Disclaimer: I do not own the character Pickles. He is a main character in this short fic. Although I do own the OC, Alyx.
If you've read any of my previous fics you'd know that the couple in this fic Alyx and Pickles have been together for a while. I hope you enjoy the short story. :)
The Price of Love Reads Priceless
If you know Alyx you'd know she was a person who loved gifts. Sure, receiving gifts was fun but the real hoopla was giving them. Well, for her anyway. Perhaps, it was because of that giving heart she had. Surely it had to be. Her excitement for giving gifts was... criminal. She looked at it as a way of showing someone how well you knew them. Especially for days like this. Today. Well today was special. Quite special. So special, she'd been counting down the day three months before. Which was the beginning of the year. Her excitement for today was naïve in her lover's eyes, reason being that he actually didn't know, well remember what today was. Disappointing really. She was carrying a black, medium sized, gift bag behind her back until she reached the bedroom door.
The excited young lady walked into the room quietly closing the door behind her. She realized the skinny, redhead was on his bed falling asleep. She felt bad having to wake him... Oh well. Still hiding the bag behind her, she crept up to him closer.
"Pickles." she whispered softly, she got no response.
He continued to lie there on his bed peacefully, lips slightly parted, he snored lightly. He'd just finished watching TV obviously. The remote was laying on his slight beer belly, rising and falling with every breath. His arm hung off of the bed nearly touching the floor, he was lay awfully close to the edge. Although this would make an adorable picture to upload to FaceFriends, she woke him. Aww. The dark haired girl closed the door up, forgetting to do so once she came in. She closed it ever so gently, it wasn't loud enough to wake him yet, he jumped up quickly as if she slammed the door. He turned so that his feet would reach the floor as he rubbed his sleepy green eyes.
"Alyx?" he could barely tell since the light was off. The only light in the room was coming from his TV. Alyx flipped on the light in the room and quickly hid the bag again. He hadn't noticed. Phew.
"Hi Pickles."
"Hey, why aren't ya at rehearsal? What time is it? I thought ya had rehearsal today."
She ignored his question and sat next to him dropping the bag on the floor behind where she sat, still he hadn't noticed. Aw, come on!
"Why aren't ya at rehearsal? Ya' know ya shouldn't be missin' day when yer tour is right around the corner." he nagged.
"It was postponed." she lied.
"Why?" he asked, raising a pierced, red brow. Alyx reached behind her, grabbing the gift bag and revealing it to the confused drummer.
"Happy Birthday!" she shouted.
All Pickles could do was smile and shake his head.
"Wow, heh. Thenks. But, it's nat my birthdey." he said.
She grabbed his phone from the nightstand and showed him the date. Defeated, he sighed and gave her a weak smile.
"Okee, maybe it is my birthdey. But, it's nat important to me. Heh, obviously that's the reason I fergat in the first place. I mean-" he was cut off before he could finish by her shushing him.
"Well it matters to me. If it weren't for thirty-seven years ago today, I wouldn't have met you." she smiled her blue eyes lit up when she saw him laugh a little and smile at her.
"Haha, alreet alreet. Thenks." he scratched his beard. His green eyes watched cautiously as Alyx put the black bag in his lap. He raised one of those pierced brows again but this time not in confusion but in shock. She motioned for him to open it. He winded his wrist first, twisting around his wristbands, Alyx assumed his wrists were hurting or something. She said nothing. His pale hand removed everything from the bag sitting it on the bed. The first thing he grabbed was the birthday card.
Pickles open the birthday card. It was originally black on the inside but she pasted a picture of the two of them and wrote some things in white colored pencil. The picture made Pickles smile, it was a photo of him and Alyx. It was taken last summer, when Charles let the band take a break from work and take a vacation to Knott's Berry Farm. On the side it read,
"Remember this? The day we all went to Knott's Berry Farm. You, me, the guys… Oh and Charles. We all broke into groups. Although, we weren't together then we looked like a couple. Don't you think?"
Pickles smiled "Yeah." he whispered.
