#boy that package is too big to giftwrap

[hole-in-the-sky-library]

Twenty-Five Snowflakes [Day 13]

Prompt: Peppermint

Ship: Stealthshipping (Tsukikage / Sora)

Summary: The hard part about buying Christmas gifts for each other when you’re both trained in stealth is that keeping it a surprise is almost impossible.

Ao3

Tsukikage knew Sora was following him, but he pretended he didn’t.  He pulled his scarf up to his nose, breathing a puff of haze through it.  A few snowflakes drifted down from the dark sky, swirling through the street lamps.

Hikage glanced at Tsukikage.  It was imperceptible, the way he glanced back to see where Sora was hiding, but Tsukikage noticed.  Sora probably did too.

“Do you...?” Hikage started.

Tsukikage nodded without looking, instead wandering over to one of the store windows decked out with lights nearby.

“Do you know why?” Hikage asked, following him.

“I suspect he’s trying to decipher what I want for Christmas,” Tsukikage said.

Hikage actually laughed, but softly in that way of his, muffled into his scarf.  They hadn’t worn their ninja garb in many months, and these thicker, winter scarves felt somehow surreal.  Tsukikage made a point of glancing at some of the things in the window near him, and then moved on.

Sora was incredibly good at stealthing.  If Tsukikage hadn’t been trained as well as Sora had, he would not have noticed Sora moving into his next hiding spot.

“I thought you were planning on getting him something today, too,” Hikage said, clearly trying not to look at Sora.

“I was.  I believe this is the game we’re going to be playing tonight.  I’m buying something for him while he’s following, trying not to let him know what it is I’ve gotten, while he’s trying to decide what to get for me without letting me know that he’s there.  I suspect he’s trying to see what I buy for him so that he gets something of equal or similar value.”

“Do you think he knows that you know?”

“Oh, I’m sure he does.”

Hikage laughed again, shaking his head.  Tsukikage cracked a smile himself, noting as Sora blended in neatly with a group that passed them — so perfectly for a moment that Tsukikage almost lost him.  Almost.

“You’re having fun,” Hikage said.

Tsukikage ducked his smile into his scarf.

“Is it that obvious?”

Hikage chuckled, nudging his brother with his shoulder.

“Maybe this game of yours is your real Christmas gift to each other.”

“Perhaps.  But I do intend to find something for him, and I do intend for it to be a surprise.”

He nodded into the store next to them as they walked.

“I’m going in here.  Will you come?”

“I think I’ll leave this game to the two of you,” Hikage said.  “Good luck.”

He laughed again, shaking his head, and started down the street.  Tsukikage waved, and then ducked into the store beside him. Sora had gone a little ahead with that last group he’d hidden with.  A clever move, to move ahead of the person you’re following so it’s less obvious that you’re actually following them. However, that would give Tsukikage a few seconds to duck into this store, perhaps unnoticed — or at the very least giving him a few moments to browse before Sora caught back up with him.

The sweets shop was much bigger than it looked from the outside, but it was also very cramped.  It would be difficult to see for a long distance in here. Perfect.

He couldn’t help but grin as he ducked into a random aisle.  It would take Sora a few moments to catch up and decide which way he’d gone.

Or so he thought, as he tucked himself into a corner to look at the wrapped cookies, glanced back, and saw the faint flicker of a jacket going around a corner.  The lack of any footstep to go with it was quite clear — Sora had already kept up with him, and Tsukikage had only barely noticed. Ah, well now the game was really on.

Tsukikage waited for another customer to walk down the single-file aisle, blocking him off from Sora’s only line of sight, and then slipped down an aisle in another direction.  He heard the tiniest of clinking sounds as something shifted on a shelf, and realized with a start that there was plenty of room beneath a few of the well stocked tables for someone Sora’s size to crawl under.  Clever. Well, Sora wasn’t going to keep up with him that easily.

Keeping very lightly on his feet, Tsukikage masked his movements with the movements of another browsing customer, and then ducked into an area where there were too many boxes under the tables for Sora to take that route.  Taking advantage of Sora’s inevitable momentary recalculations, he slipped out the door. That store had been a fake out — there was a different sweets shop he was going to instead.

Tsukikage took a back way to that shop — and by back way, he meant darting through alleys and crawling over fire exits to mask his trail.

Confident now that he’d lost Sora, Tsukikage quietly entered his actual target store.  This shop was much more spacious, with fewer places for any small individuals to hide. The main display, alight with lights and bags decorated with holly and wreath designs, sent brilliant light throughout the store, topped off with a large, cartoonish polar bear wearing a candy-cane hat that stood beside the table.  Tsukikage made a beeline for the display behind it. He needed to take advantage of the time he’d lost Sora. There they were — the peppermint lollipops that he’d seen Sora looking at in another shop a while ago. Perfect.

Tsukikage took the package and headed up to the counter.  There was only one person waiting in line, so he took a moment to check around the store and make sure Sora wasn’t hiding somewhere he hadn’t noticed.

His phone buzzed in his pocket as he reached the counter.  He didn’t want to drop his concentration, but he dug it out while the cashier rung him up, giving it a quick glance.

Oh, he thought.  The text was from Sora?

Hey nerd if you’re not busy meet me at that big ass tree in the square in fifteen minutes

Tsukikage cracked a smile.  As though Sora hadn’t been following him around all day and knew exactly what he was doing.  He tapped out a brief response to say he would be there, took his giftwrapped package, and headed back out into the cold.

