Theme Challenge #16: Excited
#16: Excited
Rating: PG
Pairing: None
Word Count: 892
Notes: I just wrote shameless Christmas fluff. In July. I couldn't help it, baby!Charles and Raven are just too cute ;_;
It’s Christmas it’s Christmas it’s CHRISTMAS-!
Charles grins. He’s getting better and better at learning how to block thoughts, but this early in the morning- a glance at the clock tells him that it’s five AM- his control is fuzzy and loose, and he can hear every one of Raven’s excited thoughts through the wall that separates their bedrooms. He pushes himself up on one elbow just as she bursts into through the door, eyes flickering between gold and blue with exhilaration as she launches herself onto the end of his bed, landing on the sheets with a soft thump.
“Charles, it’s Christmas!” She grabs him by the front of his pinstriped, too-large pajamas and pulls him forward so that they’re nose to nose. “You have to come downstairs right now, we have to see if Santa came!”
“Okay, okay!” Raven is a few years younger than him, but Charles knows that the anticipation he feels as she leads him down the carpeted hallway isn’t all leaking off of her: It’s him, too. They round the corner and there’s a swell of joy as her hands fly to her mouth, muffling her squeal as she looks over the banister at the huge tree in the main hall. What had been a large, dull hunk of prickly green the previous night is bedecked in glowing yellow lights and silver and gold baubles. Tinsel hangs off the light fixtures, and there’s a wreath of holly on the door of the parlor.
Charles and Raven rush down the stairs, taking them two at a time as they dash across the foyer. Charles is first to the door, his legs longer, and he tugs it open with a flourish. Raven lets out a scream of delight and runs forward, crashing to the floor in front of the fireplace. She sits there on her knees, staring open-mouthed at the piles of gaily wrapped presents that are stacked on the floor and the sofas and the armchairs. In her enthusiasm, she’s changed back from the blonde haired, blue-eyed form that she had picked out from a newspaper and that she usually wears around to her blue-skinned self. Charles kneels beside her.
“Wow.” Raven breathes, reaching out tentatively and poking a silver bow as if it will disintegrate at her touch. “This is the best, Charles. I’ve never seen so many presents before!” She smiles; one of the widest grins Charles has ever seen. “I guess I was good this year!”
“Of course you were good, Raven. You’re really good, you’re…” Charles scrunches up his nose, searching for the right words. “You’re the goodest person I’ve ever met!”
She laughs, and it’s loud and unrestrained and Charles can feel the servants pausing to listen in the kitchen from where they’re preparing the Christmas goose; he can feel his mother beginning to wake in her room upstairs and her uncharacteristic flush of happiness as she sees the snow outside. He’s grateful suddenly that Kurt has gone on a business trip to Geneva and taken Cain with him- his stepfather’s presence would have ruined this day. With him gone, it’s like living in a different house. Raven frowns, and he realizes that he’s been accidentally projecting to her.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.”
“It’s okay. I’m just happy right now.” She grabs one of the boxes and shakes it (far too hard; something rattles and Charles winces). “Last year Santa didn’t come at all. Daddy said it was because I was bad, but really I know it was because he had spent all the money on horses and drink again. That’s what Mom said.” Raven lurches forward suddenly, uncoordinatedly, and wraps her arms around Charles’ neck in a crushing hug. “I’m so happy I live with you now, Charles.”
Charles isn’t good at talking- not yet, that will come later, when he’s older- so he hugs Raven back and smiles into her dark red hair. “I’m happy you live with me, too.”
He peels her arms off and reaches forward, grabbing a badly wrapped gift in polka dotted paper and handing it to her. “Merry Christmas, Raven.”
Raven screams in glee at the doll Charles had saved up to get her, and he goes wide-eyed and breathless at the lizard she hands him in a cardboard box with holes poked in the top. They hug, and when Charles’ mother comes downstairs in her dressing gown and smiles and pats Raven on her golden hair, Charles feels like for once he’s part of a real family. They open presents, and eat the delicious dinner, and pull crackers with cook and the maids and the butler and sing carols together until it’s far too late for the children to be up. Charles’ mother hums softly to herself, curled up in the corner of the couch with a glass of sherry, and Charles and Raven lean against each other sleepily, basking in the warmth of the fire.
“Raven?” Charles asks. She stirs, blinking and groggy.
“Mmmhmm?”
“Promise me we’ll always be together.”
She snuggles closer to him, letting her head drop onto his shoulder. “Of course. You’re my brother. We’re gonna be together forever.”
Charles smiles, and spends the rest of one of only three perfect days in his whole life falling asleep on the carpet next to his sister.
