A Christmas Cocktail

Chapter 11

Pentious focused on Arackniss as his lover stared down at his phone. Sliding up beside the spider, he peered at the screen and quickly read the message he was looking at. "They stayed out in the snow too long?" He asked and the arachnid slowly nodded in agreement. "Will they be alright?" Pentious couldn't help but look up toward the windows to double check that there actually was snow. Not that he didn't believe the message, but because he hadn't realized it had snowed in the first place.

"Yeah," Arackniss responded before looking up at him and shrugging. "Well... I mean, I'm not even sure. I don't know how long it's been snowing, or exactly how long they were out there, so I couldn't say for certain. But," The man put his phone to sleep before shoving it in his pocket. "I feel like something's a little odd... about that."

"Odd? How so?" Pentious thought about the situation and he couldn't see anything wrong with it.

"Two people who are covered in fur, at least one of which has experience in snow, stayed out in the snow for too long? You don't see anything wrong with that?" Arackniss cocked a brow. Pentious frowned and furrowed his brow as he thought it over again, but eventually shook his head.

"No, I don't." His lover looked confused before he smiled. "We don't know the full extent of the situation. For all we know, the snow was wetter while they were out there than it is now; a mixture of rain and snow instead of just snow. Or, they could have been so enamored with their conversation that they didn't realize how wet they even were." Arackniss rolled his eyes and turned towards the front doors of the ballroom.

"Yeah, I highly doubt that." His lover scoffed. Pentious quickly made chase until he was slithering beside the man in the direction of the entrance.

"Are you saying that you don't think your brother would get so distracted, or that nobody in general would do such a thing?" He asked and Arackniss shook his head.

"Nobody is gonna be so deep in a conversation that they don't notice themselves getting that damned cold, Pen. That's just a fact." He followed the spider out of the door and toward the lobby.

"I see." He breathed. When they reached the hotel lobby, Pentious looked around to make sure they were, at least relatively, alone. When he didn't see anyone else, he stopped. "I know it's been awhile, but are you saying that you don't remember our first date?" He watched his lover stop in his tracks. A moment later, Arackniss was turning to face him and easily meeting his gaze head on.

"Of course I remember, Thomas."

"Are you sure, Al? Because you just said that "nobody" would do such a thing." Pentious watched as the other man's shoulders dropped with a sigh and he turned his gaze to the ground. Their first date was etched into his brain, and he was almost certain it was the same for Arackniss. They had spent way too much time talking as they walked around one of the city's many parks, and had been so engrossed in the chat, they hadn't noticed the fog that had rolled in. With the fog, had come a heavy mist that had slowly drenched them both to the bone and they'd both gotten a cold from the night. However, it had blissfully ended in them running back to his place once they'd finally realized it and spending the night together getting warm in a very specific way.

"Okay, so... maybe I overexaggerated a little bit. Some people might do that." The man took a step forward until they were a few inches apart. "I just... I really don't believe it for them, though. I don't know, Thomas. I just feel... I just feel like it's a lie, is all." Pentious thought about it for a moment before shrugging.

"So what if it is a lie? What if they didn't actually go out in the snow to begin with and instead stayed inside and talked? What if..." The idea popped into his head and he had to double check that they were indeed, still alone. "What if they simply... wanted to be alone, together... tonight?" He didn't look away from his lover as he asked, and Arackniss didn't look away either. He did see the heat that built up in his spider's eyes as he thought about the possibility. Spending the rest of the night together, secluded from everyone else, doing whatever they wanted.