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“Are there moose in Indiana!?” The door to the Family Video flung open, Robin Buckley’s voice carrying in with the chilly wind and morning frost. Steve, who was stacking seasonal favourites movies right by the entrance, jumped, hugging himself against the onslaught of freezing air.
“Close the damn door, Robin! Are you trying to kill me!” His short sleeved polo shirt and flimsy green Family Video vest did nothing to stop the bite on his skin. “Also, what?” He looked at the door of the Family Video store they were standing in, almost expecting to see a moose walk up, swing the door open and grab a movie for the holiday season.
The store was decorated with string lights, inside and outside, there was a tiny fir tree on the counter by the till, decorated with little red and yellow baubles. Tapped to the wall were paper snowflakes and stockings which Steve had painstaking cut out during his shifts at the end of November.
Clapping, Robin got his attention back to her. “Are! There! Moose! In! Indiana!?” Robin punctuated, as she untied her scarf, which must have been eight feet long, from around her neck.
Steve, fixed A Charlie Brown Christmas film on the shelf, “Uh, I don’t know? I’ve never seen one but that doesn’t mean anything.” Steve shrugged, “Why?”
“I just saw the BIGGEST moose with the widest set of antlers and the meanest face!” Robin threw her arms around as she explained. “I think he ate meat! He was pure white and had a big beard-”
Steve laughed, “Jesus, Robin, I doubt he ate meat-,”
“But you don’t doubt he exists!”
“Do you want me too!?”
“NO!”
“Oh my god, okay, go hang your coat up and join me in retail hell, please and thank you. You’re safe from the meat-eating moose in here.” Robin grumbled, stomping into the back room and tugging her beanie with a large pompom on the top, off her head.
The day dragged by fairly slow, though a fight had broken out over the last copy of Miracle on 34th Street which had lifted Steve and Robin’s spirits before the day was out.
After their shift, Steve ran a car duster over his BMW to get the light snow off. He shook off the windshield wipers and brushed off the back window before throwing the brush back in the trunk and driving Robin home. Steve then drove up to Loch Nora neighbourhood and and parked in the garage. Shivering and hunched, Steve hurried into the house, fumbling with his keys.
Once inside, Steve shook his hair and hung his coat up, kicking his snow-caked shoes off.
“Welcome home, Stevie!”
Steve smiled at the sound of his boyfriend’s voice, floating through the house. It also smelt like cinnamon and nutmeg in the house and it was toasty warm, easing the tension in Steve’s cold shoulders. “Hey Eds, how was your-,” he cut off as he followed Eddie’s voice, entering the kitchen to see his boyfriend wearing a KISS THE COOK apron though both him and the apron were covered in flour. There was even flour in Eddie’s hair, which was thrown haphazardly into a bun on the top of his head.
“Uh?” Steve managed.
“Gingerbread!” Eddie cheered, grinning, dimple popping on his cheek.
Steve approached the kitchen island that Eddie was working at where, lain out, were pieces of gingerbread houses, yet to be assembled. There were also dozens of gingerbread men, naked and yet to be decorated.
“Did you make all this?”
“Why do you sound so surprised?” Eddie pouted, taking his flour covered hand and pulling Steve close. Steve turned to retort but Eddie was already leaning forward, melting their lips together. Steve sighed into the kiss, grabbed Eddie’s hip to anchor himself. Eddie tasting like gingerbread and something else sweet, a sugary candy of some sort.
Eddie nipped Steve’s bottom lip playfully before pulling away. He grinned cheekily, “I slaved all day making all this ginger bread so we could build the ultimate gingerbread house.” He pouted and Steve desperately wanted to kiss him again.
Steve, slightly dazed, (his boyfriend’s typical effect on him) could only nod dumbly.
“You got everything for gingerbread houses?” Steve finally asked, looking over at the other side of the sink to see on the counter which was flour free, was covered in bags candy and icing bags.
“One house. Singular. The ultimate house.” Eddie leaned forward and pressed his nose against Steve’s cheek, “And I made icing.” He hummed. “I can think of some things we can do with that.”
“I’m not putting icing on my body just for you to lick off, weirdo.”
Pulling back, Eddie huffed, “I was just going to suggest icing on your nips and maybe your-,”
“Nope. You worked to hard to waste it on icing my nips.”
“How is that a waste!?”
“Because it won’t be on the ultimate gingerbread house. The singular, ultimate house.”
“I’d put icing on my nips for you!” Eddie protested.
