Hey guys! It's honestly been forever since I uploaded a fic, and I'm super-gallifraxiously sorry.
BUT WAIT. It's December and I'm already in the 'Christmas Spirit' so I decided to write something for the holidays. Hope you like it! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize in this story, except for the plot, which again, is purely fictional.
Austin Moon was loving this Christmas time. It was almost a week till said holiday, and as he walked down the footpath, surrounded by shops all dolled up, with intricate wreaths, flashy lights, and a classy broken Santa that kept repeating the phrase "Have a joyful Chris-" in a robotic voice, driving away all children within a mile's radius, he couldn't help but smile, feeling content in his trademark grey beanie and comfy knit sweater, gloves adorning his hands that were holding a warm cup of happiness, aka hot chocolate.
New York was a wonderful place to be all year round, but one couldn't deny the beauty of the place specifically at this time of the year, snowflakes falling softly and kissing gently all the surfaces it touched. Completely oblivious to the appreciative glances being thrown his way, Austin maneuvered his way into the nearest store, depositing his now empty to-go cup into the trashcan. Goddamn it's freezing, he thought, shivering slightly, feeling overwhelmed by satisfaction as the warmth enveloped him.
Ouch!, Ally thought, annoyed. This isn't the graceful way I decided to bless the human race with my presence. Brushing off the snow from her cute little elfin clothes, complete with an adorable red sequined sweater, hand-stitched by Mama Claus, she wondered if this was the way her older friends plummeted onto the sheet of snow when they had their first assignments. Well of course not, Ally, you're the one who can't walk without tripping on thin air. Ally was one of Mama Claus's favourite elves, and she had come all the way from The North Pole, assigned on a special task to help a certain Austin Moon, an up and coming musician, successfully carry out a benefit concert for little kids from the local shelter, one that he had been planning for, for a long time. It would help if I at least knew how this guy looks. She didn't really bother doing anything with her clothes, because, hey, Christmas! Well, that and that she hardly ever got cold, what with living on one of the coldest places on earth and all that good stuff.
She ruefully thought back to all the time she spent freaking out over her assignment, and now that the time had come, had no clue what to do next. Ally heaved up the green bag she had brought along, containing all the mundane clothes she would need and more. I'd better not screw this up, she silently prayed, getting out of the little space she had landed in behind a shop called, What's that? Who names a store 'Arctic Puffin', she thought indignantly. I bet half the customers have no idea what a puffin is. Arranging her appearance, she rolled her eyes and thought about the hard time she was going to have. Perfectly acceptable that I don't get to use magic here. Thanks, Papa C.
Austin looked around the store he had entered for 'refuge'. Arctic Puffin? There were a few pictures of a sort of seagull-looking bird, but the walls were mostly covered with pictures of cute couples wearing a variety of winter clothing articles. He quickly shifted his eyes from a model posing in a santa-mistress worthy piece of clothing, complete with the whole background set up and a piece of arm candy. Tis' the season to be jolly, after all. He lazily looked around, his gaze casually drifting over the clothing items. Someone had been nice enough to put out holiday treats along with some sorts of sandwiches. Well. I guess the coffee wasn't enough. He excitedly bounded over to the large table, licking his lips. Choosing what he would proceed to stuff himself with as he went, his gaze suddenly stopped on a girl walking over said table a little hesitantly. She was not the type of girl you'd term to be 'hot', but she was extremely cute, and the little reindeer band she had on along with the sparkly red sweater reminded him of a little elf. As he moved closer to the food (of course I haven't forgotten about that.), he noticed that under her chocolate-caramel hair were tiny pinkish ears that were slightly pointed at the tips.
Mission: Prince Charming, under execution. Turning on the full force of his smile, he turned to the girl, having to look down a bit because of her short stature. Now that he got a good look at her face, he had come to a conclusion that she had one of the most beautiful faces he had ever seen. Like, not in the model sort of way, because the aura she gave off was of complete happiness and oh my god, her EYES. Austin here was a sucker for pretty eyes, and the confused ones he was staring into right now, were like clear blue glass. Like no kidding, they sparkled like the night sky on Christmas. Eyes that remind me of Christmas nights? Hell yeah!
