Merry (slightly late) Christmas everyone!

Same as always, but still:

1. This chapter is a special. The plot doesn't move forward.

2. It takes place before the events of the story, on 24th December 2014.

3. It's not necessary for you to read it. Nothing important for the main plot will happen, so if you don't want to read it, you don't have to, as it's just a filler.

Enjoy~

*by the way, this was written at two am, so expect mistakes*

*also, I'd like to say that I don't suffer from social anxiety so I don't really know how it exactly works, everything I know about it is from the internet, so stuff may not be accurate*

I woke up around ten because of the footsteps from the corridor. I could also hear voices from right behind the door. I recognized the voices of my mother, and her sister, which always came to visit for Christmas. I wasn't able to make out what they were saying, until one of them opened the door and they came inside.

"I told you, he's still sleeping." my mother said, making her way to the other part of the room, and opened the blinds. They weren't even try to whisper, which was pretty rude, but typical for relatives. You always try to act as quiet as you can when they are asleep, but when you're sleeping, it's suddenly time to do the loudest houseworks possible.

"That's that boy of his? He's staying over for Christmas?" Aunt Elena asked. I felt her sitting down on the edge of the bed, right behind my back.

"Yes, that's him. And yes, he's staying. Toris said his mother was busy, and he didn't want to stay with his grandparents."

"If he has such great relationship with them like Toris with his Adam's mother, then I'm not surprised. I still can't believe she told her own grandchild that he's going to hell" of course. There was never Christmas without mentioning my amazing grandmother. Since I came out to my family, she's never appeared on the Christmas dinner. Not even once. Grandpa, on the other hand, always did. He did while grandma was in the church, and always left quickly, because 'she'd get really mad if she found out'. Did I ever mention that I really dislike her?

"Audra's always been a religious woman. She'd never support a relationship like that." always religious, always following whatever the priest and the church would say. I'm not against religious people, but I kind of hold a grudge against her for literally disinheriting me just because I was dating a guy.

"She should see that it's not bad. Toris is really happy. Plus, it's not like he's dating someone really bad, I mean, this child doesn't really look like a type that'd be a bad influence." she shouldn't really judge someone just by their looks, but Feliks really looked completely innocent. Especially when he was asleep. He just looked too adorable to think that he'd hurt anyone, ever. Like a kitten. And kittens are pretty much harmless.

"And you haven't even met him properly yet. He's an angel, really. I have no idea how someone troublesome like Toris got himself such a loving boy like Feliks." if I wasn't 'asleep', I'd really tell her how greatly nice mother she was, but I decided that I'm going to save that for when I was be awake. But really, do all mothers say stuff like that about their kids? I wasn't a saint, but Feliks was not either. Only, she didn't know him from all of his sides, like I did. He could be an angel, and he was most of the time, but he could turn into a demon pretty easily too.

"You know what they say, opposites attract. We should go and wake the little ones. Raivis is really gonna be mad if we start decorating the tree without him." soon after that, they both left, not closing the door (either that, or one of them did that really quietly.

"They're gone, right?" I heard Feliks speak quietly. I opened my eyes, to see him awake, with his eyes open as well. He looked really great in the mornings. His hair was all messed up, few of the blond locks resting on his face. His eyes were a little bit glassy from sleeping. He was wearing my shirt only, which was way too big for him, so one of his shoulders was exposed. "Are you still asleep or you did you not hear me?"

"None of that. I'm just enjoying the view." he blushed and turned his eyes away.

"Idiot." he mumbled. I laughed quietly and pulled him closer, lightly kissing his head.

"Your idiot, that is." he snuggled closer, resting his head against my chest.

"What were your mom and your aunt talking about? I overheard my name."

"Nothing interesting, my mom just called you an angel, and said that she's got no idea how we got together since you're so sweet and I'm the worst, of course."

"It's because you're so tall."

"Oh, is that so? You like taller guys?"

"Obviously. It would be cool if I was higher though, I mean, you literally have to bend down to kiss me."

