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Yugi Amane woke, not to the sound of his fiancée’s giggles, or her obnoxious pop alarm, but to the ringing of his phone and the horrid tone Tsukasa had set for himself. He glanced toward the bedroom door, cracked open now that one of them was awake, and could hear Nene laughing as she got breakfast ready as he fumbled for his phone. He barely had the call accepted and up to his ear before his brother’s voice came screaming down the line.
“AMANE!! Christmas is in two days and I don’t have a big gift for Sakura! I know she said she didn’t want anything but there are four things for me under the tree and I only have three for her and-”
“Tsukasa! Calm down!”
Amane let his face fall into the sheets with a sigh, dragging a hand through his hair before he pulled Nene’s pillow closer and buried his face in it. It smelled like her strawberry shampoo, warm and soft like her skin.
“Amane!”
Right, his brother.
“I’m here. Listen,” he glanced at the door, making sure Nene was far enough away before he continued, “I still need to get a few things for Nene’s gift. She’s got a lunch date with Aoi-chan this afternoon so as long as you can get free, we’ll go find something for them, okay?”
“Amane, you're the best! I think Sakura has an appointment around then anyway so I can be sneaky. Gotta go or she’ll be suspicious about why I’m hiding in the laundry room again. Bye!”
The line cut abruptly, and Amane muffled a chuckle into the pillow before a small hand landed between his shoulder blades, rubbing soft circles into his skin. He tipped his head up, finding Nene’s bright face above him, her starlight hair pulled up into a messy bun as she leaned down to kiss him. Amane let his phone fall as he twisted and dragged her onto his arms, laughing as she squeaked as he peppered her face with kisses.
“Amane, no! Breakfast is going to burn!”
Her hands came up to his face, but only tangled in his hair instead of pushing him away, so he pulled her a bit closer and kissed her properly. He could spend all morning doing this, letting the warmth of her body and the gentle caress of her mouth lull him back into the haze of almost sleep. Right until the acrid scent of smoke had her shoving away with a shriek as she sprinted to the kitchen.
Amane pulled on a shirt as he rolled from the bed, hoping he looked properly chastised as Nene swung the burnt remains of pancakes in his face as he got a cup of coffee. There was something too adorable about her pout as she set to making more, and Amane set his cup on the counter so he could wind himself around her. She didn’t attempt to get herself loose, only readjusted his arms so she could work better, letting him sway them both to the quiet sounds of the radio.
“I’m going out with Aoi-chan later, remember. Do you need anything while I’m out?”
Amane shook his head and buried his face in the crook of her neck, smiling against her skin as she giggled.
“Nah; I’ve got to go see Tsukasa, so if I think of anything I’ll grab it while I’m out.”
“I heard him call. Is everything okay? He never calls this early in the morning.”
Amane pulled himself away as she flipped the last pancake onto the plate, taking it towards the table as she gathered up everything else.
“Nene, he called at five in the morning two days ago because he saw a cat on the windowsill and thought we should know. And sent pictures.”
“It was a very cute cat.”
He just rolled his eyes and started on breakfast, listening as Nene went over her plans for the day. She’d be gone most of the afternoon, so he promised to pick up something for dinner since he was sure Tsukasa would keep him out until the last moment to find the perfect gift, and neither of them would want to come home and cook.
They spent the rest of the morning lounging around, Nene sprawled across his lap reading while he finished up grading his student’s most recent quizzes until she got up to get ready. Once she was out the door, he snatched up his phone, dialing Tsukasa as he struggled into his shoes and hunted for his wallet.
“Amane!”
“She just left. I’ll meet you at the station in twenty, okay?”
“Okay!”
The dial tone was sharp in his ear, and Amane shoved the phone into his pocket with his wallet. He paused at their dresser for a moment, digging through the clump of socks for the tattered pair of star ones in the back and unfolding them. Inside was a little box, carefully hidden for the last couple of weeks from Nene’s prying eyes.
The ring he’d given to her when he proposed at the Tanabata festival a few months ago, just a simple circle of silver since it had been all he could afford at the time, had felt inadequate even as she sobbed out a yes and tackled him as the fireworks went off around them. But this ring, which he’d been saving up for since before then, was going to be her perfect gift. Tsuchigomori had called him a lovesick fool when Amane had found the meteorite band and matching moonstone ring set, and an idiot when he’d seen the price, but had helped Amane buy it anyway.
And as cliché as it was to re-propose on Christmas, he couldn’t stand to wait any longer. Tanabata was too far away, and Nene’s birthday was always spent out with their friends before coming home to collapse in bed. He shoved the little box back into the socks and the corner before hurrying out the door to meet with Tsukasa, and hopefully reel his brother in from spending too much money.
