A not so peaceful Christmas

by Platsmik

Summary:

Telamon is a bastard who made a child cry on Christmas

Notes:

Hi, my first fic, please tell me if you notice any mistakes:D
This is the first work in mine and my bestie's AU where Taph is Shed's kid and 1x1x1x1 is Telamon's kid (not really, but I don't wanna spoil;3)
Good luck reading!

Christmas was nearing. As usual, the very unstable but somewhat happy happy family got together. It's not like they rarely get together, but most of the times it ends up with the two brothers fighting over something insignificant, and fighting on Christmas is like a crime.

Brighteyes, being the wonderful cook she is, was in the kitchen, with 1x helping her. He loves to cook as well, but Telamon doesn't usually allow him to, so Brighteyes helps the boy with that. He's already 16 years old, therefore he must know how to feed himself, right?

Shedletsky is sitting behind closed doors, preparing presents. He can't let his little son Taph find out that Santa Claus isn't real, his tiny heart will shatter from that! While Taph tries to help Telamon decorate everything, he wants to be useful to his favorite uncle, but only seems to make everything more difficult. He keeps tripping over his own robes, not being high enough to reach top of the Christmas tree and door openings, and occasionally bumping into Telamon on an accident.

Telamon's patience was wearing thin until he snapped a little at the boy.

"Can you not?! You're making this all a lot more difficult than it needs to be." he harshly pushed Taph away, glaring at him. His wings slightly puffed up in annoyance, while the little one shrank under his glaze. Telamon sighed, remembering that he has to be not too harsh towards his “nephew”, or Shed won't be happy about it.

He crouched down to Taph's level and gently patted him on the back, being careful not to brush against wings. He then mumbled more to himself, "Why do you even do this anyway... Not even high enough to reach anything meaningful" on which Taph perked up, and with shaky hands started talking in sign language.

'I want to be good for Santa Claus and help you, uncle Telamon' his tiny head wings moved with excitement, feathers fluffing even more.

Telamon chuckled, but not in a good way. More like mockingly. "Santa Claus? You're already eight years old, and yet, still believe in Santa Claus" Taph, being highly confused at that, slightly tilted his head to the side. "Huh, seems like your dad actually never told you... Santa isn't real, he doesn't exist."

Taph's face fell as he stared back at his "uncle", not wanting to believe. But it's Telamon who said it, he would never lie... Little boy's eyes filled with tears, which immediately caught attention of Shedletsky who just finished packing presents. Taph noticing him ran up to him and tightly hugged, silently sobbing.

"Hey, buddy, what happened?.." the "father" asked, softly patting his child's head, being genuinely concerned. Last time Telamon was the cause of Taph's tears it wasn't good at all...

'Dad! Uncle said that-... That Santa Claus is not real!..' he signed, hands trembling with every movement. Little boy pressed himself into Shed, seeking comfort. The chicken-man sighed and looked at Telamon. Not annoyed, but rather tired.

"Taph, darling... I'm sure uncle is just joking... Don't take that seriously, okie?" Shedletsky smiled, looking down at the small pigeon, on which he nodded. "That's alright... Now go, decorate the tree!" and so Taph ran off. Shed already wanted to scold his brother, but his wife's voice stopped him.

"Boys! Dinner's ready, everybody gather in the living room!"

"We're coming!" he yelled back and then turned back to his brother. "Don't think I won't have a talk with you about that later." Shed said sternly and went to the living room where the other are.

The rest of the evening was peaceful, no fights and no arguments. It was good. Quiet.

Notes:

Phew, done, thank you for reading

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of Different feathered birds AU