FIC: Year Without a Santa Claus
Title: Year Without a Santa Claus
Author: Amy (alexia@innergeekdom.net)
Fandom: Veronica Mars
Disclaimer: Come on now. If it were mine, this would have been a twenty episode season, and Mars vs Mars and Leave it to Beaver would have been replaced with The Wallace and Mac Variety Hour.
Rating: PG
Summary: All the pirates in Neptune liked Christmas a lot. But the boy who had just moved into Neptune, did NOT.
Notes: Yeah, yeah, I know canon says Logan moved to Neptune when Veronica was twelve. That could have been exaggeration. It also said he and Duncan have been BFF since kindergarten. Work with me.
Props to commieprincess for the beta, pearl_o for the hand-holding, mimesere for being my continual VM sounding board, and musesfool and romanticalgirl for shamelessly encouraging.
Also, so help me, this was going to be fluff. It was. No, really. I swear!
2,381 words
Things were different this year.
Things were always different, Veronica guessed, but they were especially different this year, with all the changes. School was different this year. Everything was different without Lilly.
And it wasn't like Lilly was even gone yet. Middle school didn't start until seventh grade, and Lilly was only in sixth. But there was this way she reacted that was totally different. Like all of a sudden the lines had been drawn, between the kids who would still be here next September, and the kids who'd be going on to the middle school.
Lilly had laughed when she'd pointed it out. "Nothing's different," she'd said witheringly, flipping her hair a little to make sure that people could see how glossy it was. "It's only for a year. Chill out."
But things were different. Lilly started acting like she was kind of above everything. Even things she used to think were cool, like sticker collections and Veronica's favorite denim skirt. Now she just kind of rolled her eyes. "Grow up, Veronica Mars!" she kept saying.
Because Lilly, all of a sudden, hit puberty with a vengeance. All of a sudden she was wearing bras and talking loudly about tampons and flirting with guys who were old enough to be, like, her dad. And then there was Veronica, queen of the training bra, who found herself withdrawing from everything while Lilly spent more time with her new friends. Lilly had always been popular, but now there was a set popular clique, and she was practically in charge of the entire sixth grade. And part of that involved spending all her time with like six kids who were all in her grade.
"What's going on with her?" Veronica asked Duncan on line for the pencil sharpener during their math class, and he laughed.
"She's just being Lilly," he said, like it explained it anything. And maybe it did, if you were Duncan. Duncan was Veronica's age, but he always seemed so much younger. Girls, Lilly had explained, matured faster than boys. Which was why Duncan was always playing video games or soccer or whatever and totally didn't get why Veronica and Lilly spent hours learning how to put on mascara or doing the breast-growing exercises from Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret.
Not that Duncan was bad. He was in the gifted program with Veronica, and they tended to do class projects together, because it wasn't like she wasn't at the Kanes' all the time anyway. Besides, he had really nice hair, and he smiled like he meant it, unlike most of the other people in her class, who looked like they were just being nice to her because her dad was the sheriff or she was an 09er or something.
Just... Duncan wasn't like her. Not that Lilly was, exactly, but Lilly knew her the way no one else did, except like maybe her mom. And even Veronica's mom was different, lately. Distant. Sometimes Lilly's dad got home from work right when Veronica's mom got there to pick her up, and for like twenty minutes Mom wouldn't remember a single thing Veronica said, even if it was really important, like asking her to pick up toilet paper because they were out at home, or remembering that Dad needed them to buy the special low-cholesterol eggs.
Lilly just laughed, and told her not to worry about it, and reminded her that adults were strange, foul creatures who they would never understand, who tried to keep them from cigarettes and dirty words and R-rated movies.
But that was Lilly. She was so grown up. Not like Veronica. Veronica still liked little kid stuff, even stuff she knew she was too old for, like the dollhouse in the attic that she sometimes snuck up and played with. And, of course, Christmas.
Veronica didn't believe in Santa, obviously. She hadn't since practically ever. Okay, so since first grade, when Lilly had made a comment and she pretended she'd known the whole time and then later got home and confronted her parents and demanded an explanation, but practically forever. She'd had sneaking suspicions, centering around some timelines and a very questionable price tag that Dad said Santa had forgotten to take off, but Dad was the sheriff, and he wouldn't lie about something that important. Except that, duh, he did, and Santa wasn't real.
