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Christmas time had finally arrived and people were bustling in the snowy streets of Tokyo, buying the last of their gifts for the holiday season. The frigid air outside pierced even the heaviest coat. Many buildings were adorned with winter embellishments, some with lights that blinked a variety of colors. The Hyakuya orphanage was decorated festively, a tradition that the orphans had every year.
Cold days were perfect for sleeping in. Not that Yuichiro didn’t sleep in on any regular day. Today was no exception. Yu was enveloped in a thick blanket sleeping soundly despite the sun having reached its afternoon peak over an hour ago. His siblings had all tried in one way or another to wake Yuichiro up. Unfortunately, the boy was a heavy sleeper that could sleep through even the loudest thunder storm. (Then again, Yu snored pretty loudly so it was a given that he would be immune to sound.) Right in the midst of an exciting dream about a battle between humans and vampires, Yu’s eyes shot open, his bed being jolted vigorously. Holy crap, is there an earthquake?! Just as Yu was about to start panicking, he came face to face with Taichi, his youngest brother.
“Yu-nii, wake up it’s snowing outside!” Taichi exclaimed happily. Yu groaned as he flopped himself back onto the mattress. If there was anything that he absolutely abhorred, it was being woken up on a winter day. It was much too cold to be doing anything but being wrapped in a blanket from head to toe.
“Agh, Taichi did you seriously wake me up just to tell me that?!” Taichi looked down at Yu disapprovingly, hands on his hips.
“Duh, we need you so we can all go play!” Yu grabbed the end of his blanket and pulled it over his head.
“No way! It’s too damn cold to go outside!” Taichi pouted. As a profound lover of snow, he would certainly not take no as an answer. He would jump on his older brother’s bed until he had no choice but to get up.
“Come on, Yu-nii!” Taichi whined, kicking at the heap. Yu tried his hardest to ignore Taichi’s foot digging into his back, but it turns out the kid had learned how to pack a powerful kick.
“Taichi, go away! Make Mika go outside with you!” It was evident that Taichi wouldn’t leave unless Yu followed him. However, as stubborn as Yuichiro was, there was no way in hell he would give into his little brother’s trap.
“Taichi, leave Yu alone.” Taichi’s attacks ceased, allowing Yu to pop out from underneath the covers once again. At the doorway to their shared bedroom stood Mikaela looking on, amused at the sight of Taichi towering over Yuichiro.
“But, Mika-”
“Listen, the sooner you get dressed, the sooner we can go out and play, okay?” At that, Taichi’s features lit up. It was truly astounding to Yu how Mika could easily manipulate the children into doing as he pleased. Taichi hopped off from Yu’s bed and zoomed past Mika to get his winter clothes on. Mikaela moved to follow Taichi out of the bedroom, but he hesitated for a moment. Mika looked over his shoulder at a disheveled Yu who sat on his bed looking exhausted and irritated.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us? A snowball fight without you won’t be the same, you know.” It was as though the cold has suddenly vanished when Yu stared into Mika’s brilliant eyes. He knew a flush had come over his cheeks and he hated himself for letting himself become so flustered whenever Mika was around.
“Might as well. It’s not like I’m gonna be able to go back to sleep anymore thanks to Taichi.” Yu grumbled as he kicked the covers off from his legs.
“Well you’d better get dressed then. Make sure to put on plenty of layers, it’s chilly out!” Mikaela advised, ruffling Yuichiro’s hair. When they were younger, Yuichiro had always believed that one day he would catch up to Mika in height—even back then Mika liked to use their height difference against Yu—now he just felt like puberty had screwed him over. Yu swatted his hand away, his cheeks an even deeper shade of red than before.
Mika shook his head, smiling to himself. From the moment that he had first met Yuichiro, he had seen right through his “I’m too tough to care” attitude. How ironic, Mika had thought to himself one night while reminiscing the day he and Yu had first met. When Yuichiro first arrived at the Hyakuya orphanage, he had adamantly refused to befriend any of them. Such was his rancor at his parents’ betrayal that Yu was unaffected by the Christmas cheer that filled the other children that year. Just like every other time, Yu was in one of his moods. Mika decided to give his best-friend the benefit of the doubt. It was Christmas time, after all.
…
Still aggravated from having been woken up, Yuichiro carelessly slipped a jacket on, leaving it unzipped as he moved to put a pair of boots on. Figuring that should be plenty to protect him from the cold, Yu strolled out of the orphanage. Yuichiro scanned the front yard and discovered that the others were nowhere to be found. That’s weird. Suddenly, everything went white as Yu was assaulted with a barrage of snowballs. Everything had happened so fast that Yu hadn’t even had a chance to protect his face. All of his clothes were now wet as a result and Yu could still feel the cold in his bones even after he had shaken off the ice from him body.
“What the hell guys?! That was totally unfair! You all ganged up on me!” Mikaela stood at the back of the pack, laughing as he wiped his gloved hands on his pants, snow falling from his mittens.
