Struggling Forward - 8. Christmas Is In The Air

Christmas Is In The Air:

December brought a ton of snow which Kyle acted like a little kid in it. He managed to get his license before the major snowstorm hit town, he planned on holding Blu to his promise of sledding. Kyle set out on his own to do some Christmas shopping on his limited budget, he wandered from store to store looking for just the right item for each person in his life which he found to both exhausting and emotionally draining when dealing with Christmas shoppers. Kyle did find some gifts he was proud of on clearance for most of his family, his final gift was for Blu and no matter how hard he looked anything he looked at just wasn’t the right thing in his mind. His final stop was at a second-hand bookstore where he browsed through book after book until he came across a copy of ‘A Christmas Carol’ in Prose Leather by Charles Dickens it had a price of $76. Kyle snatched the book off the shelf and paid the cashier who wrapped the book in some newspaper before bagging it. Kyle made his journey home without any friendly hand gestures from the splendid holiday drivers.

Kyle parked the car and grabbed his bag on presents and headed for the warmth of their home, “Honey I’m home,” Kyle called out and chuckled as he kicked his shoes off on the mat by the door. Khan came to his side providing a friendly slobbery kiss, which earned him some praise and a scratch on his ear.

Blu came from the kitchen, still holding a plate and dish towel.

“Hey Blondie,” Blu leaned in kissing Kyle, “Christmas shopping?” Blu asked trying to snoop in the bags.

Kyle slipped a bag inside his jacket under his armpit clutching it tightly, “Mhmm,” and no snooping. “What are the plans for the rest of the day Babe?” Kyle smiled sweetly.

“I’ve got to pick Davis up from work later, his POS is out of order again! Khan has to go to the vet at six to get his shots, other than that, I’m all yours. I’m not sure where Kaleb is though,” Blu tilted his head thinking, “Come to think of it I haven’t seen him all day.”

“That’s weird,” Kyle shrugged his shoulders, “Maybe the clowns had a play date today.”

Blu threw back his head and laughed, he kissed Kyle chastely again and then headed back to the kitchen. Khan trotted after Blu like it was dinner time. Kyle gave a look making sure Blu was busy and snuck upstairs, pulling the fold-down ladder to the attic. He crawled up the ladder and done his best Christmas Vacation impersonation of Griswold hiding techniques crawling across the rafters to hide Blu’s present. Once Kyle felt he had safely hidden Blu’s gift he crawled back down the ladder and closed the attic and stashed the remaining gifts in the back of their closet underneath some old duffel bags and sat some shoes on top of it.

Kyle wandered back down the stairs and heard Blu whistling Jingle Bells to himself. Kyle chuckled as he rounded the corner and saw Khan tilting his head paying rapt attention to Blu, “I see your musical talent is capturing an audience,” Kyle chuckled.

Blu chuckled, “Yep, I’m gonna quit college and make my way to Broadway Blondie. I’ll always remember you fondly. Once I’m famous, if we ever bump into each other I’ll introduce you to my new husband, Dylan O’Brien-Waters.” Blu tilted his head to the side looking past Kyle with a lusty expression on his face.

Kyle rolled his eyes, “Khan it looks like it’s you and me.” Kyle patted his leg giving Khan the come command, “Let’s go pack our stuff,” he joked, “How soon do we need to be out before your infamous entourage arrives and kicks us to the curb, kind sir?”

Blu waved Kyle off, “Don’t be silly Blondie, you stay, I’ll be in New York anyway. You can keep Kaleb too, but I’m taking Khan. I’ll need protection from my adoring fans or psycho stalkers. Huh! That all sounds like too much work for me, I think I’ll just stay here and suffer through with you.”

“Well I wouldn’t want you to suffer,” Kyle giggled, “Us lowly folk might be contagious.”

“I hope so, I wouldn’t mind catching some of the hotness you’ve got going on there.” Blu eyed Kyle provocatively.

