This story does tie in with Spurious Hatred and Something Like Affection, but it's not necessary to read it if you wanna read this. Just some things you should know if you don't want to/haven't read Spurious Hatred and Something Like Affection, though: Archie and Maxie are hiding in a secret base in route 123 and Vee is Maxie's ninetales, recieved from May (whom Archie and Maxie are friends with)
Maxie has reflected many times upon the fact that Archie is ridiculous. Currently, this thought is running through his mind because Archie is standing in what the two of them consider to be their living room in a Santa Claus hat with a radio sitting near him playing Christmas music. Archie is humming along and plucking ornaments out of a box that Maxie knows Archie just went out and bought and placing them onto a Christmas tree that, if he had to guess, Maxie would say Archie just went out and chopped down himself.
Upon seeing this defilement of his living room, the first thing that comes out of Maxie's mouth is, "I wasn't even gone that long!"
Looking up, Archie's mouth breaks out into a grin. "Maxie!" He says joyfully, yanking a mistletoe out of another box (and only now is Maxie beginning to see that there are an unreasonable number of boxes sitting around Archie and the tree) and running over to Maxie, giving him a little kiss while holding the mistletoe over their heads before Maxie has a chance to object.
"Archie," Maxie says, his tone nothing other than pure exasperation, "what are you doing?"
"I'm getting the house ready for Christmas!"
"When have we ever celebrated Christmas?"
"Oh, fuck off, Maxie. Can't we do normal people things? We've lived here for three years, and you're still acting like we're living in some sort of secret bunker."
"We are! We're wanted by the police! Fugitives don't celebrate Christmas!"
"They don't even talk about us in the news anymore, you humbug! Kids in preschool would have no idea who we are or what we did unless their parents told them about us." Maxie frowns. "Help me decorate the tree."
Archie walks back over to the tree, pulls another ornament out of a box, and hangs it on the tree. Noticing that Maxie is just standing there, arms crossed and looking skeptical, Archie sighs. "Oh Arceus, you hard ass." He kneels down and shuffles very carefully through a box. He stands up again with a very delicate looking glass ornament.
The ornament is red and orange and is supposed to look like a flame. "I got this for you. I also got us some Pokemon ornaments. Please help me decorate the tree?" Archie pouts at Maxie, and Maxie can't help but to laugh a little at how absurd this whole situation is.
"Oh, fine, I'll help, you weirdo." Maxie takes the ornament from Archie's hand and looks at it more closely. "This really is a beautiful ornament, Archie, thank you." Archie's smile, still so wide from when Maxie said he would help decorate the tree, grows impossibly wider. Maxie just has to kiss him.
Even before Maxie got wrapped up in Team Magma, he never celebrated Christmas much or even thought much of it; listening to Archie sing along to Christmas songs is different for him. Archie has always been a good singer, though, for as long as Maxie has known him at least. Maxie runs a finger over the snout of a Camerupt ornament and smiles. He places it near a Mightyena ornament that Archie had placed on the tree earlier. Maxie finds himself humming along to the songs coming onto the radio, not knowing the words and barely knowing the rhythms and notes, but being sucked into it all nonetheless.
A while after Archie convinces Maxie to decorate with him, Vee wakes up from the nap she had been taking and meanders over to the Christmas tree. She manages to sniff and nibble at some of its needles before she's noticed.
"Hey, no, Vee!" Archie hangs the ornament he's holding onto the tree and picks Vee up off the ground. She yips and wriggles in his arms. "I'm worried enough about our Mightyenas biting at the tree without the fear of you burning it down. Could you please leave it alone?" Vee yips again, and Archie sighs. "She's not going to leave it alone, is she?"
"Nope," Maxie says, patting her on the head.
"At least tell me that she won't burn the tree down." Maxie looks from Vee, currently looking quite affronted at the fact that she is being carried, to the tree.
"I don't think so."
"Very reassuring, Maxie." Maxie elbows him.
"Put her down now before she gets too upset." Archie does, ruffling up her fur before letting her run away.
—
Here's something that everyone knows about Archie and Maxie: they get carried away. A lot. Decorating is no exception.
Archie and Maxie start out decorating the Christmas tree and end up decorating the entirety of the little secret base they've taken to calling their home. Lights and ribbons are strewn all across the furniture they have, mistletoe is hung in front of the entrance to their base, and Archie somehow managed to throw on a sweater with a Stantler on it while Maxie was busy focusing on something else.
And, now, as Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! is coming on the radio, Archie threads his hand through Maxie's and twirls him. He dances with Maxie and sings along to the song, giving Maxie a loud, over exaggerated kiss after singing, when we finally kiss goodnight. When the song finishes, Maxie is laughing harder than he can remember laughing in a long time. "It's so funny to see you so excited by Christmas!" Maxie says.
"I don't seem to remember you ever being this peppy either, Maxie."
"Oh, no! You've infected me with happiness! How dare you?"
"It's weird seeing you not being all grumpy." Archie kisses Maxie slow and sweet. "Next, you'll be rolling around making snow angels."
"Maybe not in the snow, but I can think of somewhere else I might like to be rolling around."
"But I have tinsel—" Maxie laughs, though he tries to muffle it in Archie's shoulder. Still, he gives Archie's ass a squeeze and gives him a smoldering look.
"I'm sure that the tinsel can wait," He says, punctuating the statement with a kiss.
And wait the tinsel does.