The Chrismukkah Crisis

by Ryan Taylor

  He caught his lower lip between his teeth and got an irresistibly hopeful expression on his face. I was so happy that he wanted to spend holiday time together that I was rocking back and forth in my chair. “That sounds awesome.”

  “My Aunt Pearl has an apartment near Central Park, but she goes to Miami this time of year. I always spend a few days in her New York apartment at the holidays, check things out, and let her know everything’s okay there.”

  “That sounds wonderful, Aaron.” I was picking up my bagel for another bite when I thought of something. “What will you do here, though? When we come back? You said you have the whole week off, so what will you do on Friday while I’m at work?”

  “Cook and clean… mope until you get home, and practice being a househusband?”

  The way he was slouched over the table was too tempting, and I swatted his cheek. “Ass!” The shock on his face was priceless. “Be sure you wipe down the counters while you’re practicing your domestic skills.” I leaned over for a kiss, extremely excited about the holidays.

  After a steamy shower, we piled up on Aaron’s sofa, watching South Park reruns. Eventually, one of my legs fell asleep, and I thought about the afternoon while I was getting it untangled. I wasn’t sure whether Aaron would go to the animal shelter with me, or had to work.

  It was as if he read my mind. “We’re going to see the doggies today, right?”

  I loved the hopeful tone in his voice. “Yes, it’s Saturday, and I always go. I wasn’t sure if you’d have time.”

  “Pfft,” he said, waving me off. “Matt and doggies? Try to keep me away.”

  “Cool.” I remembered the week before when he’d worn nice jeans and a button-up shirt. “Be sure to wear old clothes today.”

  He snorted. “Good call.”

  “Speaking of which, we have to stop by my place so I can change, so we should probably get going.”

  “No prob.” He craned his head around so I could see his face. “I have a surprise in store for tonight.”

  “Just don’t tell me you have to work.”

  His expression had “you’re a ditz” written all over it. “Are you crazy? Get ready for lots of fun.”

  Aaron

  We’d just gotten back to Matt’s place from the kennel. Predictably, I was soaked through again, but it was totally worth it. When Matt and I got a house someday, we’d have about a hundred dogs.

  After shucking our dirty clothes, we were standing in the bathroom while he adjusted the shower temperature. I chuckled, suddenly a little nervous. “I brought some extra clothes in case you want us to stay here tonight… and tomorrow night.” That was a little pushy, I guess, but he could always tell me to go home.

  He snickered and turned around, wearing the cutest smirk. “In case I want us to stay, huh?” He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “You’re pretty cocky for somebody who smells like a wet dog. You think I want to spend the night with you again?”

  “You should. Just think what you’d be missing.” I gave my cock a squeeze for a quick demonstration.

  He pushed up on tiptoes and struck like lightening, smacking my cheek so hard it stung. “Fresh!”

  When he turned back around to step into the shower, I snapped my towel, getting him square on the ass.

  His squeal was amazingly loud, and he wheeled back around, trying to look cranky. “That does it. No shower blow job for you, Mr. Roth.”

  I bobbed my head back and forth like a disappointed kid. “Aw, man…. C’mon, I was just fooling around.” He kept his stern expression, so I poked out my lower lip for added effect. “Thought you might be into a little S and M.”

  I barely saw a flash, and he thwacked my other cheek.

  “Jesus, you’re fast for a little guy.”

  “Get your ass in here and I’ll show you something that’s not so little.”

  Matthew

  Aaron’s surprise turned out to be an evening at the National Zoo. Part of the Smithsonian, it’s a large animal park just off Connecticut Avenue in Northwest Washington. On December evenings, they have ZooLights, when the whole place is lit up with hundreds of thousands of holiday lights. A lot of the animals are still up, and there are beautiful displays and free music.

  The laser light show was incredible. A lot of vendors were selling food, and we even did some Christmas shopping at a European-style holiday market. Aaron laughed when I told him one of the gorillas reminded me of him when he was pissed off, and he slapped my ass and told me he’d show me a pissed off gorilla when we got home.

