Chapter Text
Everyone knew Lilac missed Yogurt Cream. Though he didn’t whine about it or verbally express it, stoic and not one to speak unless he deemed it necessary, it was.. a bit pitifully blatant.
To help the newly growing kingdom, Yogurt Cream had been generous enough to send Lilac over to help assist it’s growth–
Which was exactly what the bodyguard had been doing faithfully.
He frequently assisted on missions to clear territory of cakehounds (his proficiency in combat with his chakrams quite useful) , often spent late nights completing workshop tasks such as collecting cakelog and mining sugarcube, among many other things.
He’d probably made some form of contribution to everything he could contribute to, which made him quite an appreciated member of the Kingdom.
But, everyone could tell.. Though nobody ever poked at him about it, it was clear he was saddened by not having his employer by his side.
Whenever it was time for everyone to make a lucky wish at the Wishing Tree,
Just like how Gingerbrave’s wish would always be some variation of “I wish for bravery!” or courage or whatever way of phrasing the same thing,
And Angel Cookie always wished for some variation of “being able to fly”
Lilac’s silently written wish ended up being some variation of hoping Yogurt Cream was safe, or well, or happy–
He wasn’t very open about his wish, more secretive about what was written on the paper,
but his consistent prayer was discovered by Devil Cookie, who had been mischievously peeking at everyone’s wishes by flying into the sky as the wishingbirds took them away.
Things like
“I wish for Yogurt Cream to fare well back at home.”
or
“I hope treasure-collecting is going well for Yogurt Cream in my absence,”
seemed to be the kinds of things he wrote.
He often could be found writing letters about what the Kingdom was like or the things he had been up to lately to Yogurt Cream.
When questioned about it, he simply stated that Yogurt Cream would like to hear about how much progress is being made, so he sends letters.
Whenever he was given rewards of pretty things for his assistance in adventures– like coins or souvenirs from the places he had to go to to complete his tasks– They always seemed to vanish from his possession.
He never said it, but everyone knew it was because he picked what he thought Yogurt Cream would like as a treasure, and mailed it to the other in hopes Yogurt Cream would like the gift.
And most of all,
He had a certain wistful look in his eyes whenever he was thinking of the other, the somewhat sad look on his face often being found on his expression as he did allowed for himself to be with his own thoughts.
Watching Lilac sit alone in his mild sullenness was always a bit of a pitiful sight that made everyone feel a bit of sympathy for the employer-less bodyguard.
Like a dejected dog worrying for its unpresent master, Yogurt Cream frequented Lilac’s thoughts, the months going by seeming not to make his silent yearning any softer.
Adventurer Cookie could emphasize with Lilac; Blackberry Cookie was his dearest friend, though he was an employer to her. So he could understand why Lilac would feel so sad without Yogurt Cream.
So with Christmas soon to appear, the chilly month of December having been entered by the kingdom– evident by the lots of snow as of lately–
Adventurer Cookie had helped orchestrate a very big Christmas surprise with quite a few others.
Yogurt Cream was actually able to visit the kingdom for Christmas, the complications in Yogurca’s travel systems that had been preventing him from doing so earlier having been fixed in time for the holiday.
Adventure Cookie had convinced Yogurt Cream not to mail the news to Lilac right away though,,
So they could give Lilac a big happy Christmas surprise! That was Adventurer’s plan– He’d tell Lilac to wake up earlier in the morning for a surprise the day before Yogurt Cream’s arrival on the Bear Train,
He’d wake up even earlier to wait by the train to meet Yogurt Cream, and then Yogurt Cream could go into the giant present box he, Blackberry Cookie, Gingerbrave, Pumpkin Pie Cookie, and Carrot Cookie had worked pretty hard to create.
The Yogurt Cream present would be carried over to the library, while Gingerbrave went over to Lilac’s house to go and take him to his surprise at the same time.
Then Lilac would end up there with the present, and then he’d open it, and then he’d get the surprise! It was the perfect plan, in Adventurer’s eyes, and he felt a little bit of happy excitement thinking about it.
And now, his plan was currently in motion, as he sat patiently in the library with the huge present on the ground, a giddy grin on his face.
<>
Lilac was sitting on his bed, a bit uneasily.
Major surprise early in the morning..
He recalled Adventurer’s words. Though it wasn’t as if he doubted Adventurer’s intentions, the fact he couldn’t formulate even a vague idea of what the surprise was unsettled him a little.
