#boyfriendssecretsanta

It's hard to believe that after being friends for so long, they only recently got together. After both admittedly having crushes on each other that everyone could see but themselves, just earlier that month the two of them got together.

It had honestly been the best month ever. From the hits to the compliment and just, being so close to each other, it was practically perfect. There was only one thing Jeremy would change. He would have already kissed Michael.

Jeremy was way too anxious to have kissed him already, every time he wants to he chickens out, getting too nervous that Michael wouldn't want to or that there were too many strangers around to see. He wants the kiss, just like everything else, to be perfect. That's what Michael deserves.

Jeremy snuck behind the back of a few cars still at the school, losing sight of the others on his trek to find Michael. He continued on his way, around to the front entrance. There he saw Michael, his back turned from him, reading a new post put up in the window. Jeremy smiled to himself, creeping up slowly towards Michael with a pile of snow in hand.

Just as he was about to be close enough to throw it in his face from behind, Michael turned around, grabbing Jeremy’s arm and making him drop the snow. “Sneak attacks aren't very nice Jer, at least give a man a chance,” He fake scolded, a smirk growing on his face.

”Said man should have been paying attention,” Jeremy joked back. He noticed Michael’s eyes drift off from him as he spoke. ”You aren't even paying attention now!” He exclaimed.

”I am, just not to the fight, ” Michael spoke, just barely above a whisper as he still looked up. Jeremy followed his gaze to see that the two of them were standing right under some mistletoe. It must have been hung by a student for a few laughs.

Jeremy’s face turned even redder than it was from the cold just a few moments before. ”We- we don't have to if you're not ready it's just a stupid tradition thingy and I don't want you to be uncomfortable with it-” He was cut off by Michael placing a kiss to his cheek.

Michael was heading home from the long journey he has been on for the past year.  He was probably two days away from the Kingdom that his family lived in and could not wait to get back home to see his parents and sister. He left in order to see how other people in other kingdoms went about their daily lives. He knew that most kingdoms were not like the one his family comes from. Mainly because his home Kingdom accepted certain things most other kingdoms didn’t.  For instance, Michael had to mothers. There were plenty of same-sex couples in his home, and one day he planned to be apart of one. For now, though, Michael needed to find a place to stay to wait out the storm.

Michael could see the castle that was about a five-minute walk from where he currently was, and prayed that the Royal family that lived inside it would be kind enough to let him stay. Even if he was just allowed in a shed, that would be enough for now.

As Michael neared the castle, he saw two guards standing at the gate.  He quickly approached the shorter of the two guards.

“Sir, I was wondering if  I could ask the King a favor?”

“ Do you have an appointment?”  The guard asks, not even glancing at Michael, as he stared straight ahead of him.

“Uh, no. I just need a place to sleep for the night. As you can see there is a storm happening, and  I fear that it will only get worse,” Michael pleaded.

“ Very well, you shall speak with the king’s son, as the King himself will not be back until morning. Jake, lead this man to the Prince’s room.”

Michael watches as the taller guard turns towards them, and walks to the gate, motioning for Michael to follow him. Which he does.

The guard opens up the gate, grabs Michael’s forearm, and leads him up and through the castle’s doors. Once inside, Michael feels the pressure of the rain pelting on his head and shoulders leave him almost instantly. Now that he is inside the dimly lit castle, he sees that the guard that lead him inside, has dark brown hair sticking to his forehead from all of the rain. His guard uniform includes a blue overcoat with golden buttons and tarnished pants. The guard, Jake as he remembers the other guard calling him, is about three inches taller than he, and is defiantly stronger, if the muscle mass means anything.

“This way, the Prince’s quarters are on the south side of the third floor. Follow me.”

Michael does as he’s told, and in three minutes he is standing outside of two large french doors, watching as Jake knocks on the carved wood.

“Your majesty, we have someone who has requested your presence.”

“Who?” A young male’s voice answers. Michael cannot be sure, but from the tone of voice, the prince can’t be any older than twenty-five, which is just two years older than Michael himself.

“A traveler sir, he was caught in the rain with no carriage and has requested to ask for a place to stay for the night.”

“Send him in, please.”

