The Spirit of the Season
The Spirit of the Season
So I was having trouble getting into the holiday spirit recently, a lot of annoying things cropped up and I was just getting extraordinarily frustrated with a lot of things. Fortunately I got the chance to head out and see my family, including my grandpa and grandma, which has been extremely nice.
I've been having trouble finding the will to write because times have been tough and stressful for me for so long. I have my family and the holiday season to thank for getting it back, even if it's only temporary.
This story contains homosexual themes, if you are offended by such content, please, don't read this story.
Now; enjoy the story!
Jay, a slim, slightly short, silvery-white cat with dark green eyes, slinked along the streets and his paws dragged through the thin layer of snow on the sidewalk. The harsh bite of the cold had started to work up his legs, but he didn't take much notice. The past month had been crappy to say the least; the 17 year old cat had been in more than one shouting match with his best friend, as well as his step father.
Just thinking about his past few weeks made his anger spark up and his tail started to lash back and forth in an obviously agitated state. Tomorrow was the last day he had in school before break, and he was considering skipping out on it, but he'd just get in another shouting match, and he didn't want to have to deal with that. Jay sighed, looking around the familiar streets he'd grown up in his entire life.
Jay loved this town, especially this time of year when everything had a coat of snow and was lit with the twinkling white, green and red lights that symbolized the season. Slowly his mood lifted, and he was starting to smile again, nodding at some familiar faces as he walked along the streets, grinning at the little cubs looking through shop windows with wide eyes at some new toy. Jay kept walking along the sidewalk, spirits lifted considerably, no longer worrying about the previous few weeks, letting all of the bad things just wash away from his mind for the moment.
Jay walked over to a little gift shop on the street that had exactly what he wanted to get his little brother and a gift just in case he found his special someone before Christmas. When he walked into the store, the smell of peppermint washed over him, filling his nose with the sweet, slightly sharp scent that he loved. He breathed in the sweet peppermint scent and walked to the shelves that he'd been eying for a while now.
Jay dropped his bag on the ground and slid it under his bed; he had to make sure nobody noticed it before he wrapped his gifts up. Once he was certain the gifts were hidden well enough, he hopped onto the bed, sighed contentedly, then shut his eyes and drifted to sleep.
The next day, Jay found most of his classes empty, as well as most of his friends absent from school. Jay sighed, he knew it would be like this, but he had hoped that at least one of his friends would be around to talk to. When the bell rang for lunch, Jay went to the cafeteria and sat alone, watching the small amount of students in the school line up to get food.
While Jay silently tore into his own food, he noticed a fur set his food down beside him. When Jay looked to see who it was, he saw a fur he didn't really know too well, it was a small, even by Jay's standards, red fox, his name was Max. Max was an open gay and was very feminine in body, with brown eyes that suited his pelt very well.
"Hey there, Jay, how're you?" Max asked, his voice bubbly as usual.
"Oh you know, just trying to get through the last day without losing my mind." Jay said, grimacing slightly before winking and smiling again.
Max smiled too, "So none of your friends are around today either, huh?"
"Yeah, the whole lot of them are probably off on a plane or stuffed in a car visiting family or something."
"Oh, yeah I usually do that too, but for some reason my parents decided they want to go off and do their own thing and leave me to do mine." Max said, his smile wavered, obviously not happy about his situation.
"What? You're going to be alone for Christmas?" Jay asked, feeling sorry for the poor fox.
Max's ears lowered a bit and his smile left his face completely "Yeah... I'll be fine though."
"Yeah you will be fine, because you'll be spending your Christmas with me." Jay said, smiling at the fox.
Max's eyes widened a bit as he looked at the white cat, and his smile returned, "Really? That would be great!"
Jay smiled too; glad to make the fox's Christmas a bit more enjoyable, "Of course, Max, I can't let your Christmas be ruined like that."
"Thanks, Jay, you're a great guy." Max said, giving the cat a big hug.
