happy to just hug him tight as a welcome! When Asterius introduced him to someone though, he pulled away momentarily.
Oh.
Oh, he was being introduced to his father.
And Carleen had made him promise not to embarrass himself in front of their boyfriend's parents.
Yikes.
He cleared his throat, and loosened his grip around Asterius' neck so he could be brought back on his feet. "Uh. Hello! You must be Mr. Laurkinson!" He awkwardly offered his hand to him. "It's a pleasure, sir!"
There, fixed it! He was so proud of himself.

Horknath quickly got a hold of the basket to get her rid of it - it looked indeed rather heavy for Carleen to hold onto. "Aw, thanks! What a nice thought - the pastries look delicious", he commented with a smile, walking her to the living room. "And I'm sure my parents will love to have champagne when they'll celebrate New Year's eve."

Politely ignoring the way Asterius tried to hold his still-embarrassed expression - and the scene he had just witnessed, if anything to avoid more embarrassment for Asterius -, Ga'roh accepted Theseus' hand to shake. "Likewise", he grunted - even though it would soon be clear that he wasn't annoyed at all times, his voice was simply very low by nature. "I've heard much about you. My son tells me you've been quite a match - that he hasn't yet managed to completely best you in wrestling. I am impressed." If Asterius was someone of little words, his father definitely bested him on that.

Carleen smiled back at Horknath. "I'm glad, then- I told my father that all of this might be a little too much, but he insisted that we brought everything along." She sighed. "He's dying to meet you."

Theseus relaxed and beamed when Ga'roh mentioned his wrestling matches with Asterius. "Well! Asterius is a mighty opponent indeed. Not once before I met him had I been equaled- nay, defeated in a wrestling match! But I do aim to best him one day. And when I'll do, then we'll keep on practicing together, for I know it'll forever remain a challenge for both of us to enjoy! Ah, but we'll only be able to resume to it when my cast is finally taken off-"
And contrary to Asterius and his father, Theseus was rambling on forever.

Horknath let out a kind laugh. "You say it as if it is a bad thing", he observed with a smile. "... it isn't a bad thing, right?" Well he had all the right to worry in his book - meeting your girlfriend's parents was very important, and he didn't want to screw it up!

Ga'roh had just the time to lightly turn to mouth 'nay?' with an interrogative expression to Asterius (to which he answered with a little smile) before Horknath mercifully interrupted Theseus' rambling. "I'm sorry to interrupt", he interjected politely. "Dad, I want you to meet Carleen - my girlfriend." Ahh it felt so nice to be able to say it out loud! "Carleen, this is my father, Ga'roh." He looked quite bashful, but also excited to introduce her.
And Ga'roh  also looked a little bashful all of a sudden, as he offered his hand to Carleen. "... a pleasure", he let out. She could probably already see who Horknath resembled the most in his family. "And the two of you are siblings as well?"

Carleen had assured Horknath that no, her father being excited about meeting him wasn't a bad thing.

She smiled at Ga'roh and gently - and shyly - shook his hand. "It's nice to meet you." She didn't hold back a smile at his question, though."We are- I'm three years younger than Theseus. Though if that may reassure you, he's the only one who displays his affections in such a flamboyant way."

"Flamboyant!" Theseus repeated, with a scoff, and a look at his boyfriend that read 'can you believe her?'

Asterius snorted in amusement, and simply glanced back at Theseus affectionately. "A little bit", he added. "It's not a bad thing."

Ga'roh let out a chuckle. "I see", he simply answered in the end, getting his hand back. "I don't really mind flamboyance, but I can't say I'm very used to it." Their household, aside from when their sons had been very young and prone to play-fight with each other, had always been fairly quiet. ... alright, well, Ariadne the Great had always been fairly brash in her manifestations of love, but she was his wife. Speaking of whom-

"Well!?" A dark-haired woman about as tall as Carleen was standing on the threshold of the kitchen, an apron on and hands on both her hips. "So our guests have arrived and no one comes to tell me?" She didn't look overly upset though, and was soon wearing a radiant smile as she walked in the living room to greet her babies' significant others. "Oh, my sons weren't exaggerating at all! You're both so good-looking!", she cooed, quickly rubbing her hands on her apron to clean them before enthusiastically greeting both Carleen and Theseus. Ignoring the fluster she had caused with those words. "Hello! I'm Ariadne - Ariadne the Great, not Ariadne the Small, that would be my daughter!"
If one of them happened to offer her a hand, they better be ready to get smooched on their cheeks because Ariadne is italian and we all know how it works in this part of Europe.

