Michael was pacing about the apartment trying to decide whether everything was ready. By the Christmas tree were two neat stacks of presents ready to be summoned away, one with presents for Iden's family and one with presents for Michael's family. On the hob were several dishes keeping warm until brunch at Iden's mum's house. In the refrigerator were several more dishes keeping cool until dinner at Michael's parents' house.
"Iden, are you ready to go?" Michael called from the kitchen.
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"Er, yeah. I've got four, actually," Iden said, not elaborating just yet. If Michael's parents reacted adversely he'd stop there. If not, he had no real qualms about telling Steven more. "Thing about tattoos, though, is you have to really make sure that you're going to want them forever. The spells to take them off are nasty and pretty painful," he said responsibly.
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Sam was about to say something when Maggie reentered with pie. "Alright boys, pie for everyone." She passed the dishes around and sat back down.
"So, after pie, presents," she said.
Sam took his plate and said, "Iden was just telling us about the art of tattooing. Go on."
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Iden coughed slightly into his drink and smiled at Maggie as he took his pie. "Well, er, wizarding tattooing isn't terribly different from muggle tattooing. Of course, the muggles' tattoos are put on with a needle gun and they don't move. But, er, both of them start with a drawing on paper... And, well, wizarding tattoos can do a lot of things. I mean, they move and you can program responses in to react to outside stimuli, and some of them can disappear or partially disappear or store information. I, er, recently figured out how to tattoo a metamorph so the tattoo can only appear when she chooses it to," Iden rambled on, tactfully avoiding talk of his or Michael's tattoos.
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"Oh, interesting, was that terribly difficult?" Maggie asked, not really having much of an idea.
"It sounds like a complicated series of charms would be necessary for that kind of work. Did you invent this yourself?" Sam asked.
Michael squirmed a little in his seat, something that did not go unnoticed by Steven.
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"Yeah, I mean, some of it I talked to other tattoo artists about. There's a witch in China who has been doing a lot of revolutionary work with ink submersion and a wizard in San Francisco who has been doing the behavioral charms, and from there I just kinda synthesized their findings and fiddled with it. It took a while to come up with the new charms, mainly because of the extensive testing needed before it can be put on human skin." Iden blushed very slightly, knowing perfectly well that the testing was only that extensive because it was Michael's tattoo that came first with this work.
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"Extensive testing? Is that something that the ministry regulates? Or do you just do it to make sure the customers are happy? I mean, I suppose that I would want to be sure that you knew what you were doing before I let you put something permanent on my body. Who wants to be the first to try something new like that?" Sam followed up.
Michael's squirminess was becoming generally noticeable. He finally turned to Maggie and said, "So, um, mum, great pie."
Steven started to say something and without missing a beat, Michael kicked him under the table.
"Oh, thanks darling. So, Iden, these customers of yours must trust you a great deal," Maggie said, apparently not noticing the interaction between Michael and Steven.
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"Well, the Ministry doesn't regulate it, but we're the only tattoo place in Britain, so they wouldn't have any trouble tracing any irresponsible behavior to the source. Plus, apprenticing is really expensive. Even if the lads like a prospective artist, the candidate still has to cough up about a thousand Galleons. Took me a few years to save it while living with my mum, so I guess with all that thrown in, people trust us. I mean, nobody becomes a tattoo artist just to mess about with people," Iden said, fairly sure he'd steered the conversation away from Michael. Content, he took a bite of pie.
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Sam nodded along as Iden spoke. Despite himself, Sam was appreciating the level of skill and devotion that Iden's profession required. Maggie, noticing this, smiled and rubbed Michael's arm.
"So," Michael interjected, "you said something about presents, mum?"
"Yes," she responded, "let's move to the living room. I'll put on the tea. Steven, pass out the presents. Michael, darling, clear the table."
Maggie got up and went to the kitchen. Sam stood, slowly, and put his hand on Iden's shoulder. "So, talk to me about my son," he said. "What do you see in the little git?"
Michael scowled at his father and Steven laughed.
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Iden blushed redder than he had in some time. "You mean besides the intelligence, kindness, sense of humor, and drive? Well, I guess it would be his eyes," Iden said a bit nervously. "But I suppose you knew all that about him, what with the raising him and all. Here, let me help," he continued, grabbing some plates from the table.
Quietly, he spoke to Michael as they cleared, "This is going a damn sight better than my mum's, but if they're going to keep asking about tattoos and you keep squirming, Steven's going to burst out that you must have ink too. Not that I think your dad would actually mind once he saw that it was useful. You know, I like him."
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Out of habit, Michael was clearing the table by hand. He chuckled a little and said, "I'm just glad this hasn't turned into a disaster. But let's try to keep the tattoo to ourselves for now, just in case."
Michael walked a stack of dishes into the kitchen and rinsed them off. Maggie was arranging tea cups on a serving tray with biscuits. As Iden came in with another stack of dishes, Michael leaned over a whispered, "Oh, and I think he likes you, too. Mum will let me know later."
Then he leaned over and kissed Iden. After a moment, they heard, "Oh, eww, gross, come on guys." Steven had walked into the kitchen, impatient for them to get to the living room.
"Run along, Steven, before I let you brother beat you," Maggie said, carrying the tray of tea out of the kitchen, Steven before her. "Don't be long, boys," she added.
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Iden laughed at Maggie's little joke and kissed Michael again. "Ok, no tattoo talk, but I still think that, someday, when your dad finds out about it, he'll actually like it. Love you," he added before heading into the living room.
