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A little more to the left…
Too far. To the right?
No! Argh, too much. Again.
Ran held tightly onto the portable stairs and -for what felt like the hundred time that afternoon- moved herself away enough to get a full view of the door to Hazawa Coffee’s storage room. She wanted to get an exact estimate of how much needed to adjust the plastic hanger with a lush ornament.
She narrowed her eyes to focus on a small indent in the doorframe's wood. That seemed to be close enough to the center, she'd use it as reference.
The hanger just needed to be moved a little bit and...
“That looks plenty centered to me~”
Ran almost lost her balance when the playful voice came from behind.
"For how long have you been watching?!" She barked and turned her head to Moca, who was looking up at her with mischievous eyes.
"Enough to notice you've been suspiciously particular about mistletoe placing this year~"
"Wha- I haven't! Himari just asked me to do this." Which wasn't a lie, but nobody needed to know Ran had wanted to do it. She quickly averted Moca’s gaze and proceeded to put the hanger right above the mark.
"Sure~" Moca drawled, obviously seeing through the façade. "I also suppose this is more about you caring for the ornament you made rather than your new plus one, right?~"
Right. Because Ran... had also volunteered to do the arrangement...
"C-cut it out," she said, patting the leaves to keep them still and organized.
But Moca was right. Half a year ago, during a summer festival they went to with their friends, after a full night of sharing and being extremely close together, Ran had finally managed to confess her feelings for Yukina under the fireworks- they shared their first kiss back then, too, and the two had begun dating ever since.
Winter time had come in a flash, which meant the annual Afterglow Christmas party had to be held. It was tradition, at this point, and although this wasn't Yukina's first time attending, it was her first as Ran's girlfriend. That, coupled with their 6th month anniversary fast approaching -Ran liked to pretend she didn't care about such small milestones, but the prospect made her giddy- of course she had plans...
Plans to kiss Yukina… under the mistletoe...
"A-anyway," Ran stuttered, shelving those embarrassing thoughts away, "shouldn't you be helping out with the food?"
"That? We already ate it and all, with how long you've been taking to hang that up~" Moca lazily leaned on the stairs and shrugged. "I dunno, though, because by the looks of it I hope Mitake-kun remembers to remain decent with her lady. There will be children around, y'know~"
"I wouldn’t go overboard with Minato-san!"
At that, Moca raised a brow. "So you were thinking of kissing her~ hehe~"
Ran was about to give Moca a piece of her mind when the shop's bell rang and Tomoe came in carrying two big boxes with missing ingredients and decorations, followed by Himari who was visibly worrying over the checklists in her hands. Tsugumi quickly beckoned them into the kitchen.
"Whoop, that's my call. And yours too to move past the mistletoe if you wanna have a party to invite Minato-san to~" Moca walked away with her hands in her pockets. "These decorations won't put themselves up, my dear Ran~"
"Fuck you."
"Love you too~"
Ran groaned. Great, now the little pest that was her best friend knew about this and wouldn't leave her alone. Whatever happened didn't matter anymore because Moca would for sure tease her either way. Fantastic.
No, no. Ran took a deep breath.
It did matter. Ran Mitake was going to kiss Yukina Minato under that mistletoe decoration and they'll share their future together, happily. Because that's what mistletoe was supposed to grant, yes.
But again, Moca was right and they had a party to prepare for, so she made her way down the stairs and looked up one last time.
The mistletoe was perfectly hung up in there.
This was going to be fine.
Everything was fine.
The party had been ok.
There had been a lot of good food -with Lisa and Sayo bringing cakes of their own, it was enough for Moca to eat to her heart's content-, and silly games -Which the Udagawas had lead, hence the "silly" part- and at least one of Himari’s classic 'hey, hey, hoh's for a cheer when they'd break out the -non alcoholic- eggnog. Really, just the same as always.
Right now, though, it was getting late, so everyone started doing their own thing while they still had time to share. Ran was slumped against the doorframe to the storage room, looking out at the café's open lobby as her eyes followed Yukina this whole time, wishing for her girlfriend to finally finish what she was doing and come stand here with her.
The waiting had already cost Ran -uncomfortably- witnessing several kisses between her friends, as well as the first-hand encounters of a forehead kiss with Ako and Tsugumi, and an awfully awkward hand kiss with Rinko.
"Just go out and kiss Minato-san if you want~" Moca had said to Ran after her turn with Lisa under the lush ornament...
The problem was that even after all this time, Ran was still very shy around PDA, which was why she'd planned to frame this as an accident or a coincidence. On her own volition, Yukina had given her a sneaky peck on the cheek before, and they even held hands to dance -on Himari's insistence, though Ran couldn’t shake away her own embarrassment-, but she couldn't count any victories yet until she kissed Yukina. On the lips.
And it had to be under this mistletoe because… everyone and their partners got the chance to do it. Ran wanted in on that.
When Yukina finally seemed like she was approaching, with a plate of cherry cake in her hands, Ran straightened her posture.
This was it.
"Minato-san," Ran nodded in acknowledgment, though she also accidentally tensed up, pressing her crossed arms closer to her chest.
Yukina paid no mind to Ran's body language. "I thought we had agreed to call each other by our names."
"R-right… sorry, Yukina…" the mentioned smiled softly at Ran. She wasn’t used to calling Yukina by… that… in public, but if she got more smiles like that then maybe it was worth it.
And now that Yukina was here, settling herself on the contrary side of the doorframe, Ran glanced up for the thousand time to see they were in the right place- The mistletoe was obviously still there, but before her face could get redder, and Yukina could tease about it, Ran shifted the conversation.
