It's Christmas!! And Ryan can't think of anything to get Michael what's he gonna do???
12 Days Until Christmas
‘what do u get for someone who has everything?’
That’s what Ryan typed into Google on December 13, 2016. Mike really does have everything - the newest tech, every article of clothing, homewares, things for his dog, and Ryan, which is probably the best thing to have in the world if Ryan says so himself.
Of course, everything that comes up is something stupid or something Mike wouldn’t like - like a cooking class or driving a race-car around a track a couple of times.
Ryan huffs and shuts his computer, rolling off the bed to go find Mike. Maybe he’ll be able to think better after some sex.
11 Days Until Christmas.
“So uhm…what do you want for Christmas?” Ryan asks carefully over dinner. He’s afraid Michael is going to freak out because Christmas is like 2 seconds away and Ryan doesn’t have anything.
Mike shrugs as he sticks a piece of broccoli into his mouth. “Dunno,” he says around his food. “Anything. Something cool.”
Ryan pouts, and he thinks he hides it, but then Michael is laughing at him. “Really dude, don’t sweat it. We’ve been together for so long. There are only so many presents we can come up with.”
Ryan glances up at Mike, and he’s smiling that stupidly perfect smile and it makes Ryan feel so much better about the whole thing. “Yeah, okay.”
10 Days Until Christmas
“I got you the best ever gift,” Mike says after a particularly dirty round of sex.
Ryan is flopped on the bed, still breathing hard and sweating. He looks over at Mike, glowering. “Fuck you, dude. What happened to the whole 'don’t worry about finding something awesome?’”
Mike shrugs and looks over at Ryan. The bastard isn’t even breaking a sweat. Then again, Ryan did all the work this time. “Yeah, but I found something so awesome so obviously I had to get it.”
And that just brings all the anxiety right back.
9 Days Until Christmas
“Mom?"
"Hi, baby, Merry Almost Christmas!”
“I don’t know what to get for Mike.”
“Oh honey, I’m sure you’re gift enough.”
“Yeah, but he said he has a really good gift for me!”
“Maybe a nice watch.”
“He already has a thousand watches, Mom.”
“I don’t know, sweetheart, but I have to run. Devon just went out on his skateboard and I don’t think he brought a helmet. Love you.”
8 Days Until Christmas
It’s 3am and Ryan is almost asleep. Until Mike slips his cold fingers under Ryan’s shirt to rest on his stomach. Ryan groans and shifts, wanting to push Michael away, but not having the willpower.
“Ry,” Mike whispers, now pressing his cold-ass nose to Ryan’s cheek.
“What?” Ryan asks with another groan.
“Can we come out on New Years? Like…publicly?”
This is not the conversation Ryan wants to be having at 3am. “Babe,” he says slowly, with a sigh.
Mike sighs too, and it’s far more disappointed than Ryan’s. “Yeah, I get it. It’s cool, Ry. No problem…Night.”
“Night.”
7 Days Until Christmas
Ryan feels guilty about the conversation he and Mike had the night previous. He’s hesitant to come out. Mike feels like he’s done with swimming and he can live his real life now. But Ryan is still planning on swimming in Tokyo, and he doesn’t know if the world is ready for them to come out as a couple.
Mike has asked him to come out a few times, and each time, Ryan has had to let him down. He doesn’t like doing it, but he just isn’t ready yet.
Michael is in the pool because, yeah, he says he’s done, but Ryan doesn’t believe it for a second. Ryan’s inside, morning practice over, chugging a Gatorade and looking down at Mike’s ring on their dresser. He's wearing a matching one, on his right ring finger.
Fuck. He can’t even get Mike a ring for Christmas because of course he already has one.
6 Days Until Christmas
ryan lochte, 2:27pm: hey babe
cheryl burke, 2:27pm: hey hey :-* merry holidays!!
ryan lochte, 2:27pm: u 2!
ryan lochte, 2:28pm: wat shud i get for mike?
cheryl burke, 2:28pm: shit ry
cheryl burke, 2:28pm: that’s a hard one.
cheryl burke, 2:28pm: he has everything
ryan lochte, 2:29pm: tell me about it!!!!
cheryl burke, 2:32pm: how about one of those fancy coffee makers?
cheryl burke, 2:32pm: or maybe a trip somewhere
cheryl burke, 2:32pm: idk baby. i’ll keep my thinking cap on for you
5 Days Until Christmas
“Five days 'til Christmas,” Allison comments, playing with a loose thread on one of the blankets. “What did you get for Mike?”
“I don’t know what to get him!” Ryan says, panicked.
“Five golden rings?” Allison teases, and Ryan hates the way her lips curl up in a shit-eating grin.
