#rainbowtechnomage

"Hey Xeph! Get that package for me, will ya?" Honeydew’s muffled voice came from behind a pile of boxes, where inside them currently resided about half of the Christmas decorations. The rest were either haphazardly strung around the house, or scattered on the ground in a great mess. This, of course, was not ideal for the stressed-out spaceman.

"Which package are we even talking about?!" Xephos almost yelled, running a hand through his hair and looking decidedly exasperated. "There’s hundreds of packages, how the hell are we even supposed to look at them all, let alone open them and decorate this bloody place by Christmas!" He let out a frustrated groan as he buried his face in his hands.

A stifled laugh floated from behind the boxes, but was quickly muted as a small, ginger-haired head popped out from the pile. “Oi, Xeph, we can do it! Besides, I found the, uh, thing I was looking for anyway.” His dwarven hands fiddled with the small box.

Xephos dropped his hands with a groan, opening his mouth for a snarky remark, but finally sighing and resorting to a less aggressive approach. “What is it?” He asked shortly, only glancing briefly at Honeydew’s twitching hands. “It better not be a trick or something.”

"Nah, I think it’s more of a treat. Whoops, wrong holiday." Honeydew gave a short chuckle, before looking over to the side, then down at the box in his grasp. "I’ll uh, maybe need a stepladder."

The taller spaceman, practically looming over him, raised an eyebrow and groaned again. “‘Dew, I can just put it up, give it to me.”

"Uh, no, I have to put it up." Honeydew retained his usual indignant voice, even as his grip on the box tightened and his tone switched to a teasing, happy one. "It’s a surpriiise~!"

Xephos rubbed his temples. “Fine, okay, whatever! But you have to set everything up yourself, I’m going to get the rest of the ornaments from—wherever the box is.” A few curses followed as he started to rummage through the pile of packages himself, while Honeydew saluted and ran off to find his equipment.

A couple minutes of swearing and secrecy later, Honeydew’s excited voice came from a few rooms down. “Xeeeeeeph, come see the surpriiiise~!” From the tone of his voice, it was obvious that the dwarf was planning something or other.

Resigning himself to abandon the pile for now, Xephos straightened up and headed for Honeydew’s excited and mischievous voice—and stopped short in his tracks.

Honeydew stood, grinning ear to ear, on a stepladder, his face flushed with both effort and affection. Just above his helmet—which he had decorated with antlers for the occasion—was a curious plant, one with white berries and a tiny red bow, hanging from a doorway.

A blue tint spreading over his own face, Xephos took a shocked step back, sputtering and stammering. Although he didn’t claim to know everything about Christmas traditions, he definitely knew what this one meant. “Wha—how—Dew, I—this is—uh, care to explain?” He finally got his bearings, though the blush didn’t die down at all.

"It’s a mistletoe, Xeph! You know, you get two people under it, they kiss, and uh, all that good stuff." Honeydew shrugged, and although most of his rugged face was hidden by his ginger beard and mustache combo, there was definitely red on his cheeks as well. "Soooo, you gonna kiss me or not?"

Xephos was at a loss. More than the usual emotional turmoil that comes from your crush asking to kiss you, there was even more. If he backed out, Honeydew would never let him hear the end of it, and he’d probably pay for it in some shape or form in another way. If he went with it—what then? Would he laugh it off? Be exasperated again? Confess?

And all this decision making had to last only a second.

"C’mon Xeph, it’s just a kiss! Mwahmwahmwah~" Honeydew made little kissing noises at the spaceman, who finally facepalmed before throwing his hands up in the air in defeat.

"Okay, okay, fine, I’ll kiss you." And with that, Xephos stepped up, wrapping his arms around the smaller man, and pulled him into a kiss on the lips that was returned enthusiastically, but lasted longer than expected.

Which was not what Honeydew had planned. What the dwarf had thought would happen was a frustrated sigh, a peck on the cheek (or hopefully the lips) and getting on with business, if a little more flustered than before. But now, he was pressed against his best friend and possibly more, and he was neither objecting nor pulling away.

Well, better to enjoy it, he guessed. But eventually, it had to end, and Xephos quickly realized what exactly he’d done and scrambled away. “U-Uh, s-sorry about that friend, I uh…”

"Shut up, you, and c’mere again." This time it was Honeydew who pulled them back again, and both of them positively melted. Until the dwarf murmured something.

"Xeph?"

"Mmhm?"