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 Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2017 2:26 pm
"Remind me again," said Caspian from the bathroom, "why we're the ones doing this?"
He wasn't really nervous, per say, but it wasn't exactly like their house was made for more than just the two of them and the occasional straggler. It wasn't a mansion - not like the actual Gallo household, Caspian suspected, but it was decent sized, enough for themselves and visitors and, Caspian privately hoped, a dog.
He just needed to suck up to Michael a little later about that. At least Paris and Chris had thankfully volunteered their own house, which meant that Caspian hadn't needed to clean anything extraneously. They'd slept over the previous night to reduce the amount of traveling and effort, and now they were in one of the spare bedrooms.
At present, Caspian was standing in front of the mirror, slowly buttoning up a dark blue dress shirt spangled with tiny, subtle silver stars. His eyes flickered over the scar on his chest again, but then it was gone as the shirt closed, and he took a breath, smoothing a hand down the fabric.
He hadn't gotten so far as to pants yet, a black tie loose around his shoulders, Caspian wearing a pair of black boxer briefs under the shirt. He leaned forward to fix his collar in the mirror.
"This is all your family's fault," he called to the bedroom. "I'm an innocent bystander."
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Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2017 7:23 pm
Michael wasn’t really a fan of noise, or being around a lot of people. It stressed him out and he would much rather retreat to a quiet space to read or work on his bike. Family events were far from quiet, but he was grateful that Paris offered hers and Chris’s house for Thanksgiving, since apparently they were still abiding by the stupid tradition of whoever gets married that year has to host.
“We’re not the ones doing this. Paris is doing it. We just have to smile and play nice so Nana will get off my back about everything,” Michael grunted as he flipped the dark blue tie over the first knot around his neck. He didn’t need a mirror, but he would at least glance in it before he left the room.
The rest of his outfit was pretty plain. Dark grey slacks and a white shirt with silver pinstripes. His hair had been brushed back so his bangs wouldn’t cover his eyes, and his nails were once again painted sparkly blue that looked a little purple depending on the light. ”You’re hardly innocent,” Peter chirped as he poked his head into the bedroom door without bothering to knock. He’d lived with the two for a decent amount of time so he didn’t feel like he had to. “And you’re part of the family now, so. You’re just blaming yourself,” he pointed out, and then returned the scowl that Michael was showing him.
“Don’t give me that. I’ve been actually downstairs helping while you two have been lazy and hiding. Hurry up because Nana and the others will be here soon,” he said, leaning heavily on the doorknob, his other hand holding onto the doorframe so as not to topple over. He was actually dressed nice, thank you very much. He had a floral patterned shirt and navy slacks, and a pink bowtie because he could pull it off where his brothers definitely couldn’t. Downstairs, Chris did his best to stay out of the way while keeping an eye on both Allie and the babies while Paris went around making sure everything was set up as she wanted it.
“Don’t be nervous, they’ll all love you,” Chris promised Allison with a smile, and then looked to see what his wife was doing. “Paris, you’re going to wear yourself out if you keep running around like that.” He would know. He was often worn down.
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Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2017 8:18 pm
Family and the chaos that came with it was basically the only thing that Allison ever wanted and it took her three different names to finally have it. Nerves had her stomach in knots- she had met a few of the Gallos since she had purified but this... Thanksgiving was an entirely different ball game. But the nerves and the name changes and everything else that came with it were worth it, because it brought her here, to this moment. To this family. Letting out a slow breath to calm herself, Allie smiled at Chris' reassuring words. She did her very best to look presentable in a pastel blue high-waisted skirt with a polka dot sweater tucked in and cinched with a thin black belt. "I hope so," she murmured while fussing over the babies. Glancing up at Paris, she added "It's all perfect, you're such an amazing hostess. This is going to be the best." Not that.. she really had anything to compare it to. Or, well, maybe she did. Who knows? In Allie's mind, it was most definitely going to be the best ever.