“Asshole,” he mutters, flopping down on the bed. “I’m actually panicking here. I have five days and no fucking gift besides a mug that says ’#2 Swimmer.’”
Allison is quiet for a few minutes, and so is Ryan, as they sit together on the bed. Basically everything he thinks of, Mike either already has or wouldn’t want. He assumes Allison is having the same problem.
“What about some kitchen stuff? He’s getting into cooking.”
Ryan sighs and nods. “Yeah, I thought of that. We could use some new pots and stuff…thanks, Schmitty.”
4 Days Until Christmas
“Dude, I got Mike the best present.”
Ryan’s jaw drops and he feels like the air has just been knocked out of him. “You got Mike a gift?” he asks, shocked his little brother even remembered it was Christmastime.
“Fuck yeah, and Mom helped me pick it out!”
Ryan’s anger bubbles over at that point. “She helped you?! Dude, I asked her for help and she rushed off to deal with your stupid ass!”
Devon laughs and Ryan wants to throw his phone across the room.
“What did you get him?”
“I got him an Amazon Alexa. The one thing your house doesn’t have.” Devon pauses, and Ryan can basically hear his smile over the phone. “With all that smart house equipment so you can just yell at a robot to turn your lights on.”
“Well thanks for outfitting my whole home,” Ryan grumbles before ending the call.
3 Days Until Christmas
Mike’s presents for Ryan are meticulously wrapped and under the tree in a neat pile. Ryan sighs when he looks at it, hoping there’s nothing too extravagant. Mike always goes overboard on gifts. It’s not like money is an issue, but Ryan is so shit at coming up with gifts.
Mike has always assured Ryan it’s just because he likes showering the people he loves with things they're gonna love, and Ryan wishes he had the same talent.
2 Days Until Christmas
Ryan manages to come up with a few good gifts for Mike. Of course, he still needs one big one, because he knows Michael has something big for him.
Still stumped, Ryan wraps up the rest of Mike’s gifts and puts them under the tree. Their piles, luckily, are pretty much even, so Ryan, so far, feels confident in his choices.
Too bad he only has a few hours to come up with the big gift of 2016.
Christmas Eve
“One present?” Mike pleads, plugging in the tree lights and sitting down by the pile of presents.
“Fine,” Ryan concedes, sitting down with Mike. “One present.”
It’s an old Phelps tradition to open one gift on Christmas Eve, and every year, Ryan says no. And every year, Mike begs until Ryan says yes.
Michael surveys the presents with his name on them and he picks one from the pile. Ryan grins, because he knows exactly what it is.
Mike tears open the paper to reveal a cardboard box, which he opens, and he immediately breaks out into a huge grin.
“You don’t expect me to actually wear this?” Mike asks, holding up the chef’s coat, complete with his name embroidered on the chest.
“Yes I fucking do,” Ryan insists, leaning over for a quick kiss.
Ryan picks out a gift from his pile, a small and light one, and unceremoniously rips off the bow and paper. Inside an envelope are tickets to Italy for a week in April, and Ryan feels dizzy with excitement. They’ve been talking about a trip abroad, minus Olympics, for a while now, and Ryan immediately lurches forward to hug Mike.
“Thanks, Mikey.”
“Merry Christmas Eve, Ry.”
Christmas Day
Michael is up at 8am and he shoves at Ryan’s side. “Get up,” he says, sounding like a five year old. “Presents time.”
It takes a few minutes to get Ryan out of bed, but as soon as he has coffee in his hand, he’s fully awake and down by the tree. Soon, the room is a flurry of torn paper, bows, and new gifts, and there’s a bit of a pause. Ryan knows what comes next. The big gifts.
Luckily, without prompting, Michael goes first. He hands Ryan a box and inside he finds a laurel from their first Olympics, but it’s been dipped in gold and silver.
“Remember this?” Mike purrs as Ryan runs his fingers over the gold leaves. “You refused to take it off and it got all stuck in your hair the first time we had sex.”
Ryan blushes, but he also feels tears prick at his eyes. He blinks quickly, looking up at Michael when he feels confident that he won’t actually cry. “Thank you,” he whispers, leaning in to kiss Michael.
When he pulls back, Ryan knows it’s his turn. He takes out his phone, and Michael looks confused for a second when Ryan hands it to him. Michael unlocks it and it opens to the most recent post on Ryan’s Instagram page, which Michael hasn’t seen yet as Ryan posted it just before they started unwrapping gifts.
It’s a selfie of them kissing right before they left Athens, paired with a selfie of them kissing just the other day. The caption reads, “the best gift I’ve ever gotten” and it already has thousands of likes.
Ryan is nervous because Michael is quiet for so long, but he looks up at Ryan with tears streaking his cheeks and a huge smile on his face.
Yeah, Ryan nailed Christmas this year.
