A slow creaking of the door. A nervous, sharp inhalation. Timid, hesitant footsteps.
Hilda knew that her husband was entering the room far before he ever said anything to her, but she decided to keep quiet in order to avoid upsetting him. Judging from the cautious way that he was approaching her, he clearly was uncomfortable about whatever he wanted to discuss.
"Hilda?" he whispered as he came up behind her. He tapped her lightly on the shoulder, too.
Taking a deep breath, the brunette turned her head to face him. She found herself staring at his knees, and she had to lift her head to see his face. Sometimes she forgot just how tall N was, but whenever she was sitting down and he was towering over her, she quickly remembered. Hilda got up onto her feet in order to close the height gap a little. "Yes, N?" she asked calmly.
"I…" He trailed off and began to fiddle with his bracelets. "It's a common human tradition to purchase a tree for the winter holidays, correct?"
She nodded. "Yes, Christmas trees are traditional. Why do you ask?"
"Why don't we own one?"
This was a perfectly valid question, but Hilda actually hadn't expected him to ask. She wanted a tree, of course; she grew up with the custom of having a tree every year, and she relished the scent of pine filling her home during the holiday season. The primary reason that she hadn't searched for one this year was for N's sake.
"Do you want one?" she asked simply. He nodded. "Even if that means cutting a tree down so we can bring it home?" He hesitated for a moment, but then nodded again. This caught her off guard; she had assumed that he would be against having a Christmas tree because he would want to preserve the tree's life. Honestly, she had expected some sort of lecture about ruining a Pokemon's natural habitat or something similar.
"I wish the process was… different," he confessed. He dropped his hands and shifted his gaze to meet hers. "I want a tree, though. I want to change. This is an important step for the new me, in this new home, on our very first Christmas together."
His determination was inspiring; he always shone with such a dazzling light, the light of purity and truth. She could tell that he was serious about this, even though he seemed slightly pained by the whole ordeal. Was this too much for him? Was he overexerting himself by going against his principles? "You know that I love you," she stated bluntly, and his face turned crimson. "You don't have to change. I love you for who you are." Now she could feel her own cheeks beginning to radiate heat. "Besides…" A mischievous glimmer sparkled in her eyes. "We could just use you as a tree. If you pull your hair back, and we put a star on your head—"
"That is never going to happen."