This request was for Meowdar/Tetsuro in the prompt lights.

No matter how much I tried to explain, Meowdar couldn't grasp an understanding of holidays. He'd smile and nod through my rambling, even though his brows were still furrowed in confusion. Above all else, Christmas decorations made no sense to him.

"But why?" he prodded again as I tugged a tangled strand of lights out of the box.

Irritation sank into my expression. I could only reword something so many times. "They're just decorations," I said. "They're for fun - something pretty to look at."

He paused to let the information sink in as best he could understand it. Seated on the floor, he batted at the dangling end of the lights. "Alright," he said at length. "But why such small bulbs? They don't give off enough light to increase vision in the dark."

"They're decoration," I repeated. "Not for lighting stuff up. They're just to make the tree pretty."

He glanced at the tree, frowning. I gave up on trying to explain it to him hours ago. "Why does the tree need to be pretty?" he asked.

I heaved a sigh and rubbed my hand across my face. If these tangled lights didn't drive me off the deep end, his questions would. "Gosh, Meowdar, I don't know. Just let me put it together, and once it's all set up, you can ask me questions then."

The room we lived in was far from cheerful. Cracks spidered across the concrete walls and floor, and basic amenities took up most of the small space. The tree I cut down stood barely a head taller than me, the only decoration we owned. I had to take pride in the scrawny evergreen, though Meowdar only seemed interested in curing up under it with a pillow.

With his interest now on the lights, his pupils widened as I yanked every knot loose. I couldn't tell if I was making progress. It seemed every time I unraveled one spot, another tangled from some black magic. "Want to help?" I asked Meowdar with a sigh.

His hand drifted forward as though the lights would jump away from him. Just like me trying to explain holidays, asking him for explanations on his behavior always left me more confused. "They're not going to bite," I said.

All at once, he pounced, grabbing the lights and yanking them into his grasp. As I tugged back to keep him from stealing them all, he rolled himself up in them. "What are you doing?" I snapped.

Now that he was wrapped up as well as any Christmas tree, he blinked, and his pupils shrunk back to normal size. "I want them," he said as he pawed at the ones in my hands again, eyes focused in with sharp interest. "Are you sure they're not a toy instead of a decoration?"

"I'm sure." I said. "Look." I plugged the end in, and they lit up in a rainbow of colors. Meowdar looked around himself like the lights performed some magic trick, his jaw hanging open. "Now help me untangle- Don't chew on them!" I snapped.

He lowered the wire from his mouth. "I wasn't going to."

Since he was clearly lying, I forced him to stay seated on the bed while I fitted them on the tree. I couldn't say what about them put him in such a trance, but he stopped asking questions because of it. Once I finished, he crawled under the tree and stared up at the show of lights. After flicking off the overhead lamps I crawled under to stare up alongside him.

"They're pretty," he said. I hummed in agreement. Each light stood out in the sea of green needles. They warmed the cold room with more color than it had ever seen.

Meowdar seemed to glow alongside them. Different colors reflected in his eyes and splashed spotlights across his skin. "Do you get it now?" I asked.

He reached up to poke at a green light. "Maybe," he said. "Am I supposed to want to eat them?"

"No," I sighed. "Don't eat the lights."