Holidays were never something Regulus Black looked forward to. Forced conversations, traditions he would never normally participate in. The holidays were something they looked forward to. When he was a kid, each year was the same thing. The holidays were not celebrated to their full extent. Normally he and Sirius would exchange a gift or two without their parents knowing, or they would sneak off into the snow if it had been snowing. Though, they did nothing more than that.
Going to Hogwarts, his holidays slowly began to change. Not by a lot, but enough. He still exchanged gifts with Sirius, even if they were not on talking terms for some time. However, he now also exchanged gifts with a few others and oftentimes spent the holidays at Hogwarts with his friends. That’s how their holidays went throughout the years proceeding through Hogwarts.
Ever since he had met his friends the holidays had been brighter. The lights that people strung up everywhere danced and twinkled in a rainbow of colors. The snow that fell was a bright white, not the dull color that he once saw it by. The fires that they burned to keep warm glowed in the darkness, causing the goosebumps on his skin to lessen. Ever since he had met his friends, the holidays had slowly gotten better.
He remembered memories from each holiday he spent with his friends. It was a sweet time. They were memories that he would never be able to forget. It would be hard to forget them. These were the memories that were too important for him to forget. These were the moments nobody could wash away from him.
This was the third Christmas he was spending with his friends outside of Hogwarts. It had been three years since they all had graduated. Three years since all of their holidays were spent in the castle. They didn’t have to hide their days anymore. They didn’t have to sneak around to exchange gifts or throw parties that they’d remember in memories. They didn’t have to sneak around whispering carols. They didn’t have to sneak out to make snowmen and snow angels.
The clock on the wall read ‘13:43.’ They had seventeen minutes to get to Pandora’s home before the girl classed them as late. Fae was a person who was always on time, oftentimes texting her friends a minute after the arrival time to see how close they were. They knew that fae would end up doing the same that night if they didn’t hurry up.
However, as the years passed, Regulus Black’s timeliness dropped minute after minute. That wasn’t his fault though, or that’s what they liked to say anyways. If given the chance, they would put all the blame onto their partner, Barty Crouch Jr. It often took much longer than Regulus to get ready, always causing them to be a few minutes late to everything they had to go to.
To think Regulus had once been someone who was always early or just on time.
He always woke up early, setting alarms on the alarm clock they had. He always woke up to them, and Barty always reached out to slap it off. Each time Regulus found it hilarious, and smiles would creep onto his face because of it. Today was another one of those days. He could already feel the haunting text he would get from Pandora: ‘ Are you on the way yet, Reggie? Tell Barty to hurry up!! ’
Regulus was out of bed by now. He had already finished getting ready, having gotten ready almost an hour ago. Never did he wait until the last minute to do things. The thing that took them the longest to get through had been trying to find an ugly sweater. Fortunately for him, last Christmas he and Sirius had exchanged ugly Christmas sweaters. Though - he had been told several times it was not ugly. Though, to him, the colors clashed and they didn’t suit one another.
Unlike Regulus though, Barty was still in bed.
Of course, he was still in bed.
The raven had tried waking up their boyfriend twice now, only getting grumbles in protest. The first time he pulled away, which he managed to get out of so he could get up. The second time, it had turned away from him and just grunted.
Barty was not the easiest person to wake up to, especially on colder mornings.
With a heavy sigh, Regulus moved back over to the bed once more. He was debating on how he could wake up the other without getting grunted. Only a few ideas came to his mind.
His eyes flickered toward the bedside table. His glass of water sat there half full. He had grabbed one in the middle of the night. Well, he didn’t grab it for himself at first. Their cat - a grey and black cornish rex cat named Torbie - had been thirsty. He had used a glass to fill up his bowl and ended up keeping the rest to himself just in case he got thirsty.
He knew that doing this could go one or two ways.
Especially with how cold it was.
