On his way to Tara's house, Jack had managed to complete his dailies for the stupid fairy game and gain a level. The gifted month of VIP status from Tara certainly helped, and he found himself wondering if five bucks a month would be worth it for being able to skip waiting for his little avatar to clean her mushroom for five minutes.

He reached Tara's porch, and he grimaced at the new sign that read Beware of Cute Puppy. In his distraction, the door opened to reveal Tara. She'd been waiting for him like some sort of Christmas harbinger of doom.

"Candy thinks if you go to the New Year's party, you'll get a kick out of it," she said by way of greeting. She stepped aside as Jack entered and grinned at his hunched shoulders.

"I'm not going," he replied as he made his way to the couch. He set his shopping bag on the coffee table and pulled out Tara's first gift. Hidden within its paper, it was oblong and crinkled.

"Just pop in for a little appearance." She dropped down next to Jack and eyed the bag. "A quick drink. Show off the boyfriend and rub him in Sam's face."

"I don't… I don't really wanna go." He wouldn't be wanted there anyway. Everyone was just being polite. Polite and pestering. Because that's what people did when they didn't want you there. He sighed and pulled out his phone, setting the gift on the table and gesturing to it.

"Asking Dracula if he wants to go?" Tara asked. She picked up her mystery object and gave it a few shakes as she turned it between her hands.

"No, just making a note for my memory bullshit," Jack replied past the mounting resentment. He hoped feeling bitter was a good sign. It was better than feeling lost.

"What the fuck, asshole?!"

He'd been expecting the punch, but he wasn't prepared for it to land right over where he'd been stabbed. "God, fucking—Ow!" He gingerly rubbed at his arm.

Tara winced away with a look of guilt. "Right. Sorry. But you earned that," she said, shaking the bright pink dog bone in Jack's face.

"Yeah, I know." A little of the tightness in his chest eased as watched Tara examine the chew toy with an amused smile. "Is now a bad time to ask for wrapping paper?"

"Getting everything out before Christmas?"

"I have two days, so… I guess?" It would be one of the few years where he wasn't late in getting things to everyone.

Tara looked up from the toy. "Today. I don't have classes again until after the New Year. Why do you think I'm home?"

"Today's Monday? I thought it was Sunday!" He didn't have a real job, and Kieran's shop worked on a flexible schedule. How was he supposed to keep track of what day it was? Could he blame all the local stores having weird holiday hours? He was supposed to have one more day. Just one more.

"Hey. It's all good," Tara said. She leaned in and soothingly rubbed at Jack's shoulders. "You're doing way better than that one year where you were off by two weeks."

Jack couldn't remember what Tara was talking about, but he didn't doubt her. He stared at the bag of presents sitting on Tara's coffee table. Even if he was doing better, he had still been so far gone that he'd lost a good chunk of his life.

"I'll drop presents off for you," Tara said softly as she gave him a side hug. "I'm swinging by Candy's tonight on my way to Jay's. That'll be one less thing on your plate. Better?"

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"Thanks. Crap. Um…" He wasn't too broken up over dropping off presents late. Anymore, that was par for the course. No, he was supposed to have one more day to mull over any bad ideas floating through his fucked up head.

"Tell me who gets what, and I'll wrap everything up for you," she said, reaching under the couch and pulling out a roll of wrapping paper.

Jack recognized the roll of paper from the past two years. As well as from one birthday. It looked like the roll of generic pine trees and snowflakes was finally reaching the end of its life. "Candy gets the dragon, Sam gets the cat, and Kieran gets the eReader."

"Splurging on the first holiday. You're so hopeful!" Tara said as she pulled a glittering dragon from the shopping bag. "Damn. She's gonna love this. Gonna blow my shitty deck out of the water."

"It didn't cost that much." He watched, feeling a little useless, as Tara looked around under her couch and pulled out a couple broken down boxes. "Er, Kieran's. Candy's was getting up there."

Tara nodded along as she picked a box and set about wrapping the whole thing up. She worked quickly, and pushed the finished product in front of Jack along with a small bag of bows and gift tags.

"Was… Was I supposed to stick with a smaller budget?" Jack asked as he looked through the bows. None of them seemed to do Tara's wrapping abilities justice.

"I'm teasing." She pulled out a little stuffed orange tabby cat dressed up as a pig from the bag. "Where the fuck did you find this? It's perfect!"

"Rick's, surprisingly. Made shopping a hell of a lot easier. They have a whole cat and meme section."

Tara looked at him in betrayal. "You never told me that!"

"I never needed anything from that part?" He reached into the shopping bag and pulled out his other gift for Tara. He looked from his shoddy wrap job to another perfectly wrapped box. How was he so incapable of wrapping up a gift card? It was flat. Maybe he shouldn't have bothered hiding the envelope's branding with printer paper. Tara already knew the sporting store was near his apartment. "Also, this is for you, too. To make up for the chew toy."

"Thanks." Tara happily accepted the small present and pointed it at the chew toy. "But you do know that thing's going in my mouth later."

"Better your mouth than other parts."

"Don't go through people's drawers if you don't wanna find the good stuff."

"A bathroom sink isn't—"

"Oh, right! Candy went through my drawers. But still. I live alone, and I ain't cleaning up for you." She ripped off the paper and popped open the envelope. She stared at it for a moment before looking at Jack with furrowed brows. "Okay, so this might be too much. I mean, thanks and all, but five hundred? Really? This isn't a pity present, is it?"

Jack shrank into himself. "You're my best friend, and I have all these notes that I can afford it? I wanted to get you something nice for once. That I know you'd like."

"I like anything you get me," she said softly as she pulled Jack into a tight hug.

"Can I have an extra sticky bow?" he asked once he was released.

"Sure. And if you put it on your dick tomorrow night, I'll give you fifty bucks."

"No. God, no," Jack muttered as he shifted through the bows, settling on a large green one.

"Makes a great last minute gift," Tara said, pulling Kieran's gift out of the bag. "Don't exactly like my tits being sucked, but guys love doin' it, and they get a kick outta pasties and shit."

Jack pulled his phone back out and pressed the grumpy pig. He then set the call to speaker, giving Tara a disgusted sneer.

"Fairchild."

"Hi. Yes. I'd like to report a harassment," Jack said.

She stuck her chest out and proudly framed her breasts with her hands. "Jack's being sexist. I need to report sexism!"

"I'll accept all reports at the New Year's party," Sam replied.

"Who's coming?" Candy yelled out in the background.

"Jack, maybe," Sam replied.

"I'll make Tiramisu!" Candy said, her voice much closer and excited.

"I'm not… I'll think about it." Jack sighed as Tara stared him down with a knowing grin. He was doing bad enough with knowing what day it was, so it wouldn't matter anyway.

image [https://i.imgur.com/eZY0YUq.png]