A/N: This is just a little something to get me by, as I currently have no X-Men inspiration. Also, this is a MonkeyLani fic. YAY!!
Let it Snow
Monkey sat in the back seat of Synkro, Nolo's car, as the mismatched couple coasted towards a shopping center. Every week, Dr. Tezla sent two people into town for groceries and the like; one Teku and one Metal Maniac, just to make sure everyone got what they wanted.
It was mid December, and the pre-holiday hustle wasn't wasted on the Maniac mechanic; Monkey loved the magic of winter and the way it brought people together. Every Metal Maniac knew how he loved the holiday season, but they would have died of shame had they known what he was up to in the back seat of Nolo's car.
Monkey stopped writing and crumpled up the paper he'd been working on, getting to a fresh page in his notebook; he paused, deep in thought, then began again.
Dear Santa,
I'll be the first to admit that I probably haven't been extra good this year, sir, but please hear me out. I've met a wonderful girl named Lani Tam, and she's one of the sweetest, most kind and caring people I've ever known. So I'm not asking you for gifts for me, but for her dreams to come true.
Lani works very hard for Dr. Tezla, and always does her best to keep us from fighting amongst ourselves, so please fulfill her Christmas wishes. Even if it means she's not with me, please, let her be happy.
Sincerely, Mitch McClurg
Well, it probably wasn't the most well written letter in the world, but it would get the job done; short and sweet, full of love for others, there was no way Santa could ignore it. Monkey couldn't help but smile as he folded the letter up in three for easy delivery.
Nolo glanced in his rearview mirror at him, wondering what he was up to. The Maniac mechanic wore a black hoodie with Jack Skellington's smiling skull on the front. He was really quite curious as to what Monkey was planning, but Nolo thought it better not to ask.
While they were shopping, Monkey grabbed quite a few things that weren't on the list; chocolate chips, vanilla and peppermint extracts, an extra two dozen eggs, an extra gallon of milk, a box of candy canes, walnuts, pecans, cinnamon, nutmeg, five pound bags of sugar and flour, and a bottle of Crown Royal Whiskey. He'd gone ahead and paid for them himself, promptly disappearing and leaving Nolo to finish the shopping. Muttering to himself about the unfairness of it all, the Latino racer grudgingly got everything on both the Teku's and the Metal Maniacs' lists and put it all in his trunk before he started off to look for Monkey.
Money grinned to himself, watching all the laughing children on their way to see Santa. Of course, he wasn't the real Santa, but it was close enough for the kids. He knew all the others would laugh at him if they ever knew he was a believer, but he didn't care. He knew Santa really truly existed, and that was enough for him.
He was across street from the grocery store at a mini mall. Humming 'Silver Bells', Monkey walked up to a large mock up of a mailbox marked 'Wish Lists' and slipped his letter inside. Just as he was about to walk away, the jumpy mechanic felt a hand on his shoulder and whirled around. It was Nolo.
"What are you doing?" he asked with a sly grin.
The surprised Monkey took a deep breath and answered truthfully. "Sending my letter to Santa Claus."
Nolo laughed and the two headed for the door. "Are you serious? What are you, like, 22?"
"And your point is?"
"You're serious!" he said, snickering. "Santa doesn't exist, dude."
"We drive through extra dimensional racetracks built by space aliens over a thousand years ago, and you don't think Santa Claus exists?"
Nolo shook his head. "That is pathetic, man; you're too old for that!"
Monkey only gave him a warm smile as they got to the car. "You're never too old to believe."
Vert wandered out of his car after a difficult race; somehow, he had managed to come from behind and win, like he usually did, and they probably wouldn't have another race for a little while. It would be a welcome break for all of them, as Christmas was in a week.
The Acceledrome wasn't really decorated, per say, but there was the odd sleigh bell or piece of mistletoe hanging here and there. As Kurt came up to congratulate him, though, Vert couldn't help but notice a little something that no Holiday was complete without.
"Hey Vert," Kurt said, high fiving his teammate, "great job."
Ignoring his praise, Vert said exactly what was on his mind. "Do you smell cookies?"
Kurt raised an eyebrow, sniffing the air. He did indeed smell cookies. Before he could answer, though, Vert followed his nose to the kitchen.
