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Most days Koushi didn't mind his job too much.
It was his second year working at Stop-N-Shop, a local grocery store chain, and he didn't have pleasant memories of the holiday season from the previous year.
Usually, he could deal with customers just fine, but there was something about the holidays that made shoppers absolutely feral. He didn't want a repeat of last year, when a woman had rounded a corner so quickly with her grocery cart in her hunt for sparkling cider that she had taken down an entire display of boxed stuffing mix that Koushi had so delicately set up.
But this year wasn't quite like last year. This year—
"This is your captain speaking." A voice began, over his shoulder. "We will be clocking in in T-minus 5, 4, 3, 2—"
Koushi leaned over to hit the green clock-in button before the boy beside him had a chance.
"Hey!" Koushi was met with a pout, and he could only give a hearty grin in return.
Yeah, this year was different.
8 months before, Stop-N-Shop had hired a new associate. He was loud and annoying and totally out of Koushi's league.
Naturally, Koushi fell head over heels for him immediately.
Tooru went to the same university that Koushi did, and they quickly learned that they shared a philosophy class, both taking it to fulfill one of their general education requirements. It was nice having someone he could study with during the spring semester. Sitting in a huge auditorium with 70 other kids around felt a lot less intimidating with Tooru next to him cracking dumb jokes the whole time.
Most of Koushi's friendships had grown slowly, since high school or earlier. But with Tooru, it'd only taken a moment before a spark had become a roaring fire, and he was just as much of a part of Koushi's life as Sawamura or Azumane were.
"You're so mean to me." Tooru sighed, staring glumly at the clock-in screen. Koushi shoved him aside, punching in his own employee number and clocking in.
"I'm the nicest coworker you have." Koushi slapped Tooru on the back.
"That's true." Tooru whined. "Which makes it even worse."
Tooru had been scheduled a check-out lane shift, while Koushi was in Aisle 13, stocking dairy products.
"See you on the other side, captain." Koushi waved, leaving a huffy Tooru at his assigned register.
Sometimes they worked the same shifts, and those were always Koushi's favorites. Stocking or running carts was fun when Tooru was around to yell about conspiracy theories in his ear for hours on end.
"Hey!" Yuu waved eagerly when he saw Koushi creeping up Aisle 13.
"Hey!" Koushi smiled back. He'd known his tinier coworker since high school, and they had started working at the grocery store around the same time.
Koushi watched as Yuu almost got steamrolled by a grandma in an ugly Christmas sweater.
"That time of year again, huh?" Yuu grumbled, smoothing out his shirt and glaring at the grandma's back.
"Yeah, guess it is." Koushi grimaced as well.
"Partner in crime sick today? I saw he was scheduled for 3:00 too!"
"Nah, he's just on register. Besides," Koushi said, "you'll always be my original partner in crime."
"That's true!" Yuu chirped, ripping open a box of yogurt before grinning up at Koushi. "A face this handsome is criminal."
"You should be in jail." Koushi said flatly before kneeling down to rip open a second box of yogurts.
Koushi's shift passed pretty quickly, bantering back and forth with Yuu to kill time. His friend got off an hour earlier, so Koushi hummed along to the Christmas music for the last hour before heading to the employee room to clock out.
"I think it's getting busier!" Tooru nearly pounced on him when he stepped inside. He was waiting, pulling on his gloves and slinging his backpack over his shoulder.
"Well, we are two weeks away from Christmas." Koushi shrugged.
Tooru hummed happily.
"I still have to get your gift!"
"You don't—that's-" Koushi stuttered, "You don't have to get me a gift."
"Why would I not?" Tooru raised an eyebrow then split into a blinding smile. “You’re one of my favorite friends.”
“Whatever.” Koushi muttered, cheeks warming up. He made sure his face wasn’t visible as he punched Tooru in the arm and walked out of the employee room. “Let’s go get pizza before it’s too late.”
