A fic where the eternals don't know you're a thing with Druig until they see years of photos of you and him all over your house.❤
note: am i crying?? maybe.... i took some creative liberty with this one, but kept the main request there <3 i hope you all enjoy as much as i did. idc that its november,,, christmas now..
pairing: druig x (f)reader
summary: the holidays bring your large family of eternals over to celebrate. when they walk into your home and see photo after photo of you and druig, they realize something that has been under their noses for millenia
warnings: sweet sweet puppy love n lovey dovey druig
wc: 1k
Christmas wasn’t a holiday that Eternals celebrated, in fact, you weren’t sure if there were any that they did. Nevertheless, for the sake of old times and catching up on how eternal life was, you were all going to celebrate this year. It had been decided that you would be throwing the event, as it was known that you were the best event planner there ever had been.
The stone cottage you owned in the French countryside was the perfect venue. The interior was cozy, the walls plastered in photos and paintings, the floor with mismatched carpets and rugs. There was a small kitchen that led into the living room, warmed by a brick fireplace. The tree was decorated with an assortment of tinsel and ornaments that glittered from the flames.
“Druig!” You call, hoping to reach your husband on the modest second floor. The mug you held in your hands was filled with your favorite: hot chocolate. You double and triple check the food in the oven and that the cookies had been set out. The fireplace was cracking loudly, the ambiance just right. Eventually, you hear the rhythm of footsteps down the staircase, indicating that your husband was about to come rob you of your sweet drink.
“Yes, my darling?” He approaches you from behind, sneaking a kiss onto your temple, “Ooh, is that hot chocolate?”
You roll your eyes playfully, but you don’t resist when his arm reaches around yours and removes the mug from your hand. “You’d better plan on making me more, you thief.”
Druig slips his arm around your waist as he sips on the drink. He pulls your body against his and moves gently with the old Sinatra record playing from the living room. The man gives you a puppy-eyed look, “Oh but of course, my darling wife.”
You lean your head back and rest it on his with closed eyes, “I made your favorites.”
Your voice is nearly a whisper, but an excited hum escapes him. Gently, he takes your hand and twirls you much like he had in the countless dances you’d shared before. “Oh, how I love you, Y/N.”
He traps you between the counter and his body, peppering your face with kisses remnant of the hot chocolate that was once yours. Your hand finds its way to his low back, fingertips grazing over the knit sweater.
The harsh knock on the door startles you both. This is followed by a troubled Kingo shouting, “Let us in! It’s freezing!”
“Oops!” You giggle. Druig sneaks in one more kiss before letting you shuffle towards the door. You swing the door open, greeting everyone. A swift blur lets you know that Makkari has shot right past you and straight towards the fireplace. Snowflakes flurry in the air after her.
“Come on in guys! Welcome!” You squeak, “Please leave your shoes right by the door”
“I hope you heard that Makkari!” Kingo can hardly finish his sentence before there is another brief flash and a pair of boots wobble to a stop on the wooded floor. They file in one by one after the movie star, some shivering more than others.
“There are blankets on the couches and next to the tree,” You tell them in between greetings, “And there is cocoa on the stove.”
You shut the door securely after they all enter, adjusting so that all their shoes are against the wall with your foot.
“Oh, you’re already here?” You hear from the other room. It was Kingo asking the question.
Knowing Druig, he’s probably responded by momentarily raising his brows or with a curt nod.
“Dude, look at these,” Sprite drags Kingo and Ikaris to the wall where all your pictures are hung.
“What the…” Kingo mutters in disbelief, then shrieking, “I missed the wedding?!”
“Wedding?” Ajak looks a tad intrigued, joining the other Eternals at the wall. There are a plethora of photos. Not just the wedding, but the many vacations and triumphs you held. Plenty of candid photos that caught Druig in a softer light that the others didn’t often see.
“That is so much good content for my documentary wasted!” Kingo huffs. Sprite has a look of disbelief on her face.
“Like, when did this all even happen? It hasn’t even been like a thousand years since we last saw each other?”
Phastos grins, placing a gift under the tree. “If you guys paid more attention you would’ve seen it coming.”
You glance to Druig, who is smugly sipping his cocoa and sitting on one of the recliners closest to the fireplace. He throws you a wink. “You’ve lost your chance boys, I beat you to it.”
