[12/25] christmas day

[thebloodtraitor]

It's a strange day, Sirius thinks. Though far from his first Christmas spent with James, it's his first here in this city and his first with Kieren. He'd invited both to his flat for the holiday where he'd managed to Muggle his way through some semblance of a Christmas turkey and pudding and side dishes. He's still getting used to his new wand is the thing, Kell's blood lending a certain amount of volatility that he hadn't quite expected.

He'll get there, he knows. But it's better to work out the kinks later than risk ruining an entire Christmas meal. And it's not as though James has been any help without his wand. It's almost funny, he thinks, how useless they are without their magic. Lily would likely be delighted. And Remus, too.

But, if nothing else, he knows Kieren is more impressed that he left magic out of it entirely despite the headaches it may have afforded Sirius.

There are a good number of gifts sitting wrapped below the tree though Sirius, at least, is a bit more interested in polishing off the bottle of Muggle whiskey. It's impossible to fully ignore the utter lack of Lily and Harry and Remus, and Sirius knows Kieren is missing his own family desperately in this moment, but he thinks if only they drink a bit more, it'll be easier to not dwell. That's often his favoured way of coping, after all.

He's sat back in the sofa now, resting close to Kieren, forcing himself to not act any differently in James's presence though it's turning out to not be an easy thing at all.

"Shall we play a card game?" he suggests after knocking back another sip of whiskey and sitting up a bit straighter. "That's a delightfully Muggle thing to do, isn't it? Is there a special Christmas one?" he asks, looking to Kieren now for input.

Comments

[roartonrisen]

Kieren isn't entirely sure that he wants Sirius to open up his gift in front of James, lest it get really awkward. He gives Sirius a bit of a nudge with his elbow, trying to gesture him onwards. "Why don't you give James his present?" he suggests, knowing that Kier's present to Sirius is definitely going to be opened, but maybe it can be last?

[isolemnly_swear]

James shuts his mouth, but he does give Sirius a look that says it's only for now. If he expects to be able to go about in Darrow with none of his embarrassing stories coming to light, he's got another thing coming. He shifts things back to presents quickly enough, which is typical Sirius anyway, so James goes along with it.

"Yes, Pads, give me my present," he instructs, taking a sip of his drink and giving his friend a wink. He doesn't know what Sirius might have gotten him on such short notice but apparently there's something after all.

Kieren looks like he's deflecting, but James is happy to let him do so if it means James is going to get a present. They were supposed to grow up and join the war effort after school and they did - Merlin help them, they did - but that doesn't mean he ever entirely lost his childish streak.

[thebloodtraitor]

"As I already said, you're not getting a thing," Sirius remarks, but he's already pushed himself up off the sofa to grab one of the packages off the side table. It's the smaller of the two by quite a large margin and Sirius tosses it easily at James's lap before carefully grabbing the other package with both hands and handing it to Kieren.

He'd had some fun deciding on James's gift, tempted to raid the Lamplight for something magical, but modern. In the end, however, he'd decided on something entirely Muggle, a little music-listening device that Harry had often favoured when he'd been here. It's nothing at all like the great big thing James had had in his London flat, the one that played the large discs that he and Remus would smuggle in from the record shops.

No, this contraption is small enough to fit in a pocket with little headphones attached. It's really quite brilliant, Sirius thinks, and he has a feeling James might feel the same.

[roartonrisen]

Kieren takes whatever his present is, setting it carefully on the sofa, as he gets up in order to fetch the small box from under the tree to hand to Sirius, his nerves making his heart hammer in his chest, not entirely sure that he's going to love it, but he's hoping he'll at least like it. For James, Kieren's got something much simpler, but hopefully he won't mind either, the framed profile sketch Kieren had finished after their first meeting.

He hands that wrapped gift to James, too, giving him an encouraging nod that he should be the one to start opening gifts.

[isolemnly_swear]

Despite the words coming out of his mouth, Sirius does hand over a small wrapped gift, and James grins up at him. It's small, but in his experience that doesn't at all mean that he'll be disappointed. Sirius knows him like nobody else, and has always been the best at present-giving. Much better than James, who has a tendency to run around like a madman at the last minute, scraping together whatever nonsense he can.

The real surprise is when Kieren hands him another gift. He feels instantly guilty that he hadn't gotten Kieren anything in return, and he holds the present a little awkwardly, half tempted to hand it back. "I didn't get you anything," he says again, brows furrowed. He hadn't known he was supposed to. Sirius will forgive him for coming up empty handed and James will make it up to him later, but he doesn't want to get off on the wrong foot with Kieren.

Still, he sits dutifully and unwraps the presents one at a time, Sirius's first, then Kieren's. He turns to Kieren first afterwards, the sketch on his lap. Sirius must have told him something of James's ego, he thinks wryly, but it's a good drawing. "Thanks mate," he says, a little unsure of what else he's supposed to say. "Guess I won't need a mirror, now." He gives him a crooked kind of smile, feeling suddenly awkward like he doesn't ever remember feeling. "It's really good."

There's still Sirius's present left though, so James turns back to the small contraption, confusion written across his face. It's a small little box with some kind of strings attached, and James holds it up. "What's this, then?"

[thebloodtraitor]

Kieren's got something of a strange look on his face when he hands Sirius his present, a small little box that fits easily in the palm of Sirius's hand. It looks a bit bigger than a ring box, though just a bit smaller than the one Sirius had given James. And quite a bit smaller than the one for Kieren that contains a plethora of art supplies, both magical and Muggle: sketch pads and paints and pastels. Pencils and brushes. Most of it Kieren likely already has, but Sirius had spared no expense in essentially cleaning out the art shop he'd gone to. Not to mention the bits he'd lifted straight from the Lamplight.

Sitting on the floor opposite them both, he watches as James unwraps Kieren's present first and laughs when he sees what it is. "You going to hang that beside your bed then? Make sure it's the first and last thing you see every day?"

It really is quite a lovely picture though, if he's honest. Not that he'd have expected anything less from Kieren.

When James finally opens Sirius's gift, his smile widens even further. "It's a music player," he says, pushing up to his knees to point at the little button on the side that turns it on. "You put songs on it and can listen anywhere you please. I've magicked the battery so it never runs out and Kieren can probably show you later how to put songs on. I'm still trying to figure it all out myself, but it's brilliant, isn't it?"

[roartonrisen]

Kieren gnaws on his lower lip, trying not to make a big deal of talking about how the drawing is probably crap compared to a real artist or a photo, but only because he's trying not to get too down on himself. He still clears his throat and shrugs. "I mean, I'm not amazing. I'd understand if you wanted to put it somewhere out of sight," he says, because not everyone is his family, framing all his portraits in the main areas.

Kieren grins as he watches Sirius explain it to him, opening his own gift at the same time. "I can help you load up playlists, but my tastes tend to get very 80's and depressive, at times, like the Smiths." He opens the box from Sirius, his eyes lighting up with wonder at all the supplies. "This is incredible," he raves, staring up with delight. "Sirius, really, this is amazing, thank you!"