#that wasn’t very holly jolly of him

[sunflowergirl522]

Just saw a Christmas vibes TikTok and it threw me into a breakdown 😙✌️

[buckets-and-trees]

What You Want

Characters/Pairings: lawyer!Bucky x curvy!female assistant reader Word Count: 2.7k Summary: Your boss, powerful lawyer Bucky Barnes, insisted he needed his indispensable assistant to accompany him on his trip to Norway. He also promised he would have you home in time for Christmas, but the weather decided to strike its wrath and decimate international travel, leaving you stranded for a few more days.

Content Warnings: modern AU, slight power dynamic, periphery/secular reference to the Christmas holiday, vaginal fingering, use of "plum" as a term of endearment

Logistical Notes: Written for @sstan-hoe Vee's Holly Jolly Challenge - I was given a selection of prompts including "That noise...keep making it," reindeer, and lawyer/assistant power dynamics. Also my December entry for @buckybarnesevents Build-a-Bucky-Bingo using the FLASHBACKS prompt. Divider by @saradika.

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You heard the door open and close behind you and then familiar footsteps approaching, but you didn’t turn to look, instead keeping your eyes on the beauty of the frozen wilderness on display before you.

“Peace offering?” Bucky spoke as he stepped up beside you at the rail of the balcony, holding one of two steaming mugs in his hands toward you.

You sighed but gave him a small smile and took the mug. “You don’t need to apologize. You’re a very powerful man, Bucky, but I’m relatively sure you don’t control the weather.”

“Not yet, but I’m trying to pull some strings,” he said with a smirk, and you smiled.

“It’s not your fault we can’t get a flight back to the States when a blizzard has taken out half the Eastern Seaboard.”

It was unlikely that even with all of James Buchanan Barnes’ considerable lawyering power and money that he would be able to get you back home before Christmas. The main international airports in New England would have to live through the record raging blizzard, dig out, and then there would be hundreds of thousands of passengers to accommodate in and out of the country. Reasonably your guess was that you wouldn’t be returning until as early as the day after Christmas at the earliest.

“I should still apologize though. I said I would have you home for Christmas.”

You took a sip of the hot coffee. “You should apologize, but you’re not.”

He smiled. “No, I’m not.”

He turned and looked out over the forest and frozen tundra with you, the snow sparkling by the moonlight. This side of the resort hotel Bucky had booked the two of you into looked out over the wilderness.

“How long are you going to stay out here?”

“Until I see a reindeer. You brought me to Norway in December. I want to see a wild reindeer.”

“Fair enough.”

After a few more minutes, Bucky spoke again. “Are you sure you don’t want to eat, though? They said our accommodations should be ready after dinner.”

It had been a bit of a feat to find any place this close to Christmas that wasn’t closed or completely booked, but Bucky had managed to find this place that although they said they didn’t have a place immediately available, they had late check outs that just needed to be cleaned and refreshed for new guests.

“It’s a very fine restaurant.”

“Alright, let’s go eat.”

“If that will be all for the evening, I’ll be happy to escort you to your suite, Mr. Barnes,” the maître d’ said. He had been attentive all evening, but being with Bucky on this business trip you had quickly learned only the most excellent service was a common thing for him.

“Yes, thank you, I think we’re finished,” Bucky replied, looking to you, and you nodded. You both scooted your chairs back from the table and then followed the man out of the restaurant, through the hotel lobby, past the bar, past the observatory lounge and balcony you’d visited earlier, and to a pair of elevators.

Dinner had been quiet, but not an uneasy quiet by any means for the two of you. Bucky was an intimidating man, power emanating from him very naturally, but after the first few weeks as his assistant, you had gotten over your nerves. After sitting with him through many lunches, plenty of meetings, taking notes from him on cases and projects, and a fair few late nights, you had grown comfortable around him, learned that he could be easy to talk to, but didn’t strive to fill a silence for conversation’s sake, something you appreciated.

The hotel Bucky had found was an upscale, moderately sized wilderness and ski lodge. When you arrived on the fifth and top floor, there was a cozy hallway that only boasted three doors, and you were led to the one at the very end, where the man unlocked the door, stepped in to hold it open, and then handed the key to Bucky.

“If you should need anything at all, simply pick up the phone and our staff will assist you,” he said. “Have a good evening, and we hope you enjoy your stay, even though we know it was unexpected for the holiday.”

“Thank you, dinner was fantastic, and the place looks wonderful, you’ve been great, Lucas. Have a good night,” Bucky said, and pressed what you were sure was a generous tip into the man’s hand.

All your and Bucky’s things had been left neatly to one side of the entry of the suite. A quick look around revealed that there were two rooms off either side of the spacious sitting area as well as a small kitchen and bar, and on the far side full floor to ceiling windows and a balcony. You had hoped for two rooms like you’d had at the previous hotel, but two rooms in a suite would be perfectly fine, especially since the stunning view out of the sitting room’s windows wasn’t the only beauty in the place. There was a fireplace with a gorgeous mantle with a roaring fire already ablaze and a stunning Christmas tree with gorgeous trimmings in the Scandinavian style.

“It’ll do, yes?” Bucky asked, watching you take in the beauty of the tree.

You smiled warmly at him, then looked back at the tree. “Yes, it’ll do just fine.” The sitting room was spacious and rivaled your cozy studio apartment back home for size. You stepped further into the suite. “Do you want to take a look at the rooms and pick which one you want?” you asked. All the trip was on the company’s expense account, and as his assistant, although you suspected he might be a gentleman and offer you the better room, you would defer to Bucky to actually pick.

“We’ll share whichever one is better,” he said with a shrug.

You scoffed. “No, there are two rooms in this gorgeous suite, I’m sure they’re both fantastic, I don’t mind taking the one you don’t want. Might even sleep on the couch so I can stay by the tree and look out those windows all night.”

He chuckled, low, and suddenly at your back. “You misunderstand me, plum,” he said, placing his hands on the curve of your hips and pressing his chest up against your back. He leaned in to speak the next words directly in your ear. “I’m having you in my bed tonight.”

Your breath caught.

You couldn’t move, and a soft, “Mr. Barnes,” was all you could say.

“Aw, none of that, plum, you haven’t called me Mr. Barnes for months, and I won’t it happening again now.”

“We shouldn’t,” you tried to protest, but even as you said the words, a traitorous part of you didn’t put much feeling behind them.

“Shouldn’t we? You’re smart enough to know I didn’t really need to bring you on this trip with me, but I wanted to. Didn’t want to go that long without seeing you, wanted you by my side in a charming Nordic country during the height of its festive season, and you said yes, like the perfect assistant that you are. I told myself that was enough, didn’t go knocking on your door any of the nights we were at our first hotel, kept it professional despite wanting more and more of you every day we spent together away from the office.”

His hand moved from your hips to circle around your front, his left moving over your soft stomach over to the other side to rest over the front of your right hip, and his right further up your torso, his hand brushing the underside of your breast and resting firmly just below it, bringing you flush against him.

“Fate won’t let me get you home for Christmas, so why deny what it’s dangling right in front of me now?”

He pressed his lips to the sensitive spot just below your ear, and a small whimper escaped your throat.

“Let me have what I want,” he murmured, leaving a slow trail of more kisses down your neck. “I know you want it, too.”

“I – no, I don’t – I”

It was impossible to put up the words of protest when he licked the shell of your ear. You shivered in his arms instead.

“Let me ruin my perfect girl,” he pressed, slipping the hand that was at your hip into the waistband of your trousers. His hand stopped when his fingers met the lace edge of your panties. He turned you around abruptly and kissed you full on the mouth, cupping your face with both hands so you had no choice but to take the heat of his kiss, and the flame he’d been sparking started to catch more dangerously in your core.

He had somehow maneuvered you further into the sitting room so that when he suddenly broke off the kiss, you were in the middle of the space, the warm glow of the fire and the tree lights casting over you both.

Bucky stepped back, and you frowned in confusion, still breathless. He trailed a finger up the column of your throat to the tip of your chin, his blue eyes dark and hungry. “Undress,” he said.

He moved to the couch and sat, his eyes returning to you as he settled in.

“Undress,” he repeated.

That commanding tone struck another spark right to your cunt. You knew you were already growing wet for him.

You toed off your shoes one at a time, then took off your socks – those requiring you to move a little less elegantly than you wanted with his searing gaze on you. Standing aright again, your hands moved to the button of your trousers, fingers trembling since you had never stripped in front of anyone before. You weren’t a virgin, but although the partners you had been with before had been eager to have you naked, none had ever asked you to undress for them like this, like they wanted to see your full figure, not just fuck it.

Bucky spoke your name in a way that had you pause and look up at him again.

He leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees. “You know I pride myself on my instincts. I think we both want this, but there are two rooms here.”

You bit your lip.

He was offering the veiled choice if you wanted it.

Your mind raced with flashbacks of conversations and thoughts you’d had over the past few weeks clear back to the first few meetings with your boss.

Insisting to your mother that your boss did absolutely need you to fly with him to Norway to assist him with meetings with an international client the week before Christmas.

Your best friend insisting on a shopping trip for your fancy work trip to a foreign country “because if your hot boss isn’t going to seduce you, have a foreign fling!”

Your heart stuttering the first time your eyes met your boss’s deep blues the day you interviewed with him.

The same eyes that were riveted on you now.

On you.

You unbuttoned your trousers and lowered the zipper. You glanced down as the fell to the floor, then stepped carefully out of them. When you looked back up, you saw even more hunger in Bucky’s eyes, and it warmed your blood. Looking right into those eyes, you reached for the hem of your sweater and lifted it up and over your head, letting it drop to the floor as well.

“Mmm,” he hummed in approval. “C’m’ere,” he beckoned, sitting back on the couch again, but beckoning you into his lap as he watched your every move.

You concentrated on his eyes and on keeping your breathing steady. When you were close enough for him to reach for you, he held out his hand. You took it and let him pull you gently down to straddle your legs on either side of his.

“My perfect plum,” he murmured. His hands moved up your thighs, over your hips, up your waist, and back down.

“Your plum?” you asked, watching his face as his eyes roved over you up close.

“My perfect plum - I want to savor every delicious curve of your body,” he said before dropping a kiss to the top of your breast. Your hands went to his shoulders to steady yourself. “When I felt that lace of your underwear, I thought maybe you did want this, too.” His lips moved to the other breast where he kissed the exposed skin, then traced his tongue along the edge of the lacy cup, causing you to shiver. “There isn’t any other reason you would be wearing such pretty lingerie, is there?”

“No,” you admitted immediately.

“Just for me,” he said as he moved his hand to your mound and immediately slipped a finger beneath the fabric to stroke along your folds, making you gasp. “Good girl, already wet for me.”

You keened as his finger traced your warm hole but didn’t go in, instead taking the slick there and pressing it up over your folds. He continued tracing them up and down before moving up to find your clit, knowing he found it the second your head dropped back, and you let a, “Yes,” tumble from your lips. “More.”

His other hand skimmed up from your hip, up your side, to your neck, and then angled your head back down for another kiss. Your lips met his eagerly, mouths parting, you licked into his mouth, and he growled his approval. He moved his finger from your clit, but your whine was brief as he slipped that finger along with a second straight into your cunt, stroking in and out, over and over again. You canted your hips into his hand, and you felt the rumble of a chuckle in his chest, but he didn’t stop kissing you. Instead, he curled his fingers forward with each stroke, quickly finding the spongy spot that made you tremble and moan.

Breathless, it was you who had to break off the kiss first, but you pressed your forehead to his. “Feel good, plum?” he asked, and you registered that he sounded as earnest as you felt, his voice deep and a little breathless, too.

“Yes, sir,” you gasped.

“Mmm, sir? I like that,” he said, and rewarded you by moving his thumb to start circling your clit.

You moaned openly.

“That noise…keep making it.”

He sped up his motions just slightly, seeming to feel how your body was tensing up, building toward a powerful release.

“Ready to cum for me like a good girl?”

“Yes, sir!” your answer was more like a plea. “So close.”

Keeping up the rhythm on your clit, he applied more pressure with each thrust of his fingers up inside of you, hitting that sensitive spot on the front of your walls, and with just a few more strokes, the wave crested and rolled over you.

“That’s it, plum,” he cooed as you trembled above him, his other hand coming to smooth unhurriedly up and down your back as his fingers continued to stroke your channel, slowly extending your orgasm. “God, you’re so beautiful.”

He removed his fingers and brought them up to your mouth. You sucked them in, laving your tongue over them. “Can’t wait to see you come for me again,” he said. And too impatient for you to lick his fingers clean, he withdrew them and crashed his lips back into yours.

“Earlier tonight when I said I should apologize, and you called me right out for not doing any such thing?”

“Yes?”

“This is why I didn’t apologize. I was in no way sorry that I had more time with you, and I’m going to use it to take you apart and put you back together all night.”

You would think about all of this later. But he emptied your head of anything but him and the pleasure between you, making more than good on his promise to take you apart until you were completely spent and ruined in his bed.

READ THE SEQUEL: NOW THAT I SAW YOU

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[demonsanddemogorgons]

Most Precious Gift - A Joseph Quinn Christmas One-Shot

Just a little Christmas blurb I came up with. Enjoy.

It's almost Christmas and you just aren't in the mood for it without Joe around.

Word Count: 2k

18+ for language and mild/implied smut

It was the day before Christmas Eve, and you were at home getting dressed for your ultrasound shift at the hospital. Joe had been away for about a month for filming his new movie. You missed him beyond description, but you knew he still had work left to do. You walked through the kitchen to your entryway to put your shoes on, completely ignoring the undecorated state of your house. There was no point in decorating since Joe couldn’t be there to enjoy it with you. Your friends kept asking what you were doing for Christmas, and you were tired of responding with I don’t know, probably just stay home. They encouraged you to fly to where you grew up to be with your family since Joe wasn’t home, but you just weren’t feeling it. Spending the holidays without him just didn’t feel right, even if you were still with people you loved. You couldn’t wait for it all to be over so everyone’s cheer would stop making you want to vomit. Scrooge wasn’t half bad; he just wanted everyone to shut up about how happy they were. Holly Jolly was waaaaaay on the other side of the emotional spectrum from where you were.

You headed out to your car and began the drive to work, losing focus, wondering how Joe was doing, what he was doing right now in Malta, how filming was coming along. He hadn’t called or texted in two days; you tried not to be upset about it because you knew he was busy, and it was difficult with time changes. It was just hard being alone for so long and so close to Christmas.

You got to work and tried distracting yourself by indulging in it. If a patient arrived, you took them for their scan before a coworker even had a chance to get out of their chair. After a few hours of this, they began to notice.

“You’ve done like double the number of patients today that is typical, and we haven’t done anything. Take it easy, there’s three of us here today. You don’t need to overwhelm yourself,” your coworker Maddie said to you. You let your lips turn up into a small, not very reassuring smile.

“I’m just trying to focus on something else besides Joe,” you replied, feeling tears well up in your eyes and trying to hold them back.

“I’m sorry,” she said, placing her hand on your shoulder. “Being apart is never easy, but you don’t have to be alone. I’m having a Christmas Eve party tomorrow night. Why don’t you come over? I’m planning drinking games,” she smirked, nudging you with a giggle.

"I really appreciate that, Maddie, but I’m just not feeling it this year. I’d rather just stay on my couch and pretend it’s any other normal day.”

“Ignoring something doesn’t make it go away,” she said, her tone changing. You knew she was trying to be supportive, but you were getting that from everyone lately, and you were a bit over it. You were too emotionally disconnected at this point for anything to make an impact. You nodded and turned back to the computer to finish your paperwork on your last patient, trying to politely signal to her that the conversation was over. “Please let me do the next one. I really don’t want the supervisor asking why you did way more than the rest of us today,” she said as she walked back over to her chair, realizing you just needed left alone in your element.

You finished out your shift after trying to let Maddie and Lexie share some of the work, regardless of your apprehension.

“If you change your mind, the party is at 6 tomorrow at my place,” Maddie said as you were gathering your things and putting your coat on.

“Thanks,” you said somberly. You did appreciate her efforts deep down; it was nice to have someone to look out for you.

You headed home, eager to put on your fuzzy pajamas, fix yourself a cup of hot cocoa and plant your ass on the couch for the next two days. When you pulled into your driveway, your eyes were drawn to the front window where you could see twinkling lights. Upon looking closer, you saw your Christmas tree decorated and lit.

