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 Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2016 8:50 pm
"His name is Jacob Lanowitz," said Caspian, throwing open the door to the mall with a gusto that wasn't entirely necessary and almost smacking two annoyed looking passersby in the arm. "He's a middle blocker on my volleyball team. I was hoping to get Josh Johnson or Adam Bennett - they both like the same things - but Jacob's kind of an a**, which means I have to find something either really shitty or really great."
The mall, of course, was jam packed with shoppers all bustling about to get everything ready for the upcoming holidays. Caspian thoroughly enjoyed the festivities, however over hyped they could be; the smell of peppermint was thick in the air, and he breathed it in, turning sideways so that he could grin up at Michael.
"You get to be my assistant," he deadpanned, Caspian reaching up to loosen the neon green scarf around his neck; it was a lot warmer inside than out, after all. Underneath, he was wearing a black peacoat that only partially hid the rest of his overly bright ensemble that consisted of a turquoise blue sweatshirt and a pair of black jeans with yellow Converse All-Stars. The jeans were spangled with blue stars around the ankles and hips, Caspian skidding a little on the wet floor just inside the mall entrance.
"Help me pick something out? I have a list here," he said, reaching into his pocket to find it. "I think it's mostly dumb s**t."
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Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2016 10:21 pm
Somehow Michael ended up at the mall. He hated the mall. He hated crowds. He hated loud noises and people in general. But somehow Michael was now warily making his way through the doors of the mall, just behind Caspian’s overly enthusiastic wake. He blamed himself, of course, and his increasingly annoying inability to say no to Caspian, especially when he flashed him that warm smile of his.
Michael had no idea how he’d come to this point, but apparently this was his life now.
“Do I have a choice?” he grumbled rhetorically to himself when he was told he was now Caspian’s assistant in finding a gift for the apparent a** on his volleyball team. “Just get him a gift card,” he suggested, which Michael thought was entirely reasonable and easy and didn’t require trying to avoid being run over by people rushing around to shop.
He grabbed hold of Caspian’s arm, probably a little more harshly than he intended, pulling him out of the way of a woman with a large stroller who was too busy talking loudly to her friend to pay attention to the fact that she was about to run Caspian over. Michael clicked his tongue disapprovingly against the roof of his mouth as he shot a pointless glare at the woman over his shoulder.
“Can’t you just order something online?” he asked, exasperated already as he looked Caspian over to make sure he hadn’t been hurt, and then worked on unbuttoning his own navy winter coat. His sweater underneath was his favorite color grey.
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2016 4:11 pm
Caspian knew perfectly well that Michael hated the mall, but that wasn't about to stop him from dragging Michael along with him. He supposed he could have taken Peter; but Peter wasn't exactly the best of company sometimes, and besides, he'd been busy.
And Michael was Michael, so therefore. Mall.
"Nope," Caspian answered blithely, fingers linked with Michael's as he dragged him further into the building. "You're stuck now with me shopping. And no, gift cards are so lame and not the good kind of lame that would make his head explode, I gotta find something really great."
He let himself be yanked sideways to avoid being trampled, Caspian still rummaging around in his pocket with his free hand for the list. He found it a few seconds later and held it up triumphantly. "Aha. Here it is. I'll just look at this, see what there is."
Caspian waved the paper in front of Michael.
"Shopping online is boring," he said, with a roll of his eyes. He twisted around to stand in front of Michael, got up on his tiptoes, and kissed him quickly. "This'll be great, we'll be in and out in like, two minutes. Now help me find out where the nearest Macy's is."
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2016 6:55 pm
Exasperation was clear on his face as Michael scowled down at Caspian and his continued enthusiasm for shopping for this person, the quick kiss only pacifying him temporarily. The only good thing about being at the mall was that he was with Caspian. Even if it was emotionally draining and he would probably be grumpy for the rest of the night.
“I have no idea where Macy’s is…” he frowned but at least made an effort to look around for a directory and found one crowded in the middle of the wide walkway. “And we’ll probably never find out,” he added, not daring to move closer to where there were loud teenagers obnoxiously singing Christmas carols when it wasn’t even close to Christmas. They still had a good twenty days to go.
“Does it have to be Macy’s? What about one of these other stores?” he asked as he looked around, trying to determine what store might offer the best chance of finding what Caspian was looking for.
He knew he was being pessimistic about it, and would most likely get on Caspian’s nerves after a while, but he felt as though he couldn’t help it.
“What if I sit over there and wait until you’re done?” he tried, nodding to a bench that was empty for only a few seconds and then was filled by another group of teenagers, at whom Michael glared, but it went unnoticed.
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2016 8:07 pm
Fortunately for Michael, Caspian found his grumpiness endearing.
