The Christmas chapter! There were several times in this chapter where I could've ended it and I didn't, so enjoy this longer chapter!
Louie and Boyd decided to have a very quiet and calm Christmas with just the three of them. They made this decision because of their disastrous attempt at Thanksgiving with a toddler.
Mo had not had a good time on Thanksgiving. He'd never been to Uncle Scrooge's house before, so he was a little uneasy from the start. At lunch, he'd gotten a tummyache from the abundance of food and thrown up on daddy's shoes. Then he'd started crying because of the puke and because of the overwhelming amount of people. They'd taken him home pretty quickly after that, and it had taken him a while to calm down and feel secure again.
So they were going to have a very chill Christmas, determined to make it special for their son.
The first step? Find the perfect pet.
Mo was adorable in his little puffy coat. Like his papa, Mo got cold easily, so he liked to bundle up. To Louie's chagrin, Mo's favorite color was red, and his favorite toy was Cthulhu. He took after Huey so much, the similarities between the two of them were fascinating. Of course, only Boyd could see all the similarities between Louie and Mo. He knew the two would always be close. He wondered sometimes if Louie saw it that way. Because Louie was always dead set on making everything perfect.
Perfect puffy red coat, perfect car seat, perfect new kitty for their excitable little boy. Louie just really wanted things to be perfect for Mo. Which is hard, when your son is perfectly imperfect.
"Papa," Mo said as they buckled him in the car to take him to the animal shelter.
"Yes, Bug?"
"I hafta pee."
"We asked you when we were inside," Louie said, beginning to unbuckle him, a little frustrated.
"Sorry, papa."
"It's okay, thank you for letting me know. Next time we're going to use the potty before we leave, even if you say you don't have to."
"Okay, papa." He set him down outside of the car and Mo stomped gleefully through the snow, one hand holding his sunglasses to his face because the glaring white snow was extra harsh on his sensitive eyes.
Louie hurried after him to make sure that Mo was successful in his pursuits while Boyd kept the car warm.
The house was well-decorated, cozy, warm, and smelled of sugar cookies. They'd been doing a lot of baking and decorating, just a lot of things to make Christmas memorable and fun. All Mo wanted to do though, was play outside in the snow until his fingers were frigid. Then he would come inside sulking because he was cold until he was cuddled back to warmth. Louie liked the cuddles but wasn't as big a fan of standing in the cold watching Mo.
Mo got a little distracted by the warmth of the house and the smell of cookies, momentarily forgetting what they were doing until papa scooped him up and reminded him they were going to go get a kitty.
Mo lit up when he remembered and soon they were racing back to the car, headed to meet his newest best friend.
Boyd had thought that it would take them hours for Mo to pick out a kitty because Mo could be very particular and fussy. But it was almost instantaneous, when he saw his kitten, he knew. It was a little grey fluffball and as soon as Mo saw it he squealed.
"Daddy, papa! Look! My kitty!" Mo attached himself to the bars of the cage and began to coo at the kitten, the little guy just as smitten as Mo.
"You're sure? You don't want to look at the others? You want Teacup?" Louie asked. There was a little sheet of paper that had the kitten's picture, bio, and name, which was apparently Teacup.
"Teacup, Teacup, Teacup," Mo chanted in response, sticking his fingers through the bars to gently pet the ball of fluff. He was still vibrating with excitement but it was clear there had been a shift, and he had fallen totally in love with his new pet.
"Teacup it is then," Boyd said, grinning at his husband, loving how delighted their son was.
"Teacup it is," Louie agreed, going to go get the person in charge so they could go through with the adoption.
When they got home and brought Teacup's crate into the house, there was a tense pause, waiting.
"Let him out!" Mo whined.
"Wait," Louie said.
Mars strutted into the living room, sniffing and eyeing the box. The baby in the box. He meowed. Teacup meowed back.
Mars glanced at Louie and Boyd as if to say, "So we have two babies now?"
Then Mars walked away, fairly indifferent about the new kitten.
"Okay, I think we can let him out," Boyd said.
