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Under the Mistletoe (Literature)
🕑 Added 2020-12-27 19:15:13 +0000 UTCIt was the night before Christmas, and with all the picturesque storybook qualities you might expect from that phrase. Snow gently pattered the window pane and gathered in fluffy rows across the sill. The soft crackly laughter of the fire blotted out the wind, the distant caroling and cheering as the night came alive with multicolored lights, everything but the cheesy Christmas rom-com playing at a medium volume, but enough so that it felt like the world could melt away. In that moment, all there was, all there needed to be, was Candice and Mallory, spending Christmas Eve in their PJs and snuggled under blankets with hot mugs of cocoa, Candice’s house all to themselves. It was the night before Christmas, and at that moment, Candice felt like she finally understood the comfort that phrase was always meant to encapsulate.
Mallory giggled at some joke made by the helpless romantic of a main character. Though Candice had been too distracted to hear it, she laughed along with it into her mug of cocoa. The next time Mallory smiled over at her, Candice gestured to her with her mug. “Is the cocoa okay?”
Cupping both hands around her mug, Mallory nodded and took a big sip. “It’s really good! What brand is it?”
Candice grinned and posed up with the mug next to her face. “Candice brand! Okay, well… not from scratch or anything… But I put my own spin on it! A little cinnamon, a pinch of vanilla extract, some Christmas cheer…”
Mallory giggled so hard she nearly spilled her cocoa in setting the mug down! “It’s really good!” She smiled as she wipe a cocoa-mustache from her face. “My compliments to the chef!”
Candice beamed wide, then realized that something to eat *would* be nice! “Snacks?” Candice offered, to which Mallory eagerly nodded. Exaggeratedly kicking off her fleecy plaid blanket, Candice rose off the couch and nearly skipped across the living room to the kitchen. When she reached the pantry, Candice spent a good few minutes fretting about the shelves. What treat would make the night perfect? Popcorn? That’s basic… Something sweet? Candy canes? No, the mint would clash with the cocoa… Gingerbread cookies? They didn’t have any… Maybe I could make some with Mallory, Candice thought to herself! Maybe that’d be fun! Or fruitcake! Or figgy pudding, whatever that was! Agh, Christmas was so full of so many desserts!
“Candice!” Mallory called over from the other room. “Are you coming back or what?”
“Be right there!” Candice called back over her shoulder. She decided, ultimately, to just keep things simple, grabbing the bag of pretzels off the top shelf and filling a big enough bowl so they could share. She couldn’t help but want to be carried away… it was the holidays, after all! And the first Christmas with Mallory! Candice was buzzing with much excited nervous energy, she felt like she could run ten miles in the cold! She really wanted the night to go well… “Coming!” Candice called out as she clipped up the pretzel bag, scooped up the bowl, and merrily spun her way back into the living room.
“Back with the snack- BWAH!” Candice jumped back in surprise, fumbling the bowl and sending pretzels all over the carpet. As she had gone back to the kitchen, Mallory had stood up on the couch, bent over, and pulled down the back of her PJ pants! Candice nearly walked face-first into a bright white, bare ass moon! Mallory craned her neck to look behind herself, giggling and shaking her doughy backside.
Scoffing, Candice playfully planted a hand on Mallory’s right cheek and pushed. “That was surprising!” Mallory laughed harder as she dropped off the couch, shimmying her pants back up.
Bing bong! The doorbell rang, the muffled sound of caroling behind the door! Putting the now-half-full bowl of pretzels down on the coffee table, Candice looked over at Mallory to see her smirking with an impish charm, her thumbs still hooked over her waistband. It took Candice a second to realize what Mallory was silently suggesting… and then she smirked right back.
Mallory took her position in front of the door, turned around, and bent over, as Candice carefully gripped the knob of the front door. Swiftly, she yanked open the door, then darted next to Mallory and pulled down her own PJ pants. Hearing the door swing open, the carolers glanced up from their song books, spirited smiles ready and a song on their lips. But the first note came out as a collective gasp, as they looked up to see two full moons aimed their way! Candice and Mallory giggled and shook their bare keisters, sending the carolers running off aghast! Both girls collapsed to the floor and laughed until tears were in their eyes!
When the chill brought in by the wind became a bit much, Candice finally picked herself off the hardwood and went to shut the door. As the wind hissed along the jamb as the door closed, though, Candice heard something else: Mallory sighing. She turned around to see Mallory once again hike her dark-green tree-patterned PJ pants up and over her hiney, but her expression had plummeted. She almost looked like she was remembering something sad. The sudden shift in mood worried Candice.
Realizing she had yet to pull her own pants back up, Candice hastily recovered her exposed rear and hopped over to her crestfallen friend as she walked back into the living room. “Everything okay?”
Mallory blinked like she had been shaken out of a trance. “Hm? Oh, yeah! Yeah, everything’s great! Really,” she insisted when Candice still looked skeptical. “This has been a really nice night!”
Candice nodded, but still wasn’t entirely settled. Something in Mallory’s insistence felt almost forced. “Well,” she finally said, pretending to take an interest in readjusting a bough of holly hanging off the wall clock. “I’m glad! But… y’know… if something’s bothering you…”
Knowing well enough where this was going, Mallory sighed. “It was just… some random train of thought.” She nudged the half-empty bowl of pretzels aside and sat down on the coffee table, wringing her hands. “This night’s been so nice… it’s just the first time in a while I… that it felt like Christmas. And that just reminded me…” Mallory’s eyes got glassier as she trailed off.
Candice crouched around the coffee table scooping up the pretzels she’d dropped all over the floor. As she listened, she kept looking up at Mallory, and froze staring at her when Mallory trailed off. “Did… did something bad happen at Christmas?”
Mallory was quick to jump up - a print of her backside left in the dust on the table. “No, nothing like that! It’s just… at some point, Christmas really stopped being a thing at my house. And so it stopped being special. Guess I just forgot how it felt… Y’know, the Christmas spirit, and all that…” It sounded like a good thing to Candice, but Mallory’s tone was still somber.