The guard twists the handle of the door, shoving the large pieces of wood open, and then stepping aside to let Michael in. As soon as Michael steps into the room, his gaze falls on the prince, who is standing at a desk with papers littering the top. The prince looks up at Michael from the papers he’s currently holding. Michael can feel his breath getting caught in his throat. He has seen many different people while on his travels, but never has he seen someone as beautiful as the prince is.

“Would you like me to stay, your highness?” Jake asks, poking his head into the room.

“No, Jake, it’s quite alright. Go back to your post and bring Rich inside. It seems to be raining hard out, and I’d rather not have our two best guards get sick on the same day. Also, make sure Brooke and Christine haven’t gotten into another battle of the bakers. The last time it happened, the kitchen took three hours to clean, and I overheard Brooke grumbling over her loss to Chloe.”

“Will do sire.”

“I told you to call me Jeremy, even when we have company.”

“Sorry bud, gotta keep up appearances.” Michael watches as Jake bows, winks at the prince, then leaves the room, shutting the door behind him. Michael is surprised that the guard is able to drop all formal appearances and talk to the Prince as if he was a friend. Which it seems like they are friends.

The prince, Jeremy, speaks up after a minute after Jake had left the room.

“So, you need a room for tonight? Or until the storm is gone?”

“Yes your highness, the storm is turning out to be one of the worst ones I’ve been caught in. Also, I’ve noticed that the town is not as close to your castle as most, or else I would have gone to an inn or a tavern in town.”

“Of course, yes. My relatives had decided that the Castle should not be associated with the town, which is idiotic, it’s best to be close by. And I do believe that we have plenty of empty rooms. I can show you the way to one now if you’d like.”

“That would be amazing, thank you, your majesty.” Michael bows towards the young prince, and once he is standing up straight again, he sees the Prince shake his head.

“Please, none of my staff call me any of the ‘normal’ titles, and neither shall my guests. Please call me Jeremy.”

Michael nods his head, “Alright, Jeremy, please lead the way.”

Jeremy smiles at Michael as he opens the doors once again, and leads Michael into the hall. As they walk, Jeremy glances at the taller boy and decides to strike up a conversation, something is telling him that he needs to know more about this traveler, and he doesn’t actually mind that. Mainly because he wants to know as well.

“I never asked, what’s your name?”

“Michael, Michael Mell.”

“And where are you coming from, Michael?” The prince asks, and Michael can tell that he is actually truly interested, and isn’t asking just to fill the silence.

“The kingdom of Kalokaíri, a very beautiful place,” Michael replies, glancing briefly at the prince.

“Yes, it is. I’ve been once, two or three years ago and I would not mind going back again. Now, where are you headed?”

“Back home, I’ve been traveling for a year now and greatly miss my home. I’ve decided to surprise my Nanay for her birthday in three days. But I fear that I won’t be able to make it because of this storm.”

“Which kingdom is your family from?”

“Ahas,” Michael says, fiddling with the hem of the shirt he is wearing, which is still very wet. By now they had stopped outside two large doors, just like the doors to the Prince’s room, only less ornate.

“Why that should only be a day on horseback!” The prince exclaims.

“Yes, it is, but I do not have a horse, it’s about two days or so on foot.”

“Well that is a problem, I’ll tell you what Michael. If you accompany me to my ball tomorrow night, I shall lend you a horse to take to see your family. Do we have a deal?” Jeremy holds out his hand for Michael to shake in agreement.

Michael glances at the hand, “Why would you want me to be your date to the ball?”

“Well, Michael, to be honest, I think you’re wonderful company, and I can not deny that you are a very handsome man. A prince should always have someone as pretty as you by their side.”

Michael can see Jeremy’s blush and gathered that if Jeremy wasn’t a prince, and wasn’t giving Michael a place to stay, he never would have said any of that in fear of rejection. However, how could Michael reject such a kind, beautiful, guy like him? Not to mention, Jeremy is a prince and could kick him out at any moment. Plus, he is offering to give Michael a faster way home, and he could ask for nothing less.

“We have a deal, Jeremy.” Michael grips Jeremy’s outstretched hand, and watches as Jeremy’s hair falls into his eyes, as his face breaks out into a huge grin. Michael wishes he could see that grin more often.

