A/N: Well, this is a thing. A Christmas gift, kinda? I dunno, it's definitely here.
Inspired by the song of the same name, which is very much so featured in the fic. Have fun!
In the dimly lit apartment, the sole sounds were the scraping of snow outside, loud Christmas night traffic of people scurrying to rush home after seven too many drinks, and the tiny celebration within. A single string of red and green LED bulbs Andy found one day sat strung up along the head of the curtain, flickering in and out throughout the night from the hearty Christmas dinner of noodles and splurging boxed wine to now, huddled together with April sitting between his legs and her laptop on hers mostly for the warmth. To say it was quaint would be an understatement, and yet the cold air of Indianapolis was staved for the intense body heat Andy radiated constantly.
As the night drew on, Andy considered his gift carefully and especially, throughout the day, he wondered how to deliver it. He did own and play the guitar, albeit poorly these days considering the horrid scar on his palm, but something about the ease he could "give" her the gift, Andy decided to wrap his arms around her too-small waist and keep them snuggled close.
"Hey," he said with a short movement of his arm to shake her just a little bit more awake. A few chugs of boxed wine beforehand, she'd still be mostly awake. "April, hey we still haven't done presents."
"Because I don't have the money for any," she said like she was reminding him, almost scolding.
"Well, like my mom always said," Andy started with a smug tone, "the best presents always come from the heart anyways."
There was a loud sigh from April before she spoke. "I should probably hate that," she said, before looking over her shoulder with a glimmer of a smile, "but… I kinda can't."
Andy laughed and reached forward, brushing her hands from the laptop keyboard. One of hers reached back and toyed with the drawstring on his hoodie, the other stuck awkwardly between her legs, grasping for more heat, while Andy typed poorly.
"You can't look!" Andy warned her, and April rolled her eyes before closing them. "Oh wait… wait, wait."
He took her headphones out of her jacket, hoping she wouldn't notice but as it turned out trying to pull out a poorly wrapped ball of headphones out of a jacket pocket that someone was literally wearing was sort of hard. She only laughed and started a few sentences before chuckling and quieting again until Andy set one earphone up to her ear and moved one to his. Pulling up the song, Andy waited and found the one. It hit him one day, while he was browsing through a silly little LP store. The track name stuck out to him, oddly familiar and strangely painful in a sort of detached way, and it wasn't until he sampled it that he understood why he felt that pull to it and why April would as well.
The first few lines, April stayed still in his arms, still messing with his shirt, and they listened to the Streetlight song together, sharing headphones. When the band kicked in, and the lyrics followed, April's motions stopped altogether. She tugged hard on that drawstring once before her hand shook and slinked down towards his. April worked her fingers between his easily, and he held.
When the chorus hits and Andy thinks about April waking up, bright eyed with the sense that everything would be fine, he smiled against her hair. He kissed the back of her head, waiting for the instruments to pile back on and the anger in the vocalist to seep through in the slashed stereo setup. Andy already had the words memorized, feeling them imprinted on him instantly, and mouthed them against her hair.
"Andy," she whispered, the song still riding the high of the punk blaring.
"Yeah?"
She didn't answer back, transfixed in the music for a moment. After a deathly pause, she gripped his hand harder. "Is this your present?"
"D'you like it?" he asked, quiet and huddling closer to her so that April could feel him warm and near. "I dunno, it's probably super dumb but… I, um, I heard it at some store and kinda thought about-"
"Me," she said slowly.
He opened his mouth to speak before settling back into her. Sighing, he relented, "Sorry."
"Andy," she breathed and turned her head before deciding better of it and staring at the laptop. "I'm gonna play this every day, and I'm gonna listen to these lyrics every day, and I'm gonna think about you."
"Every day?" he asked, a little more hopeful than he should have let on.
"Y-Yep," she nearly whimpered, and her hand thrust in his curled into an iron claw-grip. "I know it's stupid, but stuff like this helps-"
"It is so not dumb!" Andy protested a little too loudly. "Hey babe, you like it I know… like you're not alone in this?"
"Yeah, but-"
"I know, I know you know I know you know I'm here…" he trailed off and sighed. "Wait, no. I know you know that I know that you-?"
"Dude, shut up," April said with a quivering voice shaking somewhere between laughter and something else that Andy tried to avoid. "I get that you get it."
"I am here," he said slowly.
"I know," April replied quietly, barely whispering because Andy didn't really need to hear it. He knew. "I love you," she said, and much louder this time,.
"Love you too," Andy whispered, hugging her a bit tighter with the arm across her stomach and squeezing her clasped hand. "So, so, so… so much."
The song sparked with intensity at that moment, kicking up tempo for a brief half-minute, and April turned her head to look at him with dry, though dark eyes. She gave him a sure, if small smile but for the curl of the corner of her mouth.
"I know."