Rating: PG
Pairing: None
Word Count: 892
Notes: I just wrote shameless Christmas fluff. In July. I couldn't help it, baby!Charles and Raven are just too cute ;_;
It’s Christmas it’s Christmas it’s CHRISTMAS-!
Charles grins. He’s getting better and better at learning how to block thoughts, but this early in the morning- a glance at the clock tells him that it’s five AM- his control is fuzzy and loose, and he can hear every one of Raven’s excited thoughts through the wall that separates their bedrooms. He pushes himself up on one elbow just as she bursts into through the door, eyes flickering between gold and blue with exhilaration as she launches herself onto the end of his bed, landing on the sheets with a soft thump.
“Charles, it’s Christmas!” She grabs him by the front of his pinstriped, too-large pajamas and pulls him forward so that they’re nose to nose. “You have to come downstairs right now, we have to see if Santa came!”
“Okay, okay!” Raven is a few years younger than him, but Charles knows that the anticipation he feels as she leads him down the carpeted hallway isn’t all leaking off of her: It’s him, too. They round the corner and there’s a swell of joy as her hands fly to her mouth, muffling her squeal as she looks over the banister at the huge tree in the main hall. What had been a large, dull hunk of prickly green the previous night is bedecked in glowing yellow lights and silver and gold baubles. Tinsel hangs off the light fixtures, and there’s a wreath of holly on the door of the parlor.
Charles and Raven rush down the stairs, taking them two at a time as they dash across the foyer. Charles is first to the door, his legs longer, and he tugs it open with a flourish. Raven lets out a scream of delight and runs forward, crashing to the floor in front of the fireplace. She sits there on her knees, staring open-mouthed at the piles of gaily wrapped presents that are stacked on the floor and the sofas and the armchairs. In her enthusiasm, she’s changed back from the blonde haired, blue-eyed form that she had picked out from a newspaper and that she usually wears around to her blue-skinned self. Charles kneels beside her.
“Wow.” Raven breathes, reaching out tentatively and poking a silver bow as if it will disintegrate at her touch. “This is the best, Charles. I’ve never seen so many presents before!” She smiles; one of the widest grins Charles has ever seen. “I guess I was good this year!”
“Of course you were good, Raven. You’re really good, you’re…” Charles scrunches up his nose, searching for the right words. “You’re the goodest person I’ve ever met!”
She laughs, and it’s loud and unrestrained and Charles can feel the servants pausing to listen in the kitchen from where they’re preparing the Christmas goose; he can feel his mother beginning to wake in her room upstairs and her uncharacteristic flush of happiness as she sees the snow outside. He’s grateful suddenly that Kurt has gone on a business trip to Geneva and taken Cain with him- his stepfather’s presence would have ruined this day. With him gone, it’s like living in a different house. Raven frowns, and he realizes that he’s been accidentally projecting to her.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.”
“It’s okay. I’m just happy right now.” She grabs one of the boxes and shakes it (far too hard; something rattles and Charles winces). “Last year Santa didn’t come at all. Daddy said it was because I was bad, but really I know it was because he had spent all the money on horses and drink again. That’s what Mom said.” Raven lurches forward suddenly, uncoordinatedly, and wraps her arms around Charles’ neck in a crushing hug. “I’m so happy I live with you now, Charles.”
Charles isn’t good at talking- not yet, that will come later, when he’s older- so he hugs Raven back and smiles into her dark red hair. “I’m happy you live with me, too.”
He peels her arms off and reaches forward, grabbing a badly wrapped gift in polka dotted paper and handing it to her. “Merry Christmas, Raven.”
Raven screams in glee at the doll Charles had saved up to get her, and he goes wide-eyed and breathless at the lizard she hands him in a cardboard box with holes poked in the top. They hug, and when Charles’ mother comes downstairs in her dressing gown and smiles and pats Raven on her golden hair, Charles feels like for once he’s part of a real family. They open presents, and eat the delicious dinner, and pull crackers with cook and the maids and the butler and sing carols together until it’s far too late for the children to be up. Charles’ mother hums softly to herself, curled up in the corner of the couch with a glass of sherry, and Charles and Raven lean against each other sleepily, basking in the warmth of the fire.
“Raven?” Charles asks. She stirs, blinking and groggy.
“Mmmhmm?”
“Promise me we’ll always be together.”
She snuggles closer to him, letting her head drop onto his shoulder. “Of course. You’re my brother. We’re gonna be together forever.”
Charles smiles, and spends the rest of one of only three perfect days in his whole life falling asleep on the carpet next to his sister.