undergrounds | HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS... (DEC CATCH-ALL)

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HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS... (DEC CATCH-ALL)

I. THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR

Faolan draws his coat tighter around him, not so much cold as uncomfortable where he stands, peering into the window display of the store in front of him. He's not been Christmas shopping in... Nearly a decade, if he's being honest with himself. This year is the first he's had reason to in a long while, and while grateful for that fact, he'd spent so much time avoiding the rush he'd forgotten it all. Forgotten how many people there were out in the shops at this time of year. Forgotten about the music.

He glances up at the speaker above him, frowning at it as it starts to pipe up its next Holiday song. The most wonderful time of the year indeed, Faolan thinks to himself. He's got one person to shop for, and he hasn't the faintest idea of what to be getting for him. Save for that he should be. Lancelot's asked him over for the holiday, and he'd have to be a pretty shit friend not to get him something in return for his hospitality. The only question is what. Being on a budget and having very little idea what the other man would like, Faolan is rather at a loss.

If he has to listen to much more of his holiday music he's going to go mad, though. Grumbling low to himself, Faolan fishes his headphones out of the pocket of his jacket and shoves one into one of his ears. At least he's half spared now, he thinks to himself as he turns and, peripheral hearing now gone, walks into the next shopper over--

II. DASHING THROUGH THE SNOW

Faolan slouches behind the line, waiting to switch lines on the way over to Hillingdon. He's been waiting there for god knows how long, and he's half expecting that he'll be waiting there forever. God only knows how late he's going to be in, at least no one's going to be expecting him right away. He wonders (rather dramatically, but then he's been waiting there for a while already, and his normal hour-long commute is dragging on ever longer) if anyone will notice his absence in time or whether he will perish here out of starvation or boredom or whether he'll wind up going mad and getting himself arrested just to have something to do.

His one saving grace perhaps is that he has thought to bring coffee. It's only from his coffee maker at home, nothing fancy, but it's caffeinated and since he's got it in the travel mug that Lancelot had given him for his birthday, it's still warm now too. Though it's going fast.

He pulls his phone out of his pocket to flick through it, thinking about possibly calling someone to complain, but who would he call that isn't already at work or probably still sleeping. So with a sigh he slips it back in his pocket and raises his coffee for another sip...

III. O TANNENBAUM, O TANNENBAUM [CLOSED TO HILLINGDON MEMBERS]

Faolan certainly isn't one for this season. Nor is he a particularly social person at all. But he has been saying to all the other members about how there needs to be more of a sense of community to Hillingdon, and while he has no intention of forcing any sort of holiday party on them, well. He did threaten free food to Sirius, and he figures that may not be a bad idea after all. Nothing fancy, but he makes certain that there's a fire going in the fireplace, and he's brought in some donuts and made some coffee and hot chocolate and set it out.

It's by no means a formal party, and it's by no means a required get-together. But Faolan makes it a point to sit out at a table in the sitting room himself, in front of the fire as he works on a bit of the records-keeping that no one but the man in charge would have ever expected there to be for a place like this. And anyone who passes through is welcome to join him, or to talk to anyone else who passes through for that matter. To sit with him in front of the fire and speak to him or quietly on their own as he does his work, it doesn't matter to him. If you build it, they will come, or so the saying goes. Faolan's certainly counting hoping so, at least...

*** ooc note: Hillingdon members, feel free to use this as something of an open post if you like -- just note if the thread is intended to be Open To All (OTA) if you do! :)

IV. FROM NOW ON OUR TROUBLES WILL BE MILES AWAY [CLOSED TO LANCELOT]

Faolan chews on his lip as he makes his way up the walk to the front door of Lancelot's flat. He doesn't quite know why he's nervous about this. Maybe it's because he hasn't been asked to join anyone for a holiday in so long, he can barely remember the last time he's spent one with anyone. Maybe it's because he knows himself and he knows that he's probably making something out of nothing. That he's probably worrying about what he's brought with him more than he should be, and that Lancelot could care less, as long as he's there himself. But he can't help who he is or the fact that he finds himself standing on the other man's front step, fretting over a gift, not for the first time.

At least this one is better than a Monkey's paw, he thinks to himself, as he adjusts his overnight bag over one shoulder and the bag of gifts in his hand, before he steps forward and, hesitating, rings the bell. The muffled sound of music creeps out at him through the cracks in the door, and Faolan shifts slightly in place, struggling to make it out as he does.

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Faolan shoots the other man a look before he reaches for the hollandaise himself. How many times must he repeat himself before Lancelot realizes that he's not only complimenting the other man's cooking, but that he really does consider this a lot more intricate than anything he'd have made for himself. Than he'd have even thought of making for himself. And certainly, growing up in Ireland, his family had never been in the habit of poaching eggs on brioche for breakfast. Not for a family of eight.

