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December brings a whole host of reasons to be anxious along with it. Kazuya’s stomach has been twisted since the middle of the month and the amount of snow they’ve gotten this year doesn’t make him feel any better. It’s annoying to get around in and he worries about his dad being cold at the factory all day even though there are machines there that probably produce more than enough heat.
If he focuses on details like that, though, it’s a little bit easier to try and put aside his actual concerns about the holidays. Mei has already demanded and planned a Christmas Eve date, to no surprise. Kazuya privately expects that there may have been reservations made for the specific restaurant Mei wanted since November, or at least whenever they started taking reservations at all. He’s only proactive when it’s something he wants, but when he is, it’s terrifying.
Honestly, though, Kazuya thinks he can deal with that. They’ll look at some of the illuminations set up in the area, have a nice dinner in a place that’s decorated beautifully while presumably romantic Christmas music plays in the background, and then they’ll eat Christmas cake together, somewhere. Kazuya assumes it’ll be at his house. Mei will probably want to be fed bites because he’ll think it’s cute and he loves to be annoying and make Kazuya work for him.
That’s fine. Really.
It’s the New Year that Kazuya is freaking out about a little.
See, he and Mei aren’t married. (Yet.) ((The inevitability of that feels like a weight and a string, maybe a red one, tying him to Mei, but he’s learned to breathe despite that weight and a string doesn’t get in the way of anything he’s trying to do, really…))
Despite that, though, because of Mei’s closer, bigger family, Kazuya feels like New Year’s is something they put effort into. It’s not that Kazuya and his dad don’t, exactly, but their New Year’s celebrations are much more mild than most people’s; his dad always splurges a little on some food, they have a few decorations, Kazuya drops a few nengajou off for their distant relatives, his grandparents on both sides… Kazuya makes the toshikoshi soba, they put the TV on and enjoy some of the programming and then mute it once the bells begin ringing from the nearest temple. When Kazuya was little, his dad had taken him to the temple directly a few times, and even once put through all the effort of applying to get a ticket for Kazuya to ring the bell himself.
Some places do lotteries, some do first come-first serve, and Kazuya hadn’t really wanted to know, for some reason, what his dad had tried to go through. What mattered was that he got Kazuya a ticket and stood there in the crowd and watched his son with fondness on his face in the cold, not ever considering doing it himself.
Now they stay home, the cold is more than either of them really want to deal with and Kazuya has his concerns about his dad doing manual labor for all his life maybe leaving him with tired, aching joints that might be agitated by the cold anyway. It’s fine. It’s subdued, but comfortable. They eat a little fancier than normal, break out the mochi just after midnight, and commit to staying up to see the sunrise. The past few years, his father has fallen asleep for part of the wait without realizing it and Kazuya’s throat feels tight when he sees him dozing on the couch. Toku always apologizes when he wakes, laughs, and Kazuya laughs right along with him, calls him a cheater affectionately, brushes it off. It feels like bad fortune to start worrying so much right as the year begins, even though he does fret about how rested his father gets to be.
All in all, it’s not the type of scene that Kazuya can easily fit Mei into in his head. It’s not an insult, it’s just… it feels intimate and personal and that always makes Kazuya hesitant. Won’t Mei get bored anyway, besides?
He feels the conversation coming, though, each time they talk on the phone, each time another day passes. Kazuya can hear Mei’s voice asking before he even does: “what do you want to do for New Year’s?”
They’re not married, they don’t live together (yet), but it feels like Mei is deliberating about this like a married couple would, trying to be fair to both families, to consider his in-law (because that’s all Mei gets, just one) and Kazuya’s feelings while not neglecting his own.
Kazuya heaves a sigh and doesn’t even bother entertaining giving his own thoughts on it.
“Just tell me what you want, I know you already have an idea in mind. We’ll just do that.” He sounds weary and knows he does, which probably worries Mei, and normally Kazuya would make more of an effort to not let those negative feelings seep into his tone so as not to make him skittish, but.
He’s just kind of tired already.
“I want to come over and spend New Year’s Eve with you and your dad. I figured we could do hatsumoude if he’s up for it and then go over to my place sometime and judge onee-chan’s fiance to make him nervous.”
They both snort a laugh and Kazuya, despite all the weight on his shoulders, is grinning wryly as he looks out his window at the falling snow.
“You’re awful,” Kazuya reminds him.
“He has to impress you too, you know? Get your approval and all. It’ll be fun! We all already like him, but he’s like you, he still gets nervous.”
Kazuya’s smile disappears into a frown. He suddenly sympathizes deeply with this man, though he suspects the guy has very different concerns than Kazuya does. From what he knows, that love story is a lot less turbulent than he and Mei’s.
“Plus, if he’s weird about anything,” Mei continues on, “then she’ll dump him right then. That’s a good start to the New Year, right?”
Kazuya doesn’t think so, would never ask Mei’s sister to give up a love that feels right on their behalf, but he also already knows that it’s not up for debate with any of the Narumiyas. They’re too close-knit.
“Sure,” Kazuya says, trying to sigh away from the phone so Mei can’t hear it. “Are you sure your family is alright with your plan? They won’t miss you?”
Mei laughs; Kazuya can picture him waving off the concern when he closes his eyes. “Sure they will, but aneki will say she won’t. They’re already okay with it, though. They think it’ll be nice, just as long as we come over there at some point too. Mom is already planning on an osechi for you and Dad wants to play games still, so I need you to suffer with me.”
It’s so much. It’s always so much, the amount of love and enthusiasm and acceptance that Mei just pushes at him. He’s relentless, all of them are. Kazuya doesn’t know that he deserves it, still.
“It’s boring here, you know. Dad and I just eat some nicer sushi, noodles, watch TV… We listen to the bells and try watching the sunrise, but that’s it. You sure you can survive that?”
“Sounds nice,” Mei chirps, which Kazuya thinks he would have said to anything at all that Kazuya described. He’s determined to be there, be a part of this family too… so who is Kazuya to stop him?
Fine.
“Fine. I’ll ask Dad. I really don’t think you’re going to have fun, though. It’s too quiet.”
“I will,” Mei insists, but his voice is the rare serious and gentle tone that he takes with Kazuya sometimes. It makes his heart ache a little. “You’ll be there, and your dad will be too. That’s good enough. Watching the sunrise with you sounds really romantic, too.”
“You just pointed out that my dad’s going to be there,” Kazuya says quickly, mortified.
“Is he going to be watching us every single minute? You don’t think I’ll have any time to sneak a New Year’s Day sunrise kiss?”
He will, definitely. He’ll make it happen somehow, because he’s Mei.
"I don’t want to see you try.”
Mei just laughs, again, and Kazuya can picture the smile. The warmth it gives off.
It might be nice having him, after all.
“I’ll ask Dad,” Kazuya says again, chewing on his lip a little. “I’ll call you later about it.”
“Great! Tell Toku-san I said hi!”
Kazuya recoils from his cellphone in horror.
“‘Toku-san’!? Since when?”
“Shhh, your dad loves me. I’m the best son-in-law. He’s so happy you’re my wife, he told me so.”
Red-faced and scowling, Kazuya just hangs up the phone and buries his face in his arms.
So his stomach is still a mess over the holiday, but… maybe for different reasons, now.