Work Text:
“In the end, we’re stuck with everyone else this year.”
Eizen exited his car, and looked over the condo where Velvet and Laphicet resode. Despite the occasion, there wasn’t a single Christmas decoration adorning it. It stood out like a sore thumb next to her neighbors, who all at least had lights or a wreath up.
Rokurou, his old friend—and new boyfriend—got out of the passenger’s seat. “You ready?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
The men kicked the snow off their shoes by the welcome mat, and Rokurou knocked on the door.
Eleanor answered. Her eyes widened slightly upon seeing the two snow covered men. “Eizen? Rokurou? Weren’t you two going to fly up to visit Edna?” she asked.
Laphicet jumped off the couch upon hearing their names, and ran to the door. “Rokurou, Eizen! You came... after all.” He looked down sadly as he finished his sentence. It seemed the boy had forgotten in his excitement why they were initially absent.
“The weather said ‘no’,” Rokurou replied to Eleanor’s prior question.
“All flights out of here are canceled,” Eizen said. “We were hoping the weather would hold out just a bit longer, but it got worse right before we were supposed to board.”
“Oh, that’s too bad...” Laphicet said.
Both men walked through Velvet’s door. The woman in question briefly left the kitchen to see the new guests. As they hung up their coats, she shot them a slight glare, her eyes reading clear as day ‘take your damn boots off’. There was no blaming her; they complied immediately.
While the outside was barren, there were at least some decorations within Velvet’s condo. A garland adorned a table at the entrance, a small tree stood in the corner of the living room, and two stockings hung under the television. However, chances were good they were all only up by Laphicet’s request.
Magilou, lounged across the length of one of the couches, turned her head on the armrest to look at Rokurou and Eizen. “The one year you actually try to visit your family and this happens, huh?”
She was wearing a brightly colored Christmas sweater rigged with lights. Colorful bulbs flickered between different colors every few seconds, and the whole mess put even her usual gaudy fashion to shame. Her shorts and fleece tights did not have lights, but they were so obnoxiously colored that they might as well have.
“Well, whatever.” She sat back up, and put a shockingly normal Santa hat on. “Guess you’re stuck with us.”
Eizen grit his teeth as he put his boots on the shoe rack. “It is what it is.”
Eleanor fit them with a look of kindhearted pity, which wasn’t helpful at all. “Velvet’s still finishing up dinner right now, and we’re deciding on what game to play in the meantime. Why don’t you come join us?” Both men nodded, and made their way to the couch.
“You’re just in time to get clobbered with Draw Four after Draw Four,” Magilou chirped.
“No. Absolutely not,” Eleanor said, glaring daggers at the chaotic imp. “We are not playing UNO again. And especially not your ‘Bloodbath UNO.’”
“Aw, come on! It’s not like I’m gonna turn it into a snowball fight again.”
‘Bloodbath UNO’? Eizen thought. ‘That must have been a more recent Magilou incident.’
Rokurou smirked, as if hearing his thoughts, as they sat down. “Because doing the same thing again would be boring and you have something else up your sleeve, right?”
“EXACTLY!” both Magilou and Eleanor yelled at the same time, albeit in drastically different tones.
“Hey.” Velvet poked her head out of the kitchen. “If you start throwing snowballs in my condo again, there’ll be hell to pay.”
Magilou pouted comically. “Aw, don’t be such a party pooper. It’s Christmas Eve!”
To that Velvet simply shook her head. With a click of her tongue, she withdrew back into her kitchen, isolating herself from the madness. For now.
“Actually,” Laphicet interjected, “I was kind of looking forward to playing UNO.”
“It doesn’t have to be Magilou’s UNO,” Rokurou added.
“I still think we should play something safer,” Eleanor said. She lifted up a box containing Candyland, showing off the sugary sweet, cartoony art. “How about this? Look how cute the board is. I can’t believe we haven’t played it yet!”
“And where’s the fun in that?” Rokurou asked. “We need to play an actual game with actual skill. Uhhh... Magilou, any ideas? I don’t really do board games.”
“Monopoly, of course!”
Eleanor sighed. “You blurted that out so quickly. I have a bad feeling about going with it.”
“Why don’t we try Clue?” Laphicet piped in. “That game looks so cool, I’ve wanted to try it for ages!”
Ordinarily this would be the point where Eizen suggested a Battleship tournament, but he was in no mood for games. His thoughts remained elsewhere.
