This Broken City Sky

"Alright, Gerard, who's next?" Mike asked out of a momentary silence that had settled. Gerard set his sketch book and pencils on the table he sat next to. He then pursed his lips speculatively, and narrowed his eyes. He shrugged a little.

"How bout Frank?" He grinned over at his friend, who nodded, and pushed himself from his seat on the dresser. Frank retrieved the one small box from under the tree that had his name on it. Oddly enough, it was wrapped with a dark blue wrapper, and a silver bow. Frank arched an eyebrow at it as he turned it over in his hands, then looked around at his friends.

"Someone really loves me, huh?" He smiled lightly, and everyone shrugged, not really knowing who it was from. Except for Gerard of course. Frank stayed standing as he slipped his finger under the wrapping paper, and tore it open. Once the little box was mostly clear of the paper, he tugged it off, along with the bow. Tossing that to the floor, Frank lifted the white lid, and raised his eyebrows at the black watch that sat inside, wrapped around a velvet pillow.

"Gee...Thanks for the Rolex?" He joked, not really knowing what to say as he smiled at everyone. Gerard and Mikey laughed, nodding, "Alright, who can I shower with love?" He said as he took the watch from it's place, and began to fasten it around his left wrist.

"It was me, and to be honest I had no idea what was in there," Gerard smiled, watching his friend look up at him, "I found it as is, so I figured I'd try my luck," He chuckled, and Frank grinned a little wider as he set the box down, "Is it seriously a Rolex?" Gerard asked as Frank sat back down.

"No I'm joking." Frank shook his head, holding his arm out to better look at the watch's flat black face.

"Okay okay, who's next!" Dylan chirped, and finished off what was left of the drink in her glass. Frank looked at her for a moment, then to those who had not recieved gifts yet; Kat, Lily, Dylan and Ray.

"Ray," He looked over at Ray, who was sitting at the table near the Christmas tree with Gerard, gazing around absent-mindedly. Dylan grinned, and looked back at the curly haired man, "Your turn buddy." Frank nodded toward the tree. Dylan set her drink on the table between the beds, and watched as Ray picked up the small bag from under the tree. He picked out some of the tissue paper covering the present, the picked up the rectangular-esque bundle at the bottom. Ray looked around for a second, to observe everyones reactions as he tore the layers of paper away from the gift underneath.

"What!!" He nearly shrieked, a wide smile forming on his face, "Where the hell did you guys find a GAMEBOY?!" He looked around, shocked, then examined the purple plastic game console. Dylan pursed her lips proudly, and shrugged.

"I got way lucky." She said simply, making Ray's gaze snap over to her. Lily smiled over at Dylan as she stood up to give Ray a quick, friendly hug.

"You got lucky?" Gerard raised his eyebrows at Dylan, and smiled faintly, "As far as I see it, he's the luckiest mother fucker in the room!" Gerard held his hand out to indicate Ray, while Mikey and Frank nodded.

"Yeah, you kinda have to let the rest of us borrow that," Johnny said as Ray walked back to his chair, where Frank and Mikey were looking over his shoulder "What game did you get?" Johnny mumbled as he stood up and stepped over to watch Ray fiddle with the device. Dylan just smiled with satisfaction as the boys mulled over the present for a few moments.

"Okay, Dylan, open your present," Ray waved his hand at Dylan half-distractedly, and then looked back down at the Gameboy. Dylan got up from the bed, and snatched the newspaper wrapped box that had her name scrawled across it. It was a slightly large square box, a bit smaller than a garment box. She sat back on down next to Lily, and tucked her hair behind her ears before tearing into the newspaper. When the box was free, she tipped off the top of the box, letting it fall to the floor. After pushing back the tissue paper that was folded over the blue fabric inside, Dylan grinned.

"Eee!" She squeaked, and everyone gave her either an odd look, or rolled their eyes. Dylan picked up the soft navy scarf with tassels on the ends of it, and held it up for a moment, before rubbing it against her cheek, "Mmm this is niiice." She grinned a little, then tied it happily around her neck.

