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There was a time when Wash thought he was never going to live to see another Christmas. Life as a freelancer was rough. They worked hard, they fought harder and they suffered the most. The Director was unrelenting in their training, pitting them against each other time and time again. It was a miracle the majority of them were able to operate as a team as well as they did. Even though it was hard work, it was Wash's life and he didn't want to trade it for anything.
At the end of the day though, he didn't have a choice. The UNSC had decided that the Director's project was going too far and they wanted to shut Project Freelancer down. "Too many people have died" they said. "Your agents are human and deserved to be treated as such, not to mention what you're doing to your AI..."
The Director hadn't taken kindly to their attempts to shut him down. Things ended far messier than they should have done. He had thrown every freelancer still faithful to him at the UNSC forces and they had suffered for it. South had been forcibly arrested after fighting back and North had been taken shortly after for trying to protect his twin sister. Then there was Carolina... damn, it hurt to think about what might have happened to her. Wash didn't even know all the details, he just heard that it was messy and she wasn't coming back from that.
The rest of them had been sent back to their homes on Earth and were given orders to try and re-assimilate. "The UNSC will be watching you." The problem was not all of them had homes to go back to. Some of them had given up their entire lives to join the project and now they were just expected to go back? It wasn't as easy as that.
It was because of that exact reason that Wash had ended up living with Maine in a small apartment in downtown New York City. The guy was as brooding and silent as ever but Wash was more than used to that by now. He had always liked Maine. The guy was easy to get along with because he very rarely argued back and for somebody who spoke as often and quickly as Wash did that was quite an important factor when it came to friendship. They honestly couldn't be more opposite and yet they somehow made it work.
The apartment was small and they could barely afford rent but it was really as good as they could do considering Wash was working as a diner waiter and Maine as a bouncer down at some seedy club he'd warned Wash never to even look at. Neither of their jobs paid well and everything they did earn they pooled together just to survive. It was tough but then again they were used to tough. At least they weren't flirting with death's doorstep every day like they had been for the past several years. There was a small relief there, even if was a lot to come back from. Wash was used to being on edge all the time, expecting an attack around every corner. He could tell Maine felt it too. He didn't seem to trust anyone and seemed ready to break into a fight at the drop of a hat.
They were an unusual pair but now that everybody else was gone, either off living their lives back home or locked away in a UNSC prison, they were all the other had. It was a surprising amount of pressure really, or at least Wash thought so. He still didn't really know Maine all that much despite having spent the better part of two years in his company. It didn't stop him from at least trying to get to know him though.
The truth was Wash felt lonely. It was an unavoidable feeling really considering he was in a strange new city, all but thrown out of his former life and with only a single friend to spend time with. How could he not feel lonely?
It was worse in the run up to Christmas. It had always been his favorite holiday and even though the majority of the Freelancers thought they were too busy for a simple Earth celebration like that, Wash had always been the one to decorate his locker and hand out presents. He even had a suitcase full of ugly Christmas sweaters, including the ones Carolina and South had shoved back in his face. He'd tried to pretend that hadn't hurt as much as it had. North and York had always gone out of their way to humor him by wearing their jumpers even it meant they'd gotten a bit of ribbing for it from the rest of the Freelancers. They had been Wash's friends and now? Well now they were both gone.
The whole of New York City seemed to be buzzing in excitement for Christmas and yet Wash couldn't even bring himself to think about it. He didn't need a reminder that his family was all gone now, that there would be no ugly sweaters being handed out nor any make-shift attempts at Christmas dinner for those few Freelancers who actually did show up to his open invite banquet.
After a long shift at work just a few days before Christmas when the customers were rowdier and even more impatient, Wash stumbled through the door with every intention of throwing himself straight into bed and letting exhaustion claim him. What he found on the other side of the door was truly something he had never expected.
In the corner of the room was a small Christmas tree, no taller than four feet. It was thin and barely even green but it was decorated with tinsel and multi-colored lights and it was undeniably a Christmas tree. There were five paper snowflakes hanging from the ceiling around it and Maine was waiting in the armchair next to it. Wash stared at the decoration in shock before meeting Maine's eyes.
"I think it's perfect."
For the first time in what was probably days or perhaps even weeks, the corner of the man's lips turned up into a small smile. Wash felt his own smile spread across his face. Maybe Christmas wasn't going to be so hopeless after all.