The streets were blanketed with a thick covering of snow, and still small flakes were falling from the slowly darkening sky above. Cars were going about five miles per hour due to the slippery layer of ice below, and Dom was walking slowly down the sidewalk bundled up in a hat with a pompom on the top, a huge jacket and gloves that would have easily fit a giant (or an abominable snowman) but were much too large for Dom’s slender fingers.

He tipped his head gently, small white flakes falling from the tips of his hair, which were sticking out beneath his hat.

Being from England, he was used to the cold weather, but living for years in Los Angeles and Hawaii had altered his ability to deal with freezing conditions. So he was what his old friends told him he’d become after living away for so long: a wimp.

Inside his huge jacket came the tinny sound of some current number one hit, and he dug around in the depths of his pocket until his gloved fingers brushed up against his cell phone. He pulled it out, nearly dropping it because his gloves allowed him to get no traction whatsoever. He pulled one off in haste and stabbed the ‘talk’ button before putting the phone to his ear.

“Hello?” Came a muffled voice, which Dom assumed was on the other end of the phone and not just in his head. He was freezing, yes, but he hadn’t yet developed any sort of hallucinations.

“Hello? Can you speak up?” He couldn’t hear properly at all, and he figured this was due to the cold weather, for no particular reason other than the fact that he was bitter, and his extremities would need thawing out when he got home.

“DOM?! This is ELIJAH!”

Dom’s forehead knitted in confusion. “Did you just say hallelujah?”

“I SAID ‘This is ELIJAH!!!’”

After a second’s pondering, Dom slid his hat off his ear and put the phone back where it had been. “Who IS this?”

“It’s ELIJAH WOOD!”

Dom cringed and pulled the phone away from his ear for a moment. “Christ, Elijah, you don’t have to scream.”

Elijah made a strange groaning noise. “Dude. Get your hearing checked. It’s going in your old age.”

“Oh, bugger off, shorty.”

He chuckled. It was just like old times. “Hey, man, how’s it hanging?”

“Not very well at the moment, thanks. I’m freezing my bollocks off here.”

“Where are you?”

“On the street,” Dom replied, looking both ways before jogging between two slowly moving cars and landing gracefully on the other side, right in front of a coffee shop.

Elijah sighed heavily, like he was exhausted from dealing with a lesser being. “What city are you in?”

“Mine,” Dom replied, pushing open the coffee shop door and clomping inside, stomping his boots on the wet rug and shaking his hair out of his hat. “It’s blizzard conditions here, mate.”

Another laugh. “Are you in London?”

“I’m in Manchester,” Dom replied, heading to the counter and smiling at the girl who was waiting to take his order. “Just a coffee please. To go.”

“I’m in London.”

Dom handed over a five pound note and stared at the phone in surprise. “I’m sorry, I think I misheard you, Lighe.”

“I’m in London,” Elijah repeated, the hint of a smile in his voice.

“For Christmas?” Dom thanked the girl, took his coffee and change, and headed back outside into the blizzard.

“Yeah, everybody’s here. I have to start filming on the 26^th so I thought I’d just treat the fam to a trip for the holidays.”

Dom took a sip of his boiling hot coffee and didn’t even cringe when it badly burned his tongue. “That’s very generous of you, Lighey. Would have been nice if you’d let me know so I could mooch off of you for the week.”

Elijah laughed. “That’s why I’m calling. I want you to come.”

“Come?” Dom repeated, smirking. “Well, I don’t know, Lighe---”

“Get your head out of the gutter for one second and be serious. I want to see you. I want to spend Christmas with you. If you don’t want to, that’s fine, but you’re an asshole.”

Dom smiled widely and started off again down the street, heading in the direction of home, where there was hopefully a roaring fire. “I’d love to spend Christmas with you, mate.”

The smile was clearly evident now in Elijah’s voice. “Fantastic. See you tomorrow?”

“I’ll be there with bells on.”

“And mistletoe.”

Dom laughed in confusion. “Mistletoe?”

Elijah’s voice was quite mischievous when he spoke next. “Trust me.”

That was one of the easiest things Elijah had ever asked Dom to do, considering Dom trusted him explicitly.

