Layden AU where Hayden Romero hates the holiday season and moves in next door to Christmas enthusiast Liam Dunbar, who tries to get her into the holiday spirit.
To Esme (@layden)
From Veena (@lydiasdeputy)
Liam’s playing a round of Call of Duty with Mason in his room when Brett comes rushing in, looking red and flushed from being out in the cold.
“Hey Liam, I’m pretty sure your new neighbor hates Christmas,” he says, a little breathless as he plops down on the bed, removing his hat and scarf.
Mason glances over at Liam curiously, “You got new neighbors? Since when?”
From what Liam knows, the Rochesters moved out two months ago and he’s kind of glad about it honestly. They were an old couple who were always knitting him sweaters that made him itch. “I dunno,” he replies, taking the opportunity of his friend being distracted to shoot him in the game. He grins and Mason frowns.
“Not cool, man. Do over.”
“No way, I already beat you three times in a row,” he says, putting down his controller. He turns to Brett then, “How do you know they hate Christmas?”
He sits up on his elbows, “Well, I was walking by and saw a girl around our age unpacking some boxes from the car so I thought I’d be friendly and say hi and happy holidays. She looked me straight in the eye, smiled, and told me to go fuck myself.”
Mason gapes, “Woah. Intense.”
Brett huffs, “Exactly.”
Liam furrows his brows, confused. “How can you hate Christmas? It’s like the best time of the whole year.”
Everyone and anyone who lives on the same block as Liam or goes to school with him knows just how much he is a Christmas enthusiast. He loves everything about the holiday season, from decorating the tree with his dad to putting up lights on the house, to baking gingerbread cookies and brewing their special peppermint hot chocolate with marshmallows that they usually distribute around the block each year. Brett and Mason tend to tease him about it, especially since he used to leave a plate of cookies and milk every year for Santa until he was fourteen.
“My uncle hates Christmas too,” Brett says. “It’s not such a big deal.”
“Your uncle’s dog got run over by a car on Christmas,” Mason adds, “I’m pretty sure that’s a valid reason to hate Christmas.”
He rolls his eyes. “True.”
They go back to playing Call of Duty, this time Brett joining them, but even as Liam wins another two times he can’t get his mind off of figuring out what could have possibly happened for his new neighbor to hate Christmas.
He decides, he’ll just have to get to the bottom of it.
-
The air is sharp and cold when he steps outside on to the porch which is blanketed with a thick layer of snow. He smiles, because it’s definitely going to be a white Christmas this year. Last year, his dad took him down to sunny California to spend the holidays with relatives. And as much as he liked having a barbecue plus pool party, nothing can beat a white Christmas.
Balancing the tupperware container filled with gingerbread cookies and a thermos with his homemade peppermint marshmallow hot chocolate, he shuts the door behind him and walks down the driveway to the sidewalk, heading towards the house next door. He rings the doorbell and only has to wait a few seconds before the door’s swinging open and he’s face to face with a brunette girl who’s actually really cute.
Brett failed to mention that to him.
“Uh, hi,” he musters a little stupidly.
She raises a brow at him, “Who are you and what do you want?” Her tone is almost as sharp as the cold air outside.
“I-uh-I, live next door to you and my dad thought it’d be a great idea to come over with a housewarming gift.” He gives her a warm smile but she doesn’t return it. “I have gingerbread cookies and peppermint hot chocolate with marshmallows.”
“I’m allergic to gingerbread,” she says, crossing her arms. “And I hate marshmallows in my hot chocolate.”
Liam’s jaw drops when he hears this. “You don’t like marshmallows in your hot chocolate? Why? Do you hate love?!” Because marshmallows in hot chocolate was definitely love.
But apparently, that’s not the best thing to say to someone you barely just met, because she gives him a fake smile before slamming the door in his face.
“Wait, wait! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that,” he shouts, and even though she doesn’t open the door again, he can still see her standing there through the screen door. I came over to give you this, but I was also wondering, um, if you wanted to come ice-skating with me and my friends tomorrow?” He doesn’t get a reply back. “If you want to, we’ll be at the ice rink around noon.” Still no reply. “I...Uh...I guess I’ll see you around then. I’m Liam by the way.”
He’s pretty sure he’s not going to get a response back so he turns to step off her porch, but just as he does, he hears her voice again.
