Work Text:
The supermarket is fairly empty in the evening. Though the sky outside is pitch black, the aisles inside are lit by bright fluorescent lights reflecting off the old, patterned tile floor, and the overhead speakers drone out instrumental versions of the same old holiday tunes.
Velvet puts a can of soup back on the shelf and sighs. Cooking has always been one of her strong suits, but it hasn't been the same since she was released from prison a few months ago. Now that she's living on her own, picking out her own meals day after day feels more like a chore than the treat it used to be. Sometimes she still thinks she'll ask Laphi what he wants for dinner before she remembers...
Barely looking at the next can she picks up, she tosses it in her handbasket and continues down the aisle, running through her mental checklist. She's barely made it to the corner when a voice breaks the muted atmosphere and she stops in her tracks.
"Well, well, well! Vel Vel Vel!"
Velvet's teeth immediately clench. She hasn't heard this particular overly-enthusiastic voice in months, yet every nerve in her body recognizes it with violent clarity.
She doesn't turn around, but of course that doesn't help. Within a few seconds the oddly-dressed young woman has sprung up in front of her with a broad and not quite genuine smile stretched across her face.
"Magilou," Velvet grumbles.
Magilou seems to accept that as greeting enough. "What. A. Coincidence, running into you here! It feels like I haven't seen you in ages!"
"It's been three months," Velvet says, eyeing the containers stacked haphazardly in Magilou's arms. All of them seem to be desserts of some kind or another. Does this woman subsist entirely on sugar? Somehow it wouldn't surprise Velvet.
"Aw, you've been counting the days since we parted? That's so sweet!"
Velvet crosses her arms as best she can with the basket still in her hand. "No, I've been counting the days since I was released. What are you doing out? Your sentence is up too? You never did tell me how long it was."
Magilou waves a hand dismissively. "Good behavior and all that. Anyway, we're both free! That's something to celebrate, right? So how 'bout I come over sometime so we can catch up? Drink some coffee, have a nice chat about the good old days?"
Velvet's eyes narrow. "Why?"
"Why? I just said! Old times' sake, you know? I mean, you could come over to my place instead, but it's kind of a dump. You'd hate it."
"I'm sure I would," Velvet says.
"Great, your place it is then! See you when I see you!"
"Wh-?"
And just like that, Magilou marches past her and around the corner and is gone.
Velvet groans and clutches her basket tighter, rubbing her temple with her other hand. Just what she needed for the holidays: another headache.
-
She had hoped against hope that that might be the end of it. After all, Magilou never set a date, or even asked where she lives.
Nevertheless, her old "friend" shows up at her door anyway - the right place and the right time, when Velvet isn't at work and has just finished all her housework for the day. She brushes past Velvet into the apartment without quite being invited in, leaving Velvet to stare at the back of her neon purple jacket as she shrugs it off.
"Why are you here?"
Magilou neatly places her coat on the hanger next to Velvet's, and then reaches up half a foot to pat Velvet's head. "Oh, Vel, slow as ever I see. I told you, this is our reunion party as free women!"
Velvet doesn't budge. "No, why are you actually here?"
This time the look Magilou gives her belies something else, almost seeming to take back her assessment of Velvet's intelligence, before she smiles and shrugs. "Do friends need a reason to visit each other?"
"I don't have friends," Velvet says, watching with eyes like a hawk as her "guest" wanders into the living room.
Magilou does a little twirl. "Nope, you have me!"
"Joy," Velvet mutters.
Magilou is already making herself at home, stretching out on the couch with all the leisure of a contented cat. "Anyway, it's the holidays. This is going to be your first Christmas without your family, right? You know what they say, no one should have to be alone on Christmas."
Velvet scoffs. Magilou can't believe in that Hallmark holiday crap any more than Velvet does. But it's not as if Magilou is ever going to give her a straight answer, either. Maybe she's only here because she's bored.
That's not going to stop Velvet from grilling her, though.
"How do you know I don't have plans? And how did you know where to find me?"
