I have determined that I still do not like shopping in person. Especially shopping at a large mall in early December, where everyone is trying to buy before Christmas. Just because being with Amelia makes it substantially more enjoyable does not make it a pleasant experience.

  “You know if you scowl any harder you’re going to change to the angry emo archetype,” Amelia teases, holding my right hand and exaggerating the swing of our arms.

  “I’m not emo.”

  “Jason, you’re wearing black jeans, a black jacket, and have swirling and undulating black hole eyes. What about that doesn’t scream emo or punk or goth or other archetype here?”

  When she puts it like that, I can’t entirely disagree.

  “Then what does that make you?”

  “The charming nerd who has a thing for bad boys that convinced you to fall in love with me and see the error of your ways despite the fact you still dress evil,” Amelia giggles, pulling me closer.

  “Makes sense.”

  “I certainly thought so.”

  As we pass a store that seems to have nothing but various forms of art supplies, I make the split-second decision to re-correct our course and steer Amelia inside.

  “Jason, you know I love you, but you can’t even draw a straight line.”

  “Neither can you!” I retort, unable to stop myself.

  “I can draw a line that is as straight as I am. But actually, why are we here in this store besides the fact it’s quiet?” Amelia asks, peering around before giving me a salacious grin. “Unless you were looking for somewhere private to—” She stops whatever comment she had when I flick her nose gently.

  “If I wanted to take you somewhere private, it certainly wouldn’t be a public store, you dolt.” I laugh as she rubs her nose furiously, glaring at me in mock indignation. “I was thinking this would be a good place to buy something for Bianca.”

  Amelia’s indignation vanishes, turning into an expression of thoughtfulness as she leads me towards some sketchbooks. “You know I’m going to be honest. I thought it would hurt more for you to be thinking about another woman when we’re on our date.”

  I lean against Amelia as I laugh, unable to keep my balance.

  “You know you make this a lot more fun. It’s just us. But new,” Amelia whispers as she hugs me tightly.

  “It does.” I agree.

  “So I know we wanted to spoil the absolute living shit out of our daughter, but I was thinking that maybe the best way to do that would be to buy her lots of new stuff for new hobbies?” Amelia says, still holding me.

  “That…” I trail off, not entirely sure I get exactly what she’s trying to say.

  “You’re such a guy sometimes, you know that?” Amelia complains while holding my face so she can look at my expression of confusion.

  “Is that a bad thing?”

  “No, because you’re my favorite. But Bianca hasn’t really tried much outside of what we’ve shown her or daycare school or whatever for supers. So I think we should try to get stuff she hasn’t seen that’s new?”

  Part of me bucks at the idea of that because I certainly didn’t like it when people got me stuff for hobbies that I was entirely uninterested in, but I think about it for a moment longer.

  I wasn’t a mute adopted child with no memories of anything. I had more time. And I was exposed to lots of stuff.

  “Amelia, you’re squishing my cheeks,” I say, my voice muffled by the fact that Amelia’s hands are still cupping my face.

  “Yup, carry on with what you’re doing,” Amelia confirms.

  “So we shouldn’t buy the art supplies?” I ask, wondering if I should move my hands to somewhere besides her hips.

  “No, we definitely should, but I wanted to buy some other stuff as well,” Amelia confirms, standing up on her tiptoes so she can look down at me ever so slightly.

  “Okay, what ideas do you have?”

  “You could move your hands to match me cause my cheeks are cold?” She giggles before kissing me on the nose and hopping away to strike a pose. “But you wanted somewhere more private for that, so we’ll wait.”

  “I hate you sometimes,” I grumble, grabbing a sketchbook before following her to where ?the coloring books are, where we deliberate on which ones would be best for our situation.

  “I love you too,” Amelia says, slipping an arm in mine as we make our way to the checkout, picking up some new pencils and markers along the way.

  “So, besides the tree, should we buy other stuff today?”

  “Well, I can’t buy your present or your Santa present with you here, so just more stuff for B. Maybe new decorations?” Amelia hums as I swipe my card.

  “We can do that,” I agree mentally, counting up how much today’s going to run me.

  “So?” Amelia asks as we begin walking through the mall again. “Upset about how our first date date is turning out?” She asks sheepishly.

  “Why wouldn’t I be?” I ask bewildered as we slow to a stop so I can look her in the eyes.

  “Cause you know it’s just normal stuff we do that’s not really that special, so I was worried,” she says, looking away.

  “Are you having fun?” I ask, taking her hands in mine.

  “Yeah, lots,” she giggles.

  “So am I.” I promise, holding her close. “There’s nothing I would rather be doing. Even if this is something we’ve done hundreds of times. It feels new and fresh to me.”

  Amelia lets out a happy sigh as she clings to me. Part of me wonders if I should feel worried about the fact that we are stopping traffic in the middle of it all, but I don’t care enough to move beyond that.

  “Alright, lover boy, master of the right things to say to your dysfunctional goddess to make her squeal, let’s go look at other stuff we can hold before you subject yourself to the torment of carrying the Christmas tree,” Amelia says, dragging me alongside her as we head off in a random direction.

