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At four and a half, Lily wasn’t the most patient little girl. If she was excited about something, she wanted it immediately, she hadn’t quite grasped the idea of delayed gratification, so when the day finally came that she was going to meet her honorary cousin… Well, she hadn’t stopped talking about it. At breakfast she’d practically talked Dream and George’s ears off, at nursery she’d mentioned it at every possible moment, and by the time George had met her to walk her home she was practically jumping every step of the way.
“She’s gonna be my bestest friend forever and ever and ever!” She said, and George could only smile and nod.
“I’m sure Willow is just as excited as you are, but you have to remember that she might be a little bit shy at first. She’s younger than you, you’re going to have to be a big girl and show her there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
“I can be a big girl!” Lily beamed. “I’ll knock on all the doors and I’ll hold Willow’s hand so she doesn’t get lost!”
“Brilliant.” George told her. “I’m proud to hear you going to be such a good big cousin. But Uncle Tommy will be happy to see you too, and everyone else. Aren’t you excited to meet them, too? You’ve barely seen them since you were a baby. I think last time you saw your Uncle Phil, you fit in his arm.”
“I don’t remember him.” Lily said. “I just wanna meet Lily.”
“You’ll meet her soon. I think Uncle Phil said they were all about an hour away. Daddy’s got pizza and sweetcorn for you and Willow to share for dinner, then I think we’re going to go out together when it’s dark. Does that sound good to you?”
Lily nodded, jumping up and down excitedly.
“Yes yes yes!” She grinned. “I love sweetcorn and pizza and Willow!”
“Come on then.” George said, nodding his head towards the button at the traffic lights. “Go press it, we’ll wait for the green man and we’ll be home soon.”
# # #
Lily had changed into a fluffy jumper, jeans, and fluffy socks as soon as she arrived home, and had immediately run to the window in the dining room, standing on one of the chairs to look out. Dream had laughed, telling her that it would still be a long wait until they all arrived, but she insisted on waiting and watching the cars go past.
“Daddy, what colour car does Uncle Phil have?”
“He’s coming in a grey minivan.” Dream told her, turning on the oven on his way past while he walked to stand at her side and watch with her. “Should we play some games?”
“I think there’s gonna be a yellow car first.” Lily said, pointing out to the main road visible from the end of the street.
“Alright, well
I
think there’ll be a green car first.”
“You’re so silly, daddy!” Lily laughed. “Green is a stinky colour.”
“She’s right!” George called from the living room. “Green is a stinky colour.”
“You don’t get an opinion if you can’t see the colour.” Dream shouted back, and when George’s laugh was heard Lily started to giggle again too.
“Daddy, when Willow comes can I give her her present straight away?”
“Of course you can, but she’s not allowed to open it until Christmas, alright? And you have to wait for Christmas to open your presents, too, otherwise they aren’t as special.”
Lily pouted a little, resting her head on her arms, but was quickly pulled out of the edge of a sulk when she spotted a yellow car passing by.
“I win!” She said excitedly. “I told you green was stinky!”
Dream just laughed a little, scruffing up Lily’s hair as he walked away to join George with watching television rather than standing and waiting for a car to show up. It was going to be another fifteen minutes at least, there was no point in standing around waiting. Unless, of course, you were four and a half and waiting to meet your cousin for the first time. Then there was plenty of reason to wait.
# # #
“They’re here!” Lily practically screamed at the top of her lungs. “Dad! Daddy! They’re here!! Willow is here!” She jumped down from the window, Dream and George wandering through from the living room far less energetically than her, and they unlocked the back door before stepping outside. While they walked around the corner to greet their friends, Lily had slipped on her trainers and sprinted as fast as she could with her arms above her head and stretched up for a hug from the first person she saw.
“Uncle Wilbur!” She beamed, and she felt two hands slide beneath her arms to lift her from the ground.
“Hello Lily!” Wilbur smiled at her, and she giggled happily as she was lifted high above his head. “You’re so big! You’ve grown so much since I last saw you!”
“I’m four and a half now!” She said happily.
“Four and a half, that’s insane.” Phil laughed, and Lily waved at him eagerly. “These kids make me feel old. I thought Tommy made me feel old, but these two make me feel ancient.”
“Uncle Wilbur, can I meet Willow now?” Lily asked curiously, kicking her legs a little until Wilbur lowered his arms and she was placed back on the floor.
“Tommy’s just getting her out of the car, okay?” Wilbur said, looking over his shoulder before crouching down in front of her. “She’s a little bit shy sometimes.” He explained, reaching one hand into his coat pocket and revealing a shiny golden coin - chocolate, of course - and he held it out for Lily. “If you’re gentle and don’t scare her too much, there’s more where that came from. Deal?”