Eager to get her friend’s frown back the other way around, Candice rushed over to the trash bin with what few pretzels she’d collected off the floor, then back over to grab Mallory’s hand. “Well… wanna finish the movie? Still pretty early, maybe we can squeeze in another after! Or we can bake cookies or something!”
Mallory looked up at Candice with grateful but sad puppy dog eyes before lightly pulling her hand out of Candice’s. “I… I think I’m gonna turn in early, if that’s alright. Kinda sleepy.”
“…okay…” Candice nodded, but she was reluctant to let the night end on a sour note. “Or… we could… Oh!“ Candice jumped. “The parade’s passing through soon! We could moon that! Would that be fun?”
Mallory thoughtfully wobbled her head, but didn’t smile. “I dunno. I’m just gonna go lie down. I’ll… Merry Christmas, Candice.” She smiled sweetly, then jogged up the stairs to guest bedroom she’d be staying in for the night.
“Wait! What about your present?” Candice called after her friend and watched her go with a twinge of sadness in her belly. She stood for a while at the bottom of the stairs, and when Mallory didn’t come back, Candice stomped over to the living room and sullenly plucked the remaining pretzels off the carpet. Occasionally, she’d glance up at the paused romcom and its tableau of cheesy, overdone drama, and she’d sigh. The night had been going so well! Was it not enough? I guess, Candice thought to herself, there wasn’t too much to make this night much different from any other night they were hanging out, just more colorful lights inside and out. Well, I’m not going to give up that easily! Candice silently, triumphantly stood, accidentally dropping most of the pretzels she had been picking up. I’m gonna give Mallory all the Christmas spirit I can! And I know just how to do it…
Candice fought her giggles as she zipped around the house to put together her plan. Even though Mallory and she agreed there wouldn’t be any gift exchange this year, Candice had wrapped up a little something for her friend: a voucher for Tasty’s Frozen Yogurt from their first (and last) day working together, the first day they met! The voucher had been one of the many collateral casualties of the day’s mixup, having been fished out of the yogurt spill. If you held it up to your nose, you could smell the Sweet and Tart that had soaked it! Candice thought it made for a nice souvenir from the day they met, and couldn’t wait to see the look on Mallory’s face! But the present wasn’t the plan…
Quiet as a mouse, Candice crept past the guest room and silently rummaged through her closet until she found it: an old, slightly-raggedy Santa suit from a part-time job a few years back (and not one Candice fondly remembered!). Candice balled up the lot of the matted fabric and snuck her way downstairs, nearly bursting at the seams to stop herself from giggling! Once back in the living room, Candice cast a glance over her shoulder, listened to be sure Mallory wasn’t up and shuffling around, then began worming her arms through the jacket sleeves. Candice wasn’t going to be the one delivering the gift… it would be Santa! Okay, well, she was still obviously going to look like Candice, but that wasn’t important! Candice’s plan was simple: dress up like Santa, drop out of the chimney, then hand a delighted Mallory her gift! She’d overflow with Christmas spirit! And most importantly, it’d ensure the night wasn’t a bust!
The plan hit a minor snag almost immediately. It had been a few years since Candice last wore the suit, and those years had seen her develop more… sizable assets. The suit wasn’t actually all that tight on her, but when she put on the jacket, it was just that little bit too tight that movement wasn’t exactly comfortable, and with how fleecy her PJ pants were, the trousers were an even tighter fit! She wouldn’t be wearing the suit long, but she’d need a greater range of motion to work with if she wanted to prop herself up in the chimney. Of course, there was one simple but slightly awkward solution: strip off her PJs, then don the suit. Which Candice would have done in a heartbeat… if she had been wearing underwear. The thought of putting her privates in the cheap, time-worn fabric of a mall-based Santa outfit grossed her out a bit. But she’d thoroughly washed it since then, and it’d only be for a bit! So after checking again to ensure not a creature stirred in the house, Candice cast the costume aside, dropped her pants, then pulled her penguin-patterned sleep-shirt over her head. Quickly and quietly, she then balled up her PJs and stowed them behind the couch, then dressed herself in the Christmas colors. The cheeky side of her hesitated before donning the costume entirely, wondering if she shouldn’t just try the plan naked! Definitely would make it a moment to remember! But this was about the Christmas spirit! And what would be more festive than Candice Claus coming down the chimney?
Once properly attired in the clothes of Father Christmas, Candice couldn’t help but dance around in front of the Christmas tree, ready to put her plan into action! She stowed Mallory’s present in a little brown satchel stitched to the back of the Santa jacket, then spun the dial beside the fireplace to turn off the flames. “Mallory!” Candice called out in a singsongy voice that was intentionally quite loud to mask the sound of her sliding the iron fireplace grate out of the hearth. “Can you come down a sec? I wanna show you something!”
As soon as Candice heard Mallory’s muffled call back that she’d be right down, Candice giggled to herself and crouch-walked into the fireplace. She stood up in the pitch-dark chimney slowly and carefully. Not exactly roomy, but enough room for Candice to wiggle around a bit! Imagining in glee what Mallory’s face would look like seeing her drop into the fireplace, Candice wormed her arms away from her sides and pushed her hands into the bricks around her, bit by bit climbing enough up the chimney that her boots could not longer be seen! Suspended in the chimney by her hands and feet carefully planted against the walls of the chimney, Candice Claus was in position and ready for action! And she could hear Mallory pattering down the stairs…
“Candice?” Mallory called out. “Candice? What’d you want to show me?” Candice could hear Mallory’s voice echo up the chimney from different angles, getting louder as she got closer and moving around as she searched for Candice. “Candice? Where are you?” Candice could hardly keep her giggles in! She felt like she’d burst! Mallory was right in the room! Patience, Candice told herself… wait for the right moment…
Candice heard Mallory again, quieter but MUCH closer than before. “Brr… so cold in here…” A shadow at the foot of the hearth blocked out some of the tree lights. Mallory was right in front of the fireplace! Now’s the time! Santa’s coming to town!
A delighted “Ho Ho Ho!” was on the tippy-tip of Candice’s tongue when she froze. What was clicking? And why was Mallory still in front of the fireplace?
