Archive of Our Own

♫ "Here Comes Santa Claus"

The top of the tree almost touched the ceiling.

Almost.

It gave them just enough room to place a star on top—when the time came for that, anyway.

For the time being, Mei pulled out the last three boxes of ornaments from the hallway closet. Even from there, she could hear Yuzu humming along to some Christmas music that played from the television.

The song was upbeat, a jovial little tune; and while Mei didn't particularly find herself liking it, she didn't quite want to turn it off, either. Yuzu was enjoying it, so maybe she would come to like it, as well.

Just as Mei reentered the living room, Yuzu giggled, and the sound of wires and something tiny, like marbles or small pieces of glass, scraped against the floor.

"Mei!"

She turned to the right, and her feet stopped in place. A rather unimpressed look sat squarely on her face.

There, wrapped in at least two strands of lights that were meant for the tree, was Yuzu. She had even plugged herself in, and she was alight in green, red, blue, orange, and yellow little bulbs.

"Yuzu, we just untangled those."

"I didn't re-tangle them, Mei! I was careful!"

Mei sighed as she unloaded the final boxes of ornaments onto the low hanging coffee table, but any hint of annoyance was clearly nothing more than a fabrication if the upturn to her lips had anything to say about it.

The glass balls in the boxes rolled and bumped against one another lightly as they settled. Mei began prying the first lid off when Yuzu's voice reentered the space.

"Although..." It was a tiny and somewhat anxious little noise, and Mei couldn't help but notice that Yuzu refused to meet her eyes. "I may need help untangling myself."

Mei let the lid to the box slide back closed in place of rescuing Yuzu from her confinement. Unplugging the strand from the wall, Mei began wrapping the cord around her arm, intent on not letting it get tangled all over again. Once she collected the lose length from the floor, she looked up at Yuzu.

With her index finger pointed up, Mei made a circular motion—and then: "Spin."

A pause.

And then Yuzu snorted in amusement.

"Sure thing, Mei."

Yuzu spun counterclockwise, and the cord slowly unwound from her. Mei continued to neatly wrap it up, and the whole while, Yuzu continued to hum under her breath to the Christmas tune playing in the background. The song was in English, although Mei supposed it didn't matter to her what language the music was in, English, Japanese, or otherwise. She had never celebrated Christmas, at least not like this with a tree and lights and carols and decorations—the whole nine yards and then some.

The Christmas tunes had been a present from her father. One of his connecting flights had been laid over in America a few weeks back, and he had sent the couple a few CDs that the airport had been selling in one of its gift shops.

The language didn't really matter. Since receiving them, Yuzu had been listening to them quite frequently, enough so that she knew some of the lyrics. Clearly, Yuzu was enjoying them, and that was what mattered.

Maybe Mei could manage to pick up the lyrics to a song or two.

Not because she cared for them (although she had to admit, these tunes had a certain charm to them), but more-so because it would undoubtedly make Yuzu happy.

Just as Mei reached the end of the strand, Yuzu gave off a nervous chuckle. "Thanks, Mei."

With that, Mei extended the end of the lights back towards Yuzu.

Grabbing them from her fiancée, Yuzu smiled. "Ready to string the tree?"

♫ "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year"

Yuzu was humming again.

Some tune that resembled an upbeat waltz in a happy 3/4 time signature. Yuzu's voice was too high to match the deep bass of the singer, but that certainly hadn't deterred her from trying to go that low. It was one part humorous, one part heartwarming, and a third part cute.

The lights had been wrapped neatly around the tree, and the two of them were now digging through the boxes of ornaments. The pieces had been neatly bundled in tissue paper and paper towels to prevent them from busting as they rattled around inside the box, so unwrapping each one was like a little surprise.

"Oh, Mei! You should hang this one!"

Mei turned her attention from her current ornament to Yuzu. Held up beside her beaming face was a spherical, violet ornament, dusted in light white specks as though maybe to imitate snow.

