Hey, guys!
First off: hey, hey, 2k! Thanks for the 2k+ reads on this baby. Glad to see you guys are enjoying this so far. I hope you send in requests though, because my fountain of ideas has run quite dry. Nonetheless, we persevere!
Next, so sorry for the delay. I still have a lot of school work going on, and I'll even have some over the one-week break we'll be having, which is that week between Christmas and New Year. I'll be having a month-long break after that though: just in time for SAS!
Anyway, let's get this second part started, yeah? See ya!
Character: Damien
Requested by: (author-made)
POV: Damien
-/-/-
A few hours ago
-/-/-
"Okay, so... honey, I think we're missing a bit of wine for tonight."
"Mom," I face her, crossing my arms. "You can't have wine, I don't drink, and Brittany's pregnant. The only person who can drink wine in here is Ryan."
"I'd love some wine, buddy," Ryan, Brittany's husband, tells me, patting me on the back. "But maybe not tonight. Brittany wants me to be off the wine as long as she's pregnant."
I love California for many reasons, but holidays aren't one of them. They're always best spent with family, and I'm so glad I got to go home to Georgia to be with my mom, my sister and her family, and basically everyone else I've known since birth. It's like leaning back in my seat after an hour of intense gaming. Instant relief when you see your nephew and niece, and sometimes, they make me feel a bit old.
"Oh, give yourself a break," Brittany tells Ryan, laughing. "It's Christmas. Damien, would you be a sweetheart and get some wine? Carter has also been grumpy about not being able to go outside, so maybe you could take him."
"To the wine shop? Well, I'll just tell him it's a magic elixir he can't drink," I reply, chuckling. "Alright, alright. I'm pretty sure it'll just be a quick trip."
It was not. I put on my boots and beanie as I lend Carter, my nephew, a Hoo Hoo beanie, even though it's a bit big for him. We head outside, and the wine shop was probably four blocks away. The child's pretty psyched to go outside, following me with his hand in mine, while I try not to feel as somber as usual with my existential dread. Yeah, I love Georgia, I love my family, and I love everyone in here, but seeing everything in here change little by little while I'm gone is scary. Seeing my nephew ask about the old fat TV we saw on display scared me. I didn't have a good explanation for it, but I tell him, "It's a magic box. We used to have one, but we can't use it anymore because it's old."
"Cool!" he exclaims. "So Uncle Damien, why don't you have a girlfriend?"
"Because Uncle Damien's busy," I explain, chuckling. "I want to be a dad like your dad soon too, but I don't think I can do it yet."
"Maybe you just can't find anyone."
"Partly, yeah," I reply, sighing. "But it's okay, buddy. I know whoever it's gonna be, she's probably someone amazing."
We enter the wine shop, and I choose an okay wine, before the shop caretaker, a bored teen who seems a bit sharp, tells me, "Oh, that one's last in stock. Good choice."
"Nice, nice," I remark as I hand him some cash, and he hands me the receipt while Carter holds my hand.
Just then, someone enters the shop and asks for, "Hey, Johnny, can I have the bottle I reserved?"
"Oh...," the caretaker, whose name I now know as Johnny, mumbles, surprised. "I forgot about... your reservation, Ma'am. I just sold it to Sir over here."
I face the woman, and my eyes widen at the sight of a familiar face, way back from my childhood days. "Y/N?" I say, grinning. "Hey, oh my God, it's been so long."
"Oh my God, Damien Haas!" she exclaims, wrapping her arms around me in a greeting. "I never thought I'd see you again here in Atlanta. How have you been? Who's this handsome one with you? And... I'm sorry, but isn't that my bottle of wine?"
Too many questions at once, but I was sort of in awe at seeing this girl I only used to see after school in the afternoons. Her house used to be three houses apart ours, and I remember having a crush on her since forever. She moved to a farther part of Georgia after a while, and when I moved to LA, that's when Mom told me that she had moved back. I remember going to her house a few Christmases back, because my mom would ask me to help her with giving gifts to the neighbors. And somehow, everything that I felt for this girl, even though they were just tiny feelings of affection, started to resurface.
