A Christmas Wish - 1. Chapter 1

’Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, except for Loki.

Everybody has a Christmas wish; one thing that they wish for more than anything. There are those who wish for things; for toys, for games, for money. Then there are those who wish for the basics that the rest of us take for granted; for a family, for a place to live, for someone to love. It is this latter group whose yearnings call to Loki.

Each year, Loki searches for the one person who wishes harder than anyone else, the person who wants their wish more than anyone else, and he grants them that wish. This year it is Michael Mastersen’s turn to have his greatest wish granted.

Michael is fifteen, and told his parents a year ago that he is gay. His parents accepted it without question, his friends accepted it without question and he has everything he could want; well not quite everything. Michael wants a boyfriend, and he has set his sights, his desires and his heart on Jonathan Timbers.

Loki approached the sleeping Michael. “I can read your mind and your heart, young one. You scream your deepest desires to me. So I grant you your Christmas wish.”

Michael awoke Christmas morning feeling refreshed, but he felt weird. He couldn’t say why, nor could he really even explain what he was feeling; he just felt weird. He made his way downstairs and found that his parents and younger sister, Maggie, were already up and they were in the family room.

“Good morning Michael. We were waiting for you to get up before we made a start.”

As was Christmas tradition, their parents handed Michael and his sister a glass of Bucks Fizz; not proper Bucks Fizz, this was only about two percent champagne and ninety eight percent orange juice.

The family sat around and spent their Christmas morning opening the multitude of presents (not really caring where the wrapping went), watching the usual crappy reruns on the TV (Michael’s dad was really looking forward to watching The Great Escape that afternoon) and their mum made a start on dinner.

Michael spent the time up until dinner playing the new computer games his parents had given him, Maggie spent the time making a start on reading the Skulduggery Pleasant book collection she had been given and their dad vegged in front of the TV watching the Christmas specials that were on; mostly reruns of shows like Only Fools And Horses and Friends.

The family always had dinner early on Christmas Day, and by two o’clock they were all sitting down to the feast. Each year Michael and Maggie always make one thing to go with dinner (this year Michael had made the cranberry sauce and Maggie had made honey roasted parsnips) and they both received praise from their parents on their efforts.

Just as they were finishing dinner there was a knock on the door. Michael got up to answer the door and was astounded when he saw Jonathan Timbers.

“Jonathan, hi.” The greeting came out sounding kind of lame, but he was slightly surprised by Jonathan’s presence.

“Hey Michael, Merry Christmas.”

“Oh . . . yeah . . . Merry Christmas.” Michael’s brain was still operating in neutral, and only shifted into first gear when he noticed Jonathan shivering. “I’m sorry Jonathan; do you want to come in?”

“Thanks.”

As Jonathan entered the house he removed his snow covered sneakers, and Michael’s parents came out to see who it was.

“Jonathan.” Michael’s dad was really shocked to see him and it showed. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong Mr Mastersen. I just wanted to come over and give Michael his Christmas present.”

‘Christmas present’?! Well this was big news to Michael. He and Jonathan weren’t really more than passing acquaintances; they had a couple of classes at school together and they both had rugby practice after school, but they’d never really hung out together.

Michael’s parents went back into the dining room, leaving him and Jonathan standing in the hallway.

“Do you want to come up to my room and I can show you what I got from my parents for Christmas?”

“That would be great.”

Michael led Jonathan up to his bedroom, while constantly wondering what was going on. He showed Jonathan the new computer games he got and they chatted for a little bit.

“Michael, are you ready for your present?”

“Jonathan, you really didn’t have to get me anything. I mean I hardly know you.”

“Don’t worry it didn’t cost a lot. It’s not like I bought you a new Jaguar or anything.” He started laughing at his own joke, and Michael found himself laughing along. “Well, close your eyes then.”

Michael felt like saying he wasn’t a little kid anymore but decided against it, so he closed his eyes as requested. For about five seconds nothing happened, and Michael was beginning to feel more than a little foolish.

Then he felt it. Jonathan was kissing him on the lips. Michael wanted this more than anything in the world, but he still felt himself pull away from the kiss.

“Jonathan what are you doing?”

“I’m kissing you, what do you think I’m doing?”

“Let me rephrase. Why are you kissing me?”

“I love you Michael.”

Michael nearly collapsed at hearing that. “You’re . . . You’re . . . .”

“I’m in love with you,” Jonathan repeated.

“You’re . . . in love . . . with me?”

“Why do you find that so hard to believe? Don’t you love me?”

“Jonathan, we barely know each other. I’m not saying I’ve never thought about you, or that I’ve never thought about asking you out, but as I said we hardly know anything about each other.”

“I know this sounds crazy. I just woke up this morning and it was like a really big light bulb had suddenly been turned on. I realised I loved you.”