Another trinket?
No.. Adventurer had seemed too excited for a smaller gift like that. What could it possibly be to cause such excitement, that was gifted specifically for
himself
? He didn’t have any exciting interests, he didn’t think, to cause for a thrilling gift.
knock-knock.
Ah, the door. It was probably Adventurer.
He shook off his nervousness with a little sigh. Whatever it was, it seemed he was to discover it now. It couldn’t.. be
too
stressful. After all, Adventurer wouldn’t gift him anything that would be distressing.
He opened the door, mildly surprised to see Gingerbrave instead.
“Lilac!” The other, also, seemed as enthusiastic as Adventurer had been, eyes sparkling like Gingerbrave’s always did whenever he was about to encounter something thrilling.
This further added to Lilac’s perplexion, but he didn’t reveal anything of his internal feelings.
“Hello, Gingerbrave.” He greeted politely.
“I have to take you to the surprise! Come on, let’s go!!” Gingerbrave rushed off, steps full of bouncy excitement,
and Lilac having to move in faster strides as well to keep up with the running younger cookie in front of him.
Gingerbrave had taken him.. To the library.
And there were
more
cookies there, excitedly waiting.
Adventurer, Carrot, Pumpkin Pie, Blackberry, Angel, Avocado, Princess, Devil Cookie…
Everyone seemed so eager for some reason. What was even happening? He felt somewhat disorientated by the sudden big spotlight of attention being shone on him by everyone.
“Come on Lilac, open your present!!” Gingerbrave cheered giddily, with a couple
yeah!’s
and
do it!’s
following after his words from the other cookies.
Though Lilac was usually quite calm and unreactive in appearance, the look of confused unsureness was clear in his demeanor as he approached the huge red box sitting on the floor.
A bit over-aware of the excited staring and talk surrounding him.
He took his chakram out in one hand, to cut the box ope–
Suddenly, the box
shook
, like there was an animal inside, which gave him a bit of a startle.
Is it a pet? Are they giving a pet as a gift?
He thought, his eyes widening slightly. Well, he shouldn’t cut it open with a weapon then. He put his two chakrams in one hand, freeing the other.
Tentatively, he unwrapped the ribbon, which earned him a few cheers from the watching cookies that gave him a bit of a sense of self-consciousness.
Pomf!
And whatever was inside sprung open as soon as the constricting ribbon made the box able to open.
And–
Wai–
Y–
?!
He felt his thoughts completely short-circuit, stunned and unbelieving of what was in front of him:
He ended up involuntarily losing the grip his other hand had on his two chakrams despite his usual grace, the weapons dropping noisily on the floor in his shock.
“Witches, that box was really stuffy, you know! You should have cleaned it out more!” Lilac heard the familiar voice complain.
“Lilac! Did you miss m–”
Yogurt Cream let out a little
oomf!
as he was thrown into a hug from Lilac. Lilac held him tightly, his face burying a bit into Yogurt Cream chest
(which was cushioned by the thick wooly fabric of his snow-time clothes, which he was currently wearing)–
Holding so tight one might think the bodyguard was convinced Yogurt Cream could just vanish again if he let go.
“Lilac, Lilac! It’s okay, I’m right here–” Yogurt Cream said, bringing his arm and trying to soothingly rub at the other’s back.
Lilac was beginning to tremble slightly, from strong emotion– his usual unbreaking calm composure completely shattered in the moment–
Much to the surprise of all the onlooking cookies, who had never seen him anywhere near as uncomposed before in all the time he had spent in the kingdom.
Yogurt Cream only continued his comforting cooes of
“I’m here,”
and “
It’s okay!”
to the other, continuing to stroke at Lilac’s back in hopes of calming the other.
“I missed you a lot, Lilac! I wanted to visit everyday, y’know! But that messy sand-slide blocked all the roads out of Yogurca for a really long time. It was a total disaster!”
“You really were missing me just as much, weren’t you?”
Lilac nodded very profusely, his face still buried into Yogurt Cream’s chest, clinging onto the other still, seeming to still be a bit speechless.
“I missed you, I missed you too–” He finally managed to sputter out. His eyes were starting to look a bit watery.
Lilac had very good self-control most of the time when it came to his emotions, rarely expressing them. But in rare overwhelming moments like this where he was thrown completely off his guard, he had a tendency to come completely undone.
