Work Text:
The air felt unusually still, like the entirety of Kamurocho had been tucked inside a bottle, its glass wall unhindered by the bustle of the city it draped its frosted veil around. Gentle snow dusted the landscape, falling from the sky in ghostly flutters until the snowflakes were swept into motion by him, spiraling around in an almost celebratory dance before they landed upon him with the grace of a winter’s kiss. There were crunches and crackles under every footfall he laid upon the icy pavement, and the perilous ground forced him into a slow, leisurely stride. The opaque air left speckles of ice on his eyelashes, blurring the world into a crystalline wonderland of nebulous lights and hazy surroundings, sparkling with rainbowed gleams of a world that was not his own. It was so enchanting.
Well, it would have been enchanting if it weren’t for the people.
People swarmed around him in droves, filling the streets with their raucous sounds of jingle and jolly, with swerving motions and wild gesticulations, and with smears of over patterned, obnoxiously colored sweaters. Car horns blared in the distance, and the airwaves were strangled with Christmas tunes that boomed out from every building he passed, merging together in grating disharmony. Hawkers were on every corner, waving signs, peddling wares, and screaming news of sales. He was bumped by shoulders and hands and bags stuffed full of soon-to-be presents, and every knock made his heel slip and his irritation spike. There were too many eyes upon him, too many judgmental stares that deemed his usual attire was wholly inappropriate for the weather, and - he loathed to admit - how correct those gawking faces were. His bare chest was numb, his jacket and leather pants wore on him like steel, and his shoes felt like buckets of ice cubes, but while his head buzzed with annoyance and the cold raked at his skin, he remained externally unfazed as he turned a stubborn gaze forward. Whatever. He was always one to suffer for fashion.
Majima ran hot-blooded anyways. The cold was sobering, zen-like, and it was honestly the only thing that kept him from punching the face of every person he passed. He was feeling particularly bah-hum-buggy this year, and he was out and about due to the urging of others more so than any want of his own. Nishida loved Christmas, and since he was always willing to indulge Majima in his love for Halloween and had begged him with such wholehearted sincerity to join in this year, it only seemed fair for Majima to pay it forward. The rest of the Majima Family was into it as well, so on their behest, he was out to get some decorations for the tree. Lights, ornaments, and - the most important of them all, Nishida stressed - the tree topper. The stupid things he was willing to do to keep those idiots happy.
Majima trudged onwards, a grumble under his breath and cautious haste in his steps as he made his way to the shopping mall that he normally avoided like the plague. The crowd grew more and more dense the closer he neared, and he tipped into a sneer as he barreled through all of the strangers whose paces were much too slow for his liking. He wanted to get in, get the frivolous crap, and get out.
After shoving his way inside, he brought himself to a halt as he gaped at the walls and floors that shimmered with too much white and too much polish, and he ran his eye down the rows of stores as his sneer steadily melded with a look of perplexity. He wasn’t entirely sure why he decided to come to the mall, of all places, but he honestly didn’t know where else to look. At the time, it seemed the best course of action was to go where you could find anything. Now that he was here, he realized that he may have given himself too many options. Oh, well. He was here, so he may as well trudge onwards.
Majima picked up into a hurried stride, maneuvering between halls and bouncing between stores, not finding much of anything except an increase in his annoyance with each store he left empty-handed. For everyone’s bluster and excitement for Christmas, there sure was a lack of Christmas here. Nevertheless, he continued on his search, and after a time of fruitless shopping and swearing under his breath, he finally located a store that only sold decorations. He bought bundles of lights and picked out a few trinkets to throw on the tree, but to his dismay, he didn’t locate a tree topper that sparked his interest. They were all snowflakes, stars, or angels - boring, boring, boring.
So Majima left with a big bag in hand and a deep crease in his brow, tearing his way down another hall in search of a new store, although now he was wondering why he didn’t just buy a stupid star so that he could end this travesty of a shopping trip. He pondered over turning around and returning to the store, but his feet seemed to have other motives in mind, and they kept him moving forward until he branched off into the center of the mall. His feet jerked to a stop, his mouth fell agape, and his eye steadily waved upwards as he gazed upon the tree in front of him.
