A Tyler Christmas
1/1/05 15:32![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ibonekoenOkay, so this was supposed to be posted weeks ago. . .I'm sorry if it seems a bit late and out of place. >_< Hope you'll enjoy it anyway!
Title: A Tyler Christmas
Rating: PG-13 for mild language
Summary: Zeke learns a little about the meaning of Christmas
A Tyler Christmas
by Ibonekoen
“Zeke!”
The young man in question grunts, startled out of a good dream involving Casey and a pair of fuzzy handcuffs. He hear the child-like wonderment in Casey’s voice, and cracks one eye open. His boyfriend isn’t in bed next to him; he’s across the window, his nose pressed flat against the window. Zeke shivers and turns onto his side, curling up into a ball. In his haste to get to the window, Casey has left the covers thrown back and there’s a draft in Zeke’s formerly roasty toasty cozy bed.
“It’s snowing!” Casey exclaims, his nose still mashed against the window. He can hear Zeke move in the bed behind him, then hears his lover mumble something. The only word Casey can clearly understand is his name.
He turns away from the window to see that Zeke has drawn the blankets up over his head. Casey grins and moves back over to the bed, poking the blanket-covered lump in the middle. Zeke mumbles something and then burrows further down into his self-made cocoon.
“It’s really pretty.” Casey says as he climbs onto the bed. “Like a picture-perfect postcard. We should be out in it. We could make snow angels and have snowball fights.”
Zeke pokes his head out from under the blankets and stares at Casey. “Are you fucking crazy? It’s below zero out there! Fuck no, I’m stayin’ right here.”
Casey giggles and pounces on Zeke, kissing his mouth. Zeke gives a yelp as Casey’s ice cold lips touch his. Casey shifts and wriggles and squirms and manages to get under the covers without having to stop kissing Zeke. Zeke gives another yelp, this one muffled by Casey’s mouth, as Casey’s feet come in contact with his legs.
Zeke breaks the kiss, exclaiming, “Fuck your feet are cold!” He shivers as Casey slides his hands under his tank top. Zeke only wears clothes -- a tank top and flannel pajama bottoms -- to bed in the winter.
“The cold is good for you.” Casey says, grinning. “It’ll knock that sleepiness right out of your system. C’mon, get up! We need to pick out a tree!”
Zeke groans. He’s known this was coming. It’s December 10, just a little over two weeks until Christmas. Casey has been steadily decorating their apartment. The mantel above the fireplace has now become a gathering place for snowmen of every type and variety. Mistletoe hangs over the entryway into the apartment, and Casey waits for a kiss every time they pass under it. (Not that Zeke isn’t happy to oblige.)
Festive colored garland is draped across the top of each entryway in the apartment. Brightly colored glass ornaments ranging from snowflakes to icicles to just plain balls hang from the garland. After seeing Casey wobble and nearly fall, Zeke had forbidden him to even look at a ladder and had hung the garland and ornaments himself.
Snowflake clings have been affixed to all their windows. In the living room, a display of a Christmas village has been set up on the antique credenza that had belonged to Casey’s grandmother. The village is complete with an ice rink, train depot, several churches and houses and a working train.
Zeke knew, as soon as Casey started decorating, a tree would be mentioned at some point. Zeke was somewhat shocked by how much stuff Casey had to decorate with, then his boyfriend had informed him that most of the stuff had been his mother’s. She’d apparently given it to him when he and Zeke moved to New York, figuring they’d need it. He’d also informed Zeke that he’d been given his grandmother’s antique ornaments and he couldn’t wait to display them on their tree.
Zeke has never been one to get very excited about Christmas. Being left alone on Christmas so many years in a row tends to kill the Christmas spirit. Zeke wouldn’t call him Scrooge; he doesn’t hate Christmas. . .he’s merely indifferent to it. Most of his previous Christmases have been spent getting stoned, getting drunk or a combination of both.
