Ugly Patchwork Sweaters

Somewhere between sewing needles and various patches of fluffy fabric, Quinn finished wrapping what appeared to be a misshaped ball of glittery wrapping paper: barely held together with tape. His boyfriend would be here any minute and he needed to make sure his gift was perfect. A box probably would have been a better fit instead of wrapping the gift itself, but Quinn thought that gave it character.

He nearly let out a shriek when his front door opened with a sudden swing, bringing in with it the frosty winter air and his boyfriend. “Oh!” Quinn stumbled to his hooves, lovingly and gently tossing the wrapped gift onto the coffee table as he got up.

“Loren!” He jumped into his boyfriend’s arm in what could have been mistake as a tackle, unable to resist pressing kisses to his Loren’s cheeks, his forehead, his lips, even his nose. “I didn’t think you’d be here so soon! I missed you!” Even if he just saw his boyfriend the other day and the day before that.

Loren laughed, trying to pretend he hadn’t fought to keep himself standing when Quinn jumped on him. Instead he wrapped his arms around his boyfriend’s waist, “Thought I told you I’d be here at 5, muffin? To make sure I avoided your band.”

Quinn tilted his head, thinking, “You did?”

Loren sighed fondly, “That doesn’t matter, you said you wanted to spend some time with me huh?”

“I do… oh!” He wiggled out of Loren’s arms, to the surprise of his boyfriend, “I made you a gift!”

Loren paused, looking almost nervously at Quinn’s back. He adored his boyfriend, but Quinn had an interesting habit of strange gifts: and an even more bizarre sense of taste for things he thought was cute. “Yeah? What is it?”

Quinn pouted, his lip quivering, “You have to open it, you can’t just ask me what it is! I worked really hard on it.”

Loren panicked, “Of course babe, I'm just teasing.” It was going to he a gift he had to like no matter what, wasn’t it? Quinn only got that for presents he made himself, something about them being from the heart.

Quinn settled as he picked up the wrapped gift, walking over to hand it to his boyfriend. “I hope you like it.” It was at this point that Quinn looked nervous, his tail wrapping around one of his thighs.

Loren took the gift carefully, making sure to keep an eye on Quinn’s reactions. He needed to make sure his boyfriend stayed happy no matter what, he was the sensitive type like that. “Alright here I go.”

He did his best to smile as he ripped through the wrapping paper and pulled out a mess of fabric that resembled a sweater. At least it had the shape, but it was more like a quilt with all the patches of different fabric. “It’s a… sweater?”

Quinn nodded, nearly shaking with excitement, “I found a bunch of cute fabric but I couldn’t decide on which one to use so I made a holiday sweater with all of them.”

Loren looked down, so that shape in the middle was supposed to be a piece of holy holly for Cherubmas, he was wondering why there were leaves on a sweater. He sighed quietly, before grinning, “Aw Quinn, you made this for me? I like it.”

Quinn pushed the sweater towards him, “Really? You gotta try it on.”

“Right, of course,” Loren agreed, taking a moment to sigh as he pulled it over his head.

The sweater was too big in some places and the mixing of fabrics was weird on the skin, not to mention the holiday themed pieces Quinn sewn on, and yet Loren had never seen his boyfriend look so happy before. There was also the fact Quinn made this sweater for him.

It was ugly, Loren couldn’t say it wasn’t but he knew he’d wear it for as long as his boyfriend told him to. “Look at that, I finally have a seasonal sweater for the holidays.”

Quinn seemed shyly as he mumbled, “You really like it? I’m not good at how to size it yet, but I tried my best.”

Loren grinned as he pulled Quinn in by his side, “Hey you made it for me, so it’s the best sweater I could own. So don’t go making sad eyes at me.”

Quinn hugged his arms around Loren‘s neck, hiding a giggly grin against his shoulders, “The best?”

“No one can make me a gift as well as my baby, no one.” Loren said, giving Quinn a kiss on the side of the neck, “Why don’t we stay in?”

Quinn shivered, “I guess we could since you’re so sweet… but we need snacks first. Let’s go to the counter store.”

Loren paused, “Wearing this?”

Quinn was already tugging him through the door by the time Loren was trying to figure out a way to avoid going outside like this. He didn’t get the chance as he followed after his boyfriend.

Oh well, a bit of a fashion disaster was worth it to keep his Quinn happy and if anyone asked, he’d just lie that it was a sweater from a famous designer. That would make anyone sweat from making fun of it, too many bands and not enough sponsors if they get ousted out as spoiled brats.

“Wait for me, Quinn!”