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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"Of course! Add them under the tree!" Lancelot gently tugs Lily back from where she is nosing at the pile herself and wrestles her away, her tail swishing excitedly at all the movement. Yes! They are playing! She loves to play! Playing is good! "She has a gift for you too, of course!"

Although it may be doubtful how much input she had into selecting it, whatever Lancelot may claim. He lets Lily 'battle' him onto his back, pretending at defeat as she stands over him and ruffling at her mane until she backs up. Good girl, he assures her, and finally sits back up even as she crowds him again.

Faolan sits forward and does as he's told, unloading his gifts under the tree and hoping that the amount he's brought doesn't seem excessive. Lancelot's been good to him, he's invited him over for the holiday, and as such he'd made it a point to try his best to show his thanks, in holiday gift form.

"Oh she does, does she?" he asks, as he watches the other man rolling around on the floor with the dog, quirking a smile at their antics as he does. "I've never received a gift from a lady such as Lily before, you know." Meaning a dog, of course.

"She's very good at choosing! Has a nose for taste."

He winks playfully, shifting to sit up a little more and ruffling at her mane as she paws at and climbs on him.

"She spent a long time choosing, too. She was picky. Had to get exactly the right thing for her new friend, didn't you Lily?"

Her tail swishes faster at the sound of her name and she goes for Lancelot's face, making him wince and turn away.

"Come on now, sit there's a good girl."

Faolan can't help but flicking a smile at the other man, knowing exactly who it is that truly chose this gift, despite whatever insistence he might be making otherwise. Lancelot's the one paying the bill after all. Even if she does have him wrapped around her little finger. Er... Or however one might phrase that about a dog.

"Well," he says, "let's hope that she won't fault me for my taste, then."

"She would never!" Lancelot assures him, and gives Lily one last kiss to the top of her head before releasing her and pushing to his feet. He leans forward and latches onto the large box he just brought in, neatly wrapped in paper decorated with festive robins and a carefully curled bow, and slides it across the floor in front of Faolan.

"Happy Christmas!" he adds, and leans back onto the futon with one arm around Lily to stop her helping.

Faolan has to wonder what could be in such a box as this as the other man slides it towards him. Perhaps Lancelot has repackaged whatever it is? He certainly doesn't anticipate whatever's inside to require such a large box itself. He gives the thing an experimental push on the floor in front of himself just because, then glances up at the other man quizzically.

"Nothing's going to pop out at me when I open this, is it?" he asks, warily, reaching for the bow and slowly beginning to tug it off. Lancelot's certainly done a fine job wrapping it, unless he'd had it professionally handled. Though he hardly thinks it will be the reality of the situation, visions of opening the box to find a miniature Lily waiting for him inside dance through his head unbidden, and he fights himself to speak up and say that he really isn't home enough to take care of a pet, you know. He can barely handle plants for that matter.

"Nothing will pop out, I promise!"

He grins at Faolan, watching him carefully pick the ribbon undone as Lily tries to nose under his chin.

"I'm mostly hoping you have a good spot to put it. I picked a compact one, but if it doesn't work I can still exchange it for something different."

Lancelot's expression turns a touch more hesitant at that and he frowns slightly, watching Faolan as he works it open with a mixture of curiosity and caution.

He has to admit, after a comment like that, Faolan is certainly curious to find out what could possibly be in the box. So he starts tearing the paper apart with a little less trepidation than he had before. 'A compact one'? 'Hoping you have a good spot to put it'? There are any number of things that whatever this is might be, but Faolan hasn't got a clue what direction to think.

Not at least until he gets the box unwrapped and gets a good look at what the other man has set before him. And his eyes widen slightly as he takes it in, before glancing at Lancelot. It hadn't seemed as heavy as it should have been when he'd carried it in, but then again Lancelot has been known to vault clear over fences and up to the second floor of a building with no problem, of course he'd be able to juggle around a coffee machine like it didn't weigh anything at all.

"I..." he stutters at the other man, trying to figure out what to say. Wasn't this expensive? No, probably shouldn't say that, even if he is wondering. "You really shouldn't have gone through all that, for me..."

"All what?" Lancelot prompts, "the ribbon curling? It isn't hard if you know how."

He grins in pleasure, rubbing Lily's chest as she settles to sit leaning back against him, and shakes his head finally.

