A/N- This is one of the possibly many Christmas specials of 2022! If you don't know the story 'The Gift of the Magi', basically character A and character B are together, but REALLY poor. So in order to buy each other gifts they sell something dear to them..you'll see when you read this I swear lol
Enjoy!
• • •
"A dollar and 87 cents," Kay announced to nobody except herself. "All the saving I did, and all I've got is a dollar eighty-seven!" She couldn't believe it. She didn't believe it the first time she counted, which was why she counted her money three times. Yet she still came up with the same low number. It was disheartening; she wanted to buy Viper a gift so badly, but what could she get him for under 2 dollars?
Frankly, Kay already knew what she wanted to get him, hence her desperate attempt to save the little money she had. She wanted to buy him a sheath for his scythe, as Viper kind of just..carried it around with the blade out. It was a little strange and a tad dangerous in Kay's opinion. Along with that, she wanted to buy him a sharpening kit, and gift them to him as a pair...
...but obviously she couldn't get him those things with a $1.87.
She could bake him cookies, it wouldn't cost her anything considering she already had the supplies, but she made him cookies all the time. "There has to be something I could do to get the money.." She said with a thoughtful hum. She suddenly remembered a quest she saw on the quest board in the guildhall. At the time, she purposely put it back and ignored it.
Basically, the quest was someone asking for someone to come to their pawn shop for business. Nothing else, just that and the location of the pawn shop. It was a little weird upon Kay first reading it, it's why she put it back on the quest board.
..but now she was considering going and completing it. She remembered there was something else at the bottom of the quest paper; rather than a singular payment number, it had a range of what the payment could be. And both numbers where somewhat large, at least large based on Kay's standards. It was exactly what she needed to get Viper the present he deserved.
It didn't take long for Kay to make up her mind. She could handle a creepy sounding quest! Before she hesitated about going, she got up, grabbed her bag and left to the guildhall to grab the quest. Then she was off to the quest location.
• • •
Viper sighed and slammed the last coin he had in his hand on to the table. "A dollar and ninety cents? Seriously??" He said to himself. He had less money than he liked to admit, so he saved as much as he could knowing he just had to get Kay something for Christmas. He loved her, and he wasn't sure how to show it quite yet, but he knew a gift was going in the right direction. It felt right. Anyway, he couldn't get her jack squat with a $1.90, especially not what he had in mind; originally, he wanted to get her a mini jewelry case. He knew she had a necklace and hairclip she adored, but didn't wear all the time. He imagined that one of her worries was loosing one of the 2 items, so he thought a mini jewelry case would be nice. He wasn't exactly sure how much they cost, but he imagined they cost a lot more than a dollar and ninety cents.
He wasn't sure how to get more money. He had done all the quests he could, the rest either a) barely got him any money, or b) were lower-class missions he needed to leave for the other members of Grimshade. It was almost impressive how he only managed to get a $1.90 at the end of the day, after all of his hard work and saving. Either way it was still discouraging, even for someone like Viper. "How the hell am I supposed to get her a gift now..?"
After thinking about it for a bit, he decided it came down to him having to sell something..but what? Nothing he owned was worth all that much money, or at least he didn't think so. He glanced around his room, deep in thought, when his eyes landed on his scythe, and lingered there. "Maybe.."
Are you sure your willing to sell that, Viper? Jasper asked, as a way to confirm what he knew Viper was thinking, being able to read his thoughts and all. Viper hesitated for a few moments.
"..if it's for Kay, then yeah. I think I am." He said slowly, still unsure of himself.
Really? Viper got up from his seat and walked over to his scythe, picking it up and inspecting it.
"Yeah." There was a moment of silence before Jasper chuckled a little.
I didn't think it was possible for you to reach this level of being in love.
"Oh, give me a break..before I think about changing my mind," Viper snapped, starting to walk out of his room with his scythe, sure of what he wanted to do.
• • •
Kay cautiously walked up to where the quest paper directed her to go. This..pawn shop, looked weirdly shady. At least it matched the tone of the quest? She wasn't surprised because of this, but still, she knew enough that she should still be cautious. She gazed up at it before walking in and calling out.
"Hello? Anyone here?" Silence. "..uh, I'm here in response to the quest you submitted?"
"Ah, perfect!" A voice suddenly said, causing Kay to jump and shout out a little. The voice chuckled. "Aw, did I startle you? I apologize."
"Right..so, what exactly did you need? I would love to help!" Kay said, trying to seem less overly cautious to the person. However that dropped when the pawn shop owner came from around the counter and started walking in circles around Kay.
"Hm..let's see here.." They stopped in front of Kay, looking her up and down, before seeing the necklace. "Ooh, what's this we have here?" They went ahead and grabbed it to take a closer look.
"Wha— hey!" Kay took her necklace back, holding it back towards her chest. "It's my necklace that I love very much.." Unfortunately for her, the hand she was using didn't cover the hair clip she had in her hair. The person looked at it, and chuckled happily.
"My, my, they sent the right person to me!"
"What are you talking about?!" She took a step back and the person just chuckled again.
"I sense you've come here in search of money. A decent sum of it. You wouldn't have taken my quest otherwise!"
"I— yeah.." Kay said quietly, not having a rebuttal for something that was true.
