Chapter Text
"Are you done?"
Atsushi rolled her eyes, ignoring the impatient man. She looked across the table and bit her lip, then she spotted the empty space. Lean arms lazily and loosely wrapped around her shoulders, distracting her from putting her piece of the puzzle into place.
"F-Fitzgerald-san, what are you doing?" she stuttered, tensing in his arms.
"Hmm?" he plopped his chin onto her head, arms becoming a little more tight. "Waiting."
She blinked rapidly and incredulously, even as she felt embarrassment fill her. "Y-you don't have to wait by holding onto me! It's distracting too!"
"But I have become quite comfortable," he said, like that excused everything and made it fine.
She twitched but honestly that was what she got for agreeing to come over to Francis' office and being strong-armed into staying and doing a 500-piece Christmas puzzle with him.
"Come on, focus," he poked her cheek, making her growl irritably. "We're almost done!"
After painstakingly working on it for the past two hours, they better had been done soon. She really didn't have the patience for doing this kind of thing…
She glanced at him in consideration. "Part of me is a bit surprised you have the patience for this, Fitzgerald-san…but maybe in hindsight it's not all that surprising. You're really diligent in work and in your plans…and your goals…so no, not so surprising in the end."
He hummed thoughtfully, moving his head so that he was now laying his chin on her shoulder and they were cheek to cheek. She blushed horribly.
"I like to plan a long game," he said, backing away slightly so he was now watching her carefully.
She wondered if he was thinking about The Book again. She gave him a small smile while reaching to grab his hand and squeeze it.
"We'll find The Book," she promised again and he smiled back, squeezing her hand back.
"Of course," he agreed but he wore a strange smile. "But I also have many plans in work."
She scrunched her eyebrows together, giving him a curious look that he didn't pay any mind to. She just sighed and went back to the puzzle.
"Why are we doing this backwards though? Isn't the point to see the picture? It'd be easier too," she pouted, placing her puzzle piece down.
He nimbly grabbed his piece and put it down immediately in a spot, making her gape at it unabashedly. Bastard must've found the correct spot while she had taken all the time to look for hers.
"The picture gets to be a surprise after we finish," he explained. "We'll carefully tape the back and then flip it, revealing the picture. I would like for it to be this table's 'table mat' decor."
She blinked, surprised at his explanation. "I didn't take you to be a festive person. You really like the holidays, don't you?"
Francis gave her a soft smile, finally pulling away from her, to pluck a few pieces and patiently place them down in the correct areas.
"I've celebrated the holidays since my youth, with my own family," he revealed. "I enjoy the holidays, especially Christmas. When Ellie was born, I loved them even more. My daughter loved the decorations and the colorfulness of everything, and I spoiled her even more then. Zelda enjoyed the parties, though around this time, I was more of the one planning things and going all out —holidays were my favorite and she just enjoyed playing hostess."
Atsushi inwardly fidgeted at the talk of his family and the lingering undertone of sadness, but she also (as she had since first hearing his love and devotion and dedication for them) felt awe and touched at his obvious love.
She glanced at the time at that though. "Oh, have you called Zelda-san yet?" she asked, knowing he usually did at this time. "I didn't mean to take up so much of your time and distract you."
"I've stopped calling her," he dropped the bomb on her suddenly and she turned wide eyes to him. He looked at her with a slight frown. "I apologize if I hadn't informed you of that already."
"Not that you had to or anything!" she raised her hands, forgotten puzzle piece still in her hand. "It's not any of my business!"
"You're my friend," he said, stilling her. He placed two more pieces down and she vaguely noticed the puzzle being a few pieces away from being finished. "Something important like that would be something to be shared and confided in you, someone I consider close."
That just flustered her all over again and she felt her cheeks warm up. He plucked the last piece of the puzzle from her hand and put it in the last spot open.
"I suppose it was a long time in coming," he mused. "I haven't, actually, talked to her in years. Those phone calls I make are nothing but an empty dial tone," he admitted, taking her aback and feeling both sad and upset on his behalf. "I just decided a long time ago that there were other things…people worth more of my energy and focus."
Still, she couldn't help feeling like it wasn't fair to him, especially after everything he'd gone through and had done…
Atsushi was startled when Francis cupped her face, thumb brushing against her cheek.
"Now, now, Tigress, you really shouldn't put my marriage and 'love story' on such a high pedestal," he admonished her and she blushed.
"But!" she blurted but he raised an eyebrow.
"No buts," he said firmly.
She stayed stubborn though. "It's not fair. You really love your family and was willing to do so much…I just want you to reunite with them and be happy in the end."
He reached to the side and grabbed two rolls of packaging tape, handing her one. She grudgingly accepted and started to help him carefully tape the back of the puzzle.
