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“You what?!” Eiji asks incredulously.
Ash blinks. “What?”
“You’ve never taken a picture with Santa?!”
“No? I haven’t done a lot of things people do around Christmas.”
Eiji blinks a few times. “What else haven’t you done?”
Ash hums. “I’ve never made Christmas cookies, gone to see lights, gone ice skating, never seen a good amount of the movies…”
Eiji’s jaw drops as Ash keeps going.
Ash looks over at him. “I just never really got the chance.”
Eiji closes his mouth and hums. “Okay, that’s it, get your jacket.”
Ash blinks. “Eiji, what-”
“Just do it,” Eiji says, cutting him off as he puts his jacket on and heads towards the door.
Ash frowns and grabs his jacket. “Where are we going?”
Eiji hums, looking something up on his phone. “You’ll see, pretty boy. Just follow me.” He says as he heads out the door.
Ash sighs and follows, shutting and locking the door behind them.
~~~~
“Eiji, I’m not doing this.”
“C’mon, it’ll be fun!”
“I am 17 years old. I’m not going to sit on Santa’s lap.”
“Pleeease?”
Ash groans, “Why are we even here?”
The two are currently standing just outside the ‘North pole’ at Macy’s where children and their parents have lined up to take pictures with Santa.
Eiji grins. “Well, since you never got to experience most of the things people in America do around Christmas, I plan to help you live the experience now!”
Ash blinks. “You don’t have to...Besides, there’s no way you can cram all of it into one day.”
Eiji hums. “It’s a good thing we have four until Christmas then, isn’t it? Now go!”
Ash sighs and gives up, knowing Eiji would just keep insisting.
He awkwardly waits in the line until it’s his turn and he climbs up, sitting on Santa’s lap.
The photographer gives him an odd look but doesn’t say anything as he takes the picture.
Ash gets off and heads over to Eiji, cheeks a little red. “Can we go now?”
Eiji chuckles. “It wasn’t that bad.”
Ash huffs slightly.
Eiji smiles, paying for a copy of the picture before heading out.
Ash follows him. “So where to now, oh great guide of Christmas?”
Eiji rolls his eyes slightly. “The Rockefeller Center.”
Ash blinks. “Wait you don’t mean-”
Eiji grins, grabbing his hand and heading off. “Ice skating!”
~~~~
Eiji yelps slightly as he almost falls.
Ash chuckles.
Eiji huffs. “You said you’d never ice skated before.”
Ash shrugs, grinning slightly. “I’m just a natural.”
“A natural ass maybe,” Eiji grumbles.
Ash chuckles and offers his hand. “Here, you can hold onto me for balance.”
Eiji begrudgingly takes his hand.
Ash smiles and starts skating again.
Eji grips his hand tightly, still a little wobbly.
After a little while, they both decided they were done and got off the ice.
While Eiji returned their skates, Ash got them both hot chocolate, humming softly while he waits.
Eiji walks over to him, smiling. “Ready to head home?”
Ash nods, handing him his hot chocolate.
Eiji takes it and smiles softly, heading back home.
~~~~
The next day Ash woke up to the apartment decorated even more than it had been yesterday. There was tensile hung along the walls, Christmas glasses out on the table on top of a white and red table cloth, and fake snow along the counters. Even the windows had lights over them, hanging like curtains.
After grabbing something to eat, he headed into the living room and found Eiji putting stockings over their dresser under the tv. Even the living room had been transformed into something that could resemble a Christmas magazine.
Eiji turns around and smiles. “You’re awake!”
Ash looks around. “What is all of this? Where did it come from?”
Eiji hums, opening another box. “I asked the housewives around here if they had anything we could use that they weren’t going to. I also may have made a quick run out this morning.”
“Why? What’s the point?” Ash asks.
Eiji pulls out lights for their tree. “Christmas spirit. That and it’s fun.”
Ash nods slightly. “You did all this yourself?”
