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They are unreligious people however, once Ryuu and Shiki enter their lives they do their best to be involved in their live, one of which is Christmas.
They are waiting for Shiki to finish his mass outside the church, as much he wants to support him to be inside of the church, church brought bad memory for him and Naoakira and for Ryuu, he doesn’t want him to create trouble inside (even if he knows to be polite, precautions are must). The door opens and one by one people dispersed from the church, Ryuu who’ve been looking down bored finally has enthusiasm in his eyes as he runs toward the last member shown; Shiki.
“Shikki-!” he cheerfully latched to Shiki’s side, Shiki who’s looks confused give Ryuu a sweet smile and embraces him, they walk together toward where Naoakira and Yohei, “sorry for waiting me for owner, master.” He gives a small bow which they reply with nod, “It’s alright Shiki, we are a group and we don’t want you to celebrate Christmas alone.” Naoakira assured Shiki, “and today I have day off and bar closed too.” Naoakira takes Shiki hand they go down to shopping district, “come on we have Christmas to celebrate with other.”
Yes, this Christmas Naoakira being friendly and all inviting their Paradox Live rivals to celebrate Christmas together as much Yohei want to protest seeing Naokira lighten face and Ryuu enthusiast is enough for him to shut his mouth but, Shiki isn’t sure though he seems scared to meet someone in the party, he didn’t voice any complain indirectly make the celebration hold without any protest.
Being irreligious person he is, Yohei feels thankful they don’t need to attend the christmas mass even the church brings bad memory he knows it wasn’t the institution fault when his mind replayed the moment Tsubaki casket closed, he never saw such big loss in Naoakira’s eyes. It wasn’t only Naokira affected him too, they used to be together him being the third wheel yearning for his best friend which he knows and acknowledges it was unrequited.
He remembers holding Naokira’s figure as the flame took Tsubaki’s body, funny he always wants to die but seeing his best friend become a mess, he doesn’t want to leave this fool alone. Even knowing it’s unrequited he keeps yearning for him and stay by his side, Saimon no, Naokira doesn’t need another painful experience (how cocky of him thinking his presence matter to Naoakira but, he reminds that one time Naoakira clutches on his shirt asking him to not leave him, he doesn’t to leave him. He never will.).
“what’s left on the list?” he asks Naoakira, their Christmas kit shopping is done but Naoakira haven’t told them anything, he gives him a smile “glad you ask, I don’t know everyone but, I haven’t shop for everyone gifts.” He thoughtfully said “everyone gifts?” Yohei raise his eyebrow, “you don’t have to Saimon, spending for 13 people aren’t good thinking how our budget is limited.” He groans, Naoakira shake his head and chuckles “no, Yohei. What I mean is I haven’t bought our group present.” “- but,” “no buts, I want everyone receive present from me.” Naoakira cut him, oh how sexy this man, Yohei please stay focus.
He groans and ruffling his own hair for how sexy and caring Naoakira is “alright-alright you win.” He smiles which Naoakira return, “alright everyone we can separate now, if you guys want to go home first it’s alright.” He looked to Ryuu and Shiki both of them listen to their conversation tentatively it’s cute how their nods “alright boss! Ryuu also want present hunting~ Ryuu will give everyone the best bestest present~” he cheered, “how about you Shiki?” Shiki the sweet child he is, fidgeting and looks at them with spirit in his eyes “I want to buy everyone present too.” He said loud and clearly, Yohei chuckles at his clumsiness, cute, he thought. Naoakira turn his gaze to him, “tsk, you don’t my words. Of couse I’m in.”
Naoakira claps his hands “alright everyone we will search for everyone gift, we will meet again in this place one hour from now. Is that clear?” both of kids nods and say yes, “ah, you guys don’t have to buy me present. It’s alright.” He left the conversation, Yohei frowns to his words ‘Saimon, can you be not this selfless?’ He looks at Ryuu and Shiki “like what he said, we will meet again one hour from now.” He pats their head, “and Ryuu, please take care of Shiki.” “alright master~” he salutes Yohei before dragging Shiki to shop.
“What a pain,” he grumbles, it’s not like he doesn’t want to buy them a gift it just… he doesn’t know if he buys them one they will like it or not. Since Shiki’s arrival to their group, they never celebrated Christmas traditionally, only cheers between drink, fried chickens and how everyone faces glows without any reason, he… admit one of his happiest moment was in Christmas, celebrating with everyone that matter to him.
