It was a cold December night in New Horizons, with snow on the ground and people staying home. Or maybe the restaurant had closed early for some reason and that was why there wasn't much in their dumpster instead, Electrolight guessed as he let the metal lid drop back down with a clang. Nothing inside to eat, either. It'd been a couple of days. But the villainous raccoon wasn't worried. He had super powers, after all. He could go into some store and just go "Aha, it is me, Electrolight, you will bring me food now or I will zap all of you!" and the people inside would be all "oh yes right away mister Electrolight" and he'd get to eat anything he wanted.

Then some superhero would show up and he'd get chucked into jail again where they'd have to feed him, too, but he hadn't gotten hungry enough yet as to take that option. In the meantime, he had powers. He didn't have to worry about being cold, at least. He tucked himself into a space between the dumpster and the end of the alley, getting himself out of the wind, and then blasted the metal wall o the big trash bin until it got hot and made his little space nice and comfortable. He had super powers. That meant he was more special than regular people. They all would be jealous that he could get warm any time he wanted as long as there was metal stuff around to zap.

Yeah. He leaned back against the wall. Just 'cause the 8th Street Boys had kicked him out of their gang headquarters didn't mean he was in any trouble. They'd come ask for him again sometime and then he'd get to crash indoors for a couple weeks, and he was just fine by himself outside. Didn't matter if it was cold, he could get warm, and he'd find some food soon. Oh, yeah, people had all that Christmas stuff up, that was probably coming soon too, right? So there'd be junk food and stuff getting thrown out that he could grab.

Huh, Christmas. All those people inside their homes were just doing all that stuff with trees and presents. He had the only present he needed, he had some of the best powers in the city. And he hadn't given anybody anything since he was... he tried to remember. Well, a long time ago. When he was little and Mom had still been trying. He remembered that tree, and sitting down at the wobbly always-messy table with a piece of construction paper and a crayon they gave him at school, and making cards for Mom and Dad for presents. With a crappy little-kid tree picture on both of them.

And Mister Fluffy, yeah, that was when he got him. Electrolight reached out a hand and used his light powers to make a little Christmas tree for himself. With presents under it and a plate with cookies on it, even. One of those presents had Mister Fluffy inside it, really. A stuffed raccoon that was new in the box and all soft and everything. He'd kept Mister Fluffy with him all the time for... a while, then he'd been gone one day and that was it. Probably after the twins got born and everything went bad.

So yeah, he had his own little Christmas just for himself right there in the alley, and definitely had a happy memory to think of for it, and he had his super powers letting him made a Christmas tree any time he wanted one. So everybody else would just wish they could have as much Christmas as Electrolight could have. He was definitely a totally happy supervillain who everybody was jealous of.

***

The Iron Dragon, Dr. Setta Flamowitz, was flying an evening patrol when her suit's sensors picked up a surge of radio interference that meant Electrolight was using his electrical powers again. The fuzzy little twerp could never figure out that generating his giant bursts of electricity produced radio waves that she (or any other hero with a pocket radio) could home in on. If he knew what he was doing, he could have jammed communications across the city any time he liked... so she was glad he was among the dumbest crooks on file. Amazing potential, and not remotely anywhere near any understanding of how to use any of it.

He was in an alley behind a faux-English pub this time. Which probably meant he wasn't robbing the place, but he might have stooped to mugging this time. He didn't usually go that low; as far as Setta could tell, he just didn't think of 'mug somebody' as a thing a scrawny guy like him could do, and hadn't linked 'super powers' to 'mugging capability.' She wasn't about to go enlighten him on the option. But if he was in the alley, then...

Setta frowned inside the helmet. It was already cold out and temperatures were supposed to keep dropping overnight. Electrolight might have plenty of fur and his electric powers, but if he was asleep and it went cold enough while he was sitting in an alley somewhere, he might lose enough heat to the ground and walls that he just wouldn't wake up to warm himself back up. He wasn't the worst villain out there by far. He'd joined in some hero/villain teamups willingly enough and 'gone straight' three times so far, even if it never lasted. He wasn't evil, just... went to crime as his first option any time he wanted something.

She adjusted her flight path to let her get a look down into the alley from afar. Yeah, there he was, sitting behind a dumpster, and using his powers to make a... she zoomed in with the sensors. Making a Christmas tree and... crying.