“What the...” you said out loud to yourself, trailing off. What? Who? How? You climbed out of your car and headed towards the door. Once getting inside, you took your shoes off on the welcome mat in the entry way and hung your coat on the hook, making your way into the kitchen. It was decorated with Christmas knick-knacks and tea towels – all kinds of things you had packed away in the basement and didn’t bother to get out this year. You passed through to the living room, seeing the Christmas tree decorated and lit, an evergreen garland lying out over the fireplace mantle with lights strung throughout it, stockings hanging, more knick-knacks set out, a Christmas blanket laid neatly on back of the couch, the works. Your heart swelled at the sight; you could feel that familiar feeling you normally got during the Christmas season washing warmth over you. But who-

Just then in your peripheral vision, you saw a figure pass into the room through the doorway beside the Christmas tree from the stairway. Your eyes changed focus to see Joe standing there, dressed in a Christmas sweater and jeans. It took you a minute to process what you were seeing so you were frozen, staring for a moment as your eyes widened.

“J-Joe?” was all you could muster out.

“Hey, lovey,” he said, making his way closer to you. He put his arms around your waist and pulled you closer. You rested your head on his chest, pressing your face into him as he hugged you. Okay, he really is here. I can touch him, feel him, smell him. You pulled away and looked up into his beautiful chocolate brown eyes.

“Wh-what are you doing here? I thought you were filming.”

He put his hand on your cheek and brushed his thumb along it.

“We got some things done ahead of schedule, so they gave us a break for the holiday,” he responded quietly and soothingly, looking down into your eyes with the most loving look.

“Oh my God, I can’t believe you’re actually here,” you said with a giggle.

“Maybe this will help then, yeah?” he said with a smirk as he leaned in and put his lips on yours. Fireworks exploded in your head. You’d missed him so much, and every time he kissed you felt like the first time. Your lips parted slightly to allow his tongue to enter, running along your bottom lip. You hummed in response, moving your arms up to be around his neck and pull him closer as your lips worked in unison. You pulled away slowly and leaned your forehead against his.

“God, I’ve missed that,” you mumbled just loud enough for him to hear. He chuckled, rubbing his hands on your lower back as he held you close.

“I’ve missed you so much, too, darling.”

You pulled back a little to take another look at your freshly decorated house.

“Did you do all of this?” you asked even though you already knew the answer.

“Of course I did, baby. You love Christmas, why didn’t you decorate?”

You sighed and put your hands on his forearms, running your thumbs over them lovingly.

“I couldn’t, not without you. I hate celebrating knowing you’re working and can’t be here to enjoy it with me.”

He smiled and kissed your forehead.

“I’m here now, love. I was hoping to catch you before you went to work, but my flight got delayed. I arrived not long after you left and saw the house undecorated. It made me so sad, darling; I know how much you love it to be. So, I decided to surprise you.”

You smiled up at him and pulled him in for another hug.

“Thank you. God, I don’t deserve you.”

“You deserve everything, my love. And this isn’t the whole surprise.”

You pulled out of the hug and looked up at him in confusion.

“C’mere,” he said, dragging you to the kitchen pantry. He opened the door to show ingredients for cookies. “I thought we could spend the day together tomorrow baking Christmas cookies. I got everything for snickerdoodles, peanut butter cookies, those ones you like with the chocolate kiss in the middle. And for tonight, I got out the electric blanket and some chocolate covered pretzels. I’ll make up some hot cocoa, and we can watch Rudolph and Frosty together.”

Like the Grinch, you could feel your heart growing three sizes at his words. He was bringing the Christmas excitement back into you.

“Joe, that sounds perfect.” You pulled him in for another tender kiss. “Thank you.”

“Anything for you.”

“I love you so much, and I’m so glad you’re home. That’s the best Christmas present I could have ever asked for.”

“I love you, too, darling.”

You looked up at him with a smirk.

“I have to be honest, Joe. I had a Christmas surprise put away for you that I didn’t expect to need, but now that you’re home...” you trailed off as he looked at you with a confused face. “Give me a few minutes. I’ll meet you in the living room.”

“Alright, love.” Joe reluctantly headed for the couch while you ran upstairs. What could she possibly be doing? You were gone for over five minutes when he began to wonder what was going on. He walked over to the bottom of the stairs and looked up.

“Darling? You alright?” he called.

“Yeah,” your voice echoed from the bedroom. “Almost done.”

Joe stood there confused, but his attention was quickly caught by you standing at the top of the stairs, dressed in a red bra and panties with white fluffy borders under an open red silk wrap, matching thigh high socks, and a Santa hat. You’d gotten a Christmas lingerie set to wear for him but didn’t expect to be using in this year since he wasn’t supposed to be home. His mouth fell open a little and his eyes widened as he watched you make your way down the stairs. Once you got to the second step from the bottom, he stood in front of you and looked up at you, as if to worship you, while reaching for you. He wrapped his arms around your thighs under your butt and lifted you to him. You smiled as you wrapped your arms around his neck and looked down at him. He placed kisses on your collarbone and chest.

“Fuck,” he mumbled against your skin as he kissed, making you shiver. He was reacting exactly how you’d hoped he would. “Darling, I’d like to live to make it to Christmas,” he joked, earning a giggle from you.

“I don’t know, I think you’ll feel pretty alive after this,” you smirked, leaning down to kiss him.

He carried you back to the living room, his lips continuing their work on yours. He pulled away to throw you on your back onto the couch, and climbed down so he was hovering over you.

“I’ve been such a good boy,” he said softly, earning a smile and a giggle from you as he began kissing down your body, unwrapping his most precious gift with extreme care.

My Master List

The two cups of hot cocoa he had made while you were upstairs sat forgotten on the end table as red fabric was tossed onto the floor. Joe managed to bring the Christmas warmth and spirit back into you in more ways than one. You were truly a different person when he was around; he made you better in every aspect – sight, thoughts, actions. You didn’t need gifts to feel loved and appreciated. Joe was good at making you feel that way all on his own. He was the best gift you could have ever received, for any holiday.

[agentplutonium]

All I Want (Is You)

It was Christmas morning. Milo knew that, realistically, he probably wouldn’t win this year. However, in one more throw-away shot, Milo tried one more time. By some miracle, he was up before Sweetheart was and he was able to sneak out to the kitchen to set his trap. The mistletoe went up in the doorway. He grabbed a book and his glasses, getting into position just as he heard Sweetheart shuffling down the hall.

Milo tries to charm Sweetheart into giving him a kiss in 1275 words.

Tags: Christmas Fluff, Christmas, Mistletoe, Fluff, Domestic Fluff, I think we get the picture already /lh, it really is nothing other than a prompt fill that I found cute, it is just the two of them being dorks in love, Milo is trying to win a 'competition' that he set up six years ago, and he only won cause sweetheart took pity on him

Based on this post. On AO3, if you prefer that format as well!

("oh pluto you didn't have to write such a long fic from that-" I know I didn't. I did anyway, because I am gay and in a holly jolly mood okay. moving on. (/lh))

Milo has gotten many past partners to kiss him under the mistletoe.

It was a tradition with him. He would usually put it somewhere obvious, so that it was visible to guests, and wait. There was always at least once where his partner at the time would stand under it, knowingly or not, and Milo got to pull his favourite move. It never failed him in the holiday season.

Except for with one person. Which was Sweetheart. In six years he hasn’t been able to kiss them under that mistletoe, but this year was different. This year, he was going to kiss them by Christmas. 

And he tried. He tried so damn hard. But somehow, some way, Sweetheart saw through his bluffs or saw where the mistletoe was. They would avoid him like the plague if he was acting “suspicious” in any way. They would be lured under it by his charm just to look up at the wrong second and worm themselves away. It was a continuous game of cat and mouse, and Milo wanted to win.

It was Christmas morning. Milo knew that, realistically, he probably wouldn’t win this year. However, in one more throw-away shot, Milo tried one more time. By some miracle, he was up before Sweetheart was and he was able to sneak out to the kitchen to set his trap. The mistletoe went up in the doorway. He grabbed a book and his glasses, getting into position just as he heard Sweetheart shuffling down the hall.

Milo tried to act nonchalant, staring at the words in front of him but not taking them in. He wasn’t even sure what book he picked up, or what part of the story he randomly flipped to. It didn’t matter. It was just a prop.

Sweetheart shuffled past him, rubbing at their eyes. “You’re books upside down,” They commented, not looking at him.

Milo realized that, yes, the book was upside down. He cleared his throat, embarrassed. “Trying to see if there was a different meaning this way. These authors can be tricky, ya know?”

Sweetheart chuckled. “Yeah. Sure. Do you want coffee?”

Milo sighed, “Yes, please, that sounds great Sweetheart.”

Sweetheart put on the coffee pot before shuffling back over to him. They gently took the book from his hands, flipping it over. “I didn’t know you were into horror,” they commented with a wry smile, handing the book back to him.

“I find it interesting,” Milo said slowly, working the lie together as he went.

“Really? When did you get that book?”

“You know, I can’t remember exactly when. One of those things, you know? Buy it and let it sit somewhere.”

“Is that so?” Sweetheart said, trying to hide their amusement.

“Because I could have sworn that I bought that book last month.”

Milo was really fucked now, but he continued with the white lie. “Was it that? I must have forgotten. I’m reading it now, though.”

Sweetheart stifled a chuckle. “Milo, Love… when I described what was happening in that book you had a very negative reaction. Almost got physically ill. Gagged a little, even.”

Milo looked at the book in his hand, reading the title for the first time. Sweetheart was right, as usual. He particularly hated the description they gave during that one scene. He shuddered at the image it brought back—one that he suppressed after conjuring it—and sighed. “What if I wanted to give it a second chance?”

“I wouldn’t stop you, then,” Sweetheart said sincerely, “but, there’s a few things you’re failing to see here.”

They stepped closer to him, causing his heart to speed up. They always had that effect on him. Anytime they were close to him he found it hard to breathe, heart pounding in his chest. The effect they had on Milo was unmatched, and, frankly, very unfair. If he didn’t know that he had the same effect on them he’d go as far as to say it was cruel.

“First thing, you’re standing in a random doorway. You don’t like standing while reading,” Sweetheart started, tone matter of fact. Milo had to applaud the attention to detail they had, that was a small grievance he had that rarely got aired. 

“Second thing is, along with the book,” they took the book out of his hand, sliding it onto the counter, “your glasses are all kinds of messed up.” They reached up, tugging the glasses off of his face, folding the arms neatly, and placing them beside the book.

“Third thing, and I promise this is the last,” Sweetheart said, taking another step forward and splaying their hands against Milo’s sides, hands warm against his skin, pressing close. Milo had his hands on their hip without a second thought, holding them there. “I know what you’re doing,” they murmured, looking up at him, “you’re not slick, Milo Greer.”

“Who said I was trying to be?” Milo asked.

“Is this your last shot before you give up for the season?” Sweetheart teased.

“Maybe,” Milo hedged, pouting a bit.

Sweetheart laughed, hands unconsciously squeezing his side, the combination sending butterflies through his stomach. “You sure are persistent, huh?” They giggled.

“I prefer ambitious,” Milo said, “has a better ring to it.”

Sweetheart was smiling ear to ear, love written all over their face as they looked at him. Milo believed that this was the first time that he’d truly seen them stress-free in weeks. Milo felt something akin to pride swell in his chest at the thought that he was the one who got them to this point. So long as his Sweetheart was with him, he was going to do everything in his power to bring them back to a state like this every time they needed it.

“You’re cute,” Sweetheart said.

“I’m adorable,” Milo agreed. “I’m also the guy who pulled a deity like you, so that might warrant me a title a bit higher than that.”

Sweetheart looked at him for a second, head tilted a bit to the side as if contemplating something. They got a look in their eye that Milo didn’t get a proper read on before they reached up and pulled him in for a kiss. Milo let out a noise of surprise, not believing what was happening at the moment. 

He had won, then? Or had he, where Sweetheart initiated? 

He didn’t care, he decided quickly, pulling his Sweetheart closer. He couldn’t give a damn when they were pressed against them like that.

When Sweetheart pulled away they had a mischievous grin on their face. “Does winner, work?”

“So I do win?” Milo asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sweetheart shrugged, smirking. “I suppose, since, by the rules you laid out, I did fall for your evil charming ways and succumbed to my baser human instincts.”

The more that Sweetheart talked, the more Milo had to suppress his chuckles. “Your baser instincts,” Milo asked, barely keeping himself from choking on the words.

“Yes,” Sweetheart said matter of factly, “the baser instincts that hard wires people to fall for one Milo Greer at one point or another, obviously.”

“You fucking goof,” Milo said, unable to keep the laughter back. He leaned toward them again, kissing them to try and stifle it. It wasn’t wholly successful, but Milo didn’t care. “God, do I ever love you,” he whispered against their lips, earning him another smile. 

“I love you too,” Sweetheart whispered back, pushing their foreheads together. They savoured that moment with him for a moment before sighing. “Go sit down, Love. I’ll bring the coffee in a minute.”

Milo kissed their forehead, letting go of them finally. “Thank you, Sweetheart.”

[stranger-fanfiction-n-things]

CHAPTER 3: HOLLY, JOLLY

This is an Original Character fanfiction. All Stranger Things characters and content are owned by Netflix and The Duffer Brothers.

a/n: We do not take what Jonathan did lightly and neither does Diana.

Warnings: Bullying.

Word Count: 2122

Masterlist

PART I || PART II || PART III || PART IV

HAWKINS HIGH 

The day goes by in a blur. I don’t remember what I learned in my classes today because I can only think about Barb. If something happened to her—My body is pushed to the side and I squeak staggering on my feet. 

“Sorry!” Jonathan says, holding my arms to steady me. 

Jonathan. I forgot Mom wanted me to talk to him today. 

“It’s okay, I’m glad I found you.” I respond with a small smile. 

“Oh…” he says, fixing his buttoned shirt. 

I give Jonathan a quick once over, feeling a pit in my stomach. Jonathan looked like he was slowly spiralling. His hair was sticking out in all directions from running his hands through it too much. I know the Byers don’t have a lot of money, but they were always put together…Jonathan’s clothes looked like he threw them all haphazardly. The bags under his eyes are what stuck out to me the most. I’ve known Jonathan since we were little kids. Despite our little brothers being best friends, Jonathan and I don’t hang out one on one like Nancy and I do. The only time I have was freshman year, last year. I was his model for his photography project. We took a lot of photos at the park some regular, others with me in my pointe shoes, doing various poses and positions. The photos came out beautifully and Jonathan gave me a couple to keep for myself. Mom framed it and put it on the fireplace.

“I just wanted to know how you’re doing. I’m sorry for not checking in sooner.” I shake my head. “I didn’t know how.” 

“It’s been…rough.” He says, avoiding eye contact. “My mom isn’t doing so well.” 

“I can only imagine what you’re going through. I hope you know we’re here for you.” 

“Thanks, Diana. It means a lot.” 

I bow my head, pursing my lips. “My mom made cookies for you guys yesterday and she stopped by, but your mom wasn’t home. She left them on the porch.” 

“Oh yeah. My mom got them,” he said with a small laugh. It sounded forced. “I only had a few. They were really good. Tell your mom I said thanks…from both of us.”  I can tell it pained him to say both because they are a family of three. 

“I will.” 

Jonathan shifts from side to side. “Um, do you need a ride? I can drive you home.” 

What is it with boys offering me rides? 

“You live on the opposite side of town.” I point out. 

“I know, but I don’t mind. Really.”

I sense Jonathan doesn’t want to be alone and nod my head. “Thank you. That’s very nice of you.” 

As we approach Jonathan’s car, I am surprised to find Steve, Carol, Tommy H and another girl, who I don’t recognize standing around. I am immediately filled with dread, having spent the entire day avoiding them. Steve watches Jonathan with a scowl on his face and pushes himself off the car, walking toward us. 

“Hey, man.” He greets Jonathan. It’s as if I don’t exist. 

Jonathan swallows, eyes scanning the group. “What’s going on?” 

“Nicole here was telling us about your work.” 

“We’ve heard great things.” Carol says sarcastically. Tommy H and Nicole smile, but it looks more like a sneer. 

“Yeah, sounds cool.” Tommy H adds.

I squint not understanding what’s going on. 

“And we’d just love to take a look. You know, as…connoisseurs of art.” 

Jonathan pushes pass Steve to his car. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“Oh, no?” Steve asks. 

Tommy H quickly snatches Jonathan’s bag from his shoulder, throwing it to Steve who catches it with ease. Jonathan goes to Tommy H who bumps him in the chest, antagonizing him. 

“Hey!” I shout, marching to separate them. 

Tommy H stares down at me, like I’m an insect. “You hanging out with freaks and perverts now, Sinclair?” He taunts. 

I ignore him, pushing Jonathan away. Tommy H smirks at me as if he’s in on some inside joke I’m not sure about. 

“Please, give me my bag.” Jonathan stammers. Steve begins to unzip his backpack. “No just…” 

“Man, he is totally trembling.” Steve muses, “He must really have something to hide.” Steve pulls out a stack of paper. “Here we go.” 

“Let me see.” Tommy H says and Steve hands him half the stack. He’s glaring at Jonathan and I’m wondering what has him so mad. 

