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Keith is having a decent dream. Or he was.
He is currently being shaken awake by a mop of curly brown hair and lavender shampoo.
He groans and turns on his side. His husband flops down beside him.
"Keeeeeeeeith."
He grunts in response.
He squeezes his eye shut as Lance tries to pry it open. "Keith, c'mon, wake up. It's Christmas!"
"Christmas can wait half an hour," he mumbles.
"No, it can't. If we don't hurry, Mei will open up her gifts without us and I won't get any pictures."
Keith sits up and rubs the sleep from his eyes. "She wouldn't do that."
"Uh, yes she would. Meissa has less patience than me."
Keith blinks and stares after Lance as the latter slides off the bed. Lance rummages through their closet and pulls out a red sweater, which he throws at Keith. "Here. Wear this."
Keith pulls the sweater off of his face and holds it out in front of him. It says "Ho Ho Homo" in large, white, capital letters.
"Why do I have to wear this?"
"Because I bought it for you, and I'm wearing mine. And as much as I love that beautiful chest of yours, you need to be wearing a shirt for the family pictures. Which I will be taking."
It was too early for Keith to argue, so he slides the sweater on over his head and climbs out of the bed.
Lance grabs his hand and pulls him to the living room of their small three-bedroom house.
As common as it is becoming, Keith still can't find the words to describe the feeling in his chest as he enters their living room, hand in hand with the love of his life, and sees their daughter seated under their Christmas tree, grinning as wide as the man beside him. Lance squeezes his hand and kisses his cheek. "Merry Christmas, amor."
"Merry Christmas, Lance."
"Daddy! Papa!" The little girl exclaims, jumping up and running to hug her fathers. "Merry Christmas!"
Keith and Lance bend down to hug Meissa before she crashes into their legs.
"Merry Christmas, sweetheart!" Lance laughs.
Keith has heard that laugh a billion times, yet it still manages to melt his heart every time.
Meissa pulls back. "Time to open presents! Papa, get your camera. Daddy, put on the Grinch! I'll check the cookies and milk!"
Meissa runs to the kitchen table while Lance replaces the film in his camera ("Can't you just use your phone?" "That would ruin the aesthetic, Keith.") and Keith scans their movie shelf for the Grinch.
One of Lance's old family traditions was to put on the family's favorite Christmas movie to watch in the background of the present-opening. When he and Keith had celebrated their first Christmas together, Lance had insisted on carrying on the tradition, and they had settled on the Jim Carrey live action version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". The tradition was still going strong 7 years later.
As Keith is coaxing their old DVD player to read the disc, he notices that a member of their little family is missing.
"Hey, has anyone seen Sirius?"
Lance looks up from his camera. "Uh, nope."
"The plate is missing!" Meissa shouts. She runs back into the living room.
"The milk glass is still on the table, but the plate is gone! And there are crumbs everywhere!"
Keith and Lance exchange a look of realization before they both sprint to the spare bedroom.
The door is closed. Lance knocks.
"Lance, he's a dog. He's not gonna answer you."
Lance sticks his tongue out at his husband and opens the door slowly. "Those weren't chocolate chip cookies, were they?"
Keith shakes his head. "I think they were peanut butter."
Keith feels a small hand slide into his. "Did Sirius eat all o' Santa's cookies?"
"Of course not," Keith replies. "He probably only wanted the crumbs. Or maybe he ate the ones that Santa left."
They follow Lance into the room. A large black dog greets them, with a wide, smiling face, a wagging tail—and a plastic snowflake plate nestled between his paws.
"Sirius!" Lance scolds. "Did you eat the cookies?"
Sirius's tail picks up speed. He gets up and starts to rub his face on Lance's legs.
"No, sir," Lance continues. "I know what you did."
Sirius just wags his tail.
Keith puts a hand on Lance's shoulder. "It's useless. We both know he doesn't hear you."
"He's probably deaf, given how well he listens," Lance says, crouching down to scratch Sirius's neck. "He's a bad boy, but he loves his Papa. Yes, he does."
"Can we do presents now?" Meissa asks.
Lance stands up. "Lead the way, sweetie."
Meissa grins and races back to the tree, Sirius pushing past his dads to follow her.
Keith catches Lance's swinging hand in his own as they walk back to the living room.
He finishes loading the movie as Lance boots up his camera and sets up the tripod.
"Alright, before we open any presents we need a family picture," Lance states. "Get in front of the tree. Keith, get Sirius. Sirius, sit. Keith, can you get him? Meissa, move to the right a bit. Your other right. Stop! Okay, Keith, can you move a half-step to the left—okay, good! Freeze! Sirius, if you move, no scratches for a month! Okay, hold it! Everyone smile!"
Lance hits the timer on the camera and jumps into the picture. Keith loses hold of Sirius at the last moment, and he's pretty sure he blinked, but Lance seems pleased with the picture anyway.
They settle on the floor, Sirius weaving between them.
"Papa, can we start now?"