If Yohei remember Shiki takes interest to arts and liking succulens, about arts he wishes Shiki also draw him too, he sulks. Ryuu? he can have his kick as present no, he’s thinking buying Ryuu child toys such as playdough or anything that makes his hands busy, sometimes Ryuu’s action made him want to bury his face but, most of the times it humors him. Both of them deserve best present, with his mediocre income. The perfect store for both of them is stationary stores. He hopes he gets good deal.
“thank you for your patronage!” so he really bought them this huh? He thoughts when he looks at the presents in his hands a playdough for Ryuu and drawing kits for Shiki “I hope they will like it.” He smiles at the presents before them in the bag. Now only left for Naoakira, he thought of buying him a tie clip then he remembers anything related to Naoakira tie always been his student favorite valentine gift or chocolate. Not that he’s jelaous of them, he understands that Naoakira is too nice behind his stupid words! How can someone like him captive his heart, talking gibberish about coffee. he always speaks stupid yet positive thing about Yohei's coffee, it certainly didn't make his heart flutter (yes, it makes his heart flutter).
Yohei shakes his head. He needs focusing. He needs buying Naoakira a perfect gift, if it’s not perfect then good is enough too. Wait… valentine, Yohei remember he commissioned someone to make that. He laughs softly thinking that he forgets that thing, even though he had prepared it long before Valentine's Day. it's just he doesn't have the courage to give it and confess his feelings to Naoakira "I just need to buy wrapping paper then." He comes back to the stationary store and purchases the wrapping paper. He needs having the courage so that his goddamn friend; Iori wouldn't mock him for not making first move.
They all finally got together again and got on the train. He looked at Naokira's face from the side, saw that man give his space to Shiki. His smile ... always remains in Yohei's memory.
(Because he tried to remember everything, that everything he experienced was real and his soul never lost part of it once from losing someone…)
“Alright everyone let’s gather first!” they gathered in front of Yohei, he continues “okay I want to hear all of you progress, Ryuu how’s our beverage?” he salutes Yohei “Ryuu-kun has prepared everything master ~ for the fruit punch and the cocktails have been placed at a distance to prevent guests from taking the wrong drink~” Ryuu’s rarely give Yohei a direct reply like that, he must be can’t wait for this party. “Good, Shiki?” Shiki straighten up his back “all the snacks and fingerfoods are ready to put in their respective containers.” “good job,” Yohei feels proud to hear him using a quiet loud voice. He precedes to pats Shiki’s head, making him embarrassed by Yohei action “boo~ Ryuu-kun also want master’s head pats!” he patts his head lightly and give Yohei puppy eyes “alright, alright rascal kid.” He smiles before patting Ryuu’s head “mm~mm! Master’s hand warm~ right Shikki?” Shiki gives Ryuu’s a nod. He groans at their antic before turning his attention to Naoakira.
Fuck. Naoakira see them with a big, warm smile. His heart flutters, come on heart don’t beat too fast, please keep yourself cool Yohei. “you haven’t asked me Yohei.” His eyes linger to Saimon eyes, always brilliant clear and warm there’s also hint of sadness too in his eyes, Yohei wants to erase that “aren’t you too big to asked that Saimon?” he raises his eyebrow teasingly, “really Yohei..?” ugh those eyes getting big, as it was begging to asks the same thing. Of course Yohei will ask him, he doesn’t need to give him puppy eyes!
He groans and shakes his head “yea yea, Saimon how’s the decoration progress?” he gives Yohei a big smile again, instantly he wishes for that man’s mouth aches from overly smiling. “The decoration already done, I also put mini Christmas tree in the second floor for our private party.” “what-“ “we will holding our own private party, consider it a private party.” He lowered his head slightly “because I feel bad, I don’t have any present for any of them.” Yohei let out a small sigh, almost reaching to the man’s head to give a pat “okay, but next time tell us first okay? And I hope we won’t be tired in the after party.” Naoakira beam a smile “of course, let’s wait for our guests to come.”
Slowly their guests came, starting with the presence of Anne who brings gifts for them all and especially Naoakira. Like Yohei's thought, someone would have given Naoakira a tie clip. Followed by all the Akkan Yatsura members, they also brought gifts for all of them and a bottle of champagne? Just watch out for this party going wild, he doesn't want to imagine getting tired while cleaning it up.
Oh Cozmez twins chose to come, as soon as they’re in front of the door, Naoakira greets them and give them food!? Since when he made it, he will ask Naoakira later. However, Shiki looked worried and gloomy when the two of them came, he ended up always beside Ryuu and holding Ryuu's hand when he feels like he’s almost having a panic attack. The rest of BAE members finally come, they bring food and gifts for all of them. Ugh he saw the blond one it’s making him kinda pissed because of before Pride battle.
