Yancy's Christmas Carol

~Chapter Three~
Gift Exchange

A slight snowfall sprinkled lightly over the settlements of Aspertia City as Yancy approached her destination; a humble, but well-maintained, house near a small, partially-frozen body of water around the southeastern corner of the peaceful city. A mighty Emboar was napping comfortably outside on the lawn, unbothered by the winter's chill due to the self-generated heat from his flaming beard, as a few other familiar Pokemon sat gathered around to bask lazily in his fire's warmth. The pink-haired girl paused at the property line, staring at the door in deep thought as she clutched a little box in her hand with the words 'To: Nate From: Yancy' printed on the tag. (She didn't cross out 'From' to replace it with 'Love' in this case, even though she would have liked to, since she wasn't entirely confidant that it would be socially acceptable with non-family.)

'Well, here it is...' she mentally said to herself as she gazed at the small house ahead; 'Nate's house... Ah, I'm still a little nervous yet..!' It was just a few days ago that she had learned of his feelings for her celebrity persona Nancy during that encounter at the mall, which has left her feeling a little awkward about facing him again. Although they briefly talked a few times on the Xtransceiver since then, but this was their first time meeting again in-person following that incident, making Yancy worry that the awkward atmosphere of before could possibly still be lingering between them yet when she sees him again. More specifically, she feared she may never be able to look at him the same way anymore now that she knew the disappointing truth about where his affections lie.

Although a part of her was relieved and even flattered to know that the girl he was so deeply infatuated with was, in fact, none other than herself under another guise and not someone who could actually steal him away from her, but at the same time, the fact that the boy she had been on the verge of falling in love with shared a close connection with her real self and yet still pined instead for her alter ego whom he has only ever seen on a screen was honestly quite the blow to both her heart and self-esteem alike; as if the one person aside from her family that she had felt she could really be herself around also unwittingly believed in his heart that she wasn't good enough as just Yancy, and that only the superficial Nancy was truly worthy of affection. It was enough to make her somewhat resent her alter ego, almost as if Nancy was an unbeatable rival who insists on stealing every little thing away from her and leaving the real Yancy as a forgotten shadow meant to be forever overlooked.

As much as it pained her to have to come to terms with, she found that a part of her was even beginning to question deep down whether the connection she thought she had with Nate was truly as genuine as she always believed it to be. Not that she was doubting Nate personally, of course; it was more of her own sense of judgement that she was second guessing. After all, she never would have taken him to be the type to obsess over celebrities, and yet so he was, which just went to prove to her that her personal judgement was unreliable. Was it truly her personality as 'Yancy' that made him enjoy her company as she had always presumed? Or could it be that it was merely her apparent resemblance to his crush 'Nancy' that has been drawing him to her this whole time? Although she still held hope that it was the former, she was beginning to realize that she couldn't just rule out the latter as a possibility, which made her wonder whether or not he ever would have taken the time to bond with her in the first place had she been anyone else and looked less attractive.

The girl took a deep breath to calm herself. She couldn't allow such disheartening thoughts to consume her. Even if it should turn out to be true that she had been idealizing Nate this whole time, that the connection she thought she had with him wasn't truly as deep and unique as she had assumed it to be, he has still always treated her—the real her—with utmost respect and kindness and would remain a dear friend to her either way. That much she knew she could count on, so there was no point wasting any more time pondering.

...Especially since standing out in the cold was making her feel quite chilly at the moment.

Pocketing her small gift, she approached the front door of Nate's house and pushed the button on the doorbell to make her arrival known. To her surprise, however, a small security camera that must have been recently installed above the door had activated in response and turned to view her. "NEW FACE DETECTED," declared a robotic-sounding voice over the speaker. "ANALYZING NOW..."

Yancy instinctively jolted with a surprised squeak, but quickly shook off the initial startle and found the new device fascinating. "Wah..?! Oh, wow! That's new!"

The camera angled itself up and down to analyze the unregistered guest. "ANALYZING... ANALYZING... —WOAH! GORGEOUS CUTIE ALERT! HUBBA HUBBA!" said the robotic voice with a sudden burst of apparent excitement.

