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Dave isn’t sure what he expected to be doing on Christmas Eve (probably eating Chinese take-out with Bro on the futon while they made fun of watched some shitty Christmas movie on TV) but he certainly hadn’t expected this. Never in a million years would Dave expect his Bro to fork over the cash for a plane ticket to Washington so he could spend Christmas with his best bro. Sure, Dave knew that Bro loved him in his own weird way but this would mean Bro spending Christmas alone. Bro definitely enjoyed his alone time but Christmas was one of the few times Dave and Bro always reserved as “quality bro time.”
Dave had to admit that he was less than impressed when he arrived in Washington. Where was the sparkling blanket of snow? What about “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas?” At sixteen years old Dave had yet to see a single snowflake in person and, though he’d never admit it, it was what he’d most been looking forward to in coming here after seeing John.
“Dave! What are you doing? You’re burning the popcorn!”
“Oh, so that’s what that horrible smell is! I was thinking Daddy Egbert must be the type who rips ones in his sleep,” Dave replied, turning away from the window and nodding his head in Mr. Egbert’s direction.
“You know what they say Dave: whoever smelt it dealt it. By the way, what were you staring at? You were looking out the window for like five minutes- it didn’t even seem like you heard the microwave chime!”
For some reason, the Egberts’ microwave continued cooking food after the timer went off. Dave isn’t sure he could ever get used to that, seeing as he tended to pop food in his own microwave and then wander off for a little while. In this way, he developed a taste for lukewarm food.
“Just, you know, concentrating on making the snow fall faster using my God of Time powers.” Dave shrugged nonchalantly.
“Do your powers really still work Dave?” John questioned as he inspected the popcorn to see if any was salvageable. Recognizing none was, he dumped the bag in the trash.
“No, I was just staring off into space, numbnuts. How could I fast forward time out there and maintain regular time in here anyway?”
John laughed a breathy little laugh that sent shivers up Dave’s spine.
“Damn, yeah, I guess you’re right. Oh!” John gasped like he’d had an epiphany. “You’ve never seen snow before! You were mesmerized by the sight of snow falling.” He teased.
“Mesmerized by crystallized water? Who gets choked up over a little snow on the ground? Striders don’t.”
John gave Dave a knowing look and grinned. “Well, even if you aren’t worked up about it, I bet you’d still love to take pictures of it. You burnt our popcorn so we might as well abandon our movie plans. C’mon! Get your ass in gear, gramps!” John called over his shoulder as he walked toward the front door.
Dave smiled and grabbed his camera and went to join him. John tossed him his own coat and pulled on his dad’s. John had been flabbergasted when Dave showed up in Washington without a winter coat.
*
“You didn’t bring a coat?”
“Texas, John.”
“Oh, well then while you’re here you can just borrow mine.”
“What about you?” Dave asked with genuine concern in his voice.
“Relax, Dave! I’ll just wear my dad’s old one.”
*
Dave secretly loved wearing John’s coat because it was not only extremely warm and soft but it also smelled like John. When they got outside, Dave snapped a few shots of the snow-covered pines before John shoved snow down the back of his shirt. Of course, that meant war and the two began furiously rolling snowballs and tossing them in the general direction of each other. Dave threw a particularly fast one that sailed past John and set off his neighbor’s car alarm.
At that, John hurriedly grabbed Dave by the hand and dragged him inside. He quickly shut the door and merely glanced at Dave before they both broke into loud peals of laughter. Luckily, while they were outside Mr. Egbert was a heavy sleeper and had trudged off to bed after making sure John and Dave were ok. So John and Dave could be reasonably loud without fear of waking him. Mr. Egbert was a polite, cordial, and very hospitable guy providing he got his beauty sleep.
All the while they were laughing, they remained holding hands. At the time it just seemed natural. When they had calmed down, Dave looked sheepishly down at their hands and let go, blushing. When he got the nerve to look up again, he noticed John was blushing too.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to be all grabby.” John said quietly, looking him straight in the eye.
“No, man, I’m not complaining. Don’t sweat it.” Dave found John’s gaze unnerving and was hopelessly trying to avoid it.
“Not complaining?” John asked with a small, hopeful smile on his face as he leaned in closer to Dave so their faces were only a few inches away.
Dave didn’t get the hint because he never got any of the hints. Not when John leaned on him while watching TV, not when John gave him a massage after he confessed he was exhausted from his flight, not when Dave got pizza sauce on his face and he gently wiped it off with his thumb, not when John offered to share his bed and "accidentally" spooned Dave in their sleep, not any of the endless suggestive things John had said to him since he arrived!
So Dave became flustered.
“No- I mean- I didn’t mean-“
John grabbed his hand again and smiled. Dave shut right up and licked his lips nervously. John took that as permission and leaned in to kiss him. It was like kissing girls in a way, but a thousand times better. John tasted of spearmint and he could feel the brush of stubble against his cheek. Their teeth clicked once, John bit his bottom lip too hard, their glasses kept getting in the way, and all too soon they had to come up for air- but it was still perfect. This was by far the best Christmas present Dave had ever gotten and it had the added benefit of coming early.