✓ ❘ 𝐄𝐌𝐎 𝐐𝐔𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐓 𝐈𝐌𝐀𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒 ─ 𝐌𝐂𝐑. 𝐏!𝐀𝐓𝐃. 𝐅𝐎𝐁. 𝐓Ø𝐏.

on the 5th day of 🎄, ohfrxnkie gave to you...

Candy canes with twentyonepilots.

Tyler:

A knock on your apartment door grabbed your attention away from your online Christmas shopping, and you lifted the laptop and blanket from your lap.

"Coming!" you called out, getting up from the couch and hurrying over to open the door. You were met with the joyful face of a Christmas elf carrying a sack full of candy canes. You gave him a sweet smile.

"Candygram!" Santa's helper announced, reaching into the red sack.

"Did someone say 'candygram'?" (Y/B/F) questioned with a grin, wiping her hands on a dish towel as she exited the kitchen and walked over to join you; you nodded.

"One for (Y/N)," the elf said, holding out the sweet treat, which you accepted with a beam and a thank you, "And none for (Y/B/F). Bye!"

(Y/B/F)'s face fell as her smile was replaced with an offended expression; you giggled uncontrollably as the elf scurried away.

"Hey," you placed a supportive hand on (Y/B/F)'s shoulder and used your hip to shut the front door, "Don't feel bad. These things are meaningless, anyway," you shrugged, waving the cane around.

"You're only saying that to make me feel better. But whatever," she rolled her eyes before nodding to the sweet in your hand, "What's it say?"

You looked down at the cane, using your thumb and index finger to hold up the greeting card. You began reading aloud.

"There is a magical simplicity to your walk. A careless beauty that sings to me. Eyes that pierce the air around me. A hidden magic that inspires me to write these words. You must be an angel. And maybe, if I'm lucky, you can be my heaven on earth."

A silence filled the air for a moment before (Y/B/F) tore through it with a shriek.

"THAT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL! Oh wow, I need a moment," she shook her head, dramatically collapsing onto the sofa. "Who's it from?!"

You frowned as you noticed the lack of a signature. "They didn't sign."

~

Over the next week, the poem was all you could think about. The words had permanently etched itself into your brain, and the thought of who the author could be completely consumed your thoughts.

At first, you thought it was just a joke; who would want to send you something so stunning? But after reassurance from (Y/B/F), and lots of contemplation over it, you were swayed to believe otherwise.

The only problem was that you still had no idea who had sent it.

You and (Y/B/F) were walking up the steps to your building when you spotted your neighbour, Tyler, approaching the door from the other side. As he greeted you with a smile, he held the door open so that you could enter before he slipped out.

"Thanks, Tyler."

"No problem, angel," he smirked before disappearing into the night.

You winced in pain when (Y/B/F) suddenly gripped your arm, eyes wide.

"Ow! What the hell?"

"He just called you 'angel'!"

"Yeah," you nodded, rubbing your arm. (Y/B/F) looked at you expectantly, and then it hit you.

You must be an angel.

"Oh my god."

Josh:

"Alright, the recipe seems simple enough," you nodded, eyes skimming over the page you held in your hands. Pivoting your head slightly, you glanced over your shoulder at Josh, who was balancing all the necessary ingredients in his arms while using his hip to shut the door to the pantry. "Got everything?"

With a pant, Josh heaved all of the necessities onto the countertop before nodding. "Yeah, that's everything."

"Then let's start," you beamed, excitedly clapping your hands together. "Okay, so you grease the baking sheets with butter, and I'll start on the syrup mixture."

Josh's face fell. "How come you get to do the actual making while I'm stuck greasing things?" he pouted, feeling very unjustified.

"Because the last time we tried making something together, you mistook the salt for sugar, and my sugar cookies were total flops. Now we're not invited back to your aunt's for Christmas this year."

"Fair point," he nodded, moving to grab the butter.

You read the recipe sheet once again to make sure you were using the correct quantities of everything before combining the sugar, water, corn syrup and cream of tartar in a large saucepan. While waiting for it to boil, you turned to Josh.

"This was a really good idea," you complimented, smiling at him, "I think the kids are gonna love it."

"Yeah, this'll definitely secure our spot at Christmas with my family next year," Josh rejoiced, moving next to you to take a look at the brewing mixture which would soon be moulded into candy canes.

"Unless you managed to screw this up too," you chortled, leaning back against the countertop next to the stove.

Josh narrowed his eyes at you. "Well, you don't have to worry about that since YOU'RE NOT EVEN LETTING ME DO ANYTHING," he huffed, crossly folding his arms over his chest.

"Fine," you giggled at his childishness, "you can put the flavouring and food colouring in."

"Really?" he perked up.

"Mhm," you nodded, grabbing the two small bottles and handing it over to your ecstatic boyfriend. You then moved the saucepan off of the hot plate and onto a cool one.

"Now?" he asked you, and when you nodded, he carefully decanted the liquid into the mixture in the pan.

"Perfect," the both of you smiled. "Okay, now we have to pour it onto the tray in 8 inch strips. You wanna do the honours?"

"Hell yeah," Josh beamed, hurriedly taking the pan and moving over to the prepared sheets, which he carefully poured the mixture out onto.

"It needs to cool for about 2 minutes and then we need to half them and then shape them. I need to run to the bathroom real quick. Will you be okay starting without me?" you questioned, slightly sceptical.

"Of course!"

"Okay. Don't screw up!" you yelled as you rushed to the bathroom.

"I won't screw up!"

~

"I screwed up," Josh grimaced as he tried, unsuccessfully, to remove the candy from the baking sheet; he had let it cool for too long, and now it was set on the sheet, "Oh gosh, (Y/N)'s gonna kill me."

"Yeah, she is," Tyler chuckled, sitting on the nearby barstool and making no effort at all to help his distressed best friend.

"Dude, not helping," Josh snarled, "Also, this is all your fault! If you hadn't shown up and distracted me, we wouldn't have this problem!"

"You mean you wouldn't have this problem. I'm problem-free."

"That's cause you are the problem," you growled as you entered the kitchen.

"Lovely to see you too, (Y/N)," Tyler smiled.

"Josh," you sighed as you picked up the baking sheet and shook it around, the candy still stuck to it, "Really? I left you alone for 5 minutes."

"It wasn't my fault," Josh defended, "Tyler showed up just after you went into the bathroom and then-"

"It all went downhill from there," you finished with a shake of your head, "Just... both of you, out of my kitchen. Now. I need to whip up another batch to make sure that Josh's family doesn't disown us completely."

_______________________________

Thank you for reading x