In no time at all, the boys had loaded Khan into the car and were headed to Chow’s Veterinary Clinic. Kyle raised his hand giving Khan a scratch on his muzzle as he drove, “Be a good boy for Dr. Chow and your Daddies will get you a treat after,” Khan growled under his breath.

Blu was holding the clinic door open for Kyle and Khan, it almost appeared that Kyle had his foot on the door frame pulling Khan in, and Khan was pulling out. Blu was absolutely no help except to hold the door open and wet his pants whilst laughing at the comical duo. A clinic technician approached and took the lead from Kyle, five minutes later the technician had his foot on the door frame pulling Khan in, and Khan was pulling out. Again, Blu – no help, while Kyle stood next to him with a satisfied look on his face and his arms crossed over his chest.

“I’ll have to bring the vet out here, he’s not going to budge is he?” the technician asked, the boys shook their head, “What were you bringing him in for?”

“His shots,” Kyle answered and handed her Khan’s records.

“Okay,” the technician seemed relieved, “I’ll be back in a moment.”

The vet returned, coming outside the clinic doors where the boys were waiting with their reluctant giant dog. The Vet was holding a file and the technician followed with a syringe.

“Gentlemen, is this our reluctant hero,” the Vet laughed at his own joke, Blu nodded and Kyle cringed at the syringe, “we’re going to give Khan his shot, but I urge you boys to bring the dog here regularly and try and get him through the door. Once he realizes there is nothing to be afraid of, it will be easier to get him to the clinic.” The Vet looked from Blu to Kyle.

“Sure, sounds like a good idea,” Blu answered and nodded once.

Kyle held Khan still while the Vet gave him the shot, Blu followed the technician inside and paid, then waited for the updated vaccination records.

“Thanks for your help, we’ll see you again and probably often until we can get the big sookie moose through the door. And that’s just my fiancee,” Blu laughed along with the clinic tech while they watched Kyle babying Khan through the glass door. Khan lapping up the attention.

“What?” Kyle mouthed as everybody watch him and Khan. Blu waved at his adorable man, Kyle waved back with a confused look on his face.

*****

On the following Saturday Kyle woke up early and made breakfast before Blu’s time to return from work. He made scrambled egg’s, homefries and bacon then placed it in the oven to keep it warm until Blu returned. Kyle hurried to set the table to have it ready for Blu’s breakfast.

Kaleb stumbled into the kitchen, “What’s that smell? What are you doing in my kitchen? Why aren’t the smoke detectors going off?” Kaleb hammered out questions repetitively.

Kyle glared at Kaleb, “I managed to learn how to cook some stuff without creating charcoal,” He said before taking a drink of his coffee. “No clown gig today?” Kyle sniped.

Kaleb shook his head, “Nope never again, I got a job working as a cook for a catering business in town.”

“Aren’t you special?” Kyle sarcastically responded, “So can I be unbanished from the kitchen?”

“We’ll have to have a family meeting,” Kaleb shrugged his shoulders, picking up Kyle’s coffee and walked off.

“Asshole that was mine,” Kyle called out to Kaleb, his only response was a one-fingered salute over his shoulder.

Kyle poured himself another cup of coffee and collected the paper from the front porch and sat in the dining room reading the paper. He flipped through reading a few articles and his eyes landed on Blu and his engagement announcement, which brought an ear-to-ear smile to his face. After Kyle read their article he placed it beside Blu’s place setting on the table. Kyle heard Blu’s faithful car pulling into the driveway.

Kyle hopped up and met Blu at the door pulling him into a lust filled kiss, “God you’re sexy Babe,” he said between gasps for oxygen.

Blu grinned, “Blondie, everything okay, you’re bouncing around like one of those ‘yip’ dogs.”

“It’s a great day, you’re beautiful, the snow’s perfect,” Kyle cheerfully said with a smile, “I made you breakfast too.”

Blu looked at his man affectionately, “What did I do to get all this special treatment?”

Kyle took Blu’s hand, “Just being you, and I love you.”

Kaleb and Davis were coming down the stairs, Blu looked at Kaleb, “Did you give your brother those special freakin’ brownies again?”

