A/N: Thanks a lot to smevalicious by doing a fucking amazing job in doing my beta work so far! _______________________________________________________________ Chapter 8: December 22nd I was making a list I was checking it twice In the middle of this I got tears in my eyes For in my foolish heart There was one simple truth The only gift I wanted was you When Brian awoke the next morning the first thing he noticed was the warm body lying half on top of him. He smiled and kissed the blond head resting on his chest. "Wake up, Sunshine. We have to look for Gus," Brian whispered close to Justin's ear and only got a groan in response. Justin just cuddled closer to Brian and hugged him tighter. He felt warm all over from the lovemaking that they had done. After their first round in front of the fireplace, Brian had carried Justin to the bedroom and there, they had continued their lovemaking until sunrise. "Just let me sleep five more minutes," Justin mumbled, sleep drunken and nuzzled Brian's neck. "Sorry, no can do. It's eleven AM already and I think Gus will be worried if we don't show up soon," Brian said, leaned forward and slapped Justin on his bubblebutt, making the young blond instantly sit up and rub his backside. "Don't let that become a habit, Brian, or else you will wake up in the shower next time," Justin mumbled grumpily, but nevertheless leaned in to kiss Brian 'good morning' to take the sting out of his words. When Justin finally stood up to go to the bathroom, Brian looked toward the living room and sighed. The whole place was a mess. Clothes lay Nevertheless around everywhere, because last night both Brian and Justin were too tired to clean everything up. , Brian noticed the slip of paper on the bedside table immediately, because it hadn't been there last night when Brian had switched the lights off. Somehow afraid, he grabbed it and gasped when he saw what was written on the paper. "Dear Santa, I know I'm too old to write to you, but I just wanted to let you know that if I still believed in you, I would wish for a partner. Did you know that I will become a father in a couple of weeks? I can't wait for him to be born, but I'm beginning to ask myself what he will think of me when he finds out that I'm not capable of keeping anyone close to me. That's why I'm asking you for this one wish. I want to show my son that I am indeed capable of loving someone. Yours, Brian Aiden Kinney." Brian took a deep breath and shook his head. This couldn't be possible. How come it had taken Santa all this time to make his wish come true? With a sigh, Brian thought back to the moment nearly eight years ago. *°*°*° Flashback °*°*°* Brian sat in front of his desk, a glass of Jim Beam in one hand and a pencil in the other. Just today Lindsay had told him that she would give birth to a son, and all of the sudden Brian had become afraid. Brian felt alone, because he knew that even with a son, someone related to him, he'd never be around much to be a real father. Nobody really thought of him as the fatherly type of guy, and even Lindsay mentioned, from time to time, that even if he was the sperm donor, she and Melanie would hold all the rights to where his baby would go to school to or what the baby should eat. That's why he was sitting here in the middle of the night and writing a letter to Santa, to wish for a partner that would help him make the right decisions and to encourage him to stand up for himself for a change, because Brian knew that he never could bring himself to do it. Tears slipped down his cheeks when he finally sat his name under the letter, and with a sigh he threw the letter in the trash, because even if he was drunk, he would never go to the Post Office to actually send the letter to the North Pole, because Santa hadn't brought him the gifts he wished for when he was little and he definitely wouldn't now. Brian hadn't believed in Santa since the first time his father had beaten him, because after that, Brian had learned to be strong and become his own man. Dreams and Santa were something children believed in, and not Brian Kinney, who's only goal was to be alive long enough to become a teenager. *°*°*° Flashback End °*°*°* "Brian?... Brian?" Justin was standing in front of Brian who held a slip of paper in his hand. His face wore a worried expression when he saw the tears running down Brian's cheeks. Brian just shook his head and looked at Justin. "It's okay, I... I just have to go see Santa. I'll be right back," he said in a rush and reached for his clothes which lay all around the apartment and pulled them on. With that, he disappeared out of the door. Justin still stood in the bedroom, irritated by Brian's behaviour. "Awkward," he mumbled, shrugged and went back into the bathroom, because he was still dripping wet. He'd only come out of the shower to encourage Brian to join him. Now he was alone. *************** Santa was sitting in front of the fireplace in his Living Room when Brian burst into the room. He didn't need to turn around to see who had entered the room. He knew when he had left the letter on the beside table that sooner or later the man would want to speak to him. "If you sit down, Brian, I'll explain to you why you've got your letter back," he said and gestured to the chair across from him. When Brian finally sat down, he looked at Santa with raised eyebrows. "You see, son, even if you didn't actually send me the letter it did reach me, and before you get confused I'll explain it to you. As silly as it sounds, every wishlist that begins with 'dear Santa' will reach me, and only the first letter, because these are the wishes that come from the heart. So yeah, I fulfilled your wish," Santa said and nodded proudly. "Excuse me for pointing this out, but it took you nearly eight years to do so. Do you always work this slow?" Brian asked somehow angry, because he wasn't really satisfied with Santa's answer. "Well then let me explain it to you," Santa began with a sigh. "When I first got your letter I spoke to some of my elves, especially your grandma. She pointed out to me that she had found a young blond a few years back and that he would be perfect for you, to keep you grounded and to get you to settle down, so I set everything in motion, and thought that was it," Santa explained, but Brian still looked irritated. "Why have I only met Justin now then?" he asked, confused. "I'm embarrassed to say this, but let's just say things happened that no one considered," Santa admitted and blushed slightly. "The evening you normally would have met Justin would have been the same day Gus was born, because your wish was related to him, but somehow his so called 'friend' Chris Hobbs gave him Tylenol, which he is highly allergic to, instead of Aspirin, and so Justin couldn't get down to the Liberty Ave, or to Pittsburgh that evening," he explained further, with a slightly angered expression. He still couldn't understand how someone could be so cruel. "We only now got the problem fixed, this time with a little magical help, because when Gus' letter arrived here, it was pretty clear to us that your wish never got fulfilled," he finished his speech and look over to Brian, who nodded and smiled slightly at him. "Thank you for the explanation Santa," Brian said, stood up, nodded at Santa in a kind manner and turned to leave the room. "Now go son, go get your man," Santa said and laughed. Brian just smirked at him and left. *************** Meanwhile Gus had been brought back to the apartment by Keeve, and Justin was playing chess with him on the living room table. Both of them smiled brightly at Brian when he entered the room. "Daad!" Gus shouted and rand over to his father to hug him tight. "I missed you, but Santa told me to stay the night, because the two of you needed some 'daddy' time. In other words sex, but he wouldn't say that," Gus said, winked at his father and laughed at Justin who was blushing crimson red. "Santa also told me that we will be back in Pittsburgh when we wake up tomorrow morning," he added slightly disappointed, but nevertheless smiled up at his father when he ruffled his hair and kissed his head. His father seemed so much more like a father since Justin entered their lives that Gus still thought that he was dreaming. "Well then Gus, let's just make the best of the last day at the North Pole," Brian said and went into the bedroom to finally took a shower. *************** The three men spend the rest of the day going around the village and even went into a few shops buying Christmas gifts. Brian being extra careful so Justin and Gus didn't see what he'd bought them. After finishing the shopping trip around the village the three of them fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow, all of them cuddled up together, with Gus in the middle, protected by Brian and Justin.