“Deal!” Lily nodded, her voice enthusiastic but little more than a whisper, and when he stood back up she heard an unfamiliar voice.
“Bubbo said we were gonna see a Pamtomime.”
“Pantomime.” Tommy’s voice corrected. “And oh no we’re not.”
“Oh yes we are!” Phil laughed.
“Oh no we’re not!” Wilbur called back.
“Oh yes we are!” Tubbo grinned.
Lily watched as the adults laughed - she didn’t quite understand what was so funny - and she watched as Dream and George went to hug their friends to say hello. Rather than stand and wait any longer, she walked around to the other side of the car just in time to see Tommy closing the door, a shy little girl hiding behind his legs when Lily emerged.
“Hi Lily!” Tubbo said happily, giving her a wave, and she waved back.
“Willow, this is Lily.” Tommy said. “Say hello?”
“Hi.” Came a quiet, nervous voice, and Lily remembered what Wilbur had just told her: be gentle.
“Hello Willow.” Lily said, rocking back and forth on her feet. “I’m Lily, and I’m four and a half, and I was angel Gabriel in the nativity at nursery. And tonight you’re coming carolling with me and then we’re going to see a Pamtomime and then we’re having a sleepover.”
“Pantomime.” George corrected from a distance.
“Do you want to share a chocolate coin?” Lily asked. “Uncle Wilbur gave it to me.”
“Wilby is one of my brothers.” Willow said, stepping out from behind Tommy but still holding his hand. “He sings songs a lot, he was singing to the music in the car.”
“He was the music in the car.” Tubbo said. “We were listening to his album, Willow.”
“Do you want to come play with me before tea time?” Lily asked, holding a hand out for Willow to take. She tried her best not to be too excitable, and after a moment Willow reached out to take the hand offered to her, letting go of Tommy’s hand and following after Lily. “I have a dolls house we can play with. Do you like playing with dollies?”
“I like playing with my Bubbo bee.” Willow said, Lily still pulling her along as they snaked their way through the legs of Dream, George, Phil and Wilbur, before stepping inside and removing their shoes. Lily just pulled hers off and put them on the rack by the door, while Willow sat on the ground and tugged at the velcro straps. As soon as they’d finished, Lily grabbed Willow’s hand again and led her through the living room, up the stairs, and into her bedroom. The walls were painted lilac and she had a cabin bed with storage for her clothes underneath.
“We’re gonna sleep up there tonight, daddy said there’d be room for both of us.”
“I’ve never slept high up before.” Willow said, and Lily dropped her hand to pull out her box of dolls. “Do you fall out?”
“No, dad would be cross at daddy if I fell because daddy built it.” She explained, handing one of the dolls to Willow and sitting down in front of the dolls house, pulling the doors open to play. “Daddy said we’re having pizza and sweetcorn for dinner.”
As if on cue, Lily heard shouting from downstairs.
“Girls, you up there?” It was Phil’s voice.
“Yes!” They both called back together.
“Alright, we’ll give you a shout when it’s time for dinner.”
And with that, they were left to play in peace. Together they spent their time making wonderful stories, and the dolls they played with were quick to leave the safety of the dolls house to go on an adventure as they ran around the room, using the different furniture as new areas in the world they’d created.
Lily stood with one doll at the foot of the ladder and Willow stood atop the bed, fully out of her shell, roaring like a dinosaur when the door opened and they both broke out of their fantasy.
“Having fun?” Wilbur asked, leaning against the doorframe as they both nodded.
“Well, I think there might be some dinner downstairs. And since you’re getting along so well, you can each have a bag of gold coins when we go carolling. If you finish your dinner, though.”
Two gasps followed Wilbur’s words, and both girls dropped their dolls before quickly heading downstairs to race into the dining room. The table, Lily remembered, only had four seats. If someone visited, they had room, and if two people did they could pull a spare chair in from the desk, but she didn’t quite know how everyone was going to fit around the table.
In the end, Lily and Willow ended up sitting on Dream and Tommy’s laps, with George, Phil, and Wilbur sitting in the other chairs and Tubbo sitting on a counter in the kitchen. The girls ate quickly, conversation moving away from their made up adventure and now onto much more mundane topics - like favourite colours, favourite school activities, what they’d done for their birthday - and before long they found themselves being bundled up into coat, hats and scarves, being handed bags of chocolate gold coins, and putting on their shoes before being escorted out of the door.
It was just after half past four, which gave the group plenty of time to go carolling together before the pantomime started.
As she’d promised her father earlier in the day, Lily’s hand slipped easily into Willow’s and the two walked hand in hand down the street, chattering loudly about what they wanted for Christmas, while the adults talked about much more boring things behind them.
“Daddy said I’m on the nice list.” Lily said proudly.
“My brother’s on the naughty list.” Willow giggled. “But I won’t say which one.”
