19
Ryan
It was Christmas, and I was filled with nervousness and excitement. I wasn’t worried about Russell and his parents not liking my gifts. Instead, I was excited for them to open the gifts. And I was also excited to see how families, unlike my own, would celebrate the holiday. Last night, before I went to sleep, I vowed to forget the call with my mom and focus on enjoying Christmas with Russell and his parents.
I put on my long-sleeved shirt with the dinosaur wrapped in Christmas lights standing by a Christmas tree and waited for Russell to finish getting ready. As I sat on the edge of the chair beside the window, I sent texts to April and Kim to wish them a Merry Christmas. The scent of coffee and pancakes had made its way up the stairs and into my nostrils.
“It smells like Santa might be downstairs in pancake form,” I said.
Russell poked his head out from the bathroom. One of his eyebrows were raised as he finished putting some stuff in his hair. I grinned at him, eventually making him smile. He shut the light off in the bathroom and walked into our room barefoot and only in his jeans that weren’t zipped up or buttoned.
“I’m not sure I like the fact that you seem to know what Santa might smell like,” he teased as he leaned down and kissed me.
“I said in pancake form.” I reached up and pinched one of his nipples. He hadn’t flinched or tried to move away, which made me laugh.
“I’ll finish getting dressed so we can get you your Santa pancakes,” Russell said as he stood upright and went to the dresser.
“Maybe in ten years or something when your hair turns white, you can stop working out and then you can be my Santa,” I sarcastically suggested to him. “There’s a lot of Santa porn out there. Some of it’s pretty hot under the right circumstances,” I teased.
“Ryan,” he began as he pulled over a dark gray sweater. “My mind is bottomless for kinky things with you.” He sat on the edge of the bed to put his socks and shoes on. “If you have an interest in something, we’ll make it happen. But”—he pointed his shoe at me—“I’m not going to stop working out. I have to be in excellent shape to keep up with you.”
“Okay.” I shrugged. “I think most of the Santa porn I’ve seen has had buff or ripped Santas. Actually, now that I think about it, it might not even be Santa porn. It might just be older guys. Though, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen some of Santa with his elves in the workshop.”
When his shoes were on, he stood and came over to me as I stood. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close.
“You will be my one and only dirty elf.”
“I like the way that sounds.” I leaned my head forward and kissed his lips.
“The dirty elf part?” Russell asked in between our kiss.
“No.” I pressed my lips against his. “The one and only part,” I admitted.
“I was hoping that was the part you meant.” His mouth was back on mine again. “You will always be my one and only, Ryan.”
“Good. I’d like that.”
We shared another few moments quietly lost in one another before we went downstairs. From the entryway where the stairs emptied into, we could hear Christmas music softly playing in the living room across from the kitchen.
“Merry Christmas, Russell and Ryan,” Lily greeted us as she put a cookie sheet in the oven.
“Merry Christmas, Mom,” Russell said as he walked to her and hugged her.
“Merry Christmas, Lily,” I said before I sat at the breakfast bar. “Or as John Lennon and Yoko Ono would say, ‘Happy Christmas.’”
“They do say that, don’t they?” Lily mused.
“The music video, or I guess it’s the whole song, is supposed to be of them reading a Christmas card,” I said.
“Mhmm. And do you know those lyrics?” Russell asked me with a smirk on his face. He was filling two Santa mugs with coffee while he kept his eyes on me.
“Of course.” I huffed and rolled my eyes at him. I swatted my hand in the air at his suggestion that I lacked lyric knowledge … which I most certainly did. “I may not know all the lyrics, but I can pass it off as though I do,” I admitted.
Russell set the mug down in front of me and kissed my cheek before he sat beside me.
“I love your creativity and ability to make a song entirely unique.” He sipped from his mug while peering over the rim at me. “I love it when your lighthearted and free spirit sides get to stretch,” Russell said as his dad came into the kitchen.
As his dad murmured something to Lily, I put the mug up to my lips and said under my breath so only Russell could hear, “I like it when you make my dick stretch.”
