better to give than receive (closed; mira)

[davin]

So, Davin has had better Christmases. He bummed around in his pajamas eating cookies and watching TV all day and then, against his better judgement, went to his parents' house for dinner. His mom made him some big fuzzy socks to wear around the house and his dad gave him a Barnes & Noble gift card. They're both things he can use, so that's good. His grandma called him to bitch in Gaelic for a good few minutes about how his box got delayed and he laughed at her ire, which made her curse even louder. She ended the call by telling him how much she loves him, how proud she is of her buachaill draíochta.

He feels better after talking to his grandmother, and decides that Christmas wasn't a total wash. Still, he's glad to get back into the swing of things post-holiday, and he goes over to Mira's as soon as he gets a chance. Her gift is wrapped neatly in a small little box and he knocks on the front door rather than texting. Her mother answers and Davin is always glad to see her. She was one of his favorite teachers, after all.

"Hey," he says with a polite wave, stepping inside once she opens the door wider. "Is Mira around?"

Comments

[astra_inclinant]

Annie Browne answers the door in jeans and an ugly generically-holiday sweater, smiling. "Merry Christmas to you too," she jokes gently, meeting his wave with a one-armed hug. "She's just on the phone, come on in Davin. Mira!" she calls past toward the living room. "Come sit down. How are you feeling? When Mira told me what happened -- well, I'd tell you what I thought, but it's Christmas --"

"I can tell you," Etta says dryly from where she's drying dishes, and waves with a slightly self-conscious smile.

"Have you eaten? We've got leftover pie, and potato casserole --"

"We have leftover pie?" Omid Kazmi says, perking up from where he's just standing, having gotten involved in reading a newly gifted book.

"Not for you," Annie says with an affectionate smirk.

"--You too, Bubbe, love you. Mom. Breathe." Mira leans in the doorway to roll her eyes at her family. "Bubbe wants to talk to you." She hands off the cell phone and her mother takes it with a hey mom and steps away.

Mira gives Davin a warm and slightly apologetic smile. "Hey, Merry Christmas." She offers a hug. "I'm sorry about them. Upstairs?"

[davin]

"Merry Christmas," he says with a smile, turning into the hug and returning it easily. "Gang's all here, huh? Hi, Mr. Kazmi."

He blushes when Mira's mom mentions what happens and shrugs a little, giving her a reassuring smile. "Takes a lot more than that t'get me down, I assure ya."

When he hears Etta speak, he turns and gives her a big grin as he goes over to greet her. "Well hello, gorgeous. Are ya breakin' hearts out there in sunny California?"

She doesn't get a chance to answer before Mira is suddenly there hugging him and Davin returns it with gusto, telling her not to be sorry and nodding. "Sure, sounds good."

[astra_inclinant]

"Good to see you, Davin, Merry Christmas," Mira's dad greets him with a smile.

Etta hides a blush behind a big grin and is about to come back with something sassy when Mira comes in, and she fondly if begrudgingly surrenders Davin over to her sister.

Mira always hugs people just a little on the long side if she knows them, and Davin's the rule rather than the exception. She pulls back after a minute, catching his hand to tug him toward the stairs a little and leading the way up to her room, a familiar journey by now. "Well good, because I have presents." She's a little nervous about them, not because they didn't involve thought, but because they did, and there's always the chance of things not being right no matter how much care's put into them. "You're not allowed to judge my wrapping skills, by the way."

She opens the door. "Oh, and spiked eggnog." She nods at the minifridge and sits back on the bed, making room for him, and looks up. "Should I ask how your day's going?"

[davin]

He needed a good Mira hug and he accepts it greedily, clinging to her tightly before she pulls back, and he threads their fingers together as they head upstairs. "Wait, presents as in plural? I only got ya one."

Her gift was kind of expensive but Davin had seen it and thought it just seemed right and she's worth that much money and a lot more. The necklace would look good on her and match her sense of style, he thinks, and it's made from something she loves so wholly.

"My day's fine," he says with a slight wrinkle of his nose, and then tosses the wrapped gift on her bed before grabbing the eggnog and pouring two glasses, handing one over to her and sitting next to her on the bed. He really hopes she likes it, and his smile is a little nervous. "Open it. I hope ya like it. Part of it is actually from space."

[astra_inclinant]

She smiles, squeezing his hand a little. "It's not a competition," she handwaves, turning around on the stairs to wrinkle her nose at him before heading in. "I'm just indecisive." Besides, she figures, at least one of the little things she got for him has to be right on the mark, and it's not about how many gifts or how much money, it's about making people happy.

Mira picks up the present, then blinks at him. "From space?" She looks back down at the little gift in her hands with wide, impressed eyes and back up at Davin, who legitimately looks nervous. About a gift from space. Seriously, like he's never met her or something. "Okay, no, no, wait," she says, and hands him his, "you have to open yours first, I think mine might suck comparatively," she says, legitimately a little panicked that they might.

