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Scar had the whole party planned out. Christmas “soirees” as dear old Scott would say, were to be planned to the tinniest of the tiny details. The easiest thing of all was the guest list because he’d invite his cousins, other family, friends, and neighbours and that would be that. He’d made a point not to invite his dad, but failed to mention it to Bdubs until a week before the party (failed being an exaggeration/blatant lie.)
“How come some neighbour get to come but not our literal dad!” Bdubs whines, crossing his arms and raising a brow with far too much attitude.
“Okay, Pearl is not just some neighbour,” Scar scorns, rolling his yes, “And it’d be weird to invite Etho!”
“Oh yeah! I forget you’re, like, in love with her or something!” Bdubs teases - a shit-eating grin plastered onto his face.
“What?!! No I’m not!” Scar flushes a beet red.
“Boys,” Cleo mutters, miffed, but it’s drowned out by the incessant bickering.
“Whatever! Mum back me up here! Etho can come right?”
“Mum doesn’t like Etho either! They’re divorced for a reason! Remember, moss for brains?”
“Boys,” Cleo warns louder this time, but still she is ignored.
“Don’t call me that you buttface!”
“Oh… Real mature.”
“You started it!”
Scar mocks him loudly with grating high-pitched noises.
“I don’t sound like that!”
“Yeah, you d-“
“Boys!” Cleo shouts, rubbing the bridge of their nose as the room drops silent.
The two brothers stare at their mother apologetically.
“Listen, whether Etho comes or doesn’t; I don’t mind. So long as I know by tomorrow, okay? Make up your minds, but, my God, no more bickering.”
“Yes, mum!” They agree in synchrony, nodding profusely.
She smiles at their acceptance, deciding to ignore their pointed glares at each other as they sit on the sofa.
“Although,” they begin, letting out a sigh, “I think you should let your father come, Scar.”
She hushes him with her hand as he opens his mouth to protest.
“Because your brother will be happy and you can broodingly glare at him the whole evening.”
Bdubs claps with glee as a smile takes over his cheeks, hopping up from the sofa and running to his room cheering.
“Mum,” Scar whines, grumbling as he curls up next to them.
“I know,” She whispers soothingly as she runs her fingers through his hair, “Maybe I’m just overwhelmed by the Christmas spirit, but I’d feel bad his roommates all coming and him not being invited. I’m sure you would too.”
At that, Scar says nothing, contentedly leaning further into his mother with a soft exhale as they turn something on the TV.
—————————
The decorations adorning the walls gleam with joy as he stares at them, his mother nodding approvingly as she smiles.
“You did an amazing job, Scar,” Cleo praises, ruffling their eldest son’s fluffy brown hair.”
“Thanks!” He preens, a smug smile invading his face.
“Well this house looks dapper, but shouldn’t you be cleaning yourself up before lovergirl gets here?” Bdubs teases, wiggling his brows as he enters the hallway.
“Pearl is not my girlfriend!” Scar hisses with venom, quietly though, because the walls of their house are quite thin.
“I never said a name,” His brother sing-songs with cheeky glee - far too proud of his annoying behaviour.
“Ignore him,” Cleo comments, barely restraining her laughter by covering her mouth with her hand as her eldest storms off to his room to get ready.
“He totally likes her though, right?” Bdubs asks, already knowing the answer and assuming Scar is far enough out of range.
“Oh yeah, for sure.”
Scar shouts something mostly unintelligible about hearing what they were saying, meaning he was certainly straining his ears just to hear if they’d still tease him as he left.
There’s something weirdly soft about it. They know each other well.
A knock at the door prompts Bdubs to scuttle off to his own room to get ready. When they open the front door, they’re met with a grinning Martyn wiggling his eyebrows flirtatiously.
“What?” She chuckles as he leans towards her.
“Look up.”
As they do so, they notice a mistletoe hanging from his hand.
“You’re such a dork,” She chuckles, holding his cheeks with her hands and pulling him in for a sweet and short kiss that she can’t help but giggle into.
“I’m your dork.”
“Whatever.”
Pulling him out of the cold and into the house, they shut the door and walk off into the kitchen.
“Do you want a tea, Martyn?” She calls out, already boiling the kettle.
