User: idenpuffed Date: 2010-01-08 00:28 (UTC) Subject: (no subject)

Moira smiles reassuringly, "If she doesn't mind side-along, I'd be happy to take her with me. It would be lovely to spend time with your mother. After all, I really should get to know her better, considering."

"Yeah, and Mum took Muggle Studies up through NEWTs, so she won't act all silly round Muggles like some wizards," Iden added.

Oliver scoffed quietly. "Considering what, Mum? Are they getting bloody married?"

"And if they were, Oliver? There wouldn't be anything you could say about it," Moira snapped, edge in her voice. "I'd be quite happy having Michael in the family."

User: michaelcorner Date: 2010-01-08 01:36 (UTC) Subject: (no subject)

Michael blushed quite strongly. He had thought about bringing up marriage, not that he wanted to get married soon, but to talk about. He didn't even know whether Iden would ever consider marrying a man.

Michael gave Iden's hand a squeeze and did his best not to sound awkward, "Thank you, Moira, I'm flattered. And, um, I'll speak to Mum and see if she's interested. A travel buddy can be nice on a trip abroad, and Mum could sure use some time away from Dad."

There was a brief and slightly awkward silence, so Michael offered, "So, does this family open presents and then eat breakfast or the other way around?" Michael was thinking about the warm dishes full of yummy Christmas breakfast foods in the dining room.

User: idenpuffed Date: 2010-01-10 20:52 (UTC) Subject: (no subject)

"Well, when they were boys, it was always presents first and food afterwards. Now, I suppose it's up to them," Moira said.

"Presents first, please, Mum. I can't stay long," Oliver said as if they'd had the conversation about his timetable before. They hadn't, but Moira figured he was building himself an escape route and said nothing.

Iden shrugged and got up, fetching presents for everyone. Clearly, he'd been the one playing Santa for more than a few years. He grabbed the leather desk set he'd gotten for Oliver and handed it to him. It was spelled against ink stains and tea spills and kept papers from wrinkling while placed on it. He handed Michael his present from Moira, a bag that looked like a simple messenger bag but held up to 25 average-sized books and weighed 5 pounds no matter hom much was inside it. For himself, he grabbed a present from his mum, a set of robes that were steel grey with black and burgundy pinstripes. He handed Moira whatever Michael had gotten her.

User: michaelcorner Date: 2010-01-11 02:19 (UTC) Subject: (no subject)

Michael hadn't been entirely sure what to get Moira. Since he knew that Iden was sending her to Italy, he got her the Witch's Guide to Italy and a travel journal charmed to record the details of her travels for memories. Michael kind of felt guilty for not getting Oliver a present, but Iden didn't know Oliver was coming and they both decided that leaving a present for someone you didn't know was kind of odd.

"The bag is absolutely lovely, Moira, thank you. It will be incredibly useful," he said.

User: idenpuffed Date: 2010-01-24 12:47 (UTC) Subject: (no subject)

"Thank you, Iden. It will be a nice addition to my desk," Oliver said shortly. It was a very nice desk set, but it seemed to Oliver like Iden was rubbing his conventional and stable job in his face.

Moira hugged Michael. "Oh, I'm just awful about journaling. This will make it so much easier," she said.

Iden ran his hand over the robes. These were really nice. He flicked his wand and more presents landed lightly on people's laps. Oliver got Moira a cookbook with moving picutres to demonstrate each recipe. Moira got Oliver a very nice scarf, hat, and gloves that were self-warming. Iden gave Michael a book on advanced magical paper preservation. Oliver gave Iden a scarf.... a pink scarf with silver tassels.

Iden blinked and picked it out of the box with one finger. Moira glanced up and then looked reprovingly at Oliver. "What are you playing at, Ollie?" Iden asked.

"Playing at? I thought you'd like it."

"It's pink and glittery. Made for an 8 year old witch."

"Or a pixie...."

"Oliver!" Moira said as some sort of warning, but it was entirely too late as Iden had already lept to coffee table and grabbed Ollie by the front of his robes.

"Alright, I'm a pixie. We've got that just fine without your pink, shiny reminders. I'm a pixie. But you know what? I don't think that's what your mad about. I think you're mad that I have a stable relationship and a job that pays better than yours. I think you're jealous," Iden hissed at Ollie before shaking him slightly by the handful of robes he still had.

"Jealous? You're unnatural. You're a freak. You were before you engaged in this 'relationship' of yours and you're even worse now. Jealous? I'm ashamed. Now let me go," Ollie said quietly and coldly back.

"Boys. Stop this. Oliver, maybe you ought to go," Moira chimed in, wand out and ready to stop this by force.

"Mum's right," Iden said, grabbing Ollie by the shoulders and shoving him hard towards the door. Ollie stumbled and caght himself on the wall. "You should go."