Tommy H flips through the paper, scowling as he goes. He looks up at Jonathan in disgust. “Dude. Yeah, this isn’t creepy at all.” 

Jonathan shifts from side to side. “I was looking for my brother.” 

It’s then I realize these are photos. Carol takes some out of Tommy H’s hand to look for herself. She pops her gum obnoxiously wearing the same disgusted look on her face. I swallow, glancing at Jonathan. He looks so uncomfortable; I fear the worse about the photos. 

“No. This is called stalking.” Steve snaps. 

“Give those back.” I demand. I don’t know what those photos are, but I don’t think it’s appropriate for everyone to be seeing, Especially if they are supposedly that bad. 

“You defending this creep?” Steve spat. 

“I’m not defending him. Just—” 

“There’s some of you too, you know.” Steve says, cutting me off. He hands me a stack of photos. 

I take the photos flipping through them. He wasn’t lying. There were photos of me by the pool while I was dancing by myself. Some with me and Barb sitting on the lawn chairs. Some of me in the Scorpion pose in front of the group. I see the grimace on Tommy H and Carol’s faces and am instantly transported to that moment last night. The feeling of embarrassment creeps up my spine. My stomach is in knots. From the corner of my eye, Jonathan is looking at me. I can’t believe he’d do this. Part of me feels betrayed and foolish. I was consoling him about his brother and he was…I rip the photos in my hands, shoving them in my bag. 

“This is so inappropriate for everyone to be looking at, don’t you think?” 

“What’s going on?” 

I turn around and see Nancy approaching us. I haven’t seen her since lunch. This day just keeps getting more and more worse. 

“Here’s the starring lady.” Tommy H announces with a smirk. 

Nancy arches her brow. “What?” 

“This creep was spying on us last night.” Carol responds, gesturing to Jonathan. She pulls a photo and hands it to Nancy. I glare at the red-head, shaking my head. “He was probably going to save this one for later.” 

Nancy takes the picture and I can tell by the look on her face and the flush in her cheeks, the photo is less than pleasant. She looks at Jonathan who avoids her stare. Steve rolls the photos in his hands. Usually, Steve is happy and aloof at school, but right now he looks menacing as he approaches Jonathan. 

“See, you can tell that he knows it was wrong, but…” he fixes Jonathan’s shirt, wiping off imaginary dust off his shoulders. “Man, that’s the thing about perverts. It’s hardwired into them. They can’t help themselves.” Steve rips the photos in his hands, throwing them on the ground. I watch Steve walk back to Jonathan’s bag by the car. “So, we’ll just have to take away his toy.” He opens the bag pulling out Jonathan’s camera. 

“Steve.” Nancy mutters.  

Jonathan charges for Steve but is quickly pushed back by Tommy H. 

“No, please, not the camera!” 

“Tommy. Tommy.” Steve cautions. “It’s okay.” He coos, walking to Jonathan. He hands him the camera. “Here you go man.”

Jonathan goes to take it from his hand, but Steve is faster and drops the camera on the ground. My jaw drops as the lens cover pops out and bits of the camera shatters. Tommy H laughs and Steve stares at the ground. I notice he avoids looking at Jonathan. There’s a flicker of sorrow behind his eyes but it’s gone as soon as it appears. 

“Come on, let’s go. The game’s about to start.” 

Nicole follows behind Steve and Carol rips up the remaining photos dropping them on the ground in front of Jonathan. Tommy H saunters toward him. 

“Boo.” He whispers. 

Tommy H then turns to me and grins triumphantly and makes sure to brush me when he walks away. When everyone is gone, Jonathan immediately drops to the ground reaching for his camera. I drop to my knees picking up the remnants of the photos. I see bits and pieces of Nancy in what I assume is Steve’s room and clench my jaw, snatching them from the ground before they flew away. Nancy drops to the ground beside me picking up a few scraps. I assume she’s helping until Steve calls her name. She looks at me and Jonathan before apologizing. I watch her hurry to Steve and walk with him towards the school. 

I continue to pick up the photos trying my best to avoid looking at them too much just wanting to get rid of them. My eyes betray me at the sight of another photo of me dancing by the pool by myself. If the photo was taken in better circumstances, I would’ve found it pretty. I crumple the picture in my hands shaking my head. 

“Jonathan…” I groan. 

“It’s not what it looks like!” 

I stare at him in disbelief. “It doesn’t look like you’ve been taking unsolicited photos of us?”

Jonathan shakes his head. “No—” I scoff standing to my feet, walking to the nearest trash can. “Diana I can explain.” He calls from behind.  

I look back at him, feeling nothing but disappointment and anger. Anger about Nancy, Barb, Steve Tommy H, Carol, Nicole now Jonathan and these photos. I feel like everything is coming at me in all directions and I don’t know what to do.

“I was giving you my condolences for Will and you had these in your bag the entire time!” I shout, waving the scraps in my hands.  

“I’m sorry, okay!” Jonathan cries, rushing toward me. 

I scoff throwing the photos in the trash. “You developed them, Jonathan.”  That was the worst part about it. It’s one thing to take the photos, but to develop them. For what? For what reason? 

“I know, I know!” Jonathan exclaims. “I didn’t…I just…” he runs his fingers through his hair, squeezing his eyes shut. I know he feels bad, but I don’t care. 

“How long were you standing there taking photos of us? Some of these photos are of…” I look around before continuing. “Nancy taking off her shirt.” I hiss quietly at him. 

“I was looking for my brother and then I heard screaming and ran thinking it was my brother, but then I saw Tommy and Carol—”

“Oh, my god.” 

“I don’t know why I did it! There’s no excuse for it. I messed up.” 

“I am so…” I clench my hands into tight fists and squeeze my eyes shut. My chest feels tight. “Ugh.” I stomp the ground. “I can’t even think straight. You boys are so…so…stupid!” 

“I’m so sorry, Diana.” 

I open my eyes and take a deep breath finding Jonathan looking at me. I notice the bags under his eyes and how disheveled and stressed out he looks. He’s been through a lot the past few days, but it’s no excuse to do something like this. He looks down at his camera, toying with the cracked lens. For as long as I’ve known Jonathan, he’s never without his camera and now with Will gone, I know he has been more attached to it now, more than ever. 

“Let me see,” I sigh, extending my hand. Jonathan looks at me for a moment, but hands me his camera. 

I inspect the damage. It’s bad. He definitely won’t be able to use the camera anymore. Part of me thinks he deserved the confrontation, but the other part doesn’t think Stee had a right to break his camera. That was going overboard. Nonetheless…

“Steve didn’t need to break your camera to prove his point.” I begin, handing the camera back to him. “But honestly, it was justified. You invaded his privacy too, Jonathan.” 

When he doesn’t reply. I shake my head, fixing my bag on my shoulder. From the corner of my eye, I see someone coming towards us and I brace myself for round two, but when I turn, it’s Nancy. She’s speed walking and there’s a worried look on her face. Nancy touches my arm and pulls me. 

“I need you to come with me,” she whispers.

NEXT -> PART IV

[lume-nosity]

spending christmas with them

characters: arataki itto, tartaglia, beidou, venti, kamisato ayaka, cyno, noelle, ei, xiao, hu tao, kazuha, tighnari, albedo

style: fluff/crack

pronouns: they/them

song inspo: holly jolly christmas - burl ives

an: fuck everything i’m feeling festive rn. i’ve written this at the start of november & i might do more of these but it’s not guaranteed unless i feel like doing more. (i can’t write for the majority of these characters because it’s my first time branching out for more characters so apologies for any ooc moments (even though i’ve specified that so many times FHWHFH))

notes: reader is gender neutral, not proofread, lowercase intended, this is in scenario/hc form, swearing, this is obviously going to be ooc & weird since i want to fuck around with the christmas prompt, not really an x reader on the last portion but reader was briefly mentioned, last portion was lazily written

you in snowball fights with itto, tartaglia, and beidou

just imagine tartaglia going ‘a perfect backdrop for bloodshed.’ this is what he was referring to.

itto’s like ‘OH HELL YEAH!!- wait- hold on- nobody’s going to be bleeding anything here. it’ll allll be just some friendly competition!’

and beidou’s like ‘ha, big guy, i’m pretty sure he didn’t mean actual bloodshed.’

while the two of them weren’t looking, you and tartaglia made some snowballs. giving each other a sneering look, before you threw your snowballs at itto and his at beidou.

itto completely flabbergasted and beidou had a scary bloodlust look on her face as she wipes the snow off of her face.

‘oh, you’re on.’

‘WHA?!- OH HO HOOO YOU’RE FUNNY. YOU GUYS ARE GOING DOWN!!’

it’ll literally be the four of you guys hurling snowballs at each other, making a loud ruckus but who cares!!

beidou with her skilled snowball throws and itto with his quick and reckless ones omg, the sheer difference

tartaglia is pretty serious in fights, even if it’s a snowball fight. any fight is fun to him yk? so expect him do tricks and shit with his throws

“say, you guys aren’t bad yourselves.”

“haha, you flatter me captain. you guys are up to par with my skills, which is impressive. and i want to see more of that.”

“uhhh is this battle talk or something??”

and then you’re just having the time of your life hurling multiple snowballs at a time towards the opposing team, laughing your ass off at the same time

venti trying to open up his gifts before it’s time but was stopped by cyno and ayaka’s a witness

imagine venti just sitting down on a chair with ayaka sitting right next to him in her own chair.

venti’s just leaning in his seat in boredom while ayaka peacefully sips her hot cocoa. until venti had the bright idea of opening their gifts early.

‘psst. hey. let’s open up our gifts before everyone else.’

ayaka, who sets her cup down and glanced towards him, ‘huh? but y/n told us to not open them yet.’

‘aw come on, it’ll be okay! look, we’ll get to be the first ones to know what we got!’

ayaka looks away for a bit before sighing and turned back to him, ‘i apologize. i cannot.’

venti pouts, and said ‘oh okay then.. your loss~’

venti jumps off of his chair to make his way towards the tree behind them as ayaka watches him. she sees him bend down to his gift, admiring it. ayaka notices a presence coming towards him. it was very hidden she couldn’t make it out to be someone. but before she tries to warn him, venti was stopped by a familiar general’s narrowed gaze.

‘what are you doing.’

‘ah, if it isn’t the general mahamatra! i wasn’t doing anything. ehe~’

‘we were specifically ordered by y/n to not open up our gifts until they say it’s okay. if you didn’t get the memo, allow me to rephrase it,’ *cue his intimidating look from his teaser* ‘in a way you’re able to understand.’

ayaka squeaked a bit by how terrifying cyno’s aura is, she made a mental note to not fuck with the mahamatra.

in conclusion, venti is done for in terms of stern lectures and ‘whatnot’ from cyno LMFAO

noelle teaching xiao and ei on how to make gingerbread houses as hu tao makes her little gingerbread haunted house in the background

ngl, noelle is more than happy and very honored to teach xiao and ei. while also shitting herself inside because she’s teaching the best of the best and she doesn’t want to mess things up

but ei would be so into it. she’ll be like ‘oh! so this piece would be here? and i can add some of these sweetish assortments to top it off?’ and noelle, who snapped out of her thoughts went: ‘ah! yes, that’s right. get the glue to your left and stick those together. you are free to apply as many sweets as you want!’ ei is probably fighting the urge to eat the gumdrops and other sweets laying around for her house tbh

xiao is just watching them at a respectable distance with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall while observing their actions. he couldn’t quite understand the concept of ‘christmas’ since he’s never celebrated it before. he didn’t want to interfere since he’s afraid of what’s to happen should he try to participate. but having to see the people he holds dear enjoying it, he’s at ease.

‘adeptus xiao, would you like to join us?’

xiao glanced at her from the sound of his name, though a bit confused as to why noelle was formal around him, so he told her: ‘just call me xiao. and no, i’m alright with only observing.’

ei turned around, with a gumdrop in her mouth, ‘you should try this festivity! it may be foreign, but i was told this is a one time thing during this time of year. so i believe it’ll be best if you’ll join us.’

xiao grimaced a bit, ‘no. didn’t you hear me the first time? i’m alright with watching you do..whatever it is that you’re doing in case one of you get injured. i must always stay vigilant, no matter the scenario.’

hu tao who paused in making her original gingerbread haunted house barged her way into the conversation and added, ‘mr. grumpy old xiao, you don’t have to always be like that! look, it’s christmas! a time where we all gather around and spend all day doing all sorts of fun activities! you just lazing about in the background, doesn’t make you fun at parties.’ she giggled a bit.

xiao, pretending he never heard of the name he was given by hu tao, groaned quietly, ‘you…’ he sighed again.

‘xiao, you don’t have to force yourself to do something you aren’t comfortable with doing, it’s okay. we can just-‘

‘i will do it.’ ‘huh?’ ‘i will do it. i will accompany you in whatever activity you call it.’

noelle and ei sighed a breath of relief as hu tao went back to what she’s doing. xiao is in for a repeat of what’s to come in the art of making a gingerbread house. no matter, as long as he’s enjoying it even if it’s far from his familiarity. none of them were aware of the tiny smile that’s growing from his lips.

albedo, kazuha, and tighnari staying up to admire the snow outside, but albedo had the bright idea that they’d all sketch out the scenery and is willing to teach them how to draw

guys listen, i want them all to interact okay

they’re all just chilling next to the fireplace in silence, looking outside your window to see snowflakes glaze the glass.

until kazuha complimented the snow because that’s just him

“wouldn’t you all agree that snow is an entranced sight to see? everything is coated in white, and the atmosphere has transfigured to peace and solitude.

while tighnari has sparkles in his eyes because he’s never seen snow like that (ahem referring to his voicelines)

“wow… snow never fails to look this eye-catching. in fact, from where i’m from, it’s always so humid. and it’d be nice to get this once in a while. not only is it a captivating sight, it’s also much cooler compared to deserts.”

albedo’s just sketching the sight in his little sketchbook you gave him as a present

‘yes. might i suggest we sketch out the scenery laying before us?”

the two glanced at albedo, both confused at the request

kazuha: “ah… i’m not particularly skilled in the art of drawing, ironic enough. i’m around the lines of an amateur artist.”

tighnari: “if you count little doodles or scribbles, then yes. otherwise.. i can’t draw.”

“that’s no problem. i’m willing to teach you, if you both are interested in the offer.”

the two looked at each other before a soft smile was plastered on both of their faces, both piqued by the offer.

“from the silence and your expressions, i’m going to assume you’re both interested.”

albedo ripped two pieces of paper out of his sketchbook and lends them both a pencil (that came from his magical pockets)

“now then, allow me to walkthrough the basics.”

imagine tighnari’s ears,, like how they perk up or do a little ‘fwip’ because of how focused he is in drawing. while kazuha is the same, with his eyes squinting and using his pencil in a gentle, and careful manner. while listening closely all at the same time.

albedo’s ‘tutoring’ voice,,, enough to make someone fall asleep on the clock

okay i’m leaving the rest up to you guys because my brain is melting (in a good way)

[foxilayde]

Imagine spending Christmas with Nathan Bateman at The Compound.

You’ve decorated the house with warm twinkle lights (“honey these are TACKY. I can program the existing house lights to any stupid color”), balsam scented candles (“why’d you get these, we’re in the middle of a FOREST, the place already smells like tree sap”), Christmas music, tinsel, an ornamented tree in the living room (“Jesus, babe what’d I say? We’re SURROUNDED by these things. Did you really have to get Dave to helicopter in a Douglas Fir from Williams Sonoma?…. Yes I know what Williams Sonoma is, it’s on the fucking credit card statement, that’s how.”) You make hot chocolate with peppermint candy canes (“do you know how much sugar is in that cup you’re sipping? No thanks.”)

He’s a bit of a Grinch. He rolls his eyes when it’s your turn to pick the movie for your movie night and you choose “Elf”. He doesn’t laugh, doesn’t touch the caramel popcorn you made either. He folds his arms and grits his teeth when you laugh and quote your favorite lines along with the movie.

When it’s his turn to choose a movie he picks The Shining.

“The fucking Shining, Nathan? The Shining??”

“What? You love The Shining!”

“Of course I love The Shining, but it’s not a Christmas movie!”

“It’s Christmas adjacent.”

“How so?!”

“There’s… snow. And family.”

“You’re absolutely right, who could forget the great heartwarming Christmas theme of chasing your child with an axe through the snow? It’s practically Rockwellian.”

“Jesus. Fine. No Kubrick. How about Die H—“

“I knew you were going to say Die Hard. Fine. Die Hard. Great compromise Nate, really. Nothing says cherishing warmth and peace like C4 down an elevator shaft.”

You fold your arms and sit back against the couch stiffly in a very Nathan-like fashion.

“There is a love b-plot with Holly.”

“I said fine, Nate. Que it up.”