FWOOSH! Right beneath Candice, the fireplace started back up! Oh no, Candice realized! Mallory turned the fireplace back on! Orange fire snapped just a foot beneath where Candice was hiding! This was NOT part of the plan!
“Candice? Mallory called again. Candice could hear the grating of the grate being slid back in front of the fireplace, then Mallory called out again from farther away. “Candice?”
“Mallory!” Candice called out, but either she was too quiet, the fire crackling too loudly, or a bit of both! This wasn’t good! Mallory wasn’t there anymore, and the heat was making Candice’s hands all sweaty! She was losing her purchase in the chimney! She slid and inch down, but fought to get back up! How high could she climb? There wasn’t any way out at the top! And she was sweating from the heat… her hands were slipping… She tried to walk her legs up the wall in front of her and push her back more into the wall to try and wedge herself in place…
“AAHHH!” Finally, Candice’s palms got too sweaty, she missed a step on the wall, and she plummeted the short ways down the chimney! Her legs got stretched up and she slid down the brick tube in an awkward V shape, meaning the first thing to touch ground was her signature bubble butt…
“WHOAAAHHHHHHHHH!” Candice squealed as her buns roasted on the hot logs!
Frantically thrashing and kicking, Candice wormed the rest of her body down the chimney and kicked the fireplace grate out of the way and into the coffee table as she tumbled into the living room! “HOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOT!!!!!!!” Candice swatted at the flames burning her backside as she scrambled to her feet and shot across the room in a mad dash to the backyard! She nearly kicked the back door off its hinges and practically jumped over the deck stairs to get down to the backyard covered in cold, cold snow! As soon as her boots crunched flakes, Candice planted her own back door in the snow and immediately felt relief!
“Ahhhh…” Candice sighed a puff into the freezing night air, hugging her knees and shimmying her cheeks deeper into the ground as the snow cooled them off. Candice had thought her ass had felt like it was on fire before… she had no idea!
Mallory’s present! In an instant, Candice snapped her head up and reached her hands around herself to pat at her back and feel for the sewn-on satchel, and breathed another sigh of relief. The satchel didn’t feel damaged, and she could hear the wrapping paper crinkle where she patted. Whew… at least that was okay…
“Candice? Candice?”
Again, Candice snapped to attention. She craned her neck up and saw a few locks of Mallory’s purple hair bouncing out from the back doorway. “Candice? Are you out here? Candice?” But before Candice could so much as consider whether or not she should call up or not, Mallory shivered and disappeared from sight, the back door shut, and the tumblers locked.
If not out of care for the present on her back, Candice would have fallen down in the snow in defeat. What a bust! All that work for a pair of singed butt cheeks and Mallory to probably be worried out of her mind! Candice sighed and saw her breath again as she stood and brushed the snow off her keister before looking behind herself to check out the damage: the seat of her Santa pants were scorched all the way off, and what she could see of her bubble butt cheeks was as red as Christmas ornaments. Wouldn’t this be a fun one to explain… Butt still stinging, Candice trekked up the hill to the front yard, no options left but the front door, trying to think up how she’d do just that to Mallory. Hopefully she at least wouldn’t make the night any worse for her…
As Candice crested the hill and could see the street, though, she froze, and not from the chill. It was Christmas Eve and most everyone in town was in one way or another preparing for the Christmas parade the town held. Kids put finishing touches on snow people, competitive neighbors were stringing up more spools of lights to outshine one another, but one person on the sidewalk caught Candice’s eye: they wore a long, dark purple coat, and underneath a pink and white bobble hat, their hair was a dark red candy color.
“Candice?”
Emma? Why was Emma there?! She lived on the other side of the county! Why would she be in Candice’s neighborhood, on the sidewalk right in front of her house?! Seeing an obviously-haggard Candice jog up, Emma turned and frowned, confused and a little concerned. “You look like hell. What happened?”
It took Candice a second to snap back to her senses and sputter out a coherent reply. “I-… er… E-Emma! What- what are you doing here?! At my house?!”
Emma’s eyes widened for barely half a second, just enough for Candice to notice. She slid one of her hands deeper into the front of her coat. “Just… passing by. Getting ready for the parade.”
The parade? Why would Emma care about the parade? Candice squinted harder to make out Emma’s hand in her jacket. She was holding something big… “Yeah… yeah,” she idly responded as she looked harder to see what it was. “That… that’s tonight…”
“Yeah… I know…” Candice realized she was staring at Emma’s chest area for far too long like a weirdo and snapped upright to attention. Emma was frowning harder, but ultimately rolled her eyes and started walking away. “Well…” She paused as if something was on the tip of her tongue, then she just sighed and walked away. “Merry Christmas.” And so Emma power-walked down the sidewalk, walking she she was determined to get somewhere…
I should get back inside, Candice thought to herself. Mallory’s probably worried. But curiosity kept her in place. Whatever Emma was up to, it couldn’t be good… Had Candice caught her about to do something to her house? Was Emma about to ruin her night? What if she was just walking away to come back later? Better to follow her, Candice resolved. She was done letting Emma walk all over her! Gotta be sure she’s not going to stick her bratty nose somewhere it didn’t belong and ruin Christmas! Besides, it’d give Candice time to come up with a good explanation for when she got back to Mallory…
A chill reminded Candice that her back door was still open. She gasped and was quick to throw her hands behind herself, even though she was facing front towards the street where everyone was. She couldn’t follow Emma with her butt hanging out! Her solution wasn’t the greatest, but it kept her rear end covered: Candice took off her Santa hat and dropped it down the back of what remained of her pants. Because of the triangle shape, the tops of her butt cheeks weren’t entirely hidden, and the puff at the hat’s tip made it look like she had a weird tail, but it’d have to do! Butt covered up, Candice set off after Emma, to see what the redheaded bully might be up to!