That was... not something to go in with stunner hot for. Or with the stunner going at all. And... probably not even something the Iron Dragon should deal with. Whatever the scraggly raccoon was sad about, showing up in full armor was just going to start a fight. The New Horizons police weren't going to go send anybody to deal with a known supervillain, and even the social programs refused to deal with supervillains in the field anymore; it was just too dangerous. But she did know someone who could approach him.

A half-hour later, Doctor Setta Flamowitz bundled up in a set of heated leggings under her usual skirt, and a thick winter coat in place of her usual labcoat. As a fire-based dragon, cold was very much not her friend. On a sub-zero night like this one was steadily developing into, she wouldn't normally want to be out without the power armor on at all. The armor was secured down in the lab, and she just had a few gadgets with her to help her locate him if he moved. Not much more than a three-antenna radio. She got in her sporty little car and headed back to that faux-pub.

***

Electrolight had reheated the dumpster wall twice to keep his little nook warm and comfortable. He still had his light-tree up, and to pass the time, was trying to remember how Christmas carols went.

"Deck the halls with bows of holly, falalalala, lalalala, it's the season to be jolly, falalalala, lalalala, deck the halls with bows of holly, falalalala, lalalala, it's the season to be jolly..." He did about five rounds of that one, then decided to try another. "Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the bells, oh what fun it is to ride, jingling all the bells.." Uh. Maybe not. He didn't remember much of how that one went. Geez, how did people remember songs like that? "We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, and a happy new year. We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, and a happy new year. We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a... who's there?"

He stopped singing when he heard somebody walking up in the alley. They mighta thought they were being sneaky but he was really good at living outside and he heard stuff like that. He scrambled up to his feet and got ready to fire big blasts if he needed to, but it was hard to see, everything was all blurry for some reason.

"Alex?" called a female voice. "Can we talk?"

Aw, shit. Anybody who called him by his old name wanted to...

Alex Procyon just dropped back to his butt and slumped back against the wall. Fuck it, if someone wanted to talk, maybe it was a good time. "Y... yeah," he said. "Come on in." He wiped at his eyes. Probably got wind or something in them to make him tear up like that all of the sudden. A lot, too, his face was wet.

And then there was a freakin' dragon coming down the alley. Like, wings and wearing all that fancy expensive cold-weather stuff like rich people. Dragons were always rich, not like trash pandas. He had to blink a bunch, but this one was even a famous dragon he actually knew.

"It's going to get cold tonight, Alex," the Iron Dragon said to him, not wearing any of her armor or anything. He could blast her right there against the wall, and get like tons of villain cred for it, say he lured her into a trap or something. But... he just didn't want to. She held out her hand. "You need to talk?"

He reached up and let her pull him to his feet. "I'm kinda hungry," he admitted, 'cause maybe she'd get him some food and not just talk at him about trying to stop being a villain or whatever again. Or she was a science type, maybe she had some plan she was doing and needed all his power for it and she was gonna hire him for a legit job or something.

"Let's get something to eat, then," she said, and led him out from the alley. She had this two-seater car that looked like she probably kept it up a lot, not like an engine sticking through the hood or anything but it still looked fast. He got into the other side and she got into the driver side, and she reminded him to use the seat belt, and then they went to a burger place, 'cause everything else was closed. Only the drive-thru was open, but she got him three big burgers and fries and a big soda, and she waited while he scarfed it all down.

He felt full and warm and satisfied when he was done eating, and leaned back in the seat. "So... I guess we can talk," he said. "What do you want?"

"It's going to be really cold tonight," the Iron Dragon said quietly. "And I saw your tree."

"Yeah, I can do stuff like that any time I want," Electrolight said, and tried making the tree up on the dashboard to prove it, but his eyes got all watery again. He was showing off, he couldn't get sad about stuff like that, so he wasn't sure why he kept crying. Supervillains didn't cry, they bragged and stuff. And he was nothing if he wasn't a supervillain.

"Where's that tree from?" she asked.

She must have been using some super-science psychology stuff on him or something, because she just asked that one question and suddenly everything came pouring out. How he'd made those dumb kid trees on the cards when he was little and that was the last time they'd ever had a tree, about Mister Fluffy, about how Dad had been there for Christmas and they'd all been together and sang those songs and opened stuff, and then after that the twins got born and then Dad took on a fifth job and was always gone and Mom just gave up caring after coming home with the babies and Alex and his older brother Caleb were the ones taking care of the two little baby girls and also their little brother Louie, and Caleb started getting more and more mad all the time at everyone, and school got harder and harder, and they never did any more Christmas after that, and then Caleb joined the Navy as soon as he got old enough and left Alex in charge, and Alex got his super powers like two months later and he never had to go back to school or go back home again once he had super powers and could be a super villain instead, and nobody could ever take away his powers or say he wasn't special even if he was dumb, and...

