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One would think the holidays are straightforward. When the month of December comes around, public opinion dictates that Christmas has begun. Commercialization would have you think it’s that way in every corner of the world. Why would Latveria be any different? Surely even the great Victor von Doom indulges in the magic and goodwill the season is supposed to represent. In truth, he is swayed. He is swayed to indulge in the frivolities of Christmas for the sake of the sons he’d adopted.
It had started that very first year, in 1973 with a baby in his arms and terror struck into the heart of one of the most feared men in the world. He’d been swayed by the even stranger companion who’d taken up residence in his castle 3 years before. With the interference of the most unlikely of people, a baby Helmut Zemo had come into their lives and a bizarre little family was born.
What also was born, was the compromise of celebrating Yule, Hannakuh, and Christmas all under one roof.
Decades after this initial compromise finds Sonia awake in the middle of the night decorating the castle with the help of Ozenik as everyone else sleeps. There's a tree in the main sitting room decorated with silver and blue garland and little yule goats. There's a menorah in the window and mistletoe in one of the doorways. At the request of Velaria, she’d decorated the throne room like a meet and greet with Santa straight out of an American mall.
Stepping back to view her handy work, a glass is handed out to her and she takes it. After a sip, her gaze drifts towards the man and sips it again. The blood in the cup helped her calm from the exertion and soothes her vampiric nature while looking around. Nerves seize her at the realization that tomorrow, her family is arriving. Some were people she hadn’t spent the holidays with before. Her brother, she hadn’t spent Hannakuh with since she was a human, and it scared her.
“Have you slept at all?” a smooth voice says through a voice filter, and she turns to see Doom towering behind her, an imposing figure to anyone else.
“1. Unlike you I don’t really need sleep. 2……no.” She confesses.
“Sonia. You’ve spent decades yelling at me to care for myself. Drilled healthy sleep routines into both of our sons, no matter how much the military tried drilling it out of Helmut. What has you so worried that you’ve made a hypocrite out of yourself in conditions other than espionage?” He asks, sounding almost amused as much as concerned.
“Erik’s coming.” She confesses, letting a sigh wrack her body as the normally confident woman suddenly looks more like the 20 years she’s eternally frozen at.
“So the Master of Magnetism is what it takes to remind you how to be human?” Victor prods, and to anyone else it would sound condescending. Only years of experience allow her to know there's concern buried under the sentence.
“You’ve always known my baby brother was my weakness. Now he’s bringing Charles? I’m already navigating rebuilding a bond with Erik after he though I was dead for years. Now I need to make a good impression on his lover? His children? Not to mention my girlfriend. Kris’s new boyfriend. Helmut’s dating my former mentor. Don’t get me started on thinking about how our son is dating a man technically older than me,” A gauntleted hand grabs her shoulder, shaking her slightly.
“Breathe, I know you don’t need to. But breathe. Go get some blood. Take a nap. It’ll all be okay. I promise not to kill Reed when he brings Valeria.” He says before shoving her towards the stairs leading to her room.
After sleeping a few hours and changing into a navy blue skirt and sleeveless grey top before pulling on elbow length brown gloves as she heads down the stairs and pauses to see who had arrived.
Helmut is there with Sergeant Barnes, fingers laced while talking with Kristoff. She grinned happily as it seems her younger son is demonstrating the new tricks his puppy had learned. So distracted by watching her boys, a familiar heartbeat managed to sneak up on her as strong arms wrap around her waist.
“Happy Hanukkah babe.” the sweet southern twang of her girlfriend Amaya whispers in her ear.
Holding her close, everything feels calmer. Stealing kisses, she hands the beautiful Texan woman with a choppy blonde dye job a whiskey bottle with a bow on it. Her smile seems to cause everything else to melt away.
“Thank you for coming. I know you’d likely rather spend the holidays with your family. But, taking the time to be here. It means everything to me.” She says and cradles her cheek.
“Hey. I forced you to attend a Tex Mex thanksgiving. You even let your hair go back to its natural brown trying to make a good impression. Of course I’ll come spend Christmas in a castle like a weird Hallmark movie.” She says with a laugh and another kiss.
When Erik and the rest of the mutants that were invited come in, she does her best to keep the nerves down. Seeing Erik, it feels like she’s thrown back in time to a scared little girl. Pietro and Wanda stick together, but go into where everyone else is gathered. Kurt Wagner teleports to sit on the back of the armchair Kristoff is in, their hands finding each other and interlacing.
The way Charles is holding Eriks hand must be mirroring how Amaya holds Sonias. Their gazes had met, it wasn’t the first time they’d seen each other since reconnecting, Far from it. They’d spend hours talking on the phone ever since the initial revelation that brought them back together. But this was the first major family holiday, and they were such different people now.
“Happy Hanukkah, Anya.” He says, the use of her birth name never really stopped being jarring.
“Happy Hanukkah, Erik. I’m so glad you could join us.” She says and guides him inside.
Pulling Amaya close while hovering closer to the other couple, everything seems to be just right. Victor lights the Yule log, even though she stands as far away from it as possible without excluding herself. He subtly slips away after doing so.
“Kris, when will you come to the school? I miss you.” Kurt says to him while leaning forward and almost falling off the back of the chair.
“I don’t know. I’m still learning how to run a country. If I need help with my new empath abilities, I can just call Charles.” Kris says before his expression lights up. “Santa?”
Sonia's gaze meets Eriks with an amused look. We both knew Santa was out there somewhere. If anyone knew where his workshop[ in the North Pole is, it would be her brother or Charles. No one could hide an Omega level mutant from these two after all. But the look on his face seeing Dr. Doom in a Santa suit was worth it. The sight alone had the Winter Soldier almost falling off the couch after all. Amaya was even snapping photos and running to tell him what she wants for Christmas. Yep. Getting him in this outfit every year was the best argument she’d ever won.