What the fork is going on?
AN: The story is set during the 10000th reboot of the good place, when Tahani still doesn't know that Jianyu is Jason and Chiddy and Eleanor are just best friends. It was an incredible amount of fluff and a little angst just for color, but with a happy ending. (P.S. the Harvard study is a complete fiction though) I know it's still early for snowy fics, but you can't schedule your inspiration. I hope you enjoy it!
Summary: A simple snowy fic. Oh and if you decide to give this fic a shot, let's just pretend that the end of ep.5 just didn't happen.
Tahani had never slept better, not even when she was alive, come to think about it she never slept good while she was alive. The constant competitiveness with her sister, the worries of never being enough in the eyes of her parents, the stress of always trying to impress and charm everyone around her, constantly striving for perfection and never quite achieving it… it was exhausting.
There was something strange in the atmosphere this morning and Tahani couldn't quite place it. The air was crispier than usual and goosebumps covered her arms that rested comfortably above the covers. She hadn't heard her usual wake up alarm, but her eyes began opening slowly, like the petals of a shy cherry blossom in spring.
Tahani was vey fond of her big house, she adored the statues in the garden by the lake and of course she was very happy to have a whole wing of her mansion filled with Degas paintings, but what she absolutely loved was her own room. It was spacious, enough to accommodate her two white, walk in closets, a very stylish divan between them, a bathroom of it's own and her personal favorite, crystal ceiling that had the same decoration as the enormous windows that ran smoothly from the ceiling to the floor. The light blue tones of the walls only made the room seem bigger and Tahani carefully rubbed her eyes and looked around.
Normally, she'd wake up with the sunrise, smile, go for a shower, pick a dress and begin her day, but today there wasn't any sun in the sky. It was pretty cloudy in fact and… it looked like it was raining only no water drops hit the ceiling of her room. Small, tiny shadows danced on the walls and Tahani's usual smile turned into confusion, until a thought crossed her mind and she quickly ran to the balcony of her bedroom. It was true! It was completely illogical and bizarre, but it was snowing!
Tahani couldn't remember the last time she saw snow falling from the sky, dancing in the air. Usually her meetings and parties made her travel all around the world, but she'd always visit the sunny, tropical, post-cards-like places. This was strangely new and exciting for her and an overwhelming feeling of wanting to share that moment washed over her.
She was supposed to be happy, living in the good place, in the perfect house, with her soulmate, a soulmate that was specifically picked out for her by an unmistakable, all knowing mechanism. But as much as she forced herself to like, no, to love Jianyu, she just couldn't. Not really. They've been "together" in the good place for six months now, it felt like a lot more though, and still he hadn't said a word to her. Not even a measly "good morning". For God's sake, she even talked more with Eleanor and they started their very bumpy friendship. In the beginning, the blonde was obnoxious and annoying, and always complaining, and bragging about being better than certain people… but she was also changing. Lately Eleanor had become more considerate, more open with her, less patronizing and a lot more polite (excluding the usual "fork" and "son of a bench") that could be heard from her house when she was mad about something.
Anyhow, returning to the present moment, Tahani's thoughts drifted once again to Eleanor, wishing she was there with her, yearning to be able to hug the tiny blonde and keep them warm like friends, you know? Friends hug right? Yeah… Oh, she had not felt that tingling in her stomach since her good friend Kathy kissed her one night at a party in Zayn's house and then Kathy wrote that trashy song about kissing a girl and liking it. It was meant to be a private joke, but instead it quickly became a number one single in the international charts… oh well no harm done there, it's not like the song came with a dedication or anything.
Tahani didn't really notice the gentle smile that had appeared on her face while thinking of her blonde… friend? Ex- enemy?... Frenemy?... Of her blonde neighbor, let's just say.
The dark haired beauty quickly made her way back to her room and began picking out an outfit for the day. She was pretty excited from the sensation of the wet snowflakes that she tried to hold in her hands earlier. Tahani had an idea and she didn't stop to think twice about how it would look, because had she done so, she'd have started second guessing going over to Eleanor's house and asking her to help out with her new idea. The Good Place had definitely seen worse and stranger things (like flying shrimps and giant angry giraffes…) than an overly eager neighbor.
30 min later…
Ding ding ding….
The bell rang angrily in the early morning and Tahani couldn't wait for the door to open so she quickly knocked on the door of the small house.
"What the fork, Tahani? It's not even 9 o'clock on a… on a… I have no forking idea what day is today, but still, what the fork?" – Although Eleanor had started behaving better, she still hated getting up early in the mornings and even less so if she was being awaken by a sexy skyscraper. Well the sexy part always makes up for the loud awakening, but the blonde couldn't let her know that or she'd do that every day, probably just to annoy her.
While Tahani was all dressed up in a beautiful emerald winter dress and her impeccable curls cascaded down her shoulders, Eleanor was standing in her mismatching pj's with disheveled hair that looked like liquid gold framing her features.