Sersi grins at you, wiggling her fingers as if to say “show me the ring!”. You girls all gather around, forming a little huddle as you reveal your sparkling ring. Phastos had helped make it. A gorgeous golden band, intricate and delicate, holding a gorgeous pear stone that matched the hue of your husband's eyes. His ring had threads of magic that matched your own. Thena smiles proudly, pulling Gilgamesh closer to look. Ajak turns to you, her fingers pushing a strand of hair from your face.
“I’m so very happy for you.”
“Thank you, Ajak.” You hum, leaning into her touch.
“Alright. Enough of the gossip. I want to try some of this food.” Gilgamesh grumbles, moving towards the kitchen. The room erupts in laughter and everyone but you and Druig crowds into the kitchen to serve themselves dinner.
You offer him a hand which he takes, joining you in standing. Even you can see that the infatuation in his eyes is just as strong as it was the day he first laid eyes on you. “Mine forever?”
“Forever.” He presses a kiss to your forehead, where you can just peek at the message Makkari was signing to you:
“You even have him in the matching Christmas socks? You’ve impressed me!”
You grin at her, leaning into your husband, so very happy that your family surrounds you.
a/n: this is based off the song ‘cigarettes out the window’ by TV girl :), i think the ending may suck a bit so sorry ! GIF not mine. you can join my taglist here
word count: 2.2k
requested?: no but you can find my prompt list here and requests are open!
pairing: druig x reader
warnings?: smoking, anxious thoughts?
summary: you smoked. druig didn’t like it. you both felt like you wanted more time together, was there a chance you would kick your bad habit? or would there be a way for you to be together for his version of forever rather than yours?
My girl Liddy used to always smoke
Cigarettes when she couldn't sleep
She'd disappear for an hour and a half
And when she'd come back she'd brush her teeth
But I could still smell it on her raggedy tee
And I could taste it on her lips when we kiss
Old habits die hard. And that’s why for some reason you could never give up smoking, despite how often your boyfriend would nag you too. Everytime you inhaled, setting the back of your throat on fire, his voice echoed around your head. His constant list of medical problems that could stem from smoking as well as the dangers of addiction. Smoking cigarettes didn’t seem like a real addiction, you felt you weren’t putting yourself in too much harm despite the obvious risks that boldly shine over you written on the deck. Due to Druig’s concern with your habit you decided try and keep it on the down low, you rarely smoke in front of him and often would climb out of bed, leaving his warm embrace to chase a nicotine high on the balcony, clad simply in his oversized shirt which reached your upper thigh and a blanket. Everytime you found yourself in this position you felt guilty. But in a sense it irritated you, how could a man you’ve been dating for 4 years have such an impact on a habit you’ve had for the best part of a decade? Sighing, you flicked the dog end off the balcony before returning to your bed, not without brushing your teeth, attempting to take away the harshness of the tobacco and replace it with mint.
What you didn’t know is Druig woke up each time you left the bed, he would watch you from inside as you smoked, fighting a battle in his head between coming to join you and leaving you in peace, he hated himself for finding the way you smoked those bastard things beautiful, and would always pretend to be asleep as you climb back into bed. Letting you believe he had no idea what you’d left to do, trying to ignore the smell of ash that flooded his clothes, leaving him to wash them after you wore them. Druig felt like he had warned you enough of the risks that came with your habit though you would never understand, as an immortal being he felt sick at the thought of you risking your already short lifetime for a substance. He knew there were worse dangers out there yet he could protect you from these. He couldn’t protect you from your own stupid routine.
Poor little Liddy used to always quit
But she never really quit
She'd just say she did
Cigarettes, cigarettes out the window (oh-oh)
“Druig just leave it now!” “No Y/N! Why can’t you see these things are killing you? For fucks sake you can’t stop coughing!” “Druig I have a fucking cold!” Your voices boomed around your apartment, probably seeping through the walls to your neighbours but you didn’t care. Winning this argument was all you could focus on, the red and angry face of your boyfriend before you is all you could see, “Don’t be so stupid, why can’t you just quit?” His accent cuts thick through the air, “Because I don’t want to!” You wave your arms around meaninglessly, “I don’t want to Druig so stop trying to make me!” “You promised you would cut down” “I have!” “You’re a liar Y/N and you know it.” Although his words hurt, they were truthful, you had promised to cut down but you just seemingly couldn’t - everytime you tried to quit something happened and you fell back into smoking. “Druig I don’t get why this is such a big deal to you!” “Because…” Druig looks around for the right words, “I don’t want you to die, okay?” He pauses, “I don’t want you to die to something that could be prevented because I love you and I’m going to have to live eons without you and you’re trying to make the little time we have even less!” His eyes fill with tears, you’re hurt by his accusation but you understand where he’s coming from. You heart rate begins to slow, the past hour and a half of arguing coming to an end, “I’m sorry Dru, I didn’t realise that’s how you felt, I promise I’ll try to quit.” You shake your head, “It’s just so hard.” You say breathly, “I know,” You feel his arms wrap around you, “But we can do this.”
