Chapter 17
(Zachy)
“It’s so pretty,” Zachy squealed as he stared up at the brightly lit tree beneath the fountain and golden statue at Rockefeller Center.
With their time in New York ending, coming here tonight had been the last thing on Song’s list of things he’d desperately wanted to do while they were in the city.
“I can’t believe how big it is,” Song replied, tilting his head back.
With their arms wrapped around one another, they tried to see the star at the top and nearly landed on their tushies as they wobbled on their skates. Daddy’s strong arms wrapped around them, steadying them while they took it all in.
“I can see why everyone talks about how magical it is here,” Song said, giving Zachy a squeeze. “I feel like I’m in a movie. We’re gonna watch lots of them when we get home, right?”
“Yup, and have plenty of cocoa too,” Zachy promised. “And wear footie pajamas and snuggle on the living room floor on all our fluffy pillows.”
“I love them; they are so super soft,” Song said, letting out a contented sigh that sent a poof of foggy breath into the air. “I can’t wait to sink back into them again, sprawl out, and not think about anything but which Christmas movie to watch next.”
“All of them,” Zachy said.
“Between streaming services and the collection we’ve acquired, there aren’t many we don’t have access to,” Daddy promised, as the sound of skates skidding on ice punctuated his words.
Papa stood there grinning as Zachy looked down to see shaved ice all over the side of his skates. “Don’t tell me you guys are tired already.”
“Not everyone can skate like they play for Toronto,” Daddy snarked with a big, goofy grin on his face as he eyed Papa up and down.
“Hey, it’s like you said at the bowling alley, everyone’s got to have something to pursue to help them unwind.”
“True dat. Just know that you’re gonna be the one icing the bruises on my ass after I fall on it a hundred and one times tonight,” Daddy declared. “This is the first time I’ve been on skates since I was a teenager.”
“A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,” Song muttered beneath his breath, making Zachy giggle so hard he wobbled again.
This time Song was the one who steadied him.
“If you fall a hundred times, your ass will already be so numb from the ice soaking through the seat of your pants that there’ll be no need for me to apply more to it,” Papa commented, making Zachy laugh harder and slip around a bit, forcing him to cling to Song with desperate, grabby hands as one foot slid one way and the other tried to slide out from beneath him in the opposite direction.
Song just held him tighter with Daddy’s help and pressed their heads together.
“Angle your toes in just a little; that will help you balance better,” Song explained, breath warm against Zachy’s neck as he nuzzled his cold nose past the tufts of hair sticking out of the side of Zachy’s warm fleece cap.
When Zachy did as he instructed, he no longer felt as off balance as he had before.
While he did skate from time to time, he wouldn’t say that he was graceful or even proficient at it.
It was more like when Wile E. Coyote strapped a windsail and fan to his back and roller skates on his feet, complete with windmilling arms and horrified onlookers desperate to stay out of his way as he struggled not to crash.
“Ready to go around the rink?” Song asked.
“You’re gonna hold my hand, right?” Zachy asked.
“Every step of the way,” Song replied, guiding him away from the railing. “Do you know how to roller-skate?”
“Uh-huh,” Zachy said, “I’m not great at it, but I’ve done it a lot more than I’ve done this.”
“Have you ever been to the Crystal Ball?”
“A couple times, yeah,” Zachy said. “I love their disco balls. The last time I went, I finally got the hang of doing the Electric Slide on skates; it was awesome.”
“We’ll have to go sometime,” Song declared. “For some reason, I can skate backwards on these, but I haven’t gotten the hang of doing it on roller skates yet.”
“Me either. Maybe we can figure it out together.”
“I’d love that,” Song said as Winter Wonderland began to play. “We can do more ice skating too. It’s the same movement; you just have to find your rhythm.”
The way Song said it, half seduction and half instruction, with one arm around Zachy’s waist and the other holding his hand as he guided him, made it feel like they were dancing.
Instead of flailing everywhere, scared to lose his balance, he found himself gliding over the surface of the ice to the beat of the music, the tension melting from his shoulders and neck now that he didn’t have to think so hard.
