xp_logs | LOG: Haroun and Nate - Shopping for Valentine's Day

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Haroun goes to Nate for a little advice on V-day shopping. The two of them wind up at the mall, where flowers, lingerie, sleepwear, and teddy bears are purchased. Then there is steak.

Haroun bounded up the stairs, clutching a sheaf of printout under one arm, heading for Nate's office. His chances were good that he'd be in, as most everyone else (including Alison) were lugeing. He knocked on the door with a sharp rap of his knuckles and waited for about three seconds before sticking his head in. "Yo, Nate!" he said cheerfully. "I need your expert opinion on something."

"Mm," Nathan said, not looking up from the computer, his typing speed staying steady. "Opinion?"

"Opinion." he said, finding a clean spot on Nate's desk and dropping his printouts onto it. "What do you think? The full bouquet of red roses, or the more nontraditional mixture of flowers?" he said, gesturing to scans of both arrangements. "I can't decide."

Nathan stopped, eyeing the pictures, and then laughed softly. "What a change from the man who had to be browbeaten into buying his girlfriend a stuffed animal..." he mused.

"Shut it!" he said warningly, then laughed. "I'm getting married. That changes everything. She's not just a girlfriend." he mused. "Anyway. Not only that, but I've caught her mumbling that Abomination is getting lonely. So this third set here - the flowers are enhh, but it _comes with a bear_."

Nathan picked up the printouts, leafing through them for a moment - and then shook his head. "No," he said crisply, getting up. "Picking flowers from pictures is a bad idea," he went on, leaning over and saving the file he'd been working on. "Let's go to the mall. They've got a better than decent florist or two, and I could use some fresh air."

Haroun meeped, then nodded. "OK, I can scan that. Best to go check out the merchandise first-hand. Do you think I can haggle?" he said with an unholy glint in his eye. "And isn't there a stuffed-animal shop in the mall somewhere?"

"A very good stuffed animal shop," Nathan said, leading the way out of his office. "I should get my little redhead something to make up for Mom confiscating Mr. Bunny."

Haroun grinned. "You know, outside of Baby Leathers - what a prophetic gift! - it occurs to me that the Floaty Sprog has had no gifts from me. This is, quite frankly, an unacceptable oversight on my part and I must rectify this immediately. You want to drive or should I?"

Nathan snorted softly. "My turn. The last time you nearly drove us into a tree," he said. "I'll meet you in the garage."

---

Haroun looked at the florist with a mix of Unholy Glee and trepidation. "OK. I can do this. It's very important that I Not Fuck This Up. First Valentine's Day since we got engaged. No pressure, al-Rashid." he mumbled to himself as they approached the store. "You ready?" he asked Nate.

"Trust me, this is not hard," Nathan said wryly, shaking his head as they walked into the store. "What color makes you think of Alison?" he asked, shaking his head with a smile at the florist as she headed over. She stopped where she was, smiling almost knowingly.

Haroun stopped in his tracks. "What _color_? What kind of a bullshit question is -that-?" he said disbelievingly.
Nathan eyed him levelly. "It's the sort of bullshit question that is the first step towards picking something with some care and thought, rather than a random arrangment," he pointed out. "You don't find the perfect flower by closing your eyes and pointing. What color?"

"Man, you definitely drank the girlie Kool-Aid." he said, but closed his eyes and thought for a moment. "Yellow." he said. "Her hair. Blue, for her eyes."

"Blue's a trendy and somewhat artificial looking color for roses," Nathan said, stopping in front of the gigantic cooler-thing that held the bulk of the Valentine's Day flowers. "Go with yellow. But think beyond that. Yellow's a warm color, right? Look at some of the other warm colors here."

"I generally regard warm colors as a prelude to catching fire, Nate." he muttered loudly under his breath. "Dammit, Nate, I'm an engineer, not an interior decorator." he misquoted as he moved about the flower shop. "Ooh." he said as he eyed a display of white flowers with little blue ones interspersed. "This is a good start. What are these?"

"Freesia," Nathan said, after taking a close look at the little flowers. "Pretty, aren't they? More delicate than I'd pick for Al... although I'm not the one picking," he said, giving Haroun an amused look.

"I'm just going by what looks good, not trying to make a statement about her strength or lack thereof. That part we both know damned well." he said with a grin. "Could I get these, and some of the yellow roses, and what the hell, throw some red ones in there as well?" he asked the florist as he roamed the displays of foliage.

Blue, white, yellow, and red. Gah. Nathan very carefully did not roll his eyes. "No red roses. In fact, hold off on that for a minute altogether," he told the florist patiently, and then steered Haroun back in the direction of the roses. "Look for a second," he urged. "Okay, yellow roses first, since you wanted something that reminded you of her hair. Which do you like - the brighter yellow, or the pale gold ones?"

Haroun thought about it for a moment. "I like the pale gold. The bright yellow reminds me of crayons, and that's definitely not what I want here." he said. "Why?"