“Are you crying?! Lilac, do you feel upset–” Yogurt Cream said a bit alarmedly, but Lilac shook his head:
“No, I’m happy, I’m not upset–”
“Come on Lilac! Let’s sit down! It’ll be better!” Yogurt Cream quickly herded Lilac down on the library’s couch, sitting down with a little poof from the cushion.
He scooped Lilac up in his arms, cradling the emotional other on the couch in a way that looked a little funny to the others watching– A bit like Lilac, who was so often scarily intimidating in his skill and poise, was a big baby in his arms.
“Lilac! Did you like your present?” Avocado spoke boisterously, with a little hearty chuckle.
“ ‘Cause it really seems like we got you right in the
pit
of your heart with this one, huh?”
“Your corny puns are going to ruin the moment.” Devil Cookie complained.
Lilac could hardly focus on the background chatter, still looking at Yogurt Cream with eyes that were still moon-round with emotion.
“Yeah, Lilac! Was I a good present?” Yogurt Cream said, with a little light cheery chuckle, rocking Lilac a bit more in his arms.
“Yes,” Lilac said without any hesitation, feeling a bit of an involuntary smile spread across his usually staid expression, utter overjoyedness starting to flutter in his stomach.
This was the best present he could ever want.
And, it was the best Christmas he could’ve ever experienced, to be reunited so joyfully with Yogurt Cream amongst the presence of so many warm friendly others.
Lilac didn’t think he’d ever been happier.
Chapter 2
Summary:
child scorpion and child lilac share a nice christmas moment together
Chapter Text
-
Lilac was standing on the tips of his toes, peering at a decorative poster depicting Ginger Clause– likely to have been quite colorful when it had been new, but quite torn and faded now– that marked the alleyway walls.
Scorpion was behind him as well, curiously peering at what had taken his attention.
Sometimes when the adults got sick, there would be an opportunity for their difficult assassin-training to stop for a moment’s rest. Which is why Scorpion had happily slipped peanuts into a particular mean, peanut-allergic teacher’s cup of milk.
Considering she was much younger and smaller than they were, fitting herself through the garbage chute to do so had been incredibly easy, and she still felt quite clever remembering the way his face had turned blue.
So now the two little cookies were sitting in the alleyway, in a moment of inactivity that was actually quite nice, considering their usual evening included an unending bombardment of abusive handling most of the time.
The alleyway was a bit cold, considering wintertime in the desert tended to mean chillier nighttimes once the sun went down. But something about the chilly darkness was a bit comforting.
There’s no point in trusting Ginger Clause.
She thought a bit disdainfully to herself, looking at the poster Lilac had fascinated himself with.
Ginger Clause won’t bother with us, because we’re not good kids.
She’d happily stab Ginger Clause right by his holly jolly ankles anyway, so this thought didn’t upset her very much.
Ginger Clause, in her opinion, was hypocritical: He says he’s spreading joy to everyone, but that only counts for everyone nice or wealthy. Which is only half of everyone.
“I hope Ginger Clause comes this year.”
She heard Lilac suddenly murmur, looking up at the jolly cookie with hopefulness that Scorpion hadn’t expected– She had assumed he had shared the same opinion as her, considering they were both actively ignored by Ginger Clause.
“He never comes though.” Scorpion replied.
“I still hope so.” Lilac said.
“I didn’t say any bad words this year. And I didn’t try running away either.” He said, like this was his explanation for why Ginger Clause was going to come this time.
It doesn’t matter. Ginger Clause still won’t like us.
She thought, but didn’t say. “Maybe, then. But you shouldn’t hope too hard.” She said instead.
“... He used to come for me before, but he stopped.” Lilac said. “When I wasn’t with my parents anymore.”
Scorpion hadn’t gotten visited at all. She hadn’t ever had parents to miss when she was brought into the assassin’s training.
Perhaps it was a bit of a blessing, since she had nothing to sadly long to return to, seeing the bit of crestfalleness on Lilac’s expression.
“It’s probably because we’re not good kids anymore.”
Well, Scorpion didn’t think
she
had ever been a good kid before, but she didn’t know much for Lilac.
“..Probably.” He replied.
He yawned, rubbing his eyes a little.
“It’s pretty late now.” Scorpion noted, looking up at the fully-risen moon.
