Work Text:
23rd December - 6pm.
The party had barely started, music played and employees of the office Garrett worked in milled about with drinks in their hands and paper crowns on their heads as they chatted amongst themselves.
Garrett stood by the window, leaning against the sill, his drink warm in his hand after having held it for the last 20 minutes, he had no intention of drinking it. This was too dangerous a situation to be in, bad things happened at work parties.
“Guess who just got here?!” Kate, a fellow supervisor and work friend, rushed to his side with more excitement in her entire being than the entirety of the office put together. “Only our favourite Volturi family member!” She hadn’t waited for him to guess and he was pleased because he didn’t really care all that much.
Aro Volturi walked into the office and a cheer went up, he was nephew to the CEO and regularly made an appearance in the office bringing some joy to the dreary work day. While he wasn’t a party animal he was well aware that such events needed a little fun injection which was severely lacking when the festivities were arranged by his uncle Marcus.
Garrett watched from the other side of the office as Aro greeted his uncle and turned to the door where a delivery driver was rolling in a stack of crates with Dom Perignon stamped across the side. An expensive gift for an office party where the majority of the employees were just above minimum wage.
The crates were cracked open and bottles were handed out to anyone who could get their hands on one.
That was when the party really started, someone turned the music up but not before Garrett heard several corks pop followed by a cheer from his left. If Marcus had wanted to say anything it was lost in the din of merriment now.
“I am so glad he showed up!” Kate yelled into his ear before she vanished off into the throng of office workers to source her own bottle before they vanished for good.
While the party was far more interesting than it had been less than a minute ago, he couldn’t say he was excited to see the man who was the cause of the raucous behaviour coming from the once morose workforce.
Bad things happened at work parties and he knew all too well and had first-hand experience. Now he was a year older he was a year wiser also, and his goal was to stay long enough that he wasn’t heckled as he left but sober enough that he didn’t make the same mistake twice.
This year he definitely wasn’t going to sleep with the boss's nephew. No matter how flirtatious he is- if he wasn’t drinking he was sure his charm was far less alluring.
At least, he hoped that was the case.
The last time had been… an experience, he hadn’t met Aro before then and had only heard of his legendary generosity when it came to work social events by word of mouth. Kate had regaled him with everything she knew but still, he hadn’t been prepared to meet the man.
Their first time meeting was in the kitchen at work at the Christmas party last year. Garrett was getting a glass of water to try and counter the several shots he had taken in a hopeless bid to leave him hangoverless the next day.
He had just happened to turn and look to the doorway as someone entered the room, he was genuinely surprised to see such a beautiful man smiling at him, his long dark hair spilt over his shoulders in gentle waves that framed his youthful face beautifully. He could not have been older than his twenties like Garrett but he held himself with such confidence he could have convinced him he was older.
His brown eyes sparkled with mischief as he stopped at Garrett’s side and leaned against the kitchen counter giving him a flirtatious smile.
“Well, well, it seems you’ve fallen into a well-hidden trap.” He was well-spoken but not American, his English was perfect and yet Garrett couldn’t place the hint of an accent that swirled through the words as he spoke to him.
Of course, he was confused as to what the Hell the beautiful stranger was saying. The kitchen wasn’t exactly laden with traps, it was a kitchen- that was until he followed the man’s gaze and spotted a sprig of mistletoe hanging very innocently from the ceiling above them.
If the floor could have swallowed him up at that point it should have, but instead what happened was the following;
The beautiful stranger laughed, introduced himself as Aro Volturi and then leaned up and pressed a soft kiss to his lips before winking at him and leaving the kitchen without another word.
That wasn’t all that happened that night but Garrett was absolutely not brave enough to delve into those memories, he wasn’t drunk enough and he wouldn’t be that night to even consider it.
But here they were again, same room, same event different year. He had thought about the kiss almost every day since it had happened. How it had electrified him, rolled over his skin and made the hair on his arms stand on end, yet it had liquified his insides and for the rest of the evening, he felt like a lovesick puppy as he had watched Aro swan around the room for the majority of the event until they had found each other once again.
Aro had apologised for kissing him without asking if it was all right, but Garrett had cut him off and told him it was fine, it was just a fun tradition and he wasn’t going to lose his mind over it.
He had and it had consumed him in such a frightening way that the very same night they had ended up in Aro’s hotel room tearing at each other’s clothes until their bare skin was pressed together and the relief of feeling Aro against him had left him in a sigh.
It was an instant attraction but it didn’t mean Garrett hadn’t regretted it the next morning.
They didn’t speak after that and whenever there was the whisper that Aro might visit the office he took a sick day or vacation leave because he just couldn’t face him and what he might do if he saw him again.
The mortifying ordeal of having a ridiculously huge crush on someone way out of your league.
Kate had returned and was in the process of coaxing the warm drink out of his hand, she replaced it with a flute of champagne and nudged him as if to remind him he needed to drink it but he couldn’t.
Aro had spotted him and Garrett felt his throat close up and his heart rate doubled in seconds. His palms were slick against the glass and it started to slide out of his hand, to save himself from disaster he set the drink down beside him on the window sill and by the time he turned back Aro was in front of him.