The Iron Dragon was really good. She didn't even have her armor on and she'd just asked him that one question and he just didn't have any strength left all of the sudden. He was just limp in the seat. He didn't know where all that had come from, she must've been tricking him into talking until he was too tired to do anything.

"I think I know someone who can help you, Alex," she said quietly. Then she used a fancy phone to call somebody. "Hello, Marcus? Sorry to call so late, but I've got someone here who really needs to have a family tonight. His name is Alex Procyon. I know it's an imposition, but can you... yeah. Thanks, Marcus. You're the best. No, don't worry, you don't need to come pick him up, I know how to get to your place."

***

Marcus Ricci was not a superhero. The wolf had the build for it, sure. But New Horizons had plenty of superheroes, and he'd gotten to know one of them. Doctor Setta Flamowitz, the famous Iron Dragon... also happened to be a fan of his favorite football team. New Horizons didn't have its own team, and was a continent away from their mutual pick. They'd both been attending an away game and met at the stadium by chance, and a friendship was born. Many a Sunday afternoon in the fall saw Setta hanging out on a couch, watching the game with Marcus. His wife, Ekatrina, seemed quite bemused by the whole thing, but didn't object.

What Marcus did have was two sons and a daughter who provided quite a lot of proof that he knew how to be a good dad. When Setta brought in a scrawny raccoon kid in a blue-and-yellow supervillain outfit, Marcus and Ekatrina had the guest room ready. The kid's name was Alex, Setta had said; Marcus didn't recognize the outfit, but he had the look of having done some hard living despite his young age. It was late, but it was pretty clear the kid was hungry, so Ekatrina conjured up a respectable plate from the leftovers in the fridge somehow, though Marcus would've sworn there wasn't much in there.

Anything in Marcus' closet would have hung on Alex like a tent, but the twins were close enough in size. Marcus got Alex into a sweater and some sweatpants with a drawstring while his darling wife got that much-used villain costume into the wash immediately. The raccoon was subdued, and Marcus didn't think it was just from being in a house of wolves. He just seemed like he'd run out of spirit and was just doing what anyone said. It made him easy to handle, but that was just taking care of his immediate physical needs. He needed help.

Once he was fed, showered, and dressed in something warmer, Marcus and Ekatrina sat down with the thin young adult in the living room. Setta had made her exit; she suggested that her presence might inspire a more combative atmosphere, given that she'd tangled with him on a professional basis more than once.

Alex was sitting there, looking at the Christmas tree. Marcus couldn't begin to guess how Ekatrina always got the thing looking so magnificent every year; he couldn't see the wires for the bulbs, and the brilliant chrome-and-wood ornaments had so many intricate little moving figures, he would swear they were some kind of magic. Heck, maybe they were; Ekatrina never said where she got those ones, but it would not surprise Marcus one bit if somewhere in town someone had set up a shop for magic Christmas ornaments. If so, then they'd done a wonderful job with them. The tree always had that glow of Christmas cheer.

"You like it?" Marcus asked.

"Yes sir," Alex said quietly, mostly slumped, looking straight forward, which happened to be at the tree. Marcus waited. Alex picked up on it and added, "It's pretty."

"Setta told me you haven't had a tree in a long time," Marcus said. "Ekatrina and I thought that you might stay with us for a little bit and share Christmas with us."

"Thank you," said Alex robotically.

Marcus and Ekatrina shared a look. She cleared her throat. "I think you could use some sleep, Alex," she said.

"Yes, ma'am," Alex replied. And then he was out, as though he'd just been waiting for permission, to the startlement of both wolves. Marcus carefully picked him up and carried him into the guest room. The kid was skin and bones under all that fluffy fur.

He was late to rise in the morning, too. But more animated when he did come out. Ekatrina took care of making a stack of her fluffy golden pancakes; Marcus took care of scrambled eggs and sausage. Alex seemed like he might be a genuine bottomless pit at first, but eventually even he admitted to being full after two entire sausages' worth of medallions, a dozen pancakes, and a full pan of eggs. Then it was time to really start in on the day.

