A moment to say I don't owe you a goddamn thing ♫ ♩ ♪

DYLAN’S DELIVERY - FAMILY AND CO

All of these gifts were delivered face to face, all but Becky’s on Christmas Day.

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         ❝ ‘course it’s heavier than plastic, it’s a goddamn tree. it’s made outta wood, for christ’s sake. but it ain’t that bad, y’can manage, ❞ rhys replies easily, unfazed by his sister’s rather vocal struggle with the tree. she’d always had a flair for the dramatics, and though he’d be a liar to say he’s not endeared to it, he has gotten used to it. when he needs to, it’s not hard to tune it out. ❝ oh, don’t act like you didn’t miss me, ❞ he adds as he finally tugs the blade through the last of the netting and frees the ( admittedly decent sized, rhys has to say, it looked a hell of a lot smaller out in the snow than it does in her apartment ) tree. ❝ besides, little bit of movin’ around on your day off ain’t gonna kill ya. what, were you gonna spend the whole day hangin’ out in bed? ❞

         once the branches have settled, rhys kneels back down on the floor, rolling his shoulders back as he prepares to duck his head under the tree so he can try and tighten the base again. icy blues flicker up toward his sister before he can help it when her voice softens, surprised by the abrupt shift in tone. he shouldn’t be. not after the heaping pile of truth he’d just dumped on her in only a few simple words. to describe rhys as emotionally available in any capacity was laughable, but he’s sure there’s not a single soul on this earth that knows more of his secrets than his baby sister. maybe it was because he’d all but fucking raised her, or maybe it was the countless traumas they’d bonded through, but if there’s anyone who can get him to open up, it’s dylan. but there’s something in the way she’s looking at him through the parted pine needles that has rhys suddenly flustered about his decision to confess, and he uses it as an excuse to focus his attention on the task at hand, diving face-first back into the branches the moment she begins to question him further. he can answer her question ― maybe, maybe ― if she can’t watch him try and spit out the words.

         ❝ how do i feel? i don’t ― i mean, yes, to all a’ that, ❞ rhys admits as he pushes past sharp, bushy branches to reach the stand at the base of the trunk, struggling to keep the pine needles out of his mouth as he speaks. ❝ i can tell ya i’m fuckin’ terrified, for one. it’s been ― fuck, feels like it’s been forever since i’ve felt any kinda way about anybody, and here she comes, waltzin’ into my life all of a sudden and makin’ me feel like i’d be out here tryin’ to give her the whole damn world if she’d let me. ❞ hands blindly find the first steel screw and start tightening it before reaching for the next. ❝ and i don’t know what’s scarier ― wonderin’ if she actually will let me, or knowin’ how badly i want her to. and shit, dylan, i really do. ❞ rhys pauses, fingertips stilling briefly on cool metal as he tries to navigate his answer. his feelings. fuck. ❝ she just ― she’s got me grinnin’ like a goddamn fool every time she’s around, like i can’t even help it, and i find myself thinkin’ about her more often than i’m not. i’ve started callin’ her during my breaks at work just ‘cause hearin’ her laugh makes my day that little bit brighter, and i actually look forward to my days off now, ‘cause i know it means i’ll get to see her, and maybe even emma too. ❞ he’s almost finished with the stand now, and he makes a point to get around to his own point before he’s done. ❝ christ knows i ain’t an expert on love, but i feel like that’s only got me more convinced that must be what this is, because i never felt nothing like it before. ❞

          rhys disentangles himself from the branches once he’s fully tightened the stand, pushing himself out from beneath the tree and straightening up on his knees to look up at it ( and at dylan ) before rising to his feet. head falls into a gentle tilt and brows twitch inquisitively, and fuck, okay, he does feel a little bit better now that he’s gotten that off his chest. lighter, even. ❝ why you askin’ me so much about it anyway? you ain’t goin’ to threaten her about it, are you? ❞ it’s mostly a joke, but rhys still eyes his baby sister as he waits for an answer.