“Yes please!”
The rest of the hour is spent relaxing on the sofa as Scar and Bdubs patter about and ask questions about their outfit or when people are arriving or if anyone has cancelled.
When the doorbell rings for the first time, they swear Scar almost lights the floor on fire as he dashes to open it.
Fluffing his hair up one final time (Bdubs snickers a lot at that), Scar opens the door, revealing Pearl standing behind it wearing her signature long red coat, this time adorned with a wreath clip-on attached to the pocket.
“Hey, Pearlarino!” He chirps, opening his arms for a hug.
“Hey Scarino!” She greets back cheerfully and accepts the large bear-hug.
Cleo thinks quickly on her feet and slaps a hand over Bdub’s mouth; he was certainly planning on singing the tune of ‘Careless Whisper’ to tease his elder brother.
Taking her coat, Scar hangs it on the coat rack and ushers her over to the couch.
“Hi Cleo!” Pearl joyfully says, leaning over the back of the couch to hug her.
“Hi Pearl,” Cleo responds, enveloping the teen in an awkwardly positioned hug, “BigB not coming?”
“Oh, he is! He was just taking too long so I came early!”
Giggling, Cleo nods, because that’s a very Pearl thing to do, and because they can see Scar smiling far too softly for his own good.
Bdubs makes obnoxious kissy faces at her when Pearl looks away, probably to annoy his brother - and it works; the fifteen year old flushing a beet red.
The next person to arrive is, unsurprisingly, BigB, handing Cleo a box of cookies left over from the bakery.
After that, the self-proclaimed “bad boys” arrive and the seventeen-year-old Jimmy all but pounces at Martyn and profusely apologises for missing a day at the aquarium, to which Martyn just chuckles and assures him it’s no big deal. Joel blushes and darts to ask Scar whether Lizzie is coming (she is.) Grian barely misses Bdubs lunging at him, shouting about a video game.. or something.
Soon enough, Scott and Lizzie arrive together, one holding a bouquet of flowers for her vase that’s been empty for a year and the other simply stood smiling beside her friend. Scar greets them both at the door and then they disperse to different people - Lizzie gravitating towards her unbiological aunt (Cleo) and Scott finding his boyfriend and sitting on the arm of his chair.
A little bit later, Skizz shows up with Impulse, who was blathering on about something, but pauses when he sees Bdubs and rushes over to him, throwing his arms around the other boy and rustling his hair.
Cleo and Lizzie exchange amused looks as the two boys roughhouse. Skizz chuckles and throws himself beside Cleo, wrapping them in a one-armed hug on the sofa.
“Etho coming?” Cleo asks in hushed tones, mentally stifling a giggle as Lizzie leans in (always enjoying a bit of neighbourhood gossip.)
“Yeah, ‘course. Bdubs asked him and he did that thing where he panicked and decided he wasn’t coming,” Skizz starts, softly laughing to himself.
“Standard.”
“But-“ Skizz nudges her shoulder with his own,- “We said he’d enjoy it and he changed his mind. Besides, Bdubs puppy dog eyes alone could’ve convinced him.”
Humming in acknowledgment they nod and let their mind wander as they listen intermittently to the conversations around them. When the door knocks, she prepares herself with a sigh and a smile; she’ll play nice for her kids’ sake.
Scar refuses to open the door, deciding to be petty and do everything but talk to his father - even if that means being a slightly poor host and… nope! He can’t be a bad host.
Hurrying to the door to avoid someone else opting to open it, he barely musters a smile as he flings it open.
“Hi, Tango!” He greets slightly more chipper than he feels and then turns to address Etho, “Hello, Etho.”
He nods at them both and moves out the way to let them in. The two drift towards Skizz, Etho looking slightly uncomfortable with the situation. Bdubs bounces away from Impulse, leaving him high and dry, before darting towards his Dad and Koala hugging him.
“Hey, dad!” Bdubs cheers, flashing his crooked teeth in a cheesy grin.
Almost immediately, Etho looks slightly more relieved and relaxed - just with a small anxious furrow in his brow.
“Hey, buddy!”
“I’m so glad you came! Someone-“ Bdubs harshly glares at his brother- “Said you wouldn’t come.”