User: michaelcorner Date: 2010-01-24 15:03 (UTC) Subject: (no subject)

Michael didn't react to Iden's outburst at first. He was just too shocked. He'd never seen Iden react with such anger and violence, even holding back as he was. When he snapped out of his disbelief, Michael stood and put a hand on Iden shoulder.

"Iden, enough, please," he said. Then he looked over at Oliver, who was recovering his footing, and said, "Oliver, this doesn't have to be this way." It was a feeble attempt, but he tried.

User: idenpuffed Date: 2010-01-24 16:09 (UTC) Subject: (no subject)

"Iden's made a choice and so have I," Oliver said to Michael. "I'm only sorry he's gotten you tangled in it. You seem nice enough." With a flick of his wand, Oliver's presents came flying to him, the desk set intentionally close to Iden's head.

"Happy Christmas, Mum," Oliver continued, banishing his presents and then apparating off.

Iden's hand instinctively checked the area the desk set had grazed and was silent for a moment. "I'm- I'm sorry. I just- well- he's so- and... I'm really sorry, both of you. I didn't intend to ruin Christmas."

"He provoked you," his mum responded. "Not that you should have let him get to you. Really, I thought you were about to him. I know he's being a prat about you too, but honestly, he's your brother."

"I know, Mum. Michael, sorry that- I don't make a habit of nearly throttling people."

User: michaelcorner Date: 2010-01-24 17:01 (UTC) Subject: (no subject)

Michael nodded and smiled weakly for a moment and then shrugged off the whole matter. "So, Moira, what do you plan to see on your trip?" he asked, changing the subject, "Ooh, you should send us postcards!"

User: idenpuffed Date: 2010-01-24 18:10 (UTC) Subject: (no subject)

Iden half-smiled and used the conversation the other two were in to take a quick break. He headed up the stairs to his old room, and Inky, meeting up with him in the kitchen followed. Iden felt like a jerk and like he'd let Ollie win. Sitting on the bed that was still in the room, he absetly pet Inky's head. He'd be right back down, but he needed a few minutes. Usually, he was the type to take a beating, not almost give one. He guessed it was partially due to Oliver's insane idea that he and Michael were going against what was supposed to be or his repeated implications that Iden had forced Michael into it...

Moira chose to keep the conversation going. Iden was a big boy. He'd figure himself out. "I don't know what I'll be seeing. I've not had much time to plan. There's supposed to be a museum of ancient magic in Rome that would be lovely. And of course I'll be sending postcards. Your mum and I can share owls if she comes along... Is she comfortable with owl post? Iden's never told me how magical she keeps her home."

User: michaelcorner Date: 2010-01-24 18:29 (UTC) Subject: (no subject)

"Oh, Mum likes to do things the Muggle way most of the time. She insisted on making Stephen and I learn how to do things without the aid of magic. I suppose I appreciate that. I don't get out into the Muggle world often, but when I do, I'm much better at navigating that society than the average Wizard. Dad and I have made little magical improvements to the house here or there. It's kind of a game, you see, because in the end she appreciates not having to work so hard to keep things in order, but if the magic is too obvious, she makes us undo it all." He realized that he'd gotten rather off topic from what Moira had actually asked, "But, um, she's not opposed to owl post, even if she finds owls a bit odd. And she's not really opposed to being around magic. She'd probably enjoy seeing the magical wonders of Rome."

User: idenpuffed Date: 2010-01-26 17:15 (UTC) Subject: (no subject)

Iden's mum laughed a bit at Michael's family game. "I'd like to see the muggle destinations in Rome too and perhaps stop in at Venice and Milan. Really, I'm not much of a planner. I like to go places and just see what strikes my fancy," Moira babbled for a moment, then took a sip of her cocoa.

"Michael, may I ask you something?" she asked, barely pausing before just asking anyway. "Do you plan on putting up with my little pincushion for the long run? If so, do you want children? Ollie, as you can tell, is a bit challenged when it comes to interpersonal relationships, and it seems far more likely that Iden will settle down and adopt than Oliver'll find a girl patient enough to deal with him."

User: michaelcorner Date: 2010-01-27 02:06 (UTC) Subject: (no subject)

Michael sputtered a bit at first as the question caught him off guard.

"Well, I'm happy, and I think he's happy. I don't foresee that changing. I certainly don't want it to. And I haven't given the prospect of chidlren much thought. Iden and I really haven't talked about it before. I think I'd like to have children some day."

User: idenpuffed Date: 2010-01-27 02:15 (UTC) Subject: (no subject)

"I only want one of my boys to have a child before I'm 70, just the one would be fine for me... Michael, he's quite happy with you. Just the other day he was mentioning a lovely little hou-"

"Mum, what are you telling him?" Iden asked as he came back into the room, looking much better and with Inky at his heels.

