Cultured Spirit

A/N: This story lives! Unfortunately, I’m barely hanging on – I think I might die from exhaustion soon. So enjoy while I sleep like a brick!

x.x.x.x

“Nice tie.”


The expression on Daniel’s face almost made it impossible for Ian to hold in his laughter. Almost.


“No. Really. It’s nice... Red.”


The lack of amusement didn’t budge, and Ian finally snickered at the expression.


“I dressed too formal.” Daniel stated bluntly as honeyed eyes, a little brighter than usual with excitement, studied Ian’s outfit. The taller boy was wearing jeans – albeit one of his nicest pairs – and a grey button-up shirt that was left half open to expose the white shirt underneath.


“Yeah, a little.” Ian didn’t disagree, smirking as he led the other boy in. Daniel immediately tore off his suit jacket, grumbling a bit as he walked into hall, and Ian finally noticed the small package in his hand.


“Oh! A present... for me?” Ian grinned, grabbing it out of the pale hands, ignoring Daniel’s surprised and mildly put out face. “You shouldn’t have.” The parcel was brown packaged, and Ian distinctly noticed the bakery’s tag on the front. Automatically realising Daniel had only brought food for the dinner to be polite he couldn’t help but draw out the embarrassment as Daniel shifted uncomfortably.


“Errr.... it’s really not a gift. I just –”


“Relax.” Ian laughed a bit, walking into the living room that Daniel knew so well. Although it looked the exact same as it always had, just with a little bit of Christmas decor, Daniel hesitated in the doorframe. Looking like he had never seen the room before in his life, he took a tentative step forward.


With a somewhat amused glance at his friend, Ian leaned against the side of the larger couch and placed the package on the coffee table. “Mom will be glad you brought dessert, she only made enough for five hundred people. A little extra always helps.”


Daniel cringed, and Ian almost felt a little sympathy. When he was nervous, he took everything personally, which was the complete opposite to his normal dry responses to Ian’s sarcasm otherwise.


“Hey, I’m joking.” He grinned at Daniel’s perplexed expression. It looked as if he were studying every move he made. “Can I dig into this know, or is it impolite?” Settling in front of the package, Ian began to unravel the fancy knots without waiting for a response. After a bit of tugging, he revealed a simple loaf of banana bread. While everything about Daniel’s visit had thus far been fancy and over-though, the banana bread was humorously disappointing.


“It’s banana bread,” Daniel offered helpfully.


Ian snorted. “I see that, it looks good.” He turned to face Daniel as the boy sat next to him, his hand playing with the brown paper. Finally, when the shorter boy rolled his eyes, Ian grinned.


“I guess we should’ve gone with Adeline’s suggestion.” Daniel said, somewhat gloomily.


Ian stiffened unnoticeably, grabbing some Kleenex to catch his crumbs. Finally swallowing his first bite, and cheering up a bit with how good it was, he arched a brow. “Yeah? What was her suggestion?”


“She wanted to get this chocolate fudge cake, with custard and frosting and all. Now that I think of it, it was pretty fitting. I mean, the frosting was spun into snowflakes and everything.” Ian, too, wondered why they had ditched something like that for plain old banana bread. “But.” Daniel continued, oblivious of Ian’s silent question, “I remember how... how much you hate when I add extra sugar to everything.”


He paused, glancing at Ian from the corner of his eye in what he thought was a stealthy way. “And I argued with Adeline about how your sweet tooth is barely a hundredth the size of mine. I mean, the banana bread I can see you eating like a pig –” Scoffing at Ian, he watched his vision come true as Ian took another piece. “But, the cake? Yeah, I’d see you being polite and wolfing down a slice, but not much more.”


Ian, who had kept his expression rather neutral throughout the surprisingly logical explanation, couldn’t help but lift a corner of his lips in a smile. The result was a rather crooked grin. “It’s true.” He wondered how Daniel managed to pay attention to something like that, while Adeline hadn’t, but quickly changed his train of thought. Any more bitter feelings toward Daniel’s twin was definitely going to be counter-productive to his relationship. But, he couldn’t help the twinge of joy he felt at hearing Daniel won, and he was eating banana bread instead of chocolate cake.


Daniel chose that moment to catch Ian’s eyes, and for the life of him, Ian couldn’t realise why he was suddenly growing warm. Not just in general, but he felt his face growing almost flush. “Stop paying so much attention to me,” Ian joked, turning away and propping a foot on the coffee table. “It’s unnerving.”


