"... And what exactly, pray tell, is this?"
Narugami grinned unabashedly. "A Christmas tree!"
"So I see. More to the point, why is it in my house?" Loki lifted an ominously inquiring eyebrow at the thunder god.
The god-turned-student-cum-worker looked thoughtful for a second. "... 'Cause my apartment is too small for it?"
"... Ah." The trickster god eyed the innocuous-looking plant. "Narukami-kun, where did you get that?"
The teenager shrugged. "Boss gave it to me."
"Oh." Loki chose not to delve more deeply into the matter.
There was a silence as they contemplated the six-foot tree which was, at that moment, taking up a sizable portion of Loki's sitting room.
Suddenly, Narugami perked up. "We need decorations! Don't you or Megane have any lying around here?"
Pointedly, he reminded his fellow god, "We're Norse gods, Narukami-kun. Why should we celebrate Christmas?"
"It's the spirit of the whole thing, Loki!"
Loki resisted an urge to give a long-suffering sigh. "In answer to your question, then, no."
Narugami looked horrified at the very idea. "Not even one?"
"No."
Which, of course, was precisely the reason why Thor saw fit to drag him out to do some last-minute shopping on Christmas Eve.
VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA
"Konnichiwa!"
Yamino appeared in the doorway, wearing a frilly apron and holding a mixing bowl. "Good day to you too, Mayura-san." He smiled cordially at the girl, who was flushed from the cold.
"Merry Christmas Eve, Yamino-san!" she fairly sang. "Is Loki-kun at home?"
He shook his head apologetically. "I'm afraid not, Mayura-san."
"Oh." She looked crestfallen.
At her dejected expression, he hastened to offer, "Would you like some hot chocolate while you wait for Loki-sama?"
Mayura cheered up instantly. "Thank you so much, Yamino-san! I'll be in the sitting room, ne?" And with that, she whirled and trotted into the house.
Yamino watched her for a while, then shook his head good-naturedly as he headed back into the kitchen. That girl is just so volatile.
VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA
After having been jostled rudely for the tenth time, the pint-sized Norse god of Fire and Chaos decided that he had had enough. "Narukami-kun."
Thor didn't answer, presumably due to the deafening music which was contributing to Loki's growing headache.
He tried again. "Narukami-kun!"
This time, his captor did respond. "Yeah, Loki-?" He yelled back over the din.
Loki did a swift calculation of the possibility of getting his desire to return-to-his-mansion-NOW across to Narugami, over the overwhelming racket around them, and sighed in defeat.
He pointed at a nearby restroom.
VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA
There was a blood-curdling scream from the general direction of the sitting room.
Yamino jumped, and turned to see Mayura barreling into the kitchen. "Wha..."
She gave him a scandalized glare, and leveled an accusatory finger at him. "How could you, Yamino-san?"
"How could I what?" The human-snake was becoming decidedly confused.
"Leave that poor tree like that, of course!"
"Leave that... Oh." Yamino blinked, then recovered his composure. "Umm... You see, Mayura-san..."
She clapped her hands together in sudden comprehension. "You don't have decorations, do you?"
"Ahh... Actually... no, we don't." He smiled nervously.
She frowned thoughtfully. "Mou! How could a child like Loki-kun not have a proper tree for Christmas?" She brightened. "I know! I'll go get some from my house!"
And without further ado, she ran back out of the kitchen, and a moment later, out of the gate. The sound of metal clanging against metal resounded within the yard as she made her flurried exit, the gate riveting loudly shut behind her.
Fenrir raised his head off the floor, where he had lain sleeping peacefully. Blearily, he asked his younger brother, "... The mystery girl?"
Yamino nodded dumbly, still in shock.
"Oh." The black puppy curled up again, and immediately began to snore softly.
Jormungand blinked twice rapidly, then replaced the unopened cocoa tin carefully on the shelf, chuckling to himself. Volatile, indeed.
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A stunning young man, clad in a red overcoat and black pants, strode out of the restroom, and smiled in satisfaction as the crowds literally parted to allow him passage.
"Much better."
His companion looked questioningly at him. "Why did you turn back into your kakusei form?"
He glanced scathingly at Thor. "You weren't the one being trampled upon because you were too short to be seen."
"It's not my fault that you came out in chibi form."
"It's your fault that I had to come out in the first place."
