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“Must we?”
Nikolai’s nose crinkled like he’d just bitten into something unpleasantly sour as the indignant chorus of ‘Yes!’ bounced back at him from Daisy, Jett and Zoe.
Remy seized his shoulders, grinning as he jostled his friend, “Come on, Niko! Don’t be ‘Le Grinch’!”
Nikolai’s brow furrowed, “I’m not! But last month we stole Paul Newman’s Rolex Daytona. That must have been worth, oh, five million euros? So I just don’t understand why any of us want to purchase - or receive - a €20 trinket? Wouldn’t you all much rather we made a plan to take something you really wanted after Christmas?”
Leon smiled fondly down at the iconic timepiece clasped around his wrist before shrugging, “I think it could be fun? We’ve never had a Gilded Poppy Secret Santa before.”
The beginnings of a mischievous grin spread slowly across Vivienne’s face as she leaned forward, “How does it work exactly? Do we all just buy a gift and then everyone selects at random, or…?”
Daisy shook her head firmly, “I mean, you can do that - but when I’ve taken part in a Secret Santa before, everyone picks a name out of the hat and then you buy your gift for that specific person.”
Vivienne clasped her elegant hands excitedly, “Oh I think it sounds like fun; we should do it darling!”
“It does! Isn’t supposed to be a serious gift though, is it?” Jett queried.
Zoe looked up from her cellphone, “Either - I do think a spoof gift would be more fun though? Like Nikolai said, if we want something ‘good’, we steal it.”
Remy nudged Nikolai, raising an eyebrow in his direction, “What do you say, mon ami??”
Nikolai’s mouth quirked up at one corner as he looked at Remy, “Would it make you happy?”
Remy grinned, “Very!”
Nikolai turned to the others, “You really all want to participate?”
Zoe, Daisy, Vivienne and Leon all nodded as Jett began a chant of “San-ta! San-ta!!”, which Remy and the others quickly joined him in. Even Elizabeth appeared yowling amidst the melee.
Nikolai eventually held his hands up, trying to conceal his laughter, “Fine, but someone else can organise it.”
Zoe waved her phone, “No worries, I’ve already found an app while you were all talking - all I need to do is enter each name and number combination, and it’ll randomly select and send someone's name to your phone to be your gift recip-“
Vivienne cut her off, “Then you can see who has you? No no no, I don’t think so!”
Zoe protested, “It’s completely anonymous, I have no way of checking who gets who!”
Leon winced, “Sorry Zoe, have to agree with Viv on this one. You really want us to believe you can’t get around whatever coding’s on the app to make it anonymous? I say we do it the old fashioned way. Names on pieces of paper.”
Daisy beamed, already tearing a piece of paper from a sketch pad and hunting for a pen, “Someone grab a bowl please?”
Remy disappeared to the kitchen as Daisy wrote the name of each member of the Poppy, then meticulously folded the seven strips of paper into identically-sized tiny squares, dropping them into the cheerful blue dish upon his return. Placing it in the centre of the coffee table, Daisy reiterated the rules to the group, “Okay. Twenty Euro spend, something silly and fun. You are NOT allowed to tell anyone who you draw,” wagging an accusatory finger at all of her friends, “I mean it: no blabber mouthing!!” She paused a few seconds longer for added emphasis as the group offered her a collection of grumbles, nods and eyerolls, “And if you draw yourself, you need to put it back and pick another name…. Sound good??”
Remy’s hand was in the bowl in an instant, desperate to be the first to fish a name out, giving the explanation that he didn’t see anyone else offer to help by fetching a bowl when Jett questioned who said he could go first. Remy unfurled the tightly closed piece of paper, careful to avoid prying eyes before he slipped it into his breast pocket - demeanour impassive; inscrutable. After a few seconds he face-palmed dramatically at the group, all closely watching his expressions for any hint of a clue, “You expect your resident conman’s face to give away who he has in the Gift Exchange?? Mon dieu!!”
Leon shrugged nonchalantly, “Worth a shot.” He reached out, picked up the bowl and gestured in Vivienne’s direction, “Go ahead.”
She smiled her thanks before circling an indecisive hand over the top of the dish, like a witch casting a spell over a cauldron, carefully conjuring her selection forth. Jett’s hand darted in quickly afterwards, prompting a rush from the remaining members of the Poppy - all eager to avoid being left without a choice.
Nikolai cleared his throat as the gang eyed each other suspiciously, “Assuming no one has their own name? Gifts should be ready to swap on…?”
