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Jesse was fucked. He messed up big time. He should have done this several weeks ago, shit he should have done this two months ago! Yet he didn’t. He waited till last minute and now here he was, running through a crowded fucking mall, holding his hat on his head, with you at his side.
The mall was packed. It was December 23rd, and all the last-minute shoppers were here, along with the people who enjoyed being in the middle of this mess. Jesse was supposed to buy Gabriel a bottle of cologne. Everyone knew it was the Commander’s favorite, and everyone loved how it smelled. Shit, he’s caught you and Genji smelling his sweaters once. It was awkward and the man has yet to let you and the cyborg live it down.
“Jesse, you’re an idiot,” you hissed. You grabbed his arm when he went through a crowd of people, you would get left behind and he would panic even more. Not to mention you almost smacked someone when they pushed you aside to get into a store. Jesse grabbed you and pulled you away.
“I know darlin, I know,” he huffed. You could see he was getting stressed out.
Still clinging to his arm, Jesse led you both into a store that sold the cologne. There were so many people at the counter, but finally a nice lady helped you both. When Jesse asked for the cologne, she gave him a sad look and explained they sold out.
“Can you double check?” he asked. The woman gave him a look but accepted. She came back and restated they had run out, she gave Jesse a sympathetic look. But you could tell she wanted you both to buy something else or move on. The line of people behind you both was no doubt stressing her out.
“We could get him something else Jesse,” you said. You touched his shoulder and he turned towards you immediately.
“You know what other cologne he likes, right?” he asked.
“Yes. I’ve gone shopping with him a few times. I don’t remember the names of them, but I can probably recognize the smell,” you said.
Jesse turned back to the woman. “Bring me every cologne that’s like the one I asked for,” he said.
You smelled cologne, then coffee grounds, then cologne, coffee grounds then repeat for what felt like ever. You managed to find two you were sure Gabe mentioned liking. Both were heavy scents, a bit musky, only one of them though had a slight spice to them. Jesse agreed they were wonderful smelling, and even looked like he was considering buying himself some.
“We’re here for Gabe,” you scolded. You were smelling some coffee grounds and trying to get the cologne smell out of your nose.
“I can buy something for myself,” he scoffed.
“True. But you might get something like this for Christmas,” you said. He gave you a surprised look but relented.
“Fine. Which do you think he would like?” he asked.
“This one,” you said. You pointed at a bottle that was simple but had an animal skull on the front of the bottle. This was the cologne that had a slight spicy scent to it.
“You sure?” he asked.
“You asked for my opinion Jesse, so get this one,” you said. You crossed your arms and gave him a look. He couldn’t help but smirk at the way you were standing, you picked that stance up from Gabe.
“Alright. You stand like him you know,” he said. You looked down and gave him a shrug.
“I’m around him a lot. He’s like a father to me,” you said.
Jesse nodded. He then told the lady which he was buying. Once it was paid for, and the cologne was in a bag, you both were ready to leave the mall. It was even more crowded than earlier, so you clung to Jesse’s arm. He didn’t mind, it felt nice having you holding his arm.
“I hope you learned your lesson cowboy,” you grumbled.
“I did. He was the last person I needed to buy a gift for. I got everyone else their gifts earlier this month. Course, I was with Gabe when I got. That’s why I couldn’t buy him his gift.”
“You could have. You’re just lazy,” you scoffed.
“Yeah, true.”
You both headed back to the base. It took forever to get out of the parking lot, Jesse ended up cursing and honking his horn at several people. But you finally made it back. You said your goodbyes to Jesse and was getting ready to head back to your room. You still had to finish wrapping gifts. You stopped when Jesse grabbed your hand.
“Jesse?” you asked turning back to him.
“One more favor. Can you help me wrap this?” he asked.
“Sure. Come on.”
Jesse ended up needing you to help him wrap all the other gifts he bought, you couldn’t say no to him. He used that damn puppy dog face. He ended up using too much tape, but he was so proud of himself. He grinned as he looked the gifts he wrapped. They weren’t prefect, not even close, but that’s not what was important.
“Very nice Jesse. Now, next time you do this last-minute shopping shit, I’m not going with you to the mall. Especially during the damn holiday season,” you said. You were grinning, but you were serious.
“I won’t darling. But, next time I buy something for Gabe, could you come with me? You know him so well and I don’t know what to buy him.”
“Sure Jesse,” you said. You took his hand and gave him a smile. He smiled back at you and squeezed your hand tightly.