You don’t get up to make the candied pecans you’d been planning on. You seethe and use your frustration to push back your tears. What a jerk.

If it’s any consolation, Nathan isn’t engrossed in the film either. He looks cold, folding his arms for warmth in his thin henley. You’d usually wrap his grumbling ass up in a fluffy blanket, kiss his cheek, and offer him some herbal tea or hot cider (to which he’d unequivocally decline and request a beer instead). But you don’t. You both sit a cushion’s distance apart, unswaddled, unsnacked, and unhappy. Nathan glances over to you about every 10 seconds, his demeanor shifting until halfway through the film he pauses John McClane and asks, “I can’t enjoy the movie when you’re acting like this.”

You tamp down the urge to screech at him like a tea kettle, and instead speak to him in a level sarcastic tone he can relate to.

“I apologize, Nathan. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to want to enjoy something with the person you love, only to have them be rude and cold. Sincerest fucking apologies.”

You don’t look at him, you wrap your arms tighter around yourself and stare at the still frame of Bruce Willis in the air shaft, feigning engrossment.

“I’ve been a dick. I’m sorry, it’s just it’s fucking Q4 and the dev team launched the latest hardware so goddamn late in the fall it’s been a—“

“I get it. I’m sorry you’re stressed. and I’m sorry for foisting all this hokey shit on you.” You gesture around the room to the twinkle lights, tinsel, tree and snowflake paraphernalia. “I should have known you were stressed about work and it wasn’t fair trying to force you to be all Holly Jolly.”

Nathan scoots closer to you and takes your hand in his, playing with your fingers when he says, “work should never be an excuse for me treating you like crap. I’ve been bonafide fucking scrooge, spitting on tiny Tim and shit.”

“Am I tiny Tim in this scenario?”

“Nah. Jacob Marley, without a dou—“

“Shut up, ass!” You shove Nathan’s shoulder and you both laugh. He brings you in for a tight hug and pulls you down to his chest for a cuddle.

“You know what I did for Christmas last year?”

“What?” You finger the texture of his cream colored Henley.

“Promise you won’t tell?”

“I think it’s pretty clearly stated in that NDA that all your intellectual property remains a secret on penalty of death? or something equally dramatic?”

“I was here. Alone. didn’t even realize it was Christmas till I tried zooming Ted about something or other and saw everyone in the office was offline. When I put two and two together I left the lab, drank about a gallon of sake and Sapporo, watched ‘Its a Wonderful Life’, and… cried.”

“You did not.”

“I did.”

“Awww, Nate-y poooo, everytime a bell rings an Angel ge—“

You squeal when Nathan flips you over on the couch, hovering above you, he tickles your neck aggressively with his beard as he playfully peppers the underside of your chin with kisses.

“Penalty of death, remember?”

“Your tender side is safe with me, Ebenezer.”

Nathan looks into your eyes for a few beats. Really stares into them before glancing around the room at all the warm glowing decor.

“The place looks nice.”

You smile up at him, warm happy tears pricking at the corners of your eyes when you smooth your hand down his cheek and into his soft beard.

“Thanks.”

He continues to stare at you. You suspect there’s a secret vulnerable monologue going on in his head when he stares into your eyes. things he’ll probably never say, never admit, never profess. He’s like an iceberg this one. Most would disregard him as “cold” and move on. But you know better. Even if you can’t see it , you know the depth of him beneath it all.

“Merry Christmas” you whisper

“You filthy animal!” you both say at the same time, hugging each other in a fit of mild laughter.

“Oooh Home Alone. Let’s watch that one!”

“Sounds great.”

You grab the fuzzy blanket, prep the candied pecans, and watch the film; cuddled up all cozy with Nathan as snow falls silently outside the glass walls of your glowing little sanctuary.

[jakesuit0]

Too Young Review

“Too Young” finally follows up on the newly deaged Princess Bubblegum, something fans were dying to see after no glimpses of her in the past four episodes. This would have been a more thematically appropriate season premiere, but I do like the building anticipation for the followup. The question of how this new dynamic would alter the status quo of the series going forward hung over our heads. Turns out: not at all. At least not in an obvious way.

Even putting aside the romance aspect, it’s just great to see Finn finally hanging out with someone his own age, something we never get enough of. He’s always hanging out with his older brother, and his other best friends are hundreds of years older than him. As Finn says at the beginning, he can just be himself. I like Finn stepping out to get moral support from Jake. His encouragement of Finn’s pursuit of Bubblegum is finally appropriate! Finn is a little nervous, this is probably his first ever date. But, he is overall pretty comfortable, as there’s still a strong familiarity between Finn and PB. There’s also no pussyfooting around between the two, they are very upfront with their feelings. PB already knows how Finn feels, and she basically tells Finn that he’s hot after he drinks her serum. He admits to not bathing, so it’s a good thing that BMO gets Finn on a bathing schedule by “Holly Jolly Secrets Part 1.” It’s interesting that Finn first asks if she’s trying to make herself 18 again. Part of him thinks this is all too good to be true.  

Not really sure how much I need to introduce him, but Lemongrab! He’s probably the tenth most prominent character in the series, and one of the most well known characters, period. He wasn’t given much of a personality in the outline. Tom Herpich and especially Jesse Monyihan, the storyboarders for this episode, really created Lemongrab. They succeeded in making such a distinct character, and with Justin Roiland bringing him to life with some of the best voice acting of the series so far, he was basically guaranteed to become a recurring character. (I know there’s a massive elephant in the room that I’m avoiding, but it’s just not pertinent to this review. It will be addressed when I get to “Prismo the Wishmaster” and morals will be condemned!) Lemongrab’s very screamy, but he does it in such an alien way that he’s not annoying. He’s introduced with his iconic “unacceptable” catchphrase, which is pretty great and has been memed to death. He was originally going to be PB’s uncle (I assume it would have straight up been Gumbald, albeit in a very different incarnation, since he was mentioned in “Susan Strong”). I’m very glad they didn’t go that direction. They were dangerously close to ruining much of the direction they’ll take PB’s character in. 

Lemongrab is now technically the rightful ruler due to PB’s deaging. I assume Bubblegum created Lemongrab with the intention of wanting an heir, and that stuck in Candy Kingdom law. Similarly to my take on “Hot Diggity Doom”, I don’t think Princess Bubblegum actually cares about the legal technicality, especially since she started creating the kingdom when she was a kid. She just wanted to delay the inevitable. She might also have more respect for the rules as a less jaded thirteen year old. 

The flashback establishes that she created Lemongrab. It’s the first hint that PB created all the candy people, but it could still just be assumed that Lemongrab was an exception. The implications of PB creating life aren’t explored here, but this establishes a trait for her that will be explored a ton. We don’t know exactly when she created him, but it’s implied that it happened a long time ago, possibly hundreds of years ago. My theory is it happened before the flashbacks seen in “The Vault”. PB was used to making candy people dumb on purpose, probably straight up using dum dum juice. It’d make sense to not want her heir to be incompetent, so she’d need a different formula, especially since she isn’t using parts of the mother gum like she did with Gumbald, Lolly, and Chicle. This caused the experiment to “go wrong”. The reason I think it’s before “The Vault”, is because we see a young Peppermint Butler in it, who I don’t think was created with dum dum juice. She must have perfected the formula by then. Pep wasn’t intended to be an heir, as she’s still trying in “Goliad”, but she’ll eventually realize he fits the bill. Calling Lemongrab her “first” experiment to go wrong, is a straight up continuity error due to the Uncle Gumbald backstory. It’s also hard to believe that she didn’t have any other experiments go wrong. I think my theory could recontextualize the line to mean it’s the first one of her experiments with her new formula to go wrong, but it’s a little handwavey. As if this flashback didn’t already have enough interesting implications, we see that PB still has her memories. This raises the question of if she still has the same experiences, is her relationship with Finn still problematic? I argue that it isn’t. She behaves like a child in her new state. Her brain, just like the rest of her body, has less candy biomass, and is the brain of a child. She’s seeing her memories through the lens of a kid. 

Finn and Bonnie try to solve their problems like kids would for once, with pranks. Their relationship is so pure and adorable. Bonnie cuddling up to Finn on the castle roof is one of the most wholesome moments ever in Adventure Time and Finn looks so incredibly happy. It really captures the innocence of a young child’s first romance, and it stands apart from the awkwardness that defines his relationship with Flame Princess and the maturity that comes with his dynamic with Huntress Wizard. At the same time, Lemongrab gets more defined as he tries to laugh and have fun with the pranks after Peppermint Butler’s explanation. He wants to fit in with others, but he just doesn’t see the world in a neurotypical way, so it comes off as forced and awkward, like his bobbing head laughter.

Peppermint Butler tells Lemongrab that food comes from Mars. It’s a weird lore detail that isn’t ever explained, but is referenced again. It’d make sense for a world of talking animals and talking food to get food from an outside source, but there’s plenty of examples of them eating food from Ooo. I’ll assume that industrialized food comes from Mars, and this is considered more civilized. Lemongrab eating the spiced food is a great sequence, and causes him too much pain for him to just laugh off.

Princess Bubblegum finally decides it's time to stop delaying what she knows is inevitable: becoming 18 again. Finn’s upset, but has the ability to recognize the greater good enough to swallow those feelings. This whole experience was more of a well needed break for PB, than a true commitment to a new permanent identity, just like a later arc she’ll have. But unlike later, she doesn’t change the way she conducts her life through learning from this ordeal. Many fans don’t think this episode works with PB’s portrayal in the rest of the series, but I disagree. She sacrifices her happiness for her people, which will be explored as a character flaw later down the line that ends up backfiring for her kingdom anyway. She views having fun as something mainly for children, and work as something that must consume adults. There is no middle ground for her. The pain this causes PB just makes her double down on work as a distraction. Some of that analysis is based on future episodes, but a lot of it can be taken away from just “Too Young”. It’s great to finally get an episode that focuses on fleshing out Princess Bubblegum’s deeper feelings and motivations. It’s really the only episode in the first three seasons with that accomplishment. 

Princess Bubblegum says she needs her lab equipment to engineer more candy flesh, an even bigger hint that she created the candy people. I love the scene of her citizens giving PB parts of themselves. They recognize how selfless Bubblegum is, and sacrifice pieces of themselves like she does for them. Finn uses the power of love to catalyze the re-aging process. He gets to return Princess Bubblegum’s favor in “Mortal Folly” with the like-like sweater! It’s cheesy but it’s such a perfect resolution. Princess Bubblegum’s goodbye to Finn is heartbreaking, and it’s really tragic, especially after seeing how happy they were together. They hug and Finn has his first kiss. It’s a really special moment, and it really should be his only kiss with Princess Bubblegum. Fuck you “Wizard Battle” for taking away a little bit of what makes this moment so special and tragic. 

Bubblegum turns back and is pretty cold to Finn, but I love the contrast of her just saying “‘scuse me Finn” and how much taller she is than Finn. She’s also cold to Lemongrab, calling him a butt, which is even more problematic given the fact she’s responsible for him. The next moment is soooo important. Finn comes on to PB, which I can’t even condemn him for this time given the circumstances, and PB immediately shuts him down. She takes the crush slightly more seriously than just innocent puppy love. I love how awkward Finn asking if she wants to hug more is, really highlighting how this relationship does not work with this age difference. She responds by not humoring him finally, saying “that was like 5 years ago” and “you really gotta move on.” People have criticized Bubblegum for being too cold to Finn. I do understand calling those comments, and her joking about the situation, insensitive. It comes across to Finn like the relationship they had means nothing to her now. I really don’t think it meant nothing to her, as we’ll see by her subtle changes in behavior and a line she has in “Burning Low.”  But, I’m sure it was hurtful and confusing for Finn. I still can’t really blame PB for how she responded. She definitely could have been more sensitive about it, while still clearly turning him down. But, it’s an awkward situation. She was still trying to be kind about it, even if the joking manner came off as hurtful, and she’s very clear in her rejection which is good. She still doesn’t know the true extent of Finn’s feelings.

Season two’s cliffhanger being immediately reversed in one episode is a controversial decision. It’s the first example of one of the biggest criticisms leveled against the series, not committing to interesting status quo changes. Turning Bonnie back to 18 is a decision I 100% support. Yes, it’s sad how much of a more entertaining character young PB is compared to the regular state of her character so far. But, essentially replacing the most boring character of the main cast with an entirely different character would feel like such a lame solution to a problem the series has. Working on making her a more engaging character is the correct path. The path they take Bubblegum on is my favorite aspect of the series, so I’m glad this didn’t stick. It’s just unfortunate that it takes another season for that to happen. It makes reversing back to the status quo more questionable. Also, we can’t lose Hynden Walch! To be fair, restoring the status quo after only one episode is the aspect of this that’s more contentious. I wouldn’t have been opposed to seeing young PB in a few more episodes, but I don’t really see what more could have been done. I think “Too Young” fully explores everything interesting that can come out of this plotline: her relationship with Finn and how Princess Bubblegum acts differently at this age. This also isn’t entirely a reset. Not only does this episode color Princess Bubblegum’s character moving forward, it also sets a clear new dynamic for Finn and Bubblegum. She stops humoring his advancements (except for “Wizard Battle”, but again, fuck that episode). It’s the first of many times “everything stays, but it still changes” is applicable. We’ll see how long that ends up being a good excuse moving forward though. 

Finn calls Jake and he gives Finn some pretty bad advice if you take it as him still telling Finn to keep pursuing PB! To be fair, he doesn’t yet know that Bubblegum is an adult again. But Finn tells him that he got dumped. You could also interpret Jake’s advice as being persistent in finding love in general, not necessarily referring to Bubblegum specifically. His speech was intended to be important and to foreshadow the rest of the series, but I’m not sure if this really panned out. He does defeat a demon lord (whether it refers to Hunson, Ke-Oth, The Lich, or evil in general). Finn definitely warps through several worlds (“Puhoy”, “Crossover”, “Beyond the Grotto”, etc). Walking up the wizard steps could foreshadow Huntress Wizard, even though it’s unclear if they ever get in a committed relationship. The magic key and water world don’t really come to pass, unless you wanna say “President Porpoise is Missing!” I’m probably taking it too literally. I think it’s true meaning is to just be persistent in finding love despite all the obstacles. I think that’s what Jake’s means, so I like the speech. The episode ends with Finn looking at Bubblegum up above. It seems like Finn takes it as advice to keep pursuing PB specifically, as we see in upcoming episodes. A lot of fans took it this way, thinking Finn will just have to wait until he becomes 18 to get with PB. With him aging throughout the series, that does seem like a plausible endgame. But there’s obviously problematic implications with that. The series ends up going in a different direction and doesn’t make romance a central part of Finn’s final arc, so this speech really doesn’t end up feeling as important as it was set out to be. 

This is a really iconic episode with a super memorable story and introduction of a major character, and it’s one of my favorites so far. It’s essentially a what if scenario, the one time we see what Finn and PB could be like as a couple. The one time Finn gets to live out his greatest desire. I’m not a Fubblegum shipper, but I’m glad the shippers get this episode. Shipping them outside this episode is weird, but I’m fully on board with their relationship here. I guess I’ll end with some controversy. You can’t tell me Princess Bubblegum didn’t have real feelings for Finn in this one. I totally interpret her as bi just because of this episode. 

Grade: A

[cloveroctobers]

DECEMBER DRABBLE — 1. ANGEL TORRES 🌨️

A/N: are people still reading for nope lol? Decided to kick my winter prompts off with this broody intelligent handsome man so here we are! The goal this year is to keep them short and sweet (which is always a challenge for me for whatever reason lol) so let’s hope this plans out well! Just know drabble for me never really equals out to that unless it’s shorter than my usual work 😉 in my mind that makes sense okay?! + Reader is always written with black OR POC in mind but not fully descriptive in this one.

Prompt: #6. “If I have to listen to Michael bublé one more time…” + #5. “it’s too early for this Christmas shit.”

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

Night time has fallen quite quickly once daylights savings hit. The shift in the amount of light the world received in a day hardly bothered you. You were one of the lucky ones.

You enjoyed the early sunsets and cruising at night; night time cruising was much different in Agua Dulce and you enjoyed every moment of it. It also helped that majority of time you decided to hit the streets at night, you had a partner right beside you or driving you. Tonight you were the driver and took the thirty-five minute drive to your boyfriend’s job.

Angel Torres was not the usual “type” you went for but you found yourself easily falling for him after he didn’t judge you for breaking the shit out of your Mac desktop. It’s actually the reason why, “Breaking Dishes,” By Rihanna was your signature ringtone whenever you called him. Yes he still had specific ringtones for certain people, shut up.

You were newly neighbors and seen him around with this 5’11 girl that looked like she walked runways with Bella Hadid. The both of you never spoke since he always looked so preoccupied with the girl, yet you remembered catching his eye one time leaving the laundry room as you chatted with your then-boyfriend on FaceTime.

