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Week 1: Putting Up Decorations
This HC thingy is set in an AU where Monty, The Cat King/Thomas and Niko are left at Port Townsend while Edwin, Charles and Crystal return to London. The Case:Dismissed trio.
The Cat King often magics the smallest bit of holiday decor in the cannery for his servants: sparse tinsel, glittery snowballs, and lots of fragile ornaments dangerously hung on Christmas trees. When he adopts Monty off the streets he spots the crow-boy's eyes googling at the glittering ropes of Christmas lights that litter most of the neighborhood houses. He didn't judge Monty and instead mulled over making the cannery look less of a minefield. Plus he wants to entice a certain ghost that has been depressively loitering around Tongue and Tail and stares at him heartbroken.
So Thomas stays up one night and digs around to see what his two 'captives' enjoy. Monty's interetst are distastefully obvious; astrology. He was unsatisfied however and looked a bit deeper and noted that the pretty boy liked shiny things: bracelets, rings and other trinkets. Maybe Thomas will get something like a friendship bracelet for Esther's past familiar. Niko was more difficult to find a gift for. He easily found that she enjoyed yaoi but he had not been able to find what she had and had not read. Plus he has little knowledge on such things (as of now) so he wouldn't know where to start so he spots this small crocheted T. Rex and he magics his own yaoi version(s) of the plush and tracks back home satisfied with himself.
He manages to convince Niko to come to the cannery later that week. And despite easily being able to put up more decorations with a snap of his fingers he invites Monty to go shopping at their local department store. Watching the crow prance through the aisles feverishly emptying things into their cart. He didn't let Monty believe he went soft though, he nitpicked a few of his items, mostly things that looked like rainbow vomit and anything too cute; or things that his cats would immediately shove down their throat. Thomas and Monty make it to the cash register with a cart full of dusty rugs, partially dead flowers, seasonal candles, and a tube of premade cinnamon roll dough.
Monty turns out to be a rather dangerous baker, spilling half the pack of frosting on a cat and somehow in his hair before Thomas can stop him. The cinnamon rolls themselves are for some reason mouth wateringly delicious and it lures the ghost inside. He summons a pot of tea with china cups and keeps an eye on the pile of cinnamon rolls making sure they never truly run out cause fuck they're addictive.
The three murmured, hunched over drinking out of a classy set of tea cups that would normally be in the thousands, and covered by furred blankets Monty couldn't part with so Thomas bought three for this exact situation.
They didn't talk much about anything, avoiding the sour topic of the dead boy detectives that had changed their lives and opting for shoving their mouths with delectable sweets. Monty was the first to start rambling on about useless things and Niko made a few comments about her yaoi sometimes wrapped around that. Thomas sat back as the two calmly bounced back and forth in their conversation and only requested for Niko to stay during the holiday season just until new year's. Niko mulls over it and decides to stay. After all watching Jenny struggle while tearing down her room is only making her feel worse. Plus the cats were very persuasive.
So the three spend their holidays in the cannery enjoying tiny sweet pastries and warm drinks. Hanging garland and wrapping up make-believe presents as if they're close friends and really do want to share time with them. Monty and Thomas curl up next to each other as Niko recounts one of many plots of her yaoi or all three of them wrap up in a blanket and watch Scooby Doo and ignore how teenage detectives ruined their lives. One day however Thomas finally chooses to present the small little gifts he got for the two. Melting when Niko squeals when she spots the tiny plush and his eyes widening as she envelops him in a warm hug. Monty's reaction is a bit more reserved but his eyes sparkle the same mystified when he saw the eye watering christmas lights earlier that winter. He doesn't shrug off the childish gift and instead sincerely thanks Thomas for everything.
Niko, Monty and Thomas spend that night a tad bit familiar with each other, weaving roots in each other's presence and seeing each other as family moreso friends. Even if it was December 29th, four days after Christmas, it seemed like the most magical day of their troublesome years. A holiday belonging to them and only them. They didn't need a group of dead boy detectives and a psychic girl, they just needed each other and life would be brills.