But even he has to admit, the cheerfulness of their decorated apartment is getting under his skin. He’s beginning to feel a lot like the Grinch at the end of the story. He’s got his very own personal Cindy Lou Who to teach him the true meaning of Christmas. Because if there’s one thing Zeke has learned about Casey since the first box of decorations came out of storage, it’s that Christmas is his favorite holiday. All those candy canes and pretty lights, department store Santas and silly songs that get stuck in your head, they make Casey insanely happy. And it’s infectious. Zeke can’t be around Casey more than five minutes without wanting to smile. He’s grown used to that feeling of happiness. No drug ever manufactured could give Zeke the same high he gets from being in love with Casey.
And so, because he knows Casey will continue to be insanely happy -- thus keeping himself in good humor -- Zeke finds himself being dragged out of bed at 6 bloody o’clock (that’s AM) on an insanely freezing morning to pick out a Christmas tree.
Casey is practically bursting with excitement as they pull up in front of the tree lot. Before Zeke can even shift the car into park, Casey has already unbuckled his seatbelt and leapt from the car. By the time Zeke gets the engine turned off, Casey is already bouncing around the lot, excitedly examining every tree. As Zeke gets out of car and locks the door, he hears Casey exclaim “OH! THIS ONE!” followed by a “NO! THIS ONE IS PERFECT!”
Zeke shoves his hands into his jacket pockets, smiles at the attendant, who looks amused, and goes off to find Casey. He finds him standing in front of a seven foot tall tree, staring at it with a look of deep concentration. Zeke loves that look. Not only is it incredibly sexy, but it usually means his lover is thinking of something completely devious to totally blow his mind. He smirks, recalling many spectacular lovemaking sessions they’ve had after Casey’s gotten that look on his face.
He shakes himself out of his reminiscing as Casey gives him an exasperated look. “What?”
“You’re not even listening, are you?” Casey says, pouting, his hands on his hips.
Zeke gives his lover a sheepish smile. “Sorry, babe, I was just thinking about how sexy you look when you’re thinking hard about something.”
Casey blushes, though it’s hard to tell since his cheeks are already rosy from the cold. “I think this is our tree.”
Zeke glances at the tree. “Yeah, it’s a good tree. . .but Case, baby, don’t think it’s a wee bit. . .tall?”
“Nope!” Casey says. “I already got measurements of the living room from the landlord. It’ll fit perfectly in our living room.”
Zeke chuckles, shaking his head.
“What?” Casey says self-consciously.
“Nothing.” Zeke says. “If you want this tree, then we’ll get it.”
Casey smiles brightly, then raises up on his tiptoes to enthusiastically kiss Zeke. Zeke grins and returns Casey’s kiss, then they go to find the attendant. Zeke pays for the tree and, with some ingenuity and help from the attendant, they get it secured to the roof of Zeke’s car. Within half an hour, Zeke and Casey have the tree unloaded, carried up the three flights of stairs to their apartment and set up in their living room. Casey is bouncing around the room, excited and cheerful as he unpacks his grandmother’s ornaments. Suddenly he freezes, his face falling.
Zeke notices and raises his eyebrows questioningly. “Case?”
“We can’t decorate yet!” Casey exclaims. “We don’t have lights or garland or-or tinsel! Oh, and we need more ornaments!”
Zeke smiles. “Oh, is that all? I thought it was a crisis or something.”
Casey’s eyes widen. “Is that ALL? You THOUGHT it was a crisis? It is!” he exclaims. “We can’t have-” He cuts off as Zeke lays a finger across his lips.
“Shhhh.” Zeke says, grinning.
Casey frowns, looking curious as Zeke disappears from the room. The seconds crawl by, and just as Casey is getting ready to go look for his boyfriend, Zeke reappears, precariously balancing two large rectangular boxes in his arms. Casey blinks, wondering what the hell is in the boxes, and then his eyes light up as he sees, written in black marker on the side of one of the boxes, “Xmas Decorations.”
“Ooooooh!” he says as he quickly steps forward to take one of the boxes just as it’s starting to slide.
“These were. . .are. . .the Tyler family decorations.” Zeke says, somewhat shyly, as he sets his box down on the floor. “They haven’t been used in years, so I don’t really know if they’re any good or not.”