“Hayden. My name’s Hayden.” She still doesn’t open the door again but that sure doesn’t stop him from smiling like an idiot.
“That’s cool. It’s nice to meet you,” he says.
“You can leave the hot chocolate and gingerbread at the front door. My sister likes them,” she says and he nods, leaving the thermos and tupperware container on the porch.
When he gets back to his house, he can’t help but go to the window that faces Hayden’s house and take a peek. It’s starting to snow again but he sees the front door of the house open a little bit before Hayden peeks through, taking the thermos and the container full of cookies. He expects her to go immediately back inside again, but then he sees her open the thermos of hot chocolate and take a sip. He sees a curve of a smile twitch on her lips before finally heading back inside the warmth of her home.
And that definitely cracks a smile on his face too.
-
“You really think she’s coming?”
Liam ties his skates and glances up at Brett, who looks ridiculous in the reindeer antlers he’s wearing. Mason’s already out on the ice, skating like a pro with eight year olds who are following him around like he’s Santa.
He shrugs. “I hope so.”
They meet Mason out on the ice and unlike him, they can’t skate to save their lives. They end up falling on their asses a couple of times, making Mason and the kids that are skating with him laugh, but it’s not so bad because they’re laughing too.
And about fifteen minutes later of constantly embarrassing themselves, they hear another pair of skates join them on the ice. When Liam glances up from where he just fell down, to his pleasant surprise he sees Hayden. “Hey, you made it!” He tries to get up and skate over to her but instead just ends up falling on his ass again with a loud yelp.
He hears laughter from Mason and Brett and—her too. When he looks up at her, he sees her covering her mouth with her hand, her eyes crinkled as she tries to compose herself again and he thinks it’s the cutest thing ever. Mason skates over to help him up and she coughs to hide her laughter. “I only made it because it was either ice skating or staying at home and unpacking while my sister’s at work,” she says as if she didn’t have another choice. “And I really wasn’t in the mood to organize my closet.”
Mason and Brett introduce themselves and although there was a misunderstanding between her and Brett from yesterday, she clears it up by saying an eight hour drive will make anyone cranky.
“I’m glad you could make it,” Liam says with a sheepish smile. “Can you skate?”
“Can I skate?” She looks and sounds offended. And before he can say anything else, she’s whipping past him across the rink, skating in a fashion that’s even better than Mason. She skates around the rink before spinning and doing a perfect twirl, as if she’s been doing this ever since she’s born, and it makes the three of them ogle.
Her skates screech to a stop a few feet away from them and she gives him a triumphant looking smile. “Does that answer your question?”
Liam grins, because it definitely does.
And the rest of the time they’re there, it’s spent with Mason helping Brett how to skate and Hayden helping him. She holds his hand and leads him around the ice, which he doesn’t mind at all, not even when she lets go on purpose just to see him fall on his ass all over again, making her laugh.
Because her laugh is definitely worth it.
-
He realizes soon enough that Hayden probably doesn’t hate Christmas.
But there’s definitely something that’s preventing her from enjoying it. He doesn’t know what yet though, and he’s pretty sure it shouldn’t be any of his business.
It’s eight in the morning when he steps out of the house with a shovel to clear out the snow in the driveway. He doesn’t get too far in shoveling all the snow though, because a few minutes later he’s met with the impact of cold wet snowball against his jaw, and the icy snow against his skin makes him freeze up for a second before he hears familiar laughter behind him. He turns around quickly, gloved hand touching his jaw where the snowball hit him and frowns when he sees Brett and Mason laughing these asses off.
Three could play at that game.
Dropping his shovel, Liam ducks and grabs a fistful of snow, shaping it swiftly within his fingertips and throwing it so hard that it hits Brett right in the face, making him grin.
“Oh, this is war!” Mason shouts as he and Brett start making snowballs too.
Liam ducks again, hiding behind his dad’s car and the three of them start going at eachother back and forth. He manages to hit them a couple of times, but he’s getting most of the damage, not to mention a few snowballs have hit his dad’s car interior as well.
“Do you guys really want my dad to kill me?” He shouts, running from where he was hiding behind the car and opting to duck behind a bush instead. He hears Mason call out an apology and Liam huffs, “Two against one isn’t exactly fair, you know!”