🎄
An hour later, around a mouthful of pizza, Tooru blurt out, “Hey, want to come to my family’s Christmas party next week?”
“What?” Koushi said, grimacing half at the sentence and half at the grease running down Tooru’s chin.
“I mean,” Tooru flushed as Koushi swiped at his chin with a napkin, “I’m just gonna be super bored, and I don’t know! You’re probably the only person who I wouldn’t be embarrassed to invite other than Hajime, and he’s visiting extended family a couple of hours away the day of the party, so he can’t go.”
Koushi laughed at the thought of Hanamaki or Issei clowning on Tooru in front of his family. Maybe the invitation wasn’t completely out of left field after all.
“When is it?” He asked, smiling at Tooru’s pout.
“Next Friday.” He frowned.
“Alright, alright. My last final is on Wednesday, so I should be free.”
Tooru brightened up at this, eyes shining like Christmas had come early.
🎄
“Um, isn’t that like a date?” Sawamura had asked two days later.
Koushi was laying on his back on his best friend’s bedroom floor, notebook hovering over his face and highlighter between his teeth. He could not fail his finals, but he’d made the critical mistake of bringing up his plans for the following week.
“What? No! I’m just—” going to meet his family and share a special holiday tradition with him . Hm.
“Hajime usually goes.” Koushi finally settled on as justification for it Not Being A Date. “So, it’s not, like, romantic or anything.”
Sawamura just hmm’ ed, a smug smile on his face.
“Fuck off .”
🎄
Koushi showed up to his shift on Tuesday in a reindeer antler headband. It was courtesy of one of the other students in his Children’s Literature Analysis course, who had dropped them on everyone’s desks as a good luck present before their final that morning.
The final had been surprisingly easy, and now Koushi was clocking in with a pair of antlers on his head and a spring in his step. If his shift manager Kiyoko had any qualms with the addition to his uniform, she didn’t voice them as he skipped towards Aisle 5, where he’d be stocking dry goods with—
“Hey! Oh!” Tooru exclaimed when he glanced over to see Koushi walking over to join him, his coworker's smile turning into a look of shock? Panic? Koushi couldn’t quite tell.
“What?” Koushi eyed the bags of flour that teetered precariously in Tooru’s arms.
“You just—the antlers? They?” Tooru’s eyebrows knit together. “They just caught me off guard! You look cute. In the antlers.”
Tooru’s cheeks were getting pinker as he went on, and Koushi had no idea how to stop this trainwreck whatsoever.
“I mean to say, the antlers are cute! Wait! I’m not saying you’re not cute? Like, you’re not ugly or anything! I’m just—”
At this point, Koushi’s face was just as pink, from his ears to his nose. If he really was a reindeer, he probably looked like Rudolph at this point.
“Hey, relax. I didn’t think you were calling me ugly.” He socked Tooru in the arm.
“Okay.” The tension in Tooru’s shoulders eased up, but the punch almost sent a bag of flour flying out of his grasp. “I like them. The antlers, I mean.”
“Thanks.” Koushi snorted. He reached up to touch the felt headband. “I didn’t think they’d get this big of a reaction.”
“Maybe I can start wearing a Santa hat!” Tooru had reverted back to his default state and was finally shoving the flour onto the shelves where it belonged. “Also, all this flour has me thinking that we should make Christmas cookies.”
Koushi’s brain immediately conjured up images of Tooru with dots of flour on his cheeks, tongue sticking out as he tried to shape the perfect cookie. He shook his head gently, trying to bring himself back to the present.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t burn the whole kitchen to the ground?” Koushi cracked open a crate full of instant brownie mix and started stocking a lower shelf.
“Rude!”
🎄
Koushi’s final for his Writing in Advertising class on Wednesday went pretty well too. He only struggled with a couple of the multiple-choice questions, and he joined Azumane afterward for a celebratory lunch at one of their favorite cafes.