-

“A tree I didn’t ask for!” Dylan defends her complaints, her unwillingness to follow his instructions perfectly. As lovely as the gesture was it meant work she did not sign up for. Perfectly happily with the plastic tree that Becky had put up. Even then all Dylan was allowed to do was pass the ornaments over, not trusted to make it all work right. Dylan’s huff sends her hair flying away from her face before falling back into place. “Do you know how often I get a full day to myself? It’s been weeks Rhys. Weeks. And you’ve ruined it. All over this stupid tree.” Dylan almost ends up eating a branch of said tree as she complains - she ends up dropping her complaints to spit out the pine leaves that hit her tongue. Dylan contemplates if she can get a refund on her brother, pretty sure the deal they sold her on him was a con.

Except Rhys was so much more than just a brother. Even as she complains about his purchase and interruption there’s nothing in her that would truly get rid of him, or even this moment. The way he’d thought of her felt unique to him, like he’d never let her be forgotten or left behind. So as he fiddles below she lets go off her annoyance and focuses in on him, thinking maybe this wasn’t just a tree delivery but an excuse to have somewhere to go, someone to talk to. Rhys were never quite straight forward as she was, still beating around the bush until Dylan pushed him into it. Ironic given her face had greenery in it right now.

Love. You’d think for Dylan love would be an easy subject, given how big her heart was. The thing was Dylan loved a lot of people, in a way that felt overwhelming and all consuming sometimes, but she had very little understanding of how to handle being in love with someone. Having no parents to learn it from she’d looked around her only to see couples last a few years before giving up. Or broken families that pretended it was okay if love came with pain. So she asks the question that sounds like it comes from a toddler: ‘what does love look like?’ How would she ever know if she was in it if she didn’t see it around her?

Terrified. It makes Dylan’s chest tighten to hear Rhys confirm the feeling. Dylan was always terrified of her heart, of what it meant when it gave over to someone else. Often it was the feeling she grew stuck on, sure it couldn’t possibly mean she was in love if all she could feel was such an intense fear. No Hallmark movie ever prepared her for fear. Dylan stays quiet as he talks, feeling a weight as she realises how different Rhys world was becoming. Ever since she was a little kid Dylan’s abandonment issues had run wild no matter how much her family tried to comfort them. Hearing Rhys want to give Cora the world left Dylan wondering where that left her. Selfish of her, she’s not unaware, but with Rhys starting to change his life in one direction she finds herself unsure how to follow him. If she even was allowed. Cora had a child already, a prebuilt family, and Rhys would pour all his love into it. This tree felt less like a Christmas surprise and more like a parting gift.

Longing. It’s clear Dylan isn’t the only one hoping for something, aching to not lose it. She wonders how long Rhys has felt this way - if it was something small that grew with time or if the moment the spark zapped him he had known that something more was coming. Dylan thinks of Dawson and how he’d crept up on her, how slowly addicting his company had become. There was more there, a version of life she had never pictured before. Terrifying yet something she longs for, even if she isn’t sure about all the details.

Happy. In that moment Dylan is so happy that there is a branch in her face and Rhys is way down on the ground. She can look up to hold in the tears that prick at the back of her eyes, suddenly hit with a true joy at hearing how Rhys was smiling again. Not just little ones but cheek aching smiles. It felt like a long time since she’d heard him be so happy about something. It’s grossly cheesy the way he talks about Cora but Dylan doesn’t tease him this time. This time she wants to make sure he doesn’t question how he’s acting, to be so happy that cheesy is the only possible outcome. He wasn’t alone any more. It was such a sad thought to have at their age but Dylan had always had that worry about how closed off he was. How he didn’t open up in fear of pain, which only meant he cut off possibilities of joy too. Cora and Emma had cracked him open and it seemed as though her brother was finally coming out of his shell.

