A/N: Super belated, but I'm working on finishing up the final 6 days of Ficmas.

No prompt, theme was Gift Exchange.
Ben and Armie are somewhere within my mid-2000's modern emo kid AU.

And suppose there were cold nights but we somehow made it through

Some might say it's physically impossible to portray nonchalance while gifting someone a handmade item for the holidays. Those people hadn't met Ben Solo. There should have been an art form dedicated to the carefully controlled sneer that he mustered up as he chucked the silver and blue wrapped parcel across the car seat.

"Here," Ben squeaked. He cleared his throat and glowered at the radio rather than making eye contact with his… with Hux. They hadn't said anything to one another about swapping gifts, but then again they hadn't not exchanged them last year. So this year should have been the same.

It was no big deal, clearly.

Hux's fingers gripped the steering wheel tightly. "I don't have mine yet," he admitted hoarsely. There was no movement from either boy.

"I wanted to try and find something perfect. You know. Nothing too basic and stupid," Hux added after waiting for a response. Why was he being so stubborn about this?

Truth be told, they were both more than a little… difficult when it came to actually acting on their emotions. Neither had actually confirmed that they'd moved past just friend-gifts. Even while making Hux's present, Ben had vehemently refused to think about it as any different than the Hot Topic gift card he'd bought for Phasma.

Ben shifted in his seat and stared further out the slowly fogging windshield. "It's whatever. I know it's early," Ben grumbled. There was over a week and a half before winter break started. He'd just been impatient about getting the gifting out of the damn way.

Hux's hands finally dropped down from the wheel, and he ran his thumb over the silver ribbon keeping the two pieces together. "I'm going to open it now, then?" Hux said. Ben wanted dearly to continue staring straight ahead, but he couldn't ignore Hux's slow, careful motions as he peeled off ribbon, tape, and paper to open his gift.

They should have left the radio on or something. There wasn't anything else to keep Ben from noting every one of Hux's breaths. There was no dramatic inhale; no surprised exclamation.

Well, of course there wouldn't be. It was just a whatever mixtape he was opening now. "They're all punk covers of pop songs," Ben explained as Hux flipped the CD case over to look for a tracklist that wasn't there. The librarians there had long since banned him and Hux from using the color printer, so the jewel case was empty otherwise. "It's pretty much the only tolerable way to listen to friggin Bye, Bye, Bye without killing yourself."

Hux bobbed his head. "Sure, yeah." He was focused now on the frame underneath. Ben twisted to look out the windshield again. The fog had coated the rest of the view. He could see old smudges where they'd played hangmen while waiting to pick up Phas. Hux clicked on the dome light to look at the other present. It was a photo print from one of their excursions over the summer. Ben had found the only picture of just the two of them: the pair standing refusing to smile in front of the beluga whale tanks at the city aquarium. But Hux had leaned over just slightly to touch shoulders and below, out of frame, their pinkies had been twisted around one another.

"Just thought you'd want a copy," Ben breathed.

"I do," Hux replied immediately. "I'm- I didn't even know this had come out. I forgot you'd brought that dispos'ble."

No amount of staring at nothing could keep Hux from leaning over the center console to wrap one boney arm around Ben's neck. He tried to kiss him, missing by an inch and recoiling just as quickly.

"Thanks," Hux muttered hurriedly. He busied himself with throwing the paper and ribbon over into the backseat. Ben's face warmed. As Hux started the car up again, Ben reached to cross the barrier between them to take Hux's hand in his.

A/N: This is Day 7 of my "12 Days of Ficmas" event. There's a mix of fandoms, but if you're interested feel free to check out the other pieces in my profile.