Work Text:
Ian had been working on this for weeks. Ever since the bus incident, he wanted to give Mik something. He’d heard him on the phone talking with someone about sending gifts for the holidays. He wanted to give him something for them, even if he wasn’t sure what the holidays were. He’d spent a lot of time sneaking outside and around the house while Mik was gone too. He wanted this to be perfect. Everything was going well, until Mik came home and said he wasn’t going back for a few weeks.
Ian still needed some stuff to finish his gift. He didn’t even know when the gift was supposed to be given though. He wouldn’t let Mik see it until it was done. He was lucky to still find some flowers outside with the snow. The petals were all dried out so he just had to put it together, but he needed thread. Thread was something Mik would notice him going to get, he had to figure out how to ask for it or get him out of the house.
“Ian?” Mik asked. It made him jump. He’d been lost in his thoughts and he hadn’t realized he’d walked into Mik’s room. “Is everything all right?”
“I-I’m fine!” Ian said.
He could tell Mik didn’t believe him. He turned around in his chair to face Ian better. Since that day on the bus he’d been less nervous about Mik at full size when he was on the ground. Mik got up and kneeled to be closer. He put one of his hands down next to him and Ian climbed on. He had started to find Mik’s hands comforting. Someone so big was always careful and kind with him. He had to finish the gift.
Mik pulled his hand up, curling his fingers over Ian. Ian stared at the ground as he left it, he felt safer in Mik’s hands than down there lately. Mik brought him up to the desk, flattening his hand so Ian could stand on solid ground again. He almost didn’t want to leave the palm, but he climbed off and started looking over what Mik had been doing. The desk was covered in papers that Ian struggled to make out. He hadn’t learned much reading yet.
“What are you doing?” he asked. He was genuinely curious, but if Mik started to ask questions he wasn’t sure he’d be able to avoid answering.
“I’m just writing some letters to some family,” Mik answered. “I’d rather not, but I unfortunately do want to keep up appearances with them.”
“Why keep up appearances?” Mik smiled and ruffled Ian’s hair. Ian pushed at the finger glaring up with fake anger. It made Mik chuckle, exactly what he wanted.
“They were my father’s family. Most of them aren’t great people, but there were a few decent ones. I at least keep in touch with them all and wish them well for the holidays.”
Ian made a face but nodded. He didn’t think it made much sense, but he wouldn’t expect to understand human families. He perked up when he realized this was his chance. He could ask what these holiday things are. He could find out when he had to get his gift done and give it to Mik. He just had to sound normal when he asked. He looked up at Mik, trying to make an innocently curious face.
“What are the holidays?” Ian asked. Mikhail felt his heart stop. This whole time he just assumed Ian knew about human holidays. He’d done nothing to let him ask or even try to offer explanations. It was already late in the month. Could he even go get anything for them to celebrate with?
“There are a number of holidays this month, many spent with family or friends. Personally I celebrate Christmas. Usually there are decorations put up and gifts prepared. Then the start of the new year roughly a week later,” he explained.
Mikhail watched Ian nodding and felt guilt eating away at him. There should be supplies at stores nearby. He’d never even thought of Ian when planning how to treat their home for the holidays. He didn’t have decorations usually, but with his brother here maybe he should. He could go out and get some small things certainly. He looked at Ian who had started trying to read the letters again and nodded to himself. He’d head out once these were finished. He’d be gone for a few hours at worst, but they’d have a much brighter home by the end of the night.
Ian was a bit bored as Mik worked away on the letters. He’d spoken like they didn’t matter, but he knew when Mik was doing important work. He just sat around waiting for Mik to be done, so he could try to get him somewhere a bit easier to sneak around. He’d started to feel his eyelids grow heavy, he might just go back to his place in the walls. Thumping on the desk made him jump, looking up to find an apologetic smile from Mik. Mik reached a hand down and ruffled his hair again before standing and shoving the papers in his bag.