“Hey Blu, can we borrow your car we want to get a Christmas tree?” Davis asked.

“Ah, sure, we don’t have any decorations though, and aren’t we going to Mom and Dads for Christmas anyway?”

“Yeah, but this is our first Christmas together, all four of us, we should enjoy it,” Davis answered, “We’ll see what they have at the lot. If not someone can go and get some later.”

Blu pulled his wallet from his back pocket, “Here’s $50 mine and Kyle’s share, whatever we don’t use we’ll get decorations.” Kaleb grabbed the money stuffing it in his pocket.

Kaleb smiled at Blu, “I was thinking I could make chocolate mint chip brownies to take for Christmas, Nan will love them.”

“Mhmm,” Blu side eyed Kaleb suspiciously while he threw Davis the keys.

*****

Kaleb and Davis returned dragging a bound Christmas tree in the house, “We got a beautiful Fraser Fir,” He said to Blu and Kyle who were snuggled up on the couch together with Khan sprawled out on the lounge portion.

“Awesome I love those Christmas trees,” Blu said as he got up from the couch and helping Davis and Kaleb set it up in the corner by the front window. “Any decorations?”

“We got a wreath for the front door,” Kaleb said with a grin, “They didn’t have much else though.”

“Good one Kaleb, you should hang it up, Blondie and I will go to the dollar store tomorrow and get some bobbles and what not,” Blu said excitedly, rubbing his hands together.

Kyle stood up, “I’ll make some hot chocolate to warm you guys up, want some Babe?”

“Oooh, yes please!” Blu grinned.

“Marshmallow?” Kyle called out as he headed toward the kitchen. He received ya’s and mhmm from the group.

Kyle did a quick google on his cell for a recipe for hot chocolate. He was back a short time later with four mugs of steamy hot chocolate that had to have had at least an inch thick of melted marshmallow oozing over their brim. Kyle sat down the tray he carried the mugs on, “Help yourself guys, I’m getting better in the kitchen. Kaleb ask Blu, breakfast was really good and no food poisoning.”

“Yeah, it was nice Blondie, I enjoyed it,” Blu smiled rubbing his belly, “This is really nice too,” Blu stated holding up his mug.

Kaleb picked up a mug and sniffed it before taking a sip, “Mmm,” Kaleb took a bigger gulp, “Homemade?” Kyle nodded his head as he took a drink and had a white frothy looking mustache. Blu reached over and wiped Kyle’s mustache away with his thumb, then licking his finger.

“You’re too cute, Blondie?” flashing his love smile at Kyle.

The rest of the day flew by, the next day Kyle and Blu went and bought every Christmas decoration they could find that was reasonably priced. They rushed home and had the house sparkling and twinkling from top to bottom.

*****

The day had arrived for their Christmas expedition and soon they were pulling up Doug and Lily’s house. Kyle got out of the car and stretched and Khan lunged over the front seat and out the open door in a mere second. Kyle stood there laughing as Khan bulldozed his way through the piled up snow, “Khan quit that you’re gonna track snow all through the house,” Khan looked at Kyle and then flopped over into the snow and made a snow angel of himself which caused Kyle to sigh.

Kyle reached under his seat and grabbed Blu’s Christmas gift that hasn’t been out of his sight since he retrieved it from it’s hiding spot in the attic.

Charlie crawled out of the car, “Whatcha hiding?”

“Blu’s Christmas gift,” Kyle smiled thoughtfully wondering where he could hide it next, “He’s been determined to see it from the moment I got it” Kyle snickered, “I had to use my creativeness to hide it at home, at least now it’s wrapped.”

Doug came out of the house, “Okay kids, quickly drop your bags, Mom will show you where your staying and come back down here, chop, chop..” Doug started clapping his hands to get the kids moving. They all greeted Doug as they walked by him and kissed Lily on the cheek, who was waiting at the front door. While they were stashing their bags Doug pulled four sleds out of the garage and into the front yard. One by one they all appeared in front of Doug, “Good, grab a sled, and let's go.” The kids all coupled up and grabbed each end of a sled, Christopher the other end of Doug’s. He directed everyone to a vacant lot that had never been built on because of the steep terrain.

