In the two years that you had been in a relationship with Chris, you had never seen him dance. Like an actual dance. Obviously, you had both attended numerous parties together and he always did stupid dance moves to make his friends, but mostly you, laugh.
You would think that with you being a dancer, Chris wouldn’t mind busting out some of the dance moves he learned when he was younger, but he never did. You asked all the time, mostly when he wasn’t 100% sober and, thus, less self-conscious, but he always said that he didn’t remember.
It was the holiday season and this year, Chris and you had decided to spend it in Boston with his family. You both had a lot of things to take care of and you couldn’t afford to abandon them to travel halfway across the world to be with your family.
It was your first holiday season spent at the Evans’, which meant that you were about to witness a lot of their family traditions for the first time.
The first tradition that had been explained to you was that on December 23rd, the men went to get a tree while the women decorated the living room, followed by everyone decorating the tree when the men came back.
The next tradition was that, after Christmas Eve dinner, everyone had to open one present: matching pyjamas for the whole family.
The third tradition was the Christmas Day breakfast in the pyjamas from the previous night followed by games and a talent show.
You were currently seated in one of the chairs in the living room, watching as Scott and Chris were failing spectacularly at Pictionary.
“Time’s up!”, Shanna signals.
Scott groans, throwing his head back, “It was ‘twist’, Chris! Come on!”
Chris frowns at his brother, looking at the drawing, “How the hell was I supposed to guess that?”
“I drew a game of Twister!”
Chris crosses his arms, “It looks nothing like Twister, Scott.”
You snort before laughing at their bickering. You get up, leaving your glass on top of the fireplace, “Come on, Steve, it’s our turn!”
Scott groans, handing you the Sharpie as you get a piece of paper from the box. You open it, seeing 'gold medal’ scribbled on it.
You smirk and turn back towards the family, nodding at Shanna so she can start the timer.
“Okay… GO!”, she announces.
You turn towards the paper, drawing a gold bar. Steve looks at you, inquisitively, before saying, “Umm, chocolate!” You shake your head, adding other gold bars to create a pyramid.
Steve looks at you, trying to figure out what you’re drawing, before screaming, “Oh! Gold bars!” You make a wavy sign with your hand, indicating that he’s almost there.
“Bar?” You shake your head again.
“Oh, okay, gold!”
You nod excitedly, moving on to the next part of the drawing. You draw a circle, writing 1 in it, and add a lanyard on top.
“1st place!” You shake your head at Steve, encircling the entire drawing, indicating that the answer is the whole thing.
“Umm, medal?” You frantically nod your head.
“Gold medal!”
“Yes!”, you scream in response. Steve gets up and hugs you excitedly before you both start doing your winner dance.
Scott and Chris both look at you, mouths agape, while a look of fake offense draws itself on Scott’s face, “How in the hell do you have a better connection with my boyfriend than I do with my brother?”
You chuckle, before shrugging your shoulders and replying, “Don’t worry, Scott. That was the last round so we’re done winning everything…”
Scott and Chris both look at you with pouts on their faces as you laugh loudly, throwing your head back. You raise your hands in surrender and back away before plopping down in your seat, taking a sip of your drink.
“So, I believe I was told a talent show would be happening?”, you ask, wiggling your eyebrows.
Lisa smiles widely before nodding, “Indeed. Chris and Scott, do you want to start us off?”
Chris and Scott turn on the TV, playing their music. You didn’t know what they had planned because as Chris had said: “you have to wait for the surprise”.
You immediately burst out in laughter as the melody of “A Whole New World” from Aladdin starts.
Chris had made you watch Aladdin at least three times in the past couple of weeks (you had stopped counting) and you were confused, but you didn’t particularly mind since you loved the movie.
You smile throughout their excellent rendition of the song, clapping and cheering when they’re finished. Chris smiles, sitting down next to you before Lisa announces that Shanna and Carly were next with a scene from Lilo & Stitch.
As his sisters are playing Lilo & Stitch hilariously well, Chris turns towards you, smiling, before taking your hand in his and kissing your knuckles, whispering “I love you”. You feel heat rising to your face, smiling back at him and kissing his cheek before laying your head on his shoulder.
As Shanna and Carly are bowing after their performance, you see Lisa turning to you.
“Okay, Y/N, your turn.”
Your eyes widen as you stare at her, “Wait, what? I didn’t know I was supposed to prepare something.” Lisa raises an eyebrow before looking over at Chris who was getting redder by the second.
You look at him intently before he stutters, “I… um… forgot to tell you?”
You groan at him, throwing your head back. Lisa chuckles silently before saying, “Well, then, since you forgot to say anything, maybe you should join her.”
Chris’ head snaps up towards his mom, “What? Ma, no. I already went.”
Lisa looks at Chris before shrugging her shoulders.
“Well, then. You heard your mom. Up.”, you tell Chris while standing up.
Chris looks up at you, raising an eyebrow. He clearly had no intention of getting up.
“What are we even going to do?”
You smirk at Chris.
“Well, I intend on singing ‘I Just Can’t Wait To Be King’, now what you do next to me is… Dealer’s choice.”, you say, shrugging your shoulders.
Scott’s face lights up, “Oh my God, Chris, why don’t you tap dance while she sings?”
Chris shakes his head rapidly, crossing his arms over his chest, “No. Absolutely not.”
Chris’ family members all start to plead, saying that they haven’t seen him tap dance in so long. He doesn’t budge, continuing to shake his head. As his family abandon their mission, falling silent, Chris looks up at you.
You give him a pleading look, mouthing “please” before biting your bottom lip. He uncrosses his arms, maintaining eye contact with you, before sighing loudly, “Fine…”
You smile at him, leaving a kiss on his cheek, before asking, “Okay, well, where are your shoes?”
He sighs again, starting to get up, “They’re in my closet, I’ll get them.”
You hold up your hand, replying, “I’ll get them. I wanted to get myself some water anyways.”
He nods before settling back down in his seat.
You climb up the stairs, entering Chris’ room before heading to the closet. As you’re looking for his shoes, you can hear that the family has started to talk, rather loudly.
As you’re getting a glass of water from the kitchen, you hear Chris’ mom.
“She really just has you wrapped around her finger, doesn’t she?”
“Yeah, yeah, she does.”, you hear Chris reply, love evident in his voice.
You enter the living room, a large smile plastered on your face, dangling Chris’ tap shoes with one hand, “Well, then, Mr. Dancer, let’s do it.”