Glaring back, Scar mutters something about how it “wouldn’t have been the first time” before being distracted by a pair of sunglasses flying at his head.
“Grian!” He exclaims, barely catching the glasses before they hit his face.
The dirty blond snickers in response as he high-fives his elder brother Joel.
Lizzie raises a brow at the scene, causing Joel to shrink into himself with a bright blush.
“Are they bullying you, Scar?” Lizzie jokes, deciding to defend him.
“Yes! Could you believe it, my fellow Bamboozler? Betrayed by my own cousins!” Scar waxes and whines, holding a hand to his chest and dramatically flopping into Pearl’s arms.
“It’s positively absurd!” Jimmy yells from across the room, cupping his hands over his mouth and barely masking a cackle, “I don’t associate myself with my dreadfully rambunctious brothers!”
The party goes smoothly for the rest of the hour, people mingling and talking about.. whatever they all talk about. Eventually, the adults decide for all the kids (“And older kids!” as Jimmy protested, saying he refused to be grouped with the rug-rats under the age of seventeen) to play some games.
Truth or dare was quickly decided on - a staple of a party involving children.
“Truth or Dare, Scar?” Bdubs asks, wiggling his brows teasingly at his brother.
Immediately knowing what was coming, Scar quickly decides his answer.
“Dare!”
“Wow, someone’s a proper daredevil,” Grian jokes, raising a brow at the growing blush on his cousin’s cheeks.
“Yeah! ‘Course! Can’t be seen as only some wimp who chooses truth,” Scar incessantly rambles, eye slightly twitching with nervousness.
Pondering his dare, and really wishing Scar had chosen truth, Bdubs taps his chin for a mockingly long time.
“I dare you to go and give dad a hug.” Bdubs smiles, fully believing he’ll get Scar to forfeit and do a truth.
The twitch in his eye of nerves now turns to one of irritability as he stands up, turning towards where Etho is sat.
Panicking, Bdubs yells,
“Standing up with both arms!”
Deflating slightly, Scar pinches his nose and then furrows his brows, a newfound determination in his tight-lipped frown.
“Etho,” He mutters softly, tapping the white-haired man on the shoulder.
The man in question turns and raises a brow with a confused small smile on his face.
“Yes, Scar?”
Letting out a defeated huff of air, Scar opens his arms and gestures for Etho to stand - which he does - and then Scar does the most surprising thing of the century and hugs his father. Jaw dropping open, Etho returns the hug in slightly slow and robotic manner, completely and utterly gobsmacked. Cleo evidently feels the same from the way their eyebrows raise to the top of their forehead.
Hurriedly letting go, Scar ashamedly scuttles back towards the group of kids and leans into Pearl , who glances at him apologetically when he sits down.
“Didn’t think you’d go through with that!” Bdubs’ high-pitched voice cracks with surprise as Scar lets out a sigh and sits upright.
“I’d never refuse a dare!” He retorts with determination and pride.
“Well.. It’s your turn now Scar,” Jimmy comments, easing back into the game and hoping Scar would go back to being light and breezy in no time.
“Joel,” Scar’s eyes harden with delight, “Truth or dare?”
So much for light and breezy.
About ten thousand embarrassing truths and forty life threatening dares later, all the kids sit in silence as they contemplate what to do next.
“Kids!” Cleo yells, pointing at the window, “Look outside!”
In a flurry of excitement, all the children flock to the window onlooking the driveway and watch as it turns into an ethereal scene, snowflakes drifting to the floor and intertwining.
A chorus of sounds of amazement filled the room as they watched the process of a White Christmas beginning.
Blasting cheesy Christmas songs from the television, Cleo watches contentedly as everyone turns to each other and begins to dance. Specifically, she notices Pearl and Scar twirling each other around with a slight pink dusting their cheeks (and Bdubs taking a photo, but she’ll laugh about that with him another time.)
She laughs softly as Jimmy tries (and fails) to dip Scott, almost sending them both to the ground in a fit of loving giggles. An apology is sealed with a kiss.
Turning her attention to Bdubs and Impulse trying to break dance despite the song being “Jingle Bell Rock”; she snorts when they hit their heads together with such lack of coordination.