"Hi," I mumble, blinking twice and not knowing what else to say. "Uh... this is Carter, my sister's nephew. Carter, this is Y/N, she lives in the neighborhood."
"Hello, Miss Y/N," Carter politely greets her, shaking her hand. "Did you and Uncle Damien ever date?"
"No!" I exclaim, perhaps a little too loudly and quickly. "We never dated. She just... lives here. Yeah. She does. You do, right, Y/N?"
"Actually, I'm just here for the holidays," she answers, chuckling. "I'm based in San Francisco, so going home was so hectic. You work in Burbank, right?"
"Yep, just your usual LA business."
She nods her head before sighing. "Well, too bad you have my wine. I had it reserved for a week now too."
"You can take it," I assure her, handing it to her. "I can buy another one. I mean, not this exact wine, but just another $15 one. It's cool, it's fine."
"Uncle Damien, do you like Miss Y/N?" Carter suddenly asks, making us both look awkwardly at each other. "You're giving her the wine."
I was in a bit of a pinch there. Y/N steps back for a moment, crossing her arms and waiting for an answer with a sly smirk on her face. I say casually, "Of course, I like her. She's a nice person, and nice people are meant to be liked, the way I like you, Carter."
"No, no, ew," he remarks, laughing. "Do you like like her?"
"Oh my God, why am I here?" Johnny grumbles before Y/N shushes him. "I'll just go see if there's a new stock of that wine. This is too awkward for me."
When Johnny leaves, Y/N could only chuckle at me. "Well, Carter, even if your Uncle Damien did like like me, we probably wouldn't work out," she tells him. "I used to have a big crush on him before though, and I knew back then that it wasn't going to work because he's just too crazy talented for me."
"What?" I ask her, raising an eyebrow. "You used to... like like me? Back in grade school?"
"Oh, Damien," she says, paying for the new bottle Johnny brings out. "I'm pretty sure 60% of our campus liked you back then, and you rejected all of them."
"I rejected no one. Except when it came to trading Pokémon cards. I keep them with me, ya know."
"Yeah, but it would have been cute if you dated someone back then," she replies, laughing as we walk out of the wine shop, with Carter holding onto my hand. "Everyone was half in love with you. Dunno why though."
"No way."
"I don't lie in front of kids," she tells me as Carter holds her hand too. "And besides, I still think you're pretty cute, so maybe..."
"Dog," Carter suddenly mumbles, and we turn in front of us to see a horde of dogs running in our way. We were as frozen as the snow in our steps, so I could easily see the fear in his eyes as well as Y/N's. Did we smell like steak, somehow?
Not knowing what else to do, I take a sprint with my nephew tightly holding onto me and my grade school crush running along with us. Y/N takes the wine from me as I get Carter om my back, just running and running until we manage to run around an entire block and into an alleyway. We take a few breaths, but we see dogs everywhere still running around the block. When I could smell the barbecue being held in the nearby houses, I sigh and call the first number on my phone. Shayne answers, "What's up? Thanks for telling Y/N that I was home. Things might be smooth sailing for us."
"That's awesome news!" I exclaim, panting. "But I gotta ask you a question, man! What... what's the best thing to do when you're being chased?!"
He asks, "Chased by what? Where are you, dude? Everything alright?"
"Nope!" I shout as Y/N points at the dogs starting to enter the alleyway we were in. I immediately hang up, still panting, and turn to Y/N, who gets Carter to hold the bottles as we both lift him up. "This is a stupid way to get injured!"
"Kinda obvious, but yeah," she says before holding onto my arm. "I'm sorry I smell like steak. And so does the entire neighborhood. I put on the steak perfume as a joke, and I thought it would go really well with the wine scents in the shop and... oh my God, there are so many of them."
