Is it anywhere nearChristmas? Nope. Is this a Christmas fic? Yep. Am I posting it anyway? Yep.
this is definitely a Meena/Johhhy fic. And as you probably could tell from the title, this is going to be some fun with mistletoe placement. Staring a clueless gorilla, a shy elephant, and a mischievous porcupine.
Mr. Moon had gone all out in terms of decorating this year. Christmas colors were everywhere backstage and in the practice rooms in the forms of ribbons, writhes, bowls of holiday candy and any other festive decor the Koala could find. Johnny smiled at all the decorations as he entered the office and started practicing. Focused on rehearsing the piece in front of him, he was somewhat oblivious to his surrounding, and completely unaware of the sprig of mistletoe hanging above the piano. He didn't think anything of Mrs. Crawley peaking him on the cheek as she hobbled out of the office or Rosita walking over to kiss him on the forehead when she passed by. More of the theater family circulated through the office at different points in the day and Johnny still didn't notice anything off. He just smiled back when Gunter blew him a kiss and was confused when Mike glanced his way, gave an odd look and said "Nope." aloud before leaving, but the gorilla didn't spare it much though.
Close to mid day, Ash wondered into the office. She took a couple of minutes to take stock of the set up and her face lite up with mischievous joy. She quickly grabbed the papers she had come in for (and heaping handful of candy from the nearest bowl) and headed back toward a the door before stopping short.
"Hey Johnny." She said to get the gorilla's attention. She tossed a small object his way which he just barely caught. "That's counts" the porcupine stated and left before Johnny say or react to anything. Confused, he looked at the object in his hand and found that she had thrown chocolate kiss candy at him. 'Counts for what?' He thought. For the first time that day, he started to feel as though something was off, like there was some joke he wasn't in on. He contemplated going after Ash and just asking her, but opted to shrug it off in favor trying to play through the piece of music in front of him without fumbling.
Not even five minutes later, Meena ambled into the office. She glanced around the room looking for what she had been sent in for, a metronome and some Holiday sheet music, quickly found them innocently set on top of the piano. Right under the mistletoe and on the other side of Johnny. Meena shifted uneasily from foot to foot, trying to figure out what to do. Finally, she sighed heavily and spoke up.
"Um, Johnny?" Her voice wavered as she spoke. But she had already started, so she blurted out her question before overthink it. "C-could you move for a second please?"
"Oh, yeah, sure." Johnny said with smile as he tripped over himself a bit to get up and out of her way quickly. He didn't look offended, much to Meena's relief.
A little voice in the back of Johnny's mind asks why she hadn't just reached around him, but it was stomped out by him need to be a gentleman. Meena still kept her distance until Johnny was clear of the piano before moving forward and collecting what what she needed. The cockney teen leaned against Mrs. Crawley's desk as his watched Meena. At one point, she glanced over at him and caught his stare. Johnny quick jerked his gaze away and pretended to be looking around the room. After glancing about for a moment, he finally notice the green sprig casually hanging above the piano.
"Is that mistletoe?" He chuckled out, the recollection of the day's earlier events dawning on him. "So that's why everyone's been- Oy, you made me move!" Johnny's eyes when wide as the realization stuck him and he glared at Meena playfully. The elephant squeaked and straighten up, papers and metronome clutched to her chest. Her mouth open to say something but she was too flustered from having been caught to produce words, which Johnny may or may not have found absolutely adorable. She stared wide-eyed at him for a moment before turning and ducking out of the office, muttering a quick apology as she rushed out. "That's cheatin'!" The gorilla called out after her, a teasing smile plastered over his face.
"I'm awkward!" Meena shot back helplessly as she retreated further down the hall. Her response only furthered Johnny's amusement. He looked at the door the elephant had just exited through wearing something between a smirk and dopy smile on his face.
Once a safe distance away from the office, Meena allowed herself to slow to a normal walking pace. She sighed deeply and tried to will the color from her face. After she had calmed herself a bit, she slouched against a wall and glared at the items in her arms with her brow furrowed in confusion. Why had Ash even sent her to get those items? It's not like the rocker had any use for old Christmas sheet music and Meena was sure she had never seen the Ash use a metronome before. So why had the porcupine been so insistent about Meena getting them? With another sigh, the elephant pushed herself off wall, items still cradled near her chest, and walked off to find her smaller friend.
The day carried on as it usually did for Johnny. After lunch, he got caught up in his practice and work around the theater. He only managed to play through his new piece a grand total of two times without messing up. Mr. Moon had to pull Johnny out of his concentration and tell him he could go home.
The teen got up from his piano bench, stretched, and grabbed his jacket. He heading down the hall and stopped short at the top of the stairs. Right next to the base of the stairs, he saw Eddie and Meena discussing something with Meena half-leaning on the handrail by the last step. An idea popped into Johnny's head and after contemplating it for half a second, he rushed back to the office. A moment later, he was speed walking towards the stairs again, moving quickly as to carry out his little plan before he lose the nerve to.
"'Ey, Meena!" Once at the top of the stairs again, Johnny called out Meena's name to get her attention and tossed a small object high in the air towards her. Instinctively, Meena's trunk reached out and caught the object even as she winced and shut her eyes in expectation of an impacted. After she nabbed the object and realized it didn't feel heavy or harmful, her eyes peeked open and she tried to examine the small green thing her trunk held above her head. She couldn't register what it was before Johnny had sped down to the final step on the stair case, putting him close to eye-level with the tallest member of the theater group. The gorilla paused at the bottom step and in one fluid motion; swung himself in a little using the hand rail, chastely pressed a kiss that lasted a moment longer than he had planned on Meena's now exposed lips, and then ducked past her towards the exit.
Meena froze. It was all over in a matter of seconds, but the initial contact still made her thoughts come to a screeching halt. Just as suddenly as it has started, Johnny disappeared and the paralyzed elephant was left to try to process what just happened. "Merry Christmas!" She heard him tossed over his shoulder as he left. This caused the gears in Meena's head to start turning again as she peered up and a familiar sprig of mistletoe held in her trunk.
"Yeeeoooow!" Gunter called out from his viewing spot backstage and Eddie sputtered out laughing in surprise and amusement. Both made Johnny's face heat up. He had kind of forgotten other animals were around to witness his cheeky, little scheme. The reactions just made him walk a little faster towards the exit. When he finally built up the nerve to look back over his shoulder, he saw a stunned Meena and a snickering Eddie. The elephant was just reviving and slowly began to look in the direction Johnny left, but Johnny quickly turned his head back as his face started going warm again.
He practically booked it to the door, suddenly not wanting to see his friend's delayed reaction. Once outside, he leaned back on the door for support. The confidence he had felt going in was gone, leaving him red faced and wondering if that was the greatest idea of his life or one the stupidest things he's ever done.
Welp, that was fun. If these get any attention, I'll write some more.
Laters!