“Wonderful,” Jeremy’s smile is still on his face as he opens the door to Michael’s room, “tomorrow morning I shall send one of my maids, Brooke, up here to bring you down for breakfast. She’ll also measure you for a suit, as I assume you don’t have on in that bag of yours?”

Michael looks at the bag he is holding in his left hand and shakes his head. “I’m afraid I do not.”

“That’s fine, Brooke will gather your measurements and send them off to Chloe as she is the best seamstress in the kingdom.”

Michael nods at the prince, offering him a smile of his own.

“Good night Michael, I shall see you tomorrow for breakfast.”

“Good night Jeremy.”

And with that, Jeremy closes the doors, leaving Michael in the large bedroom, complete with a desk under the large window on the far left side of the room. In the center of the back wall, a bed fit for a king is neatly made and is just waiting to be used. There is also a wooden dresser on the opposite end of the room, and a door leading to what Michael assumes, and upon further inspection, confirms, is a bathroom.

Michael sets his small bag down on the desk, takes off the jacket he had been wearing, drapes it over the chair placed at the desk, and heads over to the dresser, hoping there is something for him to wear in it. He opens the doors wide, and quickly locates pajamas in the bottom drawer inside the dresser. He pulls out a shirt and a pair of pants, takes off his clothes and replaces them with the dry pajamas. Michael instantly feels a lot warmer with the wet clothes off of his body.

He shuts the dresser and brings his clothes to the desk to place them next to his bag. Michael then proceeds to walk over and get into the bed. The blankets warm him up even more, and almost as soon as he closes his eyes, he has fallen asleep and entered dreamland.

The next morning, Michael was awoken by a knocking at the door. He reached over to the bedside table and grabbed his glasses, placing them back on his face.

“Who is it?” He calls out, rubbing his eyes from under his glasses.

“Um, Brooke? Jeremy sent me to get your measurements and then to escort you down to breakfast.”

“Oh, yes, come on in!” Michael got out of bed just as the doors to his room were being pushed open. A petite blonde woman stepped inside. She had on a blue dress, and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail.

“Alright, this will be really quick.”

“No worries, take your time.” Michael smiles at the girl, and she nods back.

Brooke quickly unravels the measuring tool, first finding his whole height. Then she goes from neck to shoulders, shoulders to waist, waist to the ground, shoulder to wrist, around the waist, around the hips, and around the chest. She marks each measurement on a piece of paper, then she rolls up the tool and stuffs it, along with the pencil and paper, into her dress pocket. Then she goes to the dresser, picks out an outfit and hands it over to Michael for him to change into, and she leaves the room.

Once Michael is done changing, Brooke pokes her “Alright, if you’ll follow me, Mr. Mell.”

“Oh, uh, Michael is fine.”

Brooke nods at him. Then she opens up the door and leads Michael all the way to the first floor and to the dining hall.

Once they enter, Michael sees Jeremy talking to the two guards he had met at the gate last night. At the sound of the doors closing, Jeremy’s head turns, along with the two guards.

“Michael, just on time, Christine and Jenna should be, oh there they are now. Come on, sit down.” Jeremy waves Michael over, and once they’re standing next to each other, Jeremy pulls out a seat, and gestures for Michael to sit in it. Michael smiles at him, and takes the seat. He then watches as Jeremy sits next to him and the two guards sit on the other side of the table with a girl in a blue dress just like Brookes. Michael believes she must be a maid as well. Then, Brooke sits next to her as the two girls with trays of food place the trays on the table, and sit down, the black haired one next to Rich and the brunette next to her.

“Looks fantastic, are those cinnamon pancakes?” Jeremy asks, eyeing the golden brown pancakes in front of him.

“Yup, what else would we make besides your favorites on a day you should always be happy. I mean you have a ball tonight, must be energetic for that,” Says the girl with the black hair.

“Ugh, Christine, don’t remind me. At least this year I have a date, thanks again Michael,” Jeremy groans out as he piles the pancakes onto his plate. Everyone else, seeing that the prince had begun gathering his food, begins to shovel the food onto their plates.

