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Armie hated Christmas shopping.
It wasn’t because he was a Grinch and hated Christmas itself, because he actually really loved it.
No, it’s more that he’s never been very good at choosing gifts for people – especially not when whenever he’d asked friends and family what they wanted, they all said “I don’t really want anything, I’d be happy with whatever!” which really wasn’t at all helpful.
The only people he had no trouble finding gifts for were his children, because their wish lists were always overflowing long before December had even started.
Everyone else though, he hadn’t gotten one single present bought yet and it was already the 16th, he was fast running out of time, and it’s making him more than a little whiny.
He’d been ranting to his poor secretary, Florence, about it for the last, he looks down at his watch, 30 minutes or so, and bless her heart, she’s actually been trying her very best to come up with suggestions for what he could buy.
“Why don’t you just get them those universal gift cards they can use wherever they want?” Florence asks, pulling up a website to show him what she means. “That way, they can get themselves something they actually do want.”
“It’s a nice thought, but I hate gift cards. They’re so… Impersonal.” He shrugs, before letting out a deep sigh and pinching the bridge of his nose. “I mean, this is my family. If I can’t come up with something better than that, I might as well just not get them anything.”
“This might sound a little weird…” He could see her hesitating, before shaking her head and meeting his gaze head on. “Okay, so, I have this friend, and he is… Honestly? He’s the best gift giver in the whole entire world. I have no idea how he does it, but all he needs is just some basic info about the person’s likes and dislikes, and he just comes up with the perfect gift out of the blue.”
Armie blinks slowly in confusion, not following her line of thought at all, but nods along anyway, maybe it’ll make sense once she’s actually done explaining.
“He’s a student, and I know he had his final exam the other day, so his schedule is clear. So if you want, I could give him a call?” She’s already picked up her iPhone before Armie has even completely understood what she was getting at.
“Wait, what?” He splutters, eyebrows nearly touching his hairline. “You want me to hire your friend as a, like a, personal shopper?”
It’s not that it’s necessarily a bad idea, but again, like with the gift cards, it just kind of feels wrong. And more than a little impersonal. He might not have a clue what to get people, but at least he wanted to get the gifts himself, not have someone else do it for him.
He tells Florence as much, and she shakes her head at him, before letting out a small snort. “Armie, I wasn’t suggesting you send him out alone with your credit card.”
“No?” He’s even more confused than before, because if she didn’t want him to hire her friend to shop for him, then what was she even talking about?
“No, you dumbo. I meant, I can call him and ask if he’d be willing to go to the mall with you, teach you some of his tricks, and then help you pick out something for your family.” Picking up her phone again, she waves it in his direction. “So, should I call him, or not?”
“Oh.” Armie can’t remember the last time he’d gone Christmas shopping with someone else. Even back when he was married, it was never a couple’s activity, he bought gifts for his family, and she bought for hers.
But maybe that was just what he needed, a second pair of eyes.
“Uhm, yeah. Yeah, call him, a little help, that – that could be good actually.”
He’s set to meet Florence’s friend, Timmy, at the mall in about half an hour, and though the guy had sounded really nice on the phone – very sympathetic towards Armie’s gift buying struggles – Armie couldn’t help but be a little nervous.
He had never done all that well with being judged, the bullies back in school had seen to that, and he couldn’t help but feel like not being able to buy Christmas presents by himself, at age 35, was something that he was definitely going to get judged for. No matter how nice the person sounded over the phone.
In the end, it turns out he never should have worried. Timmy is… Well, he proves to be a lot of things, but judgmental is not one of those.
They meet at the coffee shop as planned, and they go over the list of people Armie has to get presents for while sipping their coffee.
Armie had insisted on paying, and while Timmy had initially tried to argue that he could pay for himself, all it really took to get him to agree was Armie raising an eyebrow at him and reminding him that he was there, in his free time, doing Armie a huge favor, so the least Armie could do was pay for his fucking coffee.
Especially since Timmy had put his foot down and refused any sort of payment for this at all.
It’s surprisingly easy to find good gifts for people with Timmy’s help, even if every time he makes a suggestion, Armie feels like a total idiot for not having thought of it sooner. When he tells Timmy that, he just laughs.
Armie is almost certain that they’ve been lowkey flirting all day, but he’s a little too scared to actually ask. Because Timmy seems like he’s just a very naturally friendly guy, always chatting with the cashiers – making them laugh during what has to be their most stressful shifts, and wishing them a good day and happy holidays every time – and Armie really doesn’t want to be one of those guys that consistently mistakes friendliness for flirting.
He can’t deny though, that every time Timmy looks up at him and smiles, it feels like butterflies are fluttering around in his stomach. Like he’s 12 instead of 35, and only just experiencing his first crush.
When they’ve finished shopping, and all the names have been dutifully ticked off Armie’s list, Armie once again tries to get Timmy to accept some form of payment, but once again he refuses.
