A Marvellous Christmas | mcu actors

December 16ᵗʰ

It would have been easier to just admit she had a crush on the guy, she thought. It would have been less expensive and maybe her parents wouldn't look at her like she was some kind of weird creature. Her dad kept bothering her about it and her big brother, William, couldn't stop pestering her about the boy. Because it was all down to this, at the end. She did ask for those tickets for this boy. She did ask to see the musical for this boy. Nobody knew, of course, except for William who was a giant pain in her behind and stole the key to her diary. But really, it would've been easier than to sit there, in this theatre, wearing a purple dress and her blonde hair having been styled in a weird up-do, wearing transparent, peach scented lip gloss and trying to be both invisible and the only thing you can see. William couldn't stop fidgeting in his seat, obviously mentally cursing his little sister because he'd rather have stayed home but nonetheless, she was quite happy to be there. Both happy and uncomfortable as hell. But happy.

The musical had been great and the object of her coming there had been exceptional on stage. His dance moves were on point, his acting was incredible but what definitely won her over was his singing. Never had she heard a boy sing that way, like he was unapologetic, careless and completely sure of himself. She was pretty sure she would never get over it, at that time. She never really understood why nobody at school wanted to talk about it, like they all made a pact to ignore the fact that one of the guys from the school down the street was being incredibly successful and a general talented guy. According to William, he was far from being popular at their all-boys school and he was actually getting picked up on more and more because of his successful stay on West End. She tried to ask him if maybe he and his friends could ask the others to stop but all he did was scoff and say "yeah, in your dreams". William was nice but he was one of the popular guys at their school and he was no knight in shining armour. There was so much he was willing to do, even for his little sister.

Sitting here, in this theatre, felt like she was really encountering the boy for the first time. First time she saw him, she was ten and he had been playing with one of his friends in the park between their two schools. She was supposed to wait for William to pick her up but he was incredibly late, and of course she found him in the park, playing footie with his pals. She was pissed off, to say the least, and could have teared up a little when she saw him there, playing like he couldn't care less of her. There she was, waiting for him, and he was too busy playing football to care. For the first time, she realised that William was not just her big brother, that he was his own person and that William and her were no longer a package deal. She had been scared, waiting for him to arrive, being the last one to be picked up, and there he was, laughing and playing. She was so mad at him and so disappointed, she felt insignificant and not worthy of his attention. She had always admired William, so it stung way harder than she'd care to admit. The boy in question saw her waiting there, on the entry path of the park and walked up to her, asking if she was okay. She just answered that she was waiting for her big brother and that he was supposed to pick her up from school but he forgot and now she didn't know what to do, whether she was supposed to wait for him or go to him. She started shaking a little bit because of how upset she was and the boy gave her some of his candies before asking who her brother was. When he realised that she meant William, this William, he put on his big boy pants and went to see the guy, to point him his little sister who was waiting for him. He was nervous, because William was kind of one of the most popular guys in their school and he wasn't sure if he was worthy of his time. School could be a little bit of a monarchy sometimes and William definitely belonged with the royals. Him? He was merely a peasant. When William looked in the direction the boy was pointing, he got mortified, both because he realised that he forgot to pick up his little sister and because it was a younger boy who reminded him about it in front of his friends. He quickly apologised to his pals and ran to her, quickly taking her schoolbag from her shoulders and apologising profusely. It was the first time William was considered big enough to pick her up from school and if their parents knew, he'd disappoint them and lose the big boy card for a little while. When they came back home, he made her a snack, promised it would never happen again and indeed, it had never happened again. William was punctual, though sometimes grumpy, but he was there to pick her up from school and after he realised how tired she could be to walk all the way from school to their house, he'd attached a rear rack on his shining bike to let her sit on during their ride home. Sometimes they'd stay a little in the park for William to play with his pals. His sister would just wait for him, starting on her homework and snacking on whatever he'd have packed for her in the morning. William was a good big brother but he was just that too: a big brother. And apparently, big brothers liked to pick on their little sisters. Which is why he had been moaning about this theatre outing ever since he found out and he started growing suspicious about the real reason why they were watching a guy doing ballet, for Christ's sake. William could be a little bit oblivious sometimes, because he cared more about his friends than the life of her little sister. But because he still cared enough about her, he snatched the key of her secret diary and opened it without any guilty feeling. That's when he realised that the little boy who had reminded him the existence of his little sister had made quite an impression on her and she could have been crushing on him. After his discovery, William couldn't stop snickering when he'd catch her looking at him in the park but he never really made fun of her or at least, never directly. He didn't speak about it to anyone, which was a relief to her and he never implied anything. William was great that way: he was the best at keeping secrets.

After the musical ended, William was ready to go back home but his sister didn't really plan it that way. She had talked to her mother earlier during the week, asking if it'd be possible to wait at stage door a little so she could ask for autographs. Her mother had agreed because there wasn't much she refused to her daughter and that's how William ended up in the street by stage door, waiting for his sister to get her program signed so they could "bloody get back home, jeez!".

She was ready for it or so she thought. She would see him, be all cool and say hi. She had practiced it in the mirror. She knew what she wanted to say, she had rehearsed to make sure she'd look okay and she was sure of the outcome. There was no chance to mess that up having rehearsed that much. Except she hadn't been expecting the boy in question to go out with his own parents, much like she was. When she had seen him open the stage door, she felt her stomach do a little somersault and her fingers started tingling, for whatever reason. Knowing her whole family was watching her and there was no backing off of this, she timidly walked to the boy and presented her program, which he gently took and asked his dad for a pen. When he finally made eye contact with her, he stopped in his tracks and couldn't form any coherent sentence for God's sake. Thank the Lord, his parents were chatting with some other adults closer to the door than to them. He wouldn't hear the end of it, otherwise.

"Hey, you're.. You're William's little sister, right?"

"Yeah", she answered, timidly, fidgeting with her fingers.

"I see you sometimes in the park, you're always doing your homework while he plays football", he stuttered.

She nodded, not really sure what to do else. This wasn't the conversation she was planning on and hoping for. After all, when you're crushing on a boy, you're not really expecting him to talk about your big brother, aren't you?

"How did you like the show?" he ended up asking after they both had danced on their feet for thirty seconds in an awkward silence.

"Oh it was.. It was great. ... You were great", she blushed.

"Thanks."

By now, they were both looking like little tomatoes. Being twelve and having a crush? Not the most comfortable time of your life, for sure.

"So I guess I'll see you around at the park?" he shyly asked, not really sure what to say anymore.

"Sure. I don't know when William will want to play though, so.."

"It's okay. I'm there every day. ... I'm Tom", he introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you, Tom. I'm Jo."

"Well Jo, I have to go", he grimaced looking back to his parents who were now waiting for him, respectfully keeping their distance, just like hers were. "I hope I'll see you soon."

"Bye Tom."

And because there was nothing going on exactly as she had planned to, Tom quickly hugged her before he walked away to his parents, trying really hard not to take a look back to her and her puzzled face.

Needless to say, William never really stopped making fun of them for this.