Work Text:
Tatsumaki sneered at the television, lounging across the floor nursing a cup of spiked eggnog. Despite the wobbly edges of her vision, her unmitigated ire focused at the holiday festivities on display. Couples kissing under the mistletoe, jolly bearded men in stuffed red suits, the insufferable omnipresence of festive jingles… it was disgusting.
Christmas was the worst time of year. This stupid holiday couldn’t be over soon enough.
A rapid knock on the apartment door snapped Tatsumaki from her irritated haze. With a flick of her wrist, she haphazardly swung it open, sending wood crashing into the doorstop. Fubuki stood in her doorway, a wide grin upon her face and a santa hat perched askance atop her head.
Tatsumaki immediately knew her sister was drunk.
“Merry almost-Christmas!” Fubuki chimed, rosy cheeked as she stumbled through the doorway carrying a large covered tray and an overburdened purse. Fubuki kicked off her red heels, leaving them strewn across the genkan.
“Bah humbug!” Tatsumaki huffed, a second flick shutting the door behind her sister. She took a hefty chug of her drink, giving the television another disdainful look.
“Don’t be like that! It’s the most wonderful time of year.” Fubuki laughed, unsteadily crossing the living space to plunk the platter onto the low table before Tatsumaki. She rapidly dropped to her knees before slorping off to one side, pulling two opened but unfinished bottles of champagne from her bag.
Tatsumaki eyed the tribute with wavering disparagement.
“What’s this for?” She scowled, resisting the urge to lift the foil despite the enticing scent wafting towards her. Fubuki did the honors, peeling back the covering to reveal an array of meats, cheeses, desserts, and honey ham.
“Leftovers from the Blizzard Bunch holiday party!” Fubuki replied cheerily, popping the wine-saver from one of the champagne bottles. She pressed the rim to her lips and tipped it back, much to her older sister’s dismay. She made a satisfied ahhhhh, clunking the bottle back onto the table. When she caught her sister’s gaze, Fubuki grinned. “The other bottle’s for you.”
Tatsumaki eyed the twin champagne bottle, green eyes flicking back to see her younger sister floating a piece of ham off the platter directly into her mouth. The esper huffed, knocking back the last of her eggnog, hovering the glass towards the kitchen sink.
“Fine! But if you puke in the kitchen again you owe me lobster dinner!” Tatsumaki sighed, lifting a rather crude looking gingerbread cookie into the air, drifting it into her hand.
“Oh, come on! That was only once.” Fubuki snorted, as if spewing multi-colored slop only once all over her sister’s freshly mopped tile floors wasn’t absolutely intolerable.
“Once is enough!” Tatsumaki screeched before she bit the head right off her gingerbread man, chewing angrily. Fubuki offered no further retort, just an amused chuckle as she picked at the meat and cheeses. The older esper’s attention drifted back to the bottle of champagne on the table. She quickly gobbled down the rest of her cookie and snatched up the offending alcohol by the neck.
Tatsumaki upturned the bottle and drank with reckless abandon. Here she was, twenty-eight, boyfriendless, and spending Christmas Eve (a certified ‘couple’s holiday’) with her little sister. Again. Like last year.
Better than the year before, when she’d spent it alone.
Of course Fubuki would get more dates than her: five years her junior yet much taller, more voluptuous. Her sister at least looked like a grown woman, not a.. a child like that insufferably baldy and everyone else assumed she was. Maybe if she looked more like her sister she’d get to go out with guys who weren’t loli perverts, spend the holidays wrapped up in someone’s embrace instead of wallowing in alcohol and party leftovers.
Fuck men and fuck Christmas, she thought, chugging champagne like a champion. The effervescence swelled up inside her belly in roiling waves multiplied by her disdain and despondency. She pulled off when it felt like her gut was going to burst, letting out a belch that nearly shook the pictures off the wall.
Fubuki stared at her sister wide-eyed, then laughed and picked up her own bottle again.
“Tis the season!!” She delighted, following her sister’s lead in dropping the bottle far below the halfway mark. She too let out a room-shaking burp before devolving into a fit of laughter, one hand folded over her straining belly. Her mirth proved infection, Tatsumaki chortling around the painful strain of so much champagne bubbles built up inside her.
“We should race to see who can finish the bottle first.” Tatsumaki heard her little sister say. Just the thought of attempting to chug the rest of the bottle made her stomach twist, and she belched a small train of gas.