He didn’t ponder on the thoughts anymore. He moved over to his table, grabbing the glass of water. He swirled the liquid around in the cup for a moment before looking back to Barty. He should have woken up the first two times an attempt had been made
Humming softly to himself, Regulus moved back over to Barty's side of the bed. They didn’t even have to think twice about their actions, even with how peaceful their boyfriend looked.
Not even a moment later, the cup had been tilted. A yelp sounded from the sleeping male almost immediately, and Regulus had to take a few steps back. A smirk was on the raven's face as he watched it sit up in the bed rather quickly.
“What the he-” Barty began, eyes wide as he looked towards its boyfriend.
Regulus was standing there sheepishly smiling.
“You wouldn’t wake up.” The other boy cut in almost immediately. “So I resorted to the last and final plan because I’m already ready.”
The lighter-haired boy wanted to wipe that smirk off his boyfriend's face as soon as it formed.
“You dumped water on me!” He exclaimed, pushing off the comforter that still sat on him.
“You wouldn’t wake up.”
“That doesn’t mean you throw water on me!”
Regulus rolled his eyes dramatically at those words.
“It fully means that I can throw water on you. It was either that, or Pandora drives over here to wake you up and we both know how that will turn out.” He stated finally, raising an eyebrow.
Nobody wanted to face Pandora's wrath. Especially around the holidays.
“Why would Pandora drive here?” Barty questioned.
Regulus was not surprised he had forgotten. Their partner's time management skills were not the best when it came to certain things. That’s typically why it tended to sleep in.
“Amour, we have to leave soon to get to their Christmas party…I told you this before you fell asleep.” The raven-haired boy chuckled softly.
A look of realization flashed across Barty's face and without hesitation, he was pushing himself off the bed. Regulus watched in amusement as his boyfriend moved over to the open closet.
“Do you know where my sweater is, stello?” Barty questioned, looking towards Regulus with a sense of adrenaline. It was obvious he did not want to get spammed by Pandora. He had felt faers wrath before. He had felt it several times - every holiday.
“It's on the hook on the door,” Regulus spoke up, “I put it there last night so we wouldn’t have to rush in the morning.” It was obvious they were toying with him because the sweaters had not been put there last night. He had put them there in the morning, but last night Regulus had fallen asleep watching a movie downstairs which resulted in Barty having to carry them upstairs.
However, the sweater was on the hook. Barty quickly pulled it off so that he could change into a totally different outfit. Barty's sweater was also from last year. Dorcas had made it for him as a Christmas gift. It was a green sweater with a mirror charmed onto it. Most wouldn’t call it ugly, but for the joking purposes of it - it was ugly.
“Have you fed Torbie yet?” Barty questioned, moving about the room to get ready.
At the mention of his name, the cat's head peaked through the bedroom door.
“Of course I have. I fed him before I fed myself.”
“What about the others?” Small talk was made as the boy rushed around the room to try to get ready.
“The snakes are fed, and so are the geckos. Everyone is fed beside you - but Pandora’s going to have food at the house. Xeno texted me in advance about it.” The raven-haired boy responded calmly. He moved over to grab the keys from Barty's nightstand, eyes flickering back towards their boyfriend after doing so.
Despite waking up late, it normally didn’t take long for Barty to get ready. Regulus wanted to say ten minutes top - when it didn’t shower. Regulus was definitely thankful that they both had taken showers the previous night. It made things a lot easier in the morning.
He felt his phone vibrate and immediately looked down. They already knew who it was going to be. They didn’t even want to look at the time.
‘ Are you on the way yet?’ It was a text from a contact on his phone called ‘sister <3.’ His eyes moved to the time. They had slightly under ten minutes to get out of the house and to Pandora's home.
Sometimes it felt like they were racing against the clock.
“Barty!” Regulus called out, looking towards the bathroom his boyfriend had snuck into to fix his hair. “Pandora’s texted! We have to go.”
Torbie entered the room, moving over to Regulus to brush against his legs.
“Don’t worry Torbs, we’re bringing you. Peter told me he got you Christmas sweaters.” The raven-haired boy whispered down to the feline.
