Chapter 20
DECK THE HALLS
Aaron was a vision in his pale blue knitted sweater, the nickname his friends had dubbed him embroidered across the chest in white, BOO BEAR, surrounded by snowflake patterns.
He’d spent the entirety of November and most of December making these sweaters, and Oscar couldn’t imagine ever taking his off.
The red SPIKE lettering surrounded by holly patterns looked lovely on the backdrop of green.
And for the first time in years, it felt like a real Christmas.
Oscar would always be grateful for the beautiful dinners he and Grandma had shared every year since he’d left home, but Lina would only come for hot chocolate and TV after spending the day juggling between Christmas with their mother at their aunt’s house and Christmas with Ryan’s family.
This time, everyone would be here. Aaron was buzzing with excitement as he bounced to the intercom to let their first guests up.
Christmas Eve had been beautiful, a gift.
Gemma had been in an alright place, smiling, legs swinging instead of bouncing.
Aaron had been happy, eyes aglow as he spoke about childhood Christmases.
Gemma got a hankering for blueberries. Aaron said she’d always make a blueberry pie for their Christmas lunch.
Oscar had left them alone for a bit and gone down to the bakery a short walk from the home, bringing back pie slices for all three of them.
They’d spent a lot of time working on a puzzle together and then Aaron got a picture with his mother, wearing the sweaters he had knit.
Gemma’s had sunflowers with little Christmas hats on top.
After, she’d insisted Oscar sit in a photo with them. It had almost made him cry.
But now was the time for laughter and joy.
The apartment smelled like a holiday commercial.
They’d just finished cleaning up the incredible mess that had turned Oscar’s kitchen into a pit after spending the early hours preparing a joint of ham while playing the same instruction video on a loop.
Oscar would probably dream in the narrator’s voice for the rest of his life.
Just like he’d promised, there were potatoes roasting in the oven and another batch ready for mashing, and Aaron had taken care of the veggie lasagna for Riley.
In the background, Luigi trilled and mewed in his knit Christmas cap while holiday classics blared through the speakers of Oscar’s TV.
And in front of Oscar, Aaron laughed and smiled and beamed at his friends, who had just walked in through the front door.
Several arms wrapped around him at the same time, drawing a laugh that turned their living room into a present for Oscar, and he wished he’d thought to unlock his phone and film Aaron’s joy.
It would make for good medicine when Oscar’s mood failed him.
“Hey, man. Happy holidays,” Joe said, clapping Oscar on the back before drawing him into a hug, too. “Where do you want us to put the cheese?”
Oscar gestured at the table, which he and Aaron had extended right into the kitchen, thanks to a board and mount they’d borrowed from Paulie.
Joe and Anna set their plate of cut up cheese in the center, Tobe following closely with the cold cuts they’d brought, and Riley set down the colorful salad they’d prepared.
Marta had brought cute holiday-themed napkins and little paper hats for everyone and went about placing them to the side of every plate.
“I’ll go check on the roast vegetables,” Aaron said, running a soft hand down Oscar’s arm.
It felt adult, watching his boyfriend bend in front of the oven to check on a vegetable dish, and Oscar had never wanted to be a grown man as much as he did now, to be able to think about things like spending a lifetime together, to be able to host lunches with a person he loved.
A flurry of excitement washed over him at the sound of the doorbell, announcing their final guests.
Oscar waited at the door, putting Riley in charge of holding Luigi so he wouldn’t run away.
Lina’s eyes lit up the moment she saw him from the end of the hall.
The last time Oscar had gone to Grandma’s for dinner, it had just been the two of them.
Aaron had gone to see his mother that evening, and Lina had had some sort of college night seminar she couldn’t miss.
But now his sister was here, and she was flinging her arms around him.
“Merry Christmas, Oscar,” she mumbled into his shoulder.
“You too, Leen.” Oscar ran a loving hand down her loose blonde hair, kissing her on the temple and releasing her so he could hug his grandmother, who was a sight herself with her new purple highlights and matching earrings, a beige polo neck and jeans. “You’re so cool, Grandma.”
“Cool or not, I’m still Grandma, so come here and let me give you a kiss.”
Oscar was glad to feel the familiar press of her lips on his cheek, a reminder of his childhood Christmases, sitting on the carpeted floor of her living room at the end of the day, opening presents from her and Grandpa while Papa kept repeating how they didn’t have to spend this much and it was so unnecessary.
