The log cabin was quaint, two stories, and had a perfect view of the lake and valley below. It was a home Aosh's grandmother had built and left to his father before she died. As a child they would come stay for long weekends or over the summer, when the swimming was the best. Watching the fireworks from such a secluded spot was great, it was like having their own private show.
Aosh and Tiza arrived first to unlock the place. As night fell they went outback to the patio to set up for their little New Year's party. Everything was situated around the fire pit, it's table, and the plush outdoor furniture that curved around it in a semi- circle. The flames warmed the area just enough to make things comfortable in the chilly night air. From where they were, there was a perfect outcropping of trees to see the massive lake below and the valley that surrounded it. Aosh set the two bottles of champagne he brought to celebrate down on the table. Tiza set down the charcuterie board they had spent the day prior putting together. It looked elegant, what you would expect to see at a proper New Years Eve party.
Coming in through the gate, Hunter comes bounding up with a bottle of vodka in one hand and whiskey in the other, Shawnee with a tray of jello shots and drink mixers, and finally Daniella with a tray of deli sandwiches.
Now it was looking like a party for a bunch of twenty somethings.
Aosh's eyebrows shoot up as he eyes the assortment that was on the table.
"I thought I was handling the drinks."
"Yeah, but champagne is not enough bro. This is a party! We gotta ring in the new year right!" Hunter says, breaking the seals on both of the liquor bottles, as he plops in his seat.
"And a little birdie told me you love jello shots." Shawnee, giggles.
"Loosen up," Daniella laughs, and after setting down her tray, grabs a festive hat from one of the plastic bags still hanging around her arm, and places it on Aosh's head, "I promise tonight's going to be fun." Then her gaze moves to Tiza, whom she gives a wink.
'What does that mean?' Tiza wonders.
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Tonight was going to be fun, the trio was going to make sure of it.
They conspired prior to arriving at the cabin, that to ring in the new year 'right' they had to get these two together. Aosh was pussyfootting around still, and at least to Daniella, it was becoming more obvious that Tiza was coming to like Aosh. But these two idiots would just keep dancing around the subject forever unless someone jumps in.
For once Hunter had a great idea. He was the only one who knew how Aosh got when he was drunk. Like really drunk. He was so honest, never held anything back, and best/worst of all, he wouldn't shut up about Tiza. Back then when it was Aosh, Marcus, and himself hanging out it was annoying as hell, albeit hilarious, but now it couldn't be more perfect. And so they made a quick pit stop on the way, to grab the 'good stuff'.
Tonight's mission: New Year's Confession.
The objective: Get one one of these idiots to confess their feelings and kiss at midnight.
With food laid out on the table and a tray of jello shots just waiting to be eaten, Hunter grabs one and urges everyone to do the same.
"To a new year with great friends!" he exclaimed before downing the whole thing.
As everyone took their shot, Aosh and Tiza glanced at each other, both envisioning tonight to be a little more low-key, but downed their shots anyway. Maybe they both could loosen up a little.
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Small plastic cups leaned in a stack on the end of the table closest to Aosh and Tiza, probably half of the tray of jello shots had ended up over there. Both of them were looking a tad red in the face. Tiza melted into the cushions, lazily petting Benji that lay next to him, and Aosh was now sitting closer to Tiza. Which was progress, but Aosh still had a ways to go until he would get drunk. Now an hour and a half before midnight it was time to pull out the big guns.
Shawnee poured and divided out a round of whiskey to everyone, her festive party beads clinking together as she did so, "Alright time to play a game! Everyone's played 'Never have I ever' right?"
All heads nodded except for Tiza, so Shawnee explained the rules. They would go around the table and say 'Never have I ever' and then say something they have never done, but if someone playing has done it before then they had to take a shot. Shawnee leads off the game.
"Never have I ever gotten a tattoo."
All eyes go to Aosh, who makes a face but reluctantly takes the shot, followed by Tiza.
Everyone's eyebrows shoot up. But the fact that Tiza had a tattoo wasn't relevant to the mission so that one got swept under the rug for now. Quickly refilling their glasses, it was Daniella's turn.
"Never have I ever made out with a friend."
To everyones, except for Daniella's surprise, Aosh takes another shot, although over the rim of his glass he sends Daniella a hot glare that screams, 'How dare you bring that up!'
