righthemisphere | IC CONTACT

What in the world..

Raleigh spends a while looking at the couch, circling around it a few times with cluelessness before it slowly starts to settle in.

There's exactly one other person who has access to Raleigh's house and that person is also privy to Raleigh's recent hatred of said couch and why.

It's a hell of a gesture.

With all the crazy, horrible shit that's been going on lately Chuck went through the trouble.. by himself.. with the snow and the bears and zombies..

It means more than he can articulate. And while he will make a point of finding the words, he decides to answers actions wth action of his own.

Raleigh calls Chuck's name but he isn't there and he smiles to himself before retrieving his axe from the cellar and going right back outside.

Maybe it's stupid but it is almost Christmas. The couch and the meaning behind it is a beautiful gift. So in return he cuts and situates a small evergreen in the corner of the living room to the right of the fire. Between the hearth and front window. He finds the bin of two inch candle stubs he's saved from October and carefully wires each one onto the tree. He makes popcorn and slices oranges very thin before putting them in the oven on low to dry. He gathers ingredients and fills the house with the scent of mulling wine on the stove.

Only then does he sit down on the couch to wait for Chuck so they can decorate the Christmas tree together.

He went through a lot of trouble for that couch - snow, bears, zombies, bruised ribs. Coordinating the delivery wasn't easy, but it was worth it for Raleigh, to fix Chuck's inadvertent fuckup.

Chuck will get home a few hours later, stamping his feet on the porch to knock the snow off before he comes in. It's like stripping off armor, taking off his winter coat and hat and scarf and the jacket underneath.

"Ray," he calls. "I'm back. Smells fuckin' amazing in here, you makin' that wine I like?"

Raleigh looks up from his nest on the new couch. The plush blue velvet is warm and comfortable, way more than the old creaky leather ever was.

"I am," his tone bright, all smiles and soft, warm hearted joy.

"I thought we could celebrate. Some benevolent creature brought me a gift."

Ah, yes...that smile was worth every struggle. He comes in and leans over on the back of the couch, arms crossed.

"Does the benevolent creature get a kiss?"

"Mmm, yes. If only I knew who they were," playful wistfulness as he twists up to face Chuck and cup his cheeks for a kiss.

"And I got us something," he purrs as the kiss breaks, noses brushing.

"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?!"

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