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The sun was shining brightly in the clear Montreal sky. It was early morning but the heat was already rising from the slumbering streets. Jean adjusted his sunglasses as he waited for the green light. The scent of freshly baked pastries wafted lightly from the paper bag he was holding, and his stomach grumbled in hunger. He couldn’t wait to get back home, to a blissfully air conditioned apartment and a grumpy Yuri. His lips curled at the thought.
His boyfriend was notoriously not a morning person, and until he was halfway through his morning coffee it was better not to engage him in any kind of conversation. Jean had learned that the hard way, being on the receiving end of Yuri’s dark glares for many early mornings spent in hotel rooms. Then one lucky morning he had woken up before his boyfriend, and had had the sudden inspiration to get them both coffee. It had been the revelation of a lifetime, as far as Jean was concerned.
Which was why he was walking back to their shared apartment with breakfast in tow even though it was Jean’s birthday. In fact, Jean mused, he was doing so because it was his birthday. Starting the day with a pissed off Yuri was not exactly in his birthday plans.
The light turned green and he crossed the street, enjoying the sunlight on his exposed skin. He wondered what Yuri had planned for today. He had been oddly tight lipped about his plans for the day, only telling Jean to keep his schedule empty. All evidence pointed to a surprise, and Jean absolutely loved them.
Grinning in what his boyfriend would dub as stupidly, Jean reached their tenement and walked in the cool entranceway. A perfunctory look at the mailbox, and then he was skipping up the stairs to the third floor, waving at their neighbour who was already up and watering the potted plants on the stairway window. The elderly lady smiled genially at him, and he walked up another flight of stairs.
Their door was unlocked, and Jean pushed it open. A sudden shiver of cold ran up his sweaty skin the moment he stepped inside. It was freezing. Jean frowned as he toed his trainers off. There had to be something wrong with the air conditioning. The air was so cold he could have mistaken their apartment for the rink.
Suppressing another shiver, he walked to the living room where the air conditioning unit was, but before he had a chance to look for the remote, he was met with a very odd sight.
There was Yuri, sitting cross legged on the carpet, wearing what had to be the ugliest reindeer themed woolen sweater, and rummaging through the box of Christmas decorations, of all things. Jean blinked, twice just to be sure, but his boyfriend was still there, currently trying to untangle the Christmas lights from the tinsel, and humming what was unmistakingly Silent Night.
It was surreal, and Jean was about to pinch himself to make sure he was not actually still asleep. But Yuri turned his head and noticed him standing frozen in the living room doorway.
“Oh, you’re back.” he said, dropping the tinsel back into the box and got to his feet, giving him a beaming smile, that distracted Jean for a moment from the utter absurdity of the situation. Then closing the distance between them, he exclaimed “Happy birthday.” before cupping his jaw and pressing his lips against Jean’s.
It was not a deep kiss, but Jean still lingered in it, feeling his heart skip a beat like it always did when Yuri expressed affection. He smiled into the kiss and lowered his hands until they were circling the blond’s waist. The woollen sweater scratched lightly against the bare skin of his forearms, and Jean lifted his head, remembering the odd scene which had greeted him
“Yuri, why… what, what is this ?” he asked his boyfriend, waving his arm to encompass the whole tableau.
Yuri gave him one of his rare bashful expressions and Jean felt his eyebrows climb.
“I… well, you were complaining that you did not get to spend Christmas with me because I was at Nationals.” Yuri told him with a scowl, not really meeting his eyes “So I figured we could do all the shit you usually do for Christmas.”
Jean was speechless. They had not spent Christmas together because like every single year the Russian Nationals had overlapped with the holiday. Since the Russians used a different calendar Yuri had not even registered the fact, but Jean had been somewhat disappointed. It had been their first Christmas in their apartment in Montreal, and Yuri had not been able to be there. Jean had known full well there had been nothing either of them could have done about it, but it had still made him sad to decorate their apartment alone.
Yuri’s victory at the Nationals a had made him forget about it, and then the second half of the season had had taken all of their attention. It wasn’t until Yuri had stumbled upon the box of Christmas decorations while he was cleaning, that Jean had remembered how miserable he had been during the holidays, and after Yuri’s not too gentle prodding he had ended up telling him about it.
And then they were here, standing in the middle of their living room, the air conditioning making him long for a sweater in spite of it being the 15th of July because Yuri had wanted to give him the Christmas they had missed.
“I don’t know what to say.” he admitted honestly, feeling his chest swell with emotions. “That’s... I…” he stumbled on his words, looking between Yuri and the box of decorations with tinsel spilling out on the carpet.
“You don’t need to say anything.” Yuri told him, lifting his head, all traces of bashfulness gone, then clearing his throat he pointed at the veritable mess in the box, and grumbled “Just help me untangle all that shit.”