Lily looked back over her shoulder, narrowing her eyes as she scanned the crowd of men to try and figure it out for herself.
“Is it Wilbur?”
“No!” Willow laughed. “He’s on the nice list. He wouldn’t give us chocolate coins if he was naughty.”
“Tubbo!”
“No, he gave me my bee.”
Lily pouted.
“What about Tommy?”
And then Willow giggled, and Lily knew she’d picked the right answer.
“Tommy! Why are you on the naughty list?” She called, looking back over her shoulder, and most of the group broke out laughing. Phil, in particular, found the accusation hilarious.
“I’m not!” He exclaimed. “Stop laughing, I’m serious, I’ve been so good this year!”
“He taught me swear words.” Willow leaned over to whisper in Lily’s ear. “Mummy wanted to ground him for a month, but he has his own house so she can’t.”
“Will you teach me one?” Lily asked, her voice just as quiet, and Willow nodded before whispering hurriedly once more.
“Crap!”
The two broke apart into fits of giggles with that, and Willow shushed Lily - swearing her to secrecy. She pinky promised.
“Right, you two, are you ready?” Dream called. “We’re going to this house first.”
Lily recognised the house - it was one where the caretaker from the school lived - and she nodded with a smile. Willow’s tightened her grip around Lily’s hand, and Lily just turned her head and smiled.
“Don’t worry, I’ll knock on the door. I can be brave for you.”
Lily and Willow went through the gate first, with the group of adults following a few paces behind to let the girls knock on the door themselves before they stood behind them. When the door opened, the caretaker smiled, and George rested a hand on Lily’s shoulder.
“Go on, remember what to say?” He prompted, and she nodded quickly before turning her attention back to the man in the doorway.
“Can we sing you a Christmas carol?” She asked, and the man smiled.
“Of course, I’d love to hear one.”
And so, they did. They’d both done the nativity with their nurseries that year which made it easier, as they both knew the words to songs, and they started out by singing Little Donkey. Willow remembered the actions that went along with the song and eventually let go of Lily’s hand to do them, a smile growing on her face as she became a little more confident.
By the time they came to the end of the song, they were both singing loudly and confidently, and both had bright smiles on their faces. It might not have been perfectly in tune, but the caretaker still gave them a round of applause.
“That was wonderful.” He smiled. “Now, you girls stay here while I go and get you a little something, okay?”
They nodded, looking over their shoulders and up at the men who gave them an encouraging thumbs up before the man returned with two gold coins.
Except, these weren’t chocolate coins, they were pound coins that shone in the light.
“A little something for you both. Thank you very much for your hard work.” He said, laying one pound coin in each of their hands. “You girls enjoy the rest of your night now.”
“Thank you!” Lily said excitedly, and Willow jumped up and down before joining in the chorus of thank yous.
Once the door was closed and they were walking back to the path, Phil placed a hand on each of their heads.
“I think if you sing that well at every house, you might have enough money to get yourselves little pots of ice cream at the pantomime later.”
“Can I have strawberry?” Willow asked.
“I want mint, please!” Lily beamed.
“I’m sure they’ll have both those flavours. But you’re not allowed to steal any of my chocolate then.” He laughed.
And that was what most of the evening was filled with: laughter. Willow and Lily made each other laugh, they made their family laugh. George and Dream enjoyed their time with their British friends, knowing that before long their year in the UK would be up and they’d be going back to Florida with Lily. If the girls had listened to the conversation taking place behind them, they might have heard of the reverse offer being made, but they didn’t.
George made sure that they visited the houses of friends. While Willow didn’t know anyone here, Lily did, and so they knew they weren’t going to get into any trouble. It also meant they could send a quick text to the parents of the house they were going to next to make sure they weren’t going to disturb their dinners.
They discovered very early on that Willow’s favourite song to sing was Away in a Manger, and that almost every time she picked the song, that was what she picked. Lily at least seemed to rotate between Little Donkey, We Wish You a Merry Christmas and Silent Night. It didn’t matter too much - the important part was that they were both having fun - but Tommy and Wilbur both struggled to stifle a pained groan when they heard the sixth rendition of Away in a Manger before they’d been out for even an hour.
Eventually, though, they realised that there was no beating them. They weren’t going to be able to convince the girls to choose other songs now that they had their repertoire perfected, so they simply joined in. Tubbo had Lily on his shoulders and Tommy had Willow, singing as a quartet as they walked a little further ahead of Dream, George, Wilbur and Phil between each house.
“Y’know, you’d think they were four as well.” Dream chuckled.
“I still can’t believe they’re both twenty now.” Wilbur admitted. “They’ve grown up so fast. It wasn’t like they were kids when we met them but my God is it weird to think that they’re actual, proper grown ups now.”