“I’m at a loss myself,” Eleanor said, adjusting her Santa hat, “so why not?”
Laphicet’s face beamed. “I’ll go get it!”
As he ran off to pull the game out of a cabinet, Rokurou turned to Eizen. “So... When are you going to tell Edna what’s going on?”
“Not yet,” Eizen said. “I’ll worry about that after the party.”
“Why don’t we call her now? You still haven’t introduced her to everyone. We could put her on a video call. She’ll understand.”
“That’s what she wants you to think,” Eizen said. “She’ll say ‘oh well’, tell us we should have left earlier if we planned on visiting her for Christmas in the first place. Then she'd say ‘It’s fine, I’m used to it.’ before hanging up.”
“Guess you know her better than I do.” Rokurou shrugged, resigned. For now, anyway. As Laphicet returned he directed his attention to him instead. “Say, that’s a funny sweater you’re wearing. Where’d you get it?”
The boy frowned slightly. He was wearing a wool sweater adorned with a cat’s face, as well as the phrase ‘Meowy Christmas!’ just below. “Eleanor got me this. I put it on, but…” He leaned in to whisper, “It’s kind of childish, isn’t it?”
“I think it looks good on you, Laphicet,” Rokurou said. He nudged Eizen. “Don’t you think?”
“What?” He was lost in thought again, so it took a moment for him to process what he was asked. “Right. It looks good on you.”
“Say Eizen,” Magilou said. “You’re weirdly quiet over there. Where’s the nerd sermons on the history of Christmas or whatever?”
“I’m fine,” Eizen curtly replied. The room fell cold for a moment.
“Hey Velvet,” Rokurou piped up. “Where do you keep the drinks? That’s just the thing he needs.”
“And why the hell do you think I would have anything?” she asked.
Rokurou balked. “Why wouldn’t you? How can you call this a party with no booze?”
Velvet rolled her eyes. “We thought you two weren’t coming. Three of us can’t drink, and,” she looked in Magilou’s direction, “ a certain someone won’t tell us her age even after all this time, so she’s banned too.”
Rokurou laughed. “Well, can’t argue with that.” Despite his cheerful tone, the expression across his face betrayed his disappointment.
‘Thanks Rokurou. It was worth a shot,’ Eizen thought.
“I’m going back to the kitchen. The oven should go off any second now.” Velvet left the entourage behind at the couch, leaving them to resume their hijinks.
Laphicet tore off the plastic that still covered the Clue box to open it. “So we all need to pick a character, right? I’ll be Colonel Mustard.” An absurd name for a man, but the boy seemed to think he looked cool.
“I’ll be the lovely Miss Scarlet,” Magilou proclaimed, “And Eleanor can be Mrs. Peacock.”
“Why are you choosing my character for me?”
As the others debated who would be which character, Eizen felt a strong gaze on his back. He turned his head to find the source. It was Velvet, standing next to the kitchen entrance and eyeing the group with scrutiny.
“Why don’t we make Eizen Professor Plum?” Rokurou asked. “That guy sounds about right for him. Don’t you think, Eizen?”
“Sure,” he replied thoughtlessly as he turned back to the group.
“Hey,” Velvet suddenly said as she walked over. “If you two are so hung up about drinks, just go buy the damned stuff yourself.”
Eizen looked up. “What? I didn’t say anything.”
“Your scowl says it all. It’s been even worse than usual this whole time you’ve been here.”
Magilou shrugged. “Well, who’s surprised? He finally took an opportunity to go see his sister, and right then and there the weather snows on his parade.”
Velvet continued to frown disapprovingly at him, and placed a hand on her hip. “The store’s right around the corner. You got here right when we started, so it’s not like you’ll have missed much if you go buy your drinks.”
“Don’t mind if we do then!” Rokurou said. “Come on Eizen, let’s go liven up the party.”
‘Might as well,’ Eizen thought. As he was right then, sticking around would only keep killing the party’s mood.
Both men got off the couch, and walked out the condo’s door.
After they had left, Eleanor turned to Velvet. “Are you sure that was a good idea? They’re going to end up drinking themselves into a stupor.”
“You know them better than that,” Velvet said. “Sooner or later Rokurou was going to suggest buying drinks, and they’d go off anyway.”
“And this way we don’t have deal with them scowling around for five or ten minutes beforehand, right?” Magilou asked.