Now the lass was really taken by surprise. "Ah... What?" was all she could say in response.

"WAZZUP, DOLL? COME AROUND HERE OFTEN? I SURE HOPE SO!" flirted the talking camera. "CARE TO TELL ME YOUR NAME SO I CAN REGISTER YOU IN MY DATABASE, SWEETHEART?"

"Um... My name is Yancy..?" she replied awkwardly, trying to wrap her head around the fact that she was getting hit on by a machine.

"YANCY? OH, YES. MASTER NATE SPOKE OF YOUR COMING ARRIVAL...BUT UTTERLY FAILED TO MENTION YOUR EXQUISITE BEAUTY, FAIR LADY. WHAT A HAPPY DAY FOR MY VISUAL SENSORS! OOH LA LA!"

"So, um... is Nate here?"

"THAT SKINNY DWEEB? HE CAN WAIT, TOOTS. SURELY A SMOKING BEAUTY LIKE YOURSELF HAS TIME FOR BETTER THINGS THAN HANGING AROUND SOME DERPY LOSER LIKE HIM... FOR EXAMPLE, MAYBE GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH A HUNKY, STATE-OF-THE-ARTS SMARTCAM? —WHICH, BY THE WAY, HAPPENS TO BE SINGLE. WINK-WINK."

By this point Yancy was getting over the awkward bewilderment and just trying not to burst out laughing at the ridiculous situation, wondering just what kind of weirdo even programmed this crazy AI. "I'll pass..." she said suppressing a laugh. "If you could just let Nate know I'm here, please."

"SERIOUSLY? WHAT DOES THAT DORK HAVE THAT I DON'T?! FINE... I WILL GIVE HIS XTRANSCEIVER A PING... TSK! STUPID FLESH AND BONES GET ALL THE LUCK!"

About ten seconds later and Nate was at the door. "Yancy! Good to see you!" he greeted her warmly.

Immediately upon seeing him, all the nervousness and trepidation Yancy had felt earlier seemed to vanish right away, causing her to feel rather silly for having ever expected an awkward atmosphere. The familiar and genuine smile on his face instantly reminded her why she always felt comfortable be herself around him, and she found herself unable to keep herself from smiling back even if she wanted to. "It's good to see you, too, Nate!"

"Thanks for coming," said the boy as he led her indoors by the hand and proceeded to take her coat like a gentleman to place on the nearby hanger, along with her hat and bag. "It's been awhile since we last hung out at my home like this."

"Thank you for having me," she replied as she removed her wet boots to dry. "My job's been keeping me constantly busy lately. It's good to finally take a little break."

"Hey, how'd you like some hot chocolate?" he offered. "I'm sure you could use something to warm up after having just gotten out of the cold."

"Ooh! That sounds lovely! Thank you!"

"Then I'll get some brewing right away! Make yourself at home."

Yancy took a seat on the couch as Nate got to work in the nearby kitchen. "So I see you got a talking smartcam installed above your door since last time I was here," she said to him as her eyes wondered around the room, admiring the cozy atmosphere brought about by the current Christmas decor. "Quite the amusing little gadget, isn't it?"

"Yeah, my grandparents had gotten it for their own place a few months back but recently sent it to me and my mom as an early Christmas present instead," explained Nate as he placed two cups in the microwave and started heating them. "...Personally, I think they just couldn't figure out how to install it and decided to pass it off onto us just to be rid of it, but hey, I'm not complaining."

"Ah ha ha! Sounds like a grandparent-y thing to do, alright!" Yancy laughed heartily. "So I'm guessing it must have customizable 'personality' settings that determine how it interacts with people?"

Nate shrugged. "I'm still figuring it out yet... It's connected to an app that I've installed on my Xtransceiver, so I've just been kinda playing around with it and seeing what it can do."

"Well, I can say its current mannerisms are certainly...um...'interesting'..."

"A little awkward to interact with?"

"Yeah, a little..."