“Oh,” Daniel said, looking away. “Sorry,” he seemed so sincere, like he was actually doing something wrong, that Ian quickly looked to change the subject.


“Where is Adeline anyway?” Ian finally asked the dreaded question, and Daniel’s whole expression changed. Thankfully, it grew less intense and more natural as he craned his neck to stare at the still closed door.


“She forgot your present.” Daniel said simply, stretching his arms out. “At home, I mean. She just went to grab it, she’ll be here.”


Ian immediately panicked, and he wasn’t sure what part of Daniel’s response triggered it. “Oh shit.” At Daniel’s questioning expression, Ian looked around frantically as if the living room would give him sudden inspiration. “I forgot to get Adeline a gift.”


Daniel’s eyes widened, and Ian would have laughed at how round they’d become if he wasn’t in the midst of an anxiety attack. Forgetting a girlfriend’s Christmas present was definitely something that would put him on the “Naughty Boyfriend List.” And not in the way he’d want it to imply.


“You are so dead.”


“Especially when she finds out I remembered you.” Ian said without thinking.


Daniel was quiet for a minute, before a choked sound emitted from his mouth. Ian looked at him with a frightened expression, wondering if he was about to cry on behalf of his sister.


“You forgot about her, but got me a gift.” He reiterated, still covering his face with a palm. Though Ian merely nodded, Daniel must’ve sensed it because he went on. “That’s... that’s hilarious.” And finally, Daniel began laughing, and hard.


Ian didn’t mean to change the mood – he was sure at this point that the atmosphere was really just having mood swings and it wasn’t his fault – but after feeling put out by the laughter, Ian said rather loudly, “Why is that so funny?”


Daniel turned to look at Ian with a big smirk that disappeared at seeing his expression. “Well... I mean, it’s not that funny... I suppose.” He sounded surprised, and Ian cracked a forced grin, almost to imply he was joking. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he admitted he wasn’t at all.


“Nah, it’s hilarious. I’m going to die.” He said casually, before swiping a hand through his hair, and to him, even his hair felt worried.


The doorbell sounded throughout the house, and as Ian stood frozen in his living room, a miniature version of him ran down the stairs. “I’ll get it!” Noah called.


Daniel couldn’t help but stare at the boy with a shocked expression. He looked exactly like Ian, but instead of wearing the casual clothes that border-lined fancy, he was wearing grey slacks and a navy blue vest. Definitely a lot more prep-school than his brother.


“Don’t be fooled,” Ian muttered, staring at the unfamiliar boy. “That’s my mom’s doing. Dad lets him leave his hair long and clothes dirty, so she gave him a makeover.”


Noah opened the door, peering behind it and grinning widely at Adeline. Adeline was instantly charmed and she handed Noah something that looked suspiciously like a cake.


“So that’s why you took so long,” Daniel said darkly, crossing his arms.


Ian raised a brow. “What?”


“She went and bought that cake, too. Adeline! Can’t you trust me with anything? I told you he’d like it.”


“I know, Danny. Don’t worry about it, I just thought they might want something a little more festive.” She smiled as she shifted out of her coat. Turning to Ian shyly, she held it out in front of her. “Where can I put this?”


It was clear she had spent a while on her appearance, and instead of smirking like he had at Daniel’s outwardly fancy outfit, Ian felt his breath catch while looking at Adeline. Her hair was curly and tied back with a cream ribbon. She wore a deep emerald dress that hugged her figure, and a cute pearly necklace. “You look amazing,” He finally breathed, only vaguely noticing Daniel peer at the cake in Noah’s hands annoyed, before walking with the younger boy to the kitchen.


“Sorry, we thought this was a fancier get together.” She said in explanation as Ian hung her coat.


“I’m glad you did,” he said genuinely, leading her away and hoping to prolong the whole gift fiasco for the night.
Smiling with a blush, she walked with him to the table where his mother was getting the table ready. Ian felt his stomach drop a little when he saw the large cake right in the middle, while Daniel’s banana bread was forgotten in the living room. He didn’t dwell on it though, it was just dessert.


“Hey, honey. Noah went to show Daniel his new bike. Are you two hungry?” Adeline looked unsure of herself as she sat down, and Ian was reminded of how she had never been to his house before. It made him feel slightly awkward as he sat down next to her, especially considering her brother had spent constant nights there.