Of course, it’s difficult to be inconspicuous in a bright red Santa outfit. Thankfully, Emma’s equally-conspicuous hair color made it easy to keep track of her from the other end of the block or so that Candice kept between them. Though Candice was acting all sneaky after her, ducking when Emma turned corners and crouching behind snowmen built in various yards, she probably didn’t have to, she realized. People shoveling their driveways or overseeing their kids playing in the snow would wave at her with funny looks, and eventually Candice realized she probably could just walk like a normal human being. To everyone else, she probably just looked as excited as anyone else for the Christmas parade! And no one seemed to notice her slapdash patch job covering her butt, but it weighed on Candice’s mind like a lump of coal! Even when she switched to a more casual mode of pursuit, she kept her hips turned whichever direction was away from the eyes of the neighborhood!
Speaking of the parade, it wasn’t long before Emma was passing through thick of things, cutting through the stretch of the neighborhood in which the parade was being set up! Dozens of families and volunteers crowded around extravagant papier-mâché floats of Santa’s sleigh and the reindeer to go with it, as the big man himself stroked his beard and waved down from the biggest float, all the children gathering around shouting what they really wanted that year. String of Christmas lights flashed between red and green, and some of the smaller floats with big candy canes on them were getting leashed up to pairs of horses. It always seemed like too much to Candice, but seeing everyone in the neighborhood come together like they were doing was always heartwarming to her.
However, her heart was very cold right about then. With the parade about to start, the crowd was getting too thick to navigate through! “Excuse me!” Candice yelped as she tried to muscle through. “Trying to get through!” But so many people streaming every which way buried her voice in the crowd, and no one even batted an eye! “Excuse me- AH!” Candice was finally pushed back by some big parent that was apparently tired of the girl shouting in their ear! “Oof!” Candice fell to the ground hard in a huff. Merry Christmas indeed!
Worried about how she might get through, Candice went up on her tiptoes. Emma was getting away! But this crowd was so packed into the street! Still tippy-toed to her tallest, Candice desperately looked all across the sea of people for some opening. The only space Candice could spot through which she could move was through the parade setup. That’d be okay, right? She was just passing through, she wouldn’t be in the way for long! Emma was getting further away…
Taking a deep breath, Candice jogged around the outside of the crowd, past all the people and all the way around until she could slip in between the floats. “Excuse me!” Candice grinned and waved as she sidled by all the volunteers in between the floats and the SUVs lining the block. “Sorry! Just trying to cross the street! Merry Christmas!” Barely anyone paid her much mind, but those that did were eager enough to wish her a Merry Christmas right back! At least some people felt the spirit! Everyone she passed seemed to get cheerier! She even heard someone whistling Christmas songs!… Wait… that wasn’t a song… was it a… wolf-whistle?
Aghast, Candice threw her hands behind herself and her fears were realized. Her hat was gone! It must have slipped out of her pants when she was running, or maybe when that jerk pushed her! How many people did Candice just pass that got an eyeful of her bare ass crack?!
“Ho ho ho!” Gulping, Candice glanced up and saw Santa himself waving down at her from atop the sleigh float. “I like your outfit!” he complimented Candice. Hands glued to her bared backside, Candice could only grin sheepishly up at the man in red before taking off at a much faster speed, desperate to make it out of the parade!
A little tent was pitched up ahead! Candice recognized it from the year she herself volunteered! It’s where the horses were kept warm until they were brought out to pull the smaller floats! With the parade nearly ready, there wouldn’t be many people in there! So Candice made a beeline for the detour, hoping to pass right through and get away from all the activity before the entire neighborhood saw her butt!
The warmth greeting Candice as she passed through the flap was immediately gratifying. To her surprise, however, she wasn’t alone in the tent: one last pair of horses tilted their heads up as she came in, a pair of beautiful chestnut-brown clydesdales! Immediately, one padded over to Candice as she tried to dart past and began nuzzling her with its snout. “Hey there guy! Hey, sorry but I gotta…” But the horse kept nuzzling, and Candice couldn’t help but stop and stroke its snout. “Aww… you are such a sweetie! How’d you get so sweet?” Candice ran her fingers through the horse’s mane. Did the horse remember her? She helped with the horses a bit when she volunteered, had this been one of them? “Hey there,” Candice cooed. “That’s a good boy.” After a few more scratches, Candice began backing away, remembering she had a redhead to find! “I’m gonna go now, okay? Okay…” Candice slowly lifted her hands off the horse’s snout… only to get shove forward from behind!
“Whoa!” Candice spun around and saw the other horse lifting and lowering its head again and again, nickering and pawing the asphalt beneath its hooves. “Easy there! Easy!” Candice backed up as the horse advanced, clearly not as open to sharing its space as its twin! “Easy! Easy!” As the horse snorted, Candice turned to run, only to trip over the curb! Next thing she knew, she was on her hands and knees, and something was pulling at her! No… pulling at her *pants*!
“Bad horse! Bad!” Candice shouted as she tried to crawl away, but the angry horse had lowered its head and clomped its stupid horse teeth down on her Santa pants! It jerked and jerked and shook its head like mad, pulling hard so the pants’ waistband dug into Candice’s hips, more and more fabric being stretched away from her freezing hiney! Candice could hear stitches popping! “Stop it! Stop it!” Candice tried so hard to crawl out of the tent, but that only made the pulling even worse! Her pants were completely off her butt, and only barely clinging to her thighs! But Candice kept fighting!
Out of the corner of her eye, then, Candice saw the shape of the second horse loom over her, but her relief quickly turned into an angry cry of “Not you too!” Soon enough, the same pulling pressure was tugging at her pant leg! “Nooo! I hate horses!” Candice cried out as she kicked and struggled, losing the battle of keeping her pants above her knees! “Stop! Stop!-“
RIP!
Candice was interrupted by the stitches finally giving way! Her pants were torn from her body as she tumbled out of the tent, sliding face-first across the snowy ground. Immediately, she shot up like a rocket, swatting the snow out of her jacket! “COLD COLD COLD!” Candice frantically rubbed down the front of her jacket and shook snow out of her, only to pause when she looked all the way down and looked up her bare, slender legs, until her eyes landed on her bare crotch! She was bare-assed pantless outside! “EEK!” Candice squealed!