Which totally did not explain why he was in the hallway of Neptune Elementary.
She and Duncan had been sent to the office to pick up the cookies that Madison Sinclair's mom had sent in for the class for Christmas. Madison was such a suck-up, always playing up to any of the girls who she thought could possibly make her cooler than she already was with her, like, hundred-dollar shoes and jeans that were always just about to be featured in Seventeen. Madison was supposed to go with them, but she'd ducked into the bathroom, just for a second, and after a minute they got bored waiting for her.
So Duncan had two trays of cookies, and Veronica had one, and then one of the first-grade classroom doors opened, and Santa Claus was right in front of them.
Veronica's jaw dropped, and she wondered if this was, like, a giant joke that Lilly had been playing on her, and Dad had gone along with, and Santa was real all along. Then Duncan broke into a smile. "Mr. Echolls!" he said. "Hi!"
Veronica glanced nervously at Duncan, and then at Santa, and then Duncan again. And then Santa spoke. "Duncan, how many times do I have to tell you? Call me Aaron." He smiled. "And who's your friend?"
Veronica squeaked but didn't answer, and Duncan laughed. "Veronica Mars. She's shy." He turned to her. "Veronica, this is Logan's dad. Aaron Echolls."
And then Veronica remembered. When they snuck into Beyond the Breaking Point even though Veronica was only eleven, Lilly had told her that the star of the movie was moving to Neptune. But seeing the guy Lilly said she'd like to lick when he was like eighty feet tall on a big screen and seeing him right across from her in a big red outfit was an entirely different thing. "Oh," Veronica whispered. "Hi."
Mr. Echolls smiled warmly. "Well, hello, Veronica. Ho ho ho."
Duncan grinned. "We need to take these up to our class," he said.
When they'd gotten far enough away, Veronica erupted in nervous giggles. "Oh my god, Duncan!" she exclaimed. "That was Aaron Echolls."
"Yeah." Duncan laughed. "You've never been to Logan's?"
"I don't think he's even met me," Veronica said.
"Logan's cool," Duncan said. "I mean, like, he's fun. You'd like him."
She rolled her eyes. "He's one of Lilly's cool friends. He totally wouldn't even talk to me."
Duncan snorted. "He was my friend before he even talked to Lilly. We'll go find him after school, okay?"
Veronica nodded, and smiled despite herself. For someone who wasn't Lilly, Duncan Kane was pretty cool to be around.
She thought about it all morning, through the cookies and the card exchange and the songs the entire fifth grade had to sing during music class. She thought about it during lunch, poking at the egg salad sandwich her mother had thrown into a brown bag with a bottle of water and a bag of chips, even though most of her friends had special holiday pastries their family cooks made special. She thought about it while they watched the Grinch in class instead of working on long division. In fact, she thought about it right until after school.
Right when the bell rang, she and Duncan took off for the sixth grade hallway, to meet Lilly and all her friends. All of Veronica's friends were still hugging and crying and saying goodbye, like they were never going to see each other again, or like they weren't all going over to Shelly Pomeroy's for the New Year's Eve sleepover in like a week. But Veronica... well, maybe she cared a little, but not nearly as much as she cared about being with Lilly. The other girls were nice, but Lilly was her best friend.
She and Duncan were running down the hall when they stopped short. There was yelling- like, loud yelling, the type that got teachers to remind you about Appropriate Language or Using Your Indoor Voice. And the boy it was coming from- this kid who couldn't have been taller than Duncan, and probably weighed twenty pounds less, with his face screwed up in this facsimile of rage- that was Lilly's friend Logan.
Logan Echolls.
Duncan put a hand on her shoulder, reminding her to stay still, and she hung back with him while Logan yelled.
"You are so effing stupid!" he shouted. Except he didn't say effing. Veronica bit her lip. Every time Lilly said the F-word, she said it like it was this big secret that only certain people had permission to share. When Logan said it, it was just part of everything. Veronica stood on her tiptoes to see who he was yelling at.
