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Winter. The first snow. Just a few days until Christmas. All the shops were decorated for Christmas, everything had at least one Santa Claus in it, all the people were running from store to store, trying to find the best presents. Except for him. Except for that mysterious blond guy, Damen’s neighbor.
He was never smiling, never looking like he actually cared that Christmas was in just a few days. He always looked just sad and tired, even frozen since the winter cold had begun to set in. Damen wished he could give him an extra sweater and a pair of gloves for his pink tender hands. But he couldn’t, the blonde guy was always so unapproachable.
Damen himself was not really waiting for Christmas either. He was still recovering after his breakup with Jokaste. Nikandros was always telling him how stupid he was for that, but how could he forget a two year relationship after just two months?
“C’mon, big boy, we’re going to that very nice club full of beautiful girls so you forget about that bitch until Christmas. For the love of God, get out of bed, Damen!” Nik yelled, forcing Damen up.
“You are the one who wants to go there, so go without me, I don’t like clubs!”
“No, you’re going with me! Now! Go get dressed!” Damen huffed, but did as he was told.
“You can thank me later!” Nikandros giggled.
Damen mumbled something under his breath all the way to the club. He didn’t want to go there, but Nikandros had helped him too much to reject him and there wasn’t a better way of spending his Christmas Eve except for watching TV and thinking of Jokaste. So why not give it a try? Maybe Nik was right. Maybe this would be be good for him.
The road to the club was not a long one, just a few minutes by car. Damen and Nikandros entered the club, immediately being surrounded by colored lights and too loud music. There were some people, but not too many, which left room for them to see all the people from the big scene.
There were so many strippers everywhere, Damen almost felt sick. Just sick people came in this kind of club to see a piece of ass. He looked from person to person, all of them dancing, trying to catch the men’s and women’s eyes, to get some extra money. Some seemed to live the moment, the others seemed bored, sign that they were doing it just for the money.
Damen noticed someone behind the scene. Blue eyes, fair hair, it couldn't be true, could it? His neighbor was not a stripper.
“Did someone catch your attention, big boy?” Nikandros laughed, following Damen's example and looking at the blond. “No! You are not looking at him! He is basically the male version of that bitch!”
“That's not it! He's-” Damen began to talk, but he was stopped by a loud noise. The stripper had stepped on the scene, but fallen off onto someone's table. He seemed disoriented. “Hey, baby, how about you come with me?” the man from the table said, grabbing the stripper's ass and placing some money in the waistband of his lingerie.
“I'd better not” the blond said, getting up and walking past Damen, back to the scene. Damen watched him, focused. He had his face covered with makeup, but the faint flush in his cheeks was probably not from that. He seemed pale and tired, even with all that makeup. He seemed dizzy and weak.
Damen couldn't stop the frown from showing on his forehead. He watched his neighbor dancing and moving during the whole night, slowly losing more of his clothes, but also more of his energy. He was hiding it well, but Damen was not silly. He spent hours just looking at him, ready to help him if he gave any sign of needing, but the blond never did it. He was entertaining the guests without any problems, until his shift eventually ended. He disappeared after some time.
“It's time to go home, Nik” Damen yelled at his friend, who was flirting with a nice girl.
“Man, let's stay a bit more” Nik pleaded, making puppy eyes.
“No, you know I am that weird man who works on Christmas, I need to catch some sleep. I will walk home, you can stay here.” He squeezed Nikandros’ shoulder in reassurance. “Have fun, Nik, good night!”
“Are you sure, Damen?”
Damen nodded shortly before heading to the exit door. He blew in his hands as he walked past the club to its back door, when he heard someone shouting. He raised his head from his hands and saw three people...blue eyes! His neighbor was there and...someone was grabbing him?
“We told you, beautiful, just this night, and we will pay you~” one of them said, a sickening grin on his face. If he could, Damen would have growled.
“I told you to go away!” The blond moved the man’s hand away, but he was immediately grabbed by the other.
