Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house-  oh wait, wrong story.  Twas the night before Christmas, Gus and Jenny Rebecca were tucked in their beds eagerly awaiting the morning so they could finally open their presents under the tree.  Jenny Rebecca was hoping that she'd get a Baby Doll Alive.  Her friend Emma got one for her birthday and she thought it was the best present ever.  With Uncle Brian and Uncle Justin having a baby soon, she thought it would be good practice and didn't want to be seen as a little girl who knew nothing about babies.

Gus and she had discussed the new baby.  She was excited about having a baby in the family, then she wouldn't be the youngest anymore.  She always hated being the youngest because everyone always treated her differently. Gus was allowed to do so many things because he was "bigger" and now she would be "bigger" too.  She'd overheard Momma and Mommy talk about the new baby a couple of times, and it seemed to make Mommy upset. She didn't understand since her friend Olivia's mom had a baby last year and she was always smiling. JR decided that grown-ups were funny sometimes.  She held her old baby, gave her a kiss and closed her eyes to go to sleep. 

Gus was lying in his bed, his mind racing about the next week. Tomorrow was Christmas and he was sure he'd get a lot of cool stuff, including the new Xbox game he'd been hinting for.  His Dad and Justin always bought him a new game for Christmas and his birthday. Well, they bought him new stuff a lot.  He wondered if that would change once the new baby came.  Justin and Dad had assured him that he would always be special and they wouldn't forget him, but Uncle Michael and Grandma Debbie seemed to think otherwise.  He'd heard "the moms" talk about the baby a few times and Mommy seemed to think the baby was a bad idea.  She wasn't happy that Dad was having a baby.  He heard her talk about how she wasn't able to have the baby so they should have not asked Dad's friend Cynthia.  Gus thought having his mom have Dad and Justin's baby was just too weird.  It didn't matter, the baby was coming in the spring; and he'd be its brother.  Not like JR's brother, since she really wasn't related to him.   It was going to be so much fun, being a big brother and living with Dad and Justin.  He just knew that his plan would work.  Smiling at the thought of all the cool games he could play when he lived with Dad and Justin, he fell asleep eagerly awaiting Christmas morning and all the new toys he'd receive. 

Justin and Brian lay in their bed recovering from their latest round of sex.  Justin regretfully got out of bed to get a wash cloth to clean them up.

"Just think, next year this time, we'll have an 8 month old baby.  Christmas will be so exciting!"

"You are not dressing our baby in cute Christmas clothes and do not even think about putting a stupid Christmas stocking on its head."  Brian cringed when he thought of Justin's penchant for kitsch. 

"It will be the baby's first Christmas.  We, as parents, have to make it memorable," Justin said as he wiped them off, throwing the cloth in the direction of the bathroom when he was finished. Justin smiled at Brian with his best coy smile.

"You little shit.  You're just pulling my chain.  You wouldn't do that to our child."

"No, I wouldn't, but don't put it past my mother to buy such an outfit.  I seem to recall more than a few holiday pictures where I and Molly are dressed in some ridiculous elf or Santa configuration."  Justin frowned as he thought of those pictures and wondered how his normally sane and WASPy mother thought this was a good idea.

"I don't think Mother Taylor ever shared those with me.  Good thing.  I think it would scar me for life.  Santa and elves are creepy.  The whole holiday thing; I could do without."

"Scrooge"

"It's so fake."

Justin kissed Brian on the lips with a soft kiss and shook his head in mild amusement.  "Priceless, coming from the man who makes his living off commercialism and convincing people to buy things they don't need or really want."

"Ah, but you are wrong there.  People just don't know they want it until I show it to them.  Then, after my brilliant campaign, they realize they must have it to make their lives complete." Brian smiled and reached over to tickle Justin.

Justin attempted to squirm away but Brian followed him across the bed and tickled him until Justin pleaded with him to stop.  Brian stopped and kissed him on the shoulder and neck. 

"Seriously Brian. Our life is going to be so different when the baby comes.  Holidays will mean something.  I bet I'll even get you to dress up for Halloween so the three of us can go trick- or- treating."

"You are making my dick soft with all this talk of dressing up. Dressing up is for drag queens.   Now we need to go to sleep.  I'm sure Gus will be up at the crack of dawn to open his presents."

Justin looked at him with a confused expression.  "Gus isn't here unless he snuck in when I wasn't looking."

"No, he's at home with his mommies, but he will certainly call me after he has unwrapped his goodies to tell me all about them."

"I see, so basically you're telling me that you are getting old and need your beauty sleep," Justin said, teasing Brian again.

"I'm not old, twat."  Brian turned on his side, placing his arm around Justin's middle and closed his eyes to sleep.

Justin lay in Brian's embrace, enjoying the peace and security he always felt with his husband.  Unlike Brian, he was willing to think about how their lives would change once the baby was born.  He couldn't wait for them to be a family.

