#Originally wanted to add mistletoe shenanigans but I'm willing to bet that will be another prompt down the line

[michaelmilligan]

Here we go! For the Holiday Advent Calendar Event by the lovely @starrynightdeancas and @drgarth - here is my addition for the prompt(s) for December 1st:

Decorate the tree // Tree Topper // “Deck the halls”

As soon as midnight had hit, Adam had turned on a Christmas playlist – on his phone while wearing headphones, because 'we don't want our neighbours to hate us, babe'. Truthfully, Michael didn't care much about the neighbours, but Adam was fond of positive social interactions with other humans, even if they only involved greeting one another in the hallway. And Mrs. Jennings from apartment 3c had provided Adam with cookies just a few days before, so Michael would make sure to keep up good relations with her, at least.

They had already procured a fir the day before, having used Michael's archangelic powers to transplant it from a forest into a bed of soil he had created in their living room. After the holidays, the tree would be returned to its proper place. This, they had decided, was the most ecological way of celebrating Christmas – of course, for regular humans the task would have been immensely complicated, even neigh impossible. But for Michael, it had required but a fraction of his grace and a few calculations regarding the amount of soil needed and the size of the tree in proportion to their living room.

Currently, Adam and Michael were busy decorating the fir, so that it would become a proper Christmas tree as defined by local custom. This year, that involved bright red and gold baubles and a collection of straw figurines being hung from it, as well as a string of lights that Michael had unravelled. He had to admit, that had not been as easy as he had expected when Adam had asked for his help. The entanglement had been rather severe.

(keep reading under the cut)

Michael had observed Adam decorating a Christmas tree many times in their centuries in the cage, and had even assisted him several times. Though none of the trees had been real – all just illusions made by Michael like the rest of the surroundings they had spent most of their time in – the experiences had prepared Michael well for this day. One after the other, he hung the baubles on one side of the tree while Adam was responsible for the other side. After over a thousand years of knowing each other, they worked together efficiently and peacefully – something that Michael could otherwise only say about his sibling Raphael. Not that Michael had ever decorated a Christmas tree with them, nor with anyone else besides Adam.

In any case, Adam appeared to appreciate Michael's help hanging the ornaments, if the bright smile on his face was any indication. Never once did he berate Michael about a placement. Not that he had ever done this previously, even when Michael had been inexperienced at decorating. By now, Michael knew to choose each placement carefully, calculating the distance of each bauble to its peers. This was easy – the straw figurines, differing from each other in size and shape, were a little trickier, but Michael managed.

He was doing good. And as always, the shared activity with Adam was pleasing.

The last step of the decoration process was to choose and place the so-called tree topper. In the cage, Adam had always asked for a star atop the Christmas tree, though its exact shape and material had varied over the years. This time, however, Adam had bought both a star and an angel tree topper. He weighed them in his hands thoughtfully.

“Are you sure you would enjoy an angel atop the tree?” Michael asked, not for the first time since Adam had first spotted them in the store. “Most angels you met have not been kind to you.”

In response, Adam smiled in a mixture of amusement and fondness. “Yeah, but some have been pretty great.”

Michael considered this, thinking of their days spent 'renovating' Heaven. “You did get along rather well with Gabriel.”

“Babe,” Adam said with slight exasperation as he put the star-shaped tree topper back into its box, “you do know that I mean you, right?”

Michael had not known this. It was a surprising, but gratifying revelation. “Would the angel tree topper be a stand-in for me, then?” Michael contemplated. “It does not look like me.”

While the tree topper had wings, it was also human-shaped, a far cry from Michael's True Form. And neither did it resemble the visage he used to interact with Adam (and sometimes, other people), which was a reproduction of a human he had once observed in what had, back then, been called Persia.

“Yeah... They didn't have black-haired ones. Or ones with fifty billion eyes.” Adam held up the tree topper, a figure with long blond hair, a halo and a white flowing robe. “It looks like people generally imagine angels, I think.”

“Then their imagination is greatly lacking.”

“Yeah, well. Most people never meet an angel, so cut them some slack. But you're right, it doesn't look like you at all. Though it does look a little like me if I let my hair grow out and put on a nightgown.”

Michael regarded the figurine, then Adam. “No. Your hair is more of a golden colour than this yellow.”

“Golden hair, huh?” Adam grinned, then suddenly started singing: “Flower gleam and glow, let your powers shine-”

“Adam, that is not a Christmas song,” Michael berated him. “It is not seasonally appropriate.”

Adam laughed. “Yeah, and it doesn't make my hair glow either, huh. Maybe we should sing it every time you use your powers, then at least there'd be some glowing going on.”

“That would be highly inconvenient.”

“Maybe.” Adam smiled, then went up on his tiptoes to place the angel figurine on the Christmas tree. “There. Now it's complete.”

Michael regarded the fir. Indeed, it was now a traditional Christmas tree.

Adam looked at the tree in content, then wrapped his arms around Michael's torso, leaning in to kiss him. “Our first Christmas season on Earth has now officially begun. So, since we can't get drunk from it anyway, how about we start celebrating with some eggno-”

There was a shriek, and then a crash as a golden bauble and a black ball of fur simultaneously hit the ground. Under more shrieking, the kitten evacuated the crash site and started clawing its way up Michael's leg.

“Bastet!” Adam called, and for a moment Michael thought that he would punish the kitten for knocking a bauble off the tree. But instead, Adam just crouched down next to where the animal was clinging to Michael's pants, and said: “You okay, sweetie?”

“They appear to be unharmed,” Michael informed him after using his grace to check their health.

Bastet meowed pitifully as Adam plucked them off of Michael.

“How did you even get on the tree, kitty?” Adam asked, holding them to his chest. “Babe, can you put the bauble back? Or is it broken?”

Michael picked it up off the ground. It was slightly dented, but he corrected that quickly. “It is whole,” he informed Adam, before putting it back into its proper place on the tree.

“Did you wanna help decorate the tree? Or did you just see a shiny thing and wanted it?” Adam asked. It took Michael a moment to realize that he was talking to Bastet – he had the strange habit to address the cat as if it understood human speech. “Did it scare you when it fell off? Poor kitty.”

“Perhaps I should set up a barrier to protect the tree,” Michael mused, already considering the runes he would need to keep away Bastet, but not Adam or himself.

“Hey, if they wanna play with the tree, that is their Go- uh, their given right as a cat. Right, sweetie? Yeah, you got free will, just like the rest of us.” Adam petted the kitten and they snuggled up against his chest and hand.

Michael sighed. While he was all about free will these days, that included ensuring that some fates did not come to pass. Perhaps he could sneak in a protective rune or two while Adam wasn't looking.

If not, they might need to decorate the tree all over again.

On second thought... Maybe that wasn't so bad a fate, after all.