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Josuke shivered against the frigid December air, pulling his coat tighter around him. Sure, taking the bus across town helped mitigate the cold, but he still had a stretch to walk to reach Rohan’s house.
Snow had piled up considerably, and his boots crunched it all the way. Even so, the sky was sending more snow on Josuke’s head. It was early December, and Morioh didn’t usually see snow until closer to Christmas, but the snow had decided to come early this year. It wasn’t the snow Josuke minded, it was walking in the cold.
Rubbing his gloved hands together, Josuke fantasized about having a heated car to drive in and then couldn’t wait to get his driver’s license.
He climbed the steps to Rohan’s house, exhaled in relief, and took a moment to brush the snow off his coat and hair. He clutched his bag, his heart pounding, and knocked on the door.
Eventually, he heard footsteps, and then the door opened revealing Rohan. Seeing Josuke, he smiled.
“You’re here,” he said.
“Yup, hello to you too,” Josuke chuckled.
“Hello.”
Rohan gestured Josuke inside. Josuke undid his boots in the genkan and Rohan offered him some slippers.
“I’ll take your coat,” Rohan offered.
However, when Josuke removed his coat, Rohan was met with a surprise.
“Is that-”
Josuke was wearing a red sweater, with green trim and white snowflakes, and white knit lettering that said, “Merry Christmas ya filthy animal”.
He looked down at himself and laughed.
“Yeah, I just saw that movie last year.”
“It’s... it’s not that, it’s just...”
Holding Josuke’s coat, Rohan struggled to find his words.
“Is that what you deem appropriate to wear for decorating a Christmas tree?”
Josuke pondered for a moment, then smirked.
“You have no idea.”
He walked into the living room, a confused Rohan trailing behind him.
Next to the hearth was a fully assembled Christmas tree, partially wrapped in lights, the rest trailed on the floor.
“Oh, you already started,” Josuke noted in surprise.
“Yeah, I figured I’d get the hard part done first. I’m almost done with the lights.”
Rohan put a hand on Josuke’s shoulder, Josuke turned to him.
“But really,” Rohan said, “what did you mean by ‘you have no idea’?”
Josuke smirked widely. He opened his bag and reached into it. Rohan looked on nervously.
His mouth fell when Josuke produced a sweater, black with red trim, knitted with Santas, Christmas trees, figgy pudding, stockings, and candy canes.
“You... you don’t expect me to wear that... right?”
“Oh yes I do!” Josuke exclaimed. He thrust the sweater into Rohan’s hands. “If this is our first time decorating a tree as a couple, it has to be special.”
“And... this is special?” Rohan held the sweater out, looked harder at it.
“I think so,” Josuke replied. “I bought both of these for us.”
He dramatically pointed a finger at Rohan.
“Now go get changed!” he jokingly commanded.
“I...” Rohan looked up at Josuke, at that smirk, at Josuke’s serious eyes, then down at the downright tacky sweater, then back up at Josuke.
“I can’t believe you’re my boyfriend,” he sighed, setting the sweater on the couch.
To Josuke’s surprise, he started changing in front of him, taking his own cream coloured sweater off.
Josuke gulped, his face turning hot.
Rohan pulled the sweater over his head, then smoothed it out.
“Do I look ridiculous?” he asked, his ears pink.
Josuke grinned widely. “That’s the point!”
He grabbed Rohan’s hands and gently kissed them.
“Thanks for being a good sport. I was honestly expecting you to reject me outright.”
Rohan smiled, shook his head. “The things we do for love.”
He held Josuke’s hands back, then lead him to the tree.
“It’s just this bottom third that needs lights.” He handed Josuke one end of the light string. “Hold this while I put them in.”
Rohan got on his knees and weaved the lights into the branches. Josuke followed him as he shuffled around the tree, tightly packing lights as he went.
“Lotta lights on this tree,” Josuke noted.
“You don’t put as many on your tree?” Rohan asked, his tone surprised.
Josuke shook his head. “Guess not. Our tree has white lights.” He noted Rohan’s multicoloured lights. “And our ornaments are purple and silver.”
“Purple?!” Rohan sounded astounded. “Purple isn’t a Christmas colour.”
Josuke laughed. “Mom says it’s a winter colour.”
“Hm. Fair enough.” He handed Josuke another string. “Plug this in. This will probably be our last string.”
“But really,” Josuke said, feeding string to Rohan, “I’ve never seen a Christmas tree with so many lights.”