Theseus had almost pouted upon Asterius' reply, but let's be honest, even he managed to notice the fondness in his boyfriend's eyes. He had probably inched towards him by the time Ariadne came in.

He was also definitely the one who tried to offer his hand to Ariadne before getting pulled into a smooch on both cheeks, and looked quite unsettled about it.

Being Aria's best friend, Carleen probably knew about the greeting kisses, and merely chuckled while she greeted Ariadne with a bright smile. "Hello Ariadne. I am Carleen, and this is Theseus, my brother. We're happy to meet you."

Theseus cleared his throat and forced a bright smile. Right. Ariadne. As in... Ariadne, the girl whose heart he had broken once and called a slut to her face. Hopefully no one would mention that.

Thankfully, his sister was good at bringing the attention back to non-threatening subjects. "We've brought a basket from our parents - there's champagne in it for both you and your husband, and Indian pastries made by our chef, if you wish to give them a try. They go well with tea, and I believe there's some in it too that must be coming directly from our family in India."

Asterius tried really hard not to laugh at Theseus' expression when Ariadne had pulled him down to kiss both his cheeks - only to stiffen a little bit when his sister was barely mentioned. He sure hoped the talk wouldn't fall on her a lot - the last thing he wished for was for his parents to remember what had happened back then.
Or to be forced to talk about what had happened mere days before.

"I'm very happy to meet you too, Carleen! And oh, how nice of them to think about us!", Ariadne answered with a smile as her attention was brought to the basket Horknath was holding. "Ga'roh - be a dear, could you put it somewhere safe? I'll open it up after lunch!" Her husband took the basket from Horknath's hands. She needed to see if there was something that would go in the fridge. "I have readied a little something for you to bring back home to them too, but I'll show you later. You kids must be hungry! There, give me your coats. I'll bring them to the entrance!"

Horknath exchanged a glance with his brother. Their mother was always at her best at Christmas - and even more than usual today in particular, since they had such important guests!

"Thank you," Carleen said while taking off her coat first, and gestured for Theseus to do the same.

Her brother cleared her throat, and waved the small wrapped package he was holding. "Where should we put our gifts, by the way? And when are they to be opened? Last time I joined a Christmas meal I didn't get to stay until that moment."

Carleen threw him a wide-eyed glare because Thee, now's not the moment to mention your exes.

As Ariadne went for the coat hanger by the main door and Ga'roh towards the kitchen to find a spot free, safe and clean from food and appliances for the gift basket, Asterius was the one who answered to that question. "You can put them under the tree", he said, gesturing for their Christmas tree.

"There are the ones we got for you there as well", Horknath added with a smile, showing two colorful packets resting under it. "We'll be opening them after lunch." He tilted his head. "You've been to other Christmas meals? Nice! I thought your family didn't celebrate", he exclaimed, not catching on the fact that it was not a topic to talk about. "A friend's place?"

Theseus went to lay his gift for Asterius near the others with a smile. Meanwhile, Carleen was trying hard, so hard to gesture to Horknath to just drop it, but unfortunately for her her brother decided to reply. "Oh, it was at one of my ex girlfriend's. Well, at her parents. Ten minutes in and she told me I was embarrassing her, and that she had never been so ashamed in her life!" He scoffed and straightened up. "She had given me poor indications about the dress code, and was mad at me for it. Can you believe the nerve!"

Horknath had indeed gotten Carleen's desperate signals a tad bit too late and now glanced worriedly towards his brother - who just let out a chuckle, surprisingly enough. "Ah, yes. I remember your father telling me about that, back in the hospital", he observed. "It was because of your eyeshadow, right?" He saw the look on Carleen's face and gestured for her not to worry. "It's alright. I'm sure this time it will go well."