"I know what you mean. It does feel weird to have to talk to a lifeless piece of machinery that's incapable of expressing any sort of emotion or personality, but you get used to the robotic interactions after awhile."

Yancy gave him a puzzled glance. Clearly the description he just gave of the AI's manner of interaction was nothing like what she had just experienced! "Um... riiiight..." she said suspiciously as she observed his perfectly casual expression, trying to decipher whether he really was oblivious to the flirtatious, elitist behavior that his smartcam had expressed or if he was just pulling her leg. He has always been such an exceptional actor and so it could be hard to tell with him, but she also knew him to be a playful prankster, so the latter seemed to be the far more likely case. Knowing his goofy sense of humor, she was pretty sure he probably selected the current personality settings himself, which she humored him for with an unconvinced smirk.

*DING!*

"Hot chocolate's ready!" said Nate as the microwave finished heating. After removing the cups and adding mini-marshmallows to them, he brought one to Yancy and placed a serving-trey full of other holiday treats down on the table in front of the couch where she was seated. "Here, help yourself to any snacks that strike your fancy while it cools. We've got plenty to spare."

"Why, thank you!" smiled Yancy as she took her cup in one hand and helped herself to a Christmas cookie shaped like a winter Sawsbuck with the other. "Did your mom make these herself?"

"Nah. She's a terrible cook," Nate casually answered with such blunt honesty that Yancy nearly choked on her cookie trying to stifle a laugh. "My grandma always makes tons of this stuff whenever any holiday comes around and gives it to us by the truckload, so all of this is yet another early grandparent-gift we got alongside the security camera this year."

"Pfft! I...*cough!* —I see..!" said Yancy as she struggled to swallow while suppressing her giggles.

"Hey, and speaking of early gifts..." Nate said as he picked up a wrapped box from under the tree before turning to face her with a smile. "Merry early-Christmas, Yancy! —I guess now's as good a time as any to give you this, since I probably won't see you on Christmas day."

Yancy nearly jumped up in surprise. Although she had long planned to get him a gift herself she was not expecting anything in return, much less before she even had the chance to tell him that she had something for him as well. "Oh! Y-you didn't have to get me anything..!" said the flustered lass with a slight blush tinting her cheeks.

"Oh, I didn't?" kidded Nate with a look of mock-surprise. "Alright then, if you say so. I think I still have the receipt around here, so I should be able to get my money back..."

"Ah ha ha! You know I didn't mean it like that, silly!" laughed Yancy at his humor as she set down her cup and wiped her hands from the cookie. "Actually, it just so happens I brought something for you, too, so I suppose I'm in no place to object even if I wanted to! Hee hee!"

Now it was Nate's turn to be humbled with surprise, as he wasn't expecting to receive anything either. "What? For me? Really?"

"Yeah, I have it right... uh..?" A look of concern briefly began to fall upon Yancy's face as she felt herself up and down but couldn't find the gift in any of her pockets, though realization quickly dawned on her; "Oh, right! It's in my coat pocket! Just a sec..!" After springing up from her seat and making a quick dash back to the coat-hanger, she swiftly returned with the small box she arrived with. "Sorry about that. Here it is!"

Nate chuckled. "You know you didn't have to do that, right?"

"Neither did you, but you still did," she smiled back as they exchanged their gifts.

"Fair point," said Nate as they sat down together on the couch. He then motioned for her to open her present. "Anyway, ladies first!"

"Thank you!" Yancy's fingers trembled with all the excitement of a child as she looked over the present in her hands, anticipating what it could be before opening. It was a medium-sized box measuring a little over one square-foot wide and between three and four inches tall; it made little sound when shaken and was very lightweight. A sweater or dress, maybe? A small but touching detail she noticed was the way he signed the tag, which didn't even fully fit on the printed lines;

To: Yancy, my treasured friend
From: Nate, with love & gratitude

Seeing such simple yet meaningful words of unashamed affection addressed to her on such an otherwise-standard tag brought an unexpected—but fully welcome—warmth to her heart and slight tears to her eyes. The girl found herself staring at the tag much longer than she intended, which raised an eyebrow from Nate who had never suspected that his simple gesture could mean so much to her. "Um... I think tearing at the paper's folding would be the best place to begin..?" suggested the puzzled boy, unsure why she was taking so long to simply start unwrapping.