Casey sets his box down on the couch, takes off the lid and eagerly starts rifling through its contents. He pulls out carefully coiled strands of flights and garlands, packages of glass ornaments and several hand decorated ornaments. He even finds a tree skirt.
“Wow, this stuff is awesome.” he says, glancing at Zeke. “How come I didn’t know you had all this?”
Zeke shrugs, removing the lid of his box. “You didn’t read the labels of every box when we were moving? I dunno what even made me bring ‘em. I haven’t celebrated Christmas in years.”
“You haven’t had a reason to, Zeke.” Casey says, frowning slightly. “I mean, your parents just abandoned you, which is really wrong. But you’ve got a reason to celebrate. Christmas is ours now. We make our own traditions. And I promise you, Christmas will be something worth remembering.”
He sets down the strand of lights in his hands and moves over to Zeke. “I love you.” he says as he wraps his arms around Zeke. “Always.”
Zeke gets a little choked up as he wraps his arms around Casey. “I love you too.” he says softly, his voice catching. He gives Casey a quick kiss and then clears his throat, releases him and sets about untangling the lights.
Later that evening, as they cuddle on the couch and watch A Christmas Story, Zeke glances around the decorated living room. He sees in each ornament, garland strand and light, the joy and happiness with which they were hung. He remembers Casey’s giddiness as he picked out the tree. At the risk of sounding sappy, he remembers the way that Casey just glowed when they were decorating the tree.
Zeke thinks that he finally realizes what Christmas is all about. He doesn’t need the presents or the carols or the decorations. As long as he’s got Casey’s love, he knows his holiday season will be merry and bright.
“Thank you, Casey Lou Who.” he whispers against Casey’s ear.
Casey turns in his embrace to look at him strangely, not having heard all of what Zeke said. “What?”
Zeke tries to think of how best to sum up his thoughts. Finally he smiles and simply says, “I love you,” then kisses the tip of Casey’s nose. Casey wrinkles his nose, still feeling a little confused because he’s pretty sure that’s NOT what Zeke said the first time. . .but then he shrugs slightly and snuggles back against Zeke.
Zeke grins, feeling a whole lot more cheerful about the holiday season than he has in years.
The End
Title: A Tyler Christmas
Rating: PG-13 for mild language
Summary: Zeke learns a little about the meaning of Christmas
by Ibonekoen
“Zeke!”
The young man in question grunts, startled out of a good dream involving Casey and a pair of fuzzy handcuffs. He hear the child-like wonderment in Casey’s voice, and cracks one eye open. His boyfriend isn’t in bed next to him; he’s across the window, his nose pressed flat against the window. Zeke shivers and turns onto his side, curling up into a ball. In his haste to get to the window, Casey has left the covers thrown back and there’s a draft in Zeke’s formerly roasty toasty cozy bed.
“It’s snowing!” Casey exclaims, his nose still mashed against the window. He can hear Zeke move in the bed behind him, then hears his lover mumble something. The only word Casey can clearly understand is his name.
He turns away from the window to see that Zeke has drawn the blankets up over his head. Casey grins and moves back over to the bed, poking the blanket-covered lump in the middle. Zeke mumbles something and then burrows further down into his self-made cocoon.
“It’s really pretty.” Casey says as he climbs onto the bed. “Like a picture-perfect postcard. We should be out in it. We could make snow angels and have snowball fights.”
Zeke pokes his head out from under the blankets and stares at Casey. “Are you fucking crazy? It’s below zero out there! Fuck no, I’m stayin’ right here.”
Casey giggles and pounces on Zeke, kissing his mouth. Zeke gives a yelp as Casey’s ice cold lips touch his. Casey shifts and wriggles and squirms and manages to get under the covers without having to stop kissing Zeke. Zeke gives another yelp, this one muffled by Casey’s mouth, as Casey’s feet come in contact with his legs.
Zeke breaks the kiss, exclaiming, “Fuck your feet are cold!” He shivers as Casey slides his hands under his tank top. Zeke only wears clothes -- a tank top and flannel pajama bottoms -- to bed in the winter.
