Work Text:
“Amelia remind me how big ‘diced’ is?” You asked as you helped prep dinner, your eyes watering at the onion below you.
“About half what you think it is” she replied quickly, “I’ve seen what you think dicing is and it’s far from it,” the redhead said with a laugh as she skillfully chopped through several vegetables.
“Hey..!” You laughed, pointing your knife at her, “I can cook just fine…!”
Amelia grinned, her nose wrinkling with her teasing smile, “Let’s just keep you as the Sous Chef for now, yeah…?”
You shook your head, and smiled as you crawled out your words, “ Yes, chef….” You turned back to your dreadful onion and quickly began to dice away. Though your cuts were nowhere near as consistent as Amelia’s, you thought they looked pretty good!
You broke the working silence as you brought the onions over to the pot, “So, do you know what Regis and Dettlaff have planned…? I was told I shouldn’t even go upstairs if it’s not an emergency…. And Regis’s lab is a little too weird for me to go snooping around in any way. I never know what I’m gonna find.”
The redhead grinned and nodded, “I agree with you there…. I believe Regis said he wanted to brew up something special for all of us to have with dessert, but I can’t say I know anything about Mister Dettlaff’s plans. I figured you knew.”
You shook your head, “usually Dettlaff’s not very secretive.. so it must mean a great deal to him if only Regis knows-“
“- If Regis knows….”
“Mmm, That’s a good point…”
Amelia shrugged, “Shouldn’t be too long before we find out tough. Both men agreed they wouldn’t be late for dinner, so no more than an hour now,” She said as she checked the clock ticking away on the wall.
You were beyond thankful for the distraction of cooking, otherwise waiting the full hour would have taken every available ounce of willpower. But as the pots of steaming food sat beautifully on the table and Amelia rang the bell for dinner you were more anxious than ever. You couldn’t wait to see what everyone had planned.
“Hello, little moth…” rumbled Dettlaff’s familiar voice in your ear, you hadn’t even heard him approaching, but- then again, that was normal.
“Hello, my love…” you hummed happily as warm arms wrapped around you from behind, pulling you flush against him. You leaned your head back against his shoulder, grinning wide as you met those brilliant blue eyes.
His own smile tugged at his expression, just a sliver of white teeth poking out beneath his lips, “Happy Midwinter, little Moth…” he mumbled against your lips in a soft kiss.
Your heart fluttered in your chest as you returned the kiss, “Happy Midwinter, Dettlaff” you hummed as you turned in his arms to face him “Did you finish your surprise? Do… you think we could go take a peek??” You asked with an exciting bounce.
The higher vampire laughed quietly, the noise filling your heart to its absolute brim, “Sorry, Darling. No special treatment for you this time. But I promise it’s worth the wait”
You frowned, only causing him to chuckle again, “Come on, Darling, the faster we sit down for dinner the faster we can get to the surprise.
The four of you sat down around the full dinner table, an array of wonderful scents greeting you with every turn of your head. Dinner was phenomenal thanks to you and (mostly) Amelia. It was the most lavish meal you’d ever had in your life and not 5 minutes after finishing were you already looking forward to the leftovers.
While you waited for the food to cool enough to put away it was finally time for the grand surprise.
“Oh! I’ve got to go get the dessert! Just give me a moment, I’ll bring it right up!” Said Amelia as she raced toward the kitchen.
“Ah, I believe that means it’s time for my surprise as well. I’ll also meet you two upstairs, okay?” Regis said with a warm smile as he stood, “Just don’t go spoiling the surprise, okay? We’ll be there shortly.” He teased and turned quickly toward his lab.
“I guess that just leaves us… shall we?” Your loving bat asked with an extended hand.
“We shall.”
——
The four of you stood outside the tall wooden doors of the grand library, their intricate engravings inviting you to open them up to the world.
“Is everyone ready…?” Dettlaff asked.
Amelia stood on one side of the group, the tray of pastries and sweets held proudly in her hands. Regis stood right beside her, a crate of dark purple bottles held close to his chest, just waiting to be cracked open.
And then there was you, standing on the end of the group, pure excitement gleaming from your eyes as you watched Dettlaff raise his hands to the door, “Ready..! Come on, my love I want to see..!”
With a soft rumbling laugh, Dettlaff nodded and pushed open the heavy doors with ease revealing a positively heavenly sight.
Where do you even begin? Light flooded through the two-story tall windows, their bright red curtains pulled aside to light up the festive room. A grand pine tree- no more than 10 feet tall- stood proudly in the bright curved reading nook the windows provided. It was decorated from head to toe with vivid ornaments and ribbons in every color you could want. Swaths of other ribbons and greenery swirled and twirled around the railings of staircases and the upper floor, and small wreaths and bouts of mistletoe hung in archways and between shelves upon shelves of old books. Carefully placed candles, and a small crackling fire left the rest of the room in a warm orange glow, causing the delicate ornaments hanging from the ceiling to shimmer in their light. Fake snow dusted your small tree, giving it a sprinkling of natural decoration that fell down onto the pile of presents sitting below it.
It was perfect.
“Oh Dettlaff…” you gasped, holding your chest as you stepped into the otherworldly room. He must’ve been running and fluttering around as smoke around all day to get this done. And it couldn’t have been more worth it.
Even Regis and Amelia looked amazed, neither of them having guessed what absolute grandeur the dark-haired man would go to.
“Dettlaff, my friend, I do believe you’ve outdone yourself….” Said Regis in astonishment.
“Oh, I’ll second that. This is gorgeous..!” Amelia gasps, eyes full of wonder and bright lights.
“It’s perfect, Dettlaff…” you grinned, a few tears threatening to spring from your eyes as you took his hand. “I… I don’t know what else to say… Thank you, my love. You made Midwinter everything I had hoped it would be…”
A warm smile lit up his face as he leaned in to kiss your hand, “I’m happy you like it, little Moth. That’s all I wanted….”
Surrounded by all your friends and loved ones, you were positive this was going to be the happiest Midwinter celebration in the entire continent.
“Now, what say we crack open a bottle of the Cran-Elderberry wine I made and start opening some presents, hm?”
“And you promise it doesn’t have anything… potentially fatal in them…?” Amelia said warily, very aware of the Mandrake cordial he usually likes to make.
“Hmmm. Well, let me think-“ he paused in thought, falling into laughter as Amelia frowned with all the ferocity of an angry Bulldog. “I promise… I promise I was very careful when I made it. Now let’s get to celebrating.”