Hello!
This is my first ACOTAR story ever, but I am very happy with the result! I hope you enjoy it!
Here is the obligatory disclaimer: The setting and characters belong to Sarah J. Maas, but I came up with the plot myself!
And the story begins!
Feyre stood on the balcony overlooking Velaris, the wind twirling in her hair and her red nightgown flowing.
The lights from the valley below twinkled like the stars in the sky above, and she was at peace.
But for the few days, she had been a bit homesick for her human life, especially of a certain holiday that was only two weeks away.
She sighed forlornly, and then Rhys was there, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind her. "Is something the matter, Feyre darling?"
Feyre rested her hands on his and laid her head back on his shoulder. "Not now."
Rhys smirked against her neck. "You can't hide anything from me." With that, he nipped at her earlobe, causing her to jerk away.
"Prick," she replied, playful light in her eyes. She untangled herself out of his arms and walked into their bedroom. She sat in front of the mirror of her vanity picked up a hairbrush to brush her hair.
Rhys sauntered in, hands in his pockets. He walked up to her and took the hair brush out of her hands started to brush her hair. While he brushed, she took the lotion bottle and rubbed the lotion over her arms.
There was only the noise of the hairbrush scratching through her hair until Rhys asked, "What are you thinking?"
Feyre looked at him through the mirror to find his violet eyes inquisitive.
She put the bottle down and sighed. "Do you know what Christmas is?"
Rhys put the brush down and shook his head.
She turned in her chair and stood up, holding his hand in hers and walking to the bed. She pulled the covers back to settle in and he did the same until they sat with their backs to their pillows.
She started to tell him, "Christmas is a human holiday that I used to celebrate before my sisters and I were poor."
Rhys rose his eyebrows in interest.
Feyre smiled fondly, her eyes unseeing as she remembered. "It is a time of giving and joy. You would spend time with your loved ones by decorating the home, making wonderful food, and exchanging presents."
Rhys straightened and asked, "Tell me more?"
Feyre lit up as she talked. "The entire house would smell of peppermint and holly, and the Christmas tree would be adorned in green and red and silver and gold. The kitchen would be warm because of all the cooking that would be done. From the Christmas turkey down to the sweet cookies, everything would be delicious."
Rhys nodded quickly and narrowed his eyes, as if trying to remember everything.
She continued. "The best part of Christmas would be the people we shared it with. Our home was always full, especially on Christmas Eve. My parents would host a Christmas Eve party, inviting everyone we knew. The cook would frantically make as much food as possible, and the maids and butlers rushed to decorate the halls with lights and ornaments. We even hired carolers to sing in our home and entertain the guests."
She beamed. "Then we would wake up on Christmas morning. Nesta, Elain, and I would race each other down the stairs and head for the tree to open our presents. And then we would spend the entire day together as a family."
She sighed and then her face saddened. "But I guess we won't be able to celebrate it here."
She started to lay down but he stopped her. "What if we did?"
Rhys straightened. "What is we decorated the house and made food and gave each other presents?"
Feyre perked up. "Really? You would do that?"
Rhys nodded and smiled. "Of course."
Feyre smiled back and rested her hand on his. "Okay, let's do it."
The next morning, Rhys asked Azriel to go into the human world and find books on Christmas.
Feyre tried to assure Rhys that they didn't need the books and that she could help the preparations for the holiday, but he insisted that she let them surprise her.
Feyre pretended to be annoyed, rolling her eyes and laughing as she walked out the door to spend the day with her sisters.
Azriel returned and he, Rhys, Cassian, Mor, and Amren looked through the books.
But as they read, they could only scratch their heads in confusion.
"Wait a second, they just kill a tree and then dress up its corpse?" Azriel asked.
They all shared confused looks.
Cassian pointed to a book he was reading, "And apparently they have complete strangers sing to them and they are called 'carolers.' How do they know they aren't enemies trying to invade your home? If we had carolers, we would have to be on guard the entire time they sung and only relax once they left the grounds entirely."
They all shared nods.
Mor perked up. "Oh! Here is a section on how to wrap the presents. It says we have to wrap it in some sort of 'wrapping' paper?"
Rhys nodded. "That seems easy enough. But what I don't get is this.
He pointed down at the book he was reading. "It says here that someone named 'Santa Claus' is supposed to deliver presents to the good boys and girls of the world by flying on a sleigh with flying reindeer, go down a chimney, put the presents under the tree, and then go back up the chimney to deliver all the presents. In one night."
