Since warming up, Simon had come to appreciate many of the small things he used to take for granted before he died; the sun on his face, the taste of a well brewed cup of coffee and right then, the feeling of a soft pillow under his cheek. There was however, a time and a place to enjoy the last sensation and Simon was not too pleased to be feeling it when he woke to find it was quite obviously the middle of the night. He immediately closed his eyes in an attempt to quickly let the fading wisps of sleep claim him once more but that plan disappeared when Simon heard what sounded like cardboard being ripped. Since Simon couldn't feel any second warmth under the covers, he assumed it must be Kieren.
"Kier? What are you doing?" Though his voice was nothing more than a whisper, Kieren must have heard him for there was a sudden crunch along with a crinkling noise.
"Sorry Si," came Kieren's guilty voice, "I didn't mean to wake you. Go back to sleep."
Though Simon would very much like to do that, especially as the clock said it was only just gone midnight, he couldn't help but want to know what exactly Kieren had got up for.
"Why are you awake?" He finally gathered the willpower to turn his head and his eyes could just make out Kieren standing by the foot of their bed. He was holding something in his hands but Simon couldn't identify it.
"It's nothing, just something silly. Honestly, you can just go back to sleep."
Simon couldn't help the small stab of hurt that pierced him when Kieren didn't want to share what he was doing but he ignored it in favour of trying to reassure him.
"You know I wouldn't tease you," Simon said with a soft smile, even though Kieren probably couldn't see it. Tired of the darkness, he leaned over to switch on the bedroom light and the object Kieren was holding was revealed.
"An advent calendar?"
Kieren flushed slightly. "It's a tradition me and Jem used to have since we were little," he admitted. "We always used to get so excited for Christmas and the first of December was the beginning of Christmas for us. We used to celebrate that but having the first advent calendar chocolate on midnight of the first of December. We did it for so many years it's just become a habit now. I know it's stupid and I'm sorry I woke you."
Contrary to what Kieren believed, Simon never tired of hearing Kieren speak about his family. His childhood was by no means bad, but it had been lonely being the old child of busy parents. It was nice to hear all of Kieren's memories of him and his family and for him to speak of them with such fondness.
"I don't think that's stupid at all," Simon replied. "It sounds nice. Hand me my calendar."
Kieren's eyes widened slightly, the only indication of his surprise, and he reached over to hand Simon his own cartoon calendar. Simon took it and after a rapid glance to find the 1, popped open the flap and dropped the chocolate on his palm. He aimed an expectant glance to Kieren who quickly understood and finished off what he'd been doing when Simon had woken.
Own chocolate in hand, Kieren sat back on the bed and they faced each other.
"Merry beginning of Christmas Simon," Kieren said with a shy grin.
Recognising the words of a tradition, Simon echoed the words with his own grin and together they plopped the chocolates into their mouths. The creamy treat was made all the more sweet when seconds later Kieren pressed a soft kiss against his lips.
So this was based of me saying that I wanted to do this last night to my friend and my friend actually doing it while I fell asleep!