Surrounded by the escalators that led up to the mall’s other floors, the massive tree - standing three stories high - sat perfectly centered in the room, perched upon a base that was fuzzed with fake snow and circled by a toy train with candy-cane stripes. It was adorned with white lights that shimmered softly against the red and green ornaments that surrounded them, and a thick, silver ribbon branched up from the base and coiled around the entirety of the tree until it reached the top. What really caught his attention, however, was the tree topper. It was a crystal orb with a multitude of star-like spikes that jutted out in every direction, feathered over with fiber optic cables that wavered with light, shifting between every spectrum of the rainbow.
Now that was a tree topper!
Majima gawked at the sparkling thing, a devious smile curling up his cheeks and a cackle rattling his ribcage. Hey, no one said he wasn’t allowed to have some fun while he was out.
He brought his gaze back down and swept a glance all around himself, plotting a course of action before he gave a small shrug of his shoulders and dashed forward. He leaped over the velvet ropes that circled the tree, dropping his bag at the edge of the train tracks before bounding over the train and latching himself onto the tree. The tree jangled as he smacked into it, and a few ornaments wiggled free and smashed to the ground, but Majima paid them no heed as he began his treacherous climb. Grabbing fistfuls of the tree’s branches, Majima was - for some reason- surprised to find that the monstrous tree was fake, and this was simultaneously a good and a bad thing. Its metal frame was firm and holding steady under his weight, but the wire branches dug unforgivably under his tight grip, the fake evergreen bristles scratched at his chest with every upward sweep, and its plastic fibers were slick under his shoes. His feet slipped with nearly every step, kicking down ornaments and busting lights, but he bared his fangs and pulled himself onwards.
With the grit and determination of a mountain climber, he ascended, weaving between blinking bulbs, glossy ornaments, and the silken ribbon. All eyes of the mall’s hub were now upon him, and people circled at the velvet ropes and lined up at the railings of the balconies, calling out to him with a mixture of concerned cries, disapproving screams, and whooping hollers of encouragement. The mall stirred with commotion as people scrambled to get a better view, as cell phones were raised, as camera lights flashed, and Majima - grinning from ear to ear - soared upwards with newfound stamina under all of the attention. He finally reached the peak of the tree, and with a victorious cry, he pried the treasured topper off of the tree’s point, raising it above his head like he found the Holy Grail itself. Cheers abounded all around him, and he swiveled his gaze around with a beaming grin, tucking his head into multiple, rapid bows and uttering a boisterous ‘thank you’ under each dip of his chin.
“Majima?” Came a yell from the crowd, and Majima - surprised he heard it at all - let out a questioning noise as he tried to pinpoint where it had come from. He looked down at the balcony that sat just below him, and his brows shot to the top of his head when he spotted Kiryu standing at the railing, a bewildered expression on his face.
“Kiryu-chan!” Majima screeched ecstatically, unconsciously lurching towards his direction. The top of the tree arced under his weight, slipping from his grasp before snapping back up behind him, and Kiryu’s horrified face smeared in his vision as he toppled forward. Majima hit the tree face first before rolling into a tumble, sliding and bouncing down the tree in a blur of flailing limbs. Shrieking as he plummeted, with bulbs and baubles shattering all around him, Majima protectively hugged the topper to his chest as he erratically waved his free hand and legs around him. He managed to entangle his foot in the cord of Christmas lights, and he hefted out a grunt when the cord grew taut and slapped him against the tree. Dazed and upside down, Majima gave a few dumbfounded blinks before easing out a relieved sigh.
His relief was short-lived, however, as the cord strained to hold him and began to slide down the tree, and Majima’s descent and shrieking resumed. Everything in the cord’s path began to pop off as the constricted thing was dragged down by Majima’s weight, sputtering out a flurry of debris that dizzyingly dumped around him like a hail storm. He curled himself up, desperately trying to grab onto a branch, but they all slipped through his gloved, disoriented fingers. Resigning himself to failure, he closed his eye and braced himself for impact.
