Non-Stop

Christmastime is Here || LuLu

“Bryant Park sounds good, I’ve never been a fan of things being insanely crowded,” Luis admitted as he got ready to leave. The dogs all seemed like they were ready for a nap so they probably weren’t going to miss them as he followed her out. “Fair warning, that sounds like it’s better than me. So I’m sure that you’ll be fine,” Luis chuckled, “I don’t need anything fancy.” 

“We don’t have to stay long if it’s too crowded,” Lucy assured, not wanting Luis to be uncomfortable. Once the two of them were out the door and heading downstairs and out for the bus stop, she giggled a little at his response. “We’ll try to avoid falling on our asses together then,” she promised, pausing long enough to circle a hand around the back of his neck and pull him to her for a quick kiss.

A couple of short bus rides later, the two of them reached Bryant Park. There were some people there, but thankfully it hadn’t been nearly as bad as she knew Rockefeller Center would be. Most of the people there were playing in the snow around the rink rather than actually skating. Lucy walked with Luis to pay and rent some skates and while they waited just behind one other person, she asked, “Is this alright for you, or would you rather go back to your place?”

Christmastime is Here || LuLu

“You are, I spent most of my day off tracking down the best ones in the City,” Luis smiled, glad to see that she looked excited about it, “You know, I don’t think that I’ve been ice skating in years, so I’m willing to give that a try. Then the tamales in a movie to finish up the day afterwards, I think we’ve got time enough to do all of that, and my assistant manager is coming to do the afternoon shift soon, so we won’t need to worry about manning the phone downstairs.” 

Lucy’s grin shone as brightly as the light in her eyes at the thought of getting to try tamales, on top of the lengths Luis went to get them. “I appreciate your determination,” she said, leaning over to give him a quick peck of thanks. “I like the sound of that. All of it. There’s a rink at Bryant Park, or we can try the one at Rockafeller Center but that one’s probably going to be pretty crowded today...” Lucy trailed off as she thought aloud. She then shook her head and moved to stand, reaching for Luis’s hand to pull him to his feet. “You’d better grab a jacket then!”

After having put her own coat and boots back on, she gave each of the dogs a ‘goodbye’ scratch behind their ears and then headed downstairs and back out, this time with a hand in Luis’s to walk part of the way and catch the bus for the rest. “Fair warning, I’m not the best ice skater. I can stay on my feet and get around the rink but I don’t know how to do anything fancy.”

Christmastime is Here || LuLu

“You know you spoil those dogs,” Luis jokingly grumbled, though really he loved that she loved his animals as much as he did. Even if it did mean extra walks to make sure that the dogs stayed healthy (which none of the three seem to mind getting to go out more now that it wasn’t so hot). Opening his gifts, Luis found himself immediately using the mug to make another cup of coffee. He truthfully didn’t have much planned for the day past the presents, but he was okay with that. It was a nice break. 

“So I do have some tamales waiting to go with all the sweets that you made, so whenever you’re ready to eat, we can get those heated up,” Luis suggested, “Other than that, do you have any other surprises for today?”

“Only a little,” Lucille admitted with a smile, enticing the dogs over to hand over the wreaths to each of them. While they dogs got to busy themselves with their treats, she watched Luis open his gifts and enjoyed it. Her smile returned seeing him with some fresh coffee in his new mug and she even chuckled, taking it to mean that he liked the humor behind it.

Lucy perked up a bit at the mention of tamales. “Am I getting to try tamales for the first time today?” Her eyes sparkled with a new level of excitement as she said, “Well, I was going to see if you would like to go ice skating, but if you aren’t up for it, we can stay in, pick out a movie and heat up those tamales now instead.”

Christmastime is Here || LuLu

“Phantom would probably have tried to eat her, but we can try bringing her over at some point, just as long as she has a cage or something we can put her in. just in case the dogs don’t like her,” Luis suggested. She had come over enough that it had in a way become a habit, and it was one that he was finding that he enjoyed. And yet as he leaned into the kiss, her words shocked him a little. It was the first time since his sister had died that anyone had said those words to him. And it was like a balm on his soul to hear it - and yet at the same time terrifying. He wasn’t sure how much Lucy believed of his curse, but despite all of it, there was just something that felt right. “I love you too,” Luis whispered, meaning the words, even though it was hard for him to admit. But possibly, Lucy was the first person he had ever met that was worth the fear. 

