victory_road | The World Has Got a Smile Today, the World Has Got a Glow (Voltron Holiday Party Log)

Entry tags:

The World Has Got a Smile Today, the World Has Got a Glow (Voltron Holiday Party Log)

Who: The Attack on Voltron House and YOU! Seriously, if you have Voltron CR, you're invited!
Where: Attack on Voltron House, Four Island
When: Around December 11
Summary: The Voltrons have a human/Altean holiday party at their house, come on by!
Rating: PG to PG-13, will warn as necessary

When Shiro proposed celebrating Grogory Day back at the harvest festival, Allura had honestly been touched by the suggestion, even more so when the rest of the household agreed. (Especially coming from Keith and Pidge, who liked their peace and quiet.) So after sitting down with a calendar and making a graphing calculator earn its keep, Allura determined that Grogory Day would be about December 8th. Of course, that was a weekday, so the invitations she sends out a few weeks beforehand (to give people time for travel) say it’s that Saturday evening instead. (And given the number of high-level trainers in the house, guests are more than welcome to request a ride.) And since it seems to be the main Earth holiday, why not make it an early Christmas party, too?

When people arrive, the spacious beach house is decked out with lights, mostly in shades of blue, and the interior beckons people to come out of the brisk and damp sub-tropic air, warm and bright and spacious (which it needs to be with the possible crowds), soft and cheery Poké-holiday music winding through the rooms, with interludes from Jaskier and his Wigglytuff throughout the evening.

As for refreshments, while Hunk might not be here, the non-Shiro members of the household are able to set out a decent spread from all their cultures. Lance contributes a host of Cuban recipes from golden brown tostones and empanadas, to roasted pernil with juicy meat draped in crispy skin, served with rice and black beans. A wintery gratin filled with mushrooms and kabocha squash, baked Brie topped with a rosehip jam in lieu of juniberries and wrapped in puff pastry, an assortment of Christmas cookies (including but certainly not limited to gingerbread and peanut butter blossoms), and an island of drinks featuring mugs of warm coffee, glasses of sweet coquito, slow cookers of mulled berry wine and apple juice, and a bowl with an extremely blue punch. And treats for the Pokémon as well, naturally. Of course, if guests want to contribute to the feast, they’re more than welcome!

(Also, at some point in the evening, Lance might have stolen Shiro's Gallade to help plant mistletoe here and there. Do with this information what you will.)

So come, eat, drink, mingle with old friends and make some new ones! And enjoy the night, no matter which holiday you’ve come to celebrate!

[[OOC: This is a mingle log, so feel free to make your own top-levels and such, and have fun!]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Maybe Grant can, at least, take some kind of solace in Shiro's body language... whenever it sinks in to begin with. For now, it's taking most of his focus to keep acting like he hasn't internally talked himself out of any and all hope.

As it is, all he can think is that oh god he's made everything awkward.]

S-so! [Think of something to talk about. Anything. Leaving right away would probably be the worst thing to do, so-- he thinks back over what they've talked about that he could go back to.] Iiii can tell Dimitri and Chip you said hi!

[...Okay, so, worst thing to do would probably be either leaving or immediately bringing up his kid and other boyfriend. Why is he allowed to talk.]

[Oh.]

[Was that - did he say something wrong? Should he have said more, or ... said nothing? Did Grant not really want this? Maybe he should have tried harder - did he just make things weird between them? No, that's the last thing he wanted to do. Grant sounds like he's about to leave because Shiro went and made things weird by saying yes.]

I ... [Say something normal.] think that sounds fine.

[That's not normal, Shiro.]

You've probably got more rounds to make. So uh. I'll... I won't keep you.

[There!! That's better!]

[Claude, possibly forgotten again but still very much here, is only stopped from smacking Shiro's and Grant's heads together by being too short to easily reach. But the temptation is truly staggering.

In order to do something, however, he pipes up with all the cheery brightness of a wife who's about to drag a husband into the next room and tell him exactly where he stepped out of line just now.] Actually, Shiro, would you mind if I borrowed Grant for a second? I know you guys have a lot to talk about, so I'll get him right back to you, I promise.

