Dear Readers,
Hello there! SailorLeia here with a piping hot new Christmas Tale that I hope will bring a little cheer to you all! This will be taking place during the first half of the second season (the R series). Those of you who have read my other works are probably beginning to think "Does she ever write about any other time period?" LoL! The Answer is YES! Of course, but these seem to be coming more plentifully (for now), there is a serious shortage of good ones for the R series and Christmas tales are non-existent! AND COME ON! It's too fun! While this tale will greatly center on Serena and Darien, it will SHOWCASE all of the other friendships and relationships as well! Hopefully bringing a little Christmas cheer to you all!
I have to admit this all started with a review I received around this time of year last Christmas. A reader (Anon was their name) and in one of their reviews for Fifteen Ways they requested that I write a Christmas story. It has been like a year, but I stayed true to my promise to try and here it is! I hope if they are still reading that it is everything they hoped for because they inspired it!
Standard Disclaimers apply- I do not own Sailor Moon or any of the other trademarked things I may mention. I didn't write this for money or for any personal gain whatsoever. I merely borrowing all of these things for my own plots, and most will be returned unharmed… hey, it's Christmas!
I also want to thank my super awesome friend, CaseClosed621 for not only all of her notes and PMs of encouragement, but for being the best beta reader in the world! I couldn't do it without you, man! THANK YOU!
Dedicated to a reader named Anon for suggesting I write a Christmas fic and to anyone having trouble finding the spirit this year. You are not alone and I hope this helps!
"A Memorable Christmas"
Chapter One – Andrew's Mistletoe Mischief (Schemes and Steam)
Hey everyone, if you frequent the Crown's Arcade and Café, then you probably know my face pretty well. I'm the tall blonde one who's usually behind the counter, running things. The guy who never leaves this place, because it's owned by my father, who's too cheap to hire enough workers. My name tag says 'Andrew,' and that is my name. I'm the really typical looking one with the mega hot girlfriend he doesn't deserve or shut up about. See, even now I'm finding ways to mention her, what can I say? I'm a proud and lucky man, especially now with her coming home for Christmas. Whoo, if I'm not very careful, I'm gonna start dancing again and believe me that should not happen!
We didn't think that it would be possible to spend Christmas together this year. She's spent a little more than the last year in Africa. As luck would have it, she managed to pull some strings and she'll be coming home a couple of weeks earlier than originally planned. I should be the happiest most blessed and blissed out son of a gun in the entire world. I should be, I just know it…
That's just not possible right now, not in the current predicament I'm being dragged into. Rita thinks I'm being nosy and caring too much (again) about things that I can't change. Claiming that "no one is forcing me to do a thing, that this is all me, simply being 'Andrew,'" As if my very name justifies all of these ridiculous accusations, as if these problems I'm currently worrying about are an everyday occurrence. Like the restrooms running out of toilet paper, it's bound to happen no matter how you prepare, then there's a mess that I have to clean up! Am I right? I wish I lived in that world, where everything was so plain and simple. Sadly, I live in the real world where nothing is ever so cut and dry… ESPECIALLY when my best friend is Darien Shields.
If you're a customer who has spent any length of time in the arcade, I'm sure at one time or another you've seen him before. Tall, dark and mysterious type that makes girls go wild and guys scoff, "What's he got that I don't?"
Don't get me wrong, he's one of the best people I know; he's bright, loyal, always there when I need him. It's the fact that he is so good, on the inside, where this problem begins…
If you have seen Darien, and know who I am talking about, it's very possible that you have also seen a sweet little blonde headed girl who answers to the name "Serena." She's a teeny tiny little thing with long blonde pigtails. While she's still very petite, she's very hard to miss, because she's one of the sweetest, loudest, most contagiously bubbly personality that I have ever encountered. When she does drop by the arcade (daily), the whole place seems to brighten up a little. She's got me laughing, joking, and nothing seems nearly as bad as it did seconds ago. She's usually accompanied by at least one friend or two from her massive group of buddies, and I think of them all as a bunch of little sisters.
The only time that Serena isn't all sweetness and kindness is whenever Darien starts something with her… Which is every single day! They bicker, argue, insult one another and sometimes they've really hurt one another's feelings (Darien's mostly to blame for that last one). If you're asking yourself, why? How could two wonderful people such as these, not find peaceful truce material? I have asked myself that same question over and over since the day they met, and I always get the same answer. It's all because of magically yet ornery little 'chemical reaction' called, 'sexual tension.' A beastly toxic element that instantly appears and ferments the air whenever these two people occupy the same space for ANY amount of time.
Darien has dated tons of girls in the time I've known him. Not one of them possessed the sheer command of his attention that Serena has. I know for a fact that she doesn't have to do a thing to issue this command either, she simply enters a room and he's trippin! It's the most hilarious and frustrating thing I've ever seen. "Funny," because Darien can't utter a coherent sentence to this girl that ISN'T an insult. "Frustrating," because you can't help but root for them and they can NEVER seem to get it together.