The faucet in the bathroom was turned off - not fully so that the pipes didn’t freeze - but enough.
“Okay, okay I’m ready! Let’s go.” Barty spoke up. It approached Regulus, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek as he took his keys from its boyfriend's hands. “I’m driving. We both know Tor won’t sit still on my lap if you drive.”
Yeah, yeah that was understandable.
Time whirled on after that. They were in the car after a few more moments, and they were at Pandora and Xeno’s home a minute after 2. Regulus was surprised he didn’t get a text from Pandora.
‘14:02’ was what the clock on the phone read when they were standing outside the front door. Barty had knocked only a few seconds ago, but the door was already being pulled open.
A feminine person stood on the other side. Their blonde braids were pulled into an updo and yet still managed to fall to their elbow. Fae wore a very festive outside unlike the two boys. There was a button-up underneath their sweater, the red collar being propped down. A green Christmas sweater sat as a layer, a reindeer on the front with antlers that extended off the sweater. Faers sweater was tucked into a light brown skirt and a pair of black ripped tights sat underneath.
“Took you two long enough.” Pandora got out as a greeting. “Everyone else is already here.”
Pandora's wrath didn’t settle on just the two boys' shoulders after all. Everyone knew not to be late if it was a party that Pandora was hosting. Fae was not scared of locking the door to make sure nobody else came in. It had happened several times before resulting in Evan getting locked out twice, as well as Amos and even Xeno.
“We would have been even later if Reggie didn’t throw water on me.” Barty snorted, his nose scrunching up.
Pandora perked at that. She seemed happy with that answer though. They also seemed quite proud.
“They threw water on you? That’s great - get inside.” Stepping aside, Pandora swept an arm out as if motioning for the duo to enter.
So they did.
There was music playing from the radio that sat on one of the kitchen counters. Regulus’ eyes flickered across the group of people that Pandora had invited. He was thankful that he was friends with most of them, even if he wouldn’t say that out loud.
“We have a few things we have to do today!” Pandora spoke up, moving to Regulus’ side.
“As long as we are making gingerbread houses then I do not care what else we do,” Barty spoke up. The tawny brown-haired male spoke up, wrapping an arm around Regulus’ shoulders without much thought.
“Of course, we are making gingerbread houses and gingerbread in general. What type of person do you take me for, Jr.?” Fae scoffed playfully, shaking their head. “When have we gone a year without making them?”
Before any more conversation could be made, another approached the trio.
“It took you two long enough.” Dorcas grinned. “Give me Torbie before Peter takes him. I want some cat time first.” They spoke up, extending out their arms to take the cornish rex cat from Regulus.
“He’s my cat-”
“Regulus, hun, do you think I look like I care?” Dorcas smirked. “When he’s in Pandora’s home, he’s everyone's cat.” She joked playfully.
“Since when?”
“Since you introduced him to us, obviously.” Another voice cut in. Regulus turned his head to see the familiar sight of a pink-haired girl. Amelia Bones. He puffed playfully at their words.
“Barty and I are the ones who take care of him though.”
“He’s our cat,” Amelia stated once more with a grin forming on her features. Before Regulus could say anything else, both Dorcas and Amelia were walking toward the living room with his cat. There was a reason Torbie was so spoiled, and he put that blame onto his friends.
“At least the holiday attire Peter and Evan got him is cute.” Pandora chuckled softly, leading the duo toward the kitchen. The music grew louder as they approached, and Regulus found himself relaxing a bit. He was in the company of friends and boyfriend and that’s all that really mattered to him.
“We’ll be the judges of that ourselves,” Barty spoke proudly. Despite what most would think, Barty was an amazing cat dad. Sometimes even better than Regulus.
There were more people in the kitchen.