It was a group of people, actually. Three little kids. From kindergarten. Oh, that was probably not good at all.
"It's not effing Santa Claus!" he yelled. "It's my dad. It's Aaron effing Echolls!"
One of the kids pulled her thumb out of her mouth, even though she looked kind of terrified, and stood up to her full height of maybe three feet. "Was too Santa. He told us. And brought us candy canes. Liar."
"It's not Santa Claus, you dumb-head," Logan said (he didn't exactly say dumb-head either). "It can't be Santa Claus. Santa isn't even real." He laughed. "I bet you believe everything grown-ups tell you, don't you? I bet you still believe in the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny. Don't you?" He snarled a little. "Answer me, you little-." And he called them a not-nice word.
One of the kids looked like he was about to pee his pants. Veronica wanted to jump in and rescue him, kind of, but settled for leaning back against Duncan instead. The kid screwed up all his courage and said "No" in a voice that probably really meant yes.
"What's going on here?" And walking through the parting crowds, looking just like he did in Beyond the Breaking Point, was Aaron Echolls. He still wore his costume, even the itchy fake white beard.
"Santa?" whispered the little girl.
"That's right." He turned to Logan. "What's going on here, son?"
"I was just telling them that the real Santa isn't here." Logan turned and looked at him straight in the eye. "Because you found him, and you killed him, and you stole his clothes."
"I didn't- I- Logan!" Mr. Echolls grabbed Logan, really hard, but Veronica thought he barely winced, although he was clenching his teeth together pretty tight as Mr. Echolls talked to the kids. "Logan is right. I'm not Santa Claus. I'm one of Santa's helpers."
He was good at the speech. Effective. He was way better than the Santa Claus at the mall who Veronica had visited the year she was in kindergarten, when she was kind of suspicious about Santa but her parents didn't know that yet. She'd pulled at his beard and he'd stuttered for a while- nothing like this. Not that Veronica had been clued in, but that wasn't because he was good; that was because she'd wanted to believe so badly. This, on the other hand? Mr. Echolls was really, really good at lying to these kids.
Veronica felt bad almost immediately for even thinking he was lying. He wasn't really. He was just trying to make people happy. Which was definitely different from lying, because even when lying had a totally valid purpose, like helping Lilly shoplift the lipstick she really wanted or telling her dad that they'd be in bed by midnight when they had sleepovers, it was kind of selfish and stuff. This was just the right thing to do.
Probably.
Of course, Logan was Lilly's friend, and he didn't seem to think that what Mr. Echolls was doing was right. In fact, he seemed really angry about it. Veronica wished she knew what Lilly would think, or even what Duncan thought. But although Duncan's breathing got a little bit tight, he wasn't saying anything. So Veronica didn't either.
When the little kids were calmed down, Mr. Echolls escorted them downstairs, never actually letting go of Logan in the meantime. She saw Logan look at Duncan for a second, and something passed between them, although she wasn't sure exactly what it was. She was pretty sure Logan didn't even notice her standing next to him.
It took a few moments for Lilly to get outside, and Veronica realized with a sudden lurch that Lilly probably didn't even know what had happened. She wondered if she should say something. If it had been anyone in her class, Lilly would have asked for- no, demanded the details. Of absolutely everything. But Duncan shook his head no, and it occurred to Veronica that she would know something about Lilly's new friend that Lilly herself did not. It was a weird feeling, twisting in her stomach like a coiled-up snake.
"My two favorite underclassmen!" Lilly crowed, throwing one arm each around her best friend and her brother. "That eager to get out of class?" She twirled, preening for any and all of the people milling in the hallway, and there was something about being in Lilly's limelight that made Veronica beam and blush simultaneously. "They're here for me!" she announced to the crowd. "I can't help that I have an adoring public."
"Dad said I could go to your house after school today," Veronica said. "Because it's a vacation and all. I mean, if it's okay with you."
Which she wouldn't have had to add before. She missed not having to add that.
"Of course it is," Lilly said with a laugh. "Come on, let's go. Mom's supposed to meet us by the gym door." She broke into a run, and Duncan and Veronica followed almost immediately. The three of them raced down the hallway towards the staircase, the car, and all of Christmas break.
