Beta Squad Advent Calendar 2024

Prompt fill: Favourite Ornament
romantic pairing
AJ x Niko

The tree was almost done. Aj nodded to himself, the vision he had, coming to life before him on their living room.

The only piece missing to make the tree perfect was a small glass heart. Aj took it carefully out of its designated box, studying the tree to find the best spot for it.

After a few seconds of consideration, Aj finally let out a grin and placed the little figurine on a branch. It was just slightly above his head, so he wouldn't accidentally brush against it, causing it to fall down and break.

It was the perfect plan, the perfect spot - lacking only one tiny little thing: not everyone who lived in this house was the same height as him.

Actually, no one who lived in his house was the same height as him, even if the only inhabitants were Aj himself and Niko.

This thought occurred to Aj on December 13th when a shattering sound rang through their house, sounding like somebody had just accidentally dropped a wine glass.

Or a Christmas tree glass heart ornamet.

Aj's heart stopped in his chest for a moment before he raced down towards the living room.

Please let the ornamet be okay, Aj thought desperately on his way. It was really ugly, but Aj loved that misshapen shaped glass thingy with all his heart. They had it for three years now, and it was important because - it had been a gift.

"I know it's not much," Niko said self-consciously. "But you never want anything because you always say you already got everything, and I thought -" he swallowed nervously, "maybe this could be like, like a symbolic thing?"

Aj took the offered item and looked at it. It was a bit wonky, but the surface didn't have any scratches, and Niko said he had made it himself. Aj loved it already.

"So what does it stand for?" He looked up at Niko, feeling a blush rise high on his cheeks at the intensity his boyfriend was looking at him with.

Niko nodded to himself, taking Aj's hand in his and settling his other one on the smaller man's back. "I know we already live together because we lived in the same house before the whole boyfriend thing," Aj snorted at that - "but I want to live with you completely."

At Aj's questioning look, he elaborated more. "I meant, I want you to move into my room or I in yours. I want to give guests house tours and tell them that this is our bedroom. I want to accidentally take your clothes out of our shared closet, I want -"

Aj giggled, reaching a hand out to cup Niko's face. "You'd look ridiculous in my clothes." His smile softened a touch. "But yeah," he looked back at the glass heart in his hand. "I want those things, too."

In the living room, Aj came to a halt and took in the scene before him.

Then he laughed in relief. A plate. Niko had dropped a glass plate, and it had shattered. Thank goodness, the heart was intact.

Niko smiled sheepishly as he cleared up the mess with a broom. Aj shook his head and made his way over to the tree.

"I thought this fell," he tugged the ornamet off the branch, holding it out for Niko to place in a safer spot, even higher on the tree.

"You're favourite?" Niko asked, grinning. "T'was one of my better gifts. Symbolic and whatnot."

Aj held in a giggle at the pride in Niko's voice, patting his chest lovingly. "It is a really pretty heart for your first attempt at glass making."

"Heart?" Niko repeated incredulously. "It was a gift for us officially moving in together! That's supposed to be a key!"

[I wanted to make this very, very angsty. Niko was supposed to drop it, then not remember why this was so special for Aj and imply Aj kept this from an ex or sth. But then I remembered that Niko loves his boyfriend embarrassingly much and wouldn't do that, so I didn't write it. (And also I was too tired)]