Jinglesnaps (The Santa Clause/48 Christmas Wishes Crossover)

Jinglesnaps

"Jinglesnaps," Bernard muttered.

The Head Elf stood there looking at the newest Christmas Elves to graduate the academy, a young elf with familiar brown eyes stared at him, her mouth twisted into a frown while her eyebrows shot up. He felt the corner of his mouth start to twist up, only to stop himself knowing full well as Head Elf he needed to make a good first impression.

"Just my luck."

The younger elf now glared at him while the other young elves looked at him wide-eyed for using the word he just used, meaning he'd definitely not left a good impression on that year's recruits. He'd certainly never left a good impression on the young elf standing there, glaring at him.

Bernard let out a deep breath, wondering what he should say, particularly with how his throat tightened. He could already feel the corner of his mouth twist up slightly in a panic.

"Bernie?" Mindy spoke first, a definite sound of disdain in her voice. The tone of voice she used was excepted, despite the fact Bernard hadn't expected he'd be seeing her this year—though he should have, had he given much thought to the matter.

More importantly, Bernard still didn't know how to respond.

"Bernie?" Curtis, on the other hand, held the clipboard with the names of the recruits. "She just called you Bernie."

"It's not funny, Curtis," Bernard said, watching as Mindy's facial features twisted from a glare to a look of confusion.

"Yes, it is. She called you, the Head Elf, Bernie."

Bernard let one of his eyebrows drift up, giving Curtis that look that said he was far from amused regarding Curtis' amusement. He decided to be direct and to the point, as per usual. "She's my younger sister."

Which resulted in a red tinge suddenly appearing on Mindy's face while her eyes widened in surprise, but now all of the other young elves were starring at her. Bernard sucked in his breath, not carrying that Curtis had that usual "I've been unfairly chastised," look on his face.

"Anyways..." Bernard sunk into the normal routine that happened every year, as if nothing happened, keeping things running like a well-oiled cog. He knew he would have to speak to Mindy later on, to clear the air.

He'd not expected her to avoid him, but then—she'd never been happy that he wasn't a toymaker elf-like their parents, or the rest of the family.

~

Mindy knew graduating and becoming a Christmas Elf meant moving to tinsel town, at least for a good part of the year, and that in turn meant seeing her older brother. She'd not expected, though, to see Bernie on the first day, as one of the two elves who greeted the newest recruits the moment they arrived.

She'd cursed her luck, having not wanted to deal with her reclusive older brother who never came home during After Mas for whom none of the family knew exactly what he did up at the North Pole, as Bernie simply didn't converse much when he was home. While she remembered what her older brother looked like, she didn't remember what he sounded like.

Yet, there he was, actually the Head Elf, meaning he was Santa Clause's number one elf. His not being a toymaker which everyone always considered the worst thing possible for someone in their family when they'd first learned after their parents were gone, turned out to not be the worst thing. How absolutely nobody knew, she didn't understand.

There was something worse though.

Mindy came wanting to start her time as a Christmas Elf smoothly, proving she deserved to be there, to be a Christmas Elf—unlike her older brother, albeit that ended up not being the actual case in the long run. Yet, only a few minutes being there, at the workshop, and she managed to do something nobody else would have ever dared to do.