Work Text:
“Very funny, Gabby,” Akihiro said, pulling the small tin out of the glittery gift bag.
Since the siblings had individual plans on Christmas –mainly Gabby going to a party with her Lost Club friends, Laura spending Christmas Eve with Remy and Anna Marie, and Akihiro preferring to swallow to grenade than tag along to either; Laura decided to host a private get-together the week before Christmas to exchange presents in-person. It’ll be good for Gabby, she thought.
In turn, Gabby had spent weeks leading up to the “Snikt Sibling Super-Awesome Shindig Celebration” as she called it, putting together the decorations for their New York apartment. She ran out of S-words, and besides, the pronunciation of “celebration” is close enough to start with “S,” she said. She already painted the sign. Gabby even managed to convince Laura to buy no less than a dozen of those gingerbread house kits so she could assemble an entire gingerbread village! Jonathan promised not to eat any until after the party.
But most exciting were the presents! Not even Laura knew what wonders they contained – for the best way to keep a secret is not to tell anyone, as Akihiro told her. Or at least, keep Jonathan’s translator collar off for the time being.
“What?” she asked.
Akihiro shook the tin, a bright red label with matching bold letters in a mix of Katakana and Kanji.
“Sakuma-Shiki Doroppusu,” he read the label out loud. “You watch ‘Grave of the Fireflies’ recently?”
“That’s besides the point,” Gabby crossed her arms. “I thought you would like it.”
“I’m sure it’s very thoughtful, Gabby,” Laura interjected, glaring at Akihiro. Clones and their matching expressions, he thought. Charming how you can get identical daggers at two different angles.
“I mean,” he raised his hands submissively. “Thank you, Gabby. Next time I’m at the store, I will buy you the biggest candy bar I can find, okay?”
“Well, it’s not like you’ll be able to get these much longer,” Gabby said.
“Oh, did they ban these like Kinder Eggs?” he chuckled. “I can go to Japan myself anytime, you know. They’re basically at every store.”
“Company shut down,” Jonathan said, taking a break from gnawing on the cattle femur Laura gifted him. Gabby put his collar back on for the party since he’d be too busy with his own presents to spoil anything. She had a new suit –with a matching top hat, mind you, made specially for him. Laura went to the local butcher’s shop the night before and asked if they had any bones they didn’t want. They ended up giving her half a freezer-full for free.
“What?” Akihiro blinked. Gabby pulled out her smartphone and began rapidly typing. After she finished, she rotated her phone to show him an article that read “Beloved 114-year-old Japanese Candy Company to close.” Akihiro’s eyes widened slightly.
“Oh,” he said quietly. His face remained mostly expressionless, but his grip tightened as he tucked the candy tin closer to his chest.
“They’re closing in January,” Gabby said. Skimming through the article on her phone, she continued “Apparently its because of inflation and all of the remaining customers are old people.”
“Souka” he replied absentmindedly. He looked down at the red and white tin. “The colors are very Christmas themed,” he looked up to shake the tin again and gave a smile just a tad forced.
You’re not fooling anyone, Laura thought. She had stumbled across Akihiro’s guilty pleasure a few years back during their escapade with Orphans of X. They had stopped at a convenience store for supplies, and Akihiro made sure to snag a few.
“Are those for Gabby?” she asked, looking at the tins in the basket.
“Ah, I can grab some for her too,” he replied, crouching to grab a couple more from the bottom shelf.
“Huh,” she said.
“What?”
“I didn’t expect you to be grabbing them for yourself.”
“They’re iconic,” he rolled his eyes.
“They just seem…too inexpensive for your tastes.”
“We all have our vices, I suppose,” Akihiro replied dismissively, as he turned and made his way to the checkout. Laura found out later – mostly through Gabby’s brief obsession with Studio Ghibli, Sakuma Drops became hugely popular in postwar Japan, following the company’s intensive revitalization efforts after the sugar shortages during the war. It made sense he felt partial to these, Laura mused. Like me and Pinocchio, in a way.
Gabby had shown her the article last month, in which inflation, rising energy costs, and the lack of younger customers all contributed to the company’s decision to declare bankruptcy. Laura may have offhandedly mentioned that their brother liked these candies, but she hadn’t expected Gabby to latch onto that.
“BY THE WAY,” Gabby announced. “I hope you know just how difficult those were to get without raising anyone’s suspicions. I obviously couldn’t go through any of the Krakoan gates because someone might see me and I don’t need Akihiro chasing me down like last time, so I had to order them the normal way online. But THEN, with the current world situation, Japanese air mail was discontinued for a few weeks, so it took even longer and I wasn’t even sure they’d arrive on time. And then I had to come up with a back-up plan in case they didn’t, which –”
“Gabby,” Laura placed a hand on her shoulder. “He gets it.”
Akihiro stood motionless as he stared at the red tin. Almost imperceptibly, a small droplet hit the side of the tin and rolled down its side.
“Could you please go to the kitchen and grab the trash bags?” Laura asked Gabby. “They’re under the sink.”
“Sure,” she said. Laura waited until Gabby stepped just out of earshot.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Mochiron,” he said. He discreetly wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his cashmere sweater. “Never been better.”
“It’s…it’s okay to be sad about it,” she said.
“It’s just candy, Laura,” he said. “And not even a particularly luxe brand.”
