Right, I finally got around to finishing this. It's been a busy month, and I got a bit stuck on how to continue this. Thank you for the comments; they gave me a few things to think about as I planned how to proceed from here. Also, thank you [mention]Gerson 60[/mention] for the first-time comment. A game where Harry is held for ransom sounds like a good idea. I'll have to have a think about how best to approach that idea.
Anyway, here's the final part to the Christmas story (only one month late):
Harry's Christmas present - Part 3: The Aftermath
"Hey, you ok?" It was Kyle. "You're taking a while."
Harry remained sat where he was, staring into space. Max was still tied to the chair, head bowed.
"Ummm..." Kyle said. "You know we're supposed to be having a party in there?"
"Mmmmm..." Harry sighed, not looking up.
"Did you hear Tommy say you'd be making out? He's still a little salty about this whole thing. You shouldn't take him seriously."
Harry said nothing.
"Alright, we need to talk. Alone." Kyle walked through the kitchen and into the back room, then came back and pulled Harry along with him when he didn't respond. "What's the deal?" he asked.
Harry took an age before responding. "He took advantage of my trust," he said eventually.
Kyle gave him a sympathetic look. "True. And you have a right to feel the way you do, but I think you need to hear things from another point of view."
"Fine..." Harry said reluctantly.
"We've all noticed a change in Max," Kyle began. "He used to be very quiet and rarely spoke. Since he started hanging out with you... I don't know exactly, but he's just been so much happier. I don't know what the whole story is, but he was so keen to throw you a surprise you'd love. He just got so into preparing every tiny detail that he lost track of time. He wanted everything to be perfect."
Harry tried to suppress a smile. "It was a good surprise," he admitted.
"Look, you can get your own back later, but for now why don't you let bygones be bygones and enjoy the party. If not for him, at least do it to stop Tommy from cracking those terrible gay jokes."
"He can be a real jerk sometimes," Harry said.
"Well done, Captain Obvious!" Kyle replied jovially. "Did you also know that bears sleep in the woods?"
Harry laughed. "Alright, I'll let Max out but only to shut Tommy up!"
Ten minutes later, Harry and Max entered the living room together. Before Kyle could stop him, Tommy blurted out, "At last! Did you kiss and make up?"
The others glared at him.
"It's fine," Harry said. He's just joking. He looked at Max, who was blushing and trying to avoid making eye contact. He looked relieved that Harry was ready to enjoy the rest of the party.
To an outside observer, it looked like an ordinary party between young teenagers: pizza, video games and a ridiculously large number of sweets. Harry had to admit, Max had really thought about what he'd enjoy. They weren't too old for a sleepover either. During the night, Harry thought about what Kyle had said about Max. He could just as easily have been talking about him. Harry was socialable and popular, but he had never had a true close friend until he met Max. Perhaps he should have been more understanding. He knew how it felt to be lonely, and he never wanted to feel that way again.
That being said, Tommy had also been concocting a plan, which Harry would later decide took things too far in the other direction. They had spent the night in sleeping bags on the living room floor. None of them had brought pyjamas, so they had opted to sleep in their boxer briefs (cue more gay jokes from Tommy). Harry woke up that morning to the sound of Nick saying he'd be back to check on them a bit later. He crawled out of his sleeping back to see who was awake. To his surprise, he was the only one still there. The rest of the sleeping bags had been packed up, leaving the room empty. There vere muffled voices coming from the kitchen. Harry decided to see who it was.
Tommy and Max. Harry walked into the kitchen to find that Max was once again tied to one of the kitchen chairs. He was wearing his boxer briefs, and was expertly lashed to the chair. His arms had been pulled through the gaps in the back of the chair and tied behind his back, his chest was bound to the chair just below his shoulders, and his legs were bound together and pulled under the chair at a 45 degree angle by a rope tied to the back of the chair. His lap was also tied to the seat so he couldn't try to pull away from the chair. Finally, there was a large red ballgag in his mouth.
