Merry Christmas, Please Don't Call
B.T.C: UOBsmau
dynamic: sophia laforteza + cedric d laforteza (oc)
synopsis: christmas used to be more magical, back when things were easier for cedric, but it's not then and he isn't 14 anymore.
notes: just casual sibling angst, obviously this doesn't repersent sophia as i don't know her, and cedric (the oc) is a transmasc oc
words: 3k
cedric rolled the stings of his hoodie over his thumb, back and forth, over and over again. some rap song was playing in his airpods but he wasn't paying attention to it. he wasn't paying attention to much actually. he was mostly watching the time count up on the clock across from him. earlier, when they'd sat down, sophia had tried to ask him about his finals but he'd simply turned his music up and the older girl had gotten the hint.
cedric had never loved flying and the thought of being stuck in a plane directly beside his older sister for 15 and a half hours sounded like torture to the 18 year old. it was an unfortunate consequence of choosing to go to university here in la instead of back in manila. one of the many things he'd had to pick up since coming to the states.
he was happy to be heading home. to see his brothers faces again, taste his dad's food and give his mom a hug. he couldn't wait to play a one on one soccer game with andrew. truly the only bad thing about this plane ride was the girl he was going to be sitting with.
cedric knew his sister, as much as he wished he could say he didn't. he knew she'd spend the first five hours of their trip trying to do something together. she'd take advantage of the fact that he literally couldn't go anywhere. he'd seen her put uno in her carry on, along with some cards. cedric admired her commitment to her plan. it'd been two plus years of him acting like they were cousins instead of siblings. he smiled for the cameras, just like he'd been taught as a kid, but cedric knew it was beginning to weigh on sophia. the professional vibe he brought to their interactions, instead of the three am wake ups she'd gotten before he'd transitioned, more importantly, before she'd left for dream academy.
he wasn't her little sister anymore, not physically, not mentally. whoever sophia left in the philippines when she'd moved to la, it wasn't who cedric was now.
sophia shifted in her seat, her laptop open on her lap and cedric could see the stress rolling off her shoulders. 'so much for time off' he thought to himself. his hand inched towards her laptop, to close it, to force her to take the break she so desperately needed after katseye's first tour. when they'd been younger, before, cedric knew he would have closed the laptop and asked sophia to do something together, probably karaoke or watch a theatre production; but they weren’t younger, sophia was the leader of a girl group and cedric wasn't who he’d been.
cedric shook his head and looked around. he pulled one of his airpods out and leaned over to sophia, "i'm grabbing something to drink." he stood up and didn't wait for sophia to respond. if he heard something about her giving him money for his drink, he wasn't sure. he put his airpod back in and headed towards the cafe he'd seen on the way to their gate.
he texted a few people back while he was waiting in line. rhea was first, telling her nothing had changed on his flight and they were still set to take off in an hour. next was yoonchae, telling her to enjoy her time with her family and to not worry about getting back to him. finally he texted andrew and told him that he should be warming up his legs if he wants a chance to beat cedric at soccer.
when he'd finally finished texting people, he was at the front of the line. the young lady at the counter looked at him expectantly. "a medium mocha." the lady nodded and tapped the order in, when she looked up again, cedric found himself speaking again. "can i also get a medium matcha?"
the girl nodded, "it'll be ready for you just over there." she said as she handed the machine over, cedric gave her a smile and tapped his card, muttering a thanks to the worker before going to stand in the corner with everyone else waiting.
it took the workers a relatively short amount of time for an airport cafe during christmas time. within 20 minutes of leaving his seat, cedric was already on his way back. he navigated his way through the la airport with the practice ease of someone who had been there quite a few more times than the boy actually had.
cedric found sophia in almost the exact position that he left her in, hunched over her seat and still answering emails. when cedric got close enough, he lightly tapped his foot into her shin causing the older girl to groan and look up from her screen.
"what?" she asked, her voice and gaze hard until she recognized who was in front of her. "oh sorry." she apologized, giving cedric a small smile he didn't return.
"i could have been a fan." he said with a deadpan tone of voice.
"a fan wouldn't have greeted me like that." sophia pointed out with a teasing lint to her voice.
"whatever" cedric said settling back into his seat before remembering the green drink in his right hand. "here" he offered her the drink.
sophia looked up again from her screen and registered the matcha he was holding. "why'd you" she started
"it was a two for one deal." he lied, taking a sip of his mocha to hide his tell, one of the few things that hadn't changed in the two years sophia was gone.
"right.." she trailed off, and they both knew she didn't believe him. cedric thanked her mentally for not pushing the subject further.
