Archive of Our Own ^beta

Mark continued to glare at the Captain, the love of his life; who was currently bowed over by the door in a fit of on-going laughter at the sight of the engineer's current predicament on the floor of the couple's home.

"Well I'm glad that you find this sooo funny!"

"Oh- oh Mark, I'm sorr-"

Taking a moment to attempt taking control of themselves, the Captain lasted about two seconds when they looked back at Mark's angry pouting face and the whole length of neon metallic tinsel and fairy lights somehow wrapped his whole body - only to break down into laughter all over again.

"Captain!"

"Ok o-ok, I'm..."

Getting the last of their laughs out from behind the door frame that the Captain had been leaning on for support; they soon straightened up with a coughed - composing themselves enough before making their way over to their distressed tangled-in-decorations boyfriend.

"Just- Mark, how did you even get in this mess?"

"It wasn't on purpose! Just... they're both really long and I was trying to get them out the box to get to the wall decorations... then fell on my ass tripping over the damn things."

Mark was already beyond fed up by the time the Captain was kneeling down by his side and cupped his cheek in their warm hand.

"Alright, I'll help you... I'm sorry I laughed. Please forgive me?"

Mark huffed, but was not immune to their charms as his expression softened with a little less irritation.

"Fine..."

They removed their hand and bent down to peck him on the engineer's blushing cheek, before the Captain started to work on unraveling Mark free from his decorations.

Although they were getting Mark loose - the Captain was having a hard time trying to unpick certain knotted tangles between the two artificial decorations.

"You know, I don't mind you decorating our home the traditional way for the holidays-"

The Captain spoke while trying to not straight up yank a bulb out from the current mess of tinsel they were working on.

"-But maybe we should consider an alternative if this keeps happening. At least last year you just got your foot stuck in the tree and was able to slip out of your boot to escape. What if I had to work at the office late or if a meeting went on for longer than expected?"

"Then I'd piss myself - adding to my endless list of humiliation."

The Captain snorted at Mark's deadpan reply, as they quietly celebrated getting the biggest knot undone and freeing everything below the engineer's waist.

"I suppose I could get something to cut the rest of this..."

"Don't you dare!"

Mark yelped as he sat up suddenly and very nearly hitting his head against their's.

"These took forever to replicate - and Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without some old traditional decor!"

The Captain rolled their eyes.

"Well, its not like you can't make more - and we still have the tree you replicated last year, that can be enough by itself - right?"

"But we can't have a naked tree just standing in the corner with only a star on top like last year..."

Mark then trailed off with a grumble, looking away from the Captain with a frown.

"Besides, those assholes in replication have banned me from going near their device until Christmas is officially over."

"Nothing to do with the fact that you've been spending a month making intricate designs for these decorations and holding up the other replication projects for the sake of festivities?"

"It's not my fault that no one can appreciate my sense of aesthetics."

Chuckling softly, the Captain was finally able to remove the last of the decorations from Mark - but not before they gently tugged Mark towards them, nuzzling their nose against his and prompting him to meet their lips with a kiss.

The remaining frustration from being tangled up and laughed at faded out of Mark, welcoming the love and comfort from them as the couple melted into one another's arms - letting the decorations drop down to the floor in favor of holding each other in a warm embrace.

The kiss soon ended with the pair resting their foreheads against each other, with a besotted expression across both the Captain and Mark's face as they looked lovingly into each other's eyes.

"I do. I'll always appreciate you Mark."

"Yeah... I know."

The Captain let their hands fall down to hold and squeeze Mark's hands in their own.

"How about a break from decorating? I could make you some Christmassy hot chocolate if you like."

That got a half-grin out of Mark, as he happily fell for the Captain's charm and the idea of getting a sweet treat.

"Only if there's marshmallows involved."

"That can be arranged."

So with that they both went hand in hand towards the kitchen - leaving the mess of decorations momentarily behind to be hung up later together in time for the holiday celebrations.