Page 3 of A Beginner's Guide to Christmas Miracles
“Jesus Beck—you’re baking Christmas cookies the day after Thanksgiving, and it’searly,” Alan whined, reaching out again for a cookie.
“They’re hot,” Beck warned, and he took more than a little satisfaction when Alan bounced the cookie from hand to hand, blowing on it. “That’s what you get for mocking my Christmas music. You certainly don’t complain about eating the Christmas baking,” Beck grumbled.
Alan may have been acting like a grump, and he would probably bitch for the next month about the Christmas carols and the holiday movies and decorations, but he would also be out there helping Beck build fake deer for the yard and get the tree set up, so Beck knew he didn’t mind too much.
He and Alan had been college roommates, and they were total opposites in more than just their Christmas spirit (or lack thereof in Alan’s case). Alan was tall, and Beck was short. Alan was tan with short, straight, dark hair, and Beck was pale with light brown, curly hair that was fashionably mid-length. (Ok, fine, it was boy band length, and the curls only added to the boy band hair effect.) Alan worked out regularly, and Beck… well, did Christmas shopping at the outlets count as a workout? Beck thought maybe it did.
Beck still remembered his first day in the college dorm, meeting this ultra masculine guy who was going to be his roommate. Beck had always been a bit femme, and he was definitelynotstraight. He had never, in his entire life, been attracted to a girl. He admired them, but that was more about the nail polish they wore or the cute outfits. He was lucky to have parents who supported him fully, and at the start of college, he was nervous as hell about a roommate who might not.
He’d blurted out that he was gay within five seconds of meeting Alan, at which point Alan had looked at him and just said ok, he was straight. Was that going to be a problem for Beck? He wouldn’t, like, bring girls back to the room or anything if it made Beck uncomfortable.
It was sort of amazing, and it was the moment that Beck knew they were going to be friends. No one had ever asked him if it was a problem that they didn’t have the same sexual preference ashim. He had known right then that Alan was an awesome guy.
When they both turned out to be computer majors, it had seemed pretty perfect, and they’d roomed together all through college. Afterwards, they’d both scored tech jobs nearby, and with the rental market what it was and neither of them in a long term relationship, they’d decided to buy together and build some equity. Living together had worked out perfectly when things got crazy with Covid, and now they both worked from home (luckily the house had two bedroomsandtwo separate areas they could use for office space).
Although Beck was always looking for a boyfriend, he did love living with Alan. They’d both had a few relationships, and neither of them ever had any problems when the other person was dating. They were sort of like brothers at this point, and since Beck had never had a sibling growing up, it was really great to have someone like that now, only without all the fighting and sibling rivalry.
Alan had grabbed a plate and piled a few cookies on it, and he was sitting at the big wooden farmhouse table in the kitchen, munching away and scrolling on his phone. Beck swore his foot was even tapping to “Jingle Bell Rock.” He smirked to himself. Alan pretended to be a Scrooge, but he got into the Christmas spirit too.
“Hey, it looks like the community center is looking for volunteers to be Santa and his elves for the holiday season. We gonna volunteer again?” Alan asked. “After all, you do look like an elf,” he teased.
“I totally own the elf look. And absolutely—send me the info,” Beck replied, starting to add some icing to the remaining cookies. The local community center was for everyone, but the director was lgbtq+ friendly and the place had rainbow flags in the front entrance, so it attracted a lot of lgbtq+ kids looking for a safe space. Beck loved working with the kids and teens there, and he felt like he made a difference and showed the kids it was ok to be male and femme. Alan helped out there too pretty often, which was another cool thing about his roomie.
“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…” Beck sang along, smiling as he iced the cookies and thought about getting more Christmas themed sprinkles.
God, he just loved Christmas. Everything about it was so damn magical, and he was gonna enjoy it to the fullest for as long as he could.
CHAPTER3
Nachielus
Nach breathedin the chill air as he walked, smelling pine. He could almost scent snow on the air, and he thought of using just a little energy to bring about some flurries. Snow was just so pretty, and a light dusting brought people joy. He wouldn’t make enough for people to have to clean off cars or to impede traffic—just enough to make everything sparkle.
No. Nope. Nothing to call attention to himself; he was even wearing human jeans and a plain, green sweater (he needed alittleChristmas color, and it wasn’t red or maroon, at least). If he started using his angelic powers topside, someone was bound to notice. He had no doubt that some lackey in management was keeping an eye on him.
He wasn’t even supposed to be here, and he hadtriedto resist, despite Minos and his human encouraging him to go. But after another insufferably long meeting upstairs that accomplished nothing, Nach had gotten a pile of paperwork that would take at least three months to complete. He’d worked diligently, staring at the plain white walls, for days, but he’d finally needed a break and had gone down to visit Limbo again for a change of scenery.
Then the bartender had popped a brownie in front of him, the fudgy kind, and really, how was he supposed to resist that? Next came the cookies, and then some milk, and then Nach had been a little high on sugar, and, well… here he was, visiting topside.
Oops.
Damn demon bartenders.
Although Nach couldn’t regret it, because this town was simplylovely. The street had old fashioned lamp posts strung with pine garland, and there were lights sparkling everywhere in the late afternoon twilight, and stores were lit up and playing carols. It was so very lively and joyful. Nach paused on the sidewalk, breathed in again and soaking in the holiday spirit. It reallywasthe most wonderful time of the year.
Then suddenly a short, pretty human dressed all in green was striding toward him, staring rather pointedly at him. The man had pointy shoes with bells on and a green hat with fur. He looked… well, he looked like the topside idea of an elf. Nach stared a little bemusedly.
“Well, we were beginning to worry! You’re almost late! Everything is set up, and people are already arriving! We thought you weren’t coming!” the man exclaimed, grabbing Nach’s arm and pulling him along from the direction he had come.
Nach noticed that the man had the prettiest green eyes—they were dark green, like evergreen trees. His nails were painted a matching dark green, and Nach could see brown curls peeking out from beneath the hat he wore.
The man must have noticed Nach’s hesitance, and also the fact that he was staring, but Nach couldn’t help it. The human really was so very pretty. His looks were lovely, but beyond that, the man simply radiated the holiday spirit. It was like he was glowing with it.
Suddenly the man was pressing a hand to Nach’s chest and leaning toward him flirtatiously. “You know, you really are the sexiest volunteer we’ve had yet,” the man purred. “I could certainly use a ride on your sleigh. You gonna give me what I want for Christmas, Santa?”
Then the guy fluttered his eyelashes, pressing even closer to Nach.
“Ah, umm,” Nach stuttered, blushing. “I, ah, don’t even know your name?” Nach managed to get out. He was trying very hard not to lean in and kiss the pretty human. Nach had experienced carnal pleasures (angel of joy and fulfillment, after all), but it had been quite a few decades.
