Ugly Christmas Sweater Party Contest (Otis x Olympia)

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She stepped down from her previous place as the contestants started lining up, the whole squad practically there. 

"Otis, I'm so nervous. What if I've picked the wrong sweater? Should I pick this one? Or this one? Or this one? Or this one," Olympia asked worriedly, as she kept pulling sweater after sweater over her head. 

"Olympia, whichever one you pick is fine," Otis attempted to assure her, but the pile of clothes was already growing into a heap in front of them. 

Once Olympia had taken off the next to the last sweater, Otis was unexpectedly hit by the one she had just discarded, the collar crooked on top of his head. 

"Oh no! I'm out of sweaters! Help me find the best one," Olympia cried when she was now only in her grey, Odd Squad t-shirt with the logo on it. 

She was digging through the clothes on the ground, but Otis was still trying to get the sweater on top of him unstuck. 

"Olympia," he said as he tugged on it and finally pulled it over his head. 

His hair was all messed up as Oscar finally passed by along with Obfusco and Ms. O. 

"This is a different look for you, Otis," observed Ms. O. 

"Yeah, I've never seen you let loose like this," agreed Oscar, since Otis seemed to be having a good time from his hair full of static. 

"Like a penguin flying south for the winter," contributed Obfusco, which no one understood like usual. 

Ms. O shook her head some as she closed her eyes for a moment in the process. 

"Well, I think we've found our winner," she spoke as he finally lifted her head with a faint smile. 

"Agent Otis, you are now the winner of Odd Squad's annual Christmas in July Ugly Sweater party contest," she announced. 

"Seriously, we need to shorten that name," she added on the end a bit quieter. 

"Congratulations, Agent Otis," Ms. O told him with her head held high.

"Oh, and here's your prize," Oscar awkwardly cut in after she was finished speaking. 

He handed Otis a bright red ribbon with a gold number one on the white circle in the middle of it. He then gave Otis a booklet for a discount at a local Ugly Sweater store. 

"A coupon for more ugly Christmas sweaters," asked Otis in disbelief. 

"Yep! And there are at least three coupons for 5 dollars off," Oscar proudly boasted as he tugged on his black suspender straps. 

"Thanks...," Otis trailed off, trying his best to be polite as he continued staring at the booklet. 

Olympia grinned broadly as she popped back up out of the pile of sweaters into the outer one she had on earlier. 

"And Olympia, you are officially the runner up of this year's contest. Congratulations," Ms. O informed her, causing Olympia to almost squeal with her mouth hung open in excitement. 

"You've won a booklet of coupons for Shmumber's burger place," Oscar shared as he gave Olympia her prize. 

"This is so awesome! This is the best annual Odd Squad Christmas in July Ugly Sweater party contest ever," yelled Olympia, holding her booklet close to her chest with her eyes squeezed tightly shut as she smiled as widely as she could. 

She didn't mind having to say the mouthful of the long title of the contest/party. 

"Next time, we're having Olympia host this," Ms. O told Oscar and Obfusco as they walked away. 

Everyone began milling about as they checked out the refreshments, which included green punch and sugar Christmas cookies, the icing extra sweet. Otis jerked his head back as a camera flash went off, Olympia quick enough to jump next to him with her thumb up and her mouth opened wide in a happy smile. 

"That's going in the hall of best ugly sweaters," Orchid commented before leaving with the camera. 

Otis shook his head as he blinked his eyes a few times from the bright light. 

"Great, now there's going to be a picture of me in this ugly Christmas sweater for forever," he complained. 

"Look on the bright side, I was in it with you," Olympia reminded him. 

After the party died down they went into the hall of ugly Christmas sweaters fame to see how their photo turned out. Otis winced when he saw his shut eyes, and Olympia's enthusiastic face. 

"It's such a great photo of us. I'm going to get a copy from Orchid to add to my collection," gushed Olympia. 

"You have a collection of photos of us," wondered Otis, his eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. 

"Yeah, most of them are from the opposite you from the mirror, but I still collect them," she happily confided. 

Otis looked over at her as she gazed up at the latest captured moment between them, his blue eyes alert as his heart skipped a beat in a good, funny way. 

"Hey partner," he spoke, her instantly turning her head over to face him. 

"Hm," she asked, broken out of her long string of thoughts. 

"Why don't you take my coupon book. I'm not really into ugly Christmas sweaters," he pointed out, handing over his prize. 

She softly smiled at him as she got out her Shmumber burger place coupons, him raising both of his eyebrows in surprise as he looked down at them. 

"I know how much you love their burgers. I can eat the burger, you can have the bun," she offered, swaying a little bit from side to side awkwardly. 

"And you can use this to buy a sweater," he answered. 

"Why would I need to buy a sweater? It's not even Christmas season," Olympia uncertainly replied in a slow voice, her eyes squinted in puzzlement. 

"I thought the winners of the ugly Christmas contest should match on their date," he said. 

"Actually, it's the annual Odd Squad Christmas in July Ugly Sweater party contest... Did you say date," she double checked after it dawning on her what he actually said after her rambling. 

"Yeah. I may not like contests like this, but I do like Shmumber's burgers, and you like ugly Christmas sweaters, so I thought we should have both," he admitted, trying his best to remain calm inside, and avoiding her line of sight most of the time. 

"It's a date," beamed Olympia with a big smile. "It's a date," echoed Otis as he took her hand. 

As Olympia glanced down at her hand, and Otis carefully held it tighter, they knew when their eyes met, that this was the start of something beyond their already beautiful friendship.

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