Christmas Bells are Ringing [Carlos/Gael]

[memorylost]

Carlos had been at work, something he'd apparently volunteered for, so it made slipping into his rooms by mid-afternoon. He'd spent the morning and most of the afternoon with his father and sister, the three of them gathered in Daniel's kitchen and happily watching Leon's favorite Christmas movies in honor of their missing member. They'd opened gifts and ate. At least until Daniel had kissed the heads of both his children and told them to go- see their friends, lovers, which ever they wanted. Gael suspected it had been more for his benefit than Noelle's as his sister seemed content to stay put on the couch.

He took that time to set up a tree with a small gift in the otherwise cheerless living room. He then set about cooking a dinner, which with a little bit of Ty's help, that he was certain would be ready before the other man finally came home. He set the table after dinner was done, and poured the wine before he glanced at the clock and wondered if he should have just waited and done a dinner for Carlos and his siblings tomorrow. His nerves kicked up, and there was an anxious knot in his stomach as he found soft instrumental music to play in the background as he looked over the scene.

He'd changed while the food had cooked, but suddenly felt over dressed as he looked at himself in the hallway mirror. Was he really going to do this? Was he really doing all of this with the express intention of admitting to Carlos something he didn't think he could do more than once. For that matter, what the hell did it say about him that he felt sick to his stomach, nerves firing off as worry and doubt crept into his being as a whole. Who was he to think this was all a good idea?

Not that he mattered, he thought as he heard the door start to open. He really didn't get much chance out of this, did he? He was stuck, he had to go through with it... Lightheaded, dizziness aside, he was without escape and that meant all he could do was.....

Move to the bedroom and close the door to hide just a few moments longer. At least until he felt less like throwing up and more like he could handle this like a grown up.

Comments

[fistandbone]

Christmas had, Carlos thought, always been one of those holidays where he'd felt reminded that his parents had had too many of them. Before he was disowned they hadn't been bad, but the easiest time for the shyest Sanchez to feel lost in the shuffle, between mass and dinners and presents. Then, of course he'd been disowned and as much as it hadn't been his favorite time, it quickly became his least favorite. It was empty, he thought; the Kagans had tried, but Christmas wasn't really their thing.

Carlos had learned quickly to aggressively treat it as any other day, and he hadn't considered doing any differently now that he and Gael were dating. Gael would want the time with his family, after all, and even if Carlos didn't have a dislike of Christmas, he didn't expect that theirs was the kind of relationship that involved holidays.

His eyes narrowed a bit, then, when he smelled the scent of holiday dinner as he approached his rooms and he frowned a bit as he unlocked the door and looked at the rather transformed apartment. It would be Gael, because who else would?

"Gael?" He said out loud as he closed the door. "Are you here, or am I supposed to think that Santa Claus made a late visit?"