He thought everyone already gathered but when the bar door opens and the ramentei owner in casual clothes appear!? The ramentei owner immediately shake hands with Naoakira and speak to the Cozmez twins who were eventually followed by the Akkan Yatsura children.
Once everyone was gathered, Naoakira raise his drink and open his mouth. "Thank you everyone for joining our Christmas party, I wish for all our success." Yohei feels want to cut his speech to say "The Cat Whisker will the stage battle." but he doesn’t want to ruin Naoakira speech. "Maybe the invitation to the party came very suddenly, so we from The Cat Whisker say thank you and to Cozmez ..." will Naoakira do proclaim a declaration of war? “We wish you a happy birthday.” Out of nowhere Ryuu’s brought the cake in front of Cozmez, sing a happy birthday that followed by everyone “happy birthday dear Cozmez~ Happy birthday to you!” everyone around Cozmez claps.
Yohei looks at them from side and now they’re stunted by the surprise. Yohei only knew it when Naoakira made that speech, sometimes he can’t guess what’s in Naoakira’s mind at all. There’s silence for a while before the young one from Cozmez, Nayuta blow out the candle and finally Kanata followed his brother to blow out the candle. That's where this Christmas party starts, all of them are awkward trying to socialize with each other, he sees BAE members giving personal happy birthday greetings and gifts to Cozmez which is followed by the ramentei owner, he’s like Yohei doesn't know Cozmez's birthday but promises free ramen 5 times when they visit him.
“Yo, Yohei are you free to talk?” asked Iori who just pats his back, he nods "it's okay, so what do you want to ask Iori?" he asked, he knows his friend can be serious but, in crowd situations he covers his seriousness it with a goofy attitude. He leans to whisper in Yohei’s ear “how’s your progress with your beloved professor? I bet it’s still zero~” he smiles wickedly, sometimes he wonders why in the past he used to date Iori? Oh, it’s because he’s charming on his own way too.
"I thought you wanted to ask serious questions, apparently you want to ask things that have nothing to do with you." It feels like Yohei wants to smoke but he knows well not to smoke in front of the kids. "Hahaha, try to relax a little Yohei. After all this is a lively and happy atmosphere..." Iori sips his drink, "anyway, I don't know if this joy will last long." suddenly Iori's voice became serious, he opens his mouth to ask further what Iori meant "Young master, there’s delicious pudding here!" The conversation was interrupted when Zen approaches them and Iori return to put on a cheerful face.
"Thanks for telling me Zen, I hope the pudding is still there for me and someone won't eat it." "Hahaha, young master still grudges yesterday's troubles, huh?" "hahaha maybe? And don't call me young master, Zen" Iori looked seriously at Zen so that made him blush "yes... Iori.” wait, since when did Iori's love story blossom? Why couldn't he guess this? Isn't Zen quiet an airhead person? It turns out that Yohei needs to do a deeper catch up with Iori later, because he didn't expect the two of them to be dating.
The party going on and there’s jokes and seriousness at the night, of course Yohei is one part of this story he was, of course, quite happy all this time but today give encouragement to him to be happier. He can feel the Christmas spirit and blessed by it. He closes his eyes and smiles "Merry Christmas Everyone" before drinking the champagne in his hand.
The night continues until all of them parting to go home.
"Yohei come here please." hearing Naoakira's request he immediately get up from his seat in front of the fireplace, thankfully they didn't clean too much but for tomorrow it looks like he opens the bar later than usual to rest. “what do you need Saimon?” they haven’t celebrated the private party yet because Ryuu dragged Shikki to come with him to the park alas he also gave Yohei a wink? And said “we will back when you guys already made up!” he doesn’t understand that kid logic but he feels like Ryuu subtly mentions about his plan to confess.
"I feel the kids will come later, so I want to hand over my gift to you first." he takes out a small gift that was in his pocket "Yohei merry Christmas," he saw the gift slowly a lot of guess in his heart but he knows this isn’t like his gift because the box is bigger "you can open it if you want." Without a doubt he opens the present and find… a silver bracelet, the decoration is not too crowded but simple enough to suit her "ah, it's not a bracelet but an anklet." said Naoakira as he rubs his own head, "I don't know if this is fit your taste but as soon as I saw this, I felt this gift was for you, Yohei." he was speechless, he was stunned by Naoakira's gift and that makes Naoakira worry whether Yohei likes his gift? "Yo-" "Naoakira, thank you." He smiled broadly for the few times tonight, "I will wear this anklet and I appreciate your view of me, because this anklet is very nice." He takes the anklet out of the box, Yohei kneels down and put the anklet on his leg and as his expected it was pretty.
