A Christmas Dilemma by littlelinguistme
Written for Kai Kai, who brings so much joy to her neesans~ Happy Christmas/New Year!
Disclaimer: Please don't sue me. All recognizable elements belong to Gosho.
Shinichi was loading his presents into the car when Shiho rounded the corner from their garage with neatly wrapped boxes stacked by size. Wait a minute...Shinichi stood and inspected her bundle more carefully.
"Don't just stand there and stare at them; hurry up and give me a hand Kudo!"
He gave her a weird look, momentarily forgetting what caught his attention. "Are you ever going to stop calling me that? We've been married almost two months now and all..." Meanwhile, he took the biggest box from his wife.
"I'll call you what I want, husband." The unimpressed tone she used at the end somehow gave him the impression that his jokes had gone stale. Ahahaha… Tough crowd, he pouted and focused on making enough space in the trunk to fit her boxes. He got the biggest one in next to his and squinted at them. They're exactly the same… size?
As Shiho tossed her other four presents into the backseat, Shinichi took his gift out and placed it side-by-side with hers behind the car.
He noted while he lifted them out of the trunk that the two packages were the same weight as well as height, length, and width. Disregarding the haphazard manner his was wrapped, and completely ignoring the definitively more glamorous wrapping design of Shiho's, the similarities were too many.
A thought struck him pale as he stared and panicked at what to do. They were due at the Professor's house in 20 minutes and even if they had time, it was Christmas Eve. There was no way anywhere respectable was open at this hour.
"Hey, what's taking you so lo-" She stopped short at the sight of the two presents for Genta placed side by side and put two and two together. "No… you didn't."
"Well technically, you did too..." he added unhelpfully.
She closed her eyes and sighed trying to figure out what to do. "Mine's for Genta; is yours-"
"Yeah."
"Great." Shiho went up to Shinichi's gift and shook it as if by some miracle of god, she would discover that their gifts were different after all. Please let it be a false alarm, a coincidence courtesy of common packaging.
It wasn't.
Shiho tried one last time. "I got him a-"
"-deluxe limited edition everything eel-flavored snack set? Yeah, me too."
There was a beat of silence while the two contemplated the ridiculousness of the situation they were in.
Shinichi cracked first, laughing "how did this even happen? Like the odds of two people getting the same someone this very specific limited edition flavor box is so low, I mean-" He laughed in awe.
"How did you know about this box set?"
"Most likely the same way as you, the magazine in the bathroom." Each turn of conversation had them smiling more and more.
Shiho quipped, "I didn't know you read those."
He shrugged, "I mean, sometimes, it takes only once."
"I knew I should have ripped out that page the minute I saw it."
"This is so surreal. Honestly." As soon as he started laughing, Shiho gave in too. It was completely absurd.
"I mean, Genta's got very specific tastes pffhahaha"
Shinichi caught on "Eel be so pleased then!" With a great grin on his face, Shinichi moved over to his wife and put an arm around her. He squeezed her affectionately. "You've got an eelectric wit, wife mine."
Shiho leaned into his embrace, rolling her eyes. "That as it may be, what are we going to do? When we just give him mine, he'll think you think less of him."
Pulling away, Shinichi retorted "why are we giving him your box? Mine is perfectly fine!"
"Mine is wrapped way better, you cannot be trying to contest this."
"First of all, define 'better.' All it needs is to be completely covered and I think I did a great job."
Shiho gaped at him. "Are you saying you'll let him hate me instead? What kind of man did I marry that he lets his wife take all the blame."
"Sorry," he muttered.
She leaned up at him, making sure to press her chest against his side and dramatically batted her eyelashes. "Sorry enough to return your present and find another in the next 15 minutes?"
"Not even close," he said while thinking Shiho's been spending way too much time with my mother.
Shiho untangled herself from Shinichi. "You're the one with deep enough pockets to make it happen this last minute."
"We're married. My pockets are your pockets, wife."
"If we're married, how is it neither of us noticed the other buy and bring back the same snack set? How did neither of us see the other wrapping it, Mr. Detective?"
"What do you mean if we're married?! We are married!"
Shiho determined not to give in. She'd already gotten a thoughtful gift and she had neither the time nor the energy to find another. "Why don't you just buy him another gift? It was my magazine we got the idea from so it's my gift that he gets. You copied me."
"He'd probably rather keep both, let's be real."
"Huh?"
They both looked at the two packages sitting in their driveway and then back at each other and then back at the packages. In unison they cried, "Give. Him. Both!"
They were in awe at the ludicrously simple answer. Shinichi spoke his thoughts aloud so Shiho could follow along his logic.
"If we give him both, we could do it like a gag-gift? Just put the one out and let him be sad he only got one present? An-"
Shiho interjected, "Why are you trying to make him feel bad?"
He waved her off. "He'll be doubly happy in the end, don't worry. We'll give him that-"
"Mine, we'll give him mine."
"Fine, okay. We'll give him yours and wait for him to ask me why I didn't get him anything and then we'll bring it out."
"Do you think he'll be okay getting so much eel?"
Shinichi snorted and answered, "Let's just hope doesn't get eel eating it all at once."
Shiho rolled her eyes once more and moved to put the presents in the car. They were going to be late to Christmas dinner. Before she could reach down however, Shinichi was already there pulling the presents away from her and shooing her away.
"I've got this," he said with a wink. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and started the car.
This was their first Christmas as a married couple and, she thought, it wasn't half bad. If this is how all their Christmases went, she'd count herself very blessed indeed.