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This was Tsurumaru’s favorite time of the year.
Why, one might ask? Because this was the time of year for mistletoe. Yes, it was the oldest trick in the book and everyone expected it, especially from him… and yet, he still managed to surprise people every year. One year he managed to get Hasebe and Shokudaikiri as they walked into the kitchen together. Hasebe was such a flustered mess and Shokudaikiri stuttered a bit… but eventually Shokudaikiri decided to have a little holiday spirit and gave Hasebe a quick kiss. Tsurumaru had to listen to a surprisingly short lecture over that after the man remembered how to breathe… but turns out it was well worth it, because just the next day, he and Mutsunokami caught the two in the kitchen kissing while they made cookies. And that was just the beginning.
He caught Midare and Urashima by hanging from the rafters in the dining room and hanging it down over their heads. Urashima was blushing, but Midare wasted no time at all planting one on him. Urashima didn’t know what to do with himself! He caught Yasusada and Kiyomitsu during training. Kiyomitsu tried to play it off, but Yasusada practically tackled him to give him that kiss, though he was blushing when he did so. They were holding hands later at dinner so maybe that was just the opening they needed. He even managed to get Kanesada and Horikawa, though he spent a lot of time giggling over that one because Kanesada started just going on and on about how he could do this because he was a very cool and fashionable sword, and then Horikawa lit up and encouraged him and Kanesada just buckled. They did end up kissing finally and… well. No one talks about what was heard echoing down the corridors that night, but Tsurumaru counted it as a success! He had managed to get so many others too and several of them had found a lingering kind of happiness that made Tsurumaru happy to see. However there was one person he really wanted to get. He didn’t even care with who! He just really wanted to see him smile.
Ookurikara.
The problem was he knew this was a damn near impossible task. Ookurikara made it clear he wanted no part of any of this and typically kept to himself. But Tsurumaru was nothing if not determined. He tried catching him with Sada-chan, thinking for sure that would be the obvious choice… and he just walked away. Which turned out to be fine because he ended up later catching Taikogane with Fudou and that worked out really well. After that he tried Kasen, which in hindsight was silly, clearly he had been snooping in too much in the saniwa’s fanfiction… all that did was start an argument… He even tried Mikazuki of all people! That didn’t work but at least Jiji was amused by his shenanigans. Year after year, person after person… and every time, Ookurikara just looked annoyed and walked away. This year, he wanted it to be different… but he was out of people he thought would actually be an option. In fact he had spent so much time thinking about it… he hadn’t even gone after anyone else so far. Everyone was expecting it, you could tell, but he just… couldn’t. He needed to focus. Surprise Ookurikara, see him smile. He could do that. He wanted to do it.
He just needed a plan.
—
Ookurikara sighed, rolling his shoulder a bit as he made his way out to the cherry tree. He had already reported in with the rest of his team after their mission and been to the repair room… and now he just needed a moment of quiet before heading to the kitchen and getting worried over by Shokudaikiri and who knows who else. When he got to the tree and heard a noise that meant he wasn’t alone, however, he started to turn and leave, hoping whoever it was didn’t notice him… but something gave him pause. Almost as if something in the back of his head told him he should stay. Normally he would have just brushed it off and left, but the feeling was so insistent, so loud that it was hard to just ignore. He sighed softly through his nose and turned back to the tree, looking around a moment before walking around to the other side. Another pause… this time because he hadn’t expected to find Tsurumaru of all people behind the cherry tree, much less sound asleep like he was. Ookurikara took a few steps closer, quietly so as not to accidentally disturb him and crouched down to gently look him over. It didn’t take long to convince himself that Tsurumaru was ok, that he really had just fallen asleep… but that did surprisingly little to ease his concern. It’s not like this was the first time Tsurumaru had come out to the cherry tree to think and plan his shenanigans, but… he always sat in front of the tree facing the citadel or up on one of the lowest branches, usually on the left side of the tree. He’d never seen him behind the tree where no one could see him. It just wasn’t like Tsurumaru. And that bothered him more than he cared to admit.
