So in between me playing Dota 2 and being distracted by school I found sometime to actually write something, its not my usual manner of cold surroundings and despair everywhere, I thought it would be good to take a break from that for a bit. I'm writing another longer story, but I'm trying to go all through, to get all the kinks out and to make sure it has a plot before I begin posting any of it, though when I do, you'll know.

When I was much smaller than I am now, I used to lay on my back and stare up at the ceiling, dreaming. Dreaming normally of nothing in particular, but sometimes I would let my mind wonder, and it would take me to a world of pure fascination, a world where nothing was familiar and everything had the warmth of a new embrace. As I became older and older, I would chase this sensation higher and higher. It led me to dark room and days alone in the cold, but I was astounded, astounded with something that could never become old. It made me feel complete and I never regretted it. How could I, when it was all I ever wanted?

But, alas, as it is with ever chase, every dosage, it becomes ever harder and harder to achieve, and there became less and less time for others. I neglected friend and family, and relinquished my time to trying to discover that feeling once again. My friends quickly took note, and I quickly found that I had fewer than before, this continued until the numbers dimmed into the single digits. I very rarely left the house now. Though I never regretted, chasing the feeling...

My thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of quiet stirring. I turned to see my roommate, a once homeless person, shifting through the fridge.

"Black?" He asked, scratching his back lazily. "Did you drink all the milk again?"

I scowled. "For the last time, I don't drink milk. I'm lactose intolerant." I turned to face my roommate, N. "I haven't drank milk in years."

N. scoffed, a reaction he learned from me. "You drink milk, just not from a bottle. Ice cream, mac' and cheese. You drink more milk than me." This was actually true, but this was due to my childhood in which I hadn't realized that it bothered me, although I did eat these things a lot less often now.

"Just shut the fuck up and eat your cereal." I said jokingly.

N. laughed heartily. "How can I eat cereal when you drank all the milk, mofo?" He giggled. "Did I use that right?"

I laughed before shrugging. "Who knows, but that's enough for one day, you're going to taint my train of thought."

N. still giggling, shuffled his way over to me. He began dancing while holding his bowl of cereal in my face. "Guess who cant eat it?" He laughed taking a spoonful. "You!" I couldn't help laugh at his antics, and with that simple gesture he killed my book writing mindset.

I closed my notepad, sighing inwardly, knowing that I was never going to finish this book.

"So what do you want to do today?" He said as he took a seat next to me.

I shook my head. "I have no idea."

"We can go bother one of your neighbors, maybe… Laura?"

I glowered at him. "Fuck Laura, I can't stand her on a good day."

N. frowned. "She isn't actually all that bad… and I thought you said you would stop. So what will you punishment be?"

"'F' Laura then, and what punishment?" I replied, frowning back.

"That's cheating. You know the rules." N. got up and placed his bowl in the sink.

My frown deepened. "I made the rules." Simply put, I did. As a result of N. living with me, he began to speak as I did, and to keep us from escalating each other we promised to stop cursing so much everyday and if we didn't we had a punishment. Although it normally came back to bite me.

"So you should know them, and I think you know just what I want." N. smirked devilishly at me.

I shook my head. "No, I'm not wearing that I don't care what you say." I had no intentions of doing that.

"Whoa, whoa, chillax my boy. I wasn't thinking about that, jeez."

I frowned at him, as he took my speech and mangled it. "You make me regret talking sometimes." I wiped my face with my hand, and realized that I was sweating. I sighed, and took of my second sweater.

"I'm not going to dignify that with a response my good sir. Good day to you."

I shook my head at the stupidity that could be N. sometimes. "N..."

"I said good day sir!" N. whisper-yelled laughing. He face quickly straightened out. "Though I'm serious, you know exactly what I want. I don't want you to be wearing anything."

I was slightly confused at this, but upon reaching understanding, I blushed.

"Ah, so you do get it!" He pinched my cheek. "Very good, so when we come home, yes?" I blushed some more and while nodded in agreement.

"You're the weirdest person I know." Though that was a small list, N. was definitely on the top by a margin. "Oh and by the way, what do you want for Christmas?"