Daisy looked around the room, “Christmas Eve I guess, since that’s the French tradition? Does that work for everyone?”
Jett stood as he agreed to Christmas Eve, holding up the piece of paper, “Right, off to burn this. I don’t trust any of you reprobates not to check the bin if I toss it in there…”
—-
Zoe smirked as she scrolled down the page, ‘…and that one. Ohhh - that one. Oh that is perfect - add to basket. Annnnnd that one. Checkout… Done!’ Satisfied, she tossed her tablet down onto the duvet and stretched out her stiff shoulders. ‘Now all I need is a big box. Remy is going to laugh his ass off when he opens this…’
—-
Nikolai paused to listen for a second time. Once again, the sound of steps behind him stopped as he did. He resumed, continuing around the corner and marching past the store he had intended to visit: always listening closely. Footsteps falling - far enough behind that most wouldn’t notice, but Nikolai wasn’t like most. Heading down the avenue, taking another corner, his shadow perpetually maintained his pace. But even though the tail tried to alter his gait, Nikolai Stirling would have known that stride anywhere. Stopping dead - he made a point of sounding thoroughly irate when he barked, “Remy. Show yourself.”
Remy emerged from behind a newspaper stand, green eyes flinty for just a split second before being quickly concealed by an easy, charming smile, “Oh! Bonjour, Niko! What a surprise to see you here! Wow! I was just enjoying Paris, catching up on current events - you know, the important issues: global pandemic, climate change…”
Nikolai arched one perfect dark eyebrow, “Of course. You were following the latest from Greta Thunberg, rather than following me to find out who I have for Secret Santa! Treachery!”
Remy spluttered, “After more than a decade of friendship, of brotherhood? How dare you bring my integrity into question?!”
Nikolai pinched the bridge of his nose before clapping Remy’s shoulder, “I would never question it, Chevalier; that would imply that I believed you had any to begin with.” He paused, unable to stop the grin forming, “Now that your ‘sophisticated cover-story’ is decidedly blown, coffee?”
—-
Vivienne practically purred as she leaned against the doorframe, “It doesn’t matter if it’s a white elephant gift, it’s still all about the presentation, Leon. You want to make sure… Your package… Really… Stands out…. Make it look enticing darling!”
The tips of Leon’s ears glowed as he sighed, “I’m not one of your marks, Vivienne - don’t give me all that double-entendre BS. You’re just trying to figure out who I have in the draw!”
Vivienne hand flew to cup her cheek as her jaw dropped, “Why so cynical?! I’m only offering to help you because it takes a delicate touch to add some glamour to gift-wrapping darling! And you can’t do it with those big shovels - it's curling ribbon, not a carburettor…”
Leon looked down at his big hands then huffed, “Trying to help me…”. He folded his arms as he angled himself - there was no way he was going to let her ruin her own Secret Santa gift!
She pouted as she tried to see past him into his bedroom, hoping for a glimpse - any kind of clue at all, but alas! She’d guessed trickery was unlikely to get her in: Leon was far too suspicious in nature for that. But flustering him hadn’t worked either - Vivienne had hoped she could embarrass him into dropping his guard…. But now the Poppy’s blushing gentle giant, like a puffer fish, had somehow managed to make himself appear three times bigger and three times scarier - and was blocking the doorway completely. Accepting that she was beaten, Vivienne shot Leon an angelic smile and threw her hands up as though to say ‘your loss!’. She turned on her perfectly pointed heel, clicking a path down the corridor towards Zoe’s room - maybe she could find something out there?
—-
Jett giggled gleefully - earning a strange look from the bored teenage cashier for digging so deeply into the store’s bargain bin that he almost lost his balance and toppled inside, ‘This was genius! Genius. And only €1 each!’ Fishing out another CD, he grinned gleefully as he looked at the cover, ‘Even worse than the last one! Brilliant!’
—-
Daisy skipped past Zoe to snatch the parcel she was about to check, “Uh-uh! No way!”
Zoe held the box tightly, head tilted to one side, “Excuse me? You know the deal, any packages that arrive at HQ need to be checked? Basic security.”
Daisy groaned, “Noooo… But it’s my Santa present! I don’t want anyone to know what it is, please Zoe…?”
Zoe shrugged, “Sorry dude. How about you score out the sender’s name so I don’t see where it came from, but I still need to check it out. Best I can do.”