By some miracle, Amane made it to the station before his brother and was able to haul them along with a clear goal in mind. They dipped into stationery stores, tea and coffee shops, braved the wilds of the department store so Tsukasa could lurk through the lingerie before throwing his hands up with a huff because everything Sakura had was much nicer than this.
It was only when they were passing in front of a jewelry store that Tsukasa paused, snatching the edge of Amane’s coat in his fingers and tugging him back to his side. They stood shoulder to shoulder before the window, staring down into the display of glittering engagement rings before Amane turned.
“Tsu...what are you looking at?”
Tsukasa tipped his head towards his brother, face curiously blank, before he darted into the store. Amane was hot on his heels, confusion bubbling through him as Tsukasa flagged down one of the sales girls. Tsukasa and Sakura were already engaged, had been for three years now. And Sakura had a lovely engagement ring, a dark ruby set in a tangle of white gold and opals that matched her brooch almost exactly. Amane had been there when he’d picked it out, dismissing all the diamonds one after another until he’d zeroed in on the spill of blood-red gemstones and had it set within the hour.
So he was unsure why Tsukasa was nearly looming over the salesgirl with a manic grin on his face. He hooked his fingers into his brother’s collar and hauled him back a step, apologizing before Tsukasa took off for the case. And Amane could see now what had caught his attention as the girl lifted the card backing from the display and held it out. Pinned to the paper were a pair of earrings in the same set and shade as Sakura’s ring and brooch, and Tsukasa herded them to the register before Amane could check the price.
Not that price would stop his brother when it came to Sakura, just as it didn’t hinder Amane when it came to spending money on Nene. He’d lost count of the amount he’d spent on buying her new plants for their little garden, or hunting down the discontinued posters of her favorite bands, or the little standees of the silly manga she liked. When it came to Nene, there was no price to be put on anything if it brought a smile to her face.
“Amane! Amane, look! Nene-nee would love these!”
These happened to be a pair of glittering skull-shaped earrings that matched the pendant she’d worn as long as Amane had known her, and he handed them over to the cashier with a sigh as he pulled out his wallet. Tsukasa laughed at him, taking their bags as Amane shoved the receipt into his pocket without trying to look at the price. There'd be no trips to the countryside to go stargazing for a while.
They settled down in a little cafe to rest, Tsukasa pulling out his purchase to let the warm lights glitter off the stones as Amane watched him over the rim of his cup. This is what he loved about his brother, the bright happy enthusiasm that rolled through every bit of him when he’d found something delightful. Something that had almost been snuffed out of the both of them before Tsuchigomori had adopted them, and both Nene and Sakura had refused to let the darkness clinging to them win.
Even now, all these years later, it still surprised Amane that Nene loved him; first as a best friend then as his girlfriend, and now his fiancée. And he knew Tsukasa was the same way. Had seen his little brother startle on occasion at the soft touch of Sakura’s hand, much in the same way Amane startled when Nene would press a kiss with an “I love you” in it as she hurried out the door.
“Ne, Amane; are we still meeting at yours for gifts? Sakura wanted me to ask since she still has the floor ripped up.”
He nodded, setting his cup on the table as his phone chimed. That would be Nene, wondering if he was almost home and if he’d picked up dinner. Also, could he grab extra? She’d run into Sakura after her lunch date and invited her along. Amane chuckled and tucked his phone away, pulling the earrings from Tsukasa’s hands to drop back into the bag.
“Come on, the girls are together and want dinner.”
It was, like all of their family meals, an adventure. Tsukasa stole things from Amane’s plate, Amane gently demanded to be fed, and the girls suffered over cups of tea and wondered just why they had fallen for these two boys. By the time they left, Amane was exhausted and flopped over Nene to pin her to the couch beneath him.
“Amane!”
Her cheeks were bright pink as he curled his arms around her and nuzzled into her neck to make her giggle, planting sloppy kisses over her face to listen to her delighted shrieks.
“Amane, no! We still have to clean up!”
Despite her protests, Nene looped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, sighing happily as he snuggled into her.
“We put up most of it already. Just dishes left. We can do that later.”
She hummed in response, watching through half-lidded eyes as he pulled the blanket from the back of the couch and tucked it around them. She gave up the fight a few minutes later, her soft breathing evening out in the dim light of the lamp. Amane moved slowly, propping himself up to watch her sleep for a while before he gathered her up to take her to bed. It was easy enough to get her into her nightgown and under the covers, harder to untangle her hands from his collar and head back into the living room and kitchen to clean up their mess.
By the time he returned, teeth brushed and in his pajamas, she’d rolled into his spot and stolen his pillow. It took a little effort to get it loose and move her back, but it all worked out once he was beneath the covers. Nene shuffled right back to him, settling against his side and fisting her hand in his shirt as if he was inclined to leave her in the middle of the night.
