Chapter Text
Rain pattered silently outside as Bruno carefully hung the last strand of lights in the window, the glass of the bulbs clinking softly against the pane. The ravenette stood up and surveyed the apartment with a small smile on his lips. The whole place was decorated in red, green, silver and gold, which clashed a bit with the rest of the apartment, but it was a small price to pay for a festive home. All that was left was the tree, which was all put together with the lights and waiting by the window.
Bruno let out a soft sigh, slowly meandering across the room to the box of ornaments outside the doorway. He bent down just outside the doorway and hoisted the box up into his arms, rattling some of the ornaments around inside. This was one of his least favorite parts of setting up; the memories that would inevitably be dug up. Knowing that many of the pieces inside came from his father’s house, Bruno couldn’t help but think of him and his mother. It’s been almost a year since she last tried; would she try again this year?...
Before his mind could go any further, he was hit with the smell of something sweet wafting from the kitchen. He turned to look down the hall and caught a quick glimpse of Abbacchio in the kitchen, setting out a tray of freshly baked treats. Amaretti, from what Bruno could smell.
“I know you like being weird, but you could be helping instead of watching.” Abbacchio’s voice broke through with a little laugh in his tone.
The ravenette unfroze, quickly setting the box in the living room and shuffling into the kitchen, finding Sticky Fingers and Moody Blues laying together on the floor and watching the goth bustle around the kitchen. The Border Collies’ tail began thumping against the floor before standing and trotting over to Bruno, being met with a gentle scratch behind his ears from his owner.
“I just got done with the last window, so all that’s left is the tree.” Bruno relayed, standing and giving a quick kiss to his boyfriend.
Abbacchio smiled softly at the display of affection, nodding before turning back to the stove and his cookies. Taking some toothpicks from the side, the lavender-haired man tested each cookie to make sure they were done all the way, and found they were all done.
“Can you get the racks from underneath? I can let these guys cool down while we do the tree.” He asked without missing a beat, searching for a spatula in the nearby drawer.
Bruno nodded, crouching down, accompanied by Sticky Fingers nudging his side with his nose, and pulled out the set of black wire cooling racks from the cabinet. Then the two worked in tandem with Bruno setting up the racks, Abbacchio wedging the cookies from the tray, checking for any burned ones, and then passing them along to be put out to cool.
“Were any of the strands blown?”
“No, thank God. But I did have to replace a couple of bulbs.”
“Good.”
Thankfully, there was only one burnt treat, which was shot into the garbage can, and after ushering the pets out of the kitchen into the hall, and Abbacchio hanging his apron on the door, the two were ready to take on the tree. As Abbacchio lifted up the box of ornaments from the couch, he spotted Bruno’s phone on the cushion and the screen lit up with a message;
‘Missed Call: Mom’
The goth frowned; he knew this was around the time his boyfriend’s mother tried reaching out, for reasons he couldn’t understand since she kept her distance the rest of the year, and the last time she tried, Bruno became a confused, emotional wreck afterwards.
“Bruno,” he called, waiting to hear an answer. “the witch is trying to call you again.”
There was the sound of paws clicking against the floor as Bruno came in, followed by Sticky Fingers, and the ravenette was confused.
“Who’s ‘the witch’...?” Bruno’s question died on his tongue as he handed the phone with the message and his face fell.
He moved past Abbacchio to open up his phone, his eyebrows knitted up. A button press later, and the ravenette had the phone to his ear and he began pacing around. A few moments of silence followed and just as Abbacchio was about to suggest dropping the call, a woman’s voice filled Bruno’s ear.
“Hello?”
“Mom?” The ravenette would later curse himself for sounding like a child.
“Oh, my dear, it’s you.”
“Y-Yes Mom, it’s me,” his pacing was getting faster. “I-I’m sorry I didn’t see you called. I was helping Leone with some cookies.”
“Oh, that sounds lovely,” he wilted at the slight disappointment in her voice at the news. “are you two done setting up for Christmas?”
“We were just getting to finishing the tree.”
“Oh!,” there was an awkward moment of silence between the two. “so, other than that, how are you?”
“I-I’ve been fine. I got a new job as a substance abuse counselor.”
“Oh, that sounds like an...interesting job.”
“Well, it’s definitely fulfilling. I’m just trying to help people where I can.”
“Well, you’ve always been like that. Always wanting to help..”
“Y-Yeah..”
Another beat of silence; Bruno swallowed.
“So, are you doing anything for Christmas?”
“Well, I’m on my own this year, so...,” Bruno held his breath. “are you doing anything?”
“..Just spending it with Leone and the kids-”
“You have kids now?!”
Bruno sputtered.
“No, no, Mom. They’re just...my other friends, but Leone and I both call them our ‘kids’.”
“Oh, I see,” Bruno could hear the sadness in her voice. “so, you wouldn’t mind if I came by to see you and your little ‘family’?”
Bruno could see Abbacchio making a cutting motion to his throat out of the corner of his eye. He paused; while he was hesitant to invite her, was there any real harm? He hadn’t seen her in years and she did say she was alone..
“Is it going to be just you?”
“Yes, it IS going to be just me. I told you I am all alone, correct?”
Bruno backpedaled, knowing he hurt his mother.
“Yes, yes. I-I’m sorry, Mom. I just wanted to know.”
There was silence over the receiver.
“..Then I suppose I’ll see you on Sunday?”
“Y-Yes. I can’t wait to see you.”
“Aww, me too! Talk to you then, my dear!”
With that, the call was dropped, and Bruno dropped his phone and himself onto the couch, winded by the emotional whiplash. He was followed by Sticky Fingers setting his head on the ravenette’s knee, looking up at him with big eyes. Bruno smiled sadly, petting the dog’s head and looked up at Abbacchio, who was wearing a disapproving look and shaking his head.
“You know Sunday’s going to be an even bigger shit show now, right?” The goth sighed.
Bruno sighed in return, lulling his head back to look up at the ceiling.
“Let’s just hope and pray there aren’t too many fireworks...”