Joshua already had a few bags in hand by the time he headed to the food court to meet Mari. He had asked her to go Christmas shopping with him, hoping to acquire some things to decorate the office with as well as get her advice on things to get the Smosh guys. She knew them better and for far longer than he had, and Joshua really wanted to show his appreciation to them this year. Ian and Anthony had changed his life - giving him an amazing opportunity to do what he loved and make money while doing it. Every day he went to work, he pretty much hung out with his friends on camera and it was awesome. Sure, it had been his career for a long time. But neither of his other two channels got the amount of views and money as SmoshGames had - so he owed them big.
When Joshua saw Mari, she had a shopping bag of her own in one hand and a cup of bubbletea in the other, the tea mostly gone leaving only the boba behind which she was currently slurping up through her straw. Joshua sometimes wished she wouldn't do things like that in front of him, and paused to awkwardly shift his jeans - holding his bags in front of himself before offering her a smile. She half waved with the hand holding the bags and stopped in front of him.
"Alright. Onward," Mari gestured forward. "The trick to Ian and Anthony is getting them something they want, but they don't know they want because they'll just buy what they want. You know?"
"I thiink I get it?" Joshua took a moment to go over what she said and make sure he followed it. "Except I don't really at all. How do you know what they want?"
"You're pretty hopeless, Joven. Fortunately, you asked me for help - so you're not an entirely lost cause."
"Thanks, I guess? I'm not sure if that was a compliment or not."
Mari smiled up at him sweetly, saying nothing either way as she dumped her cup in the garbage and then used the now free hand to link around his arm. She led him into the first store - a toy store as a matter of fact.
"How much did you want to get for them, anyway?"
"It's not a matter of quantity - more about quality. I want to give them something meaningful, something that shows my appreciation, you know? I mean, I don't wanna be a sap - but those guys have done so much for my life. And I..." he trailed off, shyly admitting. "I got to meet you on top of it all. And Wes. And everyone associated with Smosh which is a bunch of really cool people."
The expression on her face was warm, "Aww, Joven. Stop. You're gonna make me cry gooey tears of happiness." She shoulder bumped him. "And for the record, I'm really glad I met you too. Even if you can be a complete lamewad and a creep."
"Again, not sure whether those are compliments..."
"So we're in this freakin' huge toy store..."
"And now you're changing the topic..."
"Can you think of anything you'd wanna get them here?"
"We can check out the videogame section, I guess...?"
Mari shook her head, making an 'X' with her arms, "Nope! Too predictable. And besides, what can you get them from there that they either don't own already or won't play at some point on our channel? Think outside the box. Ian and Anthony are basically overgrown kids - so what do adults like to play with?"
"Dildos?"
She slapped his arm, hard.
"Ow, hey! You asked! It was the first thing that came to my mind!"
"This is why the creep comment," Mari shook her head with a smile, heading over to the board game section. She scoured the titles before picking one out at random that seemed to be geared toward adults. "This one seems promising - not to mention, it goes with the gamer theme. What do you think?"
Joshua juggled the bags until he managed to have his hands free enough to take the box from her. He read the instructions on the back before nodding, "Well. You're the expert, and this is a good start."
She beamed proudly, "Anything else you want from here or should we move on to store two?"
"I can't think of anything, so unless you have more great suggestions..."
"I might, but I think we should look elsewhere. You don't want to spend too much in here only to find the perfect thing in some other store, yeah?"
"Agreed."
They made their way toward the check out line - and what a line it was. People wound around the corner with one worker policing the line just to direct them to a cashier when one lane cleared out enough for more people. Traffic control in stores - only during the holidays. Some children were screaming, adults argued, and nobody seemed very happy to be there. Nobody except him and Mari. C'mon, it was Christmas. He had an amazing life and he was spending the day with an amazing girl. What was there to get upset about? So while most of the people there were filled with impatience, Joshua didn't mind the wait. He chatted idly with Mari until they reached the front of the pre-checkout line, being guided toward lane number seven. Lucky seven.
Joshua headed in that direction, placing the board game on the conveyor belt as the woman in front of him was in the process of paying for her things. She was older, a bit worn around the edges, wearing clothing that, although not entirely disheveled, appeared run down or second hand. She only had a few items - a stuffed teddy bear, a toy firetruck, and a bright orange bouncy ball. The cashier told her the price, and so the woman rummaged around in her change purse, dumping coins onto the counter and beginning to count through them - once, twice, three times.
"Ma'am, I'm gonna need you to pay. We have a line," said the cashier.
"But I-" she balked. "I thought I had enough. I'm only short two dollars. I just lost my job, and I want to get something for my kids for Christmas. Can you let it slide? Or can I pay you back? I promise I'll come back."
"No, I'm afraid not. I can take something off for you if you want..."
She became more distraught, looking over the items before solemnly handing over the bouncy ball. Before the cashier could take it, though, Joshua put his hand on the woman's - pushing it away from the clerk as he stepped in.
"Excuse me, how much was the purchase altogether?" He had his wallet in hand.
The woman stared at him in shock, but it was the cashier who answered, "$27.54."
Joshua reached in his wallet, pulling out a hundred dollar bill and handing it to the worker. When the worker went to give him back the change, though, he shook his hand in protest, "No. That's her change."
"I can't possibly-" she began to protest.
"Everyone deserves a good Christmas, ma'am. Take it and get something special for yourself and your kids."
She seemed reluctant, but eventually decided to accept his kindness, "Thank you, sir. Thank you so very much. God bless you." There were tears in her eyes as she placed the money in her purse and collected her bags.
"No problem. Happy Holidays!" He called after her with a grin before turning his attention back to Mari.
"That was really nice of you," Mari commented, touched by Joshua's kindness.
"Eh," he shrugged. "I'm sure you would've done the same thing. We've been blessed to have money and great paying jobs. Not everyone is so lucky, so if I can share some of what I have with the less fortunate and make their day a little brighter, it's worth it."
Mari said nothing, but she cuddled up against his arm, and Joshua thought this was the icing on a wonderful feelings cake.