“Yuu was trying to get a group together to go to the movies Friday night? A Wonderful Life is showing, I think.”
Koushi frowned. It was one of his favorite holiday movies.
“I’ve actually got plans.”
Azumane raised an eyebrow.
“Tooru invited me to his family’s Christmas party.”
“I thought you guys weren’t dating?”
“We’re not!” Koushi whisper-yelled, and why was he whispering? “We’re just friends!”
“Okay.” Azumane smiled, but his eyes said differently.
Okay . Okay, okay, okay. It was totally okay. That’s what Koushi reminded himself on the way home after lunch.
That’s what he reminded himself when Tooru texted him that night, freaking out over the final he had the next morning for his physics class. That’s what he reminded himself when he couldn’t fall asleep until 2:00 AM because his brain was absolutely wired with awful, mushy, sappy feelings .
That’s what he failed to remind himself when he was scheduled for a 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM checkout lane shift the following night.
“Fancy meeting you here!”
“What are you doing here?” Koushi tried to look annoyed, but it must have been unconvincing because Tooru only beamed more as he placed items on the conveyor belt.
“Had to pick up some stuff for my mom. She’s doing some cooking tonight to get ready for the party tomorrow.” His smile softened, edged a little into shy territory. “You’re still coming, right?”
Koushi bit the inside of his cheek. He could make up an excuse about forgetting that he’d made plans with Sawamura or that he needed to get a headstart on some essays that would be due after the holiday break.
“Yeah, of course.”
Stupid.
“Okay, cool.” Tooru said, still smiling but refusing to make eye contact with Koushi as he pulled out his card to pay. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
“Yeah, see you tomorrow.” Koushi felt his fingertips burn as he passed the bags to Tooru, one last blinding smile sent his way before the latter dashed back out into the frigid December air.
“Hey!” Yuu yelled at him from the register over. “No flirting with customers!”
Koushi groaned.
🎄
Koushi stayed curled underneath his blankets much longer than usual the next morning. He hadn’t been scheduled that Friday, and he didn’t have any other plans than the party later that evening.
He watched his window panes frost up under the cold winds that brushed against the glass and let himself drown in the thoughts that had been on loop in his brain since…well, since he had met Tooru for the first time, if he was being honest with himself.
Yeah, so maybe he had a crush on Tooru. Definitely had a crush on him.
It wasn’t new information, but it was something that he liked to keep locked away in the darkest recesses of his mind as much as possible. Not only was Tooru probably very straight (he’d mentioned past girlfriends), but he was just completely out of reach in every way.
Being friends with him was so easy, but Tooru charmed just about everyone that he set foot in front of. It wasn’t a surprise that Koushi fell into the majority.
Tooru was going to graduate and become, like, a fucking astrophysicist or something. Meanwhile, Koushi was going to try and get a job as a grant writer, but with his English degree, he wouldn’t be shocked if he ended up working in a grocery store for the rest of his life. Employers were not forgiving when it came to degrees in humanities.
Still, he relished the time he got to spend with Tooru and the fact that he had become one of Koushi’s friends. Koushi liked to think that their closeness was mutual, honestly. It had been born out of convenience, but the time they spent together at this point bordered on excessive.
Making any kind of romantic move would just totally fuck that up.
He finally dragged himself out of bed when noon hit. He declined when Tooru texted him asking if he wanted to come over early to help set up for the party, claiming he had some chores that needed to get done.
The next few hours were spent stress-texting Sawamura (you’ll be fine it’s a party, just don’t get drunk) and sadly staring at his closet because what the hell was he supposed to wear?
He settled on black skinny jeans and a maroon crew neck sweater. He messed with his hair about a billion times before bundling up in a jacket and running out to start his car.
Everything would be totally okay.
🎄
Everything was far from being totally okay.
Tooru had opened the door, and Koushi wanted to drop dead because who could look so effortlessly perfect in such a normal green sweater and jeans?