"What do you think?" Yuzu asked.

Mei hesitated a moment in consideration. And then, from the box in between her and Yuzu on the table, she pulled out a different ornament, one that was already unwrapped that she had set aside earlier.

"You should hang that one. I was thinking of hanging this one."

She drew out her choice out from its paper wrapping and held it up, palm cupped underneath in fear it might fall off the hook.

Her choice was a light emerald sphere, accented in gold flakes.

Yuzu stared on for a moment longer before her eyes drifted up to Mei.

Her smile warmed.

Mei wasn't fooling anyone, Yuzu especially. There wasn't a more obvious reason as to why Mei had chosen that ornament; it was the same reason Yuzu had gone with her own choice.

But she wasn't willing to pop Mei's little bubble, so she kept that bit of information to herself.

"Let's hang them together, then," Yuzu replied.

Mei chose a spot around the middle; and so, naturally, Yuzu chose the spot right next to Mei's own. She half expected some kind of remark from Mei—"Yuzu, we hardly have anything on the tree yet, and you chose to put your ornament directly next to mine."—but Mei remained entirely silent.

In fact, she let herself stare at the two ornaments hanging together, the only sound being the soft music playing behind them.

Yuzu let her be and decided upon finding their next choices for the tree. She took up humming once more, lightly so as not to disturb Mei.

From the box, her next surprise was a cute bear ornament. It held a small, wooden alphabet block in between its plastic paws. If she had to guess, Mama had probably gotten it for her when she was little; and while they tended to do something for Christmas each year, Yuzu couldn't recall the last time that they had put up a tree, let alone decorate it. This little guy had been entirely forgotten over time, right along with all the others that they had yet to even go through.

Yuzu set him on the table. Mei would have the honor of hanging him, but now Yuzu would need to find one for herself.

She picked and prodded through a few different boxes before she noticed a somewhat familiar figure: a little brown reindeer with a bright red dot atop its nose. The character was vaguely familiar, so Yuzu speculated that she had watched a cartoon of this guy when she was much younger.

Her attention momentarily flickered back up to Mei. She hadn't moved from her spot, but instead of the tree, Mei was now staring at her.

A pleasant laughter interrupted Yuzu's humming at the sight; but to her surprise, Mei jolted.

And why she did, Yuzu wasn't certain—at least not initially, because the moment it hit her, Yuzu's cheeks flushed a rosy pink. It was not in embarrassment, but in disbelief. Entirely in disbelief at how unbelievably adorable it was that Mei had been enraptured by her humming.

She had zero intention of calling Mei out on it, though. None whatsoever.

So with the reindeer in one hand and the bear in the other, Yuzu compelled Mei back to the tree, gushing over the ornament of choice that she had selected for her.

♫ "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas"

The tree looked gaudy.

That was putting it nicely.

And according to Yuzu, they still had more to put on it.

Yuzu, rummaging around in their boxes for something else to crowd onto the tree in, hummed to the music thrumming along in the back.

That was, until—

"Tinsel!" Yuzu exclaimed.

Held out towards Mei was a strand of golden... well, tinsel, as Yuzu had called it.

When Mei lacked any sort of response to her excited outburst, Yuzu stepped towards her—up on her tip toes to put herself an inch or so above eye-level—and wrapped the tinsel around Mei's neck.

Mei narrowed her eyes at Yuzu, who planted her feet back on the floor and stood there with a smug grin on her face.

And then, without a shred of warning, Yuzu tugged on the two ends, and Mei tripped forward, fumbling to find some kind of traction with her socked feet on the wooden floor—and the traction she found was not through those means, but through a pair of arms winding around her neck and a pair of lips coming up to meet her own.

Mei blinked twice, rapidly.

The air of confusion lasted for but a second.

She sighed, deeply, all but melting into the kiss.