[This is an interesting conversational tactic, where Claude is informing these two men that they have a conversation to continue that neither of them knew about. Both of them are free to interpret this, as well, as their imminently going to have something to talk to each other about after Claude is done with Grant.

In the meantime, however, Claude doesn't actually give Shiro the opportunity to refuse his request - not that he thinks Shiro would - but even more importantly, he doesn't give Shiro the opportunity to volunteer that he doesn't feel Grant needs to return after this moment away. He simply hauls Grant away by the arm - and it's a good thing Grant is such a willing dragee, or it'd look like Claude was having a tug-of-war contest with a statue.

Once they're safely out of earshot, Claude engages in Surreptitious Couple Hissing.] Grant, you know I love you so much, but please explain to me what you are doing? This is not the kind of guy to play hard to get with!

[Never has Grant been so relieved to be pulled aside so someone can ask him what the hell he's doing. At least it means he can't keep making more of a fool of himself.]

I don't know! [His voice comes out so strained it threatens to crack, which is certainly something coming from an adult man with a voice as deep as his. Goddammit, he can feel his eye burning. He swears, if he cries right now--] I-I'm not trying to, I just-- I shouldn't have done that! I was just setting myself up for disappointment, getting him to indulge me and this stupid plant--

[He scrubs his palms over his face, because, frankly, if he's gonna cry in public he'd rather hide it for at least a moment.]

[Ah, okay - Grant's stress level is way too high for the tone Claude is taking with him. Claude changes it immediately, reaching up to cup Grant's face in his hands and guide it down to rest their foreheads together.] Easy, big guy. [His voice is far gentler now.] If you shouldn't have done that, you should probably be mad at me for pushing you guys into it instead of letting you both make your awkward excuses - not beating yourself up.

But I think you're way off-base. Looked to me like Shiro was doing some indulging of himself, and not just me or you. I mean, maybe I'm just crazy, but I think I've got an eye for when a guy enjoys a kiss? And then right afterwards you shot yourself right in the foot for no reason, trying to run away. He's going to think you hated it, with that kind of sudden, forced scramble to run off. Is it because you psyched yourself out this hard? Because if so, I think you've got some damage control to do.

[Grant breathes out, slow and shaky, and lets his hands drop to Claude's shoulders; the contact from Claude's hands and forehead immediately go to start grounding him, making it possible to at least start getting a handle on himself, before the change in Claude's voice even fully registers.

At his first point, though, it takes some work not to let his next breath come out as a guilty whine.] ...But I would have done it anyway. If it were just me, I probably still would have told him you guys would be okay with it - only because I already knew it was true, but-- [Grant swallows hard, quietly giving up on that sentence. He's sure Claude gets the idea, and with every second there's more bubbling to the surface that he feels like he's going to have to say.

He... thinks he might be starting to understand why he broke down so fast.

In the meantime, though, Claude sure is saying something here that sounds to Grant like it... can't possibly be the case, regardless of how much he may want it to be. And that confusion... probably shows on his face. But... it is Claude.] Wh-- are you sure? I mean, I-- what-- what do I do, then?

I mean, it is me. [Claude grins up at him.] I'm pretty good at reading people, aren't I? And from where I was standing, it looked to me like he savored that little kiss. It took a long couple of seconds before he even opened his eyes again. Obviously he's the only one who knows exactly what he's thinking, but people generally don't linger over something they didn't enjoy.

As for what you do with that...well, that's up to you, isn't it? I don't know what kind of following up you'd be interested in with him. [Claude cocks his head.] Would you want a proper relationship with him, if it was possible? It sounds like you've been pining over him for awhile, but I don't know if it's just attraction to a hot guy or if it runs deeper.

If you mean what you should do right now in the present moment, though...I'd go apologize to him for trying to run off so fast and making things weird. I think you can be honest enough about saying that you psyched yourself out over kissing such a handsome guy without totally dying of embarrassment, and then he gets reassured that you were very much into it and your reaction was just nerves. Because I feel like if you don't explain what just happened in some kind of way, he's going to be set up to get the wrong idea.

