Chapter Text
“Woah, look at this place! This claus for a celebration!”
“I’m gonna deck you in the face.”
“Well, at least you can say you deck something with boughs of holly.”
“You’re horrible.”
“Don’t you mean ho-ho—”
Hayato receives a slap on the forehead.
The gym is decorated quite nicely for once. There’s tables on either side of the gym with rows of food on them—pizza, chicken, sandwiches and even fruit punch. It might not have been festive food but they make do with the best they have. There’s a pile of christmas gifts piled at the corner of the room because they could not bring an actual tree in the gym.
The walls are decked with Christmas decorations from socks, red and green ribbons and ornaments they found lying around the storage room. Christmas music is playing through Eita’s speaker, filling the room with festive moods. Most of the Shiratorizawa team are there mingling with each other, laughing and talking.
Satori is quietly monitoring one particular spot in the gym—the window where most of the Christmas party attendees are hanging out. Above it, Satori’s christmas gift for Tsutomu hangs, a mistletoe.
It’s a simple plan really. He needs to get Tsutomu under the mistletoe with Kenjirou because what else could lift a teenage boy’s mood, if not a kiss from his crush?
And here’s his chance now. Tsutomu is standing right under the mistletoe talking to one of the first year students. Without waiting any longer, Satori grabs a tray of drinks and walks towards Kenjirou who is stuffing his face with dessert.
“Kenjirou-kun!” Satori greets, cheerily.
He gets an unimpressed look in return, “Tendou-san.”
“Can you help your favourite senpai distribute these? We need to finish the drinks because I don’t want so many leftovers.”
“You’re not my favourite,” Kenjirou says, “But sure.”
“You’re a sweetheart, Kenji-kun! You should start with the people by the windows,” Satori says. Kenjirou scowls at the nickname but does as he is told anyways.
Satori watches with a gleeful smile as Kenjirou gets closer and closer to Tsutomu. Kenjirou passes the drinks with ease, making small conversations as he goes by. Then, when he finally reaches where Tsutomu is standing, directly under the mistletoe, Satori points at them and turns around to make the announcement.
“Oh my god, they’re under the mistletoe!”
Immediately, most of the party attendees turn to look at where Satori is pointing, some in curiosity, some in excitement and some even gasping for dramatic measure. Satori turns back with a grin to face the fruit of his brilliant plan only to be bamboozled in return.
He blinks.
Somehow, in the midst of the commotion, Kenjirou has moved away from the mistletoe and left Tsutomu standing face to face with Hayato. The two of them looked at each other in dazed.
Behind him, the crowd began chanting, kiss! kiss! kiss!
NOOOOOOOOO, Satori screams in his head as he watches Hayato take Tsutomu’s hand and smile cheekily at him.
“Well, mistle-mwah,” Hayato says as he plants a kiss on Tsutomu’s hand. Tsutomu is blushing profusely.
Satori never wants to end someone so badly.
It’s fine. I just need to try again, Satori thinks to himself. But first, he needs a drink. He walks towards the probably-already-spiked fruit punch and pours himself a glass.
“Satori,” a voice greets him. Satori turns to find Wakatoshi standing next to him with his own cup of punch.
“Wakatoshi-kun! Are you having fun?”
“Yes,” Wakatoshi replies, nodding, “I listened to Eita complaining about his little sister turning his room into her personal dance studio. I never knew younger siblings are so handful.”
“Me too. Thank God we’re only children, huh?”
“Yes. What about you, Satori? Are you having fun?”
“Quite. I’m just worried about my secret santa gift.”
“Don’t be,” Wakatoshi puts his hand on Satori’s shoulder, “I’m sure they will love it. As long as you mean it.”
“Thanks, Wakatoshi-kun,” Satori grins up at him, putting his hand on top of Wakatoshi’s own. Wakatoshi’s cheeks reddens at the touch. He clears his throat and pulls his hand away.
“I have something I want to tell you,” Wakatoshi says, his grip on his cup of drink tightening.
“Yeah?”
“I kept this thought with me for so long,” Wakatoshi begins. In his defense, Satori attempts to listen to what Wakatoshi wants to say but out of the corner of his eyes, he sees Kenjirou walking towards the window area with Taichi. He’s so close to the mistletoe. Satori needs to move now!
“I’m sorry, Wakatoshi-kun, I have to go!”
Without waiting for a reply, Satori walks around the gym trying to find Tsutomu. It takes him a while to spot Tsutomu in the sea of students until he catches a glimpse of his bowl cut hair in the crowd gathering around an empty table where Eita and Reon are playing Pepsi-pong.
Satori pushes through the crowd, ignoring the sound of his teammates cheering over Eita winning another point.
“Take that, sucker!” Eita cheers, riling the crowd up again.
“Tsutomu-kun!” Satori calls and taps Tsutomu’s shoulder, trying to make sure Tsutomu notices him.