“We should probably go to sleep. It’ll be harder to sleep if we wait for it to get colder as it gets darker.”
“You can. I’m staying up.” Lilac replied, looking around the alleyway like he was preparing for something.
“What do you need to stay up for?” Scorpion asked.
“I’m making a Christmas Tree for Ginger Clause.”
She gave a little amused giggle, to which Lilac either didn’t hear or was too busy dutifully searching the alleyway to pay attention to.
“How are you going to make a Christmas Tree without a Tree?” She asked.
“With this.”
Somewhere amongst the littered garbage near the alleyway dumpster, Lilac pulled out a long piece of wood.
It looked to be a sawed-off piece of particularly thick branch– Probably the remains of some gardener pruning their
own
fancy huge trees.
“It doesn’t have leaves anymore.” Scorpion said, dubious about whether this could count for a legitimate Christmas Tree.
“It’s still tree. Part of a tree. The important part is.. decorating it anyway. Because Ginger Clause likes Christmas spirit.”
No. Ginger Clause likes money. That’s why he only goes to the houses with expensive decorations, not Christmas spirit.
Scorpion knew, but she could understand why Lilac would still make that misunderstanding about Ginger Clause. It was an easy assumption to make– So she felt smart she had realized the
true
nature of the correlation.
But she wasn’t going to share that discovery with Lilac, because she didn’t feel like further ruining Christmas for him.
Wisdom is truly burdening:
She could still remember the one time she had told Lilac that Sugar Elves On Sugar Shelves weren’t real when they saw the dolls on sale at a market, and had stomped one to crumbling (well, to crumbling if it were
actually
alive, but it wasn’t so it wasn’t really to crumbling) to prove it when he didn’t believe her, because if it
was
alive it would scream.
She had to apologize to the (“crumbled” according to Lilac, who at this point thought she had killed it) to get him to stop sobbing and he was still upset about it for the whole day.
They practiced crumbling people all the time as future assassins (and would probably actually start doing it quite soon), so she didn’t know why he had cared about the elf so much. He should probably get over it, whatever it was about it, she thought.
What if one day, hypothetically, their target was a Sugar Elf or something? Or looked like a Sugar Elf. So it was important.
“Lilac, if you had to crumble a Sugar Elf target you would do it, right?” She asked. She was tired of standing, so she sat down against the wall in the alleyway where she thought it was cleanest to rest at.
“Why are you asking me that?” He said, a bit annoyed-sounding at the memory. “Of course I would. But I wouldn’t if it was a
not-target
sugar elf.”
“Okay.” Scorpion shrugged, only feeling amused at the mild annoyance to his words.
Lilac was looking through the trash for things he could decorate the stick-tree with. He pulled out a singular broken red-ball ornament.
The stick leaned against a wall, he tied the broken glittery orb onto the stick.
“There.”
What a lame looking tree.
Scorpion thought, looking at the stick with a single broken ornament. She pressed the sleeve of her cloak to her mouth, quickly stopping herself from giggling.
“Well, Ginger Clause has something to see now.” She said, her voice wavering in the tiniest little bit from suppressed giggling.
“Yeah.” He yawned again.
“I’m tired. I’m going to sit down now.”
He sat down next to Scorpion, pulling the hood of his own cloak over his head for warmth.
“Before we go to sleep, we need to make Christmas wishes.” He said.
“Sure.” Scorpion was fine with that. “I wish..”
She thought about it for a little while, looking up at the stars.
“I wish we’ll be friends like this forever. Because nobody else is going to do it.” She finally said.
“You’re not supposed to say it out loud.” Lilac said.
“It doesn’t matter,” She shrugged, unbothered. “It’s the same.”
“Well, I’m not saying
mine
out loud.”
“That’s because you’re probably wishing for something really sappy and weird like fairytale love and you’re embarrassed.”
Scorpion said teasingly– In reference to the one time she had found him gazing longingly into the cover art of some book about a prince and a rogue falling in love and living happily after.
“Weirdo.” She added.
“I am
not
wishing for that.” He said indignantly.
“You are too– Are you gonna start kissing chocolate frogs and hope
they’ll
bring you to a castle?”
He turned around, his back to her. “Can’t hear you. Going to sleep.”
She stuck her tongue at his turned back, but didn’t bother him much more. She just laid back down, looking up at the stars.
Eventually, she could hear the sound of his breathing turn into quiet little snores.
