Spencer was here.
“Hi. Hello. What are you doing here?” Patrick asked.
“I was looking for a guy to be in a couples costume with me. Ketchup and mustard seems like a good idea.”
“Youwere looking to be in a couples costume?” Maybe this was a dream.
Spencer pulled the coffee table closer to sit. “Would you mind giving us a minute?” he asked Bert and Ernie, who obliged.
Spencer didn’t join him on the couch. He stayed in his place, staring right at Patrick, his eyes brimming with meaning and intensity. “I want to be in a couples costume with you, Patrick. And only you.”
“Last I checked, friends don’t do couples costumes.”
“Good, because I don’t want to be your friend.”
Patrick’s breath caught in his throat. There was no snark, no catch to Spencer’s statement.
“I like you, Patrick. I should’ve said that to you. I wanted to, but I...I’ve never done this before, felt this way about someone. What if you had said no? What if I suck at relationships?”
“I already suck at relationships.” Patrick scratched at the strap around his neck.
“No, you don’t. Your ex-boyfriend sucks at relationships. You were just collateral damage.”
“I don’t want to be collateral damage again. What if we mess it up and hurt each other?” Fear trembled inside Patrick. People always started relationships with the best of intentions. He worried that the pain he felt from the past would always be there in some way.
“Will it feel worse than how I feel without you? This has been the shittiest month of my life, having you across the hall and not seeing you.” Spencer rubbed his big hands over Patrick’s knees, scrambling all the thoughts in his head. His touch was better than any drug known to man. It made Patrick feel safe and warm.
“I thought...I thought once you got your cast off, you wouldn’t want to be with me.”
“Baby, I want to be with you so bad it hurts. And now that I have two functioning legs, there’s so much we can do together.”
“You don’t need me to help you commute anymore.”
“Yeah, I do. I can’t push through the masses at Belmont by myself.”
Patrick let out a laugh that filled up his lungs with pure joy. It was interrupted by the itching brought on by his costume’s neck strap.
Fuck it. He ripped the mustard nozzle off completely and let it fall to the floor as he crashed his lips against Spencer’s mouth. Spencer cupped his face, his hands a soothing balm, turning their kiss from amazing to fucking epic.
Were there people around them? Was there a party? Was there life outside this kiss? It was hard to say.
The second their lips parted, Patrick wanted more. And he would get more. After the pain of the past, he was ready for more.
“So what comes next?” Spencer asked in a low growl.
“Technically, once midnight hits, the pre-Christmas season begins.”
“Oooh, tell me more.”
“The pre-Christmas season goes from November first to Thanksgiving. Think of it as a soft launch to Christmas. You start listening to Christmas music here and there, maybe light a candle or two, casually frolic through a department store. See, the thing is, the Christmas season itself is magical, but it’s so short. Just one month. But you can’t have a Christmas tree up during Thanksgiving. That’s just insulting to pilgrims.”
Spencer snorted.
“So you soft launch it for most of Thanksgiving. But the Friday after? You put up your tree and fully decorate your home. You listen to Christmas music nonstop. Oh my God. Spencer, this could be my first white Christmas in years. And I’ll get to frolic through all the stores in the Loop and go seeWhite Christmasthe movie at the Music Box.”
“And ride the Holiday train.”
Patrick gasped and cupped his hands over his mouth. “Spencer. I forgot about the holiday train,” he whispered. A sense of melancholy washed over him thinking about how fast the season would go. Why couldn’t Christmas be at the end of January?
