AS IT WAS.

FULL NAME: Mackenzie Leonardo Walsh  NICKNAMES: Mac, Mackie, Ken (Ew), Kenzie  DATE OF BIRTH: February 14th, 1965 ZODIAC SIGN: Aquarius JOB: Cashier at Blossom Records MAJOR: Music Production  SEXUALITY: Bisexual  BIRTH ORDER: Oldest  PETS: Garfield the Cat  CHARACTER INSPIRATION:  AESTHETICS: Spending hours getting lost in a record store, laying on the floor listening to your favorite songs, waking up early just to watch the sunrise, messy morning hair, the smell of fresh coffee at three in the afternoon, the sound of someone tuning a guitar, smiling at someone as you pass each other, secrets whispered under a blanket of stars, fresh guitar picks, standing outside of someone’s window with a boombox over your head, chewing on the end of your pencil

Mackenzie always felt out of place at this sort of thing, despite being surrounded by his closest friends. The Hollys were the sort of people who would certainly turn up their noses at him on a regular day, particularly Danny and David, but played nice when everyone was watching. He’d never understood the upper crusters of Cherry, and somehow understood them even less now that he was involved with Harvey. How they could have all the resources in the world at their fingertips, and still deprive their children of like... decent parenting was a mystery to him. Especially when Leo had done everything he could to make Mac’s childhood a happy one, despite how hard he had to work, despite how little they had for most of it. 

It’s all this that has led Mac to pouring something a little stronger in his drinks every year since he was fifteen, not too much, but just enough to get through the evening. This year he was particularly heavy handed, needing something to relax him enough to keep his mouth shut around Harvard II. Otherwise, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to hold back the rage that bubbled in his stomach every time he saw the man lately. 

“Is this your card?” he asks, cursing under his breath when the person across from him indicates that it isn’t, “Okay, okay- wait. Let me search my brain... Jedi shit... eight of clubs?” 

Mackenzie always felt a little bit out of place at parties like this. Lux materializing at his side was usually enough to take that fear away, or at least push it down a little bit. The feeling was stronger this year, but he couldn’t be sure if that was due to his former friend’s absence or his newfound attachment to Cherry’s Golden Boy. It was hard not to dwell on it when there was such a perfect scene playing in front of him, Elaine and Harvey’s picture being snapped in front of the Christmas tree. Her mother was beaming, surely longing for the day the two would finally reconcile. Mac was waiting too, though the possibility brought him nothing but dread.

Rory’s voice fades back in beside him and it’s like he’s woken from a trance, cheeks flush from the possibility that his friend had caught him staring at Harvey for just a little too long. “Shit-sorry... I was totally in space for a second there. What were you saying?” 

So maybe Mackenzie had, had a little too much to drink. He wasn’t stumbling drunk by any means, but there was more alcohol in his system than was customary for a party with parents. He was the kind of tipsy that led to a competitive streak and an offensive amount of energy, almost always directed at Miss Freyja Freese. There was a reason Leo hid the board games at his own Christmas bash... legend has it they were still finding game pieces from the Hungry, Hungry Hippo Incident of ‘83 all over the living room. “Ha! You landed on my hotel, again. Pay up,” he chuckles in glee as he taps his finger against the Monopoly board, causing the little buildings and game pieces to shuffle around, “Hey- that’s kind of a good beat. Listen!” 

@macwalsh​

Harvey Hates Holidays! That’s the long and short of it: they’re simple facts and figures. Harvey Hates Holidays. 

It wasn’t always like that: he could remember a time when Christmas being right around the corner was the most exciting thing he could wrap his head around. He’d wake up early to get to Elaine’s for presents. He’d spend the morning mingling with a family that wasn’t his own, and then hurry his way back home to spend time with his own Mom and Dad. He was seven years old the first time he got to scurry down the street to the Archer’s - he was seventeen the last time he did it. Somewhere in between though, after his Mom died, and his Dad got remarried… Harvey sort of just started to resent it all. Where was the holly jolly? Where was the room to be merry when he was so god damn miserable?  Now though, as he was wandering around the familiar Holly halls with a cup of spiked (don’t tell the parents!) eggnog in one hand, and a poorly wrapped, measly little excuse for a gift in the other, he had the strange, nagging little feeling in the back of his head: what if this Christmas was different? “You busy?” It was easy enough to find Mac, with his back hugged against a wall. The room was fairly quiet considering the party, but his words were still soft enough that Harvey thought he might have to repeat them.  “Thought we could hang outside for a sec, or something.” Harvey shrugged, a smile creeping over his lips - though he didn’t dare pull Mac’s gaze any further than his peripherals.

 “Get some air?” 

🎸

Mackenzie loved the holidays. Well, he loved his and Leo’s version of them anyway. The Holly’s Party wasn’t piled high on the list of things he looked forward to during the holiday season, but it always seemed to make Leo happy. After all, his uncle remembered a time when the Walshes weren’t social pariahs- when they were invited to events like this one more than once a year. He remembers the mix of nerves and delight on his uncle the first time they’d been invited, and the spring in his step every year since. So Mac comes to make him happy, even if his Rudolph tie sort of feels like it’s choking him. 

He’s had his fair share of spiked egg nog and he’s buzzing from the inside, enjoying the feeling and the decorations. And then Harvey appears, like an angel or something, illuminated by the twinkle and glow of the Christmas lights behind him. It’s enough to make Mac’s fingers ache from not being able to reach out, though the feeling is becoming more familiar the longer they continue this thing. 

“Yeah, sure,” his smile is as warm as he feels as they make their way outside, and it’s not until they stop that he spots the present in Harvey’s hand, “You know they have a table for those right? You don’t have to carry it around all night. Who’d you get anyway?”