Archive of Our Own

Yumi let out an exasperated sigh as he looked up at the long list of flights at the Austin airport with the rest of the boys anxiously looking for their own and seeing a big red canceled letter under the flight status.

“Ugh you guys are so terrible! We waited until the last minute and now look, we have no flight and it looks like nothing’s getting out of Austin tonight so we're stuck here on Christmas!” the brunet groaned as he sat on his suitcase, putting his head in his hands as he continued to mutter to himself, upset with the idea of not being able to see his girlfriend for the holidays.

Nick looked up at the board and sighed. “There has to be something flying out” he said and headed over to the check-in counter until an announcement came on over the intercom:

“Attention everyone! The airport, due to the inclement weather, will close early in approximately one hour. Please go to the counters if you are in need of accommodations for the night” the group all sighed realizing there was zero chance of them getting on a flight and even making it home to their respective families for Christmas.

With the disappointment finally settling in after a while, the group hailed an uber home. About half an hour later, they trudged through the door of the place they were hoping to be away from for a few days.

“Long time, no see, huh” cracked Tanner dryly, trying to break up the moody silence as they stood in the living room, but to no avail.

This seemed to be the final straw for Yumi, who had been silently fuming and brewing throughout the car ride back. He took off for the direction of his room, stomping around like a kid told to go to their room for a time out before a resounding slam of his door echoed throughout the house. The remaining four looked at each other with the silent agreement to just let him stew for a bit.

“So what now?” Nick asked, trying to shuffle out of his jacket, earning a smirk from Isaac as the other glared back. “We barely have any decorations up and if we’re going to be stuck here until after Christmas then we might as well do something about it”

Tanner perked up. “We can use the tree from my room”

“Okay, what about decorations?”

This time Isaac spoke up “We can go out and get them from one of the stores nearby, but we better hurry though. A lot of them are probably out by now” Nick nodded, satisfied.

“So besides getting the tree, what are you two going to do?” Nick looked towards the last two of their group.

Tanner and Larry looked thoughtful before Larry’s face brightened as an idea hit him. “Cookies! We can make Christmas cookies!” Nick smiled a bit, definitely at the idea and not at how cute Larry was when he was excited. Larry already had his phone out, missing out on Nick’s expression as he started searching for things to have delivered to the house later that day. He was already conversing with Tanner about what to get but Nick was starting to tune it out when the arguments started with Tanner trying to add secret things to Larry’s cart. Now they had everything under control.

Well, not everything.

Nick looked over towards the direction their fifth member disappeared to before glancing at Isaac who seemed to sense what he wanted to do and gave him a thumbs up. He looked away and took a deep breath and headed towards Yumi’s room because no matter how mad he was they weren’t going to leave him out of this. He just hoped giving him just a few minutes alone was enough.

Yumi huffed as he laid on his bed hugging his pillow as he looked at his phone screen where he saw his girlfriend’s face change from excited to worried when she saw her boyfriend’s furrowed brow.

“Honey what's wrong?” She asked innocently, watching as Yumi started to sniffle a tell tale sign the brunet was about to cry.

“I..i’m sorry babe but i can’t make it home for christmas all the flights got canceled so we’re all stuck here”

“Oh honey it's okay we can visit for New Years hopefully”

Just as Yumi was about to respond there was a soft knock on his door. Yumi let out a groan as he said his goodbyes to his girlfriend as he got up to open the door to Nick who softly looked at Yumi before finally speaking.

“So I know you're upset about not being home for Christmas but me and Isaac are going shopping for some decorations while Tanner and Larry make cookies. I didn't want you to feel left out especially with it being christmas so… do you wanna go shopping with me and Izy?”

Yumi looked at Nick with a blank look on his face and sighed. There was something about how Nick always seemed to coax him into the rest of the group’s shenanigans which he greatly appreciated considering his tendency to hide away in his room and simply listen to their laughter echo throughout the house.

Nick smiled seeing Yumi give the slow nod he always gave when he begrudgingly agreed to go through with their plans. “Be ready in ten I'll go warm up the car” he said before sprinting off.

Tanner smiled as he tried sneaking a bag of oreos into Larry's car which the smaller male quickly noticed and glared at him. “Tanner stop or else i'm not gonna let you get those sprinkles”

The brunet pouted before sighing comically as he watched his friend take the oreos off the cart before sending the order to the store.

“Alright the cart is done lets looks for the cooking supplies” The ravenette said as he bolted to the kitchen to look for supplies, unaware of the smirk on his taller friend’s face at being able to sneak one final thing into their cart of goodies to make cookies

Turns out shopping for decorations two days before Christmas was the worst thing they could’ve done. The traffic combined with the overly crowded stores were really a killer on the trio’s mood as they tried to comb over the leftover decorations, but they were disappointed it wasn’t what they wanted. Though, they realized they didn’t even know what they needed as soon as they finally got to a store that wasn’t completely bare of Christmas decorations.

“Whatever we’ll just wing it” Nick said matter of factly. “What type of stuff should we get?” A beat of silence goes between them.

