Summary:
Ban has been fretting about the perfect gift to get Shido for Christmas this year. What he ends up giving his mate is not anything like what he expected. And where did Kazuki get that picture? This is a companion fic to my stories To A Beast's Heart and Crying Onions. Mates! Verse
Disclaimer:
Firstly, I do not own anything pertaining to the storyline of The Get Backers, nor do I own any recognizable characters from the show. I only own this story and any characters I have made up for it.
Secondly, if you do not like male/male pairings or any of the pairings in specific, I respect that but please don't read this fanfic and say mean things about it. As it is fanfiction, it is my personal opinions and likes and I would ask that you respect that.
Thirdly, If you like this sort of thingˌ please do read and review if you wish.
Enjoy! Or not. It's entirely up to you.
Large, crystal-like flakes of snow lazily fell from the sky, the soft light from streetlamps made them glisten and shimmer as the cool breeze swept across the ground. It began snowing late in the afternoon and hadn't stopped since, resulting in a thick blanket of white covering the entire city. Winter had finally come to Shinjuku.
The sun had barely set an hour ago, it still being relatively early in the evening. People wandered down the streets with holiday cheer, bundled up snuggly in their biggest coats. Children eagerly tugged parents from one festively decorated store to another, awed by the pretty lights and colorful displays showing off this toy or that; excitedly wondering what Santa will bring them. Parents scrambled from store to store as they tried to finish their shopping on time and lovers frantically searched for the perfect gifts for each other.
Ban, for the first time being able to say he wasn't single during the holidays for once, was in the process of having a minor freak out. He had absolutely no idea what he could possibly get for his…lover…boyfriend…mate… for Shido.
He was currently pacing a hole into the floor of the apartment above the Honky Tonk café; the interior of which was decorated in numerous, blinking lights and colorful garlands, thanks to the efforts of Natsumi. Paul never decorated his café for any holiday, but didn't put up a fight when the young teenager had begged him to let her instead.
Ban flopped down upon his, well his and Shido's, bed, letting out a loud groan as he dug his hands into his dark hair. His best girlfriend, Kazuki, had shown up a few hours ago, and was now in the process of helping Ban brainstorm possible gift ideas. He was sitting on the spare bed, no longer dubbed Ginji's since the blond moved in with Akabane last month.
"Christmas is this Friday. That's two days away and I still can't think of anything to get him!" he whined in despair as he threw his arms in the air in surrender. They fell back to the bed, one landing on his stomach and the other covering his eyes. "I'm the worst mate ever!"
"Ban, calm down." Kazuki huffed, shaking his head as he stood. "Everyone has trouble shopping for Christmas presents." He sat down on the edge of Ban's bed and patted his wallowing friend's knee in sympathy. "Just because you haven't found something yet, does not make you a bad mate. If it makes you feel better, I wasn't able to find the perfect present for Juubei until just yesterday."
"Really?" Ban lifted his arm just enough to see Kazuki's face, a hopeful look upon his own. Kazuki gave him a reassuring smile and nodded.
"Now," the thread user scooched himself down to the end of the bed, lifting one leg to curl under him as he settled with his hands clasped together in his lap. "Explain to me again, why you rejected everything we considered."
"Okay." Ban nodded, sitting up against the pillows. "Where do I start?"
"Well," Kazuki sighed as he thought a moment. "Why don't you want to get him a watch or a necklace, or some other form of jewelry?"
"Shido doesn't like wearing jewelry, at least anything other than his pendant."
"Okay, how about some form of clothing?"
"This is our first Christmas together and I want to get him something special, clothing just isn't good enough. Besides, he has too many clothes as it is." He huffed waving an arm towards the nearly overflowing dresser in the corner.
"I see."
"It would be pointless to get him some sort of pet, because he brings home so many strays already. I can't get him a car or something, because I'm way too broke and I already have my Ladybug, so it isn't like we don't have transportation. I don't want to get him something he can't use, like dishes or something stupid like that. He doesn't like using technology, so it would be pointless to get him a new phone. I can't…" and he continued for another twenty minutes before Kazuki finally leaned over and grabbed one of his arms, stopping him mid-rant.
"First off, I can see you've put quite a bit of thought into this, probably more so than most people would, so I can't understand why you think you're the worst mate ever." When Ban made to argue, Kazuki held up a hand to silence him. "Secondly, have you thought about using your Art of Imagination to visualize the perfect gift?"
"Kazuki, you're a genius! Why didn't I think of that?" Ban smiled excitedly, jumping from the bed to start pacing again, but this time in excitement.
"I'll leave you to it, shall I?" Kazuki chuckled fondly at the Jagan user and stood more calmly. He tucked a stray hair behind his ear as he walked towards the door. Ban paused in his happy musings to turn to his friend.
"You and Juubei are still going to Monica's Christmas party tomorrow, right?" he questioned and the feminine man nodded in subdued excitement.
"Of course, we wouldn't miss it for anything. Sad that Ginji won't be there, though."
Ban nodded in brief sadness before he shrugged a shoulder. "He didn't want Shido growling at, and me yelling at, Akabane the entire time they'd be there so they went to America for Christmas. He did say he was going to bring us all back souvenirs, though."
"Well, as long as he has a good time." Kazuki nodded and grabbed the door knob. He paused after he had the door open just a crack and turned back towards Ban. "You know, you two will have to get used to Dr. Jackal being around eventually. He is Ginji's boyfriend after all."
"That's going to be a very long eventually…" Ban snorted. "But I get your point."
Kazuki didn't say anything more, but he did give Ban a fond smile before he turned back around and made his way down to the café, shutting the door behind him. Ban shook his head and got up from his bed. He walked over to the small table by the door and picked up his phone. He flipped it open and saw Shido had left him a text saying he was almost done shopping and would be back soon. The store wasn't more than a fifteen-minute walk away, so that didn't give him enough time to do anything more for his present hunt today.
He sighed and put his phone back down after sending a quick, 'See you soon,' in reply. He turned and made his way to the small kitchen to start tidying up as he waited for his mate.
Author's Note
Hello, all of you wonderful, GetBackers fans!
Yes, I've got yet another Shido/Ban story for you! Woop, woop!
I decided to combine the make-out picture gift idea with another that popped into my head the other day. It will be about five parts and set after To A Beast's Heart, like Crying Onions, but a bit more into the future as CO was set about mid-summer and TABH about late spring. I recommend reading the other two as well. :)
I was researching the GetBackers and one sight I looked at said Ban had an ability called The Art Of Imagination. Even if the site was false, I liked the idea and I'm tweaking the concept a bit to fit with this story. I haven't seen all the episodes or read all the books, so I have never seen Ban use this ability. I'm just going with how I pictured it worked and rolling with it, so don't expect 100% accuracy. :3
I've actually had this story mostly done for quite some time, and just haven't gotten around to posting it until now, so expect relatively speedy updates! :D
Anyhoo, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. If you have any ideas or suggestions, feel free to leave a review and tell me all about it. Otherwise, reviews aren't required but are still greatly appreciated. So, until next chapter!
TTFN
Taric