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“What. the fuck. are you wearing?”
“What do you mean?”
“The fuck do you mean ‘what do I mean’?” Tucker whispered sharply, staring at Wash in disbelief. “Why do you even have that?”
Wash looked down at himself and adjusted the fake beard on his face. “I don’t want Junior waking up and seeing us. If he wakes up, I want to make sure he sees Santa.“
Tucker only hung his mouth slightly open before pressing hand over it to stop himself from laughing. Wash felt his face begin to warm in embarrassment, but he pressed his lips firm in determination. It was his first time spending Christmas with his boyfriend and his boyfriend’s 9 year old kid. If he dashed Junior’s belief in Santa, he’d hate himself forever.
“Look, I don’t want to wear this. It’s hot and itchy, but I’ve already made up my mind.”
“Junior’s a pretty heavy sleeper, dude,” Tucker whispered. “Waking him up for school is always a pain in my ass.”
Wash scoffed. “With my luck, he’ll wake up and walk in on us.”
“Yeah, okay. Whatever,” Tucker whispered amusedly. “You get to eat Junior’s cookies then.”
Wash felt his stomach plummet. “…Do I have to?”
“Oh absolutely, Santa,” Tucker mocked.
Wash grimaced and looked over at the milk and cookies set out on the nearby coffee table. They were supposed to be regular chocolate chip cookies, but what lay there instead were several lumps of coal.
Junior had insisted on making these all by himself, the only help he allowed was getting the cookies in and out of the oven. Wash had to turn off the fire alarm twice.
“Can’t we just… throw them away?”
“And risk Junior finding them in the trash?” Tucker whispered. “Come on, don’t be a baby.”
“Then why don’t you eat them?”
Tucker rolled his eyes. “I’ve been eating them for years. It’s your turn, Santa.”
“But I don’t want to die.”
Tucker scoffed and rolled his eyes. “If you can find a way to get outside to throw them away without waking Junior, then be my guest.”
Wash’s shoulders slumped as he looked back at the supposed ‘cookies’. Steeling his jaw, he grabbed one and attempted to take a bite out of it. Failing to do so had Wash nearly groaning in frustration before remembering he needed to be quiet. He looked over to see Tucker setting out the presents and he sighed lightly before trying again with his back teeth.
The loud crunch when he successfully bit into the cookie made him pause, his eyes wide. He couldn’t even focus on the fact that they tasted horrendous due to the obnoxiously loud sound. He quickly covered his mouth and snapped his head toward Tucker, who was bent over frozen to stare at him with too much glee on his face. He immediately covered his mouth with both his hands and crouched low to the floor, his shoulders shaking.
Wash wanted to tell him to quit and be quiet, but he still had a chunk of burnt cookie in his mouth. The taste made it hard to form any sort of word, and he forced himself to chew it. The sound of crunching was still cutting through the air and Wash had to cover his mouth to keep from spitting it out. After some sips of milk, he finally managed to swallow it all.
“Stop,” Wash whispered as loud as he felt safe to do so. It took everything in him to not also start laughing, feeling it bubble in his chest. “Do you think Junior heard that?”
“I don’t know, dude,” Tucker managed to whisper through held back laughs, “but that was so fucking loud oh my god.”
“Fuck it, I’m taking the chance and throwing them away,” Wash whispered as he tried to hold in his laughter.
He grabbed some napkins and wrapped the remaining cookies into them, then grabbed a plastic grocery bag from under the sink. As carefully and silently as he could, he placed the napkin covered cookies into it and tied it off. He tiptoed to his and Tucker’s room and hid it in an empty shoebox they had in the closet. He just had to remember it was there and properly throw it away when he had the chance.
He looked around at all the presents they had stashed away in here and smiled to himself. He and Tucker had been collecting them for Junior for the past month and a half. It was Wash’s idea to keep them at Carolina’s house until tonight, Tucker taking Junior out to see some Christmas lights while Wash helped Carolina bring them all in.
Most of them were from him and Tucker, but some of their friends had also contributed to the pile for the three of them. Wash was a little nervous about some of them if he was being honest. Simmon’s were probably safe, seemingly consisting of gift cards and educational books. Boring, but safe.
Sarge’s all seemed too heavy to be safe and with his fascination with guns, Wash wouldn’t be surprised if a real gun hid amongst the presents. Grif’s were wrapped in grocery bags that he and Carolina had to rewrap. They were almost positive that all of Grif presents were regifts.
