James woke up early on Saturday and the weather was alright, so he got dressed and went for a run. He hadn't thought about it the previous night, he'd been too amused by Christians lie coming back to bite him in the ass, and after he'd finished his laundry, he'd gone to bed early. It didn't hit him until he was a mile into his regular loop around the neighborhood that if Christian was going home to his family, then he was going to be left completely alone for Christmas. He slowed his stride and finally came to a stop. If Christian hadn't made up this stupid fake boyfriend, James could've probably convinced him to let him tag along to his parents' house. He shook his head and took off running again, trying to shake the sudden heavy cloud hanging over him.
It was no use. He walked back to their apartment, stopping to stretch a few times on the way, and slowly climbed the stairs, resigned to his fate. It was still early, and Christian wasn't awake yet, so james was careful to be quiet while he showered. He took his time, just standing underneath the warm water for a while before actually washing. Maybe he'd just go back to bed. With his towel slung around his waist he walked out to the kitchen to grab a glass of water to take back to his room, but when he turned the corner, Christian was standing there, with a cup of coffee in his hand and his phone to his ear.
"Yeah, mom, I know. I'm really glad it worked out..."
James snorted, then bit his lip. This would be fun to see, if he could remain silent for the entire conversation. He filled his glass with water and chugged it, then poured himself a cup of coffee while listening to Christian try to backpedal out of bringing his mysterious boyfriend home to meet his parents. James took a sip of coffee and leaned back against the counter to watch.
"I know. I know I said I'd bring him, but..." Christian rubbed his forehead and ran his fingers through his hair. He was clearly feeling awful about lying to his mom and james almost felt sorry for him. Christian blinked and gave james an appraising look, his eyes slowly traveled over james' mostly naked body. It was strange to feel Christian looking at him so intensely and he could feel his chest and neck starting to warm under his gaze. He kind of wanted to run back to his room for some clothes, but he didn't want to miss out on Christian coming clean to his mom. Christian finally looked up again and met James' eyes while a little smirk played at his lips. "Yeah, mom, I will. He's just as thrilled as I am. It'll be great, I know. You'll love him."
James frowned and silently mouthed, "What? Who?"
"Mmhmm. He's taller than me. Dark hair. What else do you want to know?" Christian winked at him, which did nothing to clear up his confusion. Maybe Christian had met someone, though that seemed impossible. "Gorgeous.... Yep... Blue eyes... I know, they're beautiful. We'll be there probably around three this afternoon. Yeah..."
James stopped listening. He grabbed his coffee and carried it back to his bedroom, trying not to let it get to him that Christian was not only leaving him all alone for the holidays, but that he'd found someone to play the part of his fake boyfriend, or worse, he'd somehow managed to find a real boyfriend while James had been busy making sparkly holiday decorations with his students.
He let the towel fall to the floor and dug around in his dresser until he found his softest flannel pajama pants. He'd just pulled them up when Christian walked into his room completely unannounced. James glanced at him briefly, the grin on his face causing a war inside James' brain, because he loved that grin so much, but he knew what was coming. Christian was about to break the news that he was going home for Christmas and leaving james behind.
"Hey, so did you hear what I said to my mom?" Christian walked over to where james still stood, reached into his open dresser drawer, and pulled out one of james' favorite shirts. He tugged it on as he strode over to James' bed, then he pulled down the blanket and climbed underneath it.
"What are you doing?" James crossed his arms and then uncrossed them and rested his hands on his hips. He was kind of pissed off and now he couldn't even get in his bed and wallow because Christian was there.
Christian patted the mattress, then fluffed up the pillow next to him. "Did you hear me?"
"Yeah," James muttered and slowly made his way around the bed to climb in beside Christian . "I heard." That was all he could bring himself to say. The entire situation felt wrong and unfair and he was starting to feel lonely even though Christian was still right there.
"Great!" Christian reached over and squeezed James' knee, then leaned forward until james had to either look at him or turn his head completely away. "I'm cold, so warm me up, my human space heater. Then we can pack and maybe eat something before we leave."
Christian snuggled up against James' side and pulled the blankets up to his chin. But James was still trying to process things. "Leave?"
"Yeah, can we take your car? I'll fill up the tank."
James stiffened and frowned. Christian wanted to leave him alone at Christmas and take his car. In what universe was that fair? "What?"
"What?"
"You want to take my car?"
"I mean, I'll drive if you want me to, but I know you'd rather do it. Is that okay?"
"What?"
Christian pouted a little and tilted his head. "Are you okay?"
James shook his head slightly. "I don't... I don't understand."
"Alright, J . I asked if you heard me telling my mom about my new boyfriend. Taller than me, dark hair, blue eyes, gorgeous?"
There was nothing for him to do but stare. It was like Christian wanted james to congratulate him on finding some hot guy to take home.
"So are you in or what?"
"In?"
"Man, are you sure you're alright?" Christian lifted his arm and rested the inside of his wrist on james' forehead. "No fever. So answer me. Are you up for being my fake boyfriend or what?"
All at once, every word that Christian had said in the last half-hour or so filtered through and suddenly made sense. He wanted james to be his boyfriend. Well, he wanted him to pretend to be his boyfriend.
James nodded and scrunched his nose. "Yeah, I'm up for it, I guess. You sure your mom's going to buy it? I mean, it's me."
"Sure she will. She loves you. And it'll be easy to fake it because you know me already."
"Right. Umm... I can give your mom that nice bottle of wine you gave me. What else do I need to bring?"
"Nothing fancy. Weather's about the same as it is here. I'm gonna go pack." Christian threw back the covers and climbed out of the bed. As he walked down the hall, he turned and called back over his shoulder before he disappeared into his room, "Don't forget to pack my present!"