“I’m going to send these out. I’ll probably be gone for a few hours. Will you be fine on your own?” Mik asked. Ian was ecstatic, this was the perfect chance. He’d just ask for Mik to set up the shows he likes and then he’d be in the perfect spot for what he needed to do.
“I’ll be fine, can you set up one of those cartoons again first?” he asked. Mik had a warm smile as he flattened his hand next to Ian.
“Of course.”
Mik took Ian to the couch in the living room and carefully slid Ian off his palm. He turned and started to set up the shows Ian liked, but he was focused elsewhere. He needed thread and that was kept in the kitchen in a drawer. When Mik taught him to borrow he spent a few days going over how to open drawers, he could get it. He’d almost missed Mik’s hand coming towards him, barely keeping his cool. When he didn’t know it was Mik, human hands were still scary. He held his hand around him and gave a small squeeze before pulling his hand away. Ian waved goodbye as Mik walked out the door.
He put his game face on and readied himself, sticking his hook in the soft couch to climb down. He had to hurry so nothing went wrong and he could finish it. He’d bring the gift out today, it seemed like the Christmas one was close at least. He slid down his string and had to fight to free the hook slightly. He always forgot how hard it was to get it free from the couch. He wrapped it up and ran towards the kitchen, quickly throwing the hook to the drawer handle he needed.
He pulled with all his strength and the drawer pulled open just a bit. That was all he needed. He climbed up the string quickly pausing on the handle to catch his breath. He hung the hook on the top of the drawer and wrapped the string around the handle before throwing it in. He climbed up on the part connected to the hook directly and climbed over the edge. When he got into the drawer he was relieved to see a spool of thread out in the open. He took as much as he could, some trailing behind him.
He would be back in the walls in no time. He just had to climb out, use his hook to close the drawer and head home. It would be easy, if he could actually get out of the drawer. He’d just assumed there was enough, but the string he’d thrown in was too high. He ran back to the spool of thread pushing it to the edge of the drawer. He started to climb it when he tripped, getting tangled in the loose threads. He tried to get himself untangled, but the thread he took mixed with the spool and wrapped him tightly. He was trapped.
Mikhail was relieved the trip took far less time than he estimated. The gift he’d ordered a few weeks ago could be brought in now that he’d wrapped it too. He hadn’t gone too crazy, a small tree for doll sets with ornaments the two could use together. He’d give Ian the most normal Christmas he could. When he opened the door he expected to find him asleep on the couch, not missing completely. He must have decided to head back to the walls. He walked in the kitchen to put everything down when he heard tiny grunts.
“Ian?” he called out. He didn’t want to assume anything bad, but he did feel his heart racing.
“Mik! I got stuck…” Ian called out.
He’d only made everything worse trying to get out while Mik was gone. He sighed when he heard the loud footsteps come closer. The drawer was slowly opened, light blinding him for a moment. Before he’d gotten his vision back, warm fingers wrapped around him. He was pulled out of the drawer and laid flat on a palm. He blinked quickly to clear his eyes, sending Mik a sheepish smile. Mik had an eyebrow raised, but he could see how he was searching for any sign Ian had been hurt.
“Ian, what on earth…?” Mik asked. Ian was brought over to a table that had bags piled up on it. He heard Mik’s sigh and felt awful. He was probably tired from all the human stuff he just did.
“I needed thread, but I got stuck when I realized I didn’t put the end of the hook string in enough and tried to climb on the spool thingy,” Ian explained. He refused to look at Mik’s eyes after that. He started to cry a bit, he messed it up there’s no way Mik would even take it now.
“Ian, you could have just told me. I would have gotten the thread out for you. I could have at least made sure you had the hook string right if you wanted to do it on your own.”
Mikhail couldn’t understand why Ian would do something like this. When he’d taught him how to get into drawers he also told him to make sure not to do it alone. It was risky with humans who weren’t aware of borrowers. He started to carefully free Ian from the string. When his fingers brushed against Ian’s face, he felt them get wet. Ian was crying, what could possibly make Ian cry right now. Did he get hurt from the thread? Had it been tighter than he thought?