Narugami grunted as Loki bestowed a devastating smile upon a group of girls in the corner, who promptly swooned. "... I hate going out with you when you're in your true form."
The trickster god shrugged noncommittally. "Too bad."
VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA
Yamino cleared his throat, and ventured tentatively, "... Mayura-san?"
There was a muffled reply from behind a veritable mountain of tinsel and baubles and lights. A mountain which ended in two legs, and which was standing on their front porch.
He reached out to help her with some of the... stuff she was carrying. Relieved of a part of the weight, she smiled gratefully at him. "Thank you, Yamino-san!"
"You're welcome. And, err... What do we do with...?" He gestured vaguely at the decorations with a motion of his head.
Her smile grew even wider. "We decorate the tree with them!"
"... I see."
VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA
"Now, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Loki wore an insufferably smug smile.
Thor muttered something about fawning fan-girls under his breath, his arms filled with bags.
Seemingly impervious to the thunder god's disgruntlement, he persisted, "Those saleswomen were such nice people, weren't they?" He grinned angelically at his companion.
A tic started in his jaw, and the scowl Narugami gave his friend just then could have melted stone into a puddle of cringing lava. "You can stop rubbing your popularity with females in any time now, Loki."
The trickster god only laughed as they continued their way back home.
VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA
Yamino dumped the load in his arms neatly in a corner of the sitting room. Behind him, Mayura did the same, although not quite so tidily.
She surveyed the mess with a satisfied smile. "Yamino-san?"
"Yes?" He looked curiously at her.
"Could I have that cup of hot chocolate now, please?"
He blinked in confusion. "We aren't going to start decorating the tree?"
She winked at him. "Tree decoration is supposed to be done with the whole family, Yamino-san!"
He blinked again, before a slow smile of understanding stole over his features. "Right away, Mayura-san."
VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA
Loki stared at the extra pair of shoes in his doorway.
"Welcome home, Loki-sama."
He lifted a quizzical look to his son. "Mayura's here?"
Yamino nodded, then added, "She's brought some things with her, as well."
"... Things." Somehow, that sounded terribly daunting.
His son reassured him, "Nothing dangerous, Loki-sama."
He relaxed, and smiled. "That's good to hear. What sort of things?"
There was an innocent edge to Yamino's words. "Tree decorations, Loki-sama."
At that, Thor snorted behind Loki, aghast. "You mean we didn't have to go out, after all?"
The trickster god gave Narugami a very deliberate sort of look. "If my memory serves me right - and I would like to point out that, excusing inebriation, I have yet to be proven false on any matter of recollection - you were the one who insisted on going out to purchase decorations so that we could adorn that tree of yours with trinkets, Narukami-kun."
Before the thunder god could defend himself, though, there was an eager pattering of feet down the corridor. "Yamino-san? Is Loki-kun home?"
Just in time, Loki shape-shifted back into a child.
Mayura glowed with delight at the sight of him. "Merry Christmas Eve, Loki-kun! Merry Christmas Eve, Narugami-kun!"
He smiled easily back at her. "Same to you, Mayura."
Narugami merely mumbled something intelligible.
She skidded to a halt at the sight of the bags in their hands. "You went out to get decorations, too?"
Loki nodded.
"Yamino-san! Why didn't you tell me?" She rounded on the World Serpent, eyes blazing with righteous indignation.
"You didn't exactly give me an opportunity to, Mayura-san."
She thought for a while, obviously trying to find fault with that argument.
He arched an eyebrow at her. "How's the decorating going, Mayura?"
Her good humor immediately restored, she took his hand and pulled him insistently to the sitting room. "I brought lots!"
"You mean, you haven't started decorating?" He took in his sitting room in a single glance. "... I guess not."
She looked at him as though he had sprouted another head. "Of course not!"
He lifted an eyebrow.
Yamino leaned in close to Loki, and explained in a low whisper, "Mayura-san said that tree decoration is meant to be done with the whole family, Loki-sama."
The four-foot god considered that for a moment, then smiled indulgently. "I guess even Mayura has her moments of perceptiveness, after all. Well? Where's the rest of our family?"
Yamino's eyes twinkled, and he turned. "I'll get Nii-san and Ecchan up straight away, Loki-sama."
VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA
"Daidouji, the damn lights just went out again!" Narugami looked as though he was on the very verge of reaching for Mjollnir, and wreaking some much-deserved havoc on the string of rebelling Christmas lights.
"Change the bulb, then."
He glared murder at his classmate. "And which one?"
Mayura pondered that question for a heartbeat, then smiled brightly. "Try all of them?" she offered helpfully.
He stared at her in disbelief.
Loki, in the mean time, was attempting to hang tinsel on the tree's branches. An effort which was being systematically defeated by the fact that he was - at the moment - four feet tall, while the tree was six.
"Allow me, Loki-sama."
He turned to regard his younger son with relief. "Thank you, Yamino-kun."
"You're welcome, Loki-sama." Yamino took the glittery material from his father's hand and wrapped its remainder around the tree.
Having done that, they both looked appraisingly at the war-zone that was their living room.
Fenrir was tackling the tree repeatedly with a bauble in his mouth, evidently refusing to believe that a mere six-foot fir tree could possibly overcome the great wolf which had struck terror into the hearts of the Aesir.
Ecchan was hovering around the area, looking longingly upon the spectacle, since Loki had expressly forbidden her from joining in. (While Mayura normally didn't have much in the way of critical skills, he felt it would stretch even her credulity if she should see a Christmas decoration floating in mid-air. Or maybe it wouldn't... Which would be, quite possibly, infinitely worse.)
The girl herself was sitting on the floor, helping Thor with the massive task of figuring out which bulb had blown... again.
After a short silence, Loki mused, "Well, Mayura was right about one thing."
"Loki-sama?"
He grinned wryly at the human-snake. "Tree decoration is meant to be done with the whole family."
They looked at the others, wrestling with the surprisingly challenging job of decorating a single tree, again.
"Indeed, Loki-sama."
VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA
"There." Mayura sat proudly back, scrutinizing their handiwork.
Loki decided that he had never seen such a badly decorated tree in his life. Even given the fact that he hadn't seen many Christmas trees in his life.
While the various trimmings which hung on its heavily weighted branches were standard enough for the most part - some seemed rather... exotic, and were courtesy of none other than Mayura - they were distributed unevenly, with most of them hanging haphazardly on the lowest branches. (Fenrir had eventually given up, and decided to make do as best as he could.)
The lights, for their part, were blinking in an erratic fashion. Thor was staring unnervingly at them, his hand resting lightly on Mjollnir, as though daring them to do anything otherwise.
Hell, forgetting all that, the entire tree was skewed to one side.
Still, the deed was done, and Loki breathed a quick sigh of gratitude for that.
Mayura chirped happily as she bounded up, "Now that that's finished, it's time to make cookies!"
"... Why?"
She looked askance at his lack of common sense. "Because it's a Christmas tradition!"
"... Ah."
She pouted petulantly. "Aren't you going to help me?"
Loki shrugged. "You can handle it, can't you?" He watched her flounce out of the room, miffed. Where that girl gets her energy from, I'll never know.
"Loki-tama..."
He turned his head to look at Ecchan, who was looking guilty. "Yes?"
She produced a golden star from behind a cushion, and Yamino exclaimed triumphantly, "I knew something was missing!"
The shikigami smiled uncertainly at Loki. "May I, Loki-tama?"
He smiled back at her, and waved his hand. Trilling with joy, she sped up to the very top of the tree and placed it reverently on the fir.
And Loki decided that he was also quite content with having that same tree in his sitting room, badly decorated or no.
VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA
That evening found them all snuggled into the cushions of Loki's darkened living room, warm in front of the fire, and stuffed on cookies.
He was lounging in his customary armchair, Fenrir curled up in his lap and Ecchan resting on his head.
Yamino was sitting just in front of the fireplace, knees to chin, apparently enjoying its warmth.
Thor had pillowed his head on a large cushion, and was emitting occasional snores in one corner.
Mayura, having constructed a sort of divan out of cushions against the side of his armchair, was propped up comfortably against it.
The drowsy silence which shrouded them was relaxed and familiar; replete.
As he watched the lights on their tree blinking tranquilly in the shadows, Loki reflected that maybe there was something going for the festival, after all.
He smiled.
VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA
Authoress: There will be a second part to this, that I shall post on Christmas. :3 That one's slightly LokiMayu, although one may interpret it otherwise.
Disclaimer: Matantei Loki Ragnarok does not belong to me.