Begrudgingly Daisy agreed, obliterating the offending store logo and ‘return to’ address with a black marker before handing the mystery purchase over.
—-
As Christmas approached the Poppy festively decorated the Parisian HQ: various garlands of brightly-coloured tinsel festooned the artworks and mirrors in the common room, a family of cute, fibre optic snowmen took pride of place on the sideboard and the windows were draped with twinkling fairy lights. Leon purchased and tended to a large poinsettia plant for the sill to remind him of Hong Kong at Christmas-time. A cute miniature tree adorned the coffee table as a compromise since Nikolai was dead-set against a big tree - citing Elizabeth deciding to climb one years ago and hiding under the sofa for hours after she knocked it over as his reasoning. Daisy suggested that everyone put their wrapped gifts by the tree to make things feel a little extra Christmassy, but no one trusted anyone else enough to leave the parcels unattended for any length of time. Zoe suggested setting up surveillance and Jett offered to boobytrap the coffee table, but suspicions surrounding sneaky peekers were running far too high for it to be agreed to - so the gifts all remained stashed in each member of the Gilded Poppy’s bedroom - away from prying eyes until they were due to be exchanged on Christmas Eve.
Finally when ‘La veille de Noël’ arrived, the group made sure they had the whole day free to spend together having fun! Fresh pastries from Marguerite’s bakery for breakfast, followed by a Christmas movie marathon and mugs of hot chocolate with optional whipped cream and marshmallows floating on top, followed by some board games. They incorporated some particularly French Christmas traditions - opening a good bottle of champagne to share, and each leaving a pair of shoes in front of the fireplace to be filled with gifts when they finally went to bed. This new game amused Elizabeth greatly - she was particularly fond of chasing the laces on Zoe’s sneakers, and after finally getting bored of those she had a little nibble on the buckles on Leon’s loafers. What entertained her most though was when the gang piled their Secret Santa gifts on top of the coffee table to exchange after dinner. Elizabeth’s bright blue eyes grew to twice their size as she looked at all the glittery gift bags, ribbons and bows. She sniffed and pawed at them curiously before Nikolai scooped her into his arms for fear of her knocking over anything breakable and getting hurt.
Remy and Zoe had spent a lot of time in the kitchen on the 23rd prepping for their ‘Réveillon’ feast and ‘Les Treize Desserts de Noël’. They didn’t stick strictly to all thirteen traditional dessert recipes, instead going for a mix of treats like the symbolic dark and light nougat representing good and evil, and everyone’s favourites: mini white chocolate and raspberry tartlets, blueberry and lavender pie, coconut macarons and vanilla ice-cream amongst other treats. Good food and conversation were in plentiful supply that evening, with many fond stories of heists gone by and laughter echoing to the high ceilings of the penthouse as the hours slipped away.
—-
“No…. More…. Food…” groaned Vivienne.
“Oi Daisy? Do you have a spare hair tie?” Jett enquired as he pushed his chair back from the dinner table.
Daisy nodded, tossing the elastic around her wrist to him, then she burst into laughter as he created a button extender by double-looping the band through the buttonhole, letting out a joyous sigh of relief at the inch of comfort gained.
Leon nudged Daisy, only half joking, “Any more of those available??”
Nikolai cleared his throat, eyes fixed on the pile of presents, “Before you all end up with nothing more than a crude piece of elastic maintaining your dignity - is it time to exchange the Secret Santa gifts?”
Jett winked at the group as he teased, “Nikolai! You don’t have to make excuses, mate! We all know you’re dyyying to see what your gift is!”
Daisy sprung to her feet, “Yey presents! Let’s open them now? I don’t think any of us could eat another bite?”
Remy stood, touching her arm and encouraging her to sit back down, “Cherie, we’re not barbarians! Cognac, then gifts!”
—-
By the time Remy had filled seven elegant balloons with amber digestif the Poppy had gathered around the coffee table, curiosity and excitement clearly having gotten the better of them. Imparting a glass to each, Remy took a seat between Vivienne and Nikolai, “Now we’re ready!”
Zoe held up one finger, hastily connecting her phone to the penthouse speakers. Christmas music filled the space, “And nowwww we’re ready.”
Vivienne picked up the gift bag with her name on it - a white background with a cute Rudolph sporting a disproportionately large red glittery nose, “Adorable!”
Zoe frowned, “Put the parcel down, Tang. How are we doing this? Random generator?”
