title: christmas (baby please come home)
fandom: wonder woman, dccu
pairing: steve trevor x diana prince
rating: t
summary: after diana gets steve back for good, the two of them share their first christmas together.
written for @wondertrevcentral’s 2021 secret santa gift exchange.
authors note: hello, @finnicks! it’s me, rebekah, aka @kerilynnrussell, aka your wondertrev secret santa! i was tasked with writing you a fic, and i’ve done my best to create something about our two lovelies that i hope you’ll enjoy. i’ve added a playlist at the bottom of this post that goes along with the story. merry christmas! i hope your holiday season and upcoming year is filled with joy 💕
christmas (baby please come home)
Music reminds her of him.
She attributes it to their night in Veld, to the way they danced to Charlie’s piano as snow fell around them. Now, whenever she hears sweet music playing, she imagines him. Imagines that he was here with her, taking back the multitude of dances to come that were stolen from them when he sacrificed himself to save others. To save people he did not know.
To save her.
So she decides to collect songs for him, for her to listen to when the pain of losing him flares up and is especially potent. Songs that make soft memories of him fill her mind. Songs she thinks he would like. Songs for them to dance to. Her methods change over the decades; first, they're simply lists, until there's the possibility of purchasing the music. Then, there's a collection of records, cassettes, CDs, all full of music that belongs to him, in her head and her heart.
The first time she gets him back, for those precious few days, she doesn't get a chance to let him listen. Their time together is too hectic and too short. Afterwards, to take away the sting of losing him for a second time, she sits in her apartment, puts on her music, opens her ears and closes her eyes.
The next time she gets him back, things are different.
This time, they have days that stretch on into weeks that stretch on into years. This time, she won't lose him again. And this time, they can listen together.
She shares everything with him - every romantic ballad that she thought fit their relationship, every silly pop song that she thought he would enjoy. They do their fair share of dancing, but other times they simply lay in bed and listen, tangled together as the notes play around them, her head on his chest so she can hear his heartbeat.
That, she's decided, is her favorite song of all.
* * *
Their first Christmas together is special. She’s always liked holidays. They reminded her of the camaraderie and love so readily found at home - at Themyscira. This world of man could sometimes be so focused on things that wouldn’t matter in the end - careers, wealth, always being one step ahead of someone else. She likes the way that all seems to pause during holidays, even if it’s just for the shortest while.
Christmas has a special place in her heart. Although she’s not religious, of course, she loves the principle behind the Christmas Story, of a love so great that it saved humanity from themselves. After all, that’s exactly what she’s come to believe, what she knows - that only love can truly save the world. And apart from the grandiose gestures detailed in religious texts, she especially enjoys how many tiny acts of love she sees all around her during the holiday season, whether it be the giving of a thoughtful gift, an act of kindness for a stranger. She’s most hopeful during this time of year that her vision for the world could someday become a reality.
But for her first Christmas with him, she lets all of this - thoughts of the rest of the world - fall away, and focuses on the fact that he is here with her, and that she gets to spend one of her favorite times of year not lonely, but with the person she loves most in the world. She’s feeling a bit selfish, actually, so she takes him away. They rent out a cabin on Lake Tahoe and spend a week wrapped in each other.
It’s cliché in all the best ways; they make breakfast together in the morning, hike through the two feet of snow on the ground during the day and then come home and warm up by the fire. They sip hot chocolate and bake cookies, trade fond stories of Christmases and celebrations past, and plan for their future together.
It’s a paradise like nothing she’s known before. Not even Themyscira could compare.
* * *
She brings her music with her, of course. He almost laughs at her, but she tells him it’s not Christmas without Christmas music.
“Plus,” she tells him, as she connects her phone to speakers, “these are your songs.”
“My songs?” he questions, mirth and endless warmth and adoration in his eyes.
“Yes, like the others. I collected them over the years. Some are sad, but they’re all beautiful. And all of them reminded me of you.”
He comes up to stand beside her as she opens Spotify and presses play. He strokes her hair, places a kiss on her head, and listens with her as the first notes of music fill the room.
“Sad, huh?” he asks.
She shrugs.
“What can I say? I missed you.”
They listen for a few more moments, and then his hands move to her hips.
“Then let’s make them happy, angel.”
He turns her, pulls her into place, and suddenly, they’re dancing across the living room floor.
It’s different than that first time in Veld (she’s taught him a few new steps since then), but it’s the same in all the ways that matter; it’s the two of them in love, the world around them forgotten, dancing as snow falls outside.
Together, they do indeed make even the saddest song on her list, happy. And she’s reminded of the fact that though she’s always loved music, every song sounds sweeter when he’s with her.
She laughs more than she has in a long while, so much that her cheeks ache with her smile. And when the last notes of the final song on her playlist ring out, he doesn’t let her go. Instead, he holds her close, tilts her head up, and kisses her.
She doesn’t know how long they stand there - she’s too lost in him, too lost in the feeling of his lips against hers. And when they break apart, he doesn’t even give her a chance to catch her breath - or turn off her music - before he’s pulling her towards the bedroom, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
“I believe we do still have lost time to make up for,” he says over his shoulder as they walk.
“I don’t think we’ll ever be done making up for lost time,” she tells him.
He stops when he reaches the doorway, turns towards her and takes both of her hands in his.
“We have the rest of our lives to find out, don’t we?” he murmurs.
“The rest of our lives,” she whispers back.
She leans forward and kisses him. It’s deeper than the one they shared in the living room, rich and ripe with love and promises, with all that is to come. He smiles into her mouth after a moment, and then finishes pulling her towards the bed. She laughs breathlessly as her back hits the mattress, and he hovers over her, the grin on his face wider than she’s ever seen it.
And they continue on like that into the night, faint music still playing in the background.
