#a-pollojustice

There was only one blanket.

Now, normally this wouldn’t be an issue if there was just the two of them. Sharing a blanket had not been strange when they were kids and not that weird as teenagers either. But they were fully grown now. And they had three other friends. Three other, fully grown men.

Which made it five fully grown men trying to share one blanket.

“To be fair, we also have only one sofa.” Hagiwara pointed out.

“There is nothing fair about that.” Matsuda snapped immediately.

“Guys, please…” Hiro tried to play the peacemaker. In vain really, Rei was half of the mind that take the blanked and Hiro both and lock themselves into one of their rooms to watch whodunnits on their phones. Problem was though… It was Date’s blanket. One, he’d brought from home. He couldn’t just steal it away.

“We all do fit on the sofa.” Date pointed out. “It won’t be a problem to spread the blanket to cover all of us.”

Why were they commiserating over the one blanket though? On Christmas no less which was the time of couples during which Date really should’ve been out there with Natalie. Simple really. They were snowed in at the dorms. And while electricity or water wasn’t cut off, it was a bit… drafty to spend time in communal lounges. They had food prepared and the Christmas tree smuggled in. They had Matsuda’s rigged decorative lights. A lot of non-romantic paraphernalia that they’d gathered, inspired by some European traditions. Date had called Natalie and cancelled the date. She had apparently been very understanding. Especially since her flight from Hokkaido had been cancelled as well and thus she wasn’t even Tokyo yet.

But that left the five of them trapped in their dorm with nigh nothing to do. Well, there were things to do, the problem was in agreeing. While they’d grown closer in the past months, they were still wildly different in personalities and interest.

Ultimately, they’d agreed on a movie night of sorts. With the intention to laugh at cheesy plots, criticise inaccuracies and maybe improve their English by listening the original voice-track instead of the dubbing. But that had led to argument just which movies to watch… and somehow, they’d ended up agreeing on Mythbusters episodes.

With that resolved though, came the seating arrangements. The one sofa and two armchairs that face the television onto which a computer had been plugged. The draftiness of the lounge. And the singular blanket.

“I’ll go make the drinks.” Rei decided then, removing himself from the situation and heading towards the communal kitchen. They had various liquors stashed as well as some hot chocolate… Maybe could try a mix of both? And afterwards top the night with some Port?

Making hot chocolate was fortunately easy, considering how limited the kitchenette was. Just one teaspoonful of cocoa powder at the bottom of each cup, two of sugar, pour hot water on top and mix. Then add a dash of milk and any other embellishments as needed or wanted. In this case, Rei took some bourbon and added it in.

As Rei was putting the drinks together, Hiromitsu joined in. The dark-haired man began taking out bowls for snacks and opening bags of crisps and salty crackers.

“What’s the verdict?” Rei asked.

“Well… we can fit onto the sofa if we squeeze… But also if you and Matsuda-san sit on top of us. Since you are the shortest ones.” Hiromitsu smiled mildly. Rei frowned. While correct… since Date was stocky and Hagiwara lanky…

“Aren’t you the lightest one of us?” Because Rei and Matsuda were both more physically inclined while Hiromitsu was excelled in kendo and marksmanship.

“So you’d rather have me in your lap than the opposite?” Hiromitsu teased.

“I didn’t say anything like that!” As kids, it was different. Wrestling on the ground, sitting together, hugging indiscriminately. They were adults now.

“Sure sounded like it.”

“Don’t twist my words!”

“Oh, never.”

The drinks got made despite all that good-natured bickering and they brought the snacks to the lounge as well. The other three of their squad had apparently come to the decision of sorts and…

The armchairs were pushed sideways in front of the sofa. And Matsuda was in process of removing the armrests of the side against the sofa.

“This looks like… a convertible sofa now.” Hiromitsu noted.

“It’ll give us more leg space.” Hagiwara smiled. “And allows us to not necessarily be on top of each other.”

“That’s a relief.” Rei sighed and laid the tray with the hot chocolate cups on the nearby coffee table.

“And this way we can all fit under the blanket.” Date nodded decisively.

In hindsight, they probably shouldn’t have fixated on fitting underneath the blanket, but as they clambered onto the sofa and tried hard not to spill their drinks… It was comfortable. Cosy really. The first episode was put running and bets were made over whether or not the myth would be confirmed, busted or even plausible. Discussion was roused, drinks drunk and snacks devoured. At one point a Christmas special began as well. Something about longevity of Christmas trees.

“Hairspray? That’d make it extra flammable!”

“Bleach will just kill the tree!”

“I’m mildly baffled over urethane.”

“None of you are commenting on the lemonade?”

“Well, aspirin will do nothing at all.”

It was unanimously decided that their own tree would be fed on plain water, no matter the final result of the mythbusting.

Hours later found them all drowsy but comfortable. Hiromitsu reached out to switch off the television while the computer had already entered sleep mode. Date was shooting a short goodnight message to Natalie. Hagiwara and Matsuda were already asleep. Rei struggled to keep his eyes open. They should clean up the dishes… but it was so comfortable underneath the blanket. And so silent in the dormitories… Hiro and Date were talking quietly on the background and…

“Merry Christmas, Zero.”