“Stockings?” Isaac questions. Nick nods and Isaac immediately heads off, presumably to find them before any of the other two could mention something else.

“Uh…” Yumi started thinking “What is it called… the thing that would wrap around the railing on the staircase… we could probably get that”

Nick paused, knowing exactly what Yumi was talking about but was in the same boat and just started looking around to see if anything would give him a clue. Then his eyes immediately zeroed in on what the both of them were thinking about. He pointed towards them. “Why don’t you look over there? I think that’s what you’re looking for” He nudged Yumi over to the aisle, receiving a prickly glance in response, a reminder that the other still wasn’t letting go of what happened, though Nick couldn’t fault him for it. “Come on, I need to look for my own thing. The faster you pick out something, the faster we’ll get back home” Yumi seemed to mull it over for a moment before sighing and robotically making his way over to the selection of garlands and other decorations.

Now Nick had to make his own purchases. He looked around first to make sure neither Isaac or Yumi were around or looking at him before heading off into a different aisle. It wasn’t for another thirty or so minutes that he left the aisles and headed for the register, not worried for the others as they had already picked up their stuff within just ten minutes of them being in the store so had gone back to the car already. It was a blessing in disguise for him, he thought and grinned, thinking of the extra things he bought.

When they arrived at the house, he was careful bringing in his bags to make sure no one saw, though it was a lot easier than he thought as everyone’s attention as they came in was turned towards the squabbling between the other two.

He rolled his eyes. “What happened now?”

“He fucked up the delivery date! We were suppose to get it tonight but now it’s not coming until tomorrow”

Tanner groaned. “We can still do it tomorrow, tell him Nick”

“We wouldn’t have to if you didn’t fuck up the date!”

Before Nick could jump in, Isaac decided to speak up, “Couldn’t you have changed it? You definitely had enough time”

“He distracted me!” Larry exclaimed. The three 🤨 as they processed that.

Tanner cut in though before they could read anymore into that “We just cuddled”

“You know how I am when we cuddle” Larry mumbled. “I found out the date wasn’t until tomorrow but it was too late to change it”

“I promise you I didn’t do it on purpose” but as soon as he said it, Tanner started fighting back an obvious smile.

Nick saw Larry open his mouth to say something and decided to step in. “Hey, it’s fine, seriously. You guys will have plenty of time tomorrow to bake cookies. For now we have decorations to put up” The two groaned at that but accepted it and stepped up to help the others open up and put up the decorations.

Nick smiled as he gently took out the stockings he had picked out and the hanging strips he bought. He waddled over to the fireplace nestled in their living room and spaced out the stocking hooks before hanging each stocking up, each one having the embroidered letter of each person N I L T Y. After being satisfied Nick wandered over to Isaac who was helping hang up some tinsel around the small ficus tree they had growing in the kitchen. He let out a laugh seeing the sad plant covered in the brightly colored garland.

“It looks like the Charlie Brown tree Isaac”

“Well that's what i was going for, mister smarty pants”

Nick snorted, covering his face with his hand as he watched Isaac put the finishing touch on the plant— a small red ornament on the very top branch. Isaac laughed, showing off his proud decorating of the single plant before Nick let out a final giggle and motioned towards the stairs “Come on let's go help Yumi and Larry with the garland” he said before heading over to the stairs already mentally sighing as he heard the two banter.

“You idiot, no you wrap it clockwise”

“No counter clockwise, your way looks dumb”

“Stop being a baby, Larry”

Isaac coughed before holding his hands out hoping to catch the two’s attention. “Alright ladies break it up just do it so the pine plant shit is on the top part of the rail okay?”

“Okay..”

Isaac sighed before he grabbed some zip ties and helped the two secure the garland to the railing.

Meanwhile Tanner snuck out to grab a single bag from the front door and quickly slid back inside to the small doorway leading to the stairs. He pulled out from the bag a small, simple mistletoe decoration and snickered as he swiftly hung it up on the doorway and walked to the staircase as he heard cheering from what he assumed was a successful decorating task done.

It wasn’t until later when the boys found out about Tanner’s little surprise. It was around eight at night, all the boys had decided to chill out around the house for a bit as what they had to do tomorrow being the only things left on their to-do list, and Tanner was staying downstairs keeping watch over the doorway as subtly as he could.

Then Isaac and Nick stepped under the mistletoe, completely unaware and clueless as Tanner yelled at them. For a second neither of them caught on to what he was saying but looking up and seeing the plant above their heads made things connect for them pretty fast.

“Where the hell did you even get this?” was Isaac’s first response and it made Tanner giggle. “Actually, wait, no, were you waiting for someone to come down here?” the only thing Tanner did was giggle more.

“Wouldn’t you like to know…” a mischievous smile spread across his face. “Now kiss!”

Nick and Isaac simultaneously roll their eyes and without skipping a beat lean in and peck each other on the lips. Tanner clapped and Nick ducked into the kitchen with Isaac staying behind to talk to the other for a bit. A few minutes later, Nick comes out with plenty of food. In that moment, Isaac and Tanner watch him go before Isaac speaks up.

