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It went very simply.

It was Alec's birthday - he'd just turn ten - so after he'd been dropped off at Andrew's office he walked in and said, "It's my birthday. I want ice cream for dinner. You promised."

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Oh boy. Andrew can already tell this is going to be a long night.

When they arrive back at the apartment, Andrew goes into his office to bring the gifts out -- gifts that he actually wrapped himself, which should be obvious from the slightly crooked corners.

"Which do you want first? There's a larger one I couldn't wrap, but perhaps we should save that for last."

The fact that Andrew actually spent the time to wrap the presents means a lot to Alec. At least once he comes down from the high and recognizes it.

He looks at the gifts gleefully and greedily, shifting from from foot to foot. "Um. That one." And he points to a boxy shaped one.

It's a random pointing because he just doesn't know which to pick.

He hands him the boxy shaped one, waiting for Alec to unwrap it. When he does, he'll find a model making kit. He'd picked it after much deliberation, trying to figure out just what ten year old boys liked. He couldn't remember much from his own youth.

Was Andrew every little?

"Oooooh!" Alec says, running his fingers over the box. "This is fantastic! Wolf had a bunch of these......."

Oh. Shit.

Little in Russia, with no money and no toys. Uphill both ways. No shoes. Stuff like that.

Andrew recognized that Alec could go off on a sad path by thinking about his brother, so he simply shoved another present at him. This one was full of popular records that he thought kids might like, five or six of them. "Here."

Uphill both ways, in the snow, even though it was summer.

Distracted (because he is easily distracted by shiny objects) Alec opens it up and makes another ooing noise. This time it's better because his family didn't have a record player so there's no memories attached there. "And I can play them?"

"Whenever you like, on the record player in the living room. When you're a little older, maybe we can get a record player for your bedroom, too."

Luckily, Andrew isn't one of those parents who hates the music kids these days listen to, so he won't mind Alec playing it. At a reasonable volume.

And luckily Alec is polite enough to not play the music at an unreasonable volume.

"Why when I'm older?" He looks through the records, pleased with the selection.

"Because you have a lot of birthdays I need to find presents for, and that seems like a big birthday present. I already got you one big one, and I think you'll like it better than a record player."

At least he's honest that he wants to spread out his good gift giving ideas over many years. "The big present is in my office, if you'd like to see it."

"Really?" he's intrigued now. "What is it?"

"Well," Andrew said, gesturing to his office door, "Go in and find out."

When Alec opened the door, he'd find a shiny red bicycle, with a big (lopsided) bow tied around the handlebars. Wrapping it had proven difficult -- Alec might have heard some muttered cursing from the office the night before, if he'd been listening -- so he'd settled for a bow. He didn't think it looked too bad, but he also didn't think Alec would care about how it looked. The bike was really nice.

Alec doesn't notice the bow.

All he sees is the bike.

The bike is all that there is.

"It's mine? Really? Mine? I can have it?"

"Of course it's yours. It's your birthday."

He can't help a slight smile crossing his face at Alec's excitement.

He approaches the bike cautiously, like it's a dream almost. It's one thing to have records and the model making kit. It's another for a bike.

Running his hands over the seat and handle bars he laughs. "It's wonderful!"

Andrew hides his second smile behind the casual lighting of a cigarette.

"I'm glad you like it. I know you'll take good care of it."

At least, he'd better.

"I will. I will. I promise." He completely intends to do that.

Then he bounces over and gives Andrew a hug. "Thank you, sir."

Andrew's vaguely surprised for a moment -- though really, he shouldn't be -- but he recovers well, patting Alec on the head and nodding.

"Happy birthday."

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