Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

C hris wasn’t in bed with him when Luke woke up, and he pouted. He’d been hoping for a little Christmas morning roll in the hay. He wondered if Chris was sorry about last night. He sure hoped not. He might have stayed cozily under the covers for a while longer, but they weren’t nearly so cozy without Chris, and his brain kept trying to go to Chris having gotten up as a bad thing, so Luke got up and pulled on his pajamas, noticing that Chris’s were missing, so that meant he’d put them on when he got up. That made Luke happy.

Then it hit him it was Christmas morning, and he ran out of the bedroom, shouting out, “Merry Christmas!”

He found Chris in the kitchen, and it smelled so good, like bacon and something sweet, but not quite pancakes.

“Merry Christmas,” Chris told him.

“You’re making breakfast!”

“Yeah. Bacon and waffles.”

“That sounds amazing. But we don’t have a waffle maker.”

“Sure we do.” Chris stepped away from the counter and sure enough, there was a little waffle maker on the counter, buttons in the front all lit up. “Merry Christmas.”

“You bought us a waffle maker? That is amazing!” He flung his arms around Chris and gave him a bunch of kisses.

Then he ran into the living room and grabbed one of the presents from under the tree. He got halfway to the kitchen when he realized this one was the underwear and that wasn’t a fun one, so he went back and grabbed the bottle of fancy hot sauce, which he’d bought because he noticed whenever they had something from the food court, Chris would put hot sauce on it, and he figured Chris didn’t do it at home because they didn’t have any hot sauce.

“Merry Christmas!” he said again as he handed it over.

“You didn’t have to.”

“No, neither did you—but you did!” And that made him so happy, that Chris had wanted to get him a gift and that he was making breakfast for them. “There’s a couple other little things under the tree.” The underwear, some socks, a sweater he’d found on discount at the back of a rack that would make Chris’s eyes pop, and two chocolate bars he’d seen Chris eyeing.

“You really shouldn’t have.”

“It’s just little stuff. I wanted there to be something under the tree for you.”

“What about you?” Chris asked, worrying at the paper on his gift.

Was Chris kidding? “You got us a waffle maker and you’re using it !”

“You really mean that, don’t you?”

“What? That you got me the best gift? I really do.” He stole a piece of bacon as Chris pulled it out of the pan, burning his fingers a little and not caring. “In fact, I’d have to say it’s the best Christmas of my entire adult life.”

“You make it sound like you’re a hundred or something.”

Luke shrugged. “Nope, but I bet when I am, this one is still going to rank pretty high.”

The light on the waffle maker turned green, and Chris opened it and there was a gorgeous waffle sitting there. He took it out, put it on a plate filled with other waffles that had been warming in the oven, then added the last of the batter from his bowl into the waffle maker, spreading it out as best he could. It was a little wonky as there wasn’t quite enough batter to fill it, but Luke wanted that one, because he was pretty sure there’d be more crispy bits because it didn’t go all the way out to the edges.

“You want some hot chocolate?” Chris asked.

“You made hot chocolate too?” Definitely the best Christmas ever. And for all Chris liked to pretend he didn’t care all that much about things like Christmas, he sure knew how to do it up right.

“It’s white hot chocolate.” Chris said it like it was a warning.

“Awesome. Lay it on me.”

Chris took the pot off the back burner on the stove and poured it out between two mugs. Luke hadn’t even seen it on the stove. He’d been blinded by the waffle maker and the bacon pan. Could anyone blame him?

He took the mug Chris passed over and buried his nose in the steam coming from it. “It smells awesome. Open your gift! We can do the rest after breakfast.”

“There’s more?”

“Yes, there’s more. It’s Christmas!” Like duh .

Chris shook his head but opened the gift. He chuckled when he saw it.

“I noticed you liked hot sauce when you ate food court food, but not at home because we didn’t have any.”

“It didn’t occur to you that might have been because food court food isn’t as good a home-cooked food?”

Luke tilted his head and considered that. “Nope, it didn’t occur to me, and nope, I don’t buy it. I think you just figured you could do without and didn’t add it to the grocery list.”

