by A. D. Ellis
We climbed into Griffin’s bed and cuddled under the blanket.
By the time the credits rolled, I couldn’t help the smile on my face.
“What are you smiling about?” Griffin asked.
“Just that you’re starting to rub off on me, and I’m finding deeper meanings in all these movies you love so much.” I shrugged and kissed the top of his head.
“Oh yeah, like what?” Griffin challenged.
“First, it made me think of you. All of your makeup and dancing and movies. I love that you’re different, I love that you’re doing what you love. The movie shows that the people who matter will accept you no matter what. And I feel that deep down.” I brushed a kiss across his lips. “Second, maybe most important, is the Ohana means family theme. You became part of our family from the moment Momma brought you into my room. Blood isn’t what makes a family; bonds make a family. Ohana. It’s the family we’re born with and also the family we make. You, me, Momma, Pops, Dad, we’re family. The bond you and I have is stronger than any blood relation.”
Griffin kissed me softly. “And thank God for that. Sex with my actual blood-related brother would be frowned upon. Although, honestly, I say down with kink shaming.”
I snorted. “Truth.”
He lunged for me and deepened the kiss, his tongue slipping between my lips as he moaned into my mouth. “I’m so ready to have sexy time with you. But it’s going to have to wait. It’s after midnight and we both need sleep.”
I nodded and pulled him into my arms. “Sleep, baby. I have an early alarm set on my phone.”
“I’m going to miss Pops.” Grif shuddered in my arms.
“I know. Me too.” I kissed the top of his head. “I’m glad he got to see us together before he left us.”
“Same.”
“So, the bad news is that Dad is going overseas for a while and won’t be home for Christmas.” I hung up the phone as I entered the living room where Griffin and I were putting up our first together Christmas tree.
Grif made a pouty face. “Tell me there’s some good news.”
I put my arms around his waist and pulled his back to my front while kissing his neck. “We get to spend our first Christmas together right here making memories and traditions.”
“That sounds fun.” Grif worried his lip.
“But?”
He shrugged. “I want to do gifts, but I don’t have a ton of money. So, we have to do cheap or no cost gifts, okay?”
“Just being here with you is all I need, but okay.”
“Should we do a whole holiday meal?” Grif’s face was hopeful.
“I think we should at least attempt it.” I turned him to face me and hugged him close. “And have the sushi menu ready just in case.”
He laughed. “Good plan.”
“Merry Christmas,” I whispered in Griffin’s ear on Christmas morning. “I say we pop those cinnamon rolls in the oven and pray we didn’t fuck up Momma’s recipe too bad. Then we open presents.”
“Mmmm,” Grif mumbled. “What time is it?”
“Five?”
“Too early, Q. More sleep.” He rolled over and snuggled deep into the blankets.
I kissed him. “Okay. I’m going to fix the cinnamon rolls and prep the tea and coffee. You should come join me within an hour or I may open all the gifts.”
“We said no pricey gifts,” Griffin protested.
“I didn’t do anything pricey. Not at all. But Momma and Dad sent gifts and I really want to open them.”
“Okay, let me sleep a few more minutes.”
I slapped his ass as I rolled from the bed.
Twenty minutes later, the cinnamon rolls were smelling heavenly and I was sipping coffee while Grif’s water heated for tea.
He came shuffling into the kitchen. “You don’t play fair. Those smell so good.” Grif took a deep breath and moaned. “Oh my God, that smells just like every Christmas morning at Momma and Pops’ place.” He gave me a watery smile and I knew he was thinking about Momma and Pops just as much as I was.
“We’ll have to tell her that her recipe worked out perfectly when we get to Florida.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We need to taste them first.” Griffin bumped my hip with his.
“True. But they smell just the same.”
And the rolls did turn out amazing. I was proud of how well we’d done.
“Now if only lunch can turn out just as well.” Grif smiled over a large bite of cinnamon roll.
