Page 42 of Daddy's Christmas Elf
The earlier blue had gone, replaced by bulging clouds tinged with yellow. There was more snow to come, and it’d be coming soon. Grey smiled to himself. It could snow all it liked, it didn’t matter, because he and Eli were going to be tucked away in the warm, with the door closed on the rest of the world.
Back at the house, it didn’t take Grey long to get the fire going, and soon the grate was filled with dancing flames.
“So what were you going to say to me, in the café? You’re being very secretive.” Eli, curled up on the sofa, smiled up at Grey.
“It’s an idea I have, which I need you to think seriously about.”But not think too long…“Just hear me out, okay?”
Eli nodded as Grey sat next to him.
“Your current position, regarding your living situation, is unstable.”
Eli barked out a rough laugh. “You can say that again. Sorry, go on.”
“There’s nothing to stop Benny from telling you to leave when he gets back; any rights you may have as a lodger are so minimal they’re non-existent. You have somebody you’ll be able to share with but not immediately. Unless you find somebody to let you have their sofa, there’s a good chance you could be homeless for a period of time. That’s your situation, but it doesn’t need to be that way.”
Eli shook his head. “Benny wants me gone, but he wouldn’t throw me out on the street. I’m sure he wouldn’t. He knows I’ve got Rufus as a back up plan. It’ll be awkward but I can hack it for a few weeks. I think.” Eli grimaced.
“Why try and hack it at all, when you don’t need to? I said none of it needs to happen and I mean it.”
Grey gazed at Eli, willing him to understand, willing him to join the dots and make the connection to what he was saying.
“Of course I’m going to have to put up with it. With all of it. I know what my situation is. It’s pretty crappy but I guess it could be a lot worse, and I just have to keep reminding myself of that. I was hoping I could forget about it at least for a few days.”
Grey took Eli’s hands in his own, his thumbs sliding backwards and forwards across Eli’s knuckles.
“I can change your situation, Eli, and I can do it now. I can make everything that’s stressing you out and holding you back go away.”
I can take care of you, I can protect you from all the crap that’s being slung your way…
“But how? I don’t understand.”
“Don’t you? Remember what I said in the café, about feeling good? How having somebody by your side who could take the worry and pressure away when it’s all feeling like too much and is pulling you down? I can do that for you, Eli. I can make it all disappear.”
Eli blinked. His mouth parted, as though he were about to say something, but he closed it as if unsure what to say, what to ask. Confusion knit Eli’s brow, confusion Grey wished only to smooth away.
“You can stay here, with me, for as long as you want or need. Honestly, it’d be good not to come home to an empty house. Think about it: not having to wonder if Benny’s going to chuck you and your belongings out on the street; not having to beg for somebody’s sofa until Rufus gets back to the UK; not having to try and find expensive short term accommodation which’ll blow your savings out of the water; not having to throw it all in and go to your mum and dad. If you stay here, in this house that’s got more rooms than it has a right to, all that worry and all those problems will cease to exist.”
Eli’s big, beautiful eyes widened. “Why would you do that for me? I don’t understand.”
Because you need somebody to lean on, because you need help, because you need warmth and care against a world that’s treating you with coldness and indifference…
The words danced on his tongue, eager to be said, but instead Grey paused, taking a moment to answer.
“Because you need help, and I’m in a position to give it. And I want to. Eli, I can see that you try hard and are willing to work to achieve what you want. I admire that, I admire it so much, and I don’t want to see it all whipped away from you due to no fault of your own. Why let the world batter and bruise you when I can give you the shelter you need?”
Shelter, and so much more…
“It’s… tempting. But I still don’t understand.”
“Like I say, it’s because I can. And because I want to. I know what I’m offering, Eli. I’m not a man who makes rash decisions, about anything.”
Eli looked down, at their joined together hands.
“This beautiful house in this area,” Eli said quietly. “Hampstead, it’s one of the priciest parts of London. There’s no way I could afford to pay you anything like the market rate for rent.” He glanced up, a rueful smile on his lips.
“I don’t want or need rent. Yes, this house is beautiful, but it’s also been bloody cold and lonely. Until some crazy little elf walked in. That alone is the onlyrentI want.”
“Well, I guess I did look kind of cute as an elf.”