"Yay! My Christmas kitty!"
Louie nodded but held onto Mo's shoulders.
"Cats are real animals, Teacup is not your toy just like Mars is not your toy. If you get bored of Teacup we're not just going to go out and get a new one. Do you understand? Teacup is our cat and we're going to care for him whether or not he's always fun and cute and cuddly."
Mo let the words sink in, puzzling over them, and came to his conclusion.
He pointed to the kitten as Boyd let it out of the cage, "Teacup is family?"
"Yeah. He's part of our family. Which means we've got to take care of him, like how daddy and I take care of you."
"And Mars," Mo said.
"And Mars."
"Mars and Mo and Teacup and Papa and Daddy," Mo said, satisfied, before getting down on his knees to gently shower the new kitten with affection.
"That went surprisingly well," Louie whispered to Boyd as they watched Mo fuss over his new friend.
"I think he gets it," Boyd said, "Mo is smarter than we sometimes give him credit for."
"Do you think he's going to have a good Christmas?" The real thing was a few days away.
"Yes, Louie. He's going to have a great Christmas."
"I just want things to be perfect," Louie mumbled, worry already tugging at a frown.
"We should talk later," Boyd said, wanting to coax that idea of a perfect Christmas out of Louie's head, "And maybe we should watch the Grinch tonight."
"The first one with Jim Carey or the newer one with Benadryl Cumbersome?"
"Um, you know the Jim Carey version wasn't the first one, right?"
"Well, nothing could be better than the Jim Carey version."
"We're going to watch the original tonight," Boyd decided.
"Okay. It'll be nice seeing an old movie for the first time with Mo. I hope he likes it."
"Or maybe we could just watch it, the two of us."
"Why would we do that? It's a kids' movie, based on a book we've read to him, he'll love it."
"Yeah, I know. But, you know some of this Christmas can just be about us, right?" Louie looked at Boyd like he was some kind of alien.
"Yeah, I figured it would be hard getting through to you."
"Daddy! Come play with Teacup!" Teacup seemed less playful and more cuddly but Mo didn't seem to mind, his eyes were lit up with Christmas lights and adoration.
Louie went to straighten the Christmas tree while Mo and Boyd played with Teacup and Mars watched lazily from the couch. He glanced at the two cheesy ornaments that proclaimed their first Christmas together. He glanced at the adorable race car ornament that represented Mo's first Christmas with them. He had worked so hard to make it perfect for Mo, just like last year...
But last year hadn't been perfect! Last year he'd been healing from getting shot in the arm by a former employer, last year he'd been desperately trying to win the approval of Boyd's parents with knitted scarfs, last year he'd literally gotten his partner the exact same gift Boyd had gotten him. Last year had been a really dumb Christmas, actually. What had made it perfect was being with the people he loved. And… Boyd had been trying to tell him that all week.
A few hours later, Mo was nestled in his bed with the cats and Cthulu, and Louie and Boyd settled down on the couch with sugar cookies to watch the original Grinch movie.
"I know it might not go perfect," Louie murmured into Boyd's neck after the 25 minute long Christmas special played.
"Yeah? So you're going to stop putting so much pressure on yourself?" Boyd asked.
"Probably not," Louie laughed, "It's kind of my thing. But I'll really, really try, babe. For you, for us. For Mo."
"Do you, uh… Do you want to exchange gifts now?" Boyd looked a little eager.
"Oh my gosh, Boyd. You couldn't even wait till Christmas Eve. You're such a little kid about presents."
Boyd smiled and shrugged, "Guilty as charged."
"Okay, go get your gift and I'll find yours, it's not wrapped yet, though."
"That's okay." Boyd grinned giddily and hopped up.
Louie laughed and went into the guest room where he'd hidden part of Boyd's present. He'd moved his desk in there now that Gyro no longer lived with them and Mo had claimed the office for his own room. He came back, holding the gift behind his back, Boyd holding a big box on his lap.