Her eyes slipped closed; and her fingers, raised up near her chest from her momentary surprise, twitched. Another full second passed before they ghosted up to Yuzu's shirt—an unconscious, childish movement—and they lightly dug into the cottony material.

Yuzu giggled, and Mei's knees grew weak from the tingling upon her lips. Mei gripped more tightly, else she was positive she would wind up on the floor.

"Let's finish decorating," Yuzu mumbled sweetly against her lips. Mei could feel her heart jump up to her throat.

She blinked her eyes open, and there, without even a hint of remorse or embarrassment, was Yuzu, staring right back at her. Her own eyes were half-lidded, and her cheeks were just dusted pink, all likely from the excitement of her antics or perhaps from a slight breathlessness. Regardless, all it did was make Yuzu's warm smile all the more loving.

Mei nodded; she didn't trust her voice at the moment. Her hold on Yuzu's shirt dropped, and Yuzu slid her hands down and off the tinsel.

She left the golden strand there around Mei's neck and pulled from one of the larger boxes a new piece of tinsel, this time white.

"Do you think we should go for all white?" Yuzu asked, peering at the tree. "The lights and the ornaments are all different colors, so maybe we shouldn't have colored tinsel, too."

And despite Mei's best intentions, she could hardly focus on the question. Her fingers patted her lips where Yuzu's had been not a minute prior.

The thought crossed her mind of taking another strand of tinsel from the box and wrapping it around Yuzu's neck just the same.

She had no intention of replicating what Yuzu had done after that, no, but...

"What do you think, Mei?"

Her name pried Mei from her reverie, and she swallowed down the faint embarrassment that such an immature desire had brought upon her. That thought had been so... abysmally childish.

...but she still wanted to do it.

She found, however, that it wasn't hard to chase away the remorse.

When Mei looked back at Yuzu, she had already wrapped another strand of tinsel around her neck. Gold, just like Mei's own; and she was staring back at Mei with a smile, half patient and half giddy excitement.

Mei tugged lightly on the tinsel around her neck.

The tiny swell in her chest was oh so welcomed.

♫ "The Twelve Days of Christmas"

Mei hadn't thought the tree could look even gaudier.

Yet it did. Immeasurably so. They—mainly Yuzu—had put up so much tinsel (white, the only color they had decided to use) that they might as well had not put up any ornaments because they were all hidden behind all the strands.

But Yuzu was clearly enjoying herself, and she loved the little tunes if her humming were any inclination. The only breaks she took were to talk to (or kiss) Mei.

Whatever song that was playing now was definitively Christmas. A flute started off with the singer and then was overlaid with a trumpet. It was a soft little tune, and just as Mei slipped up to the tree with a strand of white tinsel, Yuzu turned to her, a smile to her lips, and began singing along—

"On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me—"

—and was promptly interrupted. "Yuzu, why would I send you something when I can just give it to you?"

Yuzu missed the entire list of things because she sputtered, face flushing red and a whine escaping her lips. She slumped to a crouch, burying her burning face in her hands.

"Mei, we won't be able to finish decorating the tree because I'm going to die of happiness. Right here."

Yes, yes, a million and one times, yes, Mei was her true love. There may have been no words more apt to describe the two of them, but how in the world had Mei just so casually slipped in that question?!

Maybe... Maybe she didn't understand the gravity of her own words..?

Yuzu spread apart her fingers, daring to glance through them to peek up at Mei through the splits and—

Nope, Mei had finally registered the meaning behind her own question, and she was in what looked to be a worse predicament than Yuzu. Her face was flushed a deep red, and all she could do was cover the offending blush with her palm. She adamantly refused to look in Yuzu's direction.

The realization, though, that Mei hadn't even paused to contemplate asking that question... It made Yuzu... incredibly giddy.

The first line Mei had draw, entirely subconsciously, was that she was Yuzu's true love, and Yuzu couldn't restrain herself at that. She jumped to her feet and pulled Mei into a hug, cheeks still colored but not nearly as deeply as Mei's own.

