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When Steve rolls over in bed on Christmas morning, there’s snow falling in the soft glow of dawn outside.
He smiles. It’s been years since they’ve had a white Christmas out here.
Eddie’s still snoring softly at his side – even after all this time living with Steve, he still hadn’t adjusted to early rises.
That’s ok, though. Steve likes being up and about with the rising sun, likes the quietness that still lingers over the ranch as he goes about the morning chores – chores that still had to be done, even on Christmas Day.
Leaning over, he kisses Eddie on the cheek, smiles as his boyfriend snuffles into the sheets but doesn’t wake. Dart is curled up against his chest, still purring.
“Merry Christmas, Eds,” he whispers.
He’ll want to see the snow, Steve thinks, but he’ll wake him up after he’s fed the animals.
At the front door, he throws on a coat and his boots and heads out into the crisp air. He has to stomp through a decent amount of snow to the barn where he drags down an extra bale of hay for the horses – they’ll need it in this cold. While there, he fills up his pockets with treats – it’s Christmas, after all.
He does his rounds in the field. Checks all the horses, hands out treats like a cowboy Santa, only just keeps his fingers when Arwen tries to swipe extra from him. He spends a long moment with Scoops, ensures the blanket is keeping the old horse warm enough, and then he’s traipsing back through the snow to the house again.
While he waits for some water to boil, he looks over to the tree in the corner of the lounge. It’s decorated a little chaotically, having been mostly done by the kids, but Steve loves it. Eddie had gone wild with some black tinsel he’d found, and Wayne had brought over a spare set of lights for them. There’s presents stacked underneath it – for Eddie and Steve, Wayne, Robin and Vickie, and something little for all of the kids because Steve wasn’t leaving anyone out.
He returns to the bedroom, mug of coffee in hand made just how Eddie likes it.
His boyfriend is already sitting up, staring out the window with wide eyes.
Eddie grins at Steve. “It’s snowing!”
“Yeah, been a while since we had any of that ‘round here.” Steve carefully hands Eddie the mug. “Merry Christmas.”
“Same to you, sweetheart.” Eddie’s eyes crinkle with softness as he sips at his coffee. “The horses all ok?”
“A little cold, but the hay will warm them up in no time. What time’s Wayne comin’ round again?”
Eddie shrugs. “He said before lunch.”
“Right, ok. I’ll start cookin’ around eleven then, think that’ll give me enough time? Robin and Vick will be late, they always are, so they’ll probably get here after Wayne. You think they’ll bring anythin’ for dessert? ‘Cause somehow I actually forgot all about that, and -”
“Hey, stop stressing,” Eddie interrupts gently. He sits his mug down, squeezes Steve’s arm. “I can call Wayne and ask him to pick something up on the way, how’s that? He probably even has a pie or something in the freezer anyway.”
Steve nods, managing a smile.
It’s just…this is the first time Wayne would be coming to their place for Christmas.
Last year, he and Eddie had gone to him, and the year before they’d spent it at Robin and Vickie’s.
This will be the first year that Steve and Eddie are responsible for hosting. Well, mostly Steve, because everyone knew Eddie was a slight liability in the kitchen.
“Wait here,” Eddie tells him, slipping out of bed and down the hall. He returns with several presents under his arms, laying them out on the mattress. “We can open them now, right?” he asks Steve, like he’s a little kid and not the grown man that he is.
Steve laughs. “Go ahead.”
Eddie brings one of the gifts Steve had wrapped up to his ear, gives it a shake, frowns.
“You’re not gonna guess it like that.” Steve snorts.
Eddie sits cross-legged on the bed and tears at the gift wrap. He holds up a pair of black gloves, running his fingers over the soft leather material.
“They’re roping gloves,” Steve explains. “Proper ones, not those crappy synthetic ones you were using. I saw your old ones had holes in ‘em, and I don’t want you gettin’ rope burn, so…”
“Thank you, they’re perfect.” Eddie leans over, kisses him briefly. “Now, open one of yours. Wait…this one!” He hands a parcel to Steve, watches eagerly as he carefully unwraps it. Dart plays with the discarded paper on the bed, shoving his paws underneath it just to make it crinkle.
