Sheraton Academy

Passive-Aggressive Gift Giving

Rating: PG

Warnings: mild cursing

"What do you think? "Stacey held up the box with one hand while signing with the other. "Do you think he'll hate it?"

"I think he'll be annoyed," Josselin signed.

"Good enough." Stacey grinned. This passive-aggressive gift-giving game he and Camui had been playing for the past few months was one of the highlights of his life.

Josselin laughed and nodded. He shrugged. "I suppose!"

"Do you have any wrapping paper? I don't want to just put it in a bag."

"I might have some old Christmas paper lying around from last year."

"That's fine."  Stacey nodded. "He can't see it, anyway."

Josselin snorted and hid his mouth behind his hand, but Stacey saw his smirk.

***

Stacey had just finished wrapping the present when the lights above his door flashed. Someone had rung the bell. He opened the door to see Camui there with his service dog's harness in one hand and a small bag in the other. He slid the handle of his bag up his arm and slowly reached out, until his hand came in contact with Stacey's shoulder. He didn't need to feel his face. Nobody else he knew was that short.

"I was about to take Shadow out for a walk, but I got you a gift and wanted to drop it by first," he said.

Stacey eyed him warily. The last gift had been a microphone for his computer. Super useful for someone who couldn't speak.

Then, Stacey's last gift to Camui had been a picture book, so he couldn't complain.

"I got you a gift, too," Stacey signed. Camui couldn't see it, but Josselin would translate. Camui's eyes moved toward the sound of the older boy's voice.

"Did you have something to do with this?"

"No!" Josselin said. His face was the picture of innocence.

The two boys swapped presents. Stacey's wasn't wrapped, just curled up in the bag Camui had gotten when he purchased it.

Headphones. Cheap earbud headphones.

Stacey rolled his eyes and gave Camui a long-suffering look.

"I wish you could see the expression on Stacey's face right now," Josselin said.

"Oh," Camui smirked, "I can imagine."

Stacey sighed silently. He'd just give them to Adam, like all the other useless presents Camui had bought him these past few months. Camui ripped the paper off of his own present, turning the hard plastic casing of the wrapper in his hands. He frowned. His fingers fiddled with the packaging in an attempt to get it open, but he gave up when he realized it wasn't going to happen without a pair of scissors.

"What is it?" he finally sighed.

"A Rubik's Cube." Josselin was barely able to contain the snicker. Stacey was not so composed, although his just came out as a silent huff of breath.

"A Rubik's –" Camui interrupted himself with a heavy sigh and rubbed at his forehead.

"Hey, you gave me headphones," Josselin translated. Stacey crossed his arms over his chest. "You have no right to complain."

"It's not one of the ones with Braille, is it?" he asked.

Stacey grinned and shook his head.

"No," Josselin said. "Colors."

Camui turned back to Stacey and said, "You're an ass, you know that?"

Stacey grinned and winked. "Right back at you."