  “Are you not going to help me with the Christmas tree?” I ask already suspecting the answer.

  “No, you have super strength; why should I do it? Look at how dainty and precious I am?” She laughs, tugging me into a video game store.

  I don’t have any consoles that can play most games if they aren’t for the computer, but I suppose that is an incredibly easy problem for us to rectify here especially.

  “Incredibly dainty and precious. Would you want me to carry you back to the carriage, milady?” I ask sarcastically, though Amelia pauses, trying to ascertain the response.

  “No, but I’ll carry you while you carry the Christmas tree that way you’re still protecting me, but I get to girlboss my way to success.” Amelia decides, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

  “I’m not exactly sure that’s how it works.” I point out gently.

  Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

  “Oh, yeah?” She whispers. “I didn’t have any problems carrying you last night.” She teases.

  “Amelia, just because you had to drag my sorry ass through a video game you love doesn’t mean I’m going to respond to such a barb.”

  “Well, technically the truth is like my fifth favorite kind of truth, so I couldn’t resist,” she says, sticking her tongue out at me.

  We end up buying several more odds and ends at the mall though the most important one for me was the Christmas tree base, and skirt, though with Amelia’s plan to make it so that our Christmas tree always had snow coating it gently maybe it would be better if I found a waterproof tarp.

  With the presents loaded into the car, Amelia and I go to lunch at one of our favorite diners, and I can’t help but love every moment of it.

  Maybe I should plan something better, but I can’t think of anything better than doing the familiar in a new way.

  Even if Amelia tries to steal a little bit of everything I order because it looks so good, despite the fact she doesn’t let me steal any of what she got.

  “You know,” she says, popping another one of my fries into her mouth. “I generally prefer sitting next to my dates, but it isn’t so bad being able to dreamily stare into your eyes while you talk about something I definitely wasn’t paying attention to.” Amelia says her toe poking my own foot.

  “Amelia, are you trying to play footsie with me?” I ask, poking her own foot to see if that’ll get her to stop.

  “No, I'm winning while trying to figure out my dastardly plan to get into your pants.”

  “You could just open the wardrobe and put some on?”

  Amelia opens and closes her mouth for a few seconds as she thinks. “You know I can’t tell if you’re just a dumb ace or if you are being pointedly obtuse.”

  “Wouldn’t it be more rounded if I was being obtuse?”

  Amelia throws up her hands in defiance. “You’re impossible.”

  After such an opportunity, I can’t resist the opportunity to continue messing with her. “If it suits your fancy, I could always try wearing one of your skirts instead?”

  Amelia glares at me for a long moment before shrugging. “You have the legs for them, I guess.”

  “Thank you?”

  “It’s one of those evil guy super powers, better hair, cake, nails and sometimes legs than me despite the fact I put effort into it.”

  “I’m pretty sure that none of those actually are involved in my super powers?”

  “Let me live in the land of delusional.”

  “You look gorgeous.” I say, leaning across the table to give her a quick kiss.

  “Mmmmm, I guess I’ll let you pay for lunch today, but I’m going to do it next date and so help me if you try to stop me I’m going to lose it.” Amelia warns.

  “I have exactly zero qualms with that.”

  Between the shopping and our later lunch, by the time we’re walking out of the diner it’s about time to go pick up Bianca so we stop to buy our Christmas tree lashing it to the roof of the car before heading to our mysterious pick up point, this one being at a park.

  With a crackle, the portal appears, and Warp with a sleepy-looking Bianca in her arms walk through.

  Bianca’s eyes light up when she sees the top of the car that has a precariously lashed-on Christmas tree. While there hadn’t been a debate really, we had discussed going with a fake tree.

  Neither of us really wanted that, and more than that, we also wanted Bianca’s first Christmas to be nearly perfect.

  Bianca in that moment reminded all of us that, just like everyone else in the alley, she’s a super as well as she practically flies out of the arms of Warp barreling into Amelia’s chest before squirming to reach for the tree.

  “You okay?” I ask, turning to Warp since Amelia almost certainly has Bianca well in hand.

  “That explains why she spent all the drawing time drawing trees.” Warp says, laughing as she pointed her chin at the tree. “And truly I’m fine; it would take substantially more than what she can do accidentally to hurt me. Wires notwithstanding.”

  I share a glance with Amelia, and she gives a nod as she takes Bianca to the other side of the car to see the “prettier” side of the tree, whatever that means.

  “The wires haven’t been a problem for anyone, right?” I ask worriedly.

  “Really, you don’t need to worry about that,” Warp says with a laugh. “In some ways it’s the opposite; it can be really hard to convince her to use her powers she’s incredibly gentle.”

  Gentle definitely fit my own description of Bianca, though not wanting to use her powers certainly didn’t?

  More breakfasts than not, she uses wires to replicate and participate in the cooking.

  “She’s never seemed to shy to use her powers at home. Is there something Amelia and I are doing wrong?” I ask seeking advice.