They stopped at the bottom of the lot, Kyle’s eyes glistened with anticipation and excitement. Blu put down his end of the sled and cuddled up to Kyle, “You okay, Blondie?” kissing his cheek.

“Yeah,” Kyle nodded his head and wiped his eyes, “It feels like Kaleb and I finally have a life that’s totally within our control. We have a real family that doesn’t put on a façade to hide who they are, and everybody is free-spirited.” Kyle chuckled, “And then we have Nan… She sure is one of a kind.”

“You deserve a family, one day we’ll have our own, but for now we’ll enjoy being a part of someone else’s. Remember how you feel right now, that’s how we want our kids to feel every day,” Blu nudged Kyles’s cheek with his forehead.

Kyle grinned wildly, “Ready to ride?” He grabbed the runner on the sled.

Blu ran beside Kyle up the hill, they stumbled, fumbling, their way to the top. They both probably had a few bruises by now. Blu didn’t care, if it put a smile on Kyle’s face like he’s wearing right now, Blu would do a snow dance every day. Once they reached the top Blu had Kyle sit at the front of the sled and Blu snuggled up behind him. He put on arm around Kyle’s waist, “You ready Blondie?” Blu whispered in his ear, then kissed Kyle’s neck.

Kyle’s eyes were fixed on the ride of a lifetime that laid before them, “I was born ready.”

Blu put his legs either side of Kyle’s, “I got you Blondie, hands in the air, enjoy this,” Blu pushed them over the crest.

Kyle’s hand went up in the air as both boys squealed like toddlers, Blu pulled Kyle to him as they flew down the hill, coming to a stop just before the curb.

Kyle hopped up pumping his arm in the air hopping around like he just won the lottery, “That was fuckin’ awesome Babe.”

Blu grinned from ear-to-ear, seeing Kyle happy, “I know right, you wanna go again, or try solo?”

“Hell ya,” Kyle shouted and dragged Blu back up the hill. Part way up the hill Kaleb and Davis were passing by Kyle, Kaleb got the brainstorm to grab Kyle’s leg which sent their sled barreling off a small hill launching them into the air. Kyle and Blu stopped to watch as Davis, and Kaleb were thrown in separate directions from the sled. Kyle laughed at his brother once he stood up sputtering from the snow that was packed in every imaginable place of his body, “Serves you right asswipe.” Kaleb turned in Kyle’s direction flipping him off.

*****

After dinner, Doug asked to speak privately with Kyle and Kaleb it is regarding their trust funds. The boys followed Doug into his workshop in the garage.

Kyle’s curiosity was getting the better of him by the time they were all in the workshop, “What did you find out Dad?”

Doug leaned against the bench along the back wall, moving sprinklers and hoses out of his way.

“Boys I hope you don’t mind but I’ve had our lawyer look into your trust funds,” Doug expected the two boys to have a problem with his snooping, but he was met with two very hopeful faces. “It seems your Dad can’t stop your trust-funds, the day you both turned eighteen was when you were in control of it yourself. Your Grandparents set it up so that once you were of age you’d be able to access it for education, real-estate, and health reasons. Anything else would not be accessible until you reach twenty-five unless you were married.”

Kyle braced himself against the workbench, “Let me get this straight,” Kyle tensed up, “that asshole has been threatening something he couldn’t even follow through with?”

“Pretty much,” Doug answered, looking down as he crossed one ankle over the other, and his arms across his chest, “However, he managed to get an injunction on yours, Kyle…”

Kyle went to say something but Doug put his hand up to stop him, then crossed them over his chest again.

“Calm down for a minute, it won’t stick, there’s nothing he can do. Your Father isn’t actually the executor of the trust. That job is actually your Grandparents lawyer, we’ve had their accountant do an audit of the trusts as the balances aren’t what they should be.” Doug observed Kyle for a few seconds, “Kyle have you made any real-estate investments in the past year?”