Hurriedly, Candice spun around to run back into the tent and get her pants back, only to freeze upon hearing some stranger’s gentle voice and seeing their silhouette moving inside the tent. “Alright you two, last ones out! About time we got this show on the-… Now what is that you got there? Here, give it… Have you lot been sneaking around the costume department?”
If the horse wrangler said anything more, Candice didn’t hear it as she sprinted away from the tent as fast as her legs could take her, hands behind her over her exposed bubble butt! She dashed to the first bit of cover her eyes landed on: a sizable snowman built on a yard behind the parade set-up! Without a moment’s hesitation, Candice sipped behind the snowman, crouching down behind his base and peering around his body. No one seemed to see her… but what was she going to do? Where did Emma go? She couldn’t see anything through the crowd! And oooooooh was it COLD! Shivering in place behind the snowman, Candice rubbed her hands up and down her thighs, every part of her from the waist down ice-cold! Except her butt cheeks, which were still singed from the fireplace! In fact, the cold felt pretty good on them… What a Christmas Eve this was turning out to be! Candice quickly patted the satchel and sighed with relief feeling Mallory’s present still safely stowed inside!
Mercifully, she didn’t have long to wait before an ear-splittingly-loud rendition of ‘Jingle Bells’ blasted out of Santa’s float, and the parade slowly began moving forward, followed by the cheers of all the families from around the neighborhood! From there, Candice waited for what felt like an eternity for the song to get quieter with distance. After long enough, Candice chanced peeking out again. The crowd was very quickly thinning, either following the parade or just going back inside. There! Emma! Way down a few blocks! Admittedly, Candice was hesitant to get back on the redhead’s trail - what with only a single, ugly Santa jacket being her only stitch of clothing left - but she had come too far to just ignore Emma now! She could be up to something, something that could ruin this night even more-
PFFF!
“Yowch!” Candice jumped nearly three feet in the air as a snowball burst against her bare butt! Rubbing the point of impact, Candice spun around to see a pair of young boys scooping more snow off the ground and packing it into more ammo.
“I hit her butt!” one of the boys jeered. “500 points!”
“Nuh uh!” the other said. “It’s too easy to hit for 500!”
“Hey!” Candice whined before realizing she needed to get out of there ASAP! “Don’t look!” she very futilely cried out as she sprinted away, as snowballs shot past her on both sides! Why did every kid with snowballs have the same idea when she was around?!
Getting back on Emma’s trail was a lot harder from that point on! With both hands clasped over her crotch, her bubble buns freezing out in the elements, Candice ducked behind bushes, hedges, and lawn decorations, being very careful in peeking out to keep an eye on where Emma was heading! The Santa jacket was too small to be pulled down for any sort of coverage, meaning Candice had only her hands and what she could duck behind to cover her private parts! Candice had to crouch and wait for long stretches before she saw no one else around and could make a break for it! But her run was far from stealthy! Most times she was bent low behind an inflatable decoration, the owner would see her crouching and scare her off the lawn! More than once she was racing past a house with its lights on, only to look over aghast and find one or two of the people living there leering out at her! Embarrassed as all get-out, there wasn’t much Candice could do but sheepishly grin and race away, covering as much of herself as she could! But through it all, she kept on Emma’s trail! Where was she going? Much longer and Candice thought she might freeze to death, if embarrassment didn’t do her in first!
On one home’s lawn, Candice crouched behind a low hedge, slowly rising up to peer over and locate Emma again, only to see her standing right at the door to that same house! Stifling her gasp of surprise, Candice dropped to the ground before very slowly sitting up for another peek. Emma was standing still in front of the door. Candice could see her breaths billowing out very calmly. Her hand was still tucked into her jacket, over whatever she was hiding…
Why here? Candice quickly studied the house. Kind of an off-yellow paint job… shingle roof… not too big, but two floors… It seemed weirdly familiar. Emma was still at the door. What was she waiting for?
Finally, with one hand Emma rang the door bell, and with the other, she pulled out what she had been hiding in her coat… It was shiny, but hard to properly make out from Candice’s hiding spot. A minute passed, then Candice heard the door open. Emma stood up taller, a hopeful smile on her lips.
“Hi… Hannah! Your mom said you’d be here…”
Hannah?! What was she doing there?! That wasn’t her house… Wait… That’s her friend’s house! Claire! That gave Candice a bit of pause. Why wasn’t Hannah at her own house on Christmas Eve? And why was Emma looking for her?
Emma’s voice had dropped low, so Candice couldn’t quite hear what was being said. Curious and worried as she was about what the two of them might have been discussing, Candice carefully climbed into the yard and crouched across the snow. There was a window on the first floor just up ahead, next to a small evergreen! Maybe she could see something there…
“…about everything,” Candice caught as she crouched up to the window. Emma’s voice was a bit murmury, but audible enough. Candice couldn’t see her from her spot at the window, though, just Hannah from the back. The blonde bully was clad in unflattering grey sweats, with her hands on her hips in a posture that said she wasn’t in a mood to take any crap.
“…I took things too far…” Emma continued. “And… I’m sorry.” A pause. Hannah’s posture didn’t shift. “I… I got you something! M-Merry Christmas!” Candice leaned closer and saw Hannah reach her hands up and accept something: a nicely-sized present wrapped in gold paper with a violet bow tied over the top. Candice watched intently as Hannah simply held the gift box, standing so still Candice could have sworn time had stopped.
Then Hannah abruptly spun on her heel. Gasping, Candice quickly dropped out of sight of the window! She listened on high alert for any sounds suggesting she’d been caught, but she didn’t quite hear any. What she did hear was difficult to identify: a loud hiss and a persistent crackling sound. Then heavy strikes like stomping feet. Then what was unmistakably a door slamming shut.
Cautiously, Candice peeked over the window sill. Hannah had vanished - though Candice could hear her voice muffled somewhere in the house along with what she assumed was Claire’s - and the front door was clearly closed. Standing up a bit more, Candice scoured Hannah’s living room to figure out what had just happened, but all the decorations seemed to be in place and the furniture untouched. But then she saw the fireplace, and what had been thrown inside: Emma’s gift, gold paper peeling off the box in smoking tatters.