“Let’s get the chicken and veggies in the oven to bake slowly while we open gifts and shower.” I finished my cinnamon roll and took my plate to the sink before sliding the baking dish into the oven. “I’ll cover the rolls for later.”
Grif finished his breakfast and began to wash the dishes. I loved how we fell into such a natural routine when we were together.
“Okay, presents!” I crowed when the last plate and mug were dried and put away.
“You haven’t changed a bit.” Griffin wrapped his arms around my neck. “You were always so excited and loud on Christmas morning.”
I kissed him, but frowned as memories washed over me. “And you always seemed to get quieter and sadder on Christmas.”
He shrugged. “Makes me miss my mom. She always tried to make Christmas nice. My father usually ruined it, but she always tried. And no matter how much I knew you all wanted me and accepted me and loved me, I usually had this voice in the back of my head telling me that I didn’t belong. That I’d never really belong anywhere.”
I took Grif’s face in my hands and made him look at me. “Stop. Never again. You always belonged. You do belong. You will always belong. With me. Forever. Momma and Pops were as proud to call you their own as they were to call me their own.” I kissed him softly and whispered, “Always and forever,” against his mouth.
We sorted through the presents Momma and Dad had sent. When the two piles were on the couch, we settled in next to each other.
“Take turns?” I asked. “Rock, paper, scissors to see who starts?”
“Always so competitive,” Grif teased. “You can start because we both know you’ll pout if you don’t get to go first.”
I started to argue, but I was too excited. I tore into my first gift. A top-of-the-line stop watch I could use in several different ways in my degree.
Griffin gasped as he opened a collection of makeup brushes. “Oh my God, these are so nice.” He ran a hand over them reverently.
I knew the items Momma and my dad had gotten for Grif. He was likely to be in tears by the end of opening presents.
My next present was a sweet new suit. I didn’t have many opportunities to dress up, but the suit would be perfect when I had sports awards and future meetings and drafts for clients.
Grif tore into another package. “No way,” he breathed as he opened a flat iron.
I knew nothing of his hair and makeup tools, but he’d always said this one was top-notch.
“This is too much,” Griffin protested with a shake of his head.
“Nah, you know Momma and Max love to give gifts. They can afford it. If they couldn’t, they wouldn’t.” I kissed his cheek. “You deserve the best.”
I chuckled at the coffee cup I opened next. It’s a sports management thing, you wouldn’t understand was printed on the mug.
“You’ve got to be shitting me.” Griffin’s eyes were wide as he pulled a blow dryer from the next package. “This is like the exact one I’ve been lusting over.” He shot me a look. “Did you tell them what to buy?”
I shrugged. “Maybe. Momma wanted to get the things you really wanted.” I moved on to my last gift. “Sweet!” I waved tickets in the air. “Season tickets for basketball and football.”
Grif’s last gift set the tears in motion. “Holy shit.” He hugged the shears to his chest. “They are gorgeous!” His words were shaky and the tears sparkled on his cheeks.
“You love them?” I smiled.
He nodded. “But it’
s all too much.”
“Well, you can’t return them. You know Momma doesn’t give receipts unless you can prove you’re getting something just as nice when you return the gift.” I thumbed a tear from Grif’s cheek.
“What’s that smell?” Griff sniffed the air.
“Probably lunch.”
“It smells like smoke.” Griff stood and headed toward the kitchen. When he yanked the oven open, smoke poured out. “Shit, open the windows. We’re going to set off the smoke detectors.” He flipped the oven knobs to off and donned oven mitts to pull out the smoking baking dish.
I opened the windows, pointed the fans to blow the smoke out of the suite, and grabbed a chair to stand on in case I needed to turn off the smoke detector.
Griffin pulled back the foil on the baking dish. “Shit, everything is charred.”
I left the chair and went to look over his shoulder. “Fuck, I thought I followed the directions just right.”
“Wasn’t there supposed to be some sort of sauce or liquid?” Grif poked the burned veggies with a fork. “And you turned the oven down, right?”