Vivienne grudgingly agreed and placed the gift back on the table.
After few taps of her screen Zoe snorted, “What were the odds of that?” She held the phone up, showing Vivienne’s name to the group.
Nikolai raised an eyebrow, “One in seven.”
Vivienne shushed him as she reached out and grabbed the medium-sized gift bag once again, turning it around, inspecting it and weighing it in her hand, “It’s light as a feather.” Her pointed nails slipped easily underneath the sticky tape holding the bag shut, revealing a wide but shallow, square parcel wrapped in metallic red paper with a gold string tied around it. She admired it for a few seconds before ripping it apart to reveal jewellery packaging! Her eyes lit up as she flipped the lid to reveal…. A novelty headband with two light up Christmas tree boppers attached, and a glittering rhinestone brooch depicting Santa, Ruloph and a snowman inside a holly wreath.
Vivienne placed the headband on her head ceremoniously, activating the flashing lights before scooping the brooch out and holding it up to the light and watching it sparkle as it caught the glow. She started to laugh as she pinned the piece to her top, “It’s so gaudy!! So tacky!! It’s fabulous!! Oh wait, there’s something else in here!” Vivienne fished out another gift, ripping it open without hesitation, “Ohhhh. This isn’t a white elephant! This is good chocolate!” She sat back, eyeing her friends closely, tapping one finger against her lip, “Whoever did this - someone couldn’t bring themselves not to give a small serious gift…”
Daisy cut in, “Wait until we’ve all got our gifts, then we can all try to work out who our Santa was! Zoe? Who’s next?”
Zoe tapped her screen, “Drumroll please… Next we have Mr Remy Chevalier…”
Remy gave the room a little bow before picking up the largest parcel on the table; an inviting golden gift box with a red bow. He fiddled to unfasten the bow, revealing a selection of gifts inside, all individually wrapped up in gold and red tissue. As he tore into the one at the top of the bundle he started to chuckle, “Ten fake moustaches - one for every occasion.” He held the package up to his top lip to show them off before digging back into the parcel. With each small gift Remy opened, he laughed harder until tears streamed down his face: sunglasses with a fake nose attached to them, a clip-in ponytail, a couple of different hats, a dog-collar, face paints, and his favourite - a black bag with the word ‘SWAG’ printed across it. He clapped as he reached the bottom of the box, perching a baseball cap on an amused Nikolai’s head, “Perfect. Tremendous gift! Merci beaucoup, Père Noël!”
***
Next up was Daisy - a beautifully elegant, plain silver parcel inside a white gift bag with silver snowflakes depicted on the sides. She smiled, knowing exactly who had drawn her name. ‘He’s too smart for his own good - couldn’t help getting Daisy Silver the silver gift wrap, could he…?’
Daisy squealed as she ripped the paper free of the gift, “Paint by numbers! Magic painting! A coloring book! Wow!” She waved a package of brightly coloured children’s brushes in the air.
Jett took the book from her, thumbing through the pages, “Awwww, I had a Magic Paintbook when I was a little kid!”
Leon leaned forward to see better, “What is it??”
Daisy enthused, “You just paint the page with water! Plain water from the faucet, and colour appears! Like it says: magic! Thank you so much, whoever had me…”
As she took the book back from Jett a small card she hadn’t initially noticed fell to the floor. Daisy reached for it, grinning as she read out loud, “‘This voucher entitles the bearer to one croissant at Marguerite’s’. I love it!”
***
The gang took a quick break to grab some fresh drinks and entertain Elizabeth when she jumped onto the table, curious about the discarded ribbons and bows. Chasing after shining serpentine streamers until she tired of the game, Nikolai tried to coax her onto his lap but instead she climbed inside Remy’s now-empty gift box and stared out imperiously.
Nikolai smiled as he reached over and brushed some glitter from her fur, “Do you have a better view now, Elizabeth? Are you happy for us to continue…? Very well.”
***
Another drumroll ensued as Zoe generated the next name, “Leon!”
Leon ripped the paper from a cheerful looking parcel, red paper covered in Christmas trees and dancing snowmen with lots of colourful curled ribbons attached. As he opened the box his deep laugh boomed out around the penthouse, “This is what my car has been missing all these years!” He extracted a bright lavender coloured set of fuzzy dice, a matching steering wheel cover and a lavender fragranced tree-shaped air freshener.
Remy reached out and ruffled the plush fabric, “Mmm, very tasteful!!”