My girl Liddy used to always smoke
Cigarettes when she couldn't sleep
I wonder what she did when she got done
I guess she'd just flick them out in the street
You tried to stay true to your word but it was hard seeing as it appeared the end of the world was on the horizon and your boyfriend had left in an attempt to prevent it. So there you sat, back out on your balcony which had never felt so empty, with a cigarette in your hand barely still lit. You took a deep toke and tried to gather your thoughts, you had to continue working like you didn’t know everything may cease to exist if Druig and the rest of the eternals fail. You had to keep living like nothing was wrong.
As you lent your head back and closed your eyes while exhaling the smoke from your lips, you thought back to your relationship with Druig, how he always brought you your coffee in the morning, packed your lunch, was a shoulder to cry on, how you baked together on some sunday afternoons, date nights in town ending with messy kisses and not remembering how you got home, his touch, his voice, him.
You didn’t realise you were crying until you felt a wetness on your hand, you looked down to find a teardrop next to the fingers which encases your cigarette which at this point had burnt out. You threw the end off your balcony, wondering slightly if you had a small pile of ends at the bottom, before pushing a shaky hand through your hair and opening the doors to let yourself back into your flat, ready to continue on asif nothing was wrong and your boyfriend wasn’t miles away as if you weren’t running out of time. You just wished you Druig would return, you wanted to be consumed with him, you wanted to spend forever with him or at least your forever.
Poor little Liddy, she wishes it was dark
But it's never really dark in L.A.
The light from the billboard always shines
But it changed twelve times since you went away
Cigarettes, cigarettes out the window (oh-oh)
Your smoking was at an all time high, you rarely went a few hours without slipping away for a smoke. Mainly due to your anxiety that you would never see Druig again but you just told people it was because of work stress. Leaning against the brick wall of the bar you were currently at you let smoke trail from your lips, you weren’t sure how you ended up agreeing to the night out with your friends but here you were, the slight buzz of alcohol only making the cigarette taste sweeter. “Hey there you are!” Your friend calls, “Come inside! It’s freezing out here!” “I will, just finishing this.” You gesture and flick ash off the end, “God Y/N, when will you quit?” Your friend laughs before pulling at her jacket and joining you, “You don’t have to stand with me.” You raise your eyebrows, “I know, trust me after 9 years of standing with you in various smoking areas, I know I don’t have to.” She giggles, “I’m sorry” You feel a wave of guilt wash over you, thinking about how many nights you’ve dragged her out of just for you to stand and smoke and for her to cough slightly and freeze, “Y/N” She touches your arm gently, “If I didn’t want to stand here trust me I wouldn’t.” You offer a meek smile, the fear of everything ending consuming you, just wishing you had more time. “Anyways, how Druig?” This time a real smile graces your features, “He’s…good. Yeah.” You manage, looking at the sky, imagining your boyfriend doing the same. “Oh really? Tell me more about him, I never get sick of your stories.” It feels like your friend was trying to take your mind off whatever plagues your thoughts and it worked, you began to discuss your boyfriend at length and the things you did together.
Druig watched the night sky from the comfort of the Domos, Makkari clasps a hand onto his back to announce her presence, “What's wrong?” She signs, he lets a deep sigh fall from his lips, “I just miss someone.” He looks at Makkari, ready to see a shocked face and ready for her constant questions but instead, she leans her head on his shoulder, “I’ll ask who later,” She signs, “But right now do something that reminds you of them? That helped me when I missed you guys all those years.” “Oh really?” Druig laughs. Later finding himself coughing over a cigarette and questioning how on earth you liked this.
We'll find moonlit nights strangely empty
Because when you call my name through them
There will be no answer
Rather melodramatic, aren't you?
We'll find moonlit nights strangely empty
Because when you call my name through them
There will be no answer
You mind if I smoke?