Lucy shouldn’t have chuckled at the mention of Phantom trying to eat her bunny but it slipped out. “Oh I would have definitely brought him in his travel cage. And probably kept him up high on a table or something.” The sweater was definitely going on Velvet as soon as she saw him though. But the focus on the gifts shifted as Lucille held to her feelings and saw no point in holding them in. She loved Luis. That wasn’t a phrase or feeling she felt often about anyone outside of her aunt and just a couple of friends of hers. Yes, she had her baggage; Luis had both shown (inadvertently) and told her of his too. Yes, there were some fears that both of their baggage would negatively affect them having a lasting relationship. But she meant it when she said that she still wanted to try, and she knew she would fight for their relationship. And she loved him anyway. Hearing him whisper it back made her grin while her heart soared. In that moment, she felt weightless, utterly buoyant. She hadn’t expected him to say it back right then but it felt so nice to hear.

As she kept her face close to his, Lucy couldn’t help thinking back to when they first met--a bust stop and free danishes. She smiled again and pecked his lips before uttering, “Best. Christmas. Ever.” Through her smile, she managed to sneak in one more peck of his lips before remembering, “Oh, you haven’t opened your presents yet!” After giving his arm a quick, affectionate rub she reached for her backpack where she caught Blackberry sniffing. “And I’ve got a little something for each of the dogs that I think they’ll like more than the sweaters.”

Christmastime is Here || LuLu

“I’m glad that you like it, though, you should know, that was a gift I got last year, but you said sweater exchange, and I didn’t want you to feel left out if I didn’t give you one,” Luis explained, though really he felt like the sweater fit her style better than it ever hit his, “So she didn’t tell me anything. But I do have a few other gifts for you,” he said as he grabbed them from the table (which made the fact he didn’t have a Christmas tree more obvious). 

“That’s really sweet of you,” she told him, leaning in to cup one of his cheeks while kissing the other. When he got up from the couch again and handed over gifts to her, Lucille smiled all over again. “Thank you.” She opened the gifts one at a time, lightly gasping and grinning at each one. When she saw the sweater for velvet, however, she gushed with an, “Awwww! This is adorable, I can’t wait to put it on Velvet. I should have brought him with me but I wasn’t sure how Phantom and the girls would react to her.” The mug was automatically her new favorite, but she was already preparing the Polaroid so that she could take some pictures tonight. “Thank you, I love all of this.” She leaned in and pressed a tender kiss to Luis’s lips. “And... I love you, Luis.”

Christmastime is Here || LuLu

“I’m sorry buddy,” Luis muttered to Phantom in Spanish, giving him a scratch behind the ears as a reward for tolerating the clothes, while the other two dogs played with a couple of their toys in between showing off how they looked. Part of him wondered if he should dress up the dogs more often, but Luis banished the thought - there were better things for him to spend money on. 

“That’s an excellent start,” he smiled as he opened the tin and took out one of the cheesecake cookies, before opening the sweatshirt. But it was at the mention of the sweater exchange that made him pause for a moment - had he realized it was a tradition he probably would have gotten her one. Until Luis remembered the gift one of his employees had got him for Christmas the year before. “Just a moment,” he said as he went and grabbed a sweater out of his closet, “You can’t say sweater exchange without getting one back,” he said as he handed it to her.

Lucille heard the muttered Spanish and gave a playful roll of her eyes, knowing that she’d given some treats beforehand, and still had some to give all three dogs for Christmas.

She grinned at his reaction to the tin of desserts and then waited with anticipation for him to open the gift bag with the sweater. But when he paused and excused himself from the room, her brows sloped. “Okay...” Admittedly confused, she waited while Luis disappeared in his room. When he returned holding a sweater, Lucy’s mouth fell open in a surprised grin. “Wh... How did you already..?” She accepted the sweater and looked at him a moment and then opened the sweater to look at it. “Oh my gosh. I love this.” Granted she’d already been wearing a sweater but she was definitely wearing the Baby Yoda one tomorrow. As she placed a final gift bag in his lap with the last of the gifts she’d had for him, she asked, “So did my aunt tell you or is this a white elephant gift?”