"Well, ho-ho hello there, pretty lady", he smiled. Then, thinking over his sentence again, he came to a brilliant conclusion that starting off the first conversation with a girl by saying ho(e) wasn't very appropriate. Sure, he was trying to be festive and all, and since Christmas was his absolute favourite time of year, he was entitled to some excitement. What if she thinks I'm calling her a hoe. Oh. My. God. Not good, not good! Mission abort, Mission Ab-"
"Excuse me?" the girl inquired, sounding uncomfortable, probably noticing Austin's inner battle at his poor wordplay.
Did I just hear bells chiming, seriously Jesus why you do this? "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean that you were a hoe if that's what you thought", he fumbled,"It's just that, you know, Christmas really, really excites me and then I meant the ho ho as in Santa's ho and not the hoe ho, and I just really like your sweater!", he finished, shouting out the last part a bit loudly. The girl in front of him just looked really confused like she didn't understand a single thing, which she probably didn't, considering the word-vomit he had presented her with.
"First of all, calm down. Second, what's a hoe? Like the farmer's tool hoe? Why would you sort-of call me a farmer's hoe?" she demanded.
A farmer's hoe? This is not going well. "NOTHING! It's nothing. You're not a farmer's hoe or any hoe, you're just a cute little girl I plan to have a decent conversation with, nothing further involving agricultural implements of a farmer or any other tool of a farmer. No more farmers. Nada.", he clarified hurriedly.
"Great. I'm all for it. Now that we've established a stable relationship, would you mind telling me what this is?" she blushed slightly, though still having a firm tone.
"That's a….sandwich?" he replied unsurely.
"A sand witch? Why would you name a piece of bread a sand-witch? Ooh, are they prepared by witches?!" she asked excitedly.
O-kay, I see what she's doing here. Probably wants to drive me away after the whole hoe thing. "Not like sand and a witch separately,", he still replied, "it's spelled like S-A-N-D-W-I-C-H".
"Y-yeah, totally knew that.", she replied, looking away, with the adorable pink tint still adorning her cheeks.
Ally had just entered the Arctic Puffin after landing ceremoniously on the snow, mainly because she had no idea what to do next. Oh well. New day, new adventures. I'll probably figure out what to do tomorrow. Yeah, that's what I'll do, she resolved, feeling great contentment on receiving the warmth despite her body's adaptations to the cold. Okay, these have nothing to do with Puffy back at home, she thought disgustedly, looking at the posters. Got down the puffin part correct, at least, she rolled her doe-like eyes, catching a glimpse of the bird. Smack dab in the middle of the shop was a long table with, oh goody!, all her favourite treats, including some sort of layered…bread? Still contemplating on whatever in Jesus' name that was, she totally didn't see the blond boy coming towards her. It was only when she noticed a pair of ankle-length, big-looking, laced pair of black shoes right below her face, did she finally look up. The face that greeted her was that of a teenage boy, with platinum-blond messy hair, a sort of snow cap which people here called 'beanies', for some reason (yeah, she'd done her research) and a warm sweater. The sober colours somehow brought out his features, enhancing his cheekbones and hazel and gold-green eyes, framed by long lashes. She was in the middle of appreciating his facial structure, when his voice brought her out of her reverie.
After making some sort of attempt at Christmas cheer, she noticed that his face went completely blank for a second before panic began running across all its lines. As amusing as it was to watch his turmoil, she decided to spare him by asking what exactly he meant, when he decided to launch into an 'Elf of the Year' worthy rampage involving multiple variations of ho, along with Papa C's one, which she loved dearly. She finally cut him off, hoping the firm tone in her voice would mask the laughter she felt bubbling up. After a brief enquiry on whether she was compared to a piece of metal, where did that come from, for god's sake, these people, she totally bypassed the 'cute' comment, not being able to help the blush that crept up her face, making her look like an absolute freaking cherry and turned to the layered bread that had sparked her curiosity, asking the…polite stranger, for lack of kinder words, the first thing that came to her mind. What followed was a completely unexpected explanation, followed by Ally's fascination with a piece of bread, since she had bothered to look up mundane fashion style, rather than the food she would actually have to buy and eat at some point in the week to come. Sensing that she was probably weirding out the stranger, she tried to play it off, picking said sandwich, and taking a bite.
"Sweet Jesus, I need these things back at-", she cut off hurriedly, stuffing her big mouth with a large bite of turkey.
