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blackfemmecharacterdependency · 1 year

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Are We Those Kinda People?

It is actually early, but it was on my heart to do this one shot for @jacksope-lives story Train Hunters. Hopefully, she enjoys this...

He stared at it for a long time. Grace really would adore it. It checked the right boxes. The first and most important being pink, it was an animal that he hadn’t seen her ever have before - a hedgehog, and it was affordable enough for him. Way more expensive than he thought the thing ought to be, but he’d made at least one mistake with this.

Hazel told him, “Girls LOVE plushies! A soft and cuddly little guy? You CAN’T go wrong with a plushie!” And… he didn’t… necessarily go wrong with it, but he selected a badger. Why? Because she didn’t have one and he thought it would be unique. But, then he tried to see if he could get some pink for razzle dazzle and the animal clothes were too big and doll clothes too small. So, since he was gonna have to remix it anyways (Hazel told him he didn’t have to remix it, but what was he gonna do? With their past of excitement and uniqueness just give her a plain badger plushie? Hmph). So… he personalized it.

He ripped up one of his old shirts to give it a little outfit, took a broken spiked choker he intended to eventually repair and made it a little belt, and drew on a tattoo of Grace’s name in thorns on its side. He finished it off with a set of right ear earrings made of notebook spiral, and a rusted chain link that he attached as a nose ring.

“OH MY GOD!” Grace yelped in surprise whenever he gave it to her. Needless to say, she had not been expecting such a gift. “It’s…”

“A badass badger,” Simon said, pleased with himself.

“I… love it…” She forced and accepted it. “It’s a very… YOU gift.” She was smiling, but Simon suddenly felt super embarrassed. It was a very HIM gift. Not her. This wasn’t her style.. “Thank you,” she said and kissed him on the cheek. And she carried BadAss around with her, but he thought maybe she did it for his benefit.

So, he wasn’t going to do that again, despite her insisting she loved it whenever the subject came up. Now, he was looking at this pink hedgehog. Are we those kinds of people? We do VDay and stuff? He reached for it and looked around, what else would go with this? Should he buy flowers? She wasn’t a flower kinda person. In fact, he’d seen her snatch a flower right off of a bush and crush it into crumbled petals that she daintily let fall from her fingers with a little smile, once.

“Wwwwwwwwwhy… did you do that?” He’d asked.

She looked a little bit self conscious and she rolled her eyes and asked him back, “What, were you in love with that flower or something?” He laughed at how defensive she got about her flowercide, but didn’t give her too hard of a time and after a moment she shrugged her shoulders and said, “It was gonna die anyway. Flowers are fragile little bitches who are pretty for a limited time, and then they die. Why not do it?” He never saw her do it again, but he wasn’t sure to make of that, except for that she obviously didn’t give much of a shit about flowers. Knowing Grace though, she probably had some fleeting thought about her mom or something and took it out on that plant. She would rather just push stuff from her mind than discuss it too much, so he just let go of that.

Candy… That was so corny and pretentious. He looked at all of the heart shaped boxes, irritated that he was suddenly aware that he wasn’t sure what kind he would even get that she might enjoy. Chocolate covered cherries… Nuts and caramel turtles… He glanced over and saw baking stuff and perked up. There were a few selections, but he thought that would be better than candy, at least. He was good at baking and he had never baked anything specifically for her before. He looked at three options that he knew she might like and then muttered, “Fuck it,” and swatted all of them into his handheld cart. He’d do cup brownies, cup cheesecakes, and cup cookies… “Why aren’t there cupcakes?” He saw the empty spot for them. Okay, so at least he wasn’t being too basic.

He gnawed on his lip and pondered whether or not he should try to get a bottle of wine with his fake ID. He made it himself and he was certain it was excellent, but if it wasn't and he was clocked, he might have to leave without this other stuff. Leave without the pink hedgehog. Nah. There was a pink champagne with a very pretty bottle that he knew that Grace would probably love to collect or use for some art project. He studied the bottle, glanced around, and stuck it into his long pocket. He adjusted slightly, happy that his baggy pants were equipped for concealing it, and picked up a few more things before heading to checkout.

“Somebody’s gonna be pretty happy this Valentine’s Day!” the cashier said, and began ringing things up. What do you think they got you?”