Steve swallows when he sees the shirt, eyes widening. It’s a pale yellow button-up with a hint of detailing around the collar and cuffs. He’s seen it before, the last time he and Eddie were in town. He’d lingered by that shirt, gently touching the silky-smooth fabric, before deciding it was just too damn expensive.
Clearly, Eddie had had other ideas.
“Eddie…” he murmurs.
Eddie grins at him, cheeks dimpling.
“How’d ya even afford this?” Steve breathes, laying the shirt out on the bed.
“Worked some extra hours for Benny.”
“Ya didn’t have to do that.”
“It was worth it, for that look on your face. Plus, I can’t wait to see it on you.”
It’s Steve’s turn to kiss Eddie, twice as enthusiastically as earlier.
They unwrap their remaining gifts from each other – new pencils for Steve for his drawings, a horseshoe-shaped keyring, his favourite chocolates, and for Eddie Steve had drawn and framed a picture of him and Ozzy together and picked up a book he knew he’d love.
Afterwards, Eddie kisses Steve stupid in their bed. They lie there, chest to chest while the snow continues to fall lightly outside, indulging in familiar touch and soft gazes.
Finally, Eddie announces that he wants to see the snow, and bounds towards the front door. He’s deaf to Steve’s reminders to put a coat on, and so Steve shakes his head fondly and grabs an extra one as he follows him out the door.
Eddie stomps around in the snow. Tosses a ball of it towards Steve, misses wildly, then tries to catch some on his tongue, cackling as he dodges Steve’s attempts to wrap the coat around his shoulders. Steve chases him around like Eddie’s an unruly calf, cursing as Eddie whoops with laughter and finally gives up.
“Don’t come cryin’ to me when you get pneumonia,” Steve grumbles eventually, cheeks flushed from exertion.
Tongue between his teeth, Eddie sidles back up to Steve with a grin and finally stands obediently while Steve bundles him up. “Thanks, Stevie,” he says softly.
Steve’s cheeks flush even redder, because even after all this time Eddie still makes him blush like a damn teenager.
They head back inside for breakfast. They’re not having much – there’ll be an abundance of food later on, and Steve knows Eddie’ll really only want his cereal anyway, the chocolate one that Steve rolls his eyes at and calls Eddie an overgrown kid whenever he sees him slurping it from the bowl.
Eddie dances around the kitchen with Dart in his arms as Steve pulls out the bowls and the milk, music pouring from the speaker above the fridge, a mix of Steve and Eddie’s favourites.
Steve takes a moment to lean back against the bench and watch his boyfriend. Drinks in the sight of him, socked feet sliding across the floorboards, one of Steve’s worn hoodys swamping his thinner frame, smiling back at Steve with a glint in his eye as he sways along to Wham!’s Last Christmas.
He winks.
Steve laughs, swipes an arm around him as Eddie shimmies past him, drags him into a kiss just because. Because it’s Christmas, because he’s so in love with Eddie that he’s almost sick with it, because he never thought he’d be this happy in all his life.
Later, when the doorbell eventually rings and Wayne arrives with an apple pie in hand and a stocking for both Eddie and Steve, Steve has to swallow back a ball of emotion. His own family hadn’t even bothered to call at Christmas time for years, the only number Steve had for his mom long since disconnected – but it no longer mattered. Wayne hugs Steve just as hard as he does Eddie, asks Steve what he can do to help in the kitchen, and all of Steve’s nervousness about hosting and making everything perfect fade away.
Later still, Robin and Vickie wash up on the doorstep dressed in matching elf outfits, jingly bells included, and Steve almost cries with laughter when he answers the door.
“Get in here before ya scare the damn horses,” he says, once he’s got his breath back.
The dining table is a little chaotic at lunchtime. A little messy, and Eddie and Robin are just slightly tipsy on Wayne’s mulled wine, and Eddie keeps leaning into Steve’s space and brushing his hand over his new yellow shirt-clad arm while Wayne laughs quietly at the sight.
Steve’s surrounded by family, and his heart has never been more full.