Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Well… Good morning, my husband…”

Mika watched his still half-asleep husband with a huge grin on his face. Manuel looked beautiful like this, the light coming through the curtains highlighting his vulnerable state. His hair was slightly messy, sprawled out over the pillow. Mika was so utterly in love with him, still, and the feeling of safety the whole situation provided was a very pleasant gut feeling he never wanted to lose, ever. He reached out and stroked his lover’s cheek, and the older man turned around, groaning softly – he didn’t want to be awake.

“Beh.. è ancora presto, vaffanculo..” He grumbled – it’s still early, fuck you – and Mika couldn’t help but chuckle. He knew he was an early bird, and that usually Manuel preferred sleeping in more than he did. He cuddled up to his husband more, hoping to get his attention. The world outside was beautiful right now, and he wanted his husband to see it as well.

“There’s snow!” He said, excited – this was the first time in a long while he’d actually seen snow at home, he couldn’t wait to go outside – and Manuel looked up, rubbing his eyes.

“…Cosa?”

“C'è la neve!”

That did catch Manuel’s attention, and he opened his eyes, raising an eyebrow. When he saw Mika’s face shining like the sun from excitement, he chuckled and sat up in bed. His boy pouted at the sudden loss of blankets and he pulled the blankets away again, resulting in a small blanket fight. Mika won, making Manuel helpless and cold against him. “Since I’m cold anyways… Wanna go outside?”

Mika jumped up from the bed and flapped his hands in excitement, trying to keep up his playfully annoyed attitude. “Who do you think I am, darling?” He joked, getting dressed as fast as he could. He couldn’t wait to get out in the snow, it looked like there was a lot of it. He honestly just wanted to be a kid again, to lie down on the ground and make snow angels, to have a snowball fight with his siblings. Or, in this case, with Manuel.

Manuel chuckled at his husband who had suddenly turned into a little kid, rushing down the stairs. “I’ll be right behind you!” He called down the stairs, unsure if his husband even processed him say it, since he heard the sounds of shoes being put on, and him quietly shushing Amira and Melachi, who’d woken up from his excited yet loud stumbling down the stairs.

As he promised, Manuel soon joined him downstairs. They hadn’t even eaten breakfast yet, and the sun was just rising, but Mika was already wrapped up in his coat, gloves and scarf. To be honest, Manuel thought he looked absolutely adorable.

Before he could say it, though, Mika somehow saw something switch in his gaze and raised an eyebrow. “Don’t bring it up.” He playfully ordered, and Manuel chuckled, gesturing as if he was zipping his mouth with a zipper.

“Not a word, amorino. Not a single word.”

When Manuel was also properly dressed for the weather in a big coat, they finally stepped outside. As soon as Mika set foot in the snow, he squealed and flapped his hands excitedly. He put his other foot outside as well, and just stood there on the doorstep, mesmerized and positively overwhelmed by everything. He set a few steps, and once again squealed at the sounds it made in the snow. He was so excited he almost jumped up and down, not being able to hold in his emotions. Somehow, his brain was being so extremely happy that he couldn’t process any of his emotions, resulting in a feeling of not being able to breathe.

“If you’re okay with it, it would probably help to lie down,” Manuel’s gentle voice was close to his ear, a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll lie next to you.” Both of them were dressed in a thick, longer winter jacket, a scarf and Manuel wore a hat to protect his hair from getting wet, since it was still snowing quite heavily – so, they wouldn’t freeze when lying down. Mika nodded, walking to the bit of grass in front of their house with a huge grin on his face, walking like a young deer – he kept jumping and squealing happily. Manuel watched his husband with a gentle smile, and sat down on the snowed-in grass next to his husband.

