I'll have to think of something to do with the Casagrandes, I have something in the back of my mind, I have to map out, I'll try.
Someone asked if I could do a story with Darcy and so, I had something planned, this is an alternate world where the Louds are boys, so it's Levi and Darcy (who is still agirl) I aged them up to eight-years-old. I also put Royal Woods in Florida, kind of a way to a way to write a Christmas story without cold and snow, to spice it up a little. I hope you like!
Story 11: Christmas is Friendship
Prompt/Premise: Levi and Darcy spend Christmas Day together
Like a flash a boy grabbed a gift from his desk and ran downstairs of his house and slipped on mud that was at the end of the table. He got himself together from his daze and looked around for the present. It wasn't anywhere to be found, until he looked up and saw his brother holding it.
"Levi why are you running down the stairs?" the boy asked.
"Well, dearest brother, I'm on my way this Christmas Day, to see my friend, Darcy," Levi replied.
"You didn't have to give me a book," his brother said.
"Apologizes, Lynn, and thank you for catching my gift," he said.
"Hey, are you hitting the beach or something?" Lynn asked.
The elder Loud boy noticed that his younger genius brother of the age of eight was wearing green swim trunks.
"I am, Darcy wanted to spend a day at the beach, so in the spirit of Christmas, I am," he said.
"Have fun, hit a few beach balls for me!" he said.
Levi got up and picked up his bag for the beach and walked towards the door. Lynn called him and showed him the present he almost forgot. Outside, it was a warm Christmas day in the beach town of Royal Woods, Florida. The Loud boy rode his bike to Darcy's house. Darcy was sitting outside rolling a soccer ball.
"Merry Christmas!" Levi called.
"Levi! Merry Christmas!" Darcy said.
She embraced the boy hanging on him, while he was holding the present up behind her to keep it safe.
"You should have worn a read tank top, instead of the green one, it would have been more Christmas-y," Darcy said.
"I brought you a gift," Levi said, ignoring that comment.
The girl's eyes lit up; her smile was big. She grabbed him and pulled him into her house. The house smelled like pumpkin pie baking. The Christmas tree was artificial as most of the trees in the town would be, it was lit with clear lights, and there were still some un-opened gifts underneath. Darcy let go of Levi and grabbed a gift, handing it to him.
"Here you go," she said.
They exchanged gifts. Darcy had gotten him a toy robotic dog. Levi gave Darcy a doll that could sing in 3 languages and 30 different songs.
"I hope you like it, you're hard to shop for," Darcy said.
"I do, thank you," Levi said.
He understood his genius made it hard to shop for, to find a gift for birthdays and Christmas, but he found it nice that Darcy treated him as a normal boy and wanted to do normal things around him.
"I'm going to get changed, then we can go to the beach," Darcy said.
"Ok," Levi replied.
The boy went to say hello to Mrs. Helmandollar. The woman was sitting in the kitchen watching an old movie on the TV and sitting in a chair. Levi walked in and wished her Merry Christmas.
"So nice to you see again, Levi," Mrs. Helmandollar said.
"It smells like you are making fine confections in here," the boy said.
"Ugh, yeah, I'm making Pumpkin pie, the rest of Christmas dinner is done, so the pie was the last part," she said.
"I bet it will all be great," he said.
"When you two are done at the beach, come back here for a moment, and I'll make you a plate," she said.
"Thank you, that is generous of you," he said.
"Levi, I'm ready!" he heard Darcy yell.
Darcy was wearing a teal one-piece swimsuit with her yellow shorts, and blue sandals. Levi grabbed his bag and pulled out a can of spray sunscreen.
"Sun safety first," he said.
She sighed and let the boy the spray her with sunscreen, then he sprayed himself.
"We have to rub each other's shoulders," Darcy replied.
Christmas Day at Ketchem Beach was busy with holiday makers going to spend the toasty day relaxing for holiday fun. Levi and Darcy were both holding bags with beach stuff in it.
"I should have left my domicile early," Levi said.
"It's alright, we can find a nice spot," Darcy said.
It took a good ten minutes, but there was a place in the sand to set up. Darcy Rolled out a yellow beach blanket and laid it on the sand. They had a cooler, one of Levi's inventions, that was small but could fit a lot. The sky was blue with white puffy clouds drifting in it endlessly. They could smell the salt water, and the smell of a charcoal grill being used.
