(So I went with domestic fluff, since it was the one I could relate to the best! I hope you like it!)
The best way, in Alfred’s opinion, to spend the night of Christmas Eve was exactly this moment. Snow was falling outside in big, puffy flakes, taking over the entire ground, the windows beginning to frost over. Meanwhile, Alfred was cozy and warm inside of his home. He was sitting on his comfortable couch, happily snug in front of his husband, who was hugging him from behind, his head resting peacefully on Alfred’s shoulder. Ivan had decided on the position, oddly enough, with Alfred sitting between his legs, but it was comfortable for both of them, so no one complained.
Alfred was currently biting his lip in concentration, hitting buttons as quickly as he could on the game controller in his hand. This boss was really freaking hard. Ivan gave him enough freedom of movement that Alfred could move his arms around wildly when the boss got too close to him or he almost died before he could drink his potion.
“Your big combo move loaded a few minutes ago,” Ivan offered and Alfred blinked in surprise. Damn, he hadn’t noticed. “Why don’t you use that?”
“Pft, I know,” Alfred rolled his eyes, getting ready to use the move, just making sure that the characters were in the right place. “I was just waiting for the right moment.” There! Alfred used the move and watched with smug satisfaction as the boss’s health dropped significantly.
“And that moment just happened to be right after I told you about it?” Ivan chuckled and Alfred blushed, but stayed looking forward so Ivan couldn’t see. “You are silly, Fredya.”
“Shut up, commie,” Alfred elbowed him in the stomach lightly and Ivan just laughed. Alfred hadn’t noticed in the silence that followed that he’d stuck out his tongue in concentration. Ivan, on the other hand, had noticed right away. It was quite adorable, to be frankly honest. Ivan hummed, absently playing with Alfred’s hair, just to see if he could get a reaction out of the other man. But Alfred was far too focused to notice anything.
Ivan smiled happily as he continued to play with his lover’s soft hair. As much as Ivan loved the cold, cuddling with Alfred with the snow locked outside was quite nice. The warm blanket draped across his back combined with Alfred’s natural body heat helped keep him nice and cozy. He couldn’t think of a better way to spend Christmas Eve.
“Dammit!” Alfred groaned, throwing his head back. Ivan frowned. That time had seemed so promising, way better than his other five tries…Just as Alfred moved to start the game again from the last save point, Ivan carefully put his hand on the controller, moving it down.
“How about a break, dorogoy?” Ivan offered with a hum. “We can make hot chocolate…”
Alfred paused, raising his brow at the offer. Alfred loved sweets, yes, and warm sweets were absolutely amazing…
“I could be persuaded,” Alfred smirked, looking back at Ivan, who smiled and kissed Alfred’s nose. “Ooooh, and maybe we could open just one present?” Alfred asked with a bright smile. Ivan laughed slightly. Back in Russia, Christmas was a little different, but mostly the same. A little later, but fairly similar. Coming to America meant little change in his usual holidays. And Alfred always acted like a child when this time of year came around, staring into all store displays when he saw something that caught his eye. His Christmas list was always a mile long because he couldn’t stop thinking of something cool to have for next year. And when it came to opening presents? It was like a tornado ripped through the house.
“I could be persuaded,” Ivan hummed and Alfred cheered, standing up. Both men felt a strange sense of cold where the other had previously occupied. To remedy this, Ivan stood up, keeping his cloak of a blanket on his shoulders, and happily hugged Alfred from behind.
Alfred laughed, taking hold of the blanket and seeing how much of it he could wrap around the both of them. Sadly, most of the front of his body was left open for the cold.
“I think we have some of those mini marshmallows!” Alfred said excitedly, tearing himself away and pulling Ivan out of the living room and into their adjoined kitchen. Alfred was almost sad to let go of Ivan’s hand to look through the pantry. Once they had hot chocolate, they could get presents and cuddle back on the couch and be nice, warm, and cozy again! The thought had him so excited, he was practically buzzing.
