Matthew Gray Gubler Short Stories - Christmas Edition

Underneath The Tree #2

Presents, what a beautiful sight

Don't mean a thing if you ain't holding me tight

You're all that I need

Underneath the tree

Tonight

Wrapping paper, gift bags and already wrapped presents lay scattered around the room as you finished putting together the gifts for your friends. Different shades of red, golds and green littered every nook and cranny with matching ribbons strewn throughout. You had been working hard on getting everything wrapped and sealed and now it was time to put them in different bags for distributing. You started off with the gifts for your friends and in no time at all they were all bagged and ready to go. You pressed "play" to restart the playlist you had made just for the occasion. Next up were the gifts for your family. Despite having a fairly decent amount of friends, the gifts for your family definitely outnumbered them. It took you a good hour or so just to get the majority of them done. You didn't have that many family members to buy as you had decided to do "Secret Santa" for extended family to cut down on costs but various other relatives had dropped off their gifts for you to wrap as well in order to keep them from peeping eyes and because their wrapping skills weren't as infamous as yours. As much you love wrapping - and had a brilliant system down for getting them done efficiently - you would rather that your small flat wasn't used as a storage room for other people. Next year they were being told "no". You simply couldn't deal with how claustrophobic it was making you feel having to carve out a path in the living room just to be able to get from one side to the other.

As you were putting the finishing touches to the last of the presents there was a loud knock at the door. Sighing, you shut off the music and stood up, making your way through the crowded room. You opened the door only to be met with who you judged to be a male given that they were completely blocked from view by a large pile of presents balanced in their arms. Even the smallest present (which was still fairly big) obstructed their face.

"Erm... hi?"

The person shuffled on their boot-clad feet. It was definitely someone who dressed well, that was for sure. They lowered their arms and the top present wobbled. You caught it just before it fell, catching a glimpse of the man behind it.

You shrieked. "Matthew!"

He let out his signature laugh. You walked backwards a few paces and pulled the door open wider so that he could come in. You put the gift that was in your other hand on top of his pile again before taking a couple more off with it so that he could actually see where he was going. You shut the door over, following him as he walked into the living room. He put the presents down on your couch before turning to face you as you did the same.

You tried to contain the grin on your face but any type of composure you had left your body as you launched yourself at him, your arms wrapping around his body.

"What are you doing here? I thought you weren't coming until after Christmas so we could have our own version of it?"

He wrapped his long, strong arms around you. "I missed you so I just had to come over. Plus; those presents may or may not be yours..."

Your eyes widened in shock as you stepped back from him and reached up to slap the side of his head.

"Hey!" he laughed as he winced, "What was that for?"

"That's far too many! You shouldn't have gotten me so much."

"But I wanted to." He pouted, giving you puppy dog eyes.

The left side of your mouth curled upwards. You couldn't stay mad at him. "OK, fine."

He flashed his pearly whites at you, picking you up off your feet before you even had a chance to respond.

"Missed me?" He mumbled into your hair.

"So much."

He kissed the top of your head. "Good."

***

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