The Soldier's Christmas Romance.

Chapter Four.

Chapter Four.

Leon woke up in his old bedroom he would sleep in with Matt, when Kermit and Kyla would babysit them as kids. It had been a long, and messy night. After Kermit had eventually returned home, his car having been towed to the garage, who Leon was sure only survived because of his uncle Kermit and his volatile car. They had cracked open a crate of bears, for Leon, Matt, his mother and his father, along with bottles of diet coke for Kermit and Kyla, and the Christmas celebrations began, even though it was only the 20th. He turned over, to see his brother laid on his back, snoring his head off. Picking up a pair of his dirty socks, Leon rolled them into a ball and took aim at Matt’s face. The smelly socks hit their target, directly under his nose, causing his brother to bolt upright, a loud bellow of protest erupting from his lips, whilst Leon collapsed back into his bed, laughing hysterically.

“f*****g t**t!” Matt growled at his brother, picking up the stinking socks and aiming at Leon.

Jumping from his bed Leon jumped onto Matt and began wrestling with his younger brother, dragging him to the floor with a thud.

“MAM, DAD…” Matt began to shout, laughing like a hyena. Vicki stormed into the room, her face a mixture of hell, brimstone, and a hint of amusement. It was good to have her boy’s home. She missed their mischievous ways, that it seemed they had yet to fully grow out of. Secretly, she hoped they never did.

“You two, pack it in. Seriously, it was bad enough when you were kids,” she admonished them, the look on her face a clear indication to the brothers that their mother was serious.

“Sorry Mam,” both big, muscular soldiers sheepishly said as Vicky rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“I need one of you to nip over to Uncle Cigs and Aunt Izzy’s place, we have run out of hash browns and see if they have any in their freezer. ,” Vicky sighed.

“Can we not call them, I mean they will be coming over for breakfast,” Matt huffed slightly.

“They are not coming this morning. They are still up north, with Izzy’s mam. They are not heading back till Christmas Eve, after picking Elizabeth up from Catterick,” Vicky sighed.

“You will need to pull the curtains as well, so the place looks lived in,” Vicky added, throwing her friend’s house keys to Matt, grinning at him.

“Thanks son,” she shrugged leaving the room, and heading back down the stairs, into Kermit and Kyla’s kitchen.

Leon chuckled grabbing a fresh towel from his kit bag, along with a pair of black cargo pants, and crew necked knitted jumper, and headed to the bathroom to shower, and change. He glanced in the mirror, smiling at the black morning scruff that resided there. For once he would leave it. Not needing to be clean shaved for the next ten days. His skin would be grateful for the break.

As he emerged from the shower, the smell of bacon, eggs, hash browns, baked beans, black pudding, mushrooms and toast filled the air, bringing another satisfied smile to his face. He loved being home. Whilst he was away, on duty, doing the most secret of secret missions, he had learned to lock his feelings into a box. Most times refusing to call home, so that he could always concentrate on the mission at hand. His parents understood, all of those he called family did. But now he was back in his second home, with the people he loved most in the world, he felt the lump of emotion he kept locked away bubble in his throat.

Leon hesitated slightly at the bottom of the stairs, getting control of his emotions, before walking into the kitchen and pulling out a stool, as his mother placed the large plate filled with food before him.

“Fancy a game on the PlayStation?” Matt asked, as Leon mopped up the last of his bean juice with his toast.

“Yeah, Call of Duty?” he asked.

“Put the older games on, and me and your Uncle Kermit will have a game with you,” Tank, Leon’s father grinned as Vicky once more rolled her eyes.

“Men, they never fully grow up,” she muttered, as Kyla laughed, placing her hand lovingly on Kermit’s arm, who instantly turned his head and smiled down at his wife, dipping his head to steal a quick kiss.

“Ewwww” Leon shouted, once more imitating himself from when he was a kid. The whole table shaking their heads and laughing at him.

