Not much to say... This would be the Christmas Special (belatedly posted) for Shadows on the Walls, written as a present to Alice_rm from LJ. Please enjoy.

Shadows on the Walls: Christmas Special

1: Kid

The morning of Christmas eve that year was different than any of the ones before, and different from what he'd gotten used to his mornings being, as well. The girls and he had seen his secretary off at the train station the evening before – it had been too late for Kid's meeting that night to be moved, or given to somebody else – and so the little make-shift family was already missing a member.

Last-minute Christmas shopping had also ended up on the list: while Kid usually spent the entire year, wanting to always give the precisely right gift... He had not been able to find the ones for Liz and Patti. He'd slipped his secretary's into his suitcase, though. It helped, some, that he knew that Liz and Patti had to go shopping for him, still, as well...

But first, he really ought to get out of bed. That meant easing himself out from between the two warm bodies pressed against his, carefully making sure that he didn't wake either sister as he slipped out of the large platform bed they shared when the sisters were in Las Vegas.

He let himself stay long enough to watch the two blonds cuddle against each other – he sometimes wondered if they'd sleep well if separated – and pulled on a robe. It was not until he reached the kitchen that he quite registered that it was Patti's, but...well, he wasn't that much taller than her, and certainly her build had been much more generous. He, however, had taken after his mother – she had a slim, lithe build, like a gymnast or a ballarina, barely half his father's height and looking in the few pictures he'd ever seen of his parents together like she was young enough to be her husband's daughter. His elementary-school-age daughter.

Given that his father didn't look old enough to have a son old enough to drink – the elder Mr. Black barely looked old enough to drink himself – Kid had a great amount of trouble being taken seriously himself. At least it'd been a while since anybody had mistaken his mother for his younger sister when they saw the photograph on his father's desk, but...did his parents have to have named him Kidd?

At least with his lovers, it was...alright. He knew that they considered him old enough that it was alright to share a bed with. They didn't think he was too young and naive to have gotten his job on his own merits, through his own hard work (he had wanted so much to show his father how good a son he was, how much he could do, how much he could help) and his own innate skills.

Kid knew better to complain about being underestimated, but still...

He set up the coffee maker – Liz would be unhappy without it – and started working on... Kid settled on waffles: even though he'd relaxed about symmetry (his father had been right, getting out of puberty had helped, even if he still wanted his place nice and neat and ordered) he had gotten to where he loved nice, fresh waffles in the morning. Besides, he knew what he could cook; better to leave eggs and bacon to Liz, who despite her fame seemed to harbor an inner dream of settling down to care for house and children.

The pot of coffee was mostly full by the time the sisters padded into the kitchen. Kid put Liz's mug – white with orange and yellow dots and a strange English message, a souvenir he'd spotted in Tokyo and brought back for her – in front of her, then apple juice for Patti in the juice glass he'd brought back for her. He knew a matching one was in his father's kitchen; it had only taken a single trip to Japan to discover that 100 yen stores were the perfect place to find things his father would love, though exactly how that worked was beyond Kid's comprehension.

Christmas gifts, though, needed to be special. Besides, he'd only discovered how much his father's and the younger of the sister's tastes overlapped when they'd accidentally ended up in Tokyo at the same time. He did not have a chance to get anything for her that she'd not have known about, which rather defeated the entire point of giving a gift.

Liz smiled at him about halfway through her first cup of coffee; it must have been a good night for her. He leaned over, fingers brushing against the wonderful pink fluff of her robe as he kissed her and asked what she'd like on her waffles. Patti—looking tempting in his satin robe—was much more predictable, strawberries and whipped cream (Kid refused to serve her the stuff that came in a can, always making fresh for her) and a deep loving kiss from her lover.

Liz, though, sometimes wanted hers plain, or with maple syrup (always, always the best; Kid wouldn't serve his lovers anything less if he could help it and he could), or marmalade...which happened to be what she wanted that morning.

Kid's, of course, was served properly, just the way his always was.