Brett laughs, “you put this on yourself, dude!”
Annoyed, Liam gets up and throws a snowball as hard as he possibly can, but he doesn’t realize that not only is his throw way off, but also that Hayden just came out of her house to throw out the trash. His snowball hits her smack dab in the face, making her drop the trash and make it spill all over the driveway.
And all he has to do is take one look at her expression, and then Mason and Brett’s to know that he’s done for.
“Looks like it’s three against one now!” Mason crows, and Liam has never run so hard even in Lacrosse practice before.
He’s beaten up either way still, hit with so many snowballs that by the time he collapses on to the ground, he can't even feel how cold the snow is anymore because his jacket and pants are already seeping wet from it. He glances up at the three of them hovering over him, Brett is grinning while Mason and Hayden high five each other. There's a huge smile on Hayden's face, and for a minute Liam thinks freezing in the snow is worth it.
In the end, they all end up lying in the snow with him, absentmindedly making snow angels. Mason and Brett argue about which one of their snow angels look better, with Brett saying that Mason's looks like a square, making Liam chuckle as he glances over at Hayden.
She looks blissful as she swipes her arms back and forth to make a snow angel, smile still on her face. But when she glances over at him and finds him looking at her, their gazes lock for a long second before she looks away, sitting up. The smile fades from her face and he sees a nostalgic expression cross her features. It makes him wonder what she's thinking about.
He knows better than to straight out ask about it though. Instead he gently touches her shoulder and asks, “Hey. Do you want to come inside for some cookies and hot chocolate? No gingerbread this time, I promise.”
She laughs, “I really shouldn't. But...your peppermint hot chocolate is actually not so bad.”
He grins, “See. I told you. And watch, you’ll love my chocolate chip cookies too.”
-
She does in fact like his chocolate chip cookies, even though she tries her best not to show it to him by telling them they're just alright. But he sees her sneak in and grab another cookie when she thinks he isn’t looking.
They’re sitting in his living room watching whatever Christmas movie is on TV—Home Alone 2, which is one of his favorites—when his dad comes walking in holding a box of Christmas decorations to put on the tree they have out in the front hall. He’s not surprised to see Mason and Brett sitting on his couch since they practically live here, but when his gaze falls on Hayden, he raises a curious brow. “You must be Hayden right?” He asks with a warm smile. “I talked to your sister the other day, welcome to the neighborhood. I’m Dr. Geyer.” He extends his hand out to her and Hayden shakes it gingerly while telling him that it’s nice to meet him.
“I hope Liam isn’t bothering you too much,” he says teasingly, and Liam frowns slightly.
“She’s the one who attacked me with snowballs,” he murmurs, which only makes everyone in the room laugh, including Hayden.
His father grins, “Well since all of you are here, how about you help me and Liam decorate the tree? The more the merrier.”
Mason and Brett are all into it because they love decorating the tree just as much as him, but as Liam gets up and glances over at Hayden, he can see her hesitating. “C’mon, it’ll be fun,” he tells her, offering his hand for her to take.
She stares at his open hand for a second but then nods, taking it and he helps her up. Still holding his hand, they walk into the room where the Christmas tree is and she only lets go when Mason hands her some lights and ornaments to put on the tree. Together and with the help of his dad, they decorate the tree while talking about their favorite Christmas memories and his dad can’t help but bring up Liam’s embarrassing ones as a kid, making him blush each time.
He also notes that Hayden doesn’t share any Christmas memories.
“That’s a damn good looking tree,” Mason says when they finally finish, and Liam can’t help but agree.
“All it’s missing is a star,” his dad says, taking out the golden star from one of the boxes before turning towards him. Liam’s always the one to put the star on the tree every year, but as his dad hands him the star, he can’t help but look over at Hayden. He extends the star out to her, “I put the star on the tree every year. Why don’t you do it instead?”
She looks at him surprised, but she carefully takes the star between her fingers. She stares at it she doesn’t step towards the tree. Liam sees her lip quiver suddenly and her hands start to shake while holding the star and it worries him. “Hayden? Are you okay?” He asks, and when she raises her head to look at him, he sees the tears brimming her eyes as she tries so hard to hold it back and he knows that nothing is okay.