“No one wins a champagne race.” The older esper cringed, flopping back onto the floor in the hopes the position would assuage the pressure. “You just regret it when it feels like you’re gonna burst.” Like right now. Besides, Fubuki had an unfair advantage because of her size. There was no way Tatsumaki was even going to try.
Fubuki shrugged, still smirking, defiantly drinking from the bottle, though not nearly as quickly.
Her older sister stared up at the plaster ceiling, vision swimming. That was definitely a lot of champagne, way too much… The sea of white did little to mitigate the waves in her brain, feeling like her whole body was rocking despite the fact she wasn’t moving at all. She could hear her sister thump the bottle back down, switch the television from the news to some cheesy-sounding holiday movie.
“Why are you here?” Tatsumaki found herself saying out loud. “Don’t you have anything better to do?”
Fubuki blinked, staring down at her older sister’s prone form on the area rug. She formed a strained, lopsided smile when she replied, “Better things to do than hang out with the Grinch? Of course not.”
“Hah!!” Tatsumaki guffawed. It was an apt comparison, and not nearly as much of an insult as it probably should have been. She blamed the alcohol.
Fubuki grabbed a chocolate bonbon from the tray and popped it into her mouth. She floated one in the air, hovering it towards her sister on the floor. “Open up.”
Tatsumaki didn’t hesitate, snarfing up the morsel dropped into her mouth like a hungry bird. Ganache ruptured free of the bonbon, the delicious blend sating her previous malcontent. She sat up immediately, much too quickly judging from the way the world spun rapidly on its axis.
“Gimme another!” She demanded, opening her mouth wide, bracing both hands on the floor to keep her from flopping back onto the ground.
Fubuki obliged, flinging a caramel drizzled nougat towards her older sister. She nearly missed, correcting her trajectory last minute with a flick of her wrist. Tatsumaki gobbled it down gleefully.
“These are really good!!” She exclaimed, words slurred with creamy filling. She reached for the bonbons with her own powers, lifting three into the air. “Your turn!”
Tatsumaki didn’t even wait for a response as she hurled bonbons at her younger sister. One made it into her mouth, the other burst onto her cheek, while the third sailed past her head and into the wall behind her.
Fubuki initially bristled at the sudden onslaught of sweetness, but settled into a more amused state as the taste spread and situation sunk in. She swallowed before swiping the dark chocolate and cherry mess off her cheek, right into her mouth.
“Mmmmm.” She hummed, eyeing the remains of the platter thoughtfully. “Did you try the cake? It’s very good.”
“What, not yet—“ Tatsumaki began, though her words cut short with the impact of moist cake onto her face. She sat, stunned, as it slid and plopped her lap to the uproarious laughter of her little sister. Too intoxicated to be properly angered, the older esper decided (from the bits that made it into her mouth) that the cake was, in fact, delicious. She delicately plucked a few choice bits and icing from her dress to ferry to her hungry maw before levitating the rest off her and right back at her sister.
Before long, food volleyed across the apartment shrouded in blue and green psychic energy. It splattered into walls, smeared over the television, knocked the Santa hat right off Fubuki’s head, and only occasionally made it into a mouth. Tatsumaki barely acknowledged the pair had trashed her apartment, too busy rolling on the floor, trying to breathe.
“Stop, STOP!!” She howled, hiccupping uncontrollably, gut clenching painfully, chest constricted. Fubuki half-draped herself over the table in a similar state of gasping discomfort, grasping onto the soiled, wooden surface.
They lay in a snickering, food-soiled truce, drunk as skunks on the eve of Christmas. Fubuki’s eyes drifted to a piece of ham stuck to the balcony door, slowly sliding its way to the floor. Tatsumaki’s follow only to focus on the flakes drifting by, collecting on the decorative rail.
“It’s snowing?!” She screeched, sitting up abruptly. The room spun like a tilt-a-whirl and only by hoisting herself into the air was she able to avoid crashing face first onto the floor. Her little sister sputtered a laugh, leaning her chin heavily into her palm.
“It’s been snowing all day, I’m surprised you hadn’t noticed before!” Fubuki snorted, investigating the remains of her champagne bottle dubiously before knocking it back in one fell swoop. She delicately placed her hand over her lips as she burped.
Truth be told, Tatsumaki hadn’t noticed. She’d been too busy locked in her apartment, spitefully gorging herself on fan gifts and television. Now that her sister pointed it out though, she noted the white haze blanketing her skyline view, tucked over every roof as far as she could see. It layered thick, a few inches of powder white, maybe even enough to—
“We could build a snowman!” Fubuki gasped, surprisingly in synch with her sister. She nearly tripped all over herself stumbling to her feet in her excitement. Cake bits cascaded off her dress onto the floor.
