#jarryfic

“Not particularly,” comes James’s sarcastic tone. “I’d much rather just get you back into bed. Why don’t you tell me what you were up to when we’re in the bedroom?”

James wraps his hand around Harry’s wrist, but he slips out of his grasp, heading over to the living room before James can pull him in for another brain-meltingly hot kiss.

“I wanted to surprise you,” Harry begins to explain, gesturing to the boxes now sitting on the sofa. “I got all the Christmas decorations out of storage and I was going to make a head-start on decorating so that the place would be all festive by the time you woke up. But I couldn’t find your Christmas tree.”

“Oh,” James says. He’s still a little woozy from sleep and from all that kissing. “That’s easily explained; I don’t have one.”

Harry tries to choke down his disappointment, “you don’t have a tree?”

“No. I never really bother – I don’t usually have much to celebrate.”

James goes to where Harry is sifting through the decorations that James does have, stands behind him, and wraps his arms around him, leaning all the way down so he can rest his chin on Harry’s shoulder. It must be terribly uncomfortable for him, but Harry loves when James does this, and so he relaxes into his embrace.

And when James says, “I guess this year is different; I have lots to celebrate,” Harry melts all over again.

“If I promise we can go and get a tree will you come back to bed with me?” James continues, taking advantage of his position to gently nibble on Harry’s ear in a way that makes him shiver all over.

“I do so love getting exactly what I want,” Harry replies, finally giving in to James’s seduction and letting him lead him back to their room.

…

James tells him to wrap up warm, which Harry thinks is odd given that they’re only going to the shop for a tree. Still, he decides not to question it when James emerges from the closet wrapped up in a gorgeous coat and the softest looking scarf Harry has ever seen. He briefly wonders if he can persuade James back into bed yet again.

But now that James has committed to the idea of going out for a tree there will be no persuading him to change his course of action.

Harry is a bit confused when James pulls open the car door and gestures for Harry to get in.

“Can’t we just walk?” Harry asks.

“There’s no chance you and I can walk back with a tree between us Harry. I know you work out a lot, but it will still be too heavy for us to carry. Besides, I know a great little place further out of town that does everything we need, and an excellent hot chocolate as well.”

James isn’t making a lot of sense, but he has that wonderful glint in his eye that always shines when he is excited about a plan coming together. So, Harry slides into the passenger side, content to let James take the lead even if putting up a tree was all Harry’s idea.

The drive is unexpectedly nice. The walls of the village give way to gently rolling hills and quiet country lanes. There is even a little frost glistening on some of the shaded parts of the fields that pass by the car windows. James is an attentive driver, but every now and again his hand strays from the gear stick and find its way onto Harry’s thigh. There’s nothing flirtatious in the touch – not really. It’s just a sort of ‘hello’. A gesture that says, ‘I’m glad you’re here’.

Harry places his own hand over James’s. ‘I’m glad you’re here too,’ say his fingers.

…

James pulls the car into a strange sort of place. It looks like whoever built it couldn’t decide between a greenhouse and a garden shed and so settled on a hodgepodge of both. There is more garden furniture than Harry has ever seen in his life outside the unusual structure, and everything smells vaguely of damp earth.

“Where are we?” he asks.

“A garden centre of course!”

“Right. What are we doing here?”

“Excellent hot chocolate, remember?” James strides over and links his arm through Harry’s, “and where else are we going to get a tree from?”

Harry lets James lead him. The garden centre is a weird, Christmas themed, collection of things. There’s a sign pointing to ‘winter wonderland’ packed full of decorations and lights, shelves full of garden sheers and implements that Harry doesn’t even come close to recognizing, and one inexplicably kitsch section of homeware and gifts.

The café is at the back of a conservatory type area. James orders drinks for them both – Christmas themed peppermint hot chocolates served with a miniature candy cane. James takes the one out of his drink, licks the squirty cream off it, and places it in Harry’s cup so that he can have both of the sugary treats.

They take their drinks outside, one hand wrapped around their cups, the other linking fingers with each other. Harry’s bare skin against the leather of James’s gloves feels so utterly wonderful he almost entirely forgets why they are there.

It becomes apparent as soon as they turn the corner. Before him, there is row upon row of Christmas trees stretching all the way to the back of the garden centre. Harry’s never seen anything like it.

“A real tree?” he gasps.

“Yes, of course. What else would we have?”

“But…” Harry has to stop himself as he hears his voice become thick with emotion “… I’ve never had a real tree before. I always wanted one, but Mum’s allergic, Dad said they’re pointless, and Ste said they’re too expensive.” Harry suddenly feels like a child again, “I always wondered what it would be like, to have a proper one, just for one Christmas.”

“You only deserve the best,” James answers sincerely, dropping a light kiss to Harry’s head. “Besides, I hate the plastic trees; they’re tacky and they smell funny.”

Now that Harry’s has taken in the sight of the trees, he can finally pay attention to the smell. The outside earthy scent still lingers but now it is mixed with pine and lemon. It’s a wonderful scent and Harry takes in great big lung-fulls of it as he and James move through the rows of trees. The smell of pine, peppermint, and James’s expensive cologne mix and mingle so beautifully that Harry wishes he could bottle the scent up and keep it forever.

He turns to look at James, who has already started to appraise the different trees, giving Harry a running commentary about each tree’s colour, height, and the fullness of its branches. Harry never thought it would be possible but somehow, in this very moment, he falls even more in love with James.