Christmastime is Here || LuLu

It took Luis a few moments to register that all of his dogs were wearing sweaters. “I’m not sure if he would agree with you there,” he said motioning at the pouting dog on the chair. If almost on cue, Phantom shook off the Santa hat before dramatically flopping back over. 

“Merry Christmas,” he smiled at her, before sitting down next to Phantom on the couch, “So I can see that you’re the Christmas queen, but I honestly haven’t even celebrated in years, so you’ll have to fill me in on your traditions.” 

Lucille followed where Luis nodded just in time to see Phantom ditch the Santa hat. She frowned and playfully whispered, “Traitor,” to the dog. “Well... the sweater still looks fun on him.” She then tugged her thick sweater jacket off and set it aside, picking up the gift bags and her purse and taking a seat on the other side of Luis.

Being called the Christmas queen made her grin again. “Baking is a big one, but I didn’t know how busy you’d be, so I brought you some of mine and my aunt’s favorites.” At that, she placed one of the smaller gift bags in his lap which held a tin full of peanut butter blossoms, chocolate chip cookies, salted caramel fudge, and peppermint-oreo cheesecake cookies. “And another tradition my aunt and I started years ago was a sweater exchange...” At that, she placed a second, larger gift bag in his lap containing a wrapped Christmas sweatshirt for him.

Christmastime is Here || LuLu

@alwayslucille​ 

One of the downsides of the funeral business was that it never closed, so when Lucille had arrived for Christmas, he was unfortunately on the phone with a grieving family. He had let the rest of his staff off for the holiday, and was taking notes as he saw her come in. He had left his door unlocked, and quickly had written on the notepad and held it up to her that she should just let herself in his place. 

It was probably the first Christmas in years that he was truly going to celebrate. And in a way he was excited, but also nervous. Even though nothing had happened - not since her parents, there was always that feeling in the back of his mind that he was going to lose her. 

But Luis wasn’t going to let that ruin today. 

Finally getting off the phone, he let himself into his apartment, about to say something when he noticed Phantom in Christmas attire, dramatically pouting on his chair. “What did you do to my dogs?” he asked, blinking a few times to make sure he didn’t imagine it. 

Lucille was filled to the brim with holiday spirit. She loved Christmas. On top of that, her aunt was on the mend and she had a good relationship blossoming with Luis. When she reached his apartment, in addition to her backpack, she’d had gift bags and a bag of wrapped gifts in both hands. She may have gone a little overboard with the shopping but it was the one time of the year where she really splurged on shopping.

She came inside to find Luis on the phone and cast him a brilliant smile while respectfully staying quiet. After seeing the note he’d written, she nodded and scurried off to the apartment. In truth, the timing couldn’t have been better. Once inside, she greeted Blackberry, Midnight and Phantom with a couple of the treats she placed in the puppucinos at Queen of Tarts. After rubbing the tops of their head and crouching amongst them, she reached in her backpack purse and pulled out Christmas sweaters and managed to get one on Blackberry, Midnight and Phantom. As she finished fitting the three with tiny Santa hats, she grinned, hearing the front door open a short distance behind her.

“They look so cute!” Lucy said, walking over to greet him with a kiss on his cheek. “Phantom was even okay with me dressing him up,” she proudly proclaimed, choosing for the moment to omit the treats bribery. Moving to stand in front of Luis for a moment, she stood on her toes and pecked his lips, “Merry Christmas by the way.”

Meet the Parents | Luis & Lucille

Luis just nodded at her explanation. He hadn’t planned on asking, he knew from experience that some things with family were hard to talk about, and even after what he had just seen, the mortician wasn’t about to ask if she didn’t feel like talking to it. But the more that he listened, the angrier at them he got, and while from the corner of his eye he could see some of the darkness trying to trickle in (maybe it was connected to anger? that was the first he’d ever noticed) he took a couple of deep breaths and hoped that she didn’t notice. 

