The Tree of Awesome

"We are not getting a pink tree."

The words were spoken with an air of finality with a slight tinge of resignation, like the speaker knew that somehow, somehow—despite all odds—his firm words would get brushed aside like a forgotten fortune from a fortune cookie.

"Llooooyyyd," came the protest, and Lloyd didn't think he'd ever heard one syllable drawn out so far before, even from Zelos, which meant that he was in for a lot of arguing over this. Fortunately, he was in a bit of an argumentative mood.

"Zeeeeeloooooos," Lloyd mocked, never uncrossing his arms. He was awarded with a sour look before Zelos dismissed it with a characteristic wave-aside with that gloved hand.

"Pink is just like red, only lighter." Pointed look at Lloyd's choice in clothes. Lloyd pretended to not see it. "So, really, it's like getting a red tree."

"Zelos, it is not light red. It is pink. Hot pink."

"Well..."

"No." Lloyd turned and jabbed a thumb at another tree. "We are getting this one."

"It looks so...gloomy," Zelos said, eyeing the black tree. Tinsel hung off it like branches on a weeping willow tree, almost like a depressed sigh. There was nothing festive about it, nothing to brighten up the mood, the holiday, or the room. It was just... "It's so black."

"It's a black tree. It would make Yuan flip." Lloyd grinned, and his eyes seemed to spark with the potential of that. Lloyd had rather taken to that recently—bothering Yuan as much as he could, just for the sake of...well, bothering Yuan. He claimed that it was because Yuan had put them through so much grief during the Regeneration journey, but Zelos suspected it was just because Lloyd was bored, without any worlds or universes to save. Yet Lloyd had a bit of a talent for finding that sort of trouble.

"It would make me flip," Zelos said decisively. "There is no way we are getting a black tree. No."

"Zelos—"

"Nope."

"You're being unreasonable."

"You wouldn't let me have an almost-red tree!"

"It wasn't almost red! It was hot! Pink!"

They glared at each other. Tried to stare each other down. It didn't work. It never worked. They'd spent too much time together by this point for it to work.

"I'd suggest a compromise," Zelos said, "but there isn't really one."

"They're from totally different ends of the spectrum," Lloyd agreed.

"How about a purple tree?"

"It looks like barf purple."

"Okay, that's a new one."

"I'm just saying."

"You'll notice I'm not disagreeing." Zelos flashed a grin at the other swordsman. "Although I think it's more of an eggplant."

"Gross."

"Yeah."

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Lloyd knew that this really shouldn't be so difficult. He'd always laughed before at all the people who took forever to choose a tree, or at the people who spent so much time shopping just for decorations, it was a wonder they had time to even put up said decorations. It was a day in a year. One day. True, he wasn't used to getting the chance to celebrate, especially since he'd been on the road almost exclusively for the past few years. And Dirk had never really been one for holidays, just thinking one day was more or less the same as the last, forgetting that the holidays had come until a few months after the fact, at which point everyone else had moved on. At which point it was a bit of a moot point.

So this was all somewhat new to Lloyd. It wasn't something he was used to, which was fine. He was all for new experiences, especially when it came to Zelos (who had gasped dramatically when Lloyd had said thoughtfully that he'd never really celebrated any holiday before, let alone this one), but this was just ridiculous.

"This is ridiculous," Lloyd informed the redhead, who was busy poking at the snow cover on one of the more traditional trees, fascinated. "Why should this be so hard? I mean, it's a tree. It's not even a tree. It's a plastic replica of a tree. That we'll probably forget about like a week after all this."

"It's part of the experience," Zelos said absently. "I wish they had this in neon."

"You are so weird."

"I know." Zelos moved on from that tree. "Lloyd, okay, look. I get that you're from a hick town that didn't celebrate any holidays—"

"I didn't come from a hick town," Lloyd protested, even though he knew it was futile. "And they celebrated it, it was just that Dad and I didn't."

"Which is absurd."