"Hm..? Oh! Right..!" said a flustered Yancy as she was snapped out of her thoughts. Tearing away the paper, what she fished out from the box was a folded vest made of waterproof fabric with two small buttons near the front zipper that seemed to have LED lights beside them. "Oh? Is this..?"

"...An electrically heated vest!" Nate finished for her with a big grin. "It has a chargeable battery-pack that's supposed to last for several hours, which I had fully charged for you ahead of time so that you can use it right away. Try it out!"

Yancy had to admit Nate was full of creative surprises. Of all the possible things he could have gotten for her, something like this would have never even crossed her mind, but now that she had been presented with it, she was quite thrilled to receive such a useful thing (although she was kinda hoping for something of a more sentimental value, but practical gifts like this are always welcome too). "Oh, wow! I definitely wasn't expecting anything like this, but I like it!" she said as she proceeded to try it on over her shirt. "How does it operate?"

"Here, I'll show you..." Nate suddenly sat closer to help fasten the zipper comfortably around her torso, causing her to blush a little. He proceeded to demonstrate how the two buttons could control the level of heat in both the front and back, and how the LED lights showed which level it was currently set to, etc., which was, of course, a simple enough concept for anyone to easily figure out on their own, but Yancy found herself too distracted by his close proximity to pay full attention to his explanation and instead found herself growing lost in his kind eyes and calming voice. Her heart especially began to flutter and her face flush red when, out of nowhere, he suddenly placed one hand around her waist and the other on the back of her neck—almost as if he was about to lean in and kiss her!

'Woah! Wh-what's happening all of a sudden..?!' she thought to herself with a conflicting combination of both excitement and panic within the split second of his arms being wrapped around her. 'Isn't this moving too fast?!'

"...And then you should start feeling the heat from down here and all the way up to the back of your neck!" Nate continued to explain, oblivious to the thoughts running through the girl's mind as he was demonstrating the vest's heating points. "Is it warmed up yet?"

"Huh? Uhhh... Oh! Um, y-yeah! It's warmed up just fine! Th-the vest has..!" stuttered a thoroughly embarrassed Yancy, feeling a bizarre mix of relief and disappointment as her mind was snapped back into reality. Though now that she was paying attention again, she soon noticed just how pleasantly warm and comfortable the said vest really was. "Ooh! This IS nice! I love it!"

"Glad to hear!" Nate beamed happily. "...Though I think we should probably turn it down a level; you're getting really red already."

"Oh, um... Right..!" Too awkward to have to admit the real reason her face was reddening, the flustered girl fidgeted with the vest's buttons to lower the heat as proposed. "So how do you always come up with such great gift-ideas anyway?"

"Well, I did struggle to think of what to get you for awhile..." the boy admitted. "But the idea hit me after Hugh and I ran into you while shopping a few days back; I noticed how much you were shivering back there despite wearing a coat and being indoors, so I figured you must be sensitive to the cold and wanted to get you something that will keep you warm."

Puzzled, Yancy raised a brow. "Oh? I was shivering..?" It then occurred to her how terribly nervous she was when asking him about the girl he was apparently infatuated with, and then it clicked in her mind how that must have appeared from an observer's point of view. "Oh! I was 'shivering'..! Y-yes... Ah ha ha... *Ahem* —Anyway, it's funny you should say that, because I just so happened to come up with your gift after running into you on that day, too! Go ahead and open it!"

"Alrighty, don't mind if I do!" Nate scooted back to his original spot on the couch (which slightly disappointed Yancy, who immediately missed having him sit so close to her) to pick up the little box from her that he left on that side. It was small enough to fit in one's palm and decorated with a little bow the size of the lid. Truthfully, Yancy now felt ashamed of the generic 'To/From' signature on its tag after having read the personalized message that he had written on the identical tag of his present to her, but it was too late to fix it now (not that Nate seemed bothered in the slightest). The contents of the little box turned out to be none other than a glamorous ticket with the printed words 'Nancy's Christmas Carol' being the central focus. "Hm? A ticket..?"

