"mom! we're home!" josh yells as soon as brendon and him cross the front door. he's lucky he took his copy of the house keys to brendon's house, otherwise they would've to wait for someone to open the door in the disgusting cold outside.
the two friends are carrying bags with the beautifully wrapped presents, lily did that for them, and homemade cinnamon rolls, also made by lily. ashley runs to hug them, her hands dirty with flour and applesauce, "you jerk! why didn't you tell me you were bringing dessert?"
"uh, merry christmas to you too, ash?" brendon says with a hurtful tone.
"i've been trying to make a pie but jordan isn't being helpful," she rolls her eyes and points to the busy kitchen space.
"i'm trying to help! i didn't know you needed sugar for the applesauce!" jordan objects, his face covered in flour, applesauce and butter. they follow ashley to the kitchen, leaving their presents under the tree next to the rest. josh's mom is chopping off some potatoes, while the youngest sibling is cleaning the spilled flour off the counter.
brendon puts the cinnamon rolls next to the bowl of spaghetti and a box of decorated cookies. "do you need help with something, mrs. dun?" he goes to her side and puts the chopped off potatoes in the pot with the rest.
"you know you don't have to call me that, brendon. and i'd love you guys' help. bill went to the basement to get some spices for me, so i need all hands on deck," she hugs him and calls josh to join the hug, "i missed you, dears. how did your week go? did you have any troubles looking after the house?"
"it went pretty good. we played a ton of smash bros." josh replies, getting ready to work on the stuffing and cranberry sauce with jordan.
"you played smash bros. without me?!" the youngest sibling whines, a frown of flour decorating his face.
brendon gets the ingredients ready for the dishes he'll work on with ashley, namely gravy and roasted vegetables. "sorry, bud. we can play some after we open the presents. i brought my switch."
"really? nice."
the whole family continues to work on dinner, everyone has an important thing to prepare so no time is wasted. josh's dad comes back with a box full of backup spices, along with special ones that they only use for big occasions such as christmas. it's a very lovely atmosphere. to be completely honest, josh can't help but keep looking over at his friend to see how he's doing. he knows that his parents aren't the best when it comes to holidays, like today, so he's almost always over for them.
when they say they're together all the time, they mean it. christmas, fourth of july, thanksgiving, new years eve... any holiday you can name, they've spent it together at least six times. to josh's delight, brendon seems happy. he's laughing to some anecdotes ashley's telling him, having a truly engaging conversation. after all, josh only cares about brendon being happy...and a few other things, but mostly brendon being happy.
„"„
after eating dinner, the dun family sits around the tree to exchange gifts. the delicious looking plate of cinnamon rolls is on the coffee table so they all can share them while they open the presents. everyone practically gets the things they really wanted; jordan got a ps4 and the spiderman game for it, ashley got an eyeshadow palette and new workout shoes for cheerleading... the list keeps going on and on, it would be annoying to hear it all.
"you didn't need to give me anything, mr. and mrs. dun," brendon says with teary eyes, hugging the detroit: become human box. he's been thinking about buying the game ever since it came out, but he never got around to do it.
"please, brendon. you're part of the family, of course we were going to get you something," bill smiles, "thank you for bringing the cinnamon rolls. did you two make them?"
"oh no, lily came over to wish us happy holidays and baked them for us."
laura puts some of the wrapping paper in a trash bag to recycle later on, "oh, lily! we haven't seen her in a while. tell her that we loved them." she sits back down on the sofa with bill, exchanging looks with him before nodding in agreement. "kids, your father and i have something we want to tell you about."
"are we going to disney?" ashley asks, her attention mostly on her phone to tell her friends about her gifts. "heather's family is going to disney for new year's eve and spring break."
"that's good for them. our news are different," bill says, his tone sounding a little nervous, "our family is going to grow next year and–"
"are you finally gonna adopt brendon?" jordan interrupts.
josh groans and sighs in disbelief, "jesus christ, jordan! he'a not a dog." he adores his baby brother, but sometimes he gets on his nerves. "you're gonna have another kid? is that it?"
both parents share one more look between them and nod. "we are, you'll have a little sister or brother soon," laura confirms, expecting a bad reaction. on the contrary, everyone seems to be happy and excited. it's a huge relief. the three kids stand up and give a hug to their parents, some more visibly pumped than others.
"congrats! i'm really happy for you," brendon joins the hug, being an honorary member of the family and all.
"thank you so much, darling," laura smiles.
"wait," jordan interrupts once again, his eyes widening at the realization, "does this mean i'll have to share my room with the baby?"
"until josh leaves for college, probably, kiddo."
"i'm not giving him my room," josh takes a cinnamon roll from the plate and sits with brendon next to the lit fireplace.
"we'll discuss it when the time comes."
jordan turns to josh and sticks his tongue out to him. the older sibling rolls his eyes and lets it slide; after all, he's not the one who'll get crushed while playing smash bros.
laura notices an unopened box still under the tree. she gets up to get it and passes it to josh, "honey, mrs. patrick came over before you arrived and said to give this to you."
