Hey, guys! Y'all are in for a treat. I spent a LOT of time and effort on these two chapters. It's finally Christmas! But I didn't want a 5k/6k-word chapter, so I split them into two. The rest of Christmas Eve takes place in this one, and Christmas morning is the entirety of the next. Luckily I'm uploading them together, so you don't have to wait any longer. ;) I hope you enjoy it! TONS OF FLUFF AHEAD!~
Seth went straight for the fridge back at home.
Dean was determined not to let whatever happened—whatever he was still unaware of—ruin the night. He flicked the fireplace on, closed the blinds, and switched on the lamps and the Christmas tree lights, giving the living room a cozy ambiance. "Who needs big dinners and tons of people when you have the three sickest guys in the world and all these little presents?"
"And beer." Seth snatched a bottle from the door shelf, then tugged a drawer open on a hunt for a bottle opener.
"Now it's really like Christmas back home."
Roman frowned. This night wasn't off to a better start yet. "Seth," he said in the kitchen. Seth met his look, cracking his beer open. "You gonna be okay?"
"I'll be fine. Just won't be going home again for a while."
"Listen." Roman folded his arms over his chest and stood in the entryway to the kitchen so Seth would have to stay and hear him. "I heard the conversation between you and your parents. And I'm really proud of you for standing up for Dean."
"Someone say my name?" Dean called.
Seth blinked. "You heard that?"
"Unfortunately."
Seth bit his lip. "They're idiots," he said, shaking his head. His eyes swung to the floor, grip around the bottle tightening. "They're such hypocrites. They're always telling me to 'live for me', 'make choices for myself', 'it's my life and nobody else's.' When Dad was the one telling me a few years ago what he wanted me to do with my life. He wanted me to follow his plan. He just can't stand that I'm doing for me what I want to do, not what he wants me to do. He thinks he's got all this authority over me; both him and my mom think they're the authority. I'm a grown ass man. I can do whatever I want."
"Of course you can. And Dean isn't helpless."
"No. He's not."
"Seriously, guys, I hear you saying my name and I'm getting worried."
"We need him as much as he needs us," Roman mentioned.
"Yeah. He was doing things on his own for a while. Might have made some bad choices, but I'd love my father to deny that he's never made a bad choice in his life."
"We're family. We're there for each other. Not to be crutches; to be…"
"Boosters."
"Encouragers."
"Gossiping is one of the seven deadly sins, you guys. Isn't it?"
"It's gonna be okay, Seth. I promise." Roman rested a strong hand on Seth's shoulder. At last, a small smile.
"Thanks, Roman. I know it. Christmas isn't over yet. They haven't ruined everything."
"I set myself on fire. Send help."
"Alright, Dean, alright, we're coming back," Roman said, rolling his eyes, caving to a grin. Dean was such a dork.
He'd already changed from his suit back into his classic jeans and one of Roman's sweaters, which he looked snug in. He'd laid out three gifts on the carpet: one for each of them. "These are the ones we're gonna open tonight."
"Don't we get to pick our own?" Seth asked.
"Thought it would be fun to pick for each other."
"You picked for both of us," Roman indicated. "And yourself."
"I have a good feeling about all of them," Dean affirmed.
Roman had a feeling he could read Seth's mind. Had they gotten Dean anything that wasn't guitar-related, whether it was part of the new one or the original? Roman would have felt better about leaving all of the new guitar gifts for tomorrow morning, and have him open each Annie-stylized gift one by one, at the same time.
So what could they do?
He suddenly remembered the gift card from Dolph. "You can pick a gift out for me, Seth. I'll pick Dean's, and Dean can pick yours."
"Oh, fine," Dean said, sadly returning his choice for Roman's present under the tree.
"Alright, I trust you," Seth said. Roman knew what he meant.
"Let's further Christmas this place first, though, huh? Get some music going. Seth, turn on the TV. I think the music channels start at 800. Dean, there's some leftover cookie dough in the fridge. Could you turn the oven—you know what, never mind. I'll do it."
"I know how to turn an oven on, Ro." Dean dramatically rolled his eyes. "And rolling up dough into little balls ain't too demanding, either."
"Alright, I'll trust you on this. Think it's 350 degrees for cookies. The sheet is under the oven."
"Got it, boss." Dean strode towards the kitchen.
"And what are you up to?" Seth asked him.
"Changing, and prepping Dean's gift. Suits make me feel stuffy."
"Tell me about it." Seth grabbed the TV remote.
Roman went into his bedroom, fished the gift card out of his work pants' pocket, and scribbled Dean's name across the envelope. He changed into sweatpants, long socks and his Captain America hoodie. He felt far more comfortable in "shabby" clothes than he did in any sort of formal wear.
In the kitchen, Roman and Dean quickly rolled twenty-one cookie dough balls. When the oven beeped, indicating it was preheated, Roman gently placed the pan on the top rack in the oven. Before he closed the door, Dean reached into the oven and plucked one of the dough balls off the pan.