Amos was sitting on one of the counters, his legs dangling off. His brown hair was falling in the way of his eyes, and the Christmas sweater he wore was also something like Pandora’s - though he had a polar bear instead of a reindeer. Xeno was sitting on one of the stools in the kitchen, xyr white hair recently cut into a long wolf cut. There was a singular braid in it that Regulus knew Pandora did because he knew that Amos did not know how to braid hair.
Another person sat on the floor, their back pressed against one of the cupboards. Her hair was braided as well, reaching slightly past her shoulders. Charms and beads were tied neatly into most of the braids, and each of them complimented the Christmas sweater and outfit that they wore. Hestia Jones.
Regulus smiled faintly towards all of them. Even out of Hogwarts, their two friend groups had stayed friends. Most people assumed they would have all parted ways due to personalities mixing, but if anything personalities mixing was the reason they stayed friends.
“Reg, Barty! Hey, you two. Hopefully, Pandora didn’t spam text you.” Hestia joked, grinning in amusement when Pandora walked over to slap her shoulder lightly. “I’m just stating the truth, love.”
“They didn’t,” Regulus reassured, “We got here only a minute past.”
“Good! That means you won’t miss anything!” Xeno smiled kindly at the duo.
“Where’s Torbie? You did bring him, right?” Amos questioned, tilting his head a bit. Why was everyone more excited to see his cat? Regulus couldn’t blame them. Torbie was adorable.
“Dorcas and Amelia stole him. They went to the living room I think.” The ravenet informed. It seemed like that answered Amos’ question. The brunet had pushed himself off the counter and was quick to pass by everyone else. He nudged Regulus’ shoulder with a grin before quickly moving towards the living room.
Oh, come on. It was his cat.
Torbie got the attention-seeker trait from Barty, and that was something Regulus would stand by.
“He’s been waiting to see Torbie since we were over last,” Xeno explained his boyfriend's excitement. “He’s also been rambling about how we should get a cat.” Xe chuckled, shaking his head in amusement.
“Aren’t you allergic to them?” Barty questioned, moving to sit down on the counter - taking Amos’ original spot.
“Yeah, but not deathly. Just enough to make me sneeze. I’ve been letting him look for one though.” Xe continued on, leaning back on the stool slightly. Those words caused Regulus to let out a small laugh.
“Does that mean cat play dates are about to start happening?” Pandora asked excitedly, cutting into the conversation. Fae helped Hestia up as she talked. Regulus watched as they then moved over to one of the cabinets. He could already see the few boxes of gingerbread houses lined up neatly, ready for everyone to start making. He could also tell that Barty noticed because Barty visibly perked. You had to be oblivious so as to not see it.
“Torbie enjoys people and other cats so I would assume so.” Regulus agreed, nodding his head a bit. “Do you want help setting everything up, Dory?”
Pandora smiled kindly at him and shook her head a bit.
“No, no, it’s fine! You should go see the others in the living room to make sure Peters's excitement doesn’t cause him to accidentally rip one of the cat sweaters.”
Regulus let out a small laugh, looking to Barty who just nodded.
“Don’t worry Reg, by the time you get back in here everything will be set up. I’m holding Pandora to make gingerbread houses.” Barty grinned happily.
“Oh, I know you will.” Regulus grinned proudly. “Now I’m going to go rescue my cat.”
This happened every holiday. It happened every time he brought Torbie over with him to see their friends. He had already known that the cat was going to take it as soon as he stepped foot in the house. They were honestly surprised someone had not gone over to their own home to take Torbie to Pandora's themselves.
“Torbie is everyone’s cat!” Hestia called out happily, and Regulus just shook his head in amusement. He didn’t respond though and instead moved towards the living room.
He could hear the commotion as soon as he approached the door.
“Amelia! Help me get his paw through the hole.” Peter’s voice sounded out.
“Pete- you should have just left him in the other sweater.” That was Amelia’s voice.
“Move, move. Let me try.” And then Lucinda.
Oh, they really did have a lot of people here.
