Chapter Text
“I can’t believe I lost…” Chatterbox groaned as he slipped the rough textured shirt over his head. The red fabric decorated with white sparkling trees and snowflakes was not Chatterbox’s style. “Now I have to wear this yuckin thing.”
“You shouldn’t have gotten caught then,” Ray Mond says from the aisle across the clothing store. She is still looking for more Christmas sweaters, finding the ugliest one.
Earlier that day, the first snow of the winter had pulled Chatterbox from Grapeseed to see the city. Snow blanketed every surface; buildings, trees, cars, and people were coated with frost. Chatterbox drove past Mirror Park, where people were ice skating in the ponds and throwing snowballs at each other. As he takes in the beautiful scenery, he can only think about exploring this winter wonderland with his Queen.
His Queen was waiting for him back at the funhouse, sleeping soundly in their bed.
On his way back, Police officers began their pursuit as he sped past them. When he arrived at the funhouse, Ray had only just woken up, as she often slept past noon to catch up on her beauty sleep—not that Chatterbox thought she needed any more of it. He had run up to her, giving her a cheerful greeting.
“Cups! It’s snowing!” He wrapped his arms around her as she groggily stood up from the bed.
“Chatty, are you being chased?” She had asked, her words muffled from her face being buried in his chest. “I hear sirens.”
“Yup! Wanna join?” He leans back, his smile vibrant underneath his mask.
As Ray laughs, the melodic sound warms him from the cold weather. He wants to hold her longer, keep her for himself, and spend the entire day with her hand in his. But the sounds of sirens keep them apart, and the racing footsteps of the police officers climbing the stairs pull him away.
“I’ve gotta go!” His hand brushes across her cheek before he races out of the bedroom and past the officers down the stairs. As he steps outside, Ray’s voice echoes from the balcony.
“Chatty! Don’t forget the Christmas party later, you promised to be my date!”
Chatterbox nearly slips on the icy steps of the front porch, looking up to the balcony with exasperation as he pauses the chase. “But what if I get caught? Then I can’t go!” He sounded a little too excited about it for Ray’s liking, so she threw a sneer his way.
“Chatty…” Her voice was laced with venom, causing the officer to stop in his place and snicker.
“Oooo, you’re in trouble!”
“Chatty, if you don’t get away, I’m making you wear the most hideous Christmas sweater I can find.” she leans over the terrace, her eyebrows raised in a challenge. If he hadn’t been threatened, Chatterbox might have taken more time to admire how the falling snowflakes stood out against her beautiful dark hair. But the thought of having to wear an uncomfortable sweater to an already uncomfortable party takes all that time away.
“What!?” Chatterbox looked at the officer, then back at her. “Fine! But if I do get away, we only stay at the party for thirty minutes!”
“Deal.”
With that, Chatterbox returned to the chase, diving into the car he stole. “See ya!”
Chatterbox had barely made it to the city before the icy roads and snow caused his car to slip and crash into a tree. Chatterbox had hit his head so hard on the steering wheel that he couldn’t get out of the car fast enough to start running. The police officers just laughed at him and teased him about seeing him later at the party. They charged him with reckless evading but only kept him for the afternoon, releasing him from prison about an hour before the party.
The bet was lost, and a sentence was served.
“At least it’s red! I could have made you wear the green one.” Ray Mond lifted her head from the aisle across the store. Her smile never ceased to amaze Chatterbox, even as she was plotting his punishment.
Chatterbox scoffs at her comment, pulling the Christmas sweater over his chest. “It’s cause you know I look great in red. It is my color, after all!”
A slight shiver ran down his spine as she fixed him with a warning look, her piercing eyes meeting his, silently conveying her thoughts, and Chatterbox understood every word. The glare was brief, but her annoyance was obvious. Chatterbox chuckles under his breath, biting back the urge to push her buttons. He had already lost their bet, and irritating her might worsen his punishment.
The silence continues as she dips her head back into the aisle to look for more sweaters. Chatterbox walks over to hopefully ease it. “Look, you don't gotta find another one. This one is fine!”
