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”I thought you were supposed to be a big shot, Rin.” you bend your back awkwardly to properly get into the farthest back of the family-friendly stationcar his aunt owns. There are two extra seats in the back and you’ve been charged to keep an eye on your husband by those since he's mischievous to a fault during these car rides. It’s the holidays and every year the entire Suna family gathers in the mountains by an old cabin your husband’s uncle owns.
”What does that have to do with anything?” he answers dryly as he bends his knees to follow you into the car. You try to straighten your back but end up hitting your head on the roof. Alright, crouched sitting it is then. You put on your seatbelt as you reply, ”what’s the point of a rich athlete husband if he doesn’t provide a limo for his family?”
His aunt laughs then, loud and deep from her stomach as she settles on the passenger seat next to her own husband. In front of you, her two young sons settles with bags and suitcases and most importantly, they told you, the snacks for the drive.
”Aw, come on, don’t be like that.” his face is already buried in his phone but there’s a mock-pout adorning his features. In front, his uncle looks back at you with a glint in his eye, ”if there’s no limo next year, Rintaro,, I’m assuming you’re a bad player.”
He looks up immediately, taking the bait and making you suppress a giggle. He really does turn quite childish in his family’s grasp.
They argue back and forth as the kids in the middle gets settled with their gadgets. The aunt yells several times to quiet them but to no avail. It’s not until after an hour that the only thing heard in the car is the tap-tap-tapping of a nephew’s Nintendo Switch and the rumble of the motor.
Being married to Suna has been a journey for you. You’ve bought a house, bought the furniture and appliances to go in said house, two cats and a few months back Suna started talking about investing in a car. The adult life you’d never envisioned yourself having is suddenly blasted in your face at every turn.
It's terrifying. But so, so exhilarating and freeing.
You’ve met most of Suna’s family before, having been high school sweethearts but this is the first time you’re going to join the annual Christmas holiday trip and the nerves are getting to you.
It’ll be fine, right?
“Does Rintaro ever hit you?”
Before you can even react or gasp at the question coming from his nephew, Tanjiro, his mother yells his name so loud that the uncle swerves from the shock. Good thing you’re out where no one else is driving right now.
“Please don’t mind him, his manners are a bit wriggly,” she scowls at her son and Suna just huffs out a laugh at the question but doesn’t further react.
“What? Rintaro hits me all the time and ma’, you say it’s because he loves me!”
Suna reaches an arm up to hit his nephew lightly on the head, “you got that just right, buddy.”
It seems the air in the car immediately lightens at Tanjiro’s reasoning for asking the question and you heave out a sigh of relief before Suna continues talking, “but don’t worry, I hit them too, especially if they do something dumb.”
“Hey!” you punch his forearm with mock offense and reprimand him. “You better behave back there!” his uncle yells from the driver’s seat, “I don’t want to crash before we get to the party with the main guests!” you laugh with the aunt and pet Suna’s arm.
Wait.
Main guests?
Out of the corner of your eye you notice Suna stiffen, his eyes glued to the phone but it’s stuck on the home screen. Your eyebrow arches as you send him a look you know will make him break. A sweat breaks on his temple and you poke him, “what are you not telling me?”
Everyone in the car is silent and you hear someone suck in their teeth. Suna sighs and puts his phone face down on his thigh, “it was supposed to be a surprise but… they’ve prepared a small celebration for us, as well. Seeing as we got married during lockdown.”
You gasp and his uncle laughs, “you prepared a small celebration, we were simply pawns in your plot.”
“ay yea thanks Uncle, we don’t need to spoil more, yeah?”
He makes a zipping motion on his lips and turns his focus back to driving, although a warm smile never really leaves his face. You stare with wide eyes at your husband, who’s never really enjoyed being the center of attention – to him, lockdown was a perfectly good excuse to celebrate small with just the two of you. So you have a hard time wrapping your head around the fact that he has planned anything.
