Wreaths and Ribbon

His tail twitched.

He watched as Hart twisted together plants in an intricate circle. It wasn’t the first one he’d woven together today. No. It was the third. The previous two had already been hung on the front door and the wall in the kitchen.

“Do you want to try to make one?” Hart asked him.

Judah frowned—more than he already did. “No.”

Cutsie things like that weren’t for him. He’d never done them, nor did he have the desire to do so. He upturned his nose at the activity.

“Not even one?” Hart asked. “For me?”

Judah’s tail twitched again.

“I don’ want to.”

“Just this once?”

Who was he to deny such a pouty face? Hart’s cheeks were puffed up as he pursed his lips, eyebrows upturned, and eyes sparkly. Judah took a deep breath. It wasn’t fair, honestly, how easily he could be swayed by that little bun.

“Fine,” Judah said, his accent thick.

Hart perked immediately perked and scooted impossibly closer to Judah. He dropped the in-progress ring into his lap and grabbed a handful of Holy Holly.

“Don’t eat the berries,” Hart warned.

“I wasn’ goin’ to.”—he thought about it, though. The little golden berries tied together with twine were rather enticing. They were almost too tempting, but Hart’s hands on his lap distracted him.

“I’ll show you how to do it.” He watched as Hart wove the holly into the wreath. When he finished, he offered Judah a couple of berries and twine. “Your turn.”

Judah wasn’t so well-versed with activities with his hands that weren’t sexual, but he was willing to attempt for Hart. Shaky at first, Judah began weaving the berries into the wreath. It was by no means as perfect as when Hart was doing it—which was annoying because it should’ve been perfect the first time.

Hart giggled beside him. “You’re too tense,” he told him. “Try not to strive for perfection for once. Just let yourself enjoy something.”

“I do let myself enjoy things,” Judah replied. “This jus’ ain’t somethin’ I’m used to doin’.”

Another giggle. “You’re doing just fine,” he said, “just relax.”

Judah took a breath and relaxed his shoulders. When he finished with the berries, Hart presented him with ribbons. Judah eyed him for a moment, unsure of what he was supposed to be doing with it. After a moment, he began carefully wrapping the ribbon, and when he looped back to the beginning, Hart snipped the excess.

“Almost done,” he said. “Let’s add some bells.”

“Bells?” Judah looked at the wreath in his lap. “If you say so, darlin’.” He wasn’t sure what the big deal was about making these things, but Hart seemed to enjoy it, so he couldn’t just say “no”.

Hart hummed softly and kissed his cheek before getting up to grab a bag of bells. Judah couldn’t deny that he was admiring Hart’s cute little sweater, even more so from behind.

“Tie some of these on,” Hart told him.

Judah nodded. He waited for Hart to return to his seat, missing the warmth of him leaning slightly against him. Once all settled, Judah began awkwardly weaving in the bells to the wreath. Each time he moved the wreath, it jingled and chimed. When he felt there were enough bells, he handed the wreath off to Hart, who cheerfully began inspecting it.

“You did great!” He said. He held up the wreath and jingled it. “Where would you like to hang it?”

“Hang it?” Judah frowned. “You don’ need to do that. We don’ haveta hang it anywhere.”

Hart hit him with his signature pout and doe-eyes. “You don’t want to hang it?”

Judah flinched and sighed softly. “Let’s hang it above the door.”

Hart perked up again immediately and kicked his foot up with joy. “Will you help me put it up? It’s a bit high.”

“Yer gonna haveta stop flirtin’ with me like this,” Judah said. He followed Hart to the door and stood back as the other man lifted his arms above his head in an attempt to hang the wreath. Judah smirked as Hart’s sweater rose to uncover his lower half, but he didn’t get to admire for long as Hart turned to look at him.

“If I don’t flirt with you, how am I supposed to get you to do what I ask?” He grinned playfully at Judah. “Help me hang this, and then you can admire how perfectly sized my sweater is.”

Judah huffed. “Since yer so convincin’,” he replied.

He still couldn’t believe how easily Hart could convince him to do things. Even so, he took the wreath from Hart once more and reached up to hang the very imperfect thing exactly where Hart wanted it.

“There,” Judah said. He took a few steps back to look over his work. “It ain’t as pretty as yours.”

Hart smiled. “I’ve been practising, and I went to learn from the cherubuns, so I have a head start. You’ll get better at making them, though. I know you will.”

Judah crossed his arms. “Just how many of these things are you gonna make me help you make?”

“Make you?” Hart giggled. “I can’t make you do anything.”

Judah sighed. “No,” he said, “yer right. I can’t really say no to you, and you know it.”

“So, you’ll help me make some more wreaths?” Hart moved closer, hands cupped in front of his chest, too cute to ignore.

“Yeah,” Judah replied. “I’ll help you make some more wreaths.”

Hart cheered and hurried back to the couch. He grabbed a small bushel of branches and plopped down, patting the spot next to him. Judah could only comply. Hart wasn’t going to give up until Judah could make a wreath on his own with no issues and be happy about it—which was a stretch, but he was willing to give it an honest try.

If anything, he figured this strange new tradition was something he was going to have to get used to when it came to Cherubmas.