Dedication: To my friend Athena, who is a great inspiration to me. ^^; Sorry it’s so late… Merry Christmas anyway!

Disclaimer: I don’t own Suikoden.

Albert smiled at him as he lifted a glass of amber liquid to his lips. His cheeks were tinged pink by that which he had already consumed, and he giggled drunkenly as he moved his hand to adjust the garland that rested on top of his red hair, accidentally knocking it askew instead. Yuber raised an eyebrow, taking a small sip of his own drink.

"You know… we’re the only two left awake," he murmured.

Albert sighed and leaned back in his chair, staring down into his glass. "Well… it is after midnight…"

"Perhaps," Yuber said, frowning. "But I was under the impression that humans tended to stay awake late on Christmas Eve… You know, drinking themselves under the table, eating more than is probably healthy… That sort of thing."

"I suppose… but many people here aren’t the drinking sort," Albert hiccoughed.

Yuber shrugged, but said no more. He gazed around the empty bar, taking note of the empty wine bottles and glasses littering the tabletops, smirking as he came to the conclusion that most people were asleep because they had already drunk themselves into a stupor.

He looked back at Albert. "You’re going to make yourself sick."

"So? I barely get to have a drink during the year, so let me indulge…"

"Fine… but don’t come crying to me when you end up regurgitating everything you just drank," said the demon, rolling his eyes. He shifted on the chair, putting his arm over the back of it. "I don’t want to sleep next to you tonight if you have bad breath."

"I barely drank anything…"Albert said softly. He glanced up at Yuber, beginning to giggle. "Regurgitate…"

"I never knew that word was so funny."

The redhead giggled again and reached forward to take his glass. His hand knocked into it, spilling both it and its contents across the table; Yuber cursed, shaking his head at Albert, and shoved his chair away from the table as the liquid slowly seeped towards him.

"Come on…" he grunted, pulling Albert out of his chair. The garland dropped to the floor. "You’ve had too much to drink. Time to get some rest."

Yuber led Albert from the bar and through the foyer, half dragging his inebriated lover. Albert leaned heavily on his shoulder, his breath warm on the demon’s ear as they climbed the stairs. When they reached their room, Yuber deposited the redhead on the bed they shared. The mortal lay still as Yuber began to pull off his shoes, burying his face in the duvet and murmuring incoherently.

"I know you’re drunk…" Yuber grunted, yanking off one shoe and moving to the next. "But can’t you do anything for yourself?"

Albert just watched Yuber work, a small smile on his pale lips as he toyed with a stray lock of hair, his cheeks flushed pink in the light of the lantern sitting on the bedside table. Yuber heaved a sigh and tossed the second shoe aside, crawling over the redhead to begin unbuttoning his coat. He did so with ease, gently lifting Albert to slip his arms out of the sleeves.

"There you go," said the blonde, smiling as he kissed his lover’s forehead.

He slid slowly off the bed, folding Albert’s jacket and placing it neatly over the back of the armchair in the corner. In turn, he unbuttoned his own and shrugged it off of his shoulders, throwing it in a heap with Albert’s jacket. He turned back to the bed. The redhead was still lying on it, one arm resting across his stomach as his green eyes shimmered faintly in the warm glow of the lantern.

"What is it…?" the demon asked, climbing back onto the bed. He lay down next to Albert, smoothing his red hair back from his face. Albert rolled onto his side, tucking his arm under his head as he peered up at the blonde, a somnolent expression on his face.

"Tired?" inquired the demon.

The younger man shook his head, moving his free arm to lock tightly around his lover’s neck, drawing him in for a kiss. The strategist’s lips were warm and soft, though they tasted faintly of rum, a thing quite bizarre for the usually sober redhead. The tip of Albert’s tongue brushed shyly against his, as if it were their first kiss all over again, and Yuber pulled the smaller body against him as he deepened their embrace, feeling his manhood stir between his legs.

Albert clung to him, whimpering as passion awakened like the initial spark that starts a flame, arching and breaking the kiss when Yuber’s hands slipped under his shirt, tracing his spine, the line of his shoulder, a faded scar from a childhood injury. His lips grazed the underside of his ear, the hollows of his eyes and the bridge of his nose, parting in a moan against his throat when the redhead moved like liquid silk in his arms.

Albert’s mouth met his again, his hands grabbing at the hem of the demon’s shirt. Yuber sat up and raised his arms, allowing the younger man to slip off and fling aside the offending article of clothing. Almost at once, Albert’s hands were on him, his nimble fingers exploring the expanse of his toned form. The pad of his thumb brushed against one nipple, drawing an appreciative gasp from the demon. The redhead smiled deviously and lowered his head, nipping and licking at the hardening nub on the blonde’s chest, his hands soothingly massaging his lower back. Yuber keened softly as Albert’s mouth trailed up the column of his throat, tongue bathing his soft white flesh.

"Albert…" he murmured, gently kissing his lover’s mouth. "You’re drunk… You should sleep…"

"I’m not that drunk," Albert whispered, teasingly stroking Yuber’s cheek with one finger. "At least not drunk enough to abstain from making love to you…"

Yuber raised an eyebrow. "Nor from using big words, apparently."

