Prompt: Holiday Shopping

Set post HKL.

Chapter content warnings: a couple of swear words

Don't forget that you can find me on tumblr: we - are - all - of - legend - now and that my ao3 account is wearealloflegendnow (even though I haven't posted there yet)!

~TLL~

"It's beginning to look a lot like fuck this," Spud hummed under his breath, Trixie harmonizing in the background.

"No, it doesn't," Jake said sternly. And then, a little more desperately, "It can't."

"Jakey, you might want to try Amazon again."

Jake let out a strangled cry. He didn't want to get Rose just anything. It was the first Christmas that they were officially boyfriend and girlfriend and Jake refused to settle for something generic off of Amazon. He needed to find something unique and memorable and something worthy of Rose herself.

Jake had long given up on touring the malls and big shops for something. Spud and Trixie had been his, occasionally unwilling, companions as they toured around all of the burrows, rifling through thrift and antique shops as Jake waited for divine inspiration to hit.

"What about this? It's pretty."

"Spud, I can't get Rose a ring for our first Christmas together! That's insane!"

Even though it was a pretty ring, they were just teenagers and Jake didn't need Rose's parents thinking he was more of a freak. They were still trying to adjust to the whole dragon/Huntsclan thing and he was trying not to push his luck.

"We need to know your vision," Trixie said, likely for the thousand time this week. "What do you want to get Rose?"
That was the problem. Jake had no idea. He just wanted to get her something that she would love and would make her smile. Jake was starting to feel more and more like a boyfriend failure. He loved Rose. He knew almost everything about her. They had all this history. And, yet, he couldn't even find her a Christmas present!

"Maybe you shouldn't be looking for a thing," Spud suggested. "Maybe you should get her, like, an experience or something that she'll always remember."

It wasn't the worst idea that Spud had ever had but Jake didn't think that his budget would cover the types of experiences that he wanted to give Rose. Jake wanted her to have something to look at and hold when she went back to China after the Christmas holidays and they were apart until summer.

Something cheesy and cute, the kind of silly cliched thing that Rose adored. But it was December twenty-first and he was quickly running out of time. A good boyfriend would already have a gift or a plan, at the very least. Jake let out a whine of frustration and then stared up at the ceiling, waiting for a bolt of divine inspiration.

Trixie clapped a hand on Jale's shoulder. "Let's go. Time to break for the day."

Jake did not take a break, even though he did let them drop him off at home. He went straight to his computer to scour the internet for 'cute girlfriend Christmas ideas', feeling like a chump as he took to Buzzfeed for advice. He scrolled by lamps that recreated the night sky and animated picture frames. Cute but not what he needed. Not what he wanted for Rose.

And, then, there, at the very bottom of the Buzzfeed article, Jake found it.

Divine inspiration.

(-.-)

At seven p.m. on December twenty-fifth, Rose left her family's festivities behind, flying out into the cold night and into the warmth of her boyfriend's arms. Jake hugged her tightly, lifting her off her feet and swinging her around. She buried her face in the crook of his neck, inhaling deeply. And even though it was Christmas and it was the time to be happy, Rose still felt a pang of sadness. Why couldn't she do this every day? Why was there always a time going into the bac of her head?

Jake put her down on her own two feet and then gave her a kiss before taking her mittened hand in his.

"So," Rose said, bouncing at his side as they walked, "where are we going?"

"Well, we're going to make some snowmen because I know how much you love that and then I've got cocoa for the way home where I'm going to give you your Christmas present and then we're going to snuggle and watch movies until your parents send too many missed curfew texts and I have to walk you home."

"And where is the making out slotted into this evening?" Rose asked innocently, feeling a thrill as Jake's cheeks went red rather than just the chilled pink they had been.

"Wherever you want it to be," Jake said and so she grabbed him and kissed him as they crossed into the park.

They ended up making snow angels before snowmen but they did build their snowmen, Jake using his tail to get the height needed to make them towering creatures. Rose watched him adjust the head of the last snowman, carefully pressing in the eyes and the smile. Rose flashbacked to a lifetime ago, the first first date and she felt her heart swell as Jake dropped to the ground in front of her, kissing her cheek.

"What do you think?"

"It's beautiful," Rose said, "and I'm freezing."

"Cocoa coming up!"

Jake used spurts of dragon fire to bring the thermos of cocoa back to its perfect temperature and then he put it in her hands. Rose drank from it gladly as Jake wrapped his arm around her waist, the two of them walking in tandem all the way back to his house. Rose felt like she laughed the whole way there, their heads bent together as they told stories of Christmas Eve and Christmas day with their family's even though they hadn't stopped texting for the entire time, it was nice to hear it all over again in his voice. They kissed along the walk and even though Rose called out a polite 'hello' to Jake's family as they walked through the front door, they were left alone to enjoy their own little slice of the holiday.

Rose curled on the couch, digging through her backpack to pull out the gift that she had carefully wrapped for Jake and placed it on the coffee table while Jake took a wrapped box from under the tree and placed it on the floor next to her. It was a giant box and Rose suddenly felt a rush of fear that she hadn't done enough for him. He had planned the whole night and now there was this giant box and her little wrapping job looked a little sad next to it.

"You go first," Rose said.

Jake collapsed down on the couch and pulled her feet into his lap, all smiles as he grabbed the package.

"Hmm, squishy."

"Just open it," Rose said. "I hope you like it. I did it all by myself."

Rose felt her cheeks started to go hot at the admission but it just made Jake look all the more delighted as he ripped open the wrapping paper to reveal the hat and the mittens that she had crocheted. She had learnt to crochet for the exact purpose of making these for Jake and putting their initials in the design.

"Rose, these are amazing!"

"You think so?"

Jake jammed the hat on his head. "And it's my favourite colour!"

"I know."

Rose felt a lot less anxious about her handiwork as Jake put his hands inside the mittens and flexed them.

"Thank you, Rose. I'll never be cold again."

Rose let him pull her forward and kiss her. She wrapped her arm around his neck and would have slid all the way into his lap but Jake put one of his mittened hands against her face.

"You have to open yours first," Jake said. "It'll help."

Rose raised her eyebrows. "With kissing?"

Jake shrugged. "Maybe."

Rose reached down and grabbed the box, pulling it into her lap. It was much lighter than she had thought and she tore the wrapping paper to reveal a generic cardboard box that didn't give anything away. There was a thick line of packing tape across the top of the box and Rose nudged the box toward Jake. He took off his mittens to use his dragon claws to cut through the tap and Rose slid one hand inside of the box without actually looking at it.

"Hmm, squishy."

Jake laughed. "Come on, open it."

Rose did, pulling out a thick blanket, incredibly soft under her hands. She cooed about it but then Jake took it from her hands and spread it open over their bodies. Rose looked down at the design and then she gasped. It was them! A blanket collage of nearly all of the photographs that they had together, from the old life and the new one. Rose felt like she was going to cry as she ran her hand over the blanket.

"Do you like it?"

As if he didn't know that she loved it. Rose nodded mutely. "I love it. I love you."

"I love you too."

Jake drew the blanket around their shoulders and Rose into his lap and started kissing her, both of them forgetting they had forgotten to turn the movie on at all.