Leon grinned as he pulled out a little card printed with a login ID from the box, a soft blush creeping across his cheeks, “I’ve heard about this - it’s a virtual romance novel! You got me a pass for it?! I know you’re poking fun at me, but I do kind of love this gift! So, uh, thanks!”
Jett clapped his hands together, nodding toward Zoe’s phone app, “Come on mate! Me next! Anticipation’s killing me!”
Zoe hit the button as Jett crossed his fingers…. Then cheered when his name appeared! He excitedly dived into the fancy gift bag, pulling out three parcels wrapped in penguin paper with silver curled ribbons.
The first parcel revealed ten bright, shimmering tubs of glitter, prompting Leon to groan, “Who got Jett that? You know we’re going to be picking glitter out of everywhere for days if he makes that into a bomb…”
Jett reached across, shaking the glitter in front of Leon’s face as he winked cheekily, “What a great idea, Daddy! Hadn’t even thought of glitter bombs…”
He turned parcel number two over in his hands, studying it: long and almost completely flat. Carefully peeling back the paper he whooped, “100 Stick-on tattoos! These are brilliant! I used to love these when I was a kid. You know what might be fun, I’ll share them with you lot.” He eyed the various designs before he quipped, “Look Nikolai, there’s one of a grey kitten, perfect for you!”
Leaving the others to hoot and cackle, Jett tore into his final gift - discovering a box filled with sachets of exploding rock candy.
Zoe smirked while reading the wrapper, “Boom! How on brand…”
Ripping one pack open he shoved a handful into his mouth: pop, pop, popopopopopopopop! Jett grinned and offered the rest around the group - with mixed success and reactions.
Daisy laughed as the candy fizzed and crackled on her tongue, “You know, when I was in art school we used to drink these shots - they were like a fruity vodka - you did the shot then you took a mouthful of popping candy!”
Vivienne’s eyes lit up, “Oooh! You could use this instead of sugar for the rim of a martini glass!”
Leon laughed, “What could go wrong? All that sugar, all that alcohol…. Speaking of which…. Refills anyone?” He busied around his friends, topping up their champagne flutes as the Secret Santa fun continued.
***
Zoe hit ‘generate’ again then punched the air, “My turn!”
The large, brightly coloured box opened to reveal an assortment of oddly-shaped, smaller parcels - some curved, some with peaks, some hard, some soft. Everyone stared curiously at the weird little structures.
Vivienne mouthed, “What IS that?”, as Zoe lifted up one reminiscent of a stegosaurus.
Zoe gave it a shake - light, no rattling - and frowned, “Need to rip it open and find out!” She set to work, revealing a CD, and various pieces of cardboard in the wrapping - clearly added to disguise the distinctive CD shape. Zoe began to laugh as she waved the copy of Hanson’s ‘Mmmbop’ CD, “Who-?”
The group chuckled and joked as she opened the next gift - a large, squishy rectangle - to find… A foam chair pad folded carefully around a Kenny G album with a day-glow ‘Only One €1!’ sticker still attached.
With each unwrapping, the hilarity grew: in total Zoe had 20 compositions of questionable taste - none of which came out of a CD size parcel!
Remy wiped a tear from the corner of his eye, “I can’t wait for you to DJ using these!”
Daisy beamed as she waved the copy of ‘Macarena’, “This is going to be so much fun! Do you all know the dance?!”
Nikolai raised one appalled eyebrow, “I may be busy that evening…. Please do record it for me though!”
Daisy poked her tongue out as she went through the moves of the Macarena from her seat, tipsy and out of sync with the Christmas music playing in the background, to the amusement of Remy and Jett who joined in with her for a second and third rep of the routine.
Zoe teased, “Hey Los Del Rio, there’s still a gift outstanding, can we get back to it?”
Nikolai reached for the last gift box, turning it over in his hands before unfurling the sparkling string holding it shut.
The first package he picked up had a printed gift tag that said ‘Open for Elizabeth’. Nikolai swallowed, slightly taken aback by the gesture.
“Miss Elizabeth, look!” He stripped away the wrapping, as she watched from her seat in Remy’s gift box, “Catisfactions?! Duck flavour! Someone knows your favourite! Say thank you so much!”
Elizabeth said nothing, choosing instead to completely ignore everyone.