As the tree no longer sways under her movements and Rhys is getting up Dylan takes his distraction as a moment to quickly wipe at her eyes. She’d not been as successful at keeping them dry, but he doesn’t need to see that. His question makes her feel young again, like all of a sudden she’s no longer an adult but a five year old asking ‘why’ and ‘how’ to everything as she learns the world. “I... I just thought...” the thought is stuck on her tongue as she looks anywhere but his face, trying to find a way to word why she wanted to know what love felt like. “I thought if you told me and it sounded like how I felt then I knew I wasn’t doing it all wrong... but I just feel more confused.” More like she was never going to get it right.

You aren’t going to threaten her are you? Dylan is taken back to a few days before where she sat across Cora promising to dispose of her body parts around the world so no one would be able to identify her right before Cora informed Dylan that she was in fact in love with Rhys. “Me? What? I’d never do such a thing!” She scoffs once, twice, a third time and by that point it becomes very obvious she’s already done the thing he’d hope she wouldn’t. “Look,” she holds her hand out to him as he stars at her “if you wanted me to not do that you should have told me to not do that before I did that.” Dylan pauses to smile, rather impressed with herself for getting through that sentence without stumbling over the words. Stepping away from her now real life Christmas tree Dylan moves to stare at the plastic one that now sucks in comparison. Funny how perspective changes a lot of things. “You should tell her.” It’s a present in its own that Dylan doesn’t spill Cora’s secret. It doesn’t feel right that Dylan is the one to admit Cora’s feelings, but she certainly can’t wait for Rhys to find courage on his own. Dylan wasn’t a great secret keeper - people needed to learn this already. Kenzie should put out a PSA or something. “Like soon,” she adds. “Communication is healthy, right?” She adds as a reasoning, trying to cover up how obvious she might be portraying. Just as she had with Cora, Dylan looks at her brother and in a soft voice says “it’s never a bad thing to hear you’re loved by someone.”

“Wow, I see where your loyalties lie,” Dodge drawled sarcastically, but laughed a little too loud at the implication.  “No - but wouldn’t that be a funny thing to see?  Us Cannons, like possums in a tree, cinder blocks round our ankles to try to get a few extra inches?”  Quirking an eyebrow, Dodge waited patiently for Dylan to remember the exact insult she’d thrown his brother’s way.  “He does, a little - though usually, I just call him dumbo cuz’a his ears.”  As they finally approached the rink, Dodge’s grip on Dylan’s arm because like a vice.  Not even on a good day would anyone consider him graceful, and he was especially awkward on ice.  “Hope I ain’t about to meet my maker.”

-

Dylan joking about leaving Dodge for Cash was as real as her going and becoming a nun overnight. As much as she enjoyed Cash’s pretty face he had nothing on Dodge, who felt just as much as her soulmate as Angel did. “Now that’s a pretty specific visual not to be true. I need to come by more often, see if I can catch y’all in the act.” Dylan wanted to make a joke about how clingy Dodge was with his grip only tightening on her but instead she uses the ice to bring him closer so she could use her body to anchor his. No need to yell ‘timber!’ just yet. “If you do can you put in a good word for me? I just have this feeling he’s not my biggest fan.” 

DYLAN’S DELIVERY - EVERYWHERE ELSE EDITION

Christmas Eve: Dylan leaves most gifts on the doorstep with a knock, heading off before she can be too caught up in chat. Lots to deliver after all. She however does risk wearing elf slippers with bells on that risk her being caught in the act, or slip in the snow.

DYLAN’S DELIVERY - SOUTH SIDE EDITION

Christmas Eve: Dylan leaves most gifts on the doorstep with a knock, heading off before she can be too caught up in chat. Lots to deliver after all. She however does risk wearing elf slippers with bells on that risk her being caught in the act, or slip in the snow.

ELLIOT’S BIRTHDAY

“Yeah, like a backwater bar, you know?”  he wasn’t accepting any more of her attempts to turn what he said into a dirty joke - playfully, of course.  “I’ll be like a wounded baby bear - leave me there to cry and momma cash will come barrlin’ in to save me.”  Dodge playfully stuck his tongue out at her, and let her revel - briefly - in her new height, before standing up himself.  “It ain’t my fault the Cannon’s got giant genes.”  Gesturing towards the rink, Dodge started to move wobblily towards it.  “C’mon, Dunsmore, we got limited time.”

