Masky stared down at his gloved hands then got detracted by his breath puffing out in a white cloud. Last time he had been out it was warm, now it wasn't. He didn't even think they lived in a place where it got this cold. Where had Tim taken them? He hoped that Hoody had come too.

Masky looked up and around him. Snow! He laughed and kicked the white powder up watching it fall around him with delight. He loved snow even though he had only experienced it a couple times before. He scooped some of the snow up in his hands. It was a good thing Tim had gone, he hated snow, might as well leave Masky to enjoy it.

A snowball hit Masky on the back of the head and he whipped around. Hoody stood on the other side of clearing smiling at him. Of course, if he had been watching he would be able to tell the change in attitude right away. Masky laughed and packed the snow in his hands into a ball throwing it back at Hoody who dodged. The snowball fight was short lived, but intense. When they finished they were both laughing and puffing, breath crystallizing the chilly air.

Masky held up his hands in defeat finally, Hoody had always had better aim and he was getting sick of getting hit. Hoody ran up to Masky then and threw his arms around Masky's shoulders. Masky hugged back gleefully and pressed their lips together in a long, warm kiss.

"Has Tim already got a motel room?" Masky asked Hoody when they broke the kiss, though they still clung to each other. Hoody nodded rather than answer aloud. "Good, let's go back there to warm up huh? That was fun but now my fingers are frozen." Hoody laughed and nodded again.

He led the way back to Tim's hotel room since Masky had no memory of where it might be. It was nicer than most of the places Tim had stayed recently, Masky wondered why. He sat down on the edge of the bed as Hoody wandered around examining the room. He liked to know every inch of places he stayed, Masky understood that by now.

"Look, this place even has a kettle and a couple of packages of hot chocolate as well as the usual instant coffee and bad tea." Hoody pointed out. His childish excitement making Masky laugh as Hoody put the kettle on

"I still prefer instant coffee but I guess hot chocolate is tradition." Masky said.

"From what I can gather." Hoody agreed smiling crookedly. Five minutes later they were curled up on the bed together, wrapped in blankets and clutching white hotel mugs full of hot chocolate. Neither of them seemed to feel any urge to talk so Masky flipped on the tv and was surprised when the first thing he saw was a Christmas themed ad.

"What date is it?" He asked Hoody curiously.

"December 20th." Hoody answered immediately.

"Almost Christmas." Masky commented sipping his hot chocolate and grimacing slightly at how sweet it was. Hoody was enjoying his though.

"I don't understand Christmas." Hoody stated sounding a little annoyed, he hated not understanding things.

"I don't think it's really supposed to be understood. It's just, like, time to spend with people you love and show them you're grateful to them by giving them gifts or something." Masky tried to explain. "I've never really done Christmas, I mean maybe Tim did back when he had a family."

"I can't remember." Hoody sighed. Masky gave his shoulders a small squeeze. Hoody had accepted his inability to remember anything but he still didn't like it. Masky could remember some of what Brian had been like. He tried to answer Hoody's questions about it but he had no idea what Brian's Christmases had been like. He knew that he and Tim had spent Brian's last one together, right before Brian had been erased to make way for Hoody. But he had no idea what they had done.

That had been the last Christmas Tim had celebrated as far as Masky knew. Maybe it was that holiday grump that had pushed Tim down now. If it was, Masky hoped that Tim would stay gone so that he and Hoody could spend it together.

"Why don't we try to have a Christmas this year?" Masky asked Hoody. "Just the two of us."

"Why not." Hoody agreed with a small smile.

"Okay!" Masky said not trying to hide his enthusiasm, being excited was the best way to get Hoody excited. "First step is try and smuggle a small Christmas tree in here."

"Don't we need decorations?" Hoody asked tilting his head to the side slightly.

"Ya but they don't have to be anything big." Masky explained putting down his mug so he could gesture. "We can make paper chains from just dollar store construction paper, we did that in the hospital once. I remember how. We can make snowflakes out of paper too! And decorations out of pine cones." Hoody smiled watching Masky as he got himself worked up. Masky stopped when he saw Hoody yawn and realized he was tired too. When was the last time Tim has slept? Probably not for ages, sometimes Masky could swear he was on a quest to find out how long he could stay awake without passing out or dying.

"Tomorrow." Hoody promised and Masky nodded.

