Misfit Toys (Sean)

"Good, good." Josh would be glad to be out of the mall and back to their home. He could almost think of it that way, at times, as theirs rather than just Sean's, despite the fact that his partner had paid for all of it and it was in his name. But because he lived there now and his rabbit and his best friend lived there with him, along with his library and his clothes and his toiletries, and because it was his sanctuary in times of trouble, it was, sometimes, theirs.

The second woman finished with her purchases, leaving only one more person in the line before them. "I would. If you're celebrating Hanukkah with me then you have to be subjected to the Hanukkah goblins and Hershels' brilliant victory over them."

Besides, he liked reading with Sean. This wasn't their usual fare, but that wouldn't make it any less entertaining.

"After dinner, though." There was no need to spoil their appetites with hot chocolate beforehand. "Speaking of which, what is dinner? Or have you decided yet?"

"We don't need to do takeout unless you're too tired to cook." Josh had absolutely nothing against the idea of eating out; he went out frequently on his lunch breaks, after all. However, he did appreciate the home cooked meals his partner provided and looked forward to them. But because the telepath was the one who did the cooking he wasn't going to insist; he would gladly go along with anything his partner desired on this. "What about that pasta salad, with the grapes and the baby tomatoes?" That didn't take too long prepare from what he'd remembered; it also didn't really require cooking, merely chopping, which was almost as bad, but at least he wouldn't burn down the house.

At long last the third woman paid for her items and the group left, allowing Josh and Sean to move up to the register. Josh handed the cashier the garlands, and she turned it over in her hands to find the barcode before quickly scanning them.

For the second time his credit card came out and was swiped, paying for the remainder of the Hanukkah decorations. "Or we could have clam chowder, there's a can of it, isn't there?" That would be warmer than pasta salad, and might go a little better with the hot chocolate and the story.

"The pasta salad was delicious!" Josh responded, failing to answer the question. Pasta salad was delicious, as was clam chowder and anything else Sean chose to make. There wasn't anything in particular he was craving, and so he didn't feel that it would be acceptable to request something complicated when anything would satisfy him. His suggestion had been partly motivated by speed, but not entirely; he really would happily eat either of those options.

True to form, he shook his head as Sean reached for the bag. "You've got the plates and Menorah, the least I can do is carry some garlands." He protested, pulling his bag closer to his chest to discourage his partner from taking it from him.

"Do you not want the pasta salad? I suppose the weather isn't quite right for it." He agreed as they left the Hallmark and exited once more into the corridors of the mall at large. "What about..." He furrowed his brow, stopping just outside the threshold of the store, "what about pancakes? That's a good meal for a winter night, don't you think? Unless you really want takeout, I honestly don't mind. There's not anything in particular that's standing out to me so we can do anything you want."

Josh was glad that his suggestion of pancakes had struck a chord, since neither of his initial suggestions had done so. He had been prepared to go through a litany of ideas, although he didn't particularly wish to do so because he really didn't have a strong opinion today, not the way he sometimes did where only one specific meal would satisfy.

"Eggs and sausage sounds splendid," He agreed as they resumed walking. If they were to have pancakes then they needed protein to go along with them, after all. If this were a proper breakfast, served in the morning, then he would expect cranberry juice and coffee, but of course that would be replaced with hot chocolate as a bit of a dessert and beverage combo.

The offer to make blueberry pancakes instead of just regular ones caused him to perk up, and blue eyes looked up at his partner hopefully, "Blueberry, please?" He wheedled, hoping they had the proper ingredients to make this a reality.

The prospect of blueberry pancakes was even enough that as they passed a store full of chocolate, instead of grumbling at the Christmas balls hanging from the ceiling, he instead merely said, "Is this the store we're looking for, or is there another one?" with a jerk of his head in the direction of towers of chocolate-holding shelves.

Josh nodded in response to Sean's question, letting an "of course" escape his lips before he began perusing the shelves for the pretzels. He'd never been in this particular shop before, but he was familiar enough with the contents: chocolate covered strawberries, caramel and chocolate, truffles, chocolate bars, chocolate and nuts, chocolate and bananas, chocolate and raspberries. Nothing unusual for a chocolate shop, but all of it causing him to salivate: he was glad Sean had offered to stock their chocolate larder while they were here.

Because this was a specialty shop and not the grocery store he almost missed the chocolate covered pretzels; he'd been expecting a clear, plastic box when instead they were in colorful, holiday appropriate tins.

He sighed in discouragement at that and began pawing through the tins until he found some that were generically winter season rather than specifically Christmas, and flipped them over to read the back: She was very specific about only wanting dark chocolate rather than white chocolate, and he wasn't going to mess this up just because the containers weren't transparent.

All the generic tins were white chocolate. "Of course." He muttered again, this time in annoyance, and he began searching through the holiday tins. This time he found success, although there was a jolly Santa covering the lid; he determined to empty them into something else for delivery. For the moment, however, this would have to do.

He glanced around the store until he spotted Sean, making his way toward the telepath with his tin of pretzels clutched in his hands. "Found anything that strikes your fancy?"

"Probably delicious?" Josh repeated, lips twitching into a smile, which turned into a full on laugh as his partner detailed other treat options. He'd never had very good impulse control, a fact that had made their relationship difficult when they were younger. At times like these it still made things difficult.

"You're terrible." He admonished affectionately, wrapping the arm carrying the pretzel tin around his partner. "You know I can't resist any of that." Nor would he want to resist it; the thought of sharing sweets, perhaps feeding them to one another, was one he rather wanted to give into.

"Shall we check out, then?"

"You're terribly wonderful." The attorney clarified, feeling spikes of guilt at Sean's offense; he was aware that it was feigned, but that didn't stop his gut reaction, and thus his need to smooth things over with his partner. "You're terrible because you're tempting me with chocolates. And you're wonderful because I do love chocolates."

There was a hesitation, and then, rather hurriedly and under his breath because he didn't want anyone else to hear, he added, "And I do love you, too."

And then he snapped his mouth shut, feeling his face flush with embarrassment. That was so smarmy, what was he thinking? Everyone in the store had probably heard that, and was judging him for saying such things aloud.

"NO." His answer was louder than it otherwise would have been as he tried to take attention away from his descent into sentimentality, "No, I can't think of anything else. I think we're done here. Definitely not anything else I wanted."

And with that he disentangled himself from his partner, allowing him to go find the rest of the treats he wanted. "I'll meet you in line then?"