"How are you with a hammer?" Marcus asked, while helping get the dishes loaded.

"Uh... I dunno, I never used one," was Alex's response.

"How'd you like to learn? Mrs. Yeager over on Kitezh Street needs a wheelchair ramp for her front steps, and I'm heading over to help."

The raccoon looked confused, but he nodded. "Uh, okay?" So Marcus found a coat, hat, and gloves that would fit Alex, and they headed over.

He really didn't know a thing about tools, Marcus found. So the big wolf showed him how to swing a hammer properly, how to hold a nail and how to get the nail started so he didn't have to keep his fingers at risk while hammering it in. How to use a tape measure, and how to adjust for the width of the cut itself. How to use a saw to cut a board, too, though Alex got tired out pretty quickly at that. He showed him how the parts all went together, and then how to sand it all down afterward, and how to use a paintbrush to apply a coat so it'd seal up and be more weather-resistant. They built the whole thing in Mrs. Yeager's garage, next to a really big old kettle; it would need a day or so to dry, so Marcus knocked on the door and let Mrs. Yeager, Barbara, know that he'd be back the next day to set it up for her. She was politely thankful.

"So, um, is that your job?" Alex asked as they walked back. He felt weird. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been around a guy as big as Marcus for that long and not gotten smacked for something. Even when he'd missed with the hammer and left a dent in the wood, or when he'd asked dumb questions, Mr. Ricci just showed him how to do it better the next time. It kinda made Alex want to run. Mr. Ricci just had to be getting mad at him, everybody did. He was just going to build it up for something really big later. But... somehow he had a weird feeling that maybe he shouldn't run for some reason.

"Nah, I'm just helping out Mrs. Yeager because she was having trouble getting around," Marcus answered, carrying the hefty metal toolbox like it was nothing. "People have to look out for each other sometimes, you know?"

"Uh. I guess so?" Alex replied. Usually that kind of thing meant 'and now you're gonna do something for me' but Marcus wasn't telling him to do anything.

The big wolf put his free hand on Alex's shoulder. "When you need help, ask. You'll be surprised how many people out there want to make things better."

That hadn't even been Alex's experience. But then, he didn't usually ask for help unless it was like 'get me out of this trap' and then most of the time other villains would leave him behind when he did. But... it didn't seem like Marcus was talking about that kind of people. They walked the rest of the way back while Alex tried to think about it. He didn't get very far.

Mrs. Ricci had lunch ready when they got in. She'd made up these... meat and dough things that Alex didn't know what they were called. He didn't want to ask and sound dumb, so he didn't. He and Marcus went and washed up, and then the whole family sat down to eat. They were treating him like when he was working for some other villain, letting him eat as much as he wanted and stuff. But it was weird. Nobody yelled at anyone, or insulted anyone, or made any smug comments about their own superiority, or tried to take control of the table. They just talked and were so relaxed with each other. Alex didn't say much; he was eating everything he could get his hands on. But Mrs. Ricci had learned from breakfast, and made more than even he could eat.

"Alex, would you like to help me make some pies after lunch?" Mrs. Ricci eventually asked.

"Um... I don't know anything about cooking," Alex admitted, and reflexively leaned back a bit so when she smacked him for being dumb it'd hurt less. But she just smiled at him and it wasn't one of those look-at-all-these-sharp teeth smiles despite her impressive set.

"Then it's a good time to learn," she said. And Alex didn't have anything he could say about that.

They made three apple pies that afternoon. Alex peeled some apples for them, and Mrs. Ricci peeled way more. She showed him how to use the peeler, and he took careful swipes, while she just used a knife and whisked long curls of red apple skin off in one go, finishing like six apples before he was halfway done with one. She showed him how to take the cores out and how to cut the apple into slices just the right size for a pie, and how to roll out the dough, and how to use the sugar and cinnamon and butter and a little touch of lemon juice here and there, making a big pile of flavored apples inside the pie crust, then laying the second crust on top and cutting slits in it and squeezing all the edges shut.

