Are You My New Best Friend? [closed]

[ccecilia]

"You look so pretty, Aunt Sissy-"

Cecilia glanced in the mirror, the large crown sitting haphazardly on her blond hair, still damp from the shower she only had five seconds to take before her niece started crawling into her make-up. She laughed, tugging Madeline into her lap, adjusting the miniature matching crown

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[george_goesboom]

George wouldn't have gone so far as to say he was nervous about meeting Cecilia's family. Excited, definitely. Maybe a tad giddily anxious. But it was nearly impossible to be nervous when a four-year-old with, if the anecdotes Cecilia had shared about her niece were even half true, a penchant for fairy wings and things that exploded had anything to do with it. While he was certainly also looking forward to meeting Holden, possibly the only other person besides Daphne whose approval with regards to his relationship with Cecilia he cared about, he had to be honest - he was mostly just preparing himself for a play date.

He had made a pit stop at the store before heading to Cecilia's that morning to grab a handful of the newer styles of sparklers they had started including in the deluxe kits (all pink, obviously) and, as a last minute addition as he spotted it on his way out of the door, a glittery, silver toy wand, semi-functional in that it let out trails of sparks, showers of glitter, or flurries of butterflies, depending on how it was twirled (popular with little girls, not so much with parents who found themselves facing plagues of glitter and spark-singed furniture).

George met the opening door with an immediate grin at the sight that greeted him, Cecilia looking all manners of ridiculous and adorable in her elaborate paper crown. Then a tinier version of ridiculous and adorable jumped out in front of her, and he couldn't help the double-triple take he did between the two, eyes flicking up and down between them.

He recovered from the shock of the uncanny resemblance in just a split second, flashing Cecilia a quick smile before kneeling down to get on Madeline's eye level, a contemplative, scrunched look on his face.

"D'you know, Madeline is a pretty weird name too. I don't think I've ever heard it before either. Must be that only really awesome people get to have weird names."

[ccecilia]

As George crouched down, Cecilia hung back, her hands hanging on the edge of the door as she leaned against it. Her eyes followed him, her lips quirking into a bright smile as he so easily got down on Madeline's level. She had no doubts he'd be alright around her, knowing he had more than a handful of nieces and nephews himself.

Still, seeing him with her brought a little flutter to her chest.

"Mommy and daddy have weird names, too," Madeline said, smiling. "And Aunt Sissy- but mostly cause I don't know how to say her real name and so daddy says I can call her Sissy-"

Cecilia laughed, her hand reaching to tug at the sleeve of Madeline's sweater.

"Alright, love, let's let George inside, yeah?" she asked.

[george_goesboom]

"Obviously that's much better than her real name, anyway," George nodded with a smile that matched Madeline's before Cecilia's tug interrupted and he straightened himself back up, the smile twitching into a teasing smirk as he turned his attention to the taller of the two blondes.

"Hey Sissy," he finally greeted her, instinctively pressing a light hand to the small of her back as he leaned in to place a quick kiss on her cheek. "I like that crown on you-"

[ccecilia]

"Don't worry, I'm sure Madeline can make you one," she told him, skin feeling warm at his kiss. She couldn't help but give his hair a little ruffle as he leaned in toward her. "Among all the other things she's got for you, isn't that right, kiddo?"

Madeline was already darting back to the pink polka dot knapsack hanging from the edge of the kitchen stool, rummaging through it with a determination that Cecilia thought of as oddly familiar.

"I made you a friendship bracelet-" she called out, voice filling the flat in a way that caused Holden to wince. "Aunt Sissy told me you would like red and gold-"

"It's a little welcome gift-" Holden explained, coming from behind the counter, wiping his hands on a kitchen towel before moving toward Cecilia and George. "We've all got them-"

As if to prove that point, he lifted his arm to reveal two rainbow bands. Edin and Cecilia mimicked the movement, both with colorful bands of their own.

"It's good to meet you, mate," Holden said then, reaching out to shake his hand.

[george_goesboom]

George followed Cecilia in toward the kitchen, the entire flat ringing out in such a simultaneously strange and familiar way, the smell of cooking batter and clatter of pants and the additional crowd bringing an unexpected Burrow-like flair to Cecilia's usually quietly lovely place.

He watched with continued amusement as Madeline rushed to her bag with the sort of darting energy only a child that age could ever really pull off.

Unexpected and adorable as that declaration was (then again, two minutes in and he doubted Madeline's ability to be anything but hilariously loveable), Holden's explanation was really what had George's eyebrows shooting up and settling with a sort of endeared shock, his expression all but screaming 'awwwwww' as he glanced back at little Madeline, still furiously searching for that evasive bit of custom jewelry.