Under the picture it said,
"Alright Red, I'm getting to the point. I remember you asking me for that picture. So, here you go... Happy Birthday. How does it feel to be 37? Boy, you're knocking on 40 pretty hard huh? I'm joking babe. I love you. Happy B'day and I hope you have many, many more to come. With or without me. (Heart A)
PS: When it comes to you there is never a limit. You're one of a kind. So I got you some things that reminded me of you. Original. No one can ever say they have something just like them. So, OPEN UP! Love you!"
Once he'd finished reading he closed it and smiled at his girlfriend.
"Thenks babe... I love you." he said and he meant it. It was nice to find someone who truly cared about you.
"I love you too. Now, I really can't wait to see the look on your face when you see what you got! OPEN IT!" she bounced happily. He giggled a bit at her enthusiasm and grabbed the box she'd hoped he'd grab first. She wanted to save the best one for last.
The box wasn't exactly thin but it wasn't that thick either, a bit long in length. The box was white sealed with a silver ribbon that held the box close. He shook it and smiled. Finally, Pickles removed the ribbon to expose the inside. Inside was a red, black and silver, 6", automatic switchblade. Pickles' smiled was almost larger than his face, he pressed the button making the blade swiftly pop out. The blade had been about 2.75" long.
"Is dis the one I was lookin' at, at the gun store that day?" he asked smiling so hard his checks hurt.
"Nah...It's better. See, look at the other side of the blade." she answered proudly.
When flipped it he saw that it Pickles engraved into the blade. He gasped deeply. He immediately closed the blade and gave Alyx a nice bear hug. She hugged him back once her arms were free enough to do so and kissed his cheek. He was so happy, he could barely speak.
"Oh my gahd... Th-thi-. This is amazin'! How'd you do this?" he honestly didn't want to know it was perfect. But that seemed to be all that was coming out so, oh well.
"You're wonderful. I love dis. I really do!" he shouted happily. He continued to examine it. This was one of the best gifts he'd received... EVER! Last year, Toki made a model airplane. It was called the PickleJet. It totally fit his style, he told Toki he would get his own personal jet and it'd look just like it. Then they shared one of those awkward brotherly hugs and walk away. Boy, did that make that kid proud. The other guys never game him anything it was usually,
"Hey. Isn't it your birthday?"
"Yee-uh..."
"Oh, okay see you at rehearsal."
"Yee-uh okey."
But at least they remembered right? Pickles' emerald eyes meet hers, she could tell there was something he wanted to say. She knew him well enough to even tell when the guy had to fart. That... That was love. He couldn't put what he wanted to say in words. She figured, so spoke to break the silence.
"Here... If you liked that gift. You'll love your other one" she smiled placing it in his hands gently. This case was smaller than the last, this one was square shaped and wrapped with a red and black bow. Once he removed it, he found and extravagant piece of jewelry. His mouth dropped open. Alyx smiled confidently she knew this would be his favorite of the two. He picked it up out of the case so that he could get a better look at it. It was an 18" gold rope chain necklace with a golden pendant. He noticed what the extraordinary pendant was... It meant something. The pendant was in the shape of a fist with two drumsticks in between the fingers making an X. One of the sticks had his name on it in really small Moussaieff red diamonds. Pickles blinked repeatedly, he knew he must've cost an arm and a leg, those diamonds. Yep, they don't come cheap. He looked at her speechless.
"How much was all a' this? The gold, diamonds, the personalization on the blade?" He asked.
"It doesn't matter. Love has no price tag." She said calmly.
"But this obviously does." He responded.
"When it comes to you limits are nonexistent. Now... Shall I help you put this on?"
He smiled, "Yee-uh."
Alyx grabbed the necklace and put it around his let neck examining how it looked on him. Perfect, she thought. It looked exactly the way she imagined it. When she sat down he grabbed her olive hands, holding them in his pale ones and smiled. He pulled into a very sexy, yet passionate kiss and whispered,
"These are some great gifts. But yer the best of 'em all. I love you"