Who: Tomas Booth and Avis Tremaine
What: He's a whiner D;
Where: Avis' flat
When: Before Christmas 1978

"What do you want for Christmas?"

Tomas Booth was not a very good gift giver. He was not very observant, either, but it made him think harder and pay closer attention to things that a normal person would simply overlook. It seemed a bit like an oxymoron---well, he wasn't exactly sure of that, but. Like, Berkeley. Berkeley was an odd ball, but he was thrown into a situation and saw immediately what he had to do. Not necessarily what he should, but for the most part, the guy knew what he was doing. Tomas, on the other hand, would get thrown into the situation, stand around and keep himself alive for a bit as he tried to figure out what to do, and would then notice that there was an uncovered pipe line he could destroy that would send steaming hot water at the death eaters and stop all the chaos that was going on without killing or causing too much damage to the place.

So he did think, just not as quickly or maybe as well as other people, but he did think. It was just this stupid gift giving thing was a lot harder than he'd thought. In all his years, he'd managed not to have a girlfriend around a holiday (due to the fact that he'd break up with them a few weeks before, as he knew he would just ruin the relationship by his horrid gift giving), and it was proving quite the task as he didn't exactly want to break up with Avis.

Which meant she was special, and that also meant he had to get her something really nice to make sure he didn't fuck it all up.

Tomas popped a grape into his mouth and looked across the freakishly neat kitchen of Avis' at his girlfriend, eyebrows high and expecting a rather straightforward answer.

Avis rolled her eyes. Honestly, why he couldn't just figure things out for himself, Avis would never know. She knew that he was a perfectly capable Auror (eventually, at least) and that he had somehow managed not to make his whole family hate him by getting them a horrible Christmas gift, but he somehow managed to be completely and utterly clueless when it came to gift-giving.

"I can't just tell you what I would like for Christmas, Booth. Half of the challenge and the fun is having to make you pay attention." She snatched a grape from the bowl and bit it in half with a smile. "So you'll have to learn to be a little more observant. I've been dropping clues, honestly." But probably not clues that Booth would understand.

He pouted greatly, taking a bit of time before swallowing the grape and slouched down even further, resting his forehead on his hands. That was rather hard to do as he was standing, but it was all Tomas could manage without banging his head to the counter.

"I pay attention," he muttered, and he was quite sure that Avis was going to retort with something along the lines of 'oh really?' so he was already mentally preparing a retort. He knew she liked skulls. And dealing with bones. And Erin (for some reason). And Greece. And him, that was a very important factor. And books, and...lots of other nerdy things he couldn't possibly pronounce the names of (Latin! She liked Latin). It was just the whole...maybe his sense of humor wouldn't work with Avis' presents, or maybe a gift he thought would be brilliant would end up being terribly insulting. What it came down to was that he hated being wrong, and there were literally a million ways for him to be so. "I do."

"Yes, but your gigantic ego gets in the way of you buying the presents you actually want to buy for me in favor of the present that you think I'll like best and that won't make me punch you in the eye." She murmured archly, picking up another grape and tossing it up in the air with flourish before she looked to Booth again, scrutinizing him. She had no doubt that he paid attention at least some of the time (perhaps not when she was speaking with Erin because they tended to talk far too quick for him to follow without great difficulty), but the fact remained that he did worry quite a bit about offending her, for some horrible reason.

Honestly, did a woman with a -skull- for a companion come off as easily offended?

Tomas pulled his head up and stood straight, rubbing the back of his neck. Yeah, all right, she had a point, but it was more than his gigantic ego that was stopping him (please, it was so large that even he knew he was ridiculous). He cared about the present. A lot. It was their first Christmas together after being a couple for more than six months (that was a fucking LONG time, by the way) and even if he was rather bad at showing it on a daily basis, Tomas could see this. Going. More than six months (well, it HAD, but more, more than six months). Not that he could possibly say that to Avis, but it kept him in check when he freaked out too much about the little things. Or, well, made him freak out about the little things. Whatever, it was bloody confusing and it was all Avis' fault.

He came around the kitchen island and rested his hand against it, staring dubiously down at Avis. "How about you tell me what I shouldn't get you, and I'll stop whining about it all."

Considering what she'd seen in a girl's journal today ... "Meat. Don't get me a dead animal, Booth. That would be utterly horrendous." She looked up at him and crossed her arms in front of her chest, peering up at him with a slight smirk. "Other than that? You're pretty much on your own." She brought her hand up to stroke down his jaw in an effort to distract him - honestly, what sort of a mood-killer was it to have to listen to someone whine about Christmas presents while you were making dinner for them - and keep him from asking about it further.

Not that she had any bloody idea what she was getting him, of course.

"Meat?"

Tomas' mouth couldn't help but dropping open, and he blinked a few times as she'd honestly shocked him with that. Not shocked as if upset or worried (well, a little worried, who the hell's journal was she reading?), but just. That was it? That's all she was going to say? Meat. Don't get her meat. That helped a fucking lot, Avis, thank you very much. It was like she lived to make his life difficult sometimes.

But, all right. No meat. He could definitely do that. Except, a wicked grin crossed his features and one arm slipped around her waist and pulled her close.

"Fine. Except I'm going to be incredibly vulgar and say that better not include my meat." Even he couldn't hold back a laugh at how ridiculous his come-ons were, but he gently swatted her nose with a finger, eyebrows going high once more.

"And you wonder why you couldn't keep a steady girlfriend for ages, Booth. Really." She snorted, returning the gentle swat to her nose with a firmer one to his shoulder. She wouldn't hurt him, of course, but she had been half-expecting that sort of reaction from him. He was a man, wasn't he? That meant he was capable of vulgar jokes until the cows came home. Avis arched her brow at him in return and leaned in to bite his lower lip gently, tugging it between her teeth before artfully slipping out of his grip.

"Dinner's ready, by the way. Your 'meat' will have to wait."