Chapter Text
15th December
Multiple pairs of eyes are on him and he takes a small breath. He hears a short round of applause as the announcer introduces him and then his fingers start to strum the guitar softly. He worries he’ll stumble on the first lyric until it spills from his lips.
“Have yourself a merry little christmas…”
The Captain tries to focus on the fairy lights strung up throughout the pub. There are dashes of red, green and gold dotted sparsely throughout, and with the exception of the bar and a couple of table lamps the room is mainly lit up via Christmas decor.
On the right side of the room he can see his friend Fanny at their table for two, she’s smiling at him proudly and offers a wink.
He then casts his eye over the crowd and notices a few people have taken out their phones and turned on their torch to sway side to side with. The people in front of his and Fanny’s table seem particularly prepared for this as he watches a man with a beige shirt and round glasses take a couple of electric candle sticks from a tote bag and give them to the other people at his table.
There’s a little boy next to the man, no more than 7 or 8 with ash brown hair and wearing a red jumper sporting a reindeer. Then there’s a woman in a pastel purple denim jacket, and a headband seemingly attacked by glitter. The trio all hold up their candlesticks, bathed in a gentle orange glow as they sway slowly; the audience is very much not in unison as each table sways in different directions but the sentiment itself is beautiful.
The Captain turns his attention back to his guitar, watching his own fingers ghost over the chords without much thought in his practised prose.
“Hang a shining star upon the highest, bough…”
There are a few whistles and applause as he holds his note, and he tries to ignore the nerves tingling on the back of his neck. They always come when he’s feeling rather exposed; a result of his childhood and something he is actively working on. He forces those thoughts to the back of his mind, concentrating on the glow of soft Christmas lights and smiles all around.
As he starts the next verse he looks up again, singing like he’s the only man in the room. He never thought he would be playing the guitar so openly, having only learned because of school concerts that his father had never turned up to. He turns his attention to Fanny specifically for the “faithful friends who are dear to us” lyric. She truly was his rock, his best friend. The two of them were both in their 50’s and had sworn off men, enjoying the last decade of Christmases gone by with just each other.
The truth of it all was Fanny came home early from a work trip one day to find her husband George with his boyfriend, James (the Captain), who had no clue George was married. After the initial shock, Fanny and James seemed to become closer. Now glued to the hip while sharing a bond of crappy taste in men and a love for tradition.
When the Captain’s song comes to an end he strums to a finish and blushes bashfully at the applause he receives. He simply nods his head in thanks and places the guitar back on its stand before leaving the stage. The next artist is already taking to the stage, trouserless and slurring but also babbling something about sexy elves.
“You were marvellous!” Fanny says as he reaches the table and sits across from her.
“Thank you,” the smiles, grabbing the glass of scotch Fanny had ordered him and taking a sip. “You think you might have a turn then?”
“Nope, no,” Fanny exclaims, holding up her hands in a somewhat defensive surrender. “No thank you - you lost the bet that’s on you.”
“What happened to my supportive best friend hmm?”
“I’m supporting you by sparing your ears, Captain.” She says, “there is no way I’m getting up there.” She brings her hands to her lap, turning her head to the side and widening her eyes at the sight of the ex MP Julian Fawcett trouserless and singing Moulin Rouge on stage.
“I see, it’s completely fine to be scared you know…” the Captain teases, grabbing the menu and pretending to flick through it.
“I know what you’re doing and it’s not going to work.”
The Captain laughs, “I tried.”
Fanny is about to speak when the Captain feels a tap on the shoulder.
He turns to come face to face with the woman in the denim and glitter from the table next to them.
“Hi, sorry to interrupt.” The lady says with a kind smile, “my name’s Katherine.”
“Hello, Katherine. I’m James, this is my friend Fanny. What can I do for you?” The Captain says.
Behind her, the Captain can see the man and young boy playing with a game of glow-in-the-dark snap on their table.
“Well,” Kitty says, “I have to say, I absolutely loved your set! You really just spoke to me. Yanno? I love Christmas and you played that song so beautifullyyy. I was close to crying.”
The Captain offers a small smile, “well thank you Katherine. I rather appreciate that.”