“Well, how about we head back to our house, then we can all join together as a team, and we don’t have to watch the oldie’s making out, so I can keep my breakfast down,” Matt suggested with a smirk.

“You are only jealous you don’t have a woman to hold in the night,” Tank said, grabbing Vicki and grinning at his wife.

“Seriously dad, that is my mother you’re talking about!” Matt shouted, visually shuddering.

“I pity the poor sods who get matched up against us,” Leon changed the subject from his parent’s nocturnal activities back to the video game. He may be 28 years old, but he still didn’t want to think about that!

“Or, we can play against each other. The old guard, against the young pups,” Kermit grinned.

“Fancy your chances, old man?” Leon teased his uncle.

“Less of the old, I can still teach you a thing or two,” Kermit growled, as Tank laughed.

“Naa, I doubt it. Is that a bit of fat on your ‘washboard abs’ look, you only have a six pack now. Not like me,” Leon chuckled, lifting up his black knitted jumper, showing off his sculpted abdomen that looked like it had been carved in stone.

“Yeah, yeah, get out of here. In fact, put your money where your mouth is. Fifty quid say’s me and your dad beat your asses,” Kermit wagered, as Leon chuckled.

“Easiest fifty quid I will ever earn,” he quipped back, as Matt bobbed his head up and down in agreement with his brother, then grabbed their black Barbor wax coats off the banister, throwing Leon’s to him, before they both pulled on their old assault boots, which they had pinched from someone’s kit, because the rule was, you leave it laying around, then it was free to anyone who had the balls to pinch it. Then Leon, had given the lad the bollocking of his life for losing his kit, all whilst wearing the very boots the new soldier was missing. It wasn’t bullying, it was teaching the recruits and newbies a valuable lesson. Leave your kit, your enemy could find it, take it, and use it to kill you and your squad. The pair of brothers looking down at their boots, began to laugh at the memory, and headed out the door.

“Are we going in the car, or walking?” Matt asked.

“f*****g running, are you going soft or what?” Leon teased his brother.

“Hardly, I am not the one who has been stuck behind a desk for three months,” Matt raised his eyebrows. It was true, Leon’s last mission was more research into a company that had some dodgy connections and dealings with the Russians. However, he had maintained his strict fitness regime, even though he was not crawling through fields, or the sand, unlike his brother.

The pair of them broke into a run, to the nearby village, where the place they called home resided.

Walking through the red front door of the stone built detached house, Leon let out a long sigh, the first Christmas Tree of the three his mother put up greeted him in the hallway. He stopped for a moment, chuckling at the array of Christmas toys, he and Matt had made at school, which decorated it.

“Remember this?” Leon said, picking up a bright pink decoration he had proudly made, but had gotten him a school suspension for his efforts.

“Santa’s d**k, do I ever. I though the teacher was going to bust a gut,” Matt chuckled.

“Woof’s fault, he said we needed to make something original like Santa’s d**k, so I did,” Leon laughed, placing the pink p***s shaped decoration back on the tree.

“Aye the days before he met Jess, when he was the ultimate playboy,” Matt chuckled.

“Yeah, don’t know how he managed it. How the f**k he had time to have a network full of women, whilst serving is beyond me. I haven’t had the opportunity for a good shag in nearly a damned year. Even the last one, wasn’t what you might class as good. She was more the lay back and think of England type,” Leon chuckled.

“You need to get some game, Leon. I always manage,” Matt laughed, as they headed to their living room, and fired up the PS5.

“You know they will want to play modern warfare,” Leon said, as Matt loaded up the game, only to find a message waiting for them.

“f**k,” Matt cursed, shaking his head.

Leon looked at the single message, from Phantom Ninja 2, and closed his eyes.

“Please, don’t let this be what I think it is,” Leon stated, but he already knew, deep down in his gut, his perfect Christmas plan was about to be blown higher than an insurgent launching into the sky after tripping a roadside bomb.