Finally. Iggy was asleep! He was normally out like a light as soon as he laid down, but it seemed like it took forever tonight. He was in a snuggly sort of mood and his back was pressed against Fang's in bed, their wings acting as a soft divider between their backs. As much as Fang wished he could stay there forever, he knew he had to get up. This Christmas was going to be wonderful.

He slid out slowly and carefully from under the covers, lifting out his legs and carefully sliding away, frightened of waking Iggy. He was a heavy sleeper, but he could hear everything, and Fang didn't want to ruin anything. He was going to surprise Iggy in the morning.

When he finally broke free of the bed, he tiptoed out of their little bedroom and into the living room, where he had been hiding the gifts. That's what was good about Iggy; things could be hidden literally right out in the open, as long as they weren't sitting in a place Iggy often came in contact with. Example: the mantle. All of Iggy's gifts were sitting up above the fireplace, in plain sight to everyone but him. It was the perfect hiding place. Fang smiled, watching as the twinkling Christmas tree lights reflected off of the shiny ribbon around Iggy's presents, all of them wrapped in light blue paper with snowmen. When they were little, Jeb would code all of their presents by wrapping paper so nobody would fight over whose gift was whose. Max had the Santa Clause paper, Nudge was pink snowflakes, Gasman's was green with holly, Iggy's had the snowmen, and his own were red and white striped like a candy cane.

He silently slid across the wood floor in his socks, doing his best not to trip over his slightly-too-long flannel pajama pants, and took Iggy's gifts off of the mantle one by one, carefully placing them under the Christmas tree.

Pleased with his work, Fang made his way back to the bedroom, looking forward to seeing Iggy's surprise tomorrow morning when he received his gifts. Fang had done a good job. He and Iggy worked in one of the shops down town all the time to make money, and Fang had been saving half of his weekly share for Christmas so he could get gifts for Iggy. Fang was the classic doting boyfriend. He showered Iggy in gifts: Flowers, candy, breakfast in bed; but he loved doing it. It made him so happy to see Iggy smiling with his crystal blue eyes and his freckly cheeks turn pink. Fang sighed contentedly at the idea as he walked back to the bedroom, stopping for a moment in the doorway, watching Iggy's chest rise and fall as he slept, his mouth slightly ajar, his nose squished against the mattress. Iggy wasn't a pretty sleeper, to the rest of the world, that is. To Fang, he was a perfect angel, divine and pristine, no matter how much he drooled on the sheets.

Fang shimmied back into bed beside him and covered himself up, smiling and very pleased. He couldn't wait to see the look of Iggy's face in the morning.

Finally! Fang was asleep! Iggy had tried to stay awake, hoping Fang would have fallen asleep first, for once, but that didn't happen, and it was nearly one in the morning when he woke up again. He sat up in bed slowly and just listened for a second, seeing if Fang was really asleep. When he was sure he was out, Iggy slipped out of bed, keeping his hands fisted inside his much-too-big sweatshirt and taking the seven steps from his side of the bed to the door, then the eleven more to the arm of the sofa. He ran his hand along the top of the backrest and stopped at the other end, enjoying the Christmas tree smell. He smiled as he made his way carefully to the spare bedroom.

Fang never went into the guest bedroom. He especially never went into the guest bedroom closet. That's why it was the perfect place to keep Fang's Christmas gifts.

Fang doted on Iggy all year. Hardly a day passed when Iggy didn't receive flowers or, more recently, hats and scarves and snuggly things. Iggy wanted to make it up to him, and he was going to do it Christmas morning.

Iggy carefully removed the gifts from the closet and walked carefully and slowly to the Christmas tree, placing each of the gifts under the lowest boughs. He smiled. Fang would be so happy. Iggy stood up and smiled, taking a moment to catch his bearings before heading back to the guest bedroom to retrieve the next armful of gifts, but he only made it to the kitchen counter island before he heard Fang's footsteps leaving the bedroom. Iggy ducked behind the counter, praying Fang wouldn't see him. Iggy would hate to ruin the surprise.