"I… uh… I was thinking…" - Tahani stammered for a moment.
"Holy motherforcking shirt! It's snowing!" – Eleanor was left with an open mouth.
"Eloquent as ever." – Smirked Tahani.
"I didn't even know it could snow here! Wait… does that mean that it's Christmas time? But if it's Christmas then does that mean that we get to have Christmas presents by the actual Santa?" – Eleanor asked all excited when she noticed a slight shiver from Tahani.
"Well… I'm not sure about Christmas, I mean Jianyu got an invitation to join one of his friends for a Holi celebration and I'm pretty sure that's a March festivity, but I'm also pretty sure that he was a Buddhist monk and not a Hindu, but I guess this place doesn't exactly fit the earth "norms" so why should the holidays?" – Tahani started rambling.
"Too many words before coffee Tahani. Simple phrases, ok? Go." – Said Eleanor and vaguely remembered how Chidi was telling her that he was invited too and that's why they needed to skip their usual classes today.
"In short, I am not sure Christmas is a valid thing here, but yes it is snowing and no I don't know if this place has Santa, perhaps we can talk to Janet about all that, but for now…" – Tahani tried to explain.
"Hi there, what can I help you with?" – Janet suddenly appeared behind Eleanor, making the shorter woman jump in surprise to Tahani, almost knocking her backwards.
"Today is going to be a long day, come in, I need coffee." – Said Eleanor and finally invited Tahani inside where two cups of hot liquid waited for both of them on the table. Coffee, black for Eleanor and white – blueberry tea for Tahani.
…
"So, Janet, what is going on around here? I didn't know the weather could change like that here? I mean it didn't even went through autumn first." – Tahani was the first one to ask.
"Really? You saw flying shrimps on your second day here and snowing surprises you?" – Asked Eleanor.
"Keep drinking coffee little Grinch." – back Tahani, but in their usual friendly banter.
"Well let's see… Michael wanted to make your transition to the afterlife better, so he researched a lot and a Harvard study show that domesticated wombats transition better into a new home if they kept their previous routines such as eating schedule and roaming free outside their cages. That is why all your clothes are exact replicas of your earth life ones and because all of you had some sort of traditions while living down there. You belonged to a group and subconsciously or not, you even felt better completing some social norms that were imposed during the holidays. Like the noisy family dinners and the horrendous shopping for presents rush… So as I said before, Michael came up with the idea to keep the most important celebrations for you people and that's why it's snowing here. In this part of the neighborhood the "white paradise" is for those who prefer the comfort of Christmas or Hanukkah, but we also have Holi in the northern part, Eid in the western quadrant and the summer equinox day to the east. So if you prefer any of those you should feel free to join whichever you prefer. Is there anything else I can help you with?" – After finishing her lengthy explanation, Janet returned to her usual chirpy voice command.
Both Tahani and Eleanor were staring intently into the void and only nodded their heads while trying to comprehend all that new information.
"No thank you, Janet. You've been extremely helpful already." – Said Tahani and Janet disappeared.
"I don't know if I should be offended or glad about the comparison of us and some marsupial." – Murmured Eleanor.
Eleanor was enjoying the last remains of her delicious coffee when Tahani couldn't hide her excitement anymore and quickly turned to face her once more.
"So Eleanor… I was thinking that perhaps we can organize a party for the occasion?"
"What occasion? It's not even an official thing here?"
"Well we are all on our own here and I think that if we gather together as a community of friends and neighbors we wouldn't feel bad for the ones we've left behind. Obviously not in our cases." Tahani gestured between the two of them "But for the others around us. Just a gathering to celebrate new found friends?"
Tahani's voice wavered a bit on that last part, but her composure was still strong. In the last couple of months, Eleanor had come to confide in Tahani many things from her life on Earth, including the mix up with the other Eleanor. And, of course, it was only natural for Tahani to freak out at first, but once the initial shock wore off, the tall brunette began opening up to her as well.
Both of them hated to be compared to other people who were much better than them, but knowing that they each had their flows made their friendship blossom and the bush on Eleanor's mini table could easily confirm it.
The blonde could never resist Tahani's puppy eyes, so she reluctantly agreed.
"Okay… let's go plan a party then!"
Not even a full day had gone by before everything was ready, Eleanor helped Tahani with everything from picking the color theme of the season, which of course was green defined by the napkins, the constantly, randomly appearing mistletoes and candy canes all around the mansion. Silver for all the utensils on the tables, golden cant – porcelain plates, white tablecloths and dozens of white roses and that prickly green plant with little red berries bouquets. Even the boys had agreed to help once they got back and distributed the invites to everyone in the neighborhood.
