After a couple hours or so of playing, Kazen leaves his garage and heads back into the living room, kicking some of the empty beer bottles out of his way. “Stupid drunkard…” he curses his father.

Kazen turns off the last of the lights before heading up stairs to his room to spend the rest of his evening listening to his music and thinking up lyrics for some new DNT songs.

Just as he gets half way up the stairs the doorbell rings. Kazen sighs and forces himself to turn around and go back down the stairs. He takes a swig of his drink and opens the front door. Upon seeing who is at the door, Kazen almost spits his drink out in the person’s face.

Swallowing, Kazen makes out a couple of words as he coughs. “C-corey? Why are you here?” Corey smiles, his face is red from the cold and he’s breathing heavily as if he ran all the way across town just to see Kazen. “ Well, I thought I’d visit you on Christmas Eve! I’m just stopping by since you’re probably…busy…” Corey notices all the lights in Kazen’s house are off except upstairs. “Are you spending Christmas eve alone?”

 “Yeah I am. Get inside before you catch a cold. I can just imagine your parents flipping at me for Christ’s sake.”

Corey steps into Kazen’s dark house and winces when Kazen slams the door behind him. “You can throw your stuff where ever you want.” Kazen heads back up the stairs.

 Corey sets a small plate covered in tinfoil on the stairs as he takes his coat and shoes off, putting them behind the front door. Grabbing the plate he races up the stairs after Kazen. After looking in a couple rooms, he finds Kazen sitting on a black beanbag chair in his room. “You have… interesting taste Kazen… I didn’t know you were into these kinds of books and comic book figures.” Corey glances around.

 “It’s only one figure. And I enjoy fantasy books.”

“The figure is the size of a lamp!” Corey argues.

Kazen shrugs and leans back in his beanbag chair closing his eyes. Corey sits on the corner of the bed beside the beanbag chair. He takes the tinfoil off the plate and reveals many different types of Christmas goodies. There are butter tarts, jam tarts, light chocolate fudge, shortbread cookies with cherries and sprinkles, Christmas cake, and even peanut brittle spread about on the small plate.

Kazen sits up at the smell of the baked goods and looks at Corey, a little surprised, “What’s all this…?”

“Christmas goodies for you, duh. I helped my mom this year and we made too many so I brought them to you. Do you not like sweets?”

Kazen glances over the plate and grabs three sprinkled shortbread cookies at once, biting one in half. Corey looks around the room as Kazen eats. His eyes land on a picture frame on a shelf. “Hey Kazen, who’s that lady?” Corey gets up and walks over to the picture, picking it up and looking at it closely “She kinda looks like you.”

Kazen looks at the photographer. Taking the last bite out of a cookie Kazen walks over to his window and opens it up letting some of the fresh, crisp winter air into the room. “That’s my mother.” He says finally, “She died shortly after Christmas a few years ago. That’s why my father goes on his drinking binges around this time of year.”

“Ah, I see…” Corey places the picture back on the shelf and sits back on Kazen’s bed; he bounces a bit on the mattress. “This is really comfy.”

Kazen places the half eaten plate of Christmas snacks on the floor, brushing the crumbs on the bean chair to the floor as well. “Tell your mom she’s good at baking.”

There is an awkward silence for a couple of minutes. Corey glances back at the picture of Kazen’s mother and looks at Kazen again. “So you spend Christmas alone?”

 Kazen nods.

 “Every Christmas?”

 “Yup.”

Corey pouts at him. “You know you could have had Christmas with my family, they wouldn’t have minded.”

Kazen shrugs and leans back in his beanbag chair more. “I don’t mind spending Christmas alone, it gives me time to think. I have some peace and quit for a change.”

A moment later Kazen gets up and closes the window, grabs the remote for his TV and sits back in his chair. He flips through the channels and leaves it on the Christmas movie ‘Home Alone’. He then reaches behind his chair and pulls out a grocery bag with two gifts in it. “Feather’s gift is in there, give it to him for me, will you.”

Corey takes the gift out and pulls another one out of the bag. “Who’s this one for…?” Corey opens the nametag on the gift and sees his name written on it. “You bought me a gift?”

Kazen looks at Corey then looks away stubbornly. “I bought Yin one too, so don’t think I bought you one for a particular reason. It’s not what you think it means.”

 “But you still bought me one. Thank you…Can I open it now?”

“Do whatever.” Kazen turns the TV down and watches Corey rip the wrapping paper off the small gift. Corey stares at the new camera case that can hold two cameras and has small pouches for film and camera cards. “Kazen thank you so much.” Corey leaps over and hugs the teen. “I was looking at one of these cases for months!”

 “Okay, okay! Get off of me!”

Corey lets Kazen go and puts the gifts back in the bag. “Well I guess I should get home, I’ll leave the Christmas snacks here for you.”

“You sure you don’t want a ride? It’s snowing pretty good out there now.”

Corey puts his hooded sweater over his head and ties the strings. “Nah, I’ll be fine. It’s not that cold. I’ll let myself out, you can stay up here.”

Heading down the stairs after putting on his boots and coat, Corey opens the front door and sees snow falling. There is a strong wind making it a bit colder then it was when he came to visit. He shrugs it off and heads outside down the sidewalk in the direction of his house.

About ten minutes after Corey left, Kazen notices the weather turning nasty, the wind picking up and the snow coming down faster and thicker like a white wall. He gets up and puts his stuff on and heads outside in the direction Corey went. After running down the sidewalk in the blinding snow for a few minutes, he makes out a figure sitting in one of the small bus shelters. Corey is sitting on the bench with the gifts, shivering, legs bouncing trying to keep warm. Corey looks at Kazen completely confused as to why the guitarist is out in the storm.