“It’s okay, tesoro,” He whispered to his husband, who just hummed and leaned his head against Manuel’s shoulder. They sat like that for a while, Mika fidgeting with his gloves, practically sitting on his husband’s lap. He calmed down slowly, his excitement still lasting, just a bit less intensely. Obviously Mika had seen snow before, but this was the first time this year – quite a special year, with its ups and downs. Plus, Milan was a warm city, that was why he’d moved there in the first place.

Soon, Mika was comfortable standing again, and so they did. They had a walk through the calm part of the center of Milan – it was still early in the morning, around eight, so there were barely people outside – and eventually they stopped at the Giardini Pubblici, one of the public parks of the city. The whole park was full of snow, and Mika couldn’t help himself as soon as they entered it. He ran over the grass excitedly, and let himself fall down in it.

Before Manuel could say anything, Mika grinned mischievously and started loudly yelling the lyrics to his own song, Rain, while still lying down on the ground. Manuel snorted and shushed him. “Mika!” He hissed, “Ssshhhh! There are people here, honey!”

Mika just looked him in the eyes and raised an eyebrow, then closed his eyes and chuckled, sitting up. He then continued just as loudly as before, not minding any of the people who were watching them annoyedly. “I’M NOT ANGRY, DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO-”

“Mika!”

“What?” His smile widened and he stood up, “Am I doing anything wrong, Manu?”

Manuel shook his head and scoffed light-heartedly. He knew his husband was just teasing, yet this time Mika really was succeeding. He didn’t want to seem like a game-breaker, a boring boomer, but he really wanted him to be a bit quieter. “There are people here!”

“As if I care…” The Lebanese answered wittily, the teasing smile still on his face. However, he’d sensed that Manuel was being serious, so he took his advice and decided to be a bit quieter indeed. He was hyper, though, so he didn’t care about anyone or anything right now. He just wanted this happy feeling to last.  “Y’know what,” He continued, getting an idea all of a sudden, “let’s do something weird!”

Chapter Text

Continuing right where we left off…

“Y’know what,” Mika said, getting an idea all of a sudden, “let’s do something weird!”

“Do tell, I’m already interested.” Manuel said with a grin, helping his husband stand up from his place on the grass. Mika took his hand and muttered a soft thank you, but didn’t let his hand go. Instead, he kept his hand in his and put another one on Manuel’s hip.

“May I have this dance?” He asked playfully – it was very clear he was having the time of his life, his face was almost split in two by the pure happiness in his smile. Manuel simply nodded, chuckling to himself. He wasn’t a good dancer – there was a reason he’d ignored Mika’s on-the-table-dance during XFactor last year – nor was he sure why Mika even wanted to do this in the first place, but he wasn’t one to object such a graceful offer.

Mika somehow flapped his hands a bit all the while still holding on to his husband. The butterflies he still felt sometimes, the rush of happiness, was only amplified by the fact they could now be open about everything, they could just be weird in public together and no-one would question it. Well… They would question it, the big media would just care less.

His husband really was a beautiful man, inside and out. The fact that he didn’t even question it when Mika wanted to lie down on the ground, the fact he understood it that his lover became a hyper bouncy ball of positive energy when snow had fallen – alternatively; he became a 6-year-old ADHD kid, the nurturing energy Manuel held for him even though he was getting annoyed at how damned loud he was. The last part, even Mika understood.

“Are we going to dance or are you gonna stare at my face all day? If it’s the latter, I’ll go home, my body is starting to turn into ice.” Manuel’s voice got him out of his trail of thought, and he felt his cheeks burn a bit – thank god it was snowing, he could play it off as his face being cold. Obviously, Manuel saw right through it, and he grinned, pressing a kiss to his cheek and embracing him gently. “You’re adorable, Meeks.”

“Am not!”

“Oh, but you are.”

Mika fake-pouted, looking away from Manuel simply because the adrenaline, the happy feelings and the overwhelmingly positive mood he got from him would otherwise be too much. His husband knew this, obviously, but didn’t comment on it since they were currently playing a game, and he didn’t want to be a game-breaker. “I…” Mika tried to save himself, tried to come up with a good reason that would convince his lover that he was not, in fact, an adorable man. “I, uh.. I’m taller than you! I can’t be cute if I’m taller than you..”

