When You Wish Upon a Fallen Mӧtley Star (A Paul Stanley x Mick Mars tale)

Chapter 23-Our First Christmas Part 3 (Mick Mars)

Christmas 83.... I remember it well, very well. Paul and I share more than kisses & gifts, it's hard to explain in words, so I suppose we should say we shared our hearts with one another. Paul had that god awful nightmare on Christmas Eve...and it scared me, because he was scared...but he needed me, that's what mattered to me...was doing whatever I could to be there for him. Paul was and is no fucking lie the greatest gift, Christmas or otherwise I could ever have received then or, so I had though. Christmas 84 though? Fucking blew 83 out of the water, for we had our first child...and well you will see. In the meantime, let's get back to what was one of the most beautiful Christmases of my life, of OUR lives I should say....

Working side by side in tandem to fix Christmas dinner for two, for Paul and me...us trading glances at one another...I can feel the blush upon my face. Paul's eyes glowing, hold such love and concern for me...the concern of course for my back, he is truly all I need to push past the pain. Paul is in his element cooking with his new cookware, me helping wherever I can, and he is introducing me to Cornish Game Hens, stuffed ones...Cranberry relish and so much more food wise. Amazingly I don't cut myself because I can't quit looking at my lover.

"You are feeling ok Mick?" Paul asks.

"More than ok Paul, I promise you.... i can't quit staring at you, its no fucking lie staring at living breathing art, perfect in every way.... i love you moon beam." I whisper and am rewarded with Paul's blush, eyes shiny with the sheen of tears.

"I love you too...and that my moon is the most beautiful thing I've ever had said to me and its YOU that's said it." I reach out and pull him down to me, kissing him....

Before long dinner is done and we sit together and eat, Paul eagerly and shyly waiting for me to take first bite and I do, eyes automatically rolling in the back of my head and groaning which I note also makes Paul blush heavily and oh I store that away for now.....i am happy and content, physical pain on the back burner, for the first time in my life and its because of the man at my side....and all thru out dinner, conversation flows easily between kissing and eating and I get lost in my moonbeam, as I always do...

After dinner, I demand and Paul reluctantly agrees to me washing dishes and cleaning the kitchen, him telling me to meet me him in our living room....and after a seeming eternity everything is clean and I join Paul, my eyes never leaving his.

"I missed you my moon...and while you were doing that, I was gathering my gifts for you. I really wanted to make things for you from the heart, things Mick that I know mean so much to you.... which is why..." Here Paul hands me a large, wrapped package, "—I wanted you to open yours first. I'd do ANYTHING to see you smile...your smiles are like you Mick, fucking priceless."

"I could say the same for YOURS." I counter softly, beginning to open the package and I am rendered speechless by what is inside: a painting...a portrait of me, the cabin at the lake I took Paul...nighttime and the starts are out in the painting and the moon...the moon is high in the sky, my eyes reflecting their light and the painting looks so damn real I find it hard to believe its NOT a photograph....and after some minutes I manage to find my voice, carefully setting the painting aside and pulling Paul closer to me, "—I have no words Paul, other than to say I will treasure this for all time, though its beauty does not compare to the hands that rendered it."

"D-Damn...making me c-cry like that..." Paul sniffs before pulling back enough to look at me, "Totally fuckin' worth it." His queen's accent becomes more prominent, and I swear it DOES things to me and by the look in my lover's eyes, he KNOWS.

We share a kiss, several in fact before I open more gifts that Paul made me.... things I love, things he made with his own hands, including a sketch he drew of he and I in full Mӧtley Regalia, both of us sweaty but so happy...our eyes solely focused on one another.

Then to my surprise Paul takes his shirt off, and I drool before I find myself staring in awe at his back: A tattoo of me with my favorite guitar, but said guitar has moon-lilies on it, I touch it and find it hard to believe that it's NOT real.

"I got this Mick, because well I wanted YOU to know that I am always and forever yours, so that I could have you with me, protecting me...always." Paul tells me tearfully.

"I'll have you fully inked in no time." I tease tearfully, Paul turning and chuckling at my words. "—But thank you moonbeam. I love it."

"I have a lot of catching up to do with you, Nikki and Tommy..." Paul teases grinning, before his look turns tender. "I love you & Merry Christmas." His voice trembles.

A gentle hand on his face, "I love you and Merry Christmas Paul." I whisper before kissing him once more. I find myself smiling after wards, "You forget Paul, you still have more presents..." I trail off, taking him by the hand and telling him to close his eyes, as I lead him to our home studio and somewhere I hope will also be special: a remodeled or new art studio complete with anything Paul could ever want or need and, a library if you will...a cozy reading area included as well.

I tell Paul to open his eyes at last and when I do his eyes go as wide as they can go, tears spilling down his cheeks.

"Holy SHIT! This...this is wow!"

I wrap an arm around his waist and pull him closer to me.

"I wasn't kidding when I said I would spoil the hell out of you, you deserve it and more. I did this because I know how much your art means to you and to have a soothing space in addition to our music."

"My Moon, I'll never forget this as long as I shall live....and..." Here Paul's voice drops an octave, him looking down at me heatedly and to my surprise he asks me, "Can we 'christen' this room?"

I pull him down to me in a searing kiss, "Your wish is my command moonbeam..."

You know where that was headed and that's all I will say for now. Where you next find my lover and I, is January 1984...to be more specific: January 20, 1984....Paul's birthday, his 32nd birthday, meaning one year to the day when I found him more dead than alive and not only did I save HIS life, he saved mine and in the end it would lead to us finding love with one another and our destines became and are forever entwined.

I feel now Paul lace his fingers with mine....

"Everyday for god...forty years now, I am so damn grateful and lucky YOU found me and saved me in everyway that a person can be saved....and 84' was a hell of year in a good way as it turned out.... but my 32nd birthday? Damn, was it one of the best birthdays of my life!"

"What was the first?" I ask though I well know the answer, and it STILL blows me away....

"My 31st.... true it was the worst day of my life, but on the other hand.... i got a new start, a new life and ultimately new love, thanks to you Mick."

A/N: Just wait till you see what I have in store for the next chapter for Paul's birthday! And too perhaps we shall find out about Tommy Lee and Eric Carr's first official date...we shall see. So many exciting things in upcoming chapters!