"Am I your true love, too, Mei?" Yuzu pestered, swinging Mei back and forth with her.

Mei sighed, but not even her embarrassment could have deterred the fluttering in her chest as Yuzu began peppering kisses along her jaw and—as Mei tried turning away from her—the hollow of her throat.

"Am I, Mei~?"

With kisses tickling her skin and small giggles forcing their way up her own throat, Mei's efforts to break free from the hug only decreased.

It took all the way until day eight of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" for Mei to relent, a small, quiet "Yes" slipping out between the laughter (which Yuzu immediately badgered with an annoying "Huh? What was that, Mei? I didn't hear you." The song reached its second-to-last day before Mei relented for the second time.)

And when Yuzu sung the final day, swaying lightly with Mei in her hold, she hadn't expected the question Mei asked of her:

"Yuzu, do you really want all of that?"

The question had been so serious, so genuinely sincere that Yuzu had hesitated—and then laughed. "Of course not, Mei, it's just a song."

♫ "Sleigh Ride"

Mei couldn't fathom how Yuzu had managed to drag her into this.

A foot to the left, then a foot to the right: one step for every-other beat. Yuzu swung their arms in lieu with that of their steps in tall, sweeping arcs that stretched above their heads.

"Just hear those sleigh bells jingling, ring-ting-tingling, too~" Yuzu sung along.

"'Ring-ting-tingling?'" Mei repeated under her breath.

"Outside the snow is falling, and friends are calling, 'Yoo-hoo~'"

Mei rolled her eyes—but there was a smile on her lips that she couldn't even begin to hide (not that she particularly tried to hide, either). Yuzu was swinging their arms like they were children, everything short of real dancing, and Mei frankly could not distill the swell to her heart at Yuzu singing along.

"Come on it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you!"

And when Yuzu leaned forward and pecked at her lips, Mei, well, Mei thought her brain had turned to absolute mush—and she wasn't certain when she had gotten so... so weak to all these little things that Yuzu was doing to her, but she truly couldn't bring herself to care.

"Giddy-up, giddy-up, giddy-up it's grand, just holding your hand~!"

Yuzu swung more fervently, as though to emphasize the lyrics. A smile had been permanently plastered on her face, lighting up her features in one of the most genuine displays of happiness that Mei had ever seen; and the whole while Mei had been entirely unaware of the smile tugging at her own lips because she was so enraptured at the sigh of Yuzu.

It was during the chorus, where the notes pulled higher and higher, definitely too high for Yuzu to reach—

"We'll be singing the songs we love to sing without a single stop~ At the fireplace while we watch the chestnuts pop~"

—It was when Yuzu still tried to reach those unfathomably high notes that Mei thought Yuzu sounded better than the singer, anyway.

...

Oh, was that cheesy.

But, just as Mei had already decided, she couldn't much bring herself to care.

She didn't have much time to ponder on it, regardless.

"Come on, Mei, they repeat the first part this time!" Yuzu pulled their arms up, as though a cue for Mei.

And when the first words fell from Mei's lips,

"Just hear those sleigh bells jingling, ring-ting-"

Yuzu couldn't manage to hold herself back, positively ecstatic at the few words that she had so effortlessly dragged from Mei. All at once she was pulling Mei towards her, kissing her with a dopey smile of glee on her lips.

♫ "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree"

"I can get it, Mei!" Yuzu insisted.

She struggled, quite fruitlessly, at that, with the lid to a thin bottle of glitter. The tree couldn't possibly need anything else, but Yuzu had insisted they weren't finished.

So, after fishing around the boxes a bit more for something else that they could use to further accentuate their tree, they had found a few bottles of glitter. Yuzu wasn't sure why glitter was mixed in with the ornaments, but it had to be a sign, a sign that the tree needed glitter.

So glitter it would have.

"If you say so," Mei relented. She settled herself on the corner of the couch, patiently waiting on Yuzu.

