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Simon looked out of the cabin windows, but still there were no cars showing up in the distance. It had started snowing again and quite heavily too.
It had been Gwen's idea to come to her parents' mountain cabin for a long weekend before Christmas; she had given Simon the second pair of keys just in case and it had turned out to be a good idea, since he and Jeremy had arrived before everyone else. He'd been right at fearing the weather worsening and convincing Jeremy to leave early.
“Anyone in sight?” Jeremy asked rubbing his forearms, still quite chilled. He'd tried to turn up the heating, but it didn't work so well, so it was taking ages to warm up the cabin, which wasn't so little. He had managed to light the fireplace, though. “We've been here for hours.”
Simon closed the curtains. “Nope. And it's snowing again.”
“Have you tried to call Gwen? Or Lilette?”
“I did earlier, but the connection was bad, so they're texting for updates. The last one was that they're stuck in the town a few miles from here because the road is impassable, but they found a small hotel that let them stay inside, in the lobby. It's from a while ago, though.”
“They must be still there, then. At least they're fine and not out in the cold, they just have to wait for the weather to get better.”
Simon nodded. “Yeah, that's good to know. Hopefully it won't take long.”
“Hey, don't you want to be alone with me? Because if you do, well...I can trade place with Clark later and share the bedroom with Francis,” Jeremy joked.
Simon pointed his finger at him. “Don't you dare.”
Jeremy burst out laughing. “He doesn't have a crush on me, how many times do I have to tell you?”
“If you say so...”
“Yes, I do!”
“He thinks you're pretty, I heard him saying it.”
“So what? Everybody thinks that,” he shrugged, smoothing back his hair. Simon couldn't raise his eyebrows higher even if he tried. “Just kidding!” Jeremy uttered, amused. “Well, not really...”
Simon let out a sigh. It wasn't the first time they had this skirmish for fun, apparently his boyfriend liked to tease him about it. “Whatever, but I don't want to risk it, so I'm sorry for him or anybody else, but you're gonna share the room with me. End of discussion.”
Jeremy put his hands around his neck. “The only one thinking I'm pretty I care about is you. And you're the best roommate ever,” he said with a little smile, lowering his eyes to Simon's lips for a second before giving him a kiss.
“For the record, you're more than pretty to me,” Simon pointed out. Jeremy just smiled and kissed him again.
“So...we're kinda snowed in,” Simon said after.
“Yep, with the cabin all to ourselves,” Jeremy replied gently caressing Simon's nape of the neck, still hugged to him. “And a beautiful burning fireplace, thanks to your boyfriend.”
“Where did you learn that?”
“My grandpa taught me.”
“Love me some guys with skills. Do you know what I'm thinking about, now?”
“Cuddling by the fire?”
Simon nodded, with a smile. “Mmh-mmh.”
“Perfect idea,” Jeremy replied and after they pulled away, he went to take a blanket and while he was at it, he put on his Santa hat he had brought for the occasion to add a little more “festive” spirit, since the cabin wasn't much decorated. When he was back, he found Simon over the stoves, singing softly a Christmas tune. He had put the milk in the kettle and a can of whipped spray cream was ready next to a couple of mugs.
He was turned away from Jeremy, so he hadn't noticed he was back with the blanket; Jeremy stared at him for a while, daydreaming as if that was their home and they lived together...he would take care of the fireplace and make the home cozy, Simon would cook and then they would spend the time laughing, kissing, slow dancing and – why not – watching tv series snuggled on the sofa. There would be a dog or two too. He sighed.
“Hey, are you okay?” Simon had heard the sigh and turned, finding Jeremy gazing at him with a ridiculous smile plastered on his face, wearing a Santa hat and holding the blanket.
Jeremy shook his head, blushing. “Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Hot chocolate! I love it,” he said putting the blanket down on the sofa.
“Luckily we were the ones who had to bring the stuff to make it, I don't know what we'd have done, if we had like the booze and nothing else.”
Jeremy shrugged. “Well, it's easy...getting drunk on eggnog together. And singing Christmas songs.”
“Drunken?” Simon laughed.
“It's funnier,” Jeremy cackled, getting close to him. “Oh, and we'd have kissed...and kissed...and more...” he murmured, hugging Simon from behind and softly kissing the back of his neck.
Simon turned and held him in a bear hug. “We can do this even sober,” he replied touching lightly Jeremy's nose with his.
The kettle started whistling. “But chocolate first,” Simon said pulling away to pour the milk in the mugs, stir it and then spray the cocoa with the cream. As final touch he added a handful of mini rainbow marshmallows and sprinkles.
“There you go,” he gave a mug to Jeremy and they both snuggled under the blanket. “These marshmallows are so cute, it's almost a shame to eat them.”
“Yeah, almost,” Jeremy agreed, but then took a spoonful so big that part of the whipped cream came out of his mouth and ended up on his chin and nose.
Simon burst out laughing. “Can't you eat like a normal person? Look, you have it on your nose even! Stop it, you’re making it worse with your tongue, wait -” he cleaned him up with his fingers and then licked them. “- now you're good.”
Jeremy cracked up too. “Thank you. What would I do without you?”
“Honestly I have no idea,” and he giggled as Jeremy planted a kiss on his cheek.
It took both some time to finish their chocolates; they kept chatting, but also – and especially – stealing marshmallows and spoonfuls from each other, which brought giggles and playful protests that ended up in poking and ultimately canoodling.
At last they snuggled up tight and Simon rested his head on Jeremy's shoulder. He couldn't say how long they stayed that way, he was feeling so good and warm in his boyfriend's arms; the cabin wasn't a freezer anymore, the fireplace was crackling, there was still a faint scent of chocolate in the air and Christmas songs were playing softly in the background, since Jeremy had connected his phone to the wireless speakers when they arrived; everything was perfect and he had to admit that being snowed in was pretty great, in the end. Even if their friends were stuck in some town nearby and not nearly as cozy as them.
