Happy Holidays

Interlude: Happy Holidays [.]

Cold snow soaked through Jeff's shoes, freezing his feet. He ignored the feeling, instead taking another long sip of his coffee. It was good. He continued to look at the fallen pine tree in front of him, a small one, that Toby had cut down and with the other proxies help, dragged it to the front lawn of the mansion and decorated it. 

It didn't look good, exactly. They didn't prop it back up to it's original, vertical position, instead leaving it on its side. They wrapped garland around the half that was topside, and tried putting a few ornaments on as well, though most of them were now broken or lying in the snow. Jeff took another sip of his coffee, staring at it. No, the tree didn't look good, but he had to admire the amount of effort they put into it. He still thought the act of celebrating the holidays strange, a foreign thing he hadn't done in quite a long time. He thought back to his old life,when he still looked forward to this type of thing.

"Jeff! JEFF!" 

Jeff 's eyes snapped open, and he jumped slightly, before his mind became foggy with sleep once more, and he grumbled, shoving his face back into his pillows.

Two hands roughly pushed him, trying to shake him out of sleep. "Jeff! Come on!" Said the familiar voice again. Jeff groaned once more, slapping off the pestering hands.

"Guhh.. Fine, fine, what?" He said, lifting his head up, his short black hair sticking up slightly. Liu gave him an amused look, before breaking out once more into a wide smile. " It's Christmas!"

That woke Jeff up. He sat up finally, throwing the covers off of him and leaning closer to Liu, his eyes wide. "Are mom and dad up yet?"

"No," Liu responded.

"How many presents?"

"Didn't look yet. Waiting for your lazy butt to wake up." Liu teased. Jeff snorted, lightly shoving his brother.

"Whatever. Let's go."

 The two quietly crept downstairs. Their living room didn't look exceedingly decorative, there were stockings hanging, and a 'Happy Holidays!' sign hanging up, presents right underneath. But the living room distinctly lacked a tree. Jeff's excitement was dampened slightly as he thought back to when he had argued with his mother about getting one. She had complained that trees were too much work for a silly holiday, and the pine needles would be difficult to clean up. When Jeff suggested a fake tree, his mom said, "maybe next year, Jeff."

But still, the presents were there, and Jeff and Liu shared a look of glee before running down and scrambling for the gifts.

They ripped them open, passing them to one another and sharing the joy between the two of them. Their hushed whispers died away completely, into loud talking and laughing. The noise woke their parents eventually.

"Glad to see you too up so early!" their mother chimed, making the boys look up. "Go get dressed, then I need you to help your father take down the decorations."

Liu glanced at Jeff, then back at his mom. "Uh, ok, we still have some presents to open-"

"The presents can wait. I already told you we have a Christmas party to go to. It's very important, we don't want to mess anything up, right?" She looked pointedly at the both of them. Jeff scowled. 

"Why do we even have to go? You said it's for Dad's work." He grumbled, but stood up and started for the stairs anyway. His mom begun to explain once again the Very Important Reasons to Jeff, who decidedly ignored her and he went to his room, Liu following close behind.

"I can't believe them!" Jeff said to Liu after they closed the door. 

"I know."

"It's literally Christmas day and she wants us to get rid of the decorations already?" He continued.

"I know," Liu responded empathetically. "And the party..."

"And the party!" Jeff exclaimed, following Liu's thought. He was pacing now, pulling off his shirt and putting on a new one. "It's not even a family thing! The only holiday party we get to go to and it's just so Dad can look good in front of his boss!"

Liu grabbed a pair of jeans from his dresser, putting them on. "At least they decided to take us to one this year, last time they went somewhere without us, remember?" 

Jeff continued pacing. "Yeah I remember," He said. "I remember them coming home drunk at like 3 a.m. Then they lied and told everyone that they sent us to a relative's house for Christmas."

Liu sighed and flopped onto his bed, staring at the ceiling. "It's like all they care about is looking like they're a perfect family without doing any of the work."

"I know!" Jeff agreed, and finally stopped pacing. Liu was quiet, and Jeff could tell he was upset. Jeff was madder about it, but he expected this sort of thing. Liu never quite seemed prepared for the disappointment. Jeff looked at Liu, before flopping down next to his brother, crossing his arms angrily. After a moment, he said quieter, " Christmas fuckin' blows."

"I know." Liu said softly. 

"I'm not gonna celebrate it anymore," Jeff continued, and Liu looked looked at him. " I don't need presents, and I don't need to deal with this fake 'family'  stuff anymore." He looked at Liu, meeting his eyes, even though the eye contact made him uncomfortable. 

Liu's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. "I don't think they'll agree to that." He said slowly.

"I don't care if they do. I'm making up a new holiday that they aren't allowed to ruin." 

"What's that?"

"I call it 'Holiday Hate' day. All you have to do is pick a holiday you hate and celebrate this one instead." Jeff answered. Liu blinked.

"That's so stupid," He responded, letting out a laugh, his face breaking out into a smile, making his nose crinkle up. "Count me in. It sounds a lot more fun."

Jeff finished his coffee, a slight, grim smile on his face. He raised the empty cup into the air, towards the fallen pine tree. 

"Happy Hate day, Liu."