"Boyd, what is this? I thought we said small gifts." Louie hadn't gotten Boyd a small gift but he had gotten Boyd the appearance of a small gift and that was basically the same thing.
"Oh come on, I know you. You don't do small gifts. But you do do sentimental gifts... So I've um… I've been talking with your Uncle and I think it's time we expand the photo wall."
Boyd handed Louie the box and Louie opened it, his eyes beginning to tear up when he saw the flood of photos with Donald and Della as kids. It was true that he didn't have any photos of her here, and only one of her at the pub, but this… This was perfect.
"We're going to have to buy so many more frames," Louie said through his tears.
"I've already set something up with your frame guy."
"I got you a car, I didn't know we were doing sentimental gifts, I can get you something else, I just, I figured you'd want something that didn't scream "Dad." I know you're not materialistic but it's okay to feel cool every now and then so… Here, the keys to your first convertible."
"Lou, what do you mean that's not sentimental? I told you I always wanted one when I was in college… It's the perfect gift. We'll go cruising."
"Just the two of us?" Louie guessed.
"When Mo's older he can come too. I love this little family, the past, the present, and the future."
"Yeah, me too. This has already been the greatest Christmas ever."
"And it's not even Christmas Eve."
"Yeah, but this year we have mistletoe."
Louie woke up from a nightmare. It made sense, he'd been having them every week since April and tonight had been full of crying, hanging up photos, eating sugar cookies, and hooking up with his husband so it would be understandable that his brain was even more crumbly than usual.
Not so crumbly, though, that the walls were speaking to him. That was definitely not normal. He crept through the house, wondering if that sound was one of Mo's creepy little toys that spoke, or the dancing Ms. Claus decoration that sang Santa Baby (a song Boyd had come to loathe). But, no, the sound was definitely coming from the new photos on the photo wall.
"Hey, if it's the ghosts of Christmas I'm all set on life lessons, family is the most important part about Christmas, I get it now. So maybe go bug my great uncle. His name is literally Scrooge."
"Oh, he'll probably be getting a visit. But I thought I'd visit you first, Rebel," a female voice responded.
What, rebel? Or was it Rebel?
"Mom?"
"In the flesh! Or, in the spirit. I guess it's pretty foggy. You got your Christmas present and your Christmas future right here, Louie, but if you come with me, you can enjoy a Christmas past, with your mom."
Louie felt choked up, "That's- that's all I've ever wanted."
"I know. And you deserve it, too. I mean, Dewey got it by breaking the rules and time traveling with a magic bug or whatever, and Huey may or may not have hijacked the time tub..."
Louie was stunned, "They never told me about that."
"Well, sometimes these things don't feel quite like reality."
"Yeah…" Louie blinked, squinting at the picture that was talking to him. He really should've been wearing his glasses right now. The picture featured Donald and Della in their early twenties, celebrating Christmas and looking really happy. Louie wanted that.
"Is there any way you could spend Christmas with us? Me, Boyd, and Mo? Oh, you'd love Mo."
"Mo doesn't even know who I am," Della pointed out from the picture, which Louie realized was painfully true. There'd been no pictures before tonight, no stories about Mo's courageous pilot grandma.
"...I'm sorry about that. But we can change that! Mo and Boyd could come with us!"
"No, Louie. Just you. It's always been just you." Della reached out of the photo, towards him, as if reaching for an embrace that Louie longed for, that Louie had longed for his whole life.
"Mom?" Louie said, stepping back and causing her to pause.
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"If I go with you, will I come back?"
Della fidgeted with her scarf.
"Don't you want to spend one perfect Christmas with your mom?"
"Not if it means I don't get to spend Christmas with my husband and son," Louie said, turning away and squeezing his eyes shut before he could break down.
"Oh, Louie… You don't understand now, but we're going to have the perfect Christmas. Over, and over, and over again." He felt her grab him and his whole body hit something hard and painful-
And then he realized he'd been walking, without the armor, seeing without his contacts, and now, he floated distinctly between nightmare and consciousness, willing himself to wake up.
