It didn’t feel like Christmas for Elliot. Or rather, Elliot didn’t feel like celebrating Christmas.
Elliot’s

boyfriend was still deployed. It was cold and sleeting, and it didn’t snow either.
Elliot

sat off to the side and sulked. Despite being surrounded by family, and one large dog,
Elliot

felt more alone than ever. The separation was a lot harder than he thought. So was not getting laid and having to use your toys to get off.
Elliot

mom’s tried to cheer him up by telling him he had a Christmas present coming on a late delivery Saturday night, but as it got later,
Elliot

was informed that because of the sleet, it was delayed. It would get there probably on Monday.

Figures. One bad thing after another, Elliot thought.

 Elliot was confused Sunday morning when his mother called him from downstairs. “El honey are you awake? The postal service made a special delivery. Your present is here, come downstairs.”
Sunday? The post office doesn’t deliver anything on Sunday. Still, Elliot was in no rush. He wanted to go back to bed and sleep the whole day away.
“Coming mom,” he said.
Apparently he took too much time because his dad got impatient. “Come on, we’re waiting here.”
“Jesus what the heck is everyone on about?” El complained, stomping down the stairs. At six foot one, he couldn’t go much of anywhere without making noise. “I’m coming, I’m coming…” He crossed the kitchen, wondering why his sister was giggling her ass off, and then El looked into the living room.

He was so startled that he took a step back and gasped. “Wha – what? Jesse…?”
Jesse couldn’t keep his straight face and broke into a huge smile. “Merry Christmas, baby. I’m home.”
“Jesse!” El shouted, running across the room to leap into Jesse’s arms. Jesse caught him, and the dog began to bark from all the excitement.
“Oh my god it’s really you,” El said in a tiny voice out of his tight throat. He buried his nose in Jesse’s neck. Tears poured down his cheeks. “It’s really you.”
“Yes, I’m here, I’m here. Christ, I missed you,” Jesse whispered in his ear, somehow able to hold up Elliot who had wrapped his legs around his waist like a koala. “Shh there there. Ah shit, you’re making me cry…”

El refused to let go until Jesse kissed him hard,
There was a gentle round of applause, and a barrage of “awwws”. El’s dad filmed the whole thing.

Elliot he slid down and dropped his legs to standing position, but he didn’t want to unhook his arms from around Jesse in case he was a hallucination. Goddamn, he looked hot in that uniform! “Are you really here?” he whispered.
“Yes, I am. I’m sorry I lied to you about not getting the holidays off, but I wanted to surprise you. Supposed to come in yesterday but the flight got delayed.”
“You were here last night??” Elliot cried.
My sister laughed. “He sounds so mad. Yeah, he slept at my apartment.”
“What?? You guys!” Elliot was too happy to be mad at them though. “Thank you all so much for doing this for me.” Elliot began crying again.

That got more “aaawww”s. Someone gave El a tissue. He couldn’t stop smiling, and his cheeks hurt.
“Jesse’s home,” Elliot said.
Jesse smiled and held him. “Merry Christmas.”
“You know, besides that time I got a Gameboy for Christmas, this is the best Christmas ever,” Elliot remarked.
His dad laughed. “You know I think Elliot got this same gift when he was a kid, he just likes his military action playsets life size now.”

That got a big laugh and even Jesse blushed.

El’s Dad beamed. “Ok, who wants some of my famous waffles for breakfast?”
“We do!”

Elliot found himself ravenous and feeling giddy and smiley. Now it felt like Christmas morning.

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Captions are fictional.