The warmth from Logan's Christmas themed mug he had been gifted by Patton was a pleasant feeling against Logan's cold hands, happy to have coffee to wake him up after getting out of bed. It was the day after Thanksgiving, meaning the competition would be starting and people would be putting up new Christmas decorations. It was also the day that Virgil was supposed to come over to get started on their decorating.

They had agreed for Virgil to meet Logan in his house at around 10AM, so they could talk about how they wanted to decorate. Usually Logan was awake a lot earlier than that, though he had slept in some today. Normally Logan would hate to be off schedule, but it actually felt nice to stay asleep for just a while longer.

Logan leaned against the counter in his kitchen, taking another sip from his mug and glancing at the clock hanging on the wall. It was nearly time for him to be getting there, he noted. Almost immediately after noticing the time a knock sounded at his door. Perfect timing. He set his coffee mug down on the counter, making his way towards the front door, pulling it open to greet Virgil.

"Hello, Virgil." Logan stepped aside, gesturing for Virgil to walk in. Virgil did so with a small wave to greet Logan in return, before shoving his hands back into his jacket's pockets, pulling the jacket tighter around himself.

"H-Hey," he muttered quietly, looking up at Logan with a small smile. Logan returned the smile, leading Virgil further into his living room and gesturing to the couch.

"Why don't you sit down? I can get you a drink-coffee, hot chocolate. Something warm." He offered, making his way into the kitchen.

"Uh, hot chocolate sounds good." Virgil shrugged, sitting down on the couch and looking over at Logan.

Logan nodded, searching the cabinets for another mug and the hot chocolate packets he bought for when Patton visited. Patton found coffee gross, so Logan started buying hot chocolate for when he came over. Of course, this had spurred on an unnecessary emotional reaction, Patton telling him how sweet he was as Logan insisted he was just being polite like any other person should. Logan smiled, shaking his head at the memory as he made Virgil his hot chocolate. When he finished he grabbed Virgil's mug and his own, making his way over to the couch and sitting beside of him.

"Thanks," Virgil muttered gratefully as he took the drink, feeling just as relieved as Logan had before as it helped to warm him up. After taking a long sip he held the mug in his lap, looking over at Logan. "So... Christmas decorations."

"Yes, we should probably be talking about our plan for that." Logan nodded, looking over at Virgil. "Any ideas?"

"Well... we need a theme, obviously." Virgil started, taking another sip from his drink. "Otherwise it'll all just seem scattered and random, and I doubt we'll win that way."

"What kind of a theme?" Logan questioned, glad that Virgil seemed to have somewhat of an idea on where to begin with all of this. Decorations were still new to him, and he wasn't sure exactly how to make them good enough to win. With Virgil there, however, Logan felt slightly better about his chances at winning.

"Depends on what you like, I guess." Virgil shrugged, frowning as he thought. "We could do a color theme, or base it off of some other kind of Christmas-y thing. Maybe base it off of a Christmas movie?"

"I... don't know very many," Logan admitted, frowning. Virgil sighed, trying to think of a few examples.

"Well... Some people do Disney themed decorations. Y'know... Mickie Mouse, stuff like that. I think I heard something about Roman doing Disney this year, of course." Virgil rolled his eyes, thinking about their neighbors obsession. "Honestly, the only somewhat Christmas themed movie I could think of using as a theme is The Nightmare Before Christmas. It's one of my favorite movies."

"I've never seen it," Logan mentioned, prompting Virgil to look over at him suddenly. He looked almost offended at hearing of Logan's lack of knowledge of the movie, a look Logan recognized after seeing it from Patton plenty of times before.

"You should watch it!" Virgil insisted immediately, seeming excited. He frowned a moment later however, shaking his head. "Sorry, you don't have to. I just really like the movie, personally. But we can find some other theme."

"I would not mind checking it out." Logan said, shrugging his shoulders. "It seems to be something you enjoy, and this competition is something that both of us are working on together. If you would like to use it as our theme, then we can do that."

"Well... I'll wait and see if you like it first." Virgil muttered, still worried to do something that the other wouldn't like.

"We could watch it now, if you want to. That way I can see if I think it would be a good movie to use as a theme, and we can know what decorations we need to buy." Logan suggested, and soon enough the two of them were sitting back on the couch with two blankets Logan had found for the two, movie playing on the TV.

Virgil kept glancing over at Logan every now and then, trying to see his reaction to certain scenes. Logan didn't notice, paying all of his attention to the film. He had to admit he wasn't surprised that this movie was a favorite of Virgil's, despite not knowing a whole lot about his next door neighbor. It seemed a little odd, and dark, but it was intriguing. He didn't dislike the movie, and it did seem like a good idea to use as a theme.

