[Author's note: This is an old piece I wrote in 2010 for my friend. It's just a short fluffy piece with low quality, but I decided to upload it here in any case in hopes that someone will find it at least mildly entertaining :3 ]
A silvery watch laid beautifully on the black velvet cushion inside the opened royal purple box. The precious metal surface was shining, the clock face was simply, albeit skillfully, decorated, and as far as one could tell it was showing the exact right time.
A face was pressed against the shop window, accompanied by a hand on either side of it. The warm breath soon fogged up the window, but was quickly wiped away by a gloved hand. The large blue eyes moved from the wrist watch to the small, white paper next to it displaying an array of numbers, and a sigh escaped through the boy's lips. Finnian lifted his head from against the window and put his hands back to his pockets. The watch was definitely too expensive; there was no way he could afford it with his salary. Feeling disappointed, he continued his way to the next display window, but soon forgot his negative feelings as he saw the brightly decorated window showcasing the most lovely items. Encouraged by both the sight of the items and the sight of the price tags, he hurried inside the store and almost bumped into a larger lady who was on her way out of the store. After having apologized tear-eyedly numerous times and having gotten told off, however, he managed to get to the men's clothing department. Excitedly he fiddled pretty much everything that came across, as carefully as he could of course, as he didn't want to break anything. One of the scarves laid on the display table had the loveliest texture and was as soft as a baby's bottom, but thanks to it's bright yellow and orange colouring Finnian decided to leave it there and move to the next aisle. What he found next was a row of neckties of different colours and patterns, and Finnian had to admit he had never knew that many kinds of ties actually existed! The sight made him lose the track of time as he browsed the articles. Black one - very traditional and practical, that would be good... A dark red one, that would match his eyes... Or perhaps... But no. Finnian's lips turned to a slight pout. It would be far too boring.
Expecting to see more men's clothing and accessories Finnian walked forward, but suddenly found himself surrounded by different kinds of toys. Letting out a pleased noise he ran towards the wonderland of playthings - but halted right before hugging the fluffiest-looking teddy bear he had ever seen. He hadn't come here to play, had he? That's right, he had an important mission. He couldn't afford to spend time playing. With somewhat disappointed feelings he backed away from the teddy bear, laying one last glance at it. Now that Finnian looked more closer he noticed it had a toy cat sitting in it's lap, and for a moment Finnian pondered if he should buy it, but decided it wouldn't be the same as a real cat, so it would be no good.
A bit discouraged he continued his way, looking around him in hopes of finding what he was looking for. No such thing came across, however, but he was tempted to stop again as he saw a display rack full of bright and cheery colours. What especially caught his eyes was a pair of the cutest pink hairpins with strawberry decorations, but although Finnian thought they would have looked really nice on him, he remembered he wasn't supposed to buy anything for himself today, and so he walked along.
After who knows how long a time of walking around the store and racking his childish brain Finnian still found himself empty-handed. He heaved a sigh and walked to the men's clothing department again, wondering if he should go the boring way and get the tie after all. Before he could get to the aisle with the neckties, however, he noticed something he had merely walked past before. He touched it gently and found it soft and silky, the most pleasant texture - and the colour was right too, black of course - and although it wouldn't make the most exciting present, Finnian thought it was the best he could come up with. Thus he grabbed the box and pranced to the checkout.
It was getting late; young master had already gone to bed, and the servants were preparing to do the same. Finnian peeked through the gap left by the ajar door, a tingling, nervous feeling raising from the tip of his toes up his body. Sebastian was in the hall, fixing the decorations on the large Christmas tree; Bardroy, Finnian and Maylene had decorated it earlier that day, with a tad too much vigour, and thus Sebastian hadn't been quite pleased with the results. Finnian's eyes were fixed on the swift movements of the butler's hands as he turned the tacky tree into something that would please the eyes of even the most aesthetically demanding. Suddenly Sebastian turned to look straight at Finnian and flashed a charming smile. The blonde blushed brightly and hid himself again behind the door, fiddling with the box in his hands. Summoning all his courage he nodded to himself, and then ran from his hiding place to the hall until he was standing in front of the butler.
