The Chrismukkah Crisis

by Ryan Taylor

  “I don’t….” My resolve weakened when he caught his lower lip between his teeth, but I was still shaking my head. “I’m not sure.”

  He brought out his biggest grin. “Just say yes, Matt. We’ll be uber careful, and we don’t have to stay long.”

  This boy is dangerous! I already had no gumption to tell him no, even when I knew it was the smart thing to do. “Okay.” I couldn’t help smiling at him. “Thanks for inviting me.”

  “Yes!” He raised his arm in a victory pump. “We’ll have a great time. If you want, we can do something after.”

  I had an idea or two about what we could do.

  As it happened, no one got stuffed that night. After we did the dishes, we spent some time playing Minecraft and flirting before Aaron went home about midnight. Things were moving fast, and neither of us wanted our relationship to be solely defined by sex, but it was about time for the next step. Since the next day was my birthday, maybe it would be a good present, for both of us.

  Tuesday, December 13

  Matthew

  Twenty-five. Damn! I’d been on the earth for twenty-five years. I wasn’t sure why it felt like such a milestone, but it did. I mused about the number as I put on some foundation so I didn’t look like a ghost, and my phone buzzed just as I finished with a little powder.

  AARON: You coming to work today, slacker?

  He was such a goof. I loved it when he was a goof.

  MATT: It’s only 7:45. I’ll be there by 9, boss.

  AARON: See that you are. :) We’re still on for tonight?

  MATT: I’m really excited about it.

  AARON: Me too.

  AARON: Okay, see you soon.

  Just as I was putting the phone back down, it buzzed again.

  AARON: I jerked off thinking about you this morning.

  What the hell? I decided to be honest as well.

  MATT: That’s hot. I did too.

  MATT: Thinking about you, I mean. LOL.

  AARON: AWESOME. Get your ass in here!

  I hadn’t told him it was my birthday because I didn’t want to weird things up. We were just getting started, regardless of how in love I felt. I stood there grinning like an idiot, wondering if I’d make it through the day without fessing up.

  The Metro was standing room only. I got stuck under some tall guy’s armpit, and every time the train lurched, I bounced against a woman who was apparently asleep on her feet. The hellish ride finally ended, and by the time I stopped for coffee, it was 8:59 when I got to my desk.

  I did a double take before looking around the room to be sure I was in the right office. A white linen placemat was in the center of my desk, the keyboard pushed to the side. A china plate held a chocolate croissant, two madeleines, and a napoleon. A white napkin was to the left, a knife and fork were in their proper places, and a place card sat in front of the plate, reading Birthday Boy. Propped against one of my monitors was a card-sized envelope, addressed Magic Matt.

  As I reached for the card, strong arms enveloped me from behind, and warm, moist lips traced their way up the back of my neck. I twisted around and barely saw Aaron’s handsome face before he caught me in the hottest kiss I’d had since… well, since he kissed me last night before he left.

  He treated me to his eager grin once he turned me loose. “Happy birthday, Matt. A special day for a very special guy.”

  “How did you know?” My eyes burned and then began raining tears. I slapped my hands over my face. “Aaron….”

  He put his arms around me again, and his breath was a warm, sultry gust against my ear. “I’ve never known anybody like you. Would you please be my boyfriend?”

  He gently urged my hands away from my face, and I nodded through a huge, teary smile. “I’d like that.”

  “Baby.” He pulled me in tight again. “Happy birthday to the most incredible boyfriend ever.”

  When I finished sniveling, I convinced him to help me eat those beautiful pastries. He even took a few sips of my caramel macchiato and declared it good.

  Townsend arrived just as we finished. “Good morning, all.” He took everything in quickly. “Looks like a celebration. Happy birthday, Mr. Kennington.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “Call me Herb, please. I told you that.” He hung his coat on the rack by the door. “Lunch, twelve o’clock, my treat.”

  He disappeared into his office, and Aaron grazed my cheek with his fingertips, making my breath catch in my throat. “Until tonight, Matt. We’re not anywhere near done.”