Peaking into the living room, Regulus went unnoticed. His eyes flickered from person to person. Peter was sitting on the floor, blond hair sprawled out in front of his eyes as he fought to get a brightly colored crocheted sweater on the cornish rex car. Dorcas sat opposite of him, a smile on their face as they watched in amusement. Amelia and Evan were sitting on the couch behind Peter, both of them leaning forward in an attempt to help get the sweater on Torbie. Amos sat on the armchair as if he was waiting for a turn with the cat. Emma sat next to Amelia, leaning her head back onto the couch - as if she was enjoying the moment. Sybill was also sitting on the floor, a small pile of sweaters on xe’s lap. Lucinda sat next to Sybill as well, holding up each sweater as if debating which was the better one.
Regulus cleared his throat finally as if to let the others know he was there.
“Regulus!” Evan exclaimed happily upon hearing his bestfriend.
“How many sweaters do you have for him?” Regulus questioned, moving over to the group finally. With little to no hesitation, the ravenet was sitting down on Peter's other side. They crossed their legs to sit criss-cross applesauce, reaching a hand out to scratch gently behind Torbie's ear.
“We have a lot!” Peter spoke excitedly, nudging one of Torbie's paws through one of the holes in the sweater. “Sybill crocheted a few, and then Amos and I went out the other day and bought a few more!” This was something Regulus wouldn’t take away from them. They could see how excited their friends were about being able to dress his cat up, so he didn’t mind. Even if he pretended as he did.
He could feel a hand messing with his hair already and his eyes flickered up in amusement. One of Amelia’s hands was messing with his hair. That was also something he didn’t mind. It tended to happen often.
Regulus’ eyes flickered from each sweater in the pile and then to the one that was being put on Torbie at the moment. Currently, Peter was attempting to dress his cat in a green and red Christmas hoodie. The hood of the sweater had small antlers sticking out from each side. It was cute, Regulus would give it that point. It fit the theme of an ugly Christmas sweater - even if it was a cute sweater.
Everyone wore some sort of ugly Christmas Sweater. (Even if Regulus didn’t class any of them as ugly because he adored any sort of sweater).
Amelia was matching sweaters with Lucinda. Both of them wore blue sweaters with snowflakes scattered about. Emma wore a burgundy sweater with names of people croqueted on the front and the back. He knew almost immediately that they would win or Barty would. Peter wore a burnt orange sweater with the letters J, R, and S written in some sort of fabric paint on the sleeves. That made him want to snort because of the memory that resurfaced. He had helped Peter make that sweater at the last Christmas party he had gone to - one that his sibling and her group hosted. James, Remus, and Sirius had all found the sweater amusing though which was a bonus. And lastly, Sybill wore a pale yellow sweater that had a kneazle crocheted on the front. Kneazles were adorable though. Dorcas wore a pale green sweater with some sort of green goblin face on it. (It was the grinch but Regulus didn’t know who that was). Evan didn’t wear a sweater, but he did wear a fluffy Christmas hat that was way too big for his head.
“There we go!” Peter exclaimed happily. Regulus stopped paying attention to the sweaters finally and brought his attention back to Peter and his cat.
The reindeer sweater had successfully been put on Torbie.
“He looks like a little reindeer!” Evan spoke up from where he sat. Everyone basically adored his cat and it showed.
Though, Regulus definitely had to agree with Evan. Torbie did look like a little reindeer.
“It was either that or a penguin,” Lucinda spoke up, holding up the penguin hoodie they also had brought for Torbie. “But as soon as Pandora saw me walk in with the reindeer one fae said Torbie had to wear it so they could match.” The dark auburn-haired girl spoke up, placing down the penguin sweater only a moment after.
“That sounds like them.” Regulus chuckled softly.
“I can hear you talking about me!” The voice of Pandora from the kitchen cut through their conversation.
That caused the group to start laughing. Amelia brought her hand out of Regulus’ hair to cover her mouth, and Emma had to press their lips into a thin line to stop herself from laughing.
