"Tamer of automotives, I will be attending Midnight Mass on the eve of Christmas and I... I know that you are not religious, but I would appreciate it much if you would be willing to attend with me."
And that was how it began. They'd both initially agreed to not bother with Christmas that year. Tommy had given up on the whole holiday after last year, when he'd ended up trying to catch a train on Christmas morning after his father had kicked him out of the house and told him to piss off and not come back. Annika hadn't celebrated since the Christmas two years ago when his mother had been hit by a drunk driver (fucking murderer , in Tommy's opinion). He just hadn't had the heart for it ever since. Instead, they'd stocked up on DVDs and take-out menus and a tub of ice-cream, the least Christmassy things that they could find, and that was that.
Except that Annika was standing in front of him now, an awkward, nervous expression on his face pulling his scarf up over his mouth to hid his blushing face. How the fuck could Tommy refuse him when he looked like that and was asking so damn nicely? Tommy rubbed the back of his neck, looking anywhere but at Annika's face. He hadn't been to church in years, not since he'd been a kid and gone to the Christingle service, mainly because you got an orange with candy stuck into it. It was admittedly a bigger lure when you were five. "Sure," he replied, "I mean, yeah, I'll go with you. Not like I'm planning anything else on Christmas eve, right?"
Annika smiled happily, basically beamed, all sunshine and softness, and kissed him, then the corner of his mouth, then quickly, then slowly and then neither of them left the house for the better part of the afternoon.
xXx
"I was thinking," Tommy said later, as they lounged in bed together, Annika was petting one of his dark devas of destuction, "if we're going to Midnight Mass this year, we could uh... we could have Christmas dinner too, maybe?"
Annika turned a little to look up at him, a little frown drawn between his eyes. "Not to sound to harsh my dark angel but don't you dislike the holiday of Christ."
Tommy flushed, turning away to hide his embarrassment. "I just hate the way my father acted. B-but it's fine. Stupid idea. It's probably too late to buy anything now anyway." You had to order the food in advance, right? And there was less than a week to go.
Annika turned him back round with a hand against his cheek. He was smiling softly, he only smiled like that with Tommy. "I'm certain that we can get enough for a fine meal, even if it is not quite traditional, correct?"
A hesitant smile appeared on Tommy's lips. "Yeah. Sounds good. But we don't have to hamster boy"
"No, we will now be partaking in Christ's holiday!" Annika exclaimed in his own unique way.
Tommy leaned down to press his lips to Annika's cheek lightly, nuzzling there for a moment. "Guess we're spending the rest of the day shopping then."
xXx
Town was predictably crowded so close to Christmas. It was rather stupid really in Tommy's opinion, but, well, he had asked if they could have Christmas and he couldn't really honestly back out now. Besides, Annika was probably half done with the food shopping already. He always managed to speed through the supermarket in record time.
"Right," he murmured, looking down at the list with a frown. "This can't be too hard, right?"
Twenty minutes later he was cursing whoever had decided that green was just too boring a color for Christmas trees. He'd seen everything else; black, blinding white, neon pink, glittery silver, and he couldn't help but find them all incredibly tacky. The Christmas lights everywhere were flashing like demented fireflies on crack and he was certain that half of the customers were part banshee from the way they were shrieking.
The problem was that he didn't really know where to start. He'd never had a tree or decorations of his own, and Annika had said that Christmas trees weren't all that popular in his household because his father didn't like paying for one. There was a dizzying array of decorations too, and he hadn't though to measure the height of the ceiling so what if he got a seven foot tree for a six and a half foot ceiling?
What if Annika hated it?
What if the whole affair was a disaster and they decided never to do Christmas again?
What if he and Annika broke up, and he was left with a tree and a bunch of fragile glass baubles that he couldn't even bear to look at?
"Oh my god I need to stop this. I am a mechanic not some small little girl," he muttered sourly to himself, browsing the pretty decorations. Some of them were utter trash, but the little glass ones weren't too bad. He huffed softly and then stood up straight, a determined look on his face. "Right. So. Next year we can get a real tree together. So..."