“Hi, you.” It was soft, barely audible but Garrett knew what he had said. He gave a nod in greeting but didn’t trust himself to open his mouth, his tongue had words eager to trip from it and all of them awful excuses and declarations of love.
The work Christmas party was not the place for the conversation they needed to have, one Garrett had actively avoided all year because he knew the outcome, he was in deep even though he barely knew the man and Aro had wanted to let him down gently.
Instead of saying anything Aro pulled a box of cigarettes from his suit jacket pocket and gestured to the fire exit door propped open with an office chair. Garrett didn’t smoke but he found himself nodding and following Aro through the crowded office and out onto the stairwell. The cold air took the breath in his lungs and he coughed and rubbed his arms with his hands eager to get the blood pumping again.
“You’ve been avoiding me.” That was the first thing he had said, but he wasn’t even looking at him as he spoke, he was climbing the stairs to the next floor up and Garrett followed dutifully. It was apparent he wanted privacy but everyone would have seen them leave even if it was just for a ‘cigarette’ they had still left together.
“Yeah, I have.” There was no use in lying to him he just hoped Aro didn’t have the courage to ask him why, because he certainly didn’t have such to tell him.
“I see, well as much as I dislike to admit when I am wrong, I truly did misconstrue how you felt then that night?” They were standing by the fire exit door of another office long closed for the Christmas period, Aro still hadn’t lit a cigarette and Garrett wasn’t going to remind him.
“We all do things we regret at parties, right?” That wasn’t what he had wanted to say and he ran a hand through his hair trying to calm his thoughts but they raced just as his heart rate did and he swallowed hard against the words that threatened to reveal his feelings to Aro.
“I’ve never been a regret before. A secret, yes, a liaison, but not a regret.” Aro spoke quietly but with his whole heart, it seemed. His eyes on Garrett were full of hope while his voice was full of hurt
Had he misunderstood something?
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand. What do you mean?” Garrett was genuinely lost, the conversation wasn’t flowing as a single thread but several that were knotted in the air between them.
He saw Aro scoff and his eyes widen in disbelief for a moment before he laughed bitterly and turned to face the city below, the scrape of the lighter signalling that he had finally lit a cigarette quickly followed by a plume of smoke that rose into the air before dissipating in the night sky.
“I will speak plainly, I thought there might have been something between us. The way you touched me, and held me against you I believed that perhaps you were interested in pursuing more than just a one-night stand. I see I was wrong.” He continues to smoke with his back to Garrett and it felt like there was nothing more to say, at least on his side but Garrett was reeling, he felt like someone had taken him apart and put him back together using lightning bolts instead of bones.
Turning on his heel he threw himself down the stairs and back into the fray, the heat blasted him as he hurried through the crowd. His eyes lifted to the office’s low ceilings hoping to find exactly what he was looking for.
He scanned the room with watering eyes, the sudden warmth after being in the icy cold did a number on him and his vision was blurred and yet he found his quarry. Reaching up he snatched the mistletoe from above a smooching couple with no apology and loped back out of the room and up the stairs where Aro still smoked.
“Hey- don’t just… fucking assuming things- hah-!” He was out of breath but when Aro turned to face him he thrust the mistletoe above his head triumphantly and leaned down to kiss the shorter man.
Before he could pull away he felt Aro’s arms around him pulling him close and their kiss deepened from something soft and gentle to deep and intense and Garrett caught himself before he moaned.
Garrett broke the kiss and tossed the mistletoe over his shoulder with a grin.
“I know how I feel about you Aro but I also don’t know you, but I want to. I want to know everything about you, but for me to do that I’m going to have to quit my job.” The idea made him feel a little sick, he didn’t have anything lined up but he had winged it before he could do it again, right?
“You need to quit, why?” Aro was at a loss, his confusion splayed across his face as he searched for an answer his hands grasped at Garrett’s shirt and he shook him gently. “Are you out of your mind?”
“Yeah, I am. But you live in another country, Aro. I need a job that makes it easier for me to see you and talk to you daily. Plus I hate it here, I really hate it, my manager sucks and I don’t think I can stand another day of not punching him in the face.” Honesty was the best policy and even though it wouldn’t get his manager fired it did feel good to vent to someone who knew the company well.
“Why don’t we get out of here and go somewhere quiet and warmer ?” Aro was shivering, his nose and cheeks pink from the cold, he was utterly beautiful and Garrett was entranced by him.
“Let’s go to your hotel, nothing seedy just private.” Any sane or responsible person would tell him it was too soon to say he was in love, and any responsible person would tell him that after meeting each other only twice Garrett should not quit his job to uproot his life for someone when it might not even work out.
But he had played it safe for too long, he didn’t drink, he didn’t smoke, he worked a 9 to 5 and paid his rent on time, and GOD was it boring as all Hell.
Even if things with Aro didn’t work out at least he would have an interesting story to tell, he would happily throw his lot in with Aro to release himself from the monotony of an average life.
After all, Garrett had always wanted to travel and this was the perfect opportunity, wherever Aro was from he would follow him there, and everyone else could suck it up and envy him.
This was office gossip he would be glad to offer, one last big ‘fuck you’ to his boss before he truly started living his life.