  Sunday was rainy and cold, and we stayed in all day. Aaron had brought his computer and worked for a couple of hours, but other than that we snuggled up on the sofa and had a restful day, playing video games and watching mindless shows on the sixty-inch TV I hadn’t quite finished paying for.

  Late in the afternoon, I asked him if he wanted to order food from Garcia’s, an awesome Mexican place nearby. “They have delicious guacamole tacos.”

  Aaron pulled a face. “Sounds very girlie. I want meat.”

  I couldn’t hold back a little snort. “Well, if it’s meat you want….” I rubbed my crotch into his thigh while I nuzzled his throat.

  “Whoa, there, Tiger! I’m still recovering from our afternoon nap.”

  I laughed. “We’d better eat, then, because you have to get ready for the early evening nap.”

  He flipped open his computer. “Let’s take a look at the menu.”

  An hour later, when our order arrived, we sat on the sofa and arranged dinner across my coffee table. While I ate my guacamole tacos and cheese enchilada, Aaron inhaled his steak fajitas and chiles rellenos. We’d ordered flan for dessert, two servings for him and one for me.

  I left my dessert on the table. “I’ve been thinking.”

  “About what?” He shoveled in some flan and went for another bite before he’d even swallowed.

  “I think I should go back to HR tomorrow.”

  He narrowed his eyes and froze, his spoon halfway to his mouth. “Why? I thought he already shot you down. Weren’t we going to wait for Townsend?”

  My phone buzzed, and I was all set to ignore it until I saw it was Mom. She and I had always taken each other’s calls whenever possible, and I had no reason to blow her off. It turned out that Aunt Ida had taken a turn for the worse, and Mom and Dad were going back to Jacksonville the next day.

  “I’m afraid we’ll be gone over Christmas, honey. I just talked to your sister and told her they could still come to Buffalo and use the house, but she talked to Eddie and they’ve decided to stay in St. Louis for the holiday.”

  It’s fine. Stay in DC for Christmas, then meet Aaron in New York like you planned.

  “Matthew? Are you there?”

  “Oh, sorry. I’m here.”

  “You could still come to Buffalo, too. See some friends? I’d ask you to go with us to Ida’s, but I don’t think you’d enjoy it. You’d have to sleep on her sofa, and I’m afraid we’ll be taking care of her nonstop.”

  Sometimes adulting sucked. “It’s okay, Mom. I’ll probably just stay here in DC. Aaron and I are going to meet in the city for a few days after Christmas. Would—”

  “You mean New York, or Washington?”

  Aaron, who had perked up at the mention of his name, was listening closely.

  “New York,” I said.

  “Tell me,” Aaron mumbled, and I held up a finger.

  “Mom, that ticket you bought me? To come to Buffalo? Would you mind if I changed it to go to New York instead? I’ll pay the penalty.”

  Aaron furrowed his eyebrows. “What?” he mouthed at me.

  “No, you can change it, and we’ll pay the penalty.”

  “You don’t have—”

  “Nonsense. It’s the least we can do for leaving you high and dry for the holiday.” She took a noisy breath, and I heard a definite sniffle. “You’re my baby! It’ll be the first Christmas we were ever apart. I’ll make it up to you, I promise. I’m so sor—�
�

  I laughed, which confused Aaron even more. “Mom….” She kept babbling. “Mom, I….” More babbling. “Mom!”

  “What?”

  “Stop it with the mommy-little boy-feelings thing. I’m a grown man and—”

  “Matthew, you’ll always be my baby.”

  “I have to go, Mom. Aaron’s here and I—”

  “Wait! Tell me when you want to fly to New York so I can change your ticket.”

  Aaron was eager to find out what was up. He twisted back and forth, his eyebrows still knit together.

  “Let me talk to Aaron, and I’ll text you the times later on.”

  After another minute of motherly feelings and calling me her baby, she finally hung up.

  Aaron

  I wasn’t having any of Matt staying in DC by himself, even for a few days. I must have gone into bully mode, because he pulled the blanket over his lap and scooted back against the sofa arm, holding his flan up like some kind of shield.

