Plot Summary: Hank had never been fond of Christmas because of bad memories he's had as a child. What will happen when Oliver tries to lighten his spirits before they have to go to Marlin's Christmas party?

A/N: Hey y'all! This is the first one of these Christmas shorts that I completed! It's not being published first because I'm publishing these in chronological order but yeah, hope you enjoy this one :3

OCs featured: Oliver, Odette, Owen

It's been almost six months since Hank had met Dory whilst trying to look for her parents in Morro Bay, California. Before then, Hank never thought he'd have anything in life to care about. Especially after his experiences as a kid. All he wanted was to be alone. That was until Dory gave him some of her optimism. It was still hard for Hank to feel compassion for anyone around him, but that was because he wasn't used to someone offering him their friendship. Christmas was right around the corner, and he wasn't as enthusiastic as most would be around this time of year. He was invited to a Christmas party Marlin and Dory were planning at their place. Hank was reluctant to go, but after many cries and pleas from Dory, he finally accepted the invitation. Ever since Dory met Hank, she could not stop seeing him as an older brother, along with Bruce. He thought it was weird at first, but the whole idea of him having a sister oddly enough started to grow on him.

Hank didn't want to admit, but he was kind of happy he have someone who considered him a brother. That's why he'd ultimately agree with whatever Dory asked of him. He secretly wanted people to hangout with, which was something he never got when he was younger. But, a problem Hank seems to suffer from is bottling up his emotions. He tries to hide his real feelings by acting like a jerk. He knew it wasn't right, but it was hard for him to tell how he was really feeling. Again, that was due to his past taking a toll on him.

On days where Hank's past lingers on him, he wishes he had Dory's memory loss. It was something he admitted to her back Morro Bay. He figured no memories, no problems. Hank knew he had to brush those thoughts away right now, for one thing, he might actually start showing his emotions, and two, he didn't want to make anyone feel bad for him. Hank didn't like to see people feel sorry for him. They had bigger things to worry about than the personal life of a depressed alcoholic like him. Plus, he wanted others to remain happy around this time of year. That's something to at least admire about Hank. He seems to care about the happiness for the people around him. That of course sacrifices his own happiness, but at least he felt empathy for others, which was something he struggled with before meeting Dory. It was the night of Marlin Dory's party, and Hank was chilling on the couch, bottle of alcohol in hand. He was already dressed and ready, waiting for Bailey, Destiny and the otter children.

Right after, Hank, Destiny and Bailey moved in together, they came across these three human/otter children, the oldest being around Nemo's age, and the three ended up adopting them. The oldest was a girl named Odette, the middle child was a boy named Owen and the youngest was another boy named Oliver. After the three were adopted, Hank seemed to grow closest to Oliver, but not by his own intent. The child was the shyest of the three and rarely spoke a word. He always clung onto Hank, much to his annoyance. The more he's know Oliver, the more he felt like he related to him. The kid acted almost like how Hank was when he was his age, he saw a little bit of himself within Oliver. He wanted to give the kid a better life than the one he had as a child. When Oliver finally started to speak, Hank was the first to hear, and the first time Hank openly broke down, it was in front of Oliver. The two oddly enough seemed to feel more comfortable sharing their emotions to each other. Other than Dory, Oliver was the only other person he could talk to. Hank was surprised about that fact too, considering Oliver was only 6. He was pretty mature for his young age. It was probably because of what happened to him and his siblings.

Bailey and Owen entered the living room, with their hair gelled and wearing some suits. Bailey noticed Hank's look and he asked him what was up. "I'm fine, I'm just not as enthusiastic as you for this party." He lied. The truth was, he never felt well around Christmas. He's had a few bad experiences then. He was worried this Christmas party was going to trigger those memories again. The last thing he wanted was to breakdown in front of so many people. Hank groaned, his emotions feeling like a bad hangover as he went over to the kitchen sink and splashed water onto his face, trying to focus his mind away from the past. "Hank? Why are you washing your face?" Asked Odette, with Destiny standing behind her. "I just.. wanted to make myself look more presentable for tonight." Hank lied again. "Are you sure?" Destiny asked suspiciously. Hank simply nodded. "Yeah, don't worry. I'm fine. I have to straighten my tie, I'll be right back." He walked over to his room, and once he shut the door behind him, he plopped onto the bed and groaned, placing his hands on his face and camouflaging himself. 'Tonight's gonna to be rough.' He thought.

Hank's phone then started to buzz. He was getting a call from Bruce. He was unsure of why, but thought nothing of it and picked it up. "Talk to me." "HANK! I need help!" Cried Bruce. "I've been trying desperately to get Marlin a gift, I have no ideas and I'm running out of time! Please, mate! Do you know of anything I could get him!?" Hank rolled his eyes before replying "Look, I'm in no mood to help you go gift hunting. I'm trying to get ready for this party." He suddenly had an old memory flash into his head one of which, he chose to keep bottled up.