-

“So what you’re saying is I should push you over sooner so I can spend my night with Cash? Jeez, why didn’t you tell me sooner?” She returns, taking careful steps backwards as he straightens. “I’m starting to think you all just hang from polls when I’m not looking, stretching yourselves out. This can’t be natural,” she declares, waving her hand up and down at his elongated figure. Everyone was just so damn tall. “Oh right, speaking of your brothers I may have called Striker a possum on Thanksgivings... wait no, maybe a warthog? No no, a weasel. Mr Weasel.” Dylan paused before she thinks to elaborate on her story “I was high. He kind of looks like one, don’t you think?” She scrunches her face up as if it was now mimicking Strikers, which she believed mimicked a weasel’s. Dylan stands at the edge of the rink now contemplating her life choices. Nowhere had she advertised that she could actually skate well, so here she is very carefully stepping onto the unstable ground using everything in her to not topple over. Once a year she got onto this rink, usually with Angel.

.

“We…yeah, I guess we do most of the time. The others are probably a little better at it than I am, but…” Esmeray trailed off with a shrug. Most of the time her family were pretty open about things with one another, able to talk and get things off their chest when they needed to. Es tended to be a bit more closed off with things, as evidenced by her current situation of hiding her unemployment from her family entirely. Taking risks even now was something that Es struggled with on the whole, but she was trying to do it more. She wanted to push herself out of her comfort zone and see what life had to offer in a world where she wasn’t tied down by the responsibilities she’d taken on herself with med school. “Or, hopefully, you know…maybe there aren’t any problems.” That would be the ideal, but at least for now Es was willing to suspend any concerns and see where things went. “You do this rather often, don’t you Dyl?” Es couldn’t help but laugh a bit, not finding it at all surprising to be in this exact situation with Dylan. “I don’t think there’s anyone specific, though, no. I’m still just getting myself situated back here in Bradford, I haven’t had the time to start thinking about dating again.” There were always people she maintained a passing interest in, but nothing that stood out enough to ask Dylan to set her up with them.

-

“I have two brothers and their drama is enough to stress me out. Don’t you have a whole bus of siblings? All that talking just seems like you’d have no time for anything else. What happens when multiple of you have problems at once? Do you play rock paper scissors to find out whose trauma gets unpacked first?” Opening up to Rhys already was hard enough for Dylan, often coming once she’s reached the point she can no longer handle it alone. Dylan blinks slowly at the idea of having no problems. Sounds fake. “Mmm, be nosy and want my friends to enjoy themselves? Yes, truthfully so.” Dylan wasn’t shameful for her behaviour. On a night out Dylan had no problem becoming a wingwoman to her friends, even using the line ‘Have you met Ted?’ from How I Met Your Mother to get conversations started with strangers. Of course the name was swapped out accordingly. “We will change that. At least we can do is get you laid... or like a little smooch, or company. Whatever your limits are, I know people. Let me think on it and I’ll work something out for you.”

“You know me - always braggin’ round the watering hole.”  Dodge cast one more look back at the rental lady before carefully untying his worn boots.  “You?  Be let out more?  If anything, they should lock you up and throw away the key,” he teased, leaning his chin on the crown of her head for a moment, a little affection amongst the playful jabs.  “Probably bowling shoes.  Not only can you do that year round, but I’m pretty sure more people bowl than go ice skatin’.  You need to be a lil graceful, which I am not, but I have you to lean on.”