Amos let out his own laughter, and Evan had to cover his mouth as well. Lucinda couldn’t stop her own laughter either, and Sybill had to push a sweater against her mouth to hide aer smile.
“We have no idea what you mean, Pan!” Lucinda called out happily, though her laugh didn’t do anything to hide the thought that she knew.
The sound of footsteps filled the air and a few seconds later Pandora was peaking into the living room.
“If you guys are done cat gossiping, it's time to make gingerbread houses.”
Amelia launched herself off the couch at that news. Regulus had to move out of the way so that the brightly colored-haired girl wouldn’t trip over him.
It didn’t take long for the rest of the group to follow. Peter still kept a hold of Torbie though, and Regulus knew that he would not be letting go anytime soon. Or well - until they got to the kitchen at least.
As soon as they were in the kitchen, Regulus moved back over to Barty. He knew the rundown of what was going to happen. They had done it several times before.
“Everyone gets a partner!” Xeno spoke up, clapping xyr hands together. “We all have an hour to make and decorate the best gingerbread house and gingerbread in general. The judging will be done at the end.”
Regulus felt Barty nudging him and he shook his head in amusement.
“We are so winning this. I gave us the best supplies.” Regulus heard Barty whispering in the commotion of everyone else’s overlapped words.
Oh, that could mean a variety of things.
Regulus' eyes flickered over the group once more, seeing who was partnering up with who. Amos partnered up with Xeno. Hestia partnered up with Pandora. Amelia partnered up with Peter and Evan. Dorcas was partnered up with Emma and Lucinda partnered up with Sybill. It was a good competition, that’s how Regulus saw it.
Commotion grew quickly as everyone was told they could start.
Barty had moved their gingerbread house to another counter, as well as supplies he wanted to use. Regulus grabbed a few different candies to add, his sweet tooth kicking in for a moment.
“Reg, can you hold the walls up so we can put them together?” Barty questioned.
Regulus could tell his partner was excited and he didn’t want to ruin its excitement, so of course, they agreed.
“You know I can.” The ravenet chuckled, moving to Barty's side. He took two of the walls after Barty had put the icing on the ends, and moved to push them against one another so that they wouldn’t fall down while the other two walls were worked on.
“Do you have any plans on how we can decorate it?” Regulus questioned. They assumed that the other would have some sort of plan - whether that be because of its excitement or the fact that he had stayed in the kitchen to plan things out for this competition. Either way, he had a feeling that his partner had some sort of ground plan.
“Make it look better than everyone else.” Barty grinned.
He was like a child at times.
Of course, that would be his plan.
“And it will look better,” Regulus confirmed, nodding in agreement as the other two walls were finally put up. “Our house will be the best one out of all of them.”
The music that Hestia had turned on was drowned out by all the different conversations flooding through the kitchen.
At one point a window had been opened, and a light breeze flooded the house.
Getting the gingerbread house together had been easy for the duo. It managed to stay up even when the roof was added, and Barty had done the final touches by putting icing in certain corners to make sure it wouldn’t fall down once it was let go.
Regulus was decorating the bottom of the house while Barty decorated the top. He placed little piles of white icing on the ground near the border of the house as if trying to make piles of snow. They had even added a little walkway made from a small bar of chocolate.
Barty decorated the roof, using icing to form small shingles. It had even added little circular candies on a piece of candy string as if making lights hang on the roof.
For a pair who didn’t have a plan, they were doing pretty well.
They were close to finishing when Regulus felt Barty nudging his chin up. In an instant, the raven-haired boy was looking up at his partner.
All of a sudden, he felt the other wiping his cheek and his own eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
“What did you do that for?” Regulus questioned as he stopped working, pausing for a moment.
“You somehow had icing on your cheek.” Barty just smiled.
One thing that Barty was, was that he was sly.
Especially when it came to flirting.
“You’re going to be the death of me.” Regulus chuckled, shaking their head a bit in amusement. Though, he couldn’t even hide the fact that the tips of his ears went red. It was always his ears that went red before his face. There were times he hated it, but also times he was thankful for it. However, Barty knew his ears always went red first so in this case scenario - he hated it.