N. looked a bit confused. "What's that? Is that when people burn all their old clothes?" I gave him a very strange look. "No, no, I know. Gary and I were talking about it the other day." He began snapping his finger in an attempt to remember, another habit he picked up from me. "Ah, I know." He said, pointing at me and smiling. "People buy each other gifts. That's it, right?" I nodded, smiling at how alike we had become.

"So what do you want, and don't say me. That one isn't fair."

N. paused, thinking. "I'm not sure. I've never really had to think about it before. What do you want?"

I actually hadn't thought about it either. I shrugged, and N. frowned at this. "I don't know." I clarified.

"What's Secret Santa then?" N. asked after a while.

"People buy secret gifts for each other and exchange them later and you're not supposed to know who it came from… why do you ask?" I replied, absentmindedly.

"Well, I got you, so, hm, but... Gary gave them out to everyone in the apartment building and you got Laura."

I groaned. "Laura? Why? Why didn't Gary just take her for himself and mail her a picture of his junk."

N. laughed. "If I remember correctly, we have to show off what we get." I rolled my eyes at this, excuses excuses.

I sat frowning for a bit. "Well, I guess we should go shopping then." I frowned slightly more.

"The two of us? But I need to get gifts for you too. How is that going to work?" N. exclaimed, as if it was impossible to keep anything secret from me.

I frowned at him. "We are not going to be together the whole time. I'm going to get some perfume for Laura and maybe a card or something stupid. You don't have to come with me the whole way. If you see something interesting you can stop and we can meet up later."

"Hm." N. veered. "I suppose, but no cheating, and that means no looking for it either." I rolled my eyes again and nodded. "You promise?" I nodded. "Alright, then."

We promptly left the apartment and headed out to the street. We began walking off towards the commercial district. I made it about two blocks before N. had dipped off somewhere. I frowned before laughing, I knew he couldn't stand the idea of me being anywhere near him when he was buying a gift for me. I continued on though, I still had to buy this gift for Laura.

I quickly made it to the perfume store, as I entered a soft chime rang and I inwardly cringed. I looked around. I honestly had no idea what I was doing here, or what I should be looking for. This was perhaps the one store in which I actually need assistance. None came to do so however and I was left staring at bottles on a shelf, wonder what made them smell the way they did. I remember someone saying something once about ox urine? How that would be appealing is beyond me, but whatever, its not for me.

"Besoin d'aide, Madame?" Came the silky voice of N. from behind me. He had placed his hands on my shoulders and was now standing behind me.

"Where did you come from?" I asked, contemplating cursing.

"Je suis sur la route, ne voyes-vous pas?"

"N. speak English, I don't know that language. I'm not as cultured as you."

He paused, which meant he must have been thinking. "I actually don't know all that much myself. If you're looking for perfume, why not smell it? If it smells attractive to you, then don't you think it would work for her?"

I thought about this before responding. "Have you ever seen me go on a date with a woman?"

N. laughed. "I suppose you are right. Tell you what, I'll smell it on you, that sound better?"

I frowned at him. "Have you ever gone on a date with a woman?" Though I was not actually sure about this, it was possible.

"I have actually, before you though. Didn't enjoy it so much. They aren't always as much fun. Though you do have your moments." He frowned absentmindedly, before smiling at me. "So whenever you are ready."

"How romantic." I scoffed. I did have my moments. "Regardless." I picked up a random bottle and sprayed a tad bit on my inner wrist before holding it out for it to smell. He frowned and waved my hand away. "I'm guessing that's a no." N. simply nodded. I tried another and he had a similar response. "Not even slightly better?" He shook his head. I sighed.

We moved down the line a bit and I sprayed another. "That one makes you smell gayer than you look."

I laughed a bit. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I'm joking, you started it." He giggled. I laughed again and sprayed another. "That one isn't that bad. I'm not really sure."

"Ugh, why is shopping for women so hard?" N. smirked at this. "i don't want to hear anything from you. Is it good or not?" N. nodded.

"Its passable, but I'm not sure which its going for. The smell is confusing."

"Eh, that's good enough for me." I went to go pay for it, while N. looked at some more perfume. I met N. at the door. "Do you want to keep looking."

