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Eyes darting towards the bedroom door, Floyd couldn’t help but groan as he put the finishing touches on his present. This was the longest, most tedious, boring thing he’d ever done, and the only thing that even remotely got him to actually finish was the thought that maybe for once, he might catch the others off guard. It wasn’t that he thought he would win gift giving because honestly... Jade was the gift master.
That was of course due to how patient and meticulous Jade was. Floyd could maybe put up a fight if he really tried. Finding the perfect gift sometimes just took way too much time, and Floyd couldn’t stand waiting in lines or a lot of the other things that Jade manages with each gift related holiday.
Floyd could only stare at the pair of shoes in the box. The latest of his favorite designer’s, which was based on the same type of Moray Eels that they had in their blood.
“Jaaaddeeeeeeeee.” Floyd cried immediately, throwing his shoes to the other side of the bedroom, knocking over a stack of books. “Hoooowwwwwwww. They only made like 20 of these.” Slipping his feet in them, Floyd immediately jumped up to watch the shoes light up the same color as their mer-form’s bioluminescence. “I can’t believe you won againnnnnn!!”
“I’m glad you like the shoes, Floyd.” Jade chuckled, as he looked over the mushroom print scarf that Floyd had found at Sam’s the week before. “I wouldn’t discount your present however. I do love whatever you get me.”
“Yeah, yeah. Jade is so good at presents. One year, I’m gonna get you speechless.” Floyd flopped back on his bed, grinning wide.
“Everyday with you is a present full of surprises, Floyd. After all, is that not why I chose you from the start?” Jade’s gaze is nothing but warm, but Floyd can’t help but pout in response before hopping over to Jade’s side of the room.
“Yeah, yeah~. I chose you too.” Floyd mumbles as he leans on jade, pressing his cheek against his, still pouting.
This year, Floyd had managed to do the impossible, especially for him. He’d managed to make the perfect gifts for both Jade and Azul. To be fair, he had his own to match the set, which in the end only made it even harder to actually finish. He had finished though. He’d finished, and he’d even wrapped his presents this year.
“Close your eyes~!” Floyd grinning, as he swam closer. “I didn’t wrap it so you gotta keep your eyes closed!”
“Again Floyd? You couldn’t even cover it in seaweed or something?” Azul sighed as he covered his eyes with two of his tentacles so that he could cross his arms.
“Ehhh? It’s fine. I’ll wrap them next year. “ Floyd shoved his presents in each of their hands, grinning wide. “Seaweed is so annoying anyway. It clings to you forever. Grosssss.”
“We’ll be on land anyway next year if all goes well. You’ll have to wrap your presents like they do.” Azul sighed, before opening his eyes to see the shiny rock in his hand that matches the color of his skin.
Jade looks at his own rock, tilting it back and forth to watch the way the colors shift.
“They reminded me of you guys! Found them on the surface. Well…..I stole them from the surface, but details~. Ehehe~” Floyd completely ignored the discussion about being on land.
Kicking open the door to the Mostro Lounge, Floyd laughs as he sees exactly the two people he was looking for. Azul is steadying the ladder for Jade who is putting lights on the tree meticulously.
“Oh Floyd, did you actually come to help with the tree?” Azul raises an eyebrow. “After all, I did say to be here on the hour to start decorating for the holidays, but I suppose half an hour late is better than not at all.”
“Ehhh? Last year, you told me to not help next time after I broke too many ornaments.” Floyd pouts. “Besides, I got something wayyy better than that.” Floyd shakes his presents for a few minutes, waiting for Jade to turn around. Jade doesn’t turn around until he’s done, and in fact, Floyd catches the hint of an amused look on Jade’s face.
“Jaaaadddeeeeeeeeeeeeee” Floyd whines as he keeps shaking the presents, dragging the sound of his brother’s name until Jade finally gets off the ladder.
“Jade please.” Azul pinches his brow trying to not let Floyd get to him, but still begging for Jade to have him stop. Jade can’t help but laugh in response, the hint of teeth showing as he does.
“Oh, yes. Floyd. I didn’t hear you come in.” Jade covers his mouth as he laughs a little more, his eyes full of mirth.
