Prettyboy, MD (ManXMan)

Chapter 20

"You're really good at this." Dylan said with a proud smirk as he watched Adam glide effortlessly over the ice.

"So are you." Adam blushed bright red as he shyly lowered his gaze down to the ice below, scoffed up by the hoards of people who had been on it for hours.

Adam had come to the Christmas Market before with Sophia and the rest of their squad, but this was the first time he had ever gone with another boy, a boy he was romantically involved with.

"I would hope so, after years of hockey and playing on the school team." Dylan shot him a knowing glance. "Our grandfather and uncles all played, Dad grew up in Sicily so soccer was his sport of choice. Hayden and I hated playing, we loved watching, but we were kind of forced into it."

"At least your parents supported you. My parents hated that I did figure skating." Adam said as a blank expression bathed his sad eyes. "It's a wonder they were so surprised when I came out to them." Adam chuckled awkwardly, hoping to diffuse the tension.

"You okay baby?" Dylan asked as he gazed at him concernedly. He recognized that there were certain subjects that were sore spots for Adam. His birthday, his parents, his sister. They had talked about how he wished he kept in contact with his sister but he felt it was too painful as they reminded him of his parents.

"So figure skating, eh? Why'd you stop?" Dylan tried to change the subject swiftly.

"I guess I came to Vancouver, lost touch with it, got busy with uni and I guess I lost it along the way." Adam said softly as he glanced up to see Dylan staring at him with an amused expression. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"It's nothing." Dylan chuckled softly as he held onto Adam's hand, giving it a loving squeeze. "I just always find myself more and more surprised by you every day. It reminds me why I fell in love with you in the first place."

The rest of the evening was pretty much everything Adam hoped it would be, from drinking hot mulled wine, to browsing through the different stalls in the German style Christmas Market. It was three days before Christmas, not that that tended to matter to Adam; since coming out he found himself less and less inclined to the religion he was raised in.

Dylan hated that he couldn't spend Christmas with Adam, he offered to take him down to the Tremblay family home in Montréal, where they always spent Christmas surrounded by cousins, aunts, uncles and his grandparents. Adam declined politely, he said it was too early to meet any of his family, but really he was scared. Scared that they wouldn't accept him or think he was good enough, though he'd never dream of telling Dylan that.

"Have a safe flight, I love you." Adam kissed him as the chauffeur loaded the car with Dylan's suitcases.

"I love you too, baby." Dylan said as he squeezed him in tight. "If you change your mind in the next five minutes I'm sure we can throw a suitcase together and book a flight."

"You go and have fun. I'll be right here waiting for you when you get back." Adam rolled his eyes teasingly pushing him towards the car.

"Merry Christmas baby." Dylan said softly as he pulled Adam in for yet another kiss.

"Merry Christmas..." Adam whispered before his boyfriend let go and was on his way.

Sophia and Adam were left alone on their own devices, much as with every Christmas. When the dorms closed they would spend the winter holidays with Ilya and Nikolai, but once they got their own places they mostly just stayed in drinking and watching Christmas films.

"Soph... Do you maybe want to... go to Midnight Mass this year?" Adam asked at around 7 PM on Christmas eve.

"Like at a church?!" Sophia practically choked on her wine at the sudden revelation. "Adam Almeida when was the last time you set foot in a CHURCH." Both Sophia and Adam grew up in Catholic families, Sophia's undeniably much less religious than Adam's. Nonetheless they found the Roman Catholic church didn't align with their views and slowly, or in Adam's case rather rapidly, they distanced themselves from it.