He’s asleep.
That took him long enough.
She stretched out her limbs, stiff from not moving for so long, getting up slowly and carefully as to not alert Lilac.
She went out of the alley, shivering a bit at the blast of cold wind outside.
Getting on her knees, she dug into the sand where she had remembered burying it.
There.
She picked up the sand-dusted worn out backpack.
Earlier, she’d stolen a backpack, and then went through the market subtly stealing as much christmas-stuff as possible to stuff the backpack as much as she could.
Chocolates, candycanes, peppermints,
And most importantly– Four little silver metal bracelet-things, two supposed to go on each arm. They were a bit big and more suited for an adult– But they could be grown into.
And she knew Lilac likes shiny things like that. She didn’t think he’d care if it was too big.
As sneaky as a shadow, she put the worn out backpack by the makeshift Christmas Tree. Using her own scorpion venom, she sloppily wrote on the bag using poison as ink– The venom burned the letters on.
From Gigner Claws
To Lilac
Mery Chrismas! Yoo were on the good list this yeer.
Leev milk and cookies next time.
She wasn’t as good at spelling as Lilac was, since he had got to learn to read and write before she did (since he learned before entering assasination training and she didn’t) so he had a head start.
But she didn’t think it was
that
bad. (and most fellow cookies her age spelled similarly.) It seemed convincing enough, to her.
She went back to the same spot she had been before, giving a little yawn herself. She curled up and went to sleep as well, next to Lilac.
___ _____ ______ _____ ____
“Scorpion! Scorpion!”
Lilac was crouched over her, eyes wide.
“It’s way too early. Wake me up when training actually starts.” She said sleepily, noticing that the sun had hardly even risen yet.
“No, it’s important. Ginger Clause came! He came this year!”
Giving up on trying to go back to sleep, she shifted to a sitting position, the smile always fixed on her face seeming to grow even wider at his excitement.
“He did?” She asked, trying her best to act surprised. “Or did you dream it up?”
“No, look.”
Lilac pointed at the worn out bag with the venom-burned writing on it, his eyes practically sparkling with happiness that even Scorpion rarely saw.
Scorpion went over to the backpack, inspecting it.
“Wow, it looks like he really
did
come.” She said.
“You don’t sound very surprised.” Lilac said, tilting his head a little.
He looked at the bag too, and sudden realization flickered in his expression.
“Wait, you didn’t get one.”
“Hm? Oh, well I guess you’re right.” She said, unbothered. “Well, I didn’t do anything to get on the good list this year. So it makes sense.”
He seemed a little saddened by this, but didn’t say anything. He unzipped the backpack, peering inside.
Scorpion enjoyed the enthusiastic way his eyes lit up upon seeing the bracelets, along with the candies.
He grabbed a handful of candy, but instead of eating any of it, he dropped them in a little pile in front of Scorpion.
“You can have them. You should get gifts too.” He said, seeming determined on this.
“Aren’t you worried you’ll get on the naughty list too?” She said lightly. “Ginger Clause probably won’t like it if you give his candy to the assassin who crumbled one of his sugar elves.”
“No. You get some too.” He insisted, and looked back inside his bag again.
Well, Scorpion was fine with that too. She unwrapped a candy cane, sucking at it. It tasted minty, which felt a bit funny in her mouth (not used to eating minty things) at first but was actually quite nice.
Lilac picked up the metal bracelets, looking at them with an awed expression. He slipped them on, two silver hoops on both arms.
They jangled loosely, big on him, but he seemed very pleased, moving his arms around a bit to watch the metal clink on his arms.
Scorpion decided that her new favorite sweet was likely candy canes–
The minty taste was cooling in a way she liked, and she found that she could sharpen them into sharp claw-like candy weapons if she sucked it long enough into shape.
The two of them sat together in silent happiness, a moment of peaceful friendship that seemed so rare with their harsh training and way of survival–
And Scorpion felt, perhaps for the first time, Christmas wasn’t as much as a miserable rich cookie’s holiday as she thought it was.
Chapter Text
-
Lilac looked up at the tall Christmas tree stood before him, leaves a brilliant shade of dark green and emitting a rich earthy scent that made it more than apparent it wasn’t grown in Yogurca–
The sandy deserts surely unable to support the growth of such a showy tree; it looked like it would be found in some snowy forest lands somewhere elsewhere.