“I like a tree with lots of lights,” Rohan said, continuing to work. “I want to be able to step back and see no empty spots. I want my tree to dazzle.”
Dazzle, Josuke thought. He was looking forward to seeing the tree lit.
Soon, Rohan finished the bottom, wriggled himself out from under the tree, and stood.
“Alright, let’s plug it in.”
He plugged the tree in and stepped towards the back of the room.
“Whoa,” Josuke cooed, joining Rohan’s side. “I see what you mean.”
He stared in awe at the twinkling lights; red, yellow, amber, green, and blue. It seemed like there wasn’t a single space on the tree that wasn’t taken up by lights.
“It’s incredible,” Josuke breathed.
“Yeah, six hundred lights will look like that,” Rohan replied.
“Wait, six hundred?” Josuke gawked. He turned to Rohan, his jaw dropped, who continued to look at his tree impassively.
“Yup,” Rohan said. “It’s a nearly two metre tree, and I like at least one hundred lights per thirty centimetres.”
“Y-You have this all figured out, huh,” Josuke laughed nervously.
Ignoring him, Rohan walked back to the tree, at a plastic bin by the hearth.
“Come, there’s still ornaments to put up.”
Josuke joined him, found a bin full of various ornaments of gold, silver, and red.
“You have a theme too?” he asked.
“Yes, but not entirely,” Rohan explained. He pulled out something wrapped in tissue paper. He unwrapped it to find an ornament shaped like the Eiffel tower.
“Some of these don’t go with the coloured theme.”
“Oh neat,” Josuke remarked, taking a closer look at the sparkling Eiffel tower. “Do you have any in there from when you were a kid?”
Rohan set the Eiffel tower down, found another tissue paper wrapped ornament, and revealed two ceramic mice, whose blue winter coats were shaped like bells, and whose legs swung to create clinking sounds.
Josuke brought his hands to his face. “How cute!” he cooed. He reached to touch one, but Rohan yanked them away.
“I don’t think so. These are very fragile. I’ll put them up.”
“I wasn’t going to break them,” Josuke muttered, plucking a round red ornament from the bin.”
For the first while, they placed their ornaments on random parts of the tree, however they wished, until Rohan stopped Josuke.
“Don’t put red next to red. I don’t want ornaments that are too similar next to each other.”
“Geez,” Josuke huffed, picking another branch, “you sound like my mom.”
Rohan placed an oblong silver ornament on the back of the tree. “Sounds like your mom and I are particular about our trees.”
He grabbed a gold ornament. “I need a hook for this one.”
Josuke wrestled with the tangle of hooks on the coffee table and finally managed to pull one free.
As they continued to decorate, they conversed on life.
“I’ll bet you didn’t expect to be decorating your tree with me,” Josuke chuckled, hanging another red ornament.
“Nope, not at all,” Rohan replied, hanging a snowflake. “Things sure have changed between us.”
Josuke peeked from around the tree, saw Rohan lit with various lights, the colours bouncing off his earrings, wearing that ridiculous knit sweater with Santas, trees, and treats. He laughed.
Rohan heard this, looked at him. “What?”
Josuke shook his head. “Nothing. It’s just, you’re right. A lot has changed, but I’m glad about it.”
Rohan shuffled closer to Josuke, reached above him to place an ornament.
“Me too,” he spoke meekly. “You’re actually pretty great.”
“Pretty great,” Josuke chuckled. He leaned downward and placed a kiss on Rohan’s cheek. “Gee, thanks darling. You’re pretty great too.”
Rohan looked up at Josuke, his cheeks pink. “Hey, this whole tree decorating thing is very special to me and..” He gestured to himself. “This... thing you made me wear, what you’re wearing, it’s... nice that you think it’s special too.”
With a fluttering in his heart, Josuke turned and pressed a kiss on Rohan’s mouth. Rohan shut his eyes and kissed him back.
They lingered for a moment, then Josuke pulled back. “Of course,” he whispered.
They continued to decorate with Rohan’s countless ornaments, both his themed coloured ones and his special ones.
“Are you taking time off for Christmas?” Josuke asked, trying to pry two snowflakes off each other.
“Probably,” Rohan answered, placing some red ribbons on the branches. “I could use the time off.”
Josuke placed one of the snowflakes on the tree. “Good, because I hope we do something for Christmas eve.”
Rohan paused, put a finger to his chin. “Christmas eve, huh. I figured I’d be spending it with you, but I didn’t think of what to do.”
