#ssho25

Haruichi watched Eijun mutter to himself about idiot tanukis, settling deeper in the scarf Furuya had wrapped around his neck when his cheeks had started turning pink from the cold. His cheeks were pink for entirely different reasons now.

Furuya himself looked content, not at all bothered by the freezing air around them. Haruichi had been surprised that he’d wanted to come with them to go shopping – or rather, to watch Eijun go shopping, since Haruichi had drawn Eijun’s name for the gift exchange – but Haruichi wasn’t about to complain about his company. It was nice to have someone quiet to stand with while they watched Eijun run himself ragged.

“Are you cold?” Furuya asked. Haruichi shook his head. He really wasn’t, not with the scarf Furuya had wrapped around him in addition to the jacket he’d worn. He didn’t want to give Furuya a reason to hand over his jacket too. Hokkaido native or not, it was still freezing outside. They needed to stay warm.

Haruichi was shaken from his thoughts with Eijun’s cry of triumph making both him and Furuya jump. Haruichi turned in time to see Eijun bolt into a store.

“Do you think he found something?” Haruichi asked.

“I hope so,” Furuya said. “I want to go back and take a nap.”

Haruichi agreed with that sentiment. As much fun as wandering all over the city had been, he really just wanted to hide in his room and recover from final exams. Luckily, it seemed Eijun had been successful, because he came out of the shop with a bag and a big smile on his face, leading them back towards the school.

Eijun was easy enough to find a gift for. Even with the ¥500 limit everyone had agreed to set on gifts, that still left Haruichi enough to buy a volume of the latest shoujo manga that the girls in their class had been passing around. Haruichi wasn’t an expert in these things, but it seemed sparkly and bubbly enough for Eijun’s tastes.

The look of delight on Eijun’s face almost made the earsplitting yell when he ripped open the wrapping paper worth it.

“Haruichi! How did you know I’d been wanting this?” Eijun demanded. Haruichi smiled.

“Merry Christmas, Eijun-kun,” Haruichi said.

“Merry Christmas, Haruichi!” Eijun said happily. “Oh! I think Furuya’s waiting for you.”

Haruichi turned to see Furuya watching them both. He raised a hand in greeting.

“I’ll see you later, Haruichi,” Eijun said. “Oi! Miyuki Kazuya!”

Haruichi didn’t stay around to see the carnage of Eijun’s well-meaning but ultimately very loud presentation of the gift he’d finally decided on for Miyuki. Instead, he walked towards where Furuya had tucked himself into a corner, nicely out of the main area so they wouldn’t be the center of attention, especially with Eijun drawing all the attention to himself.

One of the best things about being best friends with Eijun was Haruichi was never the center of attention if he didn’t want to be.

Without a word, Furuya held out a gift wrapped package. It was surprisingly neat, nothing like the clumsy job Haruichi had done on Eijun’s present.

“This looks really good, Furuya-kun,” Haruichi told him. Furuya looked quietly pleased.

“Yoshikawa-san helped me,” he said. “She’s surprisingly good at wrapping.”

It was surprising to hear that their clumsy friend could do something delicate like gift wrapping, but Haruichi figured everyone had to be good at something. He carefully ripped the paper off, revealing a blue 3DS case. He looked up to see Furuya giving him an expectant look.

“You dropped your 3DS on the bus a few months ago, and you were sad because you thought you broke it,” Furuya explained, looking strangely earnest. Haruichi was just surprised he’d noticed at all. He didn’t remember being that visibly upset, even though he would have been a little heartbroken if he’d broken his 3DS with no way to replace it.

Haruichi turned the case over to see a dragon head sticker on the front part.

“Mortal Kombat?” he asked.

“I asked Kuramochi-senpai, and he said you really like this game,” Furuya said. He really had done a lot of work to get Haruichi a gift.

“I do like it. Thank you, Furuya-kun,” Haruichi said, hoping his tone conveyed the gratitude his words didn’t. It seemed like a simple enough gift on the surface – a case that was probably used to comply with the ¥500 limit and a sticker to go with it – but Haruichi had never been vocal about his hobbies and interests, and to get him a gift like this, Furuya had proven that he both paid attention to Haruichi and was willing to do some extra work for what was meant to be a silly team gift exchange.

Sometimes Haruichi wished he still had his bangs to hide behind, because he could feel his cheeks flushing. It didn’t help that Furuya was keeping his intense gaze on him. Haruichi realized that, though it would have been more in character for Eijun, Furuya was looking for his praise.

“I like it,” he said again. “This is really sweet.”

“I’m glad,” Furuya said, looking monumentally pleased with himself. Haruichi wasn’t sure exactly what the tension between them was, but he was interrupted before he could examine it more carefully.

“Haruichi!” Eijun gasped, startling the two of them with his volume. “I didn’t realize you and Furuya were like that!”

“Like what?” Haruichi looked up to where Eijun was pointing, puzzled, before he saw what exactly Eijun meant.

He and Furuya were caught under the mistletoe.

Furuya hadn’t reacted yet, so Haruichi tried to wave Eijun off.

“Eijun-kun, it’s fine, it doesn’t mean we have to kiss,” he tried to start, but Eijun was having none of it.

“But Haruichi, if you don’t, a god will shoot an arrow through your heart and kill you,” he whined, looking legitimately concerned for everyone’s safety. Haruichi was pretty sure that wasn’t the actual legend, but he didn’t know enough about it to dispute it.

He sighed, and tried to control his blush.

“Furuya-kun, please come down here,” Haruichi said, reaching up to put his hands on Furuya’s shoulders. Furuya didn’t look bothered as he leaned down so he was in Haruichi’s reach. Haruichi pressed a quick kiss to his cheek.

A low ooooo spreading throughout the room let Haruichi know they had an audience. He let go of Furuya’s shoulders, blushing furiously. It was times like this that he wished he still had long bangs to hide behind.

“Is that good enough, Eijun-kun?” he asked. Eijun exhaled heavily through his nose, looking appeased.

Furuya hadn’t moved from Haruichi’s side.

“Sorry about that, Furuya-kun,” Haruichi said, trying to laugh it off, because there was no other way for him to disguise his hammering heart and bright blush. “You know how Eijun-kun gets.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Furuya said. “I’m not upset.”

“You’re not…?” Haruichi thought back to how unfazed Furuya had been about the whole kissing thing, how eager he had been when Haruichi had opened the gift, how pleased he had looked upon confirmation that Haruichi liked it.

He hadn’t seen Furuya for most of this party, and had only noticed him when Eijun had pointed him out, standing in a corner. Haruichi had assumed he just didn’t want to make a big scene, but there were other corners in the room that didn’t have mistletoe hanging over them.

“Did you stand here on purpose?” Haruichi asked. Furuya nodded. “Why? You wanted to kiss me?”

“Yes.”

Sometimes Haruichi forgot how blunt Furuya was because of how quiet he could be.

“Why?”

“Because I like you.”

Haruichi’s face was probably permanently scarlet at this point.

“I didn’t realize,” he said faintly. It wasn’t like he hadn’t found himself attracted to Furuya too, but he never thought either of them would act on it.

“Is it alright if I kiss you for real?” Furuya asked. Haruichi looked around to see if they still had their audience. They didn’t. He nodded.

Furuya leaned all the way down again, giving him a light kiss on the lips. It was fleeting and sweet, and even though his cheeks were still burning, Haruichi felt happy about it.

“Let’s get out from under the mistletoe before someone else decides to point it out,” Haruichi said, grabbing Furuya’s arm to drag them out of the danger zone. Furuya shifted his arm so they were holding hands instead of Haruichi grabbing his wrist.