at last!
I have discovered the secret to making today suck less. It is in two parts:
Part One: Beer.
Part Two: Hairdressers AU.
***
FIRST CHRISTMAS IN CARDIFF
A Hairdressers-Bakery-Christmas-Whatever-Extravaganza of Sorts, in which Sam is homesick, Ianto declares war on gift-giving, Toby embraces the cupcake, Gwen meddles adorably, Jack unknowingly thwarts, and Will disastrously attempts The Best Christmas Ever.
(As with all Hairdressers/ Bakery AU posts, this is unbetaed and largely, you know, random crap that is totally self-indulgent and NOT REAL FIC. This is a shitty impostor of a real fic, guys.)
PART ONE*: Will Begins to Plot
Gwen is hanging holly by the reception area when Will taps on the door of the salon. She turns quickly and flashes him a smile that grows when she sees the bakery box in his hands. She rushes to open the door.
"Will!" she says. "Good morning, sweetheart!"
"Morning," Will says. "I'm on my way to the office. I thought I'd drop off some breakfast for you guys. Yesterday's croissants and muffins."
"Oh, you're fantastic!" she says. "Donna!" she calls into the back of the salon, "Will's brought breakfast!"
There's a scuffling from the back and Donna appears, Christmas lights wrapped around her neck like Mardi Gras beads and more fake holly garlands curled in her hands.
"Oh, brilliant," Donna says. "I'm bloody starving! Ianto usually has breakfast here by the time we get in."
Will glances around the salon as Gwen takes the box and places it on the reception desk before opening it. "Speaking of," he says. "Where's he at this morning? Usually he stops by before we open." He rolls his eyes. "They open, I mean. Sam and Toby."
Gwen laughs. "Right then. When are you just going to quit your job and go into business with them? You know you'd much rather hang around with us all day than do whatever it is you actually do for a living."
"Somehow I don't think Sam and Toby are in dire need of a lawyer at the bakery," Will says. "Plus, I'm terrible in the kitchen. Sam won't even let me turn on the oven. But you're cleverly trying to distract me from my question."
"Not distract you," Gwen insists. She looks quickly around the empty salon, as if expecting Ianto to be crouching down behind one of the sinks. "Ianto is... being distracted." Will frowns at her. Gwen raises her eyebrows. He's still not getting it. "At home. Ianto is being distracted at home."
Will thinks on it a little more, until he realizes "home" means "Jack" and "Jack" means "probably naked." His ears turn red.
"Oh," he says.
"We wanted to decorate," Gwen continues. "It's December 1, after all. It's time to get in the holiday spirit, don't you think?"
"Ianto doesn't agree?"
"Ianto... has mixed feelings about Christmas," Gwen says. "It's hard, being with Jack."
"Jack doesn't like Christmas?" Will asks.
"Nooo," Gwen says, laughing and shaking her head. "Jack loves Christmas. But Jack is a multi-millionaire with no job and an eBay addiction."
"Ah," Will says. "So it's more that Jack is hard to shop for."
"Jack is impossible to shop for," Gwen says. "So, the holidays tend to make Ianto... frustrated."
Will can understand that. It's hard enough shopping for Sam, as it is. He can't imagine shopping for a rich, bored Sam with an unlimited disposable income. Although, knowing Sam, he'd spend all his money helping the needy and funding more bakeries for Toby. Sam could be almost quaintly idealistic.
Sam. This will be Sam's first Christmas overseas and Will can already tell from the wistful look in Sam's eyes when he walks around the city that he's missing the states. Sam isn't particularly close to either of his parents, not after their divorce, but being in a foreign country is probably compounding the ticklings of nostalgia that lurk in the back of his head around the holidays. Will recognizes it in Sam because he remembers feeling it himself during his first Christmas in the US. He missed the big house in Brussels and being with his family, even though Christmas with the Bailey family had always been on the fly, wherever his parents decided at the last minute. It had less to do with missing something concrete and more to do with missing a feeling that you know you can't replicate.
Will snaps out of his thoughtful daze when Donna snaps her fingers in his face.
"Oi! Muffin boy!" she snaps. "I asked you a question!"