"I still very much want The Book and am determined to bring my daughter back," he began saying quietly. "But everything I want…wanted…nothing is set in stone. Things can be…adjusted or changed. In any case, as of this moment, I'm content."
She wasn't convinced, but if he was going to stick to that for now…
"Are you not into the holidays?" he asked curiously, changing the subject.
Atsushi furrowed her eyebrows. "I'm not…adverse to them. I guess I've never thought about it before —this is really my first time celebrating anything, aside from the festivals, which I guess are fun and exciting."
Francis looked at her in surprise. "You've never celebrated the holidays, not even Christmas?"
She shrugged. "The orphanage I grew up in didn't celebrate anything, not even birthdays. I just left the orphanage earlier this year, so I would be celebrating things for the first time now."
He looked at her in determination. "I'm going to make it a good one then. I'll make sure you enjoy Christmas."
She looked at him in amusement and fondness. "Alright, I believe you."
He looked at her suspiciously, but she didn't say anything more. For a few moments, they focused on securely taping the back of the puzzle, and then afterwards gripped the edges.
"Ready?" he asked and at her nod, they flipped the puzzle up and then carefully turned it to the other side.
Atsushi blinked and grinned widely, back to blushing. It was a picture of the Agency and The Guild together commemorating their truce, with a festive border around it and 'Merry Christmas' emblazoned at the top. Francis and her were placed together in the picture, having stood next to each other when the picture had been taken.
"Oh, this is really nice! How'd you get a picture of all of us made into a puzzle?" she asked.
"You just have to look around at sellers and puzzle makers that do this kind of thing," he answered nonchalantly. "I thought I'd surprise you with it."
Her blush deepened. "I-it's a good surprise."
Francis smiled briefly at her. "Miss Louisa should be around soon enough. She has the decorations I ordered. Would you like to decorate my office and my home with me?"
She was taken aback but agreed, rather flattered that he'd wanted her to help him. The knock on the door interrupted them and Francis strode over to it, seeing Louisa on the other side with a huge box.
"There's a heavier box that TJ is coming with and bringing down behind me, but I've got the ornaments and garlands here, Lord Francis," Louisa told him, smiling shyly. She peeked around him and saw Atsushi, smiling brightly and waving at the older woman. "Hello, Miss Atsushi!"
"Hello, Louisa-san!" she returned the greeting as Francis collected the box from her.
"Thank you, Miss Louisa," he told her. "Enjoy your Christmas and time with family, and safe travels, alright? Just have Mr. Eckleburg drop the box outside this door so he can hurry with you out of here."
Louisa blushed and smiled shyly again. "Thank you, Lord Francis. Make sure you enjoy your holidays too! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year's!"
When she left, Atsushi gave him a questioning look.
"Miss Louisa is heading back home to America for the holidays," he informed her as he set the box down on a couch. "She is taking Mr. Eckleburg with her to meet her family. Hopefully, the two of them will come back with an official engagement and blessings from her family."
That made Atsushi excited and happy. "Oh, I hope so too! They're really cute together." But there was something he'd said that made her hesitant. "But…wouldn't you want to travel back too? I would think you missed America…"
He waved her off as he started pulling out Christmas lights out of the box. "I have no reason to. There's nothing really much for me to go back to there and I'm fine here in Yokohama. Besides, I told you —I swore I was going to make sure you enjoyed Christmas!"
She felt herself smiling to herself as she got up from the floor and headed to his side, taking part of the Christmas lights. She helped him untangle it and brought it out of the box.
"Are we hanging these around your office?" she asked.
"These can go around the window and my doors. There's another set in there that we can line the edges of the room with and a separate one with music that I already set up in the penthouse."
Suddenly feeling gung ho about this, she grabbed her set of lights and headed to his doors. There were two step ladders outside that she assumed TJ had left there, along with the huge box she didn't know what it contained, and began setting the lights up around the doors. Behind her, she could hear Francis beginning to whistle some kind of holiday tune that made her smile and silently giggle. She finished quickly there and then turned to see Francis was still attaching the lights to the edges of his windows.
"Do you need my help?" she asked as she came over.
"If you could grab the bundle of lights and hand the line of them to me inch by inch while I keep moving, that would be of much help," he smiled down at her from his spot on his ladder.
She did that and after a while, they finally finished with the light decorations on his windows.
"I can hire some others to do the lights for the rest of the room," he considered. "They're too high up for us to be able to do it and the ladders we have now are too short. I've got other decorations we can work with for now, but why don't we take a break? Would you like some hot cocoa, Atsushi?"
"Yes, please!" she answered giddily, a fan of the drink and sweet things in general.
