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“This tree will look so cute~!” Aira said to himself, while trying (but admittedly failing) to untangle some lights. It was a little bit of a pain, considering this was the third time they’d tangled on the short 2 metre journey from the box of ornaments to the tree itself. He was so glad nobody else was in the room right now or he might have just dropped them and given up right then and there. Aira was always a bit pretentious with how he did the tree, putting the lights on first, then the ornaments, then the tinsel and star, but he also had a plan for where to put every bauble, every tacky ornament, every piece of idol merch.
Although, Hiiro walking into the room at that moment and subsequently ripping the string of lights from his hands wasn’t exactly what he had planned either, and the moment he couldn’t feel them anymore he just froze. What the hell was he doing here.
That was a simple question, he did in fact live there, though he really shouldn’t have been back for at least another 3 hours. That was the exact reason why Aira had picked now to decorate the tree, it could surprise everyone. Well, that plan was scrapped.
“Let me help with that! Hmmm let’s see…” Hiiro said as he immediately managed to untangle it. “Ah right! I know how to do this.”
And this was when he started hap-hazardly tossing the lights around the tree without a care for how they intersected. Aira could not say a thing, considering he was still in slight shock. Why Hiiro, why now, just why. His perfect tree was now ruined.
But…maybe it would’ve been better like this. After all, this was a tree for all four of them, not just Aira. But he still couldn’t forgive how sloppy Hiiro’s decorating job was.
“Hiiro stop-” he finally intervened and grabbed Hiiro’s wrist, though when Hiiro looked down at him things went awkwardly silent again. He didn’t know what to say. He was just trying to help after all. He sighed. “Don’t you think you’re being just a bit too careless with where you’re throwing these?”
“I don’t think so. Aren’t Christmas tree’s supposed to be messy?”
“Well they can be, but that’s not the point! Just look at this already!” he half-yelled.
“Oh.” Hiiro stared at the tree. There were barely any lights on the back of it, and there looked to be little to no room for any of the decorations. “Do you have any advice on how it should look?”
Aira sighed again. “Well first, we have to pull all of this off. But I’ll guide them on with you.” okay that totally didn’t sound odd out of context. But it was fine, he knew Hiiro wouldn’t look into it at all.
It only took around five minutes to restart working on the tree, and since Hiiro was in fact much taller than him, he could at least hold the start of the lights at the top of the tree and Aira could weave around him. He’d long since ditched his plan to be intricate and decided to just make it look presentable at least. Once that had been done, the ornaments were next. And unlike the lights, Aira had to at least be a little careful.
“You know the rules of tree decorating right?” he asked. Hiiro tilted his head, but quickly straightened it again.
“I think I do! But in case, remind me?”
“Oh really.” Aira then picked up two small red baubles from the bag. “Basically, spread it out. Don’t let two of the same decoration be close together, and make sure to get most of the tree and not just the front.” he explained, placing one of the two baubles on to a branch near the middle, then the other nearer the top and round the back. “Like that.”
Hiiro took two other baubles from the bag, this time silver ones that matched the red, and put them up in a similar pattern to Aira, just more spread out, though one of them ended up right below the red one.
“Great! Oh and one more thing. Don’t touch the photocards. Those are mine.” Aira then suddenly went monotone. That was obviously meaning he was serious, so Hiiro nodded his head and went along with it, picking up a handful of miscellaneous decorations and making a small pile next to him so he didn’t have to go back and forth for more. And with that pile he made absolutely sure that there was no idol related decor there, not that he wanted to put those up anyway.
Though he did pick up a plastic candy cane, and it made his stomach rumble.
“That’s not edible, Hiiro.”
“Hey I know that! I think I’m just hungry.”
Hiiro looked at it again, and to Aira, that definitely meant he wanted to eat it. “I think Tatsumi bought some candy canes. They’re in the cupboard.”
“Okay, I will be back in a second.” he said, which made Aira sigh as he put the plastic one on the table next to them and not the tree. But it was fine. He continued placing his decorations up until Hiiro returned with two candy canes in hand, holding one out for him.
“What made you think I wanted one?”
“Oh so should I take it back?”
“No-” Aira snatched it from his hand and unwrapped it, letting it hang from his mouth like a cigar. “I’ll take it.” he said, though muffled. Hiiro didn’t pay any mind to it, and continued hanging decorations, including the candy cane from earlier.
After they were about half-way done was when Hiiro picked up another one of Aira’s idol photocards. It was by total accident, of course. But when Aira walked over to him to snatch it off him, he stopped for a second. “You can put that one up. I don’t mind.”
“Oh really? But I thought-”
“No no- It’s fine. Go for it.” he then said, though just then his candy cane fell out of his mouth. Hiiro immediately grabbed it, though they were now face to face. It made him go red. Hiiro was blissfully unaware as he brought the candy cane back up. They stared at each other in silence for a few seconds, only broken when Hiiro straightened himself up and restored their height difference. Then Hiiro popped the sweet back into Aira’s mouth.
Yep, nope, that was too much. Aira spun himself round as he felt his face grow extremely red hot. He was shaking. So much that the candy snapped in half and only left the part still in plastic in his hand. Deep breaths. He just needed to take deep breaths. At least there were only a few things left to put up.
“The tree is looking so great! Thank you for letting me help Aira, I appreciate it.” Hiiro then said. Aira whipped his head around, staring at the now lit up tree. Hiiro was right there, the lights were colourful, and bounced off the baubles gracefully. It was messy, but there was a charm to it. A beautiful sight, to be honest. And it nearly swept that little incident under the rug. But no, that moment would continue to stick in Aira’s mind after this.
“It does…yeah…” Aira managed to squeak out. Hiiro tilted his head.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m okay! I’m fine. I’m fine.” Aira huffed, finally turning back around to face Hiiro. There were only one or two baubles left, and the rest of the decor that went around the room. But Aira had already decided that he was done for the day. Though the image of the tree stuck in his head. It was glistening, charming, something that a group of people would throw together. Though nothing went according to plan today, Aira no longer cared. After all, wasn’t doing something as special as putting up Christmas decor better when you were with someone else?
It didn’t matter now though, Aira needed a nap. Tatsumi and Mayoi would probably finish things when they came back. Huh, a room decorated by all four of them, personalised to suit all of their tastes. Well, Aira certainly liked that idea more now. A lot more now.
Screw being meticulous, Aira had a whole unit, and however it was going to turn out, he knew that it would’ve turned out better than anything he could ever make.