“Ian what’s wrong? Are you hurt somewhere?” he panicked. He didn’t see anything wrong. He could get smaller to check a bit easier though. Before he could do anything, Ian started shaking his head. “Buddy, what’s going on?”
“I-I was t-trying to make you a gift,” he sniffled. “I heard you talking about gifts and wanted to give you one. I wanted to surprise you, but now it’s all messed up. I messed it all up, I’m a terrible borrower.”
Mikhail finished freeing Ian from the thread quietly. Then he pulled him close and held him over his heart. He waited as he heard Ian sobbing, rubbing his back gently. He’d learned by now when Ian cried none of his words got through. As the sobs finally died down he pulled Ian away and looked at him with a kind smile. Things were fine, nothing was ruined and he’d prove it.
“Ian, you aren’t a terrible borrower. You took a risk that had you been on your own and in a place you were hiding I’d doubt you’d have made. Nothing is ruined either, whatever you’ve planned is still a surprise. Needing supplies and having to get them with help doesn’t make a gift any less special,” Mikhail explained. Ian looked up at him with hope.
“R-really? I thought I had to do it myself, you kept saying you’d rather do it yourself when you talked about it,” Ian said. Mikhail chuckled and Ian tilted his head in confusion.
“Ian, that was me talking about wrapping the gifts I’d ordered for you. I wanted to do that myself. I can’t make or get everything I’d like on my own either. I had help for your gift, help is fine, it’s the thought that matters.”
“So, I can still finish it and you’ll still take it?” Ian’s eyes were sparkling now, it was overwhelming to Mikhail.
“I’d always accept something from my brother.” Mikhail brought his hand close to his heart again before letting Ian off on the table. He returned to the drawer to grab the hook they’d left and carefully wrapped the string up. He placed it on the table next to Ian.
Ian grabbed it and started to fidget. Mikhail smiled and held his hand down next to him. He climbed on quickly and Mikhail moved his hand to the ground. He flattened his hand to the ground and Ian ran off quickly. It was seconds before his small form was back in the walls. Mikhail decided he’d set up their Christmas tree while Ian was gone. Grabbing the bags he’d brought in and moving them to the coffee table. The first thing he pulled out to set up was a ladder that could attach to the furniture. His aunt had made them and placed them all over the house when he’d first moved in. This set up wouldn’t take too long.
Ian was rushing to finish his gift now that he had the thread. He hoped Mik could use it somewhere as decoration. The petals all sewn on and finally staying in form he could bring it out. He was glad he’d chosen a ribbon to sew the petals onto, and that this was the one thing he’d learned from his mom before. She did this with flower petals they’d gathered from dying ones in their home. He took a quick look for Mik before finally pulling the ribbon and petals out of the wall. He was going to stick it under the couch when he saw Mik’s foot nearby. He yelped, hiding out of sight.
Mikhail heard Ian yelp and smiled. He was trying so hard to keep this a surprise. He stood up and shut his eyes, waiting for the feeling of himself falling as he shifted to Ian’s size. He opened his eyes when he knew he was done and went to the ladder he’d set up before climbing up to the coffee table. He sat down near the tree and spread of ornaments then shut his eyes.
“Ian, my eyes are closed and I’m on the table,” he called out. “I left something you could use to hide the gift in if you need it. Just let me know when to open them.”
He waited patiently as he heard shuffling from the floor below him. He heard a gasp and smiled, there’s no way Ian expected an easier way to climb up appearing now. He waited for the sound of footsteps on the glass of the table, a bit relieved once they sounded. There was more shuffling, like Ian was dragging something. Then he heard the crinkling of the bag he’d left out. He silently laughed as he thought of the year he’d gotten stuck this size around Christmas, the gift bags were a bit of a nightmare at first.