Tsutomu turns around to face Satori and smiles, “Hi, Tendou-san!”
“Come with me,” Satori takes a hold of Tsutomu’s hand and drags him away. He could still see Kenjirou talking with Taichi near the mistletoe. This is it.
“Where are we going, Tendou-san?” Tsutomu asks, confused. Satori does not stop until they are standing at the same place as Kenjirou with Tsutomu’s back facing Kenjirou’s back.
“Listen, Tsutomu,” Satori says, looking around trying to figure out what to say to his precious kouhai, “I need you to know that I love you.”
Tsutomu blinks, “Okay?”
“Whatever I am about to do, I do it out of love and because I care for your well-being.”
“Uh, where are you going with this?”
“Just,” Satori grabs Tsutomu’s shoulders and looks him in the eye, “Trust me.”
Tsutomu, sweet as ever, nods.
With that, Satori turns him around to face Kenjirou and shouts, “You’re under the mistletoe!”
Only, when Satori turns to take a peek from Tsutomu’s shoulder, the one standing in front of Tsutomu is Taichi who looks confused.
THIS CANNOT KEEP HAPPENING, Satori screams internally. Tsutomu is sputtering, looking more baffled and embarrassed as the seconds pass.
Taichi shrugs, not caring, and leans down to give Tsutomu a peck on the cheek. Satori wants to pull all his hair out. Instead, he storms off unsatisfied. He needs more chocolate.
There has to be some way for him to get Tsutomu and Kenjirou under the fucking mistletoe and kiss. He just needs to think big. What can he possibly do to make sure both Tsutomu and Kenjirou stand still and kiss each other?
But first, he needs—
“Satori.”
“Wakatoshi-kun!” Satori says, feeling like the weight has been lifted from his shoulders. Being near Wakatoshi has always felt like coming home after a long day at work.
“You look stressed,” Wakatoshi comments, frowning as he looks at Satori.
“I’m fine! Truly! I just need more chocolates,” To emphasise his point, Satori unwraps one piece of chocolate and pops it into his mouth.
“Alright,” Wakatoshi nods, accepting his answer, “Do you want some company?”
“That would be great, thanks Wakatoshi-kun.”
Wakatoshi shifts closer, their shoulders brushing and their back against the table. They are close enough with each other, close enough that the noise of the party feels dull in comparison. It feels easy to breathe this way, with only the two of them taking in the same air.
For a moment, this is all that Satori needs. The silence, existing in the same pocket of space as Wakatoshi. No conversations, no thoughts—just the two of them with warmth bleeding through shared fabrics. Sometimes, in the chaos of life, Satori forgets how to just be. It’s a good thing that Wakatoshi is always there to remind him of that. He wonders for a moment how many times he takes Wakatoshi's grounding presence for granted.
His own voice echoes back at him, this is our last Christmas together.
Between the party planning and the secret santa, Satori has pushed the idea of graduation so far back in his mind that he has not considered that on the same date next year, he won’t be celebrating Christmas with his high school friends. They all will be so far away from each other. He will not have this—Wakatoshi’s quiet presence beside him, the ease he feels whenever Wakatoshi is around. He will not have Wakatoshi right where Satori wants him to be—that is, beside him.
Wow, that got depressing real fast.
“This is nice, Wakatoshi-kun. Thank you,” Satori whispers. Wakatoshi’s only response is to intertwine his pinkie with Satori’s own. Somehow, even that small gesture makes Satori’s heart jump. Everything is right again.
Everything is not right.
Satori tried everything. Everything. From lying to get the both of them under the mistletoe to begging on his knees, yet nothing works. All he ended up getting is the loss of dignity and even more frustration. Somehow, he gets Tsutomu to kiss all of Shiratorizawa members but not Kenjirou and he does not even know how it happens! One moment he was so sure he got Kenjirou right where he wanted him to be but the second he brings Tsutomu under the mistletoe Kenjirou morphs into different people.
So far, sans Hayato and Taichi, Tsutomu had been kissed by Eita on the left cheek, by Reon on the forehead, by Satori himself on the right cheek (don’t ask how this happened, Satori has zero idea) and he shared an awkward handshake with Wakatoshi.
Satori grits his teeth. Fine, he thinks, if I can’t bring them to the mistletoe, I’ll bring the mistletoe to them.
With the determination of whatever that is left inside of his soul, Satori untapes the plastic mistletoe from the window and marches in search for Tsutomu and Kenjirou.
He finds Kenjirou lounging near the food table, away from the dancing bodies in the middle of the gym. He stomps towards him and before Kenjirou could let out a peep, he grabs his wrist and drags him away to find Tsutomu.
“Tendou-san, what—”
“No time, Kenjirou-kun! We have to go.”
