#(charlie loved the patches and paperclips!! they were so pretty and she is so eager to use them aaaa)

[theaterism]

At this point, it's only customary for the triplets' presents to simply appear on their bedsheets. They are wrapped securely and carefully, but other than that, they are not meant to be hidden.

Victor's present is a little box, wrapped in cat paw paper. Inside is... the familiar shape of three tiny pumpkins. The gifter muse think they are being funny. In the middle of the pumpkin-circle, either a decoration or a summoning ritual, is a small, blue-yellow toy camera. From its size to the colours, it's evident the item was made for toddlers. It can hold a reasonable number of tiny photographs anyway. With this, the gifter definitely thought themself a comedian.

Charlie's gift is flat but cute, the paper printed blue with clouds and suns. Once unwrapped, the receiver would find a variety of embroidered fabric patches. There were several flower patches, as well as a rabbit and a butterfly, and a star in pink, purple and blue. Buried alongside the patches were several paperclips decorated with funny wooden animals. It was almost as if the gifter had plucked them out of their respective boxes as they went without looking back (or towards the cashier).

Finally, Foxtrot's gift was wrapped in midnight blue and snowflakes, though even flatter than Charlie's. The gift itself was folded paper. The top side read, "Text me as you go."

Once spread out, the receiver would find himself looking at a map, whose careful inks and familiar architecture would lead anyone to identify it as the inside of the Twilight Theater. At least, it was the rooms and halls known to the duo, particularly the ones that stayed where they'd found them and were not as securely locked.

Of course, as with any treasure map, most rooms bore gifts.

Several of them were spread out in the auditorium. The map gave hints for how to reach each one in the shape of doodles and exclamation points, so they would eventually lead the land pirate to finding an overly fluffy fox keychain, a pin of a menacing-looking goat man, another pin of a booing ghost where their sleeping bags had once been, and a bag of caramel popcorn bearing a glittery star sticker.

One of the rooms required experience in lockpicking. The items was hidden well, but the hints were just as helpful---it was hidden inside a potted plant, a tiny shopping cart meant for storage. What sort of storage would be tiny enough to fit was up to the receiver.

Finally, in the break room, there was something tucked beneath a plate. The map would not specify which, and the doodles were certainly not in par with Charlie's, so it required more luck than skill to find the slip of paper under the heap of freshly-baked christmas cookies. It was... a coupon. An apple cider coupon. The entire thing was obviously handmade, with clipped pieces of actual café menus slapped beside Wren's spacy handwriting. The location read "theater kitchen". It bore the same marking as all other gifts on the map, despite not having been drawn on the map itself.

And, predictably, Wren occupied the kitchen themself, two steaming mugs of apple cider on the kitchen counter.

They were sat on the table when he came in, phone in hand and legs swaying. The grin they wore when they saw his face was as warm as their homemade drinks. "There he is. How'd you find the present hunt, hm? Birthday boy?"

Victor discovered his gift first. A smile tugged at his lips at the paw-print wrapping paper, though he couldn’t stifle a weary sigh when he uncovered the pumpkins. And… a tiny camera? In distinctly toddler-like colors. Victor hummed and took an experimental picture of Juliet as she bapped a pumpkin with her paw. The camera worked. True, it radiated mischief, yet he appreciated the gesture nonetheless.

He left his siblings’ presents untouched for them to find later, not wanting to spoil the surprise.

Charlie’s eyes widened when she saw the present on her bedsheets. Just like last year. She resisted her eagerness to tear it open and unfolded the wrapping carefully instead, intending to preserve some of the cute paper. Perhaps for a scrapbooking project.

The actual contents of the gift delighted her even more. She traced her fingers over the embroidered patches, beaming as she admired their shapes and the meaning behind their colors, already imagining the clothing she might adorn with them. Amusement glimmered in her eyes at the paperclips as well. Her mind brimmed with ideas for where to use them.

She considered hiding Foxtrot’s gift or peeking inside it somehow, curious about its flatness. In the end, she abandoned it in favor of hurrying down the stairs to show off her patches to other theater workers.

Foxtrot spotted his present last, though he guessed its gifter in a heartbeat and grinned at the thought of them sneaking it onto his bed. But what was the oddly-shaped gift? He removed the lovely wrapping to reveal the paper within, and excitement sparked within him as he unfolded it. A treasure map. A treasure map of the theater, to be precise, its lines tracing familiar rooms and halls inside the building. The rooms and halls he’d explored with Wren.

Text me as you go, Wren had requested. And Foxtrot did, a message following each discovery:

‘a fox! must be warm with so much fluff’

‘goatman’s real but much tinier than i expected’

‘a ghost as well! the theater IS hauntsd’

‘what do you call popcorn in a play?’

‘propcorn’

A longer pause to allow time to focus on lockpocking. After the entry and subsequent search:

‘ah my fox army can use this shopping cart in battle’

And finally, when luck favored him and he uncovered the slip of paper beneath the plate of cookies:

‘can i save this coupon after using it? it’s the best ive ever gotten’

This last text conveyed more sincerity, Foxtrot’s appreciation for the treasure hunt shining through his jests. Each inside joke reminded him of their many adventures and misadventures. He recognized the thought and effort Wren had put into all these gifts, and warm gratitude bloomed in his chest.

When he entered the kitchen at last and saw Wren waiting for him, he beamed at them. He’d begun the hunt as soon as he found the first clue, forgetting to bring a bag or a jacket with pockets, so he carried the gifts in his arms. Bits of his sweater peeked through the jumbled items — a pattern of foxes in Christmas hues chased each other across the knitted material. It looked a bit silly. A lost bet with Charlie had doomed him to wear it the whole day.

A question. The present hunt was wonderful. “You’re wonderful,” tumbled from his lips first instead, just as sincere. “It was all wonderful, really.” A flush still burned his cheeks from the ‘birthday boy’ comment, yet Foxtrot couldn’t shake his smile. It had been a marvelous birthday quest — especially upon seeing the steaming mugs on the counter and finding Wren themself, his favorite fellow land pirate and the true treasure at the end of the search. “Sorry if I kept you waiting long. Slowing down in my old age and all.”