WHO: Ty Blackthorn and Kit Herondale WHAT: Kit wants to do couple-y traditions with Ty who doesn't really get the New Years Eve stuff. WHEN: New Years Eve, a few minutes before midnight. WARNINGS: None! STATUS: Complete!
Most of Ty’s month had been following these leads. Making maps, following maps, research, seeking out where this all went. He had more questions than he had answers, which was frustrating but just lead him down another path.
And another.
And another.
It was a neverending cycle, it seemed. He knew the sewer system in Vallo as well as he knew the streets of LA these days. Kit had followed him nearly everywhere, Livvy to about half of that when she either wanted to keep them out of trouble or was bored. He felt a little bad about the sheer amount that he’d dragged them around, so when they were at the house, he tried not to rope them into the endless hours of research and book reading he had set upon himself.
It hadn’t left as much time for-- well, Kit, and Ty wasn’t good at moderating himself. Livvy would remind him to go bother his boyfriend - that was a term they hadn’t necessarily talked about using but Ty didn’t object to it - and Ty would, after he finished whatever he was reading. Spending time with Kit was the highlight of his day, he felt right there.
But his brain just wouldn’t let go of the hold that this investigation had on him. Ty had to see it through.
Which was how he ended up with his nose in a book on New Years Eve, nearing midnight, on the floor of the library. He had an open notebook with him so he could scribble things down as they came up - he frowned on highlighting books - and was oblivious to the fact that most of the household was out for the night.
Kit knew exactly what he was getting into. He should have expected nothing less from Ty when it came to a puzzle to solve, a problem to overcome. The issue was that Kit knew that his own investigative skills began and ended with Ty. Outside of the little bubble that Ty had allowed him to occupy, Kit was not good at research without Ty's management. He was even less helpful with doing things on his own. Ty's brain was always ten steps ahead of his and by the time Kit found something of remote interest, Ty had already been digging into it for a week. It's not that Kit felt inferior, only that he didn't feel helpful. He worked better when he was pointed in one direction or worrying over Ty's shoulder.
Tonight, though, of all the nights, he had wanted to spend it with Ty. He wanted to be able to coax him to give this whole thing a break. Ever since the situation in the sewers Kit thought the solution would present itself. When it didn't, and it only sunk Ty deeper into everything, Kit knew he was fighting against intangible things—questions not answered, probabilities of theories, and connections that could be missed.
He had left Ty alone to not get in the way, and then be the dutiful boyfriend who came and swooped in at the last minute to pull him away. Maybe. Livvy had nudged in his direction when it was thirty minutes to midnight and Kit hadn't seen Ty all evening, other than to bring him something to drink or eat or ask if he was okay.
And Kit was a little selfish. He wanted a very couple-y thing to do with Ty on a night that actively recommended it. So he slid into the library quietly, and then folded himself across from Ty on the floor. He waited a second, then two, before, "Are you close to a stopping point? Did you want to watch fireworks at midnight?"
Ty had glanced up at Kit, and smiled a little. He wasn’t too distracted to not notice him, and he liked Kit’s company. But then a little frown came up, and his nose wrinkled. “Why are there fireworks-- Oh. New Years Eve.” He’d never been one for celebrating it, they had a few times as a family before his parents had died, but Ty had been young enough to go to bed instead of having to stay up.
Then in LA, Julian had never pressured him, and Ty had always found himself elsewhere. Not always on purpose, but it had always worked out that way.
He wasn’t at a stopping point, not really. He’d been coasting on the quiet in the house and that had gotten him through most of this book, with several chapters to go. But Kit being there made him gnaw on his lower lip. “If you want? I’d have to go get my headphones.” He hadn’t seen about spells that might dampen the noises a little more effectively than headphones yet, but Ty had dealt with fireworks before. He just had to focus through it.
"I was thinking we could just stand inside. Just watch them from the window. You can still get your headphones, but I wanted to make it easy," Kit said. He thought it was easy. Or could be easy. But he also knew that Ty agreeing didn't seem like he really wanted to, almost like he'd rather have his book all evening. If you want felt like a dismissal in a weird twisted way, and Kit frowned. He had been trying to go for romantic.
"I want you to want to, too." Kit put his hand on the top of the book. He didn't push it down, but just enough to wedge himself into Ty's personal space without actually having to touch him. He was starting to feel a little silly, competing for attention with research, but Kit was willing. He had to be, or he might never see Ty again outside of this library.
He scooted a little closer, their knees a hair's breadth away from knocking together. "We've been home alone all night, and I just thought you might like to kiss at midnight." Was Kit begging? He sounded a little like he was begging, and he hated that he did. But he didn't know when they would get the opportunity again.
Ty’s eyebrows were still knitted together, as if he was figuring out all of the complexities of fireworks and taking a break. Weighing the pros and cons in his head. It was nothing as in-depth as that, but he was trying to sus out just where this conversation was going. Trying to be three steps ahead never actually helped him, but usually he could look towards Julian and ask for advice on what to say.
But now it was just him and he had to rely on his own instincts, which were never the best. Ty frowned a little more and didn’t close the book on Kit’s fingers, but did abandon looking at it in favor of looking at Kit. It was probably still a little obvious that he was not quite getting what Kit was laying down.
“I like spending time with you, but I don’t like the noise of fireworks?” Maybe he should have just lied, but Ty was never good at that. “And we can kiss at any time, I like kissing you. Why does it have to be at midnight?”
