Bright, sunny, and mildly cold. Hayner sighed, his breath fogging. Yes, what a wonderful season it was. Too cold to do anything really productive, but not cold enough to use it as an excuse to stay indoors.
Honestly, did all the good stores just have to be outdoors?
Christmas shopping sucked.
Royally.
"Hayner! The store over here looks good, why don't we check it out?" Olette shouted across the street, filled with people trying to get in some almost-last-minute-but-not-really shopping done.
He was about to protest when Roxas nudged him on his way to the other side of the street. "I suggest you listen to her, Hayner. Who knows what she'll do if we don't get our asses over there now."
Hayner processed the thought quickly before scurrying over to the other side, deciding that, no, he did not want Olette to kill him, and, yes, she probably did know what she was talking about.
The three of them had gone shopping for one purpose - to find gifts for their "more manly" halves. Apparently Pence already had Olette's gift, and Axel was just procrastinating. Hayner didn't know where Seifer stood, but Hayner knew that he would be getting something, be it present or blood.
They walked into the store without much fanfare, only brushing the little snow they had on their shoes off before falling into a crowd of people browsing for the "perfect gift". Or maybe just something to placate an angry girlfriend.
Make that boyfriend, Hayner thought, shuffling to the corner of the busy store to look for something. Not as if anything was really wrong in his relationship with Seifer, but it never hurt to get a good Christmas present, right?
He was pulled out his thoughts with a sharp whack to the head. "Focus. I made you come here for a reason, and I'm not picking the present for you."
Hmm. Maybe Olette really was evil under that goody-two-shoes exterior.
He grumbled as he made his way to the less populated back of the store. There were lots of books, but a certain rack caught his eye.
I think I just found the perfect gift.
XxXxX
Hayner sneezed as he walked in the door of his apartment. It had gotten colder and snowier as the day progressed, and they had stayed out for a while, even though the actual shopping had been done for a while. He even had a now snow-filled bag to show for it.
At least the present was only a bit wet.
Seifer turned away from the TV for a second, only to have his attention drawn back to the latest news story about the record cold temperatures affecting Twilight Town. "You were out for a while. Have fun?"
Hayner snorted, leaving his scarf and coat at the door. "If you could call being dragged halfway across town and freezing your ass off "fun", then yes, it was fun."
He saw the corner of Seifer's mouth twitch slightly before it turned back to his neutral face. "See, this is why I don't leave anything to the last minute. Too freaking cold."
Hayner plopped down on the sofa, stealing his boyfriend's half-eaten instant dinner. "Mmm, but then you don't have time to doubt your choice. If you do it earlier, then you have all that time to think "Maybe I should have gotten something else?""
Seifer grabbed his dinner back, using his fork to skewer a piece of pasta. "Sometimes getting something done and over with is better than getting caught in tons of stores packed with people doing the same thing you are. Make your own food if you want to eat," he said, the last part with a forkful of linguine alfredo in his mouth.
"Why make my own food when I can just eat yours?" Hayner asked almost innocently, trying to get the fork.
"Because I deserve actual food that isn't cake today?" Seifer shuffled away from his (still cold) partner, switching the fork to his left hand.
Hayner stared at the scar marring the other's face, trying to think of why Seifer would have been eating cake all day. The larger of the two sighed. "Raijin and Fuujin made me this huge cake and forced me to eat most of it. There's some in the fridge, if you want it." After a minute of silence, he raised an eyebrow. "You know, cake? What people normally eat on their birthdays?"
It clicked, finally. "Today's your birthday…?" Well, kind of.
Seifer laughed. "What, was my hint dropping too subtle? I only had it written on the calendar for, what, the whole month?" He was amused by this, obviously.
Hayner gave him a disbelieving look, "You have a birthday?"
"I'm pretty sure everyone has a birthday, Hayner."
There was a pause, then a scramble for the wet bag he had been carrying around for the better part of the day, all the snow already melted to leave the present practically dripping. So much for the tissue paper. "Umm, I think I should give you this, then. Don't think this means you aren't getting an actual Christmas present! It's just, umm..."
Seifer accepted the wet gift, the paper practically oozing off it. "It's fine. Now, what the hell could be so heavy and floppy?" Hayner bit his lip, waiting for the present to be opened. He had thought the present was perfect at the time, but now he wasn't so sure. Would it be appreciated, or…
A chuckle was all he needed to snap back to reality. He saw his present, now covering Seifer's head. "They still make these?" he asked, trying to adjust the wet tuque to cover all his hair, like it used to.
All the nervousness had been thrown away when he hear the fondness in the other's voice. "Apparently so. It was in the back of that knick knack store that sells the struggle bats, and I thought "why not", since your old one had worn out and all."
"Thanks. This is much better than having an entire cake shoved in my face." Seifer adjusted the "ore" kanji so that it was right over his forehead, where it used to be, and kissed Hayner. "Did you really have to get it so wet, though?"
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
This was fun~ I don't know why, but I like the idea that Olette is really sweet, but if you don't listen to her, something not-so-great happens.
Gahh I suck at writing character! That's why I like short and sweet - there's not much you can screw up with only two sections. And tuques are awesome-er than beanies. Even though, technically, they can be classified as the same thing.
