Author's note:
Hello!
I felt like writing a Christmassy drabble to lift my spirits a bit. Looking at my reader traffic, one story that you all seem to go back to of mine is Overseas Transfer, so I thought of this...
You don't have to have read OT before reading this, particularly as it is a higher rating than this short drabble. In that case, you can ignore this paragraph and just read it as is. This is a festive alternative beginning for that story, if you like. Basically, instead of moving to America straight after their mother's funeral, Nick and Natalie stayed behind for a few weeks before joining their father in Ohio.
I hope you all have a peaceful and happy holiday time and a very Merry Christmas to you if you celebrate it!
Nick's feet hurt. The forced jolly voices in the Christmas music streamed through the mall making shoppers part with their hard-earned cash more easily was getting on his last nerve.
He sighed, trying to snap himself out of this bad mood. It was December 1st, the Christmas spirit was seeping into everything around him.
Except him.
This had been the single toughest year of his life so far. His parents had divorced, his mother had been tragically killed in a car accident and he and his sister had been uprooted from England to America with their father to start a new life. Even the move had been delayed by issues when buying his father's new house. Our house. Nick corrected himself. They had remained in school for the autumn term in England before flying out to join their father later than intended.
At the thought of his sister, Natalie, he looked down at her. She was trying to wait patienty in the queue to see Santa, whilst twirling around staring up at the twinkling lights on the huge Christmas tree next to Santa's grotto. The tree was adorned with silver tinsel and pink, silver and purple baubles.
"It's sooo pretty!" she whispered in awe. "Santa will help make Christmas okay, Nicky, I just know it."
Nick watched his sister quietly. She had had the same awful year he had, but for this one tiny moment suspended in time she was smiling.
He mentally thanked the managers of the mall for setting up such a nice tree and convincing grotto if it lifted his sister's spirits for a little while. Nine-year-olds didn't need to be sad and depressed at Christmas.
When it was time for Natalie's turn, she bounced in eagerly through the sparkly beaded curtain and out of Nick's sight. He waited for her just outside, hoping that whoever was playing the part of Santa wouldn't inadvertently upset her about their mother.
A few minutes later, the sparkly curtain covering the door to the grotto parted and Nick stepped inside to collect Natalie. He could see her and Santa chatting, with whatever Natalie was saying making the jolly bearded man chuckle with a deep rumbling "Ho, ho, ho!"
The young girl hopped off of the seat next to Santa and announced to her brother, "I asked for a present for you too, Nicky, even if you are too old to ask for yourself." She looked very pleased with herself.
Nick wasn't sure whether he should ask or not, but the way Santa was smiling at him in an amused way made him curious. "Er, what did you ask for Natalie?"
Santa interrupted, "Well, let's just say you have a very kind sister who is concerned for your happiness...and thinks you may be a little lonely."
Nick's eyes widened and he tried to grasp Natalie's hand to leave before anything got awkward. Any minute now, Santa was bound to say something about him finding a nice girlfriend. However, Natalie was too engrossed in choosing a gift from the ones piled up to the side.
"Er, no, no! I'm fine! Really! Not at all lonely. Nope. Not me." Nick stuttered out, trying to get Natalie to leave.
"It's okay Nicky, I told him you're gay so it has to be a boy! Duh! I'm not stupid!" Natalie chirped loudly, still not looking up from her task.
Nick's blood ran cold and his eyes widened in horror. The fact that some random, fat, bearded man in Ohio who was dressed up as Santa knew he was gay didn't bother him. It was the prospect of said man becoming aggressively homophobic in front of a still-believing Natalie that panicked him. After the year they'd had, he didn't want Natalie to lose her belief in Santa too.
He waited for Santa to start yelling while desperately trying to will Natalie to choose her present more quickly. He whisper-shouted urgently to his sister, whilst trying to avoid Santa's gaze. "Oh my god, Natalie! You did not just tell Santa I need to get laid!" He didn't mean to be so sharp or rude with her, but he just wanted to leave. Now.
"Can I have this paint-your-own fairy, please, Santa?" Natalie asked sweetly, smiling at the red and white-clad man, still oblivious to Nick's distress.
After a few unbearable moments, Nick realised that there was no shouting. He finally dared to look directly at the man, at the same time trying to spot the tell-tale signs of elastic to hold the fake beard on, but he couldn't. There was a warm twinkle in Santa's eyes as he met his gaze and the jolly man smiled. Santa gestured for Nick to come closer to him and Nick took a few hesitant steps to his side.
"Don't worry, Nicholas. Your sister is only trying to be kind to you at Christmas time, and out of the many boys and girls I have seen today, you two are of the most deserving." Nick gulped and his eyes flickered to his sister, then back at Santa, who was reaching into his pocket to take something out. He handed it straight to Nick.
