00170. Christmas 2004

00170. Christmas 2004

Announcement

Here is the first chapter of the new year. I hope everyone is doing well and had a safe and fun holiday session.

It was Christmas eve and Ezekiel was busy as he double checked all the presents his clones wrapped. Over the past year he paid close attention to everyone that was involved with the organization. He wanted to get each of them something special for Christmas, so he spent the past year and figured out their tastes, what they liked and picked out the perfect gift for each person. Well at least he hoped it was the perfect gift.

Once everything was completed he set off with a few clones and went to the main underground base. While the place never really slept and people came and went at all hours, day or night. It was actually slowest around ten at night till four in the morning PST.

Ezekiel made his way through the base to the currently deserted cafeteria and pulled out a large Christmas tree. With the help of his clones he decorated the whole thing in under ten minutes before he started to place presents under it. It took almost half an hour and the tree was half blocked by presents now. But Ezekiel smiled as he looked over his work for a few moments.

Afterwards Ezekiel left to deliver more gifts to other people not associated with the organization. He stopped by Tony's to give him, Happy, Rhodey and Pepper each a gift. Then he went to Fury’s home on the moon and dropped off a present while he wasn't there.

He also stopped by Xavier's school and dropped off a couple gifts for each of the students there. His second to last stop was Genosha where he went to the orphanage there and dropped off the more presents.

His final stop was Kamar-Taj where he placed another small Christmas tree and gifts for everyone who studied there. Once he finished up he went home to get some sleep. While it was early compared to his normal bed time, he figured he could slack off a little today and not practice for once.

Theo woke up early the next morning and took a bit of time to get ready before he headed upstairs to check on his siblings. He first stopped in the kitchen and started a pot of coffee for his parents. Then he headed upstairs to wake everyone up.

He went to Milly's room first and found her sprawled out on her bed. Her blankets were tossed to the side while her pajama shirt was lifted up partially which exposed her belly. Theo took in the sight for a moment as he shook his head. No matter her age, Milly's sleeping habits never seemed to change.

Theo moved towards the window and opened up the curtains to let the faint morning light paint the room in a glow of color. As it landed on Milly's face, she scrunched it slightly before she rolled over to the side of the bed, away from the light. Theo smiled slightly before he moved next to her bed where she now rested and started to poke her cheeks.

At first she didn't respond, but after a few moments her face twitched. It wasn't long after that before her eyes slowly opened up. She frowned slightly as she said, “Go away T-eo, I'm trying to sleep.”

“I can't, it's time to get up.”

“School's out, I can sleep in all I want.” Milly said with a pout while her eyes were still half closed.

“But today’s Christmas.”

Milly closed her eyes as she said, “But I want to sleep more…”

Milly's voice trailed off before her eyes snapped wide open and she sat up in bed as she asked, “It's Christmas?”

“Yesterday was Christmas Eve, so…” Theo said as something seemed to click in Milly's eyes.

Milly jumped out of bed as she said, “It's time to open presents!”

Theo let out a chuckle before he said, “Not yet, we need to wake up Issac along with mom and dad first.”

“How about you get ready, while I go to wake Issac up.”

Milly nodded her head and moved towards her dresser as she said, “Okay.”

Theo left Milly's room and entered Issac's room to find him in a state similar to Milly. His blankets were tossed to the side and one of his legs hung off the bed. His mouth was opened slightly and a small puddle of drool was on his pillow as he snored softly.

Theo moved towards the window and opened the curtains to let light in the room. As the light covered Issac's face in color and warmth, his eyes started to twitch before he rolled over away from the light. Theo smiled as he walked over to his brother and started to poke his cheeks like he did with Milly.

After a few moments Issac's eyes opened up slowly as he groggily looked up at Theo. Theo smiled as he said, “It's time to get up.”

“I wanna sleep.” Issac mumbled as his eyes closed.

Theo poked his cheek again as he said, “Come on and get up, it's Christmas.”

Issac tried to swat at Theo a few times to make him go away, but with his eyes closed he missed as Theo easily moved out of the way. Theo got an evil glint in his eyes as he said, “Did you just try to hit me… I'll teach you the consequences of your foolish actions little brother.”

Issac's eyes shot open when he heard Theo’s tone of voice but it was already too late. Theo grabbed his pajama shirt and pulled it over his head which also pinned his arms above his head before he started to tickle Issac. Issac squirmed and erupted into laughter as Theo mercilessly tickled him for almost a minute before Milly entered the room.

She glanced at her brothers for a few moments before he said, “I'll go wake up mom and dad.”