SNAP!
“YEEEP!” Candice jumped straight in the air, hands flying back to her butt! Something just whipped across her burnt backside, and it stung like hell! How much rump abuse was she going to take that night?! Her butt was going to be sore until next Christmas…
She quickly turned around and saw Emma clapping snow from her mittens, frowning daggers at Candice. Emma had pulled back a branch from the snow-coated evergreen Candice was perched beside, then let it whip back across Candice’s exposed butt! “What are you doing?!” Emma barked at the half-dressed dork creeping around Hannah’s house.
Candice brushed snow and bristles off her butt and glared at Emma. “W-what are YOU doing?”
“Why are you here?!” Emma asked.
“Why are YOU here?!” Candice countered.
“Where are your *pants*?!”
Perhaps the most valid question of all. Candice glanced down and remembered how she was naked from the hips down, her crotch bared to the elements. Hannah had an inflatable Santa decoration on her lawn, and Candice hopped behind the “Happy Holidays!” sign he was holding for some cover. She didn’t realize the Santa was waving the sign, though, meaning her cover continually went back and forth from covering her private parts, but she never noticed and neither girl truly cared at that point. “I… er… I!… well…” Candice had a tough time putting together an explanation that wouldn’t make her sound like a stalker or a pervert! “You see…”
Emma’s frown got snarlier as she interrupted, “Seriously, what are you doing creeping around Hannah’s house… almost completely naked?!”
Literally nothing Candice could say in defense of herself would sound good, so she changed the subject. “Well… why are YOU here? I thought Hannah hated you!”
Emma’s expression abruptly fell, but only for a moment. “She doesn’t hate me…” Her expression fell a second time, but she quickly shook it off and lowered her voice. “How much did you hear?” Then she frowned. “Were you stalking me? You creep! Do you not have anything better to do?!”
“I’m not a creep!” Candice snipped, only to remember her state of undress and crouch a bit lower behind the Santa decoration. “And what about you? Do you not have anything better to do than to pester people trying to enjoy their Christmas?”
Emma turned solemn very quickly. “I was bringing her a gift-“
“She doesn’t like you! No one likes you!” Candice shouldn’t be yelling so loud, she realized, but part of her didn’t care. “Because you’re a brat!”
Emma’s solemn expression was getting heavier. “You better watch what you say… you dork…”
Candice just folded her arms, stood up taller, and spoke with more power than she ever had before. “No! You’re a brat! You stripped my best friend naked in the middle of broad daylight, and for what? For a laugh? You’re despicable! No wonder Hannah threw your gift away! No wonder all your friends abandoned you! No wonder you’re the laughing stock of the school!”
Emma was scowling so hard her face looked ready to shatter. “Candice, I mean it-“
“You’re a brat, and you’ve had this coming for a long time! You deserve to lose your friends!” Fuming, Candice spun on her heels, threw both hands over her exposed butt, and marched away. Why even bother? Why even come here? What a joke…
“I’m sorry.”
Candice stopped in her tracks. Had she heard that right? No way she did… but Candice was frozen to the spot, and not literally. Slowly, skeptically, she turned back around to face Emma. Her red hair covered her face like crimson curtains as her head hung low, her arms folded tight around herself. “I… I’m sorry,” she quietly croaked a second time.
Candice felt struck dumb. She wouldn’t have expected those words out of Emma’s mouth in a million years. “Um…”
“Look.” Emma’s voice wasn’t raised out of anger anymore. “What I did to your friend… I wasn’t…” Emma groaned and began agitatedly kicking at the snow. “It’s like… one day I was at the top. Next thing I know…” She lifted her head so an amber eye peered out from between her red locks. “I’m a bigger loser than you.”
Candice wasn’t sure she believed any of that, but it still gave her pause. She turned the rest of the way back to Emma, ready to hear her out.
Emma sighed deeply and sadly. “I was an idiot. I took a swing at Hannah, for no better reason than just… I didn’t wanna be second fiddle anymore.” Emma formed fists and her eyes glistened. “Then everything after that… just kept getting worse and worse. Constantly being stripped and humiliated in front of everyone… losing all my friends… probably never even really were my friends…” she muttered just loud enough for Candice to catch. “So when I saw your friend,” Emma directed at her, “I thought… ‘here’s a chance. Here’s someone beneath me.” They both knew how that had turned out. After stopping a moment with an expression like she was seeing all the crowds all at once, Emma swallowed and continued. “After that I realized… I realized what a… horrible bitch I’ve been. I… I didn’t even know her. And what I did to her… Everything I’ve put you through, it was… I’m sorry. I mean it. And I know you don’t trust me. None of what I’m saying probably means anything to you. But…” She swallowed again and spoke very clearly, putting effort into getting every single word right. “I hope… I hope I can somehow make it up to you. I wanna be better. I’m… I’m not gonna bully you anymore. I promise.” And she stared at Candice with big, full eyes, arms still crossed tight like she wanted to make herself so small she might disappear.
It took what felt like ages for the words to seep into Candice’s brain and make sense. And when they did… she shook her head. “I… I don’t…” Candice just shook her head again. “You’re right. That doesn’t mean anything to me. You say whatever you want, I’m not falling for it!” Some nearby noises prompted Candice to talk louder. “The second I let my guard down, you’re just gonna humiliate me all over again! It’s not gonna work! So just go away-“
Candice suddenly realized why she needed to talk so loud. Sounds were approaching them: engines running, hooves clopping, and carols being sung. Candice’s body went numb. The- the Christmas parade! It was turning down the street! And Candice had no pants on! Car headlights swept over her stock-still body! The parade was coming too fast for her to hide, and there wasn’t even any place she *could* hide! Everyone was gonna see her standing there with no pants on, if not spotting her crotch, then feasting their eyes on her bare bubble butt! There had to be a hundred people coming her way! Candice was stricken mortified! She would never live this down!
