Christmas Eve - 11:30 am

(Wrapping Paper)

Brian lifted his aching head from his pillow, looked toward the opening to his bedroom, and noticing shredded wrapping paper all over the floor, slowly ventured from his bed toward the opening when he heard a strange snorting sound.

(Reindeer)

A very hung-over Brian looked at the live reindeer in his loft and muttered, "I'm going to fucking kill Mikey, Ted and Emmett!"

~*~*~*~

(Naughty)

Disappointed that he hadn't gone to Babylon with the gang because he had to finish a project, Justin grabbed take-out from the Thai restaurant and headed to the loft for lunch with Brian and to hopefully make the naughty list.

~*~*~*~

(Bell & Anticipation)

Every time Brian took a step toward the loft door, the three reindeer became excited, prancing in anticipation, causing the bells around their necks to jingle with each movement.

(List)

Brian looked at the scuff marks their hooves were making on his hardwood floor and began making a list of the things he was going to do to torture his friends.

~*~*~*~

(Snowflake)

Justin arrived at the loft just as the first snowflakes began to fall.

~*~*~*~

(Twinkle)

Brian could have sworn one of the reindeer had a twinkle in its eye, but it vanished at the sound of the loft door opening.

(Food)

Justin almost dropped the bags of food he was juggling when he spotted Brian having a staring contest with three reindeer on the other side of the loft.

(Gus & Christmas Tree)

They both watched as the reindeer reacted to the sound of the door sliding open, almost knocking over the Christmas tree that had been placed in the corner at Gus' request.

(Mouse)

As quiet as a mouse, Justin asked, "Brian, why are there reindeer in the loft?"

(Fire)

With fire burning in his eyes, Brian whispered, "Evidently Mikey, Ted and Emmett, otherwise known as the three stooges, got a wild hair up their asses last night and decided to leave a little gift or three under our tree."

(Cookies & Baked)

Moving slowly Justin crossed the few feet to the kitchen, setting the bags of take-out on the counter next to the cookies he and Gus had baked, and frowned when he noticed that a few had obviously been chewed on.

(Wish)

Secretly making a wish they would catch him before he left for work, Brian asked Justin to call Carl, explain the situation and ask for some advice on what to do.

(Star)

As calmly as possible, Justin fished his cell phone from his pocket and dialed Deb's home number, all the while watching the star at the top sway as one of the reindeer bumped the tree again.

~*~*~*~

(Menorah)

Debbie was wrapping up a Menorah for Jenny Rebecca when her phone rang, interrupting her rendition of ‘Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer.'

~*~*~*~

(Morning)

Standing in the open doorway of Brian's loft, Carl knew he had never had a morning start out quite like this one had started.

(Red)

"Holy shit!" blurted the red head standing behind him causing the reindeer to snort and prance again.

(Angel)

After shushing Debbie, Carl turned back to Brian and informed him that someone from animal control would be there shortly to return the reindeer to the Angel Reindeer and Christmas Tree Farm just outside of town.

~*~*~*~

(Santa)

Once the reindeer had been escorted from the loft by several employees of animal control, Debbie sarcastically asked Brian, "How are you going to explain to Santa that you had three of his reindeer as overnight houseguests?"

(Golden)

Brian glared at Debbie and said, "It was your ‘golden' boy and his two cohorts that delivered those overnight houseguests and you better not say a word to anyone until after I have settled with them."

(Bow & Home)

Opening her mouth to automatically defend her son, Debbie paused at the look in Brian's eyes, straightened the bow in her hair and said, "You're right, it's your home and they nearly destroyed it."

(Ornament)

Stepping carefully through the loft to avoid the ‘special gifts' left by the reindeer, Justin opened one of the windows for some fresh air and then picked up a broken ornament that was under the tree.

(Games)

Carl watched Justin then turned to Brian and asked, "Do you want to press charges... I mean... we're not talking reindeer games here."

(Chimney)

Debbie piped up with, "And you or Sunshine could have been hurt by those animals, and I hate to think what you might have found if you had a fuckin' chimney."

(Holiday)

Not wanting to crush Debbie's holiday spirit, Brian replied, "No, Carl, let me handle it."

~*~*~*~

Christmas Eve - 6:30 p.m.

(Woody's)

Sitting in Woody's Michael looked at his two co-conspirators with a big grin and said, "I wish I could've seen Brian's face when he found three reindeer in his loft."

(Wool)

Emmett tugged at the neck of the wool sweater he was wearing and agreed with his friend by saying, "Can you imagine the look on his face?"

(Nutcracker)

"Yes, yes I believe I can," Ted responded, feeling as if he had just swallowed a life-sized Nutcracker.

(Chocolate & Toy)

The dish of chocolate kisses and miniature toy dildos spilled onto the table as Brian, barely missing their drinks, slammed down the receipt for the cost of cleaning the reindeer shit from his loft.

(Cozy)

Brian confronted his snickering friends and angrily stated, "You fuckers will pay to have my hardwood floor repaired and I wouldn't get too cozy - I'm sure there were security cameras wherever it was that you got Dasher, Prancer and Rudolph."

(Fairy)

Emmett raised his hand and stammered out, "I swear, Fairy Oath of Honor... we didn't take them... they were walking along the road... we dropped you off... Teddy took a wrong turn... and there they were..."

(Frost)

Feeling the icy frost of his best friend's glare, Michael tried to explain, but was cut off by Brian's "I don't give a fuck."

(Beard)

"I have to meet Justin at the hotel and get cleaned up," Brian paused and scratched at his day old beard, "so be at Babylon by 11:00 and I'll let you know the rest of your punishments."

(Vixen & Nice)

Emmett frowned as Brian stormed out of Woody's and said, "He's definitely off the nice list, and it was Dasher, Prancer and Vixen, not Rudolph."

Christmas Eve - 11pm - Babylon

(Stocking)

When Brian and Justin arrived at Babylon they found their friends solemnly watching the dancers who were each wearing a strategically placed stocking and without hesitation Brian stepped in front of them and spoke.

(Elf)

"Every Saturday for the next 6 months, Michael, you will wear an elf costume - tights, slippers, pointy ears - to your shop and whenever somebody asks why, you will explain how you stole three of Santa's reindeer as a joke."

(Busy)

"That's not fair, Brian, you know I'm always so busy on Saturdays," Michael whined to no avail since Brian had already turned away from him.

(Carol)

"Every Saturday morning, Theodore," Brian continued, "for the next six months you will stand in front of the diner holding a sign that says ‘I stole three of Santa's Reindeer' while singing a Christmas carol of my choice."

(Box & Mistletoe)

Ted nodded vigorously and hugged the box of mistletoe he had purchased earlier as a surprise for Blake.

(Flame)

"Don't laugh, Emmett, because your flame is going to have to learn to burn bright through an off-the-rack three piece suit, in Babylon every Saturday night for six months."

(Candle)

Emmett smiled and said, "No problem, because nobody's flame could hold a candle to mine no matter... wait, did you say ‘off-the-rack'?"

(Glitter & Snow)

Brian gave his friends an evil grin then escorted Justin to the dance floor, watching the younger man tip his head back as glitter fell like snow, coating Justin's skin.

The End.