And then she walked him through doing it all himself for the second pie. That took way longer. He didn't do any of it right. He kept tearing the dough when he tried to make the crust, and she kept fixing it and having him try again. His apple pieces were all weird sizes and uneven, not like her pretty identical little wedges, but she had him keep cutting and eventually they got kinda okayish, instead of pushing him aside and doing it herself. He kept getting sugar and cinnamon on the counter, and she kept correcting him on how much to put in, and sometimes he used too much and even she couldn't fix that, and it was taking him so long to do all the stuff she'd done so fast. He couldn't get the top on at all without tearing the dough even though he tried a bunch of times. It was hard. Things had started getting blurry and he'd had to blink a lot. But finally he managed to lay the whole piece on top and then Mrs. Ricci helped him pinch the edges closed.

His pie was awful. It was all lumpy and the top wasn't all smooth and even, and the pinched edges were ragged. She'd been making like six other pies, pecan and pumpkin and other stuff, while he was making this one, and all of hers were like they'd be in a shop window. He figured she'd throw it out and tell him to get out.

"Good job, Alex," she told him instead. "Now let's do one more."

His eyes teared up again and he had to lean against the counter. "Why?" he asked. "I'm bad at it, you're better, why do you want me to mess up again?"

She pulled him against her, letting his face rest on her shoulder. It was like a kind of magic where... he felt like he hadn't felt since Mister Fluffy went away. Only with crying but in a good way. She was hugging him and just... being there, letting him. Years and years of being alone and unwanted run into her dress and she didn't push him away. Eventually, he felt... empty, with nothing left to cry out. Then she answered.

"Because whatever yesterday brought or tomorrow brings, today you are family, Alex," she said. "Family cares for each other. Family takes care of each other. Family teaches each other." She run a hand gently down his back. "Are you ready to do another? My gran always said the second pie is always better, you know."

He nodded. She still had to help him with the second, but not as much. He got the dough in just three tries, and the apples came out better, too. He got the cinnamon and the sugar in without making as much of a mess, and the other stuff, and got the top on in one go, though with one tear on top that Mrs. Ricci said was okay to leave. It still wasn't as pretty as hers, but it was better than the first one.

Mrs. Ricci had him help her make dinner, too. He couldn't keep track of all the different dishes she was making, let alone the recipes. But she showed him how to cook celery and onions in butter on top of the stove until they went all see-through, and added that to some bread-crumb stuff she was making, and she showed him how to hard-boil eggs, and more stuff like that, and she talked with him. She had some of that same power the Iron Dragon had, where she could just ask a real simple question and he'd just let things spill out that he hadn't even thought of in a long time. And she didn't get mad at him. She kinda started to when he talked about his mom giving up after she came home with the twins, but then she stopped and got this look on her face and told him that it wasn't fair what happened to him and he'd done good, and that made him cry again.

Somehow Mrs. Ricci made all those dishes come together all at once, and suddenly it wasn't flour and vegetables and meat and stuff, but these amazing dishes, like stuff restaurants wouldn't make even if he went in with some big respected crime boss or something. And dinner... it was almost a blur. Everyone was just... being happy, and being nice to him, and nobody got disgusted with him for being dumb even once. They went out to sing Christmas carols after that. He didn't know how they went, so they picked one and they sang it with him a bunch of times until he could sing along. "Glad tidings we bring, to you and your kin, glad tidings for Christmas and a happy New Year!" By the time they went home, he was starting to remember more of all the other ones, too. He didn't usually remember stuff that well. But something made him really want to remember this.

And in the morning, there was the tree, and presents underneath it, as though by magic. But really by magic, because there were presents there that said Alex on them. A new set of boots, somehow. A coat and hat that felt in his hands like someone had really cared about them and were trusting him to care too. A book, even. He didn't think he'd ever owned a book. It had all the Christmas carols in it. And at the end, the last box was for him. With a stuffed raccoon inside. It had to be magic. Mister Fluffy was long gone. But here he was. Not a new copy, but the worn, much-squeezed Mister Fluffy, with the stuffing bulging out at the spot on his tail and the torn-off felt claw on his left hand and everything. Alex couldn't stop crying.

Marcus looked questioningly at Ekatrina. She whispered in his ear, "I found it in the attic and made a few adjustments," to him. He smiled and gave his delightful wife a Christmas kiss. She didn't mention the more esoteric steps she'd taken to get it into the attic.

Alex stayed with them until after New Years. He'd read the whole book by then, the first time he'd ever read an entire book that he could remember. They didn't make him go, and Mrs. Ricci gave him a phone number to call if he wanted to come back. But he felt like now maybe Electrolight could make a real thing of being a really respected supervillain, with all that emotional stuff taken care of.

And Alex Procyon could come back to Mister Fluffy any time.