"Right," Will says. "I was listening. But you should refresh my memory."
"Toby," Donna asks, studying the lights hanging around her neck. "Is he going anywhere for Christmas?"
"Toby's Jewish," Will says. Donna looks up and blinks at him, then gestures for Will to continue. "So... he doesn't celebrate Christmas?"
"So he's not going back to the states then?" Donna asks. "You know, reconnect with the ex...."
"Andi's getting married," Will says. "Toby's ex, I mean. Probably in March or April. So, no. He'll be here in Cardiff. Me and Sam, too."
Donna nods, mostly to herself, and nibbles thoughtfully on a croissant. Gwen and Will share a smirk.
"You and Sam going to be in town, then?" Gwen asks. Will nods.
"My Dad and Barbara will probably stop in," he says. "Right now it looks like they'll be by on the 26th. That's when my little sister's flight gets in. She's staying with us through the new year."
"If you want," Gwen says, "you should come by mine for Christmas lunch. There'll be plenty to eat, and it'll due you good to spend the holiday with people and not locked up in your flat. Ianto and Jack will be there."
"Maybe," Will says. "I appreciate the offer. And it would probably...." He trails off. "I was just thinking about how it's Sam's first Christmas in Wales. I think he's missing America a little and... well, I'd like to make this a great Christmas for him. I remember my first Christmas out of the country I grew up in, away from my family. It was... different. In a bad way. I want Sam's to be different in a good way. I just need to figure out how to manage it."
Gwen makes the big-eyed face she generally makes when Ianto deigns to accept one of Jack's romantic gestures. Will doesn't know how he feels about having it directed at him. It makes him feel like he's a basket full of newborn kittens or something.
"That's incredibly sweet," she says. "That's just... oh, you're just darling sometimes, Will, you and Sam both."
Will rubs the back of his neck and looks away awkwardly.
"Right," he says.
Further conversation is, thankfully, interrupted by Ianto unlocking the front door with Jack on his heels, grinning like a mad man. When he catches sight of Will, the grin just widens. Will's happy he gave the bakery box to Gwen--otherwise, he would have dropped it on the floor.
"Sorry," Ianto says, flustered, as he closes the locks the door behind Jack. His cheeks are pleasantly pink. Will wonders if it has more to do with Jack or the cold. "Didn't mean to be late. Jack was just...." He trails off as he turns around and takes in the half-decorated salon and the holly and lights in Gwen and Donna's hands. His eyes narrow. "Jack was bloody in on it."
Jack puts his hands on Ianto's hips. "Hey, it was fun though, right? And any time an evil plan involves getting you naked--"
Ianto smacks his hands away. "Out of my salon!" he says. "All of you! Honestly. Playing games so you can hide gaudy plastic holly boughs from me." Jack pouts, but Ianto merely smacks him again. "You already distracted me this morning, now I have actual work to do."
"It's my salon too!" Gwen protests.
"I brought breakfast," Will points out.
Ianto seems to consider this. "You can stay," he says.
"I bought the good coffee beans at the place you like," Donna says.
"You can stay too," Ianto says immediately. Gwen pouts, though her pout has nothing on Jack's.
"Fine," Jack says. "We'll just go bother someone else." He offers his arm to Gwen. "We passed the pet store. They have new puppies in the window."
The smile on Gwen's face does nothing to dissuade Will from feeling like a basket of kittens under the patented Gwen Cooper Big-Eyed-Look.
"And, actually," Will says, "I have to get to work. I just meant to drop off breakfast."
Ianto gives him a small smile. "Thanks all the same."
Will leaves right behind Jack and Gwen, who are pushing each other playfully and debating the merits of surprising Rhys and Ianto with Christmas puppies. ("Ianto will murder you, then find a way to bring you back to life purely so he can murder you again.") It just brings his mind back to Sam. He needs to make this Christmas notable. Special. Perfect.
He just has to figure out how.
***
* PART ONE is not actually an indicator that I will finish this with other parts. Also, this is basically an amalgamation of every cheesy Christmas plot ever. I STOLE A WHOLE PLOTLINE FROM GARFIELD'S CHRISTMAS SPECIAL, OKAY?