"Doesn't matter," he mumbles, hunching over himself slightly to hide his embarrassment, reaching for his coffee for a moment instead. "Forget it." He'll just deliberately drop a few moments behind on his meal to watch how Lancelot eats it instead.

He studies Faolan a second longer in thought, shrugs it off finally as he continues cutting himself bits to eat quickly.

"If you want some more coffee just ask," he prompts. "We should think what we'd like to do for the day, too. I was thinking of taking Lily out to play in the park for a few hours, see if there's any good Christmas movies on..."

Lancelot tilts his head as he pauses to feed himself some more food, offers Faolan a lopsided smile.

"I don't normally go to Midnight Mass -- If... it is something you'd like to do we can plan for that, though."

Faolan sips at his coffee on the pretense that he's waiting for his food to cool as he watches the other man with his food, listening to him talk about the plans for the day. He's just putting down the mug and reaching for his own knife and fork as the other man smiles and offers that they go to Mass, and Faolan lets out the huff of a laugh at that.

"I wouldn't know the first thing about what to do with myself at a Catholic mass, but I'd come with you if you'd like to change your habit," he says, with a shrug. He raises a bite of the food to his mouth and tries not to embarrass himself with how delicious he finds the whole combination to be.

The laugh is answered with a shrug, and Lancelot pauses to take a sip of his own drink.

"I'd prefer to be inside here where it's warm, myself, and I don't have to dress up. Besides which, Lily wouldn't come -- and she'll want to stay up to see Santa Claus."

On cue Lily fusses between them curiously, because their breakfast may not be suited to dogs but she can still smell it!

Faolan huffs out a laugh at the other man's commentary and glances down at Lily between them. "Ah, yes," he says, shaking his head slightly at Lancelot's sense of humor. "I suppose she will. Well, all the more reason to stay home then. Far be it from me to ruin the holiday for her." He glances up at the other man before sitting forward to take another bite of his food, which happens to taste just as good as the first.

"I wouldn't mind going to the park, though," he says, after another moment. "Christmas movies. Dinner. Staying up..." He shrugs, slightly awkward again. "It sounds nice. All of it. I mean. Really, it does. Whatever you like, please. Don't. Go through too much trouble because I'm here. There's no need for a fuss for me. I haven't had a proper Christmas in..." He shrugs again. "Longer than I can remember, it feels like. You're already offering me more than you know."

"This will be her first real Christmas," Lancelot supplies, and reaches out to scritch behind her ears, "so she's very excited. So even if I don't fuss for you, I have to fuss for her. Isn't that right Lily?"

Her tail thrashes excitedly at the attention, because she really is just a big puppy still, and she bounces slightly on the spot.

"Park it is, then. We can let her run about for a while. I have a couple of thermos flasks, so we can take coffee with us to keep us warm -- although it's not too bad, I don't think."

Lancelot turns to squint out the window, frowning in thought before digging out his phone and tapping it awake to eye the temperature, debating this as he begins to cut some more food for himself.

"Not quite warm enough to leave a jacket behind, though."

Faolan makes a noise that suggests he rather likes the sound of coffee in a thermos in the park as he takes another bite of his food. Especially if it's the coffee that comes out of the machine that Lancelot has. Or maybe it's in response to how good his breakfast is. It might be hard to tell.

"Is she really that young?" he asks, once he's finished shoveling food in his mouth again. Faolan isn't all that well-averse with dogs, at least not the house pet sort, but she seems awfully well-behaved if that's the case. Then again, knowing Lancelot, he's probably put a lot of effort into training her this way.

"She is! But, in dog terms she's growing up quickly. She's barely a year, but in terms of lifespan is about comparable to a ten year old human. She's still a child, but her understanding of the world is better every day. Isn't it?"

Lily's tail swishes faster at being addressed and she bounces on the spot, circles the living room in restless excitement a moment before completing the lap back to study Lancelot and Faolan again. They should go outside soon! She wants to go outside! She needs to see what it looks like today!

Faolan glances down at her as she bounces around the flat, taking another few bites of his food as he does. He has to note, she's certainly gotten bigger and a lot better around people since the first time he'd met her. At least, as far as he's noticed. He wonders how long Lancelot had had her before they'd met, if she's barely a year old and he's already known him for nearly half of that time.

"Am I taking too long for you, then?" he asks her, reaching for his coffee once more. He takes another sip of it, glancing to Lancelot even as he continues to address the dog, "Not all of us are naturally early risers, you know."

But you should be! If the sun is up, Faolan, you should be up too!