"That's what I thought. Well, you saw that this was a pawn shop," The person started, "Sell me that necklace and hair clip you've got and you've got yourself a pretty amount of money." The person said without shame. Kay gasped a little. Her necklace and hair clip?
She hesitated. Both items she had had for as long as she remembered...both meant a lot to her. She held her necklace in her hand, and gazed at it. Then she lightly touched the hair clip in her hair. She took a deep breath— she couldn't stop now. She had already decided she was going to get Viper his Christmas gift.
"So?"
"...okay." Kay slowly took off the necklace and unclipped the hair clip, and placed both in the person's hand.
• • •
"Hey! Anyone here?" Viper walked into a weaponry, still carrying his scythe.
"Hello, welcome! That's quite the weapon you've got!" The person at the counter greeted.
"Uh, yeah..listen, do you buy weapons?" Viper asked awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"We do, but..you wanna sell a scythe as cool-looking as that?" The person asked, looking confused. Viper just sighed with a slightly annoyed tone and nodded.
"Yes, it's for something more important..I need to get a gift for my girlfriend. She deserves something nice and I don't have the money." Viper briefly explained, his face going ever so slightly pink.
"Aww, ain't that sweet." Viper huffed.
"How much do you think it's worth?" He asked flatly, using his free hand to gesture to it. The person thought for a moment.
"Uh..hmm. It's in good condition, not great, but good..I'd say at least one or two hundred."
"Two hundred?"
"Yeah, absolutely!" The person confirmed, nodding. "Will you take it, or..?"
"I, uh.." He was having some last minute hesitations. Was he sure he wanted to do this? "No, this is for Kay." He mumbled to himself.
"What was that?"
"Nothing," He said, glancing up at the person. "I'll take it."
• • •
"Uh, Kay? You in here?" Viper called out, walking into Kay's cave holding her— now wrapped— present behind his back.
"Viper?" Kay questioned, coming out of her room and seeing him, gasping a little. "Viper!" She went up to him, hugged him, and kissed him on the cheek. Viper chuckled a little.
"Hi Kay. Merry Christmas,"
"Merry Christmas! Come, come, sit, it's cold over here," She grabbed his hand and lead him over to her couch in front of the fire. She sat down, and patted the seat next to her.
"Okay then." He said with another chuckle and sat down, still holding the present behind him. Kay had also wrapped Viper's gift, except she had it tucked under the couch, part of the reason why she wanted to sit down. The other part of the reason was what she said..it was cold, really cold.
"Soo..uh, how has Christmas been at Grimshade so far?" She asked with a giggle, scooting closer to him. Viper huffed, if he could roll his eyes he would.
"Nothing too interesting, Allumos put up a bunch of decorations but that's kind of it. We aren't really doing a gift exchange or anything like that.."
"Oh! Yeah the Protectors hasn't done one yet, but I think they're planning on one. I hope we do one actually.." She said. "And, speaking of..I got you something!" Kay announced, smiling proudly. She reached under the couch and brought out the wrapped gift.
"Oh, really? Kay, you didn't have to—"
"But I did!" She said with a laugh. "I love you, sooo..." She set it down on his lap. "Here!" Viper glanced down at it and took it slowly.
"..thanks, Kay. A— actually, now that we're on the topic, I got you something too," Viper said, his face slightly pink again, and pulling out the also wrapped present from behind him. He handed it to Kay with a small smile.
"Aww, Viper! Thank you!" She took it and placed it on her own lap, and the two unwrapped their gifts, only for both to go quiet at what they found.
"..a jewelry case." Kay said quietly.
"A blade sharpening kit..and sheath," Viper said, mirroring the quiet tone. They tried speaking at the same time, and both stopped when they heard the other.
"You go first." Kay said.
"Uh, no, you can go first Kay." Viper said in return.
"A— Are you sure??" Viper nodded. "Okay..well, Viper, I—"
"Wait, what happened to your hair clip..?" Viper interrupted, and without thinking brought his hand up to her hair and ran his fingers through it. "And your necklace, actually," He said, glancing down at where it would've been sitting on her neck. Kay put her hand on top of his and sighed, bringing both of their hands down from her head.
"That's the thing, Viper, I..sold them. There was this quest that was located at a pawn shop and I— I wanted to give you a gift but didn't have the money!" She explained.
"You— sold the necklace?? And the hair clip? Kay, I thought you said you've had those things for, like, forever," Viper said, before sighing and drawing his hand back. He looked down at his lap where his gift was and chuckled quietly. "I did, Viper, but— Viper?"
"It's funny, I..I actually sold my scythe to get you the jewelry case. I didn't have much money either and wanted to get you something nice..something you could use and appreciate." He said. Kay looked surprised.
"You..you sold your scythe? For me?"
"Yeah," Viper said.
"Bu— But I thought it was your main weapon—"
"It was, but it didn't matter if it meant getting you a decent Christmas gift." Viper said, putting his hand on Kay's shoulder. Kay gazed at him for a moment before scooting closer to him and giving Viper a hug.
"Viper..that's so sweet." She said, pulling away from the hug and putting her head on his shoulder. "I'm proud of how much you've grown, Viper. It's not like these presents aren't still useful— I have other jewelry, and I'm sure you have other weapons,"
"Yeah..you're right." Viper mumbled, putting his head on top of Kay's and gazing into the fire. "I love you Kay..and Merry Christmas."
"I love you too Viper. Merry Christmas."