"Couldn't have done that when the pan was outside the 350-degree oven?" Roman asked, raising an eyebrow.
Dean innocently nibbled on part of the dough, then lifted the rest of it to Roman's mouth, who consumed the rest of it, then kissed Dean's empty fingers.
Seth reached a holiday music channel and cranked up the volume before disappearing into his bedroom momentarily to change into pajamas and his glasses. He returned in time to catch the beginning of the next song, Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You."
"I used to hate this song," Seth called, back in the living room.
"Why?" Roman queried.
"'Cause he never had anyone he wanted for Christmas before," Dean said. He skipped back into the living room. Roman made sure the timer was set on the cookies, then joined them.
"Not true!" Seth said.
"Okay, then who do you want for Christmas?"
"All I want for Christmas is my dad to quit being an asshole!"
"Hey, mine too!" Dean lifted his hand, and Seth slapped it in a high-five. Seth finished off his beer, then set it on the side table and twirled around in beat to the music. He was obviously tipsy already. After one beer? What a lightweight, Roman thought. But he figured, why not let Seth loosen up? The guy wouldn't be driving or in public tonight. He deserved to unwind, let loose…dance with Dean to Mariah Carey, which he was doing now.
"Join us, Roman!" Dean implored.
"I don't dance," Roman said.
Dean scoffed. "Bullshit! You were killing it at Zodiac that night."
"He's got you there," Seth said.
"It'll take more than one beer to get me on this dance floor," Roman declared.
"What if you're intoxicated on love?" Dean moved towards him, gliding with the brave yet false confidence that he was a magnificent dancer. Roman couldn't resist. He took both Dean's hands and swayed to the rhythm. Seth continued dancing happily by himself. The song ended with Dean's lips hasped on Roman's.
"Yeah, still hate this song," Seth said. "Still have nobody to want for Christmas." But he was chuckling.
"I'll share Roman if you want me to," Dean offered—teasingly? Was he being serious?
Seth looked nervous, unsure of the answer to that as Roman was. Seth licked his lips and looked Roman up and down. Roman wondered what he was thinking.
The oven timer beeped.
"Cookies!" Dean exclaimed.
Roman let out a breath. Too late to figure it out now.
He transferred them from the scorching pan to a plate, poured three glasses of milk, then delivered them to the living room. Seth and Dean were on the carpet, gifts in front of them. Roman sat before them both, forming a triangle with their bodies, and set the plate of cookies and glasses of milk in the center.
"These may not be your mom's cookies, Seth, but they're still pretty good," Dean said, wolfing two cookies down at a time.
"Hey, you get one fewer than we do, since you had the uncooked dough earlier," Roman said.
"You shared it with me!" Dean accused. "So you get one fewer cookie, too."
"So Seth gets the extras."
"How about I just get all the cookies?" Seth offered.
"You pig." Dean gobbled down another cookie.
Seth slid the present in front of him towards Roman. "My pick for you. Merry Christmas Eve."
"And my pick for Seth." Dean passed over the present in front of him to Seth. "Happy Hanukkah."
"And my pick for you," Roman said, handing Dean the envelope. "Happy…Kwanza."
"You can open first, since you're the impatient one," Seth said.
"Killer." Dean tore into the envelope and examined the gift card inside. "Oh! Is this for Java Central?"
"Sure is. Now you can have as many salted caramel mochas as you want."
"If all you want is, like…two or three, anyway," Seth laughed.
Dean clicked his tongue. "Free mochas. Does it get much better?"
It can and it will, Roman thought. Believe that.
Dean Martin's "Let It Snow" filled the room, heating up to comfort thanks to the fire, as Seth opened his present next. He grinned as he extracted a blue Chicago Bears beanie hat from the paper. "Sweet, man," he said, pulling it over his head. He looked positively adorable.
"I know how much you love them," Roman said.
"Which means you love teams that suck," Dean snickered.
"Shut up, Ambrose, you don't even like football."
"They're a football team? Could have fooled me."
"You must have been thinking of the Chicago Cubs," Roman said, setting him up for the joke.
"Doesn't matter, they both suck."
Seth mock-laughed with both of them. "You guys are dicks."
Dean wrapped his arms around his legs, setting his chin on his knee. "You still love us. Open yours next, Ro."
Roman slowly pulled back the wrapping paper. He smiled at the box he'd accidentally come across in Seth's sock drawer: the Doctor Who Sonic Screwdriver pen. He was thrilled to receive it nonetheless. "Geektastic," he praised. "I love it. This'll come in handy for my classes next semester." He cast the reminder that he had to sign up for those particular courses soon, before his required classes filled up. Now was surely not the time to focus on or worry about school.
"I saw it at the store," Dean said. "Thought you'd like it."
"You a Whovian?" Seth inquired.
"Not hardcore. But I enjoy the show. Especially David Tennant as the doctor."
"Did you care much for Matt Smith?"
"Sure, I did. I just prefer David Tennant."