"It's no trouble, I promise. I saw you eyeing mine. You'll need to work out what sort of beans you like, of course, how strong you like it, but I'm sure you'll work it out. Here --" and he releases Lily a moment shifts to snag a smaller parcel labelled as being from Lily. "This is to help get you started. Lily's choice."

Lily's choice, of course, being two different types of coffee bean for Faolan to test and a packet of chocolate coated coffee beans to get himself unintentionally wired on.

Faolan's going to save the opportunity to get wired for a time when it's not midnight -- he does want to sleep at some point tonight, really he does. But he appreciates the gift of them. He appreciates all of the gifts, really. Even if he's not quite sure how to handle them just yet.

He glances at Lily at the mention of her name and the suggestion that she was the one to have chosen the coffee. "I, ehm." He glances down at the coffee maker before him, and the coffee that he's just opened as well. "Thank you. Honestly, it'll probably be the nicest thing at my flat." He chances a smile at the other man in turn. "Maybe I'll actually spend some time there this way. Though I hope that wasn't your motivation in this."

He glances back under the little tree where he's set his own gifts to give. "I'm definitely second-guessing my own gifts in turn here now, though..."

"Not at all. If anything the motivation is to get you up and moving more efficiently so I can see you more often, and more awake when I do see you."

His grin stays put, entirely pleased with this result, and he shrugs a little after a moment.

"Don't second-guess anything. I got you this because I knew you were coveting mine. Honestly, it's no trouble at all. Gift giving shouldn't be a competition and I'm not expecting it to become one. I'm just glad you like it, and so is Lily for that matter!"

Faolan nods, flushing slightly. He's right of course, it's not a competition. Although it's hard to feel like he hasn't done enough himself, by comparison. It's hard to feel like he doesn't owe the other man in some way, considering how much he's been putting him up and cooking for him and now buying him a gift like this. Faolan's honestly not sure whether he deserves it all, or well. Any of it, really. But that doesn't mean that he doesn't want it, or that he isn't grateful for the lot.

"Still," he says, despite himself. "I really do owe you that dinner sometime. I mean it. Anywhere you'd like. It's the least I can do, considering everything for me. For now though..." He sits forward and grabs his packages from underneath the tree and slides them cautiously towards Lancelot. "This will have to do until then."

There are several packages, one a bag that looks suspiciously wine-like (thank you Coward for the advice there) that's for Lancelot, and another few that will be a little bit more obviously for Lily upon discovering their contents. Faolan basically sits and holds his breath and wonders whether he's made any wrong decisions, if Lancelot will appreciate his sense of humor, or if he's completely misfired on this...

Lancelot reaches out to take one, holding Lily still as she snuffles at the packaging critically -- slightly more at one bag than the other.

"Hmmm? You want to see what's in this one?" he prompts, and examines it curiously before beginning to undo it. Lumps of coal. He laughs brightly at that, Lily thrashing her tail faster (why are we happy? Doesn't matter, we're happy!) and snuffling more intensely at the bag now. "Look what Mr Faolan has brought you! Ohh, that's right. Have you been a good girl then?"

Her tail swishes faster and he grins happily, encouraging her to sit as he examines the packaging.

"I think she approves!" he says, and sets aside the bag to gently ruffle her again before casting his eyes about the rest of the things. They land on the suspiciously wine-like package and he slides it forward, peers into the bag before sliding out and examining it.

"Ah! We can have some of this -- tonight? Tomorrow?" He wrinkles his nose a little, "I suppose technically it's tonight now, since it's past midnight. Thank you!"

Faolan nods slightly, smiling slightly, finding himself a little embarrassed at how much he is hanging on to the other man's reactions. "Tonight," he agrees. "It's supposed to go with just about anything. Even a good dessert." He'd made sure to pick a good white. Not too dry, not too sweet that it couldn't go with a dinner, and not too strong that the flavor would overpower whatever it was paired with. He'd had excellent advice to work from, after all.

"Lily can have some of the biscuits then too," he offers, before glancing at Lancelot. "If they meet your approval, that is. A treat for us all."

"I think she can be allowed some, can't you? You've been a good girl, haven't you? A very good girl!"

Said good girl listens intently to the assessment, tail swishing and ears perked forward. She's been very good! Does that mean she can have a biscuit now? Lily yawns slightly, eyes flicking down as Lancelot reaches for and opens another package. Her attention is focused as he unwraps it, studies it a second -- then laughs suddenly.