“That’s it, see, you’re already getting it,” Song said as they headed around the rink the third time, catching up to where their Papa was trying to help their Daddy up off the ice only to have Daddy pull him down on top of him, resulting in a kiss and some applause and laughter from those around them.
Song guided him to a halt so they could clap and whistle too as Papa was finally able to get himself detangled from Daddy and get him back up on his skates again.
“You did that on purpose,” Papa declared, laughing as he brushed some of the ice off his jeans.
“Perhaps,” Daddy said, chuckling as he brushed at a spot of slushy ice on Papa’s hip.
“Uh-huh,” Papa said, taking Daddy’s hand again.
“I think they’re enjoying this,” Song said as he lightly tugged Zachy until they were moving again.
“They really are,” Zachy said. “I love that for them. They don’t get to spend time like this together when we’re all working.
I’m just glad that our bosses have finally decided to shorten our workweek and lengthen our vacation time before people start to get burnt out.
It’s so hard to be on all the time and having to be so careful about the things we do and say. ”
“You don’t work in the sound booth, do you?” Song asked.
“No,” Zachy admitted, “I’m one of the characters. I’m not allowed to say which one, but I spend most of my time in costume, which can make for some long, hot days.”
“But it also means you know what it’s like to be a performer,” Song replied as he turned, skating backward while holding Zachy’s hands, still guiding him as they faced one another.
“Yup, and I love it,” Zachy said. “There have been times when I didn’t, but Daddy helped make things better, and now I’m excited that I get to slip into character each day and make people happy. It’s the same feeling you get when you’re up on stage, isn’t it?”
“Hell yeah,” Song declared with that big, happy grin of his. “With you guys I’ve never felt like I had to explain it either. Now I understand why you just get it.”
“Because we travel for the show too,” Zachy explained. “And Papa has to travel for work from time to time, since their other office is all the way out in Seattle.”
“Have you ever gone with him?”
Zachy shook his head and giggled as Song guided him into a slow spin as they skated to All I Want for Christmas Is You.
“Daddy and I both want to, but our work schedules have never let it work out for us. I think it makes him sad to have to go alone, though, and I hate that for him. Maybe you could go with him the next time if you don’t have gigs set up with the bands. ”
A bright smile crossed Song’s face then, and he nodded. “I’d love that, and we could video chat in the evenings, so we didn’t have to miss each other so badly.”
“That’s exactly what we’ve always done when we’ve had to be apart,” Zachy explained.
“You guys make it all feel so seamless.”
Giggling, Zachy shook his head and gripped Song’s hands tighter. “Only because we’ve had a year to work on it, and there are still times when we don’t get things right and have to apologize to one another and work to do better the next time a similar situation comes up.”
“I know I’m going to screw up at some point,” Song admitted, glancing over his shoulder occasionally just to make sure that the path he was on wasn’t going to lead him to crash into anyone.
“That’s okay, I do too,” Zachy explained.
“Even the daddies mess up sometimes, and they always own up to it too. It’s okay when that happens.
None of us are perfect people, and I wouldn’t wanna be.
They just want us to be honest when something happens and not try to hide it from them.
That way we can just deal with it and move past it.
The best part is that they don’t keep bringing it up after it happens.
That’s one of Daddy’s biggest rules. That what’s done is done, and once acknowledged, it’s time to move on. ”
As they skated beneath one of the trees covered in icy blue lights, Song did a twirl, spinning around Zachy, who was proud of the fact that he kept up with the rhythm Song had helped him establish and avoided crashing into him as he glided back around to Zachy’s side and slid an arm around him again.
“Thank you for sweeping me into your life, starting with the ball pit,” Song said as they glided along to the music.
“I was so hurt when that Daddy fussed at me about playing so many instruments that I almost tucked tail and went home when he told me that I couldn’t play anymore; I was so embarrassed.
Then I saw you dancing in the balls and looking so happy and hoped that it would be okay to go over and say hi. ”
“That was so unfair of him to do that to you, especially when you were new,” Zachy said, feeling like a natural on those skates as they continued to go round and round.