“And yet, here you are, nips bereft of icing.” Steve deadpanned. “Come on, let’s clean the flour and then we can decorate the ultimate house.”
Grumbling, Eddie followed Steve’s lead and helped clean up the mess he made, setting up the dining table to build the ultimate house with all the candy and icing ready for them to grab. Steve made them hot chocolate, complete with marshmallows, and the two began to hodgepodge together Eddie’s ultimate house. It had a m&m’s on the roof of alternating colours, Eddie drew swirls on the sides with icing, there was candy cane fencing and a jujube arch around the door. Peppermint swirls made up the brick path up to the front chocolate bar door, jujube door knob.
Eddie, the artist of the two, took little waffle cones and turned them upside down and painted them with green icing to put next to the door for pine trees. He added m&ms to the tree to make them look decorated as well. Steve grinned fondly, watching Eddie stick his tongue out in concentration as he pressed the last of the m&ms onto the green, flocked textured icing.
When Eddie finished with his finicky details he turned to Steve, eyes shinning, “What do you think of the ultimate house?”
“It looks amazing.” Steve hummed, “I sorta wanna… eat it.” He admitted, licking his lips. He stared at the chocolate front door. “Just a nibble.”
Eddie screeched, “NO! You can’t eat him!”
“But he looks so good!”
“No! Bad Steve! Ultimate House isn’t for eating-, STEVE!” Steve had reached for the jujube door knob before he was knocked back by the force of Eddie’s bodyweight, tossing him from his dining chair and sending both boys to the ground.
“Hmfph!” Steve grunted, “Eds!”
Eddie immediately began to bite at Steve’s bare forearm playfully. “No! No! No!” He said between bites. “I’ll have to distract you until the house can dry out and become stale and you can’t eat him anymore!”
Steve whined, “But babe, the icing was soooo good.”
“Eat the icing off my dick, Romeo.”
“Wow, you sure know how to romance me.” Steve laughed.
“But you didn’t say no,” Eddie grinned.
“And yet, it wasn’t a yes either.”
Eddie tickled under his armpits making Steve screech. “EDDIE! I will throw you across the kitchen! Stop!” He struggled against the other man’s strength. Eddie, straddling Steve’s hips, grinned wolfishly and and leaned down to to place a big sloppy bite on Steve’s neck.
“Come onnnnn, Stevie. Let me put some icing on you!”
“Ahh, fine, but you have to clean all the icing up.”
“That, I can do.” A wicked grin appeared on Eddie’s face. There was a chaos of movement as the two struggled to get to their feet, snatch an icing bag and, giggling, run up to Steve’s bedroom.
_____
Steve had a green wreath with a big red bow, a tin of cookies and a freshly baked apple pie in the car for Uncle Wayne.
He drove carefully over rate icy roads, making sure to take his corners carefully as he headed towards the trailer park, the song Run Rudolph Run playing quietly on the radio.
“All I want for Christmas is a rock and roll electric guitar!” Chuck Berry crooned and Steve smiled to himself, thinking of Eddie and his sweetheart-baby-darling guitar that he had spent (“Forever, Steven. I saved forever and sold a lot of drugs at stupid prices to stupider rich kids.” Which, hey! “Not you babe.”) albeit short forever to buy for himself. He thought about what he wanted to buy Eddie this year. Maybe a new amp? His other one had a thrifted piece of garbage kept together by duck tape. He hummed at the thought, drumming his fingers along the steering wheel.
As he turned onto the drive that led to the trailer park, Steve was forced to slam on the breaks abruptly.
“What the fuck!”
There, standing in the middle of the drive, forest on either side of the road, was a pure white moose. Well, Steve thought it might be a moose, as he had never seen one in person and only in images. It seemed… Larger than any moose had the right to be. It had to be ten feet tall at least, from the ground to his snout alone. His nostrils flaring at the sight of Steve, He turned his big head, his antlers wider than Steve’s car. He tossed his head back and forth, inspecting the burgundy BMW. Steve sat, frozen. The moose, complete with a shaggy beard under his mouth slowly ducked his head and sniffed the front grill of the car, eyes glinting.
Steve’s mouth flapped silently. Was he suppose to move his car? Should he back up? Then again, he didn’t want to spook the moose suddenly with the revving of the engine as he backed over the bumpy snow covered road.
So he waited. The moose sniffed around him, barred his huge teeth almost as if he was grinning and then, thankfully, trotted off into the trees, somehow maneuvering his huge girth and antlers between tree trunks. He was gone.