"That's terrible!" he says of the pun, but he's grinning regardless -- offering it to Lily who begins an intense snuffling inspection of the toy.

Faolan would be more concerned about the other man's reaction if he weren't smiling and laughing at the toy. Which is really the point of it. She can't read after all, so it's as much for Lancelot as it is for Lily, even though it is for her to eventually tear apart. When he'd found it himself he'd had pretty much the same reaction as Lancelot, that it was a pretty terrible pun, and therefore he'd decided that the other man might actually like it. He seemed the type to enjoy similarly terrible dog jokes after all.

He cocks a head at the other man, shrugging slightly. "Who honestly couldn't use a little Pees on Earth during the holidays?" he asks, quirking something of a smile at Lancelot in return.

"Ah, well Lily supports Pees on Earth all year round you see."

She finishes her snuffling inspection and looks up at Lancelot again expectantly -- wags a tail questioningly and cocks her head. What is this? Is it for her? It isn't food! Can she play with it? He gives her a reassuring rub behind her ears and sets it down in front of her, which causes her to snuffle at it again curiously and begin turning it over with her nose. The other package is a little bigger but from the feel of it still something squishy. Which, Lancelot suspects, is probably still for Lily then. He checks the tag and lofts an eyebrow at her, and she lifts her head curiously at the sound of rustling paper. Now what is this! Is it interesting? Is it for her? She pads a step closer again and begins sniffing at it as he unwraps it.

"What do you think?" he asks her, undoing one end which unveils a green, fluffy snout. Her tail wags faster and she shoves her nose against it to sniff it better. She thinks it is interesting! Is it for dogs?

"Ah, I see," Faolan responds to the other man's correction, before watching Lily make her inspections, and watching Lancelot reach for the other package, again for Lily. He hopes that it doesn't feel over-the-top. He had just had the feeling that Lancelot might appreciate gifts for Lily almost more than things for himself. At least he'd know better what to do with them. (And Lily's easier to shop for, for that matter.) Though he still can't help worrying, as Lancelot does his opening, whether or not his choices are up to par.

"I hope they'll do," he says, trying to play it cool but feeling anything but.

"They're perfect," Lancelot assures him, and frees the toy from its paper so Lily can inspect it more closely. He grins happily at her as she sniffs, turning the bright smile on Faolan after a moment. "Thank you, Faolan. From both of us. It was kind of you to bring something, and especially for Lily."

Lily thrashes her tail faster and Lancelot gently steers her toward Faolan, whispering say thank you as he directs her at the other man's lap.

Faolan shakes his head. "You didn't have to get me anything yourself. But you did. It's the spirit of the holiday, isn't it?" he asks, reaching forward to run his hand through the dog's fluffy mane. "Besides," he adds, not really thinking about what he's saying or admitting to because it's late and he has been up for a while and drinking a little, "it's not like I've really had anyone to buy anything for, the past while. Perhaps I enjoyed it."

He falls silent after a moment, stroking Lily's ears, before moving to stand. "We should probably sleep," he says, obviously changing the subject on the other man. "It's getting late, and I've no doubt that someone has no concept of the idea of sleeping in in the morning."

"Very true, Lily rises with the sun -- don't you girl?"

She rests her face in Faolan's lap to absorb attention as long as she can, toy held in her mouth, before shuffling back as he stands up. Lancelot slips to his feet himself and stretches a moment for reaching to begin gathering up the discarded wrapping paper.

"Big meal to cook tomorrow, I'll need to be awake for that. Merry Christmas, Faolan." He turns and leans over to hook one arm around the man, squeezing him close before releasing him to dump the paper in the recycling. "I'll help with the futon."

"Thanks," he responds, a bit dazed by the contact, as second-nature as it might have been to the other man. Perhaps it had been the alcohol, but the warm press of the other man against him... Maybe it's best that it had happened too quickly for Faolan to think of what to do in return.

"Merry Christmas to you as well," he responds himself, moving to start setting the futon up as a bed rather than the sofa they've been using it as for the last few hours. He glances at the other man, obviously hesitating over something before deciding to just out with it. "Thank you. For the machine. For the food. For letting me stay here. Over the holidays, and..." In general. God, what's he saying. He should just let the poor man sleep. He shakes his head. "Sorry. Never mind. It's getting late. You can just go to bed. I've got this."

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

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