Have Some Cake

Christmas: Philadelphia, PA (7/12)

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

The door to a cozy living room opens up. On the other side is a snowy scenery with a snow-covered lawn and frosted porch. Nolan Patrick enters the living room with his black Flyers-themed holiday sweater, a green and red elf hat, and his cheeks at a brilliant red. Stumbling behind him is Carter Hart, who is dragging a suitcase behind him. He wears a green and red holiday sweater with black earmuffs.

Carter takes a glance at the small, bare living room before turning to his friend. "Wow! I can't believe I get to spend the holidays with you!" He grins. "Thank you so much!"

"Of course." Nolan shrugs with less than half of the enthusiasm his friend displays. "Teeks went back to his family and I was left all alone and I didn't like that, so I decided to invite you over."

Carter places his free hand over his heart. "Trust me, Pat, it's an honour!"

"Good. Now—" Nolan sticks his hand into his pants' back pocket. "—let's see what we have to do." He whips a long list into view, letting it dangle down to his feet.

Carter's eyes fly open at the alarming length of the paper. "Whoa! That looks like Santa's list...!"

He snaps his both wrists, straightening the list. "It's my to-do list." He then peers at the list. "So first. we're going to decorate the living room, then shovel out the snow and because we need to do that before we can put up the rest of the decor, then we can finally relax by the fire and have hot chocolate."

All Carter can do is blink at him. "What?"

Nolan shoots him a disapproved look and huffs. "You can read it yourself." He shoves the list at him.

"No, I know that!" Carter whacks list away. "But like..." He shrugs with an unsure expression. "...why?"

Nolan maintains an expressionless look. "Why what?"

"Why do that?" He holds his hands out at the held list. "That's boring!"

Nolan raises his eyebrows at him. "Excuse me?"

Carter throws his hands in the air at each question: "Decorating? Cleaning? Sitting by a fire? Wh-wh-where's the fun? The action?" Excitement springs on his face. "We can go snowman making, snowball fighting, ooo, and think up holiday pranks!" He rubs his hands together.

Nolan has no expression. "That's so stupid."

"But it's fun!"

"That does absolutely nothing!" Nolan places a hand on his hip. "At least cleaning and decorating is productive!"

"But playing in the snow makes things more fun!"

"What if I find decorating fun?"

"What if I find it boring?"

"Well, I'm certainly not going to take up your activities!"

"But I need someone else to do them with me!"

"Find someone else!"

With that, Nolan whirls around and stalks away from him, toward the archway that leads to the hallway.

Carter follows his storming friend with guilty eyes. "But Pat! Pat!" He cranes his head back and groans. "Fine!" He throws his hands in the air and exclaims, "I'll decorate with you!"

Pat halts and peers behind his shoulder. His eyes are sharp with skepticism. "You actually want to?"

Carter stands in place, sweating with an unsure grin and wide eyes. "Yes..."