He hadn’t noticed that much until he tried to pull out mugs and the ceramic fell out of his hands and into Ivan’s. His husband smirked at him and Alfred huffed, turning on his heel to move towards the fridge to get milk.
“Show off,” Alfred scoffed.
“Perhaps you should be more careful and focus a little less on presents,” Ivan laughed.
“Does this mean that we are gonna open some tonight?” Alfred asked hopefully.
“One each,” Ivan mused. “That should be enough to tide you over, I think.”
“Barely,” Alfred snorted, pouring milk into the two mugs before all but shoving them into the microwave. Ivan smiled. He always liked how Alfred cooked, trying to make things as fast and easy as possible. Sometimes the food turned out terrible, though his way of making hot chocolate was very efficient and quite nice sometimes. “Okay, but if it’s one each, I get to decide which present you’re opening tonight. Deal?”
“As long as that means I get to decide which present you open, too,” Ivan smiled and Alfred nodded furiously.
“Absolutely!” Alfred chimed.
In just a matter of minutes, the two stood in front of their tree, filled to the brim with as many obnoxious Christmas ornaments Alfred could find and way too much tinsel, mugs of steaming hot chocolate in their hands. Alfred hummed in concentration, trying to find the perfect present for Ivan. Meanwhile, Ivan already knew exactly which present to go for first.
“Ah-ha!” Alfred laughed happily as he bounded towards a box he specifically wrapped with snowflake paper. Most of Ivan’s stuff was snowflake paper, because he was Alfred’s snowflake. But this one was red! It was special! The only exception to the snowflake rule was the really big box in the back corner, adorned with planets. That was their telescope Alfred was immensely proud of. “This one!”
Ivan hummed and moved towards their small pile of presents at the base of the tree. Alfred watched in wonder, looking through all of the presents Ivan had gotten for him. Maybe it was the really big one with superhero paper…or maybe it was the one that he was really hoping was a 3DS because it had Legend of Zelda paper…or maybe it was the one with the dogs on it!
Ivan happily plucked a small box with simple red paper from the pile and smiled at Alfred. Well, it was from Ivan, so of course it was gonna be good!
“Ready?” Ivan asked happily, tossing the little box in his hand. It was so small and very unassuming, but it was probably the gift Ivan had worked the hardest on.
“Yeah! Absolutely!” Alfred cheered and ran back to the couch, spilling a few drops of is drink on the way. Ivan laughed and followed him. They resumed their previous position on the couch, both of them clutching their respective presents. Alfred took a long drink of his hot chocolate before he looked at Ivan happily.
“So, who goes first?” Ivan asked happily.
“You!” Alfred cheered, holding out his present to Ivan happily. “You go first! Please!”
“If you insist,” Ivan chuckled replacing the gift in Alfred’s hand with the small red box. Alfred stared at the little box in wonder, shaking it a little to see if he could figure out what was in it. There was a small sound of something thudding around inside.
Ivan smiled fondly at Alfred’s childish curiosity before he fiddled with his own box. Once Alfred finally looked back at him, he started carefully unwrapping it with one hand. It was always amusing to see Alfred get impatient with how Ivan treated wrapping paper. Alfred loved ripping it to shreds and was always impatient to see not only his own presents, but people’s reactions to theirs. But Ivan liked taking his time, partly to see Alfred almost jump up and down in excitement.
Finally, Ivan tore off the paper to reveal a white box, something that usually held clothing. Ivan hummed a she took the lid off of the box and revealed…cloth. It was a deep blue and soft to the touch. When Ivan lifted it out of the box, he discovered that it was actually…a scarf. It looked like it was hand-knitted…
“Did you…make this?” Ivan asked curiously and Alfred nodded shyly.
“Yeah…I…uh…I’ve been working on it for like two months,” Alfred smiled. “Do you like it?”
“It’s very nice, Alfred,” Ivan smiled happily. “In fact…” Ivan slowly unwrapped the scarf currently around his neck and quickly replaced it with the new scarf. It was so warm… “Now, your turn.”
