Work Text:
Like clockwork, Ryou came through the apartment door just as TK was placing the trail of cookies and hot tea on the coffee table.
“How was work?”
“What’s the going rate for an assassination?”
“I only kill royalty. And maybe the occasional prick that gets on my nerves.”
Ryou paused in hanging up his coat to look at TK in mild alarm, which prompted TK to quickly panic and explain. “I promise I haven’t killed anyone. Recently. Since I’ve come back. As myself. Not, ya know…”
Ryou relaxed and shook his head while smiling in amusement. “Yeah. I know.”
“Soooo…” TK said awkwardly, trying to move things along. “What has you looking for an assassin?”
“Nothing,” Ryou sighed. “It’s metaphorical anyway. I just needed to vent a little frustration about work. It’s that time of year.”
TK’s eyes shifted in thought. “So no one actually needs to be introduced to the pointy end of a knife?”
Ryou plopped down onto the couch, appearing exhausted. “No,” he chuckled lightly. “I just get a bit overwhelmed during the holiday season.
“And why is that?” TK asked after adding the required honey and sugar to the cup of tea he’d just prepared and was now handing to his beloved Landlord, who accepted with a smile, like always.
“It’s nothing, really. Christmas will be here and gone in a few days, and then everything will go back to normal.”
TK wasn’t too sure what he could say to this. Though, he could definitely detect that his partner wasn’t being too honest about the ‘It’s nothing, really’. There was obviously something, but it appeared that Ryou was, assumingly out of habit, masking his true feelings again. It wasn’t something he often did in TK’s presence, for obvious reasons.
“How about we watch a movie?” Ryou suddenly asked out of nowhere, disrupting TK’s internal pondering and attempts to figure out what was really going on in that head of his.
TK jumped up before Ryou had a chance to even move a muscle to do so. “What are we in the mood for?” he asked with his signature grin. “Blood, blood, and more blood? Eldritch horrors? Kaiju? Oh! MYSTERY THRILLER.”
Ryou laughed a bit at TK’s enthusiasm. “Actually, how about something from the bottom shelf?”
The grin fell and became a bit of shock. TK had a feeling Ryou was off, but this was a Code Red in his book. That was what TK had come to dub ‘The Amane Shelf’, which was very self-explanatory.
“...which one?” TK asked slowly.
Ryou, still smiling, stood and made his way over to the shelf and removed several movies, then handed them over. “I’ll let you pick.”
Oh shit. Not good. NOT GOOD. TK was now internally panicking, wondering if this was a test of some sort. Was there a correct choice? Was there one that was most definitely a bad choice and could cause him to fuck up everything between them and make Ryou tell him to get lost or worse TELL HIM TO FUCK OFF AND DIE ONE LAST TIME or-
“This one looks interesting,” TK said, just grabbing the first one that looked fun and safe and totally couldn’t be bad. Right? RIGHT?!???
Ryou’s eyes seemed to light up at the choice, making TK’s overwhelming doubts skulk back to their Shadows until the next surface-able opportunity.
A half-hour of ‘How the Grinch stole Christmas’ later had Ryou curled up and relaxed against TK.
“I miss this.”
TK looked down at the white fluff that was resting against his chest.
“Mum would have the place all decorated, lights and garland everywhere. Father would always bring home the biggest tree, and then we’d decorate it together. So many colorful balls and lights. I’d keep eating the popcorn that I was supposed to hand mum for the garland. I still remember father lifting me up so I could put the angel on top.”
TK remained silent, not wanting to interrupt Ryou's nostalgia, and began stroking his partner’s hair in an attempt to comfort him.
“The fireplace had a warm fire that I’d sit by after playing outside in the snow for so long that I thought my ears and nose might fall off,” Ryou chuckled, a small sniffle following after. “And mum would bake cookies. Mostly sugar and gingerbread. She’d set aside a few for me to help decorate. I was so bad at it.” Another chuckle followed by a sniffle. “And when it came to presents, there seemed to already be at least a hundred little packages colorfully wrapped under the tree, and come Christmas morning that number would grow to a thousand.”
TK knew what was bothering Ryou now. He didn’t even need to look around the apartment to know it lacked anything that might even indicate the current holiday season. And as much as he loathed being able to dredge up memories from during that time, he knew the reason his partner had stopped bothering with seasonal festivities. The truth of the matter was, there hadn’t been anyone to share them with.
Well now there was, and TK had an idea. He was going to make this Christmas the best one ever.
