Chapter Text
Corrin was running late. That wasn’t exactly unusual for him, but this time he could at least blame it on outside conditions rather than his own poor time management skills. The first snow of the year had finally arrived this morning, and the roads were a mess as a result. Everybody always forgot how to drive in the snow for the first few snowfalls. Usually, he stayed at home to wait out the wintery chaos, but he needed to finish his Christmas shopping.
Hence why he was here, standing in the middle of Pokémart with a list of people he needed to shop for and his wallet all but shaking from fear in his pocket.
He grabbed a blue plastic cart, cursing the weather- seriously, why did it wait until late December to start snowing?!- and his own idiocy for putting this off until now. The Christmas party was literally later today, for Anakos’ sake!
First things first: Corrin needed to find a gift for Robin, who was his Secret Santa partner. This would be easy. All he needed to do was find a romance novel or two and some very, very bitter chocolate. He’d never been more thankful for his attention to detail when it came to his friends. Otherwise, Corrin would have no clue what to get for him.
Once he’d grabbed Robin’s present, he moved on to gifts for his other friends. He had already taken care of his siblings’ presents, as he’d done all of that online, so he was able to leave once he finished picking out new socks for Link. And, as a bonus, it didn’t end up totally murdering his wallet!
Corrin checked his watch as he approached his car. Good, he had time to stop for hot chocolate. Factoring in the time it would take him to wrap the presents and then drive over to Zelda’s cabin, he would be cutting it a little close, but he’d make it in time for the party. He placed the presents in the trunk of his car, then hurried to get inside his car. It was so cold outside and for what? Ugh, this was going to make the roads disgusting by the time evening rolled around.
Based on this, he decided he would go back to his apartment first and then walk over to his favorite coffee shop. Being warm while he got his hot chocolate wasn’t worth the risk right now.
Luckily, Corrin didn’t encounter any trouble on the short drive over to his apartment. He ran up to his apartment to drop off the presents, then ran back down to the lobby. Once he exited the apartment building, he made sure to walk, rather than run, to prevent slipping on the ice. As expected, the cold had him absolutely miserable for the three blocks he needed to walk.
Seeing the familiar brown brick facade of No Beans About It felt like seeing an oasis in the desert. Perhaps that was an overstatement, but Corrin was damn cold. He hated being cold. It made it hard to think- especially if other parts of his body were warm. So, he all but stumbled inside the shop, sighing in relief as the warm air inside enveloped him.
Given that he was so focused on his goal of the counter, he all but ran right into someone who was on their way out, drink in hand.
“Watch it!” they exclaimed, though they didn’t sound angry.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry-” Corrin stammered. He stepped back and adjusted his coat. It didn’t look like the drink had spilled. At least, if it had, none of it had gotten on him. He looked up at the unfortunate individual he had run into, and it felt like all the air had been knocked out of his lungs.
They were incredibly handsome.
Whatever else he had wanted to say completely left his brain as he froze up.
“...listening to me?”
“Sorry, what?” Corrin asked, feeling himself flush bright red. Anakos have mercy, he’d zoned out so hard he had missed whatever this hot stranger had to say.
“I asked if you were alright,” they repeated. Ugh, even their voice was attractive. “You seem a little out of it.”
“Yes! Yes, I’m fine.” Corrin took a deep breath to steady himself and picked absent-mindedly at one of the zippers on his coat. “Your drink didn’t spill or anything, right?”
“No, I’m okay,” they responded. After a moment of thought, they went fishing around in their pocket for something, before producing their wallet. They grabbed a five-dollar bill and held it out to Corrin.
Corrin was very tempted to bury his face in his hands and/or crawl into a hole and die. This was unbelievably embarrassing. Why did he always make a fool of himself in front of anybody who was mildly attractive? “You really don’t have to do that, I’ve got money.”
“Well, you seem a lot more rattled than I am about this whole thing. If I had to guess, you’re having a rough day and running into a stranger like this probably isn’t helping, so… here.” They offered the bill to him again.
Yeah, that’s it. He’s literally going to melt into a pile of Corrin-colored goop. Why did they have to be so nice? This was unbelievably unfair. (But also very appreciated. Corrin chose not to think about the unexpected lump forming in his throat at a basic act of kindness. Anakos, he’s pathetic.)
“Thank you. Um. You really don’t have to do this,” Corrin whispered as he accepted the money. His face was undoubtedly bright red by this point. At least he could just say it was the cold, right?
The handsome stranger shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. I hope the rest of your day goes better.”
Corrin stepped out of their way so they could actually leave. His eyes were practically glued to them as they walked away.
Only once they had disappeared did it occur to Corrin that he never got their name.
-/-/-/-
“Corrin, where the hell are you?” Zelda asked, sounding exasperated even through his phone’s awful speakers.
Corrin winced. “I’m stuck in traffic, Zel. I’ll be there soon, I think?”
“You left late, didn’t you?”
“I’m going to respectfully decline to comment on that.”
“Dude, seriously.”
“I lost track of time while wrapping presents. Can’t get mad at me for wanting to do a good job.” Corrin chose not to mention that he’d gotten rather distracted by replaying the encounter with the handsome stranger several times over in his head.
Zelda sighed. He could practically see her pinching the bridge of her nose in mock disappointment. (Or maybe it was real disappointment. She was undoubtedly very stressed, and stress like this made her temper much more volatile.) “How far away are you?”
“Fifteen minutes once I get out of traffic. Is your brother there yet?”
