Work Text:
There's nothing in this world Hunter wouldn't do for his cousins.
There was nothing he wouldn't do for Ivy, Diego, and Carlos—even if they drove him up the wall most of the time.
It was a simple fact.
If Hunter could do something for them that wouldn't just hurt them in the long term, he would or else his name wasn't Hunter Claudias de Vil.
Whether it was something fun like building Carlos a treehouse and helping Diego tear his clothes up and dye them so he looked more like a rockstar or if it was something decidedly not fun, like taking on ridiculously long list of chores or getting in-between his cousins and Cruella whenever she was in one of her moods.
If Hunter was capable of making his cousins’ lives better, he would.
Even if the task at hand seemed impossible, like the task Hunter had set out to do when the month of December had begun—the task being giving his three cousins the best Christmas ever, whether it be at the cost of his own sanity, worse, or not.
Anything for his cousins.
Hunter de Vil didn't have many friends in this world but he did have some—like Cesare Frollo, the fourteen year old son of Claude Frollo.
Who, despite not celebrating Christmas, was all too willing to give up some of his too little free time to help Hunter give his little cousins some Holiday cheer.
They put up a broken Christmas tree that they'd fished out of the barrage that was bent like a candy cane. Decorating it with test tubes filled with glitter and dye, paper chains, barely broken Christmas ornaments, a few plastic ornaments that the two teens had made themselves, and anything else they could get their hands on, lile shiny paper clips.
They even used one of Cruella's old boas as garland to wrap around the tree and Hunter even found a ton of battery operated little candles that he'd been able to put on strings, and dangle around the tree in place of the usual colorful fairy lights. And for the tree topper, Cesare and Hunter managed to make a star out of some old scrap metal with Cesare decorating it and Hunter melting it into place.
Of course, Cesare had to leave not too long after for fear of upsetting his father but neither boy let that dishearten them. After all, they'd managed to do what they set out to do at the start of the day and wasn't that what mattered?
They'd hidden the tree in one of the only rooms that Cruella never went into—her mother's old room.
After decorating the tree, Hunter set out to find the perfect gift (or if he was really lucky, giftS, pural) for each of his cousins.
Which was obviously harder than it sounded when one was fourteen and on the Isle of the Lost where you NEVER got anything new.
But the oldest de Vil cousin had come this far and he wasn't going to give up now.
So in the twelve days leading up to Christmas, Hunter spent what little time he could manage between taking care of his cousins and his uncle Cecil, and doing the endless chores Cruella gave all of them to search and brainstorm on the gifts.
And search he did.
Making deals with people, calling in favors, looking through the marketplace at every stall, and digging through the barrage until the goblins kicked him out—and well, his hard work and searching eventually paid off.
For Ivy, he’d found a busted up dollhouse with a couple of dolls still inside that was an easy fix as well as one blue dress and one pink dress that Hunter just knew the younger de Vil was going to adore, and a box of colorful bows. He also gave her two ‘get of out of jail’ cards.
For Diego, Hunter had found the boy a record player that he easily fixed, a practically brand new guitar, and a box of barely scratched and some not even scratched at all records for a band that was the blonde vaguely remembered from before the isle and thought the younger boy would like. He also made him his first ever band t-shirt using a drawing the seven year old had gave him on his birthday—the shirt was black with a rotten, half eaten, poisoned apple and the words ‘The Bad Apples’ on it.
And for Carlos….
Truth be told, Hunter hadn’t been sure that he’d even be able to find a gift for the three old at all for the longest time. But he did. And Hunter was sure that Carlos was going to love them.
Hunter had managed to find the full ‘The Tales of Flynnigan Rider’ book series, a couple of books on inventing, the blueprints to Hell Hall, a toy tool chest, and a dalmatian patterned Teddy Bear with a cute little red and white bone bowtie. Hunter made him a little outfit and bowtie that matched the look of the bear too because he thought Carlos would like it and just knew that it would look adorable on him.
Hunter had even managed to get his hands on a picture of baby Diego and his parents as well as a picture of the de Vil family pre-isle back when all of Cecil’s siblings were still alive for his Uncle Cecil’s present.
Two days before Christmas, Hunter got to scheming on how to get rid of Cruella without making her angry so that she couldn’t ruin Christmas Eve or day for his cousins.
It didn’t take him long to find a solution.
Calling in some favors, Hunter managed to score a get away at one of the only hotels/resorts on the isle while also scoring a free hair appointment at both the Off With Your Hair and Curl Up & Dye Hair Salons, a free mani-pedi at Claw Trimmers, a free full body massage at Knuckle Punch, and a luxury meal at Shan Yu's Dim Sum, Hades Souvlaki: It's Under This World, and Frollo's Creperie. He’d also managed to score Cruella a tour of Cloaks & Hoods, Capes & Drapes.
Honestly, Hunter was surprised he’d managed to call in so many favors at once but he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Not when it was the very thing that was going to ensure his cousins the best Christmas of their lives.
The whole thing had even earned Hunter a true, unwicked smile from his aunt Cruella and a hum of surprise from his Uncle Cecil, who tended to just sit around and stare out the window these days after the death of his wife, Audrey.
Hunter had also managed to get his aunt’s cousin, P.H, out of the house too with the promise of free food for the week too.
Ensuring that nothing would ruin the holiday.
The moment Cruella was gone and his cousins were in bed, Hunter got to cooking.
Making flat gingerbread men, curdled banana pudding, decent bread rolls, thin mash potatoes, canned yams, burned chicken, and everything else that he could get his hands on for his little cousins that he loved so much.
Everything he did was for his cousins.
They were all he had in this world, and it was his job as the older cousin to make them happy.
And happy they would be.
On Christmas morning, Hell Hall was filled with sounds of joyous childish laughter and wrapping paper ripping, and the aroma of food.
And every de Vil insight could be seen sporting a peaceful smile as the snow outside continued to fall.
It was a very merry Christmas indeed and Hunter de Vil couldn't have asked for anything more.