Before you could be neighborly to offer a wave with both hands full, he was gone from your sight—like he couldn’t be bothered.

You didn’t take it personally.

It wasn’t until that pollen-filled day in April that the both of you held your very first conversation. Angel had the day off and was just coming back from picking up some lunch when he saw you, three doors down, screaming from your apartment as you ran out, desktop held up over your head—it also looked beat up already before you launched it over the railing and down into the courtyard.

Your chest heaved as you flicked your beaded hair behind you, the plastic clacking against each other as you did so. Taking deep breaths with your eyes clenched shut, fingertips pressed together, you opened your eyes to meet Angel’s.

“Sorry you had to see that neighbor.” You spoke first, straightening out your baby-tee underneath your shacket.

Angel lifted his shoulders, “you did what you felt was right in the moment for you. It’s whatever.”

Letting out a cackle, you bent over with your hands pressed into your ribs.

“Although…that Mac,” Angel started as he stepped forward and leaned over the railing to look at the crushed object, “looked like it was in pretty good condition still. What was wrong with it?”

Was this guy forreal? Did he really want to talk to you about computers instead of the fact that you just tossed it out into the sun without a care?

Standing up straight you crossed your arms, “it is—or rather was. My ex got drafted into the NBA back in December before the holidays and bought me that for Christmas. Ever since then he’s been giving me the runaround except for last month when he came out to celebrate my birthday and spring break with me. Now I know why.”

Angel carefully took in your words. He kinda knew how you felt, he was suspecting himself that his high-school sweetheart, Martina Villaba was growing distant. Ever since she decided to drop out of college sophomore year and started going to parties more without him, Angel could feel a breakup coming soon. For what reason? That he did not know. He never thought Martina was cheating on him, since she had her own personal issues with her mother cheating on her father with her co-worker at her law firm. So Angel never thought that of his girlfriend…however he definitely felt some anxiety about where their relationship was going next.

Swallowing his projections, Angel asked, “why?”

“He deleted all of my sims data. ALL of it, shit that I took the time to create! Shit that I get paid for as extracurricular activities.” You placed your hand on your chest, feeling it began to race again, “so far the CC is going well and if I can keep this graphic design gig going for myself, just maybe I can quit my god-awful job that has nothing to do with my upcoming degree.”

So you played the sims, made CC for it, had a boyfriend who was athletic and didn’t take your interests seriously, took your frustrations out on the one object that allowed you to actually participate in your hobby, and you lived three doors down from him? Why has Angel never met you before?

“I could have taken a look at that for you,” Angel replied, “I’m sure you had backup files for the game. It should have been a simple fix, just had to do some searching and restoring then the actual game and your mods should still be there. Despite what he did.”

He could literally see your eye twitch from where he stood.

“I work at Frye's Electronics…computers, VR, drones, you name it, is kinda my thing. What I’m good at.” Angel continued as you began massaging the space in between your brows.

It was silent for a moment and Angel honestly considered slowly backing away to his apartment at this point. He was sure he wasn’t making this any better for you but he felt like it was the neighborly thing to do, offer some assistance if you wanted.

“Wish I would have known that there’s a tech guy living near by.”

“Yeah, just three doors down actually.” The bleached blond peeked at your ajar door to confirm.

“I’ll have him send me another one, then I’m breaking up with his ass.”

Angel widened his eyes, “that’s not exactly going to fix the—do you have a flash drive at all?” He suddenly picked his words carefully.

“What’s that?” You tilted your head to the side as Angel dropped his mouth before picking it back up and rubbed at the back of his neck as if it pained him to hear this, “I’m kidding! You just reminded me that I have some old but solid work on that shit and I love you for that…I just have to look for it.”

“Great! Let me know when you find it…” he paused as he glanced over the railing once more, “do you actually mind if I take the desktop?”

Turning your eyes into slits you stated, “you’re not about to do something freaky to it are you?”

“What do you possibly think I can do with—I’m going to see if I can take it apart to get to the hard disk, to see if it’s still salvageable just in case you don’t find that flash drive.” Angel informed you as you slowly nodded your head, as if that made sense.

“Have at it, Dexter’s laboratory.” You waved him off, getting ready to head back into your apartment, “just don’t let me find out that you hacked into my personal information or something.”

Angel scoffed, “I promise you I’m no stalker…” he trailed off in search of your name.

Raising your brows you pointed, “see look at you trying to guess my name, it’s giving Joe Goldberg.”

Angel rolled his eyes, “please do not compare me to that psychopathic narcissist. But if you want, I’ll just call you ‘you’ whenever we meet next.” He dryly joked.

You snapped then pointed, “What about, ‘hey neighbor!’?”

“Have you played that game?” Angel was curious.

“Hello neighbor?” You guessed, “I have, I actually like the second one a lot better—never mind that! What’s your name?”

“Why should I give you my name if you don’t want to share yours, neighbor?” Angel stared at you.

Scrunching up your nose you said, “Oh, you thought you ate.”

“No…” Angel was confused, “I’m actually waiting to by having this entertaining conversation with you.”

You pointed at his bag of food, “Is that from the new Filipino/Mexican spot up the block?”

“Yes it is.”

“They have excellent nacho bowls with Adobo.”

“Oh yeah, that’s what I got!” Angel gave a small smile.

“Did you really?”

Angel snickered, “No.”

“I’m leaving now.” Your gasp turned into annoyance as you realized you were done dealing with this sarcastic dude for the day, “Bye Mr. turd tech who lives three doors down.”

“Farewell Ms. Coo-Coo for sims who Breaks computers.” Angel gave a bow.

And a middle finger went his way, which he reciprocated with a laugh escaping his lips.

Who knew it would take you breaking a computer that your old boyfriend got you for Christmas a year ago would result in this? You ended things with the pro-athlete after he replaced your computer in May, he took the 2-year warranty off in retaliation and decided to show his ass with his new groupies on his Instagram stories. Not only that, he made it a big deal to showcase his new lifestyle without you, hanging with Devin Booker and other ball players, while dragging your name online but felt it was appropriate to cry to you over texts whenever he got drunk and lonely.

You had better things to do with your time. You were trying to build something for yourself and you never felt like he supported that. You didn’t wish him well but you wished he stopped trying to be something he wasn’t. So breaking up with your boyfriend was a thing, becoming closer with your neighbor happened, quitting your job to become fully self-employed was next, being there for Angel during his breakup that June was also a experience—he took it hard, and then life continued to get a little strange with something white and foreign gliding through the sky…

That could have been a death sentence and you really didn’t want to talk about it—but felt thankful that it brought you two new friends and Angel who you didn’t expect to call your boyfriend months later.

It kinda happened sporadically but when your life is threatened to be sucked up into the sky, you realize things you know—no Kylie Jenner. Of course this didn’t happen over night despite what your friends from outside the group thought. You and Angel were friends first, yet you just had to kiss him when you found him on the haywood ranch, badly limping over to him who happened to be wrapped in barbed wire and a blue tent. You thought you could escape that conversation later at the apartment but Angel couldn’t let it go.

He can be very persistent when he wanted to be.

Which led to, “it was stupid and it shouldn’t have happened. Sorry for kissing you when I know you’re not over Martina. It didn’t even mean anything! I was just happy we both didn’t die.”

Angel felt like your words were honestly bullshit. He listened to you ramble in his apartment as you badly paced his living room and honestly, he just wanted you to sit the fuck down to refrain yourself from further injuring yourself and making his head spin.

You were on his mind, been on his mind from the very moment he thought he lost you. How you slipped from his grasp and disappeared into Jean jacket. You should have been dead but he didn’t dwell on it, it didn’t matter.

You were here and you kissed him.

“Don’t tell me how I feel. You have no idea.” Angel’s words interrupted you, which got you to stop moving yet you kept bleeding on his carpet.

And he got to his feet and yanked you to his body, which obviously made him groan due to his own injuries, making you began to scold him until he shut you up with his own lips.

You found yourself thinking about that time often, smiling to yourself until you got caught. It had been five months since operation: Jean jacket went down and it seemed as if you and OJ Haywood were the main ones trying to put it behind you.

Emerald Haywood was living for the new found attention, although she tried to downplay it whenever she was around you three—not wanting to trigger any of you but she had changed a bit too.

None of you were exactly the same after the white species came down from the sky. How could you be?

Angel chose to continue to work at Frye's Electronics, which made no sense to you or Em but given what happened only inspired Angel further with electronics. He told you occasionally someone would come in to get further entail on what happened despite the numerous of interviews you all went on. At this point, you told Angel to just start his own podcast and you would help him since you had your own successful channel.

He thought about it but was brainstorming towards a different angle. He was thinking about creating a team to explore unexplained creepy, strange places around the world and you wanted to support it but you also wanted the guy to not unalive himself round two. Which he understood and agreed with to a extent but kept it as option b. He could start off just discussing those places for now, he had the channel but just didn’t fully execute it. The work load at Frye’s increased thanks to his presence being there.

A knock on the glass instantly had you reaching for your taser, firing it off as you were pulled from your thoughts. Once your eyes settled on Angel who raised his hands in surrender, breath floating into the night air, you sighed, unlocking the door as he shuffled in.

“My bad, baby.” Angel apologized as his hands went immediately to the vents to warm his fingertips.

Turning the headlights back on, you locked the doors behind him, and waved as Nessie walked across to get to her parked car.

“How was work?” You glanced at the clock on the dash to see that it was 9:52pm.

Angel let out a low whistle as you started the engine, waiting for him to put his seatbelt on before exiting from the back of the store.

“Slow at the start of the shift but definitely picked up after lunch,” Angel answered, reaching over to grip one of your hands to hold, “Also if I have to listen to Michael bublé one more time…”

A snort was followed by his response making Angel give you the side eye while he held onto your hand. Oh the joys of working retail where the customers are so entitled, lazy managers, and the heavy rotation of soundtracks that seemed to only know maybe ten songs.

You felt for your boyfriend and why you encouraged him to quit. Yeah you were that person, telling people to quit their jobs and dump their significant others—if it would bring them happiness then you were all for it!

“There’s nothing wrong with Michael bubbly.” You defended as you halted at the stop sign, “I’ve never paid him much attention before but his voice is actually nice.”

Angel scowled, “oh god, I can’t believe I have a traitor for a girlfriend. And it’s boo-blay not bubbly.” He told you before frowning to himself, “I don’t know why I know that.”

You laughed, squeezing his hand before returning it to the steering wheel so you could make a left turn. “Face it you like Christmas music and you can’t just listen to Lil Uzi Vert, Steve Lacy, Omar Apollo, and Hotel Ugly all day.”

“Yes I can,” Angel argued as he put the seat back to get more comfortable, “if I really wanted to I could control the soundtrack from up front. I have my ways. Nessie and I’ve talked about it already.”

That didn’t surprise you.

“So I take Nessie isn’t a fan either?”

“She only knows one Christmas song and it’s a Ariana grande one.” Angel rolled his eyes, watching the hills of Agua Dulce as you merged onto the highway.

Laughing to yourself, you expected it to be Mother Christmas herself, Mariah Carey but you guess whatever Ariana Grande track made some sense. Ms. Ponytail made a great Christmas album once upon a time but you were definitely going to give Nessie some shit about it through text later.

[To: Nessie]

Ariana grande Xmas? I’m shocked

[From: Nessie]

Until PinkPantheress drops one then u can talk 🖐️

After driving for about five minutes on the freeway, you reached for the knob on the radio to let some music flow through the quiet speakers. You figured Angel was beginning to nap on the passenger side and needed a little music to keep you company while he did.

However the jingle of bells and the familiar voice that flowed through the speakers made him sit upright pretty quickly. Your eyes went wide from beside him, trying to focus on the road and ask what was up.

Before you could Angel commented, “I’m really beginning to think that you don’t like me like you say you do.”

“Angel,” you breathed as you glanced at the sign for the next exit you needed to take, “what?”

It wasn’t uncommon for Angel to need some reassurance due to his own trust issues in relationships…however this came out of the blue.

“The music, why are we listening to him right now?”

You went quiet, picking up on the song and the possible artist. Which made you shake your head, a smile playing on your lips as you plucked up your phone and plopped it into your moody boyfriend’s lap.

“I forgot I had a random Christmas playlist playing on Spotify on my way to you, it wasn’t intentional but it is a little funny how that worked out.” You commented, peeking at the boy who pulled the beanie further down his dark natural locks.

You had the privilege of dying his hair back to black, which did much more for you than the horrible blond. Angel promised he wouldn’t dye his hair again (until spring or next summer—which is when he usually got bored with it) after the good treatment he received after his hair was done ;) and if he got to help you decide your next protective style color in the summer—you honestly believed he just wanted to match with you.

Yeah he could be annoyingly cute like that sometimes. And other times…

“Yeah so funny haha, I think I’m gonna throw myself out of the car.” He latched onto the passenger side handle.

He can be so damn dramatic.

“You can’t,” you answered, “child safety lock is always on bitch!” You stuck your tongue out, laughing as you got off the exit.

Angel pulled on the handle for instance and huffed, “I hate your niece for this.”

“Whoa. She’s a baby dude, the fuck did she do to you?

“I took it too far huh?” Angel realized, regardless of the fact that your 3 year old niece liked to pull hair and stick Pennies in the window slot.

“Just a bit.” You stated, “just change the playlist if you’re gonna act like this. You’re supposed to be happy, it’s Christmas!”

It wasn’t.

Angel grumbled to himself, too involved in your phone to be aware where you were pulling up to. Now instead of Michael Bublé playing, he settled on Michael Jackson which you couldn’t be mad at.

Once the car was in park and you were unbuckling yourself, you waited for it to soak in.

“We can’t be home that fast, my little speed demon.” Angel finally looked up from your phone and complete dread settled on his face, “y/n, why are we at hobby lobby?”

You grinned leaning towards Angel who pulled away from you. Okay that was strike two since he decided to call you by your name and not, “baby.”

“‘Cause the dollar store closed at nine and we gotta get our places ready.” You stated as if it was obvious, “I even got you some brown sugar boba to give you that extra energy to shop until we drop.”

Angel completely missed the two drinks sitting in the cup holders. He was just ready to get off work, have some dinner, and stay cuddled up with his baby binge-watching Law & Order SVU until he fell asleep, was that so bad to have?

“Shop until we drop,” Angel repeated with a scoff of laughter that his smile lines appeared in his cheek, “maybe we should call em and she can be your buddy for this, while I nap with this lovely bubble tea in my hands?”

You were quick, snatching his drink and holding it out of his reach. “The tea was the reward you grinch. Em and I had our girls date for the week already, I’m just trying to spend this jolly season with you and only you.”

“Babe,” Angel was sure heart eyes were showing despite his slightly agitated demeanor, “…how can I say no when you’re looking at me like that?”

“Exactly, you love me so shut up, drink your tea and hold my hand while we get our shop on.” You held the tea out to the man who rolled his eyes, a small smile still playing on his lips.

You only planned to be in hobby lobby for thirty minutes tops and you knew Angel was most likely tired from work and hungry. You weren’t that inconsiderate and would probably hit up a drive-thru right after, you were just festive and couldn’t wait for Angel to be too at some point in the month.

He sucked it up just for you, his cold yet soft hand was intertwined with your much smaller and warm one. You swung your hands together as you walked along the sidewalk, Angel sipping at his tea as he peeked at the window of the store on your way by.

He groaned to himself that you thought he was going to fall to his knees right then.

“What is it? Is the caffeine giving you heart palpitations again?”

Angel could have lied to get his way out of this but he didn’t, not when you got so excited about decorating.

“No, I’m actually fine thanks though babe.” He kissed your forehead, “it’s just too early for this Christmas shit.”

Sucking your teeth you looked at the Christmas decorations through the window and bounced on your feet, “it’s December first honey. Keep up.”

“Oh is it? I couldn’t tell after hearing ‘last Christmas’ making my ears bleed as soon as I walked through the doors at work at eleven-thirty this morning.” Angel sarcastically countered.

You nudged his arm with yours, “don’t ever disrespect Wham! Like that again.”

“They disrespected me first.” Angel mumbled around his straw as you practically dragged him to the front doors.

As you got pass the two front set of doors, your eyes lit up as you scanned the store, unsure what direction you wanted to go first. It was Angel who tapped on the back of your hand to get your attention.

“Time?”

“Thirty-thirty five minutes tops.”

“Budget?”

“For this store? Maybe $600. If it was the dollar store $100.”

Angel almost choked on his drink, “what do we need to spend $600 on?”

“We’re getting you a tree.”

“Where’d you get the tree thats strapped in the backseat?” Angel questioned.

You briefly thought about it, “oh no. Not that 18-inch miniature pine tree from bed bath and beyond, that just won’t do! You need a real tree for your apartment, those miniature trees are great for window sills, cars, counters or side tables. Things like that. And you can’t have my riding partner.”