You leant against the cool metal that lined your balcony, so deep in thought you don’t hear you door open, but you do hear the back door open and with a gasp you turn, finding Druig stood there, small cuts litter his face, you insticivly put the cigarette you were smoking behidn your back in a poor attempt to hide it from your lover. “It’s okay,” He sighs, stumbling slightly to reach you, “You can smoke. But first-” He captures your lips in a much needed kiss full of longing and lust, he’s so caught up in the kiss he doesn’t even mind your lips tasting like ash. When you break away you’re crying, your bottom lip sticks out slightly as you say “I never thought I would see you again.” “Of course you will, I’ll always come back to you my beautiful Y/N'' You smile and bring the cigarette to your lips, holding a gaze with your boyfriend, and shooting a questioning eyebrow when he leans for the cigarette in your hand, thinking he’s going to stub it out, you reluctantly allow him to take it, but much to your surprise his brings it to his own lips, “What are you doing?” You almost scream, “You don’t mind do you?” He asks daringly, “I don’t know to be honest.” You laugh out, “Since when did you take up smoking?” “When I started missing you.” The rest of your night and much into the early morning is spent with you and Druig on the balcony, his arm wrapped firmly round your shoulders, discussing everything that happened while he was gone between many stolen kisses.
We'll find moonlit nights strangely empty
Because when you call my name through them
There will be no answer
I always smoke in the theater
We'll find moonlit nights strangely empty
Because when you call my name through them
There'll be no answer
Somehow it enhances the performance
“Now you’re sure about this?” Sersi asks both you and Sprite, “Yeah I’m sure” Sprite smiles, “You?” she nods towards you, your heartbeat quickens slightly, anxious at the situation before you, “Yeah” You manage to mumble out. Sersi had found a way to extract Sprite’s immortality and ‘eternelness’ as you called it, and she believed she could pass it to you.
The process was pretty simple, at least for you and afterwards you had a new found power surging through you, to celebrate you and Druig had thrown a going away party for Sprite who was leaving to join boarding school, leaving to grow up. And with the party beginning to slow you found yourself watching from the balcony, a cigarette joining your left hand and a small smile on your face which only grows when you saw Druig walk towards the doors and let himself out. “And to think, I was coming for some fresh air.” He jokes, rolling his eyes exaggeratedly, “Too bad, I’m immortal now baby, I can smoke as many of these as I want.” You laugh slightly, looking towards him, “Let's not go overboard now m’love.” He plucks the stick from your hand and throws it onto the street below, “Hey!” You protest, “Common Y/N, come back to the party, I can’t take anymore of Makkari’s questions without you.” The man you’ve decided to spend the rest of eternity with beckons you inside, instead you fall into his arms and press a warm kiss on his lips, he makes a slight grimace, “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that taste.” “I guess, we won’t kiss ever again then.” You go to step inside but feel a warm pair of hands pulling you back, “I never agreed to that.” Druig chuckles, before kissing you again.
𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ trying to have a normal holiday season with the kids (4.5k words)
𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ cursing
𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ i loved writing this and welcome to the first of the series.
join the gang!
“Let me get this straight. You want me to take you and our children out into the freezing cold to cut down a tree and bring it inside the house?” You and Druig laid cuddled up in bed, you had brought up the topic of celebrating holidays now that your children were both old enough to make clear and concise memories.
“Yes, that would be a Christmas tree.” You tapped his chest lightly as you laughed at his reaction to the idea.
“You must be in love with the vacuum cleaner, because pine needles are going to be all over the carpet, why can’t we just pick a tree near the house and decorate it?” He put his hands up off of your arms gesturing in confusion.
“Because those are not pine trees.” You lowered his hands back onto your arms now holding his hands in your own.
“I believe the term is Christmas tree not pine Christmas tree.” Druig retorted believing that he was right and that the idea of having an indoor tree was absurd.
“So you wanna stand out in the cold and decorate a tree?” He furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head lightly at your question.
“Wait, we have to decorate the tree once it’s inside? With what?” Druig hadn’t ever been truly introduced to human holidays tending to keep to himself and ignore things he deemed unnecessary.
“Ornaments, beads, garlin, pine cones pretty much anything the kids want.” You commented, though you had known of human traditions due to reading about them and being around friends who celebrated them you were unaware of Druig’s lack of knowledge in this particular field.
“Well good thing it’s a pine tree, that way it will already have the pine cones in it’s branches. Do bugs and sap count as decorations or will we have to clean the tree as well?” He rubbed his fingers over yours as he questioned your strange holiday.
“Bugs should be dead and the sap will be cold, so no we will not clean the tree. Just put decorations on it and stick it in the corner.” You rolled your eyes at his little question.
“Anything else we need to do to set up for this?” Druig was making a mental list of the day to come.