"So?" Virgil said cautiously as the movie credits played on screen, gaining Logan's attention. "What'd you think?"

"It was not a movie I would normally have chosen to watch in my free time..." Logan started. Virgil frowned, thinking Logan had hated the film before he went on. "However I did enjoy it. I think it would be an excellent idea to use it as the theme for our yard decorations."

"Oh... Well, I'm glad you liked it then." Virgil muttered, surprised. "So, now that we've got a basic theme... What's next?"

"Going and actually finding decorations sounds like an important step." Logan joked, drawing smiles from both of them. "Do you still have plenty of time to go out? If not we can reschedule, or I can go get them. I think we should just look for some simple decorations to start out with for now, then look for more... extravagant things later on."

"Nah, I'm not busy." Virgil shrugged. "And anyways, I can't let you do that part alone. I mean, the theme was my idea anyways and I'm supposed to be helping you figure it out."

"Well, as long as you don't mind then. We should go ahead and leave-before too long I'm sure it will get busier." Logan pointed out, taking both his and Virgil's long-empty mugs and returning them to the kitchen sink to wash later. The two made their way out of the door together, deciding to take Logan's car.

"So," Virgil started, glancing over at Logan as he paid attention to the road. "Think Roman's realized we're competing together so we can beat him yet?"

"I doubt it. He hasn't caused a scene yet." Logan laughed quietly, shaking his head.

"You think he'll cause a scene over it?" Virgil asked, feeling a little worried about being the cause of some big scene. Logan shrugged.

"I don't know, this is Roman we're talking about. Probably. Or maybe he'll be too overconfident and think nothing if it. Who ever knows when it comes to him?" Logan said, and Virgil shrugged as well. While he didn't want to be the cause of a scene Virgil couldn't help but feel amused at the idea of Roman being worried that Virgil and Logan might beat him. He hoped that Logan's plan would succeed in getting Roman to shut up about the competition for a while.

****

"Ooh, look how cool that is!" Virgil called Logan over excitedly, making his way to a stand with a few different Christmas trees set up. Logan followed behind him with their cart full of a few other Christmas decorations fitting their Nightmare Before Christmas theme, confused by Virgil's sudden excitement.

"It's a black Christmas tree," he pointed out, drawing Logan's attention over to the particular tree that had gained his attention.

"I can see that," Logan replied, looking at Virgil in silent amusement. Virgil suddenly looked a little embarrassed, face flushing and shrugging his shoulders.

"Yeah, that was random... it's just, I've always wanted to get one. Since I first watched The Nightmare Before Christmas I thought it'd be super cool to do a black Christmas tree with decorations with all the characters on them and stuff." He laughed nervously, looking over at the tree to avoid Logan's eyes. "I just got excited remembering it."

"Why didn't you get one?" Logan questioned, receiving another shrug from Virgil.

"I dunno. I already have a Christmas tree, and I guess I just thought it'd be pointless. I didn't really have any good reason to do it." He explained, watching and starting to protest as Logan picked up one of the boxes of black Christmas trees to put on the bottom of their cart.

"Well, you have a good reason now. We can put it up in your yard, I think it will look good with the rest of your decorations." Logan explained, cutting off Virgil's protests with a small smile. "Let's go get some ornaments for this, and then we can head back. I think we have plenty decorations to start out with..."

"Yeah, I'd say we've already overdone it just a bit," Virgil pointed out with a laugh, following Logan as he made his way over to the ornaments. He met Logan's eyes with a tiny smile of his own. "Thanks, Logan. I'm super excited to help you in this whole competition."

"No, thank you Virgil." Logan said as he helped him to pick out a few Nightmare Before Christmas ornaments. "My entire plan would have fallen apart if it weren't for your help. You agreeing to help me is the only reason I think we could actually beat Roman. So, your help truly means a lot to me."

Neither of them said anything else on the subject again as Logan finished, instead distracting themselves with finding enough ornaments to fit into the tree. It didn't take them long before they had finished and returned home, carrying their pile of decorations into Logan's garage. As he finally set down the final item from Logan's car, Virgil turned to face his neighbor.

"So... it's getting sort of late," he pointed out, having something he had to do soon. "Would you be okay with waiting until tomorrow to start putting things up?"

"Of course. We've already got a start, at least." Logan agreed, nodding at Virgil. Virgil shot him a grateful smile. The two planned a time to meet, said their goodbyes and each went to their separate houses. Logan kept the smile on his lips as he entered his home, happy that he had decided to go through with his plan and that Patton had suggested going to Virgil for help. It was nice to have someone else in the neighborhood who he could get along with so well, and he really did think that with Virgil's help they could have a chance at finally making Roman lose the Christmas Competition.