Septimus sighed. Once again, he couldn't believe he was in a situation like this. When he promised Beetle he'd help in picking out a gift for Jenna,he had imagined something along the lines of going to the market together,finding a nice necklace or maybe a book,and overall,just having a nice time with his best friend.Instead,they had gone through every possible store in the Castle,even the Gothyk Grotto, and were now sitting on the floor of Beetle's apartment surrounded by a pile of what Septimus could describe only as clutter. He was exhausted and grumpy. If Marcia found out he'd spent the whole day shopping when his Darke Week was no less than 2 days away, he'd probably be in big trouble. Septimus wasn't too pleased with himself either. To him,birthday gifts were the least of his worries now. But alas, he had to fill his duties of being a good friend, although that didnt keep him from expressing his opinions

"Beet, I think you're overthinking this. Jen isn't picky, and she'll appreciate anything with thought behind it."

Beetle looked at Septimus like he didn't totally belive him. He too was practically exhausted from the gift shopping, but the most important part had yet to come.

" I know, but I really need this gift to be special."

"So you're planning on gifting her a bunch of...clutter? " Septimus asked,because despite his best efforts, he had a hard time imagining what use could his sister possibly find for this stuff.

"I know it doesn't look like much."

"But?"

"Its the thought that counts?"

Septimus let out a sigh.This was hopeless.

"I have an idea,alright Sep?" Beetle said defensively. " I just need some time."

"Okay,Beet. I'll trust your judgement."Exclaimed Septimus as he picked up a shell from the pile of gifts to examine it. "But im pretty sure this is just a seashell.She probably has plenty of seashells already."

"Its not just any seashell."Beetle responded. "Its actually from the Isle of Syren."

"Didn't really think you'd want to bring a souvenir from that place."

"Well,while you were hanging out with Spitfyre, me and Jenna explored the island. We decided to race eachother in the water,and I got a bit too excited I guess, because I managed to trip over the tiniest seashell and fall face-first into the water.Thought I was drowing for a good second, before I realized the water wasn't even up to my knees."

"That doesn't really sound like the fondest memory to me." Thought Sep,who wasn't really a big fan of losing.

"The thing is,I actually won the race, because Jenna couldn't stop laughing after she'd seen the seashell." He remembered how Jenna went on to tease him with the seashell for the rest of the day,and smiled.

"Okay,so it's a sentimental seashell. An inside joke. I get it."

As Septimus was moving on to the next item,something caught his eye. It was a photo. He picked it up to examine it closely, and on it was something that looked like a face peeking out of a...curtain? A dress?

"Wait a minute...Beet, is that you?"

"Beetle turned slightly pink,and grabbed the photo from Septimus.

"I dont know about this one yet. Its a little weird.."

"No, please ,I myself would love to recieve a photo of you dressed in...what exactly? As a gift."Septimus said with a grin

"For the record, I was eight, and I thought it made me look like a pirate."

"Well, I dont know about pirate.Maybe more like a parrot."

"Thats exactly what Jenna said! She said that she'd always wanted a bird, and that the photo forever ruined her hopes of getting one,because she'd never find one as perfect as I was."

"It seems like I may have underestimated you." Said Sep, pleasantly surprised. While the gifts didn't look like much,it was the stories behind them that really made them special. His slight boredom had given in to was curiosity and he was anxious to see what other gifts Beetle had in store.

"Ooh, what about this packet of FizzFroot? Can I try some?"

"You don't want to drink that, trust me. Its the extra strong chilli flavored one. Jenna mistook it for strawberry once, and oh boy. She said that she finally understood what dragons feel after breathing fire."

"And what about this paper boat?"

"That would take a little too long to explain, and I know I've been holding you up for a while. Anyway,I just have one more thing to show you." Beetle stalked up and out of the room, and came back proudly holding a pan in his hand and smiling.

"It's...a pan." said Septimus. For the final gift, he had expected a bit more. "Im sure its a lovely pan,but Jen lives in the Castle. She probably can't even fit more pans into her kitchen."

"She doesn't have one like this though.Well,not anymore, since I managed to burn it. Its supposed to be a magykal one, so the food in it never burns, but I guess the one they had in the castle was just really old or didn't work properly, because I managed to burn not only the food but the pot itself,and I was lucky that I didnt burn down the Castle kitchen. The cook wasn't all too happy. I promised Jenna I'd find her a new one,and I did."

"I think Marcia has one of those too.Unreliable things, she calls them." Septimus took the pan from Beetle and examined it." This one looks a lot better than the one Marcia has, and It'll fit all of this stuff nicely."

"So? Do you think she'll like it?"

Septimus looked at his friend, and smiled to himself. How could she not? With people gifting Jenna jewlery, decorations and other stuff "fit for a young princess", this would probably be the weirdest and most thoughtful gift she'd ever get.

"It's a really great gift. You really outdid yourself,Beet. She'd be crazy not to love it"

Beetle smiled. He really hoped Sep was right.

*

It was long after Septimus had left that Beetle finally finished packing up the gift. The pan was sitting at a small table illuminated by only a candle,and of the stuff was in a neat pile in the pan. Sitting at the very top of the pile was a small gold heart,glistening slightly in the candlelight,and tucked under the heart was a card that had taken Beetle quite some time to write.

Because birthdays are for telling people how you feel.

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*My biggest headcanon has always been that Beetle was actually going to confess to Jenna of her 15th birthday, but after the Darke Domain he thought that she "didn't want to hear it ":( So i decided to write about it.Hope you liked it!

(this was also inspired by the office)*