On the First Day of Christmas
For @raelee514 / Merry Christmas!!!
“It’s crooked.”
Robert sighs, deep and longsuffering.
“How can it be crooked, Aaron? It’s a star. Stars can tip any which way they want.”
He looks over his shoulder at where Aaron has been “supervising” Robert’s tree decorating, which basically means he’s been criticizing everything Robert does whilst doing nothing himself.
“Alls I know is it looks funny,” he replies with a shrug.
“Yeah dad. It looks funny,” Seb chimes in from where he’s been playing with his dinosaurs on the sofa next to Aaron. His voice trailing off into a fit of giggles when Aaron looks at him and winks.
Thick as thieves, those two are. And Robert might call the whole situation a nightmare if he didn’t bloody love the pair of them more than his own life.
“Tell me something, then, gentlemen, how would one go about making this look unfunny?”
He takes the star off the top of the tree at that, hands the bright silver, shimmering mess to anyone willing to take it. And the way Aaron and Seb look at each other with twin expressions of “you do it” almost makes Robert smile.
Almost.
Aaron rolls his eyes at Seb, gives him a tickle for good measure before placing his feet on the floor and stretching his way up to a standing position.
He groans when he does it, shows a little bit of stomach where his jumper rides up as well. And Robert has to swallow thickly so as not to give Aaron the satisfaction of a visible reaction to his antics.
“What was I doing again?” Aaron asks innocently, his expression a plaster cast if not for the twinkling in his eyes. But Robert resists the twin urges to walk away or get pulled in that he finds himself battling with more often than he’d care to admit.
“You were being the big man and showing me how to properly place a star atop a Christmas tree.”
He shakes the star in front of Aaron’s face, tries to school his own expression into something stern. But he can tell by the way Aaron is looking at him that he’s only moderately successful at best.
“Right,” he says. “Are you watching? Because I don’t wanna have to show you twice.”
The tree is rather large, given the surplus amount of space they have in the Mill. But Aaron still chooses to move towards it directly in front of Robert like there’s hardly room to breathe around it, his body fitting right into the curve of Robert’s in a way that makes his eyes roll exaggeratedly and his mouth slip open slightly.
It’s never just one thing with Aaron, is it? Love and if not hate then annoyance at every turn.
“See, you gotta make sure you twist the frame properly,” Aaron says, lower than normal but not so low that their four-year-old child would twig to what the bastard is doing.
An assumption proven when Seb pipes in, “Yeah, dad, you gotta make sure you twist the frame properly.”
“Oh, is that right, son?” he asks as he looks over his shoulder, one eyebrow raised in Seb’s direction. “And what exactly do you know about hanging Christmas tree stars?”
Seb sits up straight as an arrow, makes the face he uses when he doesn’t understand why he has to finish all of his broccoli, and says, dead serious, “More than you.”
Aaron actually sputters with laughter, forcing him to lean further back into Robert’s body. And Robert is so appalled by Seb’s behaviour that he can do nothing but bite his cheeks so as not to smile.
“You’re a bad influence, you,” Robert says with a light shove to Aaron’s shoulders as Seb begins laughing hysterically like he just made the funniest joke in existence.
Aaron leans back again, rests the back of his head on Robert’s shoulder and looks up at him with what can only be described as deep fondness in his eyes.
And then he ruins it all by saying, “As if that attitude is all me.”
He winks at Robert, turns his head so he can place a quick kiss to his jawline before returning to the task at hand. His voice authoritative as he continues, “If you don’t twist the frame properly, dear husband, the star will be all wonky. And no one wants a wonky star.”
Robert almost wants to step backward, refuse to play Aaron’s game any longer. But because he’s weak, he instead finds himself winding his arms around Aaron’s waist. Where Aaron’s concerned, he always has been weak. And he can’t imagine a date anywhere in the future where that could change.
He’s a menace, he is. But he’s Robert’s menace, through and through.
“So once you’ve twisted the frame,” Robert hums because most games need at least two players and he’s more than willing to participate, “What comes next?”
He buries his face into the crook of Aaron’s neck at that, doesn’t so much kiss him as press his lips lightly to his skin. But he can tell by the way Aaron shivers slightly that he’s getting the point quite well.
“Well, you stick it on top and hope for the best, don’t you?”
Robert circles his fingers around Aaron’s wrist, helps him guide the star to the top of the tree. And with his other arm still wrapped around Aaron’s waist, he’s in the perfect position to feel the way Aaron sags into his touch.
Victory, Robert thinks. There’s nothing else to call it.
“Seb’s going to need a nap soon,” Robert murmurs into Aaron’s ear, quiet enough for the words to be for him alone.
“Well isn’t that… convenient,” Aaron replies, tipping his head back again so he can beam up at Robert and god, if he isn’t so in love sometimes he can’t even breathe properly.
“It looks perfect, Daddy Aaron!” Seb practically shrieks a few seconds later, wrenching them out of their moment. “Daddy Aaron was right, dad. He’s a professional!”
Robert and Aaron laugh in tandem at Seb’s declaration as they turn to face their son. And this, right here, is one of those moments that Robert is going to keep, few and far between as they are.
Life’s been hard for them pretty much since they met, but sometimes, things turn out like this. A smile, a laugh, a warm hand in the small of his back leading him toward the sofa, toward their perfect little family.
And so what does he care if the star looks exactly the same as it did when he put it up? He’ll let the boys have their little win, knowing as he does that Aaron will more than make up for it later.
Just as soon as Seb has that nap.
