all i want for christmas is you [chriserick]

All I Want For Christmas Is You

It's December yet again, and that means another year of CNCO is in the history books. Among all the boys, there's been this constant vibe of happiness for the past couple of weeks. They've been through a lot in the past year, and they've had their fair share of ups and downs. Life as a band is always a roller coaster, after all. But looking back on the year, finally getting the chance to process all the amazing adventures they've had, the only thing they can do is be so, immensely proud.

The Latin America leg of their world tour is coming to a close, and after that, they'll go home for a much-needed holiday with their families. But before they do that, there's one thing they need to do first: their annual Secret Santa.

The Secret Santa has been a tradition of theirs for the past three years, starting with when they'd just become a band. They'd discovered after that time, though, that a gift exchange doesn't work that well with only five people; they'd all figured out who had who before they even got to give the gifts. So the next year, they started including their team, and it had been a yearly tradition ever since then.

This year, Erick had drawn Chris's name out of the hat, and he'd spent the past three weeks planning everything he was going to get him. He wants this Christmas to be extra special, because it's the first one they'll spend as boyfriends. He spent ages thinking about what to get, how to package it, what to write on the card...and he'd made sure not to tell anyone he'd gotten Chris, so they wouldn't spoil the surprise.

"Come on, everybody!" he hears Clara's voice calling from the stage. "Let's go, we have soundcheck in half an hour so let's do the presents and get moving!"

The rest of the team strolls over to the stage with their gifts in hand, and Erick walks over to his backpack to retrieve Chris's gift...only to discover it isn't there.

Erick immediately goes into a panic, scanning the area around his bag and turning around in circles. Where is it? Where could it possibly have gone? He digs through his bag again to make sure he hadn't missed it in there, even though he knows there's no way he could have. His palms are sweating; everything's supposed to be perfect, and of course he has to screw it up now, when he has no chance to fix it.

"Erick! Let's go, we're waiting on you!"

He stands up and sighs heavily. He has to accept it: he lost it.

When he walks out to the stage, he's greeted by a huge circle of people, all with their eyes on him. They don't say anything, and Erick hopes they don't notice that he hasn't come out with a gift. Maybe they'll assume he already put his in the pile at the center of the circle.

To his relief, nobody says a thing. Richard, perhaps sensing that something was wrong with Erick, puts his arm around his shoulders and gives him a brief squeeze. It doesn't make him feel any better.

"Okay, who wants to be Santa?" Kevin asks the group. (Kevin's first appearance in one of my fics, welcome to the fandom! Hehe)

"I will!" Chris volunteers immediately. Erick groans, hiding his face in his hand. How is he going to react when he passes out all the gifts and realizes there isn't one for him?

Chris skips into the center of the circle and picks up the first bag, dramatically squinting to read the tag (Erick thanks God he's about to get eye surgery so he can stop using his blindness to be funny—everyone knows Erick is supposed to be the funny one). "Joel, this one's for you!" he announces at last.

Joel retrieves the present from him and opens it, revealing a new hat and a patterned shirt that are just his style. Everyone cheers, and then he pulls something else out of the bottom of the bag. A tiny box. Out of the corner of his eye, Erick sees Richard biting his lip nervously.