But then something unexpected happened: Emma stepped in front of her. By the time Candice realized what was going on, at least a quarter of the parade had gone by. Emma stood right in front of Candice, blocking her from the sight of dozens and dozens of waving neighbors. Again, Candice was stunned. What was happening? Seeing Emma come at her, a thousand scenarios had raced through Candice’s mind, scenarios like Emma holding her in place bent over to show off her ass to the parade, or Emma holding Candice down on the ground keeping her legs spread apart for the neighborhood to gawk at! But what Emma did was… help her. She kept her covered… and it was unreal to Candice!
Emma held her position until the last car rounded the corner and the clopping of hooves was far, far away. She then turn around to Candice with a very serious, silently insistent expression.
Candice would have never believed Emma’s words, but her actions struck Candice dumb. It took her a long time to put together enough sense to speak. “…even if you really did mean it… there’s someone else you need to apologize to.”
Emma frowned, but not angrily. She almost looked… nervous. “She… Your friend would never forgive me.”
Nor should she, Candice silently replied. But there was something in Emma’s eyes that softened her anger. Candice couldn’t help her sympathy for Emma getting so publicly humiliated… and more than a little twinge of guilt knowing she was personally responsible for some of those occasions. Maybe she did take things a bit too far… but it wasn’t like Emma didn’t deserve it! Still… It seemed so impossible a snob like Emma could feel any guilt, but… if she really meant it… since Candice played a part in getting to to that point… it only seemed right to help her on the right path.
And so Candice sighed. “Her name is Mallory. And if you really meant what you said, being better… that’d be a start.”
—
With the parade gone and past, the way back to Candice’s house didn’t take very long, but time doesn’t move so fast for a girl with no pants and ice-cold legs! Thankfully it was late enough that most everyone was back inside, but even then, Candice was surprised to have Emma help keep her out of sight! She walked super close in front of Candice to keep those parts out of sight, while Candice covered her butt with Emma’s bobble hat! Emma had insisted Candice hang onto it, even though Candice didn’t really want it or trust the help! But they made their way through the streets, and no one saw Candice ass-out-streaking… So far Emma was proving herself, but Candice still wasn’t entirely trustful…
When they finally rounded the corner onto Candice’s street, they immediately spotted Mallory on the front porch. The poor, distraught girl was shivering like mad, huddled up in Candice’s sea-foam bathrobe and calling out for her missing friend! When Mallory saw Candice and Emma all bunched up like they were, she didn’t recognize them at first. Upon realizing it was Candice coming up the walk, Mallory cried out in joy, “Candice!!”, and darted down the front steps to greet her with a hug! “I was so worried! Where’d you go? And what are you wearing?” Mallory then drew back from the embrace a bit and blushed. “…and where are your pants?” Then she noticed Emma lurking nearby, kicking at the snowdrifts on the driveway. “Wait, and why are you with her? What’s going on? What happened?”
Candice quickly reached back out, put her hands on Mallory’s shoulders, and gently began pushing her back towards the house. “Hey! I’m sorry if I scared you! But can I explain inside? I’m FREEZING out here!”
As Candice guided Mallory back into the house, she cast a glance over her shoulder to see if Emma was following. At first she wasn’t, just standing on the driveway with her head down and her arms crossed. When she finally looked up, Candice raised her eyebrows and nodded towards the front door. With a sigh Candice could tell she tried to make silent, Emma rigidly followed the others inside.
“Aaaaaaah!” Candice was practically shuddering when the door shut behind her and rejuvenating warmth brought life back to her frozen lower body! Stomping the snow off her feet and rubbing her goose-pimpled thighs, Candice glanced up to see Emma backed up against the door with the same head-down-arms-crossed stance from before.
Mallory stood at the opposite end of the parlor, her own arms folded and a frown across her face. Flickering fireplace light from down the hall made her eyes look like a darker blue. “What is she doing here?”
Candice looked over at Emma, but the redhead was still shyly looking down. It made Candice hesitate for a second, seeing how genuinely nervous Emma was to do this. Maybe it really was hard for her… “Well…” Candice inched over and grabbed Emma’s wrist. “Emma here… She wants to tell you something.” Candice guided Emma a few steps closer to Mallory, even as Emma looked at her with wide, terrified eyes. But Candice held firm and pulled her until she was standing right in front of Mallory - who backed out of arm’s reach as Emma got closer.
Emma was silent for a long time. She took deep breaths and swallowed before finally looking up at Malloy. “…I’m sorry. I’m sorry I… that I made you skateboard through town… naked… I’m… I’m trying to not… be like that… anymore… Really…” Her volume got quieter and quieter as she lowered her head. “…sorry…”
As far as Candice could tell, Mallory’s expression didn’t change, but she was silent for much longer than Emma had been. Emma kept staring at her, but Mallory had looked away, impassive but obviously in thought. Then, she finally answered: “…kiss my ass.”
Even Candice could tell how far Emma’s mood fell. The redhead bit her lip, but nodded. “I get it…”
“No, no,” Mallory quickly interrupted, realizing how what she said sounded. “I meant… like…” After fumbling with words for a few more seconds, Mallory clumsily turned her back on Emma, bent at the hips, and pulled her PJ pants down to moon her bare butt at Emma. “I mean… prove it.” Mallory reached back and pointed to her bare booty. “Kiss my ass.”
Emma glanced sidelong at Candice, who just shrugged. Her test was right in front of her. Up to her to take it.
After a contemplative moment, Emma sighed and stepped closer to the mooning Mallory. Hands on her knees, Emma hesitated, before finally puckering her lips and slowly lowering her face to Mallory’s butt, planting a peck on the right cheek, then the left. Then she pulled back and stood up, quietly making ‘ech’ noises.
Mallory turned around slowly - pulling her pants back up - but she didn’t seem satisfied, still frowning. She folded her arms. “What you did was really mean,” she told Emma. “I’m not gonna forgive you for it right away.” Candice saw Mallory’s fists tighten, but her next words came out softer. “You’re gonna have to do more than that…”
Emma nodded very insistently. “Totally get it. And I mean it. I’m gonna do better.”
Mallory took another moment to really think it over… before nodding without smiling. “Okay.” Emma smiled, and after long, Mallory couldn’t resist turning up the corner of her mouth a little. While the bad blood wouldn’t go away… for the moment, there was a promise that it eventually could.