Albert giggled, crawling onto Yuber’s lap and gripping the older man’s shoulders. Yuber sighed as the redhead’s erection brushed against his stomach, moving to lock his arms around the smaller man’s waist.

"Won’t you touch me?" Albert whispered pleadingly, resting his forehead against Yuber’s.

The demon grinned and began to unbutton Albert’s shirt, his slender, nimble fingers slowly parting the material. Albert shrugged the shirt off of his shoulders as Yuber’s hands slipped down to his waist, gripping him tightly. With great tenderness, he guided his red-haired lover down to lie against the pillow, bending down to undo the ties of his lover’s pants. He drew down the grey trousers, swallowing hard as his gaze fell on Albert’s exposed arousal. He gently touched the head of his lover’s cock, smearing the oily precome over the tip.

"Beautiful…" he breathed.

He leaned down, his tongue flicking out to tease the indent at the head of Albert’s penis. The redhead whimpered, his trembling hands curling into the duvet he was lying atop. Yuber smirked and took more of his lover’s length into his mouth, closing his eyes and concentrating on the choked cries that served to strengthen the pulse that beat within the confines of his pants.

The demon pinned his lover’s hips to the bed with his hands when the redhead tried to buck into his mouth. His tongue swirled languorously around his partner’s member, causing Albert to writhe and moan, his hands moving to bury themselves in the demon’s blonde hair.

Yuber groaned around the redhead’s length, spreading Albert’s legs as wide as possible without hurting him. Albert keened, lifting his hips into the demon’s mouth, forcing Yuber to relax the muscles of his throat, his hands gently kneading the tender skin of the mortal’s thighs. When he thought the strategist was close to releasing, he let the length slip back up into his mouth, where he resumed suckling and nibbling gently, his tongue running along the sensitive underside and tip once again.

Albert came hard, his mouth open in a silent cry of bliss, his head tilted back, eyes closed and brow furrowed. Yuber caught most of his partner’s release in his mouth, but he did not swallow it; instead, he sat up quickly and spat it back out into the palm of his hand.

"Hurry… undo my pants," he ordered, sitting back on his haunches. "I don’t want to spill any of it…"

Albert began to fumble with the fly of the blonde’s pants, his hands trembling in his post-coital exhaustion. He managed to slip all of the buttons free after a moment’s struggle, gently pulling the demon’s pants down to his knees. Yuber immediately began to coat his throbbing length with Albert’s seed.

"Put your legs over my shoulder…" he commanded, grunting as he released his aching sex. "This will probably be a bit uncomfortable, but you’ll adjust…"

Finished, he crawled in between Albert’s spread legs. As asked, the redhead placed both legs over the demon’s shoulder, wincing noticeably when Yuber bent them back so that his knees were almost touching his chest.

"Are you okay?" he asked, eyeing the expression on Albert’s face.

The mortal nodded. "I’m… fine…"

Yuber grinned and began to push into the smaller body beneath him, sighing contentedly as the heat and tightness of his partner’s tunnel caressed his arousal. Under him, Albert cried out in pain, the discomfort of his awkward positioning increased by the sudden pressure in his nether regions. The demon turned his head to the side and kissed one ankle soothingly, placing a hand on each shin for support.

"Can I continue…?" he asked, searching his lover’s face for permission as he waited for him to adjust.

Albert nodded. Yuber slowly pulled out of his lover’s shuddering body, pausing for a moment before he pushed back in, groaning as Albert’s anal muscles clenched around him. Panting, he tossed his hair back out of his face, beginning to pump slowly and rhythmically into the younger man’s tight passage. He could feel sweat beading on his forehead and neck as he worked, staring down through blurred eyes into the blissful expression on Albert’s face.

Gradually, he began to pick up speed, taking advantage of Albert’s positioning to strike the redhead’s prostate over and over again as the strategist moaned fervently, writhing and arching unashamedly underneath him, his trembling hands reaching out to grasp the soft duvet. The demon closed his eyes and started to plunge violently into his lover, his breaths coming in heavy gasps as their hips drew level again and again. He could hear Albert’s breath quickening, could feel the redhead’s muscles rippling like fine silk around his member, and he knew the younger man was close.

He managed to hold himself back, gritting his teeth and straining as he pistoned into that spot within Albert, waiting for the redhead to come first. Albert’s body went rigid, the muscles of his face pulled taut as he cried Yuber’s in rapture, spilling his seed over the demon’s stomach. The blonde followed not long after, arching and biting back a cry.

He gently unhooked his lover’s legs from his shoulders and reached for a dirty shirt on the floor, using it to wipe the drying substance off of his stomach. Once done, he threw it aside and lay down next to the redhead, who had already drifted off into sleep. He sighed and tucked the young man into his arms, pulling the blanket over the both of them.

"Merry Christmas, love…" he whispered into the sleeping man’s ear, kissing him on the cheek. "Sleep tight…"