#prefs

Ashton: He watches as your eyes sparkle, staring out the window as snowflakes fall peacefully. It’s the first time you’re seeing snow, and since it’s still dark outside, you two stay inside. He promises that once the sun is up and it warms up slightly, he’ll take you out to play and teach you how to stay on your feet. And he keeps his promise. Once the sun is high enough and it isn’t blistering cold outside, he makes sure you’re dressed properly and double-checks your boots to ensure no snow gets inside. He watches you frolic; joyful laughs and squeals filled his ears as he playfully throws small snowballs at you. The snowballs grow as you get used to them until it’s ultimately a full-fledged snowball fight. 

Michael: He was woken up by you shaking him, excitement in your voice as you tell him it’s snowing. He groggily gets out of bed and watches you scatter around to find your winter gear. He dresses slowly, much to your dismay since you wanted to get out there while the snow was still falling. After hurrying him, along with the promise of a nice hot cup of cocoa afterward, he happily follows you out with a smile. He’s cold, he’s tired, he just wants to sleep until noon under warm blankets, but being able to see you happily prance in the snow for the first time ever was something he’d rather see in real life than in a dream state.

Calum: He decided to take you out to a rental cabin. He thought it would be a good idea to get away for a while and give you an experience you’ll never forget. On your way to the cabin, trudging through the snow to the doorway, you were already extremely happy. Cold, wanting to just go and warm up by the fireplace, but still excited to see the snow. He promises to take you out to play and explore the area around you the next day, and when he does he holds you close to make sure you don’t lose your footing on the icy floor hidden underneath. He also grabs a handful of snow and plops it on your head, which incites a snowball fight back at the cabin. The snowball fight turns into a competition to see who can build the best snow fort to take cover for the new snowball fight.

Ashton: It only took about forty minutes to set the tree up—getting the stump into the stand and then tightening the screws, then getting the water and pouring it into the stand only to accidentally overfill it and have to lift the tree and empty the stand and clean up the mess—it was a chaotic afternoon. But finally, the tree is up, the tree skirt is clean and wrinkle free, laying around the stand. The decorations are laid out on the couch and in front of the couch. Ashton sat on the arm of the couch, untangling the lights while you worked to untangle the ornament hooks, old-time Christmas music playing softly in the background with the golden glow of the sunset shining from the other side of the room. Hearing a curse from his mouth, you softly chuckle and turn to look at him. He mumbles something along the lines of, “let’s just buy new lights,” which causes another laugh from you. Putting the hooks aside you go to help him and within minutes the lights were untangled enough to start hanging them. By the end of the night, all the decorations put up with the lights on (and other lights off in and surrounding the living room), the two of you sat on the couch cuddled up as the lights twinkled, oddly but serenely in sync with the music. “As much as I love traditions,” he whispers, pulling your attention away from the star on top of the tree. “We’re getting an artificial tree with lights built in for next year.”

Michael: It was something that was passed down, something you were taught as a kid while in the kitchen with your elderly relatives every year, two weeks before Christmas. The laminated, but very aged, paper sat on the counter with ingredients surrounding it. It obviously wasn’t your first time baking this recipe, but it was the first time Michael would be cooking with you AND trying it. He has said that he’s always wanted to try it, hearing the cute stories from your family and you as well, and vowed to help you bake the treats. The dialogue from the Christmas movie you left on can be heard from the kitchen as you two double check all the ingredients. Once confirming the checklist, the work began and you can’t deny that while the memories from your childhood were amazing, this moment will forever be in your heart. While the delicious treats were in the oven, you couldn’t help but feel overwhelming joy. “This is fun,” he says as he wipes down the counter that was covered in flour. “Thank you for sharing this recipe with me.” He holds you close as the timer counts down, sharing his favorite holiday memories from his childhood.

Calum: Scraps of wrapping paper surrounded the two of you as you both struggled to wrap the remaining gifts for friends and family. The shopping had finished earlier in the month, starting early since most of your shopping was done online. Neither of you wanted to waste time since you didn’t know how long shipping would be and wanted the gifts to arrive on time. Both of you weren’t the best at wrapping but they got the job done, and the ribbons were a bit crooked but still presentable. The sound of cutting the paper and the occasional rip or tear has become unbearable and your hands had a few minor papercuts, along with the pain from the scissor handles causing pain in your joints—but it’s all in the fun. Calum had suggested just getting gift bags for those who live close but in the end changed his mind when the idea of a race between the both of you came to him. The race was subsequently called off when he got the first few papercuts though, but he’s pulling through because he enjoys spending time with you. Over the annoying paper, scissor, and tape sounds, your little frustrated sounds when the paper isn’t even or you didn’t cut off enough or cut too much was amusing, and he can’t deny it made his heart swell and yearn to hear them every year from here on out.

Ashton: “it doesn’t matter when we get back, to doing what we do, ‘cause right now can last forever, just as long as i’m with you” -- first verse of ‘A Daydream Away’

He knows it’s wrong to think of your friendship turning into something more. It’s something he treasured more than anything and the thought of going further with the potential of ruining it would be devastating. He can’t help how he feels, though. It was the little things, from remembering something he said he liked years ago that he didn’t fully remember telling you, to being so interested in his interests and watching you fondly smile as he rambled on. You’re easy to talk to, to just be with, someone he finds solace in. Every time he’s with you it’s like everything clouding his brain dissipates and nothing is wrong. There have been times where it felt like things could progress but the next day it would be back to normal, back to being completely platonic. And he’s okay with that, because as long as he has you in his life, he’s satisfied, and he doesn’t want anything to change it.

Michael: “how long can we be, happy if happy ain’t meant for us?” -- first verse of ‘Glitter & Crimson’

It was almost comical how often the two of you would fight. At least twice a week, at most five times, but no matter what the two of you would make sure neither of you would go to bed angry. Certain topics were triggers for a ticking time bomb, and no matter how hard one of you would try to avoid the topic, it would come up and then there was no turning back. You both started the relationship happy, practically diving into the honeymoon phase early but in doing that it opened the doors for problems early on. The happiness now, however, seems to have dissipated, at least within the relationship. Around others you two were happy, but alone together it just didn’t seem to exist. Countless nights spent wondering if the relationship was meant to be, and how can it if both parties aren’t happy in it?

Calum: “and we can’t quite see, being us ain’t good for us” -- second verse of ‘Glitter & Crimson’

It’s toxic. The constant break ups and make ups were toxic, and yet you two would crawl back to each other. Your friends told you to stop, his friends told him to stop, family members begged you two to stop and let it go, move on. You wanted to, he wanted to, but finding familiarity in each other’s arms was safer than seeking comfort from another person. From the beginning there were warning signs but you two decided to ignore it, wanting to have a relationship no matter what. But in doing that you two ignored the red flags and continued on. It’s not healthy, both of you knew it, but whatever was drawing you two back to each other was not easy to get rid of.

Luke: “I would drink a little too much, you’d offer me a ride, and I would offer you a t-shirt, and you would stay another night” -- second verse of ‘A Daydream Away’