Your Voice

I’d always tried to make Christmas special for Gemma since our parents had passed away. I didn’t want her to miss out on the magic of the day because she didn’t have her parents to spoil her. Sometimes I wondered whether I overdid it with the decorations and the cakes and sweets and festivity, but seeing her happiness made the effort with it. Waking up Christmas morning with Kade wrapped in my arms made the day special for me, too. I hadn’t really had high expectations for Christmas since our parents died but waking up and seeing Kade’s head nestled on my shoulder made me realise that this year was going to be different. Our little family felt just that little bit more whole because of the boy in my arms. I turned to press a light kiss to Kade’s forehead and he shifted slightly, sighing. I moved my arm to stroke my fingers up and down his spine. Kade squirmed slightly and pressed himself against me. We were both just in sweats and I was so glad that he’d gotten over having to wear layers to bed. I liked having his warm skin pressed against me in the night and when I woke up.

He made a soft moaning, mewling sound and I smiled. Sometimes it caught me off guard, just how much I loved Kade. I wanted to tell him. I needed him to know. But it wasn’t the time just yet. I ran my fingers through Kade’s hair, swirling through the strands gently. Kade sighed again, turning further into me, nuzzling his face into me. I smiled and squeezed him tight for a moment before loosening my hold. I shifted onto my side and Kade’s head slipped from my shoulder onto the pillow with a huff. I kissed him lightly, nudging his nose with mine. He opened his eyes and met my gaze and I smiled, reaching up to cup his cheek. “Merry Christmas,” I said and Kade blinked and then smiled softly.

“Dylan,” he whispered, his voice cracking. He brought his hands up to sign, “Merry Christmas.” I leant in to kiss him once again.

We went down a few minutes later to find Gemma already in the kitchen making pancakes. “Morning,” I said, surprised that she was cooking.

“Hey,” she smiled, turning to us. “You’ve always cooked Christmas morning breakfast for the last couple years so I figured I’d give you a break this year.” I smiled softly and crossed the room to take her into a tight hug.

“Merry Christmas,” I said, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

“Merry Christmas,” she smiled and signed to Kade. “So we have pancakes obviously, but I think we have croissants too.”

“They’re in the cupboard,” I said. “But I’m gonna have to go with you pancakes. They smell amazing.”

“Me, too,” Kade signed and I smiled and moved to wrap my arms around him. I moved to sit at the table and pulled Kade into my lap, not wanting to let him move any further away. He blushed but happily wrapped his arms around my neck and leant into me.

“Aren’t you two cute,” Gemma grinned at us and I rolled my eyes.

Not much later, Gemma served up 3 plates of pancakes and syrup. They smelt amazing. I couldn’t remember the last time we’d had homemade pancakes, only those crappy ones from the store that were kind of rubbery. Gemma’s were much better. Kade did move to the chair beside me to eat, though I hooked my ankle around his as we ate. It was Christmas, I was allowed to make sure the people I loved were close by, right?

After we’d eaten, we went into the living room and fell onto the sofa, Kade cradled under my arm. “Gem, you first,” I smiled at her and she scoffed.

“Kade’s the guest,” she said with a grin at my boyfriend. “I feel like he should be in the spotlight first.” I watched Kade’s cheeks turn a ruddy colour.

“You guys didn’t need to get me anything,,” he signed, “letting me spend christmas with you is enough.” Gemma rolled her eyes and clucked her tongue at him, digging out a couple presents from under the tree and putting them on Kade’s lap. Kade looked down at the presents wide eyed and then looked up at me. I smiled and pressed a tender kiss to his lips.

“This is from me,” I said, holding up the rectangular box in blue wrapping paper. “And these are from Gemma,” I said, pointing to the 2 pink wrapping paper packages.

“Thank you,” Kade signed and Gemma grinned.

“Don’t thank us yet, you have to open them first,” she said and Kade turned his attention to his presents. He opened the larger of Gemma’s first to find a rainbow coloured scarf with a matching hat. Gemma grinned and leapt to grab the hat and pull it on Kade’s head. I had to smile at how adorable he looked. He blushed and looked up at me and I couldn’t help but press a kiss to his lips. Kade turned back to Gemma’s other present and quickly opened it and 5 condoms fell onto his lap, all different flavours. I felt my own cheeks turn just as red as Kade’s had. My sister giving my boyfriend condoms…yeah, not something I’d expected to have to deal with. “Jesus, Gemma,” I groaned and she grinned, her eyes twinkling.

“What? I thought they’d be fun to try,” she said and I shook my head.

“We’re not talking about this,” I said and she just grinned at me.

“Thanks, Gemma,” Kade signed, obviously awkward. I just squeezed him into my side. He then picked up my present and unwrapped it slowly and I heard him inhale sharply as he realised what it was. He quickly ripped the rest of the paper off and revealed the new Kindle that I’d bought for him. He turned and looked up at me, apparently in shock.

