Christmas was not Baron's favorite holiday. In fact, it was nearly the exact opposite of who he was. It was bright lights, disgustingly cheerful and centered around an old dude who was the world's shittiest criminal, that broke into your home to leave things. And maybe it was because at a young age he had figured out that 'Santa' was really his dad and 'Mama Kissing Santa Claus' was a song about deceit. No, he didn't like snow. He didn't like snowball fights or snow angels and for the love of god, please don't ask him to build a snowman. The tree was a hassle to do, decorations were a bitch to clean up and gingerbread cookies always made his teeth hurt. He could, essentially, write an entire book on why this was the worst holiday and not worth a couple of presents and the false pretense of everyone suddenly being good and holy. No, this wasn't his favorite… but it was Naomi's.
That he had figured out when he walked up to their shared home, which was formerly just his until Naomi had decided to move in when they took their relationship to the next level. Every Christmas since living here, his home had always been thee most bare. In fact, he'd have absolutely no decorations. The tree, though, he had bent to once or twice, but it was for the benefit of visiting relatives. Every other time he'd go to his childhood home. So, he was surprised when he had noticed lights twinkling down, not only on his garage, but on his house too. Eyes followed and noticed some Christmas decals on his windows with… was that fake snow? They were in Florida. He was almost too scared to go inside. Of course, Naomi had gotten injured, but she was on her feet by the end of the first week. Naturally, she'd get bored and want to work on something... how did he not see all this coming? Should have known leaving her alone would come to this.
Bags in hand, United States championship belt proudly over his shoulder, he walked in and was met with a rather... surprising vision. She had decorated, yes, but the décor was unconventional. Before he could even say anything, his attention was taken by the woman herself.
"Aw man, I wasn't done yet. I wanted to surprise you." He couldn't even respond back, surveying the room.
The first thing he noticed was the lights lining the living room, white and bright, a guiding device for the eye as he continued its trail. There was a wreath, a black wreath with small details that, with further inspection, looked like little skulls on them. Not so far from this was two stockings she had to compromise with, considering there was no fireplace for them to be put on, so she stuck them onto the TV stand. One was a bright green, glitter and all the traditional jolly encompassed on it, with an intricate 'N' sewn on. The one next to it was vastly different. Dark, it appeared to be almost pleather and it had a 'B' that wasn't as intricate, but thick and harsh. The windows still had the fake snow, the regular Christmas decals, but he eventually ended up on the real superstar of this whole show. The Christmas Tree.
First and foremost, it was black. The same black that the wreath had been, and he wondered briefly if she had bought this in the same store. It was just under his height, having to be just 6'0. It was dressed in lights that matched those on the walls. The ornaments were mixtures of them both, various miniature disco balls and skulls were all over. His eyes zero'd in on various little ornaments like the Harley, the little penguin on a sled, the wolf and Elfomi right in the middle of the whole thing. The same one that she had taken with her to their last tour, he noticed. There were many more, but his eyes landed on the very empty top of the tree.
"Wait, wait." Naomi stressed out, moving a chair over to the tree. "God, why couldn't you just come a few minutes later? I would've been done by then." There was an amused smile on her lips, but he could see the small bout of disappointment in her eyes. She liked things perfectly done, he almost felt bad for walking in. He watched as she placed a star right at the top. It was bright and had flecks of green and red. "There… what do you think?"
And now it was finally Baron's turn to speak and he didn't know what to say. "It's…" Words trailed as an actual noise of amusement fell past his lips, a chuckle almost, before a small shake of his head. "It's great, babe."
The smile that grew on her face was brighter than all the Christmas lights he's ever seen. It made him smile, finally dropping his bag unceremoniously on the floor and carefully putting his title on the coffee table; next to a reindeer décor he hadn't noticed before. He walked over to where she was still standing on the chair, he took that moment to inspect the tree and all the ornaments on it. "Where did you find any of these?"
"Online. I did the shopping for this a while back. I was going to convince you to do this with me but then I got injured by Ruby Tuesday and her little gang. So, I decided to surprise you instead." She reached out to touch some of the leaves of the fake tree. "I wanted to put our styles together. I figured you wouldn't like the regular Christmas stuff, so I worked around it."
"…Xander's probably going to try and eat these."
"And that's why Xander's closed up in the room right now. I wanted you to see this first before he tried to mess it up." That was smart. Xander was a great dog but he was still that, a dog. They'd have to keep an eye on him.
"I have one more thing." Naomi's voice broke the brief silence. He watched as she held up her hand, or rather her wrist. Around it was a mistletoe, also black. It had meshed with the tree, he hadn't even noticed that she had it on. "I had to paint it myself. Black wreathes and black trees, but they don't have black mistletoe. It looks a little messy but–" Naomi was cut off by Baron's lips on hers, kissing her firmly but with a gentleness only she had ever gotten to experience. He could feel her smile growing through the kiss, arms so freely wrapping around his shoulders as his hands gripped on her hips.
Christmas was never really Baron's favorite holiday but, maybe, it would be now.