Holiday Dinner

"Kellin!" Vic's voice called from the kitchen, sounding both anguished and angry.

Kellin chuckled and pushed himself up from his seat in the living room, switching off the television as he did so, and made his way into the kitchen, where Vic was standing in front of the oven with a huge tray in his hands.

"Kellin!" He yelled again, this time sounding more angry than anything else.

"At your service, babe," Kellin took a step forward to place his hands on his boyfriend's hips, causing the smaller male to spin around and glare lividly at him. "And to what do I owe this pleasure?" Kellin joked, kissing Vic's neck tenderly when his glare hardened.

"Stop pissing about with me, Kellin. I could do with some fucking help, you know."

"I wanted to help," Kellin pointed out, "but you kicked me out of the kitchen an hour ago because I was 'in the way'." Kellin quoted. Vic always stressed himself out at this time of year, going overboard with everything and flipping out at everyone for so much as breathing. Kellin usually sat back and enjoyed the show.

"You're not funny," Vic sniffed, turning away from Kellin again. "The turkey doesn't fit." He said quietly.

Kellin rolled his eyes and pulled Vic back, then turning him around to look at the bird he was carrying, almost too big for him to carry even with both of his arms (with its legs and wings dangling over the edges of the tray) already seasoned and ready to be cooked.

"That's because you bought one the size of the moon, and we can barely bake a cake in our oven." Kellin supplied simply, watching Vic's face fall dramatically as he stared down at his turkey, looking forlorn.

"Well what am I supposed to do?!" Vic wailed.

"Yet again you seem to have missed the other, normal size turkey I bought because I knew this would happen." Kellin said, opening the fridge and digging through it until he pulled out a turkey half the size, proudly presenting it to his boyfriend.

"... But it's so small." Vic said carefully, as though trying to avoid hurting Kellin's feelings.

"There are eight of us, Vic," Kellin pointed out. "And we probably won't even finish this one."

Vic frowned at Kellin for a moment before sighing and relenting, setting his own turkey down and cutting open the packaging of Kellin's.

The dark haired man watched in awe as his boyfriend made his way around their- his- kitchen, pulling out spices and herbs and God knows what to prepare dinner.

"Kellin? What the fuck are you still doing in here?" Vic demanded, already looking frazzled once again. "Get out. Now."

Kellin smiled and pressed his lips swiftly to Vic's, laughing as the other man squirmed out of his grip to get back to his preparations. Kellin simply waltzed back into the living room, throwing himself onto the sofa and turning the television back on.

____

For the past four years, it had been Kellin, Vic, his brother Mike, Jaime, Tony, Jack, Gabe, Justin and Jesse. This year, however, Jesse was spending Christmas with his wife and daughter, which Kellin had begrudgingly accepted.

When the guys arrived at two (all having learnt after turning up late the first year that Vic got extremely pissed when people didn't abide by his very strict timetable) Kellin was in charge of making their guests feel at home, because Vic was almost losing the plot, still slaving away in the kitchen. And whenever anyone tried to help, knives were thrown at them, so they all backed off. Well, not literal knives. Although there had been a couple of threats.

As usual, Kellin just stuck a FIFA game on and let his friends argue over who got to play first.

It took less time than usual for Vic to call him to set the table, carrying dish after dish of random food that they were all probably never going to get the chance to eat because they were all already so full.

"You okay?" Kellin asked as he helped Vic to set the table. The other boy wasn't quite as agitated as he normally was, not looking quite as stressed or murderous as he had the past few years.

"Yeah, actually," Vic nodded, letting Kellin wipe some cranberry sauce off his cheek. "I think we're done." He nodded at the neatly set table with a proud smile. "Can you call the guys in?"

____

"Someone pass the potatoes."

"Tony, why are you eating sprouts?"

"There's alcohol in this sauce, isn't there?"

"Holy shit, this is orgasmic."

Kellin looked happily around the dinner table as his friends devoured most of the food his boyfriend had prepared. Vic too was watching joyfully, hand entwined with Kellin's under the table. Next to him sat his brother, whose plate was currently piled high with his third helping, and he showed no sign of relenting any time soon.

Across from Mike sat Jaime, who was reaching across Tony (who was sitting on his right and looking almost regretful of the decision even though he did it every year) in an attempt to reach the turkey carcass.

"Wishbone!" Jaime called, grabbing at the dish the turkey remains lay on. Both Justin and Gabe, sitting on the other side of Tony, yanked the plate back towards them, digging through the bones and small strips of flesh to get to the small bone Jaime so desperately wanted.

"Gabe and I get to do it, because you did last year with Tony." Justin argued, hand buried in the turkey.

"Where the fuck is it, anyway?" Gabe grumbled.

"Give it here." Jack tugged the turkey from his friends' grip and swiftly pulled out the bone. "Who wants it?"

"I do!" Jaime yelled, almost lunging across the table, making potato flick into Mike's face.

"Hey." Mike grumbled, then returning to his plate.

"You don't get to have it, Jaime," Gabe repeated. "Me and Justin do."

"But-"

"How about we let someone else have it." Jack suggested, ever the voice of reason. Kellin looked to his left and smiled at his friend, who grinned back and twirled the sought after bone idly between his fingers. "Vic, Kellin, to say thank you for putting up with us and feeding us edible food. We now bestow upon you the gift of this wishbone." Jack grandly displayed the bone, placing it it Kellin's open palm with a wink.

Jaime pouted but didn't say anything, while Gabe grumbled in acceptance of defeat.

Kellin turned to his boyfriend, who had a content smile on his face, and offered him one half of the bone, holding the other with his own pinky finger.

Vic took the other half and nodded, indicating that Kellin should begin to pull. Not that there was much point. Vic was pretty weak, and Kellin was sure to win.

And sure enough, after another few seconds of pulling, the bone snapped in two, the larger half held by Kellin. Vic rolled his eyes and laughed and Kellin squeezed the bone tightly in his hand, the sharp, torn edge pressing into his palm.

"I guess you aren't gonna tell me what you wished for." Vic guessed, leaning back in his seat as the noise faded slightly into a hearty, full hum of murmurs and whispers.

Kellin leaned closer towards Vic, so he was whispering into his ear. "I've got everything I could ever wish for." He said, then kissing Vic swiftly on the lips before he could call Kellin cheesy or something else to ruin the premise of things.

"I love you," Kellin muttered once they pulled away.

"I love you too." Vic responded, taking Kellin's hand under the table once again and squeezing it.

"Guys?" Jaime interrupted suddenly. "Can we watch 'Elf' now?" He asked eagerly.

Kellin laughed and nodded, standing up and pulling Vic with him, slowly followed by the rest of the group with Mike cradling his half full plate.

"Yeah, sure."