"Yeah, you too," he nodded, solidly shaking Holden's outstretched hands. "Edin, I'm assuming?" he added, turning to the woman who had taken over pancake preparations behind the kitchen counter.

[ccecilia]

Edin sort of half-saluted, hands tinged with flour from the pancake mix she'd taken to preparing, some sort of custom creation that had Cecilia half-way rolling her eyes when she had a perfectly good box of mix in the pantry. But then that was before the was a promise of chocolate chips and banana.

"I would come and say hello properly but I'm on cooking duty-" she said, her American accent tinged with Boston. "I did want to thank you though, for those fireworks Ces brought for Christmas- had our neighbors in a freaking fit- it was awesome-"

Cecilia laughed.

"Oh, Merlin, I'd forgotten all about that-" she said, shaking her head. "They might have thought it was a bomb dropping-"

"Got it-" Madeline's voice broke through a she triumphantly pulled the red and gold braided bracelet from the inside pocket. "I used Daddy's wrist to fit-"

She came scrambling back toward George and Cecilia, holding it out with both hands.

[george_goesboom]

George tipped a similar salute in Edin's direction, the usual quirk of pride creeping in his smile at the mention of the arsenal that had made its way across the pond.

"My pleasure-" he laughed, though before he had a chance to press for details (if there was anything he loved more than a good explosion, it was the reactions to a good explosion), Madeline was busting back through the conversation going on above her head.

He crouched back down to meet her, balancing on the balls of his feet and holding his arm out to her with a giddy excitement that very nearly matched the tiny bouncing girl's as she displayed the band of twined red and gold.

"That is the best friendship bracelet I have ever seen, and I am never take it off again," he told her with an emphatic nod.

"I miiight have something for you, too-"

[ccecilia]

The squeal that emitted from Madeline's lips was enough to rattle Cecilia's ear drums, Holden once again wincing at he glanced down at his only daughter. The excitement was palpable as the little blond bounced on her feet, almost forgetting the bracelet entirely as it balled up in her fist. Cecilia moved toward her, taking it from her gingerly, the excitement a bit too contagious as she watched them both.

"Really? Really?" Madeline asked. "Mommy I told you George was going to bring me presents-"

"That was very nice of George," Edin commented. "Especially since they can mess up Aunt Sissy's place this time-" she added with a wry smile.

"Well, what do you say, Maddy?" Holden asked.

The distinct smell of pancakes and maple syrup came wafting toward them now, Cecilia's stomach grumbling slightly.

"Oh right- Thank you- thank you, thank you, THANK YOU-"

[george_goesboom]

George barely even flinched at the glass-shattering pitch of the sound that came out of that tiny body, conditioned as he was to weathering the worst kind of screams courtesy of two girls blessed (cursed?) with a mix of Weasley tempers and Veela heritage. Vicky could screech like no one's business, and he was fairly certain he had witnessed Dominique reach a pitch that went past the human spectrum into a range only dogs could hear.

An excited squeal was nothing-

"Ah but you don't even know what it is yet. Except- hm- I smell pancakes. Do you smell pancakes? Presents should probably wait until after pancakes, right?"

[ccecilia]

"That's the best idea I have heard all morning-" Cecilia cut in, eyes gleaming as she raised her eyebrows at her favorite (albeit only) niece. "Come on- let's eat first before we run George wild, alright?"

Madeline huffed a breath before nodding, holding her arms up.

"Fine-" she replied. "I guess maybe I'm a little hungry-"

"Kid, I can hear your stomach growling all the way from here," Cecilia argued, moving to scoop her up, swinging her around as Madeline let out a wallop of laughter. "Didn't you say you weren't going to eat like twice as many as me?"

"She did- which I'll believe when I see-" Holden cut in, already putting out the plates on the kitchen table.

Cecilia turned to George, her features softening as Madeline clung to her shoulders.

"You hungry?"

[george_goesboom]

George laughed as he straightened up and watched Cecilia snatch Madeline off the floor, the girl's laughter ringing out as she swung her around.

It had been clear just hearing Cecilia talk about her niece just how much she adored the girl, but it was a whole different thing to actually see them interacting. Eerie physical resemblance aside, this was a whole new side of Cecilia he was seeing, one that was sweet and playful in a different way than what he had gotten used to, the way she connected with her mini-me so endearingly natural.

It was only when Cecilia turned to him with a question that he realized he had decidedly been staring, most likely sporting the type of googly eyes that had been earning him endless teasing over the past few months-

"Starved," he answered finally, blinking himself out of his daze, a quick smile tugging at his lips as he glanced between Madeline and Cecilia, then turned to Edin's flour-spotted presence in the kitchen as she put together the impressive stack of loaded pancakes. "Those look incredible, by the way."