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Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2017 5:32 pm
Paris liked to think she perfected the art of a Gallo Thanksgiving after her first effort four years ago — which was not the disaster she expected it to be, but could have benefited from a few key changes. The most important of which was this: she should not have tried to cook for over fifty people on her own.
Four years later, the size of the extended Gallo family was even larger. It was almost as if no Gallo ever died, they just grew older and older while the younger members produced more and more children. The very thought would be exhausting, except that Paris credited this longevity for the fact that Chris still remained among the living. His weird, superhuman Gallo genes might very well be what has kept his cracked starseed from killing him.
Silver linings — they were the only way Paris could stay positive about anything these days.
Perhaps it was too generous of her to cover hosting duties again, when that distinction should, by tradition, fall on Michael and Caspian. But Paris remembered what it was like to be new to the family, and she honestly wouldn’t wish that sort of stress on anyone who wasn’t a Negaverse officer. Since neither Michael nor Caspian fit that description, Paris had no second thoughts about offering her home or her time for the occasion. It’s not as if Michael and Caspian could fit over 70 people in their house. Plus, Michael probably wouldn’t make the best host; whether or not Caspian made up the difference was yet to be seen.
And now they owed her something. Paris didn’t know exactly what, and she wasn’t sure when she’d actually cash in on the favor, but it was there for the taking whenever she needed it.
“I’m fine, Chris. This is nothing like last time,” Paris said, waving off Chris’s concern with a nonchalance she wouldn’t have shown four years ago.
There wasn’t much for her to do to begin with. She’d hired people to handle the cooking this time. They were busy in the kitchen, and they shooed her out every time she went in to see if they needed anything. The only thing she had to worry about were the decorations, which were put in place as soon as Halloween was over. She made a few adjustments here and there, mostly for something to do while they waited for the rest of their family to arrive. Otherwise, it was simply a matter of keeping her two toddlers from making a mess of things.
Paris showed Allie a bright smile. “I’ve had practice. The Gallos love their holidays. Well, they like any excuse to eat good food and drink for hours, really. You’ll get used to it. Or you’ll see what things are like when Momma hosts. Or Nana. Things’re always excessively glamorous at the house in Boston. This’ll end up seeming pretty tame in comparison.”
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Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2017 9:03 am
Caspian rolled his eyes, thankfully unseen in the bathroom by both Michael and the intruding Peter, who poked his head in a second later. "Is Nana still on your back about things?" Caspian asked, continuing the conversation as though Peter hadn't spoken, although he added, a second later, "I'm pretty damn innocent, thank you very much."
He plucked up the charcoal gray dress pants and shimmied into them, tucking his shirt in before grabbing his belt and stepping out of the bathroom to give Peter a winning smile. "And we're not hiding, we're just...taking our time. To, you know. Contemplate escaping out the window."
Caspian threaded the belt through the loops, fixed it in place, then went over to where Michael was, lifting his hands to fiddle with the collar of Michael's shirt.
"Very handsome," he said, stretching up on his tiptoes to press a kiss to his lips before he patted Michael's chest. "All right, all right, we're coming."
He'd never met Allison before; apparently she was some new relative - and he'd only met Paris once, at the cabin where Michael had proposed. It had been a long time, though; they hadn't talked much the night before, Caspian sliding fingers through Michael's hand as they went downstairs to find chaos happening.
The living room was where everyone was gathered for the time being, it seemed, and it felt noisy, cluttered, messy, and delightful all at the same time. Caspian, who wasn't entirely sure about the toddlers, as much as he liked kids, gave them a curious look before giving Chris a friendly punch on the arm.
"Morning Chris, Paris. Are you Allison? I'm Caspian."
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Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 2:56 pm
Michael blamed himself for the reason Caspian hadn’t met Allison before. Michael also felt at fault that Caspian had only had the opportunity to talk to Paris maybe once, despite Michael having a rather close relationship with his family. Things had been difficult over the past several months, and even though Paris and Momma and practically the whole family had stopped by to bring lasagna and casseroles and other necessities while Caspian had been recovering from being injured, Michael had insisted that they let his husband have his rest.