Breakfast was...drawn out, really. Usually it was a quick affair: they had other, better things to do (like a return to the nice, large bed) and didn't want to delay. However, Christmas shopping would mean spending the day apart, and with what rules they'd established for themselves (silky lacy things and certain types of toys would be extras) it would not be over with quickly.

Kid wasn't quite ready to give either jewelery, either. While he certainly didn't think their relationship was impermanent—they all lived together, in Kid's home—he really didn't think it'd be right to give any one of his lovers a piece that wasn't from all of them, even if he was paying for it entirely. At least, he didn't like the idea of doing that. Perhaps later, once there were children and the relationships settled, he would know for sure what would not result on treading on anybody's toes if he assumed it safe to give.

Clothes, though... Liz liked her clothes well-broken-in, when they weren't costumes; Patti didn't care but it was easier to guess what she'd like on others than on herself. They were best given clothes by going together to the store, letting them shop and show off their selections.

So. Not clothes, not jewelry. Neither had brought along or said they wanted houseplants—though he'd noticed Patti playing in the rooftop garden and with the planters of vines that were along loft's edge—so nothing in that line (yet) and cut flowers, definitely, would be too impermanent.

Perhaps a more regular sort of toy for Patti—she was so cutely adorable when she let the childlike side of herself show, when he could get himself to forget that it existed because she had been so deprived when she was a child. He supposed a stuffed animal might be a good choice.

Liz, meanwhile... She browsed, regularly, the shelves of books. Not all of them were his—quite a bit of the collection predated his father closing the connecting doors so he had his own, separate home instead of a shared one, and the room had then been a library and not a parlor, and Kid didn't even know which books had once been his mother's. He didn't really know quite what she liked, aside from that series of vampire erotica, but...

He did know she spent time with some of the older, leather-bound editions which certainly predated the shelves being mostly his. Maybe, after she left, he ought to check the parts shelves she browsed through most often, and see what kinds of things she'd been reading. Kid did keep the books in proper order.

...and he might get a nice silky lacy thing for each sister, because they did look lovely wearing such. Perhaps a nice nightgown for Liz—he knew she wore such under her robe, when coffee was brought to her in bed—and a babydoll for Patti. Patti liked things for them to take off of her, or leave on her while...

Kid sighed softly. They'd already left—shopping for him, he knew, and perhaps each other—and he shouldn't let himself think too much right now about the pleasures of having his once too-large bed nicely crowded.

Better to shower, dress, and leave.

2: Liz

What, Liz thought to herself, did you get for a spoiled rich kid, anyway? Not that Kid was quite spoiled—she knew he'd earned his position, though how much of it had been at his father's insistence and how much of it had been because he wanted to prove his worth to his father—but he certainly had grown up rich and pampered...not that she quite blamed the elder Mr. Black, she knew that if she was left with only their child to remember Kid by she'd lavish attention on her child. He loved pampering them, too, and even if sometimes he was a bit strange about it, she remembered those dreams, and...

She knew that the vague doubts of reality were, really, just a common thing, perfectly within the range of normal as long as they never went too far.

So, really, it was silly to think his few personality tics were nothing compared to...

No, better not to mention that. Her lovers would not be happy if she had to be put away until her sanity recovered, her friends and bandmates would have troubles (though she knew Patti could take her place), and from what Maka had told her of asylums... Better to pass as perfectly sane for as long as possible.

So. First off, she ought to pick up something for Patti. In the past she'd gotten her little sister sweet treats; they'd not had a home to keep things in. Until now, as far as Liz knew, Black Star and Tsubaki had been the only ones of them who had an actual home—and nobody was too sure if Black Star's was merely because Tsubaki was very nice to the blue-haired drummer.

