...
Rei wandered around the shops, fighting through the manic crowds that grabbed the first thing they could see in a panic, obviously forgotten that key gift they needed to purchase.
He cursed himself for leaving it so late to buy a present – Christmas Eve was hell in the shops. Usually he was much more organised. But he couldn't settle on a gift for his best friend.
Originally he'd finished all his shopping in November, feeling so proud that he'd been ahead of the crowds. But on the first day of December he decided his gift for Nagisa wasn't good enough and headed out to the shops again, buying more and more until he had a pile of over twenty presents for the blonde.
Yet, he still wasn't satisfied and here he was again, back at the shops, debating whether a four foot penguin teddy with ridiculously large eyes was a far too extravagant gift.
"You'll know it when you see it." Rei muttered to himself under his breath, catching the attention of the man next to him.
"Did you say something?" He asked, glancing up from the comparing the two dolls in his hand.
"No, it was nothing." Rei shook his head, slipping the giant toy under his arm and heading towards the check out.
He decided turning up with this fluffy monstrosity was better than being empty handed – if you could count almost thirty presents empty handed.
…
"Rei-chan?" Nagisa whispered, looking up at the other man from the position on his shoulder.
They had been watching a film and as usual Nagisa had found his way over to Rei's half of the sofa and snuggled up with him. At first it had bothered Rei – when he'd been a socially awkward sixteen year old – but as he got older he just accepted this as Nagisa overly friendly personality.
"Yes?" He yawned, overly sleepy from the warm dark room.
"What do you want for Christmas?" He asked, pink eyes shining innocently.
"Erm, maybe a new glasses case?" He offered, it was both practical and needed.
More often than not at weekends he ended up sleeping on Nagisa's pull out sofa bed, far too tired to go to his own apartment. And almost every time he could guarantee Nagisa would walk into the coffee table on his nightly trip to the toilet, knocking his glasses off and onto the floor. The amount of chips and dents in his glasses now was unbelievable, and definitely not beautiful.
"Okay! I'll get you the cutest glasses case ever!" Nagisa gushed, Rei immediately regretting his suggestion.
"What do you want then?" He asked.
"There is just one thing I need." He said, letting his head drop from Rei's shoulder to his lap, an indication he was getting extremely sleepy.
"What's that?" Rei questioned, gently running his fingers through soft blonde locks, Nagisa hummed in contentment at the sensation.
"You'll know when you see it." He yawned, letting his eyes droop.
Rei shook his head with a sigh, that was hardly a helpful suggestion, but he let it slide for now. Currently he was happy just watching the blonde sleep for a while before he had to gently wake him and guide – or carry if he was being honest – the man to bed.
…
"You'll know it when you see it." Rei grumbled.
He'd laid out all the presents he'd brought for Nagisa – and on closer inspection he'd managed to buy a whopping twenty-eight for him.
He'd placed them all in a line and was currently pacing up and down, hoping the right one would just jump out him. Almost cry to him it's me! I'm the perfect gift! But as of yet nothing was calling to him.
They were all good, he would pride himself with that, he had been best friends with the boy for almost ten years, he knew exactly what he liked. But nothing was that one thing Nagisa needed for Christmas.
Rei screamed out in frustration just as there was a knock at his door.
"About time." He moaned, walking to the door to let in his old friends Makoto and Haruka.
"This better be important." Haruka complained, cheeks red from the cold.
"It is, I don't know what to give Nagisa for Christmas." He told them as Makoto curiously eyed up the parade of presents while Haruka just threw himself down on the sofa.
"Well it seems like you've already got him a lot." Makoto said softly.
"But they're not good enough!" He cried, dropping down besides Haruka.
"I don't know, they seem nice to me." Makoto defended, flipping through a recipe book called '1001 ways to cook with strawberries'.
"Nice, not perfect." Rei sighed.
"Nagisa won't care that they're not perfect." He said, toeing at penguin hat, scarf and glove combo. "He'll just like them because it came from you."
"You really think so?" He asked.
"Tch, it's obvious what Nagisa really wants for Christmas." Haruka rolled his eyes.
"What?" Rei exclaimed, hoping to finally find the solution to all his problems.
"Haruka!" Makoto warned, looking at the boy sternly.
The couple stared each other down for a few moments, Rei had been friends with them long enough to know that they were having another one of their telepathic arguments. It didn't matter how many times he saw it they always freaked him out.
"Fine!" Haruka admitted defeat.
"We better get going." Makoto said, smile bright after having won another disagreement.
"Wait! Don't go!" Rei cried out, jumping up. "Please Haru! Tell me the perfect gift for Nagisa."
He looked at the stoic boy with pleading eyes but at the end of the day he knew it was a wasted effort. As much as he claimed to be a free spirit Makoto would always be his keeper and Haruka would never disobey him.