He took her hand and gently wrapped her arm around his, and then led the way to his penthouse. She'd visited before, but it had always made her feel awkward to enter his more private abode, especially since it was just the two of them.
"Let me warm up a couple mugs for us," he said and left her by the table in his kitchen, where she sat down and he grabbed two mugs and filled it with milk that he quickly boiled.
She waited awkwardly at the table, fidgeting on her chair uncertainly. He came back to her with the two mugs, placing one in front of her. He left again and came back, grinning excitedly, which made her watch him curiously.
"Francis?"
He just handed her something and she realized it was a snowman figure.
"It's a snowman hot cocoa bomb," he explained. "Just place it into your mug and let it float and melt into the milk. Then stir it."
"Oh! That's cute," she grinned back, taking her snowman and gently placing it into her milk, watching it float on top. "I've never had hot chocolate like this before, although I've never had it during the holidays. Then again, I've recently had some at the café and sometimes around the city while working, so I guess that counts…Still haven't heard anything about this!"
"The snowman is made of all sorts of chocolate," Francis said. "It's a newish trend, though it's been around. There's been regular chocolate bombs around that are just chocolate balls that melt into a warm mug of milk or water, just like with the snowman."
She poked at her snowman, watching it dip into the milk briefly. "It really is a cute idea though."
"Not as cute as you."
She inhaled sharply and looked up at him with wide eyes. He looked back with an unreadable look on his face, but he wasn't shying away or acting like he hadn't said something strange.
"Q-quit teasing, Francis," she said weakly.
"I wasn't," he said frankly but sincerely, still with that unreadable look.
Atsushi felt out of sorts.
Francis reached over and took one of her hands, holding it on top of the table. He squeezed it.
"You are my dearest friend, Atsushi," he said quietly. "But sometimes I just want to ruin our friendship because I don't want to be your friend."
Part of her felt upset and hurt at that, but the other part of her felt confused because the way he held her hand and the way he was looking at her was conflicting with the hurtful words he'd said.
"Don't misunderstand me, Atsushi," he murmured. "Not being your friend doesn't mean you wouldn't be the most important person to me —or the person I care most about. Friendship just isn't what I want or have in mind with us."
But that just made her even more confused and lost.
He could tell that he'd just confused her and that perhaps he hadn't come off the way he intended. He wasn't yet ready to confess to her yet, but he did wanted to start making overtures and begin letting her know that he didn't want friendship from her.
He stirred his hot chocolate, the snowman halfway melted and looking pathetic in his mug. A quick glance at her showed she was still upset and he wondered if he should tip his hand early.
He didn't want to scare her off and tell her he was in love with her, but maybe…
Francis got up from his chair and headed over to her, drawing her attention from her brooding over her cup. He knelt in front of her and grabbed one of her hands again, trying to ignore her wounded expression.
"Atsushi," he called out her name softly, causing her to turn her wounded gaze to him from where she'd been previously been looking morosely at her lap. "Perhaps I was not clear."
He took her hand and kissed it gently, causing her to go still and stare at him.
"I very much like you," he halfway confessed. "I'm attracted to you and find you beautiful. I enjoy being with you. The truth is that I am interested in you beyond friendship."
'I won't tell you I love you yet, when I know how cagey and uncertain you are with affection and feelings…but I can at least let you know you're wanted.'
"Oh…I see…" she said unsteadily and he squeezed her hand in reassurance.
"You don't have to say or do anything about it," he murmured. "I just wanted to make things clear to you so you're not continuing to assume that my not wanting to be friends with you meant the way it sounded. And if I am extra affectionate with you or say or do something off, then you can assume it's because of my feelings."
He stood up then and pasted on a grin. "Anyway, while we finish off our drinks, would you like to help me decorate my tree?"
"Okay," she said quietly, getting up as well.
The two of them collected their mugs and went over to the tree he had placed in the middle of his living room. He briefly went back down and grabbed another box full of decorations from the larger box outside his office, and then went back up to see Atsushi gazing at his tree thoughtfully. He was pretty sure her thoughts weren't anything to do with his tree however.
"I have ornaments and more lights here, and strands of garland to wrap around the tree," he told her. "There's also a train set down there we can bring up and set around the bottom of the tree."
"A train set?" her eyes lit up and he was relieved. "Oooh, cool! And knowing you, you probably have something really expensive and extravagant."
"Only the best," he smirked and he was glad that it seemed things were going to be fine after all. "Let's finish decorating so we can start on it."
Still, even as they worked on his tree, her eyes would glance over to him every once and a while, while she fiddled with ornaments.
Perhaps he'd been too hasty after all.
Started 12/1/21 — Completed 12/3/21