"For the record, I liked you too back then!" I tell her, not knowing else what to say, and she widens her eyes at me. "I thought you were really cute and amazing, and I thought you were so out of my league."
"No way!" she says, laughing even as the dogs creep to us, growling. "I mean, I shouldn't be laughing right now, but really?"
"Kinda obvious, but yeah," I echo her words from earlier as the dogs run up to us. We close our eyes in instinct. All of a sudden though, we hear the sound of glass breaking on the floor, and we open our eyes to the sight of the wild dogs whimpering away as our boots and coats are covered with wine.
"I did it!" Carter shouts, raising his hands in the air. "I'm a superhero!"
The wine bottles had dropped from his hands, and they had obviously broken, creating a complete mess of our clothes and such, but it scared the dogs away and made us smell of wine instead of steak. Y/N and I both sigh in relief before celebrating the hero that is my nephew, laughing and laughing about the whole experience until we get back to my house.
"I scared the bad dogs away!" Carter tells Brittany and Ryan, grinning excitedly as my mom helps Y/N with her wine-stained clothes. "I hope they have food this Christmas though, and they don't get caught... but also, Uncle Damien has a girlfriend now!"
"Nope!" Y/N and I chorus, making my mom laugh.
"Oh, you two are just the cutest," Mom says to us. "I actually have a picture of you two in here. Y/N, your mom gave me this when she found it."
She hands us a photo of me and Y/N dressed all silly for Christmas. She had deer antlers on and a red nose, while I had my Santa hat and a fake gift sack. We stood in front of their house idly, and funnily enough, we held hands. The picture itself made me smile, but what made my smile wider was seeing Y/N just chuckling at the sight of it. Eventually, it turns darker, and I offer to walk Y/N home, since her house was just nearby. "I went out for some wine, and now I'm walking home with their stain on my clothes," she remarks as we walk. "It's ironic."
"Well, you're not the only one walking home without wine tonight, so it's alright," I reply, watching the cars that pass by our street. "But wow... you liked me back in grade school. I was just a bit of an idiot not to understand back then."
"I think you still are," she tells me, sighing. "I mean, I kinda gave you all the signals that you're still kinda cute, and I would date you, but..."
"I'm not asking you out yet?"
"Yeah, finally, you got it, champ," she answers as we stop in front of her house. "But it's okay, really. I don't even know if you have a girlfriend or whatever, and you're busy with your career as I'm busy with mine. Seeing you over the holidays is good enough honestly."
I cross my arms in front of her as she looks at her shoes. "Nah, it isn't," I say. "I'm not going to be your holiday boy. I want to redeem my grade school self and ask you out on a real date, eating real steak, drinking real wine, and not get chased by dogs. And... I want to be the person who flies with you back to Los Angeles a couple of weeks from now."
I see a tint of pink on her cheeks, and she grins. "Now, aren't you just smooth?" she mumbles as she hands me a card from her wallet. "Wow, doing this made me feel so old all over again. And a card? Instead of me calling you on the landline?"
"Lordy, Lordy, we're over 30," I remark, embracing her before she went inside her house. I save her number on my phone before seeing Ian's caller ID pop up, so I answer it. "Heya, merry Christmas, dude."
"Hi, baby," he suddenly says, much to my surprise. "You're in Georgia, right? Have you read my text?"
Not knowing what else to say, I reply, "Uh, yeah, baby...? Why are you calling me baby?"
"You should, it's important."
From: Ian Hecox
In an ex situation. Pls pretend to be my girlfriend just improv ur way out of this. Pls pls pls pls pls
I groan before walking back to my house. "Yeah, I read it now... baby. What the heck is going on?"
-/-/-
I.H. - Christmas, pt. 3 will be out (hopefully) on Christmas Eve! I'm still working on academic stuff this week, so it might take me a while. If it's not on Eve, it's probably on Christmas Day itself. Thanks a bunch!