Disclaimer - I don't own the Santa Clause movies or 48 Christmas Wishes. This is utilizing my headcanon for blending the two fandom, but is also for the Monthly Froday Challenge for November where I did a black out of card B. This is the first of nine stories I wrote. This was for the first square - Bad Luck.
Jinglesnaps
"Jinglesnaps," Bernard muttered.
The Head Elf stood there looking at the newest Christmas Elves to graduate the academy, a young elf with familiar brown eyes stared at him, her mouth twisted into a frown while her eyebrows shot up. He felt the corner of his mouth start to twist up, only to stop himself knowing full well as Head Elf he needed to make a good first impression.
"Just my luck."
The younger elf now glared at him while the other young elves looked at him wide-eyed for using the word he just used, meaning he'd definitely not left a good impression on that year's recruits. He'd certainly never left a good impression on the young elf standing there, glaring at him.
Bernard let out a deep breath, wondering what he should say, particularly with how his throat tightened. He could already feel the corner of his mouth twist up slightly in a panic.
"Bernie?" Mindy spoke first, a definite sound of disdain in her voice. The tone of voice she used was excepted, despite the fact Bernard hadn't expected he'd be seeing her this year—though he should have, had he given much thought to the matter.
More importantly, Bernard still didn't know how to respond.
"Bernie?" Curtis, on the other hand, held the clipboard with the names of the recruits. "She just called you Bernie."
"It's not funny, Curtis," Bernard said, watching as Mindy's facial features twisted from a glare to a look of confusion.
"Yes, it is. She called you, the Head Elf, Bernie."
Bernard let one of his eyebrows drift up, giving Curtis that look that said he was far from amused regarding Curtis' amusement. He decided to be direct and to the point, as per usual. "She's my younger sister."
Which resulted in a red tinge suddenly appearing on Mindy's face while her eyes widened in surprise, but now all of the other young elves were starring at her. Bernard sucked in his breath, not carrying that Curtis had that usual "I've been unfairly chastised," look on his face.
"Anyways…" Bernard sunk into the normal routine that happened every year, as if nothing happened, keeping things running like a well-oiled cog. He knew he would have to speak to Mindy later on, to clear the air.
He'd not expected her to avoid him, but then—she'd never been happy that he wasn't a toymaker elf-like their parents, or the rest of the family.
Mindy knew graduating and becoming a Christmas Elf meant moving to tinsel town, at least for a good part of the year, and that in turn meant seeing her older brother. She'd not expected, though, to see Bernie on the first day, as one of the two elves who greeted the newest recruits the moment they arrived.
She'd cursed her luck, having not wanted to deal with her reclusive older brother who never came home during After Mas for whom none of the family knew exactly what he did up at the North Pole, as Bernie simply didn't converse much when he was home. While she remembered what her older brother looked like, she didn't remember what he sounded like.
Yet, there he was, actually the Head Elf, meaning he was Santa Clause's number one elf. His not being a toymaker which everyone always considered the worst thing possible for someone in their family when they'd first learned after their parents were gone, turned out to not be the worst thing. How absolutely nobody knew, she didn't understand.
There was something worse though.
Mindy came wanting to start her time as a Christmas Elf smoothly, proving she deserved to be there, to be a Christmas Elf—unlike her older brother, albeit that ended up not being the actual case in the long run. Yet, only a few minutes being there, at the workshop, and she managed to do something nobody else would have ever dared to do.
She called Bernard the Head Elf by the nickname everyone in the family used, Bernie.
And now, she stood out like a sore thumb, what with Bernie admitting right there that she was in fact his younger sister, though she wondered how he could even admit as much when he'd avoided coming home for so many years. So much, he'd had a definite growth spurt in the same way she had, to which he towered over the other elves - one of the few near-adult elves there.
Possibly the only one.
So, she avoided him, until she received a summons to the Head Elf's office - Bernie's office
Which, she wanted to avoid. Sammy frowned at her. "You can't ignore a summons from the Head Elf, Mindy. You just can't."
"He's just using his position as Head Elf to talk to me," Mindy muttered.
"So, the Head Elf really is your older brother?" Cam asked.
"He said as much when Mindy suddenly goes and calls him—what did you call him?"
"Something that the other elves look at me as if I've grown another head if I even bring up," Mindy muttered.
"But, it's cool, isn't it? That the Head Elf is your older brother."
"Not when everyone is now comparing me to him," Mindy muttered. "And he is using his position to talk to me."
"Are you sure it's not about your transfer from the letter department to the toy department," Cam asked.
