Work Text:
“I’m coming home for the holidays.”
It was that simple sentence that had set Kaede’s mind into overdrive.
Rantaro was never one to stay in one place for too long, and it was especially rare to see him during any holidays. Kaede was already prepared for that when they started dating. She was a bit worried about a long distance relationship at first, but Rantaro made it surprisingly easy. They always made sure to keep in contact, but it wasn’t so much that she felt overwhelmed. And whenever they were together in person, it never felt like they lost any time.
But Rantaro was coming home for the holidays. For the first time since they met.
“Ah, Kaede?”
“Huh?” She was quickly snapped out of her thoughts once she heard her friend’s voice
“Sorry.” Shuichi seemed to shrink as her attention was brought to him, reaching up as if to pull a nonexistent cap down over his eyes. Even after he stopped wearing it, the motion must still be deeply ingrained in his mind.
She sighed with a small smile. “You don’t need to apologize, Shuichi. I was just lost in thought.”
Shuichi tentatively looked down at his coffee cup, and it was very clear that he wanted to say something but maybe didn’t know how to say it.
They were sitting at a cafe, watching the snow start to fall out the window. This definitely wasn’t the first time Shuichi had caught her occupied by her own thoughts. Maybe it was bothering him?
“Is everything alright?” She ran her thumb along the side of her cup, letting the warmth calm her from her racing thoughts.
“Ah, well,” Shuichi sighed, “you’ve been lost in thought a lot this week. Is something wrong?”
She glanced out the window, watching the snow start to pile up. “Rantaro’s coming home soon.”
“What’s… wrong with that?”
“Oh, nothing’s wrong, really!” She held up her hands almost frantically. “I was just thinking about how to make it special is all!”
“Special?”
“You know, like a special gift for him! Something he’d like!” She rested her head on her hand with a small pout. “I just can’t think of anything.”
“Oh,” Shuichi mumbled, “I, ah, don’t really know what he likes.”
“That’s the thing!” She threw up her hands a little too dramatically. “If I ask him what he’d want, he’d just say that he doesn’t want anything.” She sighed as she picked up her coffee cup, fixing her gaze on her friend. “I don’t know…. What about you?”
“Me?”
“Yeah, have you gotten anything for Miu?”
Shuichi’s entire face started to turn red as he once again avoided her gaze. “W-Well, she was complaining about things being hard to find in her toolbox, so I, ah, got her a new one… with better space for organization.”
“That’s so thoughtful! I’m sure she’ll love it!”
Shuichi looked to be in thought for a moment before he spoke again. “Has Rantaro brought up anything that’s difficult for him right now?”
She sighed. “No. He’s pretty tight lipped about that kind of thing, you know?”
“Maybe you should ask someone he talks to a lot?” Shuichi suggested, “He might’ve mentioned something in passing.”
She lit up. “That’s a great idea! Thanks Shuichi!”
He instinctively reached for a cap that he wasn’t wearing again. “Yeah, no problem.”
It took several fast-paced knocks, but the moment the door opened, Kaede was greeted with exactly what she expected. “What do you want?”
She gave Maki a wide smile as the other stared at her tiredly. “Hey, Maki! Can I come in?”
“No.” Was the blunt reply.
“Come on, please?” She leaned closer to Maki, fingers laced together as she batted her eyelashes in a teasing way. “It’s really important!”
Maki gave no reaction at first, but she could tell that her classmate’s stoic expression was breaking. It was only another moment before Maki looked away, trying to hide the smile that was clearly growing as she said, “You’re so annoying, you know that?”
Maki stepped inside to let her into her dorm, and she gladly took the invitation. She really couldn’t be happier to have a friend like Maki.
She quickly sat down, watching as Maki shut her door and locked it before walking to meet her. She didn’t sit, instead standing with her arms crossed. “What is it?”
“Well, I was just wondering if Rantaro has ever mentioned anything he might want or need. You know, in passing or something.” She found herself nervously giggling, realizing how weird the question must’ve been.
Maki raised a single eyebrow. “Is this about him coming home soon?”
“Yeah,” she was quick to admit, “I just want to get him something special.”
“That’s why you were banging at my door?” Maki didn’t spare her from her renown piercing glare as she spoke. “You said it was important.”
“It is!” She huffed.
“Why ask me anyways?”
“Because you two hang out all the time! If he was going to mention anything he might want to someone, it’s you!”
Maki stared at her for a long moment, biting her thumbnail. Whether it was in thought or out of aggravation, she couldn’t tell, but she waited patiently for a reply. It came a few seconds later when Maki let out a long sigh. “I don’t recall hearing him ever mention anything.”
She felt herself sink a little. It wasn’t like she wasn’t expecting that outcome, but she had at least a little hope that there would be something.
“Are you sure about getting him something?”
“I am!” She pouted. “I know that he probably doesn’t want anything, but I just want this holiday to be special.”
Maki fussed with one of her pigtails. “It’d be special to him no matter what you do.” She looked away. “Because it’s you.”
“Because it’s me…” She trailed off as a thought came to mind: maybe she didn’t have to get him something tangible. “I think I get it. I know what to do!”
She practically lunged out of the seat and enveloped Maki in a hug. “Thanks, Maki!”
She felt the other tense in her hold at first before relaxing with a sigh. “Sure… whatever.”
Rantaro’s trip was delayed.
And while she was definitely sad about it, she also had to appreciate her good luck.
“Alright, what do you think?” She turned from her piano to look at Shuichi after she finished playing.
