Boyf riends One-Shots (BMC)

Merry Christmas

Non-Squip

"Hey, Jeremy, do you wanna come over for Christmas at my house? I mean I know you don't celebrate since you're Jewish and all, but I joined you on the first night of Hanukkah, so I just thought this would be, like, something in return?" Michael said to Jeremy, who sat beside him, playing Mario kart very seriously.

"Sure, why not? I've never been to a Christmas celebration so it'll be interesting."
"Cool, I was actually thinking on Christmas night since that's when my parents are going out to dinner with their friends?" Michael offered.
"Sounds good to me," Jeremy nodded, still mostly focused on the video game.

~•~

On the night of Christmas, Jeremy entered Michael's house, not needing to knock. They'd been best friends for many years.
"MICHAELLLLLL," he called, as he heard his friend's footsteps approach him. Michael was wearing his signature hoodie with a Santa hat for some festive flare.
"Merry Christmas, dude," Michael said, smiling. "My parents are gone until around midnight, probably, so we can just do whatever," he explained as the two made their way into the living room which had a Christmas tree decorated with various ornaments sitting in the corner with only one present sitting beneath it. Michael picked up the wrapped gift and handed it to Jeremy.

"Here, I got you something."
"Michael... I didn't bring anything for you."
"That's okay, I got presents from my family this morning."
"Even I know how that works, Michael. You're supposed to give presents to each other, it just slipped my mind. I'm sorry," Jeremy apologized.
"No, seriously Jeremy, it's fine," Michael insisted, pushing the gift into Jeremy's grasp. Jeremy ended up obliging and just taking the present and unwrapping it. He opened the box that had been hidden under the colorful red and green paper, and discovered that Michael had given him a pair of pac-man earrings and a t-shirt with a pac-man ghost on it.

"Now I feel really bad I didn't get you anything," Jeremy said, taking the earrings out of their packaging and putting them on.
"Please stop feeling bad. I'm not sure if you know this, but Christmas is a happy holiday," Michael teased, earning a chuckle from Jeremy, who was admiring the gifts that had been given to him.
"Either way, I really like them. Thanks, Michael," Jeremy said, unexpectedly hugging his friend, who was at first a bit surprised by the sudden embrace, but then returned the hug.

They headed down to the basement, which smelled strongly of weed. Jeremy and Michael took their seats on the beanbags in front of the TV where they did their gaming. Michael put on Christmas music, so he could still classify it as a "Christmas celebration".

"So what else do you do at Christmas other than exchange gifts, at which I already failed?" Jeremy asked, watching Michael try to make his way through Mario Odyssey.
"For me, honestly it's just the food and time with family and shit like that, y'know? Since I don't see my extended family until tomorrow, the food will have to wait. So basically we're being slightly festive while hanging out? I mean, I guess there's the whole religious side with the birth of Jesus, my homeboi, but I'm not really into that," Michael shrugged.
"Ah, yes, Jesus. In Judaism he's a prophet. Cool dude, just not, like, God," Jeremy tried to explain.
"Huh, that's weird."
"What?"
"I guess I just kinda supposed that Jesus was non existent to Jewish people. Don't know why, actually," Michael said, turning off the TV, deciding that he wanted to give all his attention to Jeremy and their conversation. Jeremy turned to look at Michael, grinning.

"Thanks for inviting me, Michael," he said, genuinely.
"It's no big at all, dude. I knew I was gonna be bored and it happened to be Christmas so yeah. There's really not much to it."
"Still, I know it's, like, this huge holiday and everything. It's cool that you wanted me to be a part of it and all," Jeremy said with a lopsided smile, breaking his eye contact. He all of a sudden felt slightly awkward. He was so used to just joking around with Michael and doing dumb shit that this moment with actual emotion made him feel weird. It wasn't something he wasn't used to experiencing with Michael, his best friend of twelve years. Not saying that it felt bad for Jeremy, just that it was new and took him by surprise.

"Yeah, I mean, you're, like, a huge part of my life, y'know? You... are my life, Jere. Christmas a cool thing and I wanted you to experience it, I guess. Even if it only really entailed hanging out with Christmas music on in the background. I mean, obviously I'm not, like, trying to get you to not be Jewish. I just thought it'd be cool to share this kinda special holiday with you, I guess."

There was a silence filled with the sound of both of the boy's own thoughts.

Goddammit, Michael. At this rate your completely straight best friend is definitely going to figure out that you're fucking gay for him. Like, super gay. Way too gay to actually be healthy. I really like him but he's not supposed to know that, I don't know what triggered me to let these stupid fucking emotions slip out. I'm usually fine about hiding it, but maybe it's just because of what he said to me.

What the fuck, Jeremy? Where did that come from, why'd I say that? Why is my face hot after hearing his response? Why do I feel awkward with Michael for the first time in, like, ever? I don't get this weird new awkward weird shit. It's messing with my head and I don't know what the fuck to think of it. Shit, have I been staring at Michael this entire time?

Jeremy had indeed been staring at Michael throughout his mental breakdown, but the awkwardness was escalated greatly when he realized that Michael was staring back at him. Michael then snapped out of his haze and his face flushed. He broke his eye contact with Jeremy, opting to stare blankly at the floor whilst he mentally facepalmed.

"Holy shit," Jeremy said to himself, realizing why his emotions suddenly went haywire. He grabbed Michael by the arm and led him upstairs. Confused, Michael followed Jeremy up the steps and into the hallway leading to the kitchen. Jeremy stopped right at the entrance to the kitchen and looked up. There was one Christmas tradition he knew a little bit about: mistletoe.

Michael followed Jeremy's gaze up to the mistletoe that hung above the two.

"Guess I gotta kiss you now, huh?" Jeremy said, his cheeks heating up. Michael just nodded as Jeremy went in for the kiss, their lips touching for quite a few seconds before they broke away, gazing at each other, speechless. Finally, Jeremy mustered up the courage to say something.

"M-merry Christmas, Michael."

Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays! I love you guys!