Author: Amy (alexia@innergeekdom.net)
Fandom: Veronica Mars
Disclaimer: Come on now. If it were mine, this would have been a twenty episode season, and Mars vs Mars and Leave it to Beaver would have been replaced with The Wallace and Mac Variety Hour.
Rating: PG
Summary: All the pirates in Neptune liked Christmas a lot. But the boy who had just moved into Neptune, did NOT.
Notes: Yeah, yeah, I know canon says Logan moved to Neptune when Veronica was twelve. That could have been exaggeration. It also said he and Duncan have been BFF since kindergarten. Work with me.
Props to commieprincess for the beta, pearl_o for the hand-holding, mimesere for being my continual VM sounding board, and musesfool and romanticalgirl for shamelessly encouraging.
Also, so help me, this was going to be fluff. It was. No, really. I swear!
2,381 words
Things were different this year.
Things were always different, Veronica guessed, but they were especially different this year, with all the changes. School was different this year. Everything was different without Lilly.
And it wasn't like Lilly was even gone yet. Middle school didn't start until seventh grade, and Lilly was only in sixth. But there was this way she reacted that was totally different. Like all of a sudden the lines had been drawn, between the kids who would still be here next September, and the kids who'd be going on to the middle school.
Lilly had laughed when she'd pointed it out. "Nothing's different," she'd said witheringly, flipping her hair a little to make sure that people could see how glossy it was. "It's only for a year. Chill out."
But things were different. Lilly started acting like she was kind of above everything. Even things she used to think were cool, like sticker collections and Veronica's favorite denim skirt. Now she just kind of rolled her eyes. "Grow up, Veronica Mars!" she kept saying.
Because Lilly, all of a sudden, hit puberty with a vengeance. All of a sudden she was wearing bras and talking loudly about tampons and flirting with guys who were old enough to be, like, her dad. And then there was Veronica, queen of the training bra, who found herself withdrawing from everything while Lilly spent more time with her new friends. Lilly had always been popular, but now there was a set popular clique, and she was practically in charge of the entire sixth grade. And part of that involved spending all her time with like six kids who were all in her grade.
"What's going on with her?" Veronica asked Duncan on line for the pencil sharpener during their math class, and he laughed.
"She's just being Lilly," he said, like it explained it anything. And maybe it did, if you were Duncan. Duncan was Veronica's age, but he always seemed so much younger. Girls, Lilly had explained, matured faster than boys. Which was why Duncan was always playing video games or soccer or whatever and totally didn't get why Veronica and Lilly spent hours learning how to put on mascara or doing the breast-growing exercises from Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret.
Not that Duncan was bad. He was in the gifted program with Veronica, and they tended to do class projects together, because it wasn't like she wasn't at the Kanes' all the time anyway. Besides, he had really nice hair, and he smiled like he meant it, unlike most of the other people in her class, who looked like they were just being nice to her because her dad was the sheriff or she was an 09er or something.
Just... Duncan wasn't like her. Not that Lilly was, exactly, but Lilly knew her the way no one else did, except like maybe her mom. And even Veronica's mom was different, lately. Distant. Sometimes Lilly's dad got home from work right when Veronica's mom got there to pick her up, and for like twenty minutes Mom wouldn't remember a single thing Veronica said, even if it was really important, like asking her to pick up toilet paper because they were out at home, or remembering that Dad needed them to buy the special low-cholesterol eggs.
Lilly just laughed, and told her not to worry about it, and reminded her that adults were strange, foul creatures who they would never understand, who tried to keep them from cigarettes and dirty words and R-rated movies.
But that was Lilly. She was so grown up. Not like Veronica. Veronica still liked little kid stuff, even stuff she knew she was too old for, like the dollhouse in the attic that she sometimes snuck up and played with. And, of course, Christmas.
Veronica didn't believe in Santa, obviously. She hadn't since practically ever. Okay, so since first grade, when Lilly had made a comment and she pretended she'd known the whole time and then later got home and confronted her parents and demanded an explanation, but practically forever. She'd had sneaking suspicions, centering around some timelines and a very questionable price tag that Dad said Santa had forgotten to take off, but Dad was the sheriff, and he wouldn't lie about something that important. Except that, duh, he did, and Santa wasn't real.
