#anyway merry christmas from rhys y'all

[rhysles]

☆ CHRISTMAS 2022 ― gifts from rhys.

☆ DYLAN DUNSMORE. ( @dylandunsmore )

for dylan, rhys seized the opportunity back in october when he’d spent a few nights over at her place to kidnap her favorite stuffed frog plush, taking it with him so he could send it away to have it very carefully and lovingly cleaned and refurbished. he’s returned to his rightful home in a gift bag, nestled between homemade beeswax candles in mason jars ( a side endeavor he’s been working on, she’s the first to receive them ) and an assortment of candies and snacks like he used to stuff her stocking with when she was growing up. under all of it is another small, wrapped gift ― a photo clearly taken on an old, disposable camera many years ago of the three dunsmore siblings out in the backyard of their old house in the middle of a blizzard as children, dylan up to her knees in snow. rhys made the frame the photo is in out of scrap wood he found in the same backyard where it was taken.

☆ ELLIOT DUNSMORE. ( @elliotxdunsmore​ )

for elliot, rhys spent several months at the beginning of the year collecting wood from finn’s junkyard to repurpose into a bookshelf he built by hand out in the back yard and kept locked away in the shed to hide from his brother for the few more months it took him to build it, working on it for an hour or two here and there when he could. it isn’t wrapped because rhys isn’t sure he wants to fight that battle, but the shelves already have a few books on them, old ones rhys found of elliot’s when he was digging through their childhood things at their pops’ house.

☆ CORA STANLEY. ( @corastanley​ )

for cora, actual days are spent trying to decide on the right gift. christ, he hasn’t had a girlfriend in how long? he’s rusty, and he doesn’t want to make too grand a gesture ( and he’s not sure how well his wallet could manage one ) but he doesn’t want to disappoint her either, because she deserves something she’ll love. he eventually settles on a necklace, something small and simple that she might be able to wear every day if she wanted to — a fourteen karat gold chain adorned with a tiny bee charm. it’s kept in a small box on his person christmas day until the right moment under the mistletoe arrives that evening and he can gift it to her along with a kiss.

☆ EMMA STANLEY.

for emma, a small stuffed bear with a baby blue cowboy hat to match the one he’d gifted her at the rodeo, and it holds an envelope containing a hand-written coupon good for either one afternoon spent playing games with rhys and her mom at snake eyes or one movie night at the drive in as soon as the weather’s warm enough. in light of the gift she gave him for christmas, it doesn’t feel like enough — he’s only a little bit embarrassed to admit that the drawing of the three of them standing on the lawn outside of cora and emma’s house, all holding hands, was enough to make him tear up in the moment when she gave it to him and actually break down and cry hours later in his truck, pulled into the driveway, after he’s left christmas dinner at the stanley house.

☆ ANGEL O’CONNOR. ( @angeloconnor​ )

for angel, a hand-bound leather journal embossed with an ornate celestial design and featuring an onyx stone set in the cover to match the lighter case he got her for her birthday and a set of pens to go with it. the journal is empty, save for a note written on the first page by rhys reminding her that he’s always there to listen whenever she wants someone to talk to, but now she’s got a couple hundred blank pages for when she doesn’t. ( or when she just gets tired of talking to an old man. ) the bottom of the page is filled with shoddy doodles of snowflakes and what were supposed to look like snow angels but turned out more looking like crime scene outlines, and of course, love your brother from another mother, rhys.

☆ FINN O’CONNOR. ( @finn-oconnor​ )

for finn, a bottle of redbreast twelve year and a set of four new whiskey glasses. they’re nothing fancy and didn’t set him back too much for the whole lot, but rhys did take one of them in to a very kind older woman who occasionally runs a stall at the rodeo in the winter who personalizes gifts — typically leather or metal, so it was a long shot that she’d even be able —  and found that she could etch a monogram into the glass for him, so it’s engraved with his initials and a shamrock, and he’ll always know which one’s his when any of the rest of the south side hooligans come to bother him.

☆ DANNY ANDERSON. ( @danny--anderson​ )

for danny, a crewneck that still remains wrapped in his living room, a gift he’d gotten danny before their fight. he hasn’t seen him since, and fuck if he doesn’t miss his best friend, and he’s honestly tempted to just show up on his doorstep with the poorly wrapped, vulgar sweatshirt as a way to start to try and mend things with him.

☆ DJ ANDERSON. ( @dougie-anderson​ )

for dougie, a copper japanese tamagoyaki omelette pan. it’s small and strange looking to rhys, who hasn’t the slightest clue about cooking, but he knows he did see a youtube video of a guy rolling an omelette with a very similar pan and talking it up, and it seems cool, so he goes with it anyway, pairing the gift with a six pack of a citrusy IPA and a note that he’s gotta break the pan out next time they do brunch or something... is brunch too fancy for the southside? rhys doesn’t know. it’s just an excuse to drink at his favorite meal of the day.

☆ DUSTY ANDERSON. ( @dusty-anderson )

for dusty, rhys didn’t actually have a gift planned and was probably going to offer him a six-pack of beer. until the drunk bastard stumbled into his yard and smashed his beehive one night not long before christmas, that is. in return, rhys decides to get him a small breathalyzer on a keychain so he can carry it around with him and make sure to stay the fuck out of rhys’ yard when he blows a little too high.

☆ SOFIA SILVA. ( @sofia-silva​ )

for sofia, a handmade wooden boot rack for her mud room that he built over the summer and has spent the past several months trying to convince himself not to give her early because he’s actually really awful for that. it’s hand-delivered to her house with a bottle of wine and a hug a few days before christmas, and a promise to come visit her even more in the new year.

☆ STRIKER CANNON. ( @strikercannon​ )

for striker, a carton of marlboro reds and a twenty-four pack of beer that he picked up on sale at the liquor store. it ain’t much, but rhys knows it’ll at least be enough to hold him over long enough to have a couple of good nights. or maybe one really good night, knowing striker.