Maria's light eyebrows rose slowly, like the smoke over a flame. "Something for.. me?" They asked softly, tilting their head. That was strange, they didn't receive many gifts. 

"Of course. One second, lemme find it." Zeke stood, wobbling . He stretched and proceeded to yawn loudly as he bent over a bin of what Maria thought was garbage. Zeke dug through it, pulling something out and holding it out to Maria with a smile. 

"These are gonna be your new ears," he explained, placing them on his own head to show what they'd look like. Once he was wearing them, it looked like a pair of felt cat ears with a bit of wiring sticking out of the sides. "They're like hearing aids, but I know how much you like cats!" 

Maria's eyes widened and a blush dusted their cheeks as they slowly realized this was their gift. Better hearing. "Uhm... will you have to wire it into my brain..?" Maria swallowed, fiddling a bit more aggressively with their sleeves. 

"Oh, god, no. You just..." Zeke stood on his tip-toes, sticking out his tongue a bit with determination to reach the top of Maria's head. They bent down a bit to help as he slid the creation over their ears like a pair of earbuds. He then turned a little knob on the center of the headband, pulling his arms away with a smile. "How's that?" He said, finally heard. 

Maria gasped softly and covered their mouth, eyes pricking with tears. They could properly hear. Finally. They could probably had gotten hearing aids sooner, but they were unable to afford them and just lived out most of their days in near silence. See, they weren't completely deaf, only to the point where they could hardly hear at all, so it was much easier to just say that they were, in fact, deaf. 

Now it was as if the 'cotton balls' that were stuffed in their ears at birth were finally removed. Maria sobbed into the neck of their sweater, happy they could hear it all clearly. Zeke smiled and put a hand on their chest before slowly and awkwardly giving them a hug. 

"Now, Maria, I need your help."