Chapter Text
The snow had been falling steadily all week, coating the entire Pastaverse with a sheet of white. Colorful lights adorned every building, the warm smells of food wafted from every house, and music could be heard everywhere.
Despite the calm and joy, work still had to be done...
EXE was sitting on the couch, watching some weird human show on the TV. He had ran out of pages in his journal, so he couldn't write or draw any new updates on his life here. Speaking of which, he's been staying at the Hog Hotel since Thanksgiving. Despite a certain resident here (cough cough, Lord X, cough cough), he's definitely been enjoying his stay here. He's considering actually living here, as a matter of fact.
One of the main reasons he's decided to actually live there is because of a certain small hedgehog, known as Sunky. He'd been attached to the little guy ever since he met him, but he managed to win his heart when he started calling him 'bubby'. The four year old hedgehog was usually mute, so hearing EXE be referred to something like that by Sunky was probably the highest honor anyone could bestow upon him.
Speaking of the little guy, EXE saw Sunky waddling towards him on the couch. He was wearing a blue jacket, a white shirt, black shorts, brown boots, and white mittens.
"Hey Sunks. Need something?" EXE sat up, pausing the show he was watching.
Sunky tugged on EXE's arm, jumping and pointing at the front door.
"You want me to go outside with you?"
Sunky nodded enthusiastically.
"Ok, ok. Gimmie a sec though." EXE smiled at the small smile, turning the TV off.
He went up to his room, quickly putting on his jacket and hat. As he did, he noticed two mismatched legwarmers that he had found in 2011X's wardrobe when he was helping him move out. Both were white, though one had green vertical stripes, and the other had red horizontal stripes. Neither of them knew who they belonged to, so they put them in the pile of other clothes who they didn't yet know the origin of. He thought for a moment, before deciding 'why the hell not' and put them on too.
As he went back downstairs to head outside with Sunky, he heard some voices coming from the kitchen.
Sally_ALT was fixing up Curse's elf costume, which he had purchased a few days ago just for this occasion. Every year before Christmas, Majin and Lord X would go down to the Pastaverse town square thing, Majin dressed as Santa, and basically do what mall santas do. Curse thought that'd he'd help out this year as an elf. Majin agreed to this, of course. Extra hands were definitely necessary when it came to children, most of which were either traumatized souls or little murders...
"... and there! How do you feel?" Sally asked, stepping back a bit. Although she was blind, she had got Xenophanes to come down and help her.
Curse looked down at himself. He was wearing a green dress-like tunic with red and yellow accents, a belt on his waist (which made his hips more prominent than he liked), a pointy green hat, pointy shoes, and red and white striped tights. He definitely looked a lot more feminine than he thought when he had bought the costume, but hopefully it wouldn't be a big issue.
"It looks... cute, I suppose." He said, tugging on the bottom of the skirt half of his tunic dress. "Feels a little... small, though."
Sally_ALT waved a dismissive hand. "I don't think that'll be too much of an issue, though. Hey Xen! Whaddya think of our handiwork?"
Xenophanes was quite speechless. They just kinda stood there, ogling Curse with a flushed face, physically vibrating. "... L-Looks good..." They managed to say.
Curse gave them a mildly disgusted look. Although Sally_ALT couldn't really see their response, she could still tell how he felt about it. She suddenly pulled Curse aside, stepping out of the kitchen with him.
"Ok, I have a feeling that you're gonna get a lot of reactions similar to that or worse." Sally started. "Just in case something nasty happens, I want you have this." She suddenly handed Curse a can of pepper spray.
"Bw- Huh?" Curse sputtered.
"I hope you don't have to use it, but you should still have it just in case. 'Kay dude?"
Curse gave her a slow nod. "A-Alright..." He quickly put the can of pepper spray in his backpack.
Meanwhile, Xeno had left the kicthen, chiding themself for responding so weirdly back there. They didn't even like Curse that much, just thought of him as a friend!
They soon snapped out of their chiding as they noticed EXE and Sunky heading out. They figured doing so too wouldn't hurt, and followed them out the hotel as well.
Outside, Majin, Rewrite, and Fleetway were decorating the exterior of the hotel, while Lord X stood back to monitor them and make sure nothing horrible would happen. Rewrite and Majin were both on the roof stringing up lights, while Fleetway was putting up all the other decorations on the snowy ground.
