🐚 | vineyard promise, snf

[019]

christmas day. the day george had been loathing and excited for the whole break already. george had gone out a day before with eve and ana to the mall to buy the rest of sapnap's christmas gift, and he'd shoved it under the tree with the rest of the presents after dinner.

sapnap had woken george up like a little kid early in the morning, before the sun was even up, so they could go downstairs and look. george dragged himself out of the bedroom behind the raven, blanket wrapped around his shoulders still. he was ready to collapse onto the couch while sapnap sifted through the colourful pile of presents.

"okay, but did we have to get up this early?" george complained, for what seemed like the fifth time.

sapnap nodded. "yes! we have to get down here before my siblings!"

george didn't protest any further; sapnap made it sound like there was a tradition between him and his siblings, and george didn't know what that was like, so he just played along.

a small gasp left sapnap's lips. george looked up from his spot on the couch to see sapnap holding the wrapped box he had bought for him, grinning widely. "you got me something!"

"'course i got you something, stupid," george snorted. sapnap scrambled up from his spot to grab something on the opposite side of the tree, thrusting two tiny boxes into george's hands. george read the messy handwriting with a small smile.

"we have to wait for the rest of them to come down," sapnap sighed, plopping down next to george. he jumped up again after a minute. "want hot chocolate?"

george agreed, turning the small boxes in his hands. one was larger than the other, the smaller box taped to the top with a small little bow on the top. there was a small note taped to it, the writing spelling out george's name with a smiley face after it.

sapnap returned with two steaming mugs of hot chocolate and a bag of mini marshmallows. george set his gift on the coffee table next to the cups, watching as sapnap piled marshmallows onto his drink.

"would you like some hot chocolate with your marshmallows?" george teased, blowing on his drink slightly. sapnap rolled his eyes with a smile, head perking up when the stairs creaked. ana and eve were tiptoeing on the wooden stairs, ana scowling when she saw them sitting on the couch.

"ugh, you're always the first one down!"

sapnap shrugged with a smile. "just be faster then."

"she complains about you being down here first then proceeds to take half an hour to wake up," eve muttered, snatching a few marshmallows from the bag, she popped them into her mouth and went to inspect the tree.

it was another hour before sapnap's parents finally walked down the stairs. ashton had arrived shortly after the girls and made himself his own cup of hot chocolate, curling up on one of the armchairs.

"finally!" ana yelled. kallisto flicked the christmas lights on, laughing.

"okay, first, find all of the presents that are yours and put them in a little pile," she instructed. "one at a time!"

ana went first since she was already there. she carefully moved boxes and bags around, grinning widely when she was finished and seated by her pile.

eve was next. she did the same as her sister, only made her pile on the opposite side of the room.

this repeated until only a few gifts were under the tree. sapnap was off of the couch again, now on the floor by george's feet.

"it's your turn, george," kallisto said, beckoning to the colourful tree. george froze, but he stood and picked up the presents labeled with his name. now there were hardly any gifts, assumed to be for kallisto and elliot.

"open the one from me later, okay?" sapnap was back on the couch, murmuring in george's ear. george nodded, eyeing the tiny boxes still resting on the coffee table.

"okay, you can open them." elliot waved his hand, sitting on the other couch with an arm around kallisto. the others opened their gifts, wrapping paper and tissue paper flying everywhere. george was significantly calmer than the other kids, having not actually experienced christmas with others in years.

once they were all opened, george put his gifts next to sapnap's still-wrapped one on the coffee table. the gift george had given sapnap remained wrapped so they could open them together when they wanted to.

the rest of the day was spent with the "children" hanging around telling stupid stories while the parents cooked. dinner was nice, more calm than the afternoon, and sapnap and george snuck away after dessert.

they sat on the porch, holding their gifts in their laps. it was silent, the only sounds faint waves crashing upon the sand in the distance. george enjoyed how the beach was only a few blocks from sapnap's house.

"do we open them at the same time?" george asked, voice soft.

"i'll open mine first, i guess," sapnap replied. he ran his hand over the smooth wrapping on the box, over the little paper note on the top.

"okay. open the note later," george whispered, face flushed. he watched sapnap take off the wrapping and the top of the box, setting the note to the side for later. a smile bloomed on sapnap's face as he picked up the small bag of candy and other small boxes of trinkets.

"how long did this take?" nick asked.

george shrugged. "not a long time. i just had to buy all the things and other boxes, then wrap it. but i had fun!"

"wait, let me open up the other boxes."

as sapnap opened the smaller boxes, george explained all of the gifts.

"your hair is getting too long. it's a bandana thing to keep your bangs out of your eyes," george snickered, reaching a ruffling sapnap's fluffy black hair. sapnap stuck his tongue out and swatted at george's hand.

"okay! open yours!" sapnap grinned, putting his opened gift to the side with the note.

george carefully took the smaller gift off of the longer one, tearing the paper off of it. inside was a coupon of some kind and a pair of dangly mushroom earrings. george's eyes lit up when he saw them and he read the text on the coupon. it was a little card for getting ears pierced, which george had been complaining about for months now.

"that's not all. open the other!"

picking up the longer box, george tore off the paper, slower this time. it was a glasses case. george was confused until he opened the case, mouth dropping open. a pair of round-framed glasses with what looked like tinted lenses sat inside.

"you remembered?" george threw his arms around sapnap's shoulders, burying himself in sapnap's neck.

sapnap laughed. "of course i did. i'm not stupid."

george snorted, but didn't remove himself from the hug.

"stop hugging me and put the damn things on already!"

george rolled his eyes, picking up the glasses. he squeezed his eyes shut as he slid them on, opening them and seeing the world completely unfamiliar. he looked over to sapnap, seeing the small smile gracing his lips. george probably spent too long studying sapnap's eyes.

"you're so pretty," george whispered without thinking the thought over. sapnap's face turned the brightest shade of red george thought he would ever see, and george laughed giddily. he picked up the earrings and reached to place them gingerly in sapnap's gift box, sliding that somewhere hidden before grabbing sapnap's hand and pulling him down the path.

"george, where are we going?" sapnap asked as he tightened his grip on george's hand.

"no idea! i just want to see things," george replied, shrugging his shoulders as his head swung to look around at every possible thing.