Work Text:
This was the last quick stop Edd had to make. It was Christmas Eve, and he had picked up his gifts for everyone except Tom. Standing outside the store, Edd ran in, heading straight for the jewelry section. Rummaging around in the bracelets, Edd muttered to himself things along the lines of “Where are they?”, and “I have to find it for Tom.” Nothing had broken his focus until someone asked, “Can I help you?” from behind him. Edd turned around a little startled, but glad someone had shown up to help him.
“Oh, yeah! I was wondering, do you have any of those zipper bracelets?”
“Oh, of course! They’re in the container a little off to the left, the green one?”
“Ah, thank you, much appreciated!” Edd managed to say as he rustled through the green container, pulling out a two-toned blue and green zipper bracelet. The perfect gift for Tom.
“Gotta go, bye!” Edd rushed out of the store, placing £10 on the counter and sighing in relief. Dealing with people was easier for him than it was for, say, Tord, but it was still difficult. Running back home as fast as he could, the snow dusting his hair, trying his hardest not to drop any of the gifts in the bag.
Edd made it home a little bit later, seeing all his friends acting normally, at least for them. Matt was sitting next to the fireplace, which was typical around winter, since the cold was too much for him to handle. He was infodumping about something, Edd wasn’t sure what exactly, to Tord, who was sitting besides him, nodding every once in a while to show he was invested, since he barely talked. Tom was tuning his guitar on the couch, copying the chords he played.
“Hey, Edd’s home!” Matt chirped, running up to greet Edd, making sure to wait until he had dusted all the snow off of him before hugging him. “What’s in the bag?”
“Well, I was going to wait until after dinner, but since you wanna see so bad..” Edd chuckled, opening the bag to where he could see what was inside, but no one else could. “Alright, I think that, hmm;” Edd muttered, playing a silent game of “Eenie-Meenie-Miney-Moe”, his finger finally landing on Tord. “Tord should get his gift first!” Tord smiled, showing off his recently filed-down teeth. “Here you go Tord, I noticed you’d been chewing on a lot of things lately, so I’d thought you’d like this!” Edd smiled, pulling a red chew necklace shaped like a robot to Tord.
“I... I love it. Thank you so much.” Tord muttered, and Edd felt the happiness bubble up in his chest. Tord only talked when he felt it necessary, so Edd knew he must really like the gift. He slipped the necklace on and bit on it to try it out, smiling as the necklace squeaked a little.
Edd turned to Matt, who was anxiously fidgeting while waiting for his gift. “Don’t worry Matt, you’re gonna get your gift right... NOW!” Edd smiled, placing a metallic-purple tangle toy in Matt’s hands.
Matt’s eyes lit up as he started unwrapping it from itself, and running his hands over it, shouted “I LOVE IT! I’M GONNA USE IT ALL THE TIME!” A small blush came to Edd’s face, as Matt became completely occupied with his new tangle, which he had apparently named “Mr. Tangle.” Edd turned to face Tom, who seemed like he wasn’t really caring about anything at the moment.
“Hey Tom, it’s time for you to get your gift~” Edd reminded Tom, who turned to face him.
”You know I don’t like Christmas at all. Why would I want a gift?”
”Really? You’d turn down free stuff?” Edd mockingly asked, shaking the bag a little. Tom sighed and stuck his hand in the bag, telling himself that no matter what was in that bag, he was not going to like it.
He quickly went back on his promise to himself, when he pulled out a green and blue zipper bracelet. A small gasp could be heard, as Tom slipped the bracelet on his wrist and started to try it out.
”You like it? I was out late trying to find one in those colors. I wanted blue and green specifically, so that when you’re sad, you can look at it and think of our friendship!”
”Wow Edd;” Tom muttered “You just made Christmas bearable. Dare I say, you’ve made it,” Tom fake gasped; “GOOD.”
Edd fake gasped as well, and acted like he was going to faint. “Oh no, what have I done? I made you enjoy Christmas. Now the universe will implode!” Edd mockingly panicked, noting that Tom was smiling, and.. laughing! Edd had barely seen Tom laugh when sober, and NEVER around Christmas time.
”Well, I guess you really like that bracelet. It must be the best gift ever if it makes you enjoy Christmas.”
“Yeah,” Tom chuckled, zipping and unzipping the bracelet. “It helps me focus a little more.”
”Hey Tom;” Matt interrupted. “I’m glad you enjoy your bracelet, but we all know Mr. Tangle is MUCH more fabulous than it.” It was clear he was joking, and Tom played along acting like he had just been offended.
“How dare you? At least my bracelet is actually jewelry, compared to your... I don’t even know what it is.” Tom snapped back, although the joking tone in his voice was still noticeable. He was glad, since Matt had a bit of trouble with sarcasm if it wasn’t overtly obvious. But it seemed like Matt was having a lot of fun play arguing as well!
It went on for a little bit, with no one accidentally insulting the other for real. Eventually Tom gave up and said that Matt did have the more fabulous stim toy, which, in Edd’s opinion, was pretty accurate. Tom then switched his attention to Tord, and sat down next to him, with no malicious intent, at least none Edd could detect on his face.
“Hey Tord, Whadda ya say we bury the hatchet for a bit and start a club? The “Cool Stim Toy Club”, to be exact.” Tord nodded and reached his hand out to shake Tom’s. Tom hesitated a bit, but shook Tord’s hand and smiled. “Welcome to the club, buddy!”
“Hey;” Matt sighed from the other side of the room. “I wanna be in the Cool Stim Toy club too!”
“Don’t worry;” Edd winked, nudging Matt with his elbow. “I’ll get something for you soon.”
Matt smiled, and grabbed Edd’s hand, tugging on it a little bit. “Whadda you say we watch some cheesy holiday specials?”
“That sounds like it would be great Matt! Tom? Tord? You wanna join?” A quiet, yet still audible “Why not” was heard from Tom, and Tord nodded, still chewing on his necklace. Edd and Matt sat down on the couch between their other two housemates. “Anyone know where the remote is?” Tom chuckled, holding up the remote, and passed it to Edd.
Edd flipped through the channels a bit, before landing on something bearable. “Alright, is this okay with everyone?” Edd asked, before realizing they weren’t paying attention at all, as they were all too busy stimming to watch the special.
“Well, I didn’t really feel like watching anything anyways.” Edd smiled, letting himself relax a bit more. He was actually about to drift off to sleep when he heard humming. After a little bit of listening, he realized that it was Matt, and it sounded a lot like “White Christmas”. His humming was incredibly soothing, and he actually started singing, albeit softly, to himself.
“I’m dreaming of a stimmy Christmas,” he sang, fidgeting with Mr. Tangle the whole time.