Prompt
At long last, your Holiday shopping is complete! Every last person is checked off the list, and you have time to spare. Maybe you deserve something a little extra special, too? Or is there someone you suddenly remembered? Are you just imagining that you’re done? What if you actually haven’t gotten everything finished? This time of year is always so stressful—how are you handling shopping at all?
When Owen had been younger, he hadn't given much thought to where gifts came from. He knew they couldn't afford many, of course, but beyond thinking about what he wanted (and couldn't usually have), he didn't put a lot of thought into the process. Now that he was older, however - old enough to start tying to give presents himself, as well as get them - he was beginning to realize how much work went into finding something just right. With little kids, maybe you could get a good idea of what they wanted and what to get them, but with anyone older, it was... hard.
You had to balance what you could afford with what the recipient liked, and not take your own taste into account at all. Some people were easy to shop for - like Bailey, who loved pretty things and art and who would absolutely adore the new scrapbooking set he had found for her at the craft store they had met at so long ago. Others... others were harder. Like Daniel. Daniel had grown so quiet over the last few months (And years, if Owen were to be honest with himself) that it was hard to even begin to guess at what he might want for a gift. Want, at least, though need may have been more appropriate, given how hard things had been for him of late.
... Owen didn't much like the thought of hitting anyone, let alone punching them, but Daniel's mother was really trying his patience with how cruel she was being to her own son.
But personal issues aside, Owen still wasn't quite sure what to get for Daniel. Something for his dog would have been the first thing on his mind, except the last he had heard, poor Daniel had to leave him behind, so trying to give him something for Freedom Call would just... hurt. And hurting Daniel was the absolute last thing Owen wanted. Unfortunately he didn't have a lot of money, so the nicest things he could do were out of his reach... Although... there was one idea...
Taking a moment to sort out his thoughts, he called his mom, and after a short conversation with her, set about preparing a card to give the other boy the next time they met. Which would be soon, with any luck, and as soon as they did, Owen's mom would take them to the phone store to get Daniel a phone on their plan, so he would always be able to be in touch with them and wouldn't be without a way to call for help, so long as he could find a place to charge it (and that wouldn't be a problem, because if he needed Owen fully intended to drag his sort-of boyfriend home with him as often as needed to make sure that phone got charged!)
With that settled, he now had to turn his thoughts toward picking out the perfect present for his Mom... Maybe he could try to be sneaky and arrange for her to meet up with Dad again, since she got so flustered and blushy whenever he brought up his recently reconnected father... Even if nothing came of it, they had gotten along enough to make him, right?
And if that fell through, he could... always get her a bottle of sparkling grape juice and a cheap copy of Dirty Dancing so she wouldn't have to keep the ripped-from-TV copy with all the commercial breaks. Yeah! That would work! (His Dad? His Dad was getting Owen's own homemade attempt at a toy Tribble. Because his father had excellent taste.) And that... That was everyone! Yes! He'd done it - everyone's presents taken care of.
Now it was time to reward himself with a serious Star Trek Marathon.
Word count: 644