"you really should be taking that break." he muttered
"i'm not technically on break until we're on the plane." sophia points out, brushing her hair out of her face.
cedric hums and pulls his hood back over his head. "whatever." he said and sophia took the hint that the conversation was over. cedric plopped his airpod back in and went back to whatever playlist was playing.
practically 17 hours later, the two middle laforteza children stepped off of the plane and were officially back in the philippines. cedric adjusted his duffle bag over his shoulder as he walked, he didn't have to look behind him to see that sophia was on his heels. he could hear the thuds of when her feet connected with the ground. it was disgustingly in time with cedric's own steps.
the two of them moved through the manila airport like they were water flowing in the river. each step calculated and plan to minimize the time it took for them to move from the gate to their family. somewhere along the walk, cedric silently let sophia take the lead as she had more experience getting from that gate to the luggage drop off. the walk was mostly silent between the two of them, sophia was mostly keeping her head down and cedric was still listening to whatever music had taken over his music app.
cedric saw their family first, off to the left by one of the pillars. oreo had his face turned down and was paying attention to his switch, basil was playing on his phone. his dad was the first to spot cedric and sophia, raising his hand to waving a few times until he knew that cedric had seen him. cedric grapped sophia's arm and pulled her in the direction of their family. when sophia had gotten over her momentary confusion, basil was already looking at them and smiling. their mother was next, she rounded the corner with a huge smile on her face, her eyes lighting up at the sight of her two middle children.
sophia quickened her pace, cedric held back slightly, giving sophia time to see their family and greet them properly, while also waiting for their luggage. after grabbing both, cedric walked over to his family, placing sophia's suitcase behind her.
oreo reached him first offering cedric a fist bump haphazardly. cedric chuckled and gave his little brother a fist bump then reaching over the boy to ruffle his hair.
out of the corner of his eye, cedric noticed basil and sophia talking while looking at them, but like most things relating to sophia, cedric ignored it. instead he turned his attention to his parents, matching his mom's enthusiasm with a hug. "hi mom." cedric muttered into her shoulder.
"hi honey." she says back, with much more energy than cedric could even think to produce after nearly an entire day in airports and airplanes.
when he pulls back from his hug with mom, his dad is right to the side to pull him into a hug. "you're eating well?" his dad asks, squeezing cedrics biceps.
cedric laughs, and flexes his biceps causing his dad to laugh and pat his arms. "good." he grabs sophia's luggage and turns to walk towards the exit. the rest of the laforteza's are quick to follow. sophia and their mom fall into their regular conversations about performance. oreo ends up awkwardly two steps behind them but doesn't seem to mind, seemingly sucked back into his switch.
cedric moves to grab his luggage only for basil's hand to snatch it up first. cedric glances up at his older brother and sighs, bringing a hand up to his forehead.
"you do know you need to let her fix it." basil started quietly. they were still in public and sophia and their mother were still famous.
"she had her chance." cedric argued.
"i get why you're mad. you have every right to be, she fucked up." he glanced at their mother. then looked back at cedric. "you have to let her get to know cedric, her little brother."
cedric shifted the way his duffle bag hung against his shoulder. "if only it was that easy."
basil seems to get the hint that cedric was tired. "just," the older man sighed, "please try this break. you're living with her again, she's the only family you have in la." cedric didn't respond.
somehow cedric had avoided being alone with sophia during their family's christmas festivities, mostly promotional stuff for their mom. not any of the actual laforteza festivities.
but now it was sometimes after 3 am in the philippines and jet lag was killing cedric. it was 11 am back in la, rhea had just sent him a picture of her cuddling bala (to which cedric had sent back a photo of yoonchae (the cat) curled up on his chest, rhea had promptly told him to go to bed), and honestly cedric was surprisingly not tired.
so now he was sitting in front of their christmas tree with his legs tucked under his chin. he'd been watching the lights, seeing if somehow they'd either put him to sleep or answer one of the number of questions floating around in his head.
cedric flinched when a soft hand ruffled his hair. just as he was about to turn around and glare at whoever they were, they scratched his head with their nails in the way he liked. "sophia." he said as his body relaxed.
"ced." the older girl tries, sitting down beside the boy. "it's pretty." he hummed softly. sophia doesn't seem discouraged with his lack of response. "it feels weird to come home to the tree already all set up without you right."
cedric doesn't question it. "was probably weirder to see your family post christmas thank you without you."
sophia smiles softly. "it was," she takes a breath, running her hands through her hair. "but it kept me going. seeing the four of you."
cedric rolled his eyes. "right."
sophia sighed, and decided to change the subject. "jet lag killing you?"
cedric finally looked over, his eyes racking in the image of his older sister, not sophia laforteza the leader of katseye but rather soph, the one who'd truly brought around his love for performance. she'd also crushed that love, and the love for all the things he'd associated with her. which, because of how close they'd been before, was a lot of things. it's what lead him to soccer, what lead him to putting the energy he'd have used to reach out to her into soccer instead. the decision had done him well.