“Starving.” Ian grinned, and as if on cue, Noah and Daniel walked into the room. Daniel was clearly freezing, the tips of his ears had gone red, while Noah happily took a seat.


“It’s snowing,” he said happily. “There’s barely ever snow in Georgia.”


Ian thought he heard Daniel grumble. “I should move there.”


He laughed, and the evening was quite uneventful yet comfortable for the rest of the evening. He and Adeline had shared a few tender moments, like holding hands under the table, or whispering in each other’s ears when they thought no one was looking, but Ian always felt a bit uncomfortable with his mom right there.


It was when Daniel knocked over the bottle of wine, right over his shirt too, that the night grew a little chaotic.
Daniel, of course, jumped right out of his seat with an embarrassed and apologetic look on his face as the wine splattered to the floor. Without knowing what to do, he took the ends of his shirt and put a stop to the dripping until Ms. Hadley could wipe off what was left.


Ian spent the entire time laughing at Daniel’s expression. “Chill, Daniel,” he said seriously. “A little wine never hurt anyone... especially not a Dragon Slayer,” He got up to help, and Adeline followed suit, before Ian’s mother finally suggested something productive.


“Why don’t you go grab him another shirt? Daniel, honey, you can go with him upstairs.”


Daniel, unable to speak much due to his frightened embarrassment, only nodded. Ian noticed the glares sent to him multiply after his Slayer comment, but decided it was well worth the consequence as he grinned all the way up the stairs.


“You really need to relax. You’ve been here a thousand times, what’s so different?”


Daniel paused at the top of the stairs as Ian slid past him to lead them to his room. Only, when they got there, it wasn’t Ian’s room at all. “Sorry, dude,” Ian said with a smirk, walking into the bathroom. “I haven’t done laundry. The only clean shirt I remember seeing is in here somewhere.”


He walked in, and Daniel followed numbly. There was a moment of silence as Ian checked behind the shower curtain. “I feel like I need to impress your family... for some reason,” he said quietly, clearly embarrassed. “I mean, especially your mom. She’s always so nice to me –”


“Jeez,” Ian cut Daniel off, shaking his head. “My mom only ever sees Ryan and Derek over here... do you really think the bar is set that high?” He grinned at how that seemed to amuse the other, before finally finding the shirt. “Ah-hah! Sorry... it’s orange.”


“You wear the most ridiculous stuff,” Daniel said, the dry tone returning to his voice. “Really, what are these?” He was pointing to the three NHL pins clipped onto the side of the shirt, and Ian shrugged.


“Man stuff. You won’t understand.”


His indignant shout was drowned out by the fabric of Daniel’s shirt as he pulled it over his head only to quickly
replace it with the other, in a flash. “I resent that,” he said, running a hand through his newly messed hair.


“Of course you do.” Daniel scrunched his face up, and not only at Ian’s answer.


“Do you smell that? Ugh, alcohol. It reminds me of that party we went to.” Daniel moved to the sink, turning on the hot water. “I can’t stand the smell anymore, not since I spent that entire night puking...”


Ian felt fear paralyze his bones. The topic was too dangerous, and he had to find a way to change it, and fast. But Daniel continued to drone on about how unfair Ian was to bet something so outrageous, and then supply copious amounts of alcohol to the brunette all night.


“And then... being in that bathroom. I swear, my knees had bruises for days.”


Ian forced himself to calm down, watching Daniel carefully wash away stains that would never be removed from his shirt.

‘Don’t think about it, he doesn’t know... it was a mistake, he’ll never find out...’ His encouraging mantra seemed to do the trick, and as Daniel continued on and on about the night, Ian finally relaxed a little.


“And...” There was a long pause, one Ian didn’t really notice as he carefully repeated said mantra in his mind.


“Ian?” The questioning tone invaded his thoughts, and Ian stiffened. “Did anything happen that night...”


“No!” Ian said, both too loudly and quickly. Daniel screwed up his face in confusion, before the panic settled in.


“Yes it did!” He almost shouted, but remembering everyone downstairs, he dropped his shirt in the sink and took a step closer. “You... I remember.”


His voice, rather than going high pitched like Ian’s, went lower in his panic. “You... You kissed me.”


And Ian would have run out of the room if he didn’t have to get past Daniel to do it. Even just touching the boy was totally taboo at that moment. “I... I didn’t. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”


Water continued to rush out of the faucet, bubbling all over the stained shirt in the sink and the long pause stretched further. Finally, Daniel’s face lost all its former composure and fell. He looked totally drained. Ian was put off by the sudden change.