“Ugh. You’re so mean sometimes. I brought you presents, and you’re being mean.” Floyd shakes his presents again.
“Oh? I didn’t think it was time to exchange gifts yet. Forgive me, Azul, I hadn’t quite wrapped yours yet. You’ll have to take this for the time being.” Jade leans down and kisses Azul quickly. It catches Azul completely off guard, and when Jade pulls back, his face has that hint of purple to it.
“It isn’t time to exchange gifts!” Azul flusters a little, giving Jade a look before narrowing his eyes at Floyd. “While I am impressed you actually wrapped them this year, aren’t you able to actually at least wait unti-”
“No fair!” Floyd takes a few steps closer to Azul. “I want a kiss too! Azul~. I’m not giving my presents until you kiss me~.” Floyd holds his presents behind his back with a grin. “I want a Christmas kiss too~”
“Good thing that Christmas isn’t for another two weeks. You’ll just have to wait for that transaction. Now, you’re here, so you can put the presents down and help decorate the tree without breaking any-”
Within an instant, Floyd is in front of Azul, gold eye flashing, grinning wide. He’s holding the boxes under one arm as he yanks Azul by his collar in for a rough kiss. Azul takes a moment, startled, before resigning himself to kissing back. As Floyd pulls back, Azul adjusts his collar, looking away, a mix of annoyance and embarrassment.
“Okay, present time~!” Floyd shoves the wrapped present in Azul’s face. It flops over a little, the paper making a crinkling sound. Azul raises his eyebrows before giving Floyd his patented unimpressed face.
“It isn’t time to-” Azul starts, but Floyd pokes Azul in the cheeks with it, chanting ‘present time’ repeatedly. Turning his gaze to Jade and seeing the amused look Jade hides behind his hand, Azul realizes he won’t get any assistance. Though at this point, Azul knows better than to expect Jade to actually do anything about Floyd.
“I do believe we aren’t being given a choice, Azul.” Jade takes the package in his hand, inspecting the actually winter themed wrapping paper that Floyd had carefully wrapped. “Oh? You have three presents, Floyd.”
“Yeah, yeah~. One for me that matches~. Open them up, open them up~” Floyd laughs, as Azul finally takes the package from his hands. Floyd’s grin only widens as both Azul and Jade carefully open their presents.
“...where….where did you…?” Azul is the first one to speak as he stares at the black and purple sweater in his hands. There’s an obnoxiously cute purple octopus, the same shade that he is, on the front, right under his name, which is in big block letters across the front. There’s also what looks like a tiny madol coin pattern in the sleeves.
“I made them~!” Floyd practically beams, watching the shock slowly show on Azul’s face.
“Impressive, Floyd.” Jade carefully slides out of his suit jacket to try on the sweater. His sweater is also a black but has a cute teal eel on the front that faces the side of his hair bang. His name is right above the eel, and there’s a cute cute tiny mushroom pattern on his sleeves. “You’ve outdone yourself this year.”
“I know~~” Floyd cackles as rips open the package for himself. It seems silly to have wrapped this one, but as much as he thinks wrapping presents is boring, he sure does love to rip them apart. He sheds some clothes to quickly pull his sweater on. It matches Jade’s, but his eel faces the other side. He’s got tiny shoes instead of mushrooms.
“Okay. Now!” Floyd grabs both their hands and yanks them forward. “It’s time to play in the snow! You can’t tell me you’re cold now!” Floyd cackles as Azul tries to pull backwards, muttering about how he should have realized there was an ulterior motive.
Really, last time it was less about being cold and more about Floyd catching sick, and the potion failing in the middle of class when he sneezed. It was obnoxious to drag his entire eel form back to the dorm, and even more annoying to deal with a sick Floyd.
Still, Jade and Azul share a glance as Floyd turns around to give them a wide, genuinely happy grin. Perhaps it’s best to just let him yank them forward. This really was just how their dorm did things.
Floyd might not have won the holidays, as Jade managed to outdo him...again, but beating both of them in a snowball fight was completely worth it.
It wasn’t the winter festival down in the sea, but this was just as good because it was the three of them together.