Now, though? She and Patti had moved into Kid's penthouse, Soul had an apartment somewhere in town, and Crona & Ragnarok turned out to have gotten an apartment in the Blacks' building only a few floors below Kid's. That last one had been a surprise; Soul needed to give Maka a permanent address if he wanted her to get additional schooling (Liz unfortunately knew the orphanages too well to be surprised at a fellow alumni of them being barely able to read), but...according to Kid, the building they lived in tended to only lease to employees. She didn't think the Blacks were involved in their business, and when she asked Crona what happened se only blushed a little and said that Kid's father offered hir and Ragnarok the lease.

Since even Kid didn't understand his father's motives much of the time, Liz felt no real problems with having no good idea what Joseph Black was thinking.

She had managed to get most of her friends' presents already; Soul was always easy, though she was definitely going to give the bottle to Maka. Crona and Ragnarok were strangely easy: a good reading of Lord of the Rings would suit them well, given how the pair acted like they were really Siamese twins, when they weren't acting like lovers. Tsubaki and Black Star had taken a little extra work: Liz had settled on a cookbook and a promise of ingredients. She knew Tsubaki had a kitchen in her place in Las Vegas, and...parting the drummer from her cooking was hard.

Liz knew that her cooking wasn't good enough for that—Tsubaki had been taught by a professional—so cooking for her lovers wouldn't do as a gift. Kid was the best cook of the three of them anyway, even if he got very twitchy when he tried to cook some things and managed to ruin them as a result, or end up having to make something else entirely. At least the things he could make, he was very good at making, and he did try so hard to make sure he made enough for them all.

She probably ought to learn how to cook better; she wanted to retire, live in the penthouse and raise children. The others in the band might enjoy traveling, but she wanted to have a home, and a family of her own. She didn't mind if it wasn't just herself, a husband, and their children, but since she didn't want to be parted from her sister, and men who not be perverts about such an arrangement were rare (she did watch the news and the tabloids)...

Well, she could always get jewelry. Unlike Patti, she was not too distracted by the sparkles to choose well, and there was no risk of undesirable implications when she gave such gifts.

Best of all, it took a single stop at her favorite jewelery store to obtain the right pieces. It was a nice, upscale place. True, many of the pieces it stocked were intended for high rollers looking to convert sudden gambling windfalls into sparkly jewelry that was only kept from being costume pieces because of the materials it was made from, but they did make a point of having a stock of items for those who knew what sort of jewelry would be suitable for wear under...rather more circumstances.

Patti was the easiest, in some ways; she'd been considering buying for her sister a pair of earrings, carved pale blue flowers with pale gold stamens. Patti liked those kinds of pieces, and they did look good on her. She was, after all, sweet and...rather innocent, still, in Liz's opinion.

For Kid, she picked out a reproduction pocket watch—black and white enamel in an elegant Art Deco pattern. There was no personalization—she was quite sure that Kid would rather not have the beautiful enamel finish, perfectly symmetrical and ordered, marred by such a touch.

The last person she needed to give something to was to get a very nice classically-styled silver and onyx tie clip, and then she headed off to find someplace that sold cake by the slice. Patti would want sweets, anyway.

3: Patti

Patti was not, by nature, somebody who gave gifts. Not with malice aforethought, at least. She was guided rather too strongly by impulse, and often her gifts were given the same day they were bought. The usual exceptions were, well, when the person wasn't there or it was the sort of gift that needed to be given in private, but...

Liz and Kid had been quite clear she needed to find something more than just that, though they had not said she couldn't get any of those sorts of things.

But the adult toy store and the Victoria's Secret probably ought to be her last stop. Even if she did notice how Kid looked at her while she was in his yummy robe—and she knew exactly what Liz loved in bed—she knew better than to carry what she'd be getting there with her during the rest of her shopping trip.

Nothing attracted her instantly, though. It was times like this she missed the mall she'd wandered through while in Tokyo—Japan knew cute—but that was okay, because she lived in Las Vegas now and it was easier to find things like ice cream there and they didn't have weird flavors like green tea. And she didn't have to ask Kid what the vending machine said it had, either.

Though the ice cream vending machine was really cool. So were the vending machines at that special hotel she talked her big sis and Kid into taking her to...