Snowflakes started to swirl with more vigor around him as he made his way back towards the square.  He took another shortcut, mostly just for the fun of it. He was allowed to indulge, wasn’t he?

He saw Sora before he reached him.  The boy sat on a ledge near the ice skating rink, fiddling with his phone and chewing on one thumbnail.  His eyes flickered as Tsukikage approached — immediately, a huge, triumphant smile broke over his face.

“Hah!” he said, jumping up to stand on the ledge so that he was taller than Tsukikage.  “You thought you lost me, didn’t you, sucker!”

Tsukikage couldn’t help but smile, covering it with his hand.

“Am I to assume you did manage to follow me to the second store?”

Sora grinned, puffing out his chest.  The effect was somewhat lost by the fact that his puffy coat made him look even smaller than he was, but it was adorable nonetheless.

“It’s not just about following — it’s about anticipating,” he said.  “I knew you’d try to throw me off by going into a decoy store! But I had already guessed your real target, so after I tricked you into thinking I was going under the tables, I got to the other store before you!”

Tsukikage laughed softly, tucking both hands into his pockets with his package tucked under his arm.

“So, please, indulge me — where were you hiding?”

Sora grinned.

“Inside the polar bear,” he said, hands on his hips.  “And I saw what you got, and had time to text you and go finish shopping myself.  So there! I win!”

Tsukikage couldn’t help but feel a bit of competitiveness rise up in him, and Sora seemed to notice the change in his smile immediately, his own triumphant expression turning suspicious.

“Why are you smiling like that?” he said.  “I don’t like it.”

Tsukikage laughed, burying his face into his scarf for a moment.  Then he stepped forward, hopping up to stand on the ledge next to Sora.  Sora pouted at him, folding his arms.

“Because,” Tsukikage said, pulling his free hand out of his pocket with a small package.  “What you saw me buy wasn’t your present.”

Sora’s eyes bulged.

“What?  When’d you buy that??”

“A few weeks ago.  I thought if I telegraphed I was purchasing it, you’d try to figure out what it was.”

Sora flapped his hands, mouth opening and closing a few times with the utter shock of it.  Then he gave up with a flop forward, letting his head fall against Tsukikage’s chest.

“I can’t believe you beat me,” he grumbled.

Tsukikage laughed, wrapping one arm around Sora lightly.

“It’s like you said,” he said.  “It’s not about following. It’s about anticipating.”

Sora blew a raspberry at him.  Then he flopped down to sit on the ledge, patting the cold stone beside him.

“Okay, winner,” he said.  “I’ll bet I got you a cooler present though.”

Tsukikage laughed again and sat down beside Sora.

“We shall have to see.”

Sora dug inside his coat and pulled out a small, red and green wrapped box.  He shoved it into Tsukikage’s chest, and Tsukikage took it while passing his own gift to Sora.  He set the peppermint lollipop box in between them. Sora glanced at him then.

“At the same time?” he said.

“That would be fair.”

Sora tugged at the ribbon on his box, and Tsukikage peeled back the paper on his.  He heard Sora make a little sound of surprise, but he himself didn’t quite notice, because he was too focused on what appeared when he took the top off of the box.

It was...it was a rose.  A dark blue blossom, delicate and glistening...glistening?  He touched it lightly, and his fingers found metal instead of petals.  He lifted the metal rose from the box, turning it slowly to watch the light catch over the incredibly delicate, twisting petals.

He heard Sora rustling the paper of his gift then, and tore his eyes away from the rose to watch Sora unwrapping the candy-shaped box.  Sora’s eyes brightened as he turned it around, looking over the embossed cover of the box, decorated with images of twisted candies.

“The key is taped on the side,” Tsukikage said.  “I heard you say you wanted something to be able to keep things in that you could lock up...”

“This is perfect!!” Sora said.  “Thanks, Tsuki!! I love it!!”

He glanced at Tsukikage then, his face getting a little guarded as his eyes flickered to the rose.

“Uh,” Sora said.  “Do you, uh, like it?  It’s kind of a weird gift, I guess, um...I just saw it and it made me think of you and...uh...”

Tsukikage smiled, feeling everything within him growing soft and warm.  He reached out to wrap an arm around Sora, pulling him close.

“It’s perfect,” he said. “Thank you, Sora.”

Sora nestled his head against Tsukikage’s shoulder, sighing as he hugged the box to his lap.  For just a moment, they sat there, in the quiet and the cold, just snuggled close.

Sora tapped on the box of peppermint lollipops then.

“So anyway,” he said.  “Are you gonna eat these, or can I have one?”

Tsukikage laughed, squeezing Sora’s shoulders.

“Go ahead.  They were for sharing.”

“Yes!”

Sora popped back so that he could pop the box open.  Tsukikage cradled the metal rose in his hands, feeling the cold of the metal against his bare skin.  It shone in the streetlights as he twisted it.

“Merry Christmas, Sora,” he said softly.  “I love you.”

Sora nearly choked on one of the lollipops, quickly pulling it out of his mouth.  He ducked his head for a moment, cheeks going beet red. A moment later, though, Sora reached for Tsukikage’s hand, and Tsukikage turned his to grasp it.

“Merry Christmas,” Sora mumbled, flushing.  “I love you too.”