"What are you having?"
Yukina cut a piece with her fork. "Ako said it was cherry cake." She brought it up to her mouth and Ran's eyes were fixed on the way her girlfriend's lips moved as she ate, but she looked up when Yukina said, "hm, it's good. Do you want some?"
Ran waved her hand. "I'm fine. I had too many cookies earlier."
Nodding, Yukina continued calmly eating the cake, oblivious to how Ran's shifted her gaze periodically from Yukina, to the ceiling, to the rest of the coffee shop, thinking.
This had to be perfect.
Risking being caught by everyone wasn’t an option, so discretion and good timing were key. The mistletoe had to be exactly overhead, to frame it as a "necessity" for tradition. And lastly, Yukina had to finish that cake or else it would get in the way.
"Would you like this one, at least?" Yukina interrupted Ran's calculations to offer the cake's cherry, which she held up to Ran with her fingers.
Ran blushed. The idea of Yukina hand feeding her was… it made her head spin. "Y-you don't want it?"
"I know you like fruits." Yukina shrugged. "Say 'ah'."
And Ran knew arguing with Yukina on this was useless, so she swallowed her pride and opened her mouth. Yukina gently laid the cherry inside and pulled her hand away, the grazing of her fingers against Ran's lips sending a shiver down her spine as she chewed slowly. Ran's heartbeat sped up when she saw Yukina's eyes glint in some way Ran sure wasn't appropriate for the setting, and the eldest wasted no time in licking the remaining cherry jam off her fingers- the same fingers that had touched Ran, no less!
Her girlfriend could be such a tease at times.
Ran's face was burning, mind running a mile a minute and this was only an indirect kiss under the mistletoe… Fucking hell. It would've been a good time to get things over with but she needed some time to gather some courage.
"Ran?" Yukina seemed to have other stuff in mind, as she paused for a second, and the raven-head had to hum to urge her girlfriend to continue. "I have been meaning to ask, but why have you been standing under this odd weed for most of the party?"
Oh no. Had she been so obvious and desperate that Yukina had noticed or-
Wait.
'Odd weed'???
"What do you mean…?" Ran asked, slowly. There was no need to jump to conclusions.
Yukina bluntly pointed at the… the mistletoe. "That thing. You have been looking at it this whole time, haven't you?"
"You… don't know what it is…" Ran didn't phrase it as a question because now that she thought about it…
The possibility of Yukina Minato not knowing about mistletoe, though not foreseeable, it unfortunately made sense.
Just.. to make sure: "um… the mistletoe…?" And much to her dismay, Yukina tilted her head at Ran's slow words. "You know, with the tradition where you have to um, kiss whoever is underneath it with you… for good luck in relationships. Or something. And if you don't then… you'll be cursed. I think." The eldest looked at Ran with wide eyes. "That's what Himari says… at least…"
A tiny, "oh," was Yukina's only word.
And it made Ran feel stupid, because she couldn't even be mad.
Mistletoe was one of those western traditions she only knew from watching horrible Christmas rom coms with Himari -as well as the latter suggesting adding it to their parties-, and although Lisa could've mentioned it to Yukina before, she probably never cared to remember any details.
Yet Ran had planned this for so long, rehearsed how she was going to do it -perfectly, to satisfy Yukina's (and her) standards- and it had all been for nothing...
Yukina frowned, noticing how Ran was staring blankly into the distance. "Were you standing under it to get a chance to kiss me...?"
Ran didn't trust her voice. She looked down and shrugged, her crossed arms hugging her chest tightly. Yukina hummed and looked up again. "Did you need to use a plant as an excuse to do that?"
"Well… no, but… Argh! Forget about it. It's nothing..."
"You care about it. It cannot be 'nothing'."
"... The moment was ruined anyway."
Ran could see out of the corner of her eye that Yukina sighed and turned to place the plate over a nearby table. She felt a little sorry with her girlfriend for throwing a tantrum over something so minor but… she really had wanted this to work out, just like it often did for everyone else… but her.
After some time in silence, Yukina brought her hand up to cup Ran's cheek, making her look at her senior. Yukina's eyes were so gentle, but they looked straight into Ran, concern written all over them.
"Is it too late to fix it?" Yukina asked.
Tearing her sight from sympathetic golden eyes, Ran glanced up.
Maybe it wasn't… or they could risk suffering the mistletoe curse, which, if true, just wouldn't do at all, would it?
So Ran took a deep breath and relaxed her shoulders. "I guess not… if you're ok with it."
"If what you say is true, we have nothing to lose, do we?"
Ran nodded, regaining some confidence. Yukina's lips curled at the corners and she started leaning in, as did Ran.
The motion was familiar, and so was the feeling of the kiss when they were finally that close, of Yukina's hand on her nape and Ran's on Yukina's waist, holding each other in place. Together. The world was reduced to the taste of whipped cream and sugar, so warm and overwhelming to the point Ran could almost ignore the tiny familiar lazy chuckle and excited gasps in the distance.
A new wave of energy surged through her when Yukina pressed deeper, hoping to erase all distance between them.
'Invigorating' would be an understatement for this feeling, but perhaps that was the key to the mistletoe effect; the reason it's said to bring good luck and success to couples could be only for the immense joy it brought, amplified by superstition. Whatever it was, Ran hoped this wouldn't be the last time she felt like this with Yukina, her girlfriend.
Even with all that had happened, at least she got what she wanted in the end...
And she would relish in it for as long as she had the chance.