He rolled his eyes and tugged on Michael's hand. "Come on, Senor Grumpypants," he said, half dragging him down a wide walkway that was littered with patrons heading to and from the various stores scattered around. "Macy's is one of the biggest department stores in the world, I'm pretty sure we'll find it."
Caspian managed to tow them both a short distance away from the singing teenagers before he said cheerfully, "No, it doesn't have to be Macy's, in can be whatever we find." He glanced sideways at the bench that Michael was indicating, caught the disgruntled expression that came a second later as the bench was filled, and stifled a smile.
"Nope, not getting out of it that easily," he said airily. "See, look, here's a knick knack store, let's go in here."
Caspian tugged on Michael's hand again, grinning back at him.
"Maybe we'll find you something nice."
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2016 8:30 pm
“There’s too many people in there,” he practically whined, but reluctantly allowed himself to be dragged towards the store, his own hand gripping a bit tighter to Caspian’s hand as if he was afraid of him getting swept away in the crowd.
Caspian was tiny, after all. Compared to Michael, anyway.
“What are you even looking for?” he grumbled, already feeling claustrophobic as he squeezed his way through the crowd and into the knick knack store. “What’s on the list?” he asked, wanting to at least appear to be helpful, even if he just wanted to go home and take a nap or something.
The store itself wasn’t horrible. It was indeed filled with knick knacks and greeting cards and Christmas ornaments. There were little figurines of angels and model train sets and miniature houses covered in snow. It was all very quaint and it made Michael uneasy if only because he’d never been settled enough to bother with things like decorations or collecting seemingly pointless things to have just for show and decoration.
Caspian, on the other hand, he knew had plenty of unique things in his house that made it his home. Unlike Michael’s house, it didn’t look as though it was a set for a furniture showroom.
“Do you have a limit to what you should spend?” he asked, trying to shift his uneasiness to just the fact that it was crowded and loud.
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2016 8:06 pm
"People, schmeople," said Caspian, without a backwards glance as he towed his fiance down the crowded paths of the mall. He could feel the strength of Michael's grasp and fought back another smile, trying hard not to let him know that he was endlessly amused by Michael's reluctance.
He shrugged a shoulder. "Something about sports, lots of volleyball crap, uhh..." Caspian scanned down the crumpled paper. "A planner? Jeez, who is this guy...socks...wow, his list is really just the least inspiring thing I've ever seen, I gotta find something good...maybe a sock monkey, he did ask for socks..."
He was half talking to himself as Caspian pulled Michael into the store, peering around at all of the little figurines and things standing around. Caspian was immediately fascinated - maybe a little too much so - and let go of Michael's hand to wander, drifting over to a shelf that had small glass figures of animals atop it.
"Uh...like a hundred, maybe," he said absently. "Maybe fifty. Something cheap is good."
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2016 9:02 pm
”People don’t just ask for socks for the hell of it,” Michael mumbled to himself as he slowly followed Caspian down the aisles, watching as he was drawn to some glass animal figurines. He did his best to avoid being too crowded by people, but was already feeling like he was in the way as people bustled by, bumping into him in their rush.
“Maybe he really needs socks,” he shrugged, not too concerned about it, but the fact that the guy asked for a planner too made it seem as though he was trying to get items that he really needed, and this was the best way.
“What if you really did look at socks? I’m sure this store sells planners. Maybe he likes staying organized,” he said, knowing that Caspian said this guy was kind of an a**, but he was kind of an a**, too, and yet Caspian seemed to like him just fine.
“You like those?” he asked with a nod towards the figurines as he stuck his own hands into his pockets now that Caspian wasn’t holding one of them. Michael didn’t see the point in little knick knacks that served no purpose, but he was also the guy who had no pictures of his family in his house, and shoved everything that was unique out of sight.
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2016 9:06 pm
"Yuh huh," was Caspian's very articulate answer in response. He was standing on his tiptoes, trying to see if there was a seal or a whale shaped figurine, Caspian's fingers balancing very carefully on the edge of the shelf, mindful not to hold too hard in case it all came crashing down (though it was quite sturdy, by the feel of it). "People who ask for socks don't know what they want."
He twisted his head around to grin at Michael, Caspian dropping back down to proper height - which, next to Michael, felt very short, but that was beside the point at present.
"Maybe he's just trying to use this as a grocery shopping list," he said. "Socks are too easy. I wanna get him something that's definitely on his list, but something that he's not expecting. Like a sock monkey in place of socks, or a pink flowery planner in place of an actual planner. You know. s**t like that."
Caspian's gaze flickered back to the figurines, then back to Michael, a cheerful grin on Caspian's face in spite of his grumpy fiance.
"Yeah. I was looking for one for me, but my mom likes 'em too, so I thought I'd try and get her one, maybe."
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2016 9:18 pm
“Alright, you get your friend his sock monkey,” Michael conceded, knowing how stubborn Caspian was about things anyway. “I just want to make sure you’re doing it for him. I obviously don’t know him, but is that something he’s going to find funny, or is it just going to make him feel bad about asking for something practical?”