If it were anyone other than you, I might just not believe it. [He laughs softly, and then goes quiet again, consider Claude's evidence - and the question of what follows.

His voice is even softer when he speaks again.] I... I think I do want that. But-- I mean, we still haven't even given Zuke an answer. And if I was going to pursue something with Shiro at all, I feel like I... I should tell everyone I want to do that first, but I don't know that Felix would want to hear about it-- [He interrupts himself with a short, hollow laugh.] I mean, for one thing, he might be a little tired of talking about getting more people involved in all this, but then again-- I don't know if he even cares what I do, I'm not you or Dimitri.

[At least he can give a nod of confirmation at that advice.] ...Yeah. I can do that, at least.

Well, none of that other stuff has to be figured out right this second, does it? For one thing, you'd have to talk to Shiro to see if he was even interested before you talked to any of us. But I'm sure you're not going to have that conversation here at this party, tonight. [Claude doesn't say 'in the same place where Lance and Pidge are', but it's certainly a consideration he knows Grant would take into account.]

So for now, I'd just go correct any mistaken impressions Shiro might've gotten, and thank him for the nice kiss. [He smiles up at Grant.] You've still got time to save it, and if you do want this to maybe go somewhere, it keeps that door open. And frankly, even if you didn't, Shiro deserves to feel good about that kiss, and I'd hate for him to wind up regretting it thinking that you didn't like it when you actually did. [He pats Grant's cheek.] I know you can make him feel as good about it as it actually was. And maybe you'll get to hear from him how much he liked it, too, so you can stop worrying.

Would I? I mean, if... if Shiro is interested, it wouldn't feel right to bring up the possibility to him before I know for sure if everyone else would be alright with it - comparatively, I'd think it'd have a higher chance of going smoothly if I checked how everyone else felt before trying to make any kind of a move... [He sighs, scrunching his face into kind of a pained look for a moment.] ...'Course, for that same reason, I really should've talked to you guys before saying anything to Dedue, but... that didn't go anywhere, anyway-- but, uh. Yeah. You're right, none of this is coming up tonight, anyway.

[He takes a deep breath. Lets it out.] You're right, [he repeats.] The last thing I want is for him to feel like he did something wrong... I'll go talk to him. Thank you.

[They've doubtless left Shiro to worry more than long enough. So he gives Claude's hands a gentle, appreciative squeeze before pulling away and returning to Shiro.]

...Hey. Sorry about... that. [He smiles weakly.] I... kind of tend to do and say some dumb stuff when I get flustered.

[Somewhere in the midst of Grant and Claude's conversation, Shiro had... well. He didn't leave the kitchen. But he'd definitely busied himself with something else. Which just so happens to be the dishes. You have a party, you rack up a lot of dishes. And those are one thing Shiro can do without setting the place on fire.]

[His shoulders tense up a bit, hearing Grant. He figures it's the inevitable. The "we can't be friends" talk. Or something along those lines. But he still turns, he still smiles.]

No, I... it's fine. It's fine. I should apologize - [Why, Shiro? He shoves his hands back into the water.]

If I... If I made things awkward back there - I didn't mean to. I... [Deep breath.] Yeah.

No-- no, you've got nothing to apologize for. [Jeez, Claude was right. Which is no surprise, he usually is.]

You didn't make anything awkward; I was the one nudging for it to happen to begin with, and then I was the one who... well, panicked and tried to run off, because, uh-- I-I still sometimes get weird about kissing handsome guys.

[His face is probably turning red again.] So, you didn't do anything wrong, I promise. It... was nice. I-- uh, I hope that's not weird to say.

[Wow. All right. That sucks the wind out of his sails, so to speak. He'd assumed... he'd thought... all wrong, apparently. He's not upset. But sort of floored. Everything he'd planned to say dumped down the drain. Not in a bad way, either. But in the "well there goes my speech" sort of way.]

