#ALSO ITS SO FUN TO WRITE GIGI'S POV!!!! SHE IS SO SASSY!!!

[eiseryn]

Lei's Birthday 2024 - Gift Shopping

Description: A short story featuring original characters from my cyberpunk campaign in a modern AU. Gigi plans a shopping trip for her best friend Lei's birthday gifts and brings along two of their friends. For some reason, Lei's boyfriend wants to tag along and Gigi isn't sure about how she feels about him with her beloved best friend. In spending a little more time with Vail, maybe Gigi will learn to see what her best friend likes in her man and find a way to support them?

Length: 1.5k words

Characters: Gigi, Vail, (mentioned: Lei, Ceres, Elise)

Relationships: Gigi + Vail (platonic), implied Vail / Lei (romantic)

It was September again. The smell of rain, the crinkly red and yellow leaves, and pumpkin spice lattes being available were all indicative of that. 

And what also came with September was the approaching of Lei’s birthday. Last year, Gigi had thrown a large surprise birthday bash, but this year, Lei’s birthday aligned with the mid autumn festival so Lei had requested something smaller. Who was Gigi to refuse her best friend’s requests? 

So the weekend before Lei’s birthday, which was unfortunately on a weekday, Gigi had called up the girls — which was what she liked to call Elise and Ceres — and planned a gift  shopping day. This was so that none of them would get Lei overlapping gifts. 

That had gone well. Elise efficiently picked up a scented candle and some bath bombs in Lei’s favourite floral scents. Ceres, the cute little thing, had said she already handmade Lei’s gift and simply came to pick up some gift wrap. Only when Gigi pressed and insisted, did Ceres reveal the carefully painted portraits of Cillin and Meng, Lei’s beloved cats. Gigi couldn’t help but pat such a cute girl on the head! 

Gigi herself already knew what she was going to get Lei — it had become a tradition for them to buy each other outfits for their birthdays. Usually they would try to get each other things that were similar to the other’s closet, but this year, Gigi wanted to challenge Lei a little outside of her comfort zone. This year, Gigi had opted for a multi-layered flowy white chiffon dress and a black corset-like pleather belt. Paired with some comfy leather boots and some scarves, it would have Lei looking like a pirate princess. 

Now Gigi herself and the girls all aligned with her expectations and they finished their shopping with relative efficiency. What she did not expect was a particular blue-haired man wanting to tag along.

And thus it lead to her current predicament now: 

“Vail, you could string a few beads on some cooking twine and give Lei that, and she would still call it the best bracelet she’s ever received.” Gigi said, with a dramatic sigh, holding the palm of her hand to her forehead. 

Vail had tagged along to all the shops the girls went to, saying very little as he followed behind them like some lost puppy. But it seemed that he was struggling with choosing what to get Lei for her birthday gift. 

Gigi didn’t have anything in particular against Vail. He was on the short side, had decent-enough facial features that could make him objectively “cute”, and he wasn’t an asshole. Even before he and Lei had officially started dating, Gigi could already tell that he was genuinely interested in Lei. And since Lei and him had been dating for some time now, Gigi could tell he made her happy. Even so, Gigi was not particularly impressed by him. In Gigi’s eyes, Lei deserved someone who would pluck the stars out of the sky for her. 

Gigi and Vail had been in the jewelry store for the past half hour and even Gigi’s bottomless patience had worn a little thin. Just a little. 

“Maybe,” Vail said, looking up at Gigi from the extensive earring rack he was studying intensely. “But I want to give her something nice.” 

Maybe if you knew what she liked, you wouldn’t be having such a hard time deciding, Gigi thought in her head, but didn’t say. 

Instead, Gigi sighed. “Why can’t you be like other guys and slap a ribbon on your crotch and call it a day?”

Vail made no indication that he had heard her, although Gigi could see that the tips of his ears had grown suspiciously red. 

Flipping her wavy red hair behind her, Gigi turned away from him and began to browse through the jeweled hair clips in the row over. “Well, if you would like my help so we can go home sometime today, I’ll just be over here.”

They browsed in a few minutes of awkward silence before he finally cleared his throat and said. “Do you know anywhere they might sell mooncake earrings?”

Finally! Took you long enough! Gigi screamed in her head. But again, out of manners, she did not say this aloud.

“I know just the place.” Gigi smiled, already beginning to walk out of the store. “Come on, let’s go get some cute earrings.”

