Thinking Out Loud

Mall Security isn't Jail

MERRY CHRISTMAS DOMINIQUE! :DDD

This oneshot is for you! I was so happy to get you in the Secret Santa thing partly b/c I already had an idea about what characters you like from our collab story (Next Generation), but mainly b/c it was awesome writing for a friend rather than a stranger (stranger is a strong word though, we're all a big KH/FF family after all). Anyways, Merry Christmas! I hope you enjoy this oneshot, it was a struggle to get it done, but I'm pleased with the final outcome (I literally wrote like three different versions of this story before I finally chose this one...).

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE NOT PRINCESSOFHISHEART:

Merry Christmas to you too :D This is written for Dominique, but I made it available for all my readers to enjoy on Christmas as well (Hope you dont mind, Dominique).

I LOVE YOU ALL AND HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

_____________________

The store was packed, and even that was an understatement. Christmas Eve was probably the most stressful time to shop, not including Black Friday. This was why you usually finished your Christmas shopping early so you don't have to deal with all the people smashing themselves into the stores attempting to grab the perfect gift.
You had goofed up pretty big this year though. All of your Christmas shopping was done two weeks before today. As you sat in your dorm room wrapping those gifts though you had realized you had forgotten to buy a gift for one of your friends.
Sora.
Just imagining the look of disappointment on his face had you racing to the mall. You didn't want to just buy him a gift to buy him one either. You wanted to get him something great, something he'd love. As you pushed your way through another crowd of shoppers your phone rang.
"Hello? Riku?" You yelled into the phone so he could hear you over the crowd's volume and the blasting Christmas music.
"Hey [Name], did you call me?"
"I did! I need help! What does Sora want for Christmas??"
You could hear a faint chuckle from your silver haired friend, "His Christmas list is a mile long, [Name]."
"Riku, help me." You repeated and stopped in the hallway of the mall. You weren't even sure what store you could try.
"Well, he hasn’t stopped talking about that new nerf gun. The single dart one that fires the dart like 50ft?"
"A dart gun? He's a freshman in college."
"Why are you surprised by that?"
You rolled your eyes and immediately made your way toward the mall's toy store. You said goodbye to Riku after thanking him and began to focus on your mission at hand.
Unsurprisingly, the toy store was the most packed of them all. You could barely even make it through the doors, you had no idea how you would be able to find the toy Sora wanted. Instead of trying to dodge through the stacks of toys and go up and down the aisles, you decided to just find someone that works here.
You spotted a worker by a back shelf. It was easy to spot him out because of the elf uniform he wore, "Hey! Hey! Excuse me?!"
The worker turned around and it took every ounce of self-control to keep from bursting into laughter.
"V-Vanitas?"
His golden eyes narrowed at you. The green hat settled in his midnight black hair matched the green tights and green jacket he wore. He noticed the widening grin on your face.
"Don't even." He pointed at you with a frown.
"I didn't-" You coughed to cover you laughter, "I didn't know you worked here."
"I do for the holidays. Now what do you want?" He grumbled and continued sifting through a pile of toys.
"Well I actually need", You paused as you saw him pull out a familiar nerf gun, "That! I need that!"
"This?" Vanitas held up the small blue nerf gun.
"Yeah", You beamed and reached for it, "Thank you!"
As your fingers brushed against the plastic, Vanitas snatched it away from your grasp. Your smile fell as a smirk grew on his lips. A sinking feeling filled your gut.
"Well this is the very last one it seems. I'm sure you're not the only one looking for this toy." He said smugly.
"Vanitas. Vanitas, no." You begged. The black haired male would do this to you. It was in his nature and you knew he'd hand that toy off to anyone before he gave it to you. You shifted your weight and tried to reason with him, "Vanitas, you can't. There's a little boy who wants that more than anything. My three year old little nephew will be heartbroken if I don't get this to him."
"Three year old nephew?" Vanitas scoffed, "Don't you think he's a little young for this?"
"He's uh mature for his age."
Vanitas' smirk grew, "Really? Because I think my idiot cousin Sora is just immature for his."
"You know?" You squeaked.
"Sora hasn't shut up about this thing since the day it came out."
"Oh...well that blew up in my face." You mumbled. Vanitas began to walk away from you. He got a few feet away before you pushed through the people that had gathered as followed after him, "Well if you know it's for your own cousin then why won't you let me get it for him?"
"Why would I? Because he's my cousin I'm supposed to give him special treatment?"
"It means you might wanna consider growing a heart!" You argued.
"A heart?" Vanitas questioned as he stopped.
"Yeah. You crossed your arms. Vanitas took toward you and leaned in so his nose was only a couple inches from yours.
"Alright. Give me a kiss and the gun is yours."
You scoffed, "How about no?"
"How about you find a new gift for Sora then?" He shrugged and pulled away from you. You groaned and buried your face in your hands. This guy was more frustrating than the bustling crowd. As you tried to think of a new way to convince him to give you the gift a man in a business suit pushed by you with his son in tow.
"Is that nerf gun for sale?"
Vanitas turned around to face the business man, "Why yes it is."
"Hell no it's not." You yelled and forced your way past the man. You stood in front of Vanitas with your arms held out. The business man with light blond hair looked appalled at your interruption.
"Dad! Tell her to move!" The son whined. He had the same shade of hair and the same look of distaste.
"I'll take that gun young man." The business man pulled out his wallet. "My son wants it for Christmas."
"Yeah well my friend does too!" You cried, "Besides, I saw it first."
"Nuh uh I did!" The son yelled at you.
"Listen little boy", You said in the sweetest voice you could muster, "I really need this gun for my friend, now if you could just-"
"It's mine!" He screamed and threw his foot into your left shin. You let out a cry of pain as you grasped your shin. Vanitas was laughing behind you and you had half a mind to kick him yourself.
"You little brat-" You began to spit out before you took a deep breath and faced Vanitas. His smug smile greeted you, "How about that kiss?"
"Hmm, that ship has sailed."
"Vanitas."
"[Name]." He mocked. Vanitas walked around you and tossed the gun to the boy. You couldn't believe this jerk. Your eyes darted from Vanitas to the bratty boy who was sticking his tongue out at you and waving the gun around in your face.
If it was any other time of the year you wouldn't even consider your next move, but it was Christmas and you needed that gun. Besides, the kid was a total brat. He didn't need a nerf gun, he needed a lump of coal.
You reached out and snatched the gun out of the boy's hand. He cried out in surprise and his father's string of curses followed. However, you were too busy sprinting toward the front of the store to care. You could hear Vanitas' bark of laughter as you turned around the aisle. Before you could reach the front counter though, an arm suddenly appeared in your line of vision. Your face crashed into the forearm and you hit the ground hard.
Your head bounced off the ground once as the realization hit you that someone had clotheslined you. The thought didn't last long though as your vision began to fade to black.