Chapter Text
Nelson, Lancashire, was a pretty simple place around Christmas time.
The brown houses that lined the streets didn’t have massive light displays, but they did have some small, twinkling lights in white and more fun colors.
Margaret Hicks stared out at the window towards the street, looking out at the ground, brown and grey from the winter temperatures.
It had been awhile since she saw her youngest, Tony. He had joined a band back in 1963, not his first band, but it was certainly his most successful. Needless to say, he was busy. At the beginning, he would come home a lot, especially when he was learning to drive, but now, he was almost always away.
On the other hand, their oldest, Maureen, was often coming home, usually with one of Tony’s bandmates, their drummer, by the name of Bobby.
Bobby was a nice lad, very polite. He’d always compliment their home, and her cooking. Maureen seemed happy with him too, and she was glad they found each other.
Tony didn’t find anyone just yet, but he was only nineteen, almost twenty. Even when he was young, he was quite a flirt with girls, and seemed to go through many girlfriends at a time. Was that the same now that he was famous? Possibly.
Margaret couldn’t wait to see Tony and Maureen and Bobby again. It was the holidays after all, so naturally they would come home. This time though, Tony would bring a couple other bandmates with him, Allan, and Graham.
She had met both of them (and their bassist, Eric), a few times, and they were all such lovely gentlemen! It would be a lovely Christmas with them, that was for sure.
-
“How will we do this?” Graham asked, eagerly.
“What do you mean?” Tony asked, tilting his head.
“Spend Christmas with your parents without being found out?”
Tony and Graham were sitting on the floor of Graham’s flat, trying to brainstorm ideas for what to do when they visited Nelson. However, one thing stood in the way: the fact that Tony, Graham, and Allan were all seeing each other. Knowing each other.
It had been like this for about a year, with Graham and Allan dating for a year and a half. Who knew a night of drinking would lead to a love confession between the two? Who knew Tony was always curious about men, and wanted to try kissing a man, but only a man he trusted to not spill his secret? Who knew Graham liked kissing Tony, but he wanted Tony to go out with Allan, just so the band didn’t break up if there was a breakup? Who knew Allan liked Tony? Who knew….
“I think we’ll still be able to do the things we usually did. Just…. Not as obvious. So like, only kiss in private, you know?”
“Okay… well.. how will we make love?”
“Late at night. Try to keep your voice down though.” Tony grinned.
Graham rolled his eyes. “I try enough already!”
Tony laughed. “Well, try harder! Anyways, I think there’s a couple pubs in Nelson right near my house. There’s also a bowling alley I think, but it may have closed.”
Graham listened to Tony ramble on about his hometown, but the voice inside his head screamed “You’ll get found out!”
It didn’t help that Bobby would be spending Christmas with them as well, since he was seeing Tony’s sister. If Bobby found out… would the band be toast?
“Graham!”
He didn’t say anything.
“Willy! Hellooooo!”
“Shit! Sorry… I uh…”
“Are you nervous, still?”
“Yes. I am. I can’t have every I worked hard for fall down. I can’t go to prison. I can’t be shunned.”
It was a shock seeing Graham so nervous, a major difference from his personality. Tony gave a reassuring smile.
“Hey, I’ll make sure no one hurts you. Or me, or Allan. We’ve kept this secret for a year, I think we can hold on for a little while longer.” He finished his sentence with a squeeze to Graham’s hand.
“You’re right. It’ll be okay. We’ll have a lovely Christmas, and a happy new year with just the three of us…”
“That’s the spirit! Now, is there anything you’d like me to scout out in Nelson?”
-
Alan Hicks looked up into the attic, trying to see where the boxes of lights were. The Hicks household was rather late to decorating the place, and it stressed him out.
He always worried about getting things done late, which showed a lot when his kids were living with him. Alan remembered flipping the light switch on and off numerous times to wake up Tony at 4 AM so he could go to work. Tony would roll over in annoyance, and Alan would yank the covers off of him.
Now that the kids were out of the house, Alan calmed down, but his worry still stayed. Christmas was always a stressful time, especially since his household was rather lower class.
Eventually, Alan found the box of lights, and opened the box, dust flying everywhere.
He quickly blinked it away, and climbed down the ladder, carrying the box in one arm.
Grabbing his coat, and heading outside, he started looking for a good place to spread the lights out when the young couple who lived across the street greeted him.
“Alan! Hello there! How’s it going?” The man, Peter, asked.
Alan honestly hated Peter. He was quite pompous, and argumentative, yet Peter seemed to want to be friends with him.
“I’m doing well. I’m about to put the lights up.” He nodded stiffly.
“That’s great, that’s great. Well, Mary and I are going to go all out this year. We got a Santa statue, we’re going out to get a tree for the front lawn, and some snowmen made out of steel are being made for us.”
“Wow, that’s a lot.”
“Yeah, what are you doing? Just some lights?”
“Yes. I like to keep things simple.”
“That’s great, that’s great. Well, we’re heading off!” Peter waved goodbye, while Mary nodded, just as stiff as Alan.
Alan watched them get into their yellow car, with a headlight busted out and speed away, almost hitting a telephone pole.
Heat rose up to his face, and Alan angrily opened the door, shoving the lights into the hall closet. Why did Peter have to shove everything in his nose? Why did Alan feel so upset by their decoration ideas?
“Margaret. This Christmas, we’re going to go all out. Get out our rainy day funds, we’re having Santa on the roof.”