The jarring sound of Brian's cell phone woke him just as the sun came through the window. Brian rolled over hoping the annoying sound would go away on its own.  It stopped ringing a few rings later but then Justin's cell phone started ringing.  Justin put the pillow over his head, drowning out the insistent noise.  Then Brian's phone began ringing again. 

"Shit," Brian said as he felt for the offending object, pressing the talk button.

"Dad,  It's awesome!  I knew you would come through for me.  We're going to have so much fun playing this on the system," Gus yelled into the receiver.   "When are you and Justin coming over? I can't wait to play."

"Later this morning.   Now I'm going to get some sleep like a sane person and we will be over before lunch time."  Brian didn't want to take his son's enthusiasm away, so he added as an afterthought.  "Why don't you play the game till we get there and then you can show us how it's done."

"That's great Dad.  I'll see you guys later."

Justin pulled the pillow off his head.  "I guess he liked the new game,"  Justin said as he yawned.  "Do we have to go now?"

"No.   Go back to sleep. I told him we would see him at lunch time."  Brian reached over and pulled Justin close to him and kissed his neck before closing his eyes.

They woke several hours later and gave each other mutual blow jobs.  "You do realize that next year we will not be able to do this.  We'll be busy with diapers and bottles and wishing the baby would sleep through the night."  Justin smiled as he lay on his back.  

"No more talk of this baby and what will or won't happen when it gets here.  There's a reason babies are babies- gives the parents time to adjust.  Now I don't see any children or babies here so I'm going to pound your ass and then you're going to get your present.  Lay on your back.  I want to see you."

"You got me a present?  I thought we weren't going to do that this year,"  Justin said as he pretended to be upset.

"Twat. I know you have a present for me.  I'm not a fool and no, I did not buy you a present because you bought me one.  Now on your back."   Brian pulled Justin's torso around until he lay on the bed.   He bent down to lick Justin's belly and traveled his wet tongue to his erect cock.  Engulfing him in one movement, he began lciking and sucking him until he could feel the balls tighten.   Grabbing the lube, he slicked his cock, placing it at the edge of Justin's hole.   Sliding his cock back and forth across the hole,  he allowed the tip to slip inside with each pass  After a short time, Justin, yelled, "Now."

Brian obliged and pushed through the tight ring of muscle until he was fully seated.  When Justin adjusted to him, he arched his back and Brian pistoned in and out of the tight hole.   Both men were ready and the joining lasted only a few minutes before Justin shot on Brian's chest and Brian came inside his husband.

Brian stayed for a few minutes and then reluctantly left the warmth of his husband.

"So....Where's my present?"Justin asked, excited about the prospect of a gift Brian.

"In the garage."

"The garage?"  Justin looked at him with skepticism, but grabbed some shorts by the bed and walked toward the door.  "Aren't you coming?"

"Why?  I know what I bought you."  Brian smiled and then got out of bed, putting on his shorts as well. 

They walked down stairs and toward the garage.   Justin wasn't sure what to expect but he eagerly opened the door.   There was a new BMW next to Brian's jeep.

"You bought me a fucking car?   Brian why did you do that?  I have a perfectly good car."

"But your car is used for canvas and hauling shit.  You will need a car to carry the baby."

"Oh.   So it's for the baby that we are not discussing until it arrives?"

"I didn't say we weren't going to buy stuff in preparation of its arrival.  I just said we weren't going to spend endless hours talking about how life is going to change.   We will need a four door car and I do not want our child being carted around in a Volvo."

"There's nothing wrong with my Volvo."

"It's ugly, it looks like a box, drives like a bus and has paint stains all over it."  Brian started listing all the faults of Justin's car.

"So you bought me a car to drive the baby?"

Justin shook his head and kissed Brian on the lips. "I love you."  Justin reached out Brian's hand and walked him back to the house.   "Now for your present." 

Brian followed Justin into the house, wondering what his little blond could have possibly bought him. They walked up the stairs to the baby's room.  They had spent an entire weekend debating where the baby should have its room.   Justin wanted the baby to have its room next  to theirs but Brian thought they would  have to temper their sex life and he didn't like that idea.   Brian thought the baby should be located at the end of the hall.   Justin didn't like that the baby would be so far away; the hallway had 3 rooms in addition to their own.  He eventually had agreed to Brian's wish when Brian said they would be able to hear the baby with one of those monitors and agreed that the baby's room would be at the end of the hall.   Justin opened the door and gave Brian a small wrapped box. Brian shook the box but it did not make any noise.   He flipped it around on all sides but he couldn't figure out what was inside from the shape.  Looking at Justin he had a quizzical look on his face.

"Presents are to open, silly man.   Shaking it or turning it over on its side is not going to tell you what your present its.  Unwrap the package, Brian."

