XOXO: A Bundle of Cozy Novellas

Davey

DAVEY

Christmas Day

“Brewski, I love you more than anything, but I’m making this quick this morning.”

Still, it took a good half hour to get Brewski dry and cleaned up and the sleigh put away. Davey could hear his dad’s voice in his head saying, “Might as well just do it once, son,” so he slowed himself down and did it right. Milo wasn’t going anywhere, he was inside Davey’s house waiting for him.

After Davey took his boots off and stowed them by the back, he found Milo in the living room looking at the Childs’ family pictures hanging next to the fireplace, right along with his diplomas.

“Is this you?” Milo pointed at a snapshot of, yes, him, playing in the snow with his childhood dog, a husky-lab mix named Loki.

“Yep.”

“A Ninja Turtles fan, were you?”

Davey never thought about the atrocious black and green parka he’d been wearing in the photo, it did have TNMT emblazoned across the front. He’d been obsessed with the turtles as a kid.

“Don’t even start. I still have the VHS tapes if you want to watch them.”

“Who was your favorite?”

“Tell me yours first… but I bet I can guess.”

“How do you know I even liked them?”

“You did, I know it.”

Milo narrowed his eyes at Davey. “Fine. I did too. So smart guy—who was my favorite?”

“Michelangelo,” Davey said with extreme smugness. He knew he was right, that Michelangelo was the mutant turtle Milo had idolized.

“Yep, I wanted to be him so bad.”

“But did you have a hideous green parka?”

“No, my mom did cave and buy me pjs, though. Speaking of which, I need to call her later, but not too late because she’s two hours ahead of us.”

“You know, you kind of are Michelangelo… Rock star and all. Raphael is still my TMNT hero. But enough about my childhood heroes, I promised you pancakes.”

While the griddle heated, Davey put on some music. Other than Lost Apostles, Davey had no idea what Milo liked to listen to and he might not like to listen to his own music after everything going on, so he chose a grunge Christmas compilation he’d found online.

Elvis was sacked out in the living room next to the Christmas tree. It occurred to Davey that Milo might think it was pitiful that a bachelor took the time to put up a tree. As he scooped up the batter, he opened his mouth to say something goofy about his decorations but Milo beat him to it.

“I didn’t realize how much I missed having a tree and decorations. It seemed… unimportant in LA. My mom has all the family ornaments, but seeing yours makes me wish I had some—and I don’t even really celebrate.”

Davey swirled the batter onto the griddle, pleased with the sizzle of butter around the edges. The hardest part was waiting for the little bubbles to rise to the surface.

“To me, this time of year is about community and family, not all the presents—although I do like presents as much as the next guy—so it makes me happy to put up the tree. With almost every ornament there’s a memory I get to call up about my dad and mom, although I don’t remember her as well.”

“Was you dad crazy about lights too?”

“Oh, totally. Every year he was out there like the guy from National Lampoon Christmas, doing his best to see if our house could be seen from space.”

“And?”

“Not as far as I know, but I’m still trying.” It was pleasant being able to talk about his dad with Milo, reminding himself how much his dad had loved the holidays.

Davey flipped the pancakes over. “Almost ready, have a seat.” He grabbed the maple syrup from the microwave and set it on the kitchen table, suddenly feeling nervous and foolish, but it was too late now. With twitchy fingers, he slid two pancakes onto each plate and before he chickened out and dropped them on the floor, he carefully set the plates on the table.

“More coffee?” he asked.

Milo was staring down at his plate, at the heart pancakes Davey had made. Davey’s own, real heart, was pounding in his chest. It had been stupid, reckless, too fast, all the things almost any boyfriend he’d ever had accused him of. He wished he could disappear.

“Heart pancakes?” Milo looked up again, a huge smile on his face. “For little ol’ me? Get over here, I need to kiss you.”

“They’ll get cold?”

Instead of replying to Davey’s stupidity, Milo stood from his chair, grabbed Davey’s face, and dragged him in for a searing kiss.

Unlike last night, this kiss was not a chaste promise. This kiss was carnal and hot and had Davey immediately hard. He’d dreamt about Milo last night, naked and writhing against him, and woken up with a massive hard-on, but it had seemed fundamentally wrong to jerk off on Christmas morning. Maybe he should’ve, because even fully clothed, Milo was making him crazy.

Milo seemed to feel the same, breaking off their kiss to pant, “Clothes off now, please? Tell me we can do this?”

“Yes, god, yes. My bedroom is—” A wreck, but he couldn’t bring himself to be embarrassed.

“You think I spent all that time alone in your house just looking at pictures? At least you have a mattress up off the floor and most of your clothes are put away.”

Grabbing Davey’s hand, Milo tugged him out of the kitchen. Elvis started to follow them but Davey told him to stay and he slumped back down on the carpet with a grumbly huff.

“Elvis is not invited, that’s all I’ve gotta say.”

