A/N: Spawned from a request for the first time Andy meets April's parents. I'll still get to that one as-is, but I wanted to have a little fun before I leave you guys for a week.
This will be the last thing I put here until the new year, though, so don't be alarmed if I don't respond to any feedback for a while.
"Andy," April whined, tugging at his shirt.
"What, you said we had to go shopping!" he laughed, picking up a cheap watch and putting it back down.
"Yeah, but that was before I knew how boring it would be," she grimaced, bumping into him with her shoulder and looking around the store.
"Hey, you said we had to go this year," Andy tried but only got a sigh in response.
For years the Ludgates had been inviting them over for Christmas, and at first they could avoid that on the excuse that they wanted to start their own traditions or something like that. Now, though, April said something about actually wanting to go, and when she told him that there'd be eggnog and they'd open presents together Andy was in. He had been too excited that they forgot they would actually need to buy presents for her parents now.
That was something they managed to avoid before as well. So they were perusing cheap watches for her dad because he was apparently constantly telling her he needed a new one. Not that April ever listened to things like that and remembered them for gift ideas. She definitely didn't pick that up from Leslie.
"No, not that one," she told Andy slowly when he shows her the silver watch.
"It's on sale though... why not?" he said slowly.
"He likes black bands, like the fake leather ones," she glanced over a rack and immediately spotted one. "Like this."
Andy smiled at her, a kind of grin that was bordering on calling her cute and making that abhorrent noise again, but April just tossed the box at him and hoped he would catch it. There was no way she was going to enjoy this at all.
They didn't even have a proper Christmas tradition themselves, so they technically shouldn't have to go. That's what April kept telling herself all the way through the car ride, and carrying the bags up her parents' house, and even when Andy gave her mom a massive hug before she gave April one just as back-breaking. Smiling, she realized how much she actually missed that.
"So, when do we eat?" Andy asked the moment his boots were off.
Her mom only laughed and Andy joined in, looking confused. April pulled off her scarf and looked around at the stairwell and the small den that she'd forgotten all about. Not completely though, but the missed years and holidays there had removed a lot of the ingrained memories from her mind and left the smell of ham and her sister's incense not absolutely disgusting anymore. It felt like something she didn't hate anymore.
Breaking her from the strange nostalgia, Andy tapped her on the shoulder and had a distressed look on his face.
"No, seriously - when do we eat, April?" he gave her that same childish look and she only smiled at him.
"I'll go see," she said, giving him a light kiss and leaving her coat on a chair in the den.
In the kitchen, her mother and sister were pulling out a ham at that moment. Natalie only gave April a flat stare that seemed to scream for a way out, so April brushed past her and took her place. If she wasn't busy putting on those stupid oven mitts then she would have seen her sister's lips twitch for a moment. That definitely wasn't happening, though. The Ludgates never smiled on Christmas, let alone this much.
Silently, April mostly just watched her mother move various pots and set food on plates and in bowls.
"D'you... need help?" April hesitated, waving her covered and useless hands around her awkwardly.
"Oh, now you want to help?" she chuckled, amused and surprised at the same time. "Set the table, zuzu."
"When's dad coming home?" April asked through the clanking of dishes as she pulled out five plates.
"He'll be here... any minute, actually," after checking the clock on the stove, they shared a smile and April walked over to her parents' dining room.
"Why's he have to work on Christmas Day?" April inquired, that familiar empty chair she stood next to reminding her why Christmas wasn't always the best time of the year.
"The shelter doesn't close on Christmas, you know that," a shout answered her from the kitchen.
The door opened not long afterward and the stocky figure of her dad walked in a few feet before Andy shouted. Looking out the corner of her eye, because she obviously didn't care, April let a grin escape when she saw Andy shake hands with her dad and then envelop him in his familiar, gigantic embrace. They walked into the dining room with a laugh, Andy's eyes instantly darting to the plates and smiling broadly. April returned it and returned her father's hug without a second thought.
An hour passed and Andy sat back in a recliner, April in his lap, as presents were passed around. Andy opened a Colts hat and looked like he'd just been given the greatest thing in the world, immediately hugging Natalie and making her cry out in protest. April smiled when she answered this thanks, though.
No one said anything when the presents were all unwrapped and the little fireplace was full and lit. Natalie continually drank spiked nog until her head rolled back on the sofa and she fell to sleep, and April's parents sat together on a loveseat with their doofy looking sweaters proudly adorned. They turned their heads and smiled at each other, her dad saying something that made them both laugh silently, and April turned to Andy. He was halfway asleep, his eyes barely kept open, and his hand moved idly on her back.
"Hey," she whispered to him, mimicking what she saw.
"What's up?" Andy scooted her closer to him, their faces inches apart.
"Super glad we did this," she explained with a smirk. "Feels like a real Christmas, y'know."
"Yeah, I'm happy too," he nodded, pulling her in for a short brush of their lips before continuing. "Your family's the best."
"Well, they're your family too," April nudged him, trying not to look at him because her face was far too hot for comfort.
She turned back and looked around the small room. The tiny tree with a few ornaments hanging from it, light strewn quickly around it, and a skirt at the bottom even though the plastic wasn't going to fall off anytime soon. The snoring from the couch didn't stop, Natalie curled up into her sweater and the glass she'd been slamming sitting on a table. April's parents eventually sat up and walked upstairs, leaving April and Andy to take their place and sprawl out as best they could.
Instead of going up to April's room that still had her bed and not much else in it, they stayed downstairs in the den. The fire was dead and they only had each other and a small blanket to throw over themselves, but it was comfortable.
"Yeah, we've got an awesome family," Andy said out of the blue when they nestled together, April's head on his chest and smashed up against him and the cushions.
"Yeah, we do," she agreed and kissed him again before resting her head once more on his chest.
Snow fell outside, and streetlights illuminated the suburbs a little, giving that year's Christmas the perfect atmosphere. On top of that, with the sounds of Andy's ragged breathing and Natalie's snoring, April wondered what it would be like to do this again - to be with their family for the holidays and enjoying themselves. Maybe it could be cool.