Claire and Hershel's Christmastime
Disclaimer: I do not own Professor Layton and the Unwound Future.
However, it did make me cry.
"Hershel, wake up! It's Christmas morning!" Claire said, shaking me out of bed. I yawned and rubbed the tiredness out of my eyes, then sat up to face Claire. She wore a red Santa hat and elf pajamas I bought her the last week.
"Good morning, Claire." I said, greeting her like a gentleman. She rolled her eyes at me and pulled me out of bed, over to the Christmas tree in my living room she bought me. It was a large tree, and only a few needles had fallen off. Claire was always the one to want to celebrate these holidays, and I was just along for the fun of it. She was a great girl, and I loved her with all that I was. As I walked over to the tree, I saw double the gifts that I had put there before. Of course, Claire had outdone herself again. "Clairie," I said, using the pet name I had given her oh-so-many years ago. "You didn't have to…" She sat next to the tree, pulling out a gift and handing it to me. It was a rectangular box, and it said "HERSHEL" in all capital letters. I smiled and sat next to her, digging through the pile to hand her a gift of her own.
"Thank you." She said as she began tearing through the paper. I decided to follow her example and carefully tore through the paper of the small rectangular box. It was a car, the kind I collected. It was a very rare automobile model from the 1800's, so rare that I had no idea how she got a hold of it.
"Claire, this is amazing. Thank you." I said, hugging her in thanks. "In fact, it reminds me of a puzzle…"
After solving my Christmastime puzzle in a breeze, we resumed to sharing gifts. This time, it was my dear Claire's turn to open a gift I got her. Let it be known that I'm not really the type of man that knows what it is that women like when it comes to gifts. However, asking Claire outright what she wanted would be the exact opposite of what a gentleman would do. So, I did a bit of detective work, trying to figure out what Claire would want. All I could do now was hope that she would like it. Watching as she carefully tore away the paper from the box, she uncovered a box, larger than the one she gave me, but made of wood and ornately decorated. It had been a very slow process to hand-carve the box without her seeing, with me having to take out the box when she was late coming home from University. The flat we lived in together was pretty close to both of out campuses, but Claire being the overachiever she was, she always had questions for her professor and the like.
"Hershel... This is beautiful..." she said, lifting up her glasses as to really see the box.
"It was nothing, really. I must have my hobbies," I said, smiling at her. "Anyways, there is something inside the box as well." I said, scooting a bit closer to her. She opened the box and gasped.
"Hershel!" she said for the umpteenth time that day. She removed the small bracelet, a silver cord with glass beads strung on it, all in various tones of Claire's favorite colors. Green, blue, and purple. "It's so beautiful... Thank you, my dear gentleman." Claire said as she wrapped her arms around me, enveloping me in the moment. I would forever remember that moment, and I hugged her back. As she pulled away from me, she looked up. "Mistletoe." Claire said, gesturing to the ceiling. I stared at her in shock. She wasn't the type to do this kind of thing... Yet she was. Laughing silently to myself, I closed my eyes and let our lips meet.
"Merry Christmas." I said, bringing my lips back to hers.
A/N: Yay, it's longer! Like? Dislike? Please let me know. Should I add an entry for each holiday? Strictly ClairexLayton. I ship that pairing more than anything else.