Shaking his head, Eiji looks back. “I had some help from Bones and Kong helped some. Shorter also stopped by earlier.”
Ash nods slightly.
Eiji grins. “Now that you’re up, help me decorate the tree, I’ll turn on the music.”
Ash smiles slightly, heading over to help.
Hours passed quickly as they put up the lights and miscellaneous ornaments, bringing the once barren tree to life.
Eiji sings along to a few of the songs and Ash smiles watching and listening.
Once they were finished they sat on the couch and admired their work.
Ash hums softly. “This your whole grand plan for today?”
Eiji shakes his head. “Nope. The other part comes later tonight.”
Ash chuckles softly. “Alright.”
Eiji smiles. “Gives us time to go Christmas shopping.”
“Oh yeah.”
If he was completely honest, Ash had almost forgotten about getting Christmas gifts. It’s not that he didn’t want to, it’s just he’d gotten used to not getting them because of everything.
The two headed out and looked for gifts until it got late enough for Eiji’s other plan.
As the sun set, Eiji leads Ash towards Dyker Heights.
Ash follows silently, hands in his pockets so they wouldn’t get cold. He didn’t know where they were going, but he trusted Eiji and followed him.
Eiji smiles, “Here we are! I heard they have really good lights here and that people come to see them.”
Ash stares at the lights, breathing out a soft, “Woah…”
Eiji smiles softly, offering Ash his hand.
Ash takes it wordlessly and walks around with Eiji. Both of them admired the lights on the houses silently, simply enjoying being there.
Eiji glances over at Ash at some point and flushes slightly at the sight; Ash smiles softly as he watches some kids playing in the yard, the backlight from the display almost making it look like he was glowing.
Looking over, Ash chuckles. “What?”
Eiji shakes his head with a small smile. “Nothing.”
Ash shrugs and continues walking.
~~~~
The next day Ash woke up to Eiji smacking him over the head. Groaning, he sits up and looks over. “What?”
Eiji hums, “It’s noon. Time to get up.”
Ash grumbles, rolling back over.
Eiji rolls his eyes and picks Ash up, carrying him to the kitchen and setting him at the table.
Ash whines slightly but doesn’t fight back.
Eiji hands him a bowl of cereal. “Happy Christmas eve.”
Ash blinks and eats. “Happy Christmas eve.”
Eiji sits across from him. “Whenever you’re done, I got the ingredients to make cookies.”
Ash smiles slightly. “We not going anywhere today?”
Eiji shakes his head. “Nope. Not unless you want to. I thought we’d make cookies and then watch Christmas movies later tonight.”
Ash nods. “Sounds good to me.”
After finishing his food, Ash puts his dishes in the dishwasher as Eiji gets out the ingredients and looks up recipes.
Ash turns on the playlist from yesterday and goes to help Eiji.
The cookies came out okay in the end, but as for how they got that way? Let’s just say that they have a LOT of cleaning to do.
At some point, Eiji had accidentally gotten flower on Ash, and it had sparked a food war between the two. So covered in flower and still giggling, they got to work cleaning up while the cookies baked.
Later that evening, Ash made them hot chocolate while Eiji found them a movie.
Ash hands him his cup, sitting next to him. “So what’re we watching?”
Eiji smiles. “Polar Express, The Year Without a Santa Clause, and Elf.”
Ash chuckles softly. “Alright.”
Eiji starts the movie, and Ash watches intently.
At some point during their marathon, they’d cuddled together under the blanket, and Eiji ended up leaning into Ash.
Ash smiles softly, laying his head on top of Eiji’s. “Thank you, Eiji.”
Eiji hums happily. “Of course.”
As the clock strikes midnight, Eiji looks up at Ash. “Merry Christmas, Aslan.”
Ash flushes and smiles softly at him. “Merry Christmas, Eiji.”
Not that he had anyone to tell, but in Ash’s mind, this was the best Christmas he’d ever had.