“The cold is good for you.” Casey says, grinning. “It’ll knock that sleepiness right out of your system. C’mon, get up! We need to pick out a tree!”
Zeke groans. He’s known this was coming. It’s December 10, just a little over two weeks until Christmas. Casey has been steadily decorating their apartment. The mantel above the fireplace has now become a gathering place for snowmen of every type and variety. Mistletoe hangs over the entryway into the apartment, and Casey waits for a kiss every time they pass under it. (Not that Zeke isn’t happy to oblige.)
Festive colored garland is draped across the top of each entryway in the apartment. Brightly colored glass ornaments ranging from snowflakes to icicles to just plain balls hang from the garland. After seeing Casey wobble and nearly fall, Zeke had forbidden him to even look at a ladder and had hung the garland and ornaments himself.
Snowflake clings have been affixed to all their windows. In the living room, a display of a Christmas village has been set up on the antique credenza that had belonged to Casey’s grandmother. The village is complete with an ice rink, train depot, several churches and houses and a working train.
Zeke knew, as soon as Casey started decorating, a tree would be mentioned at some point. Zeke was somewhat shocked by how much stuff Casey had to decorate with, then his boyfriend had informed him that most of the stuff had been his mother’s. She’d apparently given it to him when he and Zeke moved to New York, figuring they’d need it. He’d also informed Zeke that he’d been given his grandmother’s antique ornaments and he couldn’t wait to display them on their tree.
Zeke has never been one to get very excited about Christmas. Being left alone on Christmas so many years in a row tends to kill the Christmas spirit. Zeke wouldn’t call him Scrooge; he doesn’t hate Christmas. . .he’s merely indifferent to it. Most of his previous Christmases have been spent getting stoned, getting drunk or a combination of both.
But even he has to admit, the cheerfulness of their decorated apartment is getting under his skin. He’s beginning to feel a lot like the Grinch at the end of the story. He’s got his very own personal Cindy Lou Who to teach him the true meaning of Christmas. Because if there’s one thing Zeke has learned about Casey since the first box of decorations came out of storage, it’s that Christmas is his favorite holiday. All those candy canes and pretty lights, department store Santas and silly songs that get stuck in your head, they make Casey insanely happy. And it’s infectious. Zeke can’t be around Casey more than five minutes without wanting to smile. He’s grown used to that feeling of happiness. No drug ever manufactured could give Zeke the same high he gets from being in love with Casey.
And so, because he knows Casey will continue to be insanely happy -- thus keeping himself in good humor -- Zeke finds himself being dragged out of bed at 6 bloody o’clock (that’s AM) on an insanely freezing morning to pick out a Christmas tree.
Casey is practically bursting with excitement as they pull up in front of the tree lot. Before Zeke can even shift the car into park, Casey has already unbuckled his seatbelt and leapt from the car. By the time Zeke gets the engine turned off, Casey is already bouncing around the lot, excitedly examining every tree. As Zeke gets out of car and locks the door, he hears Casey exclaim “OH! THIS ONE!” followed by a “NO! THIS ONE IS PERFECT!”
Zeke shoves his hands into his jacket pockets, smiles at the attendant, who looks amused, and goes off to find Casey. He finds him standing in front of a seven foot tall tree, staring at it with a look of deep concentration. Zeke loves that look. Not only is it incredibly sexy, but it usually means his lover is thinking of something completely devious to totally blow his mind. He smirks, recalling many spectacular lovemaking sessions they’ve had after Casey’s gotten that look on his face.
He shakes himself out of his reminiscing as Casey gives him an exasperated look. “What?”
“You’re not even listening, are you?” Casey says, pouting, his hands on his hips.
Zeke gives his lover a sheepish smile. “Sorry, babe, I was just thinking about how sexy you look when you’re thinking hard about something.”
Casey blushes, though it’s hard to tell since his cheeks are already rosy from the cold. “I think this is our tree.”
Zeke glances at the tree. “Yeah, it’s a good tree. . .but Case, baby, don’t think it’s a wee bit. . .tall?”
“Nope!” Casey says. “I already got measurements of the living room from the landlord. It’ll fit perfectly in our living room.”