Fang yawned and looked at his wristwatch, his other hand pushing his long dark hair out of his face. Most of it had come out of the loose knot Fang kept it in at night and hung in his dark eyes. He stretched his wings out just a bit, scratching the space under the feathers, and walked to the sofa where he picked up the blanket from the back. He was cold. Their little house was lovely, but it was chilly and a bit drafty, as all old houses are, and Fang needed another blanket. It wasn't long after he walked into the bedroom that he realized Iggy wasn't there.

"Ig?" he said softly. Iggy didn't answer. "Iggy?" Fang said, louder this time. "He must be in the bathroom…" Fang said to himself, yawning as he climbed back in bed. Iggy sighed, realizing he had been holding his breath. He quickly retrieved the rest of the gifts and returned to the tree, placing the final gifts.

Just as Fang was getting back in bed, he remembered something: the little box on the end of the mantle, behind the picture of him kissing Iggy's nose. He tiptoed as fast as he could, hoping to be back in bed before Iggy returned from the 'bathroom' and grabbed the small box.

Just as he approached the tree, Iggy stood up, startling Fang.

"Iggy?" he asked, confused.

"Oh no Fang!" Iggy replied. "Aw I ruined the surprise…" Fang was puzzled for a moment, but looked down at the gifts. His heart melted when he saw all of the boxes, half of them the ones he had placed there, but also gifts wrapped in Fang's red and white paper.

"W-what? But I—oh…" Fang said, realizing what had happened. Iggy had the same idea he had, only Iggy couldn't see the gifts Fang had placed there earlier. "Oh Ig." He said with a smile and a little laugh, taking Iggy in his arms, holding the smaller boy's head to his shoulder.

"Fang it's not funny…I was going to surprise you…You always have something nice to give me, and I wanted to give something back to you, but—"

"Don't worry, Iggy. I did the same thing."

"What?"

"As soon as you fell asleep, I put all of your gifts under the tree."

"Fang you didn't have to do that…"

"I wanted to do it. It makes me so happy to see you smile." Iggy wrapped his arms around Fang and hugged him for a long moment.

"I love you so much…" Iggy said, his voice muffled by Fang's shirt.

"I love you too, Baby Doll." Fang said. "You know, it's after two in the morning…It's technically Christmas." He added. "Want to open presents?"

"Now?" Iggy asked with a smile, grabbing Fang's hands.

"Sure! Why not?" Fang replied, guiding Iggy down to the floor, sitting him down before flipping on the light. "You go first." Fang handed Iggy the small box he had stashed in the pocket of his pajama pants. He handed the palm-sized gift to Iggy carefully and gently. Iggy took it gingerly and took off the wrapping paper, the same blue snowmen paper that was around his gifts since the first Christmas he ever had.

He smiled once it was open and pulled off the little cardboard lid.

"Fang what is it?" Iggy asked with a smile of anticipation. Fang said nothing, but reached into the little box and took Iggy's hand. He slipped the plain, gold band on his finger. Iggy smiled. "Aw Fang…" Iggy cooed with a smile. He ran his sensitive fingers around the smooth band. It fit so perfectly, as if it were made for him, and he loved it. It was a part of him. It was a part of Fang.

"I'm glad you like it."

"It's so pretty, Fang. I have presents for you too, though! You go next." Iggy said with a smile, feeling around for a certain box. When he found it, he handed it to Fang, who took it carefully and tore the paper. Iggy never ripped wrapping paper. He always unwrapped it carefully because he didn't like the feeling of paper ripping in his hands. Fang just tore it off. He revealed a smallish box, similar to the one he had given Iggy. He took the little lid off of the box, and revealed a ring of his own. It wasn't plain, like the one he had given Iggy. It was silver, and there was a piece of onyx directly under a row of perfect little diamonds. "Iggy did you get this?" he asked, surprised beyond belief. He wasn't expecting any gifts at all, but Iggy had gotten something beautiful.

"Yah…Sorry it's the same thing you got me." He shrugged.

"No, no this is great…This is beautiful…" he said, turning it around and around in his hand. "Here, put it on." he said, handing the ring to Iggy and guided the other's hand to his ring finger. Though he struggled a bit at first, Iggy slipped the ring onto Fang's finger. "Love you, Baby Doll."

"Love you too, Sweet Potato." Iggy replied, falling into Fang's lap. "This is my favorite Christmas ever."