“Are you going to keep it there when you bake the cookies tomorrow?” Isaac snickered as he continued “Or do you want to kiss Larry or something?”

A moment passes and Tanner’s face all but goes into the most devious look Isaac’s ever seen on him. “So what if I do?” His eyebrows go up and down and Isaac snorts and wishes him luck before stalking off to the kitchen to get the thing he wanted before he got roped into kissing his friend. Tanner lays back down on the couch, unsure if he should wait throughout the night to see if he catches more of his friends because for some reason he is obsessed with seeing them kiss. Though as he’s debating that he can feel his eyelids get heavy and soon enough they’re fully closed as he drifts off for the night.

Larry sighed, his eyes fluttering open as he looked around his room as the sunlight poured in from the window. He smiled, remembering him and Tanner's plans for making cookies today. He rubbed the last bit of sleep from his eyes before finally getting up and starting to quickly get ready for the day after.

Getting ready, he headed downstairs to start to get breakfast ready but just as he was about to attempt to make some gamersupps for the other boys in the house, he heard a faint rustle from the couch. He slowly padded over and smiled seeing Tanner splayed out on the couch and sleeping soundly, his arms wrapped around a small totoro plush that Larry had bought from their trip to the bookstore. He smiled at the memory before deciding to wake up Tanner so that he could be cognitive enough later to help him with the cookies.

“Tanner… Big T!” He chimed as he watched Tanner slowly turn and look at him opening his eyes and as soon as it clicked in the brunet’s head that it was Larry he was looking at.

He smiled, “Good morning kitten, are you ready to make cookies today?”

“Hell yeah i am”

Yumi sighed, hugging his pillow due to the stress from their canceled flights coupled with still being upset over not being able to spend time with his girlfriend for the holidays. He had gotten so stressed that sleep became only a second thought to the youtuber. He unlocked his phone and almost automatically went to his girlfriend’s texts, sighing when he saw that she had yet to send anything ‘probably asleep’ he figured before rolling back over in bed and gently cuddling into the covers more, hoping to drift into sleep and maybe get some much needed rest after having to unpack everything he had originally had set to take home.

Nick hummed, watching as Larry and Tanner attempted to make eggs for everyone for breakfast. He chuckled, watching as Tanner attempted to make the ‘perfect’ omelet which was not the case considering it was Tanner of all people cooking it. Larry looked back at him and smiled.

“So Nick, any big projects for us to do tonight?”

“Nah, I'm gonna put the outside lights up while you guys make cookies. After that, maybe we can have a family movie night and have hot cocoa and watch the Polar Express”

Tanner hummed in agreement, nodding furiously at the thought of being able to cuddle close to Larry and watch movies.

“Good plan!”

Nick nodded, smiling as the two who finally finished their eggs handed Nick a plate which Nick took graciously and started eating and watching as Isaac finally decided to leave his ‘little gamer cave’ as they liked to call it and join the rest for breakfast.

“Well good morning sunshine”

Nick laughed as he only got a groan in response from Isaac as the taller one sat down next to him and took a plate of eggs and then proceeded to scarf down the omelet like it was his last meal. He continued laughing at how fast the man managed to obliterate his breakfast in mere seconds before finally being awake enough to speak.

“So the plans… Right, cookies and uh you said light right Nick?”

Nick nodded and smiled “Yeah actually I'm gonna go get dressed to work on those now since i'm done with breakfast. Can you see if Yumi wants any breakfast for me? I just wanna get a headstart while it's still warm out”

Isaac nodded, giving the shorter a thumbs up and watched as he wandered into the laundry room to probably grab a jacket for the task ahead. Isaac then turned to go get Yumi when he felt a gentle tug on his shirt and looked down at a smirking Tanner who seemed to have just appeared there. He pointed up and Isaac knew what it was before his gaze went up to the familiar plant he had temporarily forgotten about.

Looking back at Tanner, the shorter male wiggled his eyebrows. Isaac sighed and bent down to give him a peck but as soon as their lips touched a whistle interrupted them and both had jumped away to see the culprit was Larry. Isaac made to go towards the stairs but the person who was unfortunately next to him stopped him.

“That’s all?” Tanner’s feigned sad expression made Isaac nearly roll his eyes out of his head.

“I’m not tonguing you over a mistletoe” his lips curled up into a smile at Tanner’s face at his choice of wording.

“What about me?” The shorter of the four scuttled over and now it was time for Isaac to exit, not wanting to be stuck kissing in the doorway without even getting their fifth member down here.

“Nope” he shuffled out from under the hanging plant and pointed at the new duo in the doorway. “Now you guys have to tongue each other” then bolted towards the direction of the room, not wanting to see what was to come of what he said. He could hear enough.

He continued up the stairs to the door that led to Yumi’s room which was fairly easy to find considering the other had strawberry stickers over it, remembering it was Larry’s doing as a small welcome gesture to the brunet when he first moved in. The taller male smiled as he lightly knocked on the door before opening it and smiled. Seeing the blinds were left open, he gently shook the younger awake.

