Who: Agatha Timms and Fredrick Catchlove
What: Christmas Eve present jitters
Where: His flat
When: ...Christmas Eve



Agatha had been outside of Fredrick's door for at least ten minutes. How did she know this? Well--the man across the hall had come out, told her 'Happy Christmas' and proceeded to go down the lift, then---and he came back with a donut, from a bakery that was around the corner and---yes. She was still standing there.

Okay, it was not her fault that she'd never had a significant other during a major holiday. This was terribly new and holy hell, she should probably just go to her parents' and see if Mark was up yet even though she doubted it and----oh, hey door opening.

She looked ready to be run over by a herd of chimeras. Agatha shifted and put the neatly wrapped present under her arm. "Er---happy Christmas?"

Fredrick felt a little ridiculous standing in his pajama bottoms, t shirt, and cardigan covered in little white tufts of dust and lint. Usually he'd look a little more put together, but he had constantly been popping between his parent's house, visiting with his sisters, and poking his head into Ingrid's house to see little Kevin every chance he got.

"Shoot, were we doing present stuff today?" He scratched the back of his neck and opened the front door wider, looking embarrassed. "Look, yours will be wrapped up in a jiffy--can you just hold on for about five seconds? Maybe six? Have a seat--did--do you want some tea?"

Jesus, he was a right jerk, wasn't he?

"Er! No! I mean---" Agatha shook her head quickly, "I just--I figured, with--the baby and---big...family, you'd want to---be there, tomorrow." Her face flushed deeply at the babbling, and Agatha let out a nervous breath. Right. This really should not matter so much. Why did it matter so much? It was just a present, it wasn't like he was going to break up with her because she went and got him something he didn't like. Wasn't it the thought that counts?

...but what if he thought there was no thought like she thought there was!

Agatha shook her head a bit to get the snow out, and she stepped into Fredrick's flat, feeling insanely uncomfortable for--stupid, stupid reason. Stupid! "It's okay, I mean----I should've---said something. It can wait? I dunno, whatever you--want."

"No, no, it's fine!" Fredrick said, waving his hands frantically. He was trying to calm her down, make her feel more comfortable, but instead he just looked like a mother hen. "It's just a bit messy, and I like to have things look a little clean when you come over."

He grabbed her hand quickly, "I'll be back in two seconds, okay? Two seconds, promise!" Fredrick prayed that he remembered where he left her present.

Agatha smiled and began to take off her cloak because---because it was suddenly very hot. She put his present on the table and waited, fingers twitchy for something to do. Her eyes caught sight of what looked like a pile of pictures, and Agatha slipped over to the counter and grinned at the sight of Kevin Entwhistle. It was Entwhistle, right? Oy, she'd have to make sure before she said anything (she'd called him Kevin Catchlove to Adamina already--).

See--babies could make anyone smile. Sure they shrieked and went to the bathroom in their pants, but they were babies! They were innocent and really interested in what you had to do or say, and it was just--Daphne was only a week old, but Agatha loved her goddaughter so much already and it was really unbelievable to feel likee that about someone you'd just met--

---well, not so unbelievable, but. Agatha jumped at Fredrick's reapparance, and she grinned, "Ingrid's lucky he doesn't look like you," her lips pursed teasingly, shoulders moving up and down.

"Whaaaat?" Fredrick asked, pretending to be highly offended. "What's wrong with looking like me, huh? You don't seem to mind. Ingrid would only be so lucky," he said, his eyes crinkling in a smile as he glanced at the picture of his nephew (and godson!).

Fredrick's hands were behind his back where he was holding Agatha's hastily wrapped present. He rocked back and forth on his feet. "So, enough about baby talk, what did you get me?"

Agatha couldn't stop herself from letting out a laugh (might've been a giggle, but she refused to acknowledge that she could actually release such a sound) and swiped his present off the table and held it tightly in front of her. Okay. This was it. She could totally do this! This was--the easy part. The hard part was finding something, the hard part was dreading it, so now--easy part, just give it to him.

"Switch on three?" she said, giving herself a countdown because that would make this even easier. Right, right. That's why her stomach was twisting terribly. But it'd be fine! His present was made up of a few not-really-expensive gifts, just---little things that reminded her of him. Because that's what Greta had said, right? When Agatha thought of Fredrick she thought of...these things. Right.

His grin widened when he heard her giggle. Gee, he was glad for that. He was worried she had worried herself up over him getting her something completely daft. He knew he wasn't the best gift giver, but he had some idea what she wanted! He hoped. Oh dear--well, no use in getting worried over all that now.

