The Greatest Gift of All

By DeidaraXTobi

Part Two

"You've fallen in love!"

Shinon was not at all pleased with Gatrie's new theory. In fact, he was feeling quite mortified over it. It was much too close to the truth. But he could not, under any circumstances, let this on. Instead, he crossed his arms.

"I'm not in love, Gatrie."

"Yes, you are." Gatrie said, smiling knowingly. "I know all about it, remember?"

For a moment, Shinon's heart stopped, thinking that Gatrie had realized something before he had, or that he'd done something incredibly, impossibly, absolutely stupid last night--but then Gatrie continued on.

"I've been in love loads of times, so I know all about the symptoms. And look at you, you're keeping things from me and drinking and blushing. You hardly have an appetite. Its cause you keep thinking about her, right? She consumes all your thoughts and all your dreams, and you were too afraid to come to me, because you thought I'd laugh at you, right?"

Shinon was speechless. How stupid was this oaf? Or how smart was he? Shinon narrowed his eyes. He didn't like how insightful Gatrie had suddenly become. Plus, he hardly thought Gatrie's little crushes, or half crushes or quarter crushes, if you could even call it that, counted as falling in love. And Shinon wasn't in love, besides. He refused to believe that this strange bout of sudden lust was love. Love was something else entirely. Love and Gatrie didn't fit in the same sentence together. Not for Shinon. Nope. Nuh-uh.

"You have not been in love, Gatrie," Shinon said lowly, scowling at Gatrie with angry green eyes. "I can barely call it a crush! All that happened was you thought those girls were pretty and then you let them take advantage of you, like the damn fool that you are!"

"Well, what about puppy love?" Gatrie wanted to know, shrugging. He was so used to Shinon's anger, his words didn't sting like they did when spoken to other people. Normally, this was one of Gatrie's more endearing traits, but right now, Shinon was peeved that he wasn't making Gatrie even slightly angry.

"Not even puppy love. Puppy love is that stupid Rolf and Mist."

"I thought Rolf's puppy love was for you…" Gatrie said, disagreeing with Shinon's assessment. "I think Mist likes Boyd."

"Oh, to hell with that!" Shinon said, sitting up. He had never before noticed Rolf's puppy love towards him. Sure, the kid followed him around like a puppy. And he gave him those pathetic puppy eyes when he was sad or wanted something out of Shinon, like a puppy… "One, Rolf can find a better prospect than me, and two, Mist and Boyd would have the most retarded children Tellius has seen since Devdan. Or excuse me, I believe he goes by Danved now."

"What do you mean, Rolf can find a better prospect than you?" Gatrie asked, suddenly looking very interestedly at Shinon. This interest made Shinon feel scrutinized, and he felt that strange feeling washing over him again, making him suddenly feel disgustingly shy that Gatrie was looking at him. This instantly put him into another foul mood.

"I mean, there are plenty of nice, pretty girls he can go cling to and be a little crybaby with. Girls that are nicer than me by far, and might actually attend to his constant needs."

Shinon found that Rolf was a very needy kid. He was constantly needing attention and he wanted to grow up so damn fast, always getting all prickly when people called him a kid. Not to mention, his feelings got hurt way too easily. Of course, this always made Shinon feel horrible and guilty when he came out and said his normal mean things to him, and the kid would go all soft and sad on him, which would in turn make him end up saying something nice to him to make him feel better. He did have a soft spot for Rolf… After all, as a child, he had actually been a lot like Rolf. Needy little crybaby. Shinon didn't really want to see Rolf go the way he did. But Rolf seemed determined to plod down that road. Shinon only hoped someone forgiving enough would be around to pick up the pieces, even if it had to be him.

"You already do attend to his needs," Gatrie pointed out. "You're the nicest person to him. I think he likes you because you treat him like an adult. Besides, what makes you think you aren't good enough, Shinon? Is that what's been bothering you? Oh!" Gatrie looked up, and Shinon could just see the little light bulb going on in his head. Great. He knew exactly where this was going, and he could have said the words in unison as they poured from Gatrie's mouth; "You're in love with Rolf!"

Shinon finally flung back the bedcovers and stalked out of bed—ready to leave the room and just ignore Gatrie all day, only to find that he was stripped down to his underwear. Usually, this was not a big deal. But today, all he could think was that Gatrie must have undressed him last night, and the idea horrified him. He got back into the bed hastily.

"Did you undress me?" Shinon asked snappishly. Gatrie seemed surprised that Shinon had to ask. After all, he had done it on a few other occasions when Shinon had gotten too shit-faced to do anything for himself. On a few occasions, Gatrie had even carried him out to Oscar's horse's water trough and tossed him into it to wake him up.

"Yes. You didn't want to go to bed in your boots and dirty clothes, did you?"

Shinon could feel his face flaming again, and he was ashamed of it. He wanted nothing more than to hide under the covers of the bed, but that would be very telling; every bit as telling as his reddened face. Shinon had hoped Gatrie wouldn't notice, but of course the big lunk did, and he leaned forward, touching his palm to Shinon's forehead before he could dodge it.