Kit could see Ty trying to work it out. He kind of wished there was some easy to pass along pamphlet: New Years Eve Traditions and You! Maybe he would make one. Maybe he wouldn't need one after he tried to explain it to Ty this year. Sometimes having been raised a mundane—still weird to refer to himself that way, when he felt anything but mundane—made things more difficult.
"It's just, it's tradition. We don't have to do the fireworks at all," Kit said, floundering. He thought the fireworks could be nice, but that wasn't the point. "On New Year's Eve, at midnight, you're supposed to kiss someone for luck. Kind of like bringing in the same good vibes from the kiss into the new year. People do it platonically, but if you're with someone—" Kit paused awkwardly because he didn't know if saying boyfriend was something they had decided on. Kit thought of Ty that way, and they certainly kissed like they were exclusive, but weird insecure doubt tugged at him.
"When you're with someone, who you kiss, uh, non-platonically, it's to strengthen the relationship. It's something that people do. Couples. And I wanted to do it for you. And I know, I know, it's superstitious, and we don't need some stupid thing to force us to kiss at midnight, but I want to." Kit took a deep breath, bringing his focus back to Ty so that he knew Kit was serious.
"I want to do it with you."
“Oh.” This all felt important, like a relationship leap that Ty hadn’t actually known was coming, but wasn’t mad about it. Just a little confused as he played catch up. He could process any amount of evidence with ease but when people talked about emotions, Ty felt like he was given a giant wad of yarn he had to slowly untangle in order to figure it out.
He tucked a bookmark in the book that was between them and set it aside. “Okay.” As if it was as simple as that, but sometimes, it was. Where Kit could be floundering, Ty sounded oddly calm about all of it. He just needed reminders that occasionally he had to act like a normal person in a human (Nephilim) suit, and that apparently involved kissing at midnight. He’d write that in his journal later.
“Are there any other traditions I should know about as your boyfriend?” It wasn’t sarcastic, even if the words could have very easily edged that way. It was just curious, like he was adding more things to the internal list he was populating. “I want to write all of this down so I’m prepared in the future, okay?”
Kit knew Ty. At least he was relatively confident that he did even with those years between them where they didn't talk. So when Ty put down the book, ready to take notes on their relationship, Kit was proportionately surprised. He didn't think it would be that easy. But he should have known better— this was Ty, it absolutely could be.
He did that goldfish thing, opening and closing his mouth as he processed boyfriend and then tried to populate all his own boyfriend things that he should tell Ty about. But on the spot, Kit's mind went blank. Shit, shit, shit.
"I—I can't think of any right now," Kit admitted, then added, "But I'll tell you as they come up? I won't spring them on you like today with the New Years Eve stuff." And Kit immediately felt awful for having felt momentarily awful at Ty. Maybe he didn't know Ty as well as he claimed he did.
Now it was his turn to get a little anxious and look at the ceiling of the library, just to gather his thoughts. "There's some stuff around holidays, though, usually. That we can do as boyfriends. But it's mostly just kissing." That was what Kit had figured out in his incredibly short amount of time dating. He was definitely not an expert.
Ty didn’t want to be bad at this boyfriends thing, but he was relatively certain he already was just from lack of experience. He didn’t like how Kit was suddenly getting antsy, and worried he did something wrong again by not catching cues. “Sorry I don’t know a lot about these things.” He frowned, again, at himself and at the situation at hand. “I’ll be better about asking you and Julian what I should know before it happens.
He started tracing symbols on his jeans, back and forth, up and down, around, loop. Over and over. It was a sign he was a little agitated and preoccupied. “I like all of the kissing that’s involved in these traditions but I like when we do other things too. The uh- fireworks probably look nice from the balcony.”
This was him trying, despite Ty’s own dislike of fireworks, and of the loud chaos they brought with them. But Kit clearly liked them enough to seek him out and Ty liked Kit, enough to make the noise and the chaos worth it.
Kit noticed. And instead of trying to stop Ty from doing his pattern making, he simply held out his hand as a peace offering or just a way to show that he wasn't mad at Ty. "I don't know a lot about these things either," Kit admitted. Maybe it was more than Ty but barely. He was still stumbling through the dark in most cases with Ty. And they weren't completely hopeless, they had gotten a lot of it right.
"But we'll figure it out. Fireworks or non-fireworks or whatever," Kit said. Then his face scrunched up, almost knowing what he was about to ask was bigger than anything. "Can we just at least get out of the library for a little bit? And kiss in, I don't know, the kitchen. Or the living room. Or even the hallway. I'd settle for the hallway." He'd also be okay with the bedroom, but he also knew that had different connotations that he wasn't intentionally implying.
With his hand still out—which would still look silly for it to hover there but Kit didn't mind, and he would wait forever for Ty to take it—he leaned his elbow on his knee, and chin in the other hand. "I just want to spend time with you, so I think we can figure the rest of it out."
“You wanted to see the fireworks,” Ty pointed out, as he took Kit’s hand. He stood up and pulled Kit with him, and towards the door of the library. He was on a mission now, because that was how his brain worked - he could supplement one minor obsession with another, and Kit had mentioned this being something he wanted.
So now it would be something he had. Ty pulled him down the hall, to one of the double doors that led out to one of the many balconies that overlooked the grounds. It was not a small house by any means, so there was only a low chance of someone who had stuck around running into them as Ty stopped short of opening the door to the outside.
The glass gave them a view even, of the explosions that had started overhead. Kit had said midnight, so Ty looked down at his watch, and saw that it was very close to. “Almost midnight. I’m going to kiss you now.” Did it count if you were already kissing when the clock struck the top of the hour?
He would find out, as Ty leaned in to kiss Kit, well on his way to completing his mission, and Kit’s request.