Prompt: Sylar buys Mohinder a scarf for his birthday and he hates it

Sylar fiddled with the ribbon of his carefully wrapped parcel, making sure it looked absolutely perfect before unlocking the apartment's front door. It had taken him several hours of tortuous shopping to find something he thought Mohinder might enjoy for his birthday.

He had no previous experience shopping for scarves and had drifted into that insane and unknown world after failing to find any book titles he couldn't remember being on Mohinder's bookshelf or scattered around the living room. There were so many scarves, so many colors, that Sylar had to spend a full five minutes blinking in order to adjust to them all.

There were silk scarves, scratchy scarves, velvet scarves, cotton scarves, red scarves, blue scarves, orange polka dots scarves and millions more; all on display with yellow lights making them brighter and blinding to unsuspecting customers. He had cringed as he wandered along the displays, trying to avoid the all-too-helpful sales clerk who followed him around like a lovesick puppy dog.

"Can I help you?"

"No."

" Looking for something for your girlfriend?"

"No, my boyfriend."

"Guys really buy things for their buddies? Cool! I think you'll like red."

"Too…frilly."

"How about this purple and pink one?"

"He has one already."

"This maroon one really suits you."

"I'm not buying for myself."

Her voice was too high pitched and had Sylar wincing with each sentence, hoping his short and unhelpful answers would send her away. She tagged along the whole time, offering suggestions, forcing him to try scarves on (nearly strangling him once), and just being overly annoying. Sylar was tempted to kill her; he had never wanted someone dead as much as then but he also didn't want to ruin Mohinder's birthday by breaking his long kept promise of not murdering anyone who wasn't an immediate threat to their family's survival.

Sylar had eventually settled on a deep purple colored scarf, it was not at all boyish, making him think Mohinder might like it, and it also didn't hurt his eyes looking at it in his hands, whereas other scarves of Mohinder's made his eyes tear up when they were wrapped around Mohinder's neck. For some reason his boyfriend could make ugly things look very fashionable, Sylar suspected before that it might be a super power but he was unwilling to open his boyfriends brain to find out if that were true.

Mohinder was in the same spot Sylar had left him early that morning, in front of the computer screen, only he had a tub of Karamel Sutra ice cream which he was heartily digging into with a spoon. Since his dear doctor hadn't glanced up when he came in, Sylar crept forward to surprise him, keeping the present out of sight behind his back.

Sylar was about to grab Mohinder's shoulder, hoping the smaller man would scream in surprise, but his eyes were momentarily distracted by the list that was scrolling down the screen. It was a bad habit but Sylar still bent forward, memorizing all the names before his eyes, and didn't expect Mohinder to suddenly sit back and have that curly head collide with his nose.

"Ow!" Sylar yelped, causing Mohinder to jump and whirl around, rubbing the back of his head.

"Sylar, when did you get home?" Mohinder asked, looking as though he were just waking up and accidentally dropping his ice cream.

The young Indian bent down picking it up as Sylar rubbed his nose grumbling, refusing to let the pained tears fall down his face. Mohinder placed the ice cream down and pulled Sylar forward to kiss his reddened nose better.

"Sorry, I didn't know you were there." Mohinder apologized pulling Sylar into a quick hug as he stood up stretching. "Where did you go anyways?"

Sylar winced at the sound of Mohinder's cracking spine, his lover had really bad posture when on the computer but he shook it away. He was too late at hiding the gift again, having pulled it into view when his nose was smacked, and Sylar saw Mohinder's eyes brighten at the sight.

"You were shopping? Is that for me?" Mohinder's heart melting smile appeared on his face, blinding Sylar with its glorious light and making him see black spots as though he were looking at the sun.

Mohinder used the moment, having successfully stunned his boyfriend, to grab the gift and tear off the wrappings. Sylar finally cleared his vision to see Mohinder pull off the box's top, looking down eagerly into it. He waited for the blinding smile, counting off seconds and putting them off as shock, but soon it became evident (after three and a half minutes) that something wasn't right.

"It's nice." Mohinder stated, not able to meet Sylar's eyes as he hugged his boyfriend once more.

"You don't like it." Sylar stated dryly, feeling his heart plummet down to the bottom of his feet and tears prickling at his eyes.

"I do." Mohinder said probably too forcefully, as if trying to convince himself rather than his boyfriend, "I do Sylar…It's just…Purple?"

"Purple's a nice color," Sylar stated slowly, watching Mohinder pull the scarf out and let it dangle from his hand lifelessly.

"But it's so dark." Mohinder replied, what sounded like a whine coloring his cultured voice. "Why couldn't it have been brighter; Orchid or Lilac or even Fuchsia would have been better than this Indigo color."

Sylar was marveling at his boyfriend's knowledge of the different colors of purple and then felt stupid because of course Mohinder would have knowledge about these things; it was his clothes color passion.

"I'm sorry." Sylar sighed, feeling horrible for not getting his boyfriend a good gift and also for wasting so many hours in that store. "I thought you'd like it."

Mohinder frowned, watching his boyfriend's shoulders slump dejectedly as he picked up the tub of what was left of the ice cream and dug in. He felt bad for criticizing the gift, but he couldn't really imagine himself wearing it, it wasn't flashy enough for him.

"Well it's the thought that counts." Mohinder sighed, moving over to his moping boyfriend and giving him a comforting pat on the shoulder. "I'm sure we could find use for this…this thing."

As if in answer their momentary problem, the front door burst open with a sniffling Molly clambering through. Her cute little nose and cheeks were red from the cold wind and her teeth chattered as she stumbled out of her boots.

"Molly! What are you doing home?" Mohinder exclaimed, scooping his little girl up into his strong, warm arms.

"I forgot to bring something for show and tell." Molly replied, sneezing into her hands and snuggling into the warmth. "I just don't know what to bring though."

Both her father's stared at her worriedly, fearing she was going to get a cold and then both their eyes landed on the scarf in realization. They sent knowing grin's at each other, Mohinder already knowing that the scarf would look so good on his little girl and Sylar because the gift would at least make Molly happy.

"Well, you could show off your new present." Sylar stated, taking Molly from Mohinder's arms and draping the scarf around her head.

Molly's eyes widened at the gift, an excited squeal escaping her lips. "You bought me a present!"

"It's from both of us." Mohinder interjected, not wanting to be left out of the thank you hugs that would soon follow.

Molly's eyes sparkled in delight and she tugged the scarf more tightly around her head, rubbing against the fabric like a little kitten. She then gave Sylar a huge hug, wriggling out of his hold to give Mohinder a hug as well while repeatedly saying thank you.

"Wait, isn't it your birthday?" Molly asked, tilting her head like a puppy in confusion.

Mohinder smiled sweetly at her, letting his hand clear the wayward strands of hair from her face. "It is. That's why we're going out for supper when you get home."

"Really?" Molly was bouncing on the balls of her feet, fingers playing with the end of the now very cute scarf.

"Yes, now you better get to school." Sylar stated, shooing their daughter out the door and sending another grin at his lover.

Mohinder sighed in relief and feeling glad that he wouldn't have to worry about that scarf anymore, Molly would probably lose it in a couple weeks. Sylar came up behind him again while he was lost in thought and successfully startled him with a kiss on the cheek.

"Happy Birthday," Sylar whispered, pulling Mohinder towards the bedroom. "I'll make up for that gift now if you want."

Mohinder couldn't fight his grin from spreading across his face, blinding Sylar once more and causing him to crash into the door frame. Mohinder couldn't help but think, as he kicked the bedroom door shut, that he'd really enjoy this gift more than that dreadful Indigo scarf Sylar had gotten him for his birthday.