hometown glory - wroetoshaw [✓]

TWENTY THREE

[twenty fifth of december 2019]

travelling back to dover brought many mixed emotions to apollo. she wasn't a fan of the long drive, the change of scenery from the busy city to empty fields or the overly festive family members. she was a city girl at heart, growing up she had a dislike for the emptiness and the lack of life her small town held. sure the many rolling fields and parks made it easy for herself and her friends to get drunk during their rebellious teen phase, but as she got older she realised there wasn't much for her in dover. which steered her towards london. 

the city where there is never a dull moment. from a busker in a busy street to a friendly local, there is always someone to talk to. it is overflowing with things to do, and even after living there for a few years she always enjoyed being a tourist in her own city and going to the places she didn't regularly make it to. 
though for some reason she really missed it this year.

harry adored guernsey, he loved his family home and the life he had there pre-youtube. it was small but he managed to keep himself occupied with his life online. growing up he had his younger siblings who looked up to him and constantly kept him company, now whenever he got to see them he cherished the moments. seeing his parents and their happy faces when he walks through the airport always put a smile on his face. 

the island is very different to london, more peaceful and serene. which is a big part of the reason why he loved it there. a time to just slow down and relax. it felt like he could detach himself from youtube and his job when he went home - until he had to film videos with his family, which all of his followers loved. of course they always obliged and were eager to make good videos as they enjoyed the process as much as harry. 
so of course he was glad to be heading back home, the announcement that his plane was boarding over the intercom made a small smile wash over his face; but as the plane went up and he saw the city beneath him a small part of him felt bad for leaving. 

apollo woke up that morning to the sound of her nephew blake bursting through her door to wake her up, excited to see 'auntie apowwo' and excited for his presents. she winced at the loud noise but couldn't be angry when his toothy face appeared on the bed. "it's christmas!" he jumped around like he had already consumed his body weight in sugar, and she struggled to contain his excitement. 

she managed to tackle him with a hug and lift him to be sat on her hip, walking down the stairs to living room and seeing her entire family. her mother and father, her nan and granddad, her sister orlana and brother in law theo who grinned at their child as his eyes glistened seeing the presents.
as soon as she placed him on the floor he sped over to the tree and was eager to get started. causing everyone to rush and stop him ripping open everything. 

christmas over the years in the lewis household got less and less exciting. as everyone grew older their enthusiasm for the festive season decreased and they were more glad it was a break from working. it had really lost its magic. sure they put on comfy pyjamas and watched christmas films with hot chocolates every christmas eve. but the excitement of rushing down the stairs to see what santa had left had long gone.
the gifts had matured with the children, no more doll sets, colouring books or footballs but instead fancy perfumes, expensive mantlepiece items and footballs. they had also favoured joke presents this year, as everyone burst out with laughs at the fact harry bought his dad a life size mr bean cut out.

harry was happy. plain and simple. the season wasn't about santa and toys anymore, but he had started to realise it was about family and the company you have during the season. 

an hour or so later wrapping paper littered the floor and everyone was speaking over one another, either thanking people for the gifts or playing with blake and his new toys. the dinner wasn't going to start cooking itself, so apollo took the responsibility of prepping the kitchen for the mess that was about to occur.

she threw the bin bags to her sister, asking her to begin cleaning the wrapping paper. before moving towards the very detailed, pre-written plan for christmas dinner her grandmother had been following for years. 

she preheated the oven and got to work on her part which was prepping the vegetables. while she was stood at the counter christmas music was blaring through the radio, her nephew was running in between every bodies legs, everyone was cracking jokes and christmas was truly in swing. 

his mother and father took their cooking very seriously, their turkey was the families favourite thing about the whole year and his mothers roast potatoes were to die for. so it always got very quiet around dinner time. the parents in the kitchen with low music surrounding them and the kids in the main room, curled up with the dogs and watching films. so that was where harry was when he got a text from apollo. just a simple one, reading 'merry christmas harold! x' 

he smiled at the message, not sure if she had gone out of her way to message him in particular or had sent it to everybody in her contacts. he was still appreciative nonetheless. his response was just as short and sweet as hers, 'have a lovely day pollo, merry christmas x'  

he hadn't noticed but rosie caught him staring at his phone with a smile on his face, one she hadn't seen him with for a while. one that was a telltale sign he had a little crush. she debated pressing the matter, asking who he was talking to or what had made him smile; but she decided to just let it slide - at least until the new year. 

a/n- i really hope this wasn't mega confusing but like harrys christmas is in italics and then apollos is in bold, didn't wanna take up two chapters for christmas but wanted to do something kinda cute and showing both povs for their day.