The next morning was a rush of double-checking everything to make sure it was all in place for Christmas day. They were having lunch with Tsuchigomori, Tsukasa, and Sakura, and dinner with Nene’s parents tonight. They’d be out of the house all day, and Amane knew he needed time to wrap the last of Nene’s gifts. Luckily, she was of the same frame of mind and had sequestered herself in the den after breakfast to finish wrapping her presents.
Lunch went as Amane expected; Tsu causing chaos as he attempted to help in the kitchen, Nene crying as he crashed into her and nearly knocked her to the floor, and Tsuchi and Sakura slinking off to add whiskey to their teacups under the guise of ‘Look at this new book I found.’ All in all, it was just as Amane thought and he wouldn’t change a thing.
Dinner with Nene’s parents was much more subdued. Her mother fussed over him, lamenting the fact that he was so thin. He’d gotten used to extra helpings being piled on his plate over the years, more and more food shoved towards him until he’d had to lay on Nene’s bed for an hour with a happy tummy ache before he’d been able to go home.
And Nene’s father was just like her, small and round and a gardener by nature. But he never failed to have an astronomy journal or science article pulled up to discuss with Amane while their better halves gossiped in the kitchen. And when Amane had shyly shown his future father-in-law a photo of the little succulent that was still alive on his desk at school, the pride in the man’s face nearly made him cry.
He’d not expected to be drawn into Nene’s family so firmly and perfectly; not back when they were in school and still not today. It was still hard to accept the overflowing affection they had for him, and for Tsukasa who had so often trailed in his wake to come study in the afternoons. It was surreal, to sit here on their tiny couch while Nene was practically in his lap and open presents, to joke with her father and blush under her mother’s happy smile.
It took the better part of an hour to say their goodbyes, ladened down with their gifts and leftovers as they edged towards the door. By the time they got home and Nene had tucked the food into the fridge, all Amane wanted to do was collapse in bed and not wake until his brother was pounding on the front door tomorrow morning. That was until Nene held up the basket of bath supplies her parents had gotten her, and what kind of fiancé would Amane be if he let her try them alone? Someone had to make sure she was safe; why, there could be a ghost haunting their bathroom. It was all to keep her safe, he told her as she giggled under his bright, mischievous grin, and herded her into the tub.
The next morning came just as Amane was expecting it to, with the rapid pounding of fists against the front door and his phone screaming next to his ear. He struggled into a pair of pajama pants and a shirt and tugged the blanket up around Nene’s shoulders before shuffling to let his brother into the house. He was surprised by the wash of white behind them before Tsukasa hurled himself into his arms and took them down in the entryway.
“AMANE! Amane, look! It snowed! We should go make snowmen and make snow angels and...you have a hickey.”
Amane shoved his brother off and accepted the hand Sakura held out to pull him to his feet. He didn’t bother to reply, just shoved his finger against the bruise on Tsukasa’s own throat that was revealed as he unwound his scarf. His shameless brother only beamed and tried to take off for the bedroom before Sakura’s dainty hand curled in his collar.
“We need to get the rest of the things from the car.”
Amane laughed as she hauled him off, heading back to the bedroom to change into proper clothes. Nene must have gotten up when he left because she was already dressed in his favorite NASA hoodie and a pair of Christmas hamster themed pants. She turned her face up for a kiss before she toddled off to the kitchen to get breakfast ready, and he ignored Tsukasa’s gleeful shout as he came back in and found her.
Both he and his brother were banished from the kitchen when only Sakura's quick hand kept the stack of plates from meeting the floor, but that was just fine. As usual, Tsukasa had waited until the last minute to wrap his gifts, except for whatever he'd bought Amane, wrapped in four different kinds of paper and covered in glitter.
They worked together to get everything finished, each package hideously decorated but covered nonetheless. It was a throwback to happier times of their childhood when they would lay together on the floor for hours and work on craft projects that Tsukasa would tack up over his bed. And they may not look like Sakura’s neatly folded corners or Nene’s curled ribbons, but they brought the same joy when they were torn open.
And torn open they were after they’d had breakfast and Tsukasa had persuaded them out into the snow. And once they’d come in, sopping wet from head to heel to change into mismatched pajamas and warm cups of cocoa, Nene had herded them in front of their tiny tree to dole out gifts after the twins fought over who would get to set the star on the tree. There was a new tea set for Sakura and tins of her favorite teas and a few new ones from him and Nene.
And Amane still didn’t brace himself in time for Tsukasa’s tackle as his brother unwrapped his gift; a brand new art set to use with his students and several tubs of homemade glitter to torture Tsuchigomori with. And watching Nene’s face as she unwrapped her skull earrings, bright and happy to blubbering in half a second, dropped Amane back to the floor with laughter before she peppered his face with damp kisses.