“Yumi~ Wakie wakie. Do you want some breakfast mister grumpy pants?” he said, chuckling at how disheveled his friend looked.

Yumi groaned, quickly getting up and wiping the sleep from his eyes. He looked at Isaac and sighed, nodding before getting up and trudging his way downstairs. Once he reached the bottom of the stairs, he was met with Tanner and Larry kissing while holding each other close to the threshold where Tanner had strategically hung the mistletoe next to Yumi. He heard a groan from the taller male.

“Really they’re still going at it? They were smacking lips when I went to go get you” he said, causing Yumi to look at the devious duo with mild annoyance while also cringing from Isaac’s unfortunate word choice before walking to the kitchen to retrieve the breakfast Isaac promised him.

After a few moments, Nick got up and grabbed something before saying “I’m just going to work on getting the lights up” and disappearing out the door. Not too long after, the two who were interlocking tongues finally separated.

“Wow” Tanner managed to let out while he was still panting with a goofy smile on his face “Mistletoe really brings it out of you”

“Shut the fuck up, Tanner”

Some time later when Yumi finished eating and got ready, he headed back to where he and Isaac were going to be ‘on standby’ as Isaac put it since Nick wants the lights to mostly be a surprise but if anything happens he and Isaac can step in to help. Though he was stopped as he was going through a certain threshold and his eyes met the mischievous looking ones of the one and only, Tanner. Before he could even open his mouth Yumi stopped him with the crabbiness he still hadn’t shaken off from being woken up.

“You try to kiss me and I swear to god you’re going to regret it” it was supposed to be his usual monotone jokey sarcasm but with the deadly glare he was settling on Tanner the other had to step back to let Yumi through, unwilling to be faced with the shorter one’s wrath. Without another word he walked over to the couch to settle in next to Isaac.

Tanner sulked over to Larry who had witnessed the whole interaction and was all but snickering at him. Larry reached over to softly pat Tanner on the back. “Let’s just get started on the cookies”

“Can I have a kiss before we start?” 🥺

“We’ll do it after, or else we’re never gonna make any” That made Tanner perk up, forgetting what he was sulking about instantly and now was laser focused on the cookies.

Within minutes they had their aprons on and attempted to take out the ingredients and mix them but unfortunately even that proved too much for them. Their first mistake was taking out the cinnamon which resulted in a lengthy conversation between them about the cinnamon challenge and what they did as kids (Larry apparently almost died), eventually bringing in even Isaac and Yumi. This ended up turning into Larry, Tanner, and Isaac attempting to do the cinnamon challenge. Yumi couldn’t be bothered, preferring to sit there and berate them for being stupid while also grabbing water out of the fridge for them. He had to be the one to remind them to stay on track as they tore their throats to pieces on the cinnamon. When their coughing had subsided and Isaac was returned to the couch by Yumi, Tanner and Larry finally got to continue with gathering the ingredients.

“Alright” Larry, picked up the paper with the recipe on it (after last time, there was no way they were allowed phones while cooking) “We got the mix, the butter, the egg, the water… do we have the nutmeg”

“Uh, it’s over here” Tanner grabbed it and tossed it to the other, forgetting to check if he was still looking at him.

“Do we also have…” Larry trailed off as the bottle hit him square in the shoulder before spilling all over the floor. He whirled on the taller who was standing by the cabinet with a guilty look on his face. “Tanner “

“It shouldn’t have even spilled! We haven’t even opened it yet” Larry sighed in response.

“Well now all I can smell is nutmeg”

“ You can smell nut ? ” Now Larry couldn’t help but smile a little at how stupid that was.

The two hurriedly cleaned it up before resuming. After that, and Larry trying to convince Tanner not to try the molasses but got roped into it anyway, they finally managed to mix the ingredients together. It was good timing as the beeping of the oven went off, signaling the preheat was over. The two had no memory of even preheating the oven, but didn’t stress as they rolled the thoroughly mixed dough, used the cookie cutters to cut out the separate gingerbread men, and carefully placed them in a pan a reasonable distance apart. The two of them stepped back to admire it.

“Wow they already look so perfect,” Tanner remarked.

“Wait until they’re cooked before you say that or you’re gonna jinx us or something” Larry said while picking up the tray and placing it in the oven for it to bake before going back towards the paper. “Now it’s just gotta bake for eight to ten minutes or until the edges are set… what the hell does that mean?”

“Who knows?” Tanner brings Larry close, his chin resting on his head. “It’ll be perfect either way, I know it”

For a moment they stay like that and break apart, Tanner pressing a kiss to Larry’s head before they make for the couch to chill for a few minutes while the cookies are getting ready. When they come across the couch though, they’re surprised to notice the absence of Isaac and Yumi. Neither of the two remember Nick calling for them, though they were pretty engrossed in what they were doing…

“Oh shit, I hope Nick is alright”

Isaac sighed as he stepped outside wondering how Nick was doing with decorating the roof and right as he was about to look up to see where Nick was, a blur of a human fell from the roof and landed smack dab onto him causing him to be knocked off his feet and fall butt first onto the lawn. He groaned, looking to see that the person who very rudely fell onto him was none other than Nick himself who also groaned. Isaac gasped realizing who it was. Right in that moment while both were still frozen from the fall, none other than Yumi stepped outside and stared at the two for a second noticeably confused.