“I had fun today, Armie!” He says with a wide grin, laughing when Armie lets out a skeptical noise. “Really, I love Christmas shopping, and not only that, but I had an excellent partner. Truly couldn’t have been a better day.”
If Armie regrets not asking Timmy out when he’s lying in bed that night trying to sleep, well, it’s too late for that now. Isn’t it?
He lasts about two days before he calls Timmy, rambling about how he’d forgotten completely to buy gifts for his sister and her husband, as well as the husband’s family, and they agree to meet that same evening at the mall. Same place as last time.
Timmy really didn’t need to know that Armie had never had a sister.
It comes as no surprise after seeing how great he’d been at coming up with gifts for Armie’s actual family members, that Timmy also manages to find truly amazing gifts for Armie’s fake sister and her imaginary husband. He even knocks it out of the park for the imaginary husband’s non existent family members.
Armie just chuckles awkwardly when Timmy asks him how he’d managed to forget about his sister, when he’d even thought to buy something for his ex-wife’s new husband. He’d somehow managed to stutter out a lie about his sister living down in the Cayman’s and that they didn’t have that much contact on a day to day basis.
Timmy had seemed to buy it though, and Armie only felt a tad bit guilty for lying to him.
Somehow, he managed to ask Timmy to the office Christmas party that’s happening that same night without stuttering too badly, even though it feels like his entire nervous system is on fire. “I just, I want to thank you for helping me, you’ve literally saved Christmas, man.”
“And I keep telling you, you don’t have to thank me.” Timmy smiles softly, before biting his bottom lip. “But, I’d never say no to a party. If you’re completely sure?”
“Definitely.”
One thing he’d forgotten to take into account was Florence, who is very much aware of the fact that Armie doesn’t actually have a sister.
She’d been super excited to see Timmy, but looks very confused when Timmy tells her that Armie had invited him after he’d helped find presents for his sister, and she turns to Armie with a frown.
“Dude, what sister? Isn’t it just you and Viktor?”
Timmy turns to look at him too, tilting his head in confusion, and Armie had never wanted the earth to open up and swallow him whole more than he did right then.
Of course, he was never that lucky, and instead Florence takes one look at his no doubt bright red face, and lets out a loud snort. “Oh, I see. Well then. Happy holidays!”
And with that, she’s off, but not before giving Timmy a push, making him squawk and trip over his own feet, practically face planting into Armie’s chest.
His arms automatically come up to wrap around Timmy’s back as he widens his stance to make sure they don’t both fall over, and if Armie immediately mourns the loss of Timmy’s body heat the second he takes a step back, well, that just proves he’s completely fucked.
“I’m so sorry.” Timmy mutters, staring down at the floor, but Armie thinks he can see a hint of blushing cheeks.“I have no idea why she’d do that.”
“It’s – Really, don’t worry about it. I’m the one that should apologize.” Armie sighs, running a nervous hand through his hair. “I didn’t mean to take advantage of your kindness, but I kinda did today, and I... I’m sorry.”
“So it’s true?” Timmy asks, looking up at Armie through his eyelashes, while chewing on his bottom lip. “What Flo said, I mean. You don’t… You don’t have a sister?”
“No.”
“But... ” Timmy starts, shaking his head to rearrange his curls, and Armie finds himself spellbound. “That makes no sense. Why would you go and buy presents for someone that doesn’t exist?”
“Ijustwantedtoseeyou.” He mumbles so quietly he can barely understand himself, and when Timmy just frowns, leaning his head forward slightly, a clear indication he hadn’t heard a word Armie was saying, Armie sighs and clears his throat. “I lied, because… I just wanted an excuse to see you again.”
“Oh.” Armie can see that while Timmy heard him this time, he still didn’t completely understand what Armie actually said. At least not until the blush on his cheeks darken and his eyes go wide. “ Oh.”
“Yeah. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have—” The rest of what Armie had to say got swallowed up by Timmy’s slightly chapped lips connecting with his own.
It’s been a long time since Armie has kissed anyone, even longer since it felt anything close to this, and he can’t help but smile into it, even if that makes actually kissing Timmy all that much harder. It doesn’t help when Timmy starts to chuckle as well.
Even though he knows that there are no mistletoe at this party, Armie can’t help but sneak a peek above his head, just to make sure. Timmy buries his face in the crook of his neck and lets out a laugh.
“If you think I need mistletoe to kiss you, you’re wrong.” Timmy smiles as he looks up at Armie, making the butterflies in his stomach flutter around like crazy again as he quickly gets on his tiptoes to press a soft kiss to his cheek. “I’ve wanted to do that since you insisted on paying for my coffee.”
“Oh.” Armie smiles dumbly, and Timmy just nods, kissing him again.
“Yeah, oh.”