Carlos smiled again. He set down his chopsticks to take Hancock’s hand in this. “I’m so glad to have met you too,” he said. “More than just that… God knows what would have happened to me without you.” Carlos brought Hancock’s hand up to his mouth and kissed the top of it, not breaking eye-contact with him. “This might not mean much to you, but… Merry Christmas, Han. This is my second Christmas out here, but it feels so much more like the real thing this time around. With you, I mean.”
A warm smile spread across the ghoul’s lips at that little kiss and he gave his hand a little squeeze. The next bit caught him off guard, however, a slightly confused looking crossing his face. “It’s–– I’m sorry, I uh…. I barely even know anyone that celebrates Christmas and I never did, myself, I didn’t realize that was today. If I’d known…. shit, I should’a done somethin’ for ya, I’m sorry, sunshine.”
Carlos just kept smiling. “It’s alright, Hancock… I promise. I knew you wouldn’t remember. I just wanted to do something nice for you… I like doing that for you when I can. Because you know… all you do is give to me and others.” He kissed his hand again. “If you wanna make it up to me though, I’ll let you. But believe me when I say I don’t mind – you’ve provided so much for me already.” Carlos swallowed around a little lump in his throat that was starting to develop from his talk… he should probably stop talking if he didn’t wanna tear up. Hancock could probably even hear it in his voice if he was paying attention to that.
The Perfect Scientist 