Zeke chuckles, shaking his head.
“What?” Casey says self-consciously.
“Nothing.” Zeke says. “If you want this tree, then we’ll get it.”
Casey smiles brightly, then raises up on his tiptoes to enthusiastically kiss Zeke. Zeke grins and returns Casey’s kiss, then they go to find the attendant. Zeke pays for the tree and, with some ingenuity and help from the attendant, they get it secured to the roof of Zeke’s car. Within half an hour, Zeke and Casey have the tree unloaded, carried up the three flights of stairs to their apartment and set up in their living room. Casey is bouncing around the room, excited and cheerful as he unpacks his grandmother’s ornaments. Suddenly he freezes, his face falling.
Zeke notices and raises his eyebrows questioningly. “Case?”
“We can’t decorate yet!” Casey exclaims. “We don’t have lights or garland or-or tinsel! Oh, and we need more ornaments!”
Zeke smiles. “Oh, is that all? I thought it was a crisis or something.”
Casey’s eyes widen. “Is that ALL? You THOUGHT it was a crisis? It is!” he exclaims. “We can’t have-” He cuts off as Zeke lays a finger across his lips.
“Shhhh.” Zeke says, grinning.
Casey frowns, looking curious as Zeke disappears from the room. The seconds crawl by, and just as Casey is getting ready to go look for his boyfriend, Zeke reappears, precariously balancing two large rectangular boxes in his arms. Casey blinks, wondering what the hell is in the boxes, and then his eyes light up as he sees, written in black marker on the side of one of the boxes, “Xmas Decorations.”
“Ooooooh!” he says as he quickly steps forward to take one of the boxes just as it’s starting to slide.
“These were. . .are. . .the Tyler family decorations.” Zeke says, somewhat shyly, as he sets his box down on the floor. “They haven’t been used in years, so I don’t really know if they’re any good or not.”
Casey sets his box down on the couch, takes off the lid and eagerly starts rifling through its contents. He pulls out carefully coiled strands of flights and garlands, packages of glass ornaments and several hand decorated ornaments. He even finds a tree skirt.
“Wow, this stuff is awesome.” he says, glancing at Zeke. “How come I didn’t know you had all this?”
Zeke shrugs, removing the lid of his box. “You didn’t read the labels of every box when we were moving? I dunno what even made me bring ‘em. I haven’t celebrated Christmas in years.”
“You haven’t had a reason to, Zeke.” Casey says, frowning slightly. “I mean, your parents just abandoned you, which is really wrong. But you’ve got a reason to celebrate. Christmas is ours now. We make our own traditions. And I promise you, Christmas will be something worth remembering.”
He sets down the strand of lights in his hands and moves over to Zeke. “I love you.” he says as he wraps his arms around Zeke. “Always.”
Zeke gets a little choked up as he wraps his arms around Casey. “I love you too.” he says softly, his voice catching. He gives Casey a quick kiss and then clears his throat, releases him and sets about untangling the lights.
Later that evening, as they cuddle on the couch and watch A Christmas Story, Zeke glances around the decorated living room. He sees in each ornament, garland strand and light, the joy and happiness with which they were hung. He remembers Casey’s giddiness as he picked out the tree. At the risk of sounding sappy, he remembers the way that Casey just glowed when they were decorating the tree.
Zeke thinks that he finally realizes what Christmas is all about. He doesn’t need the presents or the carols or the decorations. As long as he’s got Casey’s love, he knows his holiday season will be merry and bright.
“Thank you, Casey Lou Who.” he whispers against Casey’s ear.
Casey turns in his embrace to look at him strangely, not having heard all of what Zeke said. “What?”
Zeke tries to think of how best to sum up his thoughts. Finally he smiles and simply says, “I love you,” then kisses the tip of Casey’s nose. Casey wrinkles his nose, still feeling a little confused because he’s pretty sure that’s NOT what Zeke said the first time. . .but then he shrugs slightly and snuggles back against Zeke.
Zeke grins, feeling a whole lot more cheerful about the holiday season than he has in years.
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