Frozen for only a moment longer, Steve sped up his previous pace to get to the Munson’s trailer.
He drove up, tossing a absent-minded wave towards Max Mayfield’s trailer and grabbed the wreath, the cookie tin and the pie tray covered in tin foil before slamming the door with his hip and heading towards his boyfriend’s front door.
Wayne opened the door just as Steve approached and called, “Ed, your boy’s here!” Which made Steve’s stomach flutter and his cheeks burn happily. Your boy! His boy!
“Have you ever seen a moose?” Was the first thing out of Steve’s mouth as Wayne moved to let him into the trailer. Eddie came padding out of his room, wearing a black crop top with long sleeves and low rise sweats, scratching at his belly button as he yawned. He grinned, seeing Steve’s eyes tracking the movement of his hand on his stomach.
“Hiya, Stevie.” Eddie cooed, pressing a kiss to Steve’s cheek and taking the tin of cookies and pie from his one hand. Wayne took the wreath from the hand and hung it on the door of the trailer quickly, Eddie shivering against Steve as the cold air rushed in and pinched at his bare skin. Unconsciously, Steve brought his arm around Eddie’s waist to try and protect him from the cold. Once the door was closed, Eddie wiggled out of his hold and headed into the kitchen area.
“A moose?” Uncle Wayne mused. “I haven’t seen one since my hunting days honestly. Used to go with my great Uncle, prolific trapper than man was. Why?”
“I saw one on the drive up here.” Steve explained, “He was the biggest thing I’ve ever seen. All white, with this shaggy beard on his chin and he sniffed up the front of my car-,”
“Good Ol’ Zeppelin.” Eddie added.
“We’re not naming my car Zeppelin.” Steve battled quickly returned turning back to Uncle Wayne, “and Robin had seen a few days ago before work. She thinks he eats meat. And I mean, I could believe it. He was mean looking and did I mention huge!?”
Uncle Wayne laughed, “He’s a wild animal, Steve, of course he was probably mad about you nearly hitting him! He must be eating good if he’s that big though. Good for him.”
“Not good for him, he’s a monster.” Steve grumbled.
Eddie snickered, three cookies in already. Steve squawked, “Those are for your Uncle, you menace!” Wayne leapt into action at that and snagged the tin away from Eddie, hugging them to his chest.
“Don’t make me put these in the safe, son.” He warned and Eddie gasped.
“Et tu, Brute!?” He cried. “Fine, but I get at least three pieces of pie.”
“Only one. The pie’s for me, you little bastard.”
“…I’ll accept no less than two.”
Wayne gave a great, put-upon sigh, “Deal.” He ate a cookie. “Aren’t you boys going somewhere?”
Eddie yelped, “Shit!” And he rushed into his room, slamming the door hard enough to shake the trailer. Steve rolled his eyes fondly.
“You sure put up with a lot, son.” Wayne mused, “You can break up with him, yah know. No hard feelings.”
Eddie screamed, “HEY! STOP THAT!” From his bedroom and Steve and Wayne laughed.
“I won’t get the kids in the divorce,” Steve faux pouted.
Eddie shouted, “DAMN STRAIGHT!”
Continuing as if he hadn’t heard Eddie, Steve added, “How can I compete with fun dad when I get called the helicopter mom?”
Wayne patted his shoulder, “I don’t know about those kids but with you baking like this for me, you’ll get me in the divorce.”
“Shit, never mind then. Who needs those shitheads then?” Steve grinned, “I’ll bake for you whenever, Wayne, no worries. Gotta be number one somewhere.”
Eddie shot out of his bedroom at the speed of the lightning. “Stop of this divorce talk! It’s Christmas!” He jumped on Steve’s back, nearly sending the two of them to the floor. He peppered kissing into Steve’s quaffed hair. “You’re stuck with me, baby. Let’s roll.”
Wayne, snickered, clapped Steve’s shoulder, “Good luck with this one. Have fun, boys.”
Eddie pouted, shoving his boots on and his leather coat over his black sweater with a spotted leopard picture on the chest. An ode to Def Leppard perhaps. Steve wrangled him into a scarf, mitts and earmuffs as well before they left the trailer.
(Normally Eddie would complain more about wearing the earmuffs when Steve wasn’t wearing any but from all the head wounds in the past years, Steve had a hard time hearing from his left ear, let alone through a muff.)