She completely ignores him, sliding through the clothing rack with slight force, the rough scraping of the hangers on the metal rack grating Chatterbox’s ears. Ray’s hand grazes every shirt before finding what she’s looking for. She turns around with a smug smirk as she holds up a light blue Christmas sweater. Little outlines of Christmas trees line the top and bottom of the shirt, and a Santa head is pictured in the middle with the word “Santa” written in fancy font underneath.
“Cups, please…” Chatterbox’s shoulders fall in dread.
“Put it on, Santa.” Ray’s smile widens at his reaction as he pushes the cloth into his chest. “I have to go meet up with April, Sooty, and Kitty. We’re all gonna match!”
“Wait, huh? I have to go to the party by myself??” He grabs the sweater, dread increasing with every second.
“Yes, I’ll see you there!” Ray leans up to kiss his mask, her hand resting on his chest before pushing him away. “See you later! Love you!”
“Love you too…” He watches her leave, then looks at the shirt in his hands. “Yuck.”
After changing, Chatty enlists Kirk's help to distract him from the nightmare he was living in. After about five minutes of Kirk dying with laughter and making fun of Chatterbox, the two finally left the clothing store to head to the party.
“Hey Santabox, since I’m drivin' you around, does this make me your reindeer?” Kirk asks, spinning the wheels as he drifts the car around a corner, nearly sending Chatterbox’s face into the window. When Chatterbox doesn’t respond, Kirk starts humming “Rudolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer” as he drives recklessly towards Vinewood.
The Christmas party was held at a mansion in the Vinewood Hills, hosted by an array of event planners, including Party Hardy. The building was packed with people. Every window, balcony, and door showed people dancing to the music pouring out of every house crevice. Chatterbox could already hear his brain rattling in his skull, and they hadn’t even entered the building yet.
“Damn, the entire city is here,” Kirk whistles, his arms swinging at his sides as he strolls to the door. “There are people outside, people inside, on the roof, and they’re all gonna see your dumb ass.”
“Shut up, Kirk.”
Chatterbox stiffly follows his friend into the house, pushing through crowds to get to the backdoor. The backyard isn’t much better. The music is less loud, but there are still people everywhere. Chatterbox immediately spots the other clowns waving him down. Twinkles is wearing his snowman mask and a bright green Christmas sweater, Ember is wearing her elf outfit, and Mr. Ratchet is wearing the same old red vest and straw hat, but a red and white scar is wrapped around his neck.
“Hi, Santa!” Twinkles greets with a giggle.
“Ugh…hello.” Chatterbox crosses his arms over his chest. “I don’t want to yuckin be here, it’s freezing.”
“Why are you wearing that then?” Ember asks, leaning forward to look at his shirt.
“I lost a bet. Cups chose it,” Chatterbox explained, his tone annoyed as he stepped away from her. “Get away from me, elf.”
Ember steps back closer to Ratchet, who seems perfectly fine in the snow with his chest exposed. The conversation that follows is drowned out by boredom as Chatterbox stands by the fence overlooking the city. Then, a text from Ray is announced by a small ping on his phone and relief floods over him. Seeing her would make this party a thousand times more fun.
where are you? :>
backyard
are you here?
“Hey, Santabox, I found yer Mrs Claus.”
Kirk’s amused voice makes Chatterbox look up from his phone. His eyes scan the yard for the only person he would consider being his Mrs. Claus. When he spots Ray, she hasn’t spotted him yet, her eyes squinting against the reflective snow, the bright Christmas lights dancing across the white surfaces. She looked like a vision, an unreal phantom surrounded by the casting glow of colorful Christmas lights. The world around them seemed to fade away, blurring and changing from the backyard of the mansion to Mirror Park, where he wanted to ice skate or surprise her with a snowball to the face. He saw her leaning across the balcony at the funhouse, her gray eyes…no brown…green?
Chatterbox blinked a few times, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He is back at the Vinewood Hills mansion. Looking at his Queen, who had finally spotted him, her voice ringing out across the yard
“Chatty!!” The beautiful vision races towards him, her braids bouncing across her shoulders. It’s only then that Chatterbox notices what she’s wearing.
Ray is wearing a bright blue shirt. Little outlines of Christmas trees line the top and bottom of the shirt, and a Mrs. Clause head is pictured in the middle. The word “Santa's Baby” is written in fancy font underneath. Her grin brightens the night, putting the sun to shame.