“Right!” Alfred nodded happily. “And I’ll be way faster than you!” Alfred happily tore off the little wrapping paper covering the box. This one was black, almost looking like something someone would put a necklace in. Alfred finished drinking the last of his hot chocolate, which Ivan had just began sipping, and set down the cup. Now, with both hands, he lifted the lid off the box and peered inside.
He frowned slightly and picked up what looked like a brand new collar. It was red, white, and blue.
“You know, I’m open for anything in the bedroom,” Alfred laughed slightly. “Really wasn’t expecting you to ask like this, though.”
“At least look at the name tag,” Ivan snorted and Alfred smirked. The collar was way too small on him and looked like something an actual pet would wear. He looked at the tag, which held Alfred’s phone number and an engraving of the name ‘Tony’.
“Ooookay,” Alfred said, looking back at Ivan. “And what does this mean?”
Ivan smiled. Alfred was smart when he wanted to be, but he could really ignore obvious hints, couldn’t he? “There’s a paper inside of the box.”
Alfred nodded slowly and looked in the box, where there was a single, folded up piece of paper. Keeping the collar in hand, he took out the paper, unfolding it carefully. Printed on the paper was a picture of a golden retriever puppy, definitely not even a year old yet. Alfred blinked, reading through the biography printed beside it, giving information on the puppy and his personality.
“Did you really get us a dog?” Alfred asked innocently, looking to Ivan, who felt like his smile could break his face in two. When Ivan nodded, Alfred all but screamed and twisted around to hug his husband as tightly as he possibly could. “Holy shit! You’re awesome! And it’s a golden retriever? You’re fucking amazing, oh my God, Ivan! You can’t be serious!”
“I’m glad you like it,” Ivan said happily, kissing Alfred’s cheek.
“You asshole, you keep missing,” Alfred smirked and pulled Ivan into a sweet, long kiss. The only thing that broke them apart was Alfred’s yawn, which made Ivan laugh. “Shut up,” Alfred grumbled. But he had to admit, he was getting pretty tired. He felt completely warm and comfortable, from the inside out. He looked happily at the collar in his hand.
“We can pick him up sometime between Christmas and New Year’s,” Ivan hummed, kissing Alfred’s temple.
“This is so freaking cool!” Alfred said happily. “Way cooler than a stupid scarf.”
“No,” Ivan hummed, putting his head back on Alfred’s shoulder. “You made it for me. I think it’s perfect.”
“Just wait ‘till you see all the awesome shit I got you tomorrow,” Alfred smirked. Ivan laughed and took another drink from his hot chocolate. He followed Alfred’s example and yawned, glancing at the frosted windows. Tonight was absolutely perfect, especially now that Alfred knew the good news. That collar was the best Ivan could do, short of stuffing the poor dog in a box. Honestly, he couldn’t wait to take home the puppy that couldn’t seem to stop jumping up on him to try and lick his face. It was the perfect, energetic dog for his energetic husband.
Alfred started the game once again, ignoring his own series of yawns. Ivan held him tightly. After he finished his drink, he nuzzled his face into his new scarf and smiled. It was only a matter of half an hour before Ivan noticed that Alfred had stopped pressing the buttons on his controller. Ivan looked at his face and saw that Alfred had managed to fall asleep. Ivan yawned. He was just about ready to fall asleep himself.
He carefully took hold of the controller, shutting off the game system. It wouldn’t do for them to just fall asleep on the couch, now would it? They deserved to wake up warm and comfortable, in their bed, on Christmas Day. Ivan was careful not to wake Alfred as he picked him up. He was heavy, sure, but Ivan just had to make it up the stairs and into their bedroom. He’d managed it many times before, when Alfred was squirming a lot more then, too.
Ivan made sure to flick off the lights as he went through the house, leaving the mugs to be cleaned tomorrow. It was only a few seconds after he was warm under the covers, cuddling his husband, that he fell into a peaceful sleep as well.
