Twenty-Five Days
Day One: Lights
"I—I ain't sure this is a good idea," Silver remarked anxiously, fumbling awkwardly with the green plastic string in his frozen fingers, eyes fixed on the skinny form shimmying fearlessly up onto the snow-dusted rooftop.
"Well," Jim grunted as he hefted himself the last few inches, cheeks already pink from the cold, "it's a damn shame I didn't ask your opinion. Hand me the lights."
Silver made no move to obey. "And what if ye fall?"
Jim waved a dismissive hand. "I won't fall. Give me the lights, and let's get this over with."
Silver didn't give him the lights. "Ye should have let me do this, what am I goin' to tell yer mum if ye fall?"
"That I died an honorable death, in the course of my duty." Jim grinned when he saw the look on his friend's face. "Come on, just give me the lights already. It's cold up here."
"Ye should have let me do this," Silver repeated, mostly under his breath, but he relented, surrendering the thick strand. "Or the doc."
Jim rolled his eyes. "You can't get up on the roof, and the last time the doc did anything like this, he accidentally shocked himself. Twice." He reached for the lights, only to let out a cry of dismay. "You were supposed to untangle them!"
"Don't look at me! I was busy makin' sure ye didn't break yer fool neck up there!"
Jim looked down at the knotted, chaotic string again, and Silver could swear he caught a small, defeated whimper.
He rolled his eyes. "Oh, for pity's sake, toss 'em back down."
"Hey, how much longer do you think you're gonna be?" Jim called down, swinging his legs slowly back and forth over the edge of the roof, his heel lightly grazing the gutter pipe every few seconds or so.
"Shut up." Silver didn't look up from the lights.
"I'm getting thirsty!" he protested.
"Shut up."
"I just want to know if I have enough time to—
"No. Shut up."
"You've been trying to untangle that thing for an hour now!"
"And I'm on the brink of a breakthrough!"
Jim groaned.
Silver was not on the brink of a breakthrough.
Jim went back inside for a glass of water, and his jacket.
"See, that wasn't that tough!" Jim grabbed the end of the cord off the ground, pushed a strand of flyaway hair out of his eyes, and turned to Silver with a smile, face flushed from the recent exertion.
"Easy for ye to say," Silver muttered bitterly, glaring pointedly at the lights.
Jim rolled his eyes, and crouched down beside the outlet. "You didn't even go up on the roof."
"Well, I didn't see ye untanglin' those things!" Silver retorted, jabbing an accusing finger in his direction.
"Well, I didn't see you stringing them up," Jim countered and, before the other could form a comeback, he plugged in the lights
Nothing happened.
For a minute, the two stared, in dead silence and utter devastation, up at the roof, before Silver collected his bearings, and rounded on Jim. "Ye made me untangle those—those goddamn hell-lights, and didn't even pause to make sure they still worked?!"
A/N: Soooo I realized halfway through that they wouldn't have electric holiday lights in their universe, but by that point, I was already too deep into this hellfic to stop. Also I recognize that I'm going to have to catch up but I don't want to think about that. Anyways, while we're here, this fic will be working within the AU I set up in Permit Me a Father Fantasy, which you absolutely do not have to read to understand this b/c it's literally just an alternate universe where there are zero consequences for Silver's actions and he winds up settling down on Montressor w/ Jim b/c I am garbage & refuse to acknowledge he would probably have been caught and hanged. Anyway, I hope you guys like this!