Nathan looked back at the florist, one hand on the door of the cooler. "Do you mind if I...?" She smiled, and he took it as permission, opening the door and taking out one of the pale golden roses. "All right," he said briskly, looking on the next shelf. "Let's try... one of these ones," he said, removing another rose, this one a pale, peach-tinged pink. "Look at these together," he said, holding the blooms together so that Haroun could see.

Haroun looked at the flowers. "No pink." he said after a moment. "Definitely no pink. Stick with the yellow. She's not that big into pink, and I can't stand it, so there you are."

"All right," Nathan said, replacing the pink and, after a moment, removing a rose that was a pale apricot color. It actually did complement the gold better than the pink, he mused, gazing at it for a moment before holding it for Haroun's inspection.

Haroun nodded. "That one I like a lot better than that first one." he said approvingly. "Good blend. Of course, since she sees color sharper than just about anyone this is a complete crapshoot." he thought with a frown. "Ah well, it's the thought that counts, right?" he said with a smirk.

Nathan just smiled and reached in for another couple of roses. An ivory one, a few shades paler than the gold, and then a rose that was peach at the center, paling to white at the edges of the petals. "Getting the idea?" he asked.

Haroun grumbled. "At this point I'm going to write a HOWTO." he grumbled, but with no real heat in it. "And hey, this is starting to look nice. Think I got the idea now." he said, going through the florist's pale-flowers collection like a tornado to add things to the bouquet. By the time he was done, he had two dozen flowers, starting with the solid pale gold ones in the center and getting paler and paler as they moved out to the edge of the arrangement. Around the border he went with white roses. "There." he said, disgustingly satisfied with himself. "What do you think?"

Nathan traded an amused look with the florist, who stepped in, all smiles. "You'll be putting me out of a job," she said with a chuckle, stepping in to tidy the arrangement. "It's lovely. "Will this be for delivery tomorrow?"

Haroun nodded. "Yep. Now for the ouchy part. What's the damage?" he asked the florist. When the number was presented, he winced but dug out his wallet and paid the nice woman for the flowers. "OK, that part's done. Now I need to snag a stuffed animal plus anything else that moves me while I'm here." he said, playing absently with his engagement ring.

"Just a minute," Nathan said, then smiled at the florist. "Can I check on my delivery for tomorrow?"

The florist nodded, beaming as she took his information. "Just a minute..." she said, and vanished into the walk-in cooler, emerging against almost instantly. "How does this look?" she asked, presenting a delicate arrangement of white rosebuds and white heather and baby's breath.

"Perfect," Nathan said contentedly, then grinned at Haroun a bit wryly. "I was in a couple of weeks ago."

Haroun laughed. "They have us trained." he said ruefully. "And here I was feeling proud of myself for taking some initiative..." he said with a shrug. "Me and about half the Male Collective."

"Thank you," Nathan said to the florist, and then tilted his head in the direction of the rest of the mall. "Off to the stuffed animals?"

"On to the Pits of Hell, err, the Stuffed Animal Store." he said with a condemned man's grin.

---

"Have I mentioned how much I hate this store?" he mentioned after the second hit he took for a kid running but not looking where he was going. "But the build-a-bear thing intrigues me."

"I don't know why you hate it," Nathan said in amusement, scanning the shelves. "Clearly you are just a big kid yourself." He spotted a stuffed squirrel and snagged it instantly, tucking it under his arm without even looking at the price tag. "What?" he asked when Haroun gave him a look.

Haroun rolled his eyes. "Anyway, let's see here. There has GOT TO BE a popstar bear." he said, flipping through the different bear bases. "Scientist bear, Nate." he said with amusement, holding up the appropriate little outfit for Nate's consideration.

"I don't buy Moira stuffed animals," Nathan said in amusement. "Besides, I already have her Valentine's Day gift. Although I do need to make one more stop after we're done here."

Haroun shrugged. "Fine." he said, putting it back. "Dammit, I am _not finding_ what I want here." he groused. "I'm tempted to get Roller Skate Bear and go nuts with it." he said.

"What is it with wheeled footwear these days? Moira wants to learn how to rollerblade..." Nathan gave him a tolerant look. "I suppressed your gaudy tendencies with the flowers, so go nuts with the bear, I say."

Haroun grinned and took that as permission. By the time he was done with the bear, it was wearing a white jumpsuit, roller skates, and - most bizarrely - blue facepaint. And a disco ball pendant. "There." he said with great amusement. "Like it?" he said, gesturing for Nate to come look at it.

Nathan, the squirrel for Rachel safely paid for and tucked away in a bag, stared fixedly at the weird little bear for a long moment. "You didn't need to take me that literally," he said dryly.

"Why not?" he said with a grin. "I already did the pretty, and this is me expressing myself. They're always getting on us to express ourselves, right?" he smirked. "Besides, this little weirdo is growing on me."

