Never Too Late

Winter Break

Briggan flopped onto the sofa and let out a sigh. School was over for now. Winter break had now begun and that meant Briggan could finally relax a while and spend quality time with his love. Mastace stepped in the living room and sat right beside the half-aware Briggan.

"What a final day before Christmas break, huh?" Mastace sighed.

Christmas.

Briggan had almost forgotten all about Christmas. It had been so long since he had a true Christmas celebration.

"Is something wrong, bud?" Mastace asked. He sat upright and his ears perked up slightly.

"No," Briggan said. "It's just that... It's been a while since I had a Christmas. A real one, anyway..."

"Ah, so that's it."

"Yeah," Briggan said, looking down at the tiled flooring beneath his sneakers. He had no idea why, but he felt rather uneasy about admitting to something like this. He felt so... vulnerable and... prone. He didn't like it, but it was a necessary evil. He needed to open up if he wanted to make Mastace and him work. They'd gone over this countless times, in spite of the lack of need. Each time resulted in the same conclusion: Total honesty from the start was the best way to keep the relationship between them healthy and strong.

"Is there something else you need to talk about?" Mastace asked. His head cocked to the side a little to the left, a small tick that Briggan had taken notice of whenever Mastace was genuinely and deeply worried about him, which was all the time.

"No," Briggan calmly repeated. "I've just been reflecting recently."

"On what, if I may ask?"

"How I'd been thinking about things and what my priorities have been."

"This kinda seems to be coming out of nowhere, don't you think?" Mastace placed a paw on his mate's thigh and gently rubbed to soothe the wolf.

"Probably, but for some reason... I can't help but think that there's been something that hasn't been getting it's due acknowledgement. And... It's getting bothersome."

"Very well. If it's important to you, then it is important to me."

"Thank you, love." Briggan said, leaning onto Mastace's shoulder and relaxing his spirits. "I also wanted to apologise if I seemed a bit different since getting back from the hospital... I..."

"There isn't any need to apologise, Briggan. I absolutely understand."

Briggan paused. "Sometimes it feels like you're the only one who does."

Mastace laid in bed awake. Briggan was also awake at the moment but he was in the bathroom, taking a midnight bath to relax.

This was going to be Briggan's first holiday where someone was going to be there to celebrate with him, thereby being the first genuine Christmas he will have had in quite some time. There had to be something he could do that might make this year memorable for his sweet little wolf. The more he tried to think about it, it seemed less and less likely that he would come up with something that did the situation proper justice.

Briggan slid into the bedroom, almost unnoticed, in only a towel that was wrapped around his waist, and laid in bed on his stomach. "What's on your mind, babydoll?" Briggan inquired.

"Nothing of importance at the moment,"

"Will there be a time when it becomes of importance?"

"Likely," Mastace mused.

"Are you going to let me know when it does?"

"You'll already know by then," Mastace wrapped one arm around Briggan, enveloping the wolf in warmth. Briggan responded with a light giggle and an almost imperceptible blush.

Silence fell between the couple, neither knowing what to say at this point. Finally, it was Briggan that spoke up to break the growing awkwardness between them. "Mastace?" he said.

"Yes?" the lion answered.

"I love you," Briggan said. His voice had gone softer, and his eyes had become dilated. Briggan's facial expression was softer than usual and the wolf caressed his lover's cheek as he spoke. The wolf's tail, whether he knew it or not, was wagging in a rather intense delight.

Mastace couldn't help but giggle. "I love you too, Briggan."

Briggan leaned in and planted a kiss on Mastace's lips, ever so lightly. This move earned a giggle from Mastace, which urged the happy wolf forward. He went in for another kiss, but this time it was Mastace who ultimately made the move. Mastace closed the gap between them and kissed back as Briggan fondled the lion's cheek. Mastace found his paws running up Briggan's still-damp, heated form as they kissed, but he didn't stop. Briggan could feel the flames of their desire beginning to burn brighter, but he didn't stop. Both knew what was about to go down if they were allowed to continue, but neither made a move to change the direction of the evening.

When the two eventually separated, Briggan let out another childish giggle. "How about you lose those restricting clothes and have a blast of a start to our Winter break?"

Mastace put on a playful expression that made it look as if he were thinking it over when, in reality, this was only part of the foreplay. "Sure, why not?" Mastace peeled his shirt off and unfastened his belt. Briggan watched in earnest, a look of pure anticipation overcame him. It wasn't long, however, before his eagerness got the better of him.

"Would you mind if I helped out a little?" the wolf asked, voice lathered in sultry undertones and his eyes radiated brightly in need.

Mastace let his arms drop to their sides. "By all means, go on ahead," he said. Briggan licked his chops, showing his desire to please. Briggan leaned back a little to get a better view of what he was doing, although he most certainly didn't need to. He slowly undid the button of Mastace's jeans and rather carefully slid them down the lion's powerful legs. Briggan looked up at Mastace to see that his entire face was red-hot and he was on the verge of panting already.

"Are you... Have you seriously been this pent-up the whole time, and didn't even tell me?"

"To be fair, I didn't think you'd really be in the mood."

Briggan sighed. "And now, we're about to open a big can of worms. This is going to be so much fun, darling. I can already tell."

Mastace finished up taking his jeans off and then began to proceed sliding his boxers off, but Briggan stopped him. "Wait. If you don't mind... I would like to do that."

"Alright, but I get to do something in return." Mastace mused.

"Oh?" Briggan chuckled, "And what is that?"

In a flash of sandy-gold, Briggan felt a strong paw grip at the waist of the towel and pull. With no effort, Mastace yanked off the towel and fully exposed Briggan's form.

"Hey! Give that back! I still need to put it away!" And with that, the game was on. Briggan did all he could to reach for the stolen bath towel, but Mastace had just enough leverage to keep it away. Both were laughing and hollering their heads off, just having a good time. Eventually, Mastace relented and let Briggan snatch the towel back.

Briggan, however, felt the match wasn't totally over. With a devious grin he stepped back and whirled the towel around a little, then cracked an unsuspecting Mastace with the makeshift whip right where it counted.

Mastace pivoted around and saw Briggan with a shit-eating grin on his face and the "smoking gun" in his hand.

"Oh," Mastace said with an equally mischievous smile, "It's on."