Christmas

It was 5:59 AM in Westerville, Ohio, and cold white flakes were falling softly onto the already snow-covered ground. The five-year-old Reed Van Kamp lay asleep on his bed, nestled under a warm Woody the Cowboy comforter, a small smile on his angelic face.

Suddenly, the green and white alarm clock on the wooden nightstand beside Reed's bed lit up. "To Infinity… And Beyond!" Buzz Lightyear's voice rang out from the alarm clock, and the strawberry-blonde boy's eyes fluttered opened as he sat up, rubbing his tired eyes and pressing the button on the alarm clock to shut it off.

Was there a reason for a five-year-old to set his alarm clock for six in the morning in the middle of winter? Oh, yes. It was Christmas! And that meant that every child was waking up early this morning and sneaking downstairs to see what Santa brought them.

Reed got out of his bed quietly, stepping into his Buzz Lightyear slippers, being careful not to wake his mother, who was still probably asleep in the room across the hallway. He shuffled over to the window and peered out of it, his eyes lighting up at the snow blanketing every house on his street. Reed loved snow. He glanced to the house right across the street, where his best friend, Shane, lived. He giggled to himself as he noticed that Shane was already outside, laying on his back in the snow, bundled up in a puffy red coat.

The strawberry-blonde went to his dresser and took out his fuzzy green pants and his Toy Story shirt, deciding to dress himself this morning. After getting dressed, he glanced at his clock. It read 6:13 AM. Reed decided that he had enough time to go across the street and say hi to Shane before his mom woke up. He snuck out of the house to visit Shane quite often.

Usually, Reed wasn't allowed to cross the street alone, but he figured if he went early enough in the morning while his mom was still asleep, she wouldn't find out. So, Reed pulled on his boots and attempted tying the laces, only managing to get the laces of his left boot all tangled up. He sighed and gave up, leaving the laces loose. The small boy opened the front door as quietly as possible, and all but stumbled across the street in his loose boots.

"Hi, Reed!" Shane shouted, his face lighting up as he noticed his best friend glomping towards him. He waved a gloved hand excitedly.

"Hey Shane!" Reed replied, blushing a bit as he ran up to Shane. He always blushed around Shane. Reed's face always felt warm and his stomach filled with butterflies whenever he talked to his friend. "Happy Christmas! Did you see what Santa brought you yet?" He inquired.

Shane nodded his head enthusiastically, causing his dark brown curls to bounce up and down. "Yeah! Guesswhatguesswhatguesswhat!" Shane said.

The smaller boy giggled and put his hands on Shane's shoulders to keep him from exploding with excitement.

"What?"

"LOOK WHAT I GOT!" Shane shouted triumphantly, and pulled out from his pocket a purple Power Ranger action figure, shoving it in Reed's face.

"Woah!" Reed exclaimed, taking the Power Ranger from Shane's outstretched hand. "I didn't know they made purple ones!"

He examined the action figure closely.

"Yeah, me neither!" Shane agreed, beaming down at Reed. "But I guess Santa can get anything. He is magic, after all. Hey, maybe you got some cool Toy Story stuff!"

Reed handed the Power Ranger back to his friend and jumped up and down excitedly. "Yeah! Wanna come over and we can open my presents together?" He replied.

"Sure!" Shane said. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson were extremely easygoing, and not at all protective of their sons, so Shane was pretty much allowed to go wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted, as long as he was home for all of his meals.

Reed smiled and grabbed Shane's hand, meaning to race across the street with his friend, but instead, Shane's glove slipped off his hand and Reed fell face-first onto the already-plowed concrete.

"Reed!" Shane exclaimed, running over to his friend and grabbing Reed's hand with his now un-gloved hand, helping him up. "Are you okay?"

Reed nodded, but there were tears welling up in his eyes, and a couple bleeding scratches on his face. "My face hurts though," He admitted.

Shane put a hand under his friend's chin, and examined his face. There was a small cut under Reed's eye, one on his chin, and one on his forehead. Reed breathed in sharply as a million butterflies began fluttering in his stomach at the close contact with his best friend.

"Do you- Do you want me to make them feel better?" Shane said quietly. Reed just nodded, not sure how Shane would do that.

Suddenly, Shane's lips were on Reed's forehead, kissing the abrasion made by the cement. Then, his lips were on the cut on Reed's cheek, then the one on his chin.

"Feel any better?" he asked.

Reed just nodded again, blushing furiously. Shane's grinned at his friend, noticing that they were still holding hands. He felt daring, so he decided to use this opportunity to do what he had been longing to do ever since he met his beautiful friend months ago.

"You know, my lips kinda hurt now… Since I made your face feel better, could you maybe make my lips feel better?" Shane asked, still grinning.

If Reed's face wasn't already tomato-red, it was now. But, as he leaned in to touch his lips softly to Shane's, he knew this was where he belonged. With his best friend.