“Well, we can make other decorations to hang up around the house. We could also introduce the kids to Santa.” You just knew this was going to get a rise out of him.
“Santa? What or who is that?” Druig put his chin on your head curious as to what you had meant by your previous statement.
“So basically we tell the kids that the presents under the tree came from Santa. He is this jolly old fat man who rides in a sleigh carried by reindeer and climbs down the chimney to give children presents to wake up to on Christmas morning.” Druig’s head popped up from your own now looking down on you.
“You want to lie to the children about some old fat man breaking into the house and giving them presents?” You moved to look at his shocked face laughing a bit.
“It’s the holiday spirit.” Placing a hand on his face you stroked his cheek.
“Yes because nothing says Christmas like scaring the children into thinking a total stranger is climbing down the chimney and placing objects in the house. You do understand that Echo would light the fireplace and sit in the living room just to make sure he stayed out of the house. We would have to lock her door. If she even heard the footsteps of us putting out the presents we would be attacked.” Druig reasoned with the idea of his daughter trying to light Santa on fire due to his breaking and entering.
“Some parents let the kids help bake cookies and put them out for Santa just to get presents and you think our kids would try to hurt him?” You wrapped your arms around his neck now straddling his waist.
“We have to pretend to feed the fat bastard now too?” Yes, let's teach the children to feed people who break into the house. Wonderful idea.” He held your face in his hands making sure you were looking at him as he explained why Santa was not a good idea.
“Is it bad that I have a darker idea that I feel would fit our household better?” You thought of something that he might agree on.
“I can’t imagine anything worse than that.” Druig laughed a bit and shook his head.
“How about instead of Santa we have Krampus. We can put out the presents and say that we have to protect them on Christmas so that he doesn’t steal them. That is teaching them to attack strangers rather than give them things.” You smiled at the idea of your children sitting in the living room with sticks or weapons of their own making sure no one comes in the house.
“I actually quite like that, I feel that will fit the family better, What exactly is Krampus?” Druig assumed that by the name he was not like Santa.
“He is a horned monster, so the kids won’t mind, they're already used to monsters.” The more you spoke on the idea the better it became.
“Krampus it is, none of that Santa shit. Though it is still lying to the children this will be more fun and lighthearted. If it were anyone else's children they would be scared and this would be mean. Echo and Nikos will love this.” Druig agreed with you on the matter of who would visit the children Christmas night.
“So it’s settled, tomorrow morning we will get a tree and decorate the house and discuss Krampus?” You laid out the plan for the next day as you sat with your husband.
“Sounds like something.” He laughed as you leaned in and kissed him. “Why the sudden interest in holidays my darling?”
“Because holidays are fun, and we live in an age where almost all children celebrate them. Plus they can actually remember them and have fun. I wouldn’t have done this if they were any younger because I don’t see a point in making toddler and babies celebrate anything.” You shifted yourself off of Druig to turn the lamp next to your bed off.
“That was a good call, I think they will love this or at least parts of it.” Druig snuggled down into bed and pulled you close to his body.
“I hope so. Well, I love you, goodnight.” You cuddled yourself into your husband's chest as he held you close.
“I love you too sweetheart.” He kissed you on the head as the two of you drifted off into a warm slumber.
9:00 AM
“Dear, wake up, I made breakfast and the children are awake.” Druig kissed your face as he shook you lightly.
As you rolled out of bed slowly tracing Druig’s steps out of the room you walked down the hallway, through the living room, and made your way to the dining room.
“What’s the surprise?” Nikos looked up at you doe eyed excitedly. He was your youngest around 5 years of age and quite the hyper little fellow.
“Well, we have a fun day planned and it’s all new so if you have questions ask.” You yawned at sat down at the table where Druig had placed food and a drink for you. He then took his seat and looked at you ready to hear the discussion at hand.
“Your father and I have decided that since you are older we are going to celebrate Christmas, it’s a fun holiday where we decorate the house and you guys open presents on December the 25th.” You started slow not wanting to throw everything at them at once.
“Decorate? Like what?” Nikos was the first to start asking questions as he stabbed at his food with a fork.
“Well for a start, after we are done here we are gonna go get a pine tree and put it in the house, then we are gonna make stuff and or find things to decorate it with. We can also decorate other parts of the house with stuff like that as well.” You sipped your drink as the children looked at one another from across the table.
“You’re gonna let us put a tree in the house for a whole month?” Echo piped up the idea of having a big tree inside.
