After ages of no stories, here comes a Christmas Story. True to my habits with the Yu-Gi-Oh side of things, it is a Young!Ryou fic taking place the Christmas after Ryou's mom and Amane die.
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh
Christmas After
Before the move, Christmas was spent all together. Papa would take off work for both Christmas and Christmas Eve, and Mama would sing songs and they'd all decorate the tree together. Ryou and Amane would always argue who got to put the star on the tree top, which would be settled when Papa grabbed the star from their hands and put it on the tree himself. They'd put out a glass of milk and a plate of cookies that Ryou and Amane baked with Mama (which, in all honesty was Mama doing all the work and Ryou and Amane getting in the way), and Ryou and Amane would be taken to bed, and read T'was the Night Before Christmas. Sometimes Ryou and Amane would try to stay up to see Santa, but they would inevitably fall asleep, and before they knew it, it was Christmas morning.
Christmas morning was filled with arguments over who got to open presents first, cranky parents woken at the crack of dawn, and a yawned filled car ride into the countryside to the grandparents for Christmas dinner. It was a long ride, and it was not uncommon for Ryou or Amane to fall asleep on the way over, or home.
Dinner was more of a mess than the morning or the evening before, as there were all the relatives there- cousins, aunts, uncles, everyone. Arguments started over who got better presents, current grades for the school year, children were chided for their life choices, and life went as was expected when you got a family all together.
Now, after the move, things were different. Papa didn't take Christmas Eve or Christmas off, and Mama was no longer around to sing songs or decorate the tree with, and neither was Amane. It was just Ryou alone in an empty apartment.
The entire week before Christmas Ryou didn't see Papa at all. He was gone before Ryou got up, and didn't come until after Ryou had gone to bed. The elderly couple next door checked in on Ryou during the day to make sure he was alright when Papa was gone, and whenever their grandkids were over they all but dragged Ryou over to spend time with kids his own age and get him out of the apartment.
By Christmas Eve they still did not have a tree in the apartment, and while it was not uncommon in the Bakura household before the move, Ryou had a sinking suspicion that after the move there would be less pine smells in the apartment than before the move. Papa was gone for the day again, and the elderly neighbors were gone, off visiting their own family. Ryou was alone on Christmas Eve, and he did not doubt that he would be alone on Christmas as well.
Kept company by the white noise of the television playing Christmas movies in the background, Ryou played by himself with the few toys he did have after Papa packed them both up and moved them halfway around the world. Hopeful though, Ryou could not stop himself from looking constantly towards the entrance to the apartment, believing that any minute Papa would come through the door, carrying a great big tree for the apartment, asking why Ryou hadn't pulled out the decorations and why he seemed so down. (Even though Ryou knew without a doubt that they didn't have any Christmas decorations in the apartment. He had checked three times, having visualized this exact scenario at least a dozen times.)
Ryou wondered if he'd get any presents from Papa at all, or if the only gifts he'd find on Christmas morning would be those that Santa dropped off. Idly Ryou wondered at one point when he looked towards the door once more to see if Papa was there, if Santa delivered to families who didn't put up a tree. He then shook his head and thought that of course Santa delivered to families who didn't put up a tree, seeing as he delivered to houses without fireplaces. Then Ryou wondered if he and Papa could still count as a family even though they were missing Mama and Amane.
There was a knock on the door and, believing it to be Papa coming home, Ryou ran to the door to throw it open to help his father bring the tree in.
It was just the neighbors. They had gotten home early, and were simply checking in on Ryou. They asked if he had eaten, (he told them he had, when in reality he hadn't, hoping Papa would come home and they could eat together) and if there was anything he needed. Ryou hesitated, before asking them if Santa would still come to visit him and Papa. Because they had no tree, or Mama and Amane.
The elderly couple seemed startled, as if Ryou had caught them off guard, sharing some sort of look on their face that Ryou didn't quite understand. Still, they told Ryou of course Santa would come visit him, as long as Ryou had been a good boy (which he had, Ryou knew he had been). Ryou wished them a good evening and Happy Christmas, and returned to his seat on the couch.
Christmas Eve Ryou did two things he had never done before; wait up for Papa, and forgot to put out milk and cookies for Santa. (Though, he didn't have any cookies anyway, and the milk was two days past expiration.)
He fell asleep on the couch, dead to the world so much that when Papa came home Ryou didn't so much as stir. If Papa came home at all. There were times that Ryou wondered if Papa ever came home to the apartment, with how much he saw of him.
When Ryou woke up on Christmas morning, he was surprised to see that there was a small tree on the coffee table. There were a few presents on the table under the tree as well; not as many as he was used to seeing, but that made sense as Mama and Amane weren't there to share presents with. Sitting up, a blanket that Ryou had never pulled up over him, or seen before, slid off of him.
Standing up, Ryou raced to Papa's bedroom, calling out for him shouting how Santa came, for him to get up, there were presents to open! He through Papa's door open, poised to pounce on his bed to get him up if need be, and froze.
Papa wasn't there.
Oh.
Well, Ryou told himself, he shouldn't have been surprised. Though he had been hoping that Papa would take the day off, Ryou had known somewhere in him that Papa wasn't really going to stay home to be with Ryou.
Wandering back into the living room, Ryou sorted through the gifts, wondering if he should wait until Papa came home, or just open them now.
It took a little while, but Ryou eventually came to the decision that he should just open them without waiting for Papa. If he hadn't come home last night until after Ryou had fallen asleep, then he wasn't going to be coming home at all today either. Trying to pick the present to open first, Ryou's hands found a letter that had been hidden beneath the presents earlier. It had his first name on the front of the envelope, so it was obviously for him, but there was no return address.
He'd open this first, Ryou decided. It was how he was taught to do things with his birthday presents by Mama- open the letter first, then the gifts, so Ryou would do it now too.
Dear Ryou,
The letter began,
I hope you like the tree I brought! It's just not Christmas after all if you don't have a tree, and since I know your father isn't home all that often, I thought it would be nice for you to have something you can use each year in case he doesn't bring one. I nearly missed your house without it after all, and it wouldn't do if I missed the house of a good child because of something so small.
Have a Merry Christmas,
S.C.
S.C.? Ryou was confused for a moment, before he realized who the initials belonged to. Santa Claus. The letter was from Santa, Santa was the one who brought the tree, he must have brought it when he brought Ryou's presents. Ryou put the letter back into the envelope to show to Papa when he got home (imagine that, Santa writing him a letter!) and proceeded to open his gifts.
There were some socks and candy, and a handful of other little things, which he understood Santa for getting him, as Ryou never mailed his letter this year because he didn't know where to go, but there was one gift that he was really excited about. The new Monster World expansion pack! Ryou had known it was coming, but he hadn't thought it was out yet, or how Santa could have gotten his hands on it to give to Ryou. He was really happy about that gift; it was the best one.
A knock on the door caught Ryou's attention, and he scurried over to it to see who it was.
Unsurprisingly, it was the neighbors. They were there to check in on him, and they also, which was a real surprise to Ryou, invited him over for Christmas dinner. Ryou hesitantly accepted, rushing off to get dressed, and join the neighbors over in their apartment.
And though it wasn't with his family, Ryou spent his Christmas smiling, playing with the neighbors grandkids and relatives, and having an overall good time, answering questions he was asked, and not spending it alone like he had anticipated.
It wasn't at all like the Christmas' from before the move, but it was still good.
Yeah, it was still good.
End