Ben was an imposing man, especially comparing the builds of the two men. Marc was tall and broad shouldered but with much smaller muscle mass. His arms and legs were greatly toned and defined, but nowhere to the sheer strength as the man who approached him after Sergi.<br/><br/>Ben's smile was disarming, though, and he turned out being just as amiable as the smile. Marc shook Ben's hand amiably and welcomed him in as he hung the welcome signs.<br/><br/>Just as he was finishing, he heard a familiar voice, though it had been a year's absence from it.<br/><br/>"Lexa!" he said, returning the kiss which, despite it's relative brevity, injected all of the passion he knew she had into it.  "Great to see you. You're looking fine as always." He said, winking.  He didn't get as much time with Lexa as he would have liked last year, only toward the end when everyone was running on fumes and liquor vapors.<br/><br/>"You bet, help yourself, of course." Which is what he encouraged everyone to do. Glasses, ice, and great brand-name liquor and beer surrounded the kitchen, along with energy food and snacks. The whipped cream, chocolate syrup was also around in the fridge, it he wasn't mistaken.<br/><br/>"Hey, Lexa." He said, stepping back beside her. "Hat of destiny this year? Or should it be organic?"<br/><br/>He was referring to the practice of drawing names from a hat, literally, a top hat provided by the benefactor, to randomly assign partners to kick it off.