After a long enough silence, Emma fake-coughed into a fist and side-eyed Candice. “So, uh… you gonna put on pants?”
Remembering her state of total pantslessness, Candice sheepishly covered her crotch. “Here,” she said as she undid her Santa jacket, meaning to wrap it around her waist to cover up.
What she had forgotten was that she hadn’t worn a shirt or anything under the jacket. Candice realized her lapse in judgment right as she pulled the jacket off, flashing the others with complete frontal nudity. Both girls’ eyes widened. Candice blushed.
The jacket fell from Candice’s hands. Her first instinct was to cover herself with her hands, but she thought about it a second. “You know what?” Candice put her hands on her hips, breasts bouncing as she stood taller. “Why don’t I just stay like this all night?” She nodded at an amused Emma. “If you really mean all that stuff you said, then you wouldn’t take this opportunity to prank me or anything… right?”
Emma’s response was the only one Candice could have never anticipated. “I’ll do you one better.” The redhead reached down and delicately unfastened her belt, unzipped her zipper, and dropped her jeans around her ankles. Her panties had little candy canes on them! Emma then gripped the bottom of her t-shirt and lifted up, up and over her head, no the garment beneath, her milky boobs flopping freely as she shook out her red locks and tossed the shirt to the side. Finally - to a stunned audience - Emma hooked her thumbs over her panties’ waistband and worked them all the way down her shapely legs and stepped out of them. Emma planted her own hands on her hips in a weird sense of pride, just as butt naked as Candice! After standing tall with an almost prideful pomp that made her breasts bounce, Emma turned her back to Candice and gently bent at the hips, offering Candice her tight set of bare buns! “Hit me with your worst,” Emma invited with a shake of her hips. “I owe you that much.”
Candice stared at Emma’s proffered pale cheeks for a while before hesitantly raising a hand, though not very high. Maybe it was the surprise, but all the rage Candice had felt before, the scorching memories and vindictiveness she felt towards Emma earlier… it was all gone. No more anger. Candice hovered her hand an inch over Emma’s round butt, before sighing and letting her arm fall to her side. “How about we watch a movie instead?”
Emma craned her neck around to look at Candice, face caught between a frown and a smirk. “You sure?”
Candice nodded and pointed past the nude redhead. “I’m sure. Living room’s through there. Wait there for us?”
Emma grinned and nodded before straightening and strutting through the parlor, to the fire-lit living room up ahead.
“Um, you can put your clothes back…” Candice trailed off as Emma’s pale ass strut out of sight through the living room entryway, all her clothes still piled up by the welcome mat. Candice shuddered a bit imagining Emma planting her naked privates on the expensive living room furniture… but at the very least, Emma going au natural was pretty convincing evidence that she meant business, and that was comforting on its own… though still a little weird…
Mallory very slowly crept up to Candice, fists balled by her chin, face beet red, eyes averted to the side. “Was this… your idea?”
Candice shook her head. “Believe it or not…”
Nodding to herself like a thought crossed her mind, Mallory sighed and looked Candice in the eyes. “I don’t think I trust her.”
Candice nodded. “I don’t know that I do either… but I’ll go with it if you will. We can always push her outside if she tries anything.”
Mallory thought about it, then shrugged. “I’m… I’m gonna keep my clothes on, if that’s alright.” She giggled, and so did Candice, who crossed her arms over her chest and crossed her ankles, not embarrassed, just cold.
“Oh!” Snapping to the realization, Candice crouched down and rummaged through the Santa jacket satchel. “Almost forgot!” She fished the present out of the backpack and proffered it to Mallory. “I wanted to give this to you earlier! Before I lost my pants!” Realizing how that sounded, Candice backpedaled, “Not that I ever *planned* to take off my pants! Or anything else!…”
Giggling and peeling her eyes off Candice’s chest, Mallory took her present and opened it. She recognized in a single glance what it was immediately and gasped. Candice couldn’t help but beam. Mallory smiled back, heart filling full, a tear brimming in her eye! It was the most thoughtful gift anyone had ever given her! She was so lucky to have someone like Candice in her life!
Both girls hesitated and looked up. They had accidentally positioned themselves under a bough of mistletoe. How did that get there? When they both met each other’s eyes again, each girl chuckled awkwardly, blushing and stepping away from one another. But then… something shifted in both of them. Something in the quiet wind outside brought them that step closer again. Their eyes met and stayed locked together, firelight from the next room putting a twinkle across Candice’s autumn brown eyes and giving Mallory an aura that made her look…. angelic. Fingers interlaced. Breath quickened. Though frost yet spread over the windows, a warmth suffused their bodies. No matter the cold bearing down outside, there is always a warm place to return to. And so they were brought closer together by this warmth, as carols rang outside, snowflakes melted in fractal patterns on the pane, and the spirit of love and goodwill filled a happy home, and brought them closer to one another. In that moment, it was only them.
And sometimes that’s all you need to make a night feel like magic.
Comments
Andre
That’s good to know, definitely gonna miss all these characters
I definitely plan on finishing Red Lace and Pet Shop.
Andre
Another thing you could do is that you can make animations on other new girls and Candice and crew
Andre
Pretty upset thinking that this might your final story with Candice and the other girls, and just when things were getting better, I hope you stick with these characters that you’ve developed for years and made them with unique personalities that makes them special in their own way, Candice is such a nice character and kinda hoped to see her relationship with Mallory become more stronger, would’ve been curious to see Emma more like an ally now, again I hope you keep doing gifs and stories with them but you do what you feel is right, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
merky-js
I didn't think I'd shed a tear for ENF material, but you've done it. So, so, so good, and your stories have only gotten better and better. AND CANDICE AND MALLORY, YES! <3 Is this really the finale of Candice and crew? I'm looking forward to your next project, but it's really bittersweet to have the saga end when everything starts finally looking up. I really hope you'll be able to return to them, if not in a full capacity, have snippets here and there. Whatever the answer, thank you for all your work and for producing something dope that I always look forward to seeing. Merry Christmas, man(?).