It made sense Yogurt Cream would get an exotic tree imported here, considering his lavish tastes. It was a nice tree–
Lilac wasn’t complaining of it. Not growing up under circumstances exactly ideal for hosting an actual Christmas, he hadn’t seen a legitimate tree for the holiday before in his life, so the sight was a bit fascinating.
Yogurt Cream was busy getting something, and had asked Lilac to decorate the tree for him. Which was what the bodyguard was currently doing– curled up wire Christmas string lights held in his left hand, chakrams in his right.
It was.. A lot of wire, notably. Some of it fell near his feet onto the floor, despite being curled.
He didn’t have much experience, regrettably, doing this. Yogurt Cream had insisted on him doing it anyway, though, despite his lack of tree decorating knowledge.
I just need to wrap the wire around the tree, so the lights are all over it.
Simple enough. He usually was quick to learn things, so he felt like he could accomplish it.
It was a tall tree, so he needed to stand on the tips of his toes to start.. At the top, which he thought was the correct starting point for this.
He began wrapping the wire around the tree, but realized he had been holding the wire in such a way that it had curled around his arm, so he pulled to free it.
But the wire didn’t go off the way he thought it would– Semi-wrapped around the tree, it just jerked tighter around his arm and disbalanced him.
Lilac is normally quite good at regaining his footing. But, in a stroke of bad luck, he had moved his feet just wrong so that the wire on the floor caused him to trip.
He didn’t fall all the way, the wire tangled against his arm yanking him so he didn’t fall. But in the process, it tightened more into a worse tangle.
Just a tangle around my arm. I can dislodge it.
He reassured himself.
The wire had become messy on the floor in all that had happened.
He tried to pick it all up from the floor (to, a bit messily, pile it in his arms to sort it out again and then use it to untangle himself) but felt something yank hard at his leg.
One of the hooks on the lights had somehow pierced through his pants. Now it was stuck too.
He dropped the chakrams on his right hand, to free it– He needed to unstuck himself.
He tried to bend down to reach it, but that movement was prevented by the fact he was getting tugged by his left hand.
He started to feel some genuine unease creep up on him.
Lilac moved his legs, hoping to shake the hook off.
This did not work. He ended up wrapping the mess of wires further around both legs, a bit distressed in his movements. Now all of his bottom half had become tangled in lights, like he was a christmas tree of his own.
At this point, he was starting to seriously worry. He tried squirming around, not in any particular strategy, but this further tangled him. Like a bug in the web.
Moving is going to make it worse. I need to stop.
He went still, calming himself more.
He got his last free hand, his right one, and carefully tried to move it underneath the wire curled around his legs to work it free.
He felt something loosen– A little movement freeing in his legs. Feeling a bit relieved, he tried pulling his hand out from under the wire on his legs.
It did not move. He tugged harder.
Oh.
All his limbs are stuck now. And his position was awkward.
There was no way he had seriously gotten himself tangled in Christmas lights. A bit panickedly, he started squirming again, but the lights refused against him.
Despite the lack of progress, he kept trying, squirming and thrashing around– at this point, without much grace.
After perhaps ten minutes of this, he felt defeat. He gave up, tired, just staying in his awkward position dejectedly.
A deep sense of humiliation loomed over him.
He, who had spent many years learning grace and agility, having consistently remained the highest assassin in the desert city in the past,
Had gotten himself stuck. In Christmas lights, trying to set up a tree. Like a toddler.
Maybe he really
was
losing his edge, like Scorpion seemed to insist on and Plain Yogurt always implied during his angry one-on-one threats, Lilac thought gloomily.
Yogurt Cream..
He’s going to walk in at any moment by now. And Lilac will still be stuck.
Lilac felt that if Plain Yogurt were to somehow come out from the shadows and stab him with that dagger of his right now, he would happily crumble to avoid the inevitable moment about to occur.
The door slammed open.
“Lilac! I’m back with the–”
Yogurt Cream paused for a short surprised moment, staring at Lilac’s current predicament. Lilac averted his eyes.
“Lilac?! What happened?!”
“I got stuck.” He mumbled, voice barely audible and eyes still shifted away.
“You got..” He could already hear the waver in Yogurt Cream’s voice.
Yogurt Cream, perhaps wanting to be merciful to Lilac’s humiliation, pressed the tip of his fan to his mouth as if to try and suppress himself, but inevitably he burst into uncontrolled laughter, turning his head away as he choked on his own cackling.
