Wrapping was usually an issue, since they were rarely apart, so usually they kept the items in the bags they came in. When that didn’t work, they hid them in things from around the house.
Josh remembered he’d wrapped one of Riley’s gifts in one of his T-shirts, and he was excited to be able to wear it again.
“Ready?” Josh asked, and Riley nodded. “One, two, three!”
They yanked open their drawers, stuffed with presents for each of them, looked at each other and shouted, “Santa came!”
Breaking out in giggles, they took turns opening gifts.
Josh opened a pack of one thousand glow sticks and hugged them to his chest.
Since he lost his parents, he’d had a harder time being in the dark, until Riley gave him a glow stick. It was the first time he’d been able to fall asleep after hisparents’ accident without tossing and turning for hours.
Riley had always looked out for him, and he was damn good at it.
Next to him, Riley opened the gift wrapped in Josh’s T-shirt.
“I’m assuming you want this back?” he asked, and Josh nodded.
Riley removed the shirt and passed it to Josh, leaving him with a face-down frame in his lap. When he turned it over, a grin took over his face.
“It’s us at Avery and Hailey’s wedding,” Josh explained unnecessarily.
Hailey and Avery had trusted him to hold the rings during the ceremony, and since they were both huge geeks, they'd declared him the lord of the rings. It was the best. He’d made a larger portrait of the two of them exchanging vows that he gifted to the pair a couple days before. They’d both broken down in happy tears, and Avery said he’d be hanging it in their house that night.
For Riley, he’d sketched a portrait of them based on a selfie they’d taken that night. Both of them had been overjoyed with the official pairing of two of their best friends, the happiness in their eyes Josh’s favorite part of the piece.
Riley gazed at the drawing fondly.
“This is so incredible. Thank you,” he said, his teary eyes rising to meet Josh’s. “You think we’ll be as luckyas Hailey and Avery one day?”
“Best friends getting married? Yeah, that must be pretty awesome. But that means we’d have to marry each other.”
Riley choked out a laugh. “I guess if all else fails, we could always do that.”
“That would be pretty lucky. That can be our backup plan.”
It would be beyond lucky for Josh, but deep down he knew he didn’t deserve Riley. Not with his damning secret. Riley only deserved the best.
“Ha, sure. Go ahead and open another one.”
Josh smiled and reached for his next gift. When he removed it from the shipping envelope, he barked out a laugh. It was a T-shirt with a graphic of a paint palette and the wordsI artedabove it in pretty script lettering.
“I thought you’d get a kick out of that one,” Riley said, chuckling.
“It’s perfect.”
Riley preened as he picked up a gift that was wrapped in butcher paper. He cracked up once he unwrapped it.
It was a Batman mask.
“I got that for when you’re doing your detective hacktivizing work online,” Josh explained. “You can wear it and then you’ll really be Cherrywood’s own Batman!”
Riley slipped on the mask, pulled the stretchy band behind his head, and took out his phone so he could use the camera to see how it fit. After seeing how incredibly cool he looked on his screen, he turned to Josh, who wore one of the widest smiles he’d ever seen.
If wearing this mask made Josh that happy, he’d wear it all the damn time, even if he didn’t enjoy it at all.
Okay, so maybe I did, a lot, but even if I didn’t, how could I say no to that smile?