Magilou points one finger at her head. "Intuition, my dear. Well, that and I sneaked a glance at some of the files in your PO's office. But more than that, I felt it. In my heart."
Her hands come to rest over her chest so dramatically that Velvet rolls her eyes.
"Whatever. I'm going to get something to drink. Don't destroy anything."
Pushing away the instinct that leaving Magilou unsupervised is never a good idea, Velvet returns to the kitchen and searches the cupboards for some tea. She gets the feeling she's going to need help relaxing this evening.
The entire time she's in the kitchen, Magilou seems not to move. Her loud and sporatic humming reaches Velvet through the open doorway, and when Velvet finally returns she's still sprawled out across the couch, just looking around.
"Man, Vel, do you actually live here?" she says as Velvet sits down in an armchair. "Or, what, you're having trouble adjusting to life outside prison so you're pretending to still live in a cell?"
Velvet's brow furrows. "What do you mean?"
Magilou's arms gesture vaguely at the whole room. "It's, you know... empty?"
"No it's not. I got all this furniture," Velvet argues, pointedly glancing at the coffee table between them and shelves along the wall.
"But it's got no soul!" Magilou insists, and that's right about where Velvet stops listening, leaning back in her seat and sighing.
"There's nothing on your walls!" Magilou goes on anyway. "No decorations! Absolutely anyone could live here and you'd never know the difference. It's almost as drab as your personality."
Velvet's lips twitch.
"Luckily for you, I am one hell of an interior decorator. For a modest, modest fee, I can get this place fixed up in no time. Some pictures, some color... just enough to transform this house into a home."
"No."
"Oh, come on!" Magilou takes no more time to process the answer than Velvet did the question. "You'll thank me later," she coos, fixing a coy gaze on Velvet.
Velvet's eyes turn away. "Doubtful," she says into her mug.
-
Magilou does it anyway, as Magilou always does.
When she returns a couple days later, her arms are so filled with bags and boxes and miscellaneous decorations that her face is barely visible behind it all. She totters into the apartment without a word when Velvet opens the door.
"Do you not understand the word 'no'?" Velvet asks, already crossing her arms and biting back her temper.
"Look, I brought all the stuff myself," Magilou says, unceremoniously dropping everything in her arms onto the couch. "You don't even have to do anything! Except make a few decisions about what goes where, and help me reach the high places, and bake me some cookies because this is hard work and it makes me hungry."
Velvet takes a deep breath, praying for Magilou's sake that none of that glitter is coming loose and getting into her carpet.
"I'm not going to do anything, because I don't care. Don't remove any of my stuff," she instructs, and goes back to scouring the classified section of the newspaper.
Throughout the next ten minutes Magilou prances around her, humming what almost sounds like holiday carols. Velvet does her best to tune it out, until Magilou bumps into the coffee table, making the contents of her mug slosh dangerously high.
"Watch it," Velvet snaps, and finally looks up. The walls are lined with Christmas lights, haphazardly strung from wherever Magilou could perch the wires (so nowhere above six feet), and there are garlands and strings of tinsel draped all over her arms and shoulders - no doubt destined for the window and door frames.
Velvet sighs. "Those are going to raise my electricity bill."
"Then keep 'em turned off, I don't care." Magilou unravels one of the fuzzy green strings from her arm to toss it over a bookshelf. "But you can't just not have them."
"I could very easily just not have them."
When Magilou turns around the garlands whip around her like so many tails. "Come on, Vel, if I know anyone who needs a little holiday cheer, it's you. You gotta get some ginger in your bread! Some peppermint in your hot chocolate! A partridge in your pear tree!"
"What?"
Magilou springs back toward Velvet's chair, her fluttering decorations almost masking the small wreath she plucks off the couch.
"You should embrace the season," she says, placing the wreath squarely on the top of Velvet's head. "Get festive! It's fun! Do you remember what fun is?"
Velvet frowns and shakes the wreath off, glaring at the offending object once she can see it. "Is that going to get pine needles all over my carpet?"