“I can give you something else to ride if you pick three things under $100 bucks.” Angel grinned at you while you raised your brows.

This was the usual for you two. Whenever the both of you wanted to head into stores that you enjoyed spending time in, you gave each other a brief estimate of how long you’d be and what the budget was. Was it something you did at the beginning of the relationship before you each received your own cut of a settlement thanks to operation: JJ? No.

However you didn’t mind spending the extra cash especially if you were giving someone something whereas Angel was more practical. At the end of the day the both of you knew you couldn’t and wouldn’t control what you chose to do. You were both grown enough to make your own decisions…that’s for sure.

“That sounds very tempting,” you wrapped both arms around Angel’s neck who easily held onto your waist, “but you’d probably pass out before you really get up in it.”

Angel huffed, “that was one time! I had to work a double that day.”

Raising your brows you stepped back from his embrace, testing him.

“Okay, twice but at least I participated the second time.” Angel whispered as another couple entered the store.

Wagging your finger at the honey-eyed man you said, “Don’t mess with me, Angel. I’m getting you a damn tree and some extras. I decided we’re starting with your place first.”

And with that you spun on your heels, pleated skirt lifting as you did so—did you always have that on? As you yanked the carriage from its spot and glared at angel, nose up in the air as you circled around to charge through the store.

Have a holly jolly Christmas

It's the best time of the year…

Instantly Angel’s eyes clamped shut as the music began to play. He didn’t even realize he had his middle finger raised up directly at the camera and a simple, “fuck you Michael,” escaped his lips.

“Excuse me?” A voice asked.

That’s when Angel snapped his eyes open to meet the eyes of a employee who indeed had a name tag of: Michael written right on it.

“Oh shit man, not you. The song, well the artist. You’re doing a great job.”

Michael from hobby lobby just simply nodded his head almost in immediate understanding, “is there anything I can help you with?”

“See how can I possibly say fuck you to a employee that’s so helpful,” Angel grinned at the teen who just blinked at him, “right so…do you have snow ball machines by chance? I think it’ll be a great gift to use on my Christmas loving girlfriend.”

“…right this way.”

“Thanks man, glad you get it.”

“Yeah, you hate anything jolly.”

“Please,” Angel took a deep breath, “can we use any other word?”

“Happiness? You hate happiness.” Michael commented.

“That’s not true,” Angel opposed, “I think I just dislike Michael’s.”

“Yeah I got fired from there three weeks ago for stealing glue…and a heat press.” Michael informed.

Angel scratched at his brow not prepared for the answer he was going to get, “…why?”

“I had to get back at my sister. She embarrassed me in front of her friends so I charred her cheerleading uniform in the fireplace. Then put it in the heat press to put BTBB: Blair’s The Biggest Bitch on it and hot glued it to her face while she slept.” Michael shrugged his shoulders as he continued leading the way.

Angel nodded his head knowing the teen couldn’t see his reaction. As soon as teen Michael began to ramble about his hatred for his sister that’s when Angel decided to take his leave, silently.

He heard enough, appreciated the help but anything else besides that was not needed. He hoped Michael from hobby lobby got the help he needed since customers did not want to hear your problems!

Soon Angel found you near the Christmas trees which was the opposite direction of where Michael was previously taking him. Angel walked around the carriage to slip a arm around your waist, this time not making you jump while you were in deep thought about which tree.

“Hey, there you are.” You leaned into the olive skinned man’s side, knowing it was him, “didn’t find anything interesting to add to the cart during our little separation?”

Angel poked out his lips a bit and took a deep inhale, “uh nope. I’ve got all I need right here.”

“Aw. Look at you being sweet.” You kissed Angel’s cheek before turning back to your selection, “which tree screams take me home Angel.”

“There’s only one thing I wanna take home,” Angel honestly answered making you scoff as he circled back around to lean against the carriage, “but…I’m feeling that frosted one right here.”

“Yes!” You clapped your hands, motioning him to move the carriage back so you can see the price, “…I thought they said 50% off why is it still $1500?”

“Because companies are scammers and continue to be scammers while we’re in a recession. They want us to think they’re giving us a deal when in reality they’re still making a profit off you while you still end up struggling in the end. It’s false advertisement really.” Angel rambled while you dipped your head repeatedly, hearing this explanation before.

You began to pout.

“Baby, I told you I don’t even want a tree so don’t worry about it.”

“Yeah I know, you need one.”

“Just get me one from the dollar store tomorrow or whenever you go shopping next.” Angel suggested.

“I’ll order you one from Amazon tonight so let’s go eat. I’m not in the mood anymore, fuck hobby lobby and their ridiculous prices.”

Angel kicked the carriage out of the way, “And fuck Michael.”

“Michael who?” You asked as you browsed the amazon site.

“Let’s not ruin the evening and figure out what we’re in the mood for tonight, huh?” Angel’s arm slipped across your shoulders.

“Ah, it’s your turn to pick.” You mumbled as Angel peeked at your screen full of artificial trees.

Angel cheered at that while you were too distracted by your phone screen, leaving him to do the honors of leading you back to the car, with you trying to find him the best got damn jolly tree.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

[Continue along with my December anthology series here.]

[safyresky]

I HAVE YET TO GO TO BED SO IT'S STILL TECHNICALLY MARCH 13TH SO WOE, FROSTMAS YEAR THREE BE UPON YE, AO3!

Give it a read on ao3 HERE.

Year Three

After failing to "make amends" over dinner with Jacqueline, Santa Jack visits the other Frosts to extend an "olive branch".

Physically PAINED ME to write--because I 100% essentially rewrote this chapter while prepping it for crossposting--this year because it's the year Jack goes to see the rest of the fam. And man, reading THIS VERSION OF A REUNION, WHERE MTF DIDN'T HAPPEN, AFTER CRYSTAL SPRINGS HAS BEEN FINISHED? I dealt so much psychic damage to myself, oy vey.

Would've been up sooner but we had a BIG EMOTIONS night here at safyresky industries. Eh, what are you gonna do? Bottle it up like these sprites do? FUCK NO! THAT'S HOW YOU FUCK YOURSELF UP! AH!

Word count went from 7k to 12k. I am SO skilled out of control. RIP.

Not sure what to heck a Frostmas is? I got you, boo! Have a summary:

The Twelve Years of Frostmas

Nobody but he and I knew the truth. Jack wasn’t supposed to be Santa; I wasn’t supposed to be Jack Frost. He thought being Santa would fix everything. He was horribly, horribly mistaken. [My take on Jack’s reign as Santa during the Escape Clause. MAJOR OC involvement AND First Person POV from said OC. Finally cross posting THIS behemoth! Enjoy!]

Interested? Take it from the top HERE on ao3! And here on ff dot net, where it is done up to Year 10.

And, of course, take a snippet from Year Three below the cut!

It was a moment before the doors swung open, revealing nobody. Jack frowned, confused. He blinked, peering into the foyer. “Can we help you?” Jack slowly lowered his gaze, taken aback by the new, slightly sassy voice. It was high pitched; gratingly so, almost. His heart skipped a beat when he finally came face to face with the figures that had answered the door. They were a matching pair. A boy and a girl. The boy held one of the doors open; the girl stood beside him, holding the other door open with one hand, the other sitting on her hip. They looked remarkably similar: same facial structure, freckles in all the exact same places along their faces. They were also very much on fire, the boy’s hair burning up, the girl’s hair lit at the ends, sparks cracking as she and the boy stared him down, unblinking. And that was when Jack realized that he was a big brother. AGAIN. Doubly so, in fact. It was the only logical explanation, after all. Twins. On fire twins. With very familiar noses and jawlines under the roundness. And very familiar golden eyes. Seems the next set of kids had finally taken after his father. “Hi,” he said, finally finding his voice. “Hey.” “Sup.” “Who are you?” “Who am I? You don’t know who I am? Actually, I should be asking you that. Both of you.” “Well, we asked you first, so…” the boy shrugged, looking up at Jack perplexed as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You don’t know who I am? Really?” They shared a look. “Nah.” “Not a clue.” “The jacket doesn’t give it away? The silly hat?” “Ha. It is a silly hat, isn’t it?” The girl snickered. “What about our faces? We have very similar noses, don’t you. Don’t you think?” “Yours is way more crooked,” the boy pointed out. “Do you get punched a lot? I bet you do.” The girl turned to the boy. “He has a kind of gets punched a lot aura, don’t you think?” The boy ignored her, tilting his head. “Are you supposed to be Santa?” “Yes!” “You don’t look like Santa at all.” “Yeah man. Way too frozie around here,” the girl squinted, gesturing to her chin. “And you’re way too skinny,” said the boy. “I’ve been watching my weight! Way too many cookies, and you know, the holly jolly look just isn’t my thing.” “Too many COOKIES?!?!” “The holly jolly look? Isn’t? your thing? But that’s Santa’s thing. That’s his whole shtick!” “YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MANY COOKIES! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!”

WHAT INDEED, FIERA! WHAT INDEED.

Down to see how the Frostmas Family Reunion goes? FEAST YOUR EYES HERE!

---

And mind my errors, ehehehe.

I wanted to get this posted tf UP so I whooshed it in there after read through #2, and read through #3 is happening presently, if I manage to make it through without distraction. I started a thing called Frostmas Asides? More on that later, but it has my attention rn, and also I am EMOTIONALLY E X H A U S T ED and may just crawl into bed. Absolutely wildin given my penchants for late nights and that it's only midnight o'clock. Does NOT bode well for CR tomorrow, which is funny bc Time Change had me staying up ALL SORTS OF LATE THIS WEEK! AH!

Anyway, some fun changes abound! What's 🆕 for Y3: 2024 Edition:

Upped Bernard sass (delightfully so I think)

Wrote a whole new set of notes to get a vibe of where everyone actually was at, keeping MTF in mind and how the parents specifically are feeling when it occurs in CS

Added another brief bop into the present, with Jack recounting to Jacqueline where she, of course, interrupts him 🤪🤭

And then hits you with angst 😶

Winter's fierceness was upped; Fiera's anger is apparent, and Fino's general inquisitiveness/unease after it all is more apparent lol

WHOLE ASS ENTIRE NEW SCENE OF BLINTER COMFORTING THE KIDDOS POST JACK'S LEAVE. IT PULLS AT THE HEARTSTRINGS, AND, Y'KNOW, IF YOU'VE READ FROSTMAS UP TO THE MOST RECENT YEAR, MORE HINTS THAT WINTER KNEW ABOUT THE BAD THING ALL ALONG >:)

That takes place in the morning room by the window where Jacqueline waited, but this time Blinter's waiting for her, and it's--they--IT'S POETIC, OKAY??? AH!

I think that's everything. I'm too tired to properly recount??? Despite having this rotating in the head all day, lol. Hmu if you notice any GLARING typos! And enjoy Year Three! >:)

[herbalsingularitea]

Holly Jolly (Chapter 12)

Summary - “That’s good. You’re so good.”

Oh god, she wasn’t good, actually. No, no. She was so very bad. He was doing this on purpose, wasn’t he? Asshole. 

Pairing - Bernard x Female OC

Word Count - 5235

Warning - This chapter is rated M for some mature themes

Check my pinned masterpost for ‘Bernard x Reader’ and Male OC versions!

Previous Chapter -- Next Chapter

Chapter 12 - Walking In A Winter Wonderland

Bernard hadn’t even dismounted from his snowmobile before Holly had run up and exclaimed, “Where’s Tiny Dancer?” with an absolutely devastated look on her face. 

He snickered at her theatrics, turning off the snowmobile and standing up in one fluid motion. “She’s not coming tonight. We’re trying to keep a low profile, remember?” 

“Are you sure this is okay? I don’t want to get you in trouble.”

“It’s fine, really. What the others don’t know won’t hurt ‘em. You aren’t gonna see anything too major anyways, so it’s not even technically against protocol. This way I’m saving us a lot of paperwork and headaches.”

She looked unsure, her eyes squinted in suspicion. He scoffed. 

“It’s fine! I promise. Quit worrying about it, alright?”

“It’s just a little unlike you to go against ‘protocol’, Saint Bernard.” She lifted her hands and air quoted as she spoke, a teasing smirk directed at the man before her. 

“Hey, c’mon! You know I’m all about schedules, not protocols. I swear, it’s like you don’t even know me!” he cried, his hands gesturing wildly. A startled laugh escaped her as he suddenly pointed a finger in her face. “As long as the job gets done, then I don’t care. When you’re in charge, you gotta learn to compromise some things, Holly Jolly!” 

“Just not the schedule, though.”

“Precisely!” He jutted his finger forward again and Holly giggled. 

“Okay, okay! I get it! Sheesh.” She brushed his finger to the side and stepped into his open arms. He wrapped her up in a hug, chuckling as she nuzzled into his scarf. “So did you account for this little spat in the schedule too, then?” she asked. 

“Well…”

“You nut.”

Bernard laughed as he squeezed her once before letting go and stepping away. The scent of pine and nutmeg trailed after him. 

“Alright, so here’s the rundown. We’re gonna head out towards the party, then stop in at my house and eat dinner while we wait to hear from Judy. She’ll let us know when we can come out to the lake. We’ll meet up with her and Belle, do some skating, have some drinks—it’ll be fun.” 

“Hold up, pause. Your house ? You have a house here ?”

“Yeah, did I not mention that?”

“Uh, no, you didn’t.” She sputtered, eyes wide and disbelieving. “What the hell do you mean you have a house here? Like a ‘house’ house?”

“I told you, I’ve been working here practically my whole life—a lot of us have. We don’t all just live at work. We have houses we stay in.”

“So it’s like a village then?”

“Yes! It’s precisely like a village.”

“But how? Wouldn’t someone somewhere have noted that there’s a village all the way up here? I mean, surely you would see it by plane if you flew over, or picked it up on radar or something, right?”

“No, not really. We have ways of concealing our presence up here. You’ll see.”

“Man, Morozko is crazy serious about their privacy, huh? I feel kind of lucky I get to know about any of this, let alone see it!” 

The smile on his face was warm and wide. “It’s definitely not common to let outsiders in, that’s for sure. But I trust you.”

There was a fluttering in her chest as her heart swelled. She returned his smile, resolving to never break the trust he’d so effusively placed in her. 

He turned back towards the snowmobile and waved his hand out wide in an elegant bow. “Well, then! Your chariot, miss?”

She snorted and brushed past him, eyes rolling. “Yeah, yeah. You might be prince charming, but I’m certainly no princess!” 

“Nah, definitely not.”

“Hey!”

--

They had been riding quite a while now, Bernard seated in front of her driving the snowmobile expertly through the tundra. The landscape on the way there had mostly been the same white flatlands she’d seen for weeks now. Now however, they were starting to pass larger chunks of ice and snow drifts that created a maze of trails that twisted and turned. She had a hard time keeping track of where they’d been and where they were going. 

A flash of green caught Holly’s eye as they sped past jagged icy towers. 

“What is that?”

“Huh?” Bernard turned his head to look in the same direction. “Oh! A hot spring.”

“There’s a hot spring up here too?! Okay, I’m actually mad you didn’t tell me about that. I’ve been wiping off with cold rags for weeks.”

He chuckled. “Sorry, that’s definitely not low profile. Maybe someday, though!”

She sighed wistfully. “Yeah, maybe.”

They turned a corner and were met with a shimmering ice wall that glowed pink, no green, no… blue?—different colors. Like the northern lights. It pulsated a color she’d never seen before and an energy buzzed deep in Holly’s head. Her mind filled with uncomfortable static, and her stomach clenched as her fight or flight instincts were triggered. The feeling was abruptly overwhelming. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, forehead pressing against Bernard’s back as she struggled to stay composed. 

“Hey, you okay?” His voice was cautious and solemn. 

“Yeah… I-I don’t know.” She breathed in again, deep and trembling. “I can’t think… I’m, I-I can’t…” She leaned back and blinked hard, opening her eyes to see that they’d stopped right in front of the wall. 

A huge mountainous cavern was before them, its entrance stretching far to the right and left beyond the horizon. She couldn’t tell how big the opening was exactly—it seemed to go for miles and miles. The ice wall was sealed over the mouth of the cavern, translucent but distorting what was inside it. Whatever was there, though, was colorful and vast. 

The Village, she thought. It must be. 

But it didn’t look as dark in there as she thought it should. It was lit up and cozy, almost like daylight. But that much light couldn’t just be from floodlights and houses. It was almost like the ice barrier itself lit up the space, casting its oppressive buzzing color onto everything. She couldn’t make sense of any of this. 

“Bernard, what is that?” she whimpered. 

Her hands twisted into his green cloak and her breathing sped up as she stared at the frozen wall. She felt uncomfortably seen, like she was being watched and judged. But not by Bernard, no. By it— that thing . Its looming color shining on her face and challenging her to either comprehend it or turn back now. 