'Sorry Aosh, I know you're ashamed of your first kiss being stolen but it's for the greater good!' she thinks.
Aosh's shot glass gets another top off and now it was Hunter's turn.
"Never have I ever fallen in love at first sight."
There was no point in lying, everyone at the table already knew the truth, still Aosh begrudgingly took another shot. What the hell were these three trying to do?
Now it was Tiza's turn, and hopefully the target on Aosh's back would go away. Tiza looked into the amber liquid in his cup, his finger tapping on the rim as he thought of his statement. Then he chuckles to himself.
"Never have I ever given a fake name."
All eyes shot to Aosh again, who was looking at Tiza incredulously. The Omega tucks a stray hair behind his ear, trying to hide his grin.
"I think at least one person has done that before," he didn't know what was going on either but being tipsy made him want to mess with Aosh too!
Aosh shamefully downs the whiskey, and can already feel himself slipping even more out of sobriety. This game was a set up!
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They ended the game about thirty minutes till midnight and between the five of them a majority of the liquor went towards the Alpha and Omega 'soon to be' couple. Tiza was all giggles and hiccups, curled up in a grey blanket on the end of the couch, Benji now on the fire warmed cobblestone. And Aosh...well he had finally loosened up as well. He lays on the rest of the couch, his head laying on Tiza's lap, gazing up at the Omega with hazy eyes.
The tip of Tiza's finger traces the peonies on Aosh's hot cheeks, as he mumbles something to the other. But the trio doesn't interfere anymore than this, they have opted to stick to the other side of the patio on the far end of the fire pit to give them some privacy. But still close enough to see if their mission would be a success by midnight. Now it was time for the liquid courage they gave the duo to do it's magic.
"You're beautiful," Aosh says, eyes running along Tiza's jawline, up to his freckled cheeks, and then stopping to look into eyes that could give polished emeralds a run for their money, "So gorgeous. I want to write poems about your beauty and keep them locked away so only I can read them," the Alpha sighs and leans against where the other slowly strokes his heated skin.
"Oh, shut up."he pokes Aosh's cheek playfully, no bite to his words.
"Never. Beautiful, gorgeous, immaculate, pretty...I," the words fail him when he catches sight of Tiza's lips red and moist from the drink he just finished, "What were we talking about?" his obsidian eyes squint as he searches for the conversation they were just having.
Tiza giggles again and cradles Aosh's face in his hands, "You're drunk."
"You're drunk." he slurs, "Are there any more jello shots?"
"Just half of whatever's in here," Tiza reaches to the table to grab one of the small cups that had escaped them earlier.
The Alpha opens his mouth and the Omega dumps the contents into it.
"So, I have a question," Tiza licks his fingers where the jello had made them sticky, "Am I everything you hoped I would be? Like when you thought about meeting me."
Aosh swishes the jello around in his mouth until it becomes a liquid again, the overpowering taste of vodka and artificial cherry covering his tongue,
"Everything and more. I don't think I could imagine anyone so-so perfect. You're so real and yet so ethereal, like a statue come to life. Just so...soooo...Tiza. I just want to know everything about you."
Through his drunkenness a wave of shame washes over Tiza. His past wasn't pretty and it wasn't anything that he was proud of. There were many times he thought that Aosh wouldn't want to be his friend anymore because of it and more recently he thought that Aosh might not… like him anymore because of it.
"No you don't. You won't like me anymore if you knew everything," Tiza pouts.
Aosh sits up, maybe a little too fast and gets dizzy, but nevertheless his face is offended.
"Impossible. I will never not like you! There's nothing you could have done that would change my mind."
The Omega face scrunches up and he hides partially behind the blanket, pulling it tighter around him and curling up until only his eyes and the top of his head are showing. Aosh crawls closer and prods at the Tiza burrito, a pout set into his features.
"Please tell me."
Who gave this Alpha the right to look so cute and handsome when he was wasted?
Maybe it was because of the alcohol but now was probably the best time than any to lay out his dirty laundry. Before he gets too deep in these...whatever these feelings are that have been plaguing his mind like a disease. Even now Tiza's heart feels like it's equally melting and beating a mile a minute under his fated mate's hot gaze.
"I-...I used to sell my body, when I was younger. I-I'm not pure or untouched like an Omega is supposed to be," shame edged his voice as he mumbles inside the blanket fortress.
