Blue Christmas
Zeus’s hands were shaking as we entered the Dancing Queens. I tangled my fingers with his while we found a quiet place in the corner. We didn’t want Sam to see us while he was performing.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Shane asked. I elbowed him in the ribs, doing nothing but bruising my elbow. He didn’t even grunt. I glanced up at my lover and rolled my eyes.
“I don’t think I can go through with it, Macy,” Zeus said, his blue eyes on the stage where Sam was in full drag. I moved so that I was standing in front of him. He wasn’t monstrously tall like Shane, but he still had to look down at me.
“Do you love Sam?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Then you’re going to go through with this.”
He nodded, his eyes on the stage. Sam had finished his act and was blowing kisses to the crowd. His eyes caught on Zeus and he nearly fell off the stage. Zeus flinched as Sam darted back out of sight as if he had been thrown.
“He’s still so angry with me,” Zeus said. “What if he can’t forgive me?”
“It’s Christmas Eve. And he loves you. It was a stupid fight. You two are going to be fine.” I patted his heavily tattooed arm and handed him the bag of clothing. “Now go change. We’ll make sure Sam doesn’t leave.”
Zeus headed off to the bathroom and I leaned against the wall beside Shane. Shane pulled me against him, clasping his hands across my abdomen. He kissed my hair.
“You’re cuddly tonight,” I said, looking up into his fawn colored eyes.
“It’s a gay bar,” he said. “I’m not homophobic, but I’d rather not get hit on.”
“Honey, I don’t think the men in this bar would be interested in someone like you.”
He pushed me away from him. “What does that mean?”
He was a six foot seven wall of muscle and bad attitude in black leather pants, skull and cross bones t-shirt, biker boots, and a black bandana covering his hair. The scar running from above his eyebrow down the side of his face to his neck made him look dangerous; which he was. But it was debatable which of us was the more dangerous.
“The men who come here aren’t looking to pick up a biker,” I said, tugging on the metal chain that was always around his neck. “They like drag queens. They like men like Sam.”
“Everyone likes me,” Sam said, appearing behind me. I turned and smiled at him, my head already craned upward from looking at Shane. Sam was only an inch shorter, but his body was willow slender. He made quite a woman. He was back in his jeans and pink t-shirt, his face scrubbed free of make-up. He searched the crowd.
“Where’s Zeus?” he asked.
“Last time he tried to talk to you, you slammed the door in his face,” I said.
“I was still angry,” Sam said, defensively. But he sighed and searched the room. “I overreacted. I should have opened the door and let him talk. How has he been?”
“You mean the five minutes I managed to get him to stop crying?” I asked.
Sam bit his lip, his coffee colored eyes searching for Zeus. They caught on the stage and his mouth dropped open. I looked around him and smiled.
Zeus stood on the stage, spotlighted. He wore black dress pants and a white button-down shirt with long sleeves to cover his tattoos. His Cookie Monster blue hair was styled into short spikes and his smile was as terrified as his overly large blue eyes. He pulled at the cuffs of the dress shirt and cleared his throat into the microphone.
“Ah, hi,” he said. The room quieted as everyone turned to look at him. It was rare to see a man on the stage at the Dancing Queens.
Zeus blushed, adding more appeal to his Mediterranean complexion.
“Ah, my name is Zeus. Some of you know me.”
“You’re Sam’s boyfriend,” someone yelled out.
Zeus looked over at Sam. “I was. We had a fight a few days ago. I said a lot of stupid things. And,” he paused, shifting his feet. “And it’s Christmas Eve. It’s a day to be with the people you love. I’ve never really had a family. I didn’t grow up being loved, which is why it scares me. It’s why I said those stupid things, Sam. I love you so much, and I keep waiting for you to realize that you’re too good for me.”
Sam took one step toward the stage.
Zeus wiped at an escaped tear. “I’m sorry I tried to shut you out. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I loved you every chance I got. Because I woke up alone this morning and all I could think about was you. My life is dark without you. You’re my light, Sam. I’ve apologized over and over, but I hope you hear me this time. Because I’m lost without you.”
Tears stung my eyes as Zeus sang, “I’ll have a blue Christmas without you. I’ll be so blue, just thinking about you. Decorations of red, on a green Christmas tree won’t be the same dear, if you’re not here with me.”
The lights played off of his blue hair, his unsure voice filling the room with hope. His hands were still shaking while he sang, and he never took his eyes off Sam. The entire room held its breath as the song ended.
Sam vaulted onto the stage. He framed Zeus’s face with his hands and kissed him. The club erupted in thunderous applause. I whooped while Sam wrapped his arms around Zeus and held him as if they were the only two people in the world.
I turned to see Shane smiling. He glanced down at me.
“So,” I said, twining my fingers in the chain around his neck. “What grand romantic gesture do you have planned for me?”
“Don’t hold your breath Baby,” he rolled his eyes. “Damn Zeus. Making the rest of us look bad. How the hell am I supposed to compete with that?” He indicated the stage. I had a brief image of Shane in drag and burst out laughing. He glared down at me.
“Let’s get out of here. There’s too much blubbering and love in the air. It’s enough to make a man choke.”
“Just my luck to be stuck with a gruff ass like you for eternity,” I muttered.
I climbed onto the back of his motorcycle, enjoying the warmth of him while the cold wind whipped my face. We pulled up to my house and headed up the stairs to my third floor apartment.
He slapped at by butt while we climbed the stairs, grinning like the mischievous little boy he hadn’t been in a very long time. I swatted his hands away, laughing.
“Cut it out, Shane. I know you’re not a romantic, but you don’t need to be…” the air left my lungs as I opened my front door. The main room of my apartment was filled with hundreds of candles. The floor was covered in rose petals. The Christmas tree Shane and I had picked out the day before was lit up and shining with colorful ornaments. It was my first Christmas tree in twelve years. It was my first Christmas not alone. It was my first Christmas with Shane.
I turned as he quietly shut the door behind himself. The candlelight played over the planes of the face I had yet to convince him was handsome. His fawn colored eyes looked into mine; speaking far more eloquently than his mouth was capable.
“I’m not a romantic,” he said. “But I love you.”
I was too stunned to move. He leaned down and kissed me. His hands stroked over my face, sliding around to caress the back of my neck. He rested his forehead against mine. “Besides, if I didn’t do something tonight, after Zeus’s performance, I’d never hear the end of it. I waited a century for you, Baby. I don’t intend to spend the next couple hearing remember that Christmas where Zeus sang for Sam and you did absolutely nothing?” His rough voice, permanently altered due to the scar, didn’t really manage to imitate my tone. I shoved against his chest but his arms were around me.
“You are determined to ruin this, aren’t you?” I muttered.
He shook his head. “It’s me, Baby. What did you expect?”
I framed his face with my hands, surprised he let my fingers graze the scar. “I love you, Shane.”
He smiled and reached into his pocket. The room filled with music and he slid his hand to my waist.
“What are you doing?” I gasped.
“I’m dancing with you,” he said as “Christmas Canon” by the Tran-Siberian Orchestra filled my small apartment.
“You never dance,” I said as he pulled took my hand.
“I do for you. Merry Christmas, Baby.”
I followed his lead as we waltzed around my apartment in the flickering candlelight, our shoes crushing the rose petals and filling the air with their scent. It was the most beautiful moment of my life. He pulled me against his chest and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around him and promised that I would never let him go.
*melt*
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