Last Christmas, we came so CLOSE, so unbelievably close!
We held the annual Crown Christmas Extravaganza! The Party we always hold for the customers we like best, and workers when all of the area schools let out. Just before I close up shop till the New Year. It works out nicely because everyone travels, or has so much to do they don't even think of missing the place… all but Darien who never does anything fun and never celebrates a thing. As much as he hates Christmas and all of the commercialism of it, I think he hates the fact that his favorite spot closes up for nearly two weeks even more. Not that anyone wants to be around the scrooge this time of year.
He got particularly on my nerves at the time because it was my first one without Rita since we met. Instead of being a "gloomy-gus" like him, I was the complete opposite. I was overly joyous in public, I did a different good deed for at least one stranger and one friend a day. The good deed I decided to achieve for my best friend in the world was a simple thing that couldn't be bought in a store. I was determined to trap him and top-secret crush (Serena, weren't you paying attention) under the mistletoe and let her kiss that Grinch into some Christmas cheer! This turned out to be a whole lot more difficult than I imagined.
I remember it like it was yesterday, the Christmas tunes and smells were wafting through the air. The visions of sugar plums, and all of the other sugar sweet sensations were dancing about everyone's minds and hearts. The party was in full swing and ALL present girls at the party were resolved to snarling my bestie beneath those famously kiss inducing branches! All but the one female (of course) who was my intended target. She was having far too much fun with his discomfort and kept sending Darien teasing looks and expressions as each girl took their shot. It was practically a kissing booth (really, we could have made a killing for any cause if I'd had the forethought), all save one small detail, Darien didn't kiss one of those girls. A couple managed to kiss his cheeks which was carpeted in glosses and lipsticks of all origins and shades.
The first moment that Serena stepped away from her group of friends, Darien could not stand the temptation. He was stitched to her side in the blink of an eye and I was treated to watching them banter back and forth with far too much enjoyment. It shouldn't have surprise me in the least, but the entire gathered populous had been waiting for this just as much as I had. Serena was innocently walking along the table and picking out a few treats for her table (though let's be real, most of that was for her). While Darien followed along dutifully as if some invisible cord or ribbon was pulling him along with her. Whenever she moved, he moved and vice versa; like magnets. Seriously I can NOT be the only one who sees this!
They were almost in range of a strategically placed bough of mischievously magnificent mistletoe at the end of their trek. At the rate they were going, they would be too wrapped up in their own little world of wit and humor to notice it. Or hear the screams of everyone in the room when they were underneath it. I had to do something smart and swift, to make them notice. So I watched till Serena was a foot step or two away and planted myself directly under it. I figured in a step or two I would cast the first stone, I wondered if Darien would actually have the nerve (or balls) to make something of it. Or if he would just glare me down as if lasers could shoot from his eyes and knock the life from me for even intervening.
It could not have been more perfect Serena on cue, walked right into me, Darien didn't even notice me till that moment and I greeted her like always asking was "she having a good time."
She answered, "Of course Andrew, the party is kickin! Thank you so much for inviting us all."
"Oh no prob- WHOA-Look at THAT!" I said before pointing up and exclaiming, "We are smack dab under the mistletoe."
I gave her enough time to look up at the offending greenery, it's existence and location did just register in her huge blue eyes, before I picked her up (just lifting from underneath of her arms) and planting a peck on her rosy little cheek. The moment my lips made contact with her skin, my eyes locked with the glare of doom that was scarier than any ghost of Christmas past could have EVER been. Which somehow had the backwards effect and made the experience all the more enjoyable, for me.
I placed the little darling back on her own feet and wished her "A VERY Merry Christmas."
Which she sweetly returned and I passed Darien giving him a slap on the back, and a challenging glint of my eyes. I slipped back into my favorite spot, where I could observe everything and hear everything that was said (even if it was whispered). It's amazing the things you learn when you're standing in any one place for too long… because you have to.
Serena turned back to Darien and pointed up at the offending vegetation saying, "Wow, I guess he just saved you. I'm the last person in the world you'd want to get caught underneath that stuff, not that you know what it does."
"Oh please, if there's one tradition I have had the most experience with during this time of year, it's that monstrous branch of mostly poisonous shrubbery." Darien bit back and Serena giggled in her hand not noticing Darien was had just taken another step towards her.
"Well I've never considered that stuff very magical, it's never done a thing for me till two minutes ago. I guess that's the one and only perk to no one taking you seriously."
"Wait, you're telling me that no one has kissed you under mistletoe before. You who was just awarded the ribbon labeled "The Spirit of Christmas" because you just emit it, year round? Never?"
"Nope, unless you count my daddy and my little brother when he thought I was cool. Are you telling me something in that statement shocks you?"
"Well, I wouldn't say 'shocks' me, but I don't understand how someone who is the embodiment of the Christmas spirit itself could be so, without experiencing all of the different customs."
"Well I'm versed enough in the rest of the rituals just that one has always evaded me-"
"NOT ANYMORE SERENA!" Lita yelled before.