With your staring, a small, victorious smile appears on his lips – he’s proud he kept this secret as long as to this point. There’s been a lot of worrying about who was going to spoil his little plan.
His eyes stays on his phone, scrolling TikTok but his other hand quests slowly towards you, wrapping his fingers with yours, enjoying the way he can feel your wedding band on his skin.
He leans into you and whispers gently, “merry Christmas baby.”
You laugh and kiss the top of his head, “and to you too, you little trickster. I love you.” You hear him scoff but he doesn’t pull away from you.
As soon as the car is parked and his nephews are out, you struggle to crawl out faster than Suna, who’s blocking your path to get out first. Outside, his nephews are booing him and cheering on you – mostly because you gave them your share of the candy on the ride and Suna ate his (and stole from theirs).
You immediately stretch your arms above your head and feel a satisfying pop. Suna brings his arms around your waist as your arms come down, “are you ready?” he whispers as he sneaks in a kiss to the shell of your ear.
“How can I be? Dumbass.”
He chuckles before he retracts himself, asking if he needs to help carry stuff in. You vaguely register that they ask you to just head inside but that Suna insists on waiting for them.
“Do you love Rin?” the youngest, Moya, looks up at you with big, questioning eyes. You bend down on your knees to face him properly, “mhm. More than anything. Can you keep a secret?”
His eyes lights up like a Christmas tree’s candles and he nods, a big toothy smile appearing. You lean in to whisper into his ear, “I even love him more than I love chocolate.”
His eyes widens and he stares at you in shock. You have to hold back a chuckle. “But chocolate’s your favorite candy!”
You nod with a smile that matches his. “Whatcha doin’?” Suna asks as he approaches and you hurry to put a finger to your lips, signaling to Moya that this is a very big secret. His gaze hardens and he nods before running to his mom. You get back on your feet with a sing-a-song voice, “nothing at all!”
Suna laughs and wraps his arms around your waist, “let’s go inside. We’re the last to arrive.”
“Oh, we’re fashionably late now are we?”
He chuckles and squeezes your waist, “what? Of course we are. I had to get my hair right.”
Inside, there’s chain lights at almost all the walls. All of his family are gathered in the main room, cheering as you enter. There’s a cake in the middle of the room. It’s not a traditional wedding cake, but you can easily see it’s your favorite cake sized up to fit the size of the entire family. There’s a table to the side filled with presents, both wrapped in Christmas paper but also in white and silver wrappings. You can’t help but laugh in amazement and hide your face behind your hands, flustered to the core at the attention.
“Merry Christmas!” they yell in unison and you begin to greet and hug each other, starting from the left. There’s quite a few congratulations thrown in there even if they’ve all FaceTimed you and seen you quite a few times since the wedding.
It’s well past midnight and you’re currently cuddled up to Suna on the couch, blankets wrapped tightly around you as you share a cup of cocoa. Suna insisted he didn’t want cocoa but now that you were tempting him with the cup in front of him like that (even if you just tried to drink it yourself), he had to steal some from you.
You’re laughing at the whipped cream on his nose when he starts moving around, trying to get something from his pocket. He reveals a small, wrapped package. The paper is bent and there’s holes in there and no ribbon. You figure he didn’t want to bother with that. “It’s for you.” He whispers, looking almost shy.
He takes the cup of cocoa so you can unwrap it and you laugh, “who would’ve thought? I thought it was for someone else in the room.” You refer to the empty room around you.
He hits you lightly and scoffs at you, muttering a curse at you.
As you unwrap it, it reveals a small piece of jewelry. A black ring, coated with a golden line in the middle. You look up at him and he smiles proudly, “you talked about a wedding band in black to match some of your outfits,”-he brings up his hand to show you his ring-“I made them take some gold from my ring to put on that one.”
You hide your face in his neck and he almost drops the cup of cocoa with the force, “I love you so much, Rin. So, so much.”
He mirrors your movement from the car ride and kisses the top of your head, pulling you tightly into him. “Merry Christmas my love.”