Mira'd struggled a little. A lot of her gifts are based around things that are pretty immediately obvious, and that's usually a good way to go. But she'd wanted to acknowledge how goddamn smart Davin is -- after all, that's how they met -- and all that had led to was sitting puzzled in Crossroad trying to figure out what he hasn't read that he might like to. She'd ended up with Madness and Civilization by Foucault, and The Space Book: From the Beginning to the End of Time. And made him a mixtape because it is HER after all. And that was that, and it was all neatly wrapped like a kind of stepped pyramid. And then she'd spotted a kinda really cuteceltic knot bracelet that seems like something he'd wear, so that's off in its own weird package and okay, look it's kind of hard to STOP thinking of people once you start sometimes.

And yet she still feels like somehow, somehow none of it's quite what she wants to say and maybe it's too much, or too stupid, or too pretentious and whatever the hell Davin has bought her is clearly awesome. She takes a sip of eggnog and looks at him and grins because what the fuck, it's Davin and they could have bought each other Hello Kitty friendship bracelets and it'd still be awesome, but Christmas, man.

[davin]

She hands him a veritable stack of presents and his eyes widen a bit, and he has to set his glass down on the nightstand before he can take it. He looks up at her and then down at the pyramid, blinking a bit owlishly. It's slightly overwhelming, but in a good way.

"Ya didn't have t'do all this," Davin assures her, and he starts with the biggest presents first. They're both books, and they're both super interesting looking books that were obviously chosen with his specific weird tastes in mind. He gets a little distracted by reading the back covers and then remembers himself, blushing a little and setting them aside. "These are amazin', thanks. I can't wait t' read 'em."

Then he remembers that there's more and he picks up the next one, eyes widening when he realizes that it's a mixed tape. Or well, mixed CD. She took the time to sit down and put together a bunch of songs that reminded her of them and Davin's eyes are shiny as he reads the back cover, his lips curled up into a small, pleased smile. "God, Mira. This is - I can't wait to listen t'it."

He leans over to kiss her softly on the mouth, lingering a bit and then giving her another smacking kiss before pulling back. "God, there's another one. My heart has grown three sizes this day."

Inside the last box is an intricate bracelet woven into a celtic knot design and Davin laughs a little, because she even managed to get a nod to his Irish roots in there. He sniffles a bit and holds both it and his wrist out to her. "Put it on me."

He swallows hard and watches her fondly. His gift is inadequate in the face of all these thoughtful things she's given him, but he still thinks she'll like it.

[astra_inclinant]

Mira chews on her lip watching him unwrap the presents, excited and nervous. "It's not all this, and it wouldn't have been fun if I had to. Besides, you got me something from space, asshole, don't tell me about all this." She grins as he soaks in the back cover, the tension easing a little as he's clearly interested. If he'd set aside the other presents for later so he could read she wouldn't have been offended a bit, she knows how reading can be or she wouldn't have thought to buy books.

"The space one's gorgeous," she says, "it's a lot of really cool photos with the text. I maaay steal it from you sometime, or we can just hang out sometime and look at pretty pictures."

He opens the mix tape and looks so genuinely moved that her heart turns over a little. Music is perfect, sometimes, but getting across exactly what you're thinking when you listen to one song or another, especially if it's not exactly in the lyrics, isn't a science and it's a little nervewracking. She can't hide her grin at doing well and leans to put a head on his shoulder, but she's surprised by getting a kiss instead and leans into it, returning it with feeling and smiling warmly at him.

"Well, Mr. Grinch," she teases, "I'm no Cindy Lou Who so material goods it is."

She chews on her lip a little and connects the clasp on the bracelet. "Ta-da. Looks good on you."

Mira settles and picks up her gift, glancing at it, and carefully unwraps it, blinking in even more surprise when there's a clearly nice black jewelry box inside, and glances up at him. What did he do? Okay, so he's got a job that pays better than hers, but --

She opens it, and catches her breath at the gorgeous necklace inside. It's so exactly something she'd wear: no, it's something she'd lust after in a store window and never, ever think of buying for herself, and she almost furrows her brow at how unexpected it is. "Davin, this is -- gorgeous --" She leans closer, touching the stone gently. Silica and -- iron? Or magnetite? She's not a geologist, she works with physics mostly, but -- there's also a piece of paper folded inside, and she unfolds it and takes a breath when it tells her it's from the Campo del Cielo field. She can feel herself tearing up and she puts it down to kiss him right on the mouth and throw her arms around his neck. "This is perfect. Don't you dare act like you didn't get me enough or something, this -- thank you."

[davin]

"You can totally come over an' look at the space book," Davin says with a laugh. He sets the presents aside and bites his lip as she starts to open her present. He'd had so many options for her, and he hopes he chose the right one.

His reaction upon seeing it surprises him in a good way and he grins at her, laughing a little and catching her when she throws herself at him. He returns the kiss and cups her cheek, grinning at her and holding her close. "Here, let me help ya."

He reaches out for the metal in the chain with his magic, lifting it from her hands and unhooking the clasp before he lifts her thick hair with his hands. The chain curls softly around her neck and clasps together and he drops her hair, smiling a little and touching the pendant where it rests against her chest. "I knew it would look good on ya. I'm glad ya like it."