-

“About your watering hole,” she snorts. It’s really not that funny but now she’s got herself laughing it’s turned into one of those moments everything feels funny. “Like a key could keep me in,” she scoffs, shaking her head until she feels the weight of his rest upon it. Instantly she smiles, her hand coming up to give him a light pet for the sweet touch. Dylan fed off affection especially from Dodge, he was such a comfort to her. “Yeah sure, I totally don’t plan to take you to the middle then skate away and watch you struggle,” she jokes, looking back at him with her nose scrunched up. “We are going to need drinks after this. To sooth the bruises on your booty.” She focuses up enough to get back to her shoe exchange, getting the skates on which give her a height boost once standing. For a moment she gets to be taller than Dodge, towering over him as she waits, and all too soon her dream is crushed when he stands leaving her face to face with his chest. “Rude” she mutters under her breath.

“Yeah, yeah - I’m lookin’ where I need to look.  Don’t forget I have a decent collection of bedpost notches - I’m just not crowds of people attractive.”  He trailed after her, a lanky, awkward shadow following her up to the counter, and when Dylan turned around to give him a completely straight faced retort, it took everything Dodge had not to burst out laughing.  He snorted, however, at the addendum, and choked back a louder laugh as the rental lady seemed over her job.  “Ten.” He quickly accepted the skates, grabbing Dylan’s arm and dragging her over to the nearest bench, entire body shaking with laughter.  “I know she seemed like a prude, but I think we really spiced that woman’s evening up.”

-

“Woah rockstar, brag much?” Dylan was just giving him a hard time now. The poor man was stuck with Dylan after a long day of behaving at work and now the potential of a weekend to play with ahead of her. Dylan lets out a whistle at his shoe size, wiggling her brows to the lady who was taking her money. “And not an inch shorter,” she gets out before Dodge is pulling her away. Dylan’s laugh is like a dogs bark, cutting through the music and crowd noise around them. “See, this is why they should let me out more. I give people culture, spice, and everything nice.” Dylan was rather chuffed with herself for making Dodge laugh, his enjoyment feeding into her own. She sits next to him, putting her body weight into his side as she lifts a booted foot up onto the bench to undo. “What’s worst: rental skates or rental bowling shoes?”

“Oh can it, blondie,”  Dodge muttered, face flushed a little, burying it into the crook of her neck.  Dodge, by all means, wasn’t unattractive, and he did fairly well for himself.  However, it was not lost on the baby Cannon that Cash was the one who got most of the looks in the family, leaving him and Striker to battle it out for most awkward looking.  “I don’t think there’s ever been a crowd that was tryin’ to get at me.”

“I can’t control my growth!”  He grumbled playfully, setting her down again, making sure she wouldn’t pull him down again as he did so.  “I think an hour should be good - I might freeze otherwise.”  He wasn’t super accustomed to the cold, and while he did enjoy ice skating, he was much happier in the summer.  “My feet are regular sized - it’s you who’s just way too small.”

-

“Maaaybe you’re just looking the wrong way,” Dylan opposes. After all, if Dylan had looked at him she is sure others have too. Sometimes she thinks Dodge just needs a confidence boost: it’s all about how you present yourself after all. First looks matter, and Dodge had plenty of personality to keep people around after that first glance. “If you freeze we can huddle together and pretend we’re penguins.”

“And yet, my cock is so much bigger than yours.” Dylan is unable to deliver it with a straight face, her smile doing very little to hide her amusement at dick jokes. Sometimes she is mentally ten years old. Her mind had jumped from shoe sizes to what they say shoe sizes match, no filter stopping her along the way. It’s then she realises they’re not actually alone, with the lady behind the counter giving Dylan an unimpressed look. “It’s purple with glitter if you’re wondering.” God, she needed to be locked away or something. “One size eight, please, and his average feet need a size..” Dylan trails off for Dodge to finish the sentence whilst she gets cash out to hand over. 

“I know Cora can bake but has anyone checked she can cook?” Is how Dylan greets Rhys, though her voice is in a hushed tone not to offend the host that just welcomed her into their house. She’s bee-lined for Rhys because he was the first normal thing she’d seen all day. Christmas morning with Dawson was a lot, he was very excited by her unexpected stay last night and have gone all out that morning. Sweet but a lot for the girl who usually was still asleep at this time of day on Christmas. “Sooo... Christmas at your girlfriends. How’s it going?”