"Absolutely!" Magilou bends down to pick the wreath up, and then twists in place, holding it out in front of her and looking through it at the walls. "That's part of the holiday tradition."
"I have no holiday traditions," Velvet murmurs, but Magilou has already stopped listening.
She finishes some fifteen minutes later, with fluffy doilies and candles covering most of the few empty surfaces in the room. By then Velvet has set down the newspaper and is watching Magilou's movements, tapping her pen against her arm.
After Magilou sighs and unnecessarily wipes off her forehead, she stands before the entrance to the kitchen rubbing her chin. "There's just one thing missing..." she says, gazing at the door frame.
"What?" Velvet asks, but instead of answering Magilou just flops onto the couch and sighs again.
"Something to eat, of course! I'm beat."
Velvet scoffs and clicks her pen back out. "I'm not baking you cookies. You said you were doing this of your own free will."
Magilou whines, but when Velvet glances up at her, her expression still exudes satisfaction. A contented cat, indeed.
-
More decorations trickle in over the next week. Magilou brings in pictures of snowy landscapes, festive centerpieces for the tables, and even a stack of paper snowflakes that Velvet immediately turns down.
"But I put sooo much time into making these!" Magilou argues, lifting them up one by one and letting them float back down to the table. "Look, each one is unique!"
"I don't care," Velvet says without turning around from the window she's cleaning. "I'm not hanging those up here."
Air puffs out of Magilou's mouth. "What a waste."
"Just put them up in your own house," Velvet suggests. As usual, Magilou doesn't seem to be listening.
She continues to play with the snowflakes until Velvet finishes and turns around, examining the room.
"Where's that last decoration, anyway?"
Magilou's little head-tilt looks so innocent that she has to be faking. "Last decoration?"
"You said the apartment had one thing missing, but you keep bringing other stuff."
"Oh yeah, that." Magilou shrugs. "I'm working on it. It'll get here eventually."
"Well, hurry it up," Velvet mutters, heading back to the kitchen to put her cleaning supplies away.
She can see the grin spreading across Magilou's face even with her back turned.
"Why? I thought you didn't care what your apartment looks like."
Velvet can't help but bristle a little. "I don't," she says over her shoulder. "But you said you'd make it perfect, so I'm going to hold you to it. No stopping until you're done."
Magilou only smiles, oddly obedient. "Aye aye, ma'am!" she says with an over-the-top salute, and goes back to stacking her snowflakes in a neat, flat pile.
-
On the first snow of the year, Magilou shows up in the early afternoon wearing enough clothes to make her look twice her size.
"It's freezing out there!" she complains, taking off one coat to reveal another underneath.
Velvet doesn't move from the couch. "Obviously. It's snowed an inch and a half."
"And how much has it snowed in here?" Magilou asks. Velvet shoots her an irritated glance and sees Magilou hugging her arms tightly around herself. "Come on, it's like you're trying to build a castle fit for an ice queen!"
"You just came in," Velvet growls, and then mutters, "But yeah, the heat's been on the fritz lately. It goes on and off."
Magilou bounces onto the couch a foot away from Velvet, immediately wrapping her arms around a pillow as if she can squeeze some warmth out of it. "And you let it!? It's winter!"
"I can't exactly control it. And it doesn't bother me."
"I could swear sometimes that you're not human," Magilou murmurs against the top of the pillow.
Velvet almost cracks a smile, and huffs instead. "Funny coming from you."
The room falls silent then, so of course Magilou starts talking again.
"Anyway, why don't we get out of here and go somewhere warmer?"
Velvet raises an eyebrow. "Like where?"
"Anywhere with a heater," Magilou says, and then, "The pub across from that shoe store downtown! Yeah, it's real cozy in there on a cold winter's day. Warm fire, warm food..."
Her eyes gloss over just thinking about it; Velvet almost expects her to start drooling.
"Fine," she says. Magilou raises her head.
"Wow, that was quick."