He drowns out all of Kenjirou’s questions and scans the room for Tsutomu. He finds Tsutomu walking out of the gym with his hands in his pockets and Satori’s eyes widened. Oh, no he did not.
He drags Kenjirou with him as he runs towards Tsutomu. He could hear Kenjirou complaining about him being too fast but he does not care. This is a matter of life and death!
“Tsutomu!” Satori calls, causing the other boy to turn around.
When he finally reaches Tsutomu, he drags Kenjirou forward causing his body to crash against Tsutomu. Both of the boys yelp in surprise and if it wasn’t for Tsutomu quick reflexes to catch Kenjirou by the shoulders and stabilise himself, they both would have fallen to the ground.
“What the hell, Tendou-san!” Kenjirou groans, attempting to stand on his two feet.
Tsutomu lets him go, his face flushing at the close proximity.
Satori approaches and stands in the middle of them, dangling the mistletoe between them, watching at Kenjirou and Tsutomu looks at it weirdly.
“There. Now, kiss!”
“W-what?!”
“Are you crazy?!”
“You two have no idea how hard it is to get the two of you under this stupid plant!”
“...Are you the reason why I’ve been kissing so many people today?”
“Doesn’t matter!” Satori snaps, “The point is, Tsutomu-kun has a huge crush on you, Kenjirou-kun and this is the only way to make him happy!”
“You’re not making any sense!” Kenjirou says.
Tsutomu lets out a shock slash embarrassed noise at Satori’s accusations, stuttering out a response, “I literally just wanna go pee!”
Satori has clearly not thought this through but he has to go on with this now or else it’ll be too embarrassing, “Please, tell me you don’t look at Tsutomu and think he’s not at least cute?”
Kenjirou flushes, avoiding eye contact with Tsutomu. Satori blinks, woah I was just shooting in the dark with that one.
“You seriously have a crush on me?” Kenjirou asks Tsutomu, quietly. Satori has never seen him like this before. It’s somehow cute.
“I mean! Uhm…are you gonna hit me if I say yes?”
Kenjirou rolls his eyes in response. Then, almost shyly, he leans in and gives Tsutomu a kiss on the cheek. Tsutomu turns the brightest red Satori had ever seen him tonight.
“There, are we done here?” Kenjirou bristles, his own face is red.
Satori grins and brings down the mistletoe, “Yes, thank you. Tsutomu-kun, you can go pee now.”
Tsutomu blinks in dazed, mumbles a few incoherent words and leaves to the direction of the bathroom.
“Never do that again,” Kenjirou warns Satori before shoving his hands in his pockets and walks back into the gym.
Satori grins, mission success!
He follows Kenjirou back to the gym, the mistletoe in his palm and his heart feeling full. When he nears the entrance of the gym, he sees Wakatoshi standing there waiting for him.
“Wakatoshi-kun!” Satori greets, waving at him.
“Where have you been?” Wakatoshi asks when Satori finally stands in front of him.
“Just completing my mission,” Satori waves the mistletoe in his hand, “Were you waiting for me?”
“Yes. I have been waiting all night to tell you something.”
“Oh, right! I’m so sorry about that. What did you want to tell me?”
Wakatoshi’s ears are red, Satori notices. He’s oddly quiet, as if mulling over his words. He keeps clenching and unclenching his fist. Satori has never seen him like this before. A thought appears in his head, is he nervous?
“I think it’s best if I show you,” Wakatoshi says. Before Satori could comprehend what is going on, Wakatoshi takes the mistletoe off of Satori’s hand and dangle it in between them. Satori blinks, his heart thrumming against his ribcage and oh.
Without wasting any time, Satori leans forward and kisses him. Wakatoshi kisses back, his hands wrapped around Satori’s waist.
Well, Satori thinks as he pulls Wakatoshi closer, this is mistle-toe-tally worth it.
Omake 1: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
All eight of them are gathered around in Satori and Wakatoshi’s room for the secret santa. The pile of gifts sit in the middle of their circle, wrapped in colourful themed wrappers. They all decided to go by age which means Satori would go first.
“I wonder what’s in this,” Satori takes the carefully wrapped rectangle in his hands. The sticky note on his gift has Tendou-san written on it with the words This is a gift. Merry Christmas. right underneath. It does not take a genius to figure out that this gift is from Taichi.
He unwraps the gift and he can feel his heart leap in his chest. It’s a cookbook, Satori realises, on a hundred and one things to bake.
“You always said you wanted to pick up baking,” Taichi shrugs from his place next to Satori. Satori can not help himself—he throws his hands around Taichi, forcing him into a hug. Taichi sighs in defeat but he has long given up trying to move himself away from Satori’s grasp.
“Aw, Taichi-kun, you actually listened to the things I said!”
“It’s hard not to when you practically scream them in my ear.”