"She can wait a little longer. Come here little lady," he coaxes, and holds out a hand to her -- gently encourages her to sit beside him with her face in his lap so he can smooth fingers through her fur and feed himself one-handed. Her tail swishes excitedly as he soaks up the attention, still a little tense and barely restraining the urge to jump up and pace about again. "Settle down, there's a good girl. We'll go out soon, I promise. Then you can teach Faolan how to fetch!"

Faolan raises his eyebrows at that. "Teach me," he repeats. "Is there some secret technique to it then? Some sort of dog-owner, inside information that I've never been privy to, having been lacking in a canine companion?"

He realizes of course that in asking such a question, he's feeding right into the other man's indulgences of such things. But he doesn't mind, really. He rather enjoys Lancelot's ridiculous sense of humor, truth be told. Which probably isn't a secret to anyone by now, all things considered. It's not the first time he's indulged the other man, after all.

"Of course. It's a very complicated and exciting game, isn't it?"

Lily's tail thrashes faster and she leans harder into Lancelot as he ruffles her ears, smirking at Faolan a little.

"Sometimes it becomes a tug of war, sometimes a great stick fencing battle, sometimes a game of chase. There are a lot of rules to it you'll have to learn."

"Mmm," Faolan says, making a pensive noise and nodding in response to the other man's words as he shovels more of the food into his mouth. "Sounds complicated. Chase, fencing..."

He glances down at Lily as she wiggles and tries to contain her excitement. "Well, like you said. You'll have to teach me. And be patient with me if I get it wrong at first. I've never had a dog before, and certainly not a dog who fenced."

He laughs brightly at that, shaking his head as he finally finishes up his food and waits for Faolan to follow suit. Then they're bundling up against the weather outside, persuade Lily into her harness and taking her outside. She fusses around their feet -- studying the world curiously and warily at the same time. She walks to heel well enough but everything is exciting, so every so often she surges forward to sniff at things or people. Richmond park isn't too busy, quiet both due to the less than ideal weather and the day meaning most people were inside celebrating in the warmth and safety of their homes. Lily bounds about excitedly, fetching the ball Lancelot has bought along and running about dragging sticks with her tail thrashing excitedly. She's not exactly careful, sometimes running past them both so the stick whacks the back of their legs or flailing them about so bits of wood fly everywhere, but she's certainly enthusiastic about playing. Even if that means her white fur doesn't stay entirely white. Once the coffee runs out and Lily begins to tire they make their way back, gently clean up Lily as best they can and head inside. Lancelot ushers Faolan to sit down and relax, offers him the TV remote as Lily flops out and begins sorting out things to begin mixing up a drink for later in the night so it has time to chill -- heating it in a pan and stirring it before bottling it.

There are a few holiday films on, nothing especially good, and Lancelot hums under his breath absently as he fusses around the kitchen. He sets out light, snack-like food for lunch for people to dip in and out of -- corners Lily to give her a good brush while she's relaxing and consequently gets a layer of white fur all over himself. Her collar gets a new bright red ribbon looped and tied in a bow through it and a jingly bell that is nice and seasonal but may well become irritating after a while. She gets back enough energy to play tug of war with a rope and Lancelot lets her win.

Dinner ends up with Lancelot arranging the table with festive napkins before ladling out the stew. It's stock is thick and strong, tomato and paprika and onions and herbs mixed with the clams and mussels and shrimps. Meant to be a good hangover cure, Lancelot tells Faolan, so in truth they're probably doing things the wrong way around but... he shrugs, just smiles, playfully lowers his voice to tell Faolan all the shellfish mean some people think it is an aphrodisiac too.

He has sweet sponge for after too, light and flavoured with honey and ginger -- mixed in with walnuts and almonds. Pan de Pascua, he tells Faolan, and digs out a bottle from the fridge that he began chilling earlier. Best with Cola de Mona! It's what he mixed and put in the fridge earlier, smelling of coffee and cinnamon and sweetness and definitely alcohol. He winks as he pours some out for Faolan, warns him lightly that it's strong as he pours some for himself. The sweet, smooth flavour is deceptive enough that it's far too easy to drink too much. It's similar to eggnog, perhaps, only lighter and of course chilled.

Faolan has... Truthfully, really enjoyed his day. From playing outside with Lily to watching television while the other man cooks, exchanging easy conversation with him as he does. Dinner is delicious, although this is hardly a surprise. (What is a surprise is the way that Lancelot leans close to him and lowers his voice like that, to tell him some people consider what they've eaten an aphrodisiac. And with the way that Faolan's body reacts, to the closeness, to the other man's voice, to the idea of Lancelot having fed him something like that, knowing as much, it might as well have been.)

Luckily he's calmed down by the time dessert comes around. Sweet cake with some drink that Faolan's never had before, but as he raises his glass to take a sip, it's good. Sweet, smooth, and as the other man has said, packing a secret punch behind all of that. He watches the other man from above the rim of his glass, raising his eyebrows at him in turn. "Are you warning me for my own sake or for yours?" he asks, with a wry smile as he takes another sip before setting the glass back down on the table.