“I’ll be here as long as you need me to,” he promised, holding her close, “hopefully we’ll hear some news about your aunt soon, I can’t imagine that the doctors will have us waiting that much longer.”

Oddly, Lucy felt relieved to have told Luis about her past, or enough of it without getting into the illegal business that her family was willfully involved in. Her parents showing up at the hospital had made the night so much more draining than it had already been. She hadn’t noticed some of the darkness spilling out from him again and instead ended up resting her cheek to his chest after he promised to stay with her while they waited to hear about her aunt.

She’d felt a bit dead on her feet soon after all the adrenaline from her parent’s arrival had subsided, so she took a seat and tugged Luis over to sit beside her. She rested her head on his shoulder while keeping one hand in his. At some point, she felt herself drifting off to sleep, unsure of how her mind was able to settle down enough to do so after the night’s events. The only saving grace she could find amidst all the chaos had truly been Luis.

Meet the Parents | Luis & Lucille

Between the look of terror in her parent’s eyes and the receding shadows, it finally registered that the darkness came from him - and it felt like his stomach dropped as everything came back to normal. But for the first time in his life he was almost thankful for the demon, or the whatever it was, that was inside him. It at least got Lucy’s parents to leave, and it truly was for the best. 

Disappointing that they couldn’t take responsibility, but still for the best. 

“You’re welcome,” he muttered, a small smile showing on his face before he lightly kissed her forehead, “I’m sorry for…..whatever that was that just happened, but I don’t think that they’ll be bothering either of you any time soon.” 

As the darkness faded and the usual fluorescent waiting room light returned, Lucy had been aware but hadn’t taken her eyes off of Luis. Sure there was some fear there, mostly because she still didn’t know what it was that he had done or how, but her fear didn’t run deep enough for her to flee from him like her parents had. Or like she had, the first time it happened around her. She didn’t know what she knew then, of course, and she still didn’t know if she could reach him when he was like that. So she kept physical contact with Luis in hopes that it might help him register her presence and when he replied to her soft-spoken words, a relieved smile came to her face.

At his own smile and kiss to her forehead, Lucille shut her eyes and then opened them again as she leaned into him. “I’m just... it’s good they’re gone. They probably wouldn’t have been bothering me anytime soon anyway. They hadn’t for the past ten years...It’s a long story, but I’ll try to keep it brief.” Drawing a deep breath that she soon sighed out, Lucy told him, “They disowned me and kicked me out for not joining ‘the family business’. I couch surfed and saved up until my aunt got a hold of me and helped me get out here from France. After that, I worked to leave a lot of my past there, including changing my name and trying to lose my accent.” Her hand on his cheek moved down a bit to the column of his neck as she flashed a faint, brief smile, “I know it still comes out sometimes. I think that, were they not scared off, they would have continued bothering me about it and asked about my name. So... please don’t apologize for what happened.” She pressed her lips to his chest, right at his heart and then looked back up in his eyes. “I’m really, really glad you’re here. Not just for getting them to leave, but just being here for me.”

Meet the Parents | Luis & Lucille

“I was asked to be here, and Lucy and I have become close. Therefore, considering your unwelcome presence, her business is my business,” Luis stated, darkness starting to surround them without the man actually noticing that he was causing it. The fact that they had family estrangement in common, and the disowning in common, only made Luis more protective of her - especially when her parents seemed to be acting as if they were the innocent parties. And while Luis had no idea what had happened, it didn’t mean that any of this was justified. “So either you stop trying to lay blame for your actions on your daughter, or you can leave.” 

The exchange with her parents had Lucy shaking with anger. Fresh tears threatened to prick at her eyes to accompany her anger, but she fought them off as best as possible. Even as her father intended to round on Luis, Lucille was trying to channel all of her upset and properly lash out at him. But Luis spoke before she had a chance to form a single word on her lips. And the darkness that started to fill the waiting room quickly caught her eye. She tensed all over again while instinctively bringing herself closer to Luis. Her eyes briefly went back to her parent’s faces. Her father was caught like a deer in headlights, eyes fixed in pure terror at Luis while her mother was frantically watching the darkness engulf the waiting room.