  Aaron

  He’s my boyfriend!

  I hadn’t been so happy for a long time. After barely more than a week, I felt more strongly about Matt than I ever had for another guy, and screwing things up was not an option.

  Lunch was fun. Herb obviously went to Magnolia’s a lot because everybody there knew him, and everything went smooth as silk. Matt ordered panko-crusted ahi tuna, Herb had a Cobb salad, and I went for the daily special, beef filet with green peppercorns.

  About halfway through the meal, Herb began talking about romance, how important it was, and how if you found someone, you’d better make the most of it. “I’ve been married three times. Although the first two didn’t work out, I wouldn’t take anything for those experiences. Wonderful women, wonderful memories.”

  Matt looked up from his tuna. “How long have you been with your wife now?”

  “Seventeen years. Third time’s the charm.” He looked Matt squarely in the eye. “Do you have someone special, Matthew?”

  Matt’s grin was extraordinary. “Yes, I have a boyfriend, and he’s fantastic.” His doe eyes met mine, and I was so thrilled I almost whooped for joy.

  When it was time for dessert, the waiter brought a chocolate ganache cake with “Happy Birthday Matthew” written on top in icing. It was delicious, but not nearly as delicious as the looks Matt kept throwing across the table in my direction.

  When we finished eating, Herb got serious. “I need you both to listen to me very carefully. I may think some of the rules at the firm are ridiculous, but they are the rules, nonetheless. There is a very strict policy against affairs between employees, and—”

  I had to stop him. “Herb, I told you—”

  A harsh glance in my direction shut me up.

  “The antifraternization policy is enforced with no mercy.”

  Matt had gone pale, and his eyes were wide as saucers.

  Herb’s expression softened. “You have nothing to worry about from me, but you could have a lot to worry about from the firm. I’m a partner, but I don’t believe there’s anything I could do to protect you.”

  Matt propped his forehead against his fists, and I wanted to rush to his side and hug him. Before I could move, Townsend reached over and put a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t panic, Matthew. What I’m trying to say is that you’re both splendid young men, and I’m happy for what you seem to have found in each other. But these displays of affection at the office, and the special treats and private lunches… they have to stop.”

  Matt raised his head, looked at him, and nodded. “Consider them stopped, but I can’t stop seeing Aaron.” He looked at me and then back at Townsend. “I’m sorry.”

  Townsend smiled. “Don’t be sorry. Just limit things at the office to being colleagues. The beginning of January, we’ll get one of you transferred to another department, and that should make things easier. For now, be extremely careful.”

  “We will,” I said. “Thank you.”

  Townsend nodded. “So, we have an understanding?”

  “We do,” Matt and I said at the same time.

  Matthew

  After lunch, Herb left for a meeting out of the office, and Aaron came out to my desk. “Do you mind coming to my place tonight? I made some special plans to celebrate.”

  I arched my eyebrows. “Hmm. I was thinking of some special plans, too. Maybe we could celebrate being boyfriends?”

  He shifted on his feet and gave a funny growl. “Not
opposed to that at all.” Ducking his head, he looked at me from under his lush, brown eyelashes. “I’m going to cook dinner for you, if that’s okay. We can spend a quiet evening, and I’ll take you out on the town this weekend.”

  “You can cook?”

  He looked so bashful and cute that I almost grabbed my phone to take a picture. “Only one thing, but fortunately it’s great for dinner.”

  I was sure I must have died and gone to heaven. No other man had ever done more than scramble an egg for me. “You really are a romantic.”

  He trailed a thumb along my cheek, but I brushed his hand away and stood up. “Didn’t you hear a word Townsend said? We can’t do that here.”

  He took a step back, nodding. “Sorry. I’ll pay more attention.”

  I sat back down and got to work on a conservatorship status report I was drafting for Townsend. I’d only been hammering away for a few minutes when my phone vibrating interrupted me. I looked down and the caller ID said MOM. Oh, shit. I totally forgot.

