Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The mistletoe came up on the twenty-second, a fact that Jenkins was not surprised by. “Today is the Winter Solstice, most commonly known among magic users as Yule,” he explained, “The Library will celebrate all, but as a source of magic, this day is especially potent.”

The information was not lost among the others, but the two stuck under the plant weren't happy. Jake, who had shown up three minutes later than he wanted, couldn't move from Cassandra, who was face to face with him when she tried scooting by. Ezekiel, for once in his life early, was snickering where he sat by Eve. Cassandra couldn't move a step, and neither could Jake. Their efforts turned the snickering into laughter. Eve smacked him once, but it didn't work well enough.

“You two must honor the tradition,” Jenkins said, merely watching with a disinterested eye.

Ezekiel couldn't hold back. “Come on, you gotta kiss,” he said, making smooching noises before Eve covered his mouth.

Jake, not wanting to be here any longer, bent down and nudged Cassandra's chin up so he could capture her lips. It was impolite as hell, and while she reacted, he didn't delve too much into it. Once the two naturally parted, they both walked into the main area and breathed a sigh of relief. Now, he could focus on something else. “Jones,” he roared, the younger man making his way out of Eve's hold to run into the Library. “Get back here, Jones. I know you plan this somehow.”

Cassandra needed to go out and get medications before the twenty-fourth, and while she got ready, someone else had tried to sneak out around her. Turning around, she saw Ezekiel stuck under the mistletoe. She had to smile, it was a suiting payback for the joy he got out of the first encounter.

“Uh, I think you need to find an alternate route,” he said, noting her jacket. She shook her head and purposely walked toward him. When she became stuck underneath it, he protested. “Come on, Cassandra. Why did you do that?”

She smiled, “Because the Library will make it happen.”

“Well, no offense, but I don't see you that way.”

“Neither do I.” Instead, she picked herself up a little to reach the nearest cheek she could and pecked it. The magic that held them in place let go and she continued walking out. Ezekiel, after three seconds of making note of possible loopholes, followed.

Jake needed to get a last couple of minute things. Stocking stuffers, gag gifts for his siblings. He remembered the mistletoe, but thought the Library would let him pass if there was no one else around. Instead, it made him stay for a couple of minutes for someone else to come back.

Ezekiel.

The younger man's smirk meant he was going to end up doing something regretful. “No, no, don't you,” he tried, before the younger man purposely came up and stepped under.

Of course, he didn't get a warning or a chance to argue before Ezekiel was throwing his arms around him and kissing straight on the lips. His lips had been dry, so the nice ones had to have been Jones'. He tasted cherry chapstick and expressed some sort of distaste. His hands might have found his hips. It felt good, which surprised the hell out of him. There might have also delving. He's not sure who was doing it.

“This is kinda hot,” a voice interrupted.

He broke it off to see Cassandra, who had been watching in rapt attention. Jake switched back to see Jones with a shit-eating grin and reddened lips. “He was not putting in that much into your kiss,” he mentioned.

She giggled a tiny bit. His anger came back and he wanted to chase the bastard down like the first time he was stuck under this plant. He needed to buy those presents, though. “I will get you back later,” he promised, moving past Cassandra to get out.

Flynn hadn't been paying to anything and found himself unable to move when he tried walking out of the Annex. Looking down, he didn't see anything. No glue, fly paper, or runes that would trap him in place.

Someone laughed and he saw Eve watching him amused. “Okay, what did Jones do? Why can't I move?” he asked.

“Look up,” she said. He did, and saw the mistletoe hanging above. Flynn made an O face. He wasn't as surprised as she thought he would be. “This has happened before?”

“He liked doing it to Judson and Charlene. And two of the guards. I think they got married when the ban was lifted,” he listed. Eve had been walking over when he was talking and ended up stuck under with him when she got close enough. “Hi.”

“Hi,” she smiled. The two of them moved forward at the same time and kissed instantaneously. It was a picture perfect moment, hands joining together, tilting just a bit to make sure both were comfortable and wanting it to go on for a couple of more minutes.