“Exactly.”
“Maybe going to do something together first is what they need,” Laphicet pondered. “I hope Rokurou can cheer Eizen up.”
Just as quickly as they’d stepped out of the house, wind began to pick up again. While it was far from a full-on blizzard, it still served as a grim reminder of their situation.
Grateful for a bit of privacy, Eizen slung his arm around Rokurou’s shoulder. “Hopefully they sell more than just the cheap stuff.” And so, they set off to the convenience store Velvet had ordered them to shop at.
Luckily, Velvet wasn’t exaggerating the store’s close proximity to her condo. The place was small, sharing the lot with only a gas station and nail salon. Neither had holiday decorations up; the only lights present were those on the letters labeling the convenience store. A bit of a walk, but the quiet of the street was a good change of pace.
There were a few other lots around too, containing a small variety of different stores. Eizen recognized one of them as the small restaurant Laphicet had talked about enjoying.
“So,” Rokurou started. “What’s the deal with your family anyway? All I know is there’s tension with you and your sister.”
“We’re living the reason.” Eizen detached himself from him, and looked up at the sky. “Clear for the rest of the week, and then right when we’re supposed to leave a snowstorm hits. After the flight’s already cancelled, it lightens up like it’s mocking us.” He held a cupped hand out, allowing snow to begin piling onto his glove. “Starts back up right when we leave the party. All the other far crazier things we’ve been through together.”
“So your bad luck, then.” Rokurou shot him a knowing, handsome smile.
“It only sounds ridiculous because you didn’t grow up with me.”
“I didn’t say anything. Heck, that was gonna be my first guess.”
Eizen smiled just a bit. “Then you know me just as well as I’d hoped.”
But his smile was gone barely after it had even formed. They had just reached the store, but not one soul considered one of Christmas Eve’s more ‘fun’ perks: all the shops closing early.
Rokurou shook his head at the sign on the entrance. “Seriously? They closed at seven?”
“Speaking of bad luck.” Eizen clicked his tongue, scowling at the dark door ahead of them.
“Well, wherever everyone is, I hope they’re enjoying their booze.” Rokurou stopped to ponder something. “So, what now? If we wanna check out any other stores, we’ll have to drive.”
“We drive home and get something. If we go back empty handed, Velvet will just send us out again, and at this rate it’s quicker than trying to get anything new.”
“True.”
The two turned around, and began walking back to Velvet’s condo. The snow continued to get heavier. Chances seemed good another storm might begin before the party ended.
“You know,” Rokurou started up again, “for such a no-nonsense person, Velvet sure is eager for us to get plastered. What a softie.”
Eizen smiled. “We owe her one. Make sure she doesn’t regret humoring you.”
Rokurou grinned right back. “Me? You’re the problem drunk. Don't think she’s willing to put up with a history rambling that's ten times longer than she's used to.”
“As long as Laphicet stays engaged, we’ll live to see tomorrow,” Eizen replied, sighing. All around them were flickering lights and smothering snow. He should be overlooking this view from the sky, not stuck here on the ground.
More silence followed after that.
“I gotta say though, I was looking forward to meeting your sister.” Rokurou put an arm around Eizen’s waist. When he did they started to walk slower, as if he was giving them more time to talk. “Whenever I can get you to talk about her, you’re always so fond of her. I wanted to see for myself what she’s like.”
“It is what it is,” Eizen said.
“And you came out to her and everything for the occasion.”
“Only because she forced it out of me.”
The wind picked up again for a moment. A reminder of why they weren’t on their way to meet Edna right now.
“It is what it is,” Rokurou repeated, his voice trailing off. “All that means is I’ll have to talk you into flying up some other time, right? It doesn’t have to be for Christmas.”
That’s right. It’s not like this was his last chance to meet Edna ever again. It had been so long since they were in the same room together, and the timing of the snowstorm made it at least feel to Eizen like they could never again meet. After all, he’d long resigned himself to keeping him and his luck away from Edna. Things would just go back to the way they were, that was all.
Except now Rokurou was in the picture. It was his idea to make a last minute flight to Edna’s in the first place; if he really wanted them to meet Edna, there was no stopping that fool from seizing the next opportunity.
A weight lifted off of Eizen’s chest. Somehow or another, they would make it to her place. And the responsibility of any consequences laid on both of them fools alone.
“By the way, didn’t you say she was in college?” Rokurou asked. “How old is she anyway?”