“You know you love it.” Barty beamed happily.
Yeah, that was a good argument.
“You know I do,” Regulus confirmed before quickly adding on, “But don’t get too cocky about it.”
“Too late, I’m already cocky about it.”
Yeah, Barty was going to be the actual death of him.
Before their conversation could be continued though, Xeno was calling out the time.
Regulus placed down the icing he was using and kicked Barty's leg so he would drop the tiny chocolate in his hand - letting it drop against the counter.
“Emma put down the icing!” Evan spoke up instantly, a huff escaping him. However, Emma didn’t budge. Peter nudged her arm though and they eventually put the icing down.
“Is everyone done?” Pandora questioned, looking between the groups.
“It’s too bad if you aren’t. It’s time to judge.” Amos added on happily, a grin on his face.
This was everyone's favorite part of making gingerbread houses.
It’s why Regulus and Barty always brought Torbie along.
Peter grinned happily, crouching down to pick up the feline. Looking between the group, he then placed the cornish rex cat onto the table.
Yes, Torbie was their gingerbread house judge. Well, most of the time he was. He was normally their judge if everyone wanted to make a gingerbread house. They couldn’t have a biased judge.
Everyone stood by their gingerbread houses, eyes on the cat.
Torbie went from house to house, sniffing them. It was as if the cat knew what he had to do and was going to make sure he did it right.
“You know you want to pick ours,” Dorcas whispered, crouching down a bit to come eye-to-eye with the cat. However, Torbie seemed to have other plans. The cat turned away from Dorcas and Emma's house and instead moved over to Amos and Xeno’s.
“C’mon buddy, you know you love me,” Amos told the cat. “You know ours is the absolute best. Don’t even lie to yourself.”
Torbie stayed at their house for some time, sniffing around but never fully picking. Before Xeno would deem that as a win, the cat turned around and moved stealthily over to Barty and Regulus’. Come on, Torbie had to pick theirs. He was their cat after all.
“You know you want to let us win you little furball,” Barty told the cat. “I’ll give you extra snacks if you do.”
Torbie sniffed around their house and then looked up at Regulus. If a cat could sense betrayal, Torbie was about to be sensing a lot of it as he turned away from their house.
“Oh come on! You’re our cat!” Barty exclaimed playfully, though Regulus knew he didn’t mind. They would still be able to eat their gingerbread house either way.
Instead, the cat moved over to Peter, Evan and Amelia's house. Torbie didn’t even need to think twice as he brushed against Evan's hand and then moved to sit next to Amelia's.
Amelia, Evan and Peter won.
Of course.
Torbie had done that just to spite Barty and Regulus.
Anyone in their family had a flare for dramatics, including the damned cat.
“Betrayal!” Barty exclaimed at the same time Evan had exclaimed, “I knew it!”
“I knew dressing him in sweaters would come in handy!” Peter was now grinning ear to ear as he high-fived Amelia. He then moved a hand over to Torbie to pet the cat's head gently. “Thank you, you little rockstar.”
“Take that, you guys!” Amelia spoke up happily. “Peter, Evan and I make an amazing duo. Our gingerbread houses are always the winners - at this point, you should know who’s gonna win.” The pink-haired girl beamed excitedly, blowing her hair out of the way of her eyes.
They won almost every year.
Regulus would blame his cat, but Torbie was too cute to blame.
—
(i didn’t want to timeskip but I had a brainfart and didn’t know how to continue.)
The night was slowly coming to a close.
People were leaving due to the weather picking up.
They had been told snow was supposed to start falling soon and most people wanted to get home.
Barty and Regulus moved towards the front door, Torbie walking in between the duo's legs as if it was a circus act. The night was a success like it was almost every year. The holidays were some of his favorite times, even if he hated certain holidays. His friends were the one reason he did enjoy the holidays, but that was pushing it at times.
