Plattenbau - 20. Chapter 20- Christmas

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"Good morning." Ed mumbled towards the other person when he stepped into the elevator. He hadn't really looked who it was, too occupied with pondering over the best time to give Alex his Christmas gift and if what he had just bought was really the right thing. But when suddenly a, by now, very familiar voice lectured him that it was already midday, the blond immediately stiffened.

Instinctively, he took a step back from the petite woman. It wasn't like he was afraid of her, but it was still very uncomfortable being alone with her with no way to escape, especially after what had happened a month ago. "Right..." He grumbled and pressed the button for the ninth floor.

The metal box started to move, accompanied with the usual rattling and creaking. Ed breathed a sigh of relief when they had almost reached their floor. But, to his distress, Alex's mother suddenly cleared her throat in a way that reminded him of a teacher that was trying to get a student's attention. Ed fixated his eyes on the display that was showing the floor numbers, unwilling to play her game or to give her even the slightest bit of attention.

When the elevator finally stopped and the doors opened, Ed was ready to bolt towards his door as fast as he could. But the woman, as if she had read his mind, hurried out before him and put herself right in his way.

The blond took a deep breath and stepped out of the elevator, too. Here we go again, Ed thought to himself, and prepared himself for getting his day ruined.

"Listen mister Schneider, I don't like you. You are way too old for my son and your lifestyle is... well, questionable at best..." the woman blandly stated and crossed her arms over her chest.

The blond groaned. He really didn't need this, especially not on a day like this. He was about to tell her that the feeling was mutual and that he was actually in the process of attempting to get his life together, partly thanks to her son. But, before he could even open his mouth, she already continued speaking.

"BUT, you make Alex happy and his happiness is the most important thing to me."

Baffled, Ed could only stare at her, too shocked by what was coming out of her mouth. Wow, guess the therapy does really work for her, too. He had noticed that Alex was doing better, too, ever since they had started going to family therapy. But, he was still astonished that it seemingly also had changed quite a bit in her.

"Also, it's probably better if he is around you rather than out there doing drugs or causing trouble..." she explained after a moment, looking through him and sounding almost like she was talking to herself. But then her eyes narrowed on him, and with a very stern look on her face, she added, "or choosing a partner that would pressure him into doing things."

"I would never do that. Alex means everything to me." He immediately reassured her, meaning every single word.

After studying his face for a good minute, she seemed satisfied with his answer. But, just to make sure, she leaned in closer and said, barely louder than a whisper, "If you do, I cut off your dick." She then leaned back and with a big fake smile said, "Merry Christmas, Edgar."

"Uhm, yeah... Merry Christmas to you too, Anastasia." Ed replied trying to sound friendly for once but when she immediately dropped her smile and gave him a death glare he paddled back and instead said,"Merry Christmas, Ms. Petrov?"

"Better." She replied, spun around, and stormed off to her apartment.

Ed waited a moment for her to disappear before he also went home.

_______

"What the fuck is that?" Ed asked, while staring at the strangely-formed metal objects in his hand that he had just gotten as a gift from Wilhelm. A few hours had passed since the blond had that encounter with Ms. Petrov. Wilhelm came over and was already snacking.

The other man looked up from the plate of cookies that Alex had baked and wiggled his eyebrows. "Oh, come on, you know what that is." He devilishly chuckled, but when he noticed that his old friend was genuinely confused over the thing, he shook his head. "Damn man, you must be fucking boring in bed." He sighed and then continued his exploration, "That's a buttplug. As the name implies, you shove it in the butt. Well, not yours, but you know who's."

It took Ed a moment to fully let it sink in what he was holding and how, or rather, on who he was supposed to use it. He looked back at the thing and images of the act of putting the egg-like shape in between Alex's well-formed butt cheeks started flashing before his eyes. Would it even fit? He thought, but then remembered that he wasn't alone and that this was nothing more then a fucked up joke gift from his friend.

He shook his head and directed his attention back to Wilhelm, who was clearly trying to hold back his amusement. "WILL! WHAT THE FUCK?! Why the hell do you think I would ever fucking use something like that! Especially on Alex! You god damn pervert!" Ed yelled, repeatedly kicking his friend, who by then was laughing himself half to death. "I should rather shove it up you-!" He continued, but before he could finish his threat the doorbell interrupted him. Ed stomped off to see who it was in a huff.

"Hey Eddy. Merry Christmas!" Alex said as soon as Ed had opened the door and held out a small box that was carefully wrapped in Christmas-themed wrapping paper. The blond was about to take the gift and thank his boyfriend when he noticed he was still holding the thing. Quickly, he stuffed it into the backpocket of his jeans. But, to his embarrassment, he hadn't been fast enough.

"Is that a-mmmhmm" The teen loudly asked, but before he could yell out what it, was Ed covered in mouth.

"Don't say it." Ed growled and slowly took his hand off the younger man's mouth. It wasn't like he was a prude, but he definitely didn't want to discuss anything sexual while Wilhelm was in the background, most likely listening to their every word and already scheming on how to use the stuff to embarrass him every chance he got.

Ed didn't understand why the younger guy was grinning even though he definitely had used a way too harsh tone that he, in hindsight, kinda regretted. But then, suddenly something came out of his boy's mouth that gave the older man almost a heart attack. "Or what? You gonna shove it up my ass and spank me? Because I totally wouldn't mind that."

