"Hey, Sam! Sam get up, it's Christmas!"
Sam lifted his head away from his pillow and blinked sleep away from his eyes, before grumbling, "… Oh yeah, Christmas, cool. Be up in a minute," and dropping his head back down.
"No, no, get up right now or we can't open our presents!" Stevie, his younger brother, persisted, shaking him by the shoulder.
"Okay!" Sam growled. He lumbered out of bed, yawning, and returned the hug his brother threw at him. "Come on, let's go wake up Rory."
"Already awake," Stevie chirped, bouncing after Sam down the hallway. "You're the only one still sleeping."
Sam grunted a reply and started dragging himself down the stairs.
Both of them entered the living room (where the tree was) and were instantly greeted by the rest of the family, and Rory.
"Merry Christmas, Sam!" Rory leapt off the couch and hugged his friend in greeting.
Sam, suddenly feeling awake, instantly smiled and returned the embrace. "Merry Christmas to you too."
"Hi, hi!" Stacy yipped from where she was perched on the back of the sofa, eyes wide in excitement. Sam waved at her, trying to match her positivity, which made Rory's eyes light up in amusement.
"We're all here now, mommy!" Stevie cried, rushing into the room and nearly knocking Sam and Rory over. "Can we open the presents now? Pleeeaaase?"
Mr. Evans smiled and nodded. He turned in his seat and scooped Stacy off the back of the couch and into his lap, causing his daughter to squeal in delight.
Rory grabbed Sam's arm and pulled him into sitting position, before turning to face him with a grin. "Did you see how much mistletoe your mom hung up all over the place? Never seen so many plants inside a house before."
Sam smiled back to his friend and shrugged. "She's like that, I'm pretty sure she just wants people to kiss everywhere in the house."
Wait, why were Rory's cheeks suddenly bright pink?
"Hey, Sam!" Stevie shouted from where he was crouching by the tree, distracting him. He held up a present and said, "This one's yours." He brought it over to his big brother and sat down in front of him, waiting for it to be opened.
"Well, this is from Santa," Sam began, tearing off the wrapping paper, "And it's… yeah, go Santa, he got me clothes!"
He heard Rory sniff in amusement beside him.
A few presents later, Stevie lifted up a small package and announced, "This one is Rory's."
Rory looked up from where he was wiping dirt out from under his nails and blinked, eyes widening. "What?"
Sam realized that his friend probably wasn't expecting anything.
Stevie dropped the parcel in Rory's lap, and he waited impatiently for his reaction to the gift he and his family had gotten him.
"You guys didn't have to buy me anything—" Rory started, but Mrs. Evans held up her hands for him to stop talking.
"Darling, Sam would've never talked to us again if we didn't get you anything. There's a few more for you under the tree." She laughed.
Rory looked like he was about to protest again, but Sam interrupted.
"Go on, open it!" Sam urged, pressing up against the brunette's shoulder.
Rory jostled him back and, grinning hugely, gently ripped the paper away from his first gift: fingerless black gloves. "Oh wow, these are really cool!" He breathed.
Sam shrugged, looking relieved. "Good, because I didn't think you'd be any fun if you got frostbite, and the way you were going—"
The end of his sentence dropped off, because Rory had suddenly thrown his arms around him and pulled him into another hug.
"Awww," Mrs. Evans cooed jokingly.
"Shut up mom." Sam grumbled, returning the hug.
Rory broke away and immediately started fretting, "I feel awful, I didn't get you guys' gifts! I promise, I'll go down and get some later."
"You don't have to." Sam reassured.
"But I want to!" Rory sighed.
Sam dropped his voice and muttered, "You look like you're getting pretty emotional there. Want a tissue?"
"Jerk." Rory stuck out his tongue at Sam, who pulled an even weirder face in retaliation.
The present ceremony took about a half hour to end, and by the time it did, everyone was smiling hugely and looking forward to trying out their presents.
Rory still looked like he felt a bit bad that he had no way of giving back, but Sam's folks continuously reassured him that it was fine, and they didn't mind at all, or that he had already given Sam something, which turned out to be friendship. This made Sam scoff in amusement, and Rory go bright pink again.