“You are coming with us, little beauty~”
“TAKE YOUR DIRTY HANDS OFF OF HIM!” Damen yelled. He immediately got between the three of them. The blond seemed surprised, but just for a second, before getting back to his usual neutral expression.
“And who are you? Do you want a quickie?” one of the men grinned. Damen wished he could punch that annoying face of his, but- wait, he could do this!
“His boyfriend!” Damen yelled, before punching the man in the face. It didn’t take a lot of time until both men left him alone with the blue-eyed beauty that happened to be his neighbor.
“Thank you” he mumbled and sat down on the ground.
“Waiting for someone?” Damen whispered, blowing in his hands.
“No, I just needed a moment” The blond got up, but his knees immediately collapsed. Luckily, Damen was there to catch him just in time. He wrapped an arm around his tender shaking frame and placed a hand on his forehead. “You have a fever…”
“Yeah, tell me something I don’t know.”
“I can take you home…” Damen waited.
“Laurent, I’m Laurent” His voice sounded weak, pained.
Damen helped the stripper back on his feet, but he was just falling and falling. It was worrying. “I can take you home, Laurent, we’re neighbors!” he said softly. “I am Damen.”
“I am fine, no thanks.” Laurent groaned.
“C’mon, you can’t even walk, don’t be silly!” Damen made the same puppy eyes like Nik, even if he was sure his own were better. Laurent seemed to be thinking for a few seconds, before he nodded.
“Okay, climb on my back” Damen said, before he got on one of his knees.
“You’re crazy if you think I’m gonna do such th- huuh! Let me go!” Damen grinned as he forced Laurent to climb on his back and held his thighs tightly, ignoring the blond’s insults and weak struggling. It didn’t take long before he calmed down and wrapped his arms around his muscular neck, resting his head on his shoulder. Damen could feel the heat radiating from his body through all his clothes.
The road was very quiet, he thought. He was stealing glances at the man on his back from time to time. At first, Laurent was just silent, but then... Damen couldn’t help the smile from coming. The blond had fallen asleep on his shoulder, his breath even and face peaceful. He seemed so innocent, so young, so...beautiful. What happened to this young man that made him become a stripper? It was obvious that this was not his type of job. Well, maybe he would find out, hopefully. He wanted to stop walking and rake his hands through his blond silky hair, but he was afraid it would wake him up, so he refrained.
Damen walked slowly to his house, avoiding all the noisy crowds on the street. The blond needed as much rest as he could get to recover. He did his best to search for his keys through his pocket with just one hand and not to move too much as he opened the door and got into the house, slowly placing Laurent on the couch. To his surprise, the blond barely opened his eyes before rolling on his side and falling back into a deep sleep.
Damen sighed. He was probably not going to get a lot of sleep that night. He checked on Laurent’s fever, placed a wet cold cloth on his forehead and watched his face twitch a bit, before relaxing again. He hadn’t seen this man so relaxed before. He was so beautiful, like an angel. He looked like anything else but a stripper. His lips looked so soft, asking to be touched and Damen couldn’t resist thinking on how they would feel against his own, the soft skin of his cheek against Damen’s palm. Maybe there was a start for everything.
***
Laurent’s eyes fluttered open and he looked around, confused. He moved the wet cloth away from his forehead and placed it on the small table next to the couch. He was covered with two blankets and his head was popped against some pillows. Where was he? He gasped as he suddenly remembered what had happened.
Laurent kept looking around, until he noticed the soft breathing. His neighbor was sitting on a chair, his head rested on the couch, just inches away from him. The man, Damen, opened his eyes and sighed, stretching.
“Hey! Good morning!” Damen said, rubbing his eyes. “How do you feel?”
“Morning. Better, actually. Thanks, but you shouldn’t have bothered to bring me here.” Laurent moved his hair out of his face and sighed.
“It was no bother, I didn’t want to wake you up, you seemed like you could need the sleep. I hope you don’t mind, your clothes are here.” He gestured to a chair. Laurent looked down, finally noticing that he was not dressed in his clothes anymore, but in some big sweatpants and a shirt, his expression turning into a shocked one.