Piling into the car, Eddie said, “What about Bon Jovi?”
“What about him?” Steve backed up, away from the trailers to start on the road again.
“No, for your car name.”
“Nope.”
“I’ll find something. Something you’ll love. It’ll be your Christmas present. From me to you.”
“I’m delighted.” Steve drawled, rolling his eyes.
“As I knew you would be.” Eddie looked around as they headed away from the direction of Steve’s house. “Uh, where are we going?”
“You’ll see!” Steve bit his lip to stop from smiling to wide but Eddie caught it immediately.
“You’re going to kill me and dump my body!? I knew it. All that talk of loosing the kids in the face of a divorce got to you. How wrakeful of you!”
“Wrakeful isn’t a word.”
“You’d be surprised by what used to be common words, my peekgoose darling.”
Steve raised an eyebrow, “You’re sorta ridiculous.”
“And yet, you looove me.”
Steve sighed, “Somehow.”
He pulled the car up along the ridge of a hill in the park that looked over the big pond where the ducks swam in the summer. Now though the grass was covered in a thick layer of snow, there were about a dozen people milling in winter wear about, drinking hot chocolate from food truck and skating along the frozen water.
Eddie’s eyes bulged, “Skating!”
Steve laughed, “Yeah, sorry, I’m not sure if you can even skate but I got your size of skates and everything from the rental place and I just thought it might be nice but if you don’t want too that’s totally okay-,” He sputtered through in one breath but Eddie cut him off.
“Steve, baby! This is great! I haven’t skated since I was a kid!” His grin was wide as he leaned over to Steve and pressed a kiss to the tip of Steve’s nose. “Come on! You’ll have to show me how to tie the skates though, I can’t remember.”
Steve beamed, squeezing Eddie’s hand in his.
As it turned out, Eddie was better than Steve thought he would be. Which was, he could balance better than first assumed and didn’t fall on his ass. He was wobbly like a newborn deer and held onto Steve the whole time but other than that, he was actually okay at it. They skated around the pond until the wind picked up and the last person left and Steve’s poor ears couldn’t handle it anymore.
They grabbed hot chocolates and headed to the car, giggling as they went, their hot breath fanning out in front of them in puffs. “Did you see the guy try to show off to his girlfriend!? I love that shit. Ridiculous.” Eddie giggled over the rim of his hot chocolate cup.
“Is that because it’s a straight guy? Is that what adds to humiliation?” Steve wondered, throwing the skates into the trunk and slamming it closed.
“Oh, you know it. If it was you, I would lap it up.” Eddie reassured, patting Steve’s hand.
“Reassuring.”
They hopped into the car and Steve blasted the heat as they pulled out away from the park.
Eddie, warming his hands in front of one of the vents in front of him suddenly asked, “What would you do if a cat wearing a uniform pulled us over?”
“What kind of officer?” Steve asked.
“Like, a guerrilla fighter or something. Like, he’s got a little resistance thing going on.” Eddie explained patiently.
“Okay, hmm, when he walks, does he still look like a cat? Or does he walk perfectly? Is he still like, trying to get the hang of it?”
“If you’ve ever seen a cat do the walking thing on two legs, that’s what he’s doing. But he’s in charge of it. He knows what’s up. He does it all the time.”
“But is it smooth like a human? Or more cat-like?”
“Smooth. But it’s a struggle for his body, not for his mind.” Eddie mused. “Oh, but what if you go to pull out your wallet and you look up and he’s got no outfit anymore-,”
“Wait, how much outfit are we talking here? Like boots?”
“He’s definitely wearing cat fatigues. With a gun on a belt and a little hat.”
“Okay, yes if I saw this, I would be loosing my mind. I would be like, I’ve cracked! I probably wouldn’t be okay.”
Eddie laughed so loud Steve was pretty sure his boyfriend was going to puke. “After everything with the Upside Down, this is what makes you crack!?” Eddie grinned, shaking his head.
“It’s a cat wearing pants. Of course it’s gonna make me loose my mind. He pulled us over! Implying he has a car too! And he drives! There’s too much stuff happening with this cat to ignore!”
Eddie laughed, “The lore is getting deep with this cat and I support it.”
“This sounds like something from your Dragons and Dumbasses game, I swear.”
“You know what it’s called, don’t even lie.”
“I just like the pinched look your face makes when I get it wrong.” Steve teased, shooting him a smile as they pulled up into the garage at Steve’s house.
