Sound and Silence: Extras 2
#7 of Sound and Silence
Friends get each other gifts. Chaos ensues.
Extra content: Birthday Edition.
Birthday Present 1
It was a lazy afternoon, and Reyson was surfing the net, as per his usual daily routine, after work, before CDE, before more gaming.
Suddenly, Clair burst into his room with luminous confetti and the sound of party blowers from his sonomancy.
"Yo, Ray! Guess what day it is!" He yelled excitedly, his hands behind his back, clearly hiding something.
"Uh... did you eat all the snacks in the pantry again?" The wolf asked, giving what he thought was his best answer.
"Whuh-I-NO!" His feline friend cried out, his tail standing up defensively. "I mean, yes, I did finish all the snacks and we need to get more, but that's not the occasion! It's your birthday, ya big dummy!" Ray looked up, as if taking a moment to assess his statement before having what was perhaps the least impressive epiphany the world had ever seen.
"Oh. Yeah, it is." He looked back at his monitor and continued browsing.
"Soooooooo~? What's the plan, big guy? Gonna throw a party? All night trip to Game Engine? Spill the beans bro!" The cat was clearly more enthusiastic about this event than Reyson was.
"Uh, just same-old, I guess- head to the arcade soon. Hour trip, maybe. Head home and play more video games. Exercise. Get ready for work. Oh, did you want to come wit-"
"Oh come on! You gotta do something awesome for your birthday! Don't just treat it like any other day! Here, I got ya something." The cat finally revealed what he had hidden behind his back: It was the next installment to the rpg game that Reyson had recently just finished. The wolf took a look at the present and opened his mouth to say something, before closing it. He curled his muzzle into a smile and took the present gratefully.
"Thanks." He eventually said, taking a good stare at the game box. Clair frowned.
"What's wrong? You don't like it?"
Ray looked around, nervously, as if contemplating something. He then opened a drawer containing his stash of games and gingerly pulled out an unopened game case with the same title.
"I bought it on my way home from work." He said. The two awkwardly stared at each other as they tried to figure out what to say next.
"So.... I guess I should return that copy then?" Clair asked as he reached for the present.
"I can keep it. You got it for me. I'll return my copy since I never opened it." The cat scratched his headfur in frustration.
"Argh, no! That's not how this is supposed to work! I was supposed to get you something you didn't already have for yourself yet! Now what am I supposed to get for your birthday?"
"...You can buy yourself more snacks, now?"
"Ray!" Reyson's feline friend was clearly desperate to get him something nice for his birthday. He thought about it for a second, and his eyes changed as he thought of something. He looked back over at his monitor, and clicked idly about at the pages, though he wasn't clicking on anything in particular.
"Dinner." He finally said. Clair was a bit relieved to finally get an answer, but felt that was a pretty simple affair.
"Just dinner? Nothing else I can do for you?" More absentminded clicking.
"Dinner, and... pat my head." His voice dropped to a mumble at the last part, but he knew that Clair could hear him.
"What? Did I hear that right?" Reyson didn't answer.
Clair slowly made his way to behind where Reyson was sitting, almost as if he was expecting some sort of trap. He rested his hands on the wolf's headfur after a great deal of hesitation, and began brushing it in smooth strokes. Reyson's tail slowly began rocking back and forth as Clair continued petting him. Clair's hands moved down to behind his ears and neck, scratching and massaging them playfully, coaxing out a relaxed sigh from Reyson.
"You... you're really easy, aren't you?" Clair inquired teasingly as he continued to oblige with his rather unusual request.
"I hate you." The soothed wolf uttered softly, almost affectionately while his head melted into the cat's scritches. The two chuckled. Reyson looked down at the game cartridge that Clair had bought for him.
"That game, uh... It has a two player campaign, so..."
"I'll play it with you when we get back from dinner."
"...Cool."
The rest of the day was fairly uneventful, but they spent it doing nothing together.
Birthday Present 2
"Clair, your birthday is next week. Do you want anything?"
Reyson casually walked into Clair's room and asked him unceremoniously as the cat was jotting down some notes for potential music ideas.
"Oh, you remembered! Aww~" Clair made an exaggerated swooning gesture.
"Birthdays are important."
"Says the one who forgot his own."
"That's different." Clair eyed him with suspicion and exasperation, but went back to thinking about Ray's question.
"Hm... Oh, I know! You can pick up some CDs for me! There's a music store a few blocks down, you've been there before, right?"
"Yeah. So, music CD's?"
"Yeah, you still know what I like-my tastes haven't changed all that much, so surprise me."
"Okay." Ray nodded with acknowledgement and started to leave.
"Oh, and also-" Clair started.
"I'm not buying you snacks for your birthday, Clair."
"Drats- I mean, no, that's not it! I was going to host a birthday bash sometime on my birthday weekend and invite some of my friends over, is that cool?"
"That's fine."
"Sweet! It'll be a blast, so don't stay in your room all afternoon like you always do, okay?"
"O-okay."
At the music shop, Reyson was browsing the CDs for EDM and trance music. He picked out a couple of CDs that he knew would be up Clair's alley, and kept looking around, until he spotted something that piqued his interest. After staring at it for a while, he picked up the case of CDs with a smirk.
Picking up a few more individual CDs, Reyson approached the counter and checked out. The cashier gave a confused look as he eyed the CD case being held by a young adult wolf.
"It's for a friend. He loves this stuff."
Claire got back home sometime past midnight, with most of the lights out. Made sense, Reyson wasn't exactly an early sleeper but he was usually out by 12:00. The feline started taking off his clothes as he made his way into his room, ready to shower and hit the sack. Upon opening the door to his room, he saw a gift wrap package with a note on it.
"Oh wow, he got me a lot more CDs than I was expecting." Clair thought to himself as he removed the note.
It read:
"Happy Birthday.
-With Love,
Reyson."
Clair chuckled. "So sentimental..." he thought as he undid the gift wrap. His smile quickly disappeared when he saw the frilly pink designs of the box. Embroidered on the front, the title read "Neko Neko Kyun~ Baby Idol's Poppin' Love! Collector's Edition".
"Son of a-" Clair muttered to himself before he noticed that the CDs in the box weren't actually the CDs that were supposed to be in the box. He noted several artists that he actually liked, as well as a few he didn't recognize but decided were probably Reyson's recommendations.
"Well, He got me." He said, as he pulled out one of the CDs from his favorite musician. Another note slipped out from inside the box as he pulled out the cd.
"Hm?" Picking up the second note, it read:
"I hid the Neko Neko Kyun~ CDs in your room. Have fun finding them.
-With More Love,
Reyson."
This time, there was a smiley face at the end of the note.
"That little fu-"
When Reyson got up in the morning, he noticed that he was surrounded by a sound barrier. When he tried to leave the barrier, it seemed to act as a trigger as a recording of Clair's voice suddenly played, jolting any remaining sleepiness from the wolf right out of him:
"From now on, I'm telling you exactly what I want for my birthday, ya dingus!"