Nick took the offered piece of paper, noting that it was a schedule of events happening that day in the mall. He hadn't seen Santa use a pen, but circled near the bottom of the list was an event listed as "McKinley High School Gymnastics Display, 3.30pm". Puzzled, Nick looked back up at Santa. "McKinley? That's the school I'm starting at on Monday. How did you know?"
Santa smiled an all-knowing smile, but didn't answer the question. Nick could swear the understanding and empathy emanating from the man was almost tangible. "This is my gift for you, Nicholas. It's not one of the usual gifts I give, but I think it will help you through the holiday this year." He patted Nick's arm.
Now Nick was even more confused. "Er, thanks. Well, we'd better be going, as this starts in ten minutes. Come on Natalie, say goodbye and thank you to Santa."
Natalie flung her arms around a smiling Santa before thanking him and following Nick out of the grotto. Nick ignored the impatient looks on the faces of the parents waiting to go next.
It crossed Nick's mind to just go home and not see the gymnastics display, but Natalie could read him like a book and firmly steered him towards the seating area in front of the temporarily-erected stage. She marched straight up to the front row where a couple of seats were still empty and plonked herself down, waiting for Nick to join her. He rolled his eyes and sat down, placing their shopping bags under his seat carefully, before looking back up at the stage.
He became aware of the boys sat to his left, clad in letterman jackets with what appeared to be the McKinley High School logo on. They were clearly there to disrupt whatever display was about to start. They were already heckling the students setting up on stage, laughing loudly at their tight lycra outfits and leering at the girls openly.
Nick saw a boy at the back of the group with a mop of bright blond hair. He couldn't help but appreciate just how tight his blue lycra suit fit his lithe body, showing off all of his taut muscles. Nick licked his lips. Clearly the jocks next to him had seen him to, as now they started yelling obscenities at him. Natalie glared at the particularly large jock immediately on his left when he started yelling homophobic slurs too.
The display consisted of athletic routines and tumbles to very fast-paced Christmas music, which was thankfully loud enough to drown out most of the jock's shouting. Nick was glad he had stayed to watch it though, because the team were actually very good and he had already decided that on his first day at school he would seek out the blond boy and see if he was gay and single.
At the end of the display, the music was gearing up for a final all-out impressive tumble sequence. Each student went in turn with the most impressive displays of skill yet, and suddenly the blond boy was powering down the mat angled diagonally across the stage, ending right where they were sat.
Almost in slow motion, Nick saw the jock next to him sling something onto the stage, just as the boy was trying to land a flip. Nick knew there was no way the boy could land without toppling backwards or sideways off of the 3 foot high stage and he stood up, arms outstretched, trying to help break the fall. The next moment his breath was slammed out of his chest with an "Ooof" as he caught an armful of the lycra-clad boy, shoving him backwards to sit back in his chair, still clutching onto the shocked gymnast who was now sat in his lap.
Hysterical laughter drowned out the sound of the shocked audience as the jocks pointed at the pair. "Jeff! You never said you had a faggot boyfriend! What school does he go to? Where have you been hiding him?"
Nick looked sideways at Natalie, relieved to see she had jumped out of the way and was standing, glaring hatefully at the jocks. He felt the boy shift in his lap, and turned to meet his embarrassed gaze.
"Oh my god! I'm so sorry! Have I hurt you? I don't know what happened." The blond boy struggled to get up, clearly worried that Nick was angry with him.
Nick stood up and put his hand on his upper arm. "Don't worry! Are you okay? I saw them try to trip you and I just tried to break your fall. Have you hurt anything?" He left his hand there, making sure the boy didn't fall over after that shock. "I'm Nick, by the way, and this is my sister, Natalie." He smiled, trying to get the boy to relax.
"I'm Jeff. Thank you for catching me, I should've guessed they'd try something, they do things like that all the time at school."
"Why?" Nick asked. He saw the jocks being asked to leave the audience by the coach of the gymnastics team, still yelling and laughing.
Jeff bit his lip and fiddled with his fringe nervously before answering, which Nick thought made him look even more attractive, if that was possible.
"Because I'm the only gay guy at school." He turned, clearly thinking that this would mean Nick and Natalie would stop talking to him. He hopped up onto the stage and only turned round when Nick called his name.
"Well from Monday, there'll be two of us." He winked at Jeff, enjoying the shocked expression and blush which flooded the boy's pale cheeks, before he retrieved his bags and led Natalie out of the mall.
Nick's eyes fell on the grotto as they passed it on the way out. I wonder... Thought Nick. No. He wouldn't have known that would happen...would he?
I hope you enjoyed that! Reviews would be lovely :)