"Nice to know that the only thing you like about me is my height."

"Not only that. You're not bad looking, you know? Quite the opposite actually. And you're well built."

"I was expecting you to say you love me because of my personality, but it seems it's just my looks. I'm heartbroken."

"Please, you say that like I'm the only one. I know that you asked me for my number just because you thought I was pretty. And you're with me because I'm skinny, and because I have nice legs."

"Your legs aren't the best, your butt is so much better."

"See? I was right-" he was interrupted by a knock on the door. I turned around, sitting on the bed, Feliks doing the same.

"You're awake? Great." my mother said, looking through the gap between the door and the door frame. "I need you to help me with something."

"Aww, do we have to?" I asked. I was hoping to do nothing for the entire day, but of course, my mother had better plans.

"Yes, you do. I need help in the kitchen. Get dressed and come downstairs."

The Christmas dinner never was really crowded in our family. There was going to be me, my brothers and Feliks, my mom, her sister, her husband and her daughter, and my grandfather, probably. That was just nine people. Although, Feliks was obviously worried about that right before the meal. He wasn't saying anything, but I could clearly see that he was trembling and breathing quicker than usual.

"You should stop freaking out, you know? It's just a normal dinner." I told him when we were changing into some more elegant clothes. He looked quite surprised that I noticed, thought it wasn't that hard, as I could easily tell when he was being worried. "You're pretty easy to figure out. Plus, you put your shirt on the wrong way and you have two different socks on."

"I'm just... I'm worried that they won't like me, or will think I'm weird. I mean, normal people don't really get how someone can be afraid of just a small group of people, or strangers, and I'm just scared. I won't be able to talk if there's gonna be so many people around me, and it'll be horribly weird if someone says something to me and I'll just stare at them scared. They'll surely notice that something is wrong with me, I don't want anyone in your family thinking bad of me." he said in one breath, his gaze meeting the floor.

"Feliks, there's no need for you to think like that. Listen. It won't come to you as a surprise, but I talk about you to everyone. A lot. Like, really a lot. They already know about that. I explained to them how is it, and they promised to try to leave you be, okay? They won't think it's weird. Besides, Meggie, my cousin, has social anxiety as well. Although, it's not as bad as yours, if I recall correctly, but she wasn't really comfortable about having to come here either. You'll be fine, it's not like someone is going to judge you just because of that. Besides, I'm sure they'll love you once they'll have a chance to meet you." I smiled to him encouragingly. He smiled at me back, sighing.

"I have no clue how I ever survived any social events without you. Thanks."

"The pleasure is mine. Come on, fix yourself. Everyone should be here in a minute. "

In the end, I was right. The doorbell rang just as we finished dressing up.

"Ready?" I asked him, embracing him for the last time (as I decided to hold off on that for the evening so Feliks wouldn't get even more stressed). He sighed, resting his forehead against my shoulder (here's the height difference we talked about earlier).

"No." he said, his voice shaking.

"We have to go there anyway. I'll be by your side all the time, okay? I won't leave you alone. You'll be fine. Come on." he moved away, and nodded his head. I reached for his hand, intertwining our fingers. "You don't mind, right?"

"No, it's fine." he smiled shortly. We then walked out of my room and went downstairs. Everyone was already in the hall, greeting one another. My mother noticed us immediately (just as she was waiting for us to come here) and showed us with her hand to come to her. We did, Feliks going a little bit behind me.

"Ah, Toris, it's been a long while since I saw you." Phillip said. He examined me with his gaze, and then spoke again. "You've grown a lot."

"Not really. You're probably imagining."

"I'm certainly sure I'm not. Last time I was here I was about a head taller than you, but now? You're almost taller than me." he then noticed Feliks, who was standing a little bit behind me, his gaze on the floor, and his nails digging into my hand (quite painfully). "And if I'm not mistaken, that's your boyfriend, right?" he said, now in English. He had an obvious British accent, as he originally came from England. He also worked there, that's why I didn't see him as often as rest of my family.