“Anything is fine,” Josuke said, returning to the snowflakes. “What do you usually do?”
Rohan picked up another ribbon, started tying it to another branch. “Nothing. I watch a movie on TV and that’s about it. What about you?”
“Nothing, huh,” Josuke pondered. “Me? Mom and I order fried chicken. She likes having Christmas cake too.” An idea occurred to him. “Should we get one?”
Rohan nodded. “That’s not a bad idea. Even the fried chicken isn’t a bad idea.”
“Then it’s a date!” Josuke declared.
His joy was momentarily stopped when Rohan tossed a bow his way.
“We’re almost done, so help me with the bows.”
The pair worked together to tie the red bows all around the tree. With all the ornaments and bows placed on the tree, all that was left was the star and tree skirt.
Rohan tasked Josuke with the star, who was surprised to see it plugged into the lights and lit up. Rohan meanwhile wrapped a red tree skirt around the base of the tree.
“Don’t topple it over now,” Rohan said from the bottom of the tree.
“I won’t!” Josuke retorted.
Finally, when all was done, the two stepped back and admired their work.
“Looks great,” Rohan smiled.
Josuke nodded. “Probably one of the nicest looking trees I’ve ever seen.”
“Guess it doesn’t hurt to be a little particular,” Rohan teased.
“Guess not,” Josuke replied, staring in awe at the tree.
Rohan put an arm around Josuke’s waist, rested his head on Josuke’s shoulder. Josuke looked to him, smiled, then put his own arm around Rohan’s waist.
“This was nice,” Josuke said.
Rohan nodded, and Josuke could feel the smile on his shoulder. “It was. Let’s do this again next year.”
Next year, Josuke thought. It was a nice thought, that they would still be together next Christmas. They would make their own traditions, like tree decorating and ugly Christmas sweaters, and when Christmas eve would come, that too would become a tradition; a yearly feast of fried chicken and Christmas cake.
“Would you like some hot chocolate?” Rohan asked.
Josuke perked up. “Hot chocolate? Sure!”
Rohan let go of Josuke, started walking to the kitchen. “I make it with eggnog.”
“Eggnog?” Josuke asked surprised. “In hot chocolate?”
Rohan stopped, turned around. “Yes. It’s surprisingly good.”
He paused, looked back at Josuke’s shirt. He stifled a laugh and shook his head.
“I’ve heard the quote before, but I’ve never seen the movie.”
Confused for a second, Josuke looked down at his sweater, then back up at Rohan. “I was worried you hadn’t. That’s why I brought it with me. We could watch it with our hot chocolate.”
“I...” Rohan pondered that. “I guess we could. You know where the VCR is, get it set up while I make the drinks.”
The pair found themselves on Rohan’s sofa, a warm mug of eggnog hot chocolate in each hand, sitting close to each other, Home Alone playing on VHS.
“He said ‘keep the change ya filthy animal’, not ‘Merry Christmas ya filthy animal,” Rohan remarked.
“He says ‘Merry Christmas ya filthy animal’ in the second one,” Josuke explained.
“There’s a second one?!” Rohan gawked. “God, how many times can they forget this kid? Though I can’t blame them. He’s kind of a brat.”
“You’re not exactly the best with kids, are ya?” Josuke laughed.
“Well, he is a brat.”
Josuke looked at Rohan, lit by the Christmas tree behind him, so many lights on his earrings, in his eyes, his ridiculous sweater that he wore despite hating it.
There they were, drinking a hot chocolate concoction that was thick and creamy, watching a Christmas movie, starting their own Christmas traditions.
Rohan felt Josuke’s eyes on him and turned to him. “What?”
Josuke’s heart skipped a beat. His ears turned hot. He smiled, leaned forward, and kissed Rohan’s nose. Rohan looked up at Josuke with a soft surprise, his eyes wide and his lips parted. The sight made Josuke’s heart melt.
Eventually, Rohan smiled back. “You’re.. you’re something,” he spoke softly.
He then leaned forward and kissed Josuke’s nose back, who then laughed bashfully and looked away.
They had momentarily forgotten about the movie, were instead caught up in the simplicity of each other.
“Gosh, I love you,” Josuke sighed. “You’re great.”
Rohan laughed softly, then took a sip of his drink. With a hand warmed by his mug, he squeezed Josuke’s hand.
“I love you too. I still can’t believe you’re my boyfriend.”