Shane's POV
Christmas time wasn't something I celebrated willingly. The holiday itself appeared full of cheer and laughter, yet there was a lack of something that encouraged me to find it without assistance. There was too many more important things to concentrate on that building a plastic tree and decorating it wasn't a priority for me. However, since meeting someone that whole outlook on the season changed... only slightly anyway. I didn't mind spending hours in B&Q to find the right red shade of tinsel, or being stuck in traffic in a supermarket car park at eight in the evening, or even the gross amount of food consumed in the space of a week. It all began to seem worth it. You see, once managing to find someone worth fighting through all those infuriating things, especially someone full of festive joy, you begin to understand what the meaning of the holiday is. And within the last five years, I think I've managed to find him.
It was the 23rd December, and even now I unlocked the meaning of Christmas, we still hadn't installed one of the seemingly most important parts; the tree. We'd been waiting for the perfect time where we were both free, however, around this time of year was when work became more demanding than usual. Yet, after painstaking weeks of slavery - we both managed to acquire a rest day to spend before travelling to my parents for the next few days. It had been difficult to wait this long to do our yearly tradition, as previously the house was already decorated by the first, and it pained me to see him so down at the lack of festive cheer. However, today it was going to be done, and I couldn't wait to see his face at the sight of it.
"Drew?" I mumbled, rolling over in our bed to face the direction of my sleeping boyfriend. He was sprawled out on his front, head buried in the fluffy pillow whilst his golden hair was sticking up in multiple decorations; he was a fidget even in his dreams.
"Drew?" I repeated in a sing song voice, shaking his shoulder with a light touch.
He responded with an unenthusiastic groan, body wiggling in defiance.
"But Drew, it's nearly Christmas," I practically cooed, chuckling lightly as I failed to resist shaking him more. "And I thought we could finally put up the tree today; the room's looking a little bare, don't you think?"
It was near comical how quickly he moved, head shooting up towards me.
"Really?" He squeaked, eyes alert and gazing down at me; He was subtly wiggling closer, however.
I nodded, a large grin forming on my lips at his excitement; he was near childlike with his enthusiasm.
"Finally!" He exclaimed, before reaching down and kissing me boldly, before leaving the bed for his ritual morning shower. I followed him closely behind.
I took it upon myself to fetch the boxes of dated ornaments from the loft, knowing from experience not to trust Drew with ladders or heavy lifting - A&E around this time of year was pointless. However, there was also a second reason for doing it myself, as I slipped a small beautifully white decorated box into the collection on my way back downstairs, a pink glow blooming on my cheeks as I done so. Upon reentering the living room I surveyed the room where a now bare tree was situated in the far corner, soft music playing in the background, yet Drew was absent. However, the moment I placed down the boxes he returned, reindeer antlers perched on his head and two mugs of hot chocolate with cream in hand - another tradition of ours. However, our favourite of all was how we decorated the tree; an important, somewhat romantic moment for us both. Drew was in charge of decorating, as I apparently did it all wrong, whilst I passed him the baubles one at a time, singing along to his iPod playlist as we done so.
"C'mon, Shane!" Drew giggled, dragging me over to the tree before instructing me to find the lights, which admittedly took a while to untangle, but eventually Drew was rushing around in a circle to cover the tree messily before admiring his art. Next was tinsel, which I had to help with as he sometimes got frustrated when the strands got caught on the tree's splinters. Eventually we got into our system, singing in bad sync and sipping at our hot drinks whilst we began to decorate the tree with baubles and ornaments - smaller ones at the top and larger beneath, of course. There were a few decorations from our past, such as ones bought whilst on holiday, those made as substitutes for gifts when we were short on money, and superheroes when special holiday merchandise was on sale. Eventually, we were down to only few spaces left, meaning I thought it was time I opened my special box, a personalised glass bauble inside with silver writing across the front. Taking a glance over at Drew for a moment I smiled at the sight of him distracted, hand extended for another decoration. I placed the glass bauble in his hand before dropping down on one knee, lip caught between my teeth. Time slowed as I watched intently as he looked down in confusion at the bauble, before reading the personalised silver script across its surface, eyes widening and a gasp caught in his throat. Will you marry me?
"S-Shane?" He then stumbled out, before noticed the position I was in, a glistening silver band held out to him. "A-Are you serious?"
I could only force a nod through my nerves, glancing down at my trembling hand which held the ring before returning my gaze to Drew.
"I-I, umm, y-yes." He gasped, taking the ring from my grasp before dropping down and engulfing me in a tight hug, sniffling as he buried his face in my neck. I eventually managed to drop my extended hand, resting them on the small of his back. We fell into an overwhelming silence for a few minutes, lost in the moment before Drew pulled back, tears streaking down his cheeks and met his lips with my own.
Author's Note: Merry Christmas! x
