𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈 𝐃𝐎 ─── 𝘩. 𝘥. 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴

O9. the nutcracker and a packet of oreos

act one chapter nine
﹝THE NUTCRACKER AND A
PACKET OF OREOS﹞
season one episode two
❝ i'll clean up my mess
right away, dear sister. ❞

────── · ✦ · ──────

"i believe you promised me some oreos."

"i made no such promise."

~

"thanks for the oreos," william pipes up as he sits down at the dining room table of the walter residence. with a smug grin on his face, the boy picks up one of the small cookies on his plate and takes a bite before taking a sip from his glass of milk, all the while remaining in eye contact with his older sister.

marie scoffs and sets her bags down on the floor next to one of the empty chairs at the table. "i need to stop making deals with you." william grins and finishes what's left of the oreo in his hand.

"unless you have a portal to the land of sweets in the nutcracker, i'm afraid you're stuck getting me junk food," he jokes.

━━━

"the land of sweets?" a young boy asks in an entranced whisper.

"yes, fritz." clara nods, scooting closer to him on the floor in front of the fireplace. it was christmas night and the young stahlbaums were waiting for the guests to arrive at the annual dinner party their father and departed mother threw every year.

"and the land of snowflakes. it's beautiful, fritz. quite chilly, but beautiful. you'd love the land of amusement once it gets up and running again. oh, and the land of flowers. everything smells like a bouquet! louise could make flower crowns all day. mother was the queen of all these realms! can you imagine?"

"does that make me a prince?"

clara smiles and smooths out the fabric of her gown. "i suppose it does."

"brilliant! when are we going? can we go there tonight? you said time works differently there; i'll bet we can go there and explore and make it back here right before dinner!" fritz exclaims, getting ready to stand up only to be pulled back down by his sister.

"we can't leave now, fritz. i just left. plus, we can't leave father and louise here on christmas night."

"but you left us last night at drosselmeyer's party."

"i was following the string to my gift, fritz. it wasn't as if i knew my gift was in the christmas tree forest."

"all right, all right. when CAN we go? all of us? i want to see mother's palace. i imagine it's huge!"

clara giggles and shakes her head. seconds later, she gets one of her ideas. "why don't i convince godfather to let me have my birthday celebration at his house next year? that way, we can all go and be back before it ends."

"i'll start packing."

━━━

"oh, i almost forgot. i need you to pack my lunch for school tomorrow. i blew my allowance on the toy nutcracker in mr. gold's shop," william states with a guilty smile. marie scoffs again and leans against one of the walls.

"wasn't that in marco's workshop?"

"mr. gold bought it from him. please help make my lunch? i'll owe you." marie eyes her brother up and down once.

"why can't father make it?

william gives her a 'that's a dumb question' look. "well, duh, then he'd know i spent my money on a toy."

"right. alright, fine, get up early so you can tell me what you want." marie picks her bags up off the floor and starts making her way to the stairs. "i'll be in my room. yell for me if you need anything." william nods and continues eating his cookies as marie starts to make her way up the two flights of stairs.

once marie reaches the second floor of her house, she throws her bags on her bed before exiting her bedroom and entering the bathroom she shared with william to freshen up. after doing so, she changes into new clothes and walks out before heading into her brother's room.

the brunette makes a face at his unmade bed and toys on the floor. one of the toys on his rug catches her eye and she picks it up before sitting on the edge of his bed and examining it. the wooden doll was a london soldier that opened its mouth every time she pressed down on the connected lever on its back.

smiling softly to herself, she gingerly runs the fingers of her left hand down the front of the doll. call her crazy, but it almost felt like the nutcracker had belonged to her before.

"what are you doing?"

marie looks up and turns her head to look at the door, seeing william standing in the door frame with a weirded out expression on his cookie crumb-covered face.

"get out of my room!"

"you need to clean up in here," marie retorts as she stands up and places the toy on his bedside table. "do it now if you've finished your homework."

"i don't owe you anything."

"you do if you still want me to make your lunch tomorrow."

"i'll clean up my mess right away, dear sister."

the girl rolls her eyes at his sudden overly-sweet tone of voice before walking out of the room. she hears his door shut behind her and footsteps going back down the stairs before she enters her own room and pushes her door so it is halfway closed.

she pulls her bag off of her bed and walks over to her desk. after sitting down, she unzips her school bag and takes out her things before tossing the bag behind her and plopping everything on the desk to start on her assignments.

━━━

"guys! i'm home!"

william stands up from his position on the living room couch and bolts over to the front door as he hears it shut. he runs into his father who grunts from the weight of his son crashing into him but hugs him back anyways.

"hey, bud. i was thinking we could order pizza tonight. what do you think?"

"PIZZA!" william yells before stepping back and zooming back to the living room. mr. walter raises an eyebrow and walks further into the house. after setting his briefcase on one of the chairs in the dining room, he walks over to the staircase and calls up to his daughter. "marie? are you up there?"

"yes, father!"

"did you give william sugar?"

marie stops writing and william pauses his run around the living room. "...just a few cookies, father! he ate the rest of my fruits and he was so behaved during my dance lesson. i wanted to treat him to something."

her father sighs and nods, knowing he'd have to tire william out before and after dinner if he wanted to get him to bed on time. "very well. i'm ordering our usual pizzas for dinner." he hears another 'PIZZA!' from the living room and turns around.

"william, my boy! let's go out and throw a ball around in a bit, alright?"