Nikolai shrugged then lifted out a strangely-shaped gift - light, flexible. He gave it a shake. No clues given away, he carefully peeled the paper back, revealing a cavalier’s hat complete with a yellow feathered plume. He glanced up at his friends - intrigued, he tore the wrapping of the next parcel: a framed art print of Puss in Boots in his little cape with his sword drawn. And wearing a hat identical to the one Nikolai had just been gifted. A breathless laugh escaped Nikolai, “I already have the sword.”
The fourth parcel’s gift wrap gave way to the box of a very expensive brand of fountain pen - prompting raised eyebrows and grumbles about the price limit and gag gift requirement of the Secret Santa - but laughter echoed around the room when Nikolai investigated further: the pen inside was a cheap, 12-colour jumbo pen as loved by seven year olds everywhere in the 1980’s.
The final parcel was in a cube shaped box - it was obvious from Nikolai’s face that he was trying to calculate what it could possibly be, based on the other items he’d just opened. He gave it a shake before revealing a roll of sudoku toilet paper. His jaw dropped slightly as Remy dissolved into a fit of uncontrollable giggles, “Oh Niko, now there’s no excuse for any downtime for that brain at all, not even in la salle de bain!”
Nikolai looked thoroughly appalled as he choked back a laugh, “I assume you were behind this?”
Remy nodded as he wiped a stray tear away, “Who else?! Merry Christmas, mon ami!”
“So we know Remy bought for you, but who had who else??” Vivienne asked, looking around the group, “Daisy, did you have me?”
Daisy shook her head , “Nope! I had Leon.”
Leon beamed at Daisy then hugged her and kissed her cheek, “Thank you, Daisy! I knew it was you, the visual novel tipped me off - the other hopeless romantic in the Poppy!”
Daisy laughed, “Well, you might not be thanking me when you’re hooked and have gone bankrupt buying premium content!”
Vivienne grinned wickedly, “‘Premium’ content you say?”
Leon and Daisy sported a matching blush for a few seconds before Vivienne put them out of their mystery, “Did you have me, Leon?”
“Yes!” Leon exclaimed, “Why do you think I was so adamant you weren’t coming into my room?!”
Vivienne rolled her eyes, joking, “There I was, offering you my help, out of the goodness of my heart darling… Has anyone ever told you, you can be quite scary when you want to be?”
Jett interjected, “He’s a teddy bear! So did you have me, Vivienne??”
She winked at him, “I can neither confirm nor deny…”
Jett grinned as he watched Zoe and Remy rifle through her new CD collection, both of them wearing a stick-on moustache, “Think Zoe liked them?”
Hearing her name, Zoe beamed, “Where did you even get these??”
Daisy quietly sidled over to Nikolai, raising her eyebrow as though to say, ‘I’m right, aren’t I?’. He returned a fond smile, “You liked your gift?”
She nodded, “I knew it was you as soon as I saw the croissant voucher. You remembered I never got to finish my croissant on my first job with the Poppy... See? You pretend to be all prickly and have no feelings, Nikolai - but I know you’re a sweetheart under it all.”
Nikolai shot back, “Ridiculous accusation!” His words were abrupt, but his bright blue eyes were soft and the tone of his voice betrayed him.
Daisy covered her heart with her hand, opening her mouth ready to tease him some more but stopped upon hearing Jett exclaim, “It’s snowing!”
The others gathered with Jett by the window to gaze out over the streets of Paris from the comfortable warmth of the penthouse; everything looked so magical - the gentle dusting of snow and buildings filled with twinkling Christmas lights against the darkened sky.
Leon looked down at his wrist, “Huh. It’s after midnight. So, Merry Christmas everyone, I guess?”
Everyone exchanged hugs, kisses and fist bumps as desired, before eventually the evening wound down and everyone disappeared to their bedrooms. All except Nikolai. He remained in the common room, pouring himself a final nightcap before settling in his chair, long fingers trailing through Elizabeth’s thick fur. The silence of the now slumber filled penthouse seemed so stark in comparison to the earlier revelry. He smiled as he reflected on the day - their Veille de Noël may have deviated from what many would consider a conventional Christmas celebration, and he’d been somewhat cynical initially, but the time they’d shared today - eating, drinking, laughing - bringing together their different experiences, cultures and traditions in the very best ways; it couldn’t have been more perfectly ‘them’ in keeping with the lives they’d carved out for themselves.
He murmured softly to the little grey cat in his lap, “There’s a famous quote that says ‘friends are the family we choose for ourselves’ - I think there’s a lot of truth in that, don’t you Elishka? Merry Christmas.”