It's a Wonderful Life - Big Time Secret Santa 2024
I got done with my Secret Santa gift ahead of time and got a bit eager to post. My Secret Santa was... @partiallypearl! Surprise, mate! I hope you enjoy this and it's everything you wanted it to be!
I also cross-posted this to A03. :)
ENJOY!
Lucy had never been the type to really buy into the Christmas festivities. Of course, she still celebrated Christmas with her family. They exchanged gifts. They shared a meal. They decorated. But that was the extent of their Christmas celebration. She was never the type to try those festive drinks from the coffee shop, suck on candy canes, or wear anything Christmas themed.
It wouldn’t be fair to say that Christmas felt like an obligation to Lucy. A societal expectation to uphold. But it was certainly not something her family had approached with excitement before.
It was something she upheld when she moved to Los Angeles to pursue her rockstar dreams. After all, she had an image to uphold.
But all of that changed when she met Big Time Rush and started dating Kendall.
Granted, it took some years for her romantic relationship with Kendall to get off the ground. There was a little something called his previous girlfriend returning from New Zealand unexpectedly and Kendall deciding to see if they could pick up where they left off. Which, of course, ended up not happening. They certainly tried, but it made them confront problems in their relationship they could no longer ignore.
And even then, Kendall didn’t immediately start pursuing Lucy. He took the time to mourn his relationship with Jo – his first serious Californian romance – and Lucy wasn’t exactly looking for a relationship at that point anyway. The couple took the time to rebuild their friendship first. It was only in their early twenties that the friendship evolved into a romantic relationship.
And this time, there was nothing stopping Kendall from asking her out. No unfortunate interruptions. No cheating ex-boyfriends who ended up walking away with a shiner when he tried to pursue the wrong girl (Lucy had to admit she was impressed by the punch James landed on him when he saw Kaelyn cornered like that). No ex-girlfriends suddenly returning. Nothing.
It felt like everything was finally in place. Right time. Right place. Right… everything.
Something that Kendall never did was try to change Lucy. He didn’t make her like what he did. He never told her to tone down her edgy rockstar image. But even with that, Lucy felt safe enough to let her guard down. Something that was a remnant of that cheating ex-boyfriend who had walked away from the Palm Woods with a broken heart and a nasty shiner. She wasn’t afraid to be vulnerable. She wasn’t afraid to reconnect with the parts of herself she had kept locked away for so long.
Lucy was already softening away. They all were as they moved away from their angsty or chaotic teenage years. She still wrote rock songs that dominated the charts, but she also expanded into other genres. Both with her solo work and her work with other artists (she even wrote some songs for everyone’s solo albums).
So, was certainly fair to say that Kendall helped her see Christmas in a different way. One that was joyful rather than an obligation. Even the chaotic last-minute shopping on Christmas Eve was joyful because she got to do it with Kendall.
Although, she certainly made Kendall promise to do their Christmas shopping a little earlier next year.
But either way, it proved to be a successful Christmas Eve. They actually got decent presents for everyone, and took advantage of the services that wrapped your presents for you in exchange for a small donation to the charity they were supporting.
Gone were the days where everyone lived under the same roof – or at least the same building. With the boys getting older and getting serious with their respective relationships, as well as putting the band on hiatus to pursue solo opportunities (by their own choice this time rather than through Griffin’s manipulations), they all decided they needed their own spaces.
They didn’t move to Bel Air, the brief time there as teens still fresh in their memories and not one they want to revisit. But they found a street with a row of mansions that were all on the market. Thanks to the money they all had from their careers and advances from their upcoming solo careers (and some advice from Gustavo), they were able to buy them all so they could all stay together. Even if they all had their own families and careers.
It was what led to Kendall and Lucy reconnecting romantically after several years of friendship. He still remembered the knock on his door. His home was filled to the brim with moving boxes that still needed to be unpacked. He opened the door to see Lucy standing there with a potted plant. A housewarming gift, she had said. He invited her into the house, telling her to ignore the moving boxes, and that was the start of their resumed romance.
Within a couple of years, Lucy had moved in with him. Their styles – which had matured from their teenage years – blended together harmoniously in the home. Lucy’s rockstar image had softened slightly with maturity, but was still present in the home amidst Kendall’s blended identity of a hockey-playing singer (genres blending between rock and pop).
It led to the present moment. Something Lucy had never imagined herself doing. Wearing the dorky Christmas sweaters drinking hot chocolate out of a Christmas-themed mug (filled almost to the brim with marshmallows – unsurprising considering Kendall made the hot chocolate) in the decorated living room. It’s a Wonderful Life played on the massive TV screen. The Christmas lights were flashing on the Christmas tree that had been decorated to represent important milestones in their relationship.
Their first meeting in the Palm Woods. Their continuing friendship that blossomed into a romance. Individual successes in their careers. The places they visited during several concert tours. (They both agreed that Europe was their favourite.) Their interests outside of music (particularly hockey; Lucy also shared an affection for the sport).
“Penny for your thoughts?”
Lucy looked up from her present position. Resting her head on Kendall’s shoulder as he draped an arm behind her on the couch. Lucy was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t realize that Kendall had swapped out his own hot chocolate in favour of a candy cane. A red-and-white-striped peppermint-flavoured candy cane, no less, to stick with tradition.
She was barely aware of the clink on the porcelain as she adjusted her grip on the mug. The source was the engagement ring on her finger. Something that had been there since that summer, when Kendall proposed to her at home with the engagement ring hidden in a fortune cookie from their favourite Chinese restaurant. Lucy wasn’t antimarriage, but at the same time, it was never something she saw for herself until Kendall.
It symbolised a lot of things. Sitting there in her fiancé’s arms as they watched Christmas movies.
“Just… thinking how wonderful life is,” Lucy finally said with a bright smile.
Kendall shared one of his own as he leaned down to kiss Lucy. She could taste the hot chocolate and peppermint on his lips and it only served to solidify her declaration.
Once upon a time, she didn’t picture this life for herself. But now that she was living it, no other words would suffice.
oooh god this is such a good one i've got no less than one million ideas but i think the one i'm landing on is a kucy fic..........
scene: kendall has just chosen jo in big time decision. lucy is understandably heartbroken. planning to move out of the palm woods.
kendall, being the stand up guy he thinks he is, believes he owes lucy an explanation for his decision and heads to her apartment, only to find that lucy is packing - ready to kiss the palm woods goodbye forever...
and he fights her on her decision to leave!! like way too much for a guy who should be with his new-old girlfriend!!
here's some dialogue i'm hearing in my head:
"well, i didn't think you'd actually move out. it wasn't just some reverse-psychology thing to get me to pick you?"
"pick me? if you liked me like you said you did, there never would have been a choice between me and jo in the first place!"
"lucy, you know i care about you... come on, don't leave. i'll do anything..."
"then say it."
"what?"
"say that you like me. that you want me to stay. that you want to be with me. "
OOP if i cleaned up the dialogue i might actually flesh this one out. i have another kucy wip that may never see the light of day but maybe this is the boost i need lol
send me the title of a fic and i'll tell you what i'd write for it!