"Both!" Lancelot tells him cheerfully, and takes a small sip of his drink. "Worst it might do is send me to sleep, but I've never seen you overdosed. I wouldn't know what to expect. Can I trust you?"

He jogs an eyebrow as he takes a bite of his cake, content to enjoy it with the warm burn of the drink.

Faolan jogs an eyebrow at the other man right back. "Can you trust me?" he asks in return, and laughs slightly in response to the question. "Lancelot, it's as you've said yourself. You've never seen me overdosed. Unless you're planning on pouring me the entire bottle, I think you'll be safe."

He tilts his head, raising his eyebrows further before leaning forward and taking a bite of cake himself in return.

"Ah, but you don't know how much alcohol I put in this or how strong it was. How can you be sure it would take the entire bottle?"

He smirks playfully, finishes the rest of the cake and checks his watch idly.

"I think The Lost World is on, if you like dinosaurs? Or we can rent something, pick something off my shelves, watch one of the hundred countdowns of things that happened this year, play twister...."

The way his lips flick up again suggest that the last suggestion may be a joke.

Faolan raises his glance at the other man to make a face in response to the other man's joking about. "Let's avoid the countdowns and the boardgames, thanks," Faolan suggests, slowly working his way through the cake and savoring his drink. "I could watch the film with the dinosaurs, unless you've got something yourself you'd rather." He shrugs slightly. Truth be told, he hasn't seen it yet. He hasn't been to a film in a theater in ages, and he's hardly at his flat long enough to sit down and watch one on television.

He isn't particularly bothered one way or the other. "Dinosaurs should at least be exciting enough to keep you awake through the film, shouldn't it?" he asks, cocking his head to the side slightly. "I should hope, at least. Unless it's old news to you at this point."

"I will readily admit that I've seen quite a few dinosaur films, but they are reasonably exciting..."

His shrugs, moves the bottle and his glass over to the side table by the TV and shuffles the empty bowls to the washing machine.

"It isn't as good as the original, but it's noisy enough to keep us awake." Satisfied, Lancelot heads back toward the futon and flops down onto it -- picks up the remote to hop through the channels while gently fussing at Lily's ears as she pushes her face into his lap. "It's probably better when you've been drinking, too."

Faolan takes his drink over to the futon himself, sinking down beside the other man himself and raising his eyebrows at the suggestion of the film to be better with alcohol, though it's certainly an idea. One that he'll soon be able to report on, at that.

"I'm not about to make a critique of it," he says. "So long as it's entertaining, I won't complained. Hell, even if it were terrible..." He turns to Lancelot with the quirk of a smile. "Even the worst film can be entertaining. Especially with a good drink, yes." He sits back in the futon.

"Are you going to watch with us?" he asks Lily, watching as the dog noses about.

"Hmmm, it's a PG film. She can watch, we can cover her eyes if it gets too scary."

Lily wags her tail hopefully and Lancelot tugs the dog blanket down beside himself and shuffles to make her a bit of space, lets her hop up and curl herself between them with her paws across his lap.

She will not need her eyes covered, she is a brave and fierce beast!

Faolan watches as Lancelot pulls the blanket down and allows Lily to hop up between them and make herself comfortable. And while he regrets that it means the other man must sit that much further away... Well, Lily seems to really enjoy herself and this special privilege to join them on the furniture. Then again.

"Oh, I see how it is," he says, giving the other man a look over the rim of his glass before moving it to his other hand and out of the way of Lily's happily swishing tail. "You can use her as a blanket and while I've got the fan on."

Ah. Lancelot smirks slightly but moves to fix this all the same, quickly burritos Lily up in the blanket (which causes her alarm and confusion for a moment! What is going on?!) and gets up to shift her to one side of the futon, drops himself back beside Faolan and unflips the blanket so it lays over his lap.

"There!" he declares, although unfortunately the momentary excitement has Lily now standing on the futon and wagging her tail, turning in the small bit of space to sniff the offending blanket and Lancelot. "Come on, sit back down! Come on, Lily!"

He leans slightly to hold his glass out of the way as she debates if it is now safe, what with blanket monsters potentially trapping you and moving about at will.

Faolan flicks a smile at Lily's antics -- and Lancelot's, to be honest. He hadn't expected that he would have moved himself or the dog, but he's not complaining about it. Lily's tail really does create a breeze, even curled up over her back as it is.

"Thanks," he says, before addressing Lily. "Isn't that better now?" He reaches a hand out across Lancelot towards her, carefully keeping his drink in the other, trying to coax her towards him to lie down across Lancelot's lap again. "Now we both can appreciate you properly."

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