of reindeer and green balloons {m}

He held her gaze for a moment, faint tendrils of the energy they'd shared moments ago drifting between them once more. There was something between them, a strange sort of chemistry, that no other male's claim upon her could break. But it would have to stay buried within him, caged securely inside, where Peregrine would never see it. His brother knew of his feelings for Hawkeye, but he did not know how far down the roots of those feelings went. Atticus had a feeling that if Peregrine ever found out exactly where those "roots" had almost been, what followed would not be so different from what had brought him here in the first place.

He swallowed. Or, more accurately, gulped. "I care for you, Hawkeye. I can't change that, regardless of who courts you." His voice was soft, a tenderness in his eyes that he rarely showed to anybody. If he showed this side of himself around his brothers, Peregrine swiftly labeled him "gay" and proceeded to joke him about it for hours afterward. "If it were any other man, I would ravage you senseless. But…" He half-smiled up at her, the sly, sexy wickedness undeniable on his face, though it did not reach his eyes. "We'll pretend this never happened. Perry doesn't need to know. It's better that way." Thinly-veiled sadness lingered in those pools of blue ice.