She gulped. 

“It’s how we keep our privacy,” he replied. “One of the ways, at least. It’s a barrier.” He turned his body to grasp her hands in his. “It’s okay, Holly. Everything’s fine.”

“I don’t feel fine.”

“It’s just checking you out. Making sure you aren’t a threat. The barrier won’t let people in who aren’t meant to be here.”

“But I’m not meant to be here!”

He tucked a loose strand of her hair back under her hood, something heavy and pensive glimmering in his dark eyes. “Maybe you are, though.” 

Her brows pinched at his cryptic response, but before she could formulate a reply, there was another deep pulse. Bernard’s mouth fell open, his breathing uneven as he turned back to the barrier. 

An archway had suddenly appeared in the ice wall, grandly carved images of polar bears in the frame. He huffed a short laugh, a wide smile splitting his handsome face and pure joy in his eyes. 

“Okay!” He cleared his throat, visibly composing himself. “Huh, wow. Okay, so we’re good!”

“We are?”

“Yeah,” he nodded emphatically, “we’re fine.” The significant look he sent towards the barrier was lost on her. “We can go in.”

She didn’t understand what had happened but Bernard seemed to think it was quite remarkable. At least one of them was happy, she supposed. 

The polar bear carvings on the entrance frame were incredibly detailed. Every scene had two bears in it, cuddling or playing in a variety of ways. Whatever technology Morozko used to create this barrier was obviously very advanced, but it was also unbelievably beautiful. 

She knew they were the best of the best, but this was a whole other level. She tried not to feel too intimidated by it all. 

As they crossed the threshold, she noticed the amount of snow falling dropped drastically. They were inside the cavern now, so this made sense of course. She looked up to see the barrier stretching inside the confines of the cavern. The rocky ceiling was extremely high up, she could tell that much. But the frosty mist that hung in the air blocked her view too much to tell just how high it went. A snowflake landed on the tip of her nose and she noticed that some snow was blowing in through the ice barrier from the outside. She quickly looked away and tried not to stress about the logistics of that particular phenomenon. 

She trusted Bernard. His world was strange, but so was he. That didn’t mean he wasn’t also amazing. 

All of this was giving her a headache, but she would just have to put it out of her mind for now, and focus on him. She was here to have a good time with her—uh, well, her whatever-he-was. 

They hadn’t exactly established that they were in a relationship, but they were definitely more than friends now. He wasn’t her boyfriend. That label didn’t feel quite right even if they were dating. Not quite a significant other—more like close friends. Very, very close friends. Who enjoyed hugging each other. And also holding hands. And she wouldn’t mind a kiss, honestly. 

She swallowed at that thought, and buried her face against his back again. She felt him turn briefly to look at her before focusing on driving once more. “Almost there,” he murmured. 

She felt them stop again and looked up. A huge two story cottage stood tall against the white backdrop. She dismounted the snowmobile and backed up to get a better look. The foundation was stone, with wood making up the majority of the house. It had a small staircase leading up to an oaken back door, stained dark and glossy. The windows were lovely and grand, overhangs decorated with evergreen branches. The roof was topped with red tiles, lightly sparkling with a thin dusting of snow. It looked like an incredibly old house, but the exact style wasn’t something she could quite put her finger on. 

Several short blue spruce trees were growing along the house, various lights and decorations hanging from their branches. 

She walked up to one at the end of the row and touched its branch. 

It was real. 

She blinked and stepped back again, looking around at their surroundings. The frosty mist hung thick in the air, the distant light of the barrier only slightly coloring things as it pulsated. She could just make out lights in the distance, and from their shape and placement she assumed they were houses, but they were a great ways away. 

She heard the oak door come unstuck and creek open. She turned back towards Bernard to see him holding it for her, so she hurried over to join him. 

She shook her boots off and stepped through into Bernard’s home. He shut the door behind them and began removing his cloak and hood. She mindlessly started doing the same with her own outerwear as she took in the dimly lit hallway they now stood in. 

The walls were a dark green color that complimented the dark oak of the bottom paneling and furniture. A door to her right opened into a space under the stairs that she assumed was either a closet or bathroom. Further down the hallway, a small table was set up with various pictures set up on display, some on the table itself and some hanging on the wall above it. Beyond that was a foyer and the front door, another dark oak piece with lovely carved filigree in the frame and side windows on either side with stained glass in blue, green, and yellow. 

Bernard’s home smelled like him, but there was a lingering scent of dust in the air. Old houses sometimes smelled like that. Despite this, everything looked very clean. She turned to hang her coat on the stand by the back door and was stunned at the sight that greeted her. 

Bernard stood straight with his hands behind his back, watching her take in his home. His usual style of dress was swapped for a black long sleeve tunic that had silver fastenings in the front instead of the brass buttons that she usually saw running down his back. The accents around the high collar and the sleeves were also silver. Over that he wore a silver vest, the ends touching the tops of his black breeches held up by a silver buckled belt. 

But what really struck her was the hat he wore on his head. 

It was a fur hat, black and soft looking. The shape was odd though. Circular and somewhat tall. 

“Your beret! You switched it out?”

“Well, It’s been awhile so I thought I’d dust off my old shtreimel. I usually only wear it for special occasions.”

“It’s so cool! You look great!”

He really did. As always, his outfit was eccentric, but it fit him well. The black and silver suited him, making his dark eyes stand out even more. 

She blinked at the shadow on the lower half of his face. She’d never seen him with any kind of stubble before. 

She herself had dressed up as much as she could for this night. She wore her cleanest blue puff pants and a purple turtleneck that was often covered in the many layers she donned each day. Bernard usually only saw her in her overcoat, puff pants, scarf, muffs, and hat. Sometimes when they spent time in the tent, she’d remove her coat, but underneath she had on a slightly less puffy coat, so her whole figure was left to the imagination, really. 

She hung her outerwear up now and tugged nervously at her sweater. She wasn’t naive by any means. She knew that looks weren’t entirely irrelevant when it came to attraction. She and Bernard had hit it off, but what if he didn’t like how she looked under her layers? 

Perhaps it was a silly problem to consider that he might only like her for who she was as a person and not for how she looked, but nonetheless, she found her posture hunching in self-consciously. 

“Oh, wow,” Bernard caught her wrists and gently pulled them out from her torso, looking her up and down with a spark in his eye. “You look great too!” 

She snorted softly. “It’s just a turtleneck. You’re the one dressed all fancy.”

Heat sizzled in his gaze as he took in her form, a small smile curling his lips as he moved his hands from her wrists to her waist. “Fair. I’m not really talking about the outfit, though.” 

A squeak escaped her as her hands flew up to clasp heated cheeks. She felt his thumb rub slightly along her side and her stomach tightened in response. His head stayed angled low, but his eyes flitted up to lock with hers, a smirk peeking out from the dark curls framing his face. 

A weak smile twitched between her flushed cheeks. 

“Oh, you are smooth .”

“Thanks, I try.”

She huffed a laugh and stepped into his arms more. Dark eyes widened—he obviously wasn’t expecting that. Delicate fingers trailed up his tunic, tugging here and there at the silver trimmings. The shy grin she’d sported before sharpened into a smirk. 

She leaned up close to his face and gave him a chaste kiss on his stubbled cheek before stepping back. “Your house is gorgeous, Bernard. How about a tour?”

A dazed blink before the moment caught up with him and his unfocused eyes squinted at her. Huh, okay. Two could play that game. 

He nodded and gestured for her to walk ahead of him. 

“So, this is the foyer here, and over there” he gestured to the open archway to the right of the stairs, “is the den. My office is through that door there too.”

The den was set a step lower than the rest of the floor, with a fireplace on the far wall and a couch and two armchairs circling it. There was a cushioned window seat to the left with a multitude of potted plants surrounding it and another oak door to the right—his office.

“Your office, huh? You work from here a lot?”

“Not really, it’s mostly used for home projects now. Hobbies. Things like that. But I don’t know, I’ve been so busy lately, I can’t even remember the last time I was in there.” 

“What kind of hobbies?”

“Gardening mostly. I had an herb garden once upon a time, but now I just have whatever’s left in those pots that doesn’t mind being neglected for weeks on end.” 

Many of the plants were indeed shriveled and brown, long dead from the looks of them. 

“I play piano occasionally. More often I’ll play the lyre or harp. I paint some. I tinker. Carve wood. I have a little cuckoo clock I’ve been piddling around with for years in there—“ he cut himself off at the astonished look on Holly’s face. “Sorry, I’m babbling.” 

“Bernard! That's amazing! Dude, is there anything you can’t do?”

“I’m not great with large engines and machinery, I suppose, but if push comes to shove—“

“Jeez, you’re incredible!”

Sparkling cheeks dusted pink at her praise. “I’ve had a lot of time to learn new things, that’s all.”

“Well, I certainly haven’t learned any of that! I played a recorder for like a month when I was 6 and that’s it. This is seriously impressive!”

He cleared his throat uncomfortably and put a guiding hand on her back. “How about we continue that tour?”

“Whatever you say, Einstein.”

“Shut it, Holly Jolly.”

He lead her over to the opposite archway in the foyer that opened into a large kitchen and dining area. 

“Woah, this is nice,” she exclaimed. 

The wooden floors were polished and stained in various shades. The counters were spacious and tidy, vegetables placed in baskets along them. Like with the den, there were potted plants crowded around every window. Hanging above the counter were dried herbs of all kinds along with brass pots and pans for cooking. A long dining room table was situated by the front window, several ornate chairs set up on one side. 

She circled the room, taking in the little details of his kitchen. Judging from the fresh ingredients and well preserved utensils, he must use this room a lot. 

She stopped when she noticed a brass object in the center of the dining table. “Hey, I’ve seen this kind of thing before.”

“It’s a menorah.”

“Are you Jewish?”

“I am.”

“Oh, wow! Huh, but isn’t Hanukkah passed already?” 

“It’s not that kind of menorah. See, it only has seven branches? The one for Hanukkah has nine. I have my hanukkiah upstairs.”

“Oh, I see,” she listened intently, looking appreciatively at the decorated brass candelabra and its blue candles. “Hey, but wait! Isn’t shrimp not kosher? I feel like I’ve heard that somewhere.”

He chuckled at her confused expression. “I'm ethnically Jewish. Not practicing. It’s my roots, my culture, but I'm not religious by any means.” 

“Ahh, gotcha,” she hummed. “Yeah, me neither. My family was pretty religious, but I never really got into it myself.”

Holly circled the room and noted the lack of certain appliances. No toaster, no microwave. There was an old ice box that looked to be in decent working order. Bernard struck her as someone who didn’t eat many prepackaged snacks. 

Hm. His loss. 

“So that leaves upstairs, right?”

“There’s just bedrooms up there, nothing too interesting.”

She was, in fact, interested in seeing his bedroom, but she wouldn’t push it. 

“Bedrooms? As in plural?”

“Three upstairs. There’s a cot in my office as well, but I’ve never used it.”

“Man, this place is huge!” she breathed. “You live here by yourself?”

He grimaced, shoulders hunched. 

“Yeah, just me. It’s a lot, I know. I kind of inherited the place, but the original owners had a family here.”

“Huh, nice of them to leave it to you.”

“Yeah, uh,” he walked over to the icebox, pulling a basket of vegetables down from the top of it, “so about dinner. I was thinking stir-fry? Nothing too fancy.”  

“Sounds good to me! Can I help?”

A mischievous spark lit his eye and his head swayed side to side in mock apprehension. “Ehh… I don’t know about that one.”

“What! How come? I can help!” 

“I mean, I’ve tasted your hot chocolate, so-“

“Those are packets! I can’t do anything about those,” she huffed, arms crossing as she caught onto his teasing. 

He gave her an exaggerated look of doubt. “Well… I don’t know…”

“Rude! You are so rude! You’re the most rudey rude person ever—I shared those with you out of the goodness of my heart!” She scoffed, a note of mirth coloring her voice. “I can’t believe this!”

“Hey, look, we all have different talents.”

“Lemme do it, ya jerk. Move over!” She pushed him aside as he was setting up the vegetables on the chopping block. She grabbed a bell pepper and began slicing it. 

The sound of a throat clearing came from behind her and she stopped, shooting him a grumpy look over her shoulder. He didn’t say anything, though, so she went back to chopping. Next she grabbed a carrot and began slicing it up into pieces. 

He sighed. 

“Okay, what! What is it! What am I doing wrong?” She cried, placing the carrot and knife down and whirling around to face him. He looked like he was barely holding in his laughter, face twisted with an amused smirk. 

“You chop like you’re battling an army. It’s a carrot!”

“I’m doing great, thank you very much. Who asked you, anyways?”

“You did! Literally two seconds ago.” He was full on laughing at her now. “Here, let me show you how to do it.”

He stepped up to her, taking her shoulders and turning them so she faced the chopping block once more. “Grab the knife and carrot.” She followed his instruction, grumbling under her breath. “Hush, you. Now take the point of the knife and put it on the block, then bring down the blade on the carrot. See? Doesn’t that go through much smoother?” 

It was going through much smoother, actually, but she was loathed to admit it. 

“No, no, that’s too fast. Get the rhythm down first. Here.” 

He put his hands over hers, pressing his chest up against her back and showed her how to chop the carrot. 

“Feel that?” 

She couldn’t speak. She certainly was feeling something . 

“Careful you don’t catch your fingers, though. You curl them in like this so they’re protected as the blade gets closer.” His breath wafted over her cheek. Mm, peppermint. “That’s good. You’re so good.” 

Oh god, she wasn’t good, actually. No, no. She was so very bad . He was doing this on purpose , wasn’t he? Asshole. 

“Let’s grab another and try it faster this time, okay?” 

Her ragged breaths were certainly audible, they had to be. Did he just not notice? With a start, she realized that his own deep breaths were echoing hers. She let him guide her hands through the motions, the chopping lesson the furthest possible thing from their minds at that point. She pressed her back more snuggly against his front and he pressed his hips into her backside in response. She felt his throat bob against her ear as he swallowed and she took a shaky breath. 

He released her hands and she realized everything on the block was already perfectly chopped. She watched dumbly as he grabbed a pan and poured some olive oil in it, lighting the stove and bringing the chopped vegetables closer. He started to bring down herbs and spices, setting them up beside the stove for easy access. She snapped out of her stupor when he grabbed the oregano, the knife a blur as his steady hands expertly bunched and chopped the herbs into a fine dice. 

“Hey, I still wanna help!”

“Come help, then. I’ll tell you when the vegetables can go in,” he said without looking up. 

They worked together well, Bernard giving instructions to add this spice or that herb or to stir the vegetables occasionally. He took every opportunity to grab her hands and show her the ‘proper’ way to do it, though. Too bad she just wasn’t quite retaining anything. Neither one of them seemed to mind the remedial lessons, though. 

So he kept showing her exactly how to do it—over and over. 

--

Bernard set up a wooden fold out table in front of the fireplace for them to set their drinks. Holly suggested that since this was just a casual dinner, there was no need to set up at the grand dining table in the kitchen; so here they were, sat together on Bernard’s comfortably plush maroon couch in front of a crackling fire. 

Their legs were touching, Bernard’s knees pointed towards her and Holly’s pulled up and over his thighs comfortably, their plates balanced in their hands. It had become a familiar way to sit for them over the past few days. Snuggled close and comfortable. Usually their outerwear provided much more cushioning, however. Holly’s heart fluttered at the feel of only two thin layers separating them now. 

The food was delicious, fresh. Stir fry was always a good meal. 

Her eyes kept getting drawn to the pictures over his mantle. Some were painted portraits of various figures. Maybe ancestors? None of them bore a particular resemblance to Bernard, except one that looked like a child version of the man beside her. The curls piled on the little head in the portrait were absolutely adorable. She desperately wished she could pat those cute rosy cheeks. What gave her pause however, were the inexplicably pointed ears that stuck out on the sides of the child’s head. 

An elf? 

In fact, as she looked, she noticed every one of the figures in the pictures and paintings had pointed ears. 

Some of the pictures had a person who looked like Bernard in them—never alone though. There were just a few recurring faces in the pictures besides the look alike. A great many of the photographs were in black and white, which threw her for a loop. The person in those pictures must be a relative of Bernard since they were practically twins. But something about that seemed not quite right. 

The black and white figure in the pictures was dressed so incredibly similar to how Bernard himself dressed, even down to the green beret, except the version in the pictures wore it correctly. And there on the side of the figure’s head was a pointed ear sticking out of the dark curls. Her breathing stuttered for a moment as she struggled to process this. 

There were a couple pictures that seemed somewhat recent. 

But wait, no, not actually that recent. 

They were in color at least, but they still looked old, like maybe they had been taken a couple decades ago. The doppelgänger in those pictures looked exactly the same as the one in the black and white pictures. 