"Nothing, Iden. Just that you'd make wonderful fathers," Moira gently teased.

"Er, okay. You know, there's breakfast waiting," Iden said, blushing quite red.

User: michaelcorner Date: 2010-01-27 02:18 (UTC) Subject: (no subject)

Michael couldn't pass up the opportunity to tease Iden. He hopped up and threw his arms around Iden, saying, "Oh, couldn't you just imagine it, pincushion, three little ones running under foot, little wands in hand."

User: idenpuffed Date: 2010-01-27 02:26 (UTC) Subject: (no subject)

Iden mock-glared at his mother and grabbed Michael with one arm around the waist. "Pincushion? You told him about that? And you," he said turning to Michael, "Three? I wasn't consulted on this three business. How about one or two with imaginary friends? That's like three." Iden was still blushing a rather warm shade of red. He was sure his mum had mentioned the house he had seen near Hogsmeade and knew she'd passed on Pincushion. "Really, I leave the room for five minutes and look what you two get up to."

User: michaelcorner Date: 2010-01-27 02:41 (UTC) Subject: (no subject)

Michael hadn't actually expected this to turn into anything resembling an actual conversation about having children. He just shrugged it off as an eventual possibility. "Two seems reasonable. Now what were you saying, Moira, when your son interrupted?"

User: idenpuffed Date: 2010-01-27 02:47 (UTC) Subject: (no subject)

"My mum was saying that it's time for breakfast," Iden said, looking pointedly at his mother.

"Yes, it's time for breakfast," Moira said, getting up. Just as she passed the boys, she continued speaking quickly, "And that Iden saw a lovely house near Hogsmeade come on the market." Moira sped up and began floating food to the diningroom table, pretending like she hadn't said anything.

"Mum, I only mentioned that it came up, not that I planned on buying it."

"Funny, I thought I heard you say something about the garden needing work."

Iden sighed and led Michael into the diningroom. His mum was such a silly woman sometimes.

User: michaelcorner Date: 2010-01-27 03:01 (UTC) Subject: (no subject)

"House? You're not planning on moving out on me, are you?" Michael said, mock accusingly. Kidding aside, he was curious why Iden was looking at houses.

User: idenpuffed Date: 2010-01-27 16:20 (UTC) Subject: (no subject)

"My mum's been sniffing too many cleaning potions. I only told her that a house outside of Hogsmeade has been put on the market and has a garden that's been overgrown for two years. She then sniffed more potion and told me that you and I should buy it," Iden said as Moira shook her head slightly.

"You know I gave up potion sniffing year ago," she joked as the last of the food came to rest on the table.

User: michaelcorner Date: 2010-01-27 18:05 (UTC) Subject: (no subject)

Michael helped himself to some of the breakfast food and took a seat at the table. "So, what's this house look like? Is it nice?"

User: idenpuffed Date: 2010-01-27 23:24 (UTC) Subject: (no subject)

Iden talked as he dished himself some food. "It's got 4 walls, multiple doors, and some windows for added appeal..." He quickly clarified so as not to get hit by either of them. "It's a 2 bedroom, two story place that looks a little like the place I took your for your birthday only after a few engorgement charms. Off white with medium wood trim round the windows and doors. Medium wood fence. Nice sized-garden."

User: michaelcorner Date: 2010-01-28 00:34 (UTC) Subject: (no subject)

Michael chuckled a little, continuing to tease Iden, "I thought you hadn't really had a serious look? That you'd just noticed it in passing. Should I be packing?" He followed his jest with a wink and a devious look.

Michael hadn't been thinking about buying a house or moving, but he supposed that it was a logical choice... but added to Moira's questions from before, it was tied together with he and Iden deciding that their relationship was not just long-term but permanent.

User: idenpuffed Date: 2010-01-28 16:20 (UTC) Subject: (no subject)

"You may notice that everything I just said could easily be seen in passing. There's a little sign out front that said 2 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath. You don't need to pack. My mum's just mad, that's all," Iden said spreading some lemon curd on a scone.

"If you have me committed, you could just have this house," Moira joked in return. "I hear Mungo's is lovely this time of year."

User: michaelcorner Date: 2010-01-29 02:49 (UTC) Subject: (no subject)

Michael chuckled and said, "Oh, and Mungo's is quite close to where I work. I could visit regularly."

User: idenpuffed Date: 2010-01-29 19:40 (UTC) Subject: (no subject)

"That sounds just lovely," Moira continued. The three children could have Ollie's old room, Inky could have Iden's, and I'd get regular visits... Only I don't know if they allow children and dogs to visit the incurable ward. Do you know Iden?"

"No, I suppose they wouldn't. They'd be worried about over exciting you. Michael could bring you lots of books to accupy your time, and I could give you a whole sleeve full of tattoos. Now what to tattoo on your first?" Iden mused.