“Thank you Saimon it’s truly a pretty gift from you.” Naoakira beams a smile to him “really? I’m glad you like the gift, Yohei.” Ah, he feels this is the right time for him to take out his gift for Naoakira. He has been keeping this gift for a long time but he can only take it out now because he feels now is perfect time for him to express his love for Naoakira "I… also have a present for you Saimon." Slowly he takes out the gift from his vest, the gift has a small size so he can keep it there. Without a doubt, Yohei opens the gift box and reveal a silver ring with waveform embellishing the surface. "Yohei ..." Naoakira's mouth opens and cheeks redden, he’s amazed by the gift.
Yohei averts his gaze, taking a deep breath one, two, three he lets it out and faces Naoakira
“I… love you.”
It’s a simple sentence but to let it out from his mouth need a year of courage but, as soon as he finishes said it he doesn’t dare to look Naoakira's eyes because he knows that the possibility of him being rejected was high. The silence of the night suddenly feels heavy no one stops the silence until him; Naoakira asked Yohei.
"... why?"
The silence stop and the night continue ringing on Yohei's ears. His blood rushes to his cheeks and his heart pumping hard, he doesn't know if he can breathe right now. Out all answer Naoakira chose to ask why, he didn't count that. He takes a deep breath and let it out to brave himself to give the man a proper answer.
“Why what Saimon, I love you.” It’s quiet simple Yohei’s love for Naoakira it was born from admiration and their times together, he always looks at Naoakira from side at first he means it as to protect as one of his friend. Since she left their side, he begins to learn the man’s more, he knows in and out about Naoakira, his habit and how the sadness still has lingered him until now. Yohei can’t give Naoakira proper explanation but without a doubt he loves Naoakira.
“I’m very thankful for your love Yohei but, I don’t deserve your love.” Naoakira’s eyes clouded with sadness “you deserve someone better than me.” Yohei gulps and answer him “if there’s someone better then it will be you Saimon.” He remembers the moment he realized that he falls in love with Naoakira… it was quiet simple he has the thought of spending his life together with Naoakira, it was one of the moment where he wants to live longer than he expected.
“It doesn’t answer my question Yohei... to think someone amazing as you… love me. It’s too much to take.”
“It doesn’t hard to make someone like me love you Naoakira…” Yohei use his first name accidentally, but he won't stop his action to put the ring aside and reach Naoakira’s hand to bring it up to in front of his face “I love you, no words can describe my feeling for you.” He kisses the palm of Naoakira’s hand, and eyes never leave Naoakira’s face.
“I know I can’t take Tsubaki’s place in your heart…” because Tsubaki never left his hear too. “but please allow me to stay by your side.” he kisses Naoakira's little finger as a promise and the ring finger as his respect for Naoakira and Tsubaki, he knows that Tsubaki's place won’t be replaced, this was the same as him. Tsubaki has a special place in heart for both of them.
Naoakira suddenly sheds tears, "it's not fair, Yohei looks amazing when he confesses his feelings." He takes off his glasses and wipes his tears using his free hand, "I certainly can't say how I feel right now as love but, I like you… Yohei more than anything." his tears haven't stopped but Naoakira tries to stare at Yohei with sincerity "knowing that you like me feels like a dream, I don't want to wake up from this dream."
"hey hey stop with the nonsense, this is not a dream. I really love you Naoakira." without warning he kissed Naoakira's wet eyelid. “I love you,” he kisses Naoakira’s eyebrow, “I love you,” he kisses Naoakira’s nose “I really love you, Naoakira.” He finishes his action with a kiss on Naoakira’s forehead.
Without realizing it, Naoakira squeezes Yohei's hand and leans his face to capture Yohei's lips. Yohei little surprised by Naoakira action before he kisses Naoakira back.
This Christmas Eve unwittingly gives a blessing to each of them, maybe there are some question marks in their lives now and a moment when they feel down. However, that doesn't make the spirit of Christmas absence from to them. Christmas is a sacred moment for those who celebrate and gather with loved ones.
The cold tonight won't stop the flames of Christmas.
So does with their feeling.
Naoakira leans on Yohei's shoulder and squeezes his hand that slightly show new ring on Naoakira’s right ring finger in front of the fireplace, they smile as both children happy with their gift.
"I cherish you, Yohei."
and someday, I will proud to say I love you.
But that's another story because he doesn't know how their relationship will be in the future.
Merry christmas and happy new year.