“How did you–” He let out another giggle, eyes tearing up a bit, “How did you get..?”
Lilac, at this point, could feel his own face burning red. This is the worst thing that has ever happened to him, he thought sourly.
“It’s okay,” Yogurt Cream said, a bit out of breath from his laughing, “I’ll untangle you! Don’t worry.”
Yogurt Cream walked over to the tangled bodyguard, making little stifled sounds of suppressed giggling as he did so.
“You really… got tangled up.” He tittered. He grabbed the wire at the top of the tree, unwrapping it. Lilac felt the wiring on his left hand loosen, and to his great relief the wire slipped free– one hand free.
After a little while, all his limbs were freed up again.
He walked back away from the tree to test his mobility, looking back at it warily once he was a little distance from it.
“Well, that’ll certainly be a Christmas memory for us to look back on.”
Yogurt Cream said, with a bit of a choke as he suppressed himself from going in a fit of laughter again.
Yogurt Cream handed Lilac a mug of hot cocoa– which was what the collector had gone out to get in the first place.
“Here! It’ll make you feel better.”
Lilac didn’t think the hot cocoa could resolve the deep humiliation he was probably going to feel thinking about this specific moment, for all of time.
But he accepted it anyway, taking a sip from the mug after giving the cup’s hot contents a little blow.
Yogurt Cream sat down on the floor’s carpet to enjoy his own cup, so Lilac did the same.
“Lilacc~ Just so you know, if you ever get stuck in a tree again, you can just ask the spirit servants to help untangle you. You’re my friend, so they’d do it for you too.”
Yogurt Cream said, smiling.
“I don’t plan on getting stuck to any more trees. But I’ll keep that in mind.” Lilac replied, a bit unenthusiastic. He sipped his drink, the way the hot liquid distracted him somewhat a good feeling in his current post-embarrassment.
“You know,
I
thought it was cute. So you shouldn’t feel too embarrassed about it!” Yogurt Cream said lightly.
“You should drink your own cocoa before it gets cold.” Lilac replied, not a fan of the conversation topic.
Yogurt Cream happily complied, taking a drink out of his cocoa.
“We can try again on the tree later, maybe. I can show you how to put the wire on then.” Yogurt Cream said.
“Sure.” Lilac was fine with that. Maybe the new tree-wrapping memory would overpower the other one.
“Also, Lilac! Look at your mug!” Yogurt Cream said, seeming suddenly excited like he had just remembered something.
Lilac looked at his mug, a little confused for a second– before realizing the white cup had a bit of fancy lettering written on it.
‘1# Bodyguard.’
Like one of those Dad cups.
“I was gonna point it out earlier, but both of us got distracted by the whole tangle thing, and I forgot!” Yogurt Cream explained. “It’s a cup for you! Do you like it?”
Lilac nodded, feeling a bit warmed by the gesture– The cup was, undoubtedly, very corny. But the thought that was put into it made him feel happy.
Like a physical piece of evidence of Yogurt Cream’s sense of care for him he could always have.
“It’s a wonderful gift. Thank you,” He said, allowing himself to give a little smile.
Yogurt Cream grinned even wider. “See? Hot cocoa in a cup always makes everything feel better.”
With a little contented happy sound, Yogurt Cream leaned closer against Lilac’s shoulder, looking up at the undecorated tree.
“I’m happy I got to have you as a friend this Christmas, you know. This is the best Christmas I’ve ever had.” He said, a little softly.
“I’m glad to be by your side as well, Yogurt Cream.” Lilac said, feeling the same sense of happiness as the other.
And the two of them sat peacefully on the carpet together, sharing the moment before they’d both finished drinking and got back to working alongside each other on the christmas tree.
jayandkay on Chapter 1 Fri 24 Dec 2021 04:24PM UTC
Comment Actions
Thendless_Void on Chapter 2 Fri 24 Dec 2021 07:48PM UTC
Comment Actions
Azrioael on Chapter 2 Fri 24 Dec 2021 10:22PM UTC
Comment Actions
morningdust (Guest) on Chapter 2 Tue 15 Feb 2022 02:34PM UTC
Comment Actions
Wiolli on Chapter 3 Sun 26 Dec 2021 10:23PM UTC
Comment Actions