Kazen glares at Corey, “You should have turned back if the weather got this bad. Come on we’re going back to my place. You can phone your parents from there and tell them what’s going on.”

The two go back to Kazen’s place, Corey phones his parents telling them that Kazen will give him a ride in the morning when the storm hopefully stops.

 Kazen makes some hot chocolate for the two of them and they sit in his room sipping it and watching the rest of ‘Home Alone’ together. Kazen is sitting on his bed with blankets around him and Corey sitting in the chair with blankets around him too. “Hey Kazen? Thanks for coming to get me…”

“Yeah whatever. I couldn’t just let you freeze to death. Your parents wouldn’t let me hear the end of it if I did.”

Corey crosses his arms over his chest. “Say what you want Kazen, I know the real reason why you did it.”

 Kazen glares at Corey over his mug while he drinks.

“Deep down past that hard exterior shell of yours, you care about me. Maybe even more. I think you love me!”

Kazen slams his mug on his night table. “Enough! I’m sick and tired of you thinking I love you! I don’t, and I never will, so get it through your thick skull! It’ll never happen!” Kazen was using the same tone and volume of voice he only uses when he fights with his father.

Corey sits there shocked.

“I’m going to sleep, sleep where ever you want just don’t bother me.” Kazen crawls under his covers still in his jeans and shirt. He lies on his side facing the wall so Corey can’t see his face.

It seemed like forever, watching the end of the movie ‘Twenty-four hours of a Christmas Story’. Not that Corey was really watching it. He was thinking more of what Kazen had  said to him. He’d never admit it, but Kazen’s words actually hurt. The photographer glances around the room for a place to sleep in. After sitting in the chair for so long, he really doesn’t want to sleep in something that if you move it makes noise.

So Corey gets up and quietly creeps to Kazen’s bed, gets under the covers keeping his distance from Kazen giving him his space. He lies on his back staring at the ceiling. Corey whispers to himself. “God it’s cold in his room, how he sleeps in here is weird…”

Kazen stirs in the bed he gets up walking on his mattress to his small closet. He opens it up grabbing a big red blanket. He walks back and throws it on Corey, then gets back into bed and back into his position.

Corey tucks himself in, tucking the blanket under him so no cold air gets at his body. “You know Kazen… its things like that that make me believe you like me.”

Kazen mumbles into his pillow, “Yeah I know.”

A couple blocks away one of the church bells ring twelve times signaling midnight, once the bell stops everything is quite again. “….Merry Christmas Corey.”

 “Hmm, Merry Christmas, Kazen.”

The next morning Kazen wakes up to Corey hugging him around his midsection with his head on his chest. “Let go of me Corey if you know what’s good for you.”

 Corey mumbles into Kazen’s chest. “Five more minutes…you wouldn’t hurt me on Christmas day…”

 Kazen bonks Corey on the head, causing the younger teen to let go and rub his aching skull. “Hey!”

 “I told you to let go.”

Kazen gets out of bed and heads downstairs to make himself some breakfast. Corey lies in Kazen’s bed and grabs his pillow; he breathes in Kazen’s scent and sighs.

A few minutes later Corey heads downstairs and sees Kazen cooking up some French toast, Corey sits down at the kitchen table and tries to flatten his bead head. A plate of two French toast is put in front of him; Kazen sits across from him and pouts more then enough maple syrup on his plate. Kazen licks the syrup off his fingers and passes the bottle to Corey, who is trying very hard not to stare at Kazen’s mouth.

“Kazen, I didn’t know you knew how to cook, I have to say I’m impressed.” Corey takes a bite of the French toast and his eyes light up. “This is so good!”

“I can only cook certain things, why do you think I eat out so much.”

Corey stops eating “Your dad won’t cook for you?”

Kazen almost chokes on his food. “Are you kidding? Maybe every once in a blue moon he’ll cook enough so that I can eat too. Anyways after we’re done I’ll drive you home.”

Once they finish eating they each take a shower. (seperately of course!)

 Afterwards, Kazen brushes off his small black car while Corey sits in the front seat. Kazen opens the driver’s door and tosses the snowbrush into the back seat; he starts the engine and backs out of the driveway.

Fifteen minutes of driving later, they arrive at the Rowland house, all nicely decorated in lights. They both walk up to the front door and Corey opens it, only to be embraced in a tight hug from his mother. His mother smothers him in kisses and turns to Kazen smiling. “Kazen thank you for taking care of Corey. I really appreciate what you did for him.”

“No problem, have a Merry Christmas.” Kazen turns to leave walking down the small snow-covered path to his car. Corey yells out to him, “Kazen! You can stay if you want!”

The guitarist looks at Corey and his mother, and shrugs. “Sure why not?” Kazen enters the Rowland house and shuts the door behind him.

They ate a huge meal, Kazen watched Corey open all the gifts from his parents; Kazen even got a gift from Feather and Corey. From Feather he got a shirt that says ‘I play guitar but I suck.’ Feather got a smack in the head for that one; Corey got Kazen a new guitar strap with flames all over it.

Right when Kazen was leaving that night, Corey got him under the mistletoe, and could have sworn Kazen blushed, but couldn’t really tell. Kazen went home that night and was staring at the picture of him and his parents when he was really young, remembering what it was like to spend Christmas as a family. Since this Christmas was his first in a long time, he ignored the feelings inside him. He spent the rest of the night eating the Christmas goodies Corey brought him on Christmas eve.

-The End-