Donut’s smelled strongly of perfume and were probably a variety of moisturizers. Wash just had to make sure he opened the presents for him and Tucker out of view of Junior. Doc’s were probably safe as well, but knowing the guy, Wash still felt anxious about them.
He was especially stressed about Caboose’s. No one could ever predict what the hell he’d come up with for everyone. Church was always gifting stuff that he wanted just so he could take it back and say he tried. He never got Junior anything, always making his dislike of the kid known. Instead, Tex would get Junior something and say it was from the both of them. Her presents always unsettled Wash, so he didn’t know how he felt about that.
Figuring since he was in the closet, he may as well grab a stack of presents. He did so and silently crept back to the living room. When he returned, Tucker was facing the tree, putting some of the smaller presents into it. Wash took a moment to appreciate the way the soft, colorful glow of the Christmas lights shown onto his boyfriend. Tucker clued in that he was being watched and he pulled his hands out to turn to look at Wash, brushing the needles off his hands and wrists.
“What is it?”
Wash smiled at him and placed the presents down to step close to his boyfriend, sliding a hand to hold the back of Tucker’s head to pull him into a kiss. Tucker moaned quietly into it, wrapping his arms loosely around Wash’s neck. Tucker pulled away and made a face, rubbing a hand over his mouth and chin.
“The beard feels weird,” Tucker whispered, pulling at it so it rested under Wash’s chin before leaning back in for another kiss. Wash turned them around and cupped his hands just under Tucker’s ears to angle his head up into the kiss. He suddenly heard some shuffling from behind them and opened his eyes to see a small figure in the archway.
Junior was standing there, watching them with his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide. Wash gently pushed Tucker back and quickly turned away to put his beard back on right. Tucker made a surprised noise at the sudden rejection and Wash turned back around, putting his hands on his hips and huffing his chest out.
“And what are you doing out of bed, little guy?” Wash said in as deep a voice as he could. “It’s not time to open your presents.”
Tucker turned around and noticed Junior, freezing. Junior looked between his father and Wash before his face twisted into one of distraught. He raised his arm to point an accusing finger at Tucker.
“Daddy! Why are you cheating on Wash with Santa?!”
Oh fuck, Wash thought to himself. This might be worse than Junior finding out Santa’s not real. What the fuck was he supposed to say? Should he reveal himself, thus ruining the magic of Christmas? Or should he try to keep pretending to be Santa and somehow explain why Tucker was ‘cheating’ on Wash. But what the hell could he say to explain that?!
“Junior!” Tucker exclaimed, “What are you doing out of bed?”
“My stomach was upset from the Chinese food last night,” Junior explained, rubbing his stomach. “Why were you kissing Santa?!”
“What are you talking about?” Tucker said, stepping away from Wash. “Santa was kissing me!”
A moment passed while Wash processed what Tucker said. Then he snapped his focus to his boyfriend and shouted, “What?!”
Junior gasped, his face scrunching up, “Santa! How could you?”
“Yeah, Santa,” Tucker added, glaring at Wash, “I told you I was already taken. Why did you force yourself onto me like that? And in front of my kid?!”
“I- uh… umm…” Wash stuttered, but he had no idea what was going on let alone what he was supposed to say. He looked between Tucker and Junior, his vision tunneling and sweat running down his back.
Then a laugh jolted its way out of Tucker’s mouth before he started laughing in full.
“Okay, Junior,” Tucker managed between laughs, “Let’s ease up on Wash before he passes out.”
Junior’s face morphed from one of anguish to one of giddiness and then started giggling, going up to his father to give him a high five. Wash furrowed his brows in confusion as he stared at the two.
“What?”
“Dude, I told Junior Santa wasn’t real years ago,” Tucker explained, wiping tears from his eyes and then ruffled the top of Junior’s head. “Go take your shit and get to bed, kiddo.”
“Haha, gross,” Junior said with a smile, bounding back down the hall to the bathroom.
Tucker sighed happily, turning around to seeing Wash glaring at him. “What?”
“Why didn’t you tell me Junior already didn’t believe in Santa? I wouldn’t have worn this stupid thing.”
“Dude, how was I supposed to know you were gonna wear that?”