He scratched his head. "How is that possible? How can the reindeer fly? Is he Fae?"
Mor nodded. "He must be, but maybe he winnows them to different places around the world, but why have a sleigh and deer if you can winnow?"
Rhys shrugged.
Cassian jumped in. "And isn't it a bit creepy that he comes into your home while you are asleep? What if he murders you?"
They all agreed.
Rhys read on. "It also says that Santa has little people called 'elves' who make the toys that he gives to children around the world."
Rhys shook his head in dismay. "I doubt they are paid well, let alone at all. They must be like slaves. I don't trust this guy."
Azriel shrugged. "It's what Feyre wants, I guess?"
Rhys nodded sighing. "Okay, who wants what role?"
Mor smiled. "I want the wrapping paper job."
Cassian replied. "I guess I can do the decorations and food."
Azriel shrugged. "I don't mind killing a tree."
Rhys sighed. "I will try to figure out the Santa and elf costumes."
Mor replied, "That leaves the last job: The carolers."
All eyes turned to Amren.
Rhys gave her a nervous smile. "Look, you are the best at judging people. Can you some singers that won't come into our homes and attack us?"
She rose an eyebrow and looked at all them. After several moments, she rolled her eyes before scoffing. "Fine."
The next few days went as well as they could for five people who had never celebrated Christmas before.
Cassian monitored the shipment of the decorations and food, looking through the books for recipes for the food and instructions for the decorations.
Mor had gone out to the shops to look for the paper to wrap the presents.
Azriel went into the forest to find a Christmas tree.
Amren was holding auditions for the carolers in the town theater.
And Rhys was trying to figure out where to buy the costumes of Santa Claus and his elves.
On the day of Christmas Eve, the stress of the preparations was getting to him. He rubbed his head as he felt a headache coming on.
Everything alright there? Feyre sent down the bond.
Rhys quickly assured her. Nothing to worry about, Feyre darling.
He could sense her amusement through the bond.
His thoughts returned to the task at hand.
Frustrated, he stood up from his desk and walked down the stairs to see if the others were faring better than him.
He walked into the kitchen to see Cassian running around the kitchen with Nuala and Cerridwen trailing behind him to help.
The entire kitchen was a mess. Pots and pans piled up on every surface and all sorts of liquids and spices covered the floor.
"What is happening?" Rhys shouted over the madness.
Cassian shouted back. "The human recipes were hard to understand, okay? I thought it said 50 minutes, not 15 minutes! And now the turkey is burnt!"
Rhys pinched the bridge of his nose before barking, "Just get this cleaned up! The party is tonight!"
Rhys left and walked into the living room to see Azriel decorating the Christmas tree. Or at least what he thought was a Christmas tree. Since none of the Inner Circle had ever seen a Christmas tree before, Az had simply walked into the forest and chopped down the nicest looking tree.
What he found was a small oak tree.
Rhys looked at tree and scratched his head. Az had dressed it up in red and green, but red was so dark that it looked brown, and the green was so bright that it looked more like a lime or neon green than the classic evergreen.
"Don't you think that those colors are weird?" Rhys asked.
Az looked up from his decorating and pointed to the book. "It says green and red here."
Rhys looked at the book and nodded. "If this is what Feyre wants, we'll give it to her."
Az nodded before going back to decorating.
Rhys heard a squeal behind him and he turned around to see Mor wrapping the presents.
She held up one proudly. "What do you think?"
Mor had never seen wrapping paper ever, so when she had read about it in the books, she assumed it meant regular paper.
Rhys turned over the gifts which were held together by string and white paper. He shrugged. "I think it looks good."
Mor beamed before going back to using the 'wrapping' paper.
Rhys ran a hand down his face. "I am going to check on Amren."
He turned to walk out the door to leave the house but saw Feyre walking in.
He froze. "Darling, what are you doing here?"
She rose her eyebrows. "I live here?"
He shook his head. "Yes, love, I know, but we aren't finished preparing the party."
He put his hand on her shoulders. "Why don't you go check if your sisters are ready for tonight?"
Feyre hid her laughter as she said, "If I must." She kissed him once before winnowing away.
Rhys shoulder slumped as he saw he fade away before he winnowed down to the town theater.
Upon entering the theater, he immediately covered his ears in pain. The current performers, which were a group of five women, were screeching the songs so loudly that they could be heard from the back of the theater.
Amren growled and hissed at them to stop, causing them to burst into tears and run of the stage.
