❝you got me a gift?❞ / ❝i’d rather spend christmas with you.❞ / ❝don’t you dare get me anything.❞
“you got me a gift?”
“I mean, it’s Christmas, so… it’s not like I just bought you something outta nowhere and it’s weird, right?” Sam rubbed the back of his neck and slowly stepped backward, easing his way down the front steps. Blaine lingered in the doorway, still staring at the poorly wrapped gift that Sam had shoved into his hands moments earlier. “Can you open it later? Like, when I’m gone?”
Whatever bravery inspired Sam to show up with the present in the first place disappeared once he could actually see his best friend. With his confidence shaken, he figured it would be less humiliating if he wasn’t there to see the look on Blaine’s face when the way he felt wasn’t contained by a box decorated with ribbon and a bow.
“You can call me or text me or whatever when you do,” he added quickly, resisting the urge to rush forward and wrap his arms around Blaine in a tight hug. Or possibly say fuck it to being subtle and pull him into a kiss that lasted until the clock struck twelve on New Year’s Eve.
He didn’t have the guts though.
He decided to wait and see what Blaine had to say about the present. It was a box filled with little treasures from their friendship. Movie tickets, concert stubs, birthday cards and bottle caps. Things that Blaine wouldn’t be surprised to find, right alongside a few that he probably wouldn’t expect. There were simple sketches of Blaine - his smile, his hands, his eyes. Sappy lyrics scribbled on pages clearly ripped from Sam’s notebook, filled with references that made it pretty damn obvious they weren’t about any girl he’d dated.
God, what if this totally backfired?
Sam was halfway down the sidewalk when he managed to speak again. “Maybe if you hurry I won’t be too far and I can come back.”
“i’d rather spend christmas with you.”
“Are you sure?” Sam held his breath but Blaine nodded right away, cheeks rosy and snow settling on the shoulders of his coat. “That’s… crazy? You know that’s crazy, don’t you?” He knew Blaine well enough to understand the silence that followed his question meant that he shouldn’t expect a real response.
He was okay with that. Part of being so close to someone is not always needing to hear them ramble on minutes at a time to get what they’re feeling. He knew that Blaine’s engagement wasn’t quite the whirlwind of romance he’d dreamt about when he tossed around ideas for the proposal. Still it seemed like asking for trouble to stay in New York with Sam instead of pack up to spend the holidays with his fiancé in Paris.
Especially if you knew that they’d kissed the night before, heated and desperate but too scared to do more than that when their lips finally parted.
“Look, I want you here… with me. More than anything. I just.. I don’t know.” He stared down at his feet and tried to tell himself it was important to do the right thing. “Maybe you need to go see him and talk to him. About you and him and… us, if that’s something you want.”
As if Christmas was the ideal time to possibly break-up with someone.
“Just promise me you’re not staying here ‘cause it’s easier, okay?”
“don’t you dare get me anything.”
“DON’T TELL ME WHAT I CAN’T DO!” Sam yelled back in his best John Locke impression, rolling freshly fallen snow into balls he fully intended to hurl across the backyard.
For the record, it was Blaine who decided this was somehow the appropriate moment to discuss Christmas presents. Like Sam didn’t have better things to worry about while crouched behind the fort he spent all afternoon building, determined to restore his honor after brutally losing at Mortal Kombat that morning.
“IT’S HONESTLY NOT NECESSARY! WE’VE ONLY BEEN DATING A WEEK!”
“WE’VE ONLY BEEN BASICALLY DUDE-DATING FOR YEARS?” Sam screamed, popping his head up and then ducking once he saw a snowball flying in his direction. “CAN YOU CHILL OUT FOR FIVE SECONDS SO WE CAN TALK ABOUT THIS?”
“IT DEPENDS,” Blaine hollered, cautiously standing with his hands above his head. “ARE WE CALLING A TRUCE? OR IS THIS ONE OF YOUR TRICKS?”
Sam rolled his eyes and glanced down at the snow packed into the palm of his hand. Reluctantly, he let it fall to the ground. As much as he wanted to annoy his boyfriend, it felt like a better plan to figure out if he really did need to return all the gifts he started hoarding underneath his bed months ago.
Actually he’d rather shit be awkward if it came down to it.