***
Merry Christmas, I guess.
Part One: Beer.
Part Two: Hairdressers AU.
***
FIRST CHRISTMAS IN CARDIFF
A Hairdressers-Bakery-Christmas-Whatever-Extravaganza of Sorts, in which Sam is homesick, Ianto declares war on gift-giving, Toby embraces the cupcake, Gwen meddles adorably, Jack unknowingly thwarts, and Will disastrously attempts The Best Christmas Ever.
(As with all Hairdressers/ Bakery AU posts, this is unbetaed and largely, you know, random crap that is totally self-indulgent and NOT REAL FIC. This is a shitty impostor of a real fic, guys.)
PART ONE*: Will Begins to Plot
Gwen is hanging holly by the reception area when Will taps on the door of the salon. She turns quickly and flashes him a smile that grows when she sees the bakery box in his hands. She rushes to open the door.
"Will!" she says. "Good morning, sweetheart!"
"Morning," Will says. "I'm on my way to the office. I thought I'd drop off some breakfast for you guys. Yesterday's croissants and muffins."
"Oh, you're fantastic!" she says. "Donna!" she calls into the back of the salon, "Will's brought breakfast!"
There's a scuffling from the back and Donna appears, Christmas lights wrapped around her neck like Mardi Gras beads and more fake holly garlands curled in her hands.
"Oh, brilliant," Donna says. "I'm bloody starving! Ianto usually has breakfast here by the time we get in."
Will glances around the salon as Gwen takes the box and places it on the reception desk before opening it. "Speaking of," he says. "Where's he at this morning? Usually he stops by before we open." He rolls his eyes. "They open, I mean. Sam and Toby."
Gwen laughs. "Right then. When are you just going to quit your job and go into business with them? You know you'd much rather hang around with us all day than do whatever it is you actually do for a living."
"Somehow I don't think Sam and Toby are in dire need of a lawyer at the bakery," Will says. "Plus, I'm terrible in the kitchen. Sam won't even let me turn on the oven. But you're cleverly trying to distract me from my question."
"Not distract you," Gwen insists. She looks quickly around the empty salon, as if expecting Ianto to be crouching down behind one of the sinks. "Ianto is... being distracted." Will frowns at her. Gwen raises her eyebrows. He's still not getting it. "At home. Ianto is being distracted at home."
Will thinks on it a little more, until he realizes "home" means "Jack" and "Jack" means "probably naked." His ears turn red.
"Oh," he says.
"We wanted to decorate," Gwen continues. "It's December 1, after all. It's time to get in the holiday spirit, don't you think?"
"Ianto doesn't agree?"
"Ianto... has mixed feelings about Christmas," Gwen says. "It's hard, being with Jack."
"Jack doesn't like Christmas?" Will asks.
"Nooo," Gwen says, laughing and shaking her head. "Jack loves Christmas. But Jack is a multi-millionaire with no job and an eBay addiction."
"Ah," Will says. "So it's more that Jack is hard to shop for."
"Jack is impossible to shop for," Gwen says. "So, the holidays tend to make Ianto... frustrated."
Will can understand that. It's hard enough shopping for Sam, as it is. He can't imagine shopping for a rich, bored Sam with an unlimited disposable income. Although, knowing Sam, he'd spend all his money helping the needy and funding more bakeries for Toby. Sam could be almost quaintly idealistic.
Sam. This will be Sam's first Christmas overseas and Will can already tell from the wistful look in Sam's eyes when he walks around the city that he's missing the states. Sam isn't particularly close to either of his parents, not after their divorce, but being in a foreign country is probably compounding the ticklings of nostalgia that lurk in the back of his head around the holidays. Will recognizes it in Sam because he remembers feeling it himself during his first Christmas in the US. He missed the big house in Brussels and being with his family, even though Christmas with the Bailey family had always been on the fly, wherever his parents decided at the last minute. It had less to do with missing something concrete and more to do with missing a feeling that you know you can't replicate.
Will snaps out of his thoughtful daze when Donna snaps her fingers in his face.
"Oi! Muffin boy!" she snaps. "I asked you a question!"
"Right," Will says. "I was listening. But you should refresh my memory."