The blush that formed on Ed’s face took Alex by surprise. But, on closer inspection, he noticed that the blond’s eyes were glazed over in lust. Had he just found another one of Ed’s kinks? Or was he embarrassed and getting ready to close himself off?

"Was that too much?" Alex hesitantly asked, clearly worried if he had messed up.

Ed sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "No... it's just... it's hard to keep myself from doing something when you say stuff like that." He explained.

"Then don't." It had bursted out of Alex's mouth before the teen had even really thought about if it was really the right place and time for such a conversation.

"What?"

The teen nervously licked his lips and then explained what he had meant with the comment, "Well...We’ve been dating for almost four months. So, you don't need to hold back for my sake. I... actually have been wanting to do it for a while now."

Shocked, Ed let out a few incoherent noises before his brain started working again and he managed to get a proper sentence out. " But... you never said anything."

"I... well...uhm..." the boy stammered, his face by now as red as a tomato and his hands so wet as if he had just washed them.

The blond noticed how nervous Alex was about the subject and immediately felt the urgent need to make sure that it was really what he wanted, not just something he was forcing himself to agree to. "You really would want to have sex with me?" He asked and added in a very serious tone, "Because if not, that’s okay, too. We don't have to do anything if you aren't a hundred percent comfortable with it."

The dark eyes stared deep into Ed's light gray eyes for a moment, seemingly trying to figure out if the older one really meant what he was saying.

He looks like a less angry version of his mom when he looks at me like this, Ed thought, remembering the slightly uncomfortable encounter with the woman just a few hours ago.

"Well...uhm...I..." Alex nervously bumbled, bringing Ed's thoughts back to their conversation. The younger man took a deep breath and then took a step closer to Ed. "Yeah, I want to do it. I mean not like today or something but like... uhm..." He quietly said while smiling at the taller man nervously.

Ed was still not really convinced that Alex was ready for the next step in their relationship and was about to voice his concerns when suddenly Alex pressed the small box he had been fumbling around with against his brought chest.

"Here, that's for you." The teen cheerfully said and beckoned him to open it.

Ed suspiciously turned it around in his hand and held it up to his ear to listen if it made any sound that would give him a hint on what it was but to his disappointment it made no sound whatsoever. So, he asked his boyfriend directly but the younger man just rolled his eyes and told him to just open it already. Ed slowly unwrapped the wrapping paper, revealing a dark blue ring case underneath. Stunned, the blond held the thing in his trembling hands. It was quite obvious to him what was in there.

What the fuck? Shouldn’t it be me that buys something like this? Also it's it a little bit too soon for this?

"Alex... I thought we agreed to go slow..."

"What?... Oh my god NO! That's not...! I mean it is a ring but it's not..." the teen hastily explained and quickly took the ring case from Ed's hands. He then opened it and held it so that the older guy could see the two steel rings inside. "They are couple rings. If you put them next to each other, they form a heart. See?" The dark haired explained further and demonstrated what he meant by taking both rings out of the box.

Oh man, this is fucking gay. Ed thought his panic now almost completely replaced by amusement about how innocent and adorable his boyfriend’s gift was. "So, you aren't proposing?"

"What the...NO! That's your fucking job!" Alex yelled while making a face as if just the idea of him proposing was completely outrageous.

"You are damn right about that, princess!" Wilhelm, who had just appeared behind Ed, bellowed.

"Please, you don't even know what we were talking about." Ed replied with an eye roll, while internally praying that he was right because if his old friend had really heard their talk about sex he would probably be the butt of the joke for months, if not even years.

"True, but you're gonna do whatever the kid wants. Because he is a fucking keeper, and if you ruin it, you are a god damn moron." Wilhelm replied and put his arm around Ed's shoulder. With a sheepish grin he then leaned closer and whispered into his old friend's ear, "Also if you guys break up I'm totally scoring him for myself. I would f- argh'' To stop him from saying another word Ed elbowed him into the ribs.

Before the two could get into a real scuffle, Alex piped up, telling them that his mother actually had said that she had made too much food and that if they wanted they could join them for Christmas dinner.

"You think that's a good idea?" Ed questioned knowing fully well that the woman greatly disliked him and probably would hate Wilhelm with his lack of manners and scruffy look even more.

But, when Alex assured him that she already had quite a few drinks and was in a surprisingly cheerful mood, Ed's worries lessened. He looked at his friend to make sure the guy was also on board but he just shrugged and said, "You know me. If there is free food involved I would never say no." With that, they followed Alex back to his apartment next door. Ed only quickly returned to his place when he noticed that he still had the butt plug stuffed in his back pocket.

Just like the teen had said, his mother was actually in a good mood for most of the evening. And, the second it got bad, or she said some snarky comment towards Ed, Wilhelm jumped in to shield his friend. His tactic of distracting her was by either praising the lavish feast she had prepared to the heavens or by outright flirting with her was maybe a little bit awkward to watch for Alex and Ed. But, to both of their astonishment, Anastasia actually reciprocated the flirting and even invited Wilhelm to come over again whenever he felt like it.

The teen just chugged it up to them being both quite drunk but Ed, who knew his friend best, wasn't so sure if it was just that.