“So you’re saying I’m cute.”
“OR! Alternatively, I’m calling you ugly and I’m fascinated by you and everything you do.”
“You’re an asshole. Get in the house.” Eddie grumbled. “Don’t want you to loose your ears.” Steve closed the the garage door. With both of them standing outside the car, inside the dimly lit vacant garage, Steve lunged and smashed his lips into Eddie’s. Eddie immediately melted in his arms, Steve wrapping himself around him thoroughly so he couldn’t move away. Eddie’s tongue licked into Steve’s mouth and the short haired boy moaned, nearly falling as Eddie brought his cold hand up to grab into his hair, giving a playful tug.
“I love you.” Steve managed, between kisses. “You’re beautiful.” He gasped, part statement, part reassurance from his previous comment.
Eddie moaned, his cheeks burning, “Steve!” He whined as Steve’s mouth move down, nipping at Eddie’s pale neck, pulling his scarf out of the way. Steve found a spot to suck a hickey on to, Eddie squirming and panting in his hold. When they finally pulled away from each other to breath, Eddie’s eyes were glazed and neck bruised and Steve’s mouth bright red and swollen.
“I’m fucking cold.” Steve muttered. “Let’s go warm up, kay?”
“I thought that’s what we were doing.”
“Get your ass in the house, Munson.”
“You love my ass.”
“I’m not denying that. I just want it in the heated house.”
_____
Brenda Lee’s Rocking Around the Christmas Tree was playing on vinyl in the living room where Eddie was currently struggling with cushions and blankets to make a fort when the phone rang. Steve wandered over to it, laughing at Eddie’s frustrated face. “You need more cushions, Steve!”
“Get them from downstairs!” Steve called back before answering the phone, “Harrington Residence, Steve speaking.”
“Hey son, it’s Wayne.”
“Oh! Hey Wayne! Eddie’s just in the basement grabbing cushions, lemme get him for you!”
“Just put me on speaker, will yah?”
“Sure.” Away from the phone, Steve called, “Eds! It’s your uncle!”
Eddie coming up the stairs with a handful of cushions in his arms, dropped everything and skidded out on his socks into the kitchen.
“What does that old bastard want now?” He asked lightly just as Steve hit the button for speaker phone.
“I heard that.” Wayne intoned. Eddie blanched and mouthed ‘traitor’ to Steve who merely shrugged. “Anyways, I was helping Claudia with some Christmas lights today and I mentioned your moose there Steve,”
“Wait,” Eddie interrupted, “Claudia as in MRS HENDERSON Claudia?”
“Yes, Ed, the very same. Now, I mentioned the moose you saw and she reminded me of the Santa Moose.”
“Wait,” Steve blurted, “The what?”
“The Santa Moose. It was big in the 60s. Every year, around Christmas, a big white moose would show up around town, cause some chaos and then leave at the New Year.”
Eddie, laughing, asked, “What are you even talking about!?”
“It became sort of a myth for a while when I was younger. You know, be good and don’t let the Santa Moose eat you? No one ever really got any photos back then of course. But people saw and got word of mouth and it became more myth than anything. But judging by your description and what Claudia told me, it seems like it could be the same moose.”
“How long do moose live for?” Steve wondered.
Eddie said, “Like probably 20 years at most I would say. So this is ridiculous. Unless, it’s a cryptid!”
“What?” Both Steve and Uncle Wayne asked, voices blending together.
Elaborating, Eddie said, “A creature many people believe to be real and out in the wild but not believed to be real by mainstream science. It’s more of a pseudoscience. Like ghost hunting or ufology.”
“Oh my god, I’m dating a nerd.” Steve whispered and Wayne laughed out loud, voice crackling over the phone. Eddie blushed furiously.
“Shut up.” He grumbled. “Do you wanna hear about the cryptids or not!?”
“Please, continue.” Steve airily replied, smiling fondly.
“Well, you know of the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot, it’s like that. There’s also Mothman, who was spotted in West Virginia in in 1966. The Chupacabra in 1975 in Puerto Rico. Dover Demon in Massachusetts, 1977. The Jersey Devil, who there might be sightings of all the way back into the 1800s! There’s lots of unexplained creatures and if this Santa Moose is a legendary creature but there’s no evidence, it’s probably similar.”
“You understanding any of this?” Wayne asked.
Steve grinned, “Barely.”
Eddie rolled his eyes fondly. “What I’m saying is, this moose could be an unidentified new creature!”
