A/N: Alright folks, here's a Christmas two-shot starring everyone's favorite Cockney gorilla. Hope you all like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Sing or any of the characters, Illumination does.

...

Johnny watched as one by one, his classmates got up to go home.

He looked up at the clock on the wall. He knew his dad wouldn't be getting off work for another half-hour.

His teacher, a kindly grey fox named Miss Ainsley, sat at her desk watching him. He didn't call attention to it, but Johnny had seen that look many times before. A lot of grown-ups looked at him that way lately ever since his mum died. And always when they thought he wasn't looking.

"Johnny, would you like to color?" She asked softly. "Maybe make a Christmas card for your father?"

Johnny was about to say no, but then he thought for a moment and nodded. At least he'd have something to give Dad.

As the five-year-old gorilla began to work on his project, he began to think of the cards he had made for Christmases past. Particularly when he looked at the words he had just written on the folded green paper in red letters.

'Happy Christmas, Dad!' The card read, and around the words were little red, green, and blue shapes meant to be Christmas lights, showing a cheerfulness that their creator did not feel.

The words felt strange without the word Mum added to them.

He had just set his crayons down to take a break when the classroom door opened.

"There he is!" A voice boomed and as quickly as Johnny stuffed the card into his bag, taking care to keep it from bending or worse tearing, the infant gorilla was lifted out of his seat and pulled into a pair of strong arms.

"Hey, Dad," he greeted, unable to suppress a smile.

"You ready?" Dad asked.

Johnny glanced down at his bag to make sure his card wasn't visible, lest it ruin the surprise, before answering.

"Just lemme get these crayons put away and I'll be ready."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Miss Ainsley chimed in. "I'll take care of it. You just go on ahead. I'll see you when you come back, alright?"

Johnny grinned and nodded, pulling his bag onto his back and grabbing his father's hand.

"Happy Christmas, Miss Ainsley!" he called back, smiling and waving with his free hand.

"Happy Christmas, Johnny," Miss Ainsley said with as much cheerfulness as she could muster. "You too, Mr. Bennett."

Johnny didn't see the nod his dad gave his teacher, he was too busy tugging his hand, eager to get home.

"I got a little surprise for you," Dad said as he lifted Johnny into the truck. "I got some time off. I don't have to go back to the shop til after Christmas."

Johnny beamed. He had dreaded the idea of being stuck at home while his dad was at work.

In the past, it wouldn't have been so bad. He would have been at home with Mum, baking some cookies. Well, Mum would bake and he would help mix the ingredients together and 'sample' the cookies to make sure they did them right. After that, Mum would sit at her piano, singing carols in her clear, fluty voice while Johnny sat in her lap and would try to memorize which keys made which sounds.

But that wouldn't be happening this year. Or ever again.

The little infant felt his shoulders slump as he recalled all the things that would change this year.

...

When the pair entered the house, Johnny's gaze was almost immediately drawn to the nail over the doorway separating the dining room from the family room.

A sad smile climbed his lips as he recalled how Mum used to always stick a sprig of something called mistletoe on that nail and somehow, she would always manage to get Dad under it. Johnny never saw what happened, all he knew was afterwards Mum would smile and giggle, and Dad would have a goofy look on his face. One time, Johnny had asked his uncle Barry what happened under mistletoe, only to be told it was 'grown-up stuff' and he'd find out when he was older.

He then caught sight of the small box of ornaments sitting next to the sofa.

"I went ahead and dug those out," Dad said, not quite looking at Johnny. "Figured we could go get a tree in a bit."

Johnny nodded, not really trusting himself to speak.

There was a part of him that was happy they were getting a tree. Every year since he could remember, Mum would make hot chocolate and then they, mostly Johnny though, would choose just the right place on the tree for the special ornaments.

Mum had always said there was something magical about Christmas and you could feel it if you just stopped and let yourself feel it.

Suddenly, Johnny got an idea.

"Dad," he looked up, "Father Christmas can give just about anything, right?"

...

To say Marcus was dumbfounded by his son's question would have been a massive understatement.

If he were being completely honest, the adult mountain gorilla hadn't really felt like celebrating Christmas this year. It wasn't as if he hated the holiday, rather it was the way a fair bit of those around him tended to obsess over it.

Marcus was the type of animal that just disliked the stress of the grueling month-long death march leading up to Christmas, but rather enjoyed the holiday itself.

Of course, he had known for ages that this Christmas would be the roughest one by far. After all, it would be the first one where he wouldn't have his wife, and their boy wouldn't have his mother.