“How did you guys– you know what I don't wanna know” he said as he watched the two for a moment while he zipped his jacket up, not being a fan of the mild cold of the Texas winter.

“Oh my god Isaac are you okay?” Nick said panic evident in his voice as he stood up offering a hand to the taller man who was still recovering from his friend landing on him.

Isaac groaned and took Nick’s hand and got up and sighed “Yeah yeah I'm fine Nick, I promise, but listen you gotta be more careful. “I can’t always be your landing pad for when you slip off the roof” he said and sheepishly looked at the shorter male and chuckled.

Nick blushed at the brunet’s teasing. I’m sorry Isaac I was more focused on making the lights perfect since we're all stuck here ya know?” he said as he picked up the small string of lights he was working with that ended up coming down with him when he fell off the roof.

“I tell you what, Nick, how about you let me and Yumi help you work on the lights. It’d make things go a lot smoother, plus we’ll be here in case you need help with something” he said with concern evident in his voice because as much as he loved to be surprised by Nick’s work with decorating the house with lights, he also wanted to make sure the other was safe. If that meant the big surprise was ruined, then so be it.

Nick thought for a moment before letting out a sigh and nodding as he looked at the two and smiled faintly. “Alright how about you guys hold the lights so i can get them on the roof” he said as he handed Isaac the small string of lights he was still holding and headed back onto the roof via the ladder that thankfully was left by their landlord if they ever needed to get on the roof. Isaac smiled, looking at Yumi as the shorter huffed and started to untangle a batch of lights Nick had laid out that he intended on using for the grand display he was cooking up.

“Alright, ready to hand them to me izy?”

“Ready as i'll ever be Nicky”

“Ugh just kiss already!”

Tanner smiled, having decided with Larry to sit at the island in the kitchen to be in close proximity with the oven considering the bake time for the cookies was not a hundred percent set in stone. The pair wanted to make sure their cookies were going to be baked to perfection. They were already so far in the process there was no room for error now. He looked at Larry, watching as the ravenette was scrolling through tik tok on his phone, occasionally laughing at one and showing Tanner who would laugh in response and then they would fall back into comfortable silence and glance at the oven now and then.

“I wonder how the lights are looking”

“I know Nick said he wanted them to be a surprise so we’ll have to wait I guess”

“Yeah…”

Larry and Tanner sprung up when they heard the ding of the oven signifying the cookies were either done or very close to being done. He quickly grabbed an oven mitt and pulled the cookies out, looking at the perfectly shaped gingerbread men which Tanner was impressed by, considering him and Larry’s baking record. He was certain there was something they would mess up but thankfully they didn't.

“Larry, can you get the frosting? Once these cool we can start frosting em”

“You got it!”

It didn’t take long for Larry to make sure the frosting was in two decorating bags with the tips cut off. Now they just had to wait a few minutes for the cookies to cool.

Once they did, the two went ham with the frosting, drawing whatever they wanted on those cookies. Some were set aside as the more decent ones in comparison, but overall they were a mess of the two trying to make the cookies look like some friends, celebrities, whoever else they could think of.

Somehow in the middle of it, Tanner had the idea to play some Christmas music from their fridge to groove along to, which was a great idea at first until Larry got a little too into a song, resulting in frosting somehow ending up on the ceiling. The two could only laugh at the splatter while they resumed their work. Only a few more minutes passed and they looked at their handywork, admiring the assortment of dicks drawn on so many miniature edible persons.

“Time to try one” Larry rubbed his hands together, and reached out for a random person, but Tanner stopped him.

“Wait” he held out a gingerbread cookie that was kept separate from the others. “Try this one” Larry gingerly held it and studied it for a second, wondering why the other would want him to try this one in particular when Tanner seemed to read his mind “It’s you” he said with a goofy smile on his face.

Looking it over, Larry could see the very shaky resemblance, considering it was just a cookie, but even with the dumb face and the massive bulge drawn on him, it was quite sweet.

“Wow” he lets out, so gently. “I love it” Before he goes to eat it though, he remembers something and grabs a cookie from his own secret pile and hands it to Tanner. “I made you too”

Tanner beams and grabs the cookie, admiring it and says “It’s wonderful” with a soft tone Larry has never heard before. For a moment it’s silent except for the Christmas music faintly playing besides them, neither male knowing what to say now. The air was palpable with something– something Larry didn’t want to think about, as he broke it to harshly bite into his cookie, everything now forgotten as he was registering the taste.

“Holy shit this tastes fucking amazing” he looked over to Tanner who bit into his cookie and his eyes brightened.

“I taste amazing” was all he could say as he hungrily devoured the Tanner cookie, making Larry snort as he finished his own off. They were about ready to make a snack out of the rest of their cookies when they heard the distinct sound of the door opening with Nick coming into the kitchen seconds later.