Of course Lucille wanted them to fess up to the former of Luis’ ultimatum. Not to her surprise, however, after a brief string of prayers rapidly uttered under her mother’s breath in French, her father grabbed her mother’s hand and said, “L-let’s go, Victoria.” Too afraid to turn their backs to Luis, the couple backed away, bumping into a pair of chairs before scurrying away.

Unsure if she should brace herself for another moment of Luis... not being himself, Lucille took her chances and squeezed his hand. “Luis?” she whispered, turning to face him and look up into his eyes. She brought her free hand up to his cheek and continued keeping her voice low, “They’re gone. Thank you.”

Meet the Parents | Luis & Lucille

Luis listened, rubbing her back as she explained everything. Family estrangement was something that he understood probably too well, but it also wasn’t something that he would have wished on anyone else. However, the interruption was something that he hadn’t expected. 

It was clear by looking at them that they had features in common with Lucille - clearly being their parents, which was only confirmed by the way that she spoke to them. 

“Can we help you?” Luis asked, not understanding the French, but figuring it would be easier if he had her back. 

Lucy almost felt like her heart could have dropped right out of her torso at the sight of her parents. How long had it been? Ten? Eleven years? She was sure they had never set foot in New York before, let alone expressed any sort of care or concern for Aunt Ani’s wellbeing. Yet here they were. Lucille strained to get past her shock and say something intelligible. Thankfully Luis beat her to it.

Jean and Victoria’s eyes went from their daughter, up to Luis at almost the same time. “‘We’?” her father echoed. “This is none of your business.”

“It is a family matter,” her mother quickly added with just as much disdain in her voice.

“A family matter?” Lucy found her voice and was the mocking one this time, albeit shakier than her father’s as she ground out, “Since when did family mean anything to you?” She took a deep, uneven breath and then looked up to Luis. “As you probably can guess, these are my parents. Or they were until they disowned me.” Her head then turned back to Jean and Victoria, “And he’s not going anywhere. I want him here. If Aunt Anita had remembered to update her emergency contacts, you wouldn’t be here at all.”

Eyes narrowing, her dad said, “Don’t act like you know anything about the relationship my sister and I have. And until I know her status, we,” he gestured to Victoria only and then lowered his hand to his side, “aren’t going anywhere.”

Promises | Luis & Lucille

“Hole in the wall restaurants, mom and pop shops, quirky museums, the sort of things that you really only think to know if you live somewhere,” Luis explained, “like when I went to Phoenix, there’s actually a pretty interesting tomb in their zoo, but right next to it they have this weird Firefighter museum. Learned a lot about the area, but most people drive past it because the zoo is half a mile up the road,” he explained, almost feeling like he had talked too much, “If you could go anywhere on vacation, where would you go?” 

Lucy nodded a bit here and there while listening to him. It did sound better to experience a place more like a local would rather than going straight for all of the tourist’s spots. “I guess it’s been so long since I really went anywhere. But new York City’s so large in itself, I feel like there’s still places within the five boroughs that I haven’t experienced yet. Her brows soon raised, “A tomb in a zoo...next to a museum?” She tried to imagine it but her mind couldn’t form it in her head. Chuckling a little she said, “It doesn’t sound like great location planning but do you have a picture of that too?” At his question, Lucy paused. “I don’t think anyone’s ever asked me that before,” she realized, head tilting thoughtfully. “Hm... I think I would want to stay in one of those glass igloos and see The Northern Lights.”

“I probably will too, or really just water this costume is a bit hot,” Luis admitted, “But don’t tell anyone else, it’ll ruin the effect. I’m trying to give off a leave me alone vibe and it’s worked for everyone but you.” 

“Kudos to your commitment to wearing it though,” Lucy told him with another light smile. “Oh,” she said, playfully pinched her thumb and forefinger, making as though she was zipping her lips shut while walking with him to the makeshift bar. “I won’t blow your cover. In fact if it adds to your vibe, I’ll even sit or stand with my back to you and just try to steal some looks your way here and there.”