"YEAH, LOOK-UP, You lucky bunny you!" Molly called over the whoos and 'oh snaps' of the crowd.
A loud and obnoxious blonde from mine and Darien's Biology class (that doesn't deserve a name), stood up and took center stage. Shouting, "Yeah right! Darien wouldn't kiss any of the real women at this party. Like he would even consider puckering up to that kindergartener."
Before Darien or I could give this Barbie the kind of backlash she deserved, Serena reaffirmed once more why she is tailor-made for my friend. She said without a hint of a smile, "I don't see how your too much make up and a stuffed rack make you any more a lady than I am."
While everyone else was still reacting the bimbo was shrilly screaming, "I-DO-NOT-STUFF-MY-BRA! YOU-Skanky little PROSTITUTE."
"Really?" Serena said still cool and not cracking a smile. "Because I seem to recall us all being amazing last week when Billy spilled most of his water pitcher down your blouse and it wasn't even wet for more than a second. You and your bounty-stuffed-bra sopped it up in a wink."
The older girl left in a stomping temper tantrum, not worth acknowledging really and Serena turned back to get her plate. She was about to walk away when Darien caught her by her hand and asked her, "Aren't you forgetting something?"
"What?" Serena asked before Darien pointed upwards. "Oh come on, as mean as she was she's right."
"Nothing that prima-donna said was remotely relevant," Darien said taking a gutsy step towards her and making the grip he had on her hand seem more like holding hands and not preventing escape.
"Really Darien, I appreciate what you're trying to do, it's very sweet but you shouldn't kiss anyone you don't want to. No matter how magical that sprig is, and no matter what time of year it is. It just shouldn't happen, so… it's okay."
Good old Darien, shocked us all by saying, "What if I told you that you were the only one I would share this with?"
Her face softened and she quickly hopped up and stood in a booth bench to brush back Darien's bangs and plant a kiss on his forehead. Serena giggled. "Your cheeks were too littered."
They locked eyes for a short eternity before Serena hopped back down and took Darien's hands saying, "I hope you have a very Merry Christmas Darien. You deserve a little cheer more than anyone I know."
I thought I would combust when I heard Darien, the only man I know would be the product if Scrooge and the Grinch were ever capable of making a person with a mixture of both of their snark and hatred towards Christmas! Darien dreamily mumbled, "Merry Christmas Serena. You really are the spirit of the season itself and you do spread it year round. Thank you."
She smiled and went back to her friends and that was it. But do you see how close that was? I don't count ROMANTIC kisses under the mistletoe unless they're on the lips as a rule! Even I count that in my top three best moments I've ever witness beneath a branch of that infamous leafy miracle. I would hang that little bunch in the exact same spot if Darien hadn't reached up and stolen it as soon as he thought no one was looking. So somewhere in his apartment there is a sprig of mistletoe that is probably the only holiday thing in his possession.
This year I will achieve my ultimate goal! That is a promise! I know it won't be easy and it will be tougher than last year given a ton of things I have no control over, but I'm willing it to happen. What's worse is that Darien acts like he doesn't even remember these events taking place, his memory's been particularly unreliable lately though. There was a time that all the guy could talk about was being 'Tuxedo Mask,' protecting our world and protecting the Sailor Scouts… Especially Sailor Moon, who had gained a soft spot with him. Though none of that ever comes up anymore, and every time Rita or I try to ask him about it, he calls us crazy and changes the subject, leaving me to make my own assumptions… never a good idea.
Knowing Darien as well as I do, and judging by his strange behavior most of this last year, my only theory I can think up that makes any sense is that his memories and experiences have been erased from his mind completely. The evil he was facing just before Rita left was more than capable of such things. No matter how crazy that sounds to most people, I can't imagine what procedures he suffered through to accomplish this. It's the only thing that I can imagine happening that would make him forget the things he considered unforgettable months prior.
The other little snag in this plan is there's a new girl that is shadowing Darien's every breath named Ann. I don't know where she came from or what her deal is but she's totally into my best friend and clingier than a Klingon.
Yes, I reference Science Fiction folklore here and there and my girlfriend, thankfully, thinks I'm a cute little dork!
As if Ann wasn't a big enough problem, her older brother Alan is totally into Serena. Between these terrible two, I have my work cut out for me because they're ALWAYS AROUND! Deterring ANY of my plans of yuletide bonding. I hope things will be made a little more difficult for these tenacious juggernauts when they're met with the force of my scheming abilities combined with Rita's sheer genius…
No, I will stop saying that I am hopeful or wishful, and I will start to say we can do this! It will be great, it will work and god willing this time next year Darien won't be a scrooge at all!
Well what did you think? Did we like it, love it, hate it, tolerate it? Let me know, I love to hear from all of you and it is you who keep me going! Thank you so much for reading this far and I hope it has brightened your day at least a little bit. It has brightened mine having the opportunity to reach you all! Much Love!
-SailorLeia