“Holy shit” Nick immediately took note of the cookies. “How many did you make?!”

“Just enough” Tanner replied, “If you try one you’ll see why we made so many”

Nick looked skeptical as he picked up a random cookie and took a bite, immediately being taken aback. “You guys actually made something edible for once” he finished the cookie in a similar fashion as Tanner and eyed up the rest.

“Nope, no more until Isaac and Yumi have a taste” Larry tutted at Nick. “Actually, where are they?”

“They’re just doing the finishing touches with the lights but they wanted me to go back in here to check on you guys to make sure you didn’t frost the whole kitchen or something.”

“Well obviously we’re fine so…” just as Larry started talking, a clump of frosting landed on his head. There was a moment of silence, Tanner trying not to laugh out loud and Nick’s eyes looking up from where the clump came from.

“How the hell did you guys manage to do that?” He tried to say with a straight face, but he couldn’t help but fall into a giggling fit along with both Tanner and Larry while staring at the frosting that was still stuck up there. As the laughing died down, Nick spoke up again “Seriously though you’re both cleaning this up”

“Who’s cleaning what?” The three whirled around to find Isaac coming in with Yumi right behind him. He zoned in on none other than Larry who had a large glob of frosting still on his head which caused Isaac to look up, seeing the residual frosting still left on the ceiling from the duo’s antics.

“Oh”

“Larry creamed!”

Isaac stared at the ceiling and blinked before looking at the most likely culprits with a classic stank eye causing a comical shudder to go through the two leading Nick to interject “But Isaac look at the cookies they made” while motioning to the very healthy spread of cookies left on a baking rack on the island.

Some were decorated better than others, Isaac will admit, but one in particular stuck out to him which was a gingerbread man that was in a little wife beater, shorts and sunglasses, and a hat which Isaac realized was himself but in cookie form.

He let out a small gasp. “Wait, you guys made cookies that look like us?”

The taller quickly took the gingerbread man cookie that was clearly him and showed it to Nick and Yumi who also gasped in surprise and pointed at it.

“What you guys are insane thank you!” causing the two bakers to blush being a bit shy over the sudden praise coming from the three. Larry blinked rapidly before tee heeing and nodding.

“Aww it was nothing guys we just figured if there's one way to make this Christmas a little less shitty it would be to make some bomb ass cookies”

Tanner nodded in agreement before getting a few small plates and holding them out for the others to take to use for cookies as Nick turned the water kettle on to start making hot cocoa for everyone to have alongside their cookies.

Tanner grabbed two cookies before settling down with Larry on their usual spot on the couch in the living room “So… how did decorating the house with lights go?” Tanner turned, hearing a snort from Isaac as he walked over to the couch, plate of cookies in hand and settled himself on his bean bag chair before explaining further.

“Good if someone didn't decide to fall off the roof and use me as a landing pad” He said snarkily, eliciting a small ‘hey’ from Nick who still was in the kitchen.

“Listen i slipped on some weird roof tile okay I didn't mean to fall on you Isaac”

Tanner chuckled at the thought. Gods what’d he do to witness that cartoonish scenario and see the look on Nick’s face when he realized he had landed on his best friend. After a few moments Nick had finally made the hot cocoas and handed them out to everyone, including Yumi who begrudgingly took his with a small ‘thanks’ and buried his head back in his phone, most likely messaging his girlfriend..

Nick frowned before his mind wandered to a certain something he bought the day before. He slipped away to quickly grab it before he headed back to the group, now with the item held behind his back. Seeing Yumi still engrossed in his phone, he snuck up behind him taking the thing out from behind his back in the full view of the other boys.

It was a reindeer antler headband.

Tanner saw what he was doing and had immediately reached for his phone, Larry was trying hard not to do any loud giggling that might snap Yumi out of it, and Isaac was just rolling his eyes and taking another bite of a cookie, not wanting to be involved with the consequences of what Nick was going to do.

Slowly Nick spread the headband getting ready to snap it onto Yumi’s head, though he realized that he would have to do this fast so he mentally worked out what he had to do to get it on the other one’s head in one single move before taking a deep breath and just doing it.

The second the tips of the headband snapped onto Yumi’s head, not a single person moved even an inch. All of them could clearly see that Yumi wasn’t taking it well as he slowly raised his head and moved it to look behind him to look at the person who caused this disturbance. However, that was dashed as Yumi had zeroed in on something else of interest:

Tanner holding his phone out, giggling.

Everyone else held their breath as the man with no shame, took a picture and looked up at Yumi right when he hit send tweet.

“Tanner” the shorter bit out voice steady despite the cold fury dancing in his eyes. “Did you just tweet out that picture?”

“Maybe” The man had the audacity to shrug.

“You better fucking run”

Tanner didn’t need to be told twice, and booked it, with the shorter hot on his tail. Right before Tanner could get to the stairs, though, a harsh tug on the back of his shirt stopped him in his tracks as he felt himself being pressed against a wall by the furious antlered Yumi before him. “Delete it”

The taller one, once again playing with fire, shook his head and pointed above them. Yumi followed the direction to see that dreaded plant hanging over them. “Kiss me for it” he smirked and wiggled his eyebrows despite the situation he was in, though he fully expected Yumi to stand down after that.