Exactly the same as the man sitting beside her. 

And every single one of the maybe-Bernards had pointed ears. 

She turned to consider the man beside her. He was still working on his plate; he was a much slower eater than she was, always savoring each bite. As he chewed, he watched her, obviously having noticed her perusal of his mantle. He had a strange look in his eye, though. Expectant. Like he was waiting for her to do something. 

Her thoughts had been hazy for weeks now any time a moment like this happened. At first she had just brushed it off. The unique atmosphere of the arctic could sometimes cause lightheadedness. And many of the things she thought were weird about Bernard could be easily explained. Not that he ever did try explaining them—usually he would redirect or outright ignore her questions. But she was good at filling in the gaps with the most logical explanation. Maybe if it had just been one or two instances like this, she wouldn’t have started wondering at all. 

But she had started wondering. And no matter how much she tried to think of reasonable explanations for the things he said and did, some parts just didn’t add up. 

She wanted to say something, ask him point blank maybe. The words just wouldn’t come, however. 

Her mouth fell open and his face filled with anticipation.

But she stayed silent. 

Her head was starting to clear the more she was confronted with this—whatever it was, but she still wasn’t sure what the question was exactly that she wanted to ask. 

Why was he like this? Was there something he wasn’t telling her? Was this all just in her head? 

Was he a fucking elf?

Just then a flash of light pierced the night and broke the moment, both of them exhaling in disappointment—or maybe relief?

Bernard stood quickly and approached the window, peering outside. She joined him and together they watched as a spotlight shined directly towards them, flashing once before turning off completely. 

“That’ll be Judy. She’ll have sent everyone home and completely turned off the floodlights,” he faced her then, “so we can get in without being seen.” 

“Great. Sounds good.” 

Holly didn’t sound very enthused, though. Balled fists clenched into her pants, and her body curled away from him. Her mouth pulled down into a frown. 

Bernard ached to smooth it away. He reached up to do just that, and she flinched back, suddenly looking scared. 

His face crumpled at her reaction. 

“It’s okay, Holly. I’m not going to hurt you.”

“I-I know that. I do. I just,” she was breathing shakily, her eyes pleaded with him. She didn’t know how to verbalize her question, but she wished he would answer it anyways. He always seemed to know what she was feeling, what she was thinking. He was always two steps ahead of her. Why couldn’t he do it now? 

But he just kept quiet, waiting for her to sort her thoughts out. His hand was still hanging in the air between them and he slowly started to move it towards her face again. She let him this time and he gently cupped her cheek. She sighed and closed her eyes, melting into his touch as some of the tension left her. 

Her eyes fluttered open and she gazed up at him, looking lost and exhausted. 

“We need to talk, Bernard.”

His breath hitched. 

“Okay, let’s talk.”

“No, I mean... Judy’s waiting for us, right? I need,” she paused, her brows pulled tight, “I need some time to think. We came here to have fun, so let’s just focus on that for now. But tonight, after everything... Let’s talk. Okay?”

He nodded solemnly and dropped his hand from her cheek. 

“Tonight then.”

[vwritesaus]

      ‘So…’ Alastair hates how shaky his voice is, how completely wrecked it sounds to his own ears, and is grateful that Kit is the only one who can hear him. ‘You are aware of them, then? Of my sins?’       ‘Not sins, Alastair. Misdirections, yes. A child’s attempt to survive in a harsh environment, yes. But not sins. And yes, I do know. We all do, eventually, though I won’t say how or when.’       Alastair’s heart plummets. ‘I see.’       ‘I will also say this.’ Opening his eyes, Alastair finds volumes of sympathy pouring out of grey alongside something much softer. Kinder, just like her smile. ‘Sophie and Gideon will understand, as will Charlotte and Henry. You just need to give them the chance to do so.’       ‘And Fairchild? Matthew, I mean.’ Despite the visible hesitation on her face, Alastair instantly corrects himself before she can avoid his question with an apologetic, ‘No, that wasn’t fair of me to ask you that. I do beg your pardon.’       Tessa struggles to make her smile stay, and she quickly busies herself with tucking a piece of hair behind Mina’s ear.

Snippet #1 | Snippet #2

~

says she's gonna post the full fic in a couple of days

doesn't work on the fic for nearly a week

oops! sorry ♡

but here's another small snippet to compensate, and i mean it this time when i say that the fic is coming VERY SOON. maybe even... gasps tomorrow!? monday!? i'm working on it right now and am determined to get it done ASAP >:)

~

tag list: @astriefer @drunkonimagination @melanielocke @alastaircarstairsdefenselawyer @have-a-holly-jolly-angstmas @livingformyself @ayaashryver let me know if you'd like to be added!!

[zibiscusloon]

{-_All I Really Want_-}

(Set during A Very Devil Christmas)

“NICHOLAS!” The Devil roared, throwing the holly-jolly lune’s door open, cracking the poor wall behind. Henchman tried to tug his boss away by the tail, he honestly thought they’d left their North Pole troubles behind- until Devil had caught a glance of the Naught List, and a certain name had caught his fury.

The old man sighed, he thought he had an idea of what this was about. “Lucifer of this is about the train-“ but he was quickly cut off by a pitchfork pointing directly at his throat, as he stumbled back on his desk.

“No it is not about the choo-choo!” Although the Devil made a mental note to add it to the reasons to fry the old man. “You dropped this on our way out!” He screamed, shoving the crinkled list that seemed to be crumbling from his grip at old Nick.

Santa looked to see his Naughty List. Ok, he was genuinely confused, he’d managed, against his own better judgement might he add, to move literal Satan onto the Nice List. He sees no reason for the Devil to still be hung up over his lists. Until the Devil pointed a sharped claw at one name in particular.

“Do you know this girl? Nwseouth Sinphony. Or! As I- her father would call her- Newsie!” The Devil’s fire flared up, Henchmen quickly pulled his hands away, lest he get burned.

“Boss please-“ he pled

“No!!” Great. Boss seemed to be even more furious.

“As if it wasn’t insulting enough to put me on this damned list- Nicholas- you had the audacity to put my child on the Naughty list! Why? Why them?! That lil imp is kind to a fault! Cause believe me! I’ve tried to get them to be evil! And you know what? It doesn’t work!!” The Devil continued on his tangent.

“So give me one good reason why my little Newsie is on this list or I will rip out whatever phony excuse you have for a soul!!” The pitchfork flared with every shout. Henchman was certain they’d earned themselves a life’s ban from the North Pole..

Oh.

Oh.

That’s what this is about!

“She asked to be moved there.” He stated simply, his gently smile resting back on his rose red cheeks.

“…what?…” the Devil asked, dumbfounded. His pitchfork lowered.

“Yes! I believe..” Santa rustled around through his pocket. “This will explain it.” He handed a small note, covered in doodles of stars. (or pentagrams? Santa really couldn’t tell with demons..)

The Devil snatched the note with a huff.

“Dear Mr. St. Nicholas. (I’m sorry? Is that your full name? You have so many..)

My name is Newsie Sinphony. I am the daughter of the Devil. That’s probably not a note you’ve ever gotten before right? I honestly don’t know where I fall on your lists as a demon, I mean I’ve gotten gifts for years, so I guess you consider me good?

I couldn’t think of anything to ask for this year, I’m bad at gift ideas.. but I finally though of one! I want to be on the Naughty List! Now I know that’s weird- but please hear me out- like I said, the Devil is my dad, and as such, I feel a need to be.. I dunno.. a lil.. evil..?

But I don’t know how.. I wanna impress my dad, I mean- I’m the heir to Hell! Please, could you help me out? Just a bit of coal? It would make my dad so happy to know I can be a bit of a.. y’know, Devil? (Pleas laugh I thought up that one for five minutes..)

-Sincerely, Newsie Sinphony”

“….”

“Boss?” Henchmen tugged at his fur lightly.

“B-Boss are you crying?”

Santa smirked as the Devil huffed at Henchman, his eyes puffy with tears.

“NO I’M NOT SHUT UP!!-“ he yelled as he gripped the note close to the spot he thinks his heart would be, storming out of the office.

—

“Aw, that’s so sweet Mister Clause.. that’s all lil Newsie wanted.. thank you for helping her..” Henchman could feel tears building up in his own eyes.

“Well.. that.. and-“ Santa handed Henchman a piece of paper he had ripped from the note, he simply didn’t want Devil to see.

“P.S- pleas give my boyfriend Cuphead a toy train. He’s really not confident that he’ll end up on the Nice List so I’m asking you to at least give him a little something. He means the world to me. Thank you!”

Henchman chuckled. He could get why the boss shouldn’t see this.

[invisibleraven]

Phantom Carols

For the @jatp-adventevent prompt: How would their tree look?

Day Eighteen: Where The Love Light Gleams <-AO3!

As the holidays started to approach, Reggie noticed that the Molina household wasn’t very jolly. School was a bit crazy for Julie and Carlos, and work was even more hectic for Ray. So he decided that he would help by decorating the house while they were gone.

The attic was a maze of boxes, but eventually he located all the ones labelled Christmas and pooped them down to the living room.

Alex and Willie agreed to do the outside lights given Alex didn’t trust him not to electrocute himself (not after he fixed his amp in the rain) and Willie could manipulate electricity.

Luke wanted to stay out of it, given his history with the holiday, but he also wanted to do something nice for Julie so he offered to bake some of his mom’s sugar cookies. Reggie remembered those cookies fondly, and since it was one thing he knew that Luke could bake, he shoved him towards the kitchen.

Reggie traipsed through the house leaving boughs of holly behind him, snow globes on various tables and mantles. He set the Nativity out gently, though he had no clue which figurine went where. He’ll get Alex to fix it later, and he moved on to the most daunting task.

The tree.

Thankfully Julie’s family had an artificial tree, because even Reggie didn’t trust himself with an axe. However the tree presents its own mess of problems. All the branches have to be sorted and fluffed and inserted into the trunk, and Reggie is positive he’s going to get ghost tetanus from the amount of cuts he’s getting.

Finally the tree is up, looking semi-respectable, though he can’t get the top to fluff in the right way, but he figures it’s good enough. Look, this is his first time doing this okay? Cut him some slack.

But if Reggie thought the tree was a nightmare, it’s nothing compared to the lights. The strands are a tangled mess that he’s sure he spends the better part of an hour untangling. Then when he plugs them in, finds one strand doesn’t work at all, and another has lights missing throughout. He tosses those back in the box and makes due with what he has. So what if the tree is sparsely lit? It looks better than nothing. He skips the tinsel, and the garland, not wanting to waste yet another hour on them when school will be out in half that time. Instead he dug into the ornaments.

Each one has a little thing hook, or a string, which makes it easier, so Reggie starts putting them up at random, not sure if they have a specific place or not. Some are glass, so he’s super careful with those. Others are obviously handmade by Julie and Carlos from childhood, and he snickers over the adorable artwork.

He does try to do the sides and back, but there’s only so many decorations, and Reggie doesn’t want the front to have big empty spaces. Then the only thing left is the star.

It’s times like this that he wishes he knew how to float, or hang from the ceiling like a real ghost. And he doesn’t trust himself to poof up and back fast enough not to fall into the tree. So he gets a step stool, thankful the tree isn’t much taller than him.

He struggles and strains, getting up on his tip toes and finally the star is in place; a little crooked, but there. It’s the thought that counts right?

He’d just taken a step back to admire his work when he heard the door open. “Papi?” Julie calls. “Good job on the lights, but I thought you were waiting until tio Ernesto was here to do them?” She then inhales deeply. “And were you baking? I thought we talked about that!”

Come to think of it, Reggie hadn’t heard from Luke since the last time the oven beeped, and figured he was off song writing while he waited for the cookies to cool. He knew Alex and Willie had a date planned, so he guessed they were gone if the lights were done.

It’s then that Julie enters the living room and stops. Reggie grins and makes a little ‘tada!’ gesture towards the tree.

“R-reggie… what did you do?” Julie asks, biting her lip as to hold back her laughter.

“I decorated for Christmas?” he replies. “I tried my best anyway. I’ve never really done it before.”

“Never?” Julie asks, turning towards him.

“Jewish,” he says with a shrug. “But I know you guys are all so busy, and I wanted to do something nice. Help you out.”

“It’s lovely Reggie, thank you so much,” Julie says, coming over and planting a tiny kiss on his cheek. Reggie blushes, and then Julie points up to where he had hung some weird plant or another along with the strands of holly. “Mistletoe.”

Later that night, when Reggie poofs back into the house, the tree looks a lot more respectable, and there, sitting on the kitchen table, is a menorah, Julie and her family grinning around it. “It’s the first night of Channukah tonight… so we figured we’d do something nice for you too Reggie,” she says.

Reggie sniffles as he subtly wipes away a tear, and grins, taking the candle from Julie’s hands, (he lets Ray light it, he’s not good with fire) and starts saying the blessing, and totally doesn’t trip over the Hebrew as Julie slides her hand into his.

And later, when she pulls him under the mistletoe once more? Her kiss is more delicious than the gelt she and Carlos had been sharing.

"Merry Christmas Julie," he whispers, nuzzling their noses, loving how the lights from the tree reflect in her eyes.

"Happy Channukah Reggie," she whispers back, and they twirl around in the glow of the tree and the dim lights from the menorah, humming quietly so they have music to dance to, and that's more than enough for them.

[bejinyoung]

under the tree.

@beyoungha

“okay, but you’ll buy me hot cocoa or something for coming all the way out here, right?” he elbows his friend as he speaks as if trying to goad the answer he wants out of the other.

to be perfectly honest, moon jinyoung would have been very happy to avoid all of the christmas festivities at the namdaemun market. it’s hard for him to feel very holly and jolly; this time of year usually just dredges up sour memories that he’d much rather leave in the past. if he’s being very honest, he might even say that he hates christmas. he’s too broke to feel the joy of giving, he’s not really at the top of anyone’s list as far as receiving gifts goes, and the religious part of the holiday? yeah, that’s not happening either. call him a grinch or whatever, but jinyoung just cannot manage to feel the christmas joy he’s heard so much about. and events like this market usually just make him a little sad, a little wistful for things that will never be. so, typically, he tries to stay away.

but... he’s never really been able to say no to youngha. 

he’s probably his best friend, definitely his longest lasting relationship, and jinyoung does have some sense of loyalty. admittedly, he still looks forward to hanging out with his old schoolmate. there’s just something about the other man’s presence that’s sort of calming to him. maybe it’s just sheer familiarity; years of knowing one another creating a bond that’s hard to find anywhere else. he trusts him with everything. plus, youngha said he needed to take pictures, and the leo rising in jinyoung’s chart just can’t pass up an opportunity to be in front of a camera.

“it’s freezing out here,” he really wishes his gloves would fit over the finger splint, but it just wasn’t happening. he tries to shove his hands in his coat pockets, searching for warmth anywhere he can find it, the injury aching all the more from the cold. “it’s the least you could do for me after nagging me to meet you by the tree. you know i don’t like christmas, jerk,” despite his very real complaints, jinyoung keeps it lighthearted, a grin on his face despite the tremble in his jaw, teeth very nearly chattering. if he ever gets rich, he swears he’s going to move somewhere that’s warm all the time. winter is the worst.

[concreteangels24]

Christmas Drabble

Bryn wasn’t one of those who went all out for Christmas but yet he didn’t hate Christmas either. When Bryn was younger he bounced around from home to home so he didn’t have a family that he could spend the holidays with that was until after he was a teenager and he had gotten into some trouble and then someone wanted him and his brother but it was still pretty late. But I guess it was better now than never, Bryn always dreamed of growing up and having a family of his own, he remembers always looking around at those couples that had mistletoe in their front doors so when their other half walked in it was there so then they would have to kiss one another. Even though you didn’t need a reason to kiss those that you loved it was still pretty cute to see them doing.   When Bryn had made his way to his car and started it up, he was finishing up any last things that he needed to do before heading over to his adopted family. He didn’t see his moms very much since they all were busier but his younger brother he was more in touch with than anything and he had least wanted to get them something. When he had made his way to the mall he had finally found a parking spot since it was pretty busy.  When he opened his door he heard a little kid talking to her mother about Santa and all he had heard out of the mother's mouth was of course he is coming you have been an angel so far. Bryn laughed because he knew that there was no such thing as a kid being an angel all the time but who knows anymore. Locking his car up as he made his way inside the mall, Bryn walked straight for the store that he had wanted to look in.  The moment that he opened the door and walked in he heard a Christmas song called Have a Holly Jolly Christmas as it started Bryn started singing the song and he then said “Have a holly jolly Christmas, It's the best time of the year” this was one of his many favorite songs and every time it had come on he just had to start singing. Bryn was trying his best to get into the Christmas Spirit. Once he had gone to the stores he was super excited that he found everything that he had in mind that he wanted to get for the holiday.