There was a little tree, black instead of the traditional green, just four or so feet high, enough to fit on the windowsill of the lounge in their apartment, and pre-lit with colored lights. He grabbed a box of colored baubles and then, after a moment, a couple of the nice blown glass ones with animals painted on them that he'd been admiring earlier.
He paid without too much trouble, thankfully, glad that he'd dropped Annika off at the supermarket instead of letting him take the car. After dropping off the tree, he headed back into the fray for the most difficult part of the whole holiday; buying Annika a Christmas present.
What in the actually living hell, Tommy wondered as he stared around the crowded shop, did Annika's favorite shop need to have to be so damn weird and too many options. Maybe he could find something. Just a good little thing that Annika would honestly enjoy.
They finally met up when Tommy pulled into the parking lot. As soon as Tommy stepped out of the car, Annika took Tommy into his arms in an overly dramatic manner. "Tommy, my dark angle, let us never do that again. I was brutally mauled by rabid children and a woman with a shopping trolley full of beer and chocolate!"
Tommy snorted softly and rolled his eyes, but wrapped his arms around Annika anyway, nuzzling a kiss into his hair until a car honked angrily at them.
"Fuck, Annika? The cart!"
Annika looked up and yelped before dashing off to rescue the shopping cart which had started to drift towards a rather expensive looking parked car.
Well, Tommy thought, at least they'd survived mostly intact.
xXx
It was Christmas Eve and Annika had been in the kitchen for a bit. Tommy had been firmly ejected after breakfast with promises that no, Annika was quite fine on his own, thank you, and of course the pink haired one could not be expected to understand how these things worked, Gundam said you may build amazing machines, but your cooking sometimes reminds me of my mother's cooking. He wasn't entirely sure why Annika needed to spend so damn long cooking, but then, it did smell rather good and Tommy's main memory of Christmas dinner involved undercooked Turkey, overcooked vegetables and having a huge fight about how big of a disappointment he was. The food had generally been an afterthought when compared to the more obvious problem that by the time dinner came around his dad would already have drunk half a bottle of rum and was less 'merry' and more...
Yeah, decorating the Christmas tree was a much safer prospect than thinking about Christmas's past.
The radio was playing Christmas carols and Tommy hummed along absently as he hung baubles and tinsel and put the cards from their friends up over the fireplace. One from Sonia who had gone back to her kingdom to spend Christmas with their family, Akane and Nekomaru who were in a cabin somewhere in the American countryside. He'd thought that Akane had been going to cry out of joy when she'd found out that they would be roughing it, Nekomaru had wanted to go and discover his roots and Akane could never refuse him. Mrs. Settigren had snorted and refused the offer to accompany them, (Her and Akane became super close after high school) she was staying with her 'girlfriend' Mr. Settigren (who knows what those two are honestly) who is taking up the promise of double pay at the hospital if she worked Christmas Day instead.
To his surprise, there'd even been one from Nagito, an awkwardly worded one, not-quite-but-almost apologizing for something in high school, hoping that he and Annika had a nice day. He stuck it on the mantelpiece with the others.
"It looks almost perfect," came Annika's voice. Tommy turned to see him leaning against the door frame. Beyond him, Tommy could see pans and dishes spread out across the counters.
"Almost?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at the other man. "I see. You have problems even with the way I decorate trees. Not up to your standards, hamster-chan?" But his words were affectionate.
"Nothing is to my standards, Tommy, you know that. For I am a dark lord nothing can truly please my standards but you. One moment I beg of you."
He went off into the bedroom, coming back with a large cardboard box which he supported with both arms. He set it down on the coffee table and out of it, once he'd removed the packing, he pulled something that looked a little like a house.
"What's that?" Tommy asked curiously, going over to poke through the other wrapped bundles in the box until Annika smacked his hands away.
"It was my mother, the angel's. I had it in storage since..." His smile faltered a little and he turned to put the little house (stable, Tommy realized), onto the windowsill. When he turned back around, he was all mysterious in his ways again. "Well, it did occur to me that it would be a nice addition to our place of living."
Tommy opened up the wrapping, revealing a little painted clay figured of a man with a crown and a present in his arms. "Oh, like a nativity scene?" he said, the start of a smile curling his lips.
"Ah, Yes, that is correct!" Annika replied, returning to drop a kiss onto the top of Tommy's head and then start unwrapping the rest of the figures. "It is only a small one, but I have found memories of it."