“Travel safe!” Emma called out to the duo, waving them bye as she moved into the living room with the others who were still there. Everyone was slowly trickling home, now that included Barty and Regulus.
“We will!” Regulus called out so that the other raven-haired girl wouldn’t worry.
Barty moved ahead, moving to pull the front door open. The cold breeze from outside flew into the house as soon as the door was opened even an inch.
Regulus realized it before Barty.
The tips of his ears went red, and he knew it was not because of the cold breeze.
He actually enjoyed the cold breeze.
It gave him a good excuse.
“You ready to leave?” Barty questioned his boyfriend when he saw how Regulus wasn’t paying attention to leaving anymore.
“In a moment,” They spoke absentmindedly. “Look up for a moment.”
He was surprised Barty hadn’t been the one to see it. After all, he was the taller one.
Yet, Barty listened. It found himself looking up.
Mistletoe hung above the door. Mistletoe that had previously not been there. Mistletoe that he assumed either Xeno or Pandora had hung up after everyone had arrived. They had clever minds, he would have to give them that point. A red ribbon wrapped the mistletoe together, tied together in a small bow.
“Ah.” Barty got out, looking back at Regulus now. “Well, we both know the rules of mistletoe.”
Yeah, they did.
They were victim to falling to it each year.
Barty wrapped his arms around Regulus’ waist with a fond smile already playing onto its features.
Regulus didn’t know whether his ears were red because of Barty, or if they were red because of the cold breeze. He would assume it would be both, but he liked to also think it was only the second one. Especially because Pandora and Barty constantly teased him for how quick he was to get flustered.
Eventually, though, the ravenet was placing his hands on Barty's shoulders so that it wouldn’t be an awkward kiss.
These were moments that reminded him that they were all still young. That they all still had full lives ahead of them. These were the moments that made him realize that they were all alive and that this was their reality. A reality where they lived life to the fullest.
Regulus took that as his chance to be the one to initiate the actual kiss.
With little to no hesitation, he was pushing himself up just enough so that he could kiss Barty finally.
Despite it not even being close to their first kiss, he cherished it anyways. Despite all of the times he had kissed Barty, each time always left him happy and feeling like a little teenager who had just gotten their first kiss.
The kiss only lasted a few moments, yet he enjoyed each of them.
Their kiss was interrupted by the sound of a camera going off.
He would never get used to that.
“Thank merlins!” Dorcas was grinning happily, standing outside the living room door with a polaroid camera in their hands. A picture was printed from the bottom of it, and she made sure to hide it immediately from the light.
Every year.
Every year since they had started dating, Pandora, Dorcas, and Evan would make it their mission to get photos of them under a mistletoe kissing. They’ve been successful each year though.
“That’s going in the scrapbook,” Evan spoke in a singsong voice as he moved to Dorcas’ side.
“You two are adorable,” Hestia spoke up, leading Pandora out to the group with their hands intertwined.
“Can we never have a mistletoe kiss without a photo?” Barty complained lightheartedly, not really minding.
“Have you met us yet, B?” Amelia called out, peeking out from the living room. “Absolutely not.”
Regulus smiled in amusement and shook his head.
“I want to see the scrapbook next time I’m around, Cas.” He told the dark-skinned girl. She gave him a thumbs up.
“Of course, you’ll see it.” They promised, “But you actually do have to get going. Snows already beginning to fall.”
Regulus rolled his eyes playfully, but they nodded nonetheless.
“We’ll see you guys sometime this week.” He voiced out, grabbing Barty's hand so that his own wouldn’t get too cold. Intertwining their fingers, he smiled at their boyfriend.
“I love you.” Regulus mouthed out. Those words didn’t fall from him easily, and they were not common. Barty deserved them though. He always deserved them.
The holidays were always a success for him.
Even if they were not his favorite thing in the world.
His boyfriend and his friends made it bearable.
He felt Torbie brush against his legs with a loud meow.
Oh, and his cat.