Velvet only shrugs. "I've got nothing better to do tonight. Besides, it sounds like you're paying."
Magilou deflates a little at that, but bounces back quickly enough, jumping off the couch and tossing the pillow down.
"Fine, fine! If that's the price I must pay for an evening in your dull and delightful company," she declares, and steps back toward the door. "Meet me there at five, mkay? It can get crowded at peak dinner hours."
"You're leaving already?" Velvet can't keep a tinge of surprise out of her voice, watching Magilou adjust her coat and reach for the doorknob.
"I've got some errands to run before then. You know me, so many irons in so many fires!" Magilou says, and winks over her shoulder.
Velvet's lips curve the slightest bit. "Yeah, right. Whatever, I'll be there at five. Don't keep me waiting."
Magilou opens the door with a flourish. "It's a date!" she announces, and then she's gone.
It's only once the door has shut and the apartment is quiet again that Velvet realizes she didn't bring any decorations this time.
-
Magilou manages to rush in the moment Velvet unlocks the door, ducking under the taller woman's arm to dash inside first.
"Ah! Warmth!" she says, immediately plopping herself in front of the nearest heating vent as if it were a fireplace.
Velvet shoves her keys back into her coat pocket and follows more deliberately. "I thought you said it was too cold in here for you?"
"I'm warming up to it. Or it's warming up to me!"
"Maybe you shouldn't hang around outside waiting for me to get home."
"Maybe you shouldn't work late!" Magilou rubs her hands together, sniffling. "I just miscalculated. I know it's hard to believe, but even I make mistakes sometimes."
Velvet rolls her eyes. It's still beyond her how Magilou knows her work schedule so well - or why she's been coming around every day recently. Doesn't she have anything better to do?
Well, it actually wouldn't surprise Velvet if she didn't. The thought of being Magilou's plaything for when she's bored is a little aggravating, but not new, either. Besides, Velvet is almost coming to look forward to her visits most days. At least it beats being alone.
That thought reminds her of something she's been meaning to ask.
"Hey," she says as she pulls off her boots. "Where's your family? Why aren't you spending the holidays with them instead of infesting my house?"
Magilou doesn't look up from her makeshift fire. "What family?"
"Don't you have a foster family? I know you said something about your dad when we were in prison. What happened to him?"
"Oh, the old man?" Magilou sniffs again and rubs her nose. "Yeah, he disowned me years ago, when I dropped out of college."
Velvet's brow furrows. "I don't think you ever mentioned that part."
"Didn't I?" Magilou shrugs. "Well, it's hardly important. Besides, I save a bundle on not having to send birthday cards or fly home for Hanukkah! So really, it's for the better."
For several seconds Velvet only watches Magilou, but if the older girl is being sarcastic, she sure doesn't show it. Eventually Velvet turns back to place her boots neatly by the door.
"Okay then. Now get those shoes off, I don't want you tracking crap around my clean floors."
Magilou just grumbles and obeys, and says nothing more about her family.
-
Velvet isn't even surprised anymore when she hears the front door burst open and Magilou call out from the entranceway.
"Vellll! I've got the final decoration for your apartment! Are you ready?"
Even though Velvet doesn't answer, in mere moments Magilou is watching her from the entrance to the kitchen. Velvet dusts the flour off her hands and removes her apron before bestowing any of her attention on her visitor.
"Okay, I'll bite. What is it?"
Magilou is cradling something in the upturned front of her sweatshirt, hidden from Velvet's sight. She wags her finger in the air, grinning.
"You sure you're ready? It's a lot to take in."
"I'm used to that from you."
"If you say so..."
Suddenly Magilou scoops out the contents of her pouch and tosses it in the air. Velvet's eyes close automatically, and she flinches as several light and slightly prickly objects shower down around her.
When she opens her eyes, she sees what looks like multiple handfuls of leafy decorations scattered on the floor around them. Magilou is grinning, her hands couched in her sweatshirt pocket.
"Oops," she says. "Missed our chance."