  “Happy birthday, Matthew!” She and Dad were almost yelling. There was a lot of noise in the background, and I realized she had the phone on speaker.

  “Thanks, you two.” I tried to sound excited. “Where are you?”

  “We just passed Springfield, Virginia,” Dad yelled. “Your mother wants to stop at the Pentagon City mall.”

  “I need to finish shopping for my birthday boy,” she cooed. She always got so excited about birthdays. “We’ll pick you up at five before we go to your place. Make some dinner reservations wherever you want.”

  “Okay, that sounds great. I hope you don’t mind having one more.”

  “I’m so sorry, Aaron. I totally blanked that they were coming.” I had to give him an out. “You don’t have to come if you don’t—”

  His eyes twinkled. “You want me there?”

  “I do.”

  “No problem.” He shrugged. “I’m there.”

  I sighed, so happy he wasn’t one of those boyfriends who gets pissed about every little unexpected thing. “They’re going to pick us up here at five.”

  “No need, unless you want to ride with them. I needed to get your breakfast here safely, so I drove today.”

  We left at five and went to my apartment. Not having to pick us up had given my folks a chance to freshen up a bit. I was happy to see them, but disappointed that I wouldn’t be spending the evening alone with Aaron.

  Mom looked like she’d gained a little weight. I knew that probably bothered her because she’d always fretted about it, but she looked great. She was a good-looking woman, with beautiful blonde hair and green eyes. I took more after Dad, who was naturally thin and had the auburn hair and hazel eyes I’d inherited.

  They were glad to meet Aaron, and things got off to a good start. We enjoyed a glass of wine while I opened my presents. My folks gave me a teal cashmere sweater and a new pair of black jeans.

  After I’d opened those, Aaron showed me a bashful grin. His coat was draped over one of the chairs at my table, and he walked over and took a small package out of the pocket. Coming back to the sofa, he sat down and handed it to me. “Hope you like it.”

  “Aaron, you already did all that this morning.”

  “This morning was breakfast. This is a present.”

  I opened the package, and my throat tightened up when I saw a navy blue, leather braid bracelet with a silver anchor clasp. I turned it over in my hand. “It’s so beautiful.”

  “Happy birthday, Matt.”

  “Thank you. I love it.” I handed him the bracelet. “Put it on me?”

  He hooked the bracelet on my wrist and leaned in for a kiss. My parents were right there, and when he backed off and I opened my eyes, Mom was smiling, but Dad didn’t look altogether thrilled.

  We left to go to dinner as soon as we finished our wine. I’d gotten reservations at Carroll’s, my favorite place. We were at the table sharing an appetizer platter when the inquisition began.

  “You’re a lawyer at the firm, Aaron?” Mom looked at him expectantly.

  He swallowed his shrimp tempura. “Yes, ma’am. I—”

  “Call me Beth, please.”

  He smiled. “Okay, Beth. I just started at Craig Swan in September.”

  “That’s wonderful,” Dad said. “We keep hoping Matthew will decide to go to law school. It’s a great career.”

  Irritation whizzed behind my eyes. “I’m fine now, Dad. Being a paralegal is a perfectly good career.”

  Aaron jumped in to support me. “Absolutely. Without paralegals to do the real work, we’d never get anything accomplished.”

  A discussion of the work of lawyers versus paralegals followed, and my folks were very interested to find out Aaron went to law school at UB.

  “Did you two know each other there?” Dad looked back and forth between Aaron and me.

  “No, sir. I started law school the fall after Matt graduated.”

  “You’re the same age, then?” Mom asked. Aaron finished his wine, and I immediately poured more for both of us, while Mom kept asking questions.

  Dad was pretty good at knowing when things were getting too intense, and after a couple of minutes, he started up a conversation about hockey. We were all Sabres fans, so things were good until dessert.

  Mom looked at me over her key lime pie. “How did you two meet?”

  Here we go again. “We met on the Metro. When they transferred me up to T and E, I found out Aaron works there.”

  “You don’t work directly with each other, do you?” Dad asked, trying his best to be casual.