"yeah." he finally responded. "rhea's yelling at me to sleep."
sophia stiffened at rhea's name and ran her hands through her hair again. "the coffee from earlier probably isn't helping either."
cedric nodded softly. "probably not." he glanced at his phone, almost 4 am. the two of them sat in silence for a bit while the lights on the tree twinkled. "congrats on the tour." cedric whispered into the night, then he stretched his legs out and began to stand up. "from what i saw it was good, you should be proud of your self soph." when he was fully standing he whistled softly, yoonchae (the cat) came running from her spot on her on the cat tree and waited to be picked up by cedric, who was quick to place her up on his shoulders.
"you watched on of the streams?"
cedric shook his head. "i'm not cruel enough to let you be the only member of katseye where you didn't have immediate family show up to one of your shows."
sophia processed the words slowly, blinking slowly. "you were at one of our shows? why didn't i see you."
"i didn't make it that big of a deal."
"but-"
"you belong on that stage sophia, you're happier there." sophia's mouth clamps shut, she reached out for cedric's hand only to stop half way. he nodded and felt another rope of their old dynamic disintegrate. "i'll see you tomorrow morning. get some sleep, you're going to mom and dad's favourite talking point." with that cedric started towards his room.
sophia watched him leave and whipped her eyes of the tears collecting on her eyelids.
the next few days were standard for the laforteza's, big family dinner here, going to see old friends there, helping dad prep for the big feast on the 25th. each member of the family did their part. somehow despite it all, cedric was able to see his friends, hit the soccer pitch a few times and catch up on some tv shows he'd fallen behind on because of finals.
but now it was the christmas party and cedric was in the detached garage, shooting shots from the free throw line. okay, in his defence, right now it was mostly family friends and all of cedric's friends were doing christmas in their own place.
the basketball thudded against the backboard then fell through the basket. cedric let it roll on the ground for a moment while he changed the song. after a moment, he looked up to grab the basketball, only to notice sophia was holding it out to him. he blinked and glanced out the windows, the party was still going on and cedric could see leon trying to act casual on the patio. giving cedric the idea that it was probably his idea to send sophia down.
sophia bounces the ball over to cedric, who runs his fingers over he seams. "hi." it was the tone that their mom used when she started a serious talk.
"hey." he said back, setting himself up for a free throw.
"do you hate me?" sophia asks, and she sounded so small.
cedric takes the shot, the ball swooshing into the basket. then he looks at his older sister. "no. i don't think i could ever hate you."
"then why?" she gestures between them. "what happened to us. you used to come to me for everything."
"6 months."
"what?" sophia asked softly.
cedric grabbed the basket ball again and dribbled it a few times, his eyes locked on one spot of the dark grey concrete. "i texted you," he paused, then shook his head. "i came out to you, while you were dream academy." sophia opened her mouth but didn't say anything. "i texted you, you were the first person i came out to and you left me on read for 6 months." he shot the ball and it bounced off the rim and off to the side of the garage somewhere. "fuck, it took you 2 years to even learn about my name or my transition."
"dream academy-" sophia started, her voice cracking.
"doesn't matter now." he placed the basketball back on it's rack.
"of course it does."
"i'm not your little sister. i haven't been for 4 years."
sophia almost physically recoiled. "i know."
"do you?" he turned to her, tears welling up on him and cedric wasn't sure if it was tears of anger or tears of sadness. "there's a lot about me that you don't know. fuck, you don't even know what my middle name is sophia."
sophia shrunk in on herself. "that's not fair."
cedric laughed, a wet sad laugh. "did you know i got offers from all over the world."
sophia shakes her head, whipping her tears. "i-i- cedric."
"i chose la because i wanted to know what was so great about it that it stole my older sister away from me."
sophia makes a choked noise, reaching forwards for cedric but he takes a step back. then he steps around her. "it's not all that great." he opens the door, "oh, and for future reference, don't let someone who knows less about the situation help you." cedric closed the door behind him and turned right instead of heading to the house. he ignored basil calling out his name as he pushed past the gate. once he was out of the backyard, cedric found himself breaking into a sprint, and he just kept going.
because that was something that cedric had built away from the laforteza name, away from his sister. he was the prodigy midfielder who had a crazy amount of stamina. so he did what he did best, he ran. one of his family members would find him within the hour, in the mean time, the boy cried.
notes: MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! first full fic and i'm super proud of it.