"I think everyone does."
Roman's eyes twinkled. "Do you like Doctor Who?"
"Older episodes. Not so much the new ones."
"They're not bad."
"You know who I'd love to see as the next doctor? Benedict Cumberbatch."
"Oh, hell yeah, dude. I've been pitching that idea to myself for years. He'd rock it."
"But people might still think of him as Sherlock in that role. Might not take him seriously as the Doctor."
"And while Seth and Roman talked about things that Dean didn't understand at all, Dean reached over and grabbed another cookie," Dean narrated, doing so.
Roman chuckled. "This was nice. I enjoyed it. What should we do now?"
"Christmas movie?" Seth suggested. "Stick to traditions here?"
"I don't have any, I don't think."
"Do you have Die Hard?"
Roman gasped. "Dude. You consider Die Hard a Christmas movie too?"
"Of course I do! Who doesn't?"
Seth is slowly becoming my favorite person ever. Not quite at Dean's level yet, but damn, this guy is cool.
"Nothing like celebrating the birth of Jesus like Alan Rickman and explosions everywhere," Dean said. "Pop it in, Ro. Ooh, speaking of pop, let's make Christmas popcorn, too." He finished off the last of the cookies.
"Sure, I can do that," Roman said.
"What makes it Christmas popcorn?" Seth asked.
"Duh. It's almost Christmas," Dean said.
"Fair enough."
Seth helped himself to another beer. Roman made popcorn and prepared glasses of soda for Dean and himself after they finished off their milk. Dean made it through most of the movie before falling asleep. Roman held him tight as the credits rolled.
"You know, I'm thinking about how to make it work tomorrow," Seth said, voice low, but Roman put a finger over his lips.
"Don't want him to hear any of it."
"Right."
Roman carried Dean into his room and placed his sleeping form on the bed. Dean rolled over, grabbing a pillow and pulling it against his body. Roman figured Dean thought it might be him. He tucked Dean under the comforter and kissed his hair, then returned to the living room. Seth was tidying up the dishes and torn wrapping paper.
"What's your plan?" Roman asked.
"Well, we can't have him open the guitar first, because then the rest of the presents will seem kinda lame. The tuner, the capo, and so on. But we can't have him open it last, either, because by the time he gets through the tuner, the capo, and so on, he'll know what his big present at the end is, and the surprise is kinda ruined."
"Good point."
"What I was thinking was, after he opens up all his other gifts, we remove him from the room, open everything related to the guitar that we wrapped, set it all out nice and organized with the guitar and the case, and let him find everything altogether all at once."
"He might have a heart attack at the sight."
"What do you think?"
"It's brilliant. Damn shame we have to ruin all the fine wrapping we did, though."
Seth scoffed. "I wrap like a kindergartner hyped up on a pixie stick."
"Oh, yeah? I've got you beat. I wrap like a four-year-old hyped up on a pixie stick."
"Damn shame we have to ruin it."
"Damn shame."
Seth laughed, then quietly set his empty beer bottles into the trash can beneath the sink. He'd gotten through three during the entire night.
"Damn, you alright?" Roman asked.
"Sure. Never better."
"Not gonna be too hungover to enjoy Christmas, are you?"
"Nah. I've handled myself alright on much more alcohol than this. I'll be fine."
"Didn't take you for a raging alcoholic."
"Yep, I so am. Every time I say I'm going to work or the grocery store, I'm actually going to an AA meeting."
"You need help. Smoke weed instead. Less dangerous to your brain cells."
Seth chuckled. "I'm gonna take a shower and get to bed. I'll see you in the morning, okay, Ro? And thanks again for talking to me earlier. It helped."
Roman waved the fact away. "It was nothing. Just wanted to make sure you weren't gonna be depressed for the entire holiday."
"If it's any consolation, my parents were right about one thing. You're a great guy."
"Thanks. So are you, whether they realize it or not."
Seth opened his arms, and Roman sheathed him in his arms. Maybe he held Seth longer than he anticipated. Maybe he didn't consider falling asleep right here in this spot, holding Seth. Maybe he wondered if Dean was serious about sharing Roman with Seth…and maybe, just maybe, he considered it if Dean were truly serious.
But he didn't know.
He didn't want his heart to be confused.
Seth weakly pulled away first. "Good night, Roman. See you in the morning. Merry Christmas."
"You too, Seth. Sweet dreams of sugar plum fairies and all that."
"These sugar plum fairies better be hot, tell you what."
Seth moved into the bathroom, and Roman joined Dean in bed. As soon as Dean sensed Roman's figure in his sleep, he nestled closer to Roman. In turn, Roman enfolded Dean in his arms, tighter and warmer than any blankets could ever keep him. He felt Dean's hands squeezing his own. Roman kissed Dean's neck. Dean shivered.
He loved Dean. He was very much in love with Dean Ambrose, in love for the first time in his life.
But what the hell was up with these feelings for Seth?
Would they ever leave him be?