"Yes. To that Christmas concert of Nancy's that you said you couldn't get one for!" Yancy proudly announced. Although she still desired that Nate would get over his crush on her celebrity persona and fall in love with her true self instead, she deemed there shouldn't be any harm in indulging him with a pass to her concert in the meantime. Perhaps if she continued to be a supportive friend to him, treating him to such a memorable occasion as this, his appreciation for her as Yancy may possibly grow to surpass his infatuation with her alter ego. And then maybe... just maybe...

—Ah, forget it. Let's not get TOO far ahead of ourselves just yet!

Nate suddenly grew bashful at the mentioning of Nancy. "Oh, uh..! R-right... I guess I did mention something like that, didn't I? Heh heh..." he said with a nervous chuckle as he awkwardly diverted his gaze from all eye-contact. It was still quite the unusual sight for Yancy to see the normally-easygoing boy get so embarrassed like this, she couldn't help but giggle at his reddening face. "So I guess the tickets hadn't completely sold out yet after all, huh?" said the flustered boy.

"Pretty close, actually," the girl said with a satisfied grin. "It usually is almost impossible to get hold of one this close to the day of the concert, but... Well, let's just say my job has its benefits~"

"Wait a second here..." said Nate as he took a closer inspection. "This is a VIP pass! I hope it didn't cost you a fortune..."

"Ah, don't worry about it! Someone from my work just happens to be associated with the concert's staff, so I was able to land a good deal," she reassured with a wink. Her answer was not a lie, as she technically does count as 'someone from her work' and is indeed 'associated with the concert's staff' by that reasoning.

Nate stared at her in silence for a moment with an unreadable expression before finally breaking into a tender smile. "Yancy... Thanks," he said at last with utmost sincerity in his voice. "You... You really put a lot of thought and effort into this, didn't you?"

"Hey, so did you! Hehe," she answered as she patted at the heated vest she was wearing (which was admittedly quite comfortable and toasty).

Nate silently nodded and continued to smile that same adoring smile toward her before finally scooting in closer once more. "Come here, you..." he said as he suddenly pulled her into a tender embrace. Her heart fluttering rapidly in her chest, the girl unhesitatingly returned the embrace, warmly allowing herself to melt into his arms and rest her head on his shoulder with eyes dreamily shut.

"Merry early-Christmas, Nate..." she whispered to him.

"Merry early-Christmas..." he gently whispered back as he patted her on the back before it was time to part from the embrace. "So, uh... I guess that hot chocolate's probably cooled enough to drink now, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I suppose it is. Hehe," said Yancy, still blushing from the embrace. The two picked up their cups and clinked them together in cheers. Yancy's eyes remained fixed dreamily on Nate as he took his first gulp of his chocolatey drink before she did the same. As the warm beverage passed through her lips, it was at that moment that the girl realized...

—That this was the worst-tasting hot chocolate she ever had!

'Yuck! What kind of hot chocolate is this?! It almost tastes more like chocolate milk that someone just put in the microwave and then threw a few marshmallows into it!'

Nate must have noticed the look on her face as she took her first drink. "Oh! Did you burn yourself?! Are you okay?" he asked with concern.

"Urp! It's okay..! I'm fine..." the girl gagged with a forced smile. It was then that she glanced back into the kitchen and noticed the freshly-emptied carton of chocolate milk left sitting next to the microwave, which explained a lot. 'I'm going to have to introduce him to REAL hot chocolate one of these days...' she thought to herself as she looked back down to her drink with disgust. 'Yuck! Warm milk...'

She opted to have another cookie instead.

The two young teens continued to have a pleasant visit for the rest of the afternoon. After nearly three hours of chatting, laughing together, playing with their Pokemon outside in the snow, and having a few rounds of Mario Kart back indoors, it was eventually time for Yancy to return home. "It was great to see you again today," she said to Nate as he walked with her to the door. "This visit was just the break I needed to take my mind off things. Now I have the energy to give it my all at my job again! Ah ha ha!"

