30 day holiday writing challenge- Day 4: Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving can go f- itself. 

Who ever thought bringing together a bunch of people who never see each other and don’t even really like each other would be a good idea? And it's not like they have anywhere to go when they are pissed off because everywhere is closed. So all of these strangers parading around as family are trapped in a house together until it is socially acceptable to leave, only to repeat the same routine a month later for the next “family” holiday. 

Yeah, never volunteering to host Thanksgiving again. Heck, never going to a Thanksgiving dinner again.

Honestly, when Harper opened the front door to the sight of her brother sans their parents, she should have just closed it, locked it back up, and told Aeron that they were going to spend the day cuddled on the couch swapping between Hallmark Christmas movies and bloody Halloween flicks. 

But no. Part of her still wanted to try and play “perfect family holiday” with her brother and her boyfriend.A home-cooked meal baking in the oven as the broadway musical numbers featured at the parade echo through the apartment. Turning on a Christmas movie as everyone tucks into the pie and coffee. Sure her boyfriend wouldn’t be able to eat anything and her brother absolutely hates Christmas movies… no, actually he just hates Christmas. But she still wanted to try to make that fantasy a reality.

From now on, whenever she starts to feel hopeful, Harper is going to think back on this day and remember why optimism is dangerous.

“Will you shut up? You are really starting to piss me off,” Kye snapped, his knee knocking against the underside of the table as he tried and failed to lunge at Aeron. Ever since her brother stepped into her apartment, the guy has been obsessed with picking a fight with her boyfriend. Snapping at the demon for not helping enough, criticizing him for “offending her by offering too much help”, and, oh her personal favorite, getting angry at the demon for being too condescending just because of the way he talks. 

And while he swore on Dave that he was going to be on his best behavior, Aeron has been just as awful towards her brother. The moment Kye sat next to him on the couch, there was a wrinkle to the demon’s nose like some foul scent had entered the room. Everytime her brother moved, Aeron lifted his hand as though he was going to cover his nose in disgust. Even more worrisome was the fact that whenever their guest put his hand on Harper’s shoulder or ruffled her hair or gave her a hug, Aeron suppressed a growl. 

It was disturbing. It was possessive. And it was enraging her brother.

Right now both men were pissing her off with their weird competition for male dominance over her. Her brother is about to get his ass kicked if he doesn't stop meddling in her relationship, and if Aeron keeps growling at her brother, he’s going to spend the night in the pocket dimension with Dave.

With a silent chant of “you love your brother. You love your demon. Please don’t kill either,” Harper picked up the two plates of pie and pieced together something resembling a smile before turning around to face the other two. “Well, it might not be mom’s recipe, but I did make pumpkin pie by hand. You’ll have to let me know what you think,” she told her brother as she placed a plate down in front of him before sitting down with the other.”

“Why don’t you ask Aeron what he thinks of the pie? Oh wait, I forgot. For some reason he’s decided to ‘fast’ today.”

“Kye, it’s fine”

“No, it’s not fine Har! My boyfriend might not like everything I cook but at least he tries it. Yours isn’t even trying. Hell, he isn’t even pretending to try!”

“Look, there is a reason for it, okay. It is just a bit hard to explain.” 

“What, does his religion forbid eating on Thanksgiving? Is he having surgery tonight and can’t eat for the next nine hours? Is he somehow the only human alive able to survive on sunlight? Massive food allergies?”

“Let’s go with the last…”

“Cease your prying, you animal!” Aeron commanded sharply, an uncharacteristic look of frustration and annoyance covering his face. While he has gotten angry before, the demon prided himself on his self-control and ability to seem unflappable. For him to be visibly displaying his emotions means that Aeron was wrong comment away from banishing her brother to some weird and dangerous dimension.

“Hey, let’s go watch…”

“Why? Are you afraid that I’ll figure out all of your dirty secrets?”

“Enough Kye!”

“This is why I find your kind so loathsome. Your people irritate others until we snap on you and play victim. When instead you should leave your overpowered noses out of my affairs. It is disgusting.”

“...Get out. Now.”

Aeron stopped his rant suddenly and turned to see a cold, blank expression on Harper’s face. While he would never admit it to her, she would almost describe the look on his face as one of fear. “What did you say, my dear.”

“I said ‘get out’. I know he hasn’t been kind to you today, and he and I will talk about that later. But if you truly think he is disgusting and loathsome, then you can leave and never come back.”

“It is not him as a human. Actually, if he was not the creature that he is, I would enjoy our verbal sparring. But ignoring what he is has been a futile endeavor; the scent is all over him.” 

“Okay, so he smells like his boyfriend. Big deal. I am still not going to have you stay in my house and insult my brother just because he is in a relationship with another guy. I can deal with you being a demon, but I refuse to date a bigot. 

“A demon?!”

