XXXVI.

Jimmy and Ben threw on robes and ate their candlelit meal, reheating the food in the kitchen microwave. Jimmy started to heat the balcony spa up and then they made love again in the bed before going out to sit in the spa, Jimmy resting back in Ben's arms.

"How long do you have this room for?" Ben wondered.

"Long as I want," Jimmy shrugged, "It's on my parents' tab. I figured we could stay here for the day if you want and go eat dinner at your parents', or we could stay here for the night and order room service. It's up to you."

"Your parents can afford this?" Ben fretted, "And how did you get the room so quickly…I mean…there's no way you planned this before...did you? And this seems like something you got to book in advance…?"

"Getting the room was easy, I just called up Gary, and I get a friend's discount on the room," Jimmy explained.

"Gary?" Ben parroted, "What does he have to do with it?"

"His mom owns the hotel," Jimmy said, with a shrug.

"His mom owns the hotel," Ben cried, then shook his head and said, "Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute…Gary Gunther…as in…is his mom Greta Gunther?"

"Yeah," Jimmy confirmed.

"As in…Greta Gunther, international hotel tycoon, owns major resorts in fifteen different countries? That Greta Gunther?"

"Yes. She's a really nice woman," Jimmy wrinkled his brow, "How do you know who she is?"

"She's the largest donor to the Boston Historical Preservation Society," Ben explained, as if it were a well-known fact, "My dad presented her an award at last summer's commemoration brunch at Boston U. I think…I think I may have met Gary there."

"Oh…hm…the world really is a small place," Jimmy mumbled, maneuvering round, looping his arm behind Ben's neck and pressing kisses all over his face.

"Is that why you guys are all friends with Gary? Because of his hotel connections?" Ben joked.

"No," Jimmy answered earnestly, "I'm friends with Gary because when we were in preschool he gave me his red crayon after some asshole ate mine."

"Wait…so this is all thanks to Gary?" Ben persisted.

"Well…no, the driver was thanks to Lenny, his family owns a limousine company, amongst other things," Jimmy said, nibbling on Ben's ear, "Why do you care?"

"Figuring out…um…where to…oh…I like that spot right there, babe," Ben sighed contently, holding Jimmy close as Jimmy suckled Ben's ear lobe. Then Jimmy let go and moved to press a kiss to Ben's lips, and Ben dazedly continued, "Um…who to…send thank you cards to, I guess."

"Yeah, that's nice of you," Jimmy said, smirking, sinking against Ben, face buried in the crook of Ben's neck, "You sure you don't just like hearing about the lifestyles of my rich and incredibly screwed up friends."

"Oh yeah. It's a shame your parents are going to disown you," Ben returned teasingly, "I think I might've decided I love you for your money."

Jimmy laughed and Ben pulled him into another kiss.

"You're really okay with it though?" Ben wondered, suddenly melancholy, "Giving it up."

"What do you mean? All of this?" Jimmy countered, snorting, "I don't care about all of this. I'd take a small, dump apartment with you any day over this."

Ben grinned, and faltered, "No, I mean…your family. I know that you said they had nothing you wanted, but…but at the end of the day, it's still your family. It couldn't have been all bad. I mean, there had to have been good times."

"If there were any, they were seriously overshadowed by the bad," Jimmy quietly remarked.

"I can't believe that," Ben argued, "There had to of been something…I mean, you're too good a person to have come from such a terrible place."

"I guess…" Jimmy started, faltered, shook his head, "No. Nothing."

"Come on, Jimmy," Ben pleaded, tightening his hold.

"Well…I guess I do remember once…when I was a kid, really little, back when my dad only worked on weekdays, he was only starting out at the bank and…well there was this one Christmas…and it was just…when I see I t in my head, think back on it…well, it was just this one perfect Christmas. My dad and I went and picked out a tree together, and he helped me decorate it and put me on his shoulders to hang the ornaments up higher and…um…and I helped my mom make cookies, sugar cookie cutouts that we frosted later, and she didn't even care that mine came out lopsided or the frosting wasn't smooth enough or…" Jimmy fell quiet, shook his head, "I don't know. Maybe it never happened. Maybe I dreamt it."

Ben traced his fingertips along Jimmy's skin, his shoulders and neck, small stars and swirls. He sighed and placed a kiss on the skin.

"So what did you want to do?" Jimmy prompted, "We can use the room for the day and check out a little later, head back to your parents' and eat dinner with them or…we could stay here tonight…"

"What do you want to do?" Ben wondered, "I mean…is it really that bad, being around my family?"

"No," Jimmy mumbled, "I shouldn't have said that, Ben, I'm sorry."

"No, I asked for it," Ben retorted, pulling Jimmy close, brushing a kiss to his cheek, "I never should've said the things that I did, about your family. I'm so sorry, I guess I was just so mad and..."

"Forget it," Jimmy decided, "We both fucked up."

"Okay. Agreed," Ben said, then furrowed his brow and glanced around their surroundings, lamenting, "I just don't have the means to make it up to you quite like this…"

"That's not really what this is, you know…I don't want you to think that…that this is me trying to buy your love or something. I really just wanted to…to give you something nice, you know? My family sort of screwed up our first Christmas…and so…I wanted them to give us a good Christmas, I guess, give you the Christmas you deserved," Jimmy murmured quietly.

"Well, then baby, you didn't have to do all of this," Ben grinned, squeezing Jimmy to him and covering him with kisses, "All I want for Christmas is you."

"In that case," Jimmy smiled deviously, suggestively running his hand up along Ben's inner thigh, "Let's go back inside, and make a perfect Christmas."

"Really? Again?" Ben cried, "I'm not complaining, we haven't done anything in the past several days, it's just...I'm a little worried about you, and we do have to go back to my parents eventually."

"I'll be fine. I want to get as much use out of this room as we can before we head back to your parents' tonight," Jimmy returned plaintively, climbing out of the spa and reaching for a towel nearby, "We still have three days left before we can fly home and have sex whenever we want again."

"Wait a minute, if we can have sex whenever we want at home, why don't we have sex whenever I want?" Ben mused, following after Jimmy.

Jimmy just shot him a coy smile, before disappearing back into the room.

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A/N: Had to rewrite parts of this for dialogue I didn't much like. This is what happens when I post something almost directly after writing it. First draft crap blech.

Um...this chapter kind of reveals that Gary is, in no uncertain terms, very likely the richest of his friends. It's not important, but it's kind of meant to be a...hn...kind of thing, I guess, because he's also the biggest idiot, and genuinely nicest of his friends, too.

Oi...