“That’s very wrong, tesoro. You are taller than me yet still very much adorable.” Manuel paused in his sentence and chuckled, clearly having thought of something funny to say. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have married you, you know? It’s too difficult, a partner who is taller than me. It limits in a lot of ways. One; I can’t always carry him bridal style. Two; he can pick me up if he wants-”

“I can’t, I’m weak.”

“-simply because he’s taller. And younger. I’m old.” Manuel then processed what Mika had said and raised an eyebrow, the same way he raised an eyebrow at XFactor when he doesn’t think a candidate is that good, but still interesting. “You’re not weak, what are you talking about?”

“I’m joking. No, half joking. Well.. No, actually.. I’m… I mean, it’s also true. But not that true. Actually, I did mean it as, like…” Mika tried to explain himself, but fell silent and burst into laughter. “I, uh, I also don’t know.”

“Are you okay?” Manuel joked, chuckling as well.

“Nahh… You know me, dear. I am a mentally unstable neurodivergent person with trauma.”

“Is this a form of humor I don’t understand?”

Mika nodded, a teasing grin on his face. “Mhm, you’re a boomer…” He said, which were the ‘banned words’ in their household – that wasn’t true, they just liked joking around with each other constantly. Mika was ‘barely a kid’, and Manuel was the ‘grandfather’. Or, alternatively, ‘Santa’. He knew he had to pay for saying the word, and he was curious as to how Manuel would ever-…

A snowball hit him right in the face, and he stood dead in his tracks, bursting out in laughter once again. It was cold. Very, very cold. He hadn’t expected Manuel to actually initiate a snowball fight, but he was a huge supporter. “Oh, you bastard!” He said, picking up snow himself and forming it into a ball. He threw it towards his husband, and it hit its target easily.

“Cazzo-” Manuel swore as cold snow hit his neck – he’d turned away from Mika to stop him from throwing a snowball in his face, but this was much worse. The already melting snow went down the collar of his shirt, down his back. “I’m a bastard, caro? That was much worse!”

The very violent and not-at-all loving snowball fight didn’t last very long, soon, they were both too cold to continue, so they decided to just go home. It wasn’t that long of a walk, but since Mika was quite sensitive to temperature now that he’d let out his hyperactive excitement, he was shivering by the time they’d returned home, and his lips were colored blue.

“F-Fuck-king f-finall-lly,” Mika stammered when he entered the cozy warmth of their house. Manuel chuckled, and helped Mika get out of his jacket and shoes. His boy looked up at him gratefully, and he gave him a small kiss on his forehead.

“I’ll get you a blanket and some hot chocolate, you can go lie down on the couch in the meantime.”

Mika nodded, walking over to the living room. He sighed in contentment when he sat down on the couch, still slightly shivering. He was happy, so incredibly happy, that he got to spend this small moment with his husband, even though this wasn’t the first time he’d shared a snow-moment with Manuel. He enjoyed it all the same. He was grateful for every second he got to spend in his husband’s presence, really. His life couldn’t possibly get bad right now, he knew that for sure.

“Hey,” Manuel said gently, sitting down next to him. “As I promised…” He put down a tray with breakfast and hot chocolate – they’d been outside for hours yet hadn’t even eaten breakfast yet. He then wrapped the both of them up in a fluffy blanket, and Mika cuddled up to him, softly humming a tune that Manuel faintly recognized as ‘Let It Snow’.

“It’s not Christmas anymore, you know that?” He teased him, and Mika shrugged, mumbling something incoherent. His boy nuzzled his face in the crook of Manuel’s neck, who tightened his arms around him and stroked his back in an attempt to warm him up a bit.

“You’re beautiful,” He whispered softly, “and I love you so much..”

“M’love you too…”