"Yep, that's him." I answered proudly, looking over at him for a second. He wasn't looking down anymore, but at him instead.

"It's a pleasure to meet you I'm Phillip, Toris's uncle."

"Feliks." he said quietly, shaking Phil's hand. Phil then turned around, to his daughter, Megan, or Meggie, as everyone called her. She was four years younger then me. She looked almost exactly like Phil, with their remarkable ginger hair.

"Come on, Meg." he said, putting his hand on her shoulder encouragingly.

"Uh, Megan, do you speak English?" I asked, back in my native language. Even if she was half British, I wasn't sure whether she was good at it, especially in her age. She looked at me questioningly. "You see, Feliks isn't from here, and he doesn't know the language, so unless you're fluent in Polish, English is the only option." she then nodded, which I assumed was the answer to my question. "Well then." I turned back into English (there was going to be definitely a lot more of this, I was sure. Going back and forth between Lithuanian and English I mean). "Feliks, this is my cousin, Megan. Megan, this is my boyfriend, Feliks." she smiled at him lightly, and he returned the gesture almost immediately. Neither of them said anything, which was pretty understandable. "Okay, so, since everyone already knows everybody, let's go and eat something."

"So, Feliks, what are your plans after high school?" aunt Elena asked. I told her before that she should not question him, but she never really listened to anyone.

"We both don't really know yet." I answered for him, giving her a warning look. She smirked at me. Of course, she wanted to force a conversation with him. You see, aunt Elena didn't accept 'shy', 'leave me alone', or 'social anxiety' in her dictionary. If she was going to talk with someone, that was her will and she was going to fulfill it.

"Oh, I'm sure he has something in his head. Right?" I wanted to say something, before surprisingly, Feliks interrupted me.

"I'm thinking about graphic design." his voice was quiet, and shaky, but the room was silent enough to hear him clearly.

"Doesn't this require to draw well though?" Phil asked.

"It does." my mother answered.

"Oh, right, you do draw, honey. I almost forgot." aunt Elena said, smiling at him. "You see, with all the things Toris says about you, it's kinda easy to get lost in it." I rolled my eyes.

"Don't you roll your eyes on us, Toris." Phil spoke. "Just so you know Feliks, Toris talks about you constantly. I'm not even joking. Once he'll get started about you, he'll just talk, talk, and talk."

"And somehow he manages to get you into every single subject. We could talk about the weather and he'd get you into the topic anyways"

"I'm here, you know!" I growled, my face turning slightly red. Feliks, on the other hand, was clearly enjoying himself, almost laughing. If I wasn't mad and embarrassed, I'd be thankful that my family somehow made him comfortable enough to show any emotion on his face. But, since it was about embarrassing me – as always – I just sat silently mumbling to myself how much I hated them.

The dinner flew by really quick, between eating, singing Christmas songs and embarrassing me even more. After that, it was time for gifts, something we all were looking forward to. My brothers basically sprinted over to the tree, eagerly looking for their names on the packages. We all sat in the living room, parted into few little groups and opened our gifts. I received a new book from my mom, one I wanted for quite a while, a computer game from aunt Elena and Phil, and photo album from Meggie (I told her she didn't need to give me anything, but of course, she was as stubborn as her mother). From my grandparents (grandpa had time to come over just for a little while, and put our presents under the tree as he was leaving) I got a watch, which was kinda an inside joke, as I was somehow always late whenever going over to them. Last, but not the least, was the gift from Feliks. He gave me a necklace with a little silver wolf pedant (which I guessed was a reference to my gift for his birthday). I gave him headphones, some better ones, since all of his always broke after a month of using them.

About midnight, when everyone went home, me and Feliks decided that it was about time to go to bed. We were tired, from both getting everything ready and eating so much. We both fell asleep almost immediately. I was quite satisfied with Christmas, to be honest. After waiting so much, it was over in almost no time. But still, I was very happy about it, since it was yet another few weeks I could spend with Feliks, and that was the best use of the time for me.