The tables were set, low jazz was playing around the empty house and a deliciously mixed aroma of caramelized nuts and pine trees floated in the air. They still had a couple of hours until the guests would begin to arrive, but while Tahani was admiring her work, Eleanor was enjoying her fourth cup of eggnog.
"Eleanor, you might want to ease up on that, I don't want giant shrimps flying around again." – Tahani teased, she had no idea how to ask her friend what was wrong without seeming too annoying, not wanting to overstep any boundaries in their friendship.
"Are you going to spend eternity reminding me of that? – The blonde laughed it off.
"Hey… it's perfectly fine if you prefer to be alone for a while, we still have a couple of hours until people show up, but we could also go for a walk. It's been ages since I last walked on snow." – Tahani offered with a shy voice.
"A walk sounds nice." – Eleanor smiled.
Both of them walked in complete silence until they passed the lake behind Tahani's house, it was so strange to see everything around white, the snow was soft and barely squealed when you took a step. The silence was magical and the brown branches of the trees barely moved at all. It seemed like a moment frozen in time.
"I just… don't like Christmas, never did actually. It's just a commercialized time of the year when you spend crazy amounts of money on presents that nobody really cares about." – Suddenly Eleanor spoke.
"Oh those terrible reindeer sweaters!" – Tahani added.
"Yeah and all those bells and cheery songs, yuk…"
They both laughed for a while, sharing stories of past Christmases and an embarrassing moment or two along the way. It was good to get away from the neighborhood, even for a little while. With so many people around and everyone being cheerful all the time, it could get a bit too much sometimes. After the laughter, the sudden silence from before had settled once again upon them.
"You know… I would have loved a silly reindeer sweater." – Eleanor spoke once again, letting the false bravado from before slip away and hearing the vulnerability in her voice, Tahani froze in her footsteps.
"I would have loved an overcooked dinner and building a snowman or snow ball fight. I used to beg Santa for just one Christmas like that, no gifts, just me, my mom and my dad, eating dinner together, watching the lights of the tree we would decorate before and laugh about something." – A single tear, one drop of crystal water slid down the blonde's left cheek and on instinct Tahani reached to stop its further descend.
Seeing Eleanor looking down like a child that had just done some mischief and hearing her voice, so sincere, so… hurt, something in Tahani broke and she just hugged her friend. Not having a pleasant experience with Christmases herself, she couldn't do much more than just hug the other woman, no words really suited this situation.
"God, this is so forcked up, we're not supposed to cry in the good place." – Eleanor pulled back after a few moments, trying to laugh away her emotions, but Tahani didn't buy it for a second.
"There's nothing we can do about our past Eleanor, there's no way thinking about it, but I promise you, you'll get your happy Christmas now. We are in the good place after all!" – Said Tahani and hugged Eleanor again.
She loved hugging the blonde, she was just the perfect height for a hug! Only this one lasted a lot longer than the one before, Tahani could sense Eleanor's heartbeat pick up in speed, and her breath tickled on her neck. She was just about to offer going back to the house, because their clothes certainly weren't suited for that weather and picking up the scarfs and gloves before they went out was the last thing they both thought about.
Just as their arms began loosening slowly, their eyes met and time stopped altogether. Neither could tell who initiated it, but suddenly Tahani felt warm lips meeting hers, kissing slowly, exploring gently, until one finally gathered the courage to nip lightly on the other's lips and deepen the kisses.
Several minutes later, both of them were flushed and breathing quicker than usual, but their smiles were identical. Words were rarely needed between them, now only their eyes communicated, their hands softly touching the other, and they kissed again, clearly forgetting about everything but the present moment. Neither noticed the snow that had begun to dwindle around them nor the green mistletoe that appeared in the branches above them.
"This already is the best Christmas." – Said Eleanor smiling, almost shyly and Tahani laughed.
"Come on dork, we have to go back to the party while we can still see the path, I don't want to freeze out here."
"It's not like we can die again." – The blonde laughed. Maybe this place was good indeed.
Epilogue: Tahani opened her eyes to lazy kisses being placed all over her neck and a pair of soft hands holding her close. She had the best sleep she could ever wish for and seeing the bundle of blonde hair beside her made her usual smile even more radiant.
"Good morning to you too little darling." – Her voice was raspier in the mornings, but also incredibly sexy to Eleanor's ears.
"You are really beautiful, you know?" – Eleanor asked and before Tahani could answer, she turned around and grabbed something from the floor.
"I didn't had the chance to give it to you yesterday" – Said Eleanor and shoved the box in Tahani's hands.
"Well then, we can call it even because I have something for you too, but I actually left it downstairs." – Tahani looked apologetic and Eleanor wanted nothing else than to kiss her again.
Receiving a gift always felt good, but Tahani learnt quickly that nothing could best Eleanor's kisses and so she let the other woman push the gift aside and straddle her, all gifts quickly forgotten, but the matching silly reindeer sweaters could wait a few more hours.
The End