written by Lehanna

...

(set during season 7 of Boy Meets World)

"My winter nights are taken up by static

Stress and holiday shopping traffic"

"Well, it's the holidays again!" Cory announced. "You know what that means!"

Shawn sighed. He knew exactly what Cory meant. It was that time again where he had to get the perfect gift for Cory, who always seemed to know what to get Shawn. For most of his life, he couldn't afford getting Cory anything, but last year and this year he finally could. It was a relief but also a burden. How can you buy a present for someone who's amazing at giving gifts?

"We get to buy each other presents!" Topanga cheered. She would be spending Christmas with her boyfriend and his family, so she had an extra amount of jolliness like Cory. Shawn found this slightly annoying as he didn't have much Christmas spirit himself, but he didn't tell them. Instead he just pondered on what to get Cory.

Cory ended up leaving later, leaving Shawn and Topanga alone. She sat next to Shawn with a beam on her face. "So, what are you getting him?"

"Uh...I don't know. What are you getting him?" he responded.

"Well, I haven't thought much about it, but," she pulled out a long list of items, "These are some possible things I've been thinking about getting him."

Shawn studied the enormous list. He suddenly felt worried about what he was going to get Cory. "Yeah, you really didn't think much about it at all."

"You know, since you're his best friend and I'm his girlfriend, it's kind of like we're competing for his affection," Topanga laughed.

"We are, aren't we?" It was no secret that Shawn was sometimes jealous of Topanga and Topanga was sometimes jealous of Shawn. While they were friends, they competed a lot to be Cory's best friend.

"Not that it's that serious or anything," Topanga clarified, "but if it were a competition, I would win."

Shawn scoffed and looked his friend straight in the eye. "Really? You think you know my own best friend better than I do?"

"Well he's my boyfriend!" Topanga shot back. "How about really do turn this into a competition. We both get him a gift, and then we ask him which one he likes best."

Shawn thought about it. "Ok, I'm in. Loser has to buy milkshakes?"

"I'll take a large chocolate then." She smiled proudly and walked off to head to the store to start shopping for Cory. She was one hundred percent sure that she was going to win.

Half an hour later, Shawn wandered around a random store in the mall, searching for the perfect gift. There was only one problem. He had no idea what to buy Cory. He sighed. "Topanga has a whole list and I can't think of one thing!"

He couldn't buy an expensive gift, due to him not having a lot of money. If only he hadn't quit working for the mafia a few Christmases ago…

Shawn stopped in his tracks when he saw a familiar person. "Topanga!" he gasped.

"Shawn," she said monotonously.

His eyes landed on her hands to see if she was holding anything yet, which she didn't. She seemingly did the same. "So, Topanga, did you see anything good?"

"Not yet," she shrugged. "Did you?"

"I saw a lot of things that he would love," Shawn replied stiffly.

She gave him a warm smile. "That's good. Well, I'll get going. Bye!"

"Bye," he mumbled while in his thoughts. Truthfully, he didn't see anything at all that he thought Cory would be interested in. He just didn't want Topanga to know that.

And as much as he searched and searched, he couldn't find anything that reached his standards. Whatever those were. It was now the day before Christmas Eve and Shawn was panicking.

Topanga had already gotten her gift for Cory. It was a white, chunky-knit sweater with the word "celery" written on it. "Isn't that amazing? It's just like the poster he has in his room!"

"Yeah, amazing," Shawn responded.

She nodded. "So what'd you get him?"

He looked at her, debating whether or not to tell her the truth. He finally decided to tell her how he's been feeling. "I didn't get him anything yet. I've just been so stressed. I need to find the perfect present, but I don't know what that is."

Topanga frowned at him. She replied in a soft tone, "Aw, Shawn. Don't worry so much! I may be a little too competitive, but it's still a friendly contest that's just for fun."

"No, that's the thing. If you win, then that proves that YOU'RE his best friend. I don't want to lose him to you," he admitted. Shawn glanced down at his feet.

She laid a hand on his shoulder. "You are his best friend. While I am a close second, you know him better than I do. Even if you don't win, you still be our best friend. We'll always be best friends."

"We?" Shawn smiled slightly. He sighed and pondered for a moment. He got up from the Matthews's couch. "Thank you. If you excuse me, I need to go Christmas shopping."

Finally, the formerly dreaded holiday had arrived. After all the other gifts were open, Cory was finally allowed to open Shawn's and Topanga's gifts. They didn't tell him which was which to prevent bias.

He picked up the box with blue wrapping paper decorated with snowflakes first. He ripped the paper until he could see the white box under it, then he took the top off. "A celery sweater? Where did you find this?! Heaven?"

Cory set it to the side and picked up the shiny green gift bag. Inside was a big red ornament with a picture of Cory and Topanga that was taken on their wedding day. Cory gaped at the gift. "Wow, this is wonderful. I think I know who gave me this, though," he smiled.

He struggled with picking the winner, as he was deciding between two great gifts and between his best friends. "I think I'm gonna have to go with the sweater. It speaks to me."

"Yay!" Topanga cheered. "Wait, how did I win and lose at the same time? You picked a sweater with a vegetable on it over an ornament of us?"

"What?" Cory questioned, confused.

Shawn spoke up, "I gave you the ornament. Because when you guys spend Christmas at your own house, it doesn't matter whether you guys have a real tree or an aluminum tree. What matters is that you're together."

The couple smiled tearfully at their friend. Cory put the ornament on the tree in front of them. "I think we have a new winner."

Shawn took out an ornament of himself and placed it right next to the Corpanga bulb. "And I'm right here. Always."