"So we're not going anywhere today, mom?" Sam asked not long before lunch.
"No, I thought it'd be nice if we just spent Christmas at home this year." She answered, "Besides, if we spent it with family Rory wouldn't know anyone. Plus, they're all overseas right now."
Rory looked horrified when she said that.
"I'm such a hassle." Rory muttered guiltily to Sam when they had gone back to his room.
Sam shook his head in disagreement. "Don't even start thinking that, Rors. Trust me, we've had way worse guests than you."
Rory smiled faintly and shrugged. "I still feel like trouble."
"This is your first Christmas without family, right?" Sam asked gently, scooting closer. Rory broke eye contact and nodded, and he continued, "Well I think you're doing pretty well. Trust me, if I spent a Christmas away from those nutters I'm related to, I'd probably start crying."
"You're just saying that." Rory said, but he looked like he had cheered up a bit.
"No, trust me, I would." Sam nodded a few times to back up his statement.
Rory laughed and said, "Sam Evans, you certainly know how to cheer up a moper." He lifted up his head and Sam couldn't help noticing that when Rory smiled really big, his eyes lit up. Not to mention his whole face.
"So, what's Christmas like back in Ireland?" Sam asked, sounding like he really wanted an answer.
Rory chuckled at his enthusiasm. "Oh, Sam it's crazy. Mommy has a habit of inviting everyone who has at least one drop of Flanagan blood over to our house, and then everyone gets real drunk, 'specially my uncle. The guests usually leave at around one the next morning." He smiled at the memory.
"That sounds mad," Sam said, bringing his feet up from the floor and crossing his legs on the bed. "Usually it's pretty lazy over here, until my gran brings in this tuna dip that everyone loves, which is when the party really starts."
"Over dip?" Rory asked incredulously.
Sam nodded, and then laughed at how weird that had sounded. "It is pretty good though."
There was a knock at the door and Stacy poked her head in.
"What's up?" Sam inquired.
"Mom and dad want you both to come downstairs, its lunchtime." She answered cheerfully. She spun around and bounded away, her footsteps thumping down the hallway.
"YES!" Sam exclaimed, throwing a fist into the air and narrowly missing Rory's face. "Oh, sorry."
Rory ducked his head, chuckling, until Sam grabbed his arm and hissed, "Come on, you haven't lived until you've tried my dad's pork."
In the kitchen, both boys were attacked by a range of delicious smells. Sam heard Rory make an appreciative noise in his throat.
"Good of you two to join us." Sam's dad joked. He handed them their plates and said, "Just grab whatever you want and then sit at the table."
"Everything smells so nice." Rory said, and then blushed as if he wasn't supposed to say that out loud.
"Move over Rors, I want those potatoes." Sam ordered with a lopsided grin. He slipped past the brunette and immediately started forking food onto his plate. "Come on; get something before I eat it all."
After everyone was done with their lunch, which took ages seeing as none of them stopped talking the whole time, Mrs. Evans took their plates to the sink and returned with a bunch of Christmas crackers.
"Yay!" Stevie and Stacy cried.
"Dammit I always lose with these things." Sam grumbled at the same time. Rory didn't say anything, just grinned.
"Okay everyone, I'm pretty certain you know how to pull a cracker. No cheating!" Mrs. Evans warned.
"Mom it's not possible to cheat with Christmas crackers…" Sam muttered.
A series of popping noises later, everyone (even Sam) had won a flimsy paper hat and a tiny plastic toy.
"Who wants to read their joke first?" Mr. Evans asked loudly.
Rory put up his hand and said, "Me, me, me!"
Everyone laughed.
Opening the tiny piece of paper, Rory read, "So, what do you call a horse in pajamas?"
"Aaaaan appaloosa?" Sam suggested slowly as if he didn't even believe his own answer. Rory turned to him incredulously and snickered, "What?"
Sam protested, "I don't know, tell us!"
"A zebra." Rory announced. He then frowned at the bit of paper, shaking his head, and said "Ew that joke was horrifying."
"I have a better joke!" Stevie cried. Everyone's attention turned to him and he challenged, "What do you call a farmer with a tractor on his head?"