"Do you have a fever? You look sick."

"I'm hung-over," Shinon reminded him sarcastically.

"But you should have felt better after the tea…" Gatrie poured another cup and pushed it towards Shinon, who looked away from it with a glower. "You should take some more."

"I don't want to."

"But you might get really sick if you don't."

"So what?"

"So, I don't want you getting sick."

"Since when have you been so serious and grown up?" Shinon wanted to know, turning his heated glare on Gatrie. He was much more accustomed to silly, stupid Gatrie, that he was a little surprised by how Gatrie was acting right now.

"Since you stopped acting like one yourself!" Gatrie seemed to be finally losing his temper. He set the cup of tea down hard, spilling tea everywhere. He didn't even seem to care. He glared back at Shinon, but Shinon recognized a spark of hurt in his blue eyes as well. It took him somewhat aback. "Come on, Shinon! Everyone wants to help you, but you keep turning everyone down; even Rhys! I keep waiting for you to finally come to me with—with whatever the hell it is, and you just keep going off on your own, coming back all drunk and stupid and calling me names, but you're the one who's acting like the moron! I hate it when you get like this! Did something happen that reminded you of Commander Greil? Or are you really falling all over yourself about Rolf? Are you hating yourself because he's a kid, or something? Are you pissed off that Ike's Commander and gets everything handed to him?! Whatever the hell it is, Shinon, you should do like you always do and come complain to me about it! You know I don't judge you, you know I always listen without complaint, and you know I'd never tell you to shut up! So what's the deal? Come on, lay it on me!"

Gatrie thumped his chest in emphasis, and his eyes glowed with frustration. Shinon found he couldn't think of anything to say in response to this, so he merely looked out the window with a sour look. He couldn't lay it on Gatrie. He'd look a fool. He could bet that Gatrie wasn't willing to hear what he had to say at all. He was sure it was the last thing Gatrie expected or wanted to hear. So, despite the fact that he seemed to be seriously wounding Gatrie's feelings, he had nothing to say. Gatrie didn't seem to be having this.

"So. You're not going to answer me."

"What do you want me to say?" Shinon said with an almost dead tone of voice. He felt the bed shifting. At first, Shinon thought Gatrie had gotten fed up and taken off. Any other person would have at this point. Instead, he looked up to see Gatrie was getting up so he could sit closer to Shinon. He sat down once more, and this time he leaned over and planted a hand on the bed on the other side of Shinon. Shinon would have looked to see what Gatrie might have planned with that hand, but his gaze caught Gatrie's and he couldn't seem to tear it away. Gatrie's eyes locked on his.

"I want you to say whatever's bothering you."

"I told you before. It's nothing." Shinon averted his gaze; he couldn't seem to look Gatrie in the eye at the moment.

"How is it nothing? Nothing to who? Certainly not to you. It's been weighing on you a lot lately. I still can't figure it out, but everyone tells me I'm stupid."

"That's because you are," Shinon retorted.

"But loyal. You're my best friend, Shinon. If something's bothering you, I could care less who you're going to make fun of or complain about. Even if you're going to bash on me to my face, go for it. You do it all the time, though, so I don't think that's it. Is it something I said or did that pissed you off? Or…?"

"I'm not pissed off at you, Gatrie."

"Well, then what is it?! If it really is the Rolf thing, you know I won't care…"

"It's not the damn Rolf thing!"

Gatrie really did seem to be clinging to that theory. But it didn't matter that Shinon had dismissed it, for Gatrie went on trying to guess what it could be. Shinon was glad that the truth was so unthinkable; he didn't know what he'd do if Gatrie guessed it. What the hell would he say? I've been having wild dreams about you… with me? And that would go over so well… Shinon decided he'd have to BS this, otherwise, Gatrie the dog would worry the problem to death like a dog with a rat.

"It's Christmas!" Shinon shouted over Gatrie's various theories, this one having something to do with Mist and Boyd and him wanting one or the other of them; for Gatrie really seemed to have caught on to the fact that Shinon was wanting someone. Gatrie stopped mid sentence to give Shinon a quizzical look.

"Christmas?" Gatrie repeated, looking confused. "What about Christmas? Did you not have enough money for everyone? You can borrow some of mine. If that was all…"

"No, no. It's not that… exactly…" Shinon thought quickly. What should he say about Christmas? He had actually been thinking of the excuse Gatrie came up with, but it would feel just plain wrong to take Gatrie's money at the moment, tempting though it was. "It's… I don't know what to get you…"

The words came out in a rush, just as he thought them. It would be the perfect excuse, since it had to do with Gatrie, and it was very real problem he was having. It wasn't the whole of the problem, but just saying that little bit of it made him feel a rush of relief like he couldn't believe. It felt as if at least have the burden weighing on his mind had been lifted. He thought for a moment of confessing the whole thing, but he wasn't that relieved and he quickly thought better of it before he'd managed to say anything.

"Is that all?!" Gatrie looked astonished. "You were drinking yourself into an early grave because you don't know what to get me for Christmas?!"