Steve raised an eyebrow, “It looks like a moose though?”
“And the Loveland Frog looks like a frog!”
“There’s a mythical frog now too?” Wayne wondered.
“He’s not mythical!”
“Eh, sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me, kid. Anyways, just wanted to call and let you boys know about what I found out. It’s probably just a bunch of hogwash anyways. A moose is a moose. Nothing to worry about.” Eddie and Steve said bye to Wayne and hung up the phone.
Eddie turned and looked at Steve, a glint in his eyes. Steve gulped. “Let’s hunt the moose.” Eddie declared.
“I’m not going into the forest to hunt down a 12 foot tall moose. With what? You want me to beat it with my nail bat?”
“Steve. Please. Be serious.”
“I am! I think you’re the one not being serious.”
“We’re not using a nail bat. That’s ridiculous. We’re using a camera. Of course.”
“And the camera will show you, it’s just a moose.”
“It’s pure white, Steve. With a beard.”
“Hence the name: Santa Moose.” Steve pointed out. “Did you finish your blanket fort?”
Eddie narrowed his eyes. “Don’t change the subject on me, baby. I’m being serious.”
Steve smiled, heart warm. “So am I and I don’t want you to get hurt if we go traipsing through the woods after your legendary moose.”
“He’s my moose now? You’re the one who saw him!”
“Robin saw him first. If anything, it’s her moose.”
“Fine. Robin’s moose, but, why would I be the one getting hurt!? Why would you assume that?”
“Remember when I told you to meet me at Skull Rock-,”
“Oh yes, the fuck rocks. Where you were going to fuck me.”
“Oh my god, it’s Skull Rock and you tripped and landed-,”
“In the ravine, yes, my leg still caught in the root and nearly broke my ankle if it weren’t for the dark magic of calcium running through my veins. Yes, I have a vague memory.”
“I wasn’t going to fuck you at Skull Rock.” Steve rolled his eyes.
“But you had less than pure intentions with my maidenhood, that’s for sure.”
“Your maidenhood was nonexistent by that time.”
“How dare you insult my purity? I was saving myself for you. Also, just because I tripped once, which, let’s face it, saved me from being fucked at the fuck rocks by a utter scoundrel, I don’t have a poor track record with being beaten up. Unlike some people in this very house.”
“Eddie.” Steve couldn’t stop himself from laughing. “Jesus, if it gets you to shut up about the fuck rocks I will take you out to hunt the Santa Moose and I will cry when he gores you to death.”
Eddie cheered, throwing his arms around Steve’s neck. “I love you!” He crooned. He peppered kisses on Steve’s laughing face, “Best boyfriend! Let’s go hunt a Christmas moose!” He pulled away, “You got a camera, right?”
Steve sighed, though it was more fond than anything, “Of course, darling.”
_____
The camera was pretty new, a gift from his father’s secretary for his birthday last year. Steve had forgotten he had it at all, in all honesty. He didn’t really use things his father’s secretaries bought him, finding no use for items that were bought for their price tag, not with sincere thought.
Eddie, armed with the camera and wrapped up in his winter wear, wrapped a scarf around Steve’s neck, pressing a kiss to his nose as he did so. “There, all toasty.” Eddie declared fondly.
Steve blushed and tugged his mitts on, “Come on, we can go through my back gate.” The back gate which led directly into the forest the kids had affectionately dubbed Mirkwood.
Steve locked up his house, pressing his keys into his coat pocket and followed Eddie through the back gate which he closed behind them. He was immediately thankful for his boots, for the snow was higher than he expected them to be and he could already imagine the feeling of snow soaking through his runners if he had worn them.
Eddie had his hands posed on the camera, ready to snap a picture at the drop of a hat.
“What would you do?”
“Hm?” Steve asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Powers, like what would you do if you got some sort of… just like, impossible skill but it wasn’t like, useful.” Eddie elaborated as their boots crunched the snow and their breath came out in puffs. Steve’s ears were perked for any potential danger.
“Can you give me an example?”
“What if you could float stuff for one second?”
Steve laughed, startled, at that. “How heavy?”
“Hmm, I don’t know, maybe like a toolbox? For the heaviest?”
“A full toolbox?” Steve asked.
“Yes, a full toolbox but that’s like an upper level of your ability.”
A bird ruffled in the trees above them. Both boys stopped to watch for only a brief moment before continuing. “Can I move the toolbox?” Steve asked, “Like, within that second?”