Megan had absolutely loved Christmas, yet another trait she had passed on to their infant, who was still struggling with the loss even more than Marcus, which was saying a lot. So, even though he felt far from celebratory this year, Marcus had decided to give Johnny a good Christmas.

And then the boy had to go and ask that.

"That's right," Marcus answered, forcing himself to smile.

"D'you...think maybe...I could meet him?" Johnny asked.

Marcus's puzzled look returned.

"Meet him? What're you-"

"I don't think I can write what I want on a letter to 'im," Johnny's tone became more earnest. "There's something I really really want for Christmas and I need to talk to him so he knows how important it is."

Marcus could see that his son was nearly pleading. Whatever this thing he wanted so badly was, it must be something pretty big if Johnny was trying this hard.

He had decided some time ago that he would do whatever it took to give his son a good Christmas this year to at least make it easier for him. The last few months had been much harder on the younger gorilla.

Suddenly, a spark went off in Marcus's mind.

"You wanna meet Father Christmas then?" he wrapped his massive arm around Johnny's shoulders and tugged the child close to him. "I'll go get Stan and Barry and the three of us'll go 'ave a word with him. There's still a ways to Christmas yet, so this way he'll have plenty of time to get what you want. That work for you?"

Johnny's eyes lit up and the toddler nodded excitedly and threw his arms around his father's waist, or at least as far around as they would go.

"Thank you, Dad!"

"Now, how about you go start on them ornaments," Marcus suggested. "I'll be in the other room and I'll be right back."

Johnny looked disappointed for a moment that the pair wouldn't be decorating the tree together, but it quickly faded and the boy nodded quickly before scampering off.

...

"Alright, got 'ere fast as I could," Barry came hurrying through the door of the garage. He had known Marcus would be there rather than the house.

Marcus was standing off to the side with Stan. Of course, Barry was the last one to arrive. The youngest of the trio had a tendency to do that, much to his older brothers' ire.

But for once, Marcus didn't seem annoyed in the least. If anything, he seemed almost glad for the tardiness. But why?

Stan looked over at Barry, glancing up and down and suddenly let out a snicker.

Barry shifted nervously.

What was going on?

That's when he realized Stan was holding something behind his back. Still snickering, he handed whatever it was to Marcus, who proceeded to hold it up where Barry himself could see it.

"Guess what you're doin' tonight?" he smirked.

Barry's stomach dropped as he realized it was a green robe with fluffy white trimming. A Father Christmas outfit...

"What d'you mean-"

"Johnny wants to meet Father Christmas," Marcus growled. "We're gonna make sure that 'appens. And you're gonna find out what he wants, then you're gonna tell me. You got that?"

Barry hesitated, but he could tell from his brother's face that the latter wasn't asking anything. He was telling all the way.

"But, I don't wanna-"

"I don't remember askin' what you wanted," Marcus glared, advancing on Barry, who despite shaking inwardly, managed to glare back defiantly.

"Hold on, boys," Stan stepped between the two. "Marcus, Johnny probably wants you to finish the tree with 'im. You go and do that, I'll talk to Barry."

Marcus gave a frustrated huff, but threw the costume down and stormed out of the garage, his demeanor noticeably shifting as he went into the house.

When he was gone, Stan turned to Barry.

"Are you mental?" he asked. "You know what it's been like for them with-"

"I know, but that doesn't give 'im the right to humiliate me like that," Barry snapped. "I mean why the hell do I have to dress up like some fat guy in a...don't say it."

"Look, it's just so Johnny can tell you what he wants for Christmas," Stan shrugged. "It's not that big a deal."

Barry snorted.

"Easy for you to say. I don't see Marcus trying to cram you into that bloody thing."

"It's just for a few minutes."

"Hell with that, I'm not doin' it," Barry shook his head.

Stan frowned.

"If you're not gonna do it to keep Marcus from pounding you, you might at least do it for Johnny. Poor kid's been havin' a pretty hard time without his mum around. I know you're daft, but I don't think even you're daft enough to not see that."

Barry glowered at that last bit, but then he thought about it. Stan had a point. Johnny had been pretty downcast over the last few months. Now, it wasn't as if the boy never smiled or anything, but there were times he'd get really quiet or look really down.

After some hesitation and more than a little reluctance, Barry sighed.

"Oh, alright then," he groaned.

...

...

Alright, I hope you all enjoyed that first chapter of this little two-shot. I also hope you all have a Merry Christmas, or Happy Christmas for those of you across the pond. And a little heads-up, later today I will be posting the first of a series of one-shots for each of the Sing characters, so I hope you decide to check that out, and remember reviews make great Christmas presents. The next chapte will be out first thing tomorrow. Until then, everyone.