“Why do you think I’m calling you?”
“You’re joking.”
“Nope. You’re the last one to arrive.”
Corrin was very tempted to smack his head on the wheel, so he did just that. After making sure that he was in a position where it was safe to do so, of course. “Damn it. I’m sorry, Zelda.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Zelda said, her voice softening a little bit to soothe him. “It’s not your fault.”
“No, it totally is.” Corrin craned his neck to see what the traffic ahead of him looked like, and was very relieved to see that it was starting to move easier. “Hang on, I think the traffic is clearing a bit. I’ll be there soon.”
With that, he pressed the ‘end call’ button that was conveniently located on his steering wheel. Bluetooth was truly a godsend.
Fifteen minutes turned into something more like thirty minutes. There had been a crash up ahead, but once Corrin got past the site of the incident, it was smooth sailing until he reached the cabin. He parked his car and readied himself for the juggling act that would be carrying the presents inside.
He barely managed to walk up to the door without dropping anything. Zelda opened the door after he kicked it a few times to knock, and she took a few things from him to make it easier.
“Look who made it!” Roy exclaimed as Corrin walked inside. “Good to see you, buddy.”
Corrin grinned at the energetic redhead. “Yeah, no kidding. Traffic was awful.”
“Well, now that everybody’s here, we’ll start the Secret Santa in about an hour. Everybody make sure to put those under the tree at some point. We’ll also do other presents at that time. Until then, try not to burn the place down, because my brother and I need to finish cooking dinner,” Zelda said once she had finished setting the presents she’d taken from Corrin under the tree. “Lucina, you’re in charge.”
“What? Why her?” Link exclaimed. “I’m much more responsible.”
“No, fuck you.” Zelda stuck her tongue out at him on her way back to the kitchen. “If you want to help, Sheik and I would greatly appreciate your culinary skills.”
“Fiiiine.” Link stood and followed her into the kitchen.
Corrin placed the remaining presents he had bought under the tree and promptly took the spot that Link had previously occupied. Marth looked up from his phone, looking much more forlorn than he usually was during this time of year.
“You look terrible,” Corrin observed.
“Caeda’s stuck at the airport for another day. The snow is really bad in Archanea this year,” Marth responded. He flopped onto the armrest of the couch and sighed dramatically. “I miss her.”
“Aww, poor baby,” Roy cooed mockingly. He leaned over to ruffle Marth’s hair in a way he knew that he hated. “Whatever will you do without her?”
“Shut up!” Marth slapped Roy’s hand away. “Ugh, maybe it’s for the best that she won’t be here in time to meet all of you.”
Robin gasped and placed a hand on his chest. “I’m wounded. Truly wounded. We’re wonderful, why wouldn’t you want your girlfriend to meet us?”
“I don’t want you to scare her away!”
“It’s a miracle you haven’t done that yourself!”
Corrin watched with a smile on his face as the conversation devolved into pointless (yet good-natured) bickering. It felt good to see all of his friends again. Now that they were all off doing their own things, without the shared experience of going to the same high school, it was a lot harder to meet up like this.
…still, he couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit bitter that it seemed like literally all of his friends (minus Roy) were in stable relationships, and here he was, all by himself. Marth talking about his girlfriend right away and being so disgustingly in love with her wasn’t helping matters much. Usually, Corrin wasn’t bothered by reminders of his single status, simply because he thought it didn’t really matter to him.
Well, whatever. He wasn’t going to let something so petty get him down.
-/-/-/-
An hour later, Zelda emerged from the kitchen once more, Link and someone who must have been her brother Sheik in tow. From where he was sitting, Corrin didn’t get a good look at his face, just the back of his head. Something about the color of his hair or maybe his haircut seemed familiar, but Corrin just couldn’t place it. Besides, that would be weird. He’d never even met Sheik before. Zelda talked about him a lot. He was a hotshot up-and-coming game developer living in Hyrule who she hardly ever saw anymore. Apparently, he’d gone to school with them, but Corrin couldn’t remember seeing him once.
“Okay everybody, we’re going to hand out presents now! Sheik is going to take care of it, so no biting. I’m looking at you, Link.” Zelda clapped her hands and gestured to her brother when appropriate. He gave a little wave as his role was announced- if Corrin wasn’t mistaken, his shoulders were tense. He must be nervous, but for what? “Alright, go!”
Sheik started towards the tree, picked up a present, and turned around.
Corrin bit down hard on his tongue to keep himself from gasping or saying something really stupid. Holy Anakos above, that’s the guy from the coffee shop!
He sat there, completely nonplussed, as Sheik handed out the presents. Corrin both dreaded the moment when Sheik called his name and walked over to him and really, really couldn’t wait for that to happen.
“Ah, it seems like the last few are going to Corrin?” Sheik said.
The sound of his name pulled Corrin out of his thoughts and he (embarrassingly) flinched a little bit. “That’s me,” Corrin responded, raising a hand to help him out more.
Their hands brushed ever so slightly as Sheik handed the presents over, which was just enough to turn Corrin into a flustered mess. Hopefully, he didn’t recognize him from earlier. That would be absolutely mortifying-
“Are you the one I ran into earlier? In the coffee shop?” Sheik asked with a funny little smile on his face that was very distracting.
“I was the one who ran into you…” Corrin said, averting his eyes and rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. “But yes. That was me. Hi.”
“Your name is cute. It suits you.” Sheik winked at him and walked away.
Corrin flushed bright red and buried his face in his hands.