Velvet continues to stare at the leaves. "Chance?"
"Yeah, we were under a lot of mistletoe there. You know what that means."
For several seconds there's no sound but the ticking of the kitchen clock. Magilou's smile almost falters.
"Pick it up," Velvet says.
"What?"
She turns her steely gaze to Magilou's face. "Pick it. Up."
Magilou's forehead creases, but as ordered she reaches down to gather up all the prickly bundles. When she's returned them to her sweatshirt nest, she straightens back up, and Velvet continues before she can speak.
"Now hold them up."
"...Huh?"
This time Magilou seems genuinely surprised. A trill of satisfaction makes Velvet raise her chin.
"You heard me. Take the one in your hand, and hold it up. Higher."
Again, Magilou follows the command, stretching her arm up above her head. As soon as it's in place, Velvet leans down to press their lips together, first a little rough and clumsy and then lingering more softly.
Magilou's arm shakes when Velvet pulls back. For a moment neither of them speaks.
Then Magilou grins. "Well, that's one. But that was only the first sprig. I'm pretty sure we were under all of them, you know," she points out, tossing the mistletoe behind her before she lowers her arm.
"Fine," Velvet says, and returns Magilou's smirk. "Hold the next one up."
For all her posturing, Magilou apparently can't hide the way her eyes light up at the order - or she doesn't want to. Without hesitation she pulls out the next batch of leaves and raises it in the air, already leaning up to meet Velvet's lips.
-
Velvet's breath clouds in front of her each time she exhales, and the air she breathes in leaves a chill in her throat. She takes another drink of her hot chocolate to dispel the icy feeling and swirls the cup around, gauging how much is left.
Beside her, Magilou's hands are wrapped tight around her own cup, which seems to be mostly full still. Velvet wonders if she actually wanted something to drink, or if she was just looking for something warm to hold onto.
Somehow that thought sparks an odd twinge in Velvet's chest. Her right hand, which has remained shoved in her coat pocket for most of their walk, is still plenty warm. Maybe she should...
"Hey, Vel," Magilou says before she can finish the thought. "You know, since you flaked out and never baked me those cookies..."
"What cookies?"
Magilou sticks her tongue out. "Don't play dumb now! I said I would decorate your home sweet home in exchange for cookies, and you never paid up! So today I'm cashing in. We're going back to your place and baking some amazing cookies to go with this amazing hot chocolate."
"I don't think I ever promised you anything," Velvet says, and pulls her scarf a little higher around her chin. "...But fine. I have Celica's old recipe for sugar cookies and I haven't gotten to use it yet, so I might as well make some."
Suddenly Magilou wraps an arm around Velvet's and presses herself against Velvet's side. The sudden pressure unbalances her just a little, and her next step is unsteady, but Velvet quickly rights herself and Magilou doesn't come unglued.
She nuzzles her face against Velvet's arm, smiling. "See! I knew even you wouldn't be able to resist the allure of warm cookies for long."
"Th-That's not..." Velvet's protests melt under the warmth of Magilou's body pressed up against her; distracted, it's all she can do to keep her feet going in a straight line.
Half a block later, Magilou says, "You know what else goes great with hot chocolate? A little bourbon, or rum, or even some red wine..."
"Nice try, but if you want that, you're going to have to bring it yourself. The only alcohol in my apartment is rubbing alcohol."
"Bleh. Fine, fine, I'll take on all the responsibility of spiking the eggnog this year." Magilou sighs in deep resignation, but Velvet guesses she's not too bothered, because she doesn't let go.
-
Christmas Eve starts out fairly quiet. Having been given both the 24th and 25th off from work, Velvet is almost at a loss as to what to do with herself, and finds herself doing little more than pacing around all afternoon. She has no family to visit, no feast to prepare, no presents to wrap.
Well, save one, which is long done and now waits under the "Christmas tree" Magilou had constructed. Velvet had vetoed having a real tree or even a plastic one, so Magilou had thrown up a nearly life-size painting against a blank stretch of wall. Velvet still insists that she shouldn't have wasted the materials, but she has to admit sometimes that Magilou is quite the artist, and that wall was a little lonely.