Yuzu merely groaned in response, and she propped a leg up on the table as she continued to pull at the lid. It wouldn't even budge, twist not an inch, so the stupid thing had probably never even been opened before.

A new tune was playing on, something jazzy with a hi-hat and a smidgen of a tambourine, but the sounds were almost completely drowned out by Yuzu's whines and moans of frustration.

"You will get a sentimental feeling, when you hear. Voices singing, let's be jolly, deck—"

And all at once, the lid popped off, shooting somewhere over the top of Mei's head—and with it came a spray of glitter, all of which did not make it over Mei's head.

Raven locks absolutely covered in little silver sparkles, Mei merely blinked, but even her lashes were stuck with glitter.

Yuzu laughed nervously. "O-Oops..?"

♫ "All I Want for Christmas Is You"

Even after a short wash, Mei's hair was still full of those tiny pieces of glitter.

Yuzu had sent Mei away to attempt to rid her hair of the glitter while she started clean up, but it was clear Mei would need a few washes before her hair was entirely clean.

Mei could hear Yuzu's humming from the living room as soon as she shut off the water. Slipping into a lose-fitting shirt and a comfortable pair of pants, Mei noticed the music changed.

It was a quiet piece. Very quiet, the bells being the only instrument playing at the start. As the singer entered, though, she was accompanied by large, booming chimes and cascading cymbal rolls that would crescendo into the next phrase. Mei could just vaguely make out Yuzu attempting to imitate the lady's exaggerated voice, although the words were muffled by the distance between the two of them.

After depositing her towels in the washer, Mei made her way back into the living room.

The song picked up then, dramatically, piano pounding out triplets behind a steady downbeat from the sleigh bells, and then the toms entered, the snare, and back to the piano for a quick glissando before the singer re-entered.

"I don't want a lot for Christmas. There is just one thing I need."

And Yuzu was singing along to the whole thing. She meanwhile was folding up the papers scattered across the floor and table, setting them back inside the boxes for after Christmas when they would have to repackage the ornaments.

Mei didn't... She didn't want to interrupt. She wanted to help clean up, but letting Yuzu know that she had finished meant Yuzu would stop singing and start talking to her and fussing over the glitter still stuck in her hair.

Mei just... wanted to listen to her sing. For a bit longer, at least.

"I don't need to hang my stocking, there upon the fireplace."

Mei let out a sweet, deep-seated sigh of content.

This was...

This was her first Christmas. Her first real Christmas, with a gaudy tree, tinsel-led kisses, glitter in her hair, and some cheesy Christmas tunes that Yuzu just seemed to adore to pieces.

And Mei... adored the sound of Yuzu singing along to them all.

"I just want you for my own, more than you could ever know. Make my wish come true. All I want for Christmas, is you~"

The sleigh bells continued to chime out, right along a short snare break and another quick glissando on the piano. Even the lady had begun singing again, but a sudden feeling of lightheadedness had overtaken Mei. It wasn't a bad feeling, but it was rooted in her cheeks coming entirely inflamed and her heart stuttering out a beat far too uneven to be healthy. She gripped at the back of the couch in fear of capsizing.

"Oh, Mei!" Yuzu called, turning around. "Did you get out all the—"

"Me, too."

Yuzu blinked.

Her eyebrows lightly furrowed in confusion, head tilting just scarcely to the left. "What?"

"T-The song," Mei stuttered. She dug her fingers a little more desperately into the fabric of the sofa.

Her eyes flickered up to Yuzu's own. She managed to hold the look for a beat, then two, before diverting to the back of the couch again where her fingers were groping mindlessly at the material.

Yuzu repeated the lines of the song in her head. She was relatively familiar with the lyrics, but she had to poke and prod at her memory for them. The last lines she had sung... She tapped her chin with her finger, pulling the words up—

"I just want you for my own, more than—"

—and all at once, before she let her memory finish the line, her face dropped, flushing something darker than scarlet from her neck to the tips of her ears and probably higher.