“Am I a bad person if I say that I hope Gwen and the others arrive as late as possible? It's so nice in here, just the two of us,” he mumbled after a while.
“That makes two of us, then,” Jeremy chortled. “Have they sent other texts?”
“No idea, let's check,” and he reached out his arm to take the phone from the coffee table. “Just one from Gwen saying she really hopes we're having fun in her cabin – I can hear the irony through the screen – and that they plan to leave as soon as the roads are cleared, since it stopped snowing. Really? I didn't notice.”
Jeremy took the phone from him. “What are you doing?” Simon asked and then saw him snickering while quickly typing something before putting it back on the table.
“I hope you didn't tell her what I said before!”
“Oh, no,” Jeremy said. “I just told her to give us a ring when they're about to arrive, so we can dress us again,” and he cracked up.
Simon shook his head, but then laughed too.
All I Want for Christmas started playing. “We absolutely have to dance this one!” Jeremy suddenly uttered and threw away the blanket. He stood up and went to turn up the volume, but Simon was still on the sofa.
“Dance? I don't want to dance, I want to stay here with you,” he grumbled.
“'C’mon, Si!” Jeremy took him by the arm and made him stand up, ignoring his protests. At first Simon wasn't exactly in the dancing mood, but, by dint of being turned and moved around, he gave up and eventually joined Jeremy.
“I'm pretty sure we look like two dancing bears,” he commented.
“Who cares!” Jeremy yelled and began jumping and shaking his butt even more, to the sound of Simon's laugh. “All I want for Christmaaaaaas...is youuuuuuuuuu!” he made Simon doing a twirl and then he dipped him. When he came back up, Jeremy drew him to himself and held him in a hug.
They remained still as the song went on and Simon got lost in Jeremy's eyes for a moment. “Do you really want me for Christmas?” he said softly, a bit playful and a bit serious.
“I want you every day, don't you know it?”
Simon's mouth twitched. “I do...I just wanted to hear you say that,” he admitted.
“Mmmhh...and what about you? Do you want me?”
“Yes.” His voice was no more than a whisper. “Yes, yes, yes, yes...” his words became smiles, kisses and gasps, as he pressed himself on Jeremy. He didn't know if it was because of the time they had spent together that day or because of the festive mood, but he felt more in love with Jeremy than ever. And to think that not long ago he would have yelled – non simply replied – a resounding NO to that question. How things can change (and for the better, he thought)!
They pulled away in giggles. Christmas Lights by Coldplay played next and, without a word, eye to eye, they began a slow dance. It was always beautiful – being so close, feeling the warmth of each other's breath and body, holding hands.
After a while Jeremy closed his eyes and leaned in so their temples touched. Every time, staying that way with Simon made him feel a tingle in his whole body and he absolutely loved it.
“It tickles,” he heard Simon saying at some point, out of the blue. He tilted his head and looked at him, puzzled.
“What?”
“The pompom of your hat. If you keep your head that way, it moves right on my face.”
“I take it off then.”
“Don't...you look cute with it,” Simon chuckled. “A very cute Santa.”
Jeremy's face brightened. “Oh, thank you.”
Christmas lights ended, an uptempo song began and they went back to livelier and quite silly dancing; when another ballad played they slow danced and so on, one song after another.
This until Jeremy tripped on a corner of the shaggy carpet during Ariana Grande's Santa Tell Me and to avoid tumbling down he grasped Simon. Of course they both ended up on the floor – luckily the soft rug broke the fall – and for some reason Jeremy found it extremely funny.
“What are you laughing at, wonderful dancer? Thank goodness there was the rug, ouch...” Simon whined.
Jeremy was rolling over on the carpet, with tears in eyes. “My stomach...hurts...I can't...”
Simon was about to start laughing too, but he resisted and sat up. “You never watch your step!”
“How...how do you know it wasn't on purpose?” Jeremy panted, finally putting himself back together (but it wasn't).
“And for what reason?”
“Jump on you on the floor.”
Simon hadn't the time to reply that Jeremy threw himself on him and straddled him. It was just poking and tickling with a good amount of squealing and useless attempts by Simon to free himself, but at a first glance it may look differently...
“NOT ON MY CARPET, FOR GOODNESS SAKE!”
“Do I have to cover my eyes?”
The sudden voices of Gwen and Jolene interrupted their skirmish; they'd been too busy with it to hear the cars arriving or the door opening. It was dark outside, all the friends – Gwen, Jolene, Lilette, Robbie, Francis, Clark, Michael, Sasha – had finally managed to reach the cabin and were now looking at the two guys, chortling.
Jeremy let Simon go and they both stood up.
“We weren't -” Simon tried to say, flushed.
“Just because we showed up,” Gwen interrupted him. Jeremy chuckled, covering his mouth with the hand. “'C’mon, help us unloading the cars and I may forget what I saw,” she added.
“Simon and I share the room, remember? And it's right next to yours,” Jeremy retorted.
“You’d better behave at my place.”
“We will, if you lend it to us next time.”
“Jeremy!” Simon protested, but he ignored him and held out his hand to Gwen, instead. This unexpected negotiation was fun.
“So?”
Gwen stared at him for a moment, amused. “Deal,” she shook his hand. “Now move your ass with the stuff outside,” she said and turned to reach the others who were already unloading.
Simon shook his head and looked at Jeremy, but all he got in response were a wink and a smile, before seeing him disappear after Gwen.
What he had to do, with him? Simon thought. But he wouldn't change him for the world.