“Yes.” You looked over at Druig who sighed in defeat hoping to escape that part as he answered his daughters question.
“But I thought trees lived outside.” Nikos bit what he had stabbed more of off his fork after speaking.
“Your mother wants to kill one and bring it into the house.” Druig thought that maybe his description would drive them away from the idea.
“Can we burn it after Christmas is over?” Echo was now looking at you to respond as this was your idea.
“Sure, why not.” You shrugged your shoulders peeking over at Druig who rolled his eyes.
“Deal.” Nikos agreed with his sister.
“Now there is one more thing about Christmas.” Druig laughed to himself as he sipped on his drink trying to hide it.
“There is a monster that might try and steal your presents on Christmas. So, that night we will stay up until the clock strikes 12:00AM and protect the house from the monster who is called Krampus. There is a chance he will not come to the house but we have to be safe.” Both of the children's heads popped up as they looked at each other excitedly.
“Can I smack him in the face with my baseball bat?” Nikos looked at his father.
“I- yeah go for it.” Druig put his head in his hands, shaking it after his son looked away from him.
“Nikos we could build a trap and then use bats and knives if he escapes it.” Your 8 year old had a plan that the 5 year old could not resist as they smiled at each other.
Druig shot a look at you as you laughed and nodded your head at the two children who were more excited about possibly killing a monster than getting presents.
“Alright well go get dressed in warm clothes and we will go find a tree. I will get your dishes” Your kids bolted from the table sprinting to their rooms to find clothing.
“I’m kind of interested to see what they build as a trap.” Druig joked with you as you picked up the plates and dishes from the table.
“Most children can’t sleep because they’re excited for Santa to come and our kids are gonna try and catch a monster.” You shook your head laughing as you rinsed dishes off in the sink then put them into the dishwasher.
“I personally find this much more exciting and reassuring.” Druig walked up behind you and kissed your cheek.
“We better go get ready before we get dragged out the door in pajamas.”
Once everyone was ready the family went into the woods to find a proper Christmas tree for the occasion. Druig carried an ax as the children ran around in the snow to find a tree.
“Remember how tall the living room is, please try and find one that will actually fit in the house.” You yelled out to them as they examined different trees.
“E knows how tall everything is so she’ll know.” Druig reassured you as he held the ax in one hand he wrapped his other arm around you.
“Tree acquired!” Echo yelled as the two of you trotted off into the snowy woods to locate where her voice was coming from.
The tree they had picked was not as large as the others, Druig stood next to it and they were almost the exact same height. However the branches were full, no bald spots and was a lovely green. There were no brown or orange places, you walked around the tree to look around it. Druig looked at you to confirm that this was the tree as his daughter stood next to him holding onto his forearm. Smiling, you nodded at him that this was a good pick and to cut it down.
“Do you like it?” Echo pulled a bit on his arm looking at him grinning.
“I do, it’s very nice.” Druig smiled down at his daughter, in one sudden moment a ball of snow smacked Echo in the middle of her stomach where her jacket was.
Her and Druig looked around up at the sky and around them trying to figure out where the snow came from. Then another ball of snow hit her in the arm and directly across the way stood her little brother with another ball of snow in his hands. She released her grip on her fathers arm and picked up a bunch of snow with her gloves and started making a ball chasing her brother through the trees. Druig laughed, shaking his head as he began to whack the ax against the bottom of the tree's trunk. As he cut down the tree you stood watching him from the side until you felt a child slam into your back before turning your body to face the other.
“Base, I’m on base!” Nikos yelled holding onto your sides as Echo held a snowball in her hands. Her face was flushed from the cold and she was taking deep breaths. Snow was in spots around her hair clearly she had been nailed in the back of the head.
“Mom is not base.” Echo argued wanting to nail him as he just did to her.
“Hold on, if I am not base are you going to throw the snowball and hit me?” You questioned as your son peaked from your side to look at his sister.
“Yes.” Echo stood still, a snowball raised as if she were going to pitch it.
“I’m base, I’m base.” You raised your hands and you heard your son chuckle from behind you happy that he had won.
“Fine, well you have to leave her sometime.” Echo squinted her eyes at the two of them.
“Carry me, please.” Nikos moved around you not taking his hands off of you.
“I will carry you to the pathway but from there you better sprint, it would be unfair to carry you all the way back.” You picked him up as you spoke.