Theseus scoffed. "Well, I'm not wearing any eyeshadow today indeed. And I am sorry for having to point it out, my dear Asterius, but I did not get my greeting kiss, today." He crossed his arms, with one eyebrow up in amusement.

Carleen rolled her eyes and smiled fondly at Horknath. "Aria isn't there today? It's just the four of us and your parents?"

Asterius scoffed as well, and rolled his eyes. "Oh, I apologize, my dear Theseus", he answered in a low voice - but with the exact same tone as his boyfriend, lips quirking into a smile. "I hope you'll forgive me for being shy about kissing in front of my parents." He gently rested his hands on his shoulders and leaned in to leave a soft, loving kiss on Theseus' lips.

Horknath shook his head at their brothers' nonsense and turned to face Carleen. "Yes - she and Dionysus aren't going to be here until dinner time. They decided it would have been better for them to have lunch with his family instead of being stuck with them until tomorrow morning."
They all assumed it was merely because Dionysus' family was all made up by very strange people - truth was neither Aria nor Dionysus trusted Zeus' wandering hands enough to have Aria pass the night in that house.

Theseus lovingly kissed Asterius back as much as he could, and caressed his cheek when they had to part away. "I am glad I could get to see you today, Asterius. And I am even more glad to know that you'll meet my parents soon, and will get to spend New Year's Eve at my side!"

Carleen nodded, and winced a little. "Yeaaah I get them. Aria's told me a bit about the Olympus family and they're... quite something, aren't they." She sighed, but then began to tell him about that last book he had lent her and how much she liked it.

And I suppose it's safe to assume their Christmas lunch went by wonderfully! Unless you want to have the parents questioning either Carleen or Theseus before they get to exchange gifts?

The Christmas lunch went indeed wonderfully well, unless Theseus slipped and named Aria or brought attention to his broken nose!
The questions Ga'roh and Ariadne - alright, mainly Ariadne, she was the resident chatterbox of the Laurkinson's household - would ask to either Theseus or Carleen would be your standard, run-of-the-mill ones that any parent would ask to their child's significant other (how did they meet, what were they doing in school, what kind of hobbies they had). Ariadne proudly pointed out at the fact that she had used absolutely no beef in her kitchen on that day, a very difficult thing when your main Christmas dish is supposed to be lasagne al ragù. She had gone for an astounding number of little appetizers instead, pork ravioli in broth, fried fish, and lamb with potatoes - and dessert, of course, even though they did try out the indian pastries that Theseus and Carleen had brought over!

Soon enough they were back in the living room, with Spike happily resting next to the couch with some reindeer antlers resting on his giant puppy head. "-yes, and that's how I ended up gifting both of them House chores for Dummies during the first Christmas they had changed house", Ariadne was telling, smiling as she recalled the absolute disaster her sons had made with their clothes the first time they had tried to use the washing machine on their own.

Carleen made sure to compliment Ariadne a lot during the meal, and Theseus nodded and approved his sister's words regularly, usually with his mouth full. He had eaten a whole lot, and was probably dozing off against Asterius, his body calling for a well-deserved digestive nap, especially if they just had tea as well.

Carleen laughed at Ariadne's story, and shook her head. "Oh no, that sounds terrible. But- I suppose they must be doing great now, I haven't witnessed any laundry incidents since I've known them." She threw a teasing smile at Horknath, before she turned back towards his mother. "But I don't blame them fully either- after all, I know worse. Thee washed and threw in the dryer a suit our father had designed, and paid for- because he thought that's what 'dry cleaning' stood for. Our mom was furious."

Horknath didn't say anything - he just tried really hard to hide his face and how terribly red it was as he got teased about that laundry accident by both his mom and Carleen.