Hank was a young child, enthusiastic for Christmas. He wanted to give his parents the perfect gift this year. The poor boy didn't have any money and his family wasn't living in the best conditions to where they could easily spend money on holidays. So instead, Hank tried to make a gift for his parents. He thought it'd be the best kind of gift he could give because he made it all on his own with the kindness of his heart. He made his parents a paper Christmas tree, with a neatly tied bow on the top to give it a more fancy feel. There was no way his parents could hate it. Christmas Eve came and Hank decided it would be the best time to give his parents his gift. Instead of his parents admiring Hank's gift and praising their boy for making it all on his own, he was met with annoyed glares and the gift ending up being stepped on by his own father. This no doubt broke Hank's heart. He thought for once he'd make his parents proud of him, but that day only proved to him that he was nothing more than a failure. The worst of it all is, there was more pain to come after that. Pain that made Hank despite Christmas all together.

"But I had no idea on who else to call!" Hank could hear Bruce cry, making him snap to reality. "Please, Hank! I need your help!" Bruce exclaimed. Hank finally had enough, he couldn't handle all these memories suddenly coming back. "I DON'T GIVE A DAMN!" Hank snapped. "JUST GET OFF MY BACK AND FIND SOMEONE ELSE TO HELP!" He quickly hung up and slammed his phone against the nightstand, before putting a pillow against his face and camouflaging again. Hank suddenly heard his door open. Not bothering to see who entered, he muttered "Go away! I'm trying to get over a hangover!" against the pillow. He got not response, instead he heard someone climb onto his bed.

"Hey, I said get o-" Hank sat up to see it was Oliver that entered the room. The child gave him a worried look. "Oh, it's you. What is it kid?" Oliver looked carefully at Hank's expression and knew something was wrong. He grabbed his arm and hugged it. "Hey! W-What are you doing? Let go!" Hank exclaimed, struggling to pull away from the child's grasp. Oliver gripped onto Hank's arm tighter, still not making a peep. "Look, if there's something wrong, you can tell me." Silence. Hank started to become frustrated. "Kid, please. I can't stand seeing you like this. Just talk to me." More silence, until.. "...You looked sad.." Hank's eyes widened a bit. "What happened..?" Asked Oliver. He sighed, setting a hand on the kid's shoulder. "I'm alright. There's nothing wro-" "I know you're lying." Oliver cut him off. "You always lie to Destiny and Bailey. You lie to other people too. Please stop lying. I want to know what's wrong." Sometimes even after he's known Oliver for almost half a year, Hank could still end up becoming surprised by how smart the child was. He knew he couldn't lie to this poor kid now.

"I'm just.. not excited for this Christmas party." "Why not?" Oliver asked. "All our friends will be there. Will that not make you happy?" Hank shook his head. "No, it's not that. I don't know I.. just don't really enjoy Christmas all that much, that's all." "How come?" Oliver pressed on, making Hank a little nervous. He's never told anyone about his life before he ended up in Morro Bay, especially not a kid as young as Oliver. "Are you sure you can handle it?" He asked. Oliver nodded, ready to listen to whatever Hank was going to say. He chuckled a bit at the kid's anticipation before slowly explaining why he considers Christmas something he'd rather forget.

"When I was around your age, I used to love Christmas, just like every other kid. But, unlike most families I lived close to where they spent the holiday spending time with one another and being happy, that wasn't what I got unfortunately. My biological parents, well.. they weren't the kindest set of parents to say the least. They treated me like dirt, wishing I was never brought into their lives. They didn't plan on having me and with me around, they blamed me for the whole family living in poverty. One Christmas however, they had enough. They wanted to get rid of me for good so they could possibly stop losing money, so they took me somewhere. I as a naive kid was excited, I thought my parents finally were being kind enough to take me with them to a family vacation. We landed in Sydney, and things went downhill after. My parents took me to this large rundown hospital building, shoved me into the snow and just left me so someone else could find me. And sure enough someone did, one of the employees of the hospital building. And you may know the rest from there. My parents basically left me to this horrific human experimentation center all because they wanted to fix their debt. And on Christmas no less. Remember what I said about how I wished to not have memories? That's why. I just wish to forget that day and Christmas entirely."

Hank could suddenly feel some tears falling. He quickly wiped them away only for new tears to form. "I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't be crying like this." Hank looked down to see that Oliver had tears stained all over his face. He was clearly heartbroken over what Hank had went through. Without a word, he grabbed his arm again and sobbed into his sleeve. Hank sighed, feeling guilty for making the kid upset, so he pulled him closer and patted him on the head. "I'm sorry, Oliver. I should've know that would've scared y-" "Please don't feel that way!" Oliver cried. "Huh?" He asked.

"You shouldn't let the past make you hate Christmas all together. Christmas is a time to be happy. You shouldn't be thinking about the past and letting it haunt you like this. I know that what you want forget how your parents treated you, and you think the only way to do that is to despise Christmas. But that shouldn't be the mindset you should have. You should look at Christmas in a more positive light and only forget about your parents. They were who wronged you. Not Christmas." Hank finally managed a soft grin as he hugged Oliver tighter. "You're right. I shouldn't be such a grump over one holiday. I won't let my past haunt me like this anymore." Oliver looked up at Hank, holding up his hand. "You promise?" He nodded, shaking the boy's hand. "I promise." Oliver smiled at Hank, hugging him once more. A moment later, the two finally stood up. "Alright, I think it's about time we got to that party, huh?" Oliver nodded as the two made their way out the door.