[He pushes a hand through his hair]

I uh... [Wait, crap.] I'm not upset. Either. I just. I was prepared for... the opposite.

[It was nice. Of course it was. It was the first kiss he'd had since the disaster of a - ]

[Another hand through his hair. This one trailing soap suds.]

Yeah. Yeah, it was... it was nice.

Oh, yeah, no, I'm-- I'm sorry I gave the impression there was anything wrong.

[It was nice. Shiro agreed.

Grant can feel his heart jumping in his chest and his face heating up again.]

Great! I'm-- I'm glad.

No, no! I - it's not your fault. It's - it's fine. Really. You didn't do anything wrong.

[Wow, they're just going around in circles here aren't they?]

[Is it hot in here? His face feels hot.]

Yeah. It uh. Great.

[... how this man manages inspirational speeches and supportive talks on the fly, while tripping over his own words in this arena, we just don't know.]

I-I mean, I clearly kind of did, since you thought you did, but I... um. I'm glad you don't think I did, and now you know you didn't.

[This is a nightmare. This is a nightmare, and Grant is sure Claude is enjoying it, but if it goes on much longer Grant might actually die and then none of them will be having a good night. How does he break the nightmare cycle.]

...Thank you. I mean, I already said that, but... this time, for going along with... the plant and everything.

No, no - It's... it's okay. I don't exactly have... practice with this. Any of this. But you're good.

[... oh Arceus does this mean he just accidentally said Grant was good? At kissing? Please someone kill him here.]

I mean - we're good.

Everything's good. We're fine. You and me. So yeah. You're welcome?

Practice with... kissing, or-- [Wait, okay, stop.] --sorry, no, that was dumb, feel free to... disregard that.

[Shiro has been married, obviously he has practice with kissing. Stupid.]

Yep! Yeah. No problem.

[Aaand back to square one.]

[Oh god, there goes Shiro's face. It's on fire. Maybe it's actually on fire? Is that possible? That feels physically possible.]

Sure... Um. Sure thing.

[He clears his throat. A couple times. And then, miraculously, a diversion - ]

Oh right! Here! [The hunk of cake, sitting on the counter.] For Chip, before I forget.

Right! Yes, thank you.

[How many times has he said that now? Either it's three, or he's lost track, and he's not sure which. He actually takes the cake this time, with an appreciative nod.

...And then he just... gives up on making this go smoothly and starts laughing, quietly.] We are... both making fools of ourselves, aren't we.

[The laugh does it. The laugh is what finally breaks the tension. Shiro ends up chuckling too, his hand once again pushing his hair back out of his eyes.]

I uh. Yeah. Yeah, we are, huh?

[That little gesture, the way Shiro sweeps his hair out of his face, is going to be the death of Grant, he swears.

Or, at least, it can go on the list of things hot guys that Grant knows do that might be the death of him.]

Well-- at least only a whole party's worth of people might've seen us fumbling around, huh? Probably less, just Claude and whoever else happens to have passed by!

[God, that... that might make Shiro more nervous. Shit.]

Uh-- which is to say, it's-- it should be fine.

[Is it worse or better if his hair is back to being rainbow? But hey, at least with the water from the dishes, it's staying in place now.]

That... uh. I hadn't thought of that.

[Like, at all. It never crossed his mind. Grant is mostly correct. He rubs the back of his neck, glancing around the kitchen like someone else is going to pop up. Claude sure did.]

Right. If you say so.

[He should not have said that. Grant finds himself mirroring Shiro's body language, scratching at the back of his own neck in turn.]

I mean-- specifically, I was thinking about... y'know, us talking after. I-- I don't think anyone but Claude saw the... the catalyst.

[If Shiro doesn't want other people to have seen it, Grant doesn't want to give the impression that they did.]

Oh. Oh... that's. That's good.

[He exhales, sharply, when Grant says that. Relaxing - only to suddenly realize just what the heck he'd said out loud.]

I mean -! My Gallade. He knows how to use the 'gear, and he just... loves. Plastering videos on the network.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject