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When Mitsuki sees the first flakes of snow start to fall outside, he knows it's time.
Iori's complaints of "it's too early for Christmas, Nii-san" are shut down, along with Yamato's decidedly unclever attempts to get Mitsuki to join him in drinking. Everyone else seems to be solidly in the holiday spirit, though, dragged in by the pure force of nature that is Riku and his Christmas songs, and - well, even if Tamaki is only in it for those limited edition King Puddings that he likes, it's good enough.
So - all that Mitsuki has to do is stand at the window and grin, and everyone can already sense the whirlwind of preparations that's coming their way.
"Mitsuki-san!"
Sougo's voice cuts through Mitsuki's thoughts, bringing him back to reality. "Um - you might want to get out of the way - sorry - !"
This is the only warning that Mitsuki gets before a tangle of cardboard boxes, wires, and tinfoil crashes onto the windowsill barely an inch away from his head.
"Sougo!" he beams, undeterred by his near-death experience. "The monsters in the storage room didn't get to you, after all!"
Sougo's face visibly pales as he glances around for any sign of Tamaki. "Don't say that," he whispers - then, at a more normal speaking volume, says "I wasn't expecting to have to sift through so many boxes. Didn't we just clean out our spaces a month or two ago?"
Mitsuki winces, because he knows exactly what Sougo is talking about. In his defense, he really shouldn't be allowed to do anything with Tsumugi and Nagi - whenever they're together, they do more reminiscing than actual work, and everyone else knows this. "We sure did," he says lamely, then grabs a handful of lights in an attempt to distract Sougo. "So, uh. Christmas, huh?"
"Christmas," Sougo mumbles. He takes a minute, looking like he's deep in thought, and brightens up. "You know, if this year is anything like last year, I'm looking forward to all the preparations! Even if it's...um. Chaotic."
"Sougo," Mitsuki gasps, then proceeds to dramatically wipe (non-existent) tears from his eyes. "I'm so glad that you're so comfortable with us now! I - ugh, look at me, you've got me sounding like Yamato-san. How could you do this to me, Sougo?"
"Oi, I can hear you, you know?" Yamato's voice floats into the living room, followed closely by Nagi's scolding "this is the best part of the song, Yamato!" Sougo stifles a snort of his own, and Tamaki chooses that exact moment to walk into the room with rolls of duct tape strung on his arms.
"Sou-chan?" he says, raising an eyebrow "Did you…make Mikki cry? Didn't we talk about not being so accidentally terrifying?"
"Tamaki-kun, must you have so little faith in me?" Sougo moans into his hands and plastic-covered wires. Mitsuki opens his mouth, about to come up with what he's sure will be a clever response -
His phone, which he had forgotten on the windowsill long ago, attempts to wiggle itself off of the surface and onto the ground via intense bouts of vibrations. Mitsuki and Tamaki both lunge for the phone, losing a few rolls of duct tape in the process, and Mitsuki can feel the sigh of relief leave his body as the device lands squarely in his palms.
"Gotta go!" he practically yells, backtracking into the kitchen as fast as he can. "I've got a hot date with your Christmas dinner!"
This is the sentence that draws enough of Yamato's attention to get him to poke his head into the living room. "Christmas dinner?" he pouts. "And when are we getting to go on this date?"
"When you behave," Mitsuki replies playfully, and ducks into the kitchen just in time to hear laughter and Yamato's cries of "betrayal!" explode behind him.
The first thing that Mitsuki sees when he enters the kitchen is Iori with his phone in one hand and a pizza cutter in the other.
"Yes - well, he's here now," he says, presumably talking to whoever's on the other end of the line. Mitsuki raises an eyebrow in response, then raises his other eyebrow at the pizza cutter currently employed in the slicing of a sheet of brownies.
"I couldn't find any clean knives," Iori whispers and pointedly glares at the sink. "And I couldn't just let the brownies get hard while I waited for one of those to dry."
"Gotcha, I'll get to those. But why are we whispering? Who are you talking to?"
Iori just sighs, puts his phone on a clean spot on the counter, and presses a button on the screen.
"Mitsuki!" their mother's voice bursts out from the speaker, and - oh, she must have called while Mitsuki was still in the living room having a moment (with a capital m). "How's everything? Did you guys really order KFC? Are you taking care of yourself? Is Iori still trying to act cool?"
"Mom," Iori chokes out, absolutely horrified.
Mitsuki just laughs.
"Nah, he doesn't have to act cool, he is cool!" He ruffles Iori's hair, earning a quiet whine in response. "And yeah, I pre-ordered it with Nagi and Yamato-san like, how long ago was it? A week or two? I'm pretty sure we made it in time, though."
"Oh, good, good. I'm glad to hear that you boys are enjoying yourselves over there. I just wish you'd let your old folks in on the celebrations - it's no fun running the bakery without you two, you know!"
Both brothers chuckle because it's polite, but -
Mitsuki glances up to meet Iori's gaze and smiles sadly. They're both good enough at reading their parents' tones to pick out the loneliness in their mother's voice.
Maybe it was foolish of Mitsuki to believe that it would get better after the first year.
Iori takes a deep breath and makes an attempt at being comforting. "Mom…we're doing fine. None of us are going to give up on each other that easily. But even if IDOLiSH7 does feel like another family, I don't think anything could replace you and Dad."
"He's right, Mom, we miss you too. A lot," Mitsuki chimes in. "But - hey, we'll still be able to visit each other whenever we want!"
"Nii-san. We have to ask Tsumugi-san about that."
Mitsuki rolls his eyes. "She'll probably say yes."
"Well - I mean, you're right, but - "
"Boys! Boys. No fighting on my watch, remember?"
Even miles away from home, the sound of their mother chastising them makes both brothers lower their heads. "Sorry, Mom," they mumble in the direction of the phone, forlorn expressions on their faces that Mitsuki's sure would have earned a few laughs by now.
"Aah, no need for apologies," their mother continues, "just don't get yourselves into trouble on my behalf. And - what was that?"
Mitsuki's eyebrows knit together and he begins to reply, but Iori stretches out an arm to stop him. They both listen intently as their father becomes audible in the background, mumbling something about reservations, and gradually becomes louder until he's clearing his throat awkwardly into the microphone.
"Hey, boys. Sorry I haven't been around much when you guys call, but I do miss you two. Don't stress too much, you're doing amazing out there, and enjoy the holidays."
"You too, Dad!" Mitsuki nearly yells out of excitement. Iori shushes him, probably because he doesn't want to attract any more attention from the group still gathered in the living room, to which Mitsuki just sticks out his tongue.
And decides to lower his voice a bit, too. He isn't heartless.
"And," their mother cuts back in, presumably pushing their father to the side in the process. "We've got to go soon, and all the words were just taken out of my mouth. Happy holidays, we love you, go have fun!"
"Love you too!" Iori and Mitsuki chime in together, then watch Iori's phone screen in silence as the call ends.
And they're taken back to the lock screen.
Which is a picture of their group and TRIGGER together at the Zero Arena, complete with Riku's arm thrown around a begrudging Tenn and Mitsuki holding one of Iori's hands in the air as he takes the photo.
Iori snatches his phone from the table. "You saw nothing."
"Mmmmmmhm. Still trying to act cool?"
No response, but Iori's cheeks start to turn a lovely shade of pink.
"C'mere," Mitsuki sighs fondly, and reaches across to pull Iori into a sideways hug as best as he can. Iori shifts after a while, wrapping his arms around Mitsuki in return, and lifts his head.
"I'll forgive you," he says, "if you wash the knives."
"Right."
Laughing nervously, Mitsuki glances at the pizza cutter still on the counter and lets Iori go with one last pat on the back. He picks up a bottle of dish soap, strikes a pose, and watches Iori regret his decision as he chants "back to blowing this Christmas dinner out of the water?"
"Back to…yeah. That. Sure," Iori mumbles.
Mitsuki offers him a fistbump before they go their separate ways in the kitchen, and lets the sounds of chopping and ovens running and timers going off wash a feeling of familiarity over him.
Mitsuki steps foot into Nagi's room and is immediately greeted with "it's been a long day without you, my friend."
"Aw, Nagi, c'mon," Mitsuki yawns, falling more than sitting down on the bed. "Isn't that song sad?"
"But I am sad," Nagi replies (although he does turn the song down).
Yamato grunts, pulling himself up into a sitting position. "Yeah, we haven't seen you all day, and we don't even have any work scheduled. You doing okay, Mitsu?"
Mitsuki huffs out a breath and properly plants himself facedown on the mattress. "I'm fine!" he manages to say through a mouthful of blanket. "Just. Tired."
And that's all the encouragement that Nagi needs, apparently, to flop down bonelessly over Mitsuki's upper body.
A startled shout escapes Mitsuki's lips before he can stop it, followed by a more aggravated "stop that!" when Yamato decides to join in the fun. Mitsuki lifts his head as high as he can, sends a reproachful look at his unitmates, and sighs.
"You guys really don't know how to leave a guy alone, do you?"
"Nope," Yamato replies without an ounce of shame or hesitation. "But then, you wouldn't have come to us if you had wanted peace and quiet, would you?"
Mitsuki briefly considers the pros and cons of kicking Yamato - just Yamato - out of Pythagoras Fighters, before deciding that, unfortunately, he'd miss him too much. "Just because you're right doesn't mean you should say it," he ends up moaning, accompanied by Nagi's giggles, Yamato mumbling "I should say it, actually," and the rustling of bedsheets near Mitsuki's head.
Two separate arms grab Mitsuki's own and drag him back up.
"Going to sleep?" Yamato smirks. "Already?"
"Yeah!" Nagi says, maybe a little too excitedly. "We still haven't built a proper blanket fort yet!"
"And then you can sleep."
"Inside the blanket fort."
Mitsuki smiles, feeling his mouth getting wobbly in the process. "You guys…you really are the best, huh?"
Nagi lets out a scandalized gasp. "Don't say that out loud! The others might hear and be jealous."
"Sorry, sorry, I'll be sure to take more care next time."
Mitsuki sits up and stretches out one hand to each side, aggressively ruffling both Yamato's and Nagi's hair as they cry for mercy. "So how about that blanket fort? Still got time for little old me?"
"Always," Nagi enunciates loudly in his accented English, and Mitsuki grins.
He knows there's still a lot of things to work through, be it in IDOLiSH7 or with his family or even with Pythag alone. But the way Izumi Mitsuki sees it, he has three different places he can call home.
And for that? He wouldn't change a single thing.