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This was probably the worst mistake Pete had ever made. Worse than teaming up with the vamp kids to defeat the emo plants. Worse than agreeing to talk to Mike Makowski almost peacefully afterwards. Even worse than going out with that same lame poseur (although, Pete had to admit, he was less lame after 7th grade, when he drifted away from Twilight and got into some REAL vampire stuff.) No, deciding to go to the mall to buy said boyfriend a Christmas gift, on Christmas Eve, was the stupidest thing Pete could ever do.
He sat on the bench outside the Hot Topic, trying to psych himself up enough to actually go inside. It had been so much easier when he was just a little pretentious goth brat and went in just to burn the place down. Now, he was a big pretentious goth asshole with a lot of pride, and he had to go into that place he swore he'd never again enter, just to buy his annoying dick of a boyfriend a gift. A gift that he hadn't even decided on yet, but he would definitely have to get from Hot Topic, because Mike would bitch and moan about anything he got from the other shitty preppy stores around here.
Pete continued to sit there, drumming his fingers on his knee, wondering if it was worth it. After all, there was next to no way that Mike got him a gift he'd actually like. The poseur couldn't get his head out of his ass long enough to listen to anything Pete said, unless it was dirty talk or some words chosen to spark an argument. Arguments were how they did their best communicating, after all.
His phone went off in his pocket and he pulled it out, reading the name on the screen. "Vampire Lord". Once again, Mike took advantage of his ability to wake up hours before Pete to change his name on Pete's phone from 'that attractive douche'. Pete changed the contact name back to normal before opening it up.
'We're meeting up tomorrow morning at my home, correct? I wouldn't want to... not be ready for you, per se.' Pete rolled his eyes. There was no need to use that stupid verbal quirk in a damned text message. The phrase 'per se' was one Pete had never managed to fully remove from Mike's vocabulary. Before he could respond, he got another message. 'I've already readied your presents and a special meal for you.'
Damn. He really would have to buy Mike something nice. 'Special meal' was code for 'I'm not going to shove any of my shitty health food down your throat for once'. He glared up at the store in front of him before sending a message back.
'ye ye il b ther on time dont get ur panties in a bunch.' He shoved his phone into his pocket and got to his feet.
The inside of Hot Topic was jammed pack, even worse than it usually was. He even recognized a few of the teens inside as Mike's minions- the ones that had stuck around for all these years, anyway. He pushed through the plethora of vampire freaks and anime nerds to get to the back, where the shitty jewelry was. Here was probably his best bet to get something tolerable.
Pete sorted through the shitty mustache rings and Minecraft necklaces, searching for just the right item- one that Mike wouldn't hate, but also wouldn't be so good that Mike would think Pete put actual effort into it. Obviously, he would have to put in a lot of effort to make it seem effortless.
Sometimes, it was so hard being goth AND having a boyfriend.
Eventually, he decided a shitty, 'silver'- painted plastic- bat necklace, and a plain 'gold' ring with a 'ruby' in it would do. The terrible necklace would look like he only thinks of Mike as a vamp, but the ring would also make it look like he wanted Mike to wear 'his' color- having naturally red hair was a true struggle. Still, the ring pushed it slightly too far into the lovey territory, so he grabbed some green hair dye- Mike had dozens of bottles of the stuff, which Mike knows he knows, so he'd know that Pete purposefully bought something worth nothing to him, which means Mike would HAVE to use the bottle Pete got him first, if only in the hopes of getting the upper hand.
Inwardly pleased, Pete went to the cash register, dealt with the smiley, piercing-covered cashier with minimum small talk- "Is this for your girlfriend?" "No." "A friend, then?" "No." "Well, happy holidays!"- and left as quickly as he could.
Now, he just had to hope Mike's gifts for him wouldn't show him up too badly.