Tommy just hummed in response. It was not very often that Annika spoke of his mother let alone bring things that she owned into their place.
xXx
"Fuckin' hell, it's cold," Tommy grumbled as they headed up the path towards the church. There were quite a number of other people heading the same way, braving the icy night to attend midnight mass, even some children who alternated between excited and asleep. He had to smile as he spotted a tiny girl sleeping against her father's shoulder.
"It is winter, Tommy," Annika replied with some amusement.
"If I wanted cold ass temperatures I'd go live in Russia or something." He shoved his gloved hands further into his pocket. Annika's slid down next to his, curling their fingers together. Tommy couldn't hide the blush which crept over his cheeks. "Ah-h, someone might see."
"If they see, then they see. I am not ashamed, you are my dark angel" Annika said firmly.
Tommy gave him a slightly startled look at that. He hadn't thought that Annika had been ashamed of him, but when they'd first started dating at least, Annika had been very uncertain about contact in public.
He squeezed Annika's fingers and pressed up against his side, feeling his face burn.
He'd thought that Annika might let go of his hand once they got inside, but he didn't, just guided him to a free seat, next to a little old lady who beamed at two 'such nice boys' sitting with her. Annika was soon chatting with her as though she were an old friend, while loosening his scarf. He'd never been particularly religious, but he had to admit that everything looked rather nice. A huge tree over near the pulpit, and a beautiful nativity scene at the other side, lit up with warm yellow light. It was... peaceful, he thought. He could appreciate the intent behind a building like this, even if he couldn't believe in what it had been built to serve.
He felt a little awkward sitting there, more so when they had to sing and he realized that while he could sing along to the all that damn emo shit from his teenage years like no tomorrow but, his voice went all over the place when he tried to sing 'O come all ye faithful'. Annika looked positively radiant in the dim light, his voice deep and warm and Tommy found himself enjoying the experience just for that. He told Annika as much when they linked arms to begin the walk home.
Annika chuckled softly, a slight smile never leaving his lips. "I am glad that you enjoyed yourself, my paramour, even if I am certain that lust is a sin."
Tommy snorted. "You never seem to complain about that particular sin when we're in bed... or on the sofa, or in the shower. I could go on."
Annika stopped suddenly, turning to look at the mechanic with a heavy blush covering his face. "I expected to be indulging more when we have finished Christmas Eve properly."
"Finished Christmas Eve? Annika, what the hell, it's almost 1am already! What else is there?"
Annika smiled secretively and tugged him along. "You will see."
xXx
Annika had sat him down on the couch when they got back to the apartment, and gone into the kitchen. Tommy could hear him moving around in there now, and he switched on the T.V. to some comedy show while he waited. Damn Annika and his need to be mysterious.
It wasn't too long till he emerged at least, a tray in his arms, and he sat next to Tommy, on the sofa, sliding the tray over their knees. "What's this?" Tommy asked, eyes widening as he looked over the tray at the multitude of different little desserts. Mini cheesecake and chocolate mousse, and little pastries.
Annika passed him a spoon and handed over a little bowl of ice-cream first. "I thought that, my dark angel, since we are having Christmas dinner tomorrow, a full meal now was a little too much for our mortal forms, I do know how fond you are of the sugary treats that mortals take apart in. There for I made these all for us my dark one." Annika gave a proud look to Tommy.
Tommy gave him a "serious" look. "You do realize that you are fuckin mad, right?
"From what I researched in the other world, tis a tradition!"
"You will say anything is tradition if it deals with the "other world" babe."
"Those are the best traditions, my dark consort. Now, let us feast! We have all of these desserts to consume and the ice-cream is melting quickly"
Tommy looked back down at his bowl and then deliberately smeared a dollop of ice cream onto Annika's nose. "Yeah, it is. Let me help you with that hamster boy" he said with a grin as he leaned in to lick it off.
xXx
Christmas morning dawned, bright and clear and anything but white, with Tommy and Annika still curled up together on the couch beneath the thick comforter that Tommy had dragged in from the bedroom. He spent several minutes just watching Annika as he slept, before disentangling himself and staggering into the kitchen to make coffee.