I winced. “Liquid. I forgot the liquid. I was going to add it this morning; I was afraid it would get mushy overnight.”
“And the oven temperature?”
Through a grimace, I mumbled, “I think I forgot to turn the oven down after the cinnamon rolls.”
Griffin sighed. “Yeah, I think it was supposed to go a lot lower so the meat and veggies could cook slowly.”
“I’m sorry. The cinnamon rolls were so good, I may have gotten a little cocky and not followed all the directions.” I truly did feel bad.
Grif smiled and hugged me. “No worries. We can try to be big boys and cook the chicken and veggies another time.”
“But what about lunch?” I mumbled into his neck.
“Well, we’ve got delicious cinnamon rolls to tide us over.” Grif kissed the corner of my mouth. “I bet there are some sushi places open. You know I’m always game for sushi.”
I captured his mouth in a kiss. “Sorry I messed up lunch, but sushi does sound good.”
“Nothing is messed up because we’re together,” Grif whispered against my lips. “And we still have our gifts from each other to open.”
Luckily, we found a sushi restaurant open. Actually, quite a few places were open. It was a reminder that not all in the town or our country celebrated Christmas. Also, I assumed that many restaurants figured they’d get plenty of college students in for food. Maybe not all students burned their first attempt at a lunch that didn’t include take-out or frozen pizza, but I’m sure many weren’t cooking either way.
“Honestly,” Griffin began after the host seated us, “as good as I’m sure the chicken and veggies could have been, a Dragon Ball sounds just as amazing.”
“Truth. So, four Dragon Balls? What else?” I glanced at the menu. “Tiger Roll?”
“Yes, and a California Roll, of course.” Griffin sipped his water and pushed his menu to the side.
I gave the server our order and scooted closer to Griffin in our private, round corner booth. The restaurant was one of our favorites because it was quiet and friendly and had the best rolls and prices.
“This is nice. Maybe we make this our Christmas Day tradition.” I took Grif’s hand.
“Save the smoke detectors?” he teased.
“I’m really surprised we didn’t set them off.”
“I think a few more minutes would have caused a lot more damage. You were quick with the fans. How embarrassing would it have been if the whole building had to evacuate because we can’t cook some Christmas chicken?”
We both laughed.
An older woman bustled to our table with our food. Griffin started to move his hand from mine, but I kept his tight in mine. The server placed our tray of food at the edge of the table and smiled brightly. She reached over and laid her hand on top of our joined ones. “A very happy day to you.” She then pointed to our tray and named the rolls despite the fact we’d eaten here so many times we didn’t need a reminder.
“That was sweet.” Griffin nodded toward her retreating back. “But I need my hand to devour this food.” He bumped his shoulder against mine. “You can have it back later.”
“Fine.” I pretended to pout. “But I want more than your hand later.”
“Gifts later, right?” Grif raised his brows.
“Gifts later. But later later it’s sexy time,” I growled against his ear and grinned evilly when Griffin shrugged.
We talked about Pops and Momma, our new gifts, what we needed to pack for the trip to see Momma in Florida, and the new classes that would start after break while we ate.
When the bill came, Grif and I both reached for it at the same time. “I’ve got it,” I said.
“Why? Because I’m the poor boy?” Griffin scowled.
“What? No, just my treat.”
“So, we used to split things, but now I’m your kept boyfriend?”
“Whoa, what the hell, G? I’ve treated before. You’ve treated before. Since I’m pretty much responsible for burning our lunch, I figured it was only right for me to treat today.” I patted his leg. “You may be my boyfriend, but you’re not kept by anyone.”
He winced. “Sorry, money is such a touchy subject for me. Especially since I don’t have much of it. But I never want to appear like I’m taking advantage of your money.”
“Don’t even worry about it. Consider it part of your Christmas gift.”
“No! We said no money on gifts.” Griffin’s eyes pleaded with mine.
