wl_fanfiction | [FIC] Ornament

sungreen70.livejournal.com posting in

I did it! I did it! I completed a fic! lol. After weeks of horrible writers block, I stopped struggling with the zillions of works in progress I have going and went back to my roots - pure, unabashed Ryan/Colin fluff. Christmas fluff, no less. Not diabetic-friendly. You've been warned ;)

Title: Ornament
Author: Sun Green
Pairing: Ryan/Colin
Rating: PG for very minor cussing
Word Count: 1534
Summary: Putting up the Christmas tree brings back fond memories

2007

“Ow! My back!” Ryan yelped.

“Hold it straight!” Colin barked in response, then looked up apologetically. “Sorry. You okay?”

Ryan rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I’m fine, thanks for asking.”

“Almost done,” Colin grunted, still fiddling with the screws on the Christmas tree stand as Ryan struggled to hold the mammoth evergreen in place.

Ryan squirmed as the sharp pine needles pricked his skin and rained down on his face. “Collll…” he complained.

“Got it!” Colin announced triumphantly. “You can let go. Oh, shit!” He lunged for the tree as it tipped over, but Ryan still caught most of the weight on his body. He let loose with a colorful string of expletives as Colin lifted it off him, snickering in spite of himself. “Sorry, babe,” he managed.

“Fuck, I think I inhaled a pine needle,” Ryan grumbled. Colin wiped a bit of pine sap from Ryan’s cheek with his thumb and then kissed the spot, earning a grudging smile in return.

“Okay, one more time,” he coaxed. “Just hold it steady.”

Sighing, Ryan did as he was told. “Why can’t we just get an artificial tree?”

“Because this is tradition.”

“Tradition is breaking my back,” Ryan grumped.

“Okay, Scrooge, that should do it. Let it go – slowly this time.” The tree stayed upright. Ryan shook out his aching arms and then rubbed his sore back.

“Is the tradition over yet?” he asked hopefully.

Colin grinned. “Not even close. After we decorate the tree, we put up the outside lights. You get to do the roof.” As Ryan opened his mouth to complain again, Colin raised his hand in surrender. “Okay, okay. We can take a break first. I made egg nog this morning. Be right back.”

“Extra rum in mine!” Ryan called after Colin’s retreating figure. Dropping to the floor next to the boxes of decorations Colin had lugged down from the attic, Ryan shook his head wearily. Christmastime wore him out. The season seemed longer every year, the pace more frantic. It began weeks before Thanksgiving these days. He couldn’t turn on the TV or radio without being inundated by it. The obligatory holiday parties were a drag, and forget about shopping for gifts. He didn’t know how Colin managed to hold onto his childlike delight for the holiday. Personally, he could do without it.

Yawning, Ryan idly lifted the lid of the nearest box of ornaments. They were a jumbled mess, as they always were when they first opened them, no matter how carefully Colin had put them away the year before. He reached in and began disentangling the various baubles from one another. Suddenly, he stopped short as one item in particular caught his eye. He pulled it out of the box and studied it. Slowly, a smile spread across his face.

1979

“Look, Col!” Ryan nudged his friend and pointed toward the entranceway of a department store, where a group of Christmas carolers gathered.

Colin barely glanced in their direction. “Mmm,” he replied, trudging along beside Ryan. Ryan sighed inwardly. He wished there was something he could do to make Colin feel better. He’d been in a funk for days, ever since he had exhausted all possibilities of scraping together enough money to fly home for the holidays. Colin loved Christmas, but for the first time in his life he wouldn’t be spending this one with his family. Though he wasn’t talking much about it, Ryan knew it was breaking his heart.

Casting a sideways glance at Colin’s face, Ryan felt his own heart twist. In the few months that they’d known each other, they’d become so close that Ryan could swear he felt Colin’s emotions for him. It was tearing him apart to see him this sad. He searched for something to say.

“Hey, Col,” he said finally, “It’s gonna be a great Christmas, you know.”

Colin gave him a small smile. “I know.”

The taller man was not convinced. He stopped in his tracks, pulling Colin to a halt beside him. “Look,” he continued earnestly. “It won’t be the same – I know that – but, hey, I’m not going home either. I’ll be with you. We’ll have fun. I promise.”

Colin’s smile was slightly bigger this time, though his eyes were still sad. He reached up and patted Ryan’s shoulder. “Thanks, Ry.”

Ryan bit his lip. He ached to pull Colin into his arms and hug him. Instead he looked around for something that might cheer his friend up. His gaze fell on a line of people at the other end of the mall, and a mischievous gleam came into his eye. Colin looked at him suspiciously.

“What?” he demanded. He craned his neck to see what was causing the wicked grin to spread over Ryan’s face. “Oh no. Don’t even think about it.”

Ryan laughed out loud. “Come on!” He grabbed Colin’s arm and started running, following the brightly lettered signs that advised mall shoppers “This Way To Santa Claus!”

“Ryan…” Colin groaned, as the taller man yanked him along. But didn’t put up much resistance, and moments later they were at the entrance to Santa’s Castle, with Ryan explaining to a bewildered looking young woman in an elf suit that yes, they were serious. Finally, the elf shook her head in resignation and accepted Ryan’s money, stepping aside to let them join the line of pre-schoolers and their parents. Colin squirmed as one mother after another turned to look at them curiously, but Ryan only grinned more broadly.

