to all the glowing eyes ✎ joshler

december 25

"mom! we're home!" josh yells as soon as brendon and him cross the front door. he's lucky he took his copy of the house keys to brendon's house, otherwise they would've to wait for someone to open the door in the disgusting cold outside.

the two friends are carrying bags with the beautifully wrapped presents, lily did that for them, and homemade cinnamon rolls, also made by lily. ashley runs to hug them, her hands dirty with flour and applesauce, "you jerk! why didn't you tell me you were bringing dessert?"

"uh, merry christmas to you too, ash?" brendon says with a hurtful tone.

"i've been trying to make a pie but jordan isn't being helpful," she rolls her eyes and points to the busy kitchen space.

"i'm trying to help! i didn't know you needed sugar for the applesauce!" jordan objects, his face covered in flour, applesauce and butter. they follow ashley to the kitchen, leaving their presents under the tree next to the rest. josh's mom is chopping off some potatoes, while the youngest sibling is cleaning the spilled flour off the counter.

brendon puts the cinnamon rolls next to the bowl of spaghetti and a box of decorated cookies. "do you need help with something, mrs. dun?" he goes to her side and puts the chopped off potatoes in the pot with the rest.

"you know you don't have to call me that, brendon. and i'd love you guys' help. bill went to the basement to get some spices for me, so i need all hands on deck," she hugs him and calls josh to join the hug, "i missed you, dears. how did your week go? did you have any troubles looking after the house?"

"it went pretty good. we played a ton of smash bros." josh replies, getting ready to work on the stuffing and cranberry sauce with jordan.

"you played smash bros. without me?!" the youngest sibling whines, a frown of flour decorating his face.

brendon gets the ingredients ready for the dishes he'll work on with ashley, namely gravy and roasted vegetables. "sorry, bud. we can play some after we open the presents. i brought my switch."

"really? nice."

the whole family continues to work on dinner, everyone has an important thing to prepare so no time is wasted. josh's dad comes back with a box full of backup spices, along with special ones that they only use for big occasions such as christmas. it's a very lovely atmosphere. to be completely honest, josh can't help but keep looking over at his friend to see how he's doing. he knows that his parents aren't the best when it comes to holidays, like today, so he's almost always over for them.

when they say they're together all the time, they mean it. christmas, fourth of july, thanksgiving, new years eve... any holiday you can name, they've spent it together at least six times. to josh's delight, brendon seems happy. he's laughing to some anecdotes ashley's telling him, having a truly engaging conversation. after all, josh only cares about brendon being happy...and a few other things, but mostly brendon being happy.

„"„

after eating dinner, the dun family sits around the tree to exchange gifts. the delicious looking plate of cinnamon rolls is on the coffee table so they all can share them while they open the presents. everyone practically gets the things they really wanted; jordan got a ps4 and the spiderman game for it, ashley got an eyeshadow palette and new workout shoes for cheerleading... the list keeps going on and on, it would be annoying to hear it all.