Majima crash-landed onto the train, heaving out a winded noise as the plastic toy crumpled under his back. He snapped his eye open, a look of horror flickering across his face as he spotted the last rain of ornaments plummeting towards him. Flinging his arm over his face, he winced as they showered onto and around him, shattering into thousands of pieces when they struck the floor. Majima laid in place for a moment, sucking in a few haggard breaths before wiggling his leg free of the cord. Peeling himself off the floor with a long whine, Majima staggered up to his feet and swiveled his head around himself, looking upon all the gawkers that had fallen deathly silent. He waved a glance between the people and the tree topper that was still in his hand, and he huffed out a laugh and waggled it over his head.
“Still got it!” Majima announced proudly, and the crowds rippled with unsure murmurs, resounding laughter, and hearty applause. Majima pulled up a broad grin and grabbed the edge of his jacket, dipping into a few curtsies until he noticed a part begin to develop in the crowd before him. A row of uniformed men were storming in his direction, and his smile dropped into a look of irritation. “Ah, crap, it’s the mall fuzz!”
Unwilling to risk damaging the tree topper in a fight, Majima broke into a perilous sprint, bumbling over all the scattered shards of Christmas ornaments and lights that sprinkled the floor. He snatched up his bag and circled the tree, leaping over the rope and charging himself into the crowd. People scurried out of his way, peppering the halls with shrieks and hollers as Majima darted through them, running shoulder first with the topper tucked against his chest.
The mall cops lagged behind Majima, screaming out orders to cease and desist, and Majima listened but did not obey. He cackled gleefully as he ran, shooting wry glances over his shoulder at them, responding with taunting words, mocking faces, and a stuck-out tongue. Zig-zagging through people and hallway after hallway, Majima knocked down mannequins, tore through elaborate Christmas displays, and took them on a merry, circling chase through Santa’s photo booth, where he paused to photobomb an alarmed family’s shot before darting off again.
After a time of delightfully evading the cops, and leaving as much destruction in his wake as possible, Majima shook them off and dashed towards an exit. He burst through the doors and emerged outside, finding victory in the cold that slapped onto his skin. His sprint continued, and he ran and ran until he found himself at the back of the Millenium Tower.
Positive that those saps would never have chased him this far, he huffed out a heavy breath as he slowed his stride and meandered over to the sitting alcove next to the parking garage. He plopped down onto one of the benches, sucking in air through his teeth as a sharp pain bolted up his spine. Majima rubbed a gentle hand over his back, grumbling under his breath about the stupid train and the stupid tree and the stupid Kiryu that distracted him. Majima’s heart fluttered at the thought of Kiryu, and he dropped a vexed sigh before slapping a hand over his face.
“Idiot,” Majima muttered to himself, rubbing his temples as he pushed Kiryu out of his mind. He turned his attention to the tree topper that was still clutched in his hand, giving it a once over to assess any damage. To his surprise, he found that the glowing, crystal thing remained in perfect health, and he gave it a satisfied smile and an affectionate pat before resting it in his lap. He dropped his bag at his feet and relaxed back into the bench, splaying out his limbs as he turned a content gaze to the string of golden lights above his head, watching the snowflakes dance through them in their spectral wavers down to Earth.
“There’s never a dull moment around you, is there?”
“I dunno. This moment’s kinda dull, don’t ya think?” Majima replied absentmindedly.
“Heh. If taking a breather after running away from the cops is something you consider dull, then sure, I guess it is.”
Majima wrinkled his brow and tilted his head down, but his face quickly unfurled as his breath hitched. Kiryu stood before him, wearing a plush, red sweater in lieu of his usual shirt and jacket, though he still wore his grey slacks. A pair of black boots were tucked under the hem of his pants, and a thick scarf bearing grey and white stripes was wrapped around his neck, puffing itself up to his chin before it dripped down his chest and back. The lights above them brought a golden hue to the snowflakes that landed in his hair, making them shimmer like they were the shattered remnants of a halo, clinging still to the fallen angel that never finished his plummet. He was an ethereal, benevolent thing, adorned with a gentle, bemused smile that made him glow in their frosty surroundings, and the world behind him fuzzed into obscurity under his splendor.