"Stupid?" Mrs. Evans guessed.
"That was my answer!" Her husband protested.
"Nope." Stevie looked like he would explode if they didn't get the answer soon. "Give up?"
Rory and Sam nodded, and Stacy was giggling as if she knew the right answer already.
"Dead." Stevie finished.
There was silence.
Then Rory suddenly burst out laughing and fell half-off his chair, clinging to the table with one arm.
"You right there?" Sam yelped, helping his friend back to his seat. Rory, all dignity forgotten, sat there snickering like an idiot.
Sam slowly pulled Rory's can of softdrink away from him and asked incredulously, "How much have you had?"
"I don't know!" Rory half-shouted, still giggling.
"Not too sure why you found that so hilarious, Rory." Mr. Evans said slowly.
"Can I tell a joke now?" Stacy asked.
"I think we've had enough jokes for one day." Sam answered, wrapping and arm around Rory's shoulders and shaking him.
The brunette snorted and started giggling again. He tipped sideways into Sam, sniggering, "I think I'm going insane."
"I think that too." Sam replied, keeping his arm around Rory's shoulders s he wouldn't fall off the chair again.
The rest of the afternoon was spent doing pretty much nothing, but it still managed to be fun anyway. Sam and Rory had turned down a trip to the park; they were so full, so for the remainder of their afternoon they lounged around the house lazily.
"You're right Rory, there's mistletoe everywhere." Sam commented at one stage, pointing to his doorway. A sprig of the kissing plant hung there innocently. "Wouldn't you hate to be caught underneath it with anyone in my family?"
"No." Rory answered. Then he went bright red as Sam turned and stared at him, and muttered, "I have to go to the bathroom."
Sam watched him go and frowned, because that definitely wasn't the reaction he'd expected to get.
"Sam?"
Now it was later in the evening, and both boys looked up from where they were messing around on Sam's laptop to see Stacy hanging around outside their door.
"What's up?" Rory asked.
"Stevie and I are watching A Christmas Carol, and mom wanted me to ask you if you wanted to come and watch it as well." Stacy asked animatedly, sounding as if she'd rehearsed this.
Sam and Rory looked at each other, and Sam said, "You want to?"
"Of course," Rory answered with a smile.
Sam turned back to Stacy and inquired, "You two won't get scared of that movie now, will you?"
Stacy shook her head quickly.
"Good," Sam closed his laptop and hopped off the bed. "Let's go then."
Sam, Stacy, and Rory made their way downstairs into the living room, where Stevie was lying on his stomach on the floor waiting for them. "Hurry up, I wanna watch!"
"Okay, okay, we're all here now." Sam responded. He then placed his hands on Rory's shoulders and steered him to the couch quickly, pushing him onto the cushions.
"What was that about?" Rory asked, wriggling into a more comfortable position.
Sam flopped down next to him and said, "Well, we don't want the kids to take all the good spots, now do we?"
Stacy, who had joined her brother on the floor, twisted her head around and hissed at them to be quiet, the movie was starting.
A bit before halfway through the movie, Stevie had fallen asleep and even Sam was getting drowsy. Rory kept switching positions and shifting noisily.
"You right?" Sam asked quietly; Stacy was still intently watching.
Rory settled with lying upside-down with his head on the floor and nodded.
"You don't look comfortable." Sam pressed, directing all his attention to Rory.
"Nah, I'm good now." He answered with a shrug. "My head's gonna hurt soon though."
Stacy glared at him and hissed, "Please be quiet."
Stevie lifted up his head and slurred, "Is Christmas gone?"
His sister shook her head and went back to watching the movie as he went back to sleeping.
Only a couple of minutes later Rory made an uncomfortable noise and pulled his head away from the floor, clambering back into sitting position.
"What position do you normally watch movies in?" Sam asked.
Rory dipped his head to one side awkwardly. "Well, I usually lie down across the couch, but you're there so—"
"Then lie down."
"…What?"
Sam chuckled quietly at his friend's awkwardness. "Go on, lie down. I'm not going to bite you or anything."