"Ok."
Aosh's finger slowly tugs at the edge of the blanket, bringing into view Tiza's nose.
"My..my uncle used to beat me mercilessly, because I wasn't good enough."
"If I ever see that bastard he's dead."
The blanket comes away more to reveal the Omega looking down, in what could be embarrassment or shame.
Tiza presses his lips into a thin line, "I don't eat, because all my life people have told me I have to look a certain way or I wouldn't succeed."
Aosh shifts closer, and clumsily brings his hands up to cup Tiza's face so that he's not staring holes into his lap anymore.
"You know what I care about?"
Suddenly it feels like Tiza can't breathe, "What?"
Aosh presses their foreheads together and continues.
"That I can feel your heartbeat and see the life in your eyes. That you finally smile like the way your beautiful lips were supposed too. That even though you have been through hell and back you are strong enough to keep going on and keep your heart open. I care about you so much and nothing that happened in the past will change that."
"It's hard to just forget your past." Even if there was a stunning Alpha with a heart of gold saying it was possible.
"You don't have to forget, it's a part of who you are, the Tiza I love, you just don't have to let it define you."
"You...love me."
It was something that everyone knew, at this point it was a fact of life but the phrase hit differently now, maybe it was the alcohol or the fact this was the first time he has heard Aosh say it. Love. That...that was what has been bothering him lately; this feeling. It's been love isn't it?
Tiza pushes Aosh away.
"If I can't let my past define me then neither can you."
"What do you mean?"
"You've focused on one goal your entire life. Me. You center everything you do around me. Like I'm so important. When have you ever done something for yourself?"
Aosh's mouth opens because he knows how to answer this. That is until his brain, as sloshed as it is, tries to think of one instance where he had done something that wasn't fueled by the thought of his fated mate. After a prolonged moment of silence, Aosh reaches for the bottle of vodka, tops off his glass, and takes a shot.
"And if I haven't?"
"Then you're a hypocrite!"
He pours himself another, "What if I don't care. What if all I want to do is whatever you want to do, follow you wherever you want to go, and be whoever you want me to be? What if that makes me happy?" he knocks back his drink.
The Alpha goes for the bottle this time but before it reaches his lips Tiza stops the bottle. The Omega gazes at Aosh closely before his face falls.
"What's wrong…? I can tell so don't try to hide it."
Aosh's face twists and he tries to hide his face by turning away, but Tiza only moves closer into his space.
"I'm afraid...that if I get too comfortable or get too ahead of myself, people will leave. I-I don't want to be alone. Doing things with the pretense that one day I wouldn't be alone because I had you made things easier. But now, you're here and...I don't know how to make you stay.
"You haven't run me off, silly."
"Yet. Everybody leaves me. And I don't know why. I don't know what I could do better."
Aosh looks so distraught Tiza can physically feel his heart shattering.
"Hey, anybody that doesn't want to be with you is an idiot. You are impossibly nice, probably the nicest person I've met. And you care so deeply about your friends whom you have more than you think you do. Everyone here-," Tiza gestured towards the rest of the group, "-isn't going to leave you, especially me."
Aosh continues on, like a dam of emotions has opened inside of him.
"I know but, then you left. And I didn't know what to do. I got tired of crying, then I got mad, then I started crying again. I don't know if I could go through that again! And now I'm really glad I get to see you everyday, and wake up next to you, and have a family with you. No! Shit! Sorry not a family what I mean is-"
Tiza presses his fingertip to Aosh's mouth.
"You think we're a family?" but Tiza's face is anything but angry.
"Y-yea. I, uh, want to take care of you, and-and be taken care of by you like a family. I want you to stay with me until we grow old...I want...what I want I can't have…"
"Why not?"
The countdown starts in the background. He can hear their group of friends counting cheerfully as the year comes to a close, but everything is so far away right now. At this moment it was just him and Tiza. What he wanted. He knew what he wanted, but why couldn't he have it? His drunken brain couldn't find the logic of why he had to screw himself over like this everyday and not just take what he had been yearning for for years!
"Can I tell you what I want right now?" Tiza says, biting his lip.
Aosh is entranced by the man in front of him and he can't find it in himself, even when he is able to lay everything out in the open, to voice what it is he wants. So he asks in such a small voice no one but the person inches from him can hear,
"What do you want right now?"