By the time early evening rolls around, she's almost excited to hear the rhythmic tapping on her door that could signal only one person.
Despite Magilou's perpetual complaints about the cold, today she's not bundled up at all; in fact, if Velvet didn't know any better she'd think she was heading to a Christmas party. "Sexy elf" shouldn't be a look that exists, and yet here Magilou is in red and green stockings and a tightly-belted vest, pointy ears sticking out from beneath a classic Santa hat.
"Hellllo, Christmas kids!" she says while Velvet stares. "Santa's little helper is here to reward all the good children and punish the naughty ones! Are you ready?"
Regaining her composure, Velvet crosses her arms, still blocking the doorway. "Oh? So which am I?"
Magilou leans against the door frame and grins. "Well, let's just say, if you were festive enough to hang one up, I would definitely be willing to sneak in tonight and stuff your stocking..."
Velvet rolls her eyes. "Get in here," she says, reaching out to pull Magilou inside and shut the door.
-
Velvet has no holiday traditions anymore. She once did - she has many fond memories of giving and receiving presents, helping Celica prepare feasts, and spending time with her family in their warm, softly lit living room. But she has no family now, and figured she would spend this winter alone.
For some reason Magilou is snuggled up beside her on the couch, her head resting on Velvet's shoulder and half her body tucked under a blanket. Velvet glances down at her, trying not to move; behind several strands of hair falling into her face, Magilou's eyes are closed, and her breathing is soft and steady. She had curled up there next to Velvet immediately after their Christmas dinner, and hasn't moved since.
It wasn't anything resembling a feast, even a small one. Already resigned to Magilou sticking around for meals, and maybe, possibly feeling a little charitable for the holidays, Velvet had gone all-out preparing dinner for both of them. Of course, "all-out" doesn't include living beyond her means, so it was only one or two steps above a normal meal - but still better eating than either of them are used to.
Especially Magilou, judging by her steady stream of compliments and how much she ate. Velvet was almost a little concerned. She does have food at her own house, right...?
It hardly seems to matter right now, given the amount of time she's spending at Velvet's apartment lately. And the strange thing is, Velvet doesn't mind so much anymore. Magilou's voice is grating and her behavior is incessantly obnoxious, but she breaks the silence and the stillness that have been haunting Velvet for the last several years, and recently Velvet is beginning to think that might not be so bad.
At the moment the room is silent in the best way, the kind that isn't heavy with thoughts of the past. The only lights still on are the ones strung around the living room walls. They cast soft glows in blues and greens and make the tinsel shimmer. Velvet has to admit it's not altogether unpleasing; maybe Magilou was right that running the Christmas lights instead of the normal ones would set a nicer mood. The whole apartment feels... warmer, somehow, since Magilou came into it.
As if she can hear Velvet thinking about her, Magilou shifts against Velvet's shoulder and murmurs something unintelligible into her shirt.
"You awake?" Velvet asks softly.
Magilou sits up just a little. "Course. Not for long, though. Your beefy biceps and bony shoulders are so comfortable I'm taking them as my new pillow. Merry Christmas to me."
Velvet takes the opportunity to finally stretch her back and rotate her shoulder. The motion dislodges Magilou, but in another second she's back, settling against Velvet again with her eyes half closed already.
"Where's the snippy retort?" she asks when she's made herself comfortable and Velvet still hasn't replied. "Your banter is so boring today, you're putting me to sleep here."
"I thought I'd give you a pass for the day. Christmas only. It's your gift for the year, so you'd better treasure it."
Magilou yawns and snuggles closer. "Oh, I am."
Several seconds pass in silence. Just when Velvet thinks Magilou has fallen asleep, she hears her murmur, "Merry Christmas, Vel." The words sound uncommonly sincere in her half-asleep state, and Velvet smiles.
"Merry Christmas."