Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It's the holiday season - Spectre is blasting Christmas music like he'll die again if he doesn't, Fracture has had a Santa hat glued to it again, and Kart Kid is currently digging around in the basement of Lemon Corporation's headquarters for Christmas decorations.

Humming as he looks, he comes upon a box and opens it - lights and ornaments, just as he was looking for, along with a star topper! Kart Kid looks around, though - he hasn't seen a tree anywhere, and what's a Christmas tree without a tree? Kart thinks for a moment, wondering if he should ask Lemonade if using part of his allowance to buy a tree would be a good idea, only to be interrupted by soft footsteps behind him.

”Ah, who’s there!?” Kart spins around, almost dropping the box, and looks up. He freezes in place at the entity before him, before realizing it’s just Wafer.

Wafer reaches down and pats Kart on the head. “It’s just me,” he says, wiping the icing off his face before it drips onto Kart. “Apologies if I scared you.”

Kart shyly offers the box of decorations to Wafer, letting the man take it. After a moment of staring at eachother, Kart speaks again: “It’s okay, uh, it isn’t the first time anyways.. Did you come down here to look for decorations too?”

”I did, I did - looks like you’ve found some.” Wafer picks through the box, holding up a bright red ornament and spinning it in his hands as he speaks. “Did you find a tree down here, or is there not one?”

The kid shakes his head. “No, sir, I didn’t - do you think we could decorate the trees outside, or maybe buy our own? Miss Lemonade gives me an allowance every month, and-“

Wafer interrupts Kart Kid with a laugh. “We already have a tree, though. I’m sure he’ll fight back at first, but some sacrifices must be made for the festivities.”

Kart blinks, choosing to ignore the whole sacrifice thing. “A tree that’ll fight back? You mean like at Halloween this year?”

”No, nothing like that,” Wafer replies. He stretches, wiping more icing off his face and watching it dissolve on his sleeve.

”..Ohhhh, you mean Branch! That’s a great idea!” Kart Kid claps, happy that the tree issue has been solved. “Ooh, should we decorate him right away?”

Wafer smiles, though Kart Kid can’t see his face through the icing. “I suppose we could.”

”Yay!”

Chapter Text

Wafer walks into the elevator, carrying the box of decorations in one hand and Kart Kid in the other. He presses the button to the first floor, leans back against the wall, and waits.

”You don’t have to carry me, you know!” Kart squirms a bit.

”Ah, do you want me to put you down?”

”..no.”

The elevator dings, and the sound of Christmas carols fills the air as the doors open; Wafer carries his collection of small things out, exiting the lobby and setting everything down in the snow outside.

Kart sits down and starts looking through the box, pulling out a string of Christmas lights. Wafer looks around, quickly spotting Branch leaning against a stop sign, asleep. The cookie ponders for a moment, wondering what Branch is dreaming about, quickly coming to the conclusion that he knows nothing about trees or dreaming.

”Looks like Branch is over there - are you ready to open fire on the target, dear Kart?”

”I sure am!” Kart jumps up and runs over to Branch, climbing up the stop sign and then wrapping the lights around him.

Wafer strides over, carrying the ornaments once more, and begins hanging them on Branch while Kart deals with the tree topper and the lights. The two finish rather quickly, and Wafer helps Kart Kid down once he’s done.

The two take a step back and marvel at their festive friend. Wafer pulls out a camera and takes a photo, chuckling as he pockets it to develop later.

”It appears our work here is done, Kart. Pleasure working with you today.”

”It was nice doing this with you, too, sir!”