Chapter Text
One thing about Japan was that it was so much colder than America when the wintertime came.
Sure Dorian had been warned of the massive temperature drop, but that didn’t mean he was actually prepared for it! The man was from fucking Georgia- of course he wasn’t expecting to be freezing his tits off here. He’d thought he could handle it!
But he was extremely wrong, and his dear friend Toshinori was the one that had to put up with most of his complaining.
“I just don’t get it, Toshi. It’s FALL. There’s no damn reason for it to be cold as balls in FALL. It used to be my favourite season! Japan stole my favourite season by giving me frostbite!” he rambled on, throwing his hands up at the word “stole”.
Toshinori simply chuckled at him, stirring the tea one last time before handing the cup to his younger friend. “You’re going to have to get used to it, you know. It’s not like you’d move back to America without your brothers.”
Dorian huffed at that, however the statement was too true for him to safely argue with it. Instead, he took a sip of the tea, letting out a content hum at the warmth it bestowed upon him.
“Well, at the very least, it gives me a reason to stop wearing my hero costume to UA. That thing does NOT protect from the cold, and Nezu can’t fault me for wanting to keep warm.” He paused, mulling something over. “Aizawa might be a bitch about it though. Especially because Hizashi and I have the UGLIEST pair of matching sweaters, and I am just WAITING for my time to release those.”
That garnered a chuckle from Toshinori, which was mostly so he could ignore the flutter of something odd in his chest at the idea of Dorian being so close with Present Mic. Either that, or the idea of having matching ugly sweaters with someone. Who knows.
“Ugh,” Dorian suddenly groaned, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes for a moment. “Toshi. It’s Mint’s first Christmas with his newfangled boyfriend. He’s not coming over this year. How dare they want to spend the holidays together.”
Ah, right. Dorian’s older brother, Mint, had recently started dating Toshinori’s old sidekick. They truly were the perfect match- with Mirai’s dry sense of humour and Mint’s love for deadpan dad jokes, it was like they were made for each other.
However, it only served to remind Toshinori that he hadn’t been able to celebrate Christmas with someone else in a long time. Nana was the last, if he was being honest.
“What about Thanksgiving?” Toshinori piped in, tilting his head slightly to the side. “I remember David being big on celebrating that one with me when I was in America. Surely Mirai wouldn’t want to celebrate it?”
Dorian just shook his head at the suggestion. “Nah, we haven’t celebrated Thanksgiving since our dad died. And it’d be impossible to gather everyone for that. You’ve met Crowe, you know how busy he is. Mint won’t see the point in suddenly starting, and Marina’s in another country right now.”
The young pro’s face seemed to drop at that. From what Toshinori had heard, his family didn’t physically hang out as often as they used to. They were still just as close as ever, but none of them had the time. Crowe was busy being part of the Fat Gum agency, Mint’s work in archeology had picked up since moving, and Marina spent most of her time out of the country.
Which left Dorian, the youngest of the four, to work at UA and hope the kid’s would cut him some slack- and they often did not.
“Oh, gosh, you should have said something about the time!” Dorian suddenly cut through Toshinori’s thoughts as he glanced at the gaudy clock hanging on his living room wall. “You were just gonna let me keep you forever, huh? You should get going, it’s not safe to be out too late. Even the great All Might should stay safe,” he teased lightly, puffing out his chest and lowering his voice at “all might”.
“You’re right,” Toshinori replied as he stood up, making that old man groan that always made Dorian giggle. “I don’t know if I can see you again tomorrow. Tsukauchi has something he wants to talk about, and you know how long winded he is.”
That drew a genuine laugh from Dorian, one that made Toshinori smile. “Oh yeah, he’s a talker. Hope it’s about fun things!”
“Probably not,” Toshinori muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. He felt bad lying to Dorian, but didn’t know how to tell him that he was so… overwhelming. It was in a good way, Toshinori could tell that, but he didn’t know how to feel about it. He wanted to think it over in private.
He felt a pat on his back, and looked down to see Dorian beaming up at him. “Stay warm, Toshi! Even if I don’t see you tomorrow, I hope I see you the day after! Have a safe walk!”
God. His enthusiasm and warmth and kindness meant so, so much to Toshinori. “I will. See you soon, Dorian,” he replied, a little sheepish.
He waved to Dorian as he left his apartment, pulling his scarf a little tighter as he made his way down the stairs. Maybe he didn’t need to figure it out. Maybe he was going to find that he could just meet up with him tomorrow like they usually do, and everything would be fine.
Little did he know, he wouldn’t have much choice in the matter anyway.