When he did, he was on the ground, and there were no ghosts. Boyd looked frantic and Uncle Donald was in the corner, looking relieved when he saw Louie's eyes open.
"You can't die before Christmas," Boyd sobbed accusingly, gripping Louie's hand hard enough to break it.
"Who said anything about dying? What happened? I just had a weird nightmare. It's fine, Boyd."
"What you had and," Boyd cupped Louie's face and winced, "still have, is a fever. Must have spent too much time out in the cold yesterday, or worked too hard, or something."
"That explains the nightmare, I guess. A dream within a dream."
"Like Inception," Donald blurted.
"Like Inception. I'm okay, Boyd, Uncle Donald. I just need some water and some rest." His face fell, tomorrow was Christmas Eve, and if he was under the weather…
"Louie, stop thinking about the holidays. The most important thing is that you're healthy. We'll get you some medicine and lots of rest."
"It was never going to be perfect anyway," Louie said, resigned to his fate of bed rest before Christmas. That sounded like the name of a shitty Hallmark movie.
"At least you didn't get shot this year," Donald said helpfully.
"Thanks for coming, Uncle Donald, but you can go back home to Aunt Daisy. We've got this."
"Oh no, I'm staying, or I'm taking Mo to the houseboat. You and Mo both need someone right now. It's an early Christmas gift called babysitting. No receipt."
"You're not taking Mo to the houseboat," Louie said, a little angrier than he'd intended. He might be sick and feeling putrid but he was not about to miss out on his first Christmas with his son.
"No problem, I'll stay in the guest room. Good night, Louie. Get some rest."
"Are you okay?" Boyd asked when Donald had slipped away, dabbing Louie's face with a wet cloth.
"I feel like shit, but I'm used to that kind of thing so… I'm fine I guess. I hope I'm better soon."
"Don't even worry about Christmas, Louie. We're already the best dads ever because we got Mo a kitten, and you and I have already done presents, so we're good, right? We can just take it easy while you recover, right?"
"...Sure. But Mo stays here."
"Done. But he has to be kept away from you so he doesn't get sick."
"What?" Louie's face crumpled, thinking about his nightmare and the reality he had chosen instead. He wanted to be close to his son after the terror he'd experienced.
"Do you want to talk about your dream?" Boyd asked gently.
"No. I think I just want to go to bed. Wake me up when it's Christmas."
"Hey, remember that this is our first Christmas with Mo, not our last. It's gonna be okay."
"I feel like you've used this argument on me before."
"Well, we keep winding up like this."
"Fuck us, huh?"
"Yeah, yeah. Merry Christmas, Louie."
"The first of many."
"The second but semantics aren't important."
"Oh, shut up and spoon me."
"Whatever you say, Mr. Grinch."
Louie's fever put a damper on Christmas Eve and Christmas Eve Eve, though Mo reportedly had a blast with Uncle Donald (and Teacup) and Louie spent the time lazily rewatching Christmas movies and knitting while Boyd went back and forth between his boys.
Louie also thought a lot about the nightmare, which he'd had a variation of two more times before his fever broke for good. Of course, he wanted the chance to meet his mother and spend Christmas with her. But he would never, ever jeopardize the family he had now. Which meant no ouija boards, no time machine, no ghosts of Christmas past. His present and future were here and they were so much more important to him than any what-ifs. That was a hard thing to grapple with on Christmas Eve, but sometimes you needed to see that it had been a wonderful life all along.
On Christmas, Louie was feeling better enough to eat cinnamon rolls and watch Mo open up the books they'd gotten him. Donald went back to his wife and Boyd and Louie cuddled on the sofa while Mo attempted to read out loud to his kitten. He didn't actually know how to read yet, but he made up stories based on the pictures.
"This is nicer than I could've imagined," Louie said, glancing between their son and the photos on the wall. Later, when Mo was done "reading" he would tell the little boy the story of Della. He deserved to know about his grandma.
"Perfect?" Boyd asked.
"No. But I never really needed this to be the perfect Christmas, as long as we're together, as long as it's not the last."