"Which I didn't know until I came here and met you," Lloyd snapped, a little peeved.

"Hey, hey, hey, whoa, calm down. I wasn't saying it to—"

"And we are not getting a hot pink tree as our first tree."

"Are you on the subject of that tree again?" Something glinted in Zelos's eyes, and he said: "And does that mean that we can get a pink tree next year?"

"Only if we can get a black tree the year after that!"

"Never!"

They looked at each other and Lloyd couldn't help but smile.

"Okay," he said, and had to laugh. This was all just...too much. But in a good way. Somehow. "Okay, no black tree."

"No," Zelos said firmly.

"No pink tree."

"This year."

"No barf purple tree."

"You could be the guy that names those crayons, you're so poetic."

"How sweet."

Lloyd didn't know quite what made him do that quarter turn then, but he did, and Zelos somehow followed his line of sight—hell, maybe the professor was right, maybe the two of them were spending too much time together—but wasn't that how it was supposed to be?—and they saw The Tree at the same time. Spoke at the same time, with no argument or uncertainty in their unified voices.

"We are getting that tree."

It stood tall and proud, thin but well-angled, which made it remind Lloyd of Zelos, in its way, with a strong base. Tinsel, like all the trees they'd been looking at. Fun was important. The holidays were about celebrating, and celebrating was supposed to be all about fun. Neither one of them wanted to hold on to any tradition that their families would or could pass down to them. But none of the other trees had caught them quite like this one had. It was glimmering in the florescent light of the Christmas store, and green and blue strands stood out unashamed.

"We are so getting that tree," Zelos said on a sigh, but Lloyd had already started towards it. He followed the Dwarven-trained hero, and tried not to be too horrified when he heard the words of the salesperson to someone else.

"Yeah, this is our last one. I really like this one, you know, if I had a few thousand gald to spare, I might get it myself, but even with my employee discount, well—"

"Oh, yeah," said the woman of the two, in a nasally voice. "Very nice tree, very nice, but I don't know—"

They are not taking our tree.

"We'll take it," Lloyd said firmly, and there was no room for argument in his voice. It was the same tone he'd used when he'd said that they were going up against Mithos, or when he'd said that they were going to ride up on Rheaird that hadn't seen repairs in years up to a dragon's nest. It was That Voice.

"Uh," said the salesperson. "Well—this couple was thinking about—"

"Yes," the man said, snooty as shit. Zelos already didn't like him. He felt absolutely no remorse for taking this last tree. It was The Tree, dammit, the soul mate of all trees, the only tree that would do, the one tree to rule them all. No one was going to take this away from them.

"Why should they give it to you punks and not us?"

"Because—" Lloyd started, flustered, then blinked in that adorable way in which his brain caught up to the rest of him, and he looked mildly insulted. "Did you just call us punks?"

"Because," Zelos said, and didn't know what quite possessed him to hug Lloyd from behind and put his chin on that suspenders-clad shoulder. "Because this is Lloyd fucking Irving, and it's all his fault you're still alive."

"You're welcome," Lloyd muttered, but Zelos could tell by the way he shifted his weight over to his left leg that he was embarrassed by it. Whoops.

"Uh," the salesperson said again, and his eyes flitted from one party to the next. "Well—"

"And because I'll pay three times the price for it," Zelos said simply. "We want that tree."

"It's The Tree," Lloyd said by explanation.

"I'll get it for you," the salesman said, and gave a quiet, apologetic "sorry" to the other two, before dashing off. Zelos grinned unashamedly at them.

"I'm not sorry," he announced, and Lloyd gave him one of those looks that would be almost disapproving if it hadn't been obvious that he agreed. "At all."

In the end, it barely fit on the Rheaird to get flown home, and even then it only fit on Lloyd's lap, which didn't make the red-clad very happy, but, hey.

They had a tree, even if it wasn't a hot pink one.

Zelos grinned as he surveyed The Tree.

The pink tree would come for their second Christmas.