“Why didn’t you tell me,” He said lowly.


Ian sucked in a breath, growing angry at Daniel’s defiance. “What are you talking about? I told you I don’t care if you’re gay, but imaging things between us is definitely up there on the creepy scale.”


There was something wrong with him, Ian decided, because he definitely did not find the thought even remotely close to being creepy.


“Oh, so that’s how you’re going to play?” Daniel said, his tone going from shocked fear to resigned acceptance. “You’re going to run from this too.”


“I’m not running,” Ian said through clenched teeth. “I’m... I’m not like you. I’m not –”


“Not what?” Daniel said, almost angry.


“I’m not gay.” Ian said, with just as much of a temper.


Daniel shook his head, running fingers haphazardly through his hair. “One kiss doesn’t make you gay,” he said resolutely. “I’ve been telling myself that since the day of the carnival.”


Ian was surprised to hear that. He watched Daniel lean against the counter, before finally giving up and sliding down to sit cross-legged on the floor. “What? Are things not going well with Warren... still?” Unable to stop himself, Ian joined Daniel on the floor.


Daniel shook his head yet again, this time more furiously. “I want what you and Adeline have. Warren just wants to fool around, I don’t want that.”


Ian grew frustrated. But before he could disagree with the glorified image Daniel had painted of his relationship, Daniel spoke again.


“Why did you kiss me?” His voice was soft and inquiring.


Ian answered automatically, his cheeks burning. He wanted to clear up the misunderstanding as soon as possible, despite how embarrassing it was, and how it hurt his chest to think about how Daniel knew. “I’m a horny drunk.”


The reaction he got was not the one he was expecting. He was hoping for a simple “Oh,” or maybe even a disgusted murmur, but the sudden rage was probably near to last on his list.


“That’s it?” Scrambling to his knees to tower over Ian, Daniel looked scandalized. “You... You kissed me because you’re a horny drunk?”


Ian could barely nod, before Daniel stood up and rushed for the door. His eyes were red, and his jaw was visibly clenched. “You stole my first kiss, my first experience of any kind. And only because you’re a horny drunk.”


And even though Ian was used to being the one to run in these kind of situations, even though he expected himself to be disgusted and embarrassed and just as angry himself... Ian couldn’t do anything but grab Daniel’s hand impulsively.


“Wait! Daniel,” Ian’s much stronger arm pulled Daniel back down, and the boy lost his balance as he stumbled back onto the floor. Ian was on his knees now, restoring the normalcy of their heights, before he sucked in a sharp breath. Daniel wasn’t impressed with the turn of events, but stayed still and waited for Ian to finish.


Ian chose to finish with a kiss.


He wasn’t sure what led him to do it. After a thoughtful moment, where his fingers tightened their hold on Daniel’s arm, he decided it was how Daniel seemed to recoil at the information, his usually caramel coloured eyes darkening to almost black.


Ian forgot about both Adeline and his sexuality as he hugged Daniel closer, a heavy arm wrapping around Daniel’s hip, fingers threading through the bright NHL shirt.


“Ian...” Daniel was hesitant, pulling his lips away, his eyes fluttering open as Ian focused on the corner of his mouth, placing soft kisses there.


“No,” Ian shook his head, nose pressing against Daniel’s cheek. As soon as he touched the other boy, all his reservations disappeared. The suppressed longing had free reign, and he wasn’t ready to face the reality of it just yet
by talking.


Daniel quieted readily as Ian assaulted his lips. He moved them gently, hands steady on Ian’s shoulders as the more experienced boy leaned forward. Daniel immediately felt his thighs hit the cold tiled floor, and he groaned half in pain, half in anticipation. Ian took the break to slide his tongue into Daniel’s mouth, and the boy suddenly let out a small, slightly worried whimper.


Ian didn’t release his mouth, not when things were progressing to a point he hadn’t even realised he wanted to reach. Instead, he traced both hands down Daniel’s sides, hooking them under the hideous orange fabric of the borrowed shirt, and then running them back up. The shirt rumpled and rode up, revealing skin that Ian’s fingers immediately skittered
over.