"I wonder if the water is cool," Darcy stated.
Levi took out black device and pointed it at the ocean and looked at the back.
"Outdoor temperature is 77 degrees, ocean temperature is 67 degrees, using Fahrenheit for you of course," Levi answered.
"Cool!" Darcy exclaimed.
She took off her shorts and sandals and started to bolt towards the water. Until she looked back and noticed Levi was smoothing out the blanket some more, that's when she ran back.
"Come on, Levi, you have to join me," she said.
"I'm not… really…" he couldn't resist that look she had on her face, "Well, it is Christmas, and I did…"
He took off his tank top and sandals, then grabbed the spray sunscreen again and angled for his back; Darcy took it from and sprayed it instead, then she rubbed it in. Then he grabbed green goggles from his bag and put them over his glasses.
"You sure take a lot of stuff, just to do something," Darcy said.
"I need to keep my glasses safe, you know," he said in his flat voice.
Darcy grabbed his arm and pulled him, forcing him to run to the ocean. They swam in the water, Levi wished he'd grab his snorkel to explore some sea life, but alas that was stuck in his bag in his hurry. Darcy was lost in her own fun and then challenged Levi to a race. The girl let him win, he knew this, he wasn't the fastest swimmer. He chose to say nothing, Darcy did things like that for him all the time, he knew it, but never let on he did.
"Hey, I think it might be time for sustenance and to reapply our sunscreen," he said.
"Alright, come on," Darcy said.
The sand was warmer than it was before, Levi hated how it felt as he stumbled to get back to the blanket. When he made it, he quicky wiped off the sand from his feet and dried himself with a towel, and sprayed sunscreen back on, Darcy took her turn drying and spray as well.
"Here Levi, here's something special for you," Darcy said. She handed him a chocolate bar, it was cold from being in the cooler, but better than melted. Levi smiled, it was his favorite brand, he grabbed something out of the cooler as well.
"Here you go," he said. He handed her a cup cake, that was in a plastic container.
"This is your dad's double chocolate cupcake?" Darcy asked.
"Yep, I save you from the savages that are my family," he said.
"Aww thanks," she said.
Levi remembered to take off his goggles and switched to prescription sunglasses. He didn't wear them often, but he treasured eye safety as much as skin safety.
"I brought mine too," Darcy said.
"Besides my gift, did you get anything you wanted for Christmas?" he asked.
"Oh yeah, I got some cool toys, and my aunt got me a gift card; we should go on a shopping spree with it," Darcy replied.
"Hopefully not today, something would feel strange about shopping on Christmas Day," Levi said.
"Ha, no silly, not today," Darcy said.
They ate some sandwiches that Mr. Loud had made for the occasion with some of the Christmas turkey, since the Louds did their big meal on Christmas Eve. A light breeze came in bring some hint of relief in the warmth.
"I wonder how it would be if snowed on Christmas," Darcy said.
"Hmm, it would be colder," Levi said.
"I know that, I mean, I've never really seen snow before," Darcy replied.
"I guess our climate doesn't allow for it, makes that Bing Crosby song seem a little funny," Levi replied.
Darcy sprawled on the blanket, laying down, her arms were out, so were her legs. She made motions like she was making snow angels. Levi was slightly amused by the sight, he imaged them bundled up and doing snow angles. He knew she would invite him to play in it, and he'd accept.
"Hey there are some kids over there, doing Volleyball, maybe we should see if could join in their merriment," Levi said.
Darcy jumped up and started to poke inside her ears.
"Did I hear Levi Loud offer to play a sport?" she asked.
"You shouldn't poke you ears with your fingers like that, you could damage your eardrums," he said.
"I know it's you, at least," she said.
She took the offer and they walked over to the group of kids who were playing volleyball.
"Hey, you two, you want to play?" A girl their age asked.
Levi and Darcy nodded together.
"Move in, we finally got two more!" the girl yelled.
While the Loud boy knew how to play the game, it didn't mean he was skilled, but did enough to seem a little competent at it. Darcy was more active than he was so, she knew how to play it. It was a valuable skill to learn in a beach town, that or learning how to surf.