Annika announced his presence by sliding arms around his waist and nuzzling his face against the back of Tommy's neck with a mumbled 'morning' and a yawn before he reached out to grab a mug of coffee. They puttered around in silence for a while, neither of them being particularly fond of mornings, even Christmas mornings, with Tommy having cereal while Annika cooked store-bought croissants for them both.
They were mostly capable of intelligent speech by the time they'd finished.
"We should exchange gifts," Tommy said once they were done and he felt awake enough. He could remember waking on other Christmas mornings, bright and early, and rushing down to tear open his small pile of presents. There wasn't a pile of presents for either of them this year, just a few small things, mostly from friends to both of them, but he felt the faint stirrings of the old excitement.
"Let me get tonight's feast started and then I shall join you," Annika agreed, pushing himself to his feet.
Tommy had gathered their presents into a pile next to the fireplace. There just wasn't room under the tree for them, although he had, perhaps blasphemously, slipped a tiny Santa hat onto the head of the Jesus figure in Annika's mother's nativity. Annika hadn't seemed to mind, going on to say that he was certain the Savior would have awaited Santa with as much eagerness as any other child, had such a custom existed then.
Tommy saw Annika entered, wiping his hands on a dishcloth, and flopped down on the rug next to the fireplace, Tommy made his way quickly to sit next to him and took a seat while making grabby hands at the gifts. "Presents! Now!"
"Sometimes," Annika said, shoving the one from Mrs. Settigren and Mr. Settigren towards him, "I swear that you're still five years old at heart."
He seemed to be proven right with the way that Tommy tore into the paper with relish, revealing a care package with random bits and odd ends that both showed out their personalities, from CD's and a handy little first aid kit.
Anna and Willie had bought them plane tickets to Sonia's homeland to go see the princess on the arranged date that they were going to see the girl.
Mrs. Settigren had given up as usual and bought them both gift cards and a promise to drag them both out for New Years.
Tommy then passed over his gift to Annika, muttering about it just being something he'd picked up. This one, Annika took his time over, picking apart the wrapping paper slowly until Tommy wanted to tear it off himself.
"Ah, Tommy, this is..." Annika said, staring down at the little box open in his hands. In the box was a charm bracelet with his Deva's who mortal forms finally gave out and they had to return to their true land.
"I know you've missed them and all, I just hope it's not too girly…," Tommy said awkwardly.
"My dark angel, this is the best jewelry I have ever been gifted. Not including the band I wear on my hand that bounds me to you."
Tommy flushed bright red to the tips of his ears. "J-just put it on, idiot."
He did, with a pleased smile on his lips. "Ah I feel like my gift won't hold up to the beauty your gift to me holds." He lamented, pushing a box towards Tommy. Tommy would swear that he was even pouting.
Tommy tried to torment Annika as much as Annika had tortured him, but in the end, he gave up and just tore off the gift wrap, and gasped at what he saw. He pulled out two tickets to the N.A.S.A. Rocket Exhibit in America and plane tickets. Tommy had been talking about this for months but never excepted for them to go.
"Do you like it?" Annika asked.
"Do I like it?" Tommy replied. "It's fucking amazing babe! How did you get these I thought they all sold out?!"
"Nothing is too hard to obtain for the great Annika Tanaka!" Annika basically yelled but you could still see a faint blush on his cheeks from the praise he received.
Tommy put the tickets back with a certain amount of reverence and then practically threw himself at Annika, wrapping arms around him and kissing him silly.
They would have stayed like that, wrapped around each other, warm skin on skin, mouths and hands and the radio playing in the background, but eventually Annika had to pull away. "I need to get back into the hellish meal preparation or else you might taint it if I do not."
"Oi!" Tommy grumbled, grabbing a cushion from the sofa and whacking him with it. "Get back to work then, if all you're going to do is insult me."
Annika laughed and leaned down to kiss him again, smoothing his thumb against Tommy' cheek before heading back to the kitchen.
The phone rang about halfway through dinner, and Tommy frowned as he went to fetch it, not entirely certain who would bother to ring them so early. Mr. Settigren and Mrs. Settigren would barely be awake by now.
"Yo it's Tommy speaking."