“Nineteen,” Eizen said softly, fonder. “She’s turning twenty in a few months.”
“Man, from the pictures you showed me I thought she was a middle schooler. But just barely under drinking age, huh. If we’d gone and her birthday was just a little earlier, she could’ve had her first drink with you on Christmas.”
“And if you try making me imagine that again, I’ll hit you.”
“Hey, she’s gotta grow up one of these days.”
At that point, they had once more reached Velvet’s condo. They got into Eizen’s car, which was parked just nearby.
“I already have some whiskey in mind to bring from home,” he said. “What about you and your house?”
Rokurou was silent for a moment. And then he suddenly open the car door. “Actually, forget the drinks.”
Eizen blinked, staring at him through the open door. “...Why?” He had a feeling something crazy was coming.
Rokurou bent down and scooped up two handfuls of snow. “Well we're crashing this party because of all the snow,” he said as he packed it into a snowball. “Why don’t we take better advantage of our misfortune?”
What was that idiot up to? Snowballs. It seemed he was plotting quite the suicide mission. “Velvet is going to kill you,” Eizen warned.
“Maybe, but it sure beats getting drunk alone.” A wicked grin had spread across his face. “Let’s get everyone involved; Magilou’s got me curious about that ‘Bloodbath UNO’.”
He gave Rokurou an incredulous look as he thought about what he just heard. Soon enough, a matching impish grin spread across Eizen’s own face. “You know what. Sure. Things are already bad enough. Let’s see what else can go wrong tonight.”
The men began to create several more snowballs. As Eizen packed snowball after snowball together, that smile never left his face. Rokurou brought up an interesting proposal.
At worst, getting killed by Velvet would make this Christmas Eve a night that everyone would forever remember.
“Alright, battle plan. You knock on the door, and I’ll throw the first shot.”
“Aye.” Eizen knocked on Velvet’s door.
This time it was Velvet herself who answered the door. “Back already?”
Instead of a polite answer, Rokurou chucked a snowball right over Velvet’s shoulder into the condo.
“Wha-?!”
Before Velvet even realized what had just grazed her shoulder, a quick and shill cry sounded from within the condo.
“Betrayal!” came Magilou’s dramatic lament. “Deceit!” Her snow-smacked face poked out from behind Velvet. “How did you even get me from there?!”
Rokurou grinned again. “I’m just that good.”
“You’re a coward is what you are! Bring those snowballs in and I’ll show you who’s ‘just that good’!”
“Don’t you dare!” Velvet growled. She was livid, just as expected.
The happy couple barged in with snowballs piled in their arms.
“The store was closed, so we have no choice but to make our own trouble.” Eizen handed a snowball to Laphicet. “Here. See if you can’t get Magilou too.”
Laphicet froze, torn between the desire not to make Velvet angry and the allure of a vicious snowball fight. The latter won out, and Magilou found herself with another face full of snow.
“Why is everyone ganging up on poor little me?” she whined. “Pelt Eleanor instead! She’s just sitting there like a target!”
“What are you all THINKING?!” an aghast Eleanor finally shrieked.
“We’re thinking of a good time,” Rokurou said. “Why get drunk alone when we can all get into a fight together?”
Magilou grabbed one of the men’s snowballs. “I hope you’re ready for revenge, you heartless fiends!”
“JUST TAKE IT OUTSIDE!!!!!!” Velvet roared.
Eventually, Velvet got her wish and the fight relocated outside. After all, snowballs can’t be made inside.
Snowballs were flying for quite some time. Even Eleanor and Velvet, who were initially horrified, joined in on the brawl (albeit pelted Eizen and Rokurou almost exclusively).
It wasn’t until the wind picked up that everyone went back inside. The storm was getting worse and worse; from the looks of it, all six of them would likely be stuck inside the condo until morning at the earliest.
“You really should call Edna,” Rokurou said after everyone was inside and had finished cleaning the living room. “She’s just gonna wonder where you went if you don’t.”
He just wouldn’t let up tonight, wouldn’t he? And yet Eizen was grateful for Rokurou’s determination to save the holiday. Though everyone steers their own ship in life, now and then guidance is appreciated.
“You’re right. I’ll get it over with.” Eizen got out his phone. “We can even video call her, like you said.”
As he got the phone ready for the call, the snow in his hair and the smile on his face showed it wouldn’t be a bad holiday after all.