"Write, if you keep doing it like that, you're gonna get all tangled up!" Majin said with an annoyed sigh as he watched Rewrite failing to put up lights. The lanky hedgehog already had his arms and legs caught up, but the string of lights was long enough that he could hardly tell.
"Just trust the process, Majin!" Rewrite said with a dismissive wave. "I know what I'm doing..."
Down below, Sunky ran out of the hotel, EXE following behind.
"So, whaddya wanna do while we're out here, Sunks?" EXE asked his 'little brother', a bright grin on his muzzle.
Sunky took the other's hand and began to pull him along.
Suddenly, Lord X noticed the two.
"EXE! Glad to see you're finally out here." The old demon said with a chuckle. EXE just stopped in his tracks, letting out an annoyed groan.
"Wait, EXE?" Majin suddenly peered from over the edge of the roof. He soon spotted the teenage hedgehog, and leaned forward to wave enthusiastically at him. As he did, he suddenly slipped on the snow covering the roof beneath him, and fell off the roof with a loud yelp.
Lord X heard him, and quickly sprung into action. "MAJIN!!!" They exclaimed as they ran to catch their spouse. Despite their age, they managed to catch Majin just in time, holding him in a bridal carry.
Majin was breathing heavily in Lord X's arms, placing a hand on his chest while his other arm stayed linked onto Lord X like a lifeline.
"You ok, honey?" Lord X asked, holding Majin close.
Majin took a moment to collect himself, before giving Lord X a soft smile. "I... I am now. Thanks for the catch, Lordy..."
"Of course, Maj..." They said with a sigh, glad that their partner was alright. They then pulled him into a kiss.
EXE, who had been watching, gave the two an annoyed glare. He still believed that whatever this 'love' thing between the two was such a dumb concept that seemed to get in the way of important things. Unfortunately, those two clearly don't seem to believe the same. He hopes to somehow understand why one day...
As the two lovehogs parted lips, Majin gave his partner a sultry smile. "Now, if only I could show you just how much I... appreciated that save..." he cooed with a smirk, tracing the X on Lord X's chest, the touch sending shivers down the other's spine.
Lord X's muzzle flushed at that, but he simply grinned at the proposition. "Oh, really? Not a single idea how to thank me?"
"Well, maybe one idea~" Majin purred, before leaning back in for another kiss. This time, it was longer, and significantly more passionate.
EXE tried not to gag, and quickly turned the other way, covering Sunky's innocent eyes. He soon started to get more and more annoyed (and mildly disgusted) with the two as he heard their make-out session get sloppier. "Right here? Seriously?" He thought. He quickly got fed up with it.
"THERE IS A TIME AND A PLACE FOR THAT!!!" EXE complained, turning to yell at the two.
Majin, who was now practically clinging onto Lord X with his legs wrapped around him, and Lord X, who had his hands under Majin's santa coat all over his back, broke from their tongue-filled frenzy, a string of saliva connecting their lips. They look at EXE, before awkwardly back at each other.
"... Let's... do this later." Majin chuckled, awkwardly pulling himself out of his partners grasp.
"Yeah, let's..." Lord X agreed, stepping back slightly once the two managed to awkwardly distangle each other from their embrace.
EXE grumbled in annoyance at the two, before taking a deep breath and turning away to look down at Sunky, now uncovering his eyes. "What did you wanna do while we were out here, lil buddy?"
Lord X then stopped him. "Wait, we a-actually require some of your assistance!" They blustered.
EXE turned to his progenitor, raising an eyebrow at the still flustered elder hedgehog. "Really now?"
"Yeah."
"With what, exactly?" He snorted, still salty about Lord X in general, despite having gotten 'closer' to them, as one might put it.
"It's almost Christmas, which means that everyone at the hotel is helping out with preparations and other such things." Lord X began, "Fleetway and Rewrite are setting up decorations, Sally_ALT and Xen are gonna work on dinner while me ans Maj are busy, etcetera."
EXE sighed as Lord X went on with their explanation. "Where am I in all of this?" He asked, clearly annoyed.
Lord X suddenly handed him an axe. "You and Sunky are gonna go out and find us a Christmas tree."