Dear Santa

Iggy sighed gently, brushing a loose strand of strawberry blonde hair out of his caramel-colored eyes. He was seated comfortably on his leather couch, which was one of the few pieces of ‘real’ furniture in his sparsely decorated apartment. In Iggy’s smooth hands, a snow globe was clasped tightly, thousands of artificial pieces of snow falling over the quaint scene held within the globe. Two snowmen- and they were both men; Iggy had spent ages searching for this perfect snow globe- were dressed to the nines. The snowmen clasped mitten-covered hands, smiles covering their coal mouths. Iggy shook the globe once more, just before the last snowflake had the chance to land upon the white ground.

Setting the snow globe aside, Iggy cast his scrutinizing gaze around the small living room. He had spent hours today decorating for Christmas. He had done a fantastic job, he thought, but it just wasn’t the same when there was no one home to see all of his hard work. A roaring fire was lit beneath the mantle, from which stockings hung carefully, one of them already filled to the brim with gifts. The name on the stocking was none other than Jack’s, who Iggy was expecting a call from at any moment. Their old Christmas tree stood between the two front windows, strings of colored lights and mismatching ornaments giving it a more realistic feel. Presents were stacked one upon the other underneath the tree, for Iggy had been working extra hours every weekend for the past month, just so he could spend a little more on his beloved. A Christmas village sat atop the coffee table, lit so brightly it took away from the blare of the television set. Iggy smiled contentedly, taking a sip of his hot cocoa and straightening out the wrinkles in his cashmere sweater.

Iggy had gotten so cozy that the light buzzing of his cell phone startled him; he shrieked, dropping his hot cocoa, managing to simultaneously burn his foot and stain the white carpet. Swearing under his breath, Iggy picked up the compact, grey phone and pressed ‘OK’. He brought it to his ear, muttering, “Ouch… hello?”

“Iggy? Are you all right?” Jack’s soothing, melodious voice sounded from the other end. The sound of his lover’s voice coaxed a smile across Iggy’s face, and he was so caught up in swooning over his boyfriend that he forgot to answer. “Ig? You there?”

“What? Oh, yeah,” Iggy mumbled, his cheeks blushing bright red. He was quite thankful that no one was there to see him, because he was sure that he looked like an overgrown tomato.“Sorry, bad service here at the apartment.”

“Oh… Well, listen, I can’t talk but for a minute,” Jack explained. Iggy could hear the sound of Jack’s fingers drumming against something, which was a nervous habit Jack had. Iggy wanted to ask what was the matter, but Jack pressed on so quickly that Iggy barely had a moment to think, much less speak. “I’m about to board the flight, but it’s already been delayed twice because of the snow. And now I’m kind of scared to fly, because I’m by myself and I always have you with me but now you’re not here and I just miss you. God, I can’t believe I said that. Forget I said anything! I shouldn’t have called-”

“Whoa, baby, calm down,” Iggy urged, wishing he was there to comfort Jack. It was very rare indeed for his boyfriend to admit any sort of fear, and Iggy thought perhaps there was some sort of underlying problem. “You’ve flown a million times before, sweetheart. You’re only an hour away from me, think about that.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Jack sounded more uncertain than ever. “I’m just being stupid.”

“Oh, you are not,” Iggy said firmly. “It’s gonna be okay, though. You’ve absolutely no reason to worry.”

“Okay.” Jack sighed, probably running a hand through his tousled brown hair. “I’ll see you soon. Love you.”

“I love you, too,” Iggy said, smiling as a familiar, fluttering sensation spread up from his stomach. He hung up the phone, setting it aside and leaning back in his seat.

At that moment, Iggy was the happiest boy on Earth. It was the day before Christmas Eve, he didn’t have to work at all for the next few days, and best of all, his boyfriend was coming home to spend an entire two weeks with him. Nothing could bring Iggy down from this newfound high.