And Michael, although he could play the part, was never really comfortable in a crowded setting. It made him anxious and irritable when he felt as though there was some kind of expectation being forced on him, even if no one said anything and even if there really wasn’t.
For now, all he could do was prepare himself for what the rest of the family would do and say, especially in regards to his and Caspian’s rather unplanned and sudden marriage.
He offered a smile to Allison and Chris, but was entirely too distracted by the arrival of others to do much more. ”You know what a phone looks like, Nana,” Peter said as he took one for the team, you’re welcome, and went to greet Nana and his parents at the door so that Chris and Paris didn’t have to get up. “You have one too. Don’t even -”
“What did you do to your hair? Is this one of those ridiculous new fads?” came an elderly woman’s voice from the front of the house, along with the scuffling of other shoes and heels on the hardwood floor of the foyer.
“It’s an undercut, Nana. You’ve seen me with my hair like this before,” Peter grumbled, turning to the entry way into the room where the others were, giving them all a wide eyed look of distress.
Nana herself was dressed elegantly as always, in a midnight blue gown with a high neckline, and a shimmery shawl over her shoulders. She was thin and fine boned, but hardly looked frail, despite being eighty-nine. The decorative cane she walked with was just that, Peter suspected - decorative. But before Nana could say anything that would scare any of the new members of their family, Claire bustled in behind her with a bright smile and two trays of desserts in her hands. Her own dress reached her knees and was form fitting and medium grey, over which she wore jewelry with large shimmery stones in pinks and golds. Her shoulder length golden hair, which matched her eyes, was twisted back and pinned in place.
“Allison! Oh, Bluebell, you look absolutely precious,” Claire gushed as she quickly handed off the trays to her two eldest sons, because they looked like they needed something to do, and reached out to hug her newest daughter. Because as soon as Paris had mentioned that she had no memories of her prior life as a civilian, Claire absolutely had to take advantage of the situation. She’d always wanted daughters!
Yes, she was aware that it was highly unusual since Allison was a grown adult, but Claire was sure she’d been through enough that even a little reprieve from stress would be good for her. And it wasn’t as though she wasn’t entirely aware of the magical life of her children and their significant others.
“She didn’t look this skinny in the pictures. Are you sure she’s being fed?” Nana asked, frowning at Allison with a critical eye, but Claire pulled back from squishing Allison in a hug to wave a dismissive hand at her mother-in-law. “Nana, she is eating just fine,” Claire insisted, beaming at the young woman, before turning to Caspian so she could throw her arms around him as well.
“You look so handsome, Buttercup, oh and your hair is so soft,” she cooed, a hand stroking at his sleek black hair, then turned to slide one arm around Caspian’s waist, and her other arm around Allison’s to pull them close.
“Pumpkin, could you please take a picture of us? You’re okay with that right?” she asked Chris, before glancing at both Allison and Caspian, smiling brightly at both of them. Surely they couldn’t refuse! And so it began. First Peter’s whining, and then Nana comments, and then his mother bringing food that she didn’t have to.
Chris stared from his mother, to the tray of cookies and brownies in his hands, and then over to Paris for help. But then he carefully set the tray to the side as he dug around in his pants pocket to pull out his phone so he could take a few pictures of Allison, Caspian, and his mother for her.
“Nana, it’s good to see you,” he greeted his grandmother once he was done with the pictures, and stepped forward to hug her.
“You look more tired than I feel,” Nana commented as she pulled back from the hug, looking her grandson over, to which Chris sheepishly laughed. He was tired, but he was doing his best to keep that from ruining the holiday.
“Two toddlers are a lot to keep up with. Paris has been great with them. I don’t know how she has so much energy,” he said as he smiled over to his wife.
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