Since Shane lost to Kevin Owens and had lost his position on Smackdown, he's become more distant, burying himself in other work, trying to find something to fill the sudden void in his time. AJ's busy himself, with OC business, and the aftermath of losing his US title so damn abruptly. Still, it's well into December, and they haven't even really decorated yet, neither of them really finding the time or energy to consider what they want to do this year. He looks around the dreary, lifeless rooms and shakes his head, kneeling onto the couch near where Shane is poring over whatever's flashing on his laptop screen. "Hey, I gotta go."
"Oh," Shane says, looking up. Takes his glasses off and puts the laptop aside. "Right, I'm sorry I've been so distracted this morning, you know how the business world is. Always hopping."
AJ actually has no clue, but he keeps that thought to himself as Shane leans over and cradles his face in his hands, kissing AJ warmly. "I'll miss you while I'm gone," he says, resting his forehead against Shane's.
"I'll miss you too," Shane murmurs.
"We really need to do somethin' about decoratin' this place," AJ says after a few moments of just absorbing Shane's presence. "Ya know?"
"Yeah, I was thinking about that," Shane admits with a sheepish grin. "We will, I swear."
"We better." AJ's hand trails up Shane's side and he grimaces, hating to break up this moment. "I'm sorry, I'm gonna be late."
"It's fine," Shane says, eyes gleaming in the faint light overhead. "Next time."
"Damn right," AJ sighs, leaning in and kissing him. "I'll text ya when I make it."
"You do that," Shane says, sitting back and watching AJ slowly pull himself together, getting off of the couch and collecting his luggage before heading to the door, stopping to look back at Shane. "Love ya, Allen."
AJ smirks. "Love ya too, Shane." And just like that, he's gone, leaving Shane to lean back against the cushions and look around their non-festive rooms, exhaling slowly.
"Huh," he sighs.
It's a long few days for AJ, flight disruptions seem to only get worse this close to the holidays, some people are more cheerful, others are only angrier, and wrestling... well, between Randy Orton and Rey Mysterio, there's little for AJ to do but seethe in frustration anymore. He curls his hands into fists and stares out of the window as the plane he's on departs slowly, relieved to finally make it back to New York to spend his few days off with Shane, decompress from all of the crap he's just endured.
The car is waiting for him right where he'd left it in long-term parking, and he drives as fast as he dares to avoid getting a ticket but also just anxious to get home. Thumps his thumbs against the steering wheel to distract himself whenever he gets caught in traffic or at a red light, and finally breathes a little easier when he sees Shane's penthouse apartment overhead. "Finally. Geez." He drives around a bit to find a place to park, finally managing to squeeze in to a spot not very far away, pulling his luggage out of the trunk and trudging up the sidewalk into the building.
It's warm and smells nice inside and he takes a few seconds just to breathe it in, allow himself to shake off some of the December chill, before heading for the elevator. He's lost in thought, barely aware of what's in front of him, when he unlocks the door and heads inside. He does, however, notice when he almost falls face first over something. "Ah son of a- what the-?!" he sputters and yells, only just hearing Shane coming rushing towards him.
"Allen! Are you ok?" He grips AJ's arms and steadies him, frowning. "Man, I'm sorry, I was trying to sort through our decorations, and-" He stops and shakes his head. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine," he grouses. "Man." He squints over all of the boxes and frowns at Shane. "I didn't realize we had so much stuff."
"Me neither, not entirely," Shane says with a sheepish grin. "Wanna come look at some of it with me?"
AJ's tired. He's stressed out, annoyed, and now his ankle hurts on top of everything else. But Shane looks so hopeful, eyes wide and twinkling with joy, that he can't say no. "Sure," he murmurs.
Looking at everything in the boxes turns into pure old decorating, despite AJ's exhaustion, and before he knows it, soft Christmas music is playing from Shane's laptop, and they have the tree partially up, lights and garland and various ornaments covering every possible surface as they figure out what to do next. Shane chuckles warmly, kneeling next to him, looking so happy that AJ thinks he couldn't deny him even at his lowest. "I'm happy you're home," Shane tells him, holding out a shiny penguin ornament to him that AJ thinks Shane said he's had since he was a child
AJ lays the penguin down gently, looking around at the mess, so much still left to do before the penthouse looks holiday ready, before turning his gaze back to Shane's. "So am I," he says simply, reaching out and tugging Shane closer, kissing him. "Thank you for finally gettin' us started on this."
Shane beams, and lingers against AJ for a few, soft moments before pulling away hesitantly. "Any time," he says quietly. "But c'mon, we've got so much to do."
AJ grumbles as Shane reaches down and catches his hands, pulling him up from the ground with a cheerful grunt. "Yeah, but it'll look amazing when we're done."
Shane's grin only seems to grow, the little boy that he so rarely got to be when younger shining through. "Yeah, I think so too."
AJ reaches back for the penguin ornament and catches Shane's hand, the two of them together putting it on the tree, the very first ornament of the season. "Merry Christmas, Shane," he says softly, smiling over at him.
"Merry Christmas, Allen," Shane echoes back, grinning warmly at him.