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Sterling had been terribly excited for the dinner for weeks, though he wouldn’t have said so outright. He had baked three pies the night before so that Yu could have his run of the kitchen, and and bought not only a tablecloth, fancy cloth napkins but candlesticks and two candles that were almost too pretty to light. He lit them anyway and set the table with as much care as though it were for a royal family.

All day he had been sniffing the air and sighing happily, pressing kisses to both Priam and Yu whenever he got the chance to. It was going to be perfect, how could it not be? He was happy, healthy and with his two most favorite people in the known universe. Quietly, he slipped over to Yu and slid his arms around the male’s waist, nibbling his ear. “I have been so hungry all day...it smells wonderful. Why don’t you have yourself a seat and I’ll help Priam in? Not that he needs much help anymore, but still. I love you.”

His words were soft, and he hoped that Yu could hear the emotions he held in them.

“We have so much to be thankful for this year…”

He smiled brightly and headed into the living room, holding out his hands to Priam. “Dinner is ready, my bookworm. I hope you’re hungry, you should be, for, unlike me...you haven’t been taking tastes of things all day long…”

“I have never cooked a turkey! I have only done chickens!” He admitted anxiously.

“I should have done a Ham, I’ve helped done ham…” He might have been a little anxious because it was such a big… family holiday, second only to Christmas.

He tried to breathe as he felt hands slide around his waist, almost purring at the sensation of teeth at his ear. “I just gotta get the wine strained and I’ll sit, promise.” He offered as Sterling went to assist Priam, just strain it into a pitcher…
He had to laugh softly that the dogs had been griping, but he’d made them the giblets chopped fine after the Gravy had been made, and added to their own dinners.

“If we redo the kitchen, we should scrip and go all fancy, get a double oven. You have no idea how useful that can be.” He laughed a little embarrassed at his own admission of desire for a specific improvement. It was just that he could have had so much more going in and out at the same times if….

well, it was a silly thought for a house probably.

“I made treats for the critters too, Oreo got some of the white meat, and the dogs got giblets and a little tiny bit of gravy.”

Priam laughed softly, trying to imagine Sterling feral. He could craft any number of images into his head, but that one just seemed taboo. "You can do a ham for Christmas, Yu." He paused, but considered the Standing Rib Roast Yu had mentioned during an earlier conversation--back when they were still new to each other. Back when they had been talking about Christmas plans, and what Yu was going to do for Sterling.

Priam realized rather suddenly that he was in the picture in a very different way that before, and he found his face warming up a bit. It was an instinctive response, like sometimes he forgot how lucky he was, that this wasn't just some dream. It was so strange to recall a memory when things were so different, and now here he was, living with them--albeit temporarily--involved with them...

"Or, a pre-Christmas ham. They'll probably be on sale this week."

He was smiling, and even felt a little weightless at the idea of having such a perfect duo to spend Christmas with. "Thank you for cooking, by the way. --And thank you for helping me, Sterling," he said, relaxing into the chair and leaning against the back to take some pressure off of his protesting spine. "Actually, thank you both for everything. I really don't know where I'd be right now without you two."

“Yu! Yu don’t worry, we have more than enough food for the three of us, and Priam’s right, a pre Christmas ham sounds wonderful to me. I can go shopping tomorrow and see if the grocery store is having any Black Friday deals on hams. That’s a pretty good idea.”

Sterling smiled at Priam and reached over, squeezing his hand gently. “You don’t have to worry about that, since neither of us is going anywhere. I’m sad to say that you’re stuck with us. I hope that’s not too big of an imposition…” He grinned and gave a little wink, turning back to gaze into the kitchen, watching Yu with such a fond expression.

“You know, love...this dinner is perfect because we’re all here together, not because of what we’re eating or how it’s prepared...that...that’s the whole point of Thanksgiving...and I’m so very...thankful that fate brought us together and that I’m sitting here with the loves of my life. The situations might not have always been good...but the outcome was, that’s for sure…” He wanted Yu to relax...this wasn’t some kind of a test, there wasn’t any...thanksgiving chef award to be given out...though of course he would be more than worthy of it.

Yu looked sheepish… ducking his head slightly for lack of being able to do any of his normal fidgets with his hands full of sizable cutlery.

“Sorry…” He said awkwardly. “It’s just, an important holiday, for like… everything, as more family than what it's for but it’s.” He stopped stumbling over the words and focused on carving juicy strips of turkey away from the bones, setting aside the wings and legs onto the corners of the serving platter so he could lay out slices of the breast in the middle, then whatever dark meat he could neatly draw free.

“It… just feels like I should… be able to make it BE one of those Hallmark movies.” He managed by way of trying to give a possible explanation for his nerves.

“I’ll be fine in a moment, it’s not like I can keep making up things to take care of.” He gave a shy and nervous sort of grin, the blush creeping from his ears to his cheeks and neck.

Carving the bird also went, faster than he would have liked, it cut beautifully and he only scotched the knife against a bone once, and then it was so sharp he sliced free a section of that, which just made him more embarrassed as he quickly removed the ‘afflicted’ section of bird.

“RIGHT.” He said at last. “Who wants white meat, dark meat, or uh…both?” He offered.

“Or uh…should I let people serve themselves, is that … better? Someone else picks first okay?” He laughed ducking his head.

"White meat, please," Priam said, not wanting to give Yu any extra difficulty when it came to carving the turkey, or putting pressure on him to surprise him. "Sharing what you're thankful for is a tradition in my family as well. When we have dinner together. But," he shrugged. "I don't remember the last time all of us were together. Usually Jarvis tries to come over around this point in time, but he's busy with work. I'm thankful for him. For you two being so welcoming to him, too. He asks about you often and he sends you his best wishes. I'm thankful for my horses, whose names I won't mention because we don't need them trying to get up the table. I miss my last dog, and I love him dearly, but they helped heal the hole in my heart. I'm thankful to be here, with you two, I'm thankful that you're sharing your home with me, and your love with me. I'm thankful that I'm not the same person I was a few months ago."

He was quiet for a moment, and then smiled. "...I think I'm better than I've been in a long time. And I know it's thanks to you two. I needed a change. And, whether it looks like it or not, Yu, this might as well be a Hallmark movie. It is, to me. 'And they lived happily ever after' seems like it would it in pretty well."