“No, thank you. You gave me a place to stay tonight, and you’re allowing me to borrow a horse to get home fast enough for my Nanay’s birthday.” The two boys look at each other, and neither can help the smile that grows on their faces. They both think the other is a wonderful person, even if they had only just met, and both can’t wait to spend time with the other at the ball.

Breakfast carries on, and Michael is quickly introduced to each of the staff members that were eating with them. Apparently, all of them had grown up in the castle, the girls’ parents had worked in the castle, and the boys were orphans that were left on the castle doorstep together. They were all best friends, especially Rich and Jake as they had known each other since before they were abandoned. The girls were all nice as well, although Chloe didn’t have much of a filter, Jenna talked about the other castle staff a lot, and Christine was very energetic. Not exactly what Michael was used to.

After breakfast, another, slightly older maid that looked a lot like Chloe, came into the room and whisked Jeremy away for the ball preparations. Then, Brooke leads Michael around the castle, showing him all the important rooms, and explaining to him what the ball was about. It was a celebration of a treaty that Jeremy’s kingdom, Fotia, and their neighboring kingdom, Muhit, had signed in order to maintain their peace.

Michael didn’t get a chance to see Jeremy until the ball, and he couldn’t understand why that upset him so much.

Jeremy was having the exact same problem.

Once Michael was dressed in his suit that Chloe had made, and his hair was neatly combed, and his shoes were tied tight, Brooke deemed him socially acceptable and lead him to Jeremy’s room. Brooke knocked twice on the door and only entered once Jeremy had said so.

Upon entering the room, Michael didn’t see Jeremy at first, but once he did, his eyes felt as if they had popped out of his skull, and his jaw felt as if it had just fallen off. He knew he was staring, but he couldn’t seem to rip his eyes off of the man standing in front of him. Michael barely registered that Jeremy couldn’t seem to stop staring at him either. He also didn’t notice when Brooke left the room, with a smirk on her face. All he could focus on was the fact that the royal blue suit that Jeremy was wearing, fit very nicely with his body shape. The blue of the suit brought out the blue in his eyes, and the way Jeremy’s hair was brushed back brought butterflies to Michael’s stomach.

Jeremy was having a similar reaction. He thought that Michael was looking very dashing in his ruby red suit. The red mixed well with the darker color of Michael’s skin and his hair looked as if it had been combed back, but right before Michael had run his hand through it several times, which makes Michael look ten times better.

Eventually, Michael realized that neither of them had said anything, and they both should be heading down to the ball by now.

“You look, wow. You look amazing,” Michael says, already feeling the brush climb up his face.

“Thanks, you look pretty amazing yourself.” Jeremy’s face is just as bright as Michael’s. After a few for seconds of staring, Jeremy coughs and says “We should probably head down to the ball.”

“Yeah, you are the host after all,” Michael laughs, making Jeremy grin.

Jeremy holds out his arm for Michael to take, which he does. Michael wraps his arm around Jeremy’s, grinning at the boy. Jeremy leads him down to the first floor, and over to the ballroom, which was already packed full of people. Once the two boys enter, Jake blows into a trumpet he had been holding, and everyone in the room turns to face the two boys.

“Prince Jeremy, with his guest Michael Mell.” Jake steps aside, showing off the two boys who were clutching each other. Michael has never really been the center of attention and is a little self-cautious with all of those people staring at him. Michael can also tell that Jeremy, even though he is a prince, doesn’t like the attention much either. Even so, Jeremy lifts the arm that was not holding onto Michael, and waves at the crowd. Soon after, Jeremy leads Michael further into the room.

For a full half an hour, people constantly walk up to the two, either talking about the treaty, or asking how, when, and where the two boys met. Not seeing any point in lying, Jeremy tells each and every person that Michael had been looking for a place to stay, and Jeremy had let him have a spare room, also giving him a faster way of getting home, if Michael would accompany him to the ball. Most of the guest believe that the story is very cute, some wonder what was going through Jeremy’s head when he allowed a stranger to stay at the castle. Honestly, Jeremy does too, but he doesn’t regret it.

