Christmas didn't meant a lot to Ethan. Since his father had been a bit of a black sheep, there were no memories - fond or otherwise - of big family gatherings with plenty of food and presents, and his wife wasn't the type to make a big fuss, either. They used to go on holiday, but that was a long time ago.
This year, the wife-on-paper was going on holiday with friends. Ethan had thought about joining her and then forgot about it completely until she asked and he had to tell her that he'd invited John to spend the holidays in New York. Lina hadn't said anything. Actually she hadn't said a single word to him since that afternoon, not even a goodbye when she embarked on her holiday trip. Well, it was probably better this way. Having her and 'John' meet face to face could have been slightly disastrous...
After setting Ned up in the guest room, Ethan had a brief moment of 'what am I doing?' He wasn't sure, really. Inviting Ned had seemed like a good idea but now it felt a little bit awkward being alone with him. This wasn't like the hotel room they'd shared in Amsterdam. This was Ethan's home. Before he could spent too much time brooding, however, he took action and dragged Ned out to do all sorts of touristy things - New York was rather pretty in her Christmas outfit.
"Try one of these." "What are-" "The French call them pommes d'amour." "It sounds nice." "Everything sounds nice in French. How's it?" "Very sweet." "As apples of love should be."
The blush made Ethan laugh and he assured Ned that his virtue was safe which sparked a funny little argument that only made Ethan laugh harder.
Ethan showed Ned his favourite buildings, sharing anecdotes and stories all day long - wanting to be a good host, he talked about everything except John when he wanted to talk about nothing but. It didn't seem fair, though, making Ned come all the way here to satisfy Ethan's curiosity that bordered on masochistic and morbid. He wanted to do something nice for the body-snatcher so he gave him a whole city and its history.
Dinner was pizza and too much beer in front of the telly. Eventually Ned fell asleep on the couch during an old black-and-white vampire movie, dark head resting heavily against Ethan's shoulder, and Ethan just sat there, listening to Ned breathing until he dozed off himself.