The two discussed what they would do; deciding on having Jay stay with Max until Christmas Eve, then head over to Jay's to celebrate Christmas with the family. The only reason Jay didn't have Max stay at his house was that Max had to take care of his dogs. Max told Jay that he didn't have to stay with him, but Jay felt bad for the little fox, so he waved off the fox's words.
The end of school came swiftly, leaving the two to walk to Jay's house to let him tell his parents where he'd be, as well as to let him grab some clothes, then off to Max's house. Once that had been done, and the two were back at Max's place, Max gave Jay a mini tour of the house, showing him the basement, living room, kitchen, bathrooms, as well as bedrooms. Jay followed around, taking in the house's simplistic, yet cozy feel, and noted the earthy scent of the house, which only added to its homely feel.
Once the tour was over, the two went back to the kitchen to grab some food.
"Thanks again, Jay, I felt like this was going to be the worst Christmas I've ever had." Max said, smiling contentedly.
"It's no problem, Max, I needed to get out of the house anyway, and I was going to go crazy if I had to stay there all week." Jay said.
Max slowly inched closer to Jay, and then wrapped his arms around him, pulling Jay into a warm embrace.
"You're such a sweetheart, Jay." Max said as he smiled up at Jay.
Jay blushed from being so close to Max, and turned completely crimson at Max's words. Despite the slight embarrassment, Jay hugged the little fox back, loving the feel of a warm body pressed so close to his. When Jay hugged him back, Max nuzzled his head into Jay's neck.
"How long have you liked me, then Max?" Jay asked, pulling back ever so slightly to look down at the little red and white fox.
It was Max's turn to blush crimson, "Too long..." Max said, then he promptly pulled himself back into Jay's body, and resumed his nuzzling, letting out a long murr of contentment in the process.
Jay's face was still flushed crimson, but he eventually nuzzled his chin against Max's head, letting his heart open to the fox in his arms. Jay smiled; for once he was glad that he'd gone to school on a day like today. Max had been just what he was looking for, without him even knowing it.
Max slyly pulled Jay to the couch in the living room, and fell onto the couch, dragging Jay along with him. Jay gave out a surprised yelp as he was dragged down, but laughed when he realized what Max had done.
"So," Jay said, "did your parents really just go without you?"
Max blushed again, "Well yes and no, they had been talking about wanting to go to see some of our relatives in Hawaii, but it wouldn't be fair to not take me..."
Jay nodded his head, signaling Max to continue.
"So I told them that it was my Christmas present for them to go and enjoy themselves and that I'd be fine here alone." Max said, "I wasn't sure how but I thought I'd ask you if you wanted to go out with me, and we could spend Christmas together..."
"Huh, well it seems like everyone got what they wanted, then." Jay said, pulling Max close again, and nuzzling his cheek against Max's. The two were content to just sit like that, cuddled together and locked in a warm embrace to combat the chill of the outside.
Jay felt slightly overwhelmed, but at the same time so comfortable with the situation he was in. He had felt so lonely recently that he had been losing sight of what the spirit of the season was all about, the whole reason he loved Christmas in the first place, generosity, reuniting family, and sharing what you had with others.
But now, he realized how stupid he'd been acting, instigating fights with his parents, and his friends without even thinking or caring about what he said. Jay felt so idiotic at his actions, wanting to go and tell everyone he'd lashed out at that he was sorry. Jay knew he would make amends soon, but for now he was content to share his week with his new boyfriend.
"Thank you, Max." Jay said quietly.
"Thank you for what? You've done so much for me and I've hardly done anything for you." Max asked, perplexed.
"You made me remember why Christmas is the best time of the year."
Max looked at Jay, and saw tears forming in the cat's eyes. He smiled, seeing they were tears of joy, and continued cuddling with Jay and they spent their Christmas together happily.
The moral of the story is to be happy, and don't let the times get you down, no matter what.
If you liked the story, or didn't like it, comment, rate; do whatever you feel expresses your opinion.
Thanks for reading, and have a great holiday season.