Work Text:
"You warm enough?" Jared asks, reaching for the thermostat. Evan glances around the sofa, the faux-suede overpowered by piles of mismatched blankets and pillows, and nods, smiling. Jared recoils his hand from the dial like it's burned him, bounding across the living room to join Evan on the couch.
Evan's wrapped in a thick quilt, handed down from one of the older women his mom works with. Jared plops down beside him, grabbing a plain fleece blanket and pulling it over his own shoulders. Evan fiddles with the TV remote as early 2000s previews roll across the screen.
"My mom's gonna be home around eight," Evan says, quietly, eyes glued to the remote, "she's gonna bring dinner, so we can eat then." Jared nods, simply, adjusting his feet so they lie beneath the rest of his body, to keep them warm. He knows Evan's never really liked Christmas. With how busy his mom is, working constantly just to keep a roof over their head, it's just never the kind of celebration for him that it is for so many people. Evan's mom works Christmas Eve every year, and sometimes, even works Christmas Day. They get dinner from the slightly higher-end takeout place every year for the night before Christmas, and it's always a very quiet, unceremonious affair. He and his mom exchange gifts on Christmas morning - there's never been a Santa Claus since his father's leaving - and either spend the day together, or Heidi goes off to work like it's any other day.
Jared knows he can't really fix what Christmas is or means for Evan, what it has been for the last ten years or so of his life, but he does know that maybe, he can make this one a little better than previous years. So he curls up next to Evan, leaning into his side, and grins lazily as Evan clicks play on The Polar Express.