He could already picture it. The place would be covered in so much red, silver, and gold that even the stupid Pharaoh would have no choice but to bow down and compliment how amazing he was at this whole Christmas thing.
And Ryou…he’d be so awestruck.
‘Oh TK! I can’t believe you did all of this for me! Please tell me you’re my present so I can unwrap you!’, to which TK would then place a bow on his head with a smile and say with a sexy growl ‘I am now’.
Yup. He was totally going to nail this so hard that there was no way Ryou would ever go another Christmas season feeling sad.
The following morning came and progressed just like any other that Ryou had to get up for work.
“Your sugar and creamer with just a splash of coffee, my dear Landlord,” TK said while presenting the travel cup to Ryou in a dramatic bow.
Ryou didn't even blink or sigh at the display, just casually took the cup and moved on to grab his coat and keys. “I'll be a little late coming home. I need to stop and pick up a few things.”
“Take all the time you need. It will give me that much more time to plot my revenge against the Pharaoh!”
“Mhm…sure,” Ryou said while taking a sip of his morning coffee. “Just don’t leave bloodstains on the carpet.”
TK feigned offense. “I would never draw blood where I fuck…unless you suddenly decide you're into knife play. I'd totally make an exception for that.”
Ryou just rolled his eyes and waved goodbye while opening the door.
TK stood there for a solid minute before rushing off to round up all of the money he kept stashed around the apartment. A good thief knew to never keep all of their valuables in one place. Several minutes later left him staring in disappointment at the available funds.
Okay, so…maybe he’d spent a bit more on Ryou at every opportune moment than he’d realized. Not to mention all the times he’d slipped an extra note or two into Ryou’s wallet. And there was the time he found out the old lady one floor down was running low on cat food. And that time he saw a kid looking like he’d had a rough day in front of Ryou’s favorite bakery, so of course he had to get the kid something to cheer him up. And then-
Okay, the fact of the matter was, he was terrible with money management. Being a thief wasn’t exactly a profession where one worried about things like that.
After a few minutes of thought, he decided for now to focus on the important parts. Like the tree. Where did one even get a tree? The forest was the most logical answer, but with the number of dangers lurking in a place like that, he highly doubted that the average person went there. He figured he’d try the nearby convenience store first. They sold just about everything.
Well, the convenience store didn’t sell trees, but he did get some handy info on where he could get one.
The downside was after getting to the place that did sell trees, all but one was tremendously beyond his budget. And that ‘one’ was a little withered looking thing in a pot that looked like it just needed a good drink. He got it for the amazing price of ‘free’ only because he’d spotted it sitting among a bunch of other stuff that had been set aside to be made into mulch. In his opinion, it wasn’t stealing if they were practically throwing it away.
Next on the list was obviously decorations. Ryou had mentioned lots of colorful lights and balls, as well as garlands made of popcorn. He made a stop at one of the larger stores and found the colorful lights and balls. Thankfully there were options within his budget for the lights. While looking at the ornaments, however, he overheard someone mention how they made their own out of paper. Ryou had lots of paper. That was another thing off the list as far as spending money went.
Ryou had mentioned a fire. Yeeeaaaahhhh… he was totally making that out of paper too. And not as a fuel source.
Angel for the top of the tree? Change of Heart would be perfect.
Sugar cookies? Ryou had lots of stuff for baking. And lots of sugar. The Ginger Bread was going to be tricky though. He didn’t even know there was such a thing as ginger-flavored bread. He was sure he could find some at the bakery.
The hundred-thousand presents? Now that was going to be the hard part. If there was a tomb full of riches nearby in need of plundering, he would definitely be able to pull that off. Shopping with only a few notes and a pocketful of change? That was definitely a challenge.
He did vaguely recall that the main present-giving day was Christmas morning, so that meant he still had some time there. For now he felt he had enough to get things started, and began the journey back to the apartment with his scraggly little tree and two bags overflowing with boxes of colorful lights.
One stop at the bakery on the way home later had left him with two very important bits of knowledge.
First, it wasn’t ginger-flavored bread that Ryou was talking about, it was some sort of ginger cookie. With that bit of knowledge, TK felt confident he could make a cookie with ginger in it. After all, he planned on making sugar cookies, how hard could it be to make some with ginger?
Second, he’d overheard someone mention bringing the Christmas Goose. Ryou never mentioned a goose. Was it important? TK decided it was best to err on the safe side.
“You know, this would have been a lot easier if you didn’t have so much sass.”
An angry hiss came from the feathery fowl tucked under his other arm.
