Chapter Text
The teacher’s lounge was dark around Shouta. The faint glow of the moon outside the windows lit the man’s face as he leaned further over the stacks of documents and exams in front of him.
He was the only one left working at Christmas Eve, as his colleagues had wished him merry Christmas hours ago and trickled out of work and into their holiday, one by one.
It had started snowing outside, but Shouta did not stir from his seat.
The year had been stressful enough as it was, filled with work and busy schedules, and Shouta did not need any more distractions and annoyances like the constant Christmas carols in his ears, the bright light and colors everywhere he went.
If someone had asked Shouta, he would’ve said that Christmas was just pure, overrated, capitalistic humbu-
“Shouta, are you coming?” His husband’s voice paused Shouta’s thoughts and forced him to lift his head to look at Hizashi at the door.
“Huh?” He grumbled as an answer.
“Don’t you think it’s getting a bit late? Hitoshi has been watching Eri the whole day and I promised we’d be home before eight to decorate the tree with her, and-”
“I’m a bit busy, Hizashi.” Shouta gestured to the paper stack on his table, as if Hizashi didn’t already know how much work he had. In the last hours the papers only seemed to have multiplied, though.
“Well, yeah, but I already waited for you to finish a long time ago. The rest can surely wait until after Christmas.” Hizashi spoke with a hint of impatience in his voice.
Shouta didn’t like to argue, never did, but Hizashi wasn’t the only one getting impatient here.
“So, what do you suggest- That I’ll just let this work stack up until neither of us can have any free time? This is urgent- it’s important.”
“And the holiday with your family isn’t?” Hizashi crossed his arms.
Shouta glanced at the darkly lit figure at the door. He couldn’t tell what face Hizashi was making.
“I didn’t say that.”
“-but somehow it still sounds like you’d rather spend your Christmas working than with me and Eri. And Hitoshi is coming for dinner tomorrow too, and you know how long I’ve been planning this short break with the family-“
“You will get your festivities, Hizashi.” His voice had unintentionally risen, but Hizashi should know better. “You know how much I’ve been stressing about this villain case, and you know that our job is not something we can just ignore and switch off for something so-” He decided to shut his mouth until he slipped something that would make the situation even worse.
“Of course, I know, but this isn’t about that! This is about me trying to take your mind off of work! To see your child open presents and curl up on the couch with your husband to watch stupid Christmas movies! You need this.” Hizashi took steps into the room but still stayed in the shadows. Or maybe Shouta’s eyes were just too unfocused after hours of staring at numbers on paper. “We need this, Shou. It’s not always so easy to- I feel like we hardly even have time to just sit down and spend time with each other.”
Shouta sighed, rubbing his tired eyes.
It was not that Shouta disagreed or didn’t know what Hizashi was talking about. It had been too long since they had had time to really talk, and it, along with their colliding schedules, had put lot of strain on their relationship. It seemed that his students, even Eri, had noticed it too.
But they had time to talk when Shouta didn’t need to worry about work.
“I understand what you mean, Hizashi.” He noticed his husband’s shoulders finally lose their tension. “-but I promise I will only look through this stack of papers and then I’ll come home tonight. That just means I will have to finish things tomorrow, but I’ll make it for dinner.”
A silence stretched between them, a shiver running up Shouta’s spine for no apparent reason.
“So, you’re not coming home with me?”
“I just told you-“
“Fine.” Hizashi turned around, no emotion in his voice. Shouta ignored him for the time being.
Just as Shouta had immersed himself to the report in front of him, he heard Hizashi speak from the door quietly, carefully.
“Do you remember the first Christmas we spent together?”
“Wha- I can’t remember every Christmas we’ve had together.” Shouta brushed him off.
“But it was the first time that-“
“Hizashi, I’ve never been a Christmas person. You know that I never really enjoyed this holiday when I was a child. I don’t care about it as much as you do.”
“I know.” Hizashi’s voice became strained. “That’s why I promised myself that I’d always make our Christmases together something for you to remember and feel happy about.”
Before Shouta could answer, his husband had disappeared. The sentence made guilt rise up his throat, shifting his attention away from work for a moment.
He turned to look at the view outside, how the snow had now covered the trees in white and the city somewhere beyond them looked peaceful and quiet.
That’s all Shouta wanted- to finally feel some peace after months of no rest. He would have wanted to hear Eri gush about her present, to help Hizashi cook Christmas dinner and kiss him under the mistletoe, as cheesy as it all sounded to him. He also wanted to welcome Hitoshi into their home too, watch him settle in and be comfortable in the warm space that Hizashi had created alone this year.
Shouta hadn’t done much to help his husband, and his work was a plausible reason to leave all the responsibility to Hizashi. It was him who wanted all this anyway- Shouta didn’t need all the decorations, the constant carols and Christmas movies and ugly sweaters. It all seemed too artificial and fake to him, too much like they were trying to prove that everything was fine. Behind the cheery songs, Shouta could feel the unspoken tension growing between him and Hizashi.
Shouta just wanted to be home with his family, to feel the same magic of all the previous years he and Hizashi had spent together, the magic that wasn't created with decorations and mountains of presents.
But their argument soured Shouta’s mood again and cast a shadow on the clear night sky. Hizashi had no right to interfere with his job, either. It felt like an insult, that all the hard work Shouta did for them, for Hizashi and their family, was pointless.
Even if Shouta admitted that he had been neglecting his family for too long, it was all for them. They’d forgive him, they just didn’t understand yet.
Shouta sighed as he turned back to the papers and started to fill out the reports for the agency.
He only got through a few lines when he felt his eyes closing from exhaustion.
He drifted into deep sleep for only a few moments. As Shouta opened his eyes again, he felt a presence beside him.
A face he hadn’t seen for years was somehow staring at him, smiling as he shuffled through the papers on Shouta’s desk.
Shouta stumbled from his chair onto the floor, as if he had seen a ghost, and well-
“Oboro?!”