Laughing, they stumbled down the short hallway to his bedroom. Davey immediately kicked his dirty laundry into just as sloppy a pile further away from the bed. Milo grabbed him from behind and pulled him close, sliding his hands underneath Davey’s untucked flannel shirt. His fingers were rough against Davey’s skin, probably from playing guitar for years.

“That feels good. You feel good.”

“I want you naked. I had a dream about you last night, or this morning, I guess.”

Davey turned around so he could see Milo’s face. “I had one about you, too.”

Milo looked at him from underneath his dark lashes, his sexy dark lashes. Then he licked his lips. Davey’s cock throbbed in the confines of his jeans.

“Was it good?” Milo asked.

Grasping Milo’s hips, Davey thrust against him, making sure Milo could feel his erection.

“It was good, but I didn’t get to finish.”

“Oh, you poor, lonely, deprived cowboy. We’d better fix that.”

“I thought you were shy.”

“Not in bed, not where it really matters. Take your clothes off.”

Seconds later, he was naked and both he and Milo were staring down at Davey’s eager cock. Playfully, Milo pushed him backward toward the bed. Davey let himself fall, arms and legs wide, as if he was about to make a snow angel in fresh snow.

The overhead light was turned off but his room was bright anyway, sunshine glancing off the snow outside. Davey didn’t know the words to describe how he felt, how the soft light and Milo peeling his clothes off and getting into his bed felt—except for perfect .

Davey watched Milo crawl onto the bed. He seemed to be eating Davey with his eyes—and that was just fine with him.

“Kiss me,” Davey demanded.

“Where?” Milo asked with feigned innocence.

But he didn’t make Davey beg. Davey totally would have begged but Milo scooted closer to him and reached out to wrap his fingers around Davey’s cock. He began gently dragging his fist up and down his length as Davey dug his heels into the covers, automatically thrusting into Milo’s fist.

Davey was already so hard, had had a semi since he woke up this morning, that he couldn’t decide if he wanted to keep his eyes on Milo’s face or his fist.

“Is this okay?”

“God, yes,” Davey moaned.

“What if I suck you off?”

Davey felt himself throb and saw precome ooze from his tip.

“Anything, everything. Just please, don’t stop.”

Milo didn’t speak, just leaned over and swallowed Davey into the molten heat of his mouth.

“Fuck, Milo,” Davey ground out, “I’m not going to last.”

Davey wanted to shove into Milo’s mouth, he wanted to wrap his fingers in Milo’s dark hair and drag him closer. He had a primal desire to fuck Milo’s gorgeous face in a way he’d never felt before. Milo’s lips were stretched around him, red and wet with saliva, his tongue doing dangerous things.

As Milo took him down further, Davey watched his cock disappear, knowing it was going to hit the back of Milo’s throat any second. Then Milo swallowed around him, and Davey bucked convulsively. He didn’t want this to end yet, but at this rate he was going to end up coming down Milo’s throat. “Milo I can’t, I’m going to, oh, shit.”

Instead of releasing Davey’s dick, Milo began to suck harder, his cheek concave with effort and his eyes watering. Davey gave up fighting the lightning and let the bolts of electricity at the base of his spine fly. He tried to keep his eyes open, but he couldn’t as he emptied into Milo’s mouth.

“Oh, my god, I think you killed me,” Davey gasped out. “Come ’ere, let me take care of you.”

“Mmm.” Milo wiped his forearm across his mouth before creeping up to spread himself out on top of Davey’s body. “I did take myself in hand this morning, unlike you.” He bestowed Davey with a long, lingering kiss. “ Now we can take our time.”

Much later, after showers and fresh heart-shaped pancakes, Davey and Milo lay squished together under a fuzzy blanket on the living room couch. It was dark outside already, Davey had plugged the Christmas tree lights in before crawling under the covers with Milo. They were both quiet, just kind of drifting and watching the lights.

“Hey,” Milo whispered, “Merry Christmas.”

Davey wrapped his arms around Milo, squeezing him. “Merry Christmas to you too, maybe my best Christmas ever.”

“Ever?”

“Obviously. Well, except for the time my dad let me talk him into buying me a set of TMNT action figures, that was epic.” Davey squeezed Milo even tighter for just a second. “Can I ask a question?”

Milo nodded, his hair tickled Davey’s nose.

“What’s happening with the Lost Apostles? Do you see yourself staying in Hollyridge?” Please, please, say you’re staying .

“Next time Christian calls I’m going to tell him he needs to talk to my lawyer, I am done with the Apostles. The guys know it, they just don’t want to deal with finding a new guitarist. Hollyridge feels right to me, I want to give it a chance to be my home again.”

“I’m really glad Elvis escaped the other day.”

“I think we would have found each other anyway, Elvis just made it happen faster.”

It was too soon, far too soon, but Davey knew he loved Milo Zajac already. His heart had just been in stasis, waiting for him to come home.