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“Pick a name, pick a name!” Ohm crows, walking around the room with a bucket full of paper strips. “We’re doing Secret Santas this year!”
Claire rolls her eyes but a smile graces her lips as she sticks her hand in the bucket, pulling out a single strip. “We should have expected this,” she says.
“It’s our senior year, let’s go all out,” Mon murmurs, looking down at her own slip.
Ohm stops in front of Wave and winks. Wave flinches, unsure what it meant, but Ohm shakes the bucket and Wave puts his hand in. There are only a few papers left, as he, Ohm, and Korn haven’t picked theirs yet. He grabs the first one he feels and pulls it out; at once, his heart stops as he blinks down at the name written in Ohm’s chicken scratch on it.
Pang.
He dares a quick glance at said person to find him squinting at Jo. So that’s who he had. Leave it to Pang to be obvious about matters like these.
“Okay, everyone has a name and no one has their own, right?” Ohm calls out and everyone nods in affirmation. “Great! Since all but two of us--” He glares at Punn and Claire “--are not rich as absolute fuck, there is a limit of 600 baht spending-wise. Exchanging of gifts will take place a week from now. Any other questions?” No one says anything so Ohm nods in satisfaction.
They all pack up, ready to head to class, and Pang nudges Wave playfully. “So, who do you have?” He asks.
Wave shoots him a look. “It’s Secret Santa, no one is supposed to know who anyone has.”
“Oh, come on.” Pang grins as he leans close, into Wave’s space. He swings an arm around Wave’s shoulder and reaches up with his hand to ruffle his hair.
Wave’s heart threatens to pound out of his chest and he squirms out of Pang’s grip, face blazing hot. “Go to class,” he snaps half-heartedly. He swings his bag over his shoulder, leaving Pang chuckling behind him.
-
Wave stares at his computer, the screen buzzing in front of him. He thought for days about what he could get Pang; something that had meaning, represented their friendship, maybe even his true feelings if he dared. He hadn’t come up with anything so he ended up hacking all of Pang’s accounts, searching to see if there was anything Pang had told anyone he wanted.
Again, he had come up blank.
Wave becomes desperate and searches “what to get my crush for Christmas” and a popular article comes up, explaining the meaning handmade gifts hold. He frowns, absorbing the information and examples into his brain. Paintings, cookies, hot chocolate packages, popsicle stick ornaments… Wave groans loudly, frustrated, as he pulls his hair.
“I was never very good at art or craft-like things, but Non said he really liked handmade gifts, things from the heart. So, I thought, why not try making him a scarf? It’s both meaningful and useful, though it doesn’t get very cold here in Thailand, but it’s the thought that counts, right? I did my best and here’s how it turned out. Well, I gave it to him and he loved it! Despite the raggedy edges and the fact that part of it was black while the other part was blue because I lost the black yarn and then I found it when I was looking for a gift bag but nevermind that! All in all, don’t lose your yarn and your significant other will love it because it was made and gifted with love, and that’s all that matters!” --pompom
The review sings itself through Wave’s mind, the electric signal tingling through his arm where his elbow is laying on the edge of his computer. There are two pictures along with the review by pompom, one of a black and bright blue scarf and one with two men. The man who wears the scarf is taller than the other, with jet black hair and a smile that turns his eyes into crescents. The other man is less messy, with perfectly coiffed hair but he looks just as happy as his boyfriend, the two of them smiling together in front of the Wat Suthat temple. They look in love.
“Am I really going to do this?” Wave mutters, pulling up a site for the highest-quality yarn. “I guess so.” He orders two bundles of royal blue and a few pairs of knitting needles with next day shipping since he already wasted half of the week trying to decide what to get Pang.
Thankfully, it’s the weekend so the next day, Wave locks himself in the computer room on campus with his yarn and knitting needles. Ohm had bugged him about where he was going until Wave channeled his old self and snarled at him until he backed down.
And it’s moments like these that Wave wishes he had Punn’s potential. Yes, he could find the highest-rated, most-liked YouTube video on knitting but that didn’t mean he could actually knit. The woman on the screen makes it look so easy, the way she twists the yarn around the needles and talks about strings A and B and so on.
Wave stares down at his mess of fuzzy yarn wrapped around the thick metal needles, lip curled in annoyance. “This is dumb,” he growls. But he imagines the look of surprise on Pang’s face, the way his eyes might light up, the way his lips may curve into a beautiful smile… So Wave restarts the video, paying close attention.
-
Friday is here and Wave stands nervously in the doorway, clutching the wrapped box tightly to his chest. The paper is crumpled and starting to rip but he doesn’t notice, too nervous about gifting Pang his present.
What should he say when he hands it to him? A simple “Hi, I’m your Secret Santa” while he shoves the box in Pang’s face and runs away? An elaborate speech about how much he appreciates Pang and that he’s his best friend and that he would do anything for him? A stuttering confession of his feelings before he barfs all over the concrete floor from the nerves?
“Are you okay?”
Wave jumps in surprise and finds Pang smiling down at him over his shoulder. “Oh, Pang.”
Pang chuckles and gently guides them into the room where their classmates wait. They’re greeted with smiles and cheers and the two of them place their gifts at the back table, where everyone else’s lie. Claire sits with Mon on the couch, the twins at their feet playing an online game with Korn. Punn is pouring everyone sodas while Ohm makes sure the snack bowls are full. Pang joins Punn to help and the girls offer Wave a place between them. The gang takes time to relax and celebrate the oncoming break from classes together.
A few hours later, they all gather around the table to exchange gifts. Wave waits for Pang to give Jo his present, an engraved leather bracelet, until he approaches. Pang smiles as Wave walks up to him, hands threatening to completely crush the box in his hands.
“I wondered if it was you, since you wouldn’t tell me last week,” Pang jokes.
Wave offers a crooked smile and hands the box over with shaking hands. “Merry Christmas,” he croaks.
Pang smiles back and gently removes the paper and the lid to the box. Wave watches as Pang’s eyes widen. “Wave,” he breathes.
“S-sorry it’s messy and ugly, I did my best but I’m not Punn so I can’t learn to do everything and I chose blue because it’s your favorite color and it looks good on you, too, and I read that people like handmade gifts and I really like you, like, a lot, I think I might even love you--”
“Can I kiss you?” Pang cuts off Wave’s stuttering.
“What?” Wave manages to squawk. At this point, their classmates have left the two alone but neither has noticed, swept up in their own world.
Pang laughs, bringing up a hand to curve it against Wave’s cheek softly. “Can I kiss you?” He repeats. “I like you, too, Wave, a lot.”
“Really?” Wave’s voice is a cracked squeak as he stares up at Pang. Butterflies flurry around in his stomach at the way Pang’s eyes gaze fondly at him. “You really mean it?”
“I really mean it,” Pang murmurs. Their faces are only centimeters apart now.
“Okay--but wait.” Wave tries to hold back his smile as he takes the forgotten scarf and wraps it around the back of Pang’s neck. “I’ve always wanted to do this.” Pulling on the ends, he brings Pang’s face down for the most electrifying kiss he’s had.
Fireworks go off in his brain and sparks shoot through his veins, more intense than the first time he conducted technopathy. Pang drops the empty box and Wave can feel the smile on his lips.
“You’re such a romantic,” Pang murmurs tenderly.
“Only for you,” Wave whispers in reply and drags Pang down for another kiss.