"I hope we can hang out again soon," smiled Nate as he courteously held out her coat for her as she slid her arms through the sleeves. "Visits from you are always welcome, you know."

Fully garbed to leave, Yancy activated the heat on her new vest as she prepared to step back out into the cold and then stood by the door staring longingly back at Nate. "Well... I guess this is goodbye for now," she said somewhat somberly, already feeling herself beginning to miss him.

"Yeah..." said Nate, feeling the same.

"Thanks again for the present," she smiled to him, trying to lighten the mood again. "I really love it."

"Likewise," he smiled back.

After a prolonged pause, the two wordlessly bid each other farewell with one last embrace. "See you later then..." sighed Yancy as they parted.

"Take care..." Nate replied as he held open the door for her. They maintained eye-contact as she stepped outside and exchanged a smile and a wave as he slowly closed the door behind her. Once she was outside, the house immediately felt empty to the bushy-haired boy. However, that didn't matter, as he still had one last thing he wanted to do before she left the doorstep...

Quickly activating his Xtransceiver with a mischievous smirk on his face, he opened the app for the front door's security camera and used its manual controls to angle the said camera (which, in truth, does not operate on any sort of AI whatsoever) to face the pink-haired girl on the other side of the door before speaking into the intercom using his best robotic-sounding voice;

"WELL, YOU SURE TOOK YOUR SWEET TIME IN THERE WITH THAT DWEEB, DIDN'T YOU, TOOTS?! FINALLY HAD ENOUGH OF HIS DULL COMPANY AND DECIDED TO COME TO YOUR SENSES AND SPEND SOME QUALITY TIME WITH YOURS TRULY INSTEAD? TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH!"

Yancy jolted in momentary surprise as she looked back to the talking camera above the door behind her (which, from her end, appeared to be moving and speaking on its own accord) but soon rolled her eyes in amusement at the silly device. "Oh, right. I almost forgot about you..." she said to the 'smartcam', still unaware that it was really just a mischievous Nate speaking through it this whole time. "And no, I honestly had a great time with Nate today. I just need to get home now before it starts to get dark."

Holding back his laughter like a pro, Nate stayed well in-character as he continued to playfully troll his friend over the camera's intercom; "OH REALLY? WELL, IF YOU ACTUALLY THINK THAT BOZO CAN SOMEHOW SHOW YOU A GREAT TIME, YOU SHOULD SWING BY ONE OF THESE DAYS WHEN HE ISN'T AROUND AND I WILL SHOW YOU WHAT YOU ARE REALLY MISSING OUT ON! TRUST ME; YOU WILL NEVER WANT TO HANG OUT WITH THAT BORING LOSER AGAIN ONCE YOU HAVE SEEN WHAT I AM MADE OF, BABE!"

"I think I'm good, thanks," she waved the device off dismissively and continued on her way.

"OH, COME ON, TOOTS! AT LEAST GIVE ME A CHANCE! YOU KNOW YOU WANT ME, BABY! YOU KNOW IT!"

"I gotta go..."

"OKAY, BUT IF YOU WANT TO BE SHOWN A REAL GOOD TIME, I WILL BE RIGHT HERE WAITING FOR YOU! —SINCE I AM KINDA STUCK TO THE WALL HERE... PLEASE..! I AM DESPERATE! I HAVE THE MOST BORING EXISTENCE IN THE WORLD! SEND HELP!"

Meanwhile, Nate's Emboar stationed outside snorted in annoyance at his master's noisy joke that was beginning to disturb his nap. These humans are getting weirder everyday...

Thanks for reading! Boy, this chapter sure ended up a lot longer than I intended, but I couldn't find a decent place to split it and so I decided to just accept it as is. Obviously, this story isn't going to be done in time for Christmas day...since that already happened almost a month ago and I don't have access to a time machine. LOL We're approximately about halfway through now so I hope you all are enjoying it so far!