Rolling his eyes, Rory slid into his favored position on his back, hair brushing against Sam's thigh and legs draped over the side of the couch.
"Comfortable yet?" Sam asked, tipping his head to look down at Rory.
The brunette nodded, eyes bright and cheeks red. "Yep, much better."
As the movie went by, Rory wriggled closer, until his head was in Sam's lap. Sam instinctively started running his fingers through his friend's hair until he realized what he was doing, then he snatched his hand away as if he'd been burnt.
Rory made a small noise of protest. "No, keep doing that, that felt really good."
Sam opened his mouth but then shut it quickly, because what reason did he have to refuse? Besides, Rory's hair was really soft, and—.
Oh, he did not just think that.
"Sam?" Rory inquired, looking up at him with those pretty blue eyes of his.
Stop thinking like that!
"Sorry, what did you want me to do again?" Sam mentally slapped himself because honestly, he knew the answer and even if he didn't, it was pretty obvious anyway.
Rory looked surprised, then embarrassed. "Never mind," He mumbled, looking back at the T.V.
He was so adorable when he got flustered.
No, no, no ,no, no, he's your best friend.
"Is Stacy asleep?" Sam asked to break the ice. Rory lifted his head away from Sam's lap, looked at Stacy for a few moments and nodded, before resuming his position.
"Wow, they must've gotten a bad sleep last night, they're usually awake until about eleven on Christmas." Sam mused.
"Well, it's about nine pm now." Rory commented, looking at his watch.
Sam jerked his shoulders up indifferently. "Still not late enough."
Rory tipped his head up and gazed at him through half-lidded eyes for a few moments, smiling, and Sam felt the heat rising in his cheeks.
When the movie finished both of them were pretty tired, and they had no idea whether or not they were supposed to wake up Stacy or Stevie.
"Do we just leave them here or…?" Rory asked, indicating to the kids, who were lying close by each other, sound asleep. Sam laughed and shrugged.
"Not too sure about that," he replied. "Dad'll probably come here and carry them up to their rooms soon."
Rory grinned and grabbed Sam's arm, hissing, "Well let's leave them then."
Sam put on a smile but he couldn't ignore the butterflies he got when Rory's touched him, even over something as simple as pulling him away.
"Where are we even going?" Sam demanded playfully as he was tugged out of the living room. Rory turned his head to him and grinned lopsidedly.
"Outside into the garden for a bit of peace and quiet, that's where." He answered with a wink, setting off another round of butterflies in Sam's stomach.
"Don't you think you should put on those gloves we got you?" He asked with a laugh, planting his feet on the floor.
Rory snickered at his actions, then nodded. "If I do that, then you," he said, poking a finger into Sam's chest for emphasis, "Go put on that scarf your siblings got you."
"Deal," Sam agreed, holding out his hand for Rory to shake jokingly. Rory sighed and shook it, muttering something about drama queens before vanishing upstairs to go retrieve his gloves.
Sam stood at the foot of the staircase for a few moments and wondered how on earth Rory kept his hands so soft.
Their journey outside to "peace and quiet" didn't go too well, because as soon as Sam and Rory exited the house a massive snowball war was started, and it went on and on until they had nearly overheated.
"I won though." Sam puffed as he slid into sitting position on the snow.
"Did not." Rory shot back in between pants. He crunched over to the blonde and sat down next to him.
Sam suddenly started laughing, and Rory looked over to him with a raised eyebrow.
"Sorry," Sam giggled. "It's just that you look like the abominable snowman."
Rory made an offended yip and scooped up a handful of snow, pulling a bit of Sam's scarf away and dumping it on his friend's neck.
Sam yelped loudly and whacked the snow off. "Low!" He whined. "That was low!"
"Now who's the abominable snowman?" Rory taunted.
Sam responded by pouncing and straddling Rory, digging his fingers into his neck and tickling him.
Much arguing and tackling went on before Mrs. Evans had appeared near the door and called them inside to put on warmer clothes and go to bed, as it was pretty late.
"Aww, alright mom." Sam sighed. He held out his hand and helped Rory, who was even more covered in snow than he was before, up.