For the rest of the night, Michael sticks to Jeremy’s side like glue. They talk a lot about everything. Michael tells Jeremy about his little sister, and his moms, while Jeremy tells Michael about his dad, who should be coming back tonight, after the ball, and his mother, who had died when Jeremy was twelve. Michael learns that Jeremy’s favorite color is yellow, as it reminds him of his mother, and his favorite food is pita bread, which he could eat every day, all day. He also learns that Jeremy takes riding lessons and archery. He’s very skilled with horses, but he’s not as skilled with a bow. Jeremy finds out that Michael has always loved the color red, and would do anything for his mother’s Maja Blanca. Michael also tells Jeremy that his sister is currently ten years old, and he can not wait to return home to see his family. It’s obvious to Jeremy that while Michael was out traveling the world, gathering information for his stories, he had greatly missed his family. Jeremy would too if he had been gone for a year.

“Even though I miss them, no matter what, I don’t regret my travels. After all, if I had never left, I never would have been caught in that storm, and I never would have met you.” Michael grins at Jeremy, throughout the night he’s figured out that he has a crush on the prince, even though he knows he shouldn’t, he still figures that flirting with the prince want cause any damage.

Jeremy smiles at the taller boy, “Yes, I’m also very glad you had decided to go. I wish you could stay longer, but I understand that you must get home to your family.”

Michael nods, “Yeah, I kinda wish I could too, although I really shouldn’t be gone for much longer. Maybe I can visit sometime?”

“I would love that.”

The next morning, Michael and Jeremy are standing outside the barn. Michael is holding the reins of the fastest horse in the stables, according to Jeremy, and Jeremy is strapping Michael’s bag to the saddle.

“Last night, when you said you would visit sometime, did you really mean it?” Jeremy asks the boy standing next to him.

Michael nods, “Of course I did. I don’t think I can live with myself if I don’t.”

Jeremy grins as does up the last strap, then turns to Michael. “Do you mind if I give you something? Before you go?”

“Oh, Jeremy, you don’t have to give me anything. I should be giving you something!’ Michael replies, shocked that Jeremy even has something to give him.

“Well, then, you can give me the satisfaction of letting me give you something.”

Michael laughs, “Alright.”

Jeremy takes a deep breath before lifting his left hand up to Michael’s right cheek. “Tell me to stop if you want me to.” Michael only nods as Jeremy leans closer. Both boys close their eyes as their lips touch for a brief second. They both pull away, smiles on their faces, with their eyes still closed.

“I’ll definitely have to visit you now.”

Jeremy lets out a breathy laugh. “You better.”

Michael makes it home just as his mother is setting the table for his Nanay’s

birthday dinner. He gets smothered instantly in hugs by his mother’s and sister. Being very emotional, and an easy crier, Michael’s Nanay didn’t, and couldn’t, stop crying throughout most of the dinner. Michael shared stories about all of the wonderful places he had visited. He saved the best story for last. His mother applauded him for the last story, who would have thought that her son would have scored a prince.

Five days later, Michael was in the sitting room, starting in his story that he had set out to gather information for a year ago when there was a knock at the door. His mother was in the kitchen, which is the closest room to the door, so she was the one to answer it.

The voice that spoke next, was one Michael would never forget: “Does, uh, Michael Mell live here?”

Before his mother could reply, Michael had jumped up from his seat on the couch, his pencil and notebook onto the ground, as he sprinted to the front door. There, he saw Jeremy standing in the doorway. His expression morphed quickly from that of nervous to one of glee. Michael could feel his own smile growing on his face as he lept at the prince, wrapping his arms around him in a bear hug.

“I told I’d visit,” Michael whispers into the blue-eyed boy’s ear.

“Yeah, well, you took to long.”

Michael laughed. He had to agree with Jeremy, he did take long. It had only been five days, but it had felt like five months.

Four years later, Michael and Jeremy were standing in the room next to their own, Jeremy was holding a baby girl wrapped in yellow blankets, as Michael’s arms were wrapped around his husband’s, of six months, waist. They had just adopted Hailey a week ago, but they already knew that they would do anything for her. Jeremy gently places the sleeping child in her crib. Michael kisses his forehead, and they both silently leave the nursery.

“If that storm hadn’t happened, I would still be at my mother’s house right now, writing stories, and being lonely.”

“Thank God for that storm then, huh?” Jeremy jokes, leaning on his husband’s shoulder.

Uh when I first got the prompt I IMMEDIATELY drew this: