@wishing-for-a-sail
Instead of spending some time at the art studio on MICA’s campus, Blaze decided to come back to the apartment early so he could work out a plan. He and his soon-to-be arranged wife Piper had been living in their apartment together for almost a month now, and although nothing so far had equated to exactly how bad their first night was, the two were still barely (although fairly) on speaking terms.
In an attempt to show Piper that he was more than just an anger-filled ticking time bomb, Blaze had decided to use part of his check from Piper’s parents for the month to buy lots of Christmas decorations and, with a little help from his art expertise, he had turned their spacious apartment into a Winter Wonderland--complete with lights and decorations, fake snow, Christmas music (more for him than for Piper), and a real Christmas tree. He knew it wouldn’t fix the fact that he blew up on her--nothing ever would--but he hoped it would at least open up a path for communication and show that he wasn’t all bad.
At the sound of the apartment front door opening, he turned around and said, “Surprise!”, following it up by a sloppy attempt at signing the letters for the word.