"Morning, sleephead," Tommy said quietly.
"Huh... whaaa... how?" Harry asked, rubbing his eyes in an effort to wake up fully.
"Your friend Nick taught me how to tie people up with ropes. Now I can join in with your games properly!" He was trying to sound friendly and cheerful.
"And the ballgag?" Harry asked.
"Max had that in his bag. He's rather fond of it. He has another one as well," he said, holding up a blue ballgag which was the same size.
"Okay..." Harry said.
"I was thinking," Tommy interrupted, "you and Max still need to kiss and make up. Why don't you join him so you can see how sorry he is."
Having not fully woken up yet, Harry didn't put much thought into this. He was bored of talking, and didn't think it was Tommy's business to talk about what happened last night. He just wanted the conversation to be over. "If I say yes, will you drop the gay jokes?" he said.
"Sure," Tommy said cheerfully. "I wanna try something out."
Harry - still feeling groggy - walked up to Tommy and waited for his instructions. Tommy had him stand right in front of Max facing him, and tied each ankle to the respective legs of the chair. He then guided him to sit on Max's lap and put his arms around Max like a hug. His wrists were then bound together behind Max, and then bound to the back of the chair so Harry couldn't pull away. They were then bound tightly together chest-to-chest, and Tommy added extra ropes to tie Harry's legs to Max's, forcing him to continue sitting on his lap.
"Whoah!" Harry said, "When did you get so good at this?" He had fully woken up now.
"I'm a quick learner," Tommy replied.
"Ok, but why is Max so quiet?"
"He wants to make this as fun as possible."
"I don't know," Harry began, "it's not like him to- MMMMPPPHHH!"
Tommy took advantage of Harry's chatter to sneak the ball gag into his mouth from behind. "That was too easy!" he said laughing.
"MMPPPHHH! MPH MMMPPHHH!" Harry protested.
Max also sprang into life and started struggling. "MMPPPHHH!" he added.
"Boy, you two are pretty thick when you're half asleep," Tommy said. He put a hand to the backs of their heads and pushed them together so their gags pressed against each other.
"Mph-MMPPHH!" both boys protested.
"See, Max?" Tommy said. "I told you this would help you to kiss and make up!"
"MMPH!" Max said, throwing his head to the side to slip out of Tommy's grasp.
"Oh, aren't you feisty all of a sudden? I guess I'll have to put a stop to that."
Harry had always wondered why Max kept a roll or two of black duct tape in his bag at all times. Sure, it had come in useful once or twice, but having it used against them seemed like the bigger risk, especially because Tommy already knew to look there. He wrapped tape around their mouths several times, sealing the ballgags in place. Not to be underestimated, he then forced their faces together again, and wrapped even more tape around their heads, pinning them together into a gagged kiss. They tried to wriggle away from each other, but the tape held them tightly together, forcing them to look into the other's eyes.
"That should do it," Tommy said. "Oh, wait, I have another idea!" He grabbed the waistband of their boxer briefs from behind and yanked them up, eliciting a gagged grunt. Then, he stuck a piece of tape over their backs to keep the wedgie in place. "Enjoy, boys," he laughed. "That babysitter should be back in about four hours. Meanwhile, I'm going to join the others at the park."
With that, he took himself out of the house, leaving Harry and Max alone, tied on a chair in a forced embrace in their underwear with their faces forced together. Great. Every now and then, they struggled and resisted in an effort to break free, but the knots refused to budge. They were able to make some progress in removing Max's wedgie, as both of their hands were tied behind his back and they could pick at the tape, but they knew they weren't getting out until Nick turned back up. Although it was uncomfortable, Harry had to admit that it wasn't the worst thing in the world. Max's body heat kept him warm and vice versa, and it was only going to be Nick who found them, so there wouldn't be any embarassing conversations about it. Finally, even though Max had upset him last night, of all the people with whom he could have found himself in this predicament, he was glad he was stuck here with Max.