Which totally did not explain why he was in the hallway of Neptune Elementary.
She and Duncan had been sent to the office to pick up the cookies that Madison Sinclair's mom had sent in for the class for Christmas. Madison was such a suck-up, always playing up to any of the girls who she thought could possibly make her cooler than she already was with her, like, hundred-dollar shoes and jeans that were always just about to be featured in Seventeen. Madison was supposed to go with them, but she'd ducked into the bathroom, just for a second, and after a minute they got bored waiting for her.
So Duncan had two trays of cookies, and Veronica had one, and then one of the first-grade classroom doors opened, and Santa Claus was right in front of them.
Veronica's jaw dropped, and she wondered if this was, like, a giant joke that Lilly had been playing on her, and Dad had gone along with, and Santa was real all along. Then Duncan broke into a smile. "Mr. Echolls!" he said. "Hi!"
Veronica glanced nervously at Duncan, and then at Santa, and then Duncan again. And then Santa spoke. "Duncan, how many times do I have to tell you? Call me Aaron." He smiled. "And who's your friend?"
Veronica squeaked but didn't answer, and Duncan laughed. "Veronica Mars. She's shy." He turned to her. "Veronica, this is Logan's dad. Aaron Echolls."
And then Veronica remembered. When they snuck into Beyond the Breaking Point even though Veronica was only eleven, Lilly had told her that the star of the movie was moving to Neptune. But seeing the guy Lilly said she'd like to lick when he was like eighty feet tall on a big screen and seeing him right across from her in a big red outfit was an entirely different thing. "Oh," Veronica whispered. "Hi."
Mr. Echolls smiled warmly. "Well, hello, Veronica. Ho ho ho."
Duncan grinned. "We need to take these up to our class," he said.
When they'd gotten far enough away, Veronica erupted in nervous giggles. "Oh my god, Duncan!" she exclaimed. "That was Aaron Echolls."
"Yeah." Duncan laughed. "You've never been to Logan's?"
"I don't think he's even met me," Veronica said.
"Logan's cool," Duncan said. "I mean, like, he's fun. You'd like him."
She rolled her eyes. "He's one of Lilly's cool friends. He totally wouldn't even talk to me."
Duncan snorted. "He was my friend before he even talked to Lilly. We'll go find him after school, okay?"
Veronica nodded, and smiled despite herself. For someone who wasn't Lilly, Duncan Kane was pretty cool to be around.
She thought about it all morning, through the cookies and the card exchange and the songs the entire fifth grade had to sing during music class. She thought about it during lunch, poking at the egg salad sandwich her mother had thrown into a brown bag with a bottle of water and a bag of chips, even though most of her friends had special holiday pastries their family cooks made special. She thought about it while they watched the Grinch in class instead of working on long division. In fact, she thought about it right until after school.
Right when the bell rang, she and Duncan took off for the sixth grade hallway, to meet Lilly and all her friends. All of Veronica's friends were still hugging and crying and saying goodbye, like they were never going to see each other again, or like they weren't all going over to Shelly Pomeroy's for the New Year's Eve sleepover in like a week. But Veronica... well, maybe she cared a little, but not nearly as much as she cared about being with Lilly. The other girls were nice, but Lilly was her best friend.
She and Duncan were running down the hall when they stopped short. There was yelling- like, loud yelling, the type that got teachers to remind you about Appropriate Language or Using Your Indoor Voice. And the boy it was coming from- this kid who couldn't have been taller than Duncan, and probably weighed twenty pounds less, with his face screwed up in this facsimile of rage- that was Lilly's friend Logan.
Logan Echolls.
Duncan put a hand on her shoulder, reminding her to stay still, and she hung back with him while Logan yelled.
"You are so effing stupid!" he shouted. Except he didn't say effing. Veronica bit her lip. Every time Lilly said the F-word, she said it like it was this big secret that only certain people had permission to share. When Logan said it, it was just part of everything. Veronica stood on her tiptoes to see who he was yelling at.