"Meeeeeei!" Yuzu screamed, "H-How can you...! You can't just—!" Yuzu groaned in frustration and stomped her foot into the ground. "Forget it!"

And with that, Yuzu dug her knees into the cushions of the couch and reached across the back, fingers gripping the collar of Mei's shirt and tugging her forward. Their lips collided before Mei could process any lick of it.

Mei's body flushed at the contact, and the heat felt so bizarre in contrast with how cool she had grown after stepping out of the shower—but she leaned into the kiss, a small moan of delight working its way up her throat.

And when Yuzu began singing against her lips—softly and sweetly, nothing more than a mumble to skin—Mei very well thought she would truly capsize then and there.

"Cause I just want you here tonight, holding on to me so tight. What more can I doo~o? All I want for Christmas, is you~"

Yuzu sighed into the kiss, and despite having looped her fingers around the collar of Mei's shirt, the younger girl pried back, breaking the kiss. It took an extra second for Yuzu to process that the kiss had ended, and she leaned forward an inch in an attempt to reclaim Mei's lips. When she met nothing but air, she blinked her eyes open in confusion.

"Mei..?" Her voice was small; not hurt, merely confused—but she found herself tugged into a hug not a second later.

Mei did nothing but stand there, fingers finding purchase on the back of her shirt in an attempt to pull Yuzu even closer to herself—or maybe it was to pull herself closer to Yuzu. It didn't really matter; Mei just wanted to be closer to Yuzu. The couch was stuck between them, but she pulled further. Her heels lifted off the floor, placing her weight up on her toes, but it still wasn't enough.

The moment Yuzu's arms wrapped around her back, Mei sighed, burying her face into the side of Yuzu's neck; and when Yuzu nuzzled into the crook of her neck, warm breath tickling Mei's skin, Mei could just vaguely feel something prickling at her eyes.

"Dance with me?"

And when Mei released a short, clipped laugh upon Yuzu's neck, she hid deeper into the embrace, letting her breath pool in the enclosed space.

"Come on," Yuzu insisted, lightly, teasingly, just as the song switched over.

♫ "That's Christmas to Me"

The tune was something softer, and it just made Mei want to let go even less. The feel of Yuzu retracting—first her face from the spot beneath Mei's jaw and then her arms from around her back—wasn't enough to coerce her, either. No, but Yuzu giggled at her reluctance and resorted to gently prying off Mei herself.

Yuzu threaded their fingers together as she slipped the two of them around the couch and next to the tree.

"I don't know how to dance," Mei admitted, staring holes down at Yuzu's socked feet.

"Pfft, neither do I, Mei," Yuzu laughed. She proceeded to wrap her arms around Mei's neck, dragging her back into their hug.

And this—this was immeasurably better because now there was no couch between them; and when Mei returned to her place in the crook of Yuzu's neck, the older girl began swaying. All Mei had to do was sway with her.

They weren't in time with the tune now playing. The song was sweet and slow, full of gentle swells but still too fast for them to stay in tempo. It nevertheless felt just as perfect, and Mei thought, at least from some part in the back of her mind, that she wouldn't mind never moving from this spot enveloped in Yuzu's warmth.

"Hey, Mei?" Yuzu began, spraying her fingers along the curve of the younger girl's back.

"...yes?"

And Yuzu planted her lips in the hollow of Mei's throat, eliciting a gasp of surprise that had Yuzu giggling.

"Yuzu—"

"I love you."

From there, lips pressed against Mei's skin, Yuzu could hear the moment the breath caught in Mei's throat—and then, too, the moment words began working their way up to her mouth.

"I love you, too," Mei managed to mumble out.

"We still have to put the star on top of the tree."

"...Not yet."

"Mm-mm, I don't want to move yet, either. But we still need to," Yuzu joked, laughing lightly.