But the boy in front didn't really seem to mind. He actually seemed amused. "I will do you a favor this year and pray for the availability of sandwiches from whichever isolated forest you have come from', he said serenely, though his eyes held humor.
"Ah, yes. And some of these wonderful posters depicting a hearty relationship too, please", she smiled innocently.
The smile slowly faded from golden boy's face and he actually looked a little worried, probably for her mental state.
"Kidding! I totally got you, you should've seen your face, you", she laughed heartily, seemingly unaware of the remaining customers in the shop.
Austin kind of lost it when the girl expressed a liking to those posters, deciding whether to abandon all attempts at conversation and proceed to get the food for which he had come, or-but wait. The girl was laughing, and all he could picture was the bright white smile he was presented with. "You're really pretty", he said dazedly, half noticing the way her laughter cut up short and her cheeks flared brighter than before, fully aware of how completely whipped he was.
At that exact moment, his phone bleeped, signaling a message from his mother. Something about helping her decorate the house and distribute sweets to the neighborhood. Austin normally loved doing this, helping to get everyone in the spirit, but today he was plain annoyed, what with his meeting getting cut short. Meeting. Now that's what this is termed as. He looked up (or rather down) back at her, and said apologetically, "That was my mom. She's calling me home to run some errands. Actually, it's really fun because I get to be Santa sometimes and distribute sweets!', he explained feverishly.
Ally couldn't believe how adorable this boy was. First he was cute, and he loved Christmas as much as her? Mundane, mundane, mundane. She shook her head, remembering the real reason she was sent to this place. As much as she was fascinated, she had to get a move on since she had no clue who Dustin? Justin? Oh yes, Austin Moon was, and she had just a week to complete her task. So instead, she smiled at the bundle of energy in front of her, and said, "It's no worries. Actually, I've also got to get going, 'cause I'm trying to figure out a lot of things as well."
The boy dimpled, "Of course. You can tell me all about your 'things', if you'd like, that is, when we meet over for coffee sometime." There, I said it. Let the bomb drop.
Ally, though taken aback, replied, "I actually prefer hot chocolate though, so…"
He smiled further, "Perfect. So, can I get your number then?"
"My what?"
"You know, the several digit long numerical values that one uses to communicate with one's contacts, and all that good stuff", he replied in all seriousness.
Ally remembered the little electronic device she had been given for communication purposes. Apparently Mama Claus was more 'hip' than she was, and had demanded she take the sleek 'flip-phone', as it was called, in case of emergency. She knew the basic function of calling a required number, but had never imagined she'd need to save one, since she was pretty sure she wouldn't be using it to do so. But still, here she was, taking a random stranger's number, when she was supposed to be doing something else.
She handed the phone to the boy, asking him to do the needful. "It'd be better if you'd save it. I never know what I might punch on that thing", she muttered the last part, not noticing the way his lips curved upwards.
"I don't really trust myself either. I'm not very equipped in dealing with ancient artifacts from the Stone Age", he teased. Now, Ally knew enough to know that that was a jab at her tech stuff. She glared at him while he laughed good naturedly, handing back the phone to her. She forgot to check the name of the boy, caught up in saying goodbye for the day.
"Can I get your name again, cutie?" he winked.
"Ally."
"Ally. That rolls off the tongue nicely", he observed, backing out of the store as he spoke.
Still in a daze, Ally forgot to ask the boy's name even as he went, watching his silhouette get smaller before snapping out of her trance. My first day in mundane world went well, she thought smugly.
Just then, her phone buzzed, and she opened the (SMS?) icon, only to read,
17/11/15 8:13 p.m.
Hey Ally,
The boy who took your number a few minutes ago? Yeah, that's me. Our meeting today was sure an interesting start I can't wait to experience the next ones. By the way, haven't your parents told you not to trust strangers? Hey, but I'm glad you decided to trust me because that one beautiful cup of hot cocoa would go to waste without having you to share it with. So I'll call you tomorrow, yeah? It's been a long day.
The boy whose name you forgot to ask for,
Austin Moon
Austin Moon? Merry freaking Christmas to me.
A/N: So that's that! I was thinking of making this a multi-chapter fic. What do you think? Is it good enough? Let me know in the reviews!
R&R
-Ria xx