Chris snorted.

“You’re busted, aren’t you?”

Chris didn’t say anything, but he did nod.

“I knew it.” Luke laughed and grabbed some plates and utensils, setting the table in short order. “I can’t wait to have your bacon and waffles.” Nobody had ever cooked for him. Sure, Chris always offered to help him make food, and they did a lot of shared cooking like the cookies last night. But this was a meal that Chris had cooked entirely on his own, and he’d cooked it for Luke for Christmas. It was going to be the best meal ever.

“I hope they taste okay.”

“They’re going to be awesome.” He had no doubt of that.

The light on the waffle maker turned green, but before Chris could open it and rescue the waffle, Luke moved in and wrapped his arms around Chris’s middle. He took a kiss, tongue sliding along Chris’s lips before he stood back again. Chris looked surprised but pleased.

Grabbing both mugs of hot chocolate, Luke took them to the table. Then he grabbed the syrup out of the cupboard and the margarine out of the fridge. There was a bottle of whipped cream in there, too, and he snagged it. All they needed was some berries and it would be perfect.

Luke put the plates of bacon and waffles on the table. “Careful, the waffle plate is hot,” he reminded. Then he grabbed a bowl from the counter that was full of blueberries and cut strawberries, and Luke bounced.

“You thought of everything!”

“I tried.”

“Uh-huh. And you succeeded.” Luke sat and grabbed the misshapen waffle from the top of the pile.

“You don’t have to take that one. I’ll have it.”

But Luke shook his head. “Nope. This one is mine. It’s got extra crispy bits.”

“Maybe next time I should make them all like that,” Chris noted drily.

Luke beamed at him. There was going to be a next time. “You should!”

“I was joking.”

“I’m not.”

“I know.” Chris took the next waffle and put some margarine and syrup on it.

Luke put berries and whipped cream on his, and they ate companionably until all the waffles were gone. Luke couldn’t quite believe he’d had three. And about fifty pieces of bacon—only a slight exaggeration.

He put a hand on his overstuffed belly. “I may never eat again, but that was sooo good.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t bad.”

“Not bad?” Luke shook his head. “Eggos aren’t bad; these were the best Christmas breakfast ever. Thanks again.”

“You’re welcome. Again.” Chris got up and started clearing the table, but Luke popped up and shooed him away.

“Go sit and watch something Christmassy, or put on some holiday tunes or something. I’ll do clean up.”

“I don’t mind helping do the dishes.”

“I know, but you don’t have to. I’m sure there will be plenty of dishes to do this afternoon.”

“When do we have to leave for that?”

“I usually go for around noon. I’m no help with the cooking, so by not going until serving time, I’m actually staying out of the way of the people who are cooking.” He loved volunteering on Christmas Day. Everyone deserved to have a special meal on Christmas, and he liked being a small—tiny really—part of that.

“You’re a good guy, Luke.”

He dropped a kiss on Chris’s lips. “Treat people the way you want to be treated, right?” And he was so lucky in his life, despite the knocks he’d taken. He wanted to share that. Which was why he’d brought Chris home when he’d found him on the streets. That wasn’t why he wanted to keep him, though. But did Chris know that?

Luke did the dishes quickly, then went to sit with Chris on the couch. “I need to tell you something.”

Chris stilled. “Okay.”

“It’s not anything bad,” he promised. “I just didn’t want you to think that you’re here because it’s the right thing to do. I mean, it is, and that was a part of it, but I also brought you home because I like you and I asked you to stay because I like you. And I kissed you because I like you. A whole lot. I want you to stay even after you get your feet back under you and get a regular job and stuff because I like you. Because maybe it’s more than that.” He shut up and took a breath and looked up at Chris to see how he was taking it.

“And I stayed because of you. I don’t take charity, and if it was anyone else, I would have gone back to the streets after the first night.”

Luke beamed at Chris, then threw himself at the man. Chris caught him, falling back against the couch as they kissed.

They had plenty of time to celebrate Christmas in a naked way before they had to leave, right?