"Well," Shinon said irritably. "I got everyone else something, and then I got stuck on you, and here it is the day before Christmas, and I still haven't got anything… As my…best friend…" Shinon choked out the words best friend with difficulty, true as they were. "You should have been easiest and…"

"Oh, come on, Shinon." For a moment, Shinon thought Gatrie wasn't buying it. But onward the duff went and Shinon could breathe easy again. "I don't care what you get me, or if you don't get me anything at all…"

"Oh yeah? Tell me this then," Shinon smirked as he sat up a little and crossed his arms. "What would you have felt on Christmas day when you got a gift from everyone but me, and I had given everyone else something they wanted? Think about your response before you tell it to me, would you?"

Gatrie did pause to think, all the while Shinon knew exactly how Gatrie would feel, because he himself would feel that way if Gatrie were to do the exact same thing to him.

"I guess I would have hurt feelings," Gatrie admitted.

"Exactly!" But before Shinon could go on, Gatrie was talking again.

"But now that I know, I won't mind," Gatrie told him with a careless shrug of his shoulders. "So don't worry yourself so much over it. This time of year… It's not about presents. It's just about… love and friendship, right? I already know that you're my best and closest friend, and now that you've told me…"

Gatrie trailed off. Shinon looked up at Gatrie, and the silence stretched between them as their gazes met. Gatrie was still in his position, half leaning over Shinon where he sat on his bed. His hand was still planted on the bed, beside Shinon. Somehow, the world around them seemed so surreal, that Shinon almost fooled himself into thinking this was a chaste dream, an illusion swirling in his mind. He told himself later that his belief that it was merely a dream was the reason he did what he did next.

Shinon lifted his hand up to the side of Gatrie's face. It seemed even more like a dream because Gatrie didn't move away or flinch or even seem disgusted in the slightest. He just kept his gaze steady with Shinon's, his eyes soft and gentle. Shinon had no idea what his own gaze must have looked like, but since this was a mere dream to him, he didn't really care. His hand moved from Gatrie's face, to the back of his neck. He threaded his fingers through the hair at the nape of Gatrie's neck, short but soft. He directed Gatrie's head to move closer to his, while moving closer himself.

Shinon hesitated before their lips met. He could feel Gatrie's breath on his lips. He wondered what the hell he was doing. He screwed that question. And he kissed Gatrie. It started out very soft and very hesitant. His eyes closed slowly. Gatrie was kissing him back, just as hesitantly, as though waiting for Shinon's permission for anything more. Somehow, this leant courage to Shinon. He kissed Gatrie with more fervor, forcing Gatrie's lips to part for him and pressing his body against Gatrie's. A familiar flame of desire shot through his body. He pushed Gatrie back, so that he was lying on his back on the bed. He didn't stop kissing Gatrie even as he fell back, although Gatrie didn't seem to mind being treated that way. Gatrie placed a hand on Shinon's hip, kissing Shinon back with a matched fervor. His other hand went to the back of Shinon's head so that he could kiss him with such hunger that Shinon found himself rubbing himself up against Gatrie, causing Gatrie to let out a small groan. Their tongues met and twisted round one another.

By now, Shinon could barely breathe. Somehow, breath didn't seem all that important, but his lungs ached for air. He broke off the wild kiss, breathing in short, ragged gasps. Gatrie seemed to miss his lips, but that didn't stop him from continuing to kiss Shinon. His lips trailed down Shinon's throat, to his collar bone. Shinon closed his eyes, trying to catch his breath. Gatrie kissed him again on the side of the mouth.

"I love you, Shinon…"

It was barely a whisper, but it seemed to knock Shinon out of his dream instantly. He came to himself with a jolt, opening his eyes and hastily trying to disentangle himself from Gatrie.

"What the hell am I doing?" His voice shook slightly, and he found that his hands were trembling as well. It was not a dream. That was the only thing that kept echoing through his mind. It was not a dream. Shit. Shit. Shit!

Shinon quickly got off of Gatrie and shot across the bed, as far as he could get from Gatrie.

What was he supposed to say to Gatrie?

I'm sorry, my dreams seem to be affecting my real life now. You're lucky we didn't get to the naked part.

Shinon turned crimson at the thought.

SHIT!

He was lucky it didn't go that far. Shinon couldn't even bring himself to look at Gatrie. It would have been one long, awkward silence if Rhys didn't interrupt it by coming into the room at that moment.

"Sorry to bother you," Rhys said pleasantly enough. "But I thought you'd need something to eat…"

Rhys trailed off when he saw the expressions on Shinon and Gatrie's faces.

"Did something happen? An argument perhaps? Or…?"

"It was nothing." Shinon said hastily, standing up and grabbing the food Rhys had brought right of the tray. It was a sandwich. It smelled awesome to Shinon. He took a huge bite and said around his food, "Shee ya round, thanksh, Rhysh!" Then he made his escape.

Yay, thanks for all the reviews, guys! Keep up with it! Only the ole finale to go!