"And you can thank me." Frank smirked a little and focused on Dylan, who raised her eyebrows at him as she pulled her hair away from her neck. Then she stood up, still smiling, and went to give Frank a warm hug.

"Thaank you sir. I love it." She said as they embraced momentarily, then went back to their seats, "Lily's turn!" She trilled, and went to fill up her empty glass with Kat's concoction. Meanwhile, Lily ducked under the tree to snag the two small presents she knew were for her. One was a long oval shape, and the other was a tiny bag-like rectangle. She tore back the newspaper wrapping, to reveal a glasses case.

"You've been whining about the fact that you can't see book prints, so," Mikey said lightly, with an innocent smile bending his lips. Lily looked up at him in surprise, while she opened the top of the case. Inside rested a pair of plain black cat-eyed reading glasses, "Figured you might need reading glasses." Mikey smiled a little wider, as Lily did the same and nodded.

"I do, thank you very much." She turned her eyes over to him as she said this, the picked up the glasses from their case, and put them on, "Dylan, I'm guessing this one is from you?" She said picking up the little bag made of what looked to be magazine paper. Dylan smiled from her place on the bed, and nodded emphatically.

"Indeed it is," Dylan said, raising her glass to her lips, "Kat you're going to have to tell me what the hell is in this, before we part ways, whenever that may be..." She mumbled, her voice muffled slightly by the glass. Kat laughed a little.

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you, yadda yadda." She joked, and by the time Dylan had chuckled in return, Lily had her present opened. She shook the gold ring out onto her palm to inspect it. On the band, was a round, blue cameo, with the ivory profile of a woman. Lily's mouth fell open just a touch and she slipped the ring on her right ring finger hurriedly.

"Dylan this is lovely!" She sighed as she held out her hand to look at the ring. Frank looked over at Dylan.

"She snuck out of the hotel when we weren't paying attention, and went to the mall so she could get better presents than the rest of us." He said quite seriously, and rested his chin in his hand. Even though she had her back facing him, Dylan smiled and rolled her eyes slightly.

"Of course I did. I would risk my life for your satisfaction," She said as she watched Lily in her new presents. Dylan was glad everyone sort of came together to do all of this, "And last but not least!" She grinned at Kat, who raised her eyebrows a little, and looked at Johnny. Then Kat stood up, and grabbed the two presents under the fake tree which was all lit up and looking quite festive. She opted for the first one, which was a parcel about the size of a book.

"This you?" She said to Johnny quietly, as she sat beside him again. He nodded and watched Kat begin to unwrap the gift from it's newspaper wrapping. She took the simple red journal away from the wrapping, and flipped through the lined pages with a faint smile.

"Figured you'd, y'know, wanna. Write some stuff down, keep track of things..." Johnny grinned sheepishly, as Kat nodded, fully agreeing with her brother. She stretched an arm around his shoulders and pulled him into her a little.

"Thanks Johnny." She said quietly, and embraced him fully. Then, setting the journal on her knees, Kat picked up the her next gift, which was in a small bag. She dug her hand into the bag, not bothering to take the tissue paper out, until she grasped the cold ceramic mug. Kat frowned as she removed the mug from the bag, and looked at it curiously. In exaggerated cursive letters on the side of the mug, was written 'New Jersey: the Garden state'. Kat glanced around with a speculative smirk on her lips.

"We drink so much coffee, I figured you could use your own mug." Ray shrugged, with a happy smile. A few chuckles rumbled through the others, and Kat nodded.

"Well thank you very much Ray, I appreciate it." She nodded, and put both of her gifts back in the bag for safe keeping. Dylan sighed deeply, and stood up from the bed to pour herself another drink.

"Soo....Merry Christmas to you all. Are we...Done, is it bed time already?" Dylan smiled, lightly, and looked around at her companions.