He took a slow breath and looked around again for anyone nearby, then moved to sit down next to him, expression softening as he gently brushed some of that stark white hair out of the man’s face. His eyes lingered on Tsurumaru for a moment, then something else caught his eye. Slowly he reached over and picked up the stick that had been half hidden by the fluffy white coat, huffing when he saw the familiar greenery tied to the end of the stick. He shouldn’t have been surprised, this was Tsurumaru’s favorite activity this time of year… though now that he thought about it, he hadn’t seen or heard of him actually doing anything with it this year. He glanced down to the man beside him, then back to the stick… and slowly held it up, dangling the little plant over the two of them. It was more curiosity than anything, but the way his heart fluttered thinking about what that was supposed to mean made him blush. However, as he went to just put it back and pretend like nothing happened… he realized at some point Tsurumaru had woken up and was now staring at him with surprise. He looked at him, huffed, and started to get up to leave.
“Wait wait wait, Kara-bou!” Tsurumaru sat up quickly, grabbing the other man by the arm. “What was that?”
“Nothing.” Ookurikara answered curtly, not making eye contact with him. “You shouldn’t be sleeping out here.”
“Aww, were you concerned about me? What a rare treat! I’m flattered!” He chuckled, only to immediately regret his teasing as he tried to keep Ookurikara from leaving again. “Ok ok, Sorry! Just… stop for a minute!”
Ookurikara scoffed, but surprisingly, he stopped trying to pull away and stayed where he was. He didn’t want to stay and listen to more of Tsurumaru’s teasing, especially because he knew he was going to use what he saw against him… and sure enough a moment later when he glanced up, there was that stupid little sprig hanging above them. He wanted to just walk away as he had so many times before when Tsurumaru tried to get him to kiss someone like this… but when he looked at Tsurumaru there was this… hopefulness in the other man’s eyes. Not the mischievous look he normally wore when committing such shenanigans on his fellow swords. This was just pure hopefulness and curiosity. He felt heat rise to his cheeks as he glanced away again… then, with a slow, steadying breath, he leaned over and pressed his lips to Tsurumaru’s. It was a surprisingly tender thing, lingering for a short moment before he pulled away again.
“I…” Tsurumaru started, a look of shock on his face that quickly melted into something soft as he processed what actually happened there. “Heh… Guess I was just trying the wrong people…”
“What?” Ookurikara as he looked back at him.
“I tried everyone I could think of that you might actually like! I know, I know. ‘I’m not here to make friends’ but no one actually believes that. Least of all me! So I thought for sure there had to be someone you liked so I was determined to get you to kiss them!”
“.... Why?”
“Because I wanted to see you smile and be happy, Kara-bou!” Tsurumaru chimed with a bright laugh. “You don’t smile very often but when you do, wow~! Talk about making a guy’s heart all fluttery.”
Ookurikara huffed softly, ignoring how the heat in his cheeks had yet to dissipate as if that would make it go away. Then, without any sort of prompting or warning, he reached over and pulled him into another kiss. This time, he stayed there for several long moments, a smirk pulling at the corner of his lips when he could practically feel Tsurumaru melt in his grip, and when he did finally let him go, there was the tiniest hint of a smile to his face and a softness to his eyes that was a rare sight to see. “Yeah… wrong people...”
Tsurumaru sat there for a second, mostly trying to remember how to function properly, but when he caught that look on Ookurikara’s face, it was everything he could do not to just kiss him again. “Haha! Unexpected surprise but I’m glad I got it right this time!” He laughed brightly.
“Mm…” Ookurikara hummed softly, glancing away. For a moment, he actually considered kissing him again, just to take full advantage of no one else being around, but then he saw Tsurumaru shiver and he huffed, getting to his feet. “Onsen. You’re going to catch a chill.”
“Ahaha. Yagen would be upset with me if I get sick because I was sleeping outside in the winter, huh?”
“I would be upset.”
Tsurumaru blinked, surprised for half a second before he just grinned and practically jumped to his feet. “Yep! Going. You joining me, Kara-bou~?”
For a second, Ookurikara just stared at him. Then he let off a soft huff and took Tsurumaru’s hand and walked off toward the onsen without a word. He wasn’t exactly looking forward to listening to everyone prattling on about it, but they would all find out eventually anyway. Besides… The bright, excited smile plastered to Tsurumaru’s face? That was well worth the trouble.