Work Text:
In many ways, it appeared to be a typical late night on Christmas Eve. A tree covered in lights and decorations, the electric fireplace softly crackling and providing the only light aside from those on the tree, seven stockings hung nearby...
But then there was the pile of pillows and blankets on the floor, inside of which five robots and a cyborg had nestled, all fast asleep and counting (possibly electric) sheep. Not exactly something one sees every day...
...well, maybe unless one happened to live with these robots and cyborg.
With all of them far away in dreamland, none of them noticed soft footsteps, muffled by gingerbread-cookie-patterned socks, tiptoeing into the room. Nova, dressed in some black pajamas with a Christmas light pattern, couldn't hold back a twinkle in his stars at the sight of six of his favorite people snuggled up like that. Having just finished a special Christmas Eve gig at Club Planetarium, he couldn't think of a better way to pass the time until the morning than by cuddling close to J and dozing off.
But there was one small piece of unfinished business.
In Nova's hand, he held a cloth bag filled with little goodies he thought J and 1010 would like (as well as one for himself because he deserved it; besides, J and 1010 would feel sad if he didn't get something for himself). He crept over to the stockings, reached in his bag, and went to work.
Some new earbuds for Rin, a colorful pair of sunglasses for Purl-Hew, a set of measuring spoons for Zimelu, a deck of funny playing cards for Eloni, a tabletop picture frame for Haym... and for J, some gloves just like Nova's (except in J's size) so they could match. He'd gotten a space-themed mug for himself, as well.
Once each gift had been deployed to its respective stocking, Nova set the empty bag somewhere discreet before setting his eye on the real prize. As he approached, he noticed that J had left a little room for him, making this next part all the more easier.
He crouched down, grabbed a nearby blanket, and lowered himself into the makeshift nest, right next to J. While wrapping himself up, he felt J stir ever so slightly - not enough to where his monitor switched on, but he did move a bit.
Just in case J was still out of it, he quickly rested a hand on one of J's hands and whispered, "Merry Christmas, dear."
J grunted a little and shuffled a bit closer. Nova's stars twinkled once more before he rested his head and slowly let himself drift off.
In the glow of the fireplace and the lights of the tree, with seven full stockings and a pile of gifts, visions of stars, presents, cookies, snowflakes, and many other lovely things danced through the heads of seven performers. And while those would all be fun on their own, being able to share them with each other was like nothing else.