Monkey bobbed his head up and down to an Elvis Presley Christmas album as he removed two pans from the oven, placing them on the table.
"When we finally say goodnight, how I'll hate to go out in the storm; but if you really hold me tight, all the way home I'll be warm!"
"Ooo, cookies!" the surf rat exclaimed. Monkey slapped his hand away and Kurt laughed.
"They just came out; if you don't let them cool you'll burn yourself."
Vert rubbed his hand and sulked as the Maniac mechanic whirled back to the oven, putting in a batch of chocolate chip. His denim apron twirled along with his movements as he practically danced through the kitchen. Vert stared at the cookies on the plate with greedy eyes; they were a swirly pattern, chocolate dough wrapped around plain dough with little pink and white chunks throughout. Their smell betrayed the chunks to be crushed candy canes.
Monkey reset the timer with a sigh, rolling his eyes. "Alright, but you better save some for the others."
"THANK YOU!"
Kurt watched in amazement as Vert shoved three of the hot fresh morsels into his mouth at once, somehow managing to grin around them. As his friend gorged himself, Kurt got curious and took a cookie for himself.
He almost didn't eat it; Monkey was a Metal Maniac, after all, and it could have been poisoned, but after a moment his stomach got the better of him. His curiosity was deeply rewarded by a delicious little confection. Needless to say, Kurt was shocked to even think that a Metal Maniac could possibly bake this well.
"This is really good," he muttered as Lani, Karma, Taro and Wylde entered the kitchen. The two brothers glared at each other as they always did whenever one entered a room already occupied by the other. Monkey rolled his eyes again, getting something from the back of the fridge.
"And don't think I'd forget the birthday boy!" he beamed, placing a cake on the table. Wylde grinned, ignoring his older brother's look of panic at having forgotten. How, oh how could he possibly have forgotten? Markie's birthday was Christmas Eve! Dreading the reaction to such a stupid mistake, Kurt tiptoed out of the room when no one was paying attention.
"Aww, geez, Monkey you shouldn't have!" he said excitedly.
"It's German chocolate, and the icing is caramel coconut!"
"YES! Score!"
Wylde pumped his fist in the air. Monkey laughed and cut him a slice. Taro and Vert looked on expectantly, looming over the soon-to-be 20 year-old.
"Hey, Wylde, you're gonna share that, right?" the older Asian Maniac asked with a sly smile. Strangely enough, Wylde agreed and began dividing the cake. Observing what an unlikely occurrence this was, Lani approached Monkey.
"Wow, they're getting along," she said in disbelief. "That never happened before."
"Such is the magic of the Holidays!" he beamed. "And chocolate. Everybody loves chocolate!"
She laughed. "I heard that! Never pictured you as a baker, though."
"I'm just full of surprises," he grinned. The room was quiet, and his and Lani's eyes met. He blushed and turned away, and his expression grew suddenly angry.
"WHAT THE HELL VERT!! SAVE SOME FOR CHRISTMAS!"
Vert sheepishly put down the cookies he'd been grabbing four at a time, but it was too late; the blonde surfer had devoured nearly the whole two dozen in under five minutes. His shoulders sunk, and he mumbled an apology before exiting. Taro and Wylde snickered after him, and Monkey sighed, running his fingers through his hair. The other two Maniacs took a cue from the ousted Teku and took the cake with them.
"Well," Monkey said, taking a seat at the now empty table, "I'll just have to make more. It's really a simple recipe…"
He trailed off, glaring at the nearly bare plate, only three swirly cookies remaining. Lani put a comforting arm around his shoulder, speaking to him gently.
"You need any help with them?"
He almost immediately cheered up, taking her up on her offer. Over the next hour, Lani and Monkey laughed and joked while making the dough and rolling it out. They had a little difficulty; Lani had never been much of a cook, but Monkey helped her to learn and gave her the easy jobs. She measured out ingredients, crushed the candy canes, and melted the chocolate while he creamed the butter and sugar, and other such things that should be left to the professionals. After the two doughs had been rolled out, placed on top of each other and rolled into a log, he began slicing and conversation drifted.