“It sounds more like you’re infatuated with me, than in love with me. To be in love with some, to know that you want to spend the rest of life with another person, takes time. You need to get to know that person, get to know how you fit with that other person. You don’t just suddenly wake up and realise you’re in love.”

“Well I did. I love you Michael. I love you more than anyone or anything.” He lunged at Michael again and started kissing him again, only this time Jonathan tried to force his tongue past Michael’s lips and into Michael’s mouth; but Michael was having none of it. Again he backed away from Jonathan.

“Jonathan, you need to back off and you seriously need to take a cold shower. You need to understand nothing is going to happen here. I’m not saying I’d be adverse to spending time with you and getting to know you better. Maybe once we’ve spent a bit of time together we can see about progressing to being boyfriends.”

“I can’t wait and I won’t wait.” Jonathan lunged at Michael again, this time tackling him to floor. Jonathan started passionately kissing Michael again, but it was when Jonathan cupped a hand over Michael’s penis that he got really scared. He managed to throw Jonathan off him, even though Jonathan outweighed him by about twenty pounds.

As Jonathan lunged at Michael for the fourth time, Michael yelled out for his parents. Jonathan had tackled Michael onto the bed and was trying to rip his clothes off, just as Mr and Mrs Mastersen walked in.

It took the combined effort of both of Michael’s parents to pull Jonathan off of their son. They each held him by an arm as they tried to keep a hold on the struggling boy.

“Son, just what the Hell is going on here?”

“I don’t know Dad. Jonathan said he had a present for me, remember you were there.” Michael’s dad nodded his confirmation. “Well it turned out that present was a kiss. Jonathan says he is in love with me, but I don’t see how that’s possible.”

“Jonathan, are you drunk?” my dad asked him

“I’m only drunk on love. I’m deeply in love with your son. I need him. I want him.”

“I think he’s either drunk or he’s high on something. I’m calling the police.”

“Dad, wait. You can’t call the police on him, it’s Christmas.”

“Jesus Christ, Son. If we hadn’t been here he might have raped you.”

“But he didn’t Dad. He just needs to get whatever he’s taken out of his system and he’ll be fine.”

It was at that point that Loki realised he had to make an appearance.

“Please do not be startled. I will not harm you. I am here to help.”

“What the Hell are you? One of Santa’s elves?” Trust my dad to resort to sarcasm at a time like this.

“No sir, I am not an elf. My name is Loki. The closest you can probably come to understanding what I am is a sprite or a pixie or a genie; I grant wishes. Or more precisely, I grant one wish on Christmas morning to the person who most desires their wish to come true. In this case, Michael’s deepest wish was to have Jonathan as his boyfriend and for Jonathan to love him unconditionally. I granted him his wish.”

“This is not what I wished for. I didn’t wish to be almost raped by him!”

“My understanding of the emotion you call love is very limited; you see my people do not experience love. I always thought that love was supposed to be a happy emotion; that it brought people together. I had no idea it could cause this kind of behaviour.”

“Loki, love in of itself is a good emotion. But there are so many ways that love is different between different people. I love my parents in a different way to how I love my sister, and in a different way to how I would love a boyfriend. The problem is that love is also a very powerful emotion, and suddenly waking up one morning and being completely in love with someone for no explainable reason can lead to things like this happening. Love between partners can even lead to negative emotions like jealousy.”

“I think I understand. Up until now I have granted the Christmas Wish for a child asking to find loving parents or for a foster family to find the love of a child; you see it is the desire of love that calls to me. I simply grant the wish; the human heart interprets the wish and the love in the way that the wisher has wished. In your case, Michael, I was called to you because your desire for the love of a boyfriend was so strong; perhaps it was a little too strong. As I said, I do not understand the intricacies of love; the magic interprets the love for me and weaves it into the person’s heart. Perhaps your desires were simply so strong that they supercharged the magic. However, in view of what has happened here, if you desire, I will ungrant your wish.”

“Yes, I do desire that. I don’t want to see Jonathan like this, and I don’t want to have Jonathan like this. If he truly feels something for me, then that would be great; but I don’t want him through magic. I’d never know if he truly loves me or not if he was compelled to love me through magic.”

“He will sleep for a while after I cast the magic. Nothing that has transpired here today will be altered, that is a magic far beyond my abilities; all that will happen is that Jonathan will no longer be in love with you through magic. I cannot change what has happened here today, but I ask your forgiveness.”

“You have nothing to apologise for. I was the one who wished for this in the first place.”

“When he wakes, he will also remember all that has happened this day.”

“We will cross that bridge when we come to it.”

“Then farewell.” Loki disappeared from sight and Jonathan fell into a deep sleep. They put him in Michael’s bed and they went downstairs to watch more reruns of the classics as they waited for him to wake up.

‘I think my life has just gotten a bit more interesting’ Michael thought to himself while he decided just what he was going to tell Jonathan.