  Despite my looking for it, I haven’t found a parent's guide to raising immensely traumatized small children who have the power to shoot death wires out so that she can grow up in a healthy, happy, and safe environment.

  “It probably isn’t anything to worry about. Some of the kids aren’t that durable; she’s seen them get hurt. You and Amelia can’t be hurt by her abilities, right?” Warp asks, and I tilt my head from side to side.

  “She hasn’t uh seen us get hurt.” I say awkwardly.

  The worst Amelia’s gotten injured was a series of small scratches that bled a little bit, and I haven’t been cut at all.

  Warp gives a quick glance, but she seems to end up deciding that it was entirely an accident the one time that it actually happened.

  “We’re both fine, I promise. Amelia and I both seem to be slowly improving our physical abilities slightly.”

  Warp nods. “She just doesn’t want to accidentally injure or scare anyone with her powers.”

  “Well, I'm not sure what we’re going to do on that front. Neither Amelia nor I have particularly gentle powers,” I laugh, rubbing the back of my head.

  “If you could try and get her to be more willing to use her powers at school, that would be greatly appreciated.”

  That seems more difficult.

  “We’ll do our best, but no idea how to do that.”

  “Your best is all you can do. If you have any questions or need babysitters, just make sure to call,” Warp says, waving as they turn for their portal before pausing.

  “If it’s a question of whether we’re willing to host play dates or babysit other super kids, we say yes!” Amelia calls from behind the car.

  I give a nod in agreement at that, and Warp laughs. “You two really are new.”

  “Yup. I’m guessing the terrible twos can be a little bit worse when the two-year-old can shoot lightning when they’re upset?”

  Warp laughs her way through the portal, and the three of us go home, Bianca practically trying to vibrate out of her seat with how excited she is to decorate the Christmas tree.

  “Hey B? Can you help Amelia carry everything up so I can get the tree? You can even choose where I’m going to place it. Sound good?”

  Bianca gives me a very serious nod as she uses her wires to wrap around the grocery bags.

  Thankfully any of the presents are hidden elsewhere, so there’s no harm in letting her help carry everything up.

  Carrying the Christmas tree wasn’t the ordeal I had expected it to be. Despite Amelia’s “help,” it wasn’t that bad to carry it on my own; the biggest issue was how bulky the thing was.

  But with Amelia and Bianca directing me, I manage to get it into the living room and set up in the corner properly for no other reason than to mostly save on decoration space since we only have to decorate part of it.

  “So, do you want to add snow now, or do you want to wait till our decorations are on?” I ask Amelia as Bianca and I rifle through the boxes of my old decorations. We have plenty of new ones but no reason to risk breaking more until the first ones are all there and we can decide if we want to do anything with them.

  “I’ll put the snow on later. But B?” Amelia asks, crouching down next to our daughter. “Do you want to be on my shoulders when you put on the star or on Daddy’s shoulders?”

  Bianca tilts her head side to side before letting out a silent giggle and holding up a silver strand of tinsel.

  “That’s fair. We can do the decorations first.” I say, patting her on the head. “Are we feeling Christmas movies or Christmas music?”

  “Music now we can do a movie when we are done with the tree and have hot chocolate.” Amelia says, clapping her hands as she grabs several ornaments.

  Getting the tree all decorated is probably already my favorite part of the day as music and laughter fill my home.

  I’ve loved every moment of it.

  “Hey Bianca, do you want to use the old star that was in the box, or do you want to use the special new star we got?” I ask quietly.

  It was a tradition going back a while in my family.

  When you started a family, we bought a new Christmas star and sent the old one usually to our grandparents.

  Bianca looks at the old star she was holding before looking around for the new star.

  “Is this a bad time to mention that I hid the star?” Amelia asks laughing.

  “Oh, and where did you hide it?” I ask, narrowing my eyes.

  “Underneath the mistletoe because I thought it would be funny?” Amelia laughs, flopping onto the couch and beginning to scroll through Christmas movies.

  “Want to go get it with me?” I ask Bianca, pretending to ignore my girlfriend and her shenanigans.

  Bianca happily clambers into my arms and silently directs me to the box with the new star in it.

  Bianca does let out a silly giggle as we walk under the mistletoe, and she turns to kiss me on the cheek.

  “I love you too, Bianca.” I whisper gently before kissing the side of her head. “How about during Christmas break we take some sign language classes together, hmmm?”

  “Count me included!” Amelia cheers, sliding into view. “Oh, hey look, guess the two of us are under the mistletoe already. Funny how that worked.”

  I laugh as I wrap an arm around her waist.

  Amelia and I share a kiss under the mistletoe, the two of us swaying gently as I rest my forehead against hers.

  “Is it beginning to feel a lot like Christmas?”

  “Mmmm, almost. I haven’t had to do my mad-dash shopping yet, so I’m in my pre-holiday bliss.”

  Favorite people in hand, I gently steer us back to the main room so we can settle in for our Christmas movie and naps for at least one of us, with Bianca struggling to keep her eyes open.

  Patreon

  Discord