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"Shame they're a secret. Probably a goblin in the night."

He nips Raleigh's lower lip.

"What's that?"

"Yeah, definitely some kind of goblin," laughing as he pulls back and motions behind himself over his shoulder towards the tree.

"When's the last time you had a Christmas tree?"

Definitely a goblin.

“Oh, Jesus,” he exhaled, laughing a little. “I was a kid. Before Scissure.”

"Then you're in luck," chipper.

"You wanna help me decorate it?"

He grins, eyes bright.

"Fuck yeah. Let's do it." It's been a fucking decade since he's had a tree. He's so excited.

"Awesome, hold that thought," Raleigh says and gets up, moving excitedly to the kitchen to bring back the orange slices and popcorn and string he's prepared.

Load his arms up and come back with it all to set down on the coffee table.

Well look at you, you've been busy. Chuck watches him go with curiosity, moving to properly sit on the couch, carefully babying his ribs.

"Did you do all this?"

Why Mr. Hansen you seem surprised.

"I did," he nods and sits down next to Chuck, pulling the tray of oranges closer before he grabs up the little reel of string and scissors to start cutting lengths.

"I did this with my mother when I was a kid. We moved so often we didn't have ornaments so we made them."

A thoughtful pause, snagging an orange and using the tip of the scissors to wriggle a little hole through the dried flesh so he can get the string through. Voilà!

"She said it was the traditional French way. My dad hated it but it made us happy so he couldn't really stop us."

He watches Raleigh first, before picking anything up and subsequently ruining it.

"Really? That's cute as fuck." He picks up an orange, playing with it in his hands before taking the scissors from Raleigh and poking a hole to string his through.

"Except your old man. He can eat a dick. This is fun."

Raleigh snorts, more to himself than anything, and picks up another orange.

"Yeah.." to both of Chuck's statements.

"You know for as much as we traveled he was really against bringing in anyone else's culture. No French in the house, no using chopsticks. It really was the worst job for him."

Raleigh doesn't speak about his family much, least of all his dad.

"We didn't have very much in common. He said he loved us but not enough when it really mattered."

"That's bizarre," he says, holding up another piece of orange curiously. "Sounds like an asshole."

Chuck knows one of them intimately.

"Mm," agreeing but a step detached as he decides how much he wants to share. He isn't sure how much Chuck saw in the drift but Raleigh's thoughts weren't stable at the time and his childhood wasn't at the forefront of his memories.

"Yeah. He was. Is? I have no idea if he's even alive. He bailed on us after my mom died.. had a whole..secret family in another country.. which was awesome." Dripping in sarcasm.

"Took our sister but us? Nah."

Chuck saw more immediate shit. He'd need a good drift, regularly, to pick Raleigh's brain apart.

"Jesus. What a winner."

Probably best you don't. Nobody needs that much shit.

Another snort.

"Ayup," pop on the p. He doesn't have much else to say about Richard Becket. There are a few very strong memories. Soggy sandwiches and hard candies on a busy construction site. Very few words and that day he left..

"Whatever, his loss. Didn't need him anyway." Moving on. Raleigh peers through the middle of an orange piece for a second, studying the light of the fire. It looks like stained glass.

"I saved the world." Without a father. Fuck him.

Chuck glances over at Raleigh, shifting a little and ignoring the stab of pain it causes to drape an arm around his shoulders, dragging Raleigh in to press his lips against the other Ranger's temple.

"Yeah, love. You did."

"We did," he corrects himself, leaning into Chuck and tilting his head. The affection is nice.

Anyway, this is supposed to be a nice Christmas thing for them, not a surly pity party about his shitty father.

Turning his face, Raleigh steals a kiss, mindful not to press into Chuck too much and hurt him.

He was gonna give you that one and not correct you, because it seems like Raleigh needed it. But he smiles under the correction, and leans into the little kiss, returning it soft and sweet.

"And here we are, decorating with little oranges. Aint that somethin'."

Chuck had the opportunity and didn't. Raleigh hears it between the lines.

"Kinda domestic," breaking the kiss and looking up at him, head falling to lay on Chuck's shoulder. Orange slice still in his hands.

"Very domestic." He brushes noses with Raleigh', then reaches for the orange.

He's gonna bite it.

"Chuck!" Taken by surprise.

Those are dried what are you doing?!

Raleigh is jammed between slapping him off and jerking back- which means he does neither and just explodes into laughter.

"Bahaha! D-did that taste good?!"

Still an orange slice. Not like Raleigh sprayed it with formaldehyde or something.

"Chewy," he says, licking his lips a little, and pulling a face. "Bitter. But I bet if you added sugar it'd be alright."

He laughs some more, turning over the slice which now resembles a crescent moon more than anything.

Fuck it, he still adds the string and gets up to make a point of it being the first slice hung on the tree. Pride of place right at the front.

"I think you can do that. Candy orange peels. Maybe we should try," as he comes to sit back down and start again.

"You can't eat all our decorations you savage."

The bitterness in his mouth is worth the sound of Raleigh's laugh. He watches Raleigh hang it, smile pulling at his lips as he picks up another piece.

"I'll try not too. But we should definitely try."

"mm, well I'll get some more next time I go to the store," eyeing his companion as they work, not convinced Chuck won't try to eat another one.

He doesn't have high hopes for the popcorn stringing.

"If we don't get snowed in, that is."

Because the weather is certainly getting worse and he wouldn't put a blizzard past Julia Sodder.

You should have zero hopes for the popcorn stringing. They'll be lucky to get one strand.

"It's possible. It's certainly comin' down, innit?"

It's awfully damn cold.

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