The sun?
“We’re matching!”
“We are!” Chatterbox catches her waist as she crashes into him with a hug. “I thought you were gonna match with Kitty, Sooty, and April?”
“I was, but then I found this shirt and couldn’t resist,” her cheerful tone melts Chatterbox’s boredom. “I was gonna wear the red one…”
Chatterbox laughs, “It's cause you know red is my color, huh?”
“It’s MY color, Chatty, and I look better in it!” she huffs, her eyes challenging him to say otherwise.
“...Well, I can't deny the second part, but I'm not backing down about red being my color,” He preemptively flinches before she hits him in the chest, her fist making him cough. “Ouch…”
“I’m gonna go change!” She turns around to walk away, but Chatterbox catches her in another hug, his heart swelling as she melts into the embrace. Chatty buries his face in her hair, the lingering memory of her warm scent wrapping around him like a blanket, a stoke to his dying flames.
I've missed him so much...
“Santa’s baby, huh?”
“Ya!” she says with a cheerfully blunt tone. “It’s cute!”
“But my shirt says Santa, that makes you my…baby?”
Ray reaches her hand to cup his mask. Chatty’s large amber eyes, which once looked at her with warmth and love, now look as if he is seeing her for the first time in years. Tears roll down his cheeks and stain his yellow Christmas sweater. She hesitates, the sadness and fear overwhelming her. The sun is suddenly gone, replaced by stormy gray clouds that freeze the earth at an alarming rate. Ray removes her hands from his face.
Chatty’s face...his handsome face. Ray’s eyes traced over every scar, each one telling a story of a past she could only imagine through his stories. The same ones he had so much trouble coming to terms with because he thought they made him ugly. He showed her the scars to prove that she could make the most out of her own. They look at her as if they were extra eyes on his face, judging her every movement filled with sadness and grief, asking her over and over.
“Cups? Where are you? Are you alive?”
Hot tears trail down her cheeks, freezing into snowflakes that land and fade into stars along her green Christmas sweater. The bell design on the shirt seems to ring incessantly in her ears. Ray opens her mouth to explain, but no words come out. No matter how loud she screams, the wind from the storm seems to swallow them all. Chatty grabs her shoulders, shaking them slightly as anger crosses sadness. His tone drops, his voice no longer Chatterbox, as he holds her tightly.
“Why did you leave me??”
His voice shocks her entire body. Ray is trembling in his hands as he screams over and over, his voice breaking and echoing in many different frequencies until Ray can do nothing but scream back, her voice still swallowed by the wind that hurls tiny frozen blades into her cheeks as snow still falls. Chatty drops to his knees, his hands holding onto her arms as if she will disappear if he lets go. The tears falling from his cheeks threaten to outflood the storm, creating an ocean at their feet. The waves ripple around her thighs as she tries to grab Chatty’s shoulders to keep his head above the water.
Please stop…I don’t want to see this…Make him happy again!
The storm suddenly stops, the sun slowly sets, replaced by a comforting full moon, and the earth is blanketed by soft snow once more. Chatty stands in front of her, his mask smiling back at her, his warm, round eyes filled with affection as he waits for her response.
“Cups? Did you hear me?” His gloved thumb reaches up to wipe at the snowflakes on her cheeks.
“No, sorry, I got distracted by how good you look…in red.” She stares at his red Christmas sweater, the Santa face, and the words “Santa” written on the front. Her voice is shaky, hoarse from crying out.
Chatterbox chuckles smugly, his hands letting go of her to strike a goofy pose, his fists on his hips. “I do, don’t I? But uhh so do you!” he says with a little cough, his hands wringing awkwardly.
Looking down at her own shirt. The red sweater almost matches his sweater, except “Santa’s Baby” is written underneath a Mrs. Claus face design. Ray can’t help but stare at the design as if she hadn’t been the one to pick it out. Chatty waits patiently for her to look back up at him, a concerned look in his eyes.
“So Cups? Does it?’
“Does it...?”
“Make you my baby?” Chatterbox rubs the back of his head as if the word baby was too much for him to say. Ray laughs, her hand sliding into his and squeezing until she is sure she can feel it.
“I’m your Queen!”
“And I’m your King?”
“Of course, my love!”