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"Three!"
"Two!"
"One!"
"Happy New Year!"
Hunter popped the champagne bottle and cheered as the white foam poured out of it. Quickly pouring it into flutes, he raises it for a toast with the girls. The fireworks show started down in the valley and the rockets exploded in the air reflecting across the surface of the lake; the loud boom of them reverberating deep in their bones.
Daniella turned in her seat to grab Shawnee, pulling her into a kiss. Shawnee pulls back just a tad, and whispers her new year's wish in the small space between them. The Omega chuckles again, truly happy that she can spend this new year and hopefully many more with what might be the love of her life. Curiously she glances across the patio to see if their plan had worked. The other side of the patio is empty, even Benji was gone, the only thing left was that grey blanket thrown over the edge of the couch.
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Aosh's back hit the frost edged wood of the cabin, the coldness of it going unnoticed compared to the warm body that pressed into him from his front. Nimble fingers pressed into his hips, holding him in place against the wall, and using it as stability. Benji walks in circles before he settles down by the back door of the cabin, where it is warm, but still close enough to keep an eye out where his master and the other person are at the side of the house.
There's only a moment between when the countdown finishes and the fireworks begin that Aosh looks down at the man pinning him in place, seeing a look he had never seen on that face before. It made Aosh's skin prickle with heat.
Then warm lips press into his.
Aosh sucks in a breath, unsure what was happening, only for Tiza to kiss him deeper. The fireworks light up the dark night, the explosions causing the house to rumble ever so slightly. The Omega continues to press sloppy, drunken kisses into his fated mate's mouth. Although leaning up so far to do so is causing his legs to hurt. His hands travel up the Alpha's side, then up to cup the other's face, pulling it downwards for better access. Tiza pulls back slightly.
"Is this what you want too?" his breath, riddled with alcohol tickles across Aosh's wet lips.
Aosh's hazy eyes, drunk to the point that everything was spinning, started to glisten with unshed tears.
"More than anything else in the world."
"Then show me."
Aosh switches their positions, trapping Tiza against the wall, so that he has something to lean against, and snakes an arm around his lower back. Their lips crash together once more, now both of them eagerly chasing the other's lips. Tiza's tongue boldly brushes against Aosh's bottom lip, and then he playfully nips at it, asking to be let in. Aosh opens his mouth a fraction more, and moans softly as the other takes the initiative to explore his mouth.
The Omega's hands have slithered under Aosh's shirt, running themselves over his taught but soft stomach. He lets the warmth of his palms press into Aosh's skin, leaving fire in their wake, as they wander up to his pectorals. Squeezing sofly, Aosh moans again, and this only encourages Tiza to keep going. Who knew Aosh would be this vocal? It was...really hot.
Coming up for air, Aosh continues to lay soft kisses to Tiza's cheek and down his jawline; his lips worshipping every square inch they could reach.
"I love you," the Alpha mumbles into freckled cheeks, "I love you. I love you. I love you," he continues, accentuating each confession with another press of his lips. He trembles under Tiza's fingers, like if he said it again he would fall to pieces.
"Even if you never love me back," a scalding tear streams down his face, dripping onto Tiza's jaw.
Tiza pulls back again, and brings one of his hands out from under the shirt to wipe under Aosh's eyes. This guy...Tiza laughs under his breath. Already dismissing him without hearing his answer yet. Not that he had come to understand how deep these feelings were, even if they were love, and therefore didn't have an answer. But at least have some faith in your fated mate!
"Aosh, I-," Tiza stops mid-sentence, noticing that Aosh's face doesn't look so good, "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," the Alpha leans in for another kiss, but stops himself. In an instant his eyes go wide, and his cheeks puff up turning a pale-ish- green. Quickly he pushes himself away from the wall and Tiza, to vomit into the snow.
The Omega stands still against the wall stunned as the other paints the pristine snow all kinds of different colors. After the initial shock he wobbles closer, carefully, to hold his fated mate's hair away from the mess. A gentle hand pats and rubs the Alpha's back. When it sounds like Aosh's stomach has completely emptied itself, Tiza calls for Benji, so he can help Aosh into the cabin.
"C'mon big guy, let's go lay down."