“I’ve downloaded a couple books already that you said were your favourites but I’ve also linked it to my amazon account so you can download more anytime you find a new book to read,” I said and Kade just continued to stare at me in what I could only describe as wide-eyed amazement. I bit my lip anxiously and that seemed to snap Kade out of his surprise and he quickly wrapped his arms around me and moved onto my lap.

“Thank you,” he whispered in my ear. I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around him tightly and buried my face in his shoulder. Other than my name and when he’d agreed to be my boyfriend, I hadn’t heard him say anything else. It was such an amazing gift to be the one he spoke to.

“I love you,” I whispered against his neck, pressing a kiss to the warm skin. When Kade pulled back, his eyes were shimmery and I smiled softly and cupped his cheek as I kissed him. “You’re welcome.”

Kade stayed in my lap, sitting sideways against me and leaning into my chest. “Gem, your turn,” I said and she grinned and picked up the presents I’d bought for her and the one from Kade. She unwrapped mine first. It was nothing fancy, just a few clothes and pieces of make up that she’d mentioned she’d wanted, along with a new charm for her charm bracelet.

“Thanks, Dyl,” she grinned at me and I shrugged with a smile. She then turned to Kade’s present and ripped the wrapping paper off to reveal the box containing a pair of new combat boots.

“Oh, my God!” Gemma cried, pulling the lid off immediately and trying them on. “Kade!” she launched herself at us and tackled Kade into a hug, pushing him off my lap and back onto the sofa. I grinned at them and watched Kade hug her back. “These are freaking perfect, they’re just what I wanted! But they’re way too expensive! You didn’t need to get these. Ah, I love you so much.” She hugged him again and then moved away and hurried out of the room, I guessed so she could admire them in the mirror.

I turned to Kade who looked up at me from the almost horizontal position he’d been forced into. “I think she liked them,” I grinned and Kade smiled, sitting back up.

“Yeah,” he signed with a smile. He quickly got up and passed me my presents. I smiled at him and unwrapped the ones from him, seeing as Gemma hadn’t come back yet. I opened the heaviest one first to find the first of the Game of Thrones series. I grinned and looked at Kade who was biting his lip nervously. “I figured we could read them together,” he signed and I grinned.

“That sounds great,” I said and he smiled. I picked up another box from the pile Kade had given me. There were 3 all the same shape so I guessed they were all similar. I ripped off the paper of the first and grinned at the figurine of Daenerys. I quickly unwrapped the other two and found a Ned Stark and a Jon Snow.

“I made sure Jon Snow was in there,” Kade signed and I grinned. “I know he’s your favourite.” I chuckled and nodded. The little Jon Snow figure didn’t do justice to the actual character, but it was still awesome. I opened the boxes and took all the figurines out and stood them on the coffee table. I could easily see myself collecting the rest of the cast in the future.

I picked up the final present in my lap and found 2 ties folded neatly inside and chuckled softly. One was light blue and the other was a dark red. I turned to Kade and kissed him gently. “Thank you,” I said against his lips. I wasn’t sure whether he’d understand what I’d said, but I didn’t want to pull further away for him to read my lips. Instead, I just kissed him again.

Gemma came back a few moments later and fell into the armchair, still wearing her new boots. She’d also put on the knit jumper I’d bought for her. “Jumper looks good,” I smiled and she grinned.

“It’s so comfy,” she said, hugging herself and I chuckled.

“Good,” I said. Kade handed me my last present, the one from Gemma. “This better not be any more condoms…” Gemma grinned and shook her head as she rolled her eyes.

“I wouldn’t give my brother condoms, that’s weird,” she said. I frowned at her logic; the fact that she’d given my boyfriend condoms didn’t seem to register as weird to her. I shook my head as I unwrapped my present. Inside was a restaurant voucher lying on top of two folded dress shirts. I picked up the voucher and grinned when I saw it was to a fancy Italian place in town. Looked like Kade and I would be going on a date there soon. The two shirts were perfect for work, one was a light grey and the other was dark blue.

“These are great, thank you,” I grinned at her.

“No problem,” she said.

“Phil and Nicole and the kids will be over in a couple hours,” I said. “How about we start cooking?” I’d read the instructions and knew the turkey needed several hours in the oven. I was excited for the family to come over, it would be nice having everyone together for christmas.

Gemma nodded and jumped up and went into the kitchen. I turned to Kade as he stood up and quickly grabbed his wrist and pulled him down into my lap again. “Thank you so much for my presents,” I said and Kade smiled and he moved to staddle my lap properly so he was looking down into my eyes.

“You’re welcome,” he signed. “Thank you for mine.”

“You’re welcome,” I smiled. “I’m so glad you’re here. You’ve made my christmas by being here.” Kade blushed and I smiled and leant up to kiss him. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and pressed himself against me as our kiss deepened.

“Ahem,” Gemma said from the other side of the room. I pulled away from Kade and looked over at her. “Do you think I’m gonna slave away in the kitchen while you two make out in here?” She raised her eye brows at me and I just grinned. Kade slid off my lap and we stood up and headed into the kitchen with Gemma. I took Kade’s hand and raised it to my lips for a quick kiss. This was just how I wanted to spend all my Christmases.