He sat up a little more in his chair, giving her a small smile. “I think it’s great!”
“Thanks,” she smiled as she stood, “I knew Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue would be a good choice, but I just feel like there’s something missing….”
“Ah, is this your gift to Rantaro?”
“Yeah! I thought he would really like this piece!” She gently ran her hand along the piano. “It’s uplifting and adventurous but still kind and soothing.”
“That… does sound like him.” Shuichi nodded. “But you said you felt like something was missing?”
“It’s nothing about the piece itself, but…” she hummed as she tried to form the right words, “I… really don’t know.”
And she really didn’t know. She had a plan, she wasn’t nervous about it, and she knew the song well. So what was missing?
Before she could voice her concerns, the door flew open.
Miu wasted no time as she stomped up to Shuichi. She held up a brand new toolbox, a note still attached to it. “What the fuck is this!?”
Shuichi nervously picked at his cheek, eyes fixed off to the side. “Ah, well, you were talking about how bad your old toolbox was, so I got you a new one…”
“You were listening?” That seemed to be a critical hit as Miu stumbled back, shrinking into herself.
“O-Of course I was listening!”
Miu nervously fiddled with her hair as she stared at her gift. “Wow, I didn’t realize-” She cut herself off as her face went completely red. “Y-You really do like me, huh?”
Now it was Shuichi’s turn to go completely red. They had only been dating for a couple weeks, and she could vouch that it was like this a lot. She couldn’t help but smile as she watched the two awkwardly avoid eye contact.
“You know what this means, right?” Miu’s confidence flared up but only for a moment, as she shrunk into herself again. “Now whenever I look at it… I’ll think of you.”
It was that sentence that stuck with her as she watched Miu drag Shuichi away to give him a gift as well.
A gift that makes him think of me…
If that’s what it takes, then…
The moment she heard Rantaro was back, she ran out to meet him. She was so excited that she might have forgotten her coat, so being greeted with the cold winter air startled her for a second.
But there he was, talking with Maki as they walked. She called out to him as she ran.
Rantaro had stopped and dropped the luggage in his hands in preparation for her inevitable hug, but she had been going so fast that they ended up stumbling a bit. Luckily, they didn’t fall, and she was able to give a pretty successful hug.
“Hey there.” She felt his arms wrap around her as she looked up at him, refusing to let him go just yet. “You seem excited.”
“Of course I’m excited!” She laughed, feeling a warmth in her chest as Rantaro gave her his usual easygoing smile.
“You two are gross.” Maki sighed.
She finally let Rantaro go, feeling herself blush slightly as she turned her attention to Maki. “Sorry.”
She could tell Maki didn’t really mean it, but she was still kind of embarrassed putting on such a spectacle in front of someone else. Well, not that it was necessarily a spectacle; it was just… dramatic.
“We should get out of the cold.” Maki said, looking her up and down.
Almost as if it was timed, she felt her body jerk uncomfortably as she shivered. She was really regretting running out without her coat now.
About an hour of helping Rantaro unpack later, she was finally able to drag him to the music room.
Rantaro was as quiet as ever as he sat down beside the piano. She didn’t really tell him why she dragged him there, but there really wasn’t any other reason it could be than this.
Sitting on the piano bench, she felt all of her nerves wash away. Rantaro tilted his head, that easygoing smile calming her mind as she rested her hands on the keys. It was easy to fall into the soothing yet adventurous melody that Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue started with. As it went on, the pace got a little more fast and perilous, but it never lost that feeling of adventure and discovery. It was like a whole adventure happened in just one piece.
She couldn’t help but look at Rantaro expectantly as she finished, the last note still hanging in the air.
He was leaned forward in his chair, his elbows resting on his knees. His eyes were on her, and it was clear to her that he was lost in thought. It was an expression she was used to seeing on people when she played, and it was even more common for Rantaro.
He noticed her staring and gave her a small smile. “It’s beautiful.”
“That’s not everything for your gift!” She quickly leaned to the side to grab what she kept hidden.
“Gift?” Rantaro finally seemed to realize what was going on. “I don’t need anything-”
“I know, I know.” She sighed before quickly holding out the small bag she had prepared. “But I wanted to give you something!”
Rantaro stared at it for a moment, clearly hesitating. He did end up taking it from her, gently pulling the gift out from the bag. The small snow globe fit neatly in his hand. In the center of the snow globe was a clean, white grand piano.
“It’s travel size, so you can take it anywhere.” She twirled some of her hair with her finger as she looked away. “So… whenever you look at it… I hope you think of me.”
When she looked back, she saw Rantaro looking at her with wide eyes, a bright blush contrasting the cooler colors he wore. This expression was quick to subside of course, and it was replaced with that same easygoing smile she was so used to. He put the snow globe back into the bag, setting it down. She tilted her head, confused. Did he not like it?
She watched as he moved to sit beside her on the piano bench, and worry started to clench at her heart.
It was unfounded, however, as he gently took her hand and said, “I don’t need to look at something to think of you.”
She tried not to, really, but it was hard not to laugh.
Rantaro was laughing too, and she could see an embarrassed blush start to form across his cheeks. “That corny, huh?”
“It was cute, really!” She insisted, still giggling as she pulled him into a hug.
He wrapped his arms around her, and they ended up staying like that long after the laughing subsided.
“You should come home for the holidays more often.” She sighed happily after that long pause.
She couldn’t see his face, but she knew that same comforting smile was there as he replied, “Maybe I will.”