Pairing: Angel/Wesley
Summary: Angel and Wesley exchange gifts at Christmas.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Advertisement: Part of the Slash Advent Calendar of 2003.
Beta: Thanks to Silvertedy for editing this for me!

Angel stood in the mall wondering what he was going to buy for Wesley. He had been meaning to go shopping for several weeks and now he had only three days. The place was packed with holiday shoppers, and all Angel could think of was getting out of there. The crowd was just too much for him. He'd gotten used to lots of people at the office, but this was ridiculous. He'd never seen the mall like this. Did everyone in L.A. wait until the last minute to do their shopping?

He'd shopped for gifts before--for Buffy, Cordy, Darla, Drusilla--but Wesley... Wes was different. Different from anyone Angel had ever known. And that scared Angel. He was scared of loving someone he didn’t always understand. He was scared of losing Wes because of that. And he was scared of choosing a gift that didn’t express how he really felt. To Angel, Wes was perfect. There was nothing else and no one else in the world that compared to him. Even his flaws only reminded Angel of how perfect he was. And that scared Angel, too. He knew that he could lose himself in this man.

Screw this. I’m not going to find something for Wes here.

***

“So mote it be.” Wesley sat cross-legged on the floor holding the bracelet in his hands. He’d spent the last two months preparing for this. For Christmas, he was giving Angel the silver band. However,  it wasn’t just any bracelet. He’d searched all the books in the Wolfram & Hart library for exactly the right magic. It wasn’t anything as predictable as a spell to anchor the vampire’s soul. Nor would it make Wesley immortal so they could spend eternity together. No, the result of the spell made the bracelet act much like the Gem of Amarra that Angel had destroyed years before. It would make Angel invulnerable to sunlight, stakes, holy water--to nearly all that could destroy him.

This was practical. This was a tool to help Angel do his job. And it would also help Wesley rest easier knowing that his lover was safe. Yet choosing jewelry for Angel had been almost as difficult as locating the spell. Wesley had finally resorted to having the bracelet custom made.

***

“You first,” Wesley placed a small box in Angel’s hand. It was wrapped in a simple, silver foil with a thin red ribbon. Velvet, not cheap plastic.

Angel carefully untied the ribbon and removed the foil to reveal a jewelry box. He raised the lid and saw a beautiful silver bracelet. Picking it up, he admired the complex Celtic pattern.

“It’s beautiful, Wes. Thank you.”

“It’s ... more than just a bracelet, Angel.”

Angel slipped it onto his wrist and felt the magic emanating from it. He looked up at Wesley. “What is it?”

Wes could see the questions in Angel’s eyes. “It’s ... well, it has two spells on it. One to keep it from breaking, because it’s rather delicate and you’re always fighting and... I’m babbling. Umm...”

“Wes, just tell me.”

“Promise you’ll hear me out, that you'll let me finish?”

Angel looked confused, but nodded. “Okay.”

“One spell is to protect the bracelet. The other is to protect you.”

“Protect me how?”

“Well...it's similar to the Gem of Amarra--”

“Wes--”

“Let me finish, Angel.”

Angel nodded again.

“It's like the Gem in that it protects you from sunlight--which you're already enjoying at the office. Also, it protects you from staking and religious objects. It doesn't work on beheading, though, so be careful of that. I'm still looking for the right spell.”

“Wes...I can't keep this. Other vampires will come after me for it. You know what Spike did when I had the Gem.”

“It won't work for anyone else.”

“What?”

“The spell is customized to you. To anyone else, it's simply a silver bracelet.”

Angel was silent. He fingered the bracelet and thought about what it meant. Wes watched him as several minutes passed. Finally, he could wait no longer.

“Enough brooding already. Don't you have something for me?”

“Huh?”

“A gift? Remember? We were exchanging gifts--I give you something, you give me something?”

“Oh... um, yeah... I'm... I'm afraid you may not find it as ...special as this.”

“It's from you, it will be perfect. Besides all I really want is you.”

That made Angel smiled as he placed the bracelet back in the box. Then he kissed Wesley and whispered, “Thank you.” Wesley just smiled.

Angel reached under the tree and pulled out a shoebox-sized package wrapped in shiny red and handed it to Wes. “Merry Christmas.”

Wesley weighed the package in his hands, then shook it, but had no idea what lay inside. Books, perhaps? He carefully tore off the paper, opened the box, and pushed the tissue paper aside.

“Do you like it?”

“Umm... well...it’s...” Wesley looked into the opened box and then back at Angel. “It’s...”

“It’s what?”

“Exactly.”

“Huh?”

“It’s what.... Umm..., I don’t...”

“You don’t like it. Do you?” I knew I should have stuck with books.

Wes looked into the box again. To be honest, he was scared to even pick the thing up. “No.... it’s not that I don’t like it. It’s just... well... it’s...”

Wesley couldn’t meet Angel’s gaze.

“It’s...Honestly? ... I don’t know what it is.”

“You mean you don’t know if you like it?”

Why couldn’t he have just bought me books? “I mean, I don’t know what it is. What is this, Angel?”

“Oh,” Wes thought Angel’s smile was slightly naughty. “It’s a toy from the Xretonia dimension.”

Now Wesley couldn’t look away from Angel’s eye. Suddenly, his lover’s meaning became clear.

“Oh... yes... of course.”

Pause.

“Show me how it works?”

“My pleasure... and yours.”

The End