“Hi!” He had smiled before reaching out and dragging Koushi inside.
It wasn’t the first time he had been in Tooru’s home, but it felt different tonight. It was warm, and not just because of Tooru’s hand that lingered on his arm.
A cozy glow flooded through the home, twinkling Christmas lights lining the banister and strung across hooks on the walls. The smell of gingerbread wafted through the hallways, and he could hear the light chatter of voices above the hum of Christmas carols.
“Thanks for coming.” Tooru practically murmured into his ear. Koushi had to refrain from shivering.
They dropped out into the kitchen, where a couple of people were laughing over glasses of wine. It almost seemed normal until a kid bounded up and nearly took out Tooru.
“You got to bring a friend? Why wasn’t I allowed?”
“Because you’re a baby! I’m an adult, so I can do whatever I want!” Tooru teased. He turned to Koushi. “This is my nephew, Takeru. You know, the one who’s volleyball team I coach for?”
“It’s not impressive.” Takeru frowned. He looked at Koushi, willing him to believe him, “And I’m not a baby.”
“I can tell. You seem much more mature than your uncle.” Koushi smiled. “I’m Koushi. It’s nice to meet you!”
Takeru smiled at this, and Tooru pouted.
“I’m never inviting you to another family function ever again.”
“When I’m old enough to bring a friend,” Takeru said earnestly, “I’ll invite you.”
“Thank you.” Koushi laughed.
Some of the other adults in the room had looked over in amusement. Koushi recognized Tooru’s mother in the mix and gave a gentle wave. He had been over enough times for dinner to earn her approval.
Tooru piled enough sweets onto a plate for the both of them and led them (them being himself, Koushi, and Takeru, who hovered behind them shyly) into the living room.
“Koushi and I work together. Isn’t that cool?” Tooru said to Takeru when they had settled down on a smaller couch that was unoccupied.
A cheesy Christmas movie was playing on the TV, but it didn’t look like many of the guests were watching it. Koushi was trying to focus on the conversation, but he was having trouble. He’d sat down on the end of the sofa, and Tooru had squished himself as close as possible.
“Don’t you work at a supermarket?” Takeru wrinkled his nose.
That made Koushi relax a bit, a laugh escaping.
“Shut up! You work there too!” Tooru elbowed him.
“He’s right though! It’s totally not cool.” Koushi confirmed, but he stole a glance at Tooru and smiled lightly. “It’s pretty fun though.”
“Yeah, whatever. It’s fun.” Tooru shrugged, looking away.
The rest of the night passed with amicable banter between Tooru and his nephew, Koushi jumping in whenever an opportunity to make fun of Tooru opened up. Tooru had been completely wrong about Koushi not embarrassing him.
“I think my uncle has a crush on you.” Takeru had cupped his hand and whispered into Koushi’s ear. Koushi flushed.
Tooru had gone to the kitchen to grab them all sodas, leaving just Takeru and Koushi on the couch.
“We’re just friends.” Koushi smiled awkwardly.
“I think he wants to hold your hand.” Takeru said solemnly.
It wasn’t particularly funny, but the gravity in Takeru’s tone made Koushi burst out laughing.
“Having fun without me?” Tooru pouted as he walked back over. Takeru had invaded his spot next to Koushi, and Tooru gave him a gentle push. “Move over . That’s my seat, you brat.”
Takeru looked over at Koushi, as if to say see, what did I tell you?
He couldn’t believe he was being lectured by a child on his love life.
Takeru nodded off not long after, and Tooru and Koushi were left talking about school and all the shenanigans their friends had gotten up to lately. The party was bustling around them, but Koushi felt nice just chatting with Tooru like this and exchanging playful glares each time they reached for the same cookie.
“I should probably get going.” Koushi said sometime past 11. He had been watching Tooru blink sleepily for the past 20 minutes, and most of the other guests had cleared out.