  “Three choices.” I ticked them off on my fingers. “One, I stay in DC and we spend the holiday together before we go to New York.”

  Matt rolled his eyes. “Absolutely not. You need to see your family.”

  “Two, you come to Wainscott with me, and we go to the city after the holiday. Or three—”

  “Your family doesn’t know me at all, and a family holiday isn’t the time—”

  I glared at him. “Three, I call Aunt Pearl and tell her we’re going to the city early. She’s already in Florida, so it wouldn’t matter to her.”

  My boyfriend, it turned out, could be one stubborn son of a bitch. It took fifteen minutes to talk him into letting me call Mom to see if it was okay for him to come to Wainscott for Hanukkah. Not wanting to give him time to think of more excuses, I called her immediately. I’d never asked to bring a guy home before, and she was excited to have him. He looked uneasy when I told him it was a go, and I made him promise no bailing.

  Matt nibbled at his flan the way he did everything else, tiny baby bites. It was wicked cute. “You want to finish telling me why you’re going to HR again tomorrow?”

  He pushed the blanket off his lap, so I guessed he was feeling more comfortable. “I think I need to tell Liswell what’s going on. We’re on dangerous ground, and I’m willing to gamble that he’d respect the truth enough to help us out.”

  I took a sip of my Corona while I stared at him for a few seconds. “I think it’d be better to wait and let Townsend handle it.”

  Matt pursed his lips and nodded. “Okay, I see that. Let’s talk to him when we get there in the morning and find out what he thinks. We’ll tell him about Suzanne, and see if he wants to go ahead now.”

  “Good idea.” I took another sip of beer. “We really should have told him as soon as it happened.” I put an arm around Matt’s shoulder, and he snuggled in tight.

  “Ideally, yes” he said, “but he was out of the office all afternoon Thursday, and in that settlement conference all day Friday.”

  I sat quietly, brushing the top of his arm with my fingertips while I gathered my thoughts. “I’m sorry for this, for the situation I’ve put you in. It’s all—”

  He pulled away and crossed his arms before snapping at me. “Stop. Right. There. The situation you’ve put me in?” He uncrossed his arms and started tugging at his sweatshirt. “I’m an adult, Aaron, and I’ve been in this every step of the way. A willing, eager participant.”

  I looked away and studied the print of Degas’s famous painting of ballet dancers he’d hung on his wall over a bookcase. “Yes, but I’m the lawyer, the one who should have—”

  “That’s bullshit.”

  I turned my attention back toward him. “I didn’t tell you something important. Townsend warned me, toward the end of that very first week. He suspected something I guess.”

  Matt put a hand on my knee, and his voice was softer. “What did he say?”

  “Told me to read the employee handbook I signed, and said I should be careful about socializing with support staff. Sorry I didn’t tell you then.”

  “Shut up!” He bumped my arm with the back of his hand, wearing a cute little smile. “It obviously didn’t make you feel any different. Do you think it would’ve me?” He narrowed his eyes. “Use that lawyerly brilliance and tell me if you think it would have made the least bit of difference in how I felt about you.” He paused for a couple of beats. “No wait, I’ll save you the trouble. Read my lips: It. Wouldn’t. Have.”

  “But at least you would have had a choice. I should have been more careful, thought about you more, because I am the lawyer.”

  He scoffed. “Aaron! Get off your high horse and listen to me. I had a choice. I still do, and I choose you.”

  “I don’t mean that I tricked you or anything. I just wasn’t as—”

  That got him heated up again. “Listen to me, you hardhead! We’re the exact same age. I know you’re in a superior position, but fuck that. We met before we ever started working together. We’re going to get me moved to a different department as soon as we can. As for the firm’s stupid rules—whatever.” He rolled his eyes. “We aren’t doing anything wrong, regardless of their stupid policy.”

  I couldn’t hold back a chuckle. “You’re really cute when you get worked up.” I bounced my eyebrows to get rid of the tension in my forehead. “Sadly, I’m not sure any of what you said would make a difference to them.”

