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Angeal was so damned adorable when winter was on its way. He’d start to slow down, to eatmore and be less inclined to roll around in the grass in the garden with his more energetic companions and Cloud and Squall both would watch as their bigger friend would yawn and begin ambling towards the bedroom to curl up to sleep. The longer the days began to grow, the more their bear would sleep, rising only to eat, use the bathroom and let his most precious people know that he was indeed still around. For the time being.
At the orphanage, Cloud and Squall would protect their bear from the others who wanted to poke and prod at the tired bear, standing up to the bigger kids there in a bid to protect their friend. Whether Angeal had any knowledge of that, neither of them knew but it was important to them that Angeal get the rest his primal side needed and that if there was any poking or prodding that needed to be done, that they were the ones to do it.
Once, the raven had been sleeping quite deeply partway through the day, hibernating as much as it was possible to do in the orphanage, when Cloud had been curious enough to crawl beneath the bed into Angeal’s ‘den’ and poke their chubby little bear friend to see what happened, since they’d prevented anyone else from getting the opportunity to do so.
Hilariously, Angeal had rolled over, wrapped his blond friend in a warm bear hug and didn’t let him go for almost half an hour.
As Angeal had gotten older and the pair had matured with him, they had learned that their bear gave the best hugs and had the warmest, most comfortable den but also that when he wanted to start hibernating, he probably shouldn’t be disturbed and that was why when they’d been given permission to go into town to spend a little of their money, they’d left their bear to sleep. He’d only be grumpy and sullen if they dragged him along with them anyway.
“Where do we start though?” Cloud asked quietly as the pair of them moved slowly down the high street. They wanted to buy a gift for their master (Angeal would be disappointed but understanding when they told him why they’d left him behind) but what kind of a gift did a pet get their master? And it had to be representative of all of them so they had to keep Angeal in mind too and make sure that he would approve of whatever they chose.
Squall shrugged, looking this way and that in a bid to find a stall that might have something within it that would fit as an appropriate gift. He was pretty terrible at working out what to get people for birthdays and the like, so getting a random gift for their master was going to be difficult. Squall’s idea of a good gift was a lion plushie. He gave his friends a new one every other year, when he could afford one or when he’d been gifted one from matron or someone similar for birthdays. A lion plushie wasn’t going to cut it in this instance though.
Cloud wasn’t much help. All Cloud could think suggest was to get their master a new toy to play with in the bedroom with them. Of course if that happened, Cloud would wait outside the store while Squall did the purchasing because Cloud was too embarrassed to do it himself never mind that it would have been his idea in the first place.
“Jewellery?” Squall suggested before shaking his head with a frown. Sephiroth didn’t wear much jewellery. That was more Squall’s thing, with his pendant and earring.
“What about a book?” Cloud suggested thoughtfully, looking quite pleased with himself for such a neutral and harmless suggestion. Angeal would have approved.
“What kind of a book?” Squall asked, snorting softly in amusement when Cloud wilted under the question, clearly having no idea. It had been a good try though. They didn’t have too much money though, not only because they didn’t exactly earn much though Sephiroth was kind enough to give them some, but because as much as Sephiroth trusted them, there was no telling how other people would react to someone’s pets out unattended. Some people seemed to think that they made easy targets.
Half an hour passed, then an hour and after two and a half hours, finally Squall and Cloud both headed back to their master’s home, their pockets lighter and a plain bag in Cloud’s hand.
Sephiroth was waiting for them, gently restraining a tired and worried-looking Angeal. He shared a slightly pointed look with the bear before turning his attention to the newly arrived pair. “What took you so long?” He asked directly, making both blond and brunet shrink a little before proffering the bag containing their purchase. Sephiroth watched the pair share a glance at their friend who stepped towards them when the silveret lifted his hand from the raven’s shoulder and standing between the two of them, Angeal wrapped his arms around their waists to hold them close. They wordlessly leaned against their bigger companion and the three stood to watch as Sephiroth reached into the bag.
He pulled free a long pale blue scarf and looked at the three assembled before him.
“Winter’s coming,” Cloud blurted, cheeks pink.
Squall rolled his eyes and boldly stepped forwards, waiting a moment for permission before taking the scarf from Sephiroth and showing him the embroidered images on one end of the scarf. Very simple images of a lion, a wolf and a bear decorated one end, just big enough to be noticeable but not so big as to be obnoxious.
“We wanted to make sure you kept warm this winter,” Squall explained, letting his hands fall away as Sephiroth took up the inspection of scarf. “In our own way.” They couldn’t afford a nice big coat or some fancy gloves so they did what they could with what they had and since Sephiroth definitely wasn’t going to wear a woolly hat, a scarf was really their only option.
All three of them were tense while they waited for their master’s reaction and Angeal squeezed them both, approving of their decision as they looked on hopefully.
“Thank you,” Sephiroth said at last, stepping up to the three of them and kissing each one of them gently on the lips before stepping back. He turned them, moving back into the house with the scarf in hand.
The three looked between each other with some concern but just when Angeal was about to try to reassure them, Sephiroth reappeared with his coat on and peeking out from that coat, the newly gifted scarf.
Three faces lit up immediately and they nodded as Sephiroth announced that he too was going out, now that the pair were back, and that he’d be back that evening. Without needing to warn them against causing mischief, Sephiroth closed the door behind himself and paused for a moment, waiting patiently.
After hearing a cheer from inside, Sephiroth smiled just a little before going on his way.