"Tomorrow." Masky agreed. "Tonight we can just relax, or whatever you want. How long have you been alone this time?" Masky asked softly wrapping his arms around Hoody again. Hoody sighed and put down his, now empty, cup and cuddled close against Masky. He shrugged even though Masky knew Hoody probably remembered exactly how long. He just didn't want to talk about it, Masky didn't press it.

Hoody fell asleep propped against Masky that night. Masky fell asleep quickly after without turning off the tv. Both he and Hoody had trained themselves to wake up at the sound of static because it was usually the first sign of the Operator showing up. There were no disturbances that night though and they woke up late. They let themselves have a leisurely morning and then Masky shooed them both out the door.

They took a trip to the dollar store where they picked up white and coloured paper, string, scissors, tape, some instant noodles and junk food. They dropped that stuff off at the motel room, shocked how long it was rented for (the week as it turned out, maybe Tim had been planning to hide though Christmas), then went for a walk. Hoody led the way to some nearby nature trails partially to pick up his backpack from the place he had been hiding, and partially to look for pinecones. They had decided to make decorations today and get the tree tomorrow.

They found a few pinecones and acorns too which Hoody thought they should take because he liked them and they were kinda shiny, Masky agreed. They held hands as they walked and talked, Hoody catching Masky up on everything he had missed. Hoody found where he had hidden his bag and Masky was even more glad that Tim was gone. Hoody must have been fucking cold, but of course here it wasn't as easy to find place to hide when temperature needed to be worried about as well as shelter.

"Don't worry, I've been doing a little breaking and entering as well." Hoody said when he caught Masky's frown. "There are lots of people who've gone away for the holiday so someone might as well use their houses." Masky relaxed a little and they wandered back to the hotel. It turned out Hoody had done a little theft while he was in those houses because he pulled a couple bottles out of his bag once they were back.

"Someone had too big of booze." Hoody said grinning at Masky. "I figured I could help myself to a little bit of it, I hoped you might be back soon to share it with me." So they drank a little while they worked. Masky showed Hoody how to make the paper chain by cutting strips of coloured paper and making them into interlocking circles with the tape. Like everything else, he picked it up fast. After the chain they started making snowflakes of varying sizes from the white paper. Hoody's were better than Masky's unsurprisingly, neater and more delicate.

They threaded the string through holes in the snowflakes and made loops so that when they had the tree they could hang the snowflakes on it. Then tied string to the acorns and pine cones to do the same. They did pretty well and started making more snowflakes, giving up a few glasses in, when Hoody accidentally cut himself and started giggling. Then they fell into bed together.

The next day they got the tree early in the morning before hardly anyone was around. There was one young woman in the lobby but when she saw what they were doing she laughed and waved them through.

"Merry Christmas." She told them and Masky smiled gratefully at her, Hoody half his behind him. "You're a lot more cheerful today than you were when you first checked in." She commented. "I guess you were just waiting for him huh?"

"Ya." Masky agreed happily. "I was worried he wouldn't make it and I'd be alone for Christmas."

"No wonder you were so mopy then!" She exclaimed sympathetically. "No one should be alone for Christmas. I hope you have a good one now that he's here."

"I'm sure I will." Masky agreed grinning at Hoody who smiled back shyly. "We hope you do too."

They took the tree to their room and set it up using string to secure it to some of the bolted furniture so it wouldn't fall over. Masky found some Christmas carols on youtube and they listened to them as they decorated the tree. Masky sang along and Hoody couldn't seem to stop smiling. When they were done they sat back together and appreciated their work for a little bit. It looked really good for a small tree with only homemade decorations.

"What?" Masky asked when Hoody started laughing suddenly.

"When Tim comes back and doesn't remember what he did over this time, I'm going to make a video saying 'thanks for the Christmas gift'. It'll be so funny to watch him scramble to figure out what sort of sinister thing I mean when there's nothing too sinister there." Masky laughed too, wishing he would be around to see Tim's reaction.

"That's a great idea Hoody." Masky agreed. They watched Christmas movies on tv together that night and Hoody seemed to enjoy them, even though neither of them had any fond memories to attach to the movies. They were building memories now, eating cheap noodles in a motel room together. Masky wasn't even sure if they would exchange presents on Christmas day but maybe they would.

If they did he thought maybe they should leave a present for Tim too, just to get in the spirit. After all in a way he had given both of them a gift, he had left so that Masky and Hoody could spend this holiday together. That was all either of them really wanted anyway. Just some time together to eat cheap food, cuddle on hard beds, and laugh at bad movies and just love being together.