“We're already up, but thank you sweetie.” Jacob said as he placed a hand on Milly's head to pat it.

“Stop. Stop. I'll get up! I'll get up!” Issac finally said between bouts of laughter.

Theo nodded in satisfaction as he released Issac and looked towards the door. He momentarily froze in shock when he saw his dad. Jacob stood behind Milly with a Christmas sweater on and the sweater was the only reason for Theo’s shock.

It was hands down one of the ugliest things he had ever seen in his life. It was a mix of green, red and white with no discernable pattern. Actually it was better to describe it as if someone puked up Christmas colors, all over the sweater itself…

Theo quickly broke out of his shock as he said, “Good morning, dad.”

Jacob smiled as he said, “Good morning, Theo. Thanks for waking up the troublemakers for me.”

Daniel peaked into the room from behind Jacob and said, “Don't take too long getting ready. We need to meet everyone at May's for breakfast.”

Within ten minutes everyone was down stairs in the living room and ready to leave the house. Jacob had a cup of coffee in his hands as he smiled at everyone and said, “Before we take off I have an extra gift for everyone.”

Jacob set his coffee down before he went to the entryway closet and pulled out four gifts. He had a large smile on his face as he handed one to everyone as he said, “Go on, open it up.”

Milly and Issac tore into the gifts quickly while Theo took his time along with Daniel, who glanced at Jacob for a moment before she opened up her gift. Milly was the first one who completely unwrapped her gift and Issac was only a moment behind. Theo didn't pay attention to them as he finished opening his own gift and froze. Folded neatly inside the box was a smaller version of Jacob's sweater.

Theo felt a feeling of dread wash over him as he glanced up to see that Milly, Issac and his mother all received the same ugly sweater. Jacob's smile threatened to split his face as he said, “Go on, put them on.”

Milly and Issac had no issue with the sweater and quickly put them on. While Daniel paused for a moment in thought, before she put on her own sweater. Theo was the only one who didn't move and was frozen as his brain stopped working. Jacob noticed Theo’s hesitation and said, “Come on Theo, try it on.”

Theo came out of his shock as he glanced at his family all in the same sweater, before he shook his head and said, “I can't.”

“Why not?” Jacob asked in concern.

“Because it would hurt my pride as a human.” Theo said in a flat tone of voice.

Milly and Issac seemed a little confused at the statement as Daniel attempted not to laugh. Jacob forced a smile as he said, “Come on, it's the holidays and it's just a sweater.”

“Yeah, it's just a sweater.” Issac added.

“Come on, it’ll be fun if we're all matching.” Milly said with a smile.

“You don't have to wear it all day either. Just for a few hours at most.” Daniel said as if that would help Theo put it on.

About twenty minutes later Theo was at May's with all of his extended family present and couldn’t help but shake his head. Apparently Jacob, Ben, Richard and Jon went all in on the ugly sweater thing. Everyone in the family currently wore the exact same sweater and we're in the middle of taking a family photo, including Theo…

vvvvv

Theo let out a sigh of relief as he buried that ugly Christmas sweater in the back of his closet. He ended up wearing it the whole day and just arrived back home from his aunt's house. It was the family tradition to hang out all day at one of the families homes.

Instead of opening gifts and then meeting up together, everything happened at one house. It was kind of a hassle considering the amount of people in one place. But somehow it always worked out fine and everyone enjoyed each other's company.

After Theo hid the sweater away with the goal to never wear it again, he took a quick shower before he created a clone to cover for him the rest of the night and essentially sleep in his bed. He changed into comfortable clothes before he henged into Ezekiel and took off for Genosha. Once there he made his way towards the mystic arts school and went to greet his teacher.

Tao was seated in a comfortable looking leather bound chair. She was engrossed in her phone as a tea cup hovered next to her. As Ezekiel approached he could hear the distinctive sound of one of the match three games he created and could only smile as he shook his head. Apparently he made the game too addictive if even Tao played it this much… Or maybe she was just bored because she tended to have a lot of free time on her hands.

Ezekiel watched her for a few moments before Tao said, “Are you not going to greet me?”

Ezekiel smirked as he said, “Sorry master, I didn't want to interrupt you. You seemed busy.”

Tao glanced at Ezekiel as she continued to swipe at her game before she asked, “Are you going to visit your girlfriend?”

“She's just… A friend, that’s a girl. And yes I am.”

“Going to visit a woman alone on Christmas, normally means you're more than friends.” Tao said with a smile before she spun her hand in a circle and opened a portal to Hel.