“After your fever broke, you began to sweat... and you seemed pretty uncomfortable covered in it.” Damen mumbled, embarrassed. “You barely woke up when I changed your clothes. We’re both men, so I figured out it wouldn’t be a problem…”
It was Laurent’s turn to be embarrassed, but he didn’t let it show too much, except for his faintly flushed cheeks, which could also be from his cold. Why did this guy take care of him when he barely knew him? Laurent thought.
“Thank you for taking care of me, Damen. I think I’m gonna go now!” He tried to stand up, only being stopped by the other.
“Wait! At least stay here for breakfast!” Damen smiled.
Laurent was playing with the hem of his shirt. He thought a bit, then nodded. A breakfast was not going to kill him. Damen’s smile turned bigger as he got up and went to the kitchen to prepare some food. Why was this man so happy about him staying a bit longer? Maybe he was just as lonely as him...
Laurent got up and changed his clothes, getting back into his jeans and sweater. He sat back on the couch, where he broke in forceful coughs. Well, maybe it was time for him to call in sick. He would lose some good money, but better that than buying expensive pills. He quickly called his boss and informed him that he couldn’t go to work that day. Just after he ended the call, Damen called for him from the kitchen, where two plates with food were already waiting.
“I hope you like bacon and eggs! I didn’t have a lot of things in the fridge, so I tried to do my best” he giggled. Okay, that was a beautiful voice and a beautiful thing. Nobody had made him breakfast after his brother had died.
“I like them, thank you!” Laurent sat down on a chair and began eating. It was tasty, like the food his brother was preparing him. He almost forgot he was in his neighbor’s house, until he started talking again.
“So, why are you a stripper, if I may ask? It doesn’t seem to be your kind of job…” Damen was rubbing the back of his neck, clearly uncomfortable.
Laurent chuckled. “It doesn’t, does it? The answer is simple. I need money to pay for my studies and I need time to go to university and study during the day. So that was kind of the single job providing that.” It was his time to ask something. Laurent ate some bacon, before grinning. “So, what were you doing in that club? It doesn’t seem to be the kind of club you would like, at least at the first sight.”
Damen had his face buried in his plate when Laurent had asked. He looked at him, his mouth full of eggs and bacon. “My friend dragged me out of bed and to this club. He said he wanted me to talk to cute girls, but I think it was him who wanted to get a girlfriend. I lied to him that I had work today so I could go home at a reasonable hour,” he chuckled. “I will tell him in some time that it was just a mere excuse to go home and leave him with the nice lady he had found.”
Laurent bursted into laughter. “What a good friend you are!” It didn’t take long before his laugh turned into coughs. Damen rubbed his back gently, which shocked Laurent.
“Merry Christmas, by the way! I don’t know how much you care or not about it, but I still wish you to have a good day with your close ones!”
“Thank you, you too! Well, this means just me and my cat,” Laurent huffed. Damen’s eyes seemed to sparkle at the hearing of that. He really was a strange man. A beautiful, strange man.
“Then how about you spend your Christmas here? We can watch a movie on the couch and eat junk food! I know I am not the best presence, but I am probably better than nothing, or your cat!” Why was this man so excited? He had literally met Laurent just the night before.
Laurent rolled his eyes, a smile on his face. “I will try to ignore the fact that you just compared yourself to my cat, but yeah, I will take the offer. A movie sounds fine!” His smile got bigger.
“Lord of The Rings?” Damen was almost jumping from his chair.
“Deal!” With that, he really jumped and left to the living room, probably to prepare the TV and find the movie, leaving Laurent alone to eat. Laurent giggled quietly, to himself. What an unexpected way to spend Christmas. Maybe he could get used to it...and to this strange neighbor. He wanted to find out more about him. He stood up and left the kitchen as well, following Damen onto the couch.
And this is how two idiots got to spend their Christmas together! :)