The two of you saw the missing tree from the trunk and Druig had the tree hoisted over his shoulder carrying it with two hands. He was walking back towards the house looking behind him to make sure that the rest of you were following. As you made your way out of the area more snow started to fall, Nikos adjusted his toboggan on his head. Echo was following you close behind, almost touching you with the snow still in her hands. As the pathway came into view Nikos looked behind him know that his sister was waiting and that getting inside the house was going to be hard with his dad carrying a tree through the door.
“I am gonna put you down here in a minute.” You whispered not wanting Echo to hear.
“Throw me.” Nikos whispered back and you turned your head to face his.
“Excuse me.” You blinked slowly at his request.
“I’ll land on my feet I promise.” Nikos had a plan, not a great one but it was a plan.
You shook your head as you saw you were on the path. You lightly tossed him forward and he hit the ground running, his sister stood next to you.
“What are you doing?” You questioned your daughter as she stood next to you, her brother running straight past the entire family.
“Wait for it.” Echo dropped the snowball in her hand and was now looking at one of the trees nearest the path. You looked down at her confused before her eyes started glowing and the tree began to pull back like a slingshot. All of a sudden the snow covering the limbs shot at Nikos who was almost to the house as a massive pile of snow came shooting at him.
“I think he upset that tree.” Druig turned his head around as the two of you laughed at the spectacle in front of you.
The tree stood up straight once more as the rest of you approached the snow pile. Nikos popped up from it lookin at his sister angry.
“We said no powers.” Nikos stood up and shook like a dog trying to get the snow off of himself.
“We also never established a base, you changed a rule and so did I.” Echo folded her arms across her chest as her brother groaned, taking off his hat that was now full of snow.
“So then it’s a tie. He got a good hit and so did you, next time we play on teams and keep score. Rematch.” You took the hat from your son's hands stepping into the pile to help him out as Druig fought with the doorknob trying to get the tree through the door.
“Deal.” Echo piped up now watching her father, she opened the door the same way she had moved the tree. Druig fell through the door not expecting it to open suddenly.
“Are you okay?” You moved around to walk over Druig in the doorway.
“Fantastic.” He rolled over onto his stomach getting himself up off the ground before lifting the tree again putting it in the living room in the empty corner.
“We are gonna need the vacuum already.” He pointed out the pine needles littered around on the floor.
“I don’t think a vacuum is going to sweep up all the snow you dropped on the floor from the tree.” Echo pointed at the snow that the tree had dropped when he fell as she stood to the side taking off her boots.
“Who opened that door?” Druig scoffed at her.
“Who couldn’t get the door open on their own?” Echo put her hands on her hips and looked directly at him. “That’s what I thought.”
“I’ll go get a towel then.” Druig retorted shaking his head.
“Nikos go get some ribbon and yarn from the closet, Echo go get paint from your room, and I will start on the wood.” You disked out tasks and the children walked down the hallway to go get the items you requested.
Going underneath the sink you found the tool kit and found the tool that was used to cut the wood before going and getting the wood. Once you acquired the wood you began to shave off thin circular rounds from the wood to make ornaments. Your husband brought out two towels to sop up the water that the snow had created on the entryway of the house.
“And you thought pine needles were going to be the biggest issue.” You laughed walking over to him.
“Well at least it happened on the stone and not the carpet.” He sighed as he felt the water going into the knee of his pant leg.
“Go change and I will finish what you started.” You put your hands on his shoulders as he rose up from the ground.
“You’re going to need more towels.” He looked down at the mess and you put your hands on his face to make him look at you.
“Thank you for this, they are really enjoying everything.” You kissed his cheek, moving your hands over his arms lightly. “You looked really good cutting down that tree by the way.”
“You have a thing for axes?” He whispered in your ear, leaning down.
“No, but I do have a thing for you.” You smiled lightly as he stayed exactly where he was.
“Hopefully this tires them out enough so that I can have a thing for you.” He pulled back winking at you before walking away.
You shook your head laughing as you squatted down looking at the mess he made. He in fact did not need more towels, rather he needed to spread them out and let them absorb the water rather than ball them up and scrub the ground. Once you had laid the towels down properly the kids were sitting at the table with the supplies you requested.
“You have three choices with this. You can paint the pieces of wood to make ornaments, tie the ribbon to make bows, or I will be cutting more pieces of wood to glue together and wrap the yarn around to make different things.” You sat down at the table and took your jacket and hat off placing them around you.
Nikos immediately gravitated towards the paint and round circles whilst Echo used bark off the piece of wood to use the yarn. As they sat and began crafts Druig joined you at the table to start doing his own thing, he decided on bows since no one else was touching the ribbon. You sat closests to Nikos and started painting circles as well.