"There is more than enough on the tree already."

Mei shuddered as Yuzu kissed her again. Yuzu's giggles vibrating against her throat would be the death of her by the way they made her heart stutter and jump. "I know. But I didn't want to stop decorating with you, Mei." Another kiss, and this time, Mei exhaled deeply, melting into the soft touches of Yuzu's fingers across her back. "We can spend some time taking stuff off the tree, if you want."

"...I like the tree the way it is," Mei conceded.

"Except we need the star."

"Except we need the star," Mei repeated, and Yuzu laughed again.

"I want you to put the star on top of the tree, Mei."

♫ "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas"

Within their boxes of ornaments, they had found, to Yuzu's utter delight, a Santa Claus hat. She had slipped it atop Mei's head, and, with a certain gentleness to her touches, slid her hands down Mei's face to rest on her cheeks. And there, she had such an utterly love-struck look to her face, so it came as no surprise to Mei when Yuzu leaned in and kissed her again, sweetly, and with a smile to her lips that the both of them could feel.

As soon as Mei pulled the tree topper from its box, they had officially wiped out all of their ornaments and decorations, every last one finding home somewhere on the tree (or in Mei's hair).

"Mei—"

"Yuzu, we can just use a chair."

"Oooooooor, we can—"

"Use a chair."

"No."

"No?"

"No!" Yuzu plopped her butt onto the edge of the couch, an egregiously large smile on her face. "Up-up, Mei!"

She was met with silence from Mei as the younger girl finished untangling the cord to the star tree topper.

"Meeei!"

Mei sighed, letting her less-than-amused eyes land on Yuzu. "Yuzu—"

"Please?"

And whatever point Mei had intended to make died on her tongue. This whole... everything had gone and made her heart a soppy, undone mess of things, and she didn't have an ounce of fight in her, especially for something she didn't exactly want to fight.

"Okay."

Yuzu gasped, an over-dramatic noise that nearly had her choking, and she grabbed at the hem of Mei's shirt. "Really?!"

"Yes."

Another gasp, and, honestly, the way Yuzu's eyes lit up rivaled the lights on the tree.

No, there was truly no competition; Yuzu's eyes were at least ten times brighter in that youthful glee.

"Up-up, Mei!"

If it had been in Mei's nature, she would have snorted at how childishly adorable the whole thing was. Instead, she kept the thought to herself and sighed.

She proceeded to climb on top of the couch; and when Yuzu looked up at her, a patiently expectant smile painting her face, Mei couldn't even attempt to repress the smile plucking at her own lips.

Star clutched in her left hand, Mei hoisted herself onto Yuzu's shoulders. As soon as her legs were dangling across the older girl's front, Yuzu grasped at Mei's ankles.

"Hold on, Mei!" Yuzu laughed; and with an exaggerated groan at the effort, she heaved herself to her feet.

She wobbled, and Mei clutched at Yuzu's head in her panic with her free hand; but Yuzu leaned forward to balance the pair. With a small "Hup!" she hefted Mei up a little further.

At the base of the tree, Mei took in the sight of their night of decorating, at the little colorful bulbs and the conglomeration of ornaments and tinsel and the glitter stuck to everything and—

"Go on, Mei," Yuzu said, her voice a small little whisper of encouragement.

She craned her neck up to peer at Mei; and Yuzu watched as she first plugged the cord of the star into the end of the string of lights. It flickered, then came aglow in a soft yellow, brighter than any of the other lights on the tree but simultaneously warmer than any of them.

With a final look at the topper, Mei slid it over the top branch. Her fingers hovered over the piece as it settled in place, but she was forced to pull away as Yuzu stepped back.

Yuzu's hold tightened on Mei's ankles. "How have you liked your first Christmas so far, Mei?" she whispered.

From atop Yuzu's shoulders, Mei let her arms dangle, down to Yuzu's cheeks where her fingers ghosted at her skin.