  He pursed his lips and thought for a moment. “Can they enforce their rule? Legally?”

  I shrugged. “It’s a heavy-handed policy, designed to try to prevent sexual harassment claims and the like.”

  “Yes, but I’d never say….” He shook his head. “Even if things went bad, God forbid. I went into this with my eyes open.”

  “I know, but the legal world is always worried about contingencies and worst-case scenarios.” I sighed. “Remember what you told me the first time we talked about this? It isn’t only the involved parties that make claims, it’s other workers who claim they were disadvantaged because they didn’t have the same opportunities for promotions or pay raises.”

  He took my hand and gave it a kiss. “I love you, Aaron. How can they punish us for that?”

  “Believe me, they can.”

  “How—”

  I realized I needed to lay it out there. “You’re an at-will employee, right?”

  “What’s that mean?”

  “You don’t have a contract?”

  He shook his head.

  “In that case, they can pretty much fire you anytime, for any reason, including a ridiculous policy. As long as a rule is applied equally and doesn’t harm a protected class of people, it’s probably okay.”

  A frown tugged at the corners of Matt’s mouth. “All right. Fuck them. What about you?”

  I shrugged. “I do have a three-year contract, but it’s full of loopholes and exceptions. It includes provisions that require me to abide by all the firm’s policies.” I drained my beer. “I’m an associate, and associates are employees. They could get rid of me, too. Hell, the way the rule is written, they could get rid of a partner for breaking it.”

  He looked down and started fiddling with the blanket again as his frown deepened. “I don’t want to cost you your career.”

  “Hold on! The only thing our love could cost me is a job. And I tell you what, trading a job for you would be a total no-brainer.”

  He looked up and met my eyes. “That’s exactly how I feel. I mean, I’m not sure what I’d do. I’d have to get another job right away, but I wouldn’t regret anything about us.”

  My heart skipped, and I wondered at the luck that had come my way in the form of Matt Kennington. “I love you,” I said, giving his hand a tight squeeze.

  “I love you, too.” I’d never seen him more serious. “When we first met, you told me you’d been looking for me for a long time. I guarantee you that it wasn’t one day longer than I was looking for you.” He kissed my cheek. “You’re what I want,
the man for me. What happens, happens. We’ll still have each other.”

  Monday, December 19

  Aaron

  I woke up about five thirty. It was still dark outside, but the door to the bathroom was open, and the nightlight in there filtered into the bedroom just enough for me to watch Matt sleeping. He lay in the crook of my shoulder with a slack jaw and an enigmatic smile on his lips, the most incredibly beautiful man I ever saw. Who knew that Washington, a city I didn’t like very much, would deliver me to the man I’d dreamed about my whole life?

  He smacked his lips and his eyes fluttered open. After a flash of recognition, he scrunched them tight again. “Why are you awake?” His breath was very even, and I knew he was still at least half asleep.

  I rubbed my hand lightly over his belly. “Just watching you. Rest a little more.”

  He was still for another minute or so before turning on his side and planting kisses on my throat. “How can I sleep?” More kisses. “When there’s such….” Kisses. “A hot man….” More kisses, and a rigid, sticky cock pressed into my hip. “In my bed.”

  Morning wood was a powerful motivator, and I couldn’t stay away from him. A few minutes later, we lay in each other’s arms, covered with cum and sighing with relief.

  At 6:45 his alarm went off and the day began. A shower and a plate of scrambled eggs later, we were in the car, headed downtown to another week of legal bullshit.

  Mr. Roth, I shall expect you and Matthew Kennington in my office at 9:30 sharp to discuss a matter of utmost importance.

  Earl Liswell

  Director, Human Resources

  “Aaron?” Matt stood in the doorway of my office, and the fear on his face broke my heart. “You saw the email? He copied me in.”

  “I saw.” I stood and put out my arms. “Come here.”

  He hesitated before walking across the floor. I hugged him so hard that I was afraid I might break his ribs, hating what I already knew was going to happen downstairs. “It’s okay, baby. It might be nothing, but whatever it is, we’ll deal with it, together. Just like you said last night.”