“You can move it straight up.”
“How far up?”
“In one second?” Eddie mused, “I don’t know, maybe it can float at like the rate of a… hmmm, like a model train.”
Steve, disbelieving asked, “Did you say the rate of a model train?”
Eddie, laughing a little bit, nodded, “Yeah!?”
Steve snorted and then began to guffaw at the comparison. “What the fuck?”
“I was just trying to think of something with an easy gradual speed!” Eddie defended, joining him in the laughter.
“Okay, okay, if I had this power I would probably try to parlay myself into being a magician, like an illusionist somehow.” Steve finally settled on, still chuckling.
“But, what would you even do with it. It wouldn’t be that impressive!”
“I’m sure it would be enough for some amateur magic type feats!” Steve defended. “ A toolbox floating up at the speed of a model train for one second! Bam, magic.”
Eddie laughed, “Okay, okay, I’ve got to respect the hustle of making a career with it.”
“Thank you, thank you. I gotta be making some kind of money if I had this unimpressive ability.”
“Pure talent, baby.” Eddie grinned.
“It’s almost to wacky. The pure talent would be me making money with it.”
Eddie opened his mouth to say something but paused, looking into the trees up ahead and to the left of them. Steve bit his lip, “Hear something?” He asked quietly.
Eddie nodded. “Something big, I think?”
Steve stiffened and suddenly thought about maybe he should have brought his bat. Eddie, stiff as a board next to him, lifted his camera just as a rabbit jumped out from some snowy foliage, fur bright white and nose twitching and pink.
Steve blinked. “Something big, eh?”
“It was a fat rabbit.”
“You’re gonna stand by what you said?”
“I’m dying on this hill, buttercup.”
Steve nodded.
Eddie sighed, “I’m getting cold. I feel it in my old man bones.”
Concerned, Steve reached out and brushed his mitt against Eddie’s back, “We should probably start heading back then.”
“We haven’t found Robin’s moose though!”
“Robin’s moose can survive in the winter just fine while we will turn into icicles and die.”
Grumbling, Eddie pocketed the camera, “And they say I’m the dramatic one.” He still grabbed Steve’s hand, their mitts hooking together and they turned in their footsteps and began walking back to Steve’s house.
As they approached the edge of Mirkwood, chatting idly, Steve almost didn’t see it right away. Moving fast as Eddie talked, he grabbed Eddie’s arm and yanked him into a full stop.
Cutting off, Eddie looked at him wildly, “What?”
Steve pointed at his backyard, which was barely visible from where they were but what he could see -the fence and the diving board over the covered pool- he could make out the huge shape of the Santa Moose.
Eddie followed his gesture to see what Steve was looking at and gapped. “Holy shit.”
As if they were sneaking up on the creature, Eddie and Steve crept through the snow towards the fence, the moose coming more in view as they approached. He nuzzled his nose into the snow and then suddenly looked up, black eyes landing on them. Both Steve and Eddie stopped moving, Eddie not even moving to grab the camera. The moose huffed, walking towards them and Steve braced himself for an impact. But the moose did nothing. In fact, he seemed the opposite of spooked, scared, or angry with them. If anything, he was curious. Tossing his big antlers from side to side, he walked past them, moving around Steve’s side. Steve was grateful because he was pretty sure he would have fucking thrown Eddie away from the moose if he had gotten any closer to the metalhead than what Steve -and his protective instincts- deemed appropriate.
Once the moose crossed into the trees with Eddie still gapping at him, Steve grabbed Eddie hand and dragged him to the gate, noting that it was fucking open? Had the Santa Moose opened the gate and gotten into the backyard?
Ignoring that, Steve closed the gate behind them once again before leading Eddie to the house, his hands easily steady as he pulled the keys out, unlocked the door and ushered his boyfriend inside.
Then Eddie said, “Did the Santa Moose open the backyard gate?”
“I have too many questions, that one on the top of my list.” Steve grumbled, locking the door behind them.
Eddie grinned, “THE MOOSE! We saw him- oh fuck, I forgot to take a picture. Do you think he’s gotten that far?”
“You’re not going back out.”
Eddie’s face softened, “Aww, is Stevie worried about me?”
“No, I hate you. Go and freeze in a snowbank.”
Eddie squealed a laugh, “Aww Steve, come on, take off your coat and shit and we’ll relax.” He squeezed Steve’s shoulders and pressed his cold lips to Steve’s equally cold cheek. “We can warm up in front of the fire, hm?”