"THREE." Fredrick tossed his present at her like it was a Quaffle (though perhaps that was not the best plan as he had never played Quidditch before and his aim was pretty off).

Agatha managed to barely throw his gift over and catch hers, and she bobbled it for a second before getting a secure grip. Smirking greatly now that---that was done--okay she was still very nervous about it, but at least she had a present to distract her--Agatha leaned against the counter to slowly and deliberately pull the really shoddy wrapping paper off.

"Ooh, a box," she joked, letting out a sigh. Agatha flipped it open and--okay, she'd have to admit it, a little, short--you couldn't call it a yelp or anything remotely close to that, except it was close to that and---"Oy, it's---" Baffled, completely stunned, he'd done a very good job, "It's bloody--wicked!"

Fredrick meant to tear his package open, but instead he stood holding it in his hands, watching her unwrap her own present. He kept on opening his mouth to apologize for how poorly wrapped it was but stopped himself when she let out a yelp. Oh no, surely it wasn't that bad?

"OH! So-so you mean you like it, yeah? Not amazingly bad or anything?" He asked, then messed up his hair in an attempt to cover up his nervousness.

"YES, I love it I mean---it's not amazing bad it's---amazingly good and--!" Agatha fiddled with the box and the back of the necklace and--he hadn't opened his present. Oy, look at her getting all ridiculous about her present and there he was still holding his. She turned to fully face Fredrick, unconciously clutching the necklace (still in its box) to her chest, "I love it, thank you."

And she did, and it was scary how quickly she could admit that and--hey, maybe Daphne was turning things around in that aspect of her life. Look at her godbaby go! "Now--your turn! Hurry before I get lost in the awesomeness of this necklace."

A large, goofy grin was permanently planted on Fredrick's face. It really didn't matter whether he liked her present or not--he was just happy that she loved hers so much. He ripped off the wrapping paper, and opened the box to find a group of things.

"Oh, Agatha, thanks," He said sincerely, placing the box down so he could search through it while eating one of the cookies inside. "A cardigin, eh? And a wallet? Gee whiz."

Agatha couldn't help it; she watched every move while holding her breath. Did he really like everything? He could just be saying that, to be nice, and everything. It didn't look like he was faking it, he seemed to be enjoying the cookies at least and...okay, she needed to explain everything to get herself to start breathing again.

"Well---the wallet because--you keep forgetting your ID and you need to not forget it and the cardigan because I mean, well, you look---nice in cardigans and--ice cream because you steal mine and this gives you no excuse and--and the book because of...well Kevin and babies are hard to deal with and---" Yes, she could go on forever about everything, really.

Fredrick leaned forward and pecked her lips softly before bouncing back to admire his present. "I really like the cardigin--I'm always ruining mine in the wash. And the wallet is a great idea. And--well, really, this is very nice, Agatha. Thank you. You really put a lot of thought into it, huh?"

Oh, she definitely wanted to let him know that this entire package had taken an excruciatingly long time. Honestly, why shouldn't he know about the effort she made to make his gift nice and lovely and thoughtful? He should definitely know that, she should tell him, but--

Agatha felt her chest swell at how happy Fredrick looked with everything and she shrugged, loosening her tight grip on the necklace box so she could pull it out, "A little bit," she said, feeling her ears get hot.

"Liar," he teased, kissing her forehead. "You probably thought about it as much as I thought about yours, huh?" This was really smartening up to be a lovely Christmas. It almost made Fredrick forget about having to move out of his flat soon.

"D'you want some hot chocolate or something while you're here? Oh! Have you seen the pictures of Kevin yet?" he asked.

Agatha grinned, feeling much better than she had when she'd first arrived. Well. Well this just meant she was an awesome girlfriend, didn't it? That was what she'd been going for, after all. Awesome present meant awesome girlfriend, and that was that. See, she knew if she put her mind to it then it would turn out well, and Agatha moved comfortably close to Fredrick's side, feeling smug and extremely proud of herself.

Best Christmas Eve ever? Oh, oh yes.

"I'll trade you some Daphne pictures for ones of Kevin," she said with a grin, nudging him in the side with her elbow, "And, I'll even help you start a batch of cookies with your new handy-dandy cookbook."

"By start do you mean bake them for me?" Fredrick asked hopefully, grabbing a pile of baby Kevin pictures and plopping onto his couch. "Because, really, you baking them for me would definitely be worth something," he said, his eyes wide and innocent.