It was outright adorable how Kid—so stiff and stuffy and other things starting with an s, when in public—would just...relax, when it was just them in their home, or in their hotel room. It made her think of a cat, all dignity and stuff in public but loving being petted by his people when he thought nobody else could see it.

...maybe a hair brush...?

No. Not that.

Patti headed to the pet store, kitty-Kid firmly ingrained in her imagination. She knew where to get him cute ears and the right sort of tail, but she really wanted a proper nylon collar for her kitty...

...oh, they had kittens!

Fluffy kittens, too!

...Liz liked cats. She knew Mr. Black did; she'd seen the mug Kid had gotten for him of those two dressed-up cats. Really, his father had great taste!

Two of the kittens were near-solid black balls of fluff with pretty yellow eyes...

Patti left humming a cheerful tune, carrying a couple bags with cat toys and a litter box and other stuff, including three black collars, and a mewing cardboard box. She was sure she could convince Kid's dad to watch the kittens while she went and got kitty litter and kitten food—she did know they'd need them—as well as the cat ears and tail for Kid & her own black silky nightwear.

4: Kid

Kid started out by, after showering and dressing, going through the shelves of books in case he could find some books Liz had taken down. She'd been careful, though, and it took him a while to finally find a book she'd not placed back in its exact right spot on the shelves. He took the leather-bound volume down, curious.

A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder? He opened it up, noticing the inscription in the flyleaf—a personal note from his mother, to his father, he noticed with a blush—and read a part of the book. He reshelved it carefully, making sure it went into its proper place this time.

He hadn't known his father liked...that sort of book.

Well, at least he knew who to consult about what to give Liz...and he remembered watching some nature documentaries one night, when Patti had gotten to control the remote, and she had rather liked the giraffes. Something about their long necks, it seemed.

So. A giraffe stuffed animal for Patti. A book, chosen with his father's advice, for Liz.

It did not take him very long to obtain both gifts, once he knew what he was going to get each of them, and his father always was quite eager to have Kid amuse himself around Christmas anyway...

5: Liz

Liz put her wrapped presents under the tree once she got home, noticing that Kid's—easily recognizable by the precise and careful wrapping—were there already. The evening itself went well enough, with much cuddling on the couch and more once they made it to bed. Everything was, really, as normal as possible for their evenings together.

In the morning, though, she was woken by Kid shifting and, unexpectedly...mewing. And then something batted her nose. Something told her that this was not, in fact, the first time that had happened.

She opened her eyes to discover herself almost nose-to-nose with a small black ball of fluff, golden eyes staring into hers.

There was, really, only one thing to do.

She shifted carefully, but the kitten—perched atop Kid—ended up taking a tumble anyway. It was...

...adorably cute.

Especially as three pairs of golden eyes blinked at her.

Kid soon thanked Patti for the pair of kittens – one hand slipping out from beneath their sheets to carefully pick up one of the balls of black fluff – and suggested she go take a shower. She also got asked to cook breakfast, and let the rest of them play some with their new pets. Liz got the second shower, as always, and when she came out Kid handed her a toy (Patti had, it seemed, thought that far ahead after all) and went to take his own.

Breakfast had the mixed pleasures of Kid's lack of body shyness around them & having two kittens, now named Ebony and Nyx by Liz, happily eating from a shared bowl of tinned food (another sign that Patti had thought her gift out more than usual).

Christmas, in their home, turned out to be a nice, slow, holiday. Time spent together seemed to be the thing Kid thought most important. Sure, there were presents – Liz got a kiss for her watch, gave a kiss for her book, and Patti gave hugs for hers – but the most exciting time was time playing with kittens.

6: Patti

Patti was happy: sandwiched between Kid and Liz, with the remote control for the mouse in her hands, belly nice and full...

...and watching two kittens chase and be chased by their robot mouse.

Life was good.

Please read & review. I might add a bit of a coda of Soul and Maka's Christmas, if there's much interest. (Black Star's and Tsubaki's was...with Tsubaki's family. I have no idea what more can be said.) Thank you for reading!