He didn’t mean to sound like he was scolding Caspian or anything ridiculous like that, although countering his suggestion might seem as though he was. If anything he just wanted to protect Caspian’s feelings from being hurt later if he ended up getting something really cool, but this other guy got a pink planner that he didn’t want and wouldn’t use.
Not that Michael really cared about how the other guy felt, but Caspian… that was different.
“Did you see any you like?” he asked as he shifted uncomfortably as another person bustled by, feeling as though he was just blocking traffic and getting glares for it.
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Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 8:17 am
"It'll be something that makes him annoyed," said Caspian with relish. "He's always going on about how much better he is than the rest of us, and how he's only relegating himself to a recreational team because he doesn't have the time to commit to a professional team, yada yada yada."
He turned his head, flashing a grin at Michael. "Don't worry, it'll be fine."
Glancing back at the shelf, he let out a little hum of thought and then shook his head. "None of these, I'll have to find them elsewhere, Mom already has all of these. Hey, look - "
A hand reached out and snagged a fluffy red Santa hat, Caspian turning to hold it out to Michael.
"For you," he said, trying to keep a straight face and failing.
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Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 8:31 am
As much as he was trying to convince Caspian otherwise, he was having a difficult time keeping a straight face when Caspian went and flashed that stupidly charming grin of his and told him it’d be fine.
To prevent it from being too obvious that the corner of his lip was twitching dangerously upward, and thus seeming as though he was encouraging Caspian’s mischievous behavior, Michael turned to look around at anything other than Caspian standing beside him.
“She must have quite a collection if she already has all of those,” Michael said, making a note of that for later for whatever reason he might have, and then turned back to look down at what Caspian was handing him.
For a moment he frowned at it, and then slowly lifted his hands to take the fluffy santa hat from Caspian and lifted it up and promptly placed it on top of Caspian’s head, pleased (and not for the first time) that he was much taller than his fiance. It would probably be much more of a struggle for Caspian to be able to do the same to him.
“Red clashes with my hair, don’t you think?” he half joked, and then placed his hand on top of Caspian’s head to prevent him from taking off the hat too easily.
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Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2016 11:17 am
He was winning Michael over, slowly, he knew it. Caspian could read it in his face, amusement lacing his veins as he grinned up at his fiance, shifting his hands behind his back to link them together, rocking up and down on his heels and the toes of his boots.
"She has particular tastes," said Caspian airily. "Like mother, like son."
The santa hat was fluffy around the edges and a brilliant scarlet red, a pom pom dangling from the tip of it. Caspian tilted his head, peering up at Michael as the very picture of innocence as it was taken from him, Michael's expression solemn as he tugged it from Caspian's hands.
And then stuck it on his head.
"Hey!"
Cursing his height for what was probably the four hundred and thirty second time, Caspian tugged at Michael's hand, trying to pry his fingers away. If he was less mature, he would have considered kneeing him in the leg, but at twenty, that seemed a little too childish.
"Red looks great on you,." said Caspian, with a pointed look up at Michael, arms folding across his chest. "You should wear it more often. And blue. And green."
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Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2016 7:17 pm
Michael’s lips twitched more as Caspian tried and failed to remove his hand from his head and crossed his arms over his chest. He couldn't help the fondness he’d grown to feel for him, even if just over half a year ago he was frustrated by all the things he'd grown to like about Caspian.
“Nah, I think grey is fine,” he said as he moved his hand from Caspian's head and slid his hands into his pockets. “What’s that look for?” he finally grinned, amused by the expression on Caspian's face. “You’re the color person. I’m not.” Which was fine with Michael. It was easier that way and he didn’t have to worry about making anything match. If there was one thing he missed about the military it was that all of his clothes was already picked out for him.
“I think you should find your sock puppet and pink planner and we can get out of here,” he suggested, pulling one hand back out of his pocket to pluck the Santa hat from Caspian’s head and handed it back to him so he could put it back where it belonged.
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Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2016 8:04 pm
Caspian would get Michael back. Eventually. When he least expected it.
But at least Michael was finally smiling now, the grin warming Caspian's heart enough that it was hard to maintain his pretend outrage. He raised his eyebrows, then rolled his eyes, Caspian reaching up to tug the hat more fashionably lower on his head, tossing the pompom end back dramatically.
"There's no look here. And there's nothing wrong with grey, but there's also nothing wrong with blue or green or red, either," Caspian said pointedly.
The santa hat was taken from his head, though Caspian didn't put it back on the shelf when it was handed to him. Instead, he stuffed it under one arm, along with a bag of what looked like white fluff and a box of hot cocoa mix that was sitting on a display near the cashier's counter.
"You just want to leave faster, don't give me that," said Caspian, as he marched over to pay.
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