“Ah, okay.” Tooru yawned, slowly standing up and walking Koushi to the door. The silver-haired boy slipped into his coat and walked outside. Tooru stepped out with him, closing the door behind him.
“Thanks for coming.” He smiled, pulling his hands into his sweater sleeves, teeth chattering lightly.
“Thanks for inviting me. It was fun.” Koushi said, and he meant it. “You could have said goodbye inside, dork.”
“I’m fine out here. It’s quieter.”
“You are visibly shivering.” Koushi deadpanned.
“Maybe you should hold my hands to warm me up then?” Tooru tried.
Koushi punched him in the arm, but he stepped closer.
“Seriously, get inside.” He said, but he reached out to give Tooru’s hands a light squeeze.
“I will.” Tooru said, the smile slipping off his face. Koushi was probably just delirious, but he could have sworn that Tooru’s gaze had dropped to his lips.
“Good.” Koushi hurried to step back just as quickly. “I’ll see you at work then tomorrow.”
“Yeah.” Tooru hummed quietly. He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Drive safe.”
“I will.” Koushi stepped off the porch, heading to his car.
“Text me when you get home!” Tooru yelled.
“I will!” Koushi smiled, back to the idiot he couldn’t stop pining over.
🎄
“Thanks for coming again last night.” Tooru said the next day. “I mean it, it would have been a total drag without you.”
They were putting soon-to-be-expired clearance stickers on baked goods, and Tooru had managed to get a few of the stickers caught in his hair, along with a collection that were clinging to his arms. Koushi rolled his eyes, smiling.
“It was fun! But I think you would have been totally fine with just Takeru there to keep me company.”
“Noooooo.” Tooru whined. “I’m either babysitting at family parties or being forced to talk about college with my relatives. You gave me a break from that.”
“I’m pretty sure we were still babysitting.” Koushi laughed. “But I am happy to excuse you from any college discussions at future parties, if you need me to.”
“Okay, good.” Tooru smiled. His face lit up a few seconds later. “Oh! Do you want to come over and make cookies Monday night? There’s a Christmas light display in the park near my house too, if you’d want to walk through that?”
This was sounding an awful lot like a date, and Koushi could feel his ears warming up. Like, it obviously wasn’t a date to Tooru, but how could Koushi get through such domestic activities without absolutely losing his mind?
“Sounds like fun.”
Fuck.
🎄
Koushi had been pretty spot-on when he’d imagined cookie-baking with Tooru resulting in the latter covered in flour.
“I think we did a pretty good job, all things considered.”
Koushi stared at Tooru contently munching on one of their crudely decorated sugar cookies.
“ All things considered? You mean considering you forgot to preheat the oven and add the sugar until the last minute?”
“They taste fine!” Tooru exclaimed, and Koushi laughed.
“I’ll take some home for my parents.” Koushi sighed.
Tooru smiled.
“Wanna go see the lights now?”
🎄
Koushi had to admit, the elaborate light display in the park was pretty dazzling. Every time they walked under a multicolored arch, he couldn’t help but stare at the way that the colors danced across Tooru’s cheeks.
“I almost forgot! I have your gift with me!” Tooru said when they were halfway through the park. He wrestled to get his jacket pocket open and pulled out a tiny present, flat and no bigger than Koushi’s palm.
“You really didn’t have to.” Koushi said softly, blush creeping up onto his cheeks.
“I wanted to.”
Koushi peeled back the wrapping paper to reveal a pocket-sized notebook with a full moon design backed by a black sky with dots of stars surrounding it.
“I just thought…I don’t know. You just remind me of the moon, kind of. And stars. And stuff.” Tooru explained.
“Eloquent.” Koushi teased gently, but he knew the sweet words were going to keep him up at night.
“Rude!” Tooru blushed. “ You’re supposed to be the eloquent one, not me. That’s why I got you a notebook, so you can right down all your eloquent thoughts.”