N. shook his head. "I found what I was looking for. You are surprisingly easy to shop for." I suppose that is a good thing, although I did not know how to take that.

We return how shortly, with N. laughing at some joke that I have just told. We settle down on the couch, when N. gives me a particular look.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that for? What is it?" I asked, simply.

"Why do you always act so new at this?" N. placed a kiss on my cheek. "You remember what I said earlier, yes?"

I did in fact. I very well did.

"I stopped N. as he was about to kiss me again. "You're going to have to romance me a bit more than that, hot stuff, to make up for what you said earlier."

"I don't know what to say, my type of person doesn't take gay as an insult. Never the less there are times you look more so. Like when you are bent over-"

"Alright, I get it! Yesh. You don't have to be so descriptive with it." I whined, as he lifted me up in his arms. "So demanding," I giggled.

"Demanding? You should hear yourself anytime other than now." He remarked as he carried me into the bedroom.

The next morning I attempt to write my book again, but inspiration was harder to find than ever. Today was in fact Christmas, and I had woken up early just so I could get the jump on N. I sat here, in the early morning hours, freezing, quite literally, as I scribbled in my little notepad. I knew N. would wake up soon as he never stayed in bed long after I did, something about him missing my heat, or something along those lines. I could hear him shuffling now, into the kitchen to make himself a bowl of cereal, as was his norm.

"Merry Christmas!" I whisper-yelled out to him.

"Why are we whispering?" He whispered back, "We are in our own house... and Merry Christmas to you too."

I ignored this, there was no reason we shouldn't be whispering. N. shuffled over and settled into the couch, yawning the sleep away. I could hardly recognize his gentle face and familiar green hair in the dim lit, but it had a certain quality to it that allowed it to stand out in most situations.

"Do you want to open your present?" I asked, quietly breathing.

N. nodded. "Sure, why not?" I smiled at this and handed him the somewhat small box that his present was contained within. He opened it slowly to reveal a hat, crafted by yours truly. It was white and had his name, or initial, stitched into it. "Hm, brilliant. What does the 'N' stand for? Oh, right, never mind." I laughed at this and handed him the scarf that came with it. It was pretty much the same as the hat, but I felt like they made a good fit.

"Thanks," He let out simply. "Now I don't have to freeze to death every time we go out to eat." He put both garments on and reached behind himself, pulling out a smaller box then my own. "Here." He said, handing it to me.

"I wonder it could be." I unwrapped it slowly, trying to guess what it could be. I pulled out a small metallic container, that held some type of… fluid? "What is it?"

"Doesn't it seem familiar." I looked at it again and it turned out to be a vial of perfume.

"You got me some perfume? And isn't this one you said smelled terrible?"

"I was lying. To be fair, I had already bought it and then when we in the store I smelled it on you. I couldn't let you buy it for Laura, not when I got it for you. Do you like it?"

"You do know they make cologne, right?" I asked sarcastically.

"Have you ever been on a date with a woman?" Based on this response I couldn't tell if he understood I was being sarcastic or not.

"No, your point?"

"Women like smelling cologne, and men like smelling perfume." N. remarked.

"That's a pretty general statement."

"Well, I bought it because I like how it smells on you, is that better?"

"Its passable, not really sure which one its going for." N. frowned at me, until we both broke out into giggles. "I like it, its good."

N. slide down to join me on the floor. "I also got something for the both of us." He pulled a basket of bathing goods from around the couch. "Let's spend the rest of the day in, yes?"

I wasn't entirely sure how to end this, or what exactly to include, though it made me feel good to write again. I'm getting back into the swing of things so please be patient, and I'm also going off to college next fall, so that will take a lot of my time. I'm planning on a dual major, so I can work on both my passions. Anywho, I felt this one needed to be more upbeat and happy. Consider it an extension to ITMOD(MD) where their relationship has developed some more, I might do some more in this style, but I'm not entirely sure. Anyway, PH. Out!

If you see any glaring errors please feel free to let me know, I would greatly appreciate it.

Ps: In the perfume store, N. says 'do you need any help ma'am', and 'I was down the street, did you not see?'