The two of them sat on the blanket and relaxed for a moment, until a skinny teenager dressed in a Santa hat, with a red tank top with white trim, and red shorts. He was holding a bag and saying "Ho, Ho, Ho, Polar Ice Cream for sale." Levi looked over at Darcy.
"Do you want some ice cream?" he asked.
"Alright," Darcy said.
He went into his bag and grabbed some money and waited for the Santa guy to come over. Levi ordered two orange creamsicales.
"Thanks Levi," Darcy said.
Eventually, they got tired of being sweaty causing Levi to be more willing to go and swim on his own accord this time. Darcy laughed as he decided to swim with his sandals on rather than try and walk on the hot sand again.
"Levi, my hands are pruned, I think I want to go back," Darcy replied.
"Alright, you know pruning is the body's way of adjusting to make it easier to grab things in the water," Levi replied.
"That's cool, you know so much," Darcy said.
After making it back to the blanket, Levi did his ritual again.
"Ugh, someone ran across our blanket," Darcy moaned.
"Yes, I can tell how it's askew now," Levi said
"You know what I want to do now?" Darcy asked.
"Huh? You want to leave?" Levi asked.
"Yeah, I'm getting tired of this heat," Darcy answered.
"What else do you want to do?" Levi questioned.
"I'm sorry, I know you probably had the entire day, planned for the beach."
"It's alright, I'm flexible," he said, "As a man of science, I have to be, by design."
The duo went to Levi's house, they had rushed there, Levi wasn't wearing his shirt and Darcy hadn't put her shorts back on, everything was in the bag all disorganized. They entered the house; it was strangely quiet. Rita and Lynn Sr. were watching "Miracle on 34th street" on TV.
"Sorry to interrupt, parental units, but I am telling you that Darcy and I have decided to leave the beach and come here for a while," Levi said.
"Thanks for telling us, "Rita said.
Upstairs, it was unusually quiet. Levi's roommate, Leon, wasn't in the room. The young girl was always interested in Levi's "science stuff" she didn't really understand it but found it to be the most unique thing in the world.
"Be careful over there, you wouldn't want to hurt yourself," Levi stated.
"I promise," Darcy said
She looked over at Levi, who was grabbing clothes from his dresser and making sure everything was alright.
"You're going to change?" Darcy asked.
"Pardon me, should I get you some to borrow?" he asked.
"Nah, I'm fine, you go ahead, I'll uh look at one of your books."
Darcy did just as she said she would and looked at one of Levi's books, it was a notebook she grabbed. Usually, Levi made notebooks of scientific discoveries, theories, and observations. This book was bound with faux leather and brown. It must have been new; she hadn't seen it before. She flipped to a random page; it wasn't like she was going to understand Levi's complex writing.
"It was one of those days, where my experiment failed and I was feeling what some would call down, but then Darcy came over to the house and offered to play some game, and I'm always grateful for Darcy…" she read.
"Hmm, I think this… is this Levi's Diary? I didn't know he kept one," she thought, "I can't read the rest of this then."
She flipped a few more pages to make sure she was correct, a logical idea, and noticed a drawing of the doll, that Levi gave to her. That's when she noticed that he was the one who made it for her. Quickly, she closed the book and put it back, as she heard footsteps.
"You're back," she said.
"Yep," Levi said.,
He was wearing his normal green tank top with light red shorts and brown shoes, that Darcy called "grandpa shoes".
"You didn't find a book to read?" he asked.
"Ugh, nah, I just remembered, you left your gift at my house, and I wanted to try the new doll you got me," she said.
"Oh, alright, I'm ready to go, I should get some food for your parents, I wouldn't want to get something for nothing," Levi replied.
Back at the Helmandollar house, Darcy was able to change out of her swimsuit. She saw the doll and started to play with it. It didn't look out of the normal, it was soft and huggable. Levi started to play with the toy robot dog. It was way below his mental acuity be he seemed to like how simple and fun it was.
"So, Levi really made this doll for me?" she thought, "Hmm, so that's what he's been working on for the past few weeks and wouldn't let me see."
She looked over at the boy who was pressing the remote control for the dog and watching as the creature scuttled across the floor. He was smiling. She walked over and hugged her best friend, it surprised him, but put his arms around her and hugged her back.
"Merry Christmas, Levi," she said, "I'm glad to be your friend too!"