Brian pulled the wrapping off, looking at the package with a silly grin on his face.

"Now who is the present for? This looks surprisingly like a baby monitor."

"It is a baby monitor.  This way you can fuck me in our bedroom but hear the baby if it starts crying."

"Seems to me this is a present for you, not me.  You're the one paranoid about having the baby close by," Brian said tongue in cheek.

"Ah you're a very smart man.  But you see, if I'm not worried about the baby; with it being so far away, then I can enjoy all the sex you want in our bedroom.  This makes you a happy man, hence why this is a present for you."  Justin smiled as he explained his twisted logic to his partner.   He walked over to kiss Brian.

"Your logic is impeccable, but we'll just agree that the camera can give both of us peace of mind. We better get dressed, Gus will be having fits if we don't come soon."

Justin laughed again.  "You're just wanting to try the new game out.  You don't fool me at all.   I had to practically stop you from buying a second copy so you could play it here."

Brian laughed too. They closed the door, leaving the camera in the room.  They drove out to the muncher's house and arrived just before lunch.

Before they could close the doors to the car, Gus barreled out to greet them.

"You guys took forever to get here.  Come on Dad, I've got to show you the new game.   Jimmy Ferreli will be so jealous.  He's been asking for the game for months but I just talked to him and he didn't get it.  There are zombies and hatchets and dead people.   The zombies eat people's brains if they can't run away fast enough.   Come on, Justin, you can watch and then I'll play you while Dad visits the moms."

Gus ran ahead to the house, looking back a few times, ensuring that Brian and Justin were following.

"Zombies and hatchets?   I'm surprised Linz let you buy it for him. Isn't he a little young for that kind of gore?"

"We used to play 'war' when we were kids and have you watched kids tv lately?"

"Well I hope he doesn't have nightmares.   He is sleeping across the hall from us."

"I would remind you that you were a 10 year old boy once and 10 year old boys love guts, guns, and gruesome things, but then I remind myself  that you were not a normal 10 year old boy.   I bet you never even played with toy guns."

Justin smiled at Brian as he nodded his head in agreement.   "You're right.  I never played with guns and I wouldn't know the first things about playing 'war'.   My childhood was a little different."

"I seem to recall mother Taylor saying something about you going to art classes at the museum and taking dance lessons.   If I believed in such nonsense, I would say ‘no wonder you turned out 'gay'.   We both know that you were born that way and I can attest to your manlihood,"  Brian said, tongue in cheek.

Justin laughed.  "True.  It is a wonder I turned out manly since I didn't participate in the ‘normal' male activities of ‘war' and sports.  But I guess it worked in your favor.  You wouldn't be married to a famous artist if I had not started art lessons at the tender age of 7."

"I think the baby should have both.  You know, art classes and sports.  Maybe by the time our child is a grown up, his/her sexual orientation won't even be an issue.  But we will know we did offer the best of all experiences."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you've actually been contemplating how to raise our child.  Amazing- miracles do happen."   Justin smiled his ‘sunshine' smile toward his partner as he opened the door to the house.  "I knew you were not as oblivious as you pretended to be."

"Twat," Brian said affectionately as he leaned over to kiss Justin.

"Merry Christmas, Brian,"  Justin said when Brian finished.  He closed the door behind him and hung their coats on the coat tree.

Lindsay came around the corner.  "There you two are.  I was beginning to think you weren't showing up, but Gus assured us that you'd be here by lunch time.  We're about to set the table."

"I'll help you Lindsay," Justin said as he walked with her toward the dining room. 

"I'll go keep Gus entertained and out of your hair,"  Brian said as he moved to the family room where Gus was busy playing his new game.

"Great you're here,"  Gus said as he heard Brian enter the room.  "I'm ready to kill the horde of zombies. See, they are trying to take over the world, but for every 3 I kill, I get an extra life.   This is the coolest game, Dad.  Thanks for getting it for me."

Watching his son kill animated zombies on the screen, Brian contemplated their earlier conversation.   He really hadn't thought too much about raising the child that Cynthia was carrying; he was just so excited about the addition to their family.  Lately, his thoughts were turning to the child and what that would actually mean for him and Justin and how they were going to raise it.   He was starting to think about parenting and he was both excited and a little scared.   The stud of Liberty Avenue didn't think about such things as bottles, diapers and which formula was more nutritious, yet this was the exact thing he and Justin were starting to discuss. He wondered when the change had occurred but dismissed the question knowing that he really didn't care. His life was exactly what he wanted at the moment. 

After watching Gus kill a few rounds of zombies, he picked up the controller and they played the game as a two man team.  

"Dad, you're a natural.  I wish you could come and play with me all time.  You and I could beat Jimmie and his buddy Michael every time."  Gus grinned at the thought of living with his Dad and Justin all the time and silently counted the time till the baby would be born.