Ezekiel let out a lit sigh before he pulled out a Christmas gift from his storage seal along with a small plate of cookies. He placed them down on the coffee table next to Tao as he said, “Merry Christmas master.”

Tao finally looked up from her phone at the cookies and gift before she said, “Thank you.”

She flicked her right hand and a small gift appeared in it before she held it towards Ezekiel and said, “Merry Christmas.”

Before Ezekiel could open the gift she waved him off and said, “Go on, it's not polite to keep a woman waiting.”

Ezekiel shook his head before he stepped through the portal and it shut behind him. Hela was there like always with a hint of a smile on her face as she looked at him. Ezekiel smiled back at her as he said, “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas?” Hela asked back.

Ezekiel moved towards her with the gift in his hand as he said, “Yeah, it's a major holiday on Earth… Well Midgard. People spend time with friends and family, give each other gifts and eat a lot of food. At least that’s what my family does.”

Hela nodded slightly in understanding as she said, “I remember you talked about it before… I assume today is Christmas?”

Ezekiel nodded so Hela said in an uncertain voice, “Merry, Christmas?”

Ezekiel smiled and placed the gift from Tao down on the table before he pulled out a few plates full of food. Two of them were full of normal holiday food like turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, biscuits, green bean casserole and other things. The other plate was filled with cookies, cake and a couple different types of pie.

Next Ezekiel pulled out a gift and placed it on the table as he said, “This is food my family prepared for Christmas dinner and my little sister made the cake along with these cookies.”

Hela glanced at everything before her eyes landed on the present. Ezekiel smiled at her as he said, “That's your Christmas present.”

Hela looked at it and frowned before she said in a quiet voice, “You didn't have to get me anything.”

“What? Of course I had to get you something, we're friends after all.”

Hela glanced away from Ezekiel as she said, “But being here… I can't get you anything in return.”

“First off, you didn't really know about Christmas and besides it's the thought that counts, not the actual gift. The fact you would like to get me something is all that really matters.” Ezekiel said as he pushed the gift a little closer towards Hela.

Hela glanced back towards Ezekiel and the gift for a moment before she asked, “Really?

Ezekiel nodded as he patted the top of the gift and said, “Go ahead and open it up.”

The gift slowly lifted off the table and floated in front of Hela who studied it for a few moments before she asked, “It looks tightly sealed, how does it open?”

Ezekiel picked up his gift from Tao and held it up as he said, “It's just gift wrapped. Part of the fun and tradition is ripping off the outside layer to find out what's hidden inside.”

Ezekiel ripped open the wrapping on his gift to find a cardboard box which he quickly opened. Hela watched with interest as Ezekiel studied the contents of the box which she couldn't see. A slightly forced smile played across his face before he shook his head and stored the package away. After it disappeared Hela asked, “What did you get?”

Ezekiel glanced up to see Hela's inquisitive look and said, “Just an unexpected book from my teacher.”

Ezekiel quickly smiled and gestured to her gift as he said, “Go on, open up your gift.”

Hela looked back at her gift before she carefully peeled off the outside wrapping. She stared at the new object for a few moments before she asked, “It's a Gundam?”

Ezekiel smiled as he said, “Yeah! It’s a beginners model kit that you can build yourself. All of it just snaps together and comes pre painted. But you can do the stickers yourself.”

The box for the kit flipped around a few times as Hela studied it before she said, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Ezekiel said before he pulled out some root beer and said, “We can mess with that later though. Right now you should eat dinner while it’s still hot and we can watch two of the best Christmas movies ever made.”

As Hela put the model kit down she asked, “Christmas movies?”

“One of them is called Home Alone and it's a comedy. The other is called Die Hard and it’s an action movie. Which one do you wanna watch first?”

“Let’s watch Die Hard.” Hela said, which made Ezekiel smile.

vvvvv

After he left Hela, Theo went home to go to sleep. But before he did, he stopped by his training area to drop off the gift Tao gave him. While he had bookshelves in his bedroom, he didn’t think he could put the books Tao gave him there. So he moved in front of his small personal library in the training room and pulled out Tao’s Christmas gift. The first book was the only one he saw  before he sealed it away. The cover read, ‘How to talk to women for dummies.’

Theo shook his head and placed it on one of the empty shelves before he looked at the second book which read, ‘How to date a woman, a comprehensive guide on how to build a stable partnership.’

Theo chuckled and placed the book next to the other one before he glanced at the last book cover and froze in place as he read the title, ‘The Kama Sutra.’