Kiryu looked so beautiful, so warm, so soft, and Majima was suddenly aware of how freezing he truly was. The cold, once a welcome, desensitizing thing, now gnawed viciously on his bare and lonely skin, and he wanted nothing more than to sweep Kiryu into his arms and be cured of his ailments. Despite the overwhelming urge to reach out, however, he made no attempt to do so, deciding instead to swallow the knot in his throat and clutch his hands around the tree topper.
“Kiryu-chan!” Majima chimed, pulling up a wild grin. “Ya followed me out here? How did ya find me?”
“It wasn’t hard,” Kiryu said, following his words up with a sigh and shuffling a few steps closer to Majima. “I followed all the broken things in the mall and the trail of blood in the snow and, sure enough, here you are.”
“...Blood?” Majima squawked, swinging a glance down at himself. He was unsure of how he didn’t notice, but Majima was scratched up to high heaven with fragments of ornaments, bulbs, and evergreen bristles jutting out of his chest and clothes. He had dots of blood speckled all over him, beading up from multitudes of tiny, shallow cuts on every part of his body. The worst of the bleeding was coming from the ankle that had gotten wound up in the Christmas lights, and it seeped a sluggish stream of red into the snow encircling his foot. “...Oh!”
Majima bubbled with giggles, giving his tiny wounds a few pokes as Kiryu pressed a stern look into his brow.
“Why are you laughing? You could have died from falling from that height,” Kiryu lectured, but this only furthered Majima’s snickering. “What were you even doing?”
“I was gettin’ this!” Majima piped up enthusiastically, holding the topper up towards Kiryu.
“Why?”
“Cuz I wanted it.”
“What a stupid thing risk your life for,” Kiryu remarked, and Majima’s face plummeted with offense.
“It ain’t stupid! It’s cool!” Majima snapped, leaning forward and shoving the topper right up to Kiryu’s unamused face. “Lookit! Lookit how cool this thing is!”
Letting out a sigh in response, Kiryu pushed Majima’s hand aside before dipping down into a squat. Majima’s face crumpled in confusion as Kiryu began unwinding his scarf, and he brought the topper back onto his lap as he scooted a bit backwards on the bench.
“W-What are ya doin’?” Majima asked, waving his eye over Kiryu as he tugged off his scarf and extended his free hand, placing it gently behind Majima’s bleeding ankle. He raised Majima’s foot slightly, about to place his scarf under his heel until Majima grew flustered and flung his leg upwards. “What are ya doin’?”
“Give me your foot. I’m going to wrap it up,” Kiryu said simply, reaching for Majima’s leg, but he swung it to the side.
“With yer scarf?” Majima shrieked, swinging his leg to the opposite side when Kiryu reached for it again.
“Yes,” Kiryu said, trying - and failing - to grab Majima’s leg again.
“No! It’s fine,” Majima said, swinging his heel straight up into the air when Kiryu made another grab for it. “It’s fine! Ya don’t need to go ruinin’ yer scarf over me.”
“It’s bleeding really bad. Just let me-” Kiryu stretched up his arm, but Majima swung his foot out of his reach. “Quit it! Just let me wrap it up!”
“No!”
“Majima!”
“No!”
The pair devolved into a bout of bickering as Majima swiveled his leg to and fro, keeping his foot out of Kiryu’s grasp. Kiryu was growing more and more irritated with every swipe and snotty retort out of Majima, and after a few more seconds of squabbling, he hefted out a frustrated grunt and fiercely grabbed Majima by the thigh. Majima froze, instantly losing the will to fight as a plume of red blossomed on his cheeks. Kiryu slammed his leg back down onto the bench, taking advantage of his sudden stillness by quickly and firmly grabbing his ankle and pressing his scarf to it.