"S-sebastian-san! M-merry Christmas!" he let out nervously, holding out the present. Sebastian eyed it a moment before taking it in his hands. It was a simple, black box, decorated only with a red ribbon, which he then proceeded to untie. Finnian watched as the butler opened the box and looked inside, and after a moment of nervous wondering of what he thought of it, was rewarded with a smile.
"Oh, how unexpectedly thoughtful of you. Thank you, Finnian," Sebastian said, causing a weird warm feeling start to form in the blonde boy's stomach, and picked up a pair of black gloves from the box. "But it is but Christmas Eve yet; aren't you supposed to give presents on Christmas day?"
"A-ah... yeah... I just wanted to give it to you already," Finnian said and smiled, with a tender blush on his face. Sebastian smiled in his mysterious way.
"Thank you," he repeated. "Is it alright if I start using them right away?"
"Oh, please do!" the blonde said excitedly, happy that Sebastian wanted to use the present he gave him. With no further ado Sebastian peeled his gloves off with the help of his teeth (the sight of which made Finnian blush, although he wasn't sure why exactly), and pulled on the new ones. They seemed to fit his hands as if they were custom made just for him.
"D-do you like them?" Finnian asked, and was replied to with a nod.
"They're perfect," Sebastian said and smiled. "There is something I would like to show to you as a thank you; go put on your coat."
Finnian, although surprised, nodded and did as told; he knew the weather outside was rather cold, so he prepared himself with his warm winter coat, a scarf and a pair of mittens before returning to Sebastian. The butler was waiting for him in front of the front door, and as Finnian stepped to stand next to him, he pushed the door open.
The mere sight of the garden almost stole Finnian's breath away. Not only was everything glaced with glittering snow, making it look like Father Frost had sown all the diamonds from his treasure chest on the yard, but the twinkling stars made everything look so much more magical. Finnian let out a noise of glee, but suddenly felt Sebastian's hand on his shoulder.
"This isn't it, yet," Sebastian said with a smile, and suddenly Finnian found himself on the butler's arms, carried the way their young master sometimes was, although he was doing a far more poor job at keeping himself composed in the situation. Before he could do much more than let out a yell of surprise, however, Sebastian jumped and landed on the rooftop, setting Finnian down next to him. From the spot on the roof they could see the full moon in all its glory, as well as the snowy scenery and the thousands of stars on the velvety black sky that suddenly reminded Finnian of Sebastian's hair. While Finnian was busy admiring the scenery, Sebastian set down a blanket and sat on it, inviting Finnian to sit down next to him. He did so, a bit nervously; but his nervousness was soon forgotten as he remembered the wonderful views before him, and excitedly pointed out this or that to Sebastian, telling how beautiful everything was. Sebastian laughed, sometimes telling him the name of the constellation he was pointing at or explaining to him why the snow made everything glimmer in that way - of course Finnian didn't understand much of his explanations, but it didn't matter. It was very peaceful, and Finnian wondered if he was seeing a dream - he, together with Sebastian on the rooftop, and Sebastian was being this nice to him! Surely, it was just a dream... For if it wasn't, what could explain the fact that he was leaning against Sebastian and neither of them seemed to mind...
Finnian yawned and rubbed his eyes. His bed was nice and warm, and although it's pleasant grip would have prevented many from getting up, it had no such effect on the energetic boy. He sat up and glanced out of the window; the sight of the icicles on the other side of it made him remember what had happened last night - or had it all been just a sweet, sweet dream? The last thing he remembered was the feeling of warm arms around him, and it felt as if he was flying through the air - ah, yes, it had to be a dream. Finnian rubbed his eyes again, ready to get up and begin the day's work, until he saw something on his bedpost, something that hadn't been there before as far as he could remember. He scurried over to it and discovered it to be a red sock. He plunged his hand in it and felt something small and box-like touch his fingers. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be a little festive coloured gift-wrapped box, and as Finnian opened it his cheeks flushed. Quickly he got up and changed his clothes, hurrying downstairs to wish everyone good morning and merry Christmas, happily carrying in his hair the new pink hair clips with strawberry decorations.