“All done, what’s all this?” Ian asked.
He waited for Mik to open his eyes, staring at the fake tree that he’d put on the table. Mik stood up and grabbed a few of the things off the ground. He handed one to Ian and brought him over to the plastic tree. He motioned for Ian to wait and ran off, hitting one or the remotes he kept on the table. Music started playing that he remembered hearing around now when he was younger. Mik came back with a big smile on his face.
“We’re going to decorate a tree and after this we have Christmas movies to watch. Christmas is well tomorrow actually, I hadn’t really thought of celebrating more than movies and the presents I’d gotten for you. I decided to run out and give us a better Christmas eve and Christmas,” Mik explained.
Ian’s eyes went wide at that. Mik said this was for family and friends. So that means he’s doing this because they’re family. His eyes started to water and he quickly wiped the tears away. Mik pulled him into a tight hug and he hugged back as tight as he could. Once they let go he followed Mik’s lead in decorating their tree. Once that was done they spent the night watching what Mik called classic Christmas movies. They all ended happily.
When Ian woke up he was laying on Mik’s chest, Mik back to human size. Mik must have moved to the couch after Ian fell asleep. He rubbed his eyes and sat up, planning to sneak off before Mik woke up. Instead he heard Mik groan a bit and turned to see his eyes opening slowly. He cupped his hand around Ian, yawning as he sat up. He put Ian on the table and reached under the couch pulling out a box filled with objects wrapped in paper. Mik set the objects around Ian before changing to match Ian’s size. He climbed up the ladder quickly, a smirk on his face.
“Merry Christmas Ian, this is what I’d gotten for you, go ahead and open it,” Mik said.
Ian nodded and walked up to one of the packages. He slowly started to rip it open and found a chair, made of wood and his size. He looked back at Mik in awe and rushed to the next one. Each package was furniture his size, but made of wood and not the hard plastic they’d been using. There was so much, he didn’t think he could even fit it all in the house Mik had gotten him. He could stop staring at Mik with wide eyes.
“I-is this really for me?” he asked. Mik smiled widely and nodded. He lunged at his brother, hugging him tightly. He never thought he’d get furniture that seemed made for his size like this.
“Mandy had a friend who made stuff like this for Maria and I. I had her reach out and make a new set to keep here for you, there’s a bit more coming. A better bed and other upholstered items. This was just what could be done in time for Christmas,” Mikhail explained. He was glad Ian seemed so happy.
Ian backed away from Mikhail slowly. His joy seemed to vanish slowly. He went and pulled the bag that he’d stuffed the gift in yesterday. He pulled it in front of Mikhail and then started to fidget. Mikhail waited for him to be ready to speak, he was sure this was worth waiting for. Ian looked around at the furniture and back to his own gift, Mikhail had concern hit him. Was Ian comparing their gifts?
“I-I think you should be human size f-for my gift,” Ian stutterd out. Mikhail listened, quickly sliding down the ladder and sitting on the floor before returning to his normal height. Ian looked up at him then stepped a bit away from his gift. “Th-this is for you Mik, Merry Christmas.”
Mikhail reached over and lifted the package carefully. He could see Ian wringing his hands, he was nervous about this. He pulled it out and found one of the neckties he’d been missing. It was a simple black tie that had now been covered in dried flower petals. He was astonished, where had Ian found flowers this late in the winter? He had no idea how to explain his feelings. It was probably the best gift he’d gotten in years. He may not wear the tie, but could already see a place in his office he could hang it up. It was amazing.
“I-it’s ok if you don’t like it,” Ian said. Mikhail put the tie down and picked Ian up. He held him close to his heart in a firm hug.
“I love it Ian, I want to keep it in my office at the school,” Mikhail said. Ian squirmed and Mikhail pulled his hand back.
“That’s what I wanted it for!” Mikhail laughed and laid down with Ian over his heart again.
“Merry Christmas, little brother.”