The Twelve Dilemmas of Christmas

The holiday season comes with good times and bad. It's important to overlook the dilemmas and enjoy the good times. Multiple shippings.

Warning: alcohol, vomit, and slash are all mentioned in this chapter. Not all at the same instant, but it's there.

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Dilemma Five: Partying (Palletshipping)

If anyone had asked Gary what his favorite part of Christmas was as a child, he would have answered with no hesitation: presents. Undoubtedly, presents. These days, priorities were different, especially now that he was an adult. Now, the best part of the festivities was the partying. Especially since this was the one time in the year when he could actually party with his elder sister. It was always a good time when the bottles of booze opened up around May, the more bottles they went through, the more fun it was. Until someone threw up. It was usually a long time before that happened though, after all, it had been said for many, many years in Pallet, "never try to outdrink an Oak." When it came to the youngest two in the family, no one could come close and no one could have as much fun. Again, until someone threw up.

Of course, the first person to lose their buzz by emptying their stomach contents was the very person who had challenged them. It also happened to be Ash. Despite being completely trashed, Gary felt a bit bad for what had happened. Granted, he had warned Ash. Hell, the whole night had been spent giving his boyfriend warnings: don't try to keep up, you're going to puke, you can't outdrink an Oak, you cannot handle that one-fifty-one, you are so not doing a Jager Bomb with my sister. Gary had even spent the night giving his sister similar warnings: Ash hasn't had this much to drink before, Ash can't keep up with us, Ash isn't used to this, Ash cannot do a line of shots with you.

Eventually, he was too drunk to remember to give the warnings. Instead, they got caught up in a game of Ring of Fire and then the two Oak siblings had lost all common sense in their petty drinking competitions. Poor Ash was essentially forgotten about. And then he epically threw up in the kitchen sink.

Somehow, Gary had shaken off the effects of the alcohol and dragged his boyfriend into the bathroom where he cleaned him up as best as he could.

"I warned you, Ashy," he muttered as he mopped Ash's face with a damp cloth. "I told you so many times…" By now, the alcohol was definitely wearing off.

Ash's eyes fluttered open, the chocolate orbs now blood-shot and unfocused. "Gary…" he croaked, swaying dangerously. Gary pushed him gently so that he was leaning against the side of the bathtub, carefully staying out of the way in case he puked again. "Gary, am I going to die?" Ash suddenly asked, placing an extreme and unnecessary emphasis on the word die.

Gary couldn't help but smile at the childish question. "No, Ash, you're not going to die. You're just going to be very sick for Christmas Eve," he explained, pushing Ash's messy hair out of his face.

"Really? You promise I'm not going to die?"

Suppressing a sigh, Gary sat next to Ash and slipped an arm around his waist, pulling the boy closer to him. "I promise, Ash," he said, ruffling his boyfriend's hair slightly. "I love you too damn much to let you leave me that easily."

When Ash didn't reply, Gary glanced down to see that his eyes were closed and he was snoring softly against his shoulder. Gary shook his head slightly, wincing at the alcohol-induced headache that was starting to form. Sick as he was, Ash was still adorable as he slept against him. Smiling at the cute sight, Gary leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes, letting the alcohol drag him off to slumber.

He would regret this all in the morning, if he remembered any of it, and he would likely be hungover until Christmas day. Despite all of that, in the moment, throughout the night of fun, he had to admit partying still reigned number one on his list of things to do at Christmas time.