He furrowed his eyebrows. Got him? Lol… Grace wasn’t gonna get him anything. They weren’t really those kind of people. But, with Valentines Day being a day centered around love and Grace having gotten such weird distortions of what that was in early life, he guessed he just wanted her to feel special. “Eh, if she decides to keep dating me, I think I’ve got my gift, right?”

The lady chuckled and cooed, “What a lucky lady. That’s so sweet.”

“You know what? I think I’m gonna get some pink roses too. I don’t think she likes flowers, but I don’t KNOW that she doesn’t?”

“Better safe! Besides, plenty of people don’t prefer flowers, but it's still nice to get them, especially for this time of year.”

“Give them to me. A dozen. Two. Wait, how much is three dozen?”

“I’ll give you my discount. You’re working hard, Man.” She smiled. He did too. He felt kinda bad for pocketing the wine. It was done now, though.

Grace was home, in some pink lounge wear… looking way too good just to be sitting at home. He wondered if he could get past her with things, but then decided it was already so much, so a surprise reveal or something cheesy like that would simply be way farther than he was willing to go. “Hey, Hazel made us…” she looked up and stopped what she was about to say when she saw him fumbling with bags of pink shit. “Dude!” She laughed and rushed to assist him. “What is this? You throwing a party I didn’t know about?”

“Sorta. I got you Valentines…”

He saw the moment of sheer joy in her expression before she calmed her tits and gave him a soft smile and a kiss on the lips, “How. Darling.” she said. He blushed. He wondered when he would stop doing that for her. He hoped never, to be honest. The butterflies were nice. “Well, I was gonna say Hazel made us cards, AND… I got you something too.” He turned even more red and Grace smiled in satisfaction as she retrieved something from her art tote. “So, Hazel made us cards and I was like… that’s cute. And your mom came by to… grab her for a bit, in case we needed… private time.” He was redder, still. “And I told her and showed her the cards, right? So she’s like, “Oh I loved all of Simon’s from school!”

“Wait…”

“And then she rushed home to get them!”

Would Grace think he was soft if he started crying right now? Because he might… She was very pleased with herself as she showed him hers, and the photo she took of it from his mom’s collection.

“Wait, now… Because I…”

“And I recreated the first Valentine’s Day card you made your mom, but for you!”

“She keeps… everything,” he said.

“I thought that was really sweet. And I thought, well… he made me a custom gift before…” She gestured to BadAss. I just wanted…” Simon had set down everything, scooped her up and kissed her. She smiled into it, letting herself melt against him.

“I thought that I was doing something so stupid and you were gonna look at me like you looked at me when I gave you that badger…”

“I have no clue how long I have to tell you that I love that badger…”

“And you actually were doing something equally as goofy for me!”

“Wow. Romantic was the word that I would have used, with a sentimental twist.” He nudged her with his nose, “When is she bringing Hazel back?”

“Why? You tryin to get something from me.”

“I mean… there’s a window…”

She laughed and said, “I actually had gotten you a gift before then, but it was SO weak. I got you a men’s beauty/hygiene set. Bath stuff, lotion, etc.”

“Trying to tell me something?”

“Just that I’m bad at gifts until the last moment, apparently.”

He laughed and nodded. “Me too though. I got all this… stuff… And I didn’t even know. Oh! But…” he went through the bags and said, “BadAss has a friend.”

Grace gasped loudly and she snatched the hedgehog, “Are you freakin’ kiddin’ me? This is ADORABLE!”

“See? That is the difference in something you actually loved and something I just gave you.”

“Shut your fucking face, I LOVE my badger! I just wasn’t prepared to receive him. But, he looks like you took time on him and dressed him in love, so I love him because you did that for me. And I also love this guy, because he is a pink hedgehog and that appeals to my interests of pink, of stuffed animals, and of hedgehogs. I don’t even remember telling you I liked those..”

“You did not. He just… looked like you’d like him.”

She checked her phone, “Come on! We gotta make use of our window!”

“Yes!”

She reached for his pants and asked, “WHAT is in your pocket?”

“...Oh!” He pulled out the bottle of pink champagne and she fawned over how pretty the bottle was, but set it down and grabbed him by the shirt to pull him to the bedroom.

After Hazel got home, they spent time baking the treats together. Hazel smiled at them, at her cards on the fridge held up with magnets and then at the baking stuff in front of them. “I think I love you guys,” she said. Grace teared up. “Awww… Love you too, Hazy.”