Trying not to sigh with shame, she averts her eyes to Joel embarrassingly trying to work up the courage to ask Lizzie, engrossed in a conversation with BigB, to dance. Lightly pushing Joel over, Etho nods profusely at him causing a resolute expression to flood his face. Lizzie faces him and a large smile takes over her cheeks as he holds out a hand for her to hold. They then proceed to attempt a slow dance (again, despite it not being the right song at all. It’s sickeningly sweet nonetheless.)
Tango is essentially forced into a dancing circle by Skizz and Martyn, who do the same to BigB and Etho - but eventually they all relax and chuckle as they embarrassingly and uncoordinatedly sway to the music.
“They’re all terrible dancers, Cleo,” Grian comments teasingly from beside her, startling her.
Without a word, she hoists him up from his armpits and swings him around.
“Yeah, we’re so much better!” She smirked as she coaxed an unbridled laugh out of the kid.
“Well, obviously,” He jokes with a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth, rolling his eyes at the rest of the group.
After a long while of dancing, the adults tire themselves out and the kids explain that they want to go lie down in the snow.
Scar finds solace in the snow kissing his cheeks comfortingly. He decides he could lie in the snow for hours.
“Well don’t you look happy as a clam!” Pearl comments, plopping herself down beside him and lying on her stomach.
“What can I say? I love the snow, Pearlio!” He exclaims, spreading his limbs out around him for emphasis.
There’s a sweet moment of silence as they giggle with each other before a snowball hits Scar in the face. Glaring at his brother, who gave himself away with a fit of hysterical laughter, he tosses an even larger snowball right at his head, causing him to lose balance and fall backwards into the snow.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your levels of sadism, because he is in a group of the people he is, Scar then watches as his action divides the group into two teams.
Pacing back and forth, he stares down his team: Pearl, Grian, Jimmy and Lizzie. He feels hurt that he only has 4 members, and even more hurt that one of them is Jimmy, who was always first out in dodgeball, mind you. Luckily, though, he has Lizzie, who can certainly distract Joel when the time comes - he tells her as much with an accidental amount of honesty. (He’ll apologise to Joel for that at some point… maybe.)
With the sound of a klaxon (Jimmy screaming like a lunatic for comedic effect), the battle begins and snowballs blast through the air - damaging anyone they collide with. It’s epic and exaggerated and hilarious and maybe, possibly, the happiest event of the whole day. There’s something about unconstrained childish elation that just settled like a snowflake on his tongue.
When it is over, he doesn’t care who won (his team did, by the way) because lying flat on the snow with his closest friends and family he feels at home and warm despite the falling snow.
Joel lies next to Lizzie, who in turn faces him with a soft smile.
“You should battle me more often, it really takes you out of your shell.” She nudges him with her shoulder and he giggles bashfully in response.
“Maybe I will.”
“Is that a date?”
“Can it be a date?” He asks boldly, a bright shade of red overwhelming his face for the hundredth time that night.
“Yeah,” she speaks gingerly, a sweet tone lacing her tongue, “Yeah it really could.”
Her eyes are soft and blue; he could swim in them forever.
“Well isn’t that just sweet!” She teases with a smirk.
“Fuck! Did I say that aloud?” He curses, covering his face and turning away, “I’m so sorry!”
“No, don’t apologise,” She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, “That’s the nicest thing a guy has said to me.. maybe ever?”
“I could say a trillion sweet things about you.”
A car honks its horn and Lizzie sits up and stares at it.
“Shit! That’s my mum!” She stands up and Joel follows.
Swiftly, she twirls on her tiptoes and leans down slightly to kiss Joel’s cheek.
“Merry Christmas, Joel.” She winks at him before rushing to the car whilst still waving goodbye.
“Merry Christmas, Lizzie!” He chokes out loudly, voice cracking with disorientated enthusiasm.
Maybe Scar won’t be apologising later?
Turning to face the girl beside him, Scar grins and intertwines their hands. If a flush creeps up on both of their faces? That’s their business only. (And Bdubs’ camera, but they don’t know that either.)
Nothing feels better than being fifteen as you hold the hand of someone you love, surrounded by the people you adore, in the snow.