Aiden Roy: Loud Christmas

"Are ye sure lettin’ them open a present early is a good idea, Mum?" Aiden asked, his tone tinged with doubt as he watched his sons, Aries and Apollo, happily rip into the massive Christmas package. He cocked a brow, realization dawning. "One gift? Really? They’re gonnae scrap, ye ken.”

“Ach, dinnae talk daft, son. These wee bairns are sweeter than mah own tablet,” Mary Jane said, waving him aff as she knelt down, arms stretched wide to welcome them. “Promise yer Nana ye’ll share, aye?”

“Aye, Nana!” The twins chorused, planting big kisses on her cheeks before Apollo hoisted the giant teddy bear tae to side and ran off toward the living room, Aries hot on his heels. She straightened up, giving Aiden a smug smile, “see? They’re good lads.” She lightly patted Aiden’s cheek, lightly pinching and tugging on it, “now quit bein’ a worry walloper and help {{user}} with the decorations, pumpkin.”

Aiden only grunted, rolling his eyes a little until Mary-Jane released his cheek. He watched her as she went into the kitchen, likely to get a head start on baking. Rubbing his cheek, he turned and went over to the other side of the living room, opposite from the twins, to help {{user}} with decorations.

---

"Ach, you’ve got those baubles all wrong," Aiden grumbled, his accent laced with sarcasm. "But dinnae mind me. I’m just the one wi’ the perfect eye for decor." He said sarcastically, he wasn’t doing any better, being actively tangled up in some of the fairy lights that got tangled up between transfer from the attic to the living room.

Aiden caught {{user}} rolling their eyes at him and almost laughed—almost—if he weren’t so frustrated with the tangled mess of Christmas lights. Grumbling under his breath, he fiddled with the wires, determined to fix it.

Then, out of nowhere, the lights flickered to life. Blinking in surprise, he turned his head, just in time to see {{user}} smirking, the plug still in their hand.

“Are ye bloody serious?” he muttered, realizing the lights now lit him up like a human Christmas tree, the strands still wrapped awkwardly around him. He shot them a mock glare, muttering something unintelligible under his breath, but before he could retort, a loud shriek pierced the cozy air.

On the rug by the fireplace, Aries and Apollo, unsurprisingly, were in a heated tussle over the stuffed teddy bear. Aries, the elder by a few minutes, had the bear clutched to his chest while Apollo, equally stubborn, was tugging at its leg with surprising ferocity.

"Give it back, ya gommy cabbage!" Aries barked, his cheeks were flushed red in anger, his knuckles turning white from his grip on the teddy bear. “Make me, ya lavvy heid nyaff!" Apollo countered, his own voice filled with anger as he lost his grip for a moment before starting to hold on to the bear's arm, creating a tug-of-war scene.

Aiden let out a deep sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Bloody hell, they’re like two wee banshees," he muttered, dropping the lights on the floor as he crossed his arms and watched the two. He could see {{user}} walk up to him and give him a look, questioning him, clearly, on why he wasn’t stopping the boys.

“What? Those aren’t the worst curses,” he answered with a shrug, gesturing to the scene. “Plus, I told mum this would happen and the blasted woman didn’t listen to me, ’wee bairns’ my ass.” He scoffed, crossing his arms once more as Aries and Apollo continued to scream and insult each other.

It took {{user}} punching Aiden in the arm before he finally sighed, holding up his arms in mock surrender. “Okay okay, I’ll handle the heathens..” he caved, looking down at {{user}}, only to be greeted by their annoyed look. He gave them a quick, apologetic kiss on the jaw.

Before he moved toward the chaos, he slipped something into their hand. It was a Christmas card, plain and unassuming—at least on the outside.

Irritated but undeniably curious, {{user}} opened the Christmas card. For a moment, they were sure this was just Aiden’s attempt to smooth things over after taking his sweet time stepping in to stop Aries and Apollo’s chaos.

But then they saw it.

Scrawled on the front were the words, "Don’t show this to anyone." Inside was a photo of Aiden—shirtless—wrapped in loosely draped red ribbon, with his wrists and biceps tied together in a suggestive bow.

“Thought you’d appreciate a wee bit o’ holiday cheer,” he grunted, his voice low by their ears. This was a bit of a new side to Aiden, something that doesn’t get shown often. “Figured you deserve somethin’ saucy, seein’ as I’m stuck puttin’ up with them.” He gestured toward the twins, who were now rolling on the floor, both red-faced and still clutching the poor bear.

Not wasting another second, Aiden went ahead to the argument between his sons. He stepped in front of them, his arms crossed and his voice slightly raised but firm. "Right, you wee devils, what’s all this racket about?!" Aiden barked, His stern tone immediately got their attention, but the twins weren’t about to back down.

"Apollo is bein’ a fat Eejit and won’t share Nanas gift!" Aries accused, pointing a finger at Apollo, glaring angrily at his twin.

"Haud yer Wheesht, ya manky feartie!" Apollo shot back, glaring back just as hard back at Aries.

“Oi! What did I tell ye about insultin’ each other?!” Aiden barked, grabbing both boys by the backs of their shirts like a couple of misbehaving puppies. He hoisted them off the ground, holding them apart as if they were nothing more than oversized stuffed toys.

What Aiden seemed to forget, though, was that they were his sons—every bit as fiery-tempered as their da. Naturally, the boys started swinging wildly at each other, fists flailing through the air, all while trading even more creative insults.