Next, they moved on to Wakatoshi’s gift which is a box wrapped in batman theme wrappers and a note stuck to it with the words Consider this my wrapped sheet. Wakatoshi opens the box to reveal an Aloe Vera plant.
“Because you always wanted to learn how to garden so I figured, why not let you have an easy plant to take care of?” Hayato explains, giving Wakatoshi finger guns.
Wakatoshi blinks, a small smile gracing his face, “Thank you, Hayato.”
“Are you supposed to put it in a box?”
“Shut up, Eita. It’s the thought that counts.”
The gift-giving continues as the hour passes. Reon receives a book he has been searching for forever from Eita. Eita, in turn, gets a custom-made purple guitar pick from a sour-faced Kenjirou, which causes Eita to ruffle his hair fondly. Hayato is given a 3866-piece Star Wars: The Battle of Hoth LEGO set by Tsutomu and is promptly tackled into a hug. Taichi receives a new pair of headphones from Reon, which he appreciates in the subtle, deadpan way only he can convey. Kenjirou gets a worn out, used notebook from Wakatoshi which causes him to look at his former captain in puzzlement.
“When I first became captain of the team, I was confused. My previous captain had not given me any clear guidance and I have to learn everything by experience. Everything I learned, I recorded in that notebook,” Wakatoshi explains, his face softening from its usual stoic display.
“You are the new captain of Shiratorizawa. It will be a tough and confusing journey. So, I hope with this notebook, you will have at least a bit of guidance through that journey.”
Kenjirou stares at Wakatoshi in awe, his mouth agape. He stands up, hugs the notebook close to his chest and bows down to Wakatoshi, “Thank you, Ushijima-san.”
Wakatoshi hums softly in response.
“Holy shit, is Kenjirou crying?” Hayato whispers to Satori.
“It really is a Christmas miracle,” Satori whispers back, staring at the scene in front of them like a meteor had just landed in Japan.
Lastly, Tsutomu stands up to receive his gift from Satori. He stares curiously at the box in front of him before pulling the top off. He takes the gift out, revealing Wakatoshi’s jersey complete with signatures from each third year in the group.
“What…?”
“Well, as you know,” Satori stands up, a wide smile on his face, “My first gift for dear Tsutomu is the mistletoe kiss from Kenjirou…and subsequently, all of us.”
“What?” Eita asks but he is promptly shut down by Kenjirou.
Satori continues, “But this one is a little extra. Tsutomu is our next ace, our next number one. I know you worry a lot about being the ace and you have a lot of doubts. You wonder if you deserve that title or if you are steady enough to carry everyone the same way Wakatoshi did. We figured you don't need to replace him.”
Satori moves forward, putting his hand on Tsutomu’s shoulder, “You just need to be you. This jersey is proof that the people who stood beside Wakatoshi believe in you enough to pass this on.”
Tsutomu’s grip tightens on the jersey, tears pooling at the corner of his eyes.
“Just keep jumping, Tsutomu. We’ll be watching.”
Tsutomu, predictably, starts to cry. The entire team approaches him, laughing at him so fondly and pulling him in a group hug. Tsutomu buries himself in Satori’s chest and Satori feels himself melt, pulling him closer.
Hayato smiles gently, petting Tsutomu’s head before whispering, “It really is the most wine-deer-ful time of the year.”
All of them let out a collective groan.
Omake 2: We Wish You a Merry Christmas
Tanji sits on his chair in the office, staring at the eight of them with his arms crossed and eyebrows raised.
Hayato pushes Tsutomu forward, causing him to stumble nervously. He thrust the gift to Tanji and he bows, avoiding eye contact.
“We have a gift for you,” He mutters with a low voice.
Tanji takes the gift off of Tsutomu’s hand and studies it. It’s a framed photo from their tournament early this year with the team frozen mid celebration. The picture is worn at the edges, clearly treasured by its previous owner. Tanji looks at it longer than he intends to do, his grip tightening on the edge of the frame.
“It’s our way to say thank you and hope you remember us,” Satori adds with a smile. The rest of them step up and stand close to Tsutomu. Tanji stares at them, his gaze moving from one member to another. He doesn’t remember when all of them had grown so much, when time had moved so quickly that it does not give him the chance to appreciate it.
“Thank you,” He says, his voice rough.
The team smiles at him, while some nod. They said their goodbyes and left the room one by one. Tanji looks at the picture in his hand again, warmth blooming in his heart.
“Oh by the way,” Hayato says, grinning as his head peeks out from the door, “Here’s something a little extra. Hope you like it, coach!”
He puts a tiny box on the shelf next to the door and waves goodbye before closing the door behind him. Tanji walks to the door and grabs the box, his curiosity getting the best out of him. He pulls out the gift and blinks, unimpressed.
Inside the box is a mug with the words World’s Best Daddy.
(He ended up using the mug a lot. People assume it's from his kids. Well, they are not too wrong about that).