Ash Lynburn (ashlynburn) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2016-12-25 10:11:00 |
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Entry tags: | !closed, !completed gdoc, !log, ~2016 december, ~25 points, ~~ash lynburn (ashlynburn), ~~katniss everdeen (thisgirlisonfire) |
WHO: Ash Lynburn and Katniss Everdeen
WHERE: Their place
WHEN: Christmas!
WHAT: Christmas present exchange
RATING: PG
STATUS: log; completed
Ash had always loved Christmas. Not only were there presents to be had, but it was one of the few times his mother ever thawed enough to look genuinely happy. He’d always made it a point to find the best present he could for his mother. He listened throughout the year for any sorts of clues or hints he could catch on what she might like, and each year he tried something different. There was a part of him that had always been afraid that if he didn’t find just the right gift, she’d go right back into being cold and remote. So he’d become a really good present-giver. This being his first Christmas with Katniss as her boyfriend, he’d put in extra effort, having started the project a few months early. Now, on Christmas morning after Johanna and Prim had gotten their presents, he handed her a flat package. “Merry Christmas.” *** Katniss had agonized over what the best gift would be for Ash for a long time, but she felt pretty confident that her final choice would be well received and useful. This was the first time she had a real boyfriend for Christmas, and really only the third time she was celebrating the holiday, so she still hadn’t quite grasped all the proper customs. When they got a moment alone though, she smiled as she took the package from him and went to grab a decently sized gift bag from under the three to hand him in return. “Merry Christmas,” she said. *** “Open together?” Ash suggested, smiling at her as he accepted the gift. As much as he was looking forward to seeing what she’d gotten him, he was much more interested in her reaction to what he’d gotten her. He hoped he’d chosen right. While he knew, intellectually, that she wasn’t going to freeze him out like his mother had, he still worried that a wrong step would lead to him being shut out again. *** “Okay,” Katniss said. She was excited to see what Ash got her. Presents weren’t something that happened much, if ever, back in District Twelve and the whole concept of giving and receiving them was something that she was still getting used to, but it was fun to buy things that she thought others would like and she was curious to see what he thought about for her. Even as she started to unwrap the paper on her gift, she watched for him to pull his gift out of the bag. Since she didn’t know anything about cameras, she was guessing on what might be useful and hoped that he would like what she ended up picking. *** It was definitely useful, since Ash had been collecting enough accessories now to make things unwieldy whenever he went out on a shoot. With a grin of delight, he leaned over to kiss her in thanks, then settled back to watch her unwrap a notebook. On the outside, it was a very simple student’s notebook. Inside, however, Ash had greatly personalized it. The title page read “Things Every Girl Should Get a Chance to Try”, and within the pages, Ash had marked up activities. Some, like “Making out in the back row of a movie theatre with her boyfriend” had movie vouchers taped to the pages. Others, like “Ride a pony” or “Splash around in puddles” only had very bad stick drawings accompanying the pages. Each activity had a checkbox next to it. Ash watched her expression carefully. “I figured you didn’t really get much of a chance to be a normal kid,” he explained. “So why not make up for it now?” *** Katniss took her time paging through the book, overwhelmed by Ash’s thoughtfulness at creating such a personal gift. “It’s wonderful,” she said, giving him a shaky smile while she tried to maintain her composure. “You’re wonderful.” She knew she was really lucky to have him in her life and she was glad that their friendship had blossomed into something more. Some of the pages had things that she had heard of, but never got to try, and a few were things she didn’t know about, but was excited to learn if Ash thought they would be fun. She set the book aside and leaned over to kiss him properly. *** Ash broke into a smile that brought the sunshine into the living room when she seemed to like the gift, and then he returned her kiss deeply, wrapping both arms around her to draw her onto his lap. When the kiss ended, he kept his forehead touching hers and smiled again. “So you like it?” *** “I love it,” Katniss said. It was the closest she came to sharing her feelings about him. He was easily one of the best things that happened to her here and she couldn’t imagine her life in Madison Valley without Ash. They started out as unlikely friends, but she would never forget that first encounter in the woods. “Thank you.” The fact that she was even remotely comfortable sitting on his lap, being so physically intimate, spoke volumes about her trust in him. It had taken a while for her to be okay with casual touching and the time they spent sharing a bed on the cruise definitely led to positive strides there. *** Pleased by her reaction, Ash pulled back slightly, but kept an arm loosely around her waist. “You can start these any time you want,” he said. “And you don’t have to do them in order - or even with me. Though I’d appreciate it if you did all the ones involving making out with me.” *** She laughed. “I think I can safely promise you that,” she said. “Although, Johanna might be willing…” It was a testament to how much she had changed since arriving here several years ago that she was able to joke around. “Do you like your gift?” Katniss asked. It wasn’t nearly as personal or creative as what he gave her, but she hoped that it wasn’t a complete failure. *** “I’m sure she would,” Ash said with a laugh. Johanna was nothing if not adventurous when it came to that kind of thing. “Though if I guess I could make an exception for Johanna if you’ll let me watch…” The Disney prince did have some devilishness in him. Turning his attention to the gift she’d given him, he patted it contentedly. “It’s perfect,” he told her. “Just what I’ve needed for a while now.” *** “I’m glad,” Katniss said. “I had a hard time figuring out a good gift for you.” She wanted her gift to convey how much she cared about him, but also be something useful and practical. Some of the things people around here gave as gifts made no sense to her. Coming from such an impoverished upbringing, the idea of buying stuff just to have it was still beyond her understanding. *** “Well, you chose well.” He kissed her lightly, then eased her off to take a better look at his gift. “You wanna go for a walk and give this baby a test run? Warning: I will take pictures of you.” *** He knew how much Katniss hated getting her picture taken, but she figured that it was only fair to let him test his new toy out. That could be part of her present to him. “I suppose we can do that,” she said. “But not too many pictures.” *** “It takes a lot of pictures to get a good one,” Ash pointed out, and he gave her his sunniest smile. “So how about I take what I need to get one or two good ones? I’ll even delete the rest.” *** Katniss knew when she was being played, but it was Christmas and she was in a good mood, so she simply rolled her eyes and leaned over to steal another kiss. “As long as you promise to delete the rest,” she said. *** “You can watch me,” Ash promised. He pushed himself up to his feet and offered his hand to help her up as well. “I’ll get everything ready. Maybe you can pick out something you wanna do in the book to start off with? We can do that after.” *** “Okay, that sounds good,” Katniss said, taking his hand and letting him pull her up from the couch. “I’ll get changed and look through the book. About a half an hour?” She would have to make herself look as presentable as possible if she was going to submit to having her picture taken. *** “Perfect,” Ash said, leaning in for one more kiss. That would give him enough time to go through all his accessories and figure out which ones he wanted to take with him today. “Meet you back here.” *** Katniss smiled at him before heading up to her room to change. She was lucky to have such a good life here and she hoped that the dome would allow her to stay and enjoy it for a long time. |