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Dev’s eyes blinked open slowly. He stared at the plain gray ceiling for a moment before sitting up and pushing his covers off of him a bit.
He looked down at his blanket and scratched his head through his curly hair groggily. He looked up and his eyes widened.
“Why is there a Christmas tree in my room? Peri?” The lights on the neatly decorated Christmas tree illuminated the corner of Dev’s white room, filling it with warm yellow light that shined off of his Crimson Chin posters. Dev looked around for his fairy godfather, his sluggishness having given way to his puzzlement.
With a puff of pink, Peri appeared, his smile a bit brighter than usual. Dev noticed that he was wearing a fuzzy Santa hat, and he sighed.
“Good morning, kid! Merry Christmas!” Peri beamed at Dev. Dev just raised a brow at him.
“Why did you set up a Christmas tree? I don’t usually celebrate Christmas.” Dev said plainly. Peri’s smile shrunk a bit, but the warmth was still very present in it.
“Well, I wanted to make the day a *little* special. Everyone deserves to feel a bit of holiday cheer!” Peri hovered lower down, closer to Dev. He deeply appreciated Christmas, it reminded him of when he was a kid and he got to spend it with his family. He knew better than to mention that part to Dev, though.
“Plus,” he used his wand to point over his shoulder at the tree, under which a golden wrapped gift box sat, “Santa came.”
Dev’s lips curled downwards a bit. “I don’t believe in Santa. I’m not a baby.” He lightly gripped his blanket in the palms of his hands.
“Calm down, I wasn’t serious,” Peri chuckled, “I got you a gift. Do you want to open it? We don’t have to do anything else Christmas-y if you don’t want to.” Dev let go of his covers and his expression softened. He looked down for a second before looking back up at Peri.
“Sure,” Dev said softly, before his tone regained its usual cynical twinge, “I’m not sure what you could’ve gotten me that I couldn’t buy myself, or wish for, though.” Dev pushed himself towards the edge of his bed and hopped off.
“I think you’ll like it.” Peri trailed behind him as Dev padded over to the Christmas tree in his socks. He got a better look at the present when he sat down in front of it. It was wrapped in gold wrapping paper, and a shiny white ribbon was tied around it, culminating at the top in a messy bow that Dev could tell Peri did himself.
Watching Dev undo the bow, Peri hovered close to the ground with his legs crossed. Dev’s 10th birthday, which was many months ago at this point, flashed through his mind. His stomach churned when he thought of that memory. Besides the obvious, he felt bad for not getting Dev a gift. In some ways, he understands where his mind was, but after Dev got him taken away, he couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt. Like maybe he could’ve been there for Dev more, and then he wouldn’t have been driven to do what he did. He knew he didn’t have to feel guilty for all of that, but a feeling kept gnawing at him about that present. Even if Dev could just buy or wish for almost anything he wanted, Peri was determined to get him something meaningful for Christmas.
Dev tossed the ribbon aside and lifted the lid of the box. He looked inside and his eyes went big. He gripped both sides of the box.
“How did you get this?” Inside sat a plushie of Duckworth in a special outfit that he only wore in the latest volume of Prime Meridian Love.
“A lot of waiting in lines, mostly.” Peri said it in a playfully irritated tone, but his smile was audible in his voice.
“You went to that convention?!“ Dev looked up at his purple-eyed fairy in disbelief, still gripping the box.
“Well, you wouldn’t stop talking about that exclusive plush. You had to be at school during the convention, but I didn’t, so I went and got it for you!” Dev took the plushie out of the box and set it in his lap.
“Woah, there’s a signed print of him in here too?” Dev held the print in front of him, admiring it.
“I figured that while I was there I’d get one of those, too.” Peri smiled at his godson, who at this point just looked bewildered.
“I knew it was weird when you couldn’t come to school with me that day! You said it was a ‘family emergency’, but Hazel’s fairies were fine!” Dev pointed at him, the corners of his lips slowly starting to lift into a smile.
Peri chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. “Oh, yeah, they asked me a lot of questions that night. They thought something had happened!” Dev lost eye contact with Peri for a moment before turning his head back to the stuffed duck in front of him. He gently put down the print next to him and started to examine the plush. At this point his smile had grown into a grin. The lights of the Christmas tree sparkled in his big, ocean blue eyes.
“This is perfect…! Just as good as I thought it’d be!” He hugged the plush close to him, gently, as to keep it from getting damaged.
“Well, I’m glad you like it!” Peri leaned forward.
Dev pulled the plush away from his chest and cleared his throat. “Yes, thank you.” He tried to sound serious, but his voice still came out sweet, and his smile was hard to hide.
“You’re welcome, kid.” Peri’s expression softened into a relaxed smile. Seeing his godkid so happy made him feel warm and fuzzy inside. He felt like he was one step closer to doing right by Dev.
Dev did want the Christmas tree gone later, but he wished for some Christmas cookies that he could share with Peri. Before they ate them, he climbed up onto his bed and carefully propped Duckworth up against one of his pillows. Later that night, after saying his goodnights to Peri, he dozed off with Duckworth in his arms. Peri lingered a bit, smiling proudly at his godkid for a moment before, with a flick of his wand, disappearing into pink smoke.