Koushi laughed, tucking the notebook into his own pocket. He thought about the book he’d bought Tooru on dark matter, sitting at home on his desk.
“My gift for you is at my house.” He admitted.
“That’s okay.” Tooru smiled. “I just figured I’d probably forget by Christmas if I didn’t give it to you now.”
“Well, thank you.” Koushi said, genuine. “I really like it. I will write many eloquent things in it.”
The pair giggled, resuming their walk. It was late enough that not many people were walking through the display with them, but they weren’t deaf to the little girl who pointed at them and blurted out, “mistletoe!”
And it was true. They’d walked right under a tree that was laden with a few sprigs of mistletoe.
“Oh, um.” Koushi began. He was going to say something along the lines of “how silly” or “we don’t have to”, but he didn’t get the chance.
Tooru leaned over and planted a kiss right on his cheek.
“Tradition!” Tooru said defensively, bracing himself for a punch to the arm, but Koushi was far too mortified to retaliate.
How absolutely awful to know that was as close to romance with Tooru as he’d ever get.
“You’re terrible.” Koushi muttered instead, covering his face with his hands.
“Ooh, you’re blushing.” Tooru laughed nervously.
Koushi looked over before snapping, “You’re blushing too!”
“Don’t be so gross about it!” Tooru yelled, dragging Koushi along again. He hadn’t even realized that he’d stopped in his tracks.
They made it to the end of the display, the blur of the lights trickling down their cheeks and noses, and maybe there was something magical about the way they turned to look at each other at the same time. They’d lost the crowds behind them, and Tooru’s eyes were excited, running wild on Christmas cheer and twinkling lights.
“I wanna.” He said.
“Huh?” Koushi asked, raising an eyebrow and smiling because Tooru was so dumb and never made any sense.
But Tooru looked oddly serious, and something about it made Koushi’s stomach flip.
“I wanna kiss you. For real.”
“What?” Koushi must have misheard him.
“I wanna kiss you right now because,” Tooru was out of breath, but they were standing still, “your hair looks so pretty under the lights, and you have the best smile I’ve ever seen.”
“Um.”
“I like you.” Tooru grabbed Koushi’s gloved hands with his own. “A lot.”
“I think you’re just caught up in the moment.” Koushi said, but he couldn’t help pulling Tooru a little closer.
“I think I’ve been caught up in every moment since the minute I met you.” Tooru took a step even closer.
“Minute?” Koushi asked, heart racing.
“Second.” Tooru corrected himself, nose bumping against Koushi’s as he dipped his head down.
Any hesitation on his part dissolved when Koushi inched up on his toes and pressed their lips together.
They were bundled up against the winter weather, but nothing about this moment felt cold to Koushi. Tooru was warm, and his kisses were on fire, and they tasted like the hot chocolate they’d made earlier.
“I like you too. A lot.” Koushi said in between kisses.
Tooru laughed, placing his hands on Koushi’s cheeks and grinning harder than he’d ever seen, “God, I would hope so.”
Koushi blushed, but Tooru’s cheeks were pink too, so he didn’t feel so bad.
🎄
Koushi woke up a few days later to an assortment of texts from friends wishing him a Merry Christmas, but the knock on his door that came later that afternoon was the best Christmas greeting of all.
It’d been snowing all day, and tiny flakes glistened in Tooru’s hair.
“Where are you going to possibly take me on Christmas? Nothing’s open.”
“Isn’t it enough to just come over to watch Hallmark movies with my boyfriend on Christmas while it’s snowing?”
“Boyfriend?” Koushi asked, stepping aside to let Tooru in, grabbing his wrists and pulling him near.
Tooru leaned down to give Koushi a long kiss, one that nearly knocked the wind out of him.
“Boyfriend.” Tooru grinned devilishly.
Maybe Christmas miracles are real, Koushi briefly thought before he tipped his head up to steal a second kiss.