The whimpers had disappeared, replaced by heavy breathing, and Ian decided he wanted them back. He left Daniel’s mouth, letting his lips fall down a quivering jaw line, as his fingers continued to run up and down the exposed chest. Finally, he shoved the shirt off the smaller body all together, and Daniel immediately shuddered from the temperature change.
And he moaned gently as Ian’s warm hands ran down the newly sensitized skin. Ian inhaled deeply at the sound, before letting his lips fall to a completely unmarred neck. It was a new experience to him, not seeing old hickeys or marks there, and he swallowed feeling like he was tainting Daniel somehow.


But Daniel reassured him by wrapping an arm around his shoulders, fingers distractedly threading through dark hair.
“Shit,” Ian whispered, his hands pausing just below Daniel’s naval. The other’s breathing had grown laboured, and he gently brushed the pads of his fingers against the skin there. Finally Daniel emitted a low whimper, one that made his lower stomach stir with anticipation.


“Wh—what are you going to do?” Daniel said suddenly, his voice barely a whisper and Ian placed wet kisses on the collar bone in front of him, suddenly wanting to leave a mark.


Then he answered the question by lowering his hand enough to reach the bulge in Daniel’s pants. Daniel gasped, his eyes growing glassy as he retracted one of his arms from Ian to reach for the invasive hand. His fingers ghosted over it, as if he hadn’t realised he’d moved at all, but Ian realised he hadn’t meant to stop anything.


So he brushed his fingers over it again, distracting Daniel from the heady feelings by sucking gently on the hollow of his neck, before squeezing through the thin fabric.


“God,” Daniel couldn’t hold back the impulse to say something, so instead of voicing his embarrassed opinions, he moulded them all into a small groan.


His own cock stirred at the sounds, and Ian felt his inhibitions leave him. Unbuttoning Daniel’s slacks, he cupped the other boy’s erection through his boxers, and then began to stroke against them.


Daniel’s body was in over drive as he leaned his head against the counter, cheeks flushed with patches of red. His eyes had squeezed shut as soon as his pants were unbuttoned, and he felt his back pushing into the cupboard handles as Ian began to stroke the straining erection. His hips involuntarily bucked into the hand, but Ian met every thrust with a caress of his own, his fingers pulling the hard length from the waistband to run his thumb over the slit.


He mirrored his actions on his own dick, biting a lip to keep from making the same whimpers as Daniel as he stroked using his entire palm. Every so often, knowing Daniel was inexperienced and likely to orgasm quickly, he rubbed his thumb over the tip, and finally, the third or fourth time he did, Daniel let out a sound that was in between a groan and a gasp as he thrust his hips into Ian’s hand.


It took Ian a few more strokes on his own cock before he came as well, but Daniel’s eyes were closed as he breathed heavily across from him.


“Fuck,” Ian whispered, gingerly moving to Daniel. The other boy had finally opened his eyes, staring dazedly ahead of him. “I fucked things up.”


Immediately focusing his eyes on Ian, Daniel stared at the other, terrified. “Crap.” Collecting his clean shirt, Daniel stood up on jittery legs. “God that... It was...” He was a deep red, and instead of finishing his sentence he stared at Ian intently.


“Fuck.” Ian repeated. “I’m... I’m sorry.” He stumbled over his words, staring at Daniel’s hard-to-read expression. “I shouldn’t have... I just, I must have had too much to drink.”


Daniel opened his mouth to reply, but immediately closed it. His eyebrows knit together in a deep frown, before he looked away. “Probably.” He said stonily.


And with that, Ian left the room. But this time, he did it almost apologetically.


x.x.x.x


Adeline smiled sweetly at Ian after handing Daniel the car keys. The day was over, and luckily for him, Adeline hadn’t even mentioned gifts for the entire evening.


“He’s been really down since he made that scene at the table,” Adeline said softly. “He’s been red all evening, he must be really embarrassed.”


Ian swallowed tightly before looking out the window to see Daniel wiping off his car windows of all the snow. “Can we talk about something else?” He said rather frankly, and instead of looking surprised, Adeline merely looked at him with a flirty grin.


“You mean like that mistletoe up there?” She said, pointing upwards. Ian followed her gloved hand and saw the little bough of mistletoe above them. She laughed a little, tilting her head to one side as her glossy lips shined expectantly.
Ian shifted uneasily and just as she leaned in, her lips a breath away from his, he pulled back.


“I – I think we need to talk about something a bit more serious.”


And though none of them had an ideal Christmas Eve, Adeline would claim hers was the worst the next week at school where she’d tell any listening ear that Ian Hadley had broken up with her on Christmas Eve under the mistletoe.


x.x.x.x