The 25th of December was seen as another day to Charlotte for her entire life. Even when she was little, her Mum and Dad never even put up decorations during the festive period. At Andrea's, it was nice and Charlotte received Christmas dinner and a few gifts which she was grateful for, but she was never part of the family.
This year however, things were different. Charlotte even enjoyed the build-up. She took on extra shifts at the pub - so she was pretty much working full-time - to make up for all the time she had off due to stray Mother's turning up and weddings abroad.
Joe spent any spare time he had spread out in a little nook of the pub with his laptop and books, editing various things, presented with free meals and the company of Charlotte's Mum some days.
Charlotte's favourite times were when the pub wasn't busy, and Bert and herself would slink back from behind the bar and keep the other two company, discussing winter weddings and Christmas holiday plans.
On the 15th, Joe and Charlotte brought a Christmas tree and decorations, nearly cried when they had to haul it all up the several flights of stairs and ended up napping and turning the living room into Santa's grotto until the very early hours of the morning.
On the 20th, they sat down with popcorn and watched all the Christmas films they'd recorded whilst they were at work.
And on the 24th they brought in bin liners from hidden parts of the flat and emptied them out under the tree, each one carefully wrapped, some better attempted than others (Charlotte) and made dresses out of the empty bags when they were done.
Which brought them to now the 25th of December. Christmas Day.
Charlotte woke up to sausage and eggs, served by a shirtless man with a Santa hat and Charlotte guiltily wished for it to be Christmas everyday.
Whilst Joe continued to mess around in the kitchen with various kitchen utensils, Charlotte lent against the frame of their bedroom door and studied the living room in all it's glory. Buntings of Happy Birthday Jesus! and Merry Christmas! were strewn across the ceiling and the fairy lights were still glistening on the tree, reflecting on the wrapped presents below.
Charlotte squealed selfishly, bounding onto one of the sofa's and awaited Joe's arrival by her side. They prolonged the gift-giving for some time, watching Elf and drinking hot chocolate with extra cream before Joe insisted Charlotte open his expertly wrapped gifts.
Charlotte slid off the sofa and tapped her knees in anticipation, thinking how the whole experience so far had been a gift enough in itself.
The first package was small, containing a serpent ring that wound round Charlotte's finger, the same one she'd taken a liking too months back. She may of cried, a little.
Charlotte nearly keeled over when she opened the next couple of complimenting presents. The biggest, a black turntable with One Direction, Lana Del Rey and The Smiths records in vinyl to match. It was the least Charlotte could do to jump into Joe's lap and pepper his face in kisses. A high blush rose on his cheeks, but he pushed Charlotte off in compromise that she opened another present.
It was a leather bound book, over-flowing with photos and scraps of paper stuck into it. The photos being the one's Joe had taken with Charlotte by his side, of sunsets or dirty paths, and some even Charlotte had taken herself. There were many of them too, at Troye and Tyler's wedding and even the one Charlotte showed Zoe months back, where they're both in the mirror wearing Joe's old clothes. Each picture was sided with paper that Joe must of kept in a safe place. They were pointless really, but held some sort of sentimentality. Charlotte would rip out pages from her pad she used to take orders and throw messages at Joe when he was working, silly jokes written on them. Joe would always smooth them out and turn them over, in order to write his own message and shove it in Charlotte's apron. The menace.
Before Joe even opened his, they curled up against the sofa and flicked through the book in detail, discussing each minute detail of each photo and memory, each cursive letter on the paper and how Joe even got away with making this.
Charlotte handed Joe his gifts eventually, shying away due to embarrassment, because she'd never really brought gifts for anyone before, other than Andrea or Kian. They were easy though, Andrea liked candles and Kian liked boarding. Joe however, had a passion for something that had no real focus. It changed every time, every photo was a different subject. She was also in love with him.
Joe's eyes shimmered with something as he unwrapped all the gifts and lay them out on the floor, now taking the time to let it sink in that there's a new camera lying in front of him, along with a tripod, case and microphone.
"This is--this is crazy Charlotte." Joe panted, stroking over the objects with care, tears pricking in his eyes.
"I might have looked at your search history and, I just wanted to let you know, that I think you should go for it." Charlotte smiled.
Joe's blush deepened now, scratching at the back of his neck, eyes carding over every individual gift.
"You think?"
Charlotte nodded, reached out a hand and pulled Joe towards here. "You'll be ace."
Joe wrapped his arm round Charlotte, mumbled thank you and I love you so much into the hot skin of her cheek.
"I was going to do it you know, before everything happened. I've always wanted to make videos" Joe mumbled, when he pulled away and brought both Charlotte's hands and his own into his lap. "Never lost the passion for it, just lost the respect."
Charlotte frowned with a grunt.
"Everyone's gonna love you, you know that?" Charlotte freed her hand and lifted Joe's chin with it.
Joe wasn't so sure, but he smiled warmly anyway, leaned into the touch.
"I can't believe you've done this for me." Joe's eyes flicked back to all the equipment on their living room floor.
"I thought maybe I should give you a little push in the right direction," Charlotte joked, resting her forehead on Joe's shoulder.
"Merry Christmas Charlotte." Joe whispered after a little reflective silence.
"Merry Christmas."
YOU ARE READING
abyss ↣ joe sugg au
Fanfictionjoe sugg had never been good at math. in fact, it was seven years after he'd left school that he found out two halves make a whole definition of abyss; the regions of hell conceived of as a bottomless pit Trigger Warning: mentions of suicide/depress...