“But you like it.”
Before the conversation could continue, Gabby walked in with the entire box of trash bags.
“So I wasn’t sure how many we needed,” Gabby said. “But I can stuff the bag and Jonathan can maybe sit on it so we can cram more.”
“I’ll help,” Akihiro said. He set the candy tin on the coffee table and grabbed a bag from the box.
“You don’t have to,” she said. “It’s technically Laura and I’s apartment.”
“Please, I’m your guest,” he deftly pulled the bag open. “And besides, I didn’t properly thank you for my gift.”
“Oh. Okay then,” Gabby said. Laura had decided to go start on the dishes in the kitchen. They started on the largest pile, the remnants from Gabby’s gifts. She proceeded to scoop up an armful of wrapping paper and compress it into a more manageable ball before stuffing it into the trash bag. Akihiro picked up the now-empty gift bags, and neatly folded them one by one. They continued in silence for a while.
“Thank you,” Akihiro finally said.
“No problem,” Gabby replied, trying to press down on the overflowing bag. Paper only compresses so much, you know, Akihiro thought. Laura and I certainly went a bit overboard this year.
With Laura being gone in the vault and the whole incident with the Shadow King, both of the elder siblings felt a little guilty this year since leaving Gabby to struggle alone. She had received no less than four deluxe Lego sets, several gift cards related to various candy and cake shops, a new sewing machine, and a custom-tailored dress from a boutique in New York City – all courtesy of Akihiro. Carl Valentino, having spent a lifetime as the "favorite uncle,” and eventually “favorite grand uncle,” jokingly suggested that Akihiro also add an iPad so she could make high-quality tiktoks. He may or may not have taken the suggestion literally. Laura had added a couple Lego sets of her own, some games from her wishlist, and some vinyl sticker so Gabby could personalize her consoles.
“I mean it,” Akihiro reiterated. “Thank you for the candy. It was really thoughtful.”
“Of course,” Gabby replied. “We’re family. That’s what we do.”
“Sure, but maybe next time, get more than one box.”
“There’s literally another gift bag with ten more,” she said.
“Oh,” he said, spinning around to see a much larger unopened gift bag in his designated spot by the tree.
“The last tin didn’t fit in the main bag, so I had to get another one,” she said. “You just opened the small one first and got distracted.”
“I—Oh,” he said. He brushed aside the tissue paper sticking out of the much larger bag to reveal numerous candy tins, neatly stacked on top of each other in two rows. “I see. Thank you.”
“You say ‘thank you’ one more time, and I’m gonna lock Jonathan in your designer show closet.”
It’s a separate display within the closet, Akihiro thought. I’m not that extravagant. He decided against saying that out loud.
“Alright then” he said. “No need to get personal.”
“Anyway,” Gabby began. “I’m sure Laura would also appreciate a ‘thank you’ for her gift. Just saying.”
Laura had gifted Akihiro a bottle of Louboutin nail color – in the shade khol, of course, and some high quality sencha tea. Apparently, the tea had won some sort of national competition last year in its respective category. At least, that’s what the website claimed.
In return, he selected a few philosophy books, an assortment of fine incense, and a chess set made from Italian marble. Laura suggested that they play a few rounds later tonight, after she had finished cleaning up from dinner.
“Sure, Gabbs,” he replied. “Though I’m sure she’ll find a clean apartment much better than any ‘thank you’ “
“You can do both, you know,” she replied. “there’s no limit on thanking people.”
“Merry Christmas, Gabby.”
“Merry Christmas, Aki.”
…
Epilogue:
“Man, the real thing tastes way better than dream candy,” Carl said.
“I couldn’t taste the difference,” Aki replied.
“Yeah, that’s because you already knew what they were supposed to taste like,” he replied. “it’s tricky to replicate taste in dreams without a reference.”
“Ah,” Akihiro said. They both sat on the patio, each in their own rocking chair. Gabby had spent two months separately begging Laura and Logan to buy her one after seeing them lined out front of a certain chain restaurant. Lucky for her, they both caved around the same time.
“Smells too,” he said, popping another hard candy into his mouth. “You really like these things, huh?”
“liked,” Akihiro clarified. “I suppose I’ll have to either settle with the offshoot brand or find a new favorite candy.”
“Aki.”
Akihiro sighed. “Yes, I do like these. And I will miss them if that’s what you’re getting at, okay?”
“Hm,” he said. With hard candies three still dissolving in his mouth, he decided not to take another just yet.
“When I was young, my adoptive father would take me to the candy store every week. And every single time, he would buy one of these tins and pop it open with his family tanto of all things –
‘Don’t tell your mother’ he would say, prying off the lid. ‘This is our ritual, just for us.’
And we’d sit on the corner outside the shop to watch bicycles and cars go by. He always ate all the pineapple ones.”
“I know,” Carl said, placing his hand over Akihiro’s. “I’m sorry I asked.”
“Don’t be,” Akihiro said, wiping his eyes. “Even in the dreamscape, you couldn’t have known everything about me.”
“Ah, tesoro,” Carl kissed him on the cheek. “But I did know. I just wanted to hear you say it.”
“Ugh, stronzo” Akihiro shot back.
“And you’re a real sap.”
“Well, I must’ve learned it from you.”
~The End~