Idiosyncrasies of a Shadow // (ManxMan)

~Chapter 15~

[Ryland]

*~*~*

"Merry Christmas"

A carol of hope,

Hymn of a perfect night.

It couldn't be more true,

Because under the shelter of love and laughter;

No one can say "Merry Christmas",

Without being "Merry".

*~*~*

You know, I never thought of it like this but I feel like a house wife tending to my baby brother and husband who are on the couch playing video games while I make lunch. I don't have tons of work today since everything is settling with the new store and most of my branches won't be open for the next couple days due to the holiday season.

My eyes drift across the room, scanning the Christmas décor that Skylar insisted we put up. Felix also gave me a heads up of all the traditions he let Skylar pull, because when the school is in winter break he has nothing better to do. Key word is 'let' because apparently my brother had come up with very strange ideas every year. Which I don't put past him, he is, after all, Skylar.

Decorating the apartment is one of the main traditions, along with a onesie rule that extends till after new years. There's also a gingerbread house building that they do every single year, and each time Skylar would start throwing so much candy on top of the thing it ends up collapses. I'll try and make sure it doesn't happen this year.

"You just shoved me off the cliff!" Felix whined, looking at his half of the screen in exasperation.

"Sorry? Can't hear you!" Skylar giggles and flops over on his bean bag. "Go check on Ryland, I don't want him to overload and fall over. I want to watch SpongeBob."

"Fine." Felix grumbles, sounding less than content at the prospect of helping me out. "Need help?" His arms come around my waist suddenly sounding way more interested, since the kitchen has a door and four walls, he sees it as an excuse to distract me while I'm chopping up a bell pepper.

"No I'm good." Rolling my eyes and pushing what I have cut to the side of the board. "You don't sound like you're keen to help anyway."

"No one said that ." He says accusingly and slips a warm hand under my shirt and begin tracing over my belly button. "You should join Skylar and I for working out. I'd like to see you more toned. Not that you're not already." His forehead finds my shoulder blade, rolling his head from side to side as his hand continue its dirty work.

"You know I can't join you that early. I'm already at the store by then." He growls in disapproval, hand slipping up my shirt and playing with my chest. He sighs, "If only you had a vagina. We would make the prettiest babies."

"Says the one that insists we don't have sex until later."

"Says the one that suggested rabbit sex in the master bedroom." I feel a sharp pain in my finger, when I look down I realize I had just cut my thumb with the knife. "Holy shit that hurts."

Felix removes his hands immediately, looking at me worriedly while he searches for the convenient first aid kit. This is precisely why it's in the kitchen. "Come here. Actually no, don't move." He frantically places me on the kitchen top where nothing is set up. "Fuck. It looks really deep."

I stare at his scrunched eyebrows and tense muscles, telling me he is guilt ridden. Underneath all that bipolar rests a gentle soul, I haven't seen it much but I know it's there. It's been there since the day he met Skylar I suppose. Who I have yet to thank and tell that I am in a relationship with his best friend.