Letting out a defeated sigh, Majima slunk back into the bench and averted his gaze from Kiryu, who diligently wrapped his makeshift bandage around Majima’s ankle. Satisfied with his work, Kiryu rose to his feet, shuffled to the side, and took a seat on the bench to Majima’s right. Majima turned his eye to the scarf coiled around his leg, hefting out a solemn sigh as its fibers steadily became blotched with red.
“...Why did ya follow me?” Majima muttered, turning his gaze to Kiryu as he dug a hand into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.
“I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” Kiryu said, lighting up a cigarette before returning the pack to his pocket. Kiryu blew out a stream of smoke, which flushed with golden hues under the lights, and Majima felt a tingle in his chest under the sight and sentiment.
“Course I’m okay. I’m always okay. Don’t need to go worrin’ about me,” Majima mumbled, turning his eye to his lap and sheepishly playing with the topper in his hands.
“...But you’re not okay. You’re bleeding everywhere,” Kiryu said, waving his eyes over Majima before huffing out a small laugh, “and you’re a mess.”
Kiryu reached out his hand and plucked a stem of evergreen bristles out of Majima’s hair, and Majima turned his gaze back to him as he flicked it away. Majima’s heart slammed against his chest when Kiryu brushed another patch of bristles from his hair, and he stared at him with a wide-eyed glance of disbelief and a hint of endearment. Kiryu’s eyes narrowed with a sense of focus, and Majima let out a soft, jittery laugh as Kiryu began to pick out the shards of debris that were embedded in his jacket. He watched Kiryu closely, a gentle smile slowly brushing up his face with every ornament fragment and glass shard he meticulously and cautiously tugged out of those snakeskin scales.
Majima could feel butterflies developing in his stomach, feel them beginning to fly up his throat and into his skull, where they flittered their wings and jiggled his brain. The patter of wings in his head made him feel dizzy, schmoozy, sentimental, and his gaze fell upon Kiryu longingly as these butterflies flapped away his defenses. He found himself no longer fighting the urge to reach out, only looking for an excuse to do so.
He waved his eye around, absorbing the sight of Kiryu, his oddly doting attention, and himself, finally settling on a thin evergreen branch that jutted out of the waistband of his pants. A light bulb flickered on over his head, and a calculating smile curled up his face. He yanked the branch out and held it up over their heads, brightening up all of his features as he careened into a coo.
“Oooooh, look, Kiryu-chan! A mistletoooooe!” Majima cheered, giving the spindly thing a wiggle as Kiryu broke his focus and looked up at it.
“That’s a tree branch,” Kiryu stated dryly, and Majima’s brow sunk slightly.
“No, it’s a mistletoe!” Majima chimed, keeping his smile perched on his face.
“It’s a tree branch,” Kiryu reiterated, and Majima’s smile tightened with irritation.
“No, it’s a mistletoe!” Majima stressed.
“It’s not even a real tree branch.”
“It’s a mistletoe!”
“Mistletoe have berries on them. That doesn’t.”
“It’s a mistletoe!”
“That is a wire with-”
“Kiryu-chan, ya dumb-” Majima interrupted with a grumble, slapping an exasperated hand on his face before drawing it down and flopping it onto his lap. “It’s a mistletoe, a’ight? So shut up and pucker up!”
“Pucker…?” Kiryu trailed off and returned his eyes to Majima, momentarily giving him a blank stare until the thought clicked in his head and his face lit up with shock. “Wait, what? You want to-”
“I said, ‘shut up and pucker up’!” Majima snapped, diving forward and planting a forceful kiss onto Kiryu’s lips. He felt Kiryu grow rigid, but Majima lingered against him nonetheless, absorbing the feel of his warmth, the softness of his lips, and his smell of smoke and cheap cologne. Pulling back slowly, Majima popped up a grin that shone with more confidence than he felt, and he cracked a laugh before flinging the branch away. He ran a glance up and down Kiryu, watching with amusement as Kiryu’s face swiftly matched the color of his sweater and his cigarette slipped from his fingers, landing with a soft plop into the snow. Easing back into the bench, Majima flopped his hand into his lap, his smile dwindling as Kiryu laid a long, awkward, and stiff stare upon him.