Rhys walked up to Amren. "The party is tonight. Why are you still auditioning?"
Amren grumbled. "The others that I hired quit, saying that they were frightened of me."
Amren spat. "Pathetic."
Rhys sighed, too tired to argue. "Just find replacements before tonight."
It was finally time for the party.
Feyre and her sisters would arrive at any minute.
Rhys adjusted his red outfit. All the books said was that Santa was a jolly old man in red. So Rhys had chosen to wear a red tunic with black pants and black dress shoes. He had no idea if what he was wearing is what Santa looked like.
He jerked as he remembered something. He almost forgot his beard. He fished out a long beard of black hair and wrapped it around his face. It wouldn't make sense for it to be any other color since he had black hair, right?
He sighed before going down the stairs.
When he reached the bottom floor, he was greeted by Mor and Cass complaining.
"Rhys, this elf outfit is so itchy!" Mor whined.
"And it is far too tight!" Cass whined, grabbing at the fabric.
Both of them were scratching at their lime green and brownish red stockings. The only difference is that Mor wore a brownish-red dress with the lime green buttons while Cass wore an outfit with similar colors, only in the form of a shirt and pants.
Rhys coughed, trying not to laugh. "You look great at my elves."
"No, we don't," Amren snapped, and Az nodded in agreement.
Rhys rolled his eyes. "Look, this night is for Feyre, and we are just going to have to endure it. Amren, where are the carolers?"
Amren snapped her fingers and a group of three frowning men in black robes entered the living room.
Rhys and rest of the Inner Circle, excluding Amren, looked at the men in confusion.
Mor answered. "Amren, I think you forgot that this was supposed to be a happy holiday. Why do they look like they are late for a funeral?"
Amren merely answered, "Their singing was the least atrocious."
Rhys waved his hand dismissively. "There is no time to change it. I have to get up to the chimney."
Rhys winnowed up to the roof and started to climb into the chimney.
When Az sent him a thought that alerted him that Feyre and her sisters were on their way. He started to shimmy down the chimney, but he didn't anticipate that it was going to be such a tight fit.
He pushed against the walls, trying to go down, but all he could feel was the bricks of the chimney scratching his arms and legs. He thought to himself: How did Santa do this to every single house in the world?
Then Az sent him another thought. Feyre and her sisters are at the door now.
Rhys grunted and thrusted around as hard as he could and he finally slid down the chimney, tumbling into the pile of ash and old burnt wood, sending plumes of smoke throughout the entire living room.
Feyre and her sisters gasped as they saw a dark figure fall down the chimney and Elain actually screamed, clutching Nesta, who stood in front of her to defend her.
Rhys rubbed his head and looked at the mess he made and gave a sheepish smile. "Um...happy Christmas?"
Feyre and her sisters stood frozen in shock as the carolers started to sing, their deep voices somber and forlorn.
Cas and Azriel helped Rhys up and Mor tried to smile encouragingly at Feyre.
Amren merely rolled her eyes and settled down into the sofa with a wine glass in her hand.
Nesta had a look of disgust on her face, while Elain's face was laced with confusion.
But Feyre looked around the room. At the horribly lime green and brownish red decorations. At the sad oak Christmas tree. At the burnt turkey and cookies. At the melancholy carolers. And at her family of oddly dressed elves and Santa-costumed mate.
And then she started to laugh.
The carolers stopped singer and everyone looked at Feyre with their jaws dropped.
She wiped the tears from laughing out of her eyes. "This is both the oddest and best Christmas that I have ever seen."
She walked up to Rhys and brushed the soot and ash off his face.
"Thank you," she whispered, pulling down his beard and kissing him.
The Inner Circle clapped and cheered when Feyre kissed him, deeming their preparations a success.
After the carolers had left, everyone sat down at the dinner table to enjoy the feast that Cass had prepared.
Everyone attempted to choke through the charred turkey and swallow the black cookies, which Cass swore was just dark chocolate.
Then everyone gathered by the oak Christmas tree to open the paper-wrapped gifts.
As Feyre watched everyone exchange presents, she turned in Rhys' arms and wrapped her hands around his neck. The candlelight flickered in her eyes as she looked up at him. "Merry Christmas."
He whispered back to her, "Merry Christmas."
How do you think I did for my very first one?
Thank you so much for reading, and if you want more stories like this one, I am uploading daily oneshots for the following fandoms: A Court of Thorns and Roses, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir. Check out my profile for the upload schedule!
Merry Christmas!