Feeling a chuckle ripple in his chest he nodded, setting the bag of pastries on the coffee table and sat down on the carpet.
“You sure you don’t want to have breakfast first?” he asked, while he methodically began untangling the lights from the tinsel.
“I had coffee.” Yuri replied while he pulled the thick outer curtains closed. Combined with the cold air blowing out of the air conditioning it almost created an illusion of winter.
“I had no doubt about that.” he joked “You haven’t murdered me, after all, my princess!” Jean teased him, unconsciously rubbing his forearms to try and get rid of the cold. Yuri gave him an eyeroll before he frowned.
“You’re cold.” it was not a question, but Jean still nodded, and Yuri strode out of the living room. A couple of minutes later he was back with a multicoloured bundle in his arms. “Wear it.” he instructed, handing him what Jean recognised as another one of those Christmas monstrosities his aunt gave them every year.
Jean eyed it with scepticism, but Yuri stood in front of him with his arms crossed, so with a chuckle he pulled the sweater on, cringing at how huge and ugly was the reindeer stitched in the front of it, it’s bright red nose glaring at him from where it sat snugly against his chest.
“This is the single ugliest piece of clothing I have ever worn, Yuri.” he said still eyeing the sweater with morbid fascination.
Yuri snorted.
“I’m taking a photo and this goes on instagram.” he told him with a wicked grin.
“Not before we make the perfect Christmas ambience!” Jean exclaimed, having more and more fun by the minute.
Yuri just nodded.
Breakfast forgotten, they found a small plastic Christmas tree in the storage room that had been there only because Jean’s sister had insisted on him decorating his home at least a little bit even though he had known he would be spending the entirety of the holiday with his parents and siblings. Yuri put the tree in the centre of the coffee table and began adorning it big red baubles that dwarfed the already small tree. Jean could not stop himself from laughing at the sight, and Yuri shot him a defiant look that only made him laugh harder. But he sat down on the carpet and started helping him.
They worked in silence, adding the baubles and various wooden decorations, and then ribbons, the tree being swallowed by the sheer amount of decorations on it. Yuri had just started adding the tinsel when suddenly Jean remembered what they were missing.
“Carols!” he exclaimed, jumping back to his feet. “And I have just the thing” he told Yuri, grinning. He was going to get payback for that ugly sweater.
He rummaged through the music cabinet, fishing out a pile of CDs that had not seen the light of day in a long while. And before Yuri could see what he had selected he put the disc in the player.
Yuri had no reaction at the opening guitars, doing a pop rock rendition of We Wish You A Merry Christmas, and Jean smirked, waiting for it.
The first line of vocals sounded out of the speakers, and then Yuri was looking at him with a wide eyed expression of horror.
“The Christmas Collection you did with your band.” he muttered “That’s the one with the holiday edition of Theme of King JJ, isn’t it.?”
“Yep!” he told him with a large grin, and he saw Yuri struggle to keep from cursing.
“This is because of the sweater.” he deadpanned, and Jean laughed out loud.
“Busted!” he said, and Yuri rolled his eyes, pulling him by the front of his sweater to give him a kiss.
“It’s your birthday, so I won’t retaliate.” he murmured against his lips “Count yourself lucky, Leroy.”
Jean felt laughter bubble through his chest, and soon he was clutching Yuri tight while his whole body shook with peals of laughter. And it was not just Yuri’s fake threat, or the fact that the absolute worst album Jean had ever recorded was still playing in the background. It was everything, it was wearing the ugliest sweaters he had ever seen in the middle of July, with the curtains pulled so they could pretend it was December and a small Christmas tree about to collapse under the combined weight of all the decorations they owned. It was Yuri going to all these lengths just because he had not been able to be there for him during the holidays. And above it all, Yuri doing all of these before they even had the chance to have breakfast.
It was hilarious, but it was also warm, it was perfect, and he felt his own chest threaten to explode from the sheer amount of feelings which were swelling inside him.
He lifted his head from the crook of Yuri’s neck, and curled a hand around Yuri’s cheek, looking at him. His green eyes were twinkling happily, and there was a small smile pulling at his usually scowling lips.
“Thank you, Yuri.” he told him “Thank you so much. You have no idea how much...”
“Don’t be sappy!” Yuri interrupted him, but there was no bite to his words, just warmth. Jean smiled, chuckling.
“Fine. Then I guess I won’t tell you how much I love you…”
Yuri interrupted him with a kiss. And Jean gave in, threading his fingers through Yuri’s hair and feeling happier than he had ever been.
He was twenty four years old and this was the best birthday he had ever had.
And it was only nine in the morning.