"We could take the game to your house.  Mom says it's really violent and I can't play it when JR is around.  What do you think?  Can we take it with us tonight?"

"Sure.  We'll set it up when we get home.  I'm sure Justin will be amused by the game as well," Brian said tongue in cheek, based on their earlier conversation.

"Why will Justin be amused?  He plays games with me all the time."  Gus asked his father as he killed another zombie on the screen.  "That's 30 this morning.  I rock."

"Justin didn't really play those types of games when he was a kid.  Spent time in museums and taking art classes."

"Oh,"  Gus said, not really understanding the comment, but too busy to question his father at the time.

Walking in the room, Lindsay looked at her son and Brian, smiling at the mirror images they portrayed.   She was glad he was involved in their son's life.  She still couldn't imagine him raising a child full time, despite Melanie's opinion.  Brian was just too self absorbed to understand how a child would change his life.

"Lunch is ready.  Gus, go wash your hands,"

"Mom.  Just one more round.  I'm almost on the next level," he said as he continued to shoot zombies on the screen.

"You can play later.  It's time for lunch," she said, the stern mother voice coming out.

"Ok,"  he said resignedly.  Placing his controller on the table, he turned to Brian. "Can we play after lunch?   I want to get to the next level."  He looked at Brian with a hopeful expression.

"Sure,"  Brian put down his controller and walked to the bathroom.  "Brian, you really need to set some limits with him.  It's important for a child to have boundaries.  You'll learn soon enough," she said shaking her head at the problems he would face if he didn't listen to her wisdom. 

"Lindsay, I don't need your parenting advice.  Justin and I will figure it out, just like millions of other parents do.  Just because you think I can't handle a baby doesn't mean that I can't."

Lindsay bristled at his terse tone and the words.  "Brian.  I'm just trying to help."

"Like you did when you encouraged Justin to go to New York.  I don't need that kind of help.  Let's eat and then Gus and I will play more zombies.  After that, Justin and I will take him to our home for the week where we will undoubtedly participate in many horrible parenting adventures that you and your wife will have to rectify when he returns,"   Brian said with his voice barely above a whisper, but with the terseness that only he could pull off.

Gus returned from the hand washing detail before Lindsay could respond.  "I'm starving.   Let's eat."  He rushed to the table.  "Dad, you sit next to me and Justin you sit on the other side."

The meal was eaten in relative silence and when it was finished Gus asked to be excused so he could return to his game. After getting permission to leave the table, Gus and Brian returned to the game area while Justin helped clear the table. 

"Justin, you know you need to set limits for Gus when he visits this week.  Children need guidance and if you don't set guidelines, they will have problems as they get older.  One study I read..."

"Stop with the parenting lecture, Lindsay.  Brian and I have been taking Gus home with us since he was a toddler and you've never felt the need to tell us what to do.  Does this have to do with the new baby?"

"I thought you might like some guidance.  Gus is getting older." Lindsay said as she put the leftover ham in the container. "When he was with you last summer, he listened to everything we told him to do, but now..."

"Lindsay, it's not like we haven't spent time with him.  We know him very well and can handle a ten year old boy.  After all, we were both 10 year old boys at one time."

"Well..." Lindsay started to reply.

"Enough.  We are not having a parenting discussion with you at this time.   We are perfectly capable of handling Gus.   I think all the food is put away.  I'm going to join my husband and son and play some zombie games."  Justin turned abruptly and left the kitchen.

They stayed for a few hours and then told Gus to get his stuff so they could leave.  Both men were tired of listening to Lindsay's thinly veiled attempts at parenting advice.  Gus gathered his bag that he had packed himself.   He'd brought 4 extra pairs of underwear and pajamas as well as his favorite book and stuffed bear.  He'd start leaving things at his Dad's house and wouldn't have to worry about going home after the baby was born.  

Gus was excited about spending a week with his Dad and Justin.  After listening to his mom all afternoon about rules and guidance, he vowed to be the model child.  He wanted his Dad and Justin to want him around all the time even after the new baby arrived.  

It was late when they got home and Gus volunteered to take his bath and get ready for bed without any prompting from either man.

"I'm not sure what Lindsay's was going on about tonight. Gus volunteered to get ready for bed,"  Justin said as he watched him go up the stairs.  

"Who knows?   She's probably regretting not carrying our kid.  Whatever her motives; I don't have to listen to her whining for an entire week."

"It will be great having Gus here.  I'm so excited that you are taking most of the time off."

"Might as well take it off.  Everyone else is busy with the holidays, so I might as well spend it with my kid."

"Ah the real scrooge comes out after all."

"Whatever.   Let's celebrate the holiday in our own way after we put Gus down for the night."

"You've got a deal."

TBC