#but hey they're volunteer run and donate all their money to various charities

[billpottsismygf]

So, I own three copies of A Christmas Carol. A couple of weeks ago I only had two - my pretty hardback one and the one in the Wordsworth collection of Dickens' Christmas books - but then I was in my local second-hand bookshop and I spotted the Penguin edition of collected Christmas writings by Dickens, which I had perused online already. I took a picture of the contents page, went home, cross checked whether there was anything in it that I didn't already have in other editions, found that there were a couple of tiny pieces that I didn't, then I went back the next day and bought it.

I felt a little silly for this, but now it's the edition I'm using to read along with A Dickens December (it was the copy closest to hand) and I'm really pleased I bought it because it's got lots of notes along with the text.

Some of my favourites so far include the fact that Dickens' original draft went on for several sentences about how much of a stupid 'poser' Hamlet is; that the bit about driving a coach in the stairwell was referencing a speech by a particular politician; and that Marley not having bowels is a pun on literal bowels, the belief that emotions were located in the bowels, and the 'biblically derived' bowels meaning of mercy or tenderness.

[softquietsteadylove]

So, it's Christmas time and i thought about something cute that would match the little interaction between Thena and Jack. Jack would have loved Gil and his food. So maybe Gilgamesh is helping Jack to bake some cookies and other sweet things for a Christmas charity event at Jacks school. The earned money will go to poor families and their children, who cannot afford buying Christmas presents. So Gil and Thena, obviously, and Ben and Phastos are there, at this charity event, watching (and maybe helping) Jack selling the self-made stuff to nice people.

I hope you feel better and less stressed. No one needs Christmas filled with stress and discomfort. It should be a time of joy and making other people and yourself happy.

Once again i want to thank you for your work, for your stories and your kind words. You're a special person, bringing so much light to the people in this fandom. Thank you. 🖤✨🎄

"Will you two stop feeding each other cookies!"

Thena and Gil both barely looked at Phastos, caught up in sharing cookies one bite at a time until they would inevitably end up kissing. Thena licked her lips, "it's only one cookie each time."

"Thena, I swear to-" Phastos huffed but cut himself off. He knew damn well that not only was it futile to argue with his sister, especially over something like this, but also that they were here for more important things.

"Hey, I made them," Gil complained loudly before kissing Thena even louder again. "I get to use them to lure my wife into kissing me as much as I want."

"Jack made them," Phastos corrected his incorrigible siblings freely, "you two canoodled the whole time."

"Actually, Dad, Uncle Gil made them," Jack corrected, completely oblivious to how he was betraying his father. "I helped measure some of the stuff, but Aunt Thena and I mostly decorated them."

Yes, Thena had been giving only white icing and very specific instructions. If given red frosting at all, she tended to start illustrating various injuries on the gingerbread men.

Ben turned away from yet another sale, putting away the profit in the name of charity. "Leave them be, Habibi."

"They're eating the product," Phastos reminded his husband with a hand on his shoulder, "it's not good business practice."

"Thank you," Jack smiled as he sold another cookie to another bake sale goer. He looked back at his family, "it's okay, Dad. Uncle Gil said he that he would make extra just for this."

Of course he did. Phastos rolled his eyes before glaring at his brother, "you are the worst, y'know that?"

"Hm, I can't hear you," Gil laughed. He was far too immersed as Thena raised another shortbread to his lips, letting him take the first bite. She leaned in for the second, and once again, by the third, he was kissing the buttery crumbs off her lips for her.

Phastos shook his head, instead looking down at his son, "how are things lookin', buddy?"

"I think we're almost there," Jack smiled, looking into the box provided by the school to keep their earnings in. They would all be compiled together into a water cooler jug and then donated to the appropriate local resources to help those who couldn't buy gifts for this season.

"We're very proud of you, Jack," Ben smiled at their son, running a hand over the boy's hair. "It was a great idea to volunteer for the charity bake sale."

"Well, I knew Uncle Gil would help with the baking," Jack admitted sheepishly.

"Hey, I would have helped you," Phastos frowned.

"Yeah, but Uncle Gil's cookies are the best."

Phastos sighed, patting his poor, weathered heart, "gets me every time."

"He's right," Thena stated proudly, much to her brother's further frustration. She leaned over her nephew's shoulder, admiring his riches. "Is this sufficient?"

"I think so, and we're almost sold out!" Jack grinned at their increasingly sparse inventory. "I knew they'd be popular."

"Everything Uncle Gil makes is popular," she smiled at Jack, patting his shoulder in a rare instance of physical affection.

"It's a wonder we got any sales with you two back here makin' out the whole time," Phastos turned on them again, batting Gil with his scarf in substitute of snapping a towel at him.

"Jack wanted us to come!" Gil laughed, swatting away the scarf easily. "And I told him expressly there would be kissing."

"They're always kissing," Jack shrugged as he sorted the money in their box properly. "I'm used to it by now."

Thena made her way back to her husband's side, grabbing the end of Phastos' scarf and taking it for herself. "Now that this is done, is it technically your winter break?"

"Yep!" Jack turned to his Aunt with a grin, having told her excitedly that once he was officially on Christmas break from school that he wanted to do all kinds of things with her and Uncle Gil. "Can we still build a giant hill to go sledding on?"

"Anything you want," Thena responded instantly her sweet nephew.

"Yes!"

"Excuse me," Phastos frowned, still reaching for his scarf and still being denied. "What giant hill is this?"

"Dad, it's fine," Jack pouted, already whining about his father's habit of overprotectiveness.

"Yeah, I'll be there," Gil shrugged, letting Thena wind Phastos' scarf around his neck instead. "And she won't let anything happen to him."

Phastos knew that, of course, but he still had very strict rules about Jack's feet leaving the ground and for how long.

"Let them go sledding, my love," Ben attempted to placate his husband, pulling him over for a kiss of their own. "We have last minute shopping to do."

"You're right, you're right," the Genius Eternal sighed against his husband's shoulder. They had a few last things to pick out for Jack, a few items Ben insisted he wanted to get for Gil and Thena (despite Phastos' insistence that they neither needed nor deserved them).

And Jack specifically had requested to get something for Aunt Thena all by himself. Which they would let him do, but they were going to go today to scope out exactly what to steer him towards given the time and budget they had.

"Fine, just behave like adults," Phastos snapped his finger and pointed at the couple once again canoodling. Thena glared at him, in the middle of using his scarf to pull Gil towards her again. It was Gil's scarf, now. "Human adults, please."

"Yes, sir," Gil gave him a mocking salute, which only increased Phastos' dread. They brought Jack over to the teachers supervising the event, just until he was finally free to join them again.

"Hm?" Thena tilted her head at Gil as he rubbed her back idly.

"It's cute," he shrugged, watching their brother and his family from afar, "all their little traditions."

"Isn't it?" she sighed, leaning against his shoulder as if they were curled up in front of a fire, and not sitting in uncomfortable, state-funded plastic chairs. "Jack seems happy."

Gil rubbed her arm. Her utter adoration of their nephew continued to make his heart throb in his chest. "Do you want any presents?"

"Presents?"

"Yeah," Gil grinned as she looked at him with those big green eyes. "All this talk of them has me thinking about it, I guess."

But Thena happily snuggled right up to him, even loosening the scarf around his neck enough for her to poke her head in with his. He eagerly pulled her right into his lap in return. "You're the only gift I need."

"Aw," he cooed, making her laugh in his arms, "being around humans makes you so sappy."

"You don't think it's being married to you for hundreds of years?"

"It can be both."