And there were more gifts for him than he was expecting. A new case for his telescope from Sakura, a build-it-yourself replica of the Lunar Lander from Tsukasa, and a new NASA hoodie with his name across the shoulders from Nene. There were gift wrap and ribbons scattered across the floor by the time it was well past lunch, and Sakura and Nene left them to clean up as they headed into the kitchen.
Neither he nor Tsukasa was expecting them to come back only moments later with more gifts in hand and sat side by side on the couch as the girls looked nearly giddy. Amane watched the light glitter off Sakura’s new earrings as she leaned down and handed Tsukasa a package the same size and shape as the one Nene handed Amane. They tore into them together, and Amane’s breath caught as he realized what he was holding.
“It took a little work, to find a set of twin stars.”
Amane looked up from the certificate in his lap to Sakura’s gentle smile, then to Tsu who was just beginning to sniffle, before Nene reached out and tapped her finger on the edge of the paper.
“But we figured that you would appreciate these more than just any old stars.”
As if being given a star, much less a twin star, was anything to sneeze at. And he couldn’t even make fun of Tsukasa for crying and tugging on the ends of Sakura’s hair to bring her down into a kiss since he couldn’t even see Nene through his own tears. And everything was alright as they had lunch and watched a movie. As the snow piled up, Sakura sent Tsu out to the car to get their bags at Nene’s insistence since she’d rather have them stay then try and drive home.
Dinner was a warm affair, and they were all piled on the couch when Nene made a soft sound and jumped up and away, dashing for the office before she came back with another gift in her hands. Amane glanced over as Tsu and Sakura leaned closer before he turned to Nene who was blushing and fidgeting before she held it out. It was about the size of a poster board, but much sturdier, as he tore the paper from the top corner and froze before he ripped it clear.
“It took me forever to pick a date since there are so many that mean so much to me, to us,” Amane could hear Nene speaking, knew each word, but he was absorbed in the swirl of stars with the words “The Day We Met” in soft curling script beneath it, “and you said that you had never seen clearer stars then after the day we met. And I thought it was so sappy, especially since it was so cloudy the next day. But...I never forgot it.”
Amane looked up from the star chart and carefully set it down beside the couch before he sprinted to their bedroom, sliding on socked feet into the doorframe before disappearing into the darkness. He heard Nene calling for him, heard Tsu and Sakura calling as well, but he was too intent on finding the little bundle he’d had in his hands not four hours ago.
And he’d wanted this to be romantic, wanted to wait until his brother and future sister-in-law had gone to bed before he tried to woo Nene with all the mushy lines from the dime store novels that she loved to read. But all that was going through his head was that she needed this now, needed to know just how much she truly meant to him. Amane collided with her as he came back into the living room, knocking her gently to the couch before he kneeled at her feet and held up the little box in his fist.
“Socks?”
He blushed as he tore them away and sent them spinning across the room, but even his embarrassment was forgotten as Nene gasped and folded her trembling hands over her mouth. From the corner of his eyes, Amane could see Tsukasa rapidly patting Sakura’s hand in silent excitement, but the first sniffle from his future bride-to-be brought his whole attention back to her.
“I know I already got you a ring, and I know you said it was fine, but I told you when I proposed the first time that I was going to do this better, and do it right.”
He flipped the little box open and knew the second she took in the delicate twist of white gold and meteorite, realized the lights glittering off the moonstone set into the metal was to be placed on her dainty hand.
“I love you, Nene. Since the day you sat in front of me in Tsuchigomori’s stuffy classroom and said you wanted to be my friend, I have loved you. More than the moon, more than the stars, more than anything else in the world. And I will love you long after the last star in the last galaxy burns out. So, will you marry me?”
Nene’s burbling cry of “Yes!” was nearly washed out by Sakura and Tsukasa dragging the coffee table out of the way as she tackled him to the floor, his own tears mixing with hers as she kissed him. He gently sat her up in his lap so he could pull the silver ring from her finger and slide the proper one in its place.
“Oh, Amane! I love it, I love you, you idiot!”
He held up the matching wedding bands, letting the light flicker off them before he tucked them away.
“And in a few months, we’ll match. And I’ll be your idiot, forever.”
Nene laughed brightly before she burrowed into his chest with a smile, turning in his arms so she could hold out her hand for Tsukasa and Sakura to see. And Amane was content to shuffle them around so he could lean against the couch, letting her take pictures and call her parents, and Tsuchi, and Aoi as she cried happily in his embrace. And each moment was better than the last as she twisted to kiss him, or tipped her hand to let the light glitter off the stones.
Because Amane couldn’t think of a happier time; surrounded as he was by the people who he loved and who loved him the most. And for the first time since he was a child with wishing slips clutched in his hands, Amane felt that the stars weren’t out of his reach. In fact, he held the best and brightest in his hands and his heart.