“Fine, fine. Just lunch, not a gift.” I knew Grif was sensitive about money. He had been since the very first day he was placed at Momma and Pops’ house. Always balked at new clothes or toys or gifts. Always tried to order the cheapest item from the menu. Always trying to do extra chores around the house as if Momma expected him to earn his keep.
I paid the bill and left a generous tip before Grif and I headed toward the car.
“Anywhere else you want to go before we go back home?” I started the car and pulled from the parking lot.
“No, just home. I’m ready to give you your gift.”
“You’re my gift.” It sounded cheesy, but I meant it.
Grif snorted and rolled his eyes. “That’s sweet. You’re mine, too. And me is about all you’re getting.”
“Anything you give me is perfect. I hope you like what I’m giving you.”
“Is that an innuendo?” Griffin smirked. “Because I’ve really liked what you’ve given me so far.”
“Oh, I’m giving you something, but no, your gift isn’t just sex.”
Once we got home, we made hot chocolate and sat on the couch. I handed G an envelope and he laughed as he handed me one as well.
“We’re both such amazing wrappers.” Grif bit his lip.
“Open at the same time?” I waved the envelope in the air.
Griffin nodded and we both tore into our gifts.
Griffin cooed and launched himself at me. “A double-feature of any two movies of my choice and I get to do your makeup? Awwww, you really do love me.”
I kissed him deeply, loving the feel of his body stretched out on top of mine. “You know I do. And this? Just making out on the couch could be your gift to me and I’d love it.”
“Nope, read yours. Sorry, I tackled you before you got to.”
I pulled the paper from the envelope and read it aloud, “Two hours of video gaming of Quincy’s choice and a dance.” I smiled and glanced at him. “A dance?”
Grif shrugged. “I was thinking like a sexy dance, just for you. I may have new underwear for the occasion.”
I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him to lay on top of me again. “You weren’t supposed to buy anything,” I reminded him as I kissed my way along his jaw until I reached his lips for a kiss.
He shrugged. “A guy needs underwear. My need for underwear just coincided with a lap dance I want to give to you.”
&nb
sp; I groaned. “I can’t wait.” Griffin was an amazing dancer. I loved to watch him lose himself in the music. But sexy underwear and a dance just for me? It would be perfection.
An hour later, Griffin had transformed my face into a work of art. I wasn’t even kidding, what that man could do with makeup and brushes was a true talent. “Babe, if you wanted to do my makeup every day, I’d seriously consider wearing this on the daily. I’m hot as shit.”
Grif laughed and wrapped his arms around me.
I pulled away. “No, no messing up my face.”
“Okay, well no daily makeup for you if I can’t even kiss you.”
“Babe, I can’t let you mess with this perfection.”
Grif rolled his eyes. “I want to pick two movies you’ve never seen.” He came back with ten DVDs. “Which ones have you not seen?”
I pulled the four I’d never seen, plus Winnie the Pooh despite having seen it before.
Grif raised a brow.
“What? I like this one.” I smiled and shrugged.
He huffed and shook his head. “I just don’t even know how you’ve been my best friend for so long and not watched every single Disney movie.” Griffin picked Mulan and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. “We’ll do these today. I know you’ve watched Pooh, but it’s such a good one.”
Nearly three hours later, Grif sighed as the credits rolled. “I love those movies.”
“You love almost all Disney movies.”
“True.” He smiled and kissed me. “Did you like them?”
“I did. I think being around you and watching these movies with you has forced me to look deeper into them.”
“Yeah? What did you get from the two today?”
“Well, I know you’ve told me this one before, but I think I get it a little more now. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh teaches that close friends are life’s greatest and most abiding treasures; cherish your time together. And I very much cherish all the time we’ve had together. I look forward to a lot more time with you.” I kissed his neck. “I liked the quote, ‘If there ever comes a day when we can’t be together, keep me in your heart. I’ll stay there forever.’” I never want to think about us not being together, but if it comes to that, I feel like we’d stay forever in each other’s hearts.”