"She hasn't even filed that yet," Sammy shook her head.
"Oh!"
"Do you want us to go with you?" Sammy asked.
"Would you?" Mindy perked up suddenly, looking at her friends hopefully.
"Sure," Sammy said hesitantly.
"See. Even you don't want to be summoned to the Head Elf's office."
"I want to be summoned to the Head Elf's office!" Cam blurted out, making his two friends stare at him. "What? It isn't as if it's because Mindy's in trouble, right? So getting summoned to the Head Elf's office is like being summoned to the principal's office when you're not in trouble."
"Okay," Sammy pushed her lips together. "Shall we go?"
"It's not as if I could escape this," Mindy muttered.
The door to his office opened and he heard a very soft, "Hi."
Bernard continued working on the paperwork, not looking up, although he knew it was Mindy who said hello. "I want to apologize, but because you've been avoiding me…"
"So you did use your position to get me here," Mindy replied. "And what are you sorry for?"
Bernard looked up, suddenly sitting up straight upon noticing two other young elves with Mindy. The female elf covered the male elf's mouth, preventing him from speaking. "Sammy. Cam."
Sammy's eyes blink, her hand dropping from Cam's mouth. "Wait. You know our names?"
"I know all the names of the elves working under me," Bernard replied. "Kind of like how Santa knows the name of every person in the world, along with every gift he's been given."
"You mean you can tell if we're naughty or nice! Is that a perk of being Head Elf like summoning Mindy whenever you want?" Cam blurted out.
Bernard stared at the young elf, finding himself a bit taken aback. He set his papers down while cringing slightly.
Sammy's eyes widened. "You didn't say no."
"I said kind of, and no, it's not a perk of being Head Elf. It's…" Bernard frowned. "A combination of taking the time to remember everyone's names and one of the ways my magic works. Could I possibly talk to Mindy privately?"
Mindy looked at her two friends warily, then shrugged her shoulders.
"…one of the ways my magic works…"
It crossed Mindy's mind that while she knew how her magic worked—she could move very fast—she didn't know how Bernie's magic worked. She also couldn't avoid talking to him, and if he wanted to talk to her privately. "So, you decided to take advantage of one of the perks of being Head Elf to get me here?"
"You were avoiding me."
"You avoided me first," Mindy muttered. She watched him look at her. "Or are you going to tell me the reason you didn't come home for Aftermas is because of your busy with work?"
"You hate me," Bernard said as if it were a matter of fact.
"I do hate you," Mindy muttered. "For staying away."
"That's why I stayed away."
"What?" the response surprised her.
"You and the rest of the family, so I decided not to be a bother."
Mindy stared. "He thought he was a bother?" She swallowed. "So it wasn't because you're too busy with your Head Elf duties?"
"It didn't stop me before."
She continued staring, then blurted out. "Wait? How long have you been Head Elf?"
"How long?" Bernard frowned, not understanding why she asked that question. "A very long time."
"Bernard!"
"I was younger than you are now when I became Head Elf."
"You can't graduate from the academy until you're my age," Mindy protested.
"I never graduated. I—" Bernard frowned. "My magic's not normal. Didn't anyone in the family mention that?"
"I don't know anything about your magic."
"So, they kept mum?"
"Is that why you thought I hated you?"
"You told me that you hated me because I wasn't a toymaker elf."
"You also didn't tell anybody that you were Head Elf," Mindy muttered.
"Why would I?"
This was infuriating, because it didn't make sense to her that he wouldn't say he was Head Elf, given that was a major achievement. She didn't, however, say anything and just glared at him.
"Anyways. Sorry for not being a toymaker elf like you wanted. Though, that wasn't the only reason I asked you to come here."
"It's not?"
"You're currently staying at the boarding house?"
"All new Christmas Elves stay at the boarding house until they find a place." Mindy watched Bernard push a paper forward. "What's this?"
"I know you don't like me, but you're free to stay at my place if you want."
"Gee, I don't…"
"It was originally our parents' place. Just—don't use any magic that isn't healing based."
"Why not?" Mindy looked at the paper.
Bernard took a deep breath. "I sleep teleport, so there are wards to prevent that. Just—don't tell anybody that I do that. Please." He stood up, pushing the piles of papers together. "Anyways. I've got to get back to work on the floor. And, again-sorry for not being the brother you wanted."
Mindy looked at the paper and glanced up, only to see him gone, making her realize that he'd teleported away. She looked down at the paper. "He doesn't get it, but just my luck things turned out this way."