The pace Song set made it easy to talk and glide as other conversations went on around them, broken up by giggles and the occasional shout as someone careened past hollering for someone to please tell them how to stop.
“He used to glare at me sometimes when Papa would take me to play there,” Zachy admitted, “because I didn’t always stay where I was put and could be super loud sometimes when I got excited about something.”
“He was scary,” Song admitted. “But I bet Solo was scarier when she caught up to him.”
“Your sister is so cool.”
“She’s the best big sister ever.”
“I’m excited to meet your big brother too,” Zachy admitted. “He’s coming over on Christmas Eve, right?”
“Uh-huh,” Song replied. “I know he’s excited to meet you guys too. He loves board games, and when I told him about the game and movie night we had planned, he promised to bring a bunch of gourmet popcorn to share when he came over.”
“It’s gonna be so much fun.”
As they glided beneath the blue trees again, they spotted their Daddy and Papa shoulder to shoulder, sipping cocoa and waving at them.
Waving back, Zachy squealed when the Mr. Grinch song came on.
Grinchy was his all-time favorite Christmas character, bar none, and he joined Song in singing the words as they skated around the rink some more.
And yet the more Zachy listened to the song, the more he started thinking about the grumpy Daddy at the club who’d told Song not to play anymore.
Whenever he showed up, he was always scowling and frowning at everyone, so much so that Zachy had noticed that most of the mommies and daddies rarely interacted with him.
He had to be super lonely, just like the Grinch.
He couldn’t help but feel like maybe he just needed someone to show him some joy and compassion, so he’d stop being so mean to everyone.
“Hey, are you getting tired?” Song asked, giving his hand a gentle squeeze, “Your whole vibe just changed.”
“No, not tired,” Zachy said. “Just wondering if we could find a way to help the grumpy daddy at the club not be so grumpy anymore so maybe one of the littles will like him enough to want him to be their daddy.
“Ohh, I don’t know if anything will help him; he’s meaner than the Grinch,” Song replied.
“It would be nice though if he’d smile sometime.
I kinda thought he was hot until he started grumbling at me about making so much noise.
Then his face twisted up, and he just looked kinda bitter and mean and definitely not hot anymore. ”
“I just found him scary,” Zachy admitted.
“I bet a lot of other littles do too.”
“Last year, he was at the Christmas party, but the whole time he just leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, watching everyone like he hated everything we were doing. Well, until this one boy lost his ball and it rolled over to him, then he smiled, like a real smile, and handed it back. I forgot what the boy’s name is; he’s super quiet, though, even if his daddy isn’t.
He’s the big guy who looks like a grizzly bear and loves to laugh loudly and tell all kinds of stories about the things he’s done.
Which is a lot. He’s like a superhero. His job is the coolest thing ever. ”
“Oh yeah, what does he do?”
“He’s a wrestler, like the kind we watch on television, only not that famous,” I explained. “He wrestles locally, though, and sometimes Daddy, Papa, and I go watch him. You’ll get to come now too. It’s gonna be so awesome.”
Song gave Zachy’s hand a squeeze as they drifted into one of the turns, gliding into a section of ice that was mostly empty.
Zachy let out a squeal when Song turned him into a wobbly spin, then a second one, as Zachy got the hang of how to position his feet.
One more turn, and Zachy was giggling and a little dizzy as they finally started skating in a mostly straight line again.
“I wonder if he likes the boy, and that’s why he smiles at him,” Song said as they closed in on their Daddy and Papa. “Maybe that’s what makes him sad, that he’s with another Daddy.”
“I guess we can’t help that, huh?” Zachy said, hoping that wasn’t the reason.
“No, that would just land us in trouble, and not the good kind.”
He was right, and yet Zachy couldn’t help but look up at all the stars twinkling on the tree and the lights around them as the song played and feel like everyone deserved to have a wonderful, magical season.
Hoping it would be considered a proper wish, even if he wished it on a different kind of star, he threw one out there into the universe for the grouchy daddy at the club to find love in the upcoming year and never feel the need to be grouchy or snap at anyone again.