Aeron wrapped a hand around Harper’s shoulder, causing her to look up and see the puzzled look on his face. “I must confess, you have confused me once again. If you believe that my animosity towards your brother comes from his taste in spouses, you are mistaken. When we first met, I told you that while I adopted a human male form, the truth is that my true self has no gender. So to hate those based on their preferences in that area is illogical.”

“So why do you find my brother disgusting then?”

“Because he is a creature of the moon. I believe you would refer to him as a werewolf.” 

“What? No way. I would have noticed that growing up.” Harper turned to her brother and felt the amusement draining away when she realized that he was refusing to meet her eyes. “Kye? You okay? Look, Aeron is just messing with you. I mean, he is not normally big on teasing people but it could happen. And you were a bit on the hairy side after puberty hit but so was everyone else.”

“He’s…” Harper’s heart ached as she watched her little brother struggle to find his words until finally his body slumped over in defeat. “He’s wrong but not completely.”

“And… what does that mean?” 

“So, I’m a werecreature but not a werewolf. I’m…god this is embarrassing.”

“Hey, hey. It’s okay,” she soothed as she slid into the seat beside him. Her hand ran up and down his hunched over back: partially to offer her brother comfort but mostly to hide the fact that her hand was trembling in fear. “No matter what it is, you’ll have my support. And Aeron’s too. I promise.”

“Gotta be honest.” Kye’s muffled voice slipped through the gaps in the fingers hiding his face. “Kind of creepy that you are dating a demon. And real worried that you just glossed over it like it’s no big deal.”

“Well, I’m kind of freaked out by the fact that you grow fur and fangs every month, but here we are. So let’s deal with my freak out before we tackle yours.”

“...Not fur.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t grow fur every month. I grow fins. I’m a werewhale.”

“Ah, that would explain the scent of fish wafting out of your pores.”

Harper’s heart jolted at the sound of Aeron’s voice coming from behind her. When did he come back into the room? Did he even leave the room? And what the hell is a werewhale?

“I’m sorry, did you just say ‘werewhale’? As in every month you turn into Shamu?” Her head turned to Aeron with an expression full of disbelief and the threat of violence if she found out this was a joke. “You are kidding, right? There is no way a ‘werewhale’ exists.”

“Of course they do exist. I am not sure why you humans cling to the idea that wolves are the only creatures ruled by the moon but there is an entire community of werecreatures out there. They usually have the most decadent of parties. There are no rules beyond a ban on humans: too much of a risk of injury.” Aeron turned to Kye and offered him a small smirk. “But I would be more than happy to bring you to the next one I go to. You are fairly young for a werecreature, so I am sure you haven’t had the opportunity to experience such as…blissful event.”

Harper crumbled one of the cloth napkins and threw it at the demon’s head, silently cheering when it bounced off it and back onto the table. “There is no way in hell you are going to a sexy party without me and then being welcomed back into my house. And I’d keep Dave just to rub it in.”

“Who’s Dave?”

“Story for another time.” She waved off her brother’s question as more of her own started flooding her mind. “So when did you become a were? And how? Like, were you attacked or something?”

“I got turned about a year ago. And how…Well, my boyfriend likes to bite, okay?”

Likes to bite…

“Oh, oh, please don’t tell me more! I don’t need to know. I don’t want to know. Love you but keep the details to yourself, baby brother.”

“He is more than welcome to share the details with me,” Aeron purred as he slid into the seat next to Kye. “What,” he defended when he saw the incredulous look on Harper’s face. “I do like a good spicy story every once and awhile.”

“I’m sorry but did someone ruffie your souls this morning? Because 5 minutes ago you wanted to throw my brother into a dark dimension and now you want to sleep with him?”

“Ah yes, well, I do feel a bit odd.” The demon’s eyes were slightly glassy as he leaned over to get a closer look at his girlfriend. “And I must admit, you look incredibly attractive now. With your hair pulled up as if you do not care to attract my attention…oh.” His hand paused as he was reaching over their plates of pie. “I believe I know what the problem is. Is there, perhaps, nutmeg or cloves in this dish?”

“Yeah, both. Why?”

“Ah, I regret now that I did not inform you that those two spices are aphrodisiacs for demons.”

“...You are joking, right?”

“I’m afraid not.”

Harper sat there for a moment before standing up. “My brother is now part whale,” she said in an eerily cheerful tone as she ruffled his hair. “My boyfriend is horny for pumpkin pie spice,” she continued as she dropped a light kiss on Aeron’s cheek as she walked by. Once she reached the counter, Harper took out a new fork and grabbed the pumpkin pie that she took the slices from. “And I am going to take this pie, go into the living room, and watch Christmas movies until I puke. Not sure if it is the pie or the movies that will make me puke. Might be both. Don’t really care. If you two want to join me, you can. Otherwise, have fun. Don’t ruin my kitchen. And don’t wake me from my food coma until it is time to go Black Friday shopping.” 

As she walked into the living room, the two men could hear her mutter “Can’t believe  this isn’t even the weirdest Thanksgiving we ever had.”