Tatsumaki stared at her sister as she rifled through her purse for her mittens, slipped her arms back through her fluffy coat. How long had it been since she’d made a snowman with her little sister? The older esper floated back to her feet, sweeping the food off her and her sister with a languid twirl of her wrist. It did nothing for any potential stains, but at least there wouldn’t be food stuck to their hair.
“I don’t have gloves!” Tatsumaki deflected, sitting back at the table obstinately to continue drinking from her depleted champagne bottle. She grabbed a mostly-intact bonbon off the table and plopped it into her mouth, as if that settled the matter.
Tatsumaki didn’t expect Fubuki to hold out a squishy blue and silver wrapped package towards her with a lopsided, drunken smile.
“That’s not a problem.” She laughed, wiggling the present insistently in her sister’s direction until the esper took it from her.
“What’s this??” Tatsumaki squeezed the parcel. It gave easily under her fingers, paper crinkling.
“Open it and you’ll find out!”Fubuki grinned and polished off the last of her sister’s champagne.
Tatsumaki looked to her little sister incredulously for a moment, despite the warmth filling her chest. Her heart pumped excitedly as she slid a finger under tape and popped it open, revealing a pair of green cable knit mittens.
“See! Taken care of!” Fubuki chimed as her sister stroked over the yarn with the tips of her fingers. She stood on wobbly legs, urging Tatsumaki to follow. “Now let’s build a snowman!”
The sisters donned their apparel: slipping on shoes, coats, and scarves in a drunken whirlwind. They ascended the stairs to the roof nearly tripping over each other in their inebriated state. Tatsumaki provided only half-hearted protests when Fubuki pushed open the roof access door, blasting them with a gush of cold air and snowflakes.
Fubuki instantly regretted her choice in footwear, snow pushing right over her heels to seep into her stockings. The discomfort lasted only long enough for her older sister to carve out a clear bubble around them, gathering up the powder into an ever growing floating ball. The younger esper soon forgot about her wet feet, joining in to scoop drifts of snow into a ball of her own.
Cheeks ruddy from wind and alcohol, the sisters set about creating the largest snowman they possibly could. They gathered up every inch of snow from the neighboring roofs until their creation loomed over Tatsumaki’s apartment like a Demon level monster and the weight of the snow threatened to cave her building in. Trashcan lids became beady eyes and a dotted smile, an abandoned car twisted midair to form a carrot nose. Fubuki ripped two small trees from the ground below and slammed them into the body as pairs of arms.
Once complete, the sisters smiled up at their handiwork with immense satisfaction. Fubuki rubbed her running nose with her sleeve, directing her gaze back to her older sister standing at her side.
“Merry Christmas, Tatsu.” Fubuki whispered, any previous animosity flushed away by too much alcohol and the festivities of the evening.
Tatsumaki crossed her arms over her chest, smirking up at her little sister. Perfectly formed flakes clung to Fubuki’s dark hair, almost like she’d been sprinkled with powdered sugar. “Merry Christmas, Fubu.”
The older esper floated to the ledge of the building, peering down at the streets below. The city still bustled with life, couples and families streaming in and out of the sea of twinkling lights and holiday decorations. “Let’s get some hot chocolate, my treat.”
“Really?” Fubuki brightened further, following her sister to the building’s rim. “Can we get crepes too??”
Tatsumaki floated over the edge, hovering stories above the festive glow. “You’re still hungry after all that?” She’d begun to descend when her sister made the leap as well, drifting a few feet behind in a buffeting bubble of her powers.
“What can I say, I worked up an appetite.” Fubuki purred while her sister led the way, towards the sights and sounds of the holiday, snow flitting and dispersing around them.
“Fine, whatever. I’ll get you a crepe too.” Tatsumaki sighed overdramatically, glancing over her shoulder at Fubuki and the snow behemoth lording over the block: a testament to their unlikely teamwork.
If only there was a santa hat big enough to perch atop its head.
The sisters were blocks away and seated on a bench enjoying the spoils of the season when one of the tree-limbs of their snowman dislodged and crashed down upon a row of parked cars, the vibration setting off security alarms all over the surrounding street. Though the tremor jostled their cocoa, the resulting cacophony and suddenly realization burst them into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.
Maybe the holidays weren’t such a bother after all.