The following afternoon found Dom in front of a rather large and posh London hotel, bags in hand. Luckily he’d been Christmas shopping yesterday, and while his toes were suffering from frostbite, he was glad he’d gotten it out of the way so he could spend countless hours in Elijah’s presence. His family were expecting him back Christmas night, so they could celebrate together, which meant that Dom had to move quickly, as he didn’t have much time to do what he’d decided to do.

He loaded himself into the elevator and traveled up to the fifth floor as per Elijah’s instructions; he stopped outside room 540 and adjusted his hat (which had a sprig of mistletoe attached to it) before knocking as loudly as possible. Dom didn’t like doing things quietly. He shook snowflakes from his jacket sleeves and brushed a few off his nose before Elijah opened the door, a huge grin on his lips. The two immediately attached themselves to one another in a fierce hug, looking like a couple who had spent many months separated, and couldn‘t contain their excitement about their reunion any longer. Which, in a way, was exactly what they were.

As if in slow motion, Dom felt his head rear back as his eyes took in every feature of Elijah, committing them to memory and storing it for later, when he wouldn’t have the blue eyed man directly in front of him.

Then he was feeling moist lips on the corner of his mouth, and hands cupping his face; he was overwhelmed by the smell of ivory soap and cigarettes and snowflakes and the mistletoe was being crushed as Elijah tore Dom’s hat off his head, but Dom didn’t care. He dropped his bag of presents onto the floor and wrapped his arms around Elijah as closely as he could, pressing his lips to Elijah’s, and wishing that he could always be like this, always attached to Elijah’s mouth. It was a great place to be.

Dom had no idea how he ended up in Elijah’s hotel room without a broken leg or arm, or neck. He was also unsure of how the bag of presents ended up in the corner of the room looking smashed and neglected, but intact. His jacket, he thought, was somewhere near the door, crumpled with his carefully made mistletoe hat.

Suddenly he was sprawled on a huge bed in his boots and clothes, gloves still covering his slender fingers and Elijah was pulling away, disentangling himself from Dom, and Dom was feeling cold and alone when those warm lips left his. Elijah pressed his lips to Dom’s earlobe and trotted toward the bathroom.

Dom squeaked, then managed to sit himself up and survey the damage. He had absolutely no idea what had just happened. Of course, it was something he’d wanted to happen for a long time, but still. He was either dreaming, or in shock and imagining things.

“Erm, Lighe?” He ventured, turning his head slightly to look into the bright bathroom. He ran a hand over his hair. “Where is everybody?”

Elijah stuck his head out the door, a grin on his swollen lips. His face was flushed, and Dom couldn’t help but smirk at the look of him, all disheveled with this burning look in his eyes that Dom vaguely recognized as lust.

“I lied,” he said, flicking the light off and making his way back into the large room. “I hope you don’t mind. I wanted to spend some time alone with you and I was afraid you wouldn’t come if you thought---you know.”

Dom raised his eyebrows, his lips curling up at the corners. “If I thought you had brought me here to seduce me?”

Elijah inclined his head ever so slightly and Dom opened his arms up to the younger man; Elijah laughed a little and fell into Dom’s arms, nestling his head in the crook of Dom’s shoulder.

“I planned to seduce you as my Christmas present,” Dom said, falling back on the bed and dragging Elijah with him; he rustled Elijah’s hair in an affectionate sort of way and planted a kiss on his rosy cheek.

“I’ve planned to seduce you for about five years, but always chickened out ‘cause I’m a pussy.” He turned over onto his stomach and looked at Dom through his eyelashes, reminding Dom of a teenage girl. He batted his eyes and smirked. “I had also convinced myself that not only were you straight---” (this received a snort from Dom) “---but completely uninterested in me except as a drinking buddy.”

Dom laughed hoarsely. “Elijah, I’ve been interested in you as a plaything, as a sexual object and as a boyfriend…but never…ever…as a drinking buddy. I prefer that my drinking buddies can drink at least 8 pints before passing out all over me.”

Elijah sat up, aghast. “That was ONE time!”

“You slobbered on me! After three pints!”

He crossed his arms across his chest, huffed out a breath and then started giggling helplessly. “Possibly this is the best Christmas ever.”

Dom leaned forward, his mouth close to Elijah’s, but they were not touching. “Lighe. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”