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decorating for christmas was always a big deal for lucy felton (née van pelt), the event taking up an entire weekend, sometimes bleeding into the following monday and tuesday. ever since she moved out all those years ago, she had done everything in her power to make sure wherever she was living was properly festive for the holidays.
two years ago, she and schroeder bought their first house. while not big or particularly fancy, it was still larger than the apartments she’d lived in before, and now she and the love of her life finally had the opportunity to truly commit to turning her house into a winter wonderland, gleaming with lights and gold (and showing up that nosy neighbor down the street…). however, this year there’s a problem.
lucy’s pregnant, about eight months along.
this, in of itself, is not a bad thing, not in the slightest. in fact, schroeder and lucy couldn’t be happier with the news!
… with that being said, when you need to be on your feet for an entire weekend, crouching down to low shelves, and standing high up on step ladders, it’s very inconvenient, and makes the whole process take so much longer.
schroeder wanted to help, a lot more than normal. he was never too interested in going all out for the holidays, but last year he did help her get boxes down from the attic, decorate the tree, hang up pictures, and helped his new wife if she asked. he just left most of the decorating to lucy. she knew what she was doing, and had a very specific way she wanted to get the house ready for the season. she wouldn’t tolerate anything but the best.
this year, he made more of an effort to decorate, but lucy was always right behind him to adjust whatever he did, to put it her preferred way, not taking anything from the workload.
whatever way a ceramic tree was facing didn’t matter to schroeder. the fact that lucy wouldn’t sit down for five minutes did.
several times he’d ask if she needed a break, or if she wanted him to do something to help, but every time he was met with a resounding no.
she looked exhausted.
———
after spending friday and saturday working herself into the ground, sunday evening finally came. even schroeder had to admit she outdid herself. it was even better than last year!
but, there were piles of boxes, each of which needed to return to the attic. they all mainly contained all the decorations that were replaced with more festive options, and unused christmas decor that didn’t make it in this year.
schroeder walked into the living room carrying one of said boxes, ready to assist his wife in getting them back in the attic, so she can finally rest for a while.
"lucy?" he called out, only to immediately quiet himself.
lucy’s asleep on the couch.
still wearing her shoes and clothes from earlier that day, she stirs a little at her name, but ultimately settles back into a peaceful sleep, her lips parted slightly as she breathes.
the blond sighed with a hint of exasperation, and sets the box down for a moment, crossing over to lucy. she’s far too beautiful like this.
her hairs an absolute mess, and her tank top is stained with sweat. even when she’s a hot mess, she makes schroeder’s heart feel as if it’s going to explode and his cheeks take on a rosy hue. he can’t help but stare at his wife.
lucy shivers, snapping the musician out of his trance. she switched into a tank top while decorating, despite the snowy weather outside, claiming she was practically burning up. schroeder’s heard sleeping lowers your body temperature. she’s probably freezing like this.
schroeder slides his wife’s shoes off (good grief, her ankles were swollen… that must hurt…), and goes quickly searches for a blanket, laying the soft fabric on top of her when he finds it. she looks so calm when she’s asleep… he couldn’t wake her up like this. she and their unborn child could use the rest.
pressing a quick kiss to her forehead, then one to her stomach, schroeder turns around and picks up the box.
it isn’t safe per se, to take such a large box up a rickety ladder alone, but if he could just slide it up onto the attic floor from a lower step, maybe he could make this work.
the box is light, presumably just garland, tinsel, glitter, and empty papers that wrap around breakable ceramics outside of the holiday season. he just needed to be careful on the ladder. this shouldn’t be hard.
schroeder takes his first step on the ladder, the wood creaking. he leans weight forward, so the box doesn’t tip him backwards. just a nine more steps, and the first box will be back where it belongs.
but on what should’ve been the seventh step, schroeder’s foot slips, and he falls to the floor with a crash, the contents of the box spilling.
the blond groans, taking stock of his physical state. nothing broken, it seems. he can still move everything. he somehow didn’t crack his head open, thank god, but that fall hurt, both his body, and his ego.
paper, garland, tinsel, and too much glitter, that probably won’t fully leave him alone for a month cover his body and the floor.
"great, another mess…" he mutters to himself.
———
being eight months pregnant was extremely tiring, and often very annoying when you needed to get anything done, a lesson lucy learned the hard way.
after spending the entire weekend making sure the house had more christmas cheer than the rest of the neighborhood combined, she could hardly stand, feeling almost comically sore.
with a heavy sigh, she sank down on the couch, laying her body down, not even bothering to kick her shoes off, the child taking up residence in her body shifting. she relaxes, before her eyes snap back open.
the boxes still needed to be put up.
she groaned at the realization. the very thought of getting up at all sounded just plain awful… but it needed to get done, so everything could be completed, but it could wait a minute… just a few minutes…
lucy woke to a crash.
schroeder.
how long had she been asleep? it didn’t feel like that long…
quickly (well, as quick as you can go when you can’t use any muscles in your abdomen), she pushed herself up, barely even noticing the blanket and her lack of shoes. when she stood, pain shot through her legs, but she persisted to investigate the noise.
the sight she was met with startled her, to say the least.
here her husband was, a box on top of him, covered in garland, tinsel, and a ridiculous amount of glitter, his face turning an adorable shade of red when their eyes met. it didn’t take her long to piece together what happened.
and when she did, a laugh escaped her, her heart warming at the sweet sight.