Kiryu’s gaze unsettled him, and all the butterflies that fluttered about his insides turned into stone and plummeted into the pit of his stomach. Majima shifted uncomfortably, suddenly feeling ashamed, and he turned his eye from Kiryu to the ground. They sat in heavy silence for a time, nary a word or a hint of movement made between them until Majima felt Kiryu pick at the pocket of his jacket. Majima turned his head towards Kiryu, his eye widening as Kiryu raised a lanky tree branch over their heads. Majima waved a glance between the branch and Kiryu, whose face - somehow - reddened even further, and the butterflies came soaring back to life.
Majima pulled up an adoring smile before he tipped forward, laying a gentle kiss onto Kiryu’s lips. Kiryu pressed into him with a soft moan, and the pair melted against each other, sinking into honeyed kisses that grew fervent with passion. Kiryu dropped the branch, pushing into Majima and deepening their kiss. He slid his arms around Majima’s waist, pulling him into an embrace until he jerked back with a small yelp. They broke apart, and Majima looked upon Kiryu curiously as he chuckled and looked over his hand.
“You’re very… prickly,” Kiryu muttered, eyeing a scratch on his thumb, and Majima let out a nervous laugh.
“A-Ah, yeah. Guess I’m kinda like huggin’ a cactus right now,” Majima said, attempting to brush the clinging shards off his jacket. They returned their gazes to each other, staring with uncertainty until Kiryu shifted with an awkward cough.
“You, uh, should go to a doctor to get all of the glass taken out of you,” Kiryu said, and Majima let out a whine.
“I don’t wanna go to a doc,” Majima grumbled, tilting into Kiryu and pressing their foreheads together. “I wanna stay out here with ya.”
“B-But if you don’t go, I can’t-” Kiryu stopped, choking on embarrassment, “I can’t… touch you.”
Kiryu’s words gave Majima a surge of butterflies and moment of pause, and he let out a sigh as he nuzzled Kiryu’s nose.
“Fine, but only if ya come with me,” Majima muttered against him, and Kiryu rumbled with a soft chuckle.
“Alright. Let’s go,” Kiryu said, standing up from the bench and pivoting towards him. He extended his hand, and Majima grabbed onto it and allowed him to help him up to his feet. “Are you going to be able to walk alright?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Majima said as he scooped up his bag, slinging it into the bend of his elbow and clutching the tree topper to his chest.
They began to make their way to the street, but Majima’s injured foot immediately protested at his weight upon it and slipped out from under him. Kiryu caught him before he fell, easing out a chuckle as he pulled Majima’s arm over his shoulders and propped him against him.
“So much for fine,” Kiryu said, and Majima puffed out an irritated noise.
“Shut it,” Majima grumbled, bashfully hefting his weight onto Kiryu and taking it off of his foot. They continued forward with a slow, hobbling stride, waving enamored yet sheepish glances at each other in silence until Kiryu broke it with a chuckle.
“You know, you were right,” Kiryu said, jerking his head towards the tree topper. “That thing is really cool.”
Majima lit up like a star at Kiryu’s words, and he rattled with a smitten giggle as he held the topper up.
“Ya hear that?” Majima asked the topper, giving it a shake. “Yer Kiryu-chan approved! That makes ya the best tree topper in the universe!”
Kiryu snorted out a laugh, and Majima beamed at him before he knocked their heads together.
“Ya wanna come to The Family office later and put the best topper in the universe on the tree with me?” Majima asked, and a rosy smile brushed up Kiryu’s cheeks.
“Yeah. I’d like that,” Kiryu murmured, and Majima sparkled with excitement as he laid an adoring kiss upon Kiryu’s cheek.
Maybe Christmas wouldn’t be so bad after all.