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Christmas was always great, but this time it felt even better, as everyone was coming together again after what felt like ages they hadn’t seen each other. Pretty much everyone had moved out of Binan over the course of time – except for Yumoto, of course, who kept supporting his brother in the bath house. And of course, he would lead it on his own one day.
But everyone else, no matter if Earth Defense Club, Student Council or VEPPer, had moved away at some point after graduation to follow the call of adult life. The majority of them would admit that they would prefer if things could stay the way they used to be forever, but they all understood that this was impossible, no matter the doubts and tears.
Luckily, everyone had managed to come together now, once again celebrating Christmas by cramming all of them into the Hakone’s living room adjacent to the bath house. Given the amount of people, maybe they should have celebrated in the actual bath, which might have been a weird but fittingly weird way to spend Christmas for an equally weird group.
At least Ryuu thought they were somewhat weird, since nobody seemed to have changed very much ever since having to conform to adulthood. He was glad that what Io had told him earlier in the year, which he held dear to himself and repeated every time doubts tried to sneak their way into his head, was quite true for everyone.
They were all still the same idiots, and hanging out with them was as cozy and funny as always.
At some point, however, Ryuu felt he needed a short break from Yumoto’s stories about the bath house’s guests or Akoya’s subtle complaints about the food being “not fit for the occasion”.
So he stepped outside, gleefully realizing that a few tiny snowflakes were falling from the sky, making this a White Christmas in some way or another after all. However, he immediately regretted not having put on his jacket.
Before he could actually wonder whether he should keep staying out in the cold and risk getting sick, the pink haired already heard footsteps behind him. Just a moment later, he felt the warmth of his jacket enwrapping his shoulders and back.
“You forgot something.”
Ryuu turned around to reward Io with a smile as thanks.
“I didn’t think it would be that cold, actually…”
Io looked up, his face meeting the little snowflakes that fell from the slowly darkening sky. The later it became the better the Christmas decorations stepped into the spotlight, with their colorful figures and lights. All of this was way more subtle over here in comparison to the big cities, and moments like these made Ryuu appreciate the relaxed atmosphere of his hometown again.
Music started inside.
Ryuu had no idea which artist this was, but it wasn’t quite Christmas-like music. More cheerful than the usual peaceful tracks normally played at this time of the year. Then again, they were having a party, weren’t they?
In fact, since the two young men outside here could hear most of it, their friends inside the house must have turned up the volume pretty high.
It had a nice rhythm, compelling Ryuu to swing his body for a little.
Maybe it could help against the cold.
Io began laughing a little as the sight of his friend trying out his best moves while at the same time fighting the growing cold that made his body increasingly stiff. The whole thing ended up looking like a kindergarten kid trying to dance to the latest alphabet-learning tune.
And the whole time, Ryuu made sure to keep his eyes locked to Io’s, no matter how embarrassingly stupid he just looked. Normally his dance moves weren’t that bad, but neither the cold nor the slightly slippy ground did him any favours. In the end, he was almost glad when the music stopped and he could rest, as the weird movements on the increasingly icy ground made his legs and hips hurt.
But as a last spurt, he spun around in a childish interpretation of a ballerina’s piourette, struggling to stop at a point where he would manage to lock eyes with Io again.
He grinned awkwardly.
A few moments passed in which none of the two did anything.
Finally, a new music track started, something more classical all of a sudden. That didn’t really fit the image of a wild Christmas party among young men.
Ryuu held out his hand towards Io, smiling at him.
“As if you know any classic dance”, the other boy laughed, but took the hand anyway.
They drew together closer, the embrace both countering the cold and feeling nice in general.
“Just lemme try”, Ryuu replied, “I’ll take the lead, okay?”
And so they danced around, small steps mimicking their impression of a waltz. Ryuu wasn’t sure if Io knew how to do an actual waltz, but if he did, he was at least humoring Ryuu here by letting him have his own ways.
The slippy ground restricted their half-uncoordinated movements quite a lot, leaving no chance for the long, elegant steps they had seen professional dancers do on television. But those small, slightly awkward moves were nice too. Ryuu’s jacket still hung loosely from his shoulders, which didn’t really matter anymore as the front of his body was nicely warmed by Io.
Ryuu closed his eyes, just letting himself be guided by both the music and Io’s movements.
He did indeed get warmer over time.
After a few more moments of closeness, the music ended and the two boys slowly came to a halt.
Ryuu opened his eyes, looking at Io’s, enjoying the comfortable warmth of their bodies they had shared so many times already for a little longer.
In moments like this, it was just so nice to stay close for a bit, to enjoy the simple parts of a relationship. It was so nice to know there was someone to catch him should he slip and fall, to have someone to be close to no matter how far they were apart.
And it was still incredible to realize that he had found this someone in his best friend. How great were the chances for that? One in a million? Maybe.
A new track started, no classic stuff, but slow enough.
“Another round?”, Ryuu grinned.
Io shrugged.
“Well, I guess it’ll still be some time until the presents exchange, so why not.”
They started dancing again, still awkward, but getting better with each step.
The warmth too spread with each step.
They wanted to dance like this through the whole night.