The voice on the other end was gruff and far too familiar for Tommy's liking. 'Rob' he mouthed to Annika, naming father, the one who'd kicked him out last Christmas. Annika scowled, but gathered the plates, putting them into the still warm oven so that the food wouldn't go cold as they talked.
"Tommy, uh, guess I should start with Merry Christmas, right?" his father said, sounding as uncomfortable as Tommy had ever heard him.
"You don't normally care," Tommy said, the suppressed resentment bubbling to the surface.
A sigh, and he could just imagine Rob shaking his head at the comment. He half expected him to start shouting. "I know and I regret it. Have been fer a while. But I figured today's meant to be about family and all that so..."
Tommy snorted. "Leon's been badgering you hasn't he?" he said. He actually didn't mind that Leon tried to get him and his dad talking again, it was just tiresome for everyone, but that is one of the many reasons why he calls Leon his brother without being related.
"Aye, that too," his dad replied, and the humour in his voice made Tommy smile a little. "But look, I have felt bad and I should've called earlier. Not expectin' you to forgive me or anything, but I just wanted to say that... I acted badly, an' I'm sorry for that. An' if you ever want to visit, you're welcome. You and yer boyfriend."
Tommy felt a lump growing in his throat, because this wasn't supposed to happen. He was supposed to have stopped caring, cut himself off from them and his father was making things so difficult, and Annika was watching him with worried eyes and...
"I'd like it too," he said, sounding a bit strangled and before he knew it, Annika had grabbed the phone from him and was talking rapidly to Rob while Tommy sat down, trying to make his hands stop shaking.
"Very well," he heard Annika say. "We shall call later in the week, yes? Good bye mortal." He passed the phone back to Tommy long enough for him to mumble goodbye, before Annika switched the phone off.
"We should finish up, right?" Tommy said, hating how watery his voice sounded.
Before he could stand, Annika had wrapped arms around him from behind, pulling him back against Annika's chest, holding him tightly. He didn't cry, although part of him wanted to. He felt sort of numb inside, but with bright edges of anger and hurt poking out, and the worst was the fine tendril of happiness that was growing that he barely dared acknowledge.
Annika held him just long enough; he always knew how long that was, somehow. He kissed Tommy's cheek, a chaste gesture, and went to retrieve their food.
It was Annika who kept up most of the conversation for the rest of the meal, chattering about what they could do tomorrow, perhaps a trip to the seaside when it would be deserted, while Tommy ate. Annika's voice was relaxing and he found himself nodding along soon enough, replying with monosyllables and then more as he found himself again.
"We can leave the dishes until a later time, I think, my beloved" Annika said when they had both eaten their fill. He refilled their glasses, Tommy's with coke (no matter how much he felt like he needed a hard scotch) and his own with more whiskey, and led them both back into the lounge where the Christmas tree gleaming in the window.
"I never expected him to call me," Tommy murmured, as Annika wrapped them both in a blanket, a box of chocolates open on his lap and within easy reach of them both.
"Your father?" Annika asked. "Put it out of your mind for now, my dark consort. We have time enough to deal with that demon later." He flipped on the TV, switching channels so that they wouldn't miss the Christmas Story when it came on.
"Yeah I..." Tommy paused, taking a shuddery breath. "You're right. Just... he had to call when I was having such a nice time. Awkward bastard."
Annika chuckled, kissing just below his ear. Tommy squirmed slightly and tilted his head to one side to encourage him. "All of your family are," he said, "but I know one that I would not change for the world."
"Oh?" Tommy said, grinning a little more genuinely. He slid his hand against Annika's thigh, making the other man shiver pleasantly. "You always complain about me being scared and awkward."
"Only in jest, I assure you. It is... endearing, yes."
"Just my luck to end up with a weird hamster man like you."
"You, my love, enjoy it"
Tommy smiled. "Yeah. I kind of do."
Annika leaned in for another kiss, just as the familiar music began on the TV. Tommy ducked out of the way, grinning as he pushed Annika's face away.
"Shut up, it's starting!" he said, in the face of Annika's protests. Annika huffed softly and rolled his eyes, but there was a smile on his lips as he tucked his head against Tommy's shoulder, their fingers twining together beneath the covers.