It was a group of people, actually. Three little kids. From kindergarten. Oh, that was probably not good at all.
"It's not effing Santa Claus!" he yelled. "It's my dad. It's Aaron effing Echolls!"
One of the kids pulled her thumb out of her mouth, even though she looked kind of terrified, and stood up to her full height of maybe three feet. "Was too Santa. He told us. And brought us candy canes. Liar."
"It's not Santa Claus, you dumb-head," Logan said (he didn't exactly say dumb-head either). "It can't be Santa Claus. Santa isn't even real." He laughed. "I bet you believe everything grown-ups tell you, don't you? I bet you still believe in the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny. Don't you?" He snarled a little. "Answer me, you little-." And he called them a not-nice word.
One of the kids looked like he was about to pee his pants. Veronica wanted to jump in and rescue him, kind of, but settled for leaning back against Duncan instead. The kid screwed up all his courage and said "No" in a voice that probably really meant yes.
"What's going on here?" And walking through the parting crowds, looking just like he did in Beyond the Breaking Point, was Aaron Echolls. He still wore his costume, even the itchy fake white beard.
"Santa?" whispered the little girl.
"That's right." He turned to Logan. "What's going on here, son?"
"I was just telling them that the real Santa isn't here." Logan turned and looked at him straight in the eye. "Because you found him, and you killed him, and you stole his clothes."
"I didn't- I- Logan!" Mr. Echolls grabbed Logan, really hard, but Veronica thought he barely winced, although he was clenching his teeth together pretty tight as Mr. Echolls talked to the kids. "Logan is right. I'm not Santa Claus. I'm one of Santa's helpers."
He was good at the speech. Effective. He was way better than the Santa Claus at the mall who Veronica had visited the year she was in kindergarten, when she was kind of suspicious about Santa but her parents didn't know that yet. She'd pulled at his beard and he'd stuttered for a while- nothing like this. Not that Veronica had been clued in, but that wasn't because he was good; that was because she'd wanted to believe so badly. This, on the other hand? Mr. Echolls was really, really good at lying to these kids.
Veronica felt bad almost immediately for even thinking he was lying. He wasn't really. He was just trying to make people happy. Which was definitely different from lying, because even when lying had a totally valid purpose, like helping Lilly shoplift the lipstick she really wanted or telling her dad that they'd be in bed by midnight when they had sleepovers, it was kind of selfish and stuff. This was just the right thing to do.
Probably.
Of course, Logan was Lilly's friend, and he didn't seem to think that what Mr. Echolls was doing was right. In fact, he seemed really angry about it. Veronica wished she knew what Lilly would think, or even what Duncan thought. But although Duncan's breathing got a little bit tight, he wasn't saying anything. So Veronica didn't either.
When the little kids were calmed down, Mr. Echolls escorted them downstairs, never actually letting go of Logan in the meantime. She saw Logan look at Duncan for a second, and something passed between them, although she wasn't sure exactly what it was. She was pretty sure Logan didn't even notice her standing next to him.
It took a few moments for Lilly to get outside, and Veronica realized with a sudden lurch that Lilly probably didn't even know what had happened. She wondered if she should say something. If it had been anyone in her class, Lilly would have asked for- no, demanded the details. Of absolutely everything. But Duncan shook his head no, and it occurred to Veronica that she would know something about Lilly's new friend that Lilly herself did not. It was a weird feeling, twisting in her stomach like a coiled-up snake.
"My two favorite underclassmen!" Lilly crowed, throwing one arm each around her best friend and her brother. "That eager to get out of class?" She twirled, preening for any and all of the people milling in the hallway, and there was something about being in Lilly's limelight that made Veronica beam and blush simultaneously. "They're here for me!" she announced to the crowd. "I can't help that I have an adoring public."
"Dad said I could go to your house after school today," Veronica said. "Because it's a vacation and all. I mean, if it's okay with you."
Which she wouldn't have had to add before. She missed not having to add that.
"Of course it is," Lilly said with a laugh. "Come on, let's go. Mom's supposed to meet us by the gym door." She broke into a run, and Duncan and Veronica followed almost immediately. The three of them raced down the hallway towards the staircase, the car, and all of Christmas break.