Jaw tight with tension, Steve nodded. He hadn’t realized how severe his protective instincts had gotten over the last couple of years and having his boyfriend, having his Eddie in potential danger had drawn Steve taut like a guitar string, tensed and ready to fight.
Eddie helped Steve out of his scarf and mitts. Steve, ripping his coat off and hanging it up along side Eddie’s coat, followed Eddie into the living room where he mechanically began setting up the fire place as his boyfriend added the finishing touches on the blanket fort. Once the hearth was blazing, Eddie dragged him into the covering of the fort and pressed their frosted lips together. “Stay here.” Eddie ordered, before leaving and running up the stairs to Steve’s bedroom.
Blinking in surprise, Steve settled into the pillows and wrapped a blanket around his legs, curling his fingers into the fluffy plaid blanket and burrowing his feet into the pile of more blankets further down that Eddie hadn’t used for construction.
Eddie’s footsteps thumped down the stairs and he appeared at the door again, acoustic guitar in hand. He scrambled inside, careful with his guitar as he got in, crawling over Steve to get further in.
“Okay, baby, pick a song.”
Steve blinked, “You never let me pick music.”
“Consider it an early Christmas present for my favourite boy.” Eddie winked.
Steve blushed, “Ugh fine. Can I pick a Christmas song?”
Eddie considered this, “Fine, but if I don’t know if, I get to pick something.”
With narrowed eyes, Steve agreed. With a minute of thought, Steve finally decided on, “Darlene Love, Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) is my choice.”
Eddie paused and hummed the tune softly, playing three notes on his guitar. He wrinkled his nose and tried anther four notes. He nodded, “You win this time, baby.”
He ran his guitar pick over the strings, “The snow’s coming down. I’m watching it fall. Lots of people around. Baby, please come home…” He sang, his voice soft like velvet. Steve shifted in the fort, covering his boyfriend with blanket as well as he cuddled close to his hip. “Christmas… the church bells in town… all ringing in song… Christmas… what a happy sound… baby please come home.”
Steve watched the way Eddie’s lips curled around each word, plush and pink like a pale rose. His tone was smooth, syrupy like honey. Sweet and soft, full of affection.
“They’re singing Deck the Hall but it’s not like Christmas at all, ‘Cause I remember when you were here and all the fun we had last year. Christmas… Pretty lights on the tree… I’m watching them shine… Christmas… You should be here with me, baby, please come home.”
Eddie’s eyes flickered to Steve’s and he smiled, his fingers still working the guitar string to create a steady tune, dancing around them inside the blanket fort. It was warm, the crackling fire outside the fort and the furry soft blankets and squishy pillows all around them. And Eddie. Steve could feel his own heart inside his chest. Eddie.
He was so beautiful, cheeks rosy and lips bright, singing in low soothing tones. His hair was a mess of unruly, dark curls and his eyes were shining like pearls as he watched his hands working the guitar. Steve wished he was a poet so he could write sonnets dedicated to the beautiful way his fingers twitched over the guitar strings, or the way his sharp jaw worked as he spoke and sang, Adam’s apple bobbing along the expanse of his pale neck. Steve would write as madly as he felt, reverently, with fever, dedicated pages and pages to how beautiful Eddie was and how stupidly in love Steve was with him.
“They’re singing Deck the Halls, but it’s not like Christmas at all. ‘Cause I remember when you were here and all the fun we had last year. Christmas… If there was a way… I’d hold back this tear… Christmas… but it’s Christmas Day… Please won’t you come home? The snow’s coming down. I’m watching it fall…” The guitar was easing out, the sound dying as Eddie spoke, more than sang the last words, “Lots of people around… Baby, please come home.”
As soon at the last word was out of his mouth, Steve launched himself into Eddie’s arm, throwing his arms around the lanky boy’s neck and pulling him into a eager, needy kiss. Eddie pushed his guitar out of the way so it wouldn’t be damaged and returned the kiss with the same need and vigour.
“Steve- I-,” Eddie managed to get out.
“I love you so much.” Steve beat him to it. “Eddie,” he moaned. Eddie whined as Steve’s weight pushed him down, anchoring him on to the pillows beneath.
“I love you too, Steve Harrington.” It should have sounded teasing, the way Eddie said is name but it came out reverently, more like a prayer. He pressed gentle kisses to Steve’s jaw, before catching his lip in an achingly hot and lovingly smothering kiss, “Merry Christmas.”