“Dad,” Kyle shook his head, “You’ve seen all of us have jobs just to get by, my bank account barely has $100 in it after bills are paid. I don’t even have enough to cover this next semester saved up yet.”

“I don’t want you to worry about that, Mom and I will sort something out with you before you go home. You’re not alone, we’ll see if we can’t find the rest. We can worry about the money later.” Doug assured Kyle.

Kyle took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, “When you said the audit showed inconsistencies in the balance, what did you mean?”

“I don’t know all of the details yet, but it looks like your Dad has made real-estate purchases in your name. He then sells them to his company, at rock bottom prices, then sells them pocketing the money. We can’t quite figure out where the money from the sales are going because it isn’t going back into your trust,” Doug was angry about Rudolph stealing from his own son, and it showed on his face.

Kaleb hands balled into fists, “I’m gonna fuckin’ kill…”

Kyle cut Kaleb off from speaking, “Kaleb, we’re not sinking to his level. I’m seriously not worried so much about the trust, but he’s gonna lose every penny he has by the time we are done with him. Remember Blu and I are getting married in a few months, if I have to spend every last dime of my trust to get Rudolph he will regret everything he’s ever done to us.”

Doug couldn’t help feeling uneasy, he reached out and put his hand on Kyle’s shoulder, “You’ll do no such thing, you are better than he is. I won’t have you wasting money on revenge. It will drag you down to his level. I want you to remember, this is about you boys, NOT, Rudolph. His brutality has already cost one of your friends dearly. That is not who you are. I’d rather you play offense than revenge tactics, it serves absolutely no purpose. With a man like Rudolph, success is the only revenge that will hit him where it hurts.” Doug told the boys, “Promise me you won’t waste your precious life letting that man take up real-estate in your head.”

Doug sighed, “Let’s just have the lawyers handle everything when I know more so will you. For now, I’ll see if Lily and I can’t handle the tuition for you, Kyle. The good news is he hasn’t done anything to Kaleb’s, yet. Neither of your trusts can be touched from this point forward unless you are present at the lawyer's office with your accountant. It’s over the top and ridiculous I know but it’s for the wellbeing of your trust.”

Kyle shrugged his shoulders, “Dad I’m fine with the lawyer’s handling the situation with Rudolph. I really don’t care if I have the money or not,” Kyle straightened up, “As long as Kaleb’s trust is still intact for his future, I can deal with paying my own way. I’m happy with earning my way in life, Blu is there for me day in and day out that’s all that matters to me, other than Kaleb.”

Doug smiled at Kyle, “I know Son, but, your Grandparents wanted you to have this for your future. According to their lawyer, they adored you boys, and they were warm and loving people. Nothing like Rudolph and Penelope. Saying that, in my opinion, you boys should keep doing what you're doing. Working will help build character and a good work ethic. I also think you boys will like yourselves better if you build a life rather than rely on anything handed to you. You’re both intelligent, kind, and compassionate young men, that will take you further than money ever could.” Doug reached out and pulled both of the boys into a Dad hug.

Kaleb muttered, “If our Grandparents were so loving, how the hell did Rudolph and Penelope become such gold-digging assholes?”

Kyle sighed, “I remember Pa and Gram a little Kaleb, they would sit in the garden while we played. I remember one time I played with trucks in their yard and you plucked every flower from Gram’s flower bed, she shook her head and laughed.”

Kaleb chuckled, “I don’t remember that and I’m too innocent to be blamed for such things,” Kyle rolled his eyes.

Kyle pulled back from the embrace three shared, “Dad, tell the lawyer’s to leave Rudolph and Penelope penniless, that will hurt those two worse than any law could serve them.”

Doug chuckled, “You’re right about that, but let’s play this out. Before anything else, they are trying to recoup what’s been stolen from you. We’ll wait and see.” Doug hoped the two boys would be okay and not fall into the trap of revenge, it can really change someone's personality. He loved the two boys as if they were his own, and they are both sweet, kind young men. Doug’s plan is to keep them that way, more like their Grandparents than their parents.