"When I was a kid," he said dreamily, "my Mom always made such a big fuss about the holidays. We'd decorate the tree and the house, then we'd go over to Gran Gran's place and really make it sparkle! She was pretty old, so, y'know, she couldn't really take care of the festivities herself. But the best time, oh man…making cookies with Mom and my sister Melissa. Just me and Mel and Mom, those were the golden years right there."
He smiled and sighed softly to himself, but he wasn't sure if it was at the happy memory, or at the beautiful girl in front of him. Lani sighed right along with him, stars in her gorgeous emerald eyes.
"That sounds wonderful," she said, leaning on her arm. "I got to do all the baking and decorating stuff with Aunt Ming, sure…but it was so hectic, and I always dreamed of having one of those nice, quiet Christmases at home like they showed on TV. Snow, a real tree, the whole nine yards! Trouble is, I'm from Hawaii."
"Wow!"
"Yeah, I know, but that whole 'island paradise' thing gets old faster than you'd think. You know, I've only ever seen snow once in my life?"
Monkey winced. "I'm sorry."
She pouted. "I was racing back on Highway 35, the place that started all this mess. I didn't even get to stop and enjoy it…"
He gave Lani a warm smile; "Well, who knows? Maybe Santa'll bring you a blizzard."
She laughed and pretended to glare at him in anger. "Hey, you shouldn't make fun of a girl's believing in Santa! That's not very nice!"
"Who's making fun?" he asked, and winked.
And so, Christmas Eve finally came, and the Acceleracers with it in full force. The day had been filled with yuletide mischef, and even Dr. Tezla seemed unusually serene.
It was a lazy day, as far as Christmas Eves go, and try as he might, Wylde simply could not avoid his older brother. All he wanted was to have one day where they weren't at each other's throats. Usually, he loved conflicts, but it was Christmas! Well, almost Christmas, and his birthday besides! Catching his breath as he thought he'd finally lost Kurt, Wylde was shocked to see his brother standing right in front of him.
"Look, I know you don't even want to talk to me, Markie," he started, obviously flustered, "but I got you something anyway, and I know it can't possibly begin to make up for everything that's happened, but—oh just take it!"
Kurt shoved an envelope in his brother's hands and turned to leave. Wylde stared after his brother, perplexed, and opened the envelope, and inside were two primo seats for an upcoming date on the Angel of Retribution Tour. Shocked at a gift that meant so much to him, Wylde could only mutter two words:
"Judas Priest…"
Maybe he'd been wrong; maybe Kurt wasn't a bastard coated bastard who didn't care about him…perhaps Kurt was just stubborn…just like him…
As he pondered his life, if perhaps he'd been wrong, Wylde got a clap on his shoulder. It was Tork.
"Yo, man, it's snowing!"
The younger Maniac raised an eyebrow and followed his leader, grabbing his leather jacket on the way. As the two made it outside, he gasped:
It was snowing. SNOWING!
Several others had congregated just outside the Acceledrome, and it was clear that none had expected this; Nolo looked as panicked as if the sky were falling, and the rest of the Teku were just as caught off guard as him. Kurt and Vert stared up in awe while Shirako filmed the dark sky on his camera phone, the bass pounding all the while on his headphones. Porkchop and Taro, too, stood around awkwardly looking up at the sky, while Tork leaned against a rock and shrugged.
Monkey was a whole other story. He and Lani were doing a sort of sped up waltz, spinning and laughing as they sang out their joy. After a particularly long turn, Lani hugged him, laughing and shivering.
"Oh, here," he said, slipping off and offering up his Jack Skellington hoodie. She took it gratefully.
"I can't believe it! Monkey, you were right! I asked him for it to snow and it did! Oh, this is the best Christmas ever!"
"Well what did you expect? You've been a very good girl this year! Or…have you?"
She embraced him again, and the two dissolved into a fit of giggles, dancing around once more.
Realization finally striking him, Vert spoke up.
"It's snowing," he said, stating the obvious. "It's SNOWING, in Southern California, in the middle of the desert! Man, we aren't even 20 miles from where Nolo's family hopped the border—"
The idiotic blonde surf rat was suddenly cut off by a snowball to the back of his head. Nolo yelled at him, red in the face.