“Come in,” Oscar said, stepping back.
“Hi!” Riley beamed at Oscar’s family, Luigi happy to sit in their arms, having quite bonded with them.
“Hi!” Lina replied.
“This is Riley,” Oscar said, taking Grandma’s apple pie. “They’re Joe’s sibling and the baby of the group.”
“I’m in the group?” Riley asked, eyes wide on their face.
It was remarkable what a difference two years could make.
Oscar had only just turned twenty-one a couple of weeks earlier, but when he glanced at Riley, he saw a kid, someone he desperately wanted to shelter, someone who had desperately needed that at a far more tender age, who had found it in a person Oscar had come to respect.
“They look older than me,” Lina said. “Which means I’m the baby.”
“Well, yeah, but the group hasn’t voted you in yet,” Oscar said, sticking his tongue out at his sister, who narrowed her eyes at him.
“What about me?” Grandma asked.
“You’re an honorary member, Grandma,” Oscar said.
“Is that so?” Grandma asked, bright pink lips twisting to the side on a face that had aged beautifully.
“It’s the purple hair,” Tobe said, walking around the couch. “Hello, Oscar’s Grandma. I’m Tobe.”
“Oscar’s Grandma…” She tutted, shaking her head. “Just call me Grandma Peters. And it’s lovely to meet you, Tobe. You have beautiful hair, too.”
Tobe lit up brighter than the small, ugly Christmas tree Oscar and Aaron had set up in the corner, an old monstrosity of tinsel they’d picked up at the charity shop. Oscar loved it. He loved that he had a Christmas tree now, that they’d picked it together.
Across the ceiling were streamers Aaron had twisted and hung.
Oscar had held the ladder they’d borrowed from the building closet on the bottom floor.
Halfway through, while Aaron was coming down so Oscar could move the ladder, he’d paused on a rung near the bottom and leaned back to sit.
Oscar had kissed him. For a while after, there’d been no more decorating.
The streamer hung suspended from the ceiling, trailing down the wall where Aaron had fixed the first mounting point, and Oscar hung suspended in the throes of pleasure, Aaron’s mouth on him as they lay on their couch, Oscar’s head lolling over the arm while he asked him to keep going, to change nothing, to yes yes yes.
“Peters? Your name is Peters?” Riley glanced from Oscar to Lina to Grandma, landing on Oscar again at last. “Like Evan?”
“Who’s Evan?” Joe shouted from behind the couch. He looked at Oscar’s grandma and sister. “Sorry about that. I’m Joe, Riley’s big brother.”
“And they mean Evan Peters. Seriously, do you live under a rock, Joey?” Tobe said, tutting.
“How am I supposed to know who that is?” Joe asked, throwing his hands up.
“Babe, he was in American Horror Story,” Anna explained, rubbing his arm, a pretty smile on her face. “And the X-men prequels?”
“He’s the sexy one who did the Dahmer show,” Grandma supplied.
Tobe sputtered out a laugh that earned them a groan from Marta, whose arm was now splattered with their spit.
Aaron laughed, too, the first sound he’d made since Oscar’s family had arrived, and it was at this point that Oscar’s grandma went entirely warm, her eyes lighting up as they found him across the room, smile spreading on her face.
“You’re the one who’s making my grandson happy, aren’t you?” she said.
Aaron walked through the gap between Tobe and Marta and held out his hand for a shake, but Grandma bypassed the formalities and wrapped her arms around him.
“Welcome to the family, Aaron.”
“Oh.” Aaron sounded choked, but maybe not as strangled as Oscar felt to be watching this woman who had loved him his entire life, who had reared Papa with soft kindness and her strong sense of justice, now welcoming his boyfriend with open arms. “Thank you, G-Grandma P—”
“Just Grandma to you,” she said, pulling away and finding his eyes. They stood at exactly the same height. “And Mrs. Peters to whoever here doesn’t know Evan Peters.”
She cast a mischievous sidelong glance Joe’s way, earning one of his throaty laughs that reminded Oscar of that first morning they’d spent together and how little he’d known him, all the wrong assumptions he’d made.
“And well, we’ve met,” Lina said, offering Aaron a smile.
Right. Lina had brought him home from the bar that night so many weeks before. Aaron had been here when she and the stranger had carried him in. They must have talked.
“Okay, well, the potatoes will burn, so I need to go check on those,” Oscar announced. He turned, leaving the rest of them to introduce themselves, and headed into the kitchen.