The star falls from her hands and she doesn’t say anything except for murmuring a quick apology before she’s running out of the room. Liam follows her, calling after her but she’s already out the front door and heading back to her house.
-
If it was up to him, he would have rushed over the minute she left the house to make sure she’s okay. But his dad tells him to give her some time and so he does. He waits a whole three days before he walks, or well, nearly waddles over there since the snow has gotten so deep. And this time when he rings the doorbell, instead of swinging the door open, she only opens it a crack and peers out at him.
“What do you want?” She asks. Her tone isn’t sharp this time, but a mixture of sad and annoyance.
“I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” he says carefully. “Can...I, um, come inside?” He expects her to say no and to slam the door in his face again, but to his surprise she doesn’t.
Instead, she leaves the door open and walks away and Liam takes her silence as that it’s okay for him to come in. He steps inside, the warmth of her home immediately defrosting him from the cold as he closes the door behind him. He follows her slowly into the living room where he sees a Christmas tree in the corner of the room, fully decorated except it doesn’t have a star on top yet. He sees the star sitting on the coffee table though, where Hayden takes a seat on the sofa across from it. Silently, he takes a seat next to her. He doesn’t know where to start but he decides that the best way would be by apologizing first. “Hayden, I’m sorry. I know you don’t like Christmas and I shouldn’t have tried to force you to get into the spirit.”
“Liam, you weren’t forcing me,” she says, shaking her head. “And I don’t hate Christmas.”
“You don’t?”
She lets out an exasperated sigh. “Just because I told Brett to fuck off and I told you I didn’t like marshmallows in hot chocolate and tried to pretend not to like your cookies doesn’t mean I don’t like Christmas.”
“But something’s bothering you, right?” He asks, giving her a concerned look. “I mean you don’t have to talk about it with me if you don’t want to—”
“Six months ago, my parents passed away,” she says, interrupting him midway.“That’s why me and my sister moved here because we couldn’t stand living in a house that just has...so many memories of them. My dad used to make me peppermint hot chocolate with marshmallows every holiday season, my mom loved making snow angels with me, my parents taught me how to ice skate….And every year, they would let me put the star on top of our tree. That’s why it’s so hard for me to get into the Christmas spirit this year. ” Her gaze falls on the golden star sitting on the coffee table across from her and Liam follows her gaze.
“I know how you feel,” he says slowly, turning to face her. “My mom passed away when I was really young. I thought the holidays wouldn’t be the same without her, and they aren’t. But I also know that she wouldn’t want me and my dad to be sulking on the holidays because of it.” He reaches for the golden star sitting on the table then and hands it to her, “And I’m sure your parents would want you to put the star on the tree this year too.”
She takes the star from him and gives him a small smile before nodding, “You’re right.”
He follows her as she makes her way towards the tree, taking a deep breath as she stands on her toes and places the star on top of the tree. “The first year of putting the star on the tree without my parents watching me.”
“I’m sorry.”
She shakes her head and turns to look at him, “Don’t be.” She walks him back to the front door of her house then and before he can leave she stops him and says, “Thanks for listening by the way.”
Liam shrugs sheepishly, “Thanks for...allowing me to listen?”
Hayden smiles wide, but her smile fades and is replaced with a slight blush when her gaze falls on something above them. Liam follows her gaze up and similarly, he blushes as well because right above them is a mistletoe.
“Guess my sister started putting up decorations this year without me knowing,” Hayden says a bit shyly.
Liam starts fumbling, “I, uh, we don’t have to if you don’t want—”
It’s the second time she’s interrupted him in the past twenty minutes, but he feels a lot more better about this interruption because she pulls him close this time and presses her lips against his in a soft and chaste kiss. When she pulls away, her smile reaches her eyes and Liam’s pretty speechless, in a good way though.
“You’re lucky you’re cute and nice,” she says.
And when he walks home that day, he thinks he’s pretty lucky too.
hiya! (: hopefully your day is wonderful and glorious. any tips on driving? I have a test tomorrow and i'm panicking!
thanks honey!! and no sorry i only have 12 hours with a manual car and im not great at driving cause any time i panic i just stall its not ideal but some general advice would be just to take some deep breaths and the album in rainbows by radiohead literally always calms me down :)))
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