"Both of my parents are from L.A., you Jackass! I am an American!"
"I'm just saying what Kurt told me," he pouted, attempting to pass the buck. Kurt's eyes widened in fear.
"What?! I never—"
Nolo threw a snowball, hitting him in the face. The Metal Maniacs started laughing, and Wylde shouted out.
"Nice one!"
"Thanks, man; I used to be in little league."
Kurt got up from the ground, wiping snow from his face; luckily, he wore those silly goggles. "Oh, you think that's funny do you?" he asked with a devious grin.
"As a matter of fact," his brother started, but ducked just in time to have his snowball taken for him by the Maniacs' leader, Tork. He scowled, brushing snow from his chest.
"Of course, you realize, this means war."
And with that, it was on. Snowballs flew form one end of the field to the other, rarely hitting their targets, and though it was, as Tork had called, 'war', it was the most fun any of them had had outside of the realms in quite some time. Nolo led Kurt, Vert and Shirako in an all out snow assault on Tork, Porkchop, Taro and Wylde.
They threw their icy weapons at each other not with malice, but with a strange affection. This wasn't an act of hate, but of the finally getting along in some bizarre way. This was the holidays bringing so-called enemies together in a child's game, and it didn't matter who won, as long as the game went on.
Karma and Dr. Tezla smiled down at them form the mouth of the 'cave' where the Acceledrome was hidden, chuckling to themselves at the sight. Tezla shrugged.
"Boys will be boys," he said, not noticing the wily smirk Taro gave him as he gestured to the others. Karma ducked out of the way just in time, and Dr. Tezla and Gig were pelted with snowballs. The old man sputtered, and the little robot floated back inside.
"I'll never understand organic lifeforms…"
Karma came back with a vengeance, however, toting a supersoaker. "What gives, guys?! We are neutral parties in this conflict!!"
"If you ain't with us, yer against us, honey," Porkchop taunted; he hadn't turned around to see if the snowballs had made their mark, and, therefore, had not seen Karma's watergun. Grinning from ear to ear, the brunette opened fire on the unsuspecting southerner, laughing maniacally and soaking everyone in sight.
"HAPPY HANNUKAH BITCHES!"
"Oh, that was just mean," said a very soggy Kurt. Taro sighed, making googly eyes up at his assailant and shivering from the dampness.
"A girl after my own heart."
All through this, Lani and Monkey danced, laughing and singing. He didn't know if it was love, or just the Christmas spirit, but he didn't want it to end. He was close to her, they were together; even if it didn't mean anything to her, which he thought was quite possibly the case, it was the happiest Monkey had felt in as long as he could remember.
Lani stopped abruptly, snuggling her face into his chest, just to hold him and be held, and he couldn't hold it in any longer.
"I love you, Lani. I've loved you since I've first met you, and I always will."
She looked up into his warm brown eyes, her face flushed, almost unable to believe his words. When she said nothing, he thought he'd been rejected and turned away, but she put both hands on to the sides of his face and kissed him. His heart beat faster, and the Maniac mechanic slid his arms around Lani's waist, and they stood there.
The snowballs stopped, and for a moment there was silence; Karma's supersoaker had shorted out Shirako's headphones. They all stared at the couple, never having expected this particular get together, but Tork furrowed his brow in concentration, turning to Porkchop.
"Do you hear sleighbells?"
"OH MY GOD IT'S HIM!!"
Teku and Matl Maniac alike looked up at the sky, staring in wonder at the sight and sounds above them. The silhouette of a sleigh and nine reindeer pierced the moon, and the one at the head of the team gave off a bright red glow. Shirako hurriedly took out his camera phone, filming the sky for the second time that night, but with a renewed enthusiasm.
"This is so going on my website!"
Monkey and Lani held each other there, watching the man they'd been waiting for in complete peace.
"Merry Christmas, Lani."
"Merry Christmas, Mitch."
The End
A/N: Yeah, so that's my Christmas story. Mmm, cookies. Tasty. This is THE longest oneshot I've ever written, and my first attempt at fluff. I think it's about time Monkey got some love! And for those of you who didn't know, Mitch is Monkey's real name. I hope you crazy people liked this, and always, R&R! I love you all.