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It was Christmas Eve, and the Sides were all gathering in the Mindscape common area to begin their celebration. Patton and Emile had made gingerbread and sugar cookies, while Logan and Remus got a warm, crackling fire going in the fireplace. All the Sides were in their Christmas sweaters, and some holiday movie was playing on the TV, filling the room with festive noise as everyone gathered.
Virgil and Janus came out of their rooms, each carrying gifts to put under the tree. Most of the others had already brought things out, and their gifts were the last to join the pile. Roman and Remy helped to arrange everything around the tree, to keep things at least somewhat out of the way. Some gifts ended up behind the tree completely, though it wouldn’t be much of an issue in the morning; Emile and Remus had both expressed they would be more than happy to crawl behind the tree to find things.
Once everyone was gathered in the commons, with snacks and drinks dotted around, and laughter filling the air, Patton attempted to get everyone’s attention. Unfortunately, he wasn’t easily heard above all the chatter. Though his attempts didn’t go unnoticed by Remus, who handed Patton his cup of warm apple cider before hopping up and standing on his seat.
“Yo, shut the fuck up!” Remus shouted, with his hands cupped around his mouth like a megaphone. Everyone quickly fell silent, as Remus cackled and Patton sputtered half-hearted protests to his language. Remus sat back down, beaming as he took his cup of cider back from Patton.
“Um, thank you, Remus,” Patton said, finally managing to gather his thoughts as everyone chuckled a bit, except for Logan, who simply rolled their eyes, before planting a kiss on Remus’ cheek. “Are we ready to do first gifts?” Patton asked.
“You all do first gifts, too?” Janus asked. “I thought it was just, well…”
“A Dark Side thing?” Virgil finished. Janus nodded. “It was, at first.”
“Virgil suggested we try it his first Christmas with us,” Logan stated. “It was enjoyable, and we decided to keep the tradition going.”
“Well, that’s, a pleasant surprise,” Janus stated. “But, it would seem we’re all ready.”
A chorus of agreements came from the other Sides, and Patton couldn’t help but smile. One by one, each Side went over to the tree and picked up a single gift that was marked for them. Soon, everyone settled down in their spots again, some on the sofa, others sitting on the floor, Virgil was perched in Roman’s lap, and Remus was sitting on the back of the sofa.
“So, who first?” Virgil asked, once everybody was settled.
“I think our newest name should go first,” Patton suggested, looking towards Janus. All the other Sides followed suit, looking towards the scaled Side.
“Alright, alright,” Janus conceded, chuckling softly. He read the tag on the round gift, wrapped in dull yellow with a black ribbon. “It’s from Virgil,” he observed, glancing over to the purple-clad Side before untying the ribbon and setting it aside. He tore away the wrapping paper to find a soft snake-scale patterned blanket underneath. He stood up and unrolled the blanket, running his fingertips over the soft material, before wrapping it around himself. “Oh, I hate it,” he said with a smile.
“You’re welcome,” Virgil chuckled. He was the next Side to open the gift in his hands. It was a smaller box, wrapped in blue wrapping paper with snowflakes patterned all over it. “It’s from Remy,” he read off the sticker on the side. Virgil tore away the wrapping paper and removed the top of the gift box, before pulling out the metallic purple travel mug. “Sweet, can never have too many of these things,” he smiled.
“Yeah, babe,” Remy replied. “And there’s no way to get it mixed up with mine, since it’s purple,” he stated. Remy looked over his gift next, finding the tag taped to the light blue wrapping. “From Patton,” he said, smiling a bit as he tore away the paper. Under the wrapping paper, he found a pillow shaped like a s’more, complete with four layers; the two graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallow. “Oh my god, Babe!” Remy laughed, smiling brightly as he hugged the pillow. “It’s so sweet!”
“Not as sweet as you,” Patton countered with a smile, before looking over the gift in his hands. “Looks like it’s from Remus,” he said, finding the tag tied onto the bright green ribbon. He untied the ribbon and set it aside, before ripping away the silver wrapping paper. Under the wrapping was a box with lollipops patterned all over it, and Patton-pops written in bright pink script. “Oooh, this is one of those custom boxes from that shop in the Imagination!” he exclaimed.
“I remembered you saying you liked them, but the place is pretty hard to get to, so, I had them put together a custom variety box,” Remus sheepishly responded, rubbing the back of his neck a bit.
“It’s perfect,” Patton smiled.
Remus smiled in return, before turning over the gift in his hands. “Mine’s from Emile,” he read off the tag, before ripping the pink snowflake-patterned wrapping away from the gift in his hands. It looked like a green and black pencil case, but when Remus opened it, he found a number of different fidget and stim toys inside. A couple of different fidget cubes, a small tin of putty, and a couple of chewable necklaces were in the case, with room for other things to be put in. “Oh cool, it’s all like, fidget stuff,” he said with a smile.
Emile smiled, watching as Remus picked up the putty tin and pulled the putty out, before looking at the gift he had in his hands. “This one’s from Roman,” he read off the tag. He tore away the bright red wrapping paper to reveal a leather-bound notebook. The cover was a warm tan color, and had an image of Totoro hand embossed into the leather. “Roman… This is beautiful,” he breathed.
“You’re always saying you need another notebook for work,” Roman shrugged. “This one’s from Dice,” he read off, before pulling the gold ribbon off the tube in his hands. He pulled away the cream-colored wrapping paper and took off the paper sleeve keeping what looked to be a set of posters rolled up. He unrolled the pages to find they were posters depicting blueprints for a number of Disneyland rides. “Holy Zeus,” he breathed. “Dice, how did you…?”
“A magician never reveals his secrets,” the critic smirked. “Mine’s from Logan,” he read off the tag, before going on to tear away the wrapping paper. This one was also a tube, which Dice unrolled to reveal a poster of his own, which had a hundred scratch-off swatches for different movies. “Oh, that’s cool,” he smiled. He had a couple of similar posters, but this one had quite a few titles his others lacked.
“Considering your fondness for various movies, I thought it would be a reasonable gift,” Logan stated. “And you do often claim to be unsure of what to watch next. Maybe this could provide some ideas.”
“It’s great, Teach,” Dice replied, rolling the poster back up.
Logan had a small smile as they looked over the gift in their hands. “This is from Janus,” they read, glancing towards the scaled Side, who was curled up under the soft blanket he had opened earlier in the evening. They gave a soft chuckle at the sight, before carefully tearing away the grey and blue striped paper. “An herbal tea sampler box?”
“You’ve said you wanted to experiment with different teas,” Janus shrugged. “And, my dear, you need to relax every once in a while,” he added.
“I suppose you’re right,” Logan admitted. “These do seem interesting,” they said, looking over the side of the box to see what it contained. “Thank you.”
Janus just smiled and gave a slight nod. Logan hardly had time to question the action before they were picked up from their spot on the sofa by Remus, who had since put his putty away in its tin, and carried over to where Janus sat. Remus sat down, and set Logan in his lap with a smile, while Janus leaned against his shoulder.
Patton watched everyone chat and admire their presents for some time, until everyone decided to call it a night and clean up so they could all get some rest. He and the others all cleaned up, and took their presents to their rooms, as the entire Mindscape still buzzed with excitement for tomorrow morning.