“You could’ve told me when you saw me wearing it or when I explained why I was wearing it,” Wash whispered angrily, keeping his voice quiet now that Junior was gone.
“Calm down, babe,” Tucker whispered back. “It’s not that big a deal. I just wanted to see how long you’d keep it up. Come on. It’s okay. We can think of other ways to put that suit to use.”
Wash huffed out an aggravated sigh. “Don’t distract me. That was so fucking embarrassing and you just let it happen.”
“Okay, okay. I’m sorry,” Tucker tried, moving up to Wash and taking his fake beard off. “We didn’t mean anything by it. It was just a little prank. We’ll all laugh about this later.”
“This is my first Christmas with you guys and I’ve just made a huge ass of myself in front of you and Junior,” Wash whispered. He couldn’t help the pout on his face. “I just wanted it to be special and to not ruin anything.”
Tucker smiled softly at him, sliding a hand to cup Wash’s cheek. “You’re here, Wash. That already makes it pretty fucking special. And you just gave us an awesome memory I don’t think any of us will forget.”
Wash scoffed, but pressed his face into Tucker’s palm regardless. “I kinda wish you would forget it.”
“Sorry, babe,” Tucker whispered, giving Wash a quick peck on the lips before tapping a finger against his temple. “Got it all locked right up here.”
After giving Wash another kiss, he continued, “Come on, we’ve still got a bunch of presents to set out.”
It only took them a little more than an hour more to get the rest of the presents situated under the tree. The couple stood in front of it, appreciating how everything looked before Tucker took Wash’s hands and pulled him to the couch. They sat together with Tucker nestled into Wash’s side and Wash’s arm over his shoulder to keep him close. Tucker wrapped his arms around Wash’s middle and hooked his legs over Wash’s lap to let his feet dangle. When he laid his head on Wash’s shoulder, Wash leaned his down to rest on top.
They stayed like that in peaceful silence, Christmas music playing softly from the tv. Apparently it was a little tradition Tucker and Junior had where they played Christmas music all night every Christmas Eve. After the fourth song Tucker spoke up.
“Y’know,” he whispered softly, “Being a single parent is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I never really imagined myself as a dad or how I’d be as one, so the first couple of years were fucking rough.”
Wash only hummed in acknowledgment, rubbing his hand up and down Tucker’s triceps to comfort him. He and Tucker were never one for sentimentality and emotions, Tucker especially, so he didn’t want to say something that would ruin the moment.
“It’s just…” Tucker paused, as if trying to figure out what he wanted to say, “Every Christmas, it was always just him and me. Sure, some of the other guys would visit sometimes, but it was always just me doing my best for him by myself.”
Tucker looked up at Wash. “I meant it earlier when I said you being here made this Christmas special. Your idea to leave the presents with Carolina took a huge load off my back. I never trusted any of the guys with them and I’m shit at hiding things. You also helped me get them all set out. That shit took forever before. You also helped with the decorating, the cooking, the shopping. You even thought of pretending to be Santa on the off chance Junior woke up.”
Wash couldn’t help but chuckle, his face warming at the memory. He looked down at Tucker, seeing the lights of the tree reflecting off his eyes just before Tucker leaned up to kiss him. Wash hummed into it, squeezing at Tucker’s shoulder to get him even closer.
Tucker pulled away just enough to whisper, “Thank you, David.”
Wash’s heart fluttered at the use of his first name, as it always did. He smiled warmly at his boyfriend and leaned in to kiss him again.
“I’ll always be there for you, Lavernius,” he responded against his lips. He felt Tucker smile against him before claiming his lips again and again.
They kissed for a little longer before Tucker pulled away and relaxed against Wash’s shoulder again, looking at the Christmas tree. Wash leaned his head back onto’s Tucker’s and did the same, letting the serenity and peacefulness of the scene along with the heat from the body tucked against him warm him to his bones.
Eventually, Wash checked the time and saw that they had about 15 minutes before they had to wake up Junior. He looked down at Tucker, but just before he said anything, he stopped. Tucker had fallen asleep against him, his face lax and beautiful. Wash breathed out an amused huff and placed a gentle kiss on Tucker’s forehead.
Wash took his boyfriend’s hand into his own, intertwining their fingers and turned his attention back on the tree.
It wouldn’t hurt to wait just a little bit longer.