Much to his surprise, the other after a few seconds of thinking, smirks up at him. “Alright” then without much further ado he pulled Tanner in for a deep kiss. He was at the complete mercy of the other as Yumi was seemingly determined to turn his brain into mush with just one kiss. He was still clutching at him when they had to pull away for air. “There. You’ll delete it right?”

Tanner took a breath “Yeah. Just not right now.” he pulled the other close with his chin settling as best it could on the shorter one’s head without disturbing the antlers. He thought of something and quickly let off so Yumi could look at him. “You do look quite cute in that, though”

“Shut up” Yumi flushed, and Tanner chuckled. “Why did Nick even do that?”

“Well, I mean you did look upset while all of us were having fun so that’s probably why”

“Oh…” Guilt hit him immediately. Nick really took the lead and got them hyped when they were down about not being able to visit family for Christmas and here he was still being upset about things that were out of his control. He sighed, making a mental note to talk to Nick about it later. “Let’s just go join them so they don’t think I murdered you or something”

“So does this mean we’re good?”

“What? Of course”

A beat of silence passed.

“Do I really have to delete it?”

“Yes! That was the deal”

“But you were so cute in it”

Yumi looked at Tanner with his begging stare. Gods, he was actually just a dog with the way he was so good at it.

“...let me look at it first then I’ll see” was his final answer and that seemed like more than enough for Tanner as he grinned.

“What changed your mind? Was it me begging or was it the ki-”

“ No “ Tanner snickered as the two of them finally joined the rest of the group. Yumi rolled his eyes despite the quiet smile that crept up on his face.

Nick brightly smiled, a Santa hat on his head. He turned as Larry clapped seeing the two boys in one piece despite the pure rage Yumi had before the two disappeared into the house, chasing after each other like bats out of hell. After a small beat of silence Nick finally spoke up.

“Hey look we have our reindeer” he said smiling seeing that the other had kept on the headband and hadn't ripped it off his head which is what he assumed Yumi would, but he wasn't complaining considering how cute the brunet looked in the headband. He glanced at Tanner and tossed him a hat.

“Here I also got Santa hats for us along with Yumi’s antlers”

Tanner smirked, catching the hat and quickly putting it on his head and sitting next to Larry “I lived thankfully. I was saved by my expertly hanged mistletoe” he said, watching amused as Yumi fixed him with a weak glare.

“No, that's not what saved you. What saved you again was that stupid puppy dog face you do, I swear Tanner it’s almost like you're the human embodiment of a golden retriever” the brunet said. now chuckling at the idea of his friend actually being a dog. He blinked, noticing everyone in the room staring at him and froze, mildly concerned at his friend's behavior before finally Nick spoke up.

“We made him happy”

And after that the other boys cheered before dogpiling onto Yumi and hugging the brunet and laughing as he called them all idiots for dogpiling him for simply being happy. The guilt from earlier washing away from him as he wanted to focus on one thing and one thing only:

His friends.

As soon as they all were done dogpiling on him, Larry looked around before grabbing the tv remote and urging everyone to sit down as they all scrolled through to find a proper christmas movie to watch. “Get cozy we’re gonna watch Christmas movies”' he said smiling as Tanner laid his head onto his lap, the Santa hat slightly falling off his head. Larry glanced over to the others, seeing Nick leaning onto Isaac and holding a fairly flustered Yumi who clearly wanted to cuddle but wasn't used to being a part of Nick’s and Isaac’s silly spooning sessions. Once all settled, they found the Polar Express and started watching the movie, making jokes and silly comments during the entire thing and enjoying each other's company making the best of their terribly started holiday.

They weren’t even halfway through the next movie when Tanner drifted off, mostly from Larry’s hands gently combing through his hair. Glancing back over to the other three there was Isaac who was fully leaned over the armrest, totally out of it, and Nick and Yumi who were trying hard not to nod off. By the time the credits rolled, Nick had completely nodded off with his face pressed into Isaac and Yumi’s body completely splayed out across both Nick and Isaac’s laps. Larry had almost fallen asleep too, but even with the heater blaring in the background, he was shivering.

Carefully, he lifted Tanner’s head and got up, practically a zombie as he wandered to someone’s room to grab blankets, he didn’t care whose, as he walked back to the main room and spread one over the three boys before resituating Tanner’s head on his lap to spread another blanket over them. Within seconds, Larry fell into a nice deep sleep.

Nick woke up first. He sighed, being too cozy to want to move from his spot leaning against Isaac. and glanced up at the taller and smiled, seeing the other passed out on the couch’s armrest. He was glad the taller was finally getting some proper rest considering how hard the other worked to get his last to leave vc video out before the holidays and being that he was stressed about traveling, the taller got little to no sleep so he was happy to see the other getting rest by being all cozy on the couch.