"Let's go pay for it and get out of here," Nathan said. "More and more kids are appearing, and I have one more stop to make, like I said."

"Come on, you." he told the bear as he took it up to the counter. He paid for it, then dropped it into the bag and caught up to a patiently-waiting Nate. "So, where next?" he asked with a grin. "Maybe it's just me, but I think she'll be amused by the bear."

"Victoria's Secret," Nathan said, and then rolled his eyes at Haroun. "And don't think anything of the sort. Not that I mind when Moira steals my shirts to sleep in, but then she constantly complains that she's cold. And Victoria's Secret has rather nice pajamas."

Haroun was thinking more of the opportunities - Alison _loved_ nice underthings, and picking her up some new ones they could both enjoy would be a very nice cap to the whole V-day thing. "And lo, though we travel into the valley of frilly I will fear no bank balance..." he said fatalistically.

"I have bought Moira lingerie all of once," Nathan said in amusement. "Not that it didn't go over very well, but still..."

"If you're going to, now's the time." he said, blocking out the thought of Moira in lingerie (he wasn't attracted to Moira. At all.) with the thought of Alison in lingerie. Now _THAT_ he could get behind 100% of the time, all the time, every time. "I enjoy buying it for Alison. Or when she buys it for herself. It's _all good_."

"I think I'll stick with the pajamas," Nathan said, and made a beeline in that direction as soon as they entered the store, as if to avoid temptation.

"Wuss." he said, and headed over into the Barely There end of things to browse. Hopefully he wouldn't get the asshat salesgirl who naturally assumed that the person he was buying this stuff for was as dark of skin as he was. With Alison's coloration, that _just didn't work well_. At all. Luckily, they could return it without any hassles.

Nathan growled at the saleswoman who approached him, and spent a very wary five minutes picking a pair of blue silk pajamas for Moira, which he paid for immediately - didn't want anyone thinking he was still looking - and then headed over to join Haroun. "I still think you should stick with the bear and the flowers," he said dryly.

Haroun stuck his tongue out at Nate. "Maybe I feel like spoiling her." he said with a grin. "Besides, I found something I think she'll like. I'm pretty sure I do." he laughed, then went to checkout to pay for it. "She's worth it!" he called over his shoulder.

Nathan gave Haroun's back a grudging smile. "Definitely progress," he murmured.

Haroun returned a few minutes later with the Vicky's bag in addition to Abomination's new playmate. "The bear needs a name." he mused as the two men headed out of the store. "Something suitable to Abomination. Maybe ... hrm. Anathema?"

"It's too bad Abomination was already taken, because that's the best description of that bear's fashion sense I can imagine," Nathan said with a perfectly straight face.

"You have no sense of fun whatsoever." he said with a grin. "It's really sad."

"She'll love it," Nathan said, "because you picked it. Actually, the combination of the tasteful and the wacky should be really appealing."

Haroun grinned. "That's the idea. I'm half-afraid that she's got something up her sleeve for me. Half-afraid, half dying of curiousity."

"Ah, uncertainty," Nathan said with a chuckle. "Adds some spice to life, if you ask me."

"This coming from the precognitive telepath." he said with a snort of amusement. "Is it even possible you can _be_ surprised anymore?"

"Daily," Nathan said placidly. "Trust me."

Haroun shrugged. "Surprising." he said, but left it at that. "Any more stops, or are we done fattening the wallets of the local merchants?"

"I've got everything I want. Like I said, the real gift's at home, and the flowers are coming... did you want to get something to eat before we headed back?" Nathan was rather enjoying the fresh air and the calm buzz of the crowd. It was good to get out of the office.

Haroun hrmmed. "That's a good idea. Sit-down food or just something to grab and go?" he said, hoping the answer was the former and not the latter.

"Sit down," Nathan said. "My back's protesting having been hunched over the desk all day again and then being forced to walk around. Besides, there's a few decent places in the food court."

"Good. We've got some options - generic American, American-Chinese, or Dead Cow." he said with amusement. "Your pick."

"Let's make it dead cow," Nathan said. The food court wasn't as busy as he'd expected, which was nice. "Moira's at me for not eating enough again. You'd think that with the departure of my appetite-suppressing visitors I'd be gaining some of the weight back but no."

"Dead cow works for me." he said, heading over to the appropriate restaurant. "And the more I think about it the more the name Anathema appeals."

"Oh?" Nathan asked, humoring him. "Why?"

"It's got symmetry with Abomination." he said with a shrug. "And consistency is a good thing."

"And it's more feminine-sounding," Nathan pointed out with a straight face. "Which is good. Because that is most definitely a girly bear."

"It's very, very girly, in a glam-rock Alice Cooper kind of way." he said musingly. "Part of its charm."

Nathan gave him a long, measuring look as they got in line, then laughed suddenly. "Roses, lingerie, and an Alice Cooper bear. Yeah, I think you're figuring this whole thing out."

"I may be a little slow, but I catch on eventually." he laughed.