He hoped Steven would like the Honeydukes gift certificate and that Maggie would like the French cookbook that had moving pictures showing the process for each recipe. He had been very unsure what to get Sam and finally settled on a nice quill set, one of which took dictation and had spelling and grammar check built it. Iden sat down on the couch where he'd been before and smiled at Maggie, "Dinner was wonderful. Thank you very much."
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As everyone found a seat in the living room, Steven did his annual duty of passing around the gifts. Sam had gotten Maggie a gold necklace with a ruby inlaid and she had gotten him a new watch. (Having learned her lesson long ago, she went to a magical shop to get it.) Sam and Maggie had gotten Steven a variety of clothes and books.
Iden got several Muggle shirts of various goth and punk matter from Michael's parents. Michael laughed when he saw the gift: his mother had obviously done the shopping. She seemed to have decent taste from what Michael could tell.
Michael opened his present from his parents. It was a rare first edition book. He was a little giddy.
Michael got his father a new wallet and his mother a rather fashionable handbag. After she opened the gift, Michael decided to bring up the trip to Italy. "So, mum, Iden is sending him mum to Italy for a holiday, and she invited you. I'd love to send you along with her, if you're interested."
Maggie hemmed and hawed about it for a few minutes, but Michael insisted. She gave in when Sam told her that she needed to get out of the house and have some fun.
As he was talking trip details with Maggie, Michael slipped Iden a small package. Inside was a white gold bracelet in a man's style charmed to close into a complete circlet when worn, a feature that could be undone with a simple charm. On the inside of the bracelet was inscribed "I would not wish any companion in the world but you." It was a quote from a Muggle poet that Michael liked.
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Iden opened the small package and bit his lip to stop him from grinning too widely. That was really sweet, wherever it was from. Unfortunately, his gift for Michael this round wasn't nearly as sweet. It was a scarf and glove set that stayed just the right amount of warm no matter the weather. As lame as it was in comparison, Iden gave it to him anyway before putting the bracelet on. "Thanks so much for the clothes. Merlin knows, I never seem to get out to do my own shopping," Iden said gratefully to Maggie and Sam. "And Mum will be thrilled to hear you're coming with her. Travelling alone is never as much fun. I'll owl her about it in the morning."
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After presents, everyone settled around the fire with tea and chatted for a time. After an hour or so, Michael took a lull in the conversation as an opportunity to excuse Iden and himself.
"Mum and dad, Iden and I best be heading home," Michael said.
Maggie made a disappointed noise, but Sam waived her off. Michael hugged his mother and said goodbye to Steven.
Sam stood and shook Iden's head. "Good to meet you, Iden."
"It was lovely to see you again, sweetheart," Maggie added.
"Bye, Iden," Steven shouted.
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"Thank you very much for having me," Iden said to them at large. "See you at the next Hogsmeade weekend," he added to Steven, letting Michael steer him out of the house. Once they were out, Iden said quietly. "Your family seems pretty great. Steven's kind of adorable."
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Michael laughed and said, "Yeah, he's adorable until he's not. He's so much more mischievous than I ever was. And he's probably smarter than me - which you may never tell him I said. Adorable, smart, and mischievous equals trouble."
Michael guided Iden around a corner into a small alley between two shops. "Dad insists that this is the best place to disapparate from," he said, clarifying why he'd taken Iden into a odd alley.
A moment later they were both standing in their living room.
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"He might be right. I bet the muggles never look down that alley... He seemed to warm up to me. I mean, you thought he did too, right?" Iden asked, slightly concerned. He really wanted Sam to like him. It would make him the first father of any of Iden's significant others to actually like him.
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"Yeah, it seemed like he liked you well enough. I mean, you have to understand, I'm sure he doesn't 'want' to like you. You are, after all, a tattooed freak with too many holes in his body who's dating his gay son, and he's a respectable Ministry Wizard. But it looked to me like he was having troubles sticking to what he thought he was going to think about you." Michael stopped speaking for a moment and then asked abruptly, "Did any of that make sense?"
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"Yeah, that makes sense," Iden said with a nod. "That's how parents usually feel, only most of them never get around to liking me." He shrugged and just gave Michael a hug instead of trying to explain himself better.
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"I'm sure mum will let me know what he thought soon enough. It won't be a big deal," Michael said.
Michael kissed Iden and added, "Thanks for braving my family."
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"Ditto," Iden said, "but I'm pretty sure I got the better end of the deal... So, present time?"
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"Yes," Michael said. He grabbed his wand from his robe pocket and summoned the large package. "I got it at a Muggle store. I thought you might be... interested."
The package contained a Sportsheet and accessories.
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Iden tore off the wrapping paper and looked at it for a moment. The picture certainly looked like something he'd be interested in, but a work caught his eye that confused him. "This looks great, but what's Velcro?" he asked. It seemed like whatever that was, it made the whole thing work.
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Michael giggled and said, "It's a Muggle invention. It has two halves which may be repeatedly fastened and unfastened. You see, the sheet is fuzzy and the cuffs stick to the sheet. Based on the position that the person in the cuffs is in, it becomes really difficult to unfasten the cuffs himself. What do you think?"
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Iden toyed with his lip ring and unsuccessfully repressed a wide grin. "I think it sounds like the Muggle that invented Velcro deserves some sort of award," he said and kissed Michael. "I love it."
Iden put the package down on the nearest surface and got Michael's present. Around the holidays, Honeydukes had a little-known but lucrative trade in magical, edible, adult presents. Iden had gotten Michael an assortment of edible body paints all of which were bewitched to stay where first applied unless consumed.
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