  I smiled, determined to remain calm. Aaron and I had nothing to be ashamed of. “We do, actually. He’s one of the two lawyers I work with.”

  Mom gave me a sideways look. “Is that why you transferred up there?”

  “No, and I didn’t transfer,” I snapped. “I got transferred. There’s a difference.”

  She turned to Aaron with an unmistakably cool expression. “Did you have anything to do with getting him transferred?”

  “He didn’t!” I said, lowering my voice to a cross between a hiss and a whisper. “He didn’t know anything about it, either. Let it go, Mom.”

  “I don’t mean any harm.” Her irritable tone made me cringe. “It’s just not wise for both of you to be working so closely together when you’re dating.”

  “One of us is going to ask to be transferred to a different department in January.” Please, please let this go for now.

  “Why wait? I think you should go in there tomorrow and—”

  “That’s enough, Beth.” Dad put a hand on Mom’s arm. “This is a celebration. Let these young men be.”

  “Jay, I….” She huffed, obviously unhappy. Dad tried to resuscitate the hockey conversation, but it just wasn’t the same.

  After a few more minutes I decided it was time to leave. “We should go. Tomorrow’s a workday, and I know you two must be tired after all that driving.”

  Aaron

  How could a day that had started out perfect suddenly get so weird? I shouldn’t have gone to dinner. Matt needed time with his parents and should have been able to explain about me in his own time, and probably not at his birthday dinner. Still, he asked me to go, and I wanted to be there with my boyfriend.

  It felt like I was back in middle school when Matt and I crawled into the back seat while his parents got in front. He reached for my hand as we took off for home—for Matt’s home, where they were staying with him. What if things went badly after they got there? I couldn’t get that off my mind.

  “Aaron?” Matt’s mom pulled me out of my thoughts, and I couldn’t believe we were at his building already. She had turned in her seat and was looking back at me. “Won’t you come up with us?”

  “I don’t think so. It’s getting late and I know you three need some time.”

  “Nonsense. You’re Matthew’s boyfriend. Jay and I need to go to bed and let you two have some time.”

  I wasn’t sure about that at
all. “Well, I—”

  She smiled, the same beautiful, shy smile that Matt had. “I promise, my fangs are fully retracted. I apologize for what happened in the restaurant. It was totally inappropriate, and you didn’t deserve it. Can we please start over?”

  Some of the weight lifted from my shoulders. “I’d like that.”

  “Thank you.” She blew upward, catching some of her hair in the draft and chuckling softly. “I have a good feeling about you, and I want things to go well for both of you.”

  I was glad she turned out to be a cool lady, but she was Matt’s mom, after all. Why would I have expected anything different? I knew it was odd for us to be working together, and I couldn’t fault her for worrying about her son.

  Upstairs, Matt dug out a pillow and blankets for the sofa, since his folks were sleeping in his room. They went to bed right away, and we sat down and made out for a little while. When things got really hot, we pulled back and sat there panting at each other.

  “Wish I could spend the night with you,” he said. “I really want to.”

  “Me too.” I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the pulsebeat in his snow-white throat.

  He put his hand back on my crotch and traced my cock with his fingertips. I had on pants, but it felt so good I groaned and took him in my arms again. “Tomorrow night?”

  “It can’t get here soon enough.” He kissed me again and our tongues danced the birthday waltz one more time.

  I reluctantly let him go and stood up. “If I don’t leave now, we’re going to wake your parents up, and it won’t be a kiss they walk in on.”

  He stood beside me while I put on my coat.

  “Happy birthday, Magic Matt.” I gave him one last kiss and tweaked his nose for good measure.

  His smile just before he closed the door was so sweet that I almost stormed back in and said to hell with waking the parents.

  Wednesday, December 14

  Matthew

  “Please understand.” Mom waved her hands in the air like a crazy woman. “I’m only thinking of you.”

  I was frustrated beyond belief and dangerously close to saying things to her that I’d never be able to take back, so I resorted to yelling. “Mr. Townsend said he would help us. I don’t think going to HR on my own would do any good.”