"It's not my place to say." Haruka said evenly, accepting the hand Makoto was holding out for him to pull him off the sofa.
"You'll work it out." Makoto smiled, guiding Haruka towards the door but not before one last disagreement.
"Can we have a bath when we get home?" Haruka asked.
"No Haru, we don't have time." He scolded, his tone sounding similar to a mother. "My family is expecting us."
"A really quick one?" He stubbornly pleaded.
"Alright fine, but when you say quick you better mean quick." Makoto sighed, before shutting the door to Rei's apartment.
He decided the best plan of action was to wrap all the gifts he got for Nagisa and hope that wrapped up one would look so appealing, so amazingly beautiful that he knew straight away that it was the one for him.
Sadly, that was not the case.
Two hours later he'd finally finished the momentous task of wrapping every little thing he'd brought but they all looked perfect. Each one beautifully wrapped with a colour co-ordinated bow to match. Nagisa and his childlike wonder would adore each one of these.
With a groan he reached into his pocket and fished out his phone.
"Rei-chan!" A voice yelled down the phone excitedly.
"Hey Nagisa, I need to change plans for today." Rei explained.
"What?" He cried.
"I can't come to yours, you'll just..." He started but Nagisa but him off with a cry.
"But I was looking forward to seeing Rei-chan! And if I don't we'll have to wait until after Christmas to exchange gifts." He whined, Rei could practically here his pout down the phone.
"You'll just have to come to mine instead." He said, rolling his eyes at the other man's dramatics.
"Why?" He asked.
"I'll have trouble getting your present out the house." He complained, looking at the monster of a pile behind him.
"Yes, I imagine it's quite heavy." Nagisa giggled, Rei panicking slightly.
Nothing he had brought was overly heavy, all his hours of shopping had been a waste of time after all.
"Sure." He uneasily agreed.
"See you soon my Rei-chan!" Nagisa shouted before hanging up.
Rei sighed deeply and ran his fingers through his hair, this Christmas was going to be a disaster.
…
"Do you love it?" Nagisa asked the moment Rei tore the paper off his gift, Rei had protested that it was improper to open gifts on Christmas Eve but Nagisa claimed he couldn't possibly wait a whole day to get his and eventually wore Rei down.
The case Nagisa had brought him was relatively simple considering who had purchased it, it was a white case with yellow and purple butterflies littering it. To some it would seem overly effeminate but Rei adored it.
"It's truly beautiful." He complimented, gently placing the case on his side table.
"Where's mine?" He asked, bouncing up and down in his chair.
"Over there." Rei mumbled, gesturing to the pile taking up a large portion of his floor.
"Oooh, which one?" He questioned, running over to the pile.
"All of it." He admitted.
"Rei-chan!" He giggled. "I didn't want a lot for Christmas."
"I know, but I just couldn't find the perfect one." He groaned, completely exasperated. "I'm sorry."
"You really overcomplicate things Rei-chan." Nagisa said, shaking his head.
"I do?" Rei asked.
"Yep, go into the bathroom and you will see exactly what I wanted." He explained.
"Fine." He sighed, annoyed that a simple toiletry would have satisfied the blonde.
But he stood up anyway, dutifully walking towards the bathroom and flicking on the light.
"Right, I'm in the bathroom." He called to Nagisa, still in the living room. "Now what?"
"Look at the mirror." He instructed.
"I don't get it, all I see is me." He shouted, growing more confused with every passing moment.
"Exactly." Nagisa said, casually leaning against the door frame.
Without another word the blonde walked closer, placing a simple gold bow on Rei's head – clearly snatched off one of his many gifts.
"Nagisa?" Rei asked, cheeks flushed.
"All I want for Christmas is you." He told him.
Quickly, the blonde rose up onto his toes and pressed a kiss on Rei. It was hesitant, slightly worried a line had been overstepped after that confession. But once the soft lips underneath his own responded all fears flew away, instead bodies reacted. Aching to be closer, winding around each other in a desperate attempt to take everything from the other person.
"Merry Christmas Rei-chan." Nagisa whispered between kisses.
"Merry Christmas." Rei replied.
Pulling back with a blissful smile, Nagisa wound their fingers together, gently pulling the other man from the bathroom as he went.
"Now I have to open my presents." He said.
"I thought I was all you wanted." He blushed, nervously scratching at the bow that still rested on his head.
"You are, but I don't want you to have wasted all that time on me for nothing." He giggled.
Nagisa dropped down beside his pile, and like an excitable child he tore through the gifts, barely pausing to look at an item before moving onto the next.
Until it came to Rei, he took his sweet time unwrapping and appreciating that gift.
...