"Toby," Donna asks, studying the lights hanging around her neck. "Is he going anywhere for Christmas?"
"Toby's Jewish," Will says. Donna looks up and blinks at him, then gestures for Will to continue. "So... he doesn't celebrate Christmas?"
"So he's not going back to the states then?" Donna asks. "You know, reconnect with the ex...."
"Andi's getting married," Will says. "Toby's ex, I mean. Probably in March or April. So, no. He'll be here in Cardiff. Me and Sam, too."
Donna nods, mostly to herself, and nibbles thoughtfully on a croissant. Gwen and Will share a smirk.
"You and Sam going to be in town, then?" Gwen asks. Will nods.
"My Dad and Barbara will probably stop in," he says. "Right now it looks like they'll be by on the 26th. That's when my little sister's flight gets in. She's staying with us through the new year."
"If you want," Gwen says, "you should come by mine for Christmas lunch. There'll be plenty to eat, and it'll due you good to spend the holiday with people and not locked up in your flat. Ianto and Jack will be there."
"Maybe," Will says. "I appreciate the offer. And it would probably...." He trails off. "I was just thinking about how it's Sam's first Christmas in Wales. I think he's missing America a little and... well, I'd like to make this a great Christmas for him. I remember my first Christmas out of the country I grew up in, away from my family. It was... different. In a bad way. I want Sam's to be different in a good way. I just need to figure out how to manage it."
Gwen makes the big-eyed face she generally makes when Ianto deigns to accept one of Jack's romantic gestures. Will doesn't know how he feels about having it directed at him. It makes him feel like he's a basket full of newborn kittens or something.
"That's incredibly sweet," she says. "That's just... oh, you're just darling sometimes, Will, you and Sam both."
Will rubs the back of his neck and looks away awkwardly.
"Right," he says.
Further conversation is, thankfully, interrupted by Ianto unlocking the front door with Jack on his heels, grinning like a mad man. When he catches sight of Will, the grin just widens. Will's happy he gave the bakery box to Gwen--otherwise, he would have dropped it on the floor.
"Sorry," Ianto says, flustered, as he closes the locks the door behind Jack. His cheeks are pleasantly pink. Will wonders if it has more to do with Jack or the cold. "Didn't mean to be late. Jack was just...." He trails off as he turns around and takes in the half-decorated salon and the holly and lights in Gwen and Donna's hands. His eyes narrow. "Jack was bloody in on it."
Jack puts his hands on Ianto's hips. "Hey, it was fun though, right? And any time an evil plan involves getting you naked--"
Ianto smacks his hands away. "Out of my salon!" he says. "All of you! Honestly. Playing games so you can hide gaudy plastic holly boughs from me." Jack pouts, but Ianto merely smacks him again. "You already distracted me this morning, now I have actual work to do."
"It's my salon too!" Gwen protests.
"I brought breakfast," Will points out.
Ianto seems to consider this. "You can stay," he says.
"I bought the good coffee beans at the place you like," Donna says.
"You can stay too," Ianto says immediately. Gwen pouts, though her pout has nothing on Jack's.
"Fine," Jack says. "We'll just go bother someone else." He offers his arm to Gwen. "We passed the pet store. They have new puppies in the window."
The smile on Gwen's face does nothing to dissuade Will from feeling like a basket of kittens under the patented Gwen Cooper Big-Eyed-Look.
"And, actually," Will says, "I have to get to work. I just meant to drop off breakfast."
Ianto gives him a small smile. "Thanks all the same."
Will leaves right behind Jack and Gwen, who are pushing each other playfully and debating the merits of surprising Rhys and Ianto with Christmas puppies. ("Ianto will murder you, then find a way to bring you back to life purely so he can murder you again.") It just brings his mind back to Sam. He needs to make this Christmas notable. Special. Perfect.
He just has to figure out how.
***
* PART ONE is not actually an indicator that I will finish this with other parts. Also, this is basically an amalgamation of every cheesy Christmas plot ever. I STOLE A WHOLE PLOTLINE FROM GARFIELD'S CHRISTMAS SPECIAL, OKAY?
***
Merry Christmas, I guess.