SHADOWs of GHOST: Oneshot Collection (Fortnite)

Christmas Short - A "Treeful" Situation

(Full version of what I posted previously. Also, I give you permission to find the ditch I'm lying in and send me to the lobby for the title pun. For reference, Galactus happened in like mid-November here and all of the Christmas shorts take place in season 5.)

Midas refuses to buy a Christmas tree so early in the month, but hey, Weeping Woods is right there. Nothing will go wrong, right? Well, maybe except for the fact that Skye + Ocean + TNTina = epitome of bad ideas.

~•~

"It's never too early to start decorating! You're just no fun."

Midas had taken one step inside the lobby of GHOST House to find it covered with holiday garlands and construction paper littering the walls and floors. There were even paper snowflakes hanging above the front desk, the only piece of furniture that hadn't been moved from the building. Midas sighed; Skye had a tendency to do this. The second the month of whatever holiday was next hit, she'd fly around and decorate every last inch of whatever she could. The Agency and The Shark were always vulnerable to her creative wrath, and now, it seemed GHOST House would be no exception. Since The Fortilla had sunk completely and where The Agency and Authority stood was out of the question now, GHOST House was the last option where they could all gather.

It was nice to be able to finally spend Christmas without having to worry about SHADOW—for the most part, at least, since Midas's petty thoughts often wandered to whatever Chaos Agent could possibly be plotting in his absence.

He hadn't actually been expecting to come here until the last days leading up to Christmas, but Skye had called and urgently told him to come without any context, only that there was a "big surprise." There was a box sitting in the corner still with some decorations, and he could only imagine how long she had been up to this. "Skye, how long have you even been here?"

Skye glanced at the box against the wall and grinned, taking his hand and dragging him into what they had turned into a storage room around the corner. There were at least five more boxes, all different sizes and mostly empty, and he didn't want to count the exact number. Two of them held strings upon strings of lights. "I think one. Journey helped me carry everything over."

Midas shook his head, smiling slightly. "I would ask why you decided to do this now, but I've learned not to question your antics anymore. Though when you say 'one...' am or pm?"

"PM, duh," Skye laughed. "I'm not that crazy. Now that you're here, you can help me with the rest!"

He couldn't help but back up slightly—he never particularly enjoyed decorating, for all the times Jules had nagged him to help her do so. He immediately searched his mind for every excuse in the book, such as needing to help Jules out with a project or even something unlike him such as willingly fishing with Meowscles (not that he minded spending time with him, just that the thought of seawater, even just a pond or river... well, it didn't sit well with him), but Skye was clever enough to have already plastered on a pair of puppy eyes. "Fine," he sighed, ultimately selling his soul for the rest of the afternoon.

Skye brought out one of the emptied boxes and split the remaining decorations, handing him the new load. "I got everything on the right here, you can start on the left and I'll check if I need to get anymore upstairs."

Midas nodded and took his share through the left door. He couldn't help but crack a smile—it was the corridor where all the classrooms sat in the days of The Agency, where all the new recruits were trained under the hands of Brutus. The first classroom before him was where he had personally offered to train Skye. She had been so eager, and though there were doubts between Journey and him seeing as she was barely fifteen, she had picked everything up rather quickly, ultimately earning her true spot in GHOST months later. It was hard to believe she was turning eighteen in merely four months.