“Ryou had better appreciate this. You were not easy to catch.”
He looked down at the goose. “Am I supposed to name you? Fuck. I should have asked someone. Wait. What do people do with their goose after Christmas? Do they just let it go?” He groaned a bit. “Stupid modern day holiday traditions. Back in my day, people just ate and drank and fucked until they passed out. Now that’s the way to celebrate things.”
Time had become meaningless after TK arrived home. The tree was covered in crumpled balls that had been attached with yarn. The walls, tree, chairs, and just about every other surface imaginable had been covered in lights attached to their respective surfaces with duct tape. The face of the tv had a hastily drawn fire plastered on it.
“Okay, now let's see…for cookies I know Ryou usually uses lots of flour and sugar and a few eggs. Was there anything else? Nah. I think that's it,” TK muttered to himself while pouring copious amounts of flour and sugar into a bowl. As Ryou always said, measure with your heart, and TK had a lot of heart when it came to him.
The dough(?) didn't exactly look like Ryou's. It was far too dry and crumbly.
“Oh, that's right!” TK said while bumping his palm against his forehead for being so dumb. “Butter.”
He grabbed the butter and added a little at a time, mixing it in until it started to resemble something like actual cookie dough. He then made it into little balls like he'd seen Ryou do, then set it in the oven and set to making the gingerbread. He essentially used the same steps, just adding bits of ginger in like he'd seen Ryou do with chocolate chips. After placing those in the oven as well, he set off to start making the popcorn.
“I’m doing this for Ryou, I’m doing this for Ryou, I’m doing this for Ryou…” he muttered to himself as he casually swatted away the goose for the hundred-millionth time as it tried to eat the burnt popcorn that he was attempting to string before it became another crumpled casualty on the floor.
The sound of the door opening made him freeze mid-string attempt.
“What in the name of-...” Ryou asked in shock.
‘Maybe if I don’t move, he won’t see me. What am I thinking? He’s not a t-rex. He is FOR SURE going to see me. FuckFuckFuck, this is bad. This didn’t go at all how I planned. I should have quit when I had the chance. How do I fix this How Do I Fix This HOW DO I FIX THIS?????’
“Suprise!” TK shouted while jumping up from where he’d been hiding on the other side of the couch, sporting a big smile. “Oh, wait, uh. Merry Christmas! Or is it Happy Christmas? Damn, I think I fucked it up…”
The goose took the opportunity to make for the popcorn.
“Oh, no you don’t!” TK said while quickly snatching the bird, receiving a bite on the nose as a response. He tossed the goose in the opposite direction, away from the popcorn. “It would have been better to put a stick up your ass and throw you over a fire,” he growled.
Ryou continued to stand there, obviously stunned and confused and trying to process everything. “...why is there a goose with yarn all over it?”
“The yarn was tied up in bows, but the fucker kept undoing them,” TK responded irritably. He then sighed and plopped down on the couch, suddenly feeling exhausted from everything. “No wonder you don’t bother with all this Christmas crap. It is such a headache. And expensive. Can you believe how much they want for a decent looking tree that you’re not even going to keep? Not to mention all the decorations and lights and presents. I suddenly understand why that Grinch guy was so annoyed with everyone.”
“I think you missed the point of the movie,” Ryou said while sitting down beside him after brushing aside some feathers, having overcome his moment of stupor.
“Oh, you mean the whole being with family thing? Kinda pointless when your sorry excuse of a father doesn’t even bother to make an appearance anymore.”
Ryou winced at those words, making TK immediately regret saying them. “Ry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-”
“It’s okay,” Ryou interrupted. He then gave TK a soft smile. “The family that’s important to me is already here.”
He looked around the room, the soft smile growing a bit. “I can’t believe you did all of this for me.”
TK sighed heavily while leaning his head back, hissing sharply in surprise and quickly sitting back up as he got stabbed in the back of the scalp by the lights he’d strung across the back. Okay, in hindsight, maybe he’d gone a bit overboard with the lights.
“It’s nothing like how I’d planned for it to look,” he said while rubbing the back of his head.
Ryou leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek. “It’s perfect.”
That made TK relax a bit. “Thank Ry. I know it’s far from that, but I’ll take it.”
The sound of the smoke alarm going off made both startle.
“Oh fuck! The cookies!” TK said while jumping up and rushing off towards the kitchen.
Ryou stayed put, just sitting there and blinking for a long moment, then placed a hand over his eyes in exasperation.
“Tee-kaaaaay…”