With one hand on Benji's harness and the other loosely around Aosh's elbow, Tiza leads them inside. Having already had a tour prior, he knew the room Aosh had picked out for them to stay the night in from the ones the others were going to stay in. He dragged the Alpha through the door and to the bed to lay down. A weird wave of deja vu settles in the air as he guides Aosh down to the bed.
Rolling the floppy and almost comatose man on his back, Tiza is grateful to see that no vomit has gotten on Aosh's clothes, although...his own pants weren't so lucky. Being as quick as his drunk brain would let him, Tiza takes off Aosh's coat and shoes.
"Can we kiss again…?" Aosh mumbles, right on the edge of passing out.
Tiza pushes inky bangs out of the way and kisses Aosh's forehead, "Kiss me yourself when you're sober."
"M'kay...promise…"
And he was out, head slumping further into the pillows.
Tiza was pretty tired too, especially after dragging Aosh through the cabin. Not to mention kissing Aosh left his legs feeling like how the jello shots from earlier looked. But he wasn't about to lay down with puke still on the edges of his pant legs. Benji helped him into the bathroom down the hall by the living room. Then after ten minutes of trying to figure out how pants worked, Tiza stumbled out of the bathroom.
The house was dark now, all the lights turned off. Maybe everyone else turned in for the night? Had he been struggling for that long? In the dark it was hard to tell where the bedroom was, walking forward he hit a wall. Turning he walked forward and hit his shin on the sectional. Grumbling to himself, Tiza just climbed over the armrest and laid down, not caring that he was still in his underwear. He was sleepy and a little nauseous, a couch was good enough. With Benji jumping up to curl next to him Tiza fell asleep.
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Tossing and turning all night, Aosh slept restlessly. It wasn't until the rising sun's rays came in through the blinds did he wake up, the brightness of it going straight to his head like nails driving into his skull. It's been a long time since he's been blackout drunk but in an instant he remembered why he didn't drink like that anymore. He couldn't remember anything from last night.
Literally nothing.
Scratching his head he sits up as slowly as possible. He remembered everything up to the third round of that drinking game they played. Silently he hopes he didn't do anything crazy after that. Knowing that the man sleeping next to him was probably just as hungover, Aosh slides off the bed carefully. Until he realizes that he is alone.
That's weird.
Aosh had told him that this was the room they would be sleeping in. Tiza even insisted on Benji sharing a bed with them. He made such a big deal about it. So where was he? It was still too early for even a sober person to be awake, the Omega should be asleep. Quickly becoming concerned, Aosh left the room.
Once out in the living area, Tiza came into view, laying on the sectional with Benji at his feet. In his underwear. What happened last night? Why did Tiza choose to sleep out here instead of the bed?
Don't tell him.
Did Aosh do something to make him mad? Did his drunken self cross a line? What did he do to drive Tiza away? It probably didn't help that along with immediately thinking the worst possible scenarios, Aosh's head was pounding too much to make any rational guesses as to why the Omega didn't come to bed.
Like for instance just passing out on the couch on the way to the bedroom.
Aosh chastises himself. Somehow he kept encroaching on the line he drew in the sand. He was going to compromise this beautiful friendship they had because he couldn't control himself. He needed to face the facts. Tiza did not and will not ever like him more than a friend. If he kept letting these feelings get in the way he was going to ruin everything.
Now extremely hungover and in a bad mood, Aosh trudges back into the bedroom to sleep until either the pain in his head or the pain in his chest goes away.
A little later, Tiza wakes up to pull the throw blanket that laid across the back of the couch over himself. Entirely too lazy to get up and head to the bedroom, he lays in between being asleep and awake, what happened last night playing back in his head.
He remembers everything.
How Aosh was tender with him and accepted him regardless of his past. And how they kissed. Tiza remembered the feel of Aosh's lips on his own faintly, how they were shy but also needy, like they wanted to kiss back but didn't know if they were allowed to. The Omega sighs wistfully, he couldn't wait for Aosh to make good on his promise and kiss him again. If it feels that amazing drunk, then doing it sober…
Then Aosh's confession runs across his mind. All of the 'I love you's' that the Alpha desperately kissed into his skin, and the tears that followed. It was like those words seeped through his skin straight to his heart. It was just last night he discovered he might be in love, but even so it felt like his own confession was ready to burst out of his chest.