"Thankyou." Rory chirped, bowing.
"Let's not waste time on sentiments, Rors, gotta go to bed before mom flips out at us." Sam joked, doing some kind of slow-motion run towards the door. Rory shook his head and followed normally.
As they were walking up the stairs, Rory chattered away about how much fun he'd had, and how he wished that he would be able to spend more Christmases like this. Sam smiled and kept his eyes on the floor so if Rory turned around he wouldn't think that he'd been looking at his butt.
At the top of the stairs, the brunette spun around and said, "You know, maybe on day you can come over to Ireland. On St. Patrick 's Day, maybe? That would be crazy awesome."
Sam, nearly bumping into him, nodded and grinned. "I'd love that, we'd have such a crazy time. Not too sure if my parents would be too fond of the idea though, they almost didn't even let me go back to Lima."
Rory's face fell slightly, but he was still smiling that gorgeous smile of his. "Aw, I'd miss you though, Sam! You're my best friend, you know!"
Sam's heart rate picked up hugely, but he tried to sound relaxed and cool when he responded, "Of course I am!"
Rory rolled his eyes and sighed, backing off into the hallway with Sam following. He stopped outside his doorway and said, "This is my stop I guess. My clothes are gonna make me get all damp and cold if I don't change 'em soon, and—"
His eyes suddenly rolled up to stare at the sprig of mistletoe that Mrs. Evans had just needed to hang right there, right above his doorway.
Had even Sam noticed it yet?
Attempting to stop his cheeks heating up but failing, he stopped staring at the mistletoe and finished "—and, and then I might get sick…"
Sam chewed on his bottom lip slightly. "You took a bit of a while to finish your sentence, is something wrong?"
Rory frowned at the floor for a moment, before lifting his head and grinning brightly at his friend. "You remember how I didn't get you anything for Christmas…" He began, but Sam interrupted.
"Don't even start worrying about that now!" He warned.
Rory shook his head and, cheeks bright pink, said, "That's not what I'm about to do. Now Sam, I want you to look up."
Sam looked up.
"Oh my God…" He mumbled. If Sam was the type to blush, he would've resembled a tomato.
Rory wasn't finished yet. "Now, look back at me…"
Sam dragged his eyes away from the offending plant and obeyed.
"… And consider this your present." Rory whispered, and then he had stepped forward and kissed him.
Sam's breath hitched sharply in his throat, his eyes fluttering shut and hands instantly flying up to cup Rory's face. Rory sighed into the kiss noisily, hands running down Sam's arms to find his belt loops, hooking his fingers through them and pulling him closer.
Rory, Sam thought in a kind of daze, sure knew how to kiss. Their lips fit together perfectly, and wow, they were so soft and he smelt amazing up close.
It was far soon when Rory's mouth moved away from his. Sam practically whined at loss of contact, wanting nothing more than to feel that amazing mouth against his again. He looked at Rory for some, any, kind of reaction.
Rory actually looked out-of-breath now. His mouth was dropped open as if he couldn't believe what had just happened, his eyes and lips shining.
Sam swallowed loudly and Rory broke the awkward silence.
"Merry Christmas, Sam." He murmured, sounding embarrassed. "I'll just go and, uh, put on new clothes—"
He was about to turn around when Sam fisted his hand in Rory's shirt and pulled him in for another one of those kisses.
This one was much needier, desperate for the heat that had been between them to come back. Sam felt Rory's tongue press gently against his bottom lip, and his mouth instantly opened to allow it entrance. His hand, which had remained pressed on Rory's stomach until now, slid down until he found the strip of skin beneath his shirt, brushing his fingers against it gently. Rory gasped slightly, then relaxed, his tongue exploring Sam's mouth with enthusiasm, Sam moaning encouragement quietly.
Eventually they broke apart again, breathing heavily as if they'd just run a race rather than kissed each other for the first time.
"See you tomorrow, yeah?" Rory breathed.
Sam nodded and repeated, "See you tomorrow."
Rory grinned and quietly withdrew into his room, clicking the door shut.
Sam turned around slowly and walked back to his room, thinking that this was definitely the best Christmas he'd ever had.