Eve felt someone's presence nearby, so she broke off the kiss to see the three other Librarians watching. Cassandra was giddy, Jake approved, and Ezekiel going between smiling and looking sick. There was a phone in Cassandra's hands.

Her look to the young woman didn't work well enough as Flynn dragged her outside when he started leaving.

Chapter Text

Eve managed to get herself caught when she came in from the rain. Ezekiel and Cassandra were already inside, their coat and sweatshirt evident by their desks. Neither were around to help her out of this predicament.

Until she heard a cough and saw Jake behind her with a couple of bags. He switched them so they were dangling towards his back. He moved forward until he was trapped underneath the mistletoe with her. “Stone?” she questioned, raising an eyebrow.

He held up his hands. “I was thinking kiss on the cheek,” he said, “From me to you. Permission?”

Cheek kiss? Wasn't mistletoe all about the romance? No, wait, that's movies and the world. “Go for it.” He picked her left cheek to land a close mouth kiss that only lasted a couple of seconds.

She sighed a breath of relief as the Library's mistletoe allowed her out. “As much as I like you, Stone, I'm glad that doesn't have to be on the lips.”

He shrugged, “Yeah. Cassandra did that for Jones.” Jake didn't mention what Jones did to him. He figured Cassandra would probably end up telling the story soon.

Cassandra got stuck promptly when she tried coming back in from a coffee run and simply waited. The Library was celebrating in its own way and she was going to enjoy it. They never showed this much emotion around each other and it felt nice to know that everyone cared.

She looked around and saw Eve coming back in. “Hi,” she said, alerting her.

The older woman glanced at her and nodded. “No use in fighting it,” she muttered, walking up and getting stuck just beside her. Eve actually was okay with Cassandra. As long as it wasn't kissing on the lips. Nope, only Flynn could do that. “Hey, Red.” She initiated a hug, which the younger woman promptly returned, squeezing her.

A minute later, she pecked her right cheek and blushed at her own forwardness before letting go and hiding in the Library. Eve shook her head before also coming in and settling down at old Guardian reports.

Eve was finishing her small selection of chores for the day. Putting back the reports she got out, checking up on Flynn and Jake, both out on cases. Cassandra had been helping Jenkins out in the lab, but the two of them were gone for the evening as well. The last one she thought left a while ago and didn't expect anyone else around.

Until she saw that last one stuck underneath the mistletoe. At least the Library had allowed Ezekiel to sit down, but now he had to stand up when someone else came into the room. His face as to who exactly walked in changed into a grimace. “Jones, don't look so excited to see me,” she mocked, getting her things ready to leave.

His face quickly turned into a fake smile. “Always a pleasure to see you, Colonel,” he said. Her attitude was 'get it over with'. Can't be as bad as Cassandra's tale of Ezekiel acting like a lovesick moron when Jake was stuck again.

Stepping so she was directly in front of him, she warned, “No funny business, Jones.” Her right arm was free specifically to pull him into a hug before directing a kiss on his forehead. She thought that would be it before two arms wrapped around her and a head buried in the juncture of her shoulder and neck. Neither of them said anything for two minutes before Ezekiel separated first. He tried moving forward in embarrassment, but she kept her arm around him as they walked out.

Flynn and Cassandra were talking about a new project she had going in the lab, a crystal that would be able to tell curse and hex types, similar to a Remembrall from Harry Potter. Flynn expressed interest due to his numerous run ins with old curses, hexes and casters of the two.

Neither were paying much attention until they couldn't move. Cassandra checked first and saw the mistletoe slightly swaying. Flynn followed her gaze and then looked back down. “Come here, you,” he said, wrapping Cassandra in a bear hug.

She squeaked a little, but wrapped her own arms around him. The kiss to her forehead was unexpected, but she felt happy, calm, welcomed right at this moment and savored it.

“Uh, guys?” someone interrupted. Jake was waving from where he was standing, two books in hand. Apparently, they had been standing there for a couple of minutes. They broke the hug. Cassandra felt slightly sheepish at the length.

“Come on, I've been discovering some of Portland's restaurants.” He kept an arm around her and walked out. “Let's keep going on that crystal.”