“How come we’re doing all this now?” Echo questioned as she got up getting glue from the tool box.
“Because now you’re old enough.” You answered her as you cleaned your paint brush off in a glass of water.
“But Nikos is younger than I am.” Echo sat back down and began glueing the piece of bark she had plucked and made perfect.
“It would’ve been unfair to him had we celebrated with just you, and plus we didn’t want to scare you with Krampus when you were five.” You commented as you peaked up to see your husband tying bows.
“What about him?” Echo questioned again.
“Well he has you to help him out, we can’t help you until he’s actually here. The two of you are just supposed to prepare for him together.” Druig looked at her knowing that you weren’t sure how to answer her.
“Other than the tree what else are we decorating?” Nikos was looking at the colors in front of him.
“Well we can put bows anywhere, we can cut out snowflake trails and hang them up around the house. We can go get pinecones and cover them in glitter or paint. Maybe we can just paint pictures and use frames to hang them up.” You looked around the house trying to come up with ideas.
The kids nodded in agreement at your statement, all of you sat at the table and made decorations until the table was almost covered in different variations of decorations. The kids place bows and the yarn ornaments in the tree whilst Druig drilled small holes in the tops of each ornament. You laced them with twine on top so that they could be hung. Once the tree was fully decorated with a bow on the top Druig and Nikos got paper to start cutting snowflakes after you demonstrated how to.
“Do we have any adult scissors?” Druig questioned looking in the box of small scissors and wild bladed scissors.
“I think they’re dirty and in the shed.” You commented as he picked up a set of the small scissors.
“You all have small hands.” He held the scissors incorrectly as he tried to use them to cut the paper.
Echo sat on the floor with you with canvases painting Christmas pictures. Small curses were heard from the table as Druig struggled to cut the paper with the small scissors.
“Do you need help?” Nikos held his snowflakes in his hands.
“No.” Druig pouted a bit seeing that his son had made many trains of snowflakes already and none of them looked like his.
“Here I’ll help you hang them up buddy.” You had finished with a piece of your painting that had to dry before you could continue.
You found tape and tacs in the drawers as he got the short ladder. The two of you hung up his snowflake trains across the cabinets and directly under the ceiling on the wall. Druig had finished his and hung it up as well. That’s when there was a knock at the door.
“I got it.” You answered him as you walked over and opened the door.
“Y/n so nice to see you.” Kingo stepped into the house as you moved to let him in.
“What’s going on?” You questioned, not sure why he was here.
“One of your keys fell off of the ring the last time we all hung out.” He handed the key to you as he looked around the house.
“Wow, Christmas this year?” Kingo questioned as he stepped off of the towels that lined the entryway.
“An attempt at Christmas.” You commented as he looked around.
“Getting ready for Santa?” He looked down at Echo’s painting.
“No, Krampus.” She looked up at him from her position on the floor.
“Excuse me?” Kingo had never heard of this before.
“The monster that could possibly break into the house, destroy our decorations, and steal our presents.” Echo smiled at him as he blinked slowly.
“Mhm yes.” Kingo stood up and walked around looking at the walls.
“What cute kids, you all made lovely decorations, did you make this?” Kingo pointed at one of the snowflake trails on the wall.
“No, dad made that one.” Nikos shook his head at the man as you cracked up laughing standing next to Druig.
“Good job Druig.” Kingo turned and smiled at him.
“I had childrens scissors.” He whispered under his breath and nodded at his friend.
“Well, happy holidays, we will have to get together with everyone and celebrate.” Kingo waved and mentioned the idea of a party before leaving.
“While my painting dries can we go start on the trap?” Echo stood up and looked at her brother who was now looking at both of you.
“Sure, just be careful.” You looked at both of them as they ran to the front door putting their boots on to go to the shed.
“Some kids make cookies others build death traps” Druig sighed laughing as he cleaned up part of the table getting it more organized.
“I can’t wait to sit in the living room with a big ass trap with the three of you.” You turned towards him.
“I hear we have a snowball war coming up as well.” Druig was now turned towards you hands on your waist.
“We do, I’m calling girls versus boys now.” You tapped his chest.
“You’re still gonna lose.” He pulled you closer.
“I say we make an under the table bet.” You looked up at him.
“I agree, incentive is a wonderful thing my beautiful y/n.” He winked at you.
“Before we do that we should probably monitor the children right now.” You smiled at him as he leaned down kissing you on the lips…