He sighed, finally willing up enough strength to finally leave their small cuddle pile and gently lay Yumi more so on Isaac’s chest so he wouldn't fall off the couch. He smiled, gingerly tucking in the two inside the blanket more as he quietly padded off to his room and quickly fished the neatly wrapped gifts in his closet he had hidden for the boys.

Even though he thought that everyone would be with their own families, he still decided to go and get the boys all gifts that he was intending on giving to them when they all came home from their Christmas travels. What better time to open them than when they were together for Christmas day. He gently placed each gift under Tanner’s tree before he went into the kitchen and started making a batch of hot cocoa for everyone.

Soon enough, Larry finally woke up. He stretched and smiled softly, seeing that Tanner had woken up and was helping Nick and Isaac in the kitchen make pancakes and hot cocoa for everyone. He blinked. Shit, he almost forgot. He got up and quickly bolted into his room and opened a cabinet door seeing the fairly wrapped presents still sitting where he had left them and carried them back downstairs. Just as he was about to place them under the tree, he froze seeing that there were three other sets of presents under the tree and smiled, realizing that he wasn't the only one who had bought presents for everyone, putting the presents down before going into the kitchen. Tanner noticed him immediately and waddled over to the ravenette and kissed his forehead.

“Merry Christmas Larry”

“Merry Christmas Tanner”

Larry smiled wrapping his arms around Tanner before Nick handed Larry a plate of pancakes and a mug of hot cocoa smiling “Here, get settled on the couch. We’ll put on a movie while we eat and hopefully our sleeping beauty wakes up soon” he said motioning to the couch where a still very much asleep Yumi slept. The antlers still somehow precariously perched on his head and now being practically swallowed by the blankets due to the absence of his other two cuddle buddies next to him.

Eventually the boys all settled back onto the couch and ate smiling as they saw Yumi slowly blink awake and sit up with a groan.

“Merry Christmas guys...” the brunet said sheepishly as he still wiped the sleep from his eyes while the others gently bid him a merry Christmas as well, handing him some pancakes and hot cocoa as well.

“Alright once Yumi finishes his food we can open presents” Nick said.

Yumi perked up at that and quickly scarfed down the pancakes, taking a swig of cocoa and setting it down declaring himself done. The boys immediately jumped up at that and set to handing out the presents. Yumi stood there awkwardly for a second as the others exchanged gifts, though as soon as he started feeling left out, Nick tapped him on the shoulder to snap him out of his train of thought before handing him a bag with tissue paper spilling out. Before he could question it, Tanner had come along to give him a present that was surprisingly wrapped quite well. When he looked closer it was clear it was wrapped with Spongebob wrapping paper. He clearly shared the wrapping paper as Yumi received Larry’s gift soon after, wrapped in the same paper. Isaac gave his present last, the wrapping more plain, clearly wrapped at the store but this, combined with the other three gifts made the other feel a warmth in his chest.

Yumi smiled, accepting the warm feeling in his chest from the small pile of gifts he now had bundled in his arms. He retreated to the couch and after seeing the others open their gifts, he decided to first open Nick’s and smiled, seeing an entire bag of peanut butter cups in the bag. He pulled it out, glancing over at Nick, eyes bright.

“Awww Nick, what, you got me candy” Yumi said turning to the gift giver in question who smiled and nodded “Yeah, i didn't really get anything too crazy, but i figured your guys’ favorite candies would be fine” the eldest said.

The boys all got through their gifts excitedly beaming at them and pointing out each gift. Isaac having gotten everyone blankets and socks, Tanner and Larry getting everyone silly clickbait stuff they clearly bought from a tik tok ad and Nick with his sweets.

But despite all of the fun, cheer and laughter around him, Yumi couldn't help but think about how much he doesn’t deserve them, especially the fact that they all got him something, even when he was being a whiny bitch for quite a bit of it. He couldn’t help but smile at the others’ shenanigans, though, his appreciation for them bubbling up so much he couldn’t let out much except for—

“Hey Yumi, you alright?” Nick cut into his thoughts, the rest of the boys looking at him in concern now. Yumi blinked, realizing he had been tearing up, but that wasn’t what crossed his mind as he finally found his voice.

“I love you guys so much”

The boys’ eyes widened collectively for a second but all their brain cells linked together as they realized what he said before they altogether dogpiled on Yumi yet again. He could only giggle along with them as he thought there’s no other place he’d rather be than right there celebrating Christmas with his best friends. For a moment they all just sat there together in their pile of warmth before someone else decided to speak up.

“So, how many of those gingerbread cookies are left?”

“I mean there’s a basket of them on the counter…”

With that, Larry, Tanner, and Isaac booked it to the kitchen, with Nick close behind. Yumi was about to join them when he heard a nearby vibration of his phone. Checking it, it was his girlfriend giving him news that the storms were worse than anyone thought so he probably won’t be able to visit until closer to New Years. Normally he’d be upset but now he only felt slightly down and replied, telling her it was fine. It was out of his control, after all. Setting his phone down, he smiled as he could hear the boys fighting over the cookies and headed into the kitchen, knowing he’s going to have to help mediate whatever squabble the boys have gotten into.

And yet, he wouldn’t have it any other way.