Ariadne hid a laugh behind her hand. "Oh, no - I bet she was, and I bet your brother got scolded a lot for that!", she observed with a smile. "I know how expensive a tailored suit can be, Ga'roh has a couple that he gets out for weddings and special occasions - isn't it right dear?" Ga'roh briefly grunted in agreement, nodding along. His wife smiled at him, reaching for his hand to hold it. "And we're always extra careful with the way we handle them for cleaning. If they get ruined, I would be very upset! It's nice that your father works in that area, though. "

While usually the Laurkinsons were more about coffee, Ariadne had insisted to make tea for their guests if they wanted it - so yes, Theseus had probably had tea after lunch. Asterius watched amusedly - and with a loving glint in his eyes - as he slowly drifted against his side. He would've gladly let him sleep, but it wasn't really the right moment for that. "Hey", he called softly, resting his hand against his shoulder. "Don't fall asleep just yet. There are gifts to open, remember?" His tail flicked upwards to curve gently on his boyfriend's thigh.

Carleen nodded. "Dad got him a new one that way, yes. Since then, Thee has never even tried to make his laundry again- but I'm afraid it's also because our housekeeper - who used to be our nanny as well - is still doting on him.

Theseus perked up slightly, and ran his hands on his eyes. "Gifts? Is it really gifts time?" He blinked his eyes open, and laid one of his hands on his thigh, where something was sort of tickling him...
Only to realize that it was Asterius' tail. And since he was still a sleepy, he ran his thumb along it, softly, and a little curious. After all, Asterius had only told him it wasn't to be pulled on during wrestling because it was quite sensitive, but- come to think of it, he had never touched it.

Ariadne chuckled. "I see - and I understand. When you've looked after someone as they were kids, it's really hard to let go of that image you have of them." She threw an affectionate glance at her two sons. She smiled at Carleen, though. "But, maybe with time he'll learn! Everyone is bound to make a mistake like that. What about you though, Carleen? Was it easy for you to learn and live by your own?"

Asterius was about to reply that well, as soon as he'd be more awake they could definitely open the presents - but he seized up, tensing when he felt Theseus' finger brush against his tail, running along its length. He shivered - and probably his boyfriend would feel that, briefly closing his eyes. He subtly retired his tail out of his reach, though, as soon as he got his senses back. "Yes. Gifts time", he answered finally, his voice low.

Carleen 's smile grew more awkward quite quickly. "Well- only regarding laundry, I'm afraid. I'm still terrible when it comes to cooking. The most I've managed to do without embarrassing myself is cooking pasta and warming up some tomato sauce to put on it." She wasn't proud of her performances in the kitchen - but, well, it turned out she didn't have the patience for it.

Theseus was a bit unsettled at first, but Asterius' reaction - or rather, what he thought it to be - sobered him up. "Oh! I'm so deeply sorry Asterius, did I hurt you?" He not-so whispered ar his boyfriend.

Ariadne didn't seem overly unsettled about that. She smiled sympathetically. "Ah, I get you, you know? I definitely wasn't great at it either when I started - I swallowed my pride after a while, and just asked my moms to teach me some easy recipes. Now I'm doing better!" Her smile grew though as she threw a teasing glance at Horknath. "But you can't be worse than Horknath in the kitchen."

Horknath flushed when he was pulled into the conversation, and quickly glanced down at his feet. He bit his lip. "I... burnt milk once", he muttered in a low voice. Ga'roh, at his side, patted his shoulder in sympathy.

Thankfully, since no one was paying attention to them, Theseus' stage-whispering had gone unnnoticed. Asterius shook his head, feeling himself blush under his fur. "No, you didn't hurt me. I'm- just sensitive", he said, trying to explain without really explaining.

Carleen chuckled, but she threw a sympathetic glance at Horknath, taking his hand in hers. "Listen- The five first attempts at hot chocolate I made at our place, I overheated my milk in the microwave. I feel you on that one." She soothingly ran her thumb on the back of his hand, and turned towards Ariadne again. "Well- we'd better get to learn some cooking together, then, so if you have any tips, I'd be happy to try!"

Theseus frowned a little, and looked carefully at his boyfriend. "Asterius, you needn't hide things like this from me!" He reached for his boyfriend's face, caressing his cheek. "I won't do it again, if it upset you in any way." He had completely misunderstood his reaction, yep. "So! How about those gifts, then!" He said, louder this time.