Me: what the crap? are you kidding me?

Me: You've never played Sonic, then.

Me: gotta go phaste.

‘You know what I love about Christmas Day?’ Phalanx asked, boosting himself up onto one of the kitchen counters.

‘The abundance of shiny things?’ The Ghost retorted, kneeling next to him to check their Christmas turkey.

‘The Day,’ Phalanx replied, ignoring the Ghost’s comment.  ‘It all happens during the day, which means, we get to enjoy it without putting anyone in danger by skipping our patrols.’

The Ghost closed the oven door and leaned up to kiss Phalanx gently.  ‘Even if we are sharing it with some unusual guests,’ he commented, pulling away and taking Phalanx’s hand as he slid off the counter.

‘Not my idea!’ Incendiary called from the living room.  As they wandered through, they could see her standing in front of their very special Christmas tree.  Phalanx had made the tree out of specially-layered shields and Incendiary was decorating it with strings and baubles of flame.  The Ghost’s gaze flicked compulsively to the cheery red fire extinguisher sitting in the corner.  ‘Brit insisted,’ she added, nodding to her girlfriend.  Apparently the off-duty clothing tastes of both girls ran to dresses of shockingly little material, although Cheer Girl seemed to favour festive sneakers over Incendiary’s impractically-high heels.

‘I’m doing what the song said,’ Cheer Girl commented distractedly.  When she realised they were all looking at her blankly, she elaborated.  ‘Make the Yuletide gay.’

‘And it don’t get gayer than here,’ Incendiary drawled, turning to look at the two superheroes.  ‘Tell me, when did you get adopted by the Weasleys?’

Phalanx blushed; the sweaters-with-their-superhero-tags-on were a little dorky, but he liked them.  They’d been a gift from their fans, handed in to Officer Hudson with a card wishing them a Haunted Christmas and a Phantastic New Year.

‘When did you start reading children’s stories,’ the Ghost flashed back.

Incendiary snorted and jutted her hip out defensively, ‘I don’t.  Brit likes to watch the movies,’ she added quietly, unable to hide her smile when Cheer Girl reached out to twine pinkies with her.

‘Right,’ Cheer Girl announced, ‘it’s ready for the topper.’

‘Come on Val Gaynican, up you go.’  Before the Ghost could protest, Incendiary was thrusting a small plush doll into his hand and Cheer Girl had slung him up onto her shoulder so he could reach the top of the tree.  Peering at the doll in his hand, the Ghost was torn between laughing and blushing as he realised it was the Ghost doll that had been left in the package along with their jumpers.  The Phalanx doll was already perched above their mantelpiece.  Carefully, he reached out and settled the doll in the special circle of shields Phalanx had created for it, smiling at the sight of it, kept safe by Phalanx’s powers.

‘Okay, let me down!’ he called, reaching for Phalanx’s hand as soon as he was set on his feet again.  ‘Not bad,’ he said, squeezing Phalanx’s hand and feeling the reassuring squeeze back.

‘It doesn’t suck,’ Incendiary admitted reluctantly.  ‘Were you planning on feeding us anytime soon?’

‘I could feed you now but you’d die of salmonella poisoning,’ the Ghost retorted, leading the way back to the comfy couches in the middle of the room.

‘Not if I flamed it first,’ Incendiary commented, dropping into one of the chairs before budging up to make room for Cheer Girl.

‘Yes, because then it would be charred on the outside and still raw in the middle!’  The Ghost exclaimed, settling on the other sofa next to Phalanx.  ‘Just sit down and eat my big gay crackers.’

There was a moment of silence before Incendiary cracked, laughing madly and pointing, helpless with amusement, at the Ghost as he bit his lip and tried not to blush.

‘How can crackers be gay?’  Brittany asked, peering at one of the pretzels she had lifted from the snack bowl on the coffee table, and sending Incendiary into further peals of laughter.  It was too much and Phalanx and the Ghost collapsed as well.