"Will—" Mei stopped herself. The word had been a tiny, broken sound forged from a twinge of embarrassment; and when her fingers curled around Yuzu's jaw, it was an unconscious thing stemmed from hesitancy. "Will we do this every year?"

Yuzu chuckled as she looked up at Mei. "As long as you want to." She glanced over at the tree, where Mei's attention had yet to be pulled from. It truly was a gaudy mess, but Yuzu loved it just the same. "Mama and I haven't set up a tree in years, but I missed this."

Mei finally looked down at her, and Yuzu's smile warmed lightly at the sight.

"We can make it a tradition of our own, Mei."

This was already enough, more than enough, to compensate for all the other Christmases Mei had missed. Tradition or not, just once had given her a joy she could only hope to replicate in the following years.

"Yuzu, you can put me down now," Mei said, right as Yuzu began walking.

"Mmm... I think I'll hang on to you for a little bit longer," Yuzu joked, tugging on Mei's ankles.

Just as Mei sighed, a small little "Oh!" of surprise popped from Yuzu's lips.

"We should make some hot chocolate! You can pull the mugs down from the top shelf!"

...There was no arguing with Yuzu on that, just as there hadn't been a single successful argument with her on anything else they had done that night.

So Mei let Yuzu lead them into the kitchen, the older girl humming as she went.

♫ "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"

As they passed the light switch to the living room, Yuzu shut it off. The only light source left was that of the tree; and even with the bulbs buried under layers of ornaments and tinsel, it was more than enough for them.

Every part of this entire endeavor just screamed childish, but that had just been Yuzu's plan, hadn't it? Because Mei's childhood hadn't been, well, childish and frivolous; she hadn't decorated Christmas trees, and she probably hadn't sat on her father's shoulders—for any reason, not just to top a tree.

But Yuzu could give that to her now. That and then some.

There was a swell to her chest, something goofy at her spot on Yuzu's shoulders and something absolutely loving as Yuzu began singing, tenderly and under her breath, a lovely and warm sound.

"Have yourself a merry little Christmas. Make the Yuletide gay. From now on, our troubles will be miles away~"

Mei hoped making hot chocolate would take a while. And Mei hoped Yuzu would continue to hum and sing the whole while. She wasn't certain why she was so charmed by Yuzu's small hums and singing, but—

"Are you humming, Mei?"

Mei jolted, fingers curling through Yuzu's hair from their spot atop her head.

She had been humming? No—she hardly knew the song. Granted, Yuzu had been playing them on repeat for the last two weeks, but... Well, even if Mei did know them, there was no reason for her to be humming along.

"No."

"You totally were, Mei!"

"I was not."

"Then can you start?"

"...What?"

"Humming?"

Mei blinked. Yuzu's voice had grown tiny and embarrassed at that one word.

"I-I like the sound. Of your humming. You don't have to sing! J-Just hum. That's enough for me."

Mei's face grew warm.

She had been humming.

And Yuzu... liked it.

"Can you grab the mugs, Mei?" Yuzu questioned suddenly, in hopes of burying her sweet little blunder. It stripped back the anxiousness that had accumulated around her words, at the very least.

It was when Yuzu was pouring the milk into the cups that she could hear, just above her own humming, Mei's soft hums once more.

Maybe next year, she could get Mei to learn a song or two, enough to sing along. (Unlikely, really, but Yuzu could hope, couldn't she?)

Yuzu sighed in content, right as she finished stirring their drinks and passed Mei up her own.

This, with their tree decorated, and glitter sprayed about the carpet and couch and still within Mei's hair, and the wonderfully comforting scent of hot chocolate filling the room—this, right now: this was perfect.

"Yuzu?"

"Yeah, Mei?"

"...I like your humming, as well."

Yuzu's face darkened, and she didn't even notice her cup of cocoa fall from her hands and spill across the counter.

Yuzu was wrong, completely wrong.

This was more than perfect.