Her smile somehow becomes bigger and he’s sure she’s the happiest person he’s ever met.
“Well, I also have a question for you James…” She lifts up a leaflet that he hadn’t seen she was holding. It’s navy with golden glitter shaded writing; apparently this woman just attracts sparkles. “You see I run a dance centre just up the road a bit and this year we’re running an event in our hall to showcase both the talent of our pupils and local talent in the area, I know this is very last minute but if you’re local and interested of course I would very much like to include you in our performance…”
“Oh,” his eyes widen in surprise, “that’s- that’s a kind offer but-”
“He’ll do it!” Fanny practically yells and a couple of heads from nearby tables turn to face them. “Excuse me,” she says softly before resuming, “I mean to suggest to the Captain that perhaps this is a good moment to step out of your comfort zone…if you want to.” She’s looking at him, tilting her head.
The Captain looks at Fanny, momentarily pursing his lips and fighting the urge to hide behind a stony face. He turns to look back at Kitty who also offers a smile. He doesn’t know that Fanny and Kitty know each other from the library's romance book club; or that Fanny secretly attends the romance book club.
The Captain can see the man that Katherine's sat with now watching the conversation and the boy is no longer at the table. He also notices, now that they're facing each other, just how beautiful the other man's eyes are; perfectly framed in golden shades and looking at him curiously.
“Oh,” the Captain whispers and then blinks as reality smacks him in the face. “O-Okay, yes, sure. I’d love to partake in the showcase.”
“Fantastic!” Kitty is beaming and he accepts the leaflet. “The address is on the leaflet, if you’re not busy perhaps you could pop over tomorrow and I could show you the place?”
“Yes, of course.” He folds the leaflet delicately. “What time shall I arrive?”
“Oh, anytime will be fine, it’s open all day eight till five.”
“Okay, great.” He smiles as she turns but he’s gritting his teeth with nerves. Eight till give is such a huge gap in his day. He prefers specific times and routines.
“I think I’d like to join you, James.” Fanny says as he turns to face her, “shall we meet there at eight?”
Great! A specific time, he could do that.
“That would be lovely, Fanny. Thank you.”
Behind him, he can hear Katherine and a child's voice. The little boy has returned to the table it seems.
“Come on, Dad! It’s your turn!”
“Please Pat, pleaseeeee.” Katherine then starts saying please in a way that resembles a fire alarm and the young boy starts laughing.
“Alright, alright, keep your undies on!”
The Captain turns to see the man in beige stand up. The child is still giggling and Katherine is clapping, and though turned away from the Captain he can hear her squealing with delight.
“You owe me, Kitty.” Pat says and tousles the boys - his sons - hair. He makes his way to the stage and the Captain is unashamedly curious. As someone under a no-men promise with his best friend, he’s being pretty shit with it tonight. Though (for whatever reason) this man, ‘Pat’ Katherine had said, had caught the Captain’s attention.
Pat whispers to the man at the side of the stage before moving to stand centre, opting for an instrumental sing-a-long as opposed to playing an instrument himself.
When the music starts it’s immediately joyful and Pat starts to dance on the stage with a surefooted wiggle. Moving his head to the side and soaking in the beat of the music as though dancing around his home as opposed to performing in a pub.
The Captain recognises the Christmas song ‘River’ and although lyrically upsetting, Pat’s cover is very upbeat and happy-sounding. The Captain pulls at his collar, to cool himself off a little - not quite understanding why he feels so hot all of a sudden.
Towards the end of the song those in the audience who know the song chime in with the chorus, but the Captain feels himself entranced by Pat’s vocalisation that eventually fades out as he steps further and further back from the microphone. Pat does a little bow and wave at the end of his performance before leaving the stage.
When he reaches his table he glances briefly at the Captain and there’s a glint of something in his eye. The Captain turns, feeling silly because this isn’t a rom-com, and then questioning why his brain is associating this moment with something out of a rom-com. He sighs into his hands and then remembers himself and looks up at Fanny who laughs a little.
“You’re a mess, Jamie.”
“I didn’t need a reminder, thank you.”