Lance throws an arm around Keith's waist and pulls him close. Keith automatically leans in and rests his head on Lance's shoulder. "Sure, kiddo. Just make sure to give Sirius his chew toy so he doesn't rip up all the paper."
Keith and Lance watch as Meissa pulls out the toy, rips the tag off, and throws it to Sirius, who plops down and eagerly starts playing with it. She then pulls out a present for each of her dads before looking for a box with her name on it.
Keith lifts his head from Lance's shoulder to pick up the box in his lap. It's about the size of his hand, wrapped with green paper covered in cartoon reindeer and cheesy Christmas-themed pickup lines. Keith chuckles at some of them. Now he knows where Lance gets his lines from.
On the top of the box is a Rudolph sticker, with "To: Keith From: Lance <3" written neatly on it.
Keith carefully rips the paper off and opens the box. Inside is a black necklace with a large red pendant. The chew necklace he'd been eyeing for months.
He takes it out and puts it on, chewing it experimentally. Lance kisses his cheek. "Do you like it, babe? I saw it in your Amazon cart and I thought you'd like it."
Keith grins. "I love it. Thanks, Lance."
"A telescope!" Meissa yells. "Dads, look, Santa brought me a telescope!"
Keith laughs as Lance snaps a picture and Meissa goes to dig under the tree for the other presents.
Keith sees the box still in Lance's lap and nudges his husband with his shoulder. "Open yours."
Keith watches as Lance unwraps the large, flat box. He takes the lid off and pulls out a black hoodie with large white letters that spell "This is my husband's hoodie". Lance laughs.
"Really, Keith? You bought me a hoodie?"
"What's wrong with it?"
"Nothing, but we both know you'll be wearing it more than me. You steal all my hoodies."
Keith just shrugs and grins. "There's something else in the box."
Lance looks back in the box and gasps. He pulls out a necklace, with a small circular pendant with a picture of the ocean inside of it. Lance puts it on. "I love it, Keith. Thank you."
Keith grins as Meissa lets out a squeal of delight. "Fingerpainting!" She runs over to tackle Lance. "Thanks, Papa!"
Lance laughs. "No hay problema, estrella. Maybe we can do it next weekend, after all the festivities."
Meissa turns to Keith. "I couldn't find your present to me, Daddy. Is it in there?"
Keith nods with a sly smile. "Maybe you should look a bit...higher."
Meissa frowns and dives back under the tree.
"He said higher, Mei, not lower," Lance calls out as he snakes an arm around Keith's waist.
Mei stands and points to the tree. Her fathers nod enthusiastically.
At this point, Sirius has had enough with his toy and he decides to be nosy. He nudges Meissa's legs and smacks her with his wagging tail as he sniffs around the tree. Meissa pushes him away gently and searches among the needles for the last present.
Keith leans his head on Lance's and feels his husband's arm tighten around him.
"A little to the left, Mei," Keith speaks up. "Your other left."
Sirius finds it before she does. He butts at the tree with his nose and something thin falls through the branches.
Meissa picks it up and unwraps it. She brings it over to her dads, studying it intently. "It's a book. What does it say?"
Keith helps her sound out the title. He can see Lance smiling softly at him out of the corner of his eye.
"A Child's Guib—Guide To Stargazing," Meissa reads.
"Do you know what that means?"
"Stars? Is it a book of stars?"
Keith nods. "Close. It's a book to help you identify stars when we're out stargazing. You can use it with your telescope."
Meissa's eyes grow wide. "Thank you, Daddy!" she yells as she throws her tiny arms around him. He laughs and hugs her back.
She pulls back. "Oh, I almost forgot!"
"Forgot what?" Lance asks.
Meissa grabs a present Keith hadn't noticed and hands it to them. "It's for you. Open it."
It's a rectangle, wrapped with Santa paper and lots of tape. The Christmas-tree-shaped sticker says "To: Daddy and Papa From: Meissa" in child handwriting. They open it together.
"Oh, baby, this is beautiful," Lance gasps.
It's a picture frame, painted with lots of bright colors. Inside it is a drawing of the four of them: Keith, Lance, Meissa, and Sirius. It's so sweet, Keith might cry.
"Did you make this at school?" he asks instead.
She nods. "My teacher helped me. Do you like it?"
They both nod. Lance picks it up and walks over to their bookshelf. "It's going right up here so everyone can see it."
Meissa grins and hugs them both.
They crawl onto the couch—Sirius included—to watch the rest of the Grinch. After the movie ends, Lance claps his hands. "Alright, everyone get dressed! Pidge'll be over in an hour to drive to Allura and Plaxum's, we have to be ready to walk out the door by then. Mei, you can wear that dress you wore to the mall if you want."
Meissa cheers and runs off to her room to get ready. Sirius runs off behind her.
Lance pulls Keith off the couch. Instead of continuing to their room, Keith wraps his arms around Lance's waist and pecks him on the nose.
"Merry Christmas, Lance."
"Merry Christmas, Keith."