Post by Deleted on Dec 26, 2019 17:08:43 GMT -6
All Is Calm, All Is Bright
The light was low, multicolored bulbs on the fragrant short-needled pine casting a soft kaleidoscope off of the silvery tinsel. Outside, the sky was darkening purple, magenta around the horizon, the street lights illuminated. Christmas was drawing to a close.
John and Mike had spent the day, as well as the one prior, in the company of family. Mike’s parents had come in from New York on Christmas Eve, and the four of them had enjoyed meals together, opened gifts, and shared a warm, happy holiday. But Kerry and Liz had left about an hour ago, and now it was just the two of them, surrounded by newly obtained toolkits and leather bound journals, knit mittens and Barnes and Noble gift cards, a Nintendo Switch and an autographed copy of The Stand.
‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ played on the TV, providing more ambience and background than anything else. Mike sat on the couch, nestled against their partner’s side, safe, comfortable, and for the moment utterly content. And yet, the holiday wasn’t entirely complete. Beneath the tree, two packages remained, left untouched and tucked at the back of the bounty that morning with the understanding that, amongst the grand exchange and cornucopia of giving and receiving, these two items were for the two of them alone. And so they remained until now.
Two glasses, fluted crystal, were sitting on the coffee table in front of them. One was filled with fine champagne, brought back from Paris. The other was filled with sparkling white grape juice. Languidly, Mike reached for their glass and sipped at it a bit before setting it back down, turning their gaze upward. They looked at nobody else this way, this soft, this adoringly.
“Got one more present for you.”
It was an unnecessary statement, really, as the package was right there beneath the tree, wrapped in green foil and tied with orange and silver ribbon. It was more an indication than anything else. That Mike wanted John to have the gift now, now that they were alone and settled into the peace of the evening.
Shifting just slightly, John looked down at Mike in kind, his lips curving upward slightly.
“So do I.”
Almost reluctantly, Mike pushed themselves upward, getting to their feet and walking around to the tree. The second present, wrapped so meticulously that one would think it was pulled out of a department store window from a pile of other immaculately wrapped gifts, was about half the size of the green box, covered in silvery paper that displayed holographic snowflakes if it caught the light right.
Mike brought the two boxes over, setting them on the coffee table with the champagne flutes. Still wearing that tiny, endearing smile, John gave a slight nod in the redhead’s direction.
“Go ahead.”
Mike dove into the package like a wild animal onto a deer carcass. Bits of prismatic paper flew, revealing a nondescript white paperboard box. Inside of that was a velvet bag, a deep, lush crimson. A small note was stuck to the top in familiar neat, subtly elegant script- ‘open with care’.
Brows furrowing in momentary confusion, Mike carefully lifted the bag from the box, undid the drawstring, and peered inside, giving a gasp.
“Holy shit. You found it. You actually found it.”
Very carefully, they removed the bag’s contents- a crown, set with a single large red jewel at the front- glass, or perhaps resilient plastic, the whole thing made of tightly twisted barbed wire, clipped down at the bottom so it could be worn without injury. A small black metal plate below the gem proclaimed in bold engraving- KING OF HELL.
“I thought I lost this thing ages ago!”
The tournament had been local. According to legend, Mike had just left it behind. Maybe legend was pushing it but John had reached out to the information on the back of the video cassette’s box and while the company was long gone, the number still worked. The assets had long been liquidated but the owner kept receipts. And so on and so on. The person who had it placed little importance to this crown and John reclaimed it for a pittance.
“One part of me thought something like this conjures up spectres of the past you’d rather not revisit,” he paused, “but out of all of that, you achieved this.”
“I did.” They chuckled, running a thumb over the faux ruby. “I can’t even remember how many motherfuckers I maimed for this thing. And yeah, when I was first tellin’ you about it I never thought I wanted to see it again, but now that I have it? I’m really glad that I do. Thank you, bud. Thank you so much.”
Smiling, they leaned over, giving him a kiss before sliding John’s gift box- large and quite heavy- over to him. In contrast to his partner, he unwrapped it with impeccable care, not placing a single odd rip in the emerald foil, instead carefully slipping his finger in the side seams and loosening the scotch tape.
What was revealed to him was a curious thing. A square plexiglass box, inside of which was a small model of a lovely residential style greenhouse. Judging by the scale provided via a brass plaque in the base, the structure was small enough to fit in a backyard yet large enough to provide a growing environment for all sorts of things. His interest was piqued but he had come to learn that sometimes gifts were more than they appeared. Visually this was beautiful and it would certainly be a great piece for conversation but … that wasn’t it.
“What is this?”
His question didn’t probe for the obvious answer.
“Well…”
Mike took another long sip of their champagne, and tucked their hands behind their back, piecing together their thoughts.
“It’s not actually your present. Well, it is, but it kind of… represents the real thing. I didn’t just get you a model. Once the ground thaws after winter’s over, some people are gonna come over and build it for real.”
They took a deep breath, closing their eyes a moment before opening them and continuing.
“Now… I figured everything out. There’s definitely enough room to have this in the backyard and still leave your current garden plus space to, y’know, have a backyard. But not as it is now. So I decided when I was picturing how the back was gonna look that, in order for you to have this greenhouse, I… I’m gonna get rid of the ring.”
They looked him in the eye, letting the implications of everything they’d just said settle in. John did his best to maintain that gaze. It was clear that there had been a lot of thought put into this. A lot of weighing the scales so to speak. And so it wasn’t on John to place doubt or second guess. This discussion had been thoroughly had. John’s interest in the sport had waned. The realization that he was capable of more had made the sacrifice unnecessary any further than what he committed to. But he had always felt a resistance from Mike … but this showed something else.
“Thank you.”
Something in them sighed, perhaps in relief. The guilt they’d carried for a while now eased. They hadn’t just given him words, even though his faith in them meant their words would have been enough. They backed up their promise with something concrete, and almost to their surprise… they were okay with it. Instead of dreading the end, they looked forward to the future.
They still had some things to finish. But at the end of it all, that greenhouse would be damn pretty nestled under the maple in the back.