Chapter Text

Flynn thought the Library was empty. He figured with no people around, the mistletoe wouldn't keep him in place. When he stepped under, it kept him in place. Wait, wow as left, then? Cassandra, Eve, and surprisingly Ezekiel, left just after dark. He thought Jake left a couple of hours later.

Waiting for the answer took a few minutes, but then Jake walked into the main section, and stopped when he saw Flynn under the mistletoe. “Hey.”

“Oh,” he said, surprised, “I thought you already left.”

“Jenkins had to go pick something up,” he explained. The other man quickly gathered his stuff up before joining the other Librarian. “C'mere.” Flynn was pulled into a half hug, Jake holding his right arm in a steady grip and patting him twice on the back. He was reminded of the same way he greeted Eve when they saw each other again in New York.

“Merry Christmas,” Flynn said, half-amused.

“Yeah. Merry Christmas.”

Eve was sitting at her desk when Flynn tried fighting against the mistletoe as he was walking in. “Eve, would you please?” he asked. She grinned, knowing something he didn't. “Come on, please. I'm not exactly sure-”

“Oh, no way in hell,” a voice exclaimed. Jones. The youngest man was stopped by both Cassandra and Jake as he tried leaving to get through the side door. “No. No. I'm not doing it.”

Flynn had the same thought. “Eve, please,” he begged, well, almost begged. There wasn't really many situations in which he would beg. A body stumbled into him and Jake snickered at Ezekiel using Flynn to catch himself.

The older man looked up to the ceiling. “Come on, Ray,” he said. Nothing. Neither could move and Ezekiel folded his arms and scowled.

“You two have to do something,” Cassandra reminded. Flynn, not wanting to be stuck on Christmas Eve, frowned and quickly grabbed Ezekiel before he could complain.

The younger man wasn't too happy at the hug, but he completed it all the same. “This is painful awkward on so many levels,” he murmured.

“Trust me, I know,” Flynn whispered back. The two patted once and sighed in relief when the mistletoe allowed them to walk in.

“That was better payback than what I had in mind for him,” Jake muttered to Cassandra.

Jenkins wondered when he would be stuck underneath the horrible plant. Since he was by himself, most of the time, the Library simply hung a regular one up. Sometimes, he would get a passing pat on the back.

Not this year, with many people that he could say he enjoyed, adored, care for.

On his way out once on the Eve, getting a small gift for the Colonel as the others had before him, the hold of the mistletoe stopped him.

Everyone had left to pick up last minute ingredients and surprises. Cassandra and Jake were the first ones back, sharing a destination. She smiled at him, and moved forward to peck him on the cheek, and he her forehead. She walked forward, but he could not. “I think the Library wants you to join in,” she suggested. Jake pulled him in for a three second 'manly' hug before following her in. The two went to the kitchen for last preparations.

Eve and Flynn came in a few minutes later. “Oh, Jenkins, the Library finally trapped you,” she said. Flynn smiled, walked up first, and bodily hugged him, for which he patted a few times, for a minutes before moving forward. Eve, in a surprise for him, kissed him on the cheek before following the other man.

Ezekiel followed everyone by a few minutes, carrying a couple of larger bags. Checking to make sure no one else was around, he dropped them just inside the door. He fully hugged Jenkins, his head landing on a shoulder. The older man wrapped his arms around him and squeezed before pushing him forward. The mistletoe finally allowed him to move and he sighed in relief before going to his lab.

Christmas saw the group hanging around the Annex. Flynn and Cassandra were discussing Paracelsus. Jake and Jenkins were talking about a scroll that the younger man had found and couldn't place in the right spot. Eve was surprisingly in the middle of a story to Ezekiel, who joked a couple of times, but listened more.

In the midst of their individual conversations, a warmth went through the room, embracing them. Each of them had their own reaction. Joy, happiness, love. It lasted just over a minute before it relaxed, not as strong as before.

Cassandra looked up. “Merry Christmas to you, too,” she said.

Flynn chimed, “Merry Christmas, Ray.” The rest followed, the Library embracing the team of gifted and extraordinary ones it had brought into its own world.