The place she had in mind was a little artisan shop that featured small artists. It was a personal favourite of Gigi herself. Just the week before, Lei and Gigi had visited after class and Lei had actually picked up the mooncake earrings that Gigi was now recommending to Vail. 

Perhaps he does pay attention to what Lei likes, Gigi was beginning to realize as she promptly showed him the wooden shelf. She pointed at the golden yellow mooncakes, intricately carved with a Chinese character, and hanging from golden hooks. 

He picked up the earrings, and then shook his head and placed them back on the rack. “This won’t do.” He said. “She only wears silver.” 

That was something Gigi occasionally forgot herself until Lei mentioned it. Gigi was surprised that he even remembered.

After her initial shock, she straightened herself up and cleared her throat to say, “Hmmm I’ll ask one of the employees if they have any left in silver. I think there were some last week.” 

The employee was called over and after explaining the situation, the employee gestured to a hidden drawer underneath the display. After digging through it, the employee pulled out a pair of earrings on a cute red backing card.

The earrings were depicting white snowskin mooncakes and placed on silver hooks. The red backing card even had the design of a very round white bunny on it. 

“That looks great, thanks.” Vail said as the employee dropped the earrings in his hand. 

“Wasn’t so hard now, was it?” Gigi said to Vail with just a little bit of sass, after the employee had left to go back to their post. 

But Vail wasn’t looking at her or listening to her at all. Instead, his attention seemed to be on the glass display case that the employee was behind. Behind the glass, there were shelves of what appeared to be handcrafted rings of different kinds, nestled in velvet beds. 

Gigi placed her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows. She knew Vail was serious about Lei, but wasn’t aware he was that serious. She watched him, seeing his brown eyes full of longing as he gazed at what was behind the glass. In those eyes, she saw someone who was willing to try to pluck the stars out of the sky for her beloved friend. 

Perhaps she had underestimated him more than once today. Although Gigi hated being wrong, she hated having the wrong idea about people more. 

“Vail?” Gigi said, her booming voice piercing through the quiet of the shop. “Is there something else you wanted to buy today?”

This seemed to shake Vail out of his daze and he shook his head. “Sorry, did you say something before? I didn’t hear it.”

Perhaps it’s not time yet, Gigi thought, but now I can see the future that Lei dreamed of coming true. For now though, Gigi would bide her time and make sure she got as much quality time with her best friend before she was taken away. 

Gigi shook her head, a small smile on her face. “It’s nothing important. I was just wondering if you were ready to go.” 

“Oh, right. Hmmm… I guess I can pick up a second pair of earrings. It seems there’s a deal for two.” Vail said, his gaze returning to Gigi and then the shelf.

“Right…” Gigi smirked at him, her hand firmly placed on her hip. “Well, after you’re done, let’s go find the girls. We’re getting bubble tea. My treat.” 

He looked at her with a puzzled expression. “Nah, it’s okay. Thanks though. I appreciate your help today so if anything, I should be treating you to bubble tea.” 

“Nonsense!” Gigi shook her finger at him. “It’s a tradition when I go out with the girls that someone treats the others to bubble tea. Not only is today my turn, but today you’re an honorary girlie. After all, we all came shopping with the intention of making our darling Lei happy, no?” 

He smiled then, something rare to Gigi, but something that might have been familiar to Lei. Very vaguely, at the back of her mind, did Gigi remember how Lei had swooned about his soft smiles. 

“Alright, you got me. I’ll buy the ingredients for the hotpot then.” Vail said with his small smile. 

“Throw in some prime-grade meats and it’s a deal~” 

Vail seemed to think about it only to humour her — Gigi knew he wasn’t going to refuse — before he nodded and said, “Deal.” 

Delighted, Gigi let out a laugh, which could be heard outside the store as she and Vail shook on it.

Author's Notes:

Gigi / Vail friendship is something I didn't know I needed until now. It's the best friend / boyfriend solidarity in supporting their fave girl

GIGI'S POV IS SO FUN TO WRITE T_T IM SO SAD SHE'S BARELY GOING TO APPEAR IN THE CYBERPUNK VN (I feel like she'd be popular)

sorry this is kinda messy orz I didn't edit that much for once and this is really experimental / for fun

I know it's also super late for Lei's birthday but I've been dealing with other stuff so :'D if I have more motivation to write then I might do part 2 (Ceres POV) + part 3 (Vail POV) for Lei's birthday. There might be Lei POV for part 3 instead of Vail actually who knows 🤪🤷‍♀️