The Spirit of Giving by Cat Kane

Author:Cat Kane [Kane, Cat]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: cute, mm, romance, holidays, lgbt, christmas, fluffy
Published: 2019-12-09T00:00:00+00:00

SIX

Riley was in his room, trying to decide what to wear for the afternoon’s adventure, when Bree yelled up from the bottom of the stairs: "Jase is here!"

"Crap…" Riley muttered under his breath, yanking off the fifth sweater he’d tried on, and digging in the pile on his bed for the very first one he should have gone with in the first place. All three kids were downstairs, having spent the whole morning watching Christmas episodes of their favorite shows and probably stuffing themselves full of enough candy to power a medium sized city for a week. Leaving poor Jase alone with them for long probably wasn’t a good idea. "Coming!"

When he did make his way downstairs, he heard the tail end of a bizarre conversation.

"Nuh-huh, Captain Freeze is obviously stronger than Mister Majestiko," Jase was saying with utmost authority. "Everyone knows that."

"He is not!" Dennis argued, his tone more excited them belligerent. "Captain Freeze could use his ice rays to block Mister Majestiko from using magic! He is too stronger!"

"I like Lady Lightning," Carly said decisively. "She’s the best."

"She’s awesome," Jase agreed. "What about you, Craig? Who’s your favorite?"

Riley didn’t expect Craig to answer. Of all the kids, he’d taken his dad walking out hardest. Carly had just been a baby but she had buckets of her Mom’s resilience, and even Dennis’s outbursts of anger and frustration had been as understandable as they were upsetting. Craig on the other hand had withdrawn, especially from strangers, and especially from men. And even though Jase had managed to eke out a response from Dennis, surely the magic would run out.

After a predictable silence, he heard Jase again: "Hmm, I bet I know."

And, to Riley’s surprise, he heard a quiet little meep of curiosity from Craig.

"Yep," Jase went on, "I’m actually one-hundred-percent certain I know. I bet it’s Swamp-Rage."

Craig must have shaken his head, because the next thing he heard was Jase feigning scepticism: "Are you sure it’s not? Like, really really sure?"

"Really sure," Craig said quietly, and Riley’s throat tightened at the note of a smile in his voice. "Nobody likes Swamp-Rage."

"Nobody? Hmm. So who is your favorite?"

"Pantherina," Craig said.

"Ah, good choice," Jase said approvingly. "She’s really cool. I think she’s my favorite too." Then, "Are you sure you don’t like Swamp-Rage?"

Craig actually giggled. "No!" After a moment he spoke more shyly, but still more openly than Riley had heard him in a long time. "I like her because I like cats."

"Cats are cool too," Jase agreed. "They’re really smart. Do you guys have a pet cat?" Craig must have shaken his head. Or, Riley bit back the chuckle so as not to give himself away, most likely Bree had sent Jase a ‘don’t encourage them!’ look. "That’s too bad. Maybe Santa will bring you guys a kitty, huh?"

"Santa doesn’t transport live animals," Bree said sharply, confirming Riley’s suspicion. "It’s against Elf code."

Before the kids could demand to know more about the legal intricacies of Elf code, Riley decided to take pity on Jase and intervene.

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