"is that why we have the cookies she always gives us in the kitchen?" he takes it, leaving his half eaten cinnamon roll aside to open the gift. the box is decorated with a beautiful floral pattern, yellow tulips to be exact. the matching yellow bow is so beautiful, josh is careful to not tear it apart to save it. he gets his hand inside the box and takes out a crystal box. inside the see through crystal box, an arrangement of flowers lives encased in the glass. the flowers include from lavander to black petunias, from poppies to peonies, from roses to daffodils, from cornflowers to red carnations, even yellow tulips are in the mix. it seems like the entire catalog of flowers is here, perfectly in harmony in their own little ecosystem.
"whoa, that's so cool," brendon mentions, "it's like she gave you her whole flower garden."
"i guess so," josh places the gift on the accent table next to him and fishes for the note at the bottom of the box. he reads it in his mind as the rest of the people in the room go about and talk about miscellaneous topics.
dear joshua;
i hope this gifts gets to you safe and sound. i saved a few of my flowers all year long for something special, and this gift is it. i asked mr. patrick to help me preserve the flowers in the glass so they never wilt, or at least i hope they don't.
a little bird told me you came out to your family, i'm so proud of you. all the flowers represent different things, just like their colors do as well. it's like your own personal pride flag made out of flowers. my intention is for you to remember that life can always prosper and grow, just like plants do. the colors are also my secret way of you having something to reminds you of that whenever you need it the most.
thank you for being such a kind, young man as always. merry christmas.
merry christmas,
stephanie patrick (with help of mr. patrick).
he can't help but be moved by the present. it's the most thoughtful gift he's ever received. not that this new airpods aren't thoughtful and special, but those don't have a heartfelt note to go with them. he puts the note and the crystal back in the box and goes to his room to save it from getting broken with all the commotion downstairs. his desk seems like the perfect temporal home for it, maybe he'll change it and display it on his shelves later on.
of course, brendon followed him and is admiring the utter beauty from the doorway. "hey, you alright?" he asks, his present still lingering on his hand.
"yeah. i just wanted to keep it up here before someone accidentally breaks it," josh replies and sits on his bed. he pats the space next to him, inviting his friend to accompany him. brendon accepts, closing the door behind him so jordan doesn't snoop in and leaves the game on the desk with the other gift.
"what's up? you're still sad about the whole tyler thing?" they lay back on the bed, looking up at the glow in the dark stars on the ceiling that have been there ever since they were little kids.
"duh. it sucks. it fucking sucks. i finally had him back and i ran away. i'm a coward."
"you're not, you made the right choice. it wouldn't work out, even lily thought so."
josh chuckles and punches brendon on his arm jokingly, "still, i feel like a dumbass. i'm done with relationships. all i need is myself and my best friend."
"c'mon, don't say that. there are plenty of fish in the sea. besides, you're bisexual, my guy. your ocean is like twice as big."
"yours is even bigger."
"my dick? yeah, i know," the older boy winks at his friend and in return gets punched in the arm again.
josh sits up, pretending to vomit, "gross, dude. i meant your ocean, you pansexual mess." he lays back down and rolls his eyes when brendon keeps laughing at his own, very terrible, joke. now that he thinks about it, spending christmas with tyler wouldn't be as fun as being with brendon. sure, with tyler he could makeout all night, but he can't joke about things like this.
"whatever. you'll get over him. give it time, maybe in college we meet some hot ass people. maybe you can date someone else."
"i don't know... he's everything i've thought about for the past three months. i can't leave him behind like he's just a random hookup."
brendon sits up, already annoyed by all the tyler praises, "he's only one guy. you do know he's not your entire world, right? there are other people out there who you might like more." like me.
"tyler's perfect for me."
"you don't even know him! you probably don't know what's his favorite color, or if he peed his pants during a school play, or when he learned to ride a bike."
josh rolls over to face the wall, giving his back to brendon. he looks at the posters on the wall, the photos he's hung up from many monumental moments in his life. it's true that josh knows almost nothing about tyler, and tyler knows almost nothing about him. there's a reason why tyler isn't in any of these pictures. "why do you even care?"
"uh, because you're my best friend? and i want you to be happy? tyler doesn't deserve you. he would've broken up with you so fast if you'd become a couple. you deserve much better, way better. someone who actually gives a shit about you."
"news flash! no one gives a shit about me, why do you think i'm single still?"
it's taking everything in brendon not to grab josh by the collar and kiss him to make him realize. his hands are twitching from the built up anger from seeing tyler be everything he can't be. "for fuck's sake! are you looking at that wall? the team cares about you! your family cares about you! the guys care about you! i care about you! almost everyone in the grade likes you, some in more ways than the others, but no! you're too focused on fucking tyler and no one else!"
"because i like him, god fucking damn it."
"you can't see it, right? open your fucking eyes! jesus christ! get him out of your head. he has no right still being in your life anymore. he's moved on with his life. you need to do the same."
josh stands up, his feelings all mixed up by what his heart is telling him and what brendon keeps yelling at him. he doesn't even care if his family is listening to this fight. he's too into it to even think about the whole neighborhood listening. "why are you acting like this?! why are you so jealous of tyler?!"
"because i'm in love with you, you fucking idiot!"
{🌹💌🌹}
what an ending, right? didn't expect that to happen.
tomorrow's one month until my birthday, aka the big 19, and i'm having a crisis over it
let me know what y'all thought of this :)
- alaska x