“And Tubbo’s twenty one next week.” Phil added. “Don’t get me started on how old that makes me feel.”
“I was twenty one when we got Lily.” Dream laughed, a gloved thumb brushing over the knuckles of George’s hand as the older squeezed tightly. “I wouldn’t have managed without George.”
“I’m very glad you fake married me.” George smirked.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Dream replied. The two exchanged fond glances, only to receive shouts from several paces ahead of them.
“Dad! Daddy!” Lily yelled. “Stop being icky!”
Laughter filled the streets again, because how could it not, and before long they’d turned around to start heading back home. They didn’t go back inside, instead they climbed into their respective cars to head into town to go to the theatre. Phil drove Wilbur, Tommy, Tubbo and Willow, and Dream drove George and Dream. In both cars, the same conversation happened. Willow and Lily both rambled excitedly about the show they were going to see. It was Aladdin, and George hadn’t stopped telling Dream for the last few weeks about how the best pantomime he’d ever seen as a kid was Aladdin, and that he’d deliberately paid extra for the entire group to have the best seats in the theatre.
As Phil had suggested, the girls both used their takings from carolling to buy themselves little pots of ice cream in the break - and the adults did the same. George got vanilla, Dream and Lily got mint, Tubbo got honeycomb, Wilbur and Willow got strawberry, and Tommy and Phil got chocolate. The girls were ecstatic, but the evening had one more surprise in store.
When the show was almost over, an usher came to quietly tap Dream and Phil on their shoulders and pointed to Lily and Willow who sat between them. They both gave a thumbs up and a smile, before the usher led the girls from their seats and took them to the front of the auditorium where they stood with two boys that looked a little older than them, and they were eventually helped up the steps onto the stage where they were all stood in a line a few feet apart - though the audience was filled with awws when Lily and Willow refused to let go of each other’s hands. While Lily felt comfortable in the heat of the bright lights, she could feel that Willow was much more nervous.
“Hello.” The Widow Twankey said, kneeling himself down beside Willow first and holding the microphone out in front of her.
“Hello.” She said quietly, the audience cooing again.
“What’s your name?”
“I’m Willow.” She said. “What’s your name?”
The audience laughed, and Lily’s smile began to widen as she watched.
“I’m Widow Twankey, haven’t you been watching?” He asked. “Right Willow, how old are you?”
“I’m four.” She held up four fingers.
“And where have you come from today, Willow?”
“I came from Brighton with my big brother Tommy and his big brother’s Wilby and Phil, and his best friend Bubbo.”
“Blimey, Brighton is a long way away!” He said. “Anyone here from Brighton?” He asked the audience - the only cheers coming from their little group.
“Alright, not many.” He stood back up, moving down the line to speak to Lily next.
“Hello!” He said brightly again. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Lily and I’m four and a half and I’m from Florida.” She said, and the pantomime dame stumbled backwards jokingly.
“Blimey, someone remembered all those questions. You’re from Florida, that makes Brighton look like my back garden! Right then, Lily from Florida, what brings you to the UK?”
“My dad is from here and he wanted me to meet Willow because my daddies and her brothers are friends.”
“Do you like Willow?” The dame asked, leaning in and stage whispering into his microphone. “You can be honest, no one will hear you.”
“Yeah!” Lily jumped a little. “She taught me to say crap!”
And with that, the audience roared with laughter. Even the Widow Twankey had to pull his microphone away from his face, a hand going to his nose to try and keep him from laughing too hard and breaking character too much.
“Aladdin and Princess Jasmine are about to get married, you can’t be using language like that around royalty!” He said, and Lily just giggled brightly. The fact that something she’d said had made so many people laugh had her beaming, and she decided that she liked being on stage.
After Widow Twankey had spoken to the boys, there was a sing-a-long, and then they were given goodie bags before being taken back to their seats. None of the adults in the group were able to discipline either of them - all too tickled pink by the hilarity of the situation. By the time the show was over and they’d driven home, it was way past the girls' bedtimes, and the adrenaline from being on stage had completely worn off. Lily was half way asleep in Dream’s arms, and Willow had dozed off in the car. They were woken up just enough to brush their teeth and change into their pyjamas, clambering up into Lily’s cabin bed together. Wilbur took the duty of reading bedtime stories to both girls very seriously, though with the two of them cuddled up next to each other (and Technoplush and Bubbo Bee in their arms), they barely lasted more than five minutes.
The sight was utterly adorable, and Wilbur snapped a few pictures on his phone to show the others downstairs when he went to join them. The six men stayed up well into the night, laughing, playing games, and reminiscing. If they had looked back on their lives four years ago, they’d never have expected to find themselves here.
They wouldn’t change it for anything. All they could hope was that when Lily and Willow grew up, they’d have a chance to have the same successes and happiness that they all did.