[ccecilia]

Cecilia caught the look that had slipped across George's freckled features, the kind of dazed glance that she'd seen a few times before, the one that always caught her right where she stood, her chest tightening in a way that made her feel a little dazed. She shifted Madeline against her hip as a wide smile tugged at her pink stained lips.

"Edin's our resident chef-" Cecilia said, before finally tearing her eyes away from George to move toward the kitchen table. "She can cook anything-"

"Thank you, both," Edin said, finally coming around from the counter, the plate balanced on one hand before settling them down in the center of the table. "My husband seems to think he can make 'em better but I've yet to see that-"

"Why take it away from you-" Holden told her, pressing a kiss to her cheek before plopping down in his seat.

"Is there banana in these, mommy?" Madeline asked as Cecilia brought her down into the seat with her, her niece settling in on her lap before turning to face George. "Bananas are my favorite-"

[george_goesboom]

George followed Cecilia to the table, taking the seat next to her as he watched the exchange between the other couple, following the back and forth with an amused smile, the whole exchange entirely too reminiscent of the sort of the teasing he was used to hearing tossed around the Burrow.

Seeing that sort of familiar lightness bouncing around Cecilia's flat was both hilarious and completely charming.

He angled himself slightly in his seat, turning back to Madeline with an exaggerated look of shock. "No way, bananas are my favorite. Is there banana is these?" he added, glancing back up at Edin with a questioningly hopeful look to match the tiny blonde's.

[ccecilia]

The look that flashed across Edin's face was enough to make Cecilia try and stifle her laughter. It was an exasperation only a mother could have (at least Cecilia assumed, seeing as she didn't have all that much interaction with her own) as they both stared up at her with a shockingly similar wide-eyed look.

"Yeah, bananas-" she said, shaking her head with a slight eye roll, though a smile crept across her face. "And chocolate chips too, Maddy- just like you requested-"

"Ugh, you're the best mom ever," Madeline said before turning to George with a wide smile. "We got bananas!"

She plopped down with a sigh right beside Holden, shoving her husband's shoulder as he moved forward to start piling a few into Madeline's plate.

"So, George- how's the store going?" he asked. "Has it slowed down a bit since the holidays?"

Cecilia leaned back as she watched the interactions buzzed around her. She couldn't explain it, but she felt an odd sort of warmth creep into her skin. It felt good to have people in her flat, laughing and teasing, especially when they were her family- George included.

[george_goesboom]

"And chocolate chips," George nodded at Madeline triumphantly, holding his hand out against her proportionally dwarfed one for a quick high-five before the pancakes in question being stacked on her plate earned her full attention.

"Hm? Ah, a bit, yeah. Slow is pretty relative, but we're not complaining," he shrugged, as always unable to keep the hint of pride creeping into his voice at the mention of the store.

A joke shop it might be, but he and Fred had built it from the ground up (with a little help from a friend, who had, over the years, continued to stubbornly refuse repayment, but who similarly stubbornly had been banned from ever approaching the checkout lanes, free to walk in and out with whatever he pleased), and he'd put more effort and focus into it than just about anything else he'd ever managed to invest in in his entire life.

"Same old madness. Which, speaking of, I hope there wasn't too much property damage to deal with since Christmas on my account," he added, hardly any actual guilt tinting the laughter through which he spoke.

[ccecilia]

As George spoke, Cecilia reached forward to help cut up the pancakes for Madeline, her arms cradling around her little body as she all but bounced in her lap, some mantra of pancakes, pancakes passing quietly through her lips. She couldn't help but let her eyes flicker back toward him, though, the same beaming smile of pride settling on her face whenever George spoke about the store.

"Oh, nothin' we couldn't handle," Edin said, pointing her fork at George, a piece of pancake stabbed on the end. "A much better alternative to that stupid headless hat thing- scared the hell outta me last year-"

"Made for a really great holiday card, though-" Holden spoke up, tilting his head. "My sister has a way with gifts-"

"Just doing my duty to make your life a living hell while we're separated by an ocean-" Cecilia offered with a bright smile.

"If he's your boyfriend, does this mean he's going to like be my uncle?" Madeline whispered- though, considering her decibel level was off the charts as it was, it was an exceedingly loud whisper.

One that left Cecilia with wide eyes as she turned to look at George, suddenly deciding she absolutely needed to eat something in that moment, stuffing a piece of pancake in her mouth as she shrugged.

She tried to avoid the stifled laughter coming from her brother and sister-in-law.