Unraveling [BXB]

Chapter 23

It was halfway through November, but Chase was already neck-deep in the holiday spirit, stringing up lights and wearing his favorite Christmas sweaters. He'd also put up mistletoe in just about every doorway of the house and was learning Christmas songs on his violin in between practicing his piece for the audition. On that Saturday, he was making rice krispie treats with Wren to sell at a fundraiser for the pet shelter. He planned to dye them red and green and package them in little festive boxes with a red ribbon on top. He'd spent a good portion of his Friday night learning how to tie the perfect bow, and he was pretty sure he had it down by that point.

"You know, I'm sure Derek would be just as happy if you brought him plain rice krispie treats without going to the effort of boxing them individually and putting little bows on them," Wren said, wrapping his arms around Chase's waist as he stirred the melting marshmallows around the pan.

"But everyone likes it when I put in a bit of extra effort, and I want to push myself to learn new things and do better than everyone's expecting of me," Chase said with a little shrug, though he couldn't help the smile tugging at his lips as Wren kissed down his neck.

"As long as you're doing it because you want to and not because you feel like you need to. You've already been so stressed over this Juilliard audition," Wren said softly, the feeling of his breath against Chase's ear making him shiver a bit.

"It's only four months until the audition and then I'll take a break, I promise. I mean, I'm still gonna be working and volunteering, and maybe I'll pick up a new hobby or something, but I won't have any homework and I'll be less worried about practicing violin," Chase said, taking the melted marshmallows off the stove before he poured in the rice krispies and began to stir them together, adding a bit of red food coloring.

"When's the last time where you had a full day that you had no obligations and didn't have to think about anything work-related?" Wren asked, stepping away to taking the bowl and spatula so Chase could start the next batch.

Chase thought about his question for longer than he felt he should probably need to. "Um...I don't really know," he said, though he seemed unbothered as he began adding butter to the second pot. He didn't think he could spend a whole day just relaxing, that seemed so unproductive to him, and he'd probably be anxious all day thinking about all the things he could be doing. "That just doesn't sound that relaxing to me. I mean, I know I'm still doing this as an obligation technically, but I like having something fun and simple to do on my days off. It fills the time and takes my mind off of everything else."

Wren glanced over at him and smiled softly. "Alright, I just don't want you overworking yourself."

"I'm not overworking myself, I promise, I'm actually more relaxed right now than I've been all month. I mean, I'm baking, I'm celebrating the holidays, and I'm doing it with you," Chase said with a bright smile.

Wren pulled him closer to kiss his cheek. "You're adorable, but we're still a month away from Christmas. It's not even Thanksgiving yet."

"The lights I put up around the house could be celebrating Thanksgiving or Christmas."

"What about the mistletoe and the Christmas sweater?" Wren asked, looking over to the little bundle of fake plants hanging over the kitchen walkway.

"...Isn't Thanksgiving kind of a problematic holiday anyway?" Chase asked and Wren laughed, pouring the rice krispie mixture into a pan to cool.

"I think you're just a little too into Christmas, Love," Wren said, pinching his cheek and Chase smiled and pulled away, his face turning red. Wren had started calling him that in place of Mouse on occasion and it never failed to fluster him.