“What’s that, Colin?” he asked loudly. Colin looked at him in confusion, and Ryan let out a loud sigh. “Why didn’t you go before we got on line? Well, now you’ll just have to hold it. And don’t whine!” he added sternly when Colin started to protest, blushing furiously as more mothers turned to gape at the two men. “Santa Claus doesn’t bring presents to whiners!”

“I’m going to kill you, Ryan,” Colin muttered, as the snickering onlookers finally turned away. Ryan only smiled angelically in response. Colin glared at him for another second or two, until the corner of his mouth twitched - a sure sign he was holding back a laugh - and quickly looked away. Ryan grinned broadly.

When they reached the head of the line, a bored-looking St. Nick gave no sign of noticing anything out of the ordinary as the two men approached, though Ryan heard him swear under his breath as they both lowered their weight onto his lap. Perched uncomfortably on Santa’s knees, they obediently fixed their eyes on another elf-suited helper who danced maniacally about beside the camera, waving a Cookie Monster doll over her head, just as she’d done to attract the attention of the two and three year olds who’d come before them.

“Smile, Col!” Ryan sing-songed, grinning cheesily into the camera. They were nearly blinded by a flashbulb and then they were sliding off Santa’s lap, both of them laughing hysterically as they staggered down the exit ramp.

“There, we just started a new holiday tradition,” Ryan chortled.

“What? We have to do that again next year?” Colin groaned. But he was still laughing.

At the end of the ramp, yet another elf handed Ryan their photo – a Polaroid snapshot fitted into a flimsy cardboard frame shaped like a Christmas tree ornament, with a string looped through the top. Ryan took one look at the picture – two grown men, one mugging goofily, one trying not very successfully to maintain a sulky expression, crowded on the lap of a disgruntled looking Santa who was obviously cursing his career choice - and doubled over again. “This gets a place of honor on the Christmas tree,” he snorted.

“What Christmas tree?” Colin asked, snatching the ornament from Ryan. He studied the photo and rolled his eyes. “Oh, lord…” But he grinned at Ryan, his first genuine smile in a week. A warm glow spread through Ryan at the sight.

“We’re gonna get one,” he told Colin in answer to his question. He draped his arm around the shorter man’s shoulders to steer him out of the way of a harassed looking mother who came stomping out of Santa’s Castle with a screaming toddler in her arms. “It’s our first Christmas together, and now we have something to remember it by.”

Colin chuckled, looking at the photo again. “Our first Christmas together? What are we, a couple?”

Their eyes met and locked. For a moment a surge of electricity seemed to pass between them, startling them both into uncharacteristic silence.

Ryan was the first to look away. Squeezing Colin’s shoulders lightly, he ignored the question and nodded towards the dollar store. “Come on. Gotta finish my Christmas shopping.”

Colin smiled, tucking the photograph into his coat pocket. Following Ryan to what they both commonly referred to as “the cheap crap store”, he briefly laid a hand on his back. “I think you’re right, Ryan. This is going to be a great Christmas.”

2007

Still smiling, Ryan rose to his feet, the faded cardboard ornament in his hand. He hung it carefully on the tree, front and center where Colin would see it first thing when he came back into the room.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

captanonymus.livejournal.com

That was the *perfect* Christmas present!!! I *love* this fic!!

"Is the tradition over yet" aaawww I love that line! I can't heap enough praise on you for this one! I think, and I realise that's just my humble opinion, you should write another Christmas fic about how they got together! I can see it happening during Christmas 1979 but you left it out! :-) Much implication though "This is going to be a great Christmas" go on, write that missing scene!! :D

From:

sungreen70.livejournal.com

Thank you! Now that I'm in the Christmas spirit, perhaps... We'll see! Your humble opinion is very much appreciated! I would like to do more with young!Ry/Col.

Oh, and while I have you here! Can you please link me to part one of "You Could Be Happy"? I'm woefully behind on my fic reading and have been eyeing that one for ages but each time I search for the beginning I can only seem to find part two and later...

From:

captanonymus.livejournal.com

Owwww, delighted you want to read my fic! Most flattered :-) Not a clue how to link it but it's posted on October 10th in this comm, hope that helps (go in through the archive, it's the quickest)!

From:

sungreen70.livejournal.com

Yipee! *rushes off to search for fic*

From:

ohbrie.livejournal.com

So sweet. :) And, even better, funny. We need funny when it's so gloomy outside. The part with Santa is serious comedy material! Thank you for the laugh.

And calling the dollar store "the cheap crap store" reminds me of my carefree happy times as a piss poor university student when we ate crap at what we called the "Cockroach restaurant", because it was so bad (but cheap, yay!)... But poor as we were, we still had lots of crazy fun. Good times.

Once again, what a lovely, heartwarming fic, thank you for sharing. :)

From:

sungreen70.livejournal.com

Thank you m'dear! *cracks up at 'cockroach restaurant'* Yup, being young and poor makes for a lot of fun memories. It's fun to write Ry/Col that way too!