Steven Grant / Marc Spector (Fandom High)

It was a busy day all things considered. Steven and Llewellyn went out for Chinese food for lunch, making sure to bring back some of Marc's favorite things for him to enjoy later.

Then at sundown the first night of Hanukkah began. They kept dinner simple, given the big lunch. As was typical, Steven and Llewellyn mostly took care of the observances with Marc only being glimpsed in reflections if one was paying close attention (and knew better than to indicate he'd been noticed).

Then Steven and Llewellyn retired to the living room. It wasn't terribly cold out but there was a fire going in the fireplace all the same. The nights ahead were going to be busy, so they'd decided to exchange presents that evening.

Steven put three wrapped gifts for Llewellyn down on the coffee table - two from him, one from Marc. There was also a wrapped gift for Raphael.

"Ready when you are," Steven said, once that was done.

[for the beau]

It was the second night of Hanukkah, and regardless of whether or not one celebrated why not share food?

As such, a handwavey message had gone out to the residents of the Midnight Manor Boarding House that there was going to be food available that evening for anyone who wanted some.

Steven was involved, so of course even in spite of anyone else's efforts there was far more food than was needed. But it was at least somewhat reasonable in its offerings.

There were latkes with traditional toppings of sour cream and apple sauce, but also options like wasabi, honey, and marmalade. There were also stuffed mushrooms, garlic hummus, falafel bites, potato knishes, tostones, and malanga fritters.

Steven had not worked alone, however. So thanks to Llewellyn there was also a selection of soft pretzels, loaves of challah which were braided much more neatly than the same attempt at last year's Hanukkah gathering, freshly prepared matzoh ball soup, and a small selection of wine bottles complete with handwritten notes as to which wine paired best with each offered food item. The notes were in Llewellyn's handwriting, though, so it would be understood if anyone who wanted a drink needed to actually ask for help to know which to pick.

And it was possible that someone who lived in the building had added an order of brisket sliders to the mix, but he'd deny it if you asked him.

For dessert there were the traditional sufganiyot with jelly, but also versions with vanilla cream or lemon curd. There were also Cuban style buñuelos covered in anise caramel.

All of the food was set up as a buffet in the dining room of the boarding house. Where possible, there were vegan and non-vegan options for everything complete with signs indicating which was which, along with ingredient lists in case anyone needed to be aware of allergies. The majority of the food had been catered, so there was also moddable typical party fare though given the nature of the event nothing like bacon wrapped scallops yanno?. There were also moddable non-alcoholic drinks available in addition to the wine.

There were plenty of plates, cups, and silverware set out, and of course napkins with an adorable happy sufganiyah on them because why wouldn't you use those again if you had the opportunity? Look at how cute it was!

There might also be mistletoe floating around. That had nothing to do with the food, that was just Fandom being Fandom.

Steven, for his part, was fussing over the presentation far more than was necessary. He was currently adjusting the position of a sign he'd written which said Free food with no costs or obligations, nor expectations of a return. Help yourself! He'd yet to find a place he felt satisfied with. It was possible he never would.

Other than getting Steven to stop worrying, all that was left was for the residents of the boarding house to stop by if they cared to.

[for the residents of the boarding house to stop by if they care to. up early for SP justice!]