“You were looking a little heated earlier. I thought this would help cool you down,” Mika said, failing to hide the satisfied smirk that appeared on his face. Yuichiro’s eyes narrowed. Oh, it's on now, Yu thought as he bent down and picked up a handful of the soft white snow. If Mika wanted a war, Yu would gladly oblige.
“You just made a big mistake, Mika.” Yuichiro warned as he packed the snow into a ball in between his hands. He didn’t even care that the bitter cold of the ice was burning his fingers. The only thought running through Yu’s mind was getting revenge. The kids all ran out of the way leaving a perfect path for Yu’s snowball. With all his might, Yuichiro hurled the snowball towards Mikaela. Despite the blond’s best efforts to dodge it, the snowball hit him square in the face causing him to lose his balance and fall into a pile of snow behind him.
“Yes!” Yu cheered. The other children erupted into joyous laughs as they watched Mika helplessly spitting snow out of his mouth. Always a good sport, Mikaela joined in on the giggles.
“I guess I deserved that one, huh?”
…
After a ferocious snowball fight that had taken up the rest of the afternoon, the orphans had all gone inside to warm up. It had taken a lot of persuasion, but Mikaela had managed to get all of the young ones to go to bed early with a promise of presents awaiting them first thing in the morning. Everything was quiet now that all of children had gone to sleep. Finally finished with wrapping gifts for his siblings, Mika had decided to take a seat in front of the ignited fireplace, the only area in the orphanage that radiated any sort of warmth. He sighed, relishing the brief moment of solitude he had been granted for the first time that day. He rarely had a moment to himself, not that he minded it. A shiver ran down Mikaela’s spine as the cold pierced through his thin sweater. He scooched up closer to the flames.
The sweet aroma of chocolate left Mika’s mouth watering. Luckily, when he turned around, he found Yuichiro standing behind him, holding a mug of hot chocolate in each hand. He carefully offered one of them to Mikaela. “You looked cold so I got you something to warm you up.” Yu scratched the back of his neck nervously, hoping that Mika would think of him as a sap.
“Thank you,” Mika replied with a laugh. Yu joined him on the floor, taking a sip from his mug. The dark haired boy looked over towards the Christmas tree that stood beside the fireplace taking note of the wrapped boxes that rested beneath it. He nodded towards them.
“You finished?”
“Yup, but not without any injuries.” Mika held up a hand, each of his fingers wearing a decorative band-aid. Who knew that wrapping presents could result in so many papercuts? “Idiot, you need to be more careful!” Yu scolded, shoving Mika’s shoulder.
“Aww, is Yu-chan worried about me?” Mika teased the younger boy, a smile growing on his face.
“Shut up,” Yu hid his blush by taking a sip of hot chocolate. Mika picked a marshmallow out of his mug and flung it over at Yu’s face.
“Always so serious. Come on, lighten up!”
“Hey!” Yu protested as another marshmallow was flung toward him. Mika laughed into his cup, angering Yu. The dark haired boy was seriously not in the mood for Mika’s childish antics today.
Huffing, Yu got up to move away from the blonde.
“Wait!” Mika wrapped both of his arms around one of Yu’s legs, preventing him from escaping.
“Mika, let go!” Yu complained struggling against Mika’s grasp. “Yu, don’t get upset. I was just trying to have fun. You always look so miserable around Christmas, and I just want to help make you feel better.”
Well...shit, Yu thought as he lowered himself down onto the floor again. He sincerely felt like a jerk. Every Christmas, Mika went out of his way to make sure Yu felt comfortable. He always made Yu apart of their holiday traditions and customs, sometimes even against his own will. It wasn’t that Yu hated celebrating with the others—deep down Yu actually loved the holiday festivities—he was just afraid to admit it. He was afraid that the moment he confessed how he truly felt about everything, especially his feelings for Mika, he would lose everything he had come to love over the years.
Love... Yuichiro loved his life. Something he could have never said eight years ago. He finally had a real family, with siblings who—no matter how annoying they sometimes were—cared for him. In his life before the orphanage Yu had been completely alone. His family had abandoned him. They had called him a demon. They had tried to kill him. No. Those people were not his family. They were the people who had brought him into the world, but they had never supported him the way the Hyakuyas had. Never the way Mika had.
“Mika,” Yu struggled to find the right words.
“Thank you. No. That’s not right. I mean—” Before Yu could finish his sentence, Mika pressed a gentle finger against his lips.
“It’s okay, Yu. I understand.” Overwhelmed with emotions that he had suppressed long enough, Yu leaned forward and kissed Mika tenderly, catching the blond by surprise. For a split second Mika remained rigid, a sense of dread forming in the pit of Yu’s stomach as he began to wonder if he had made a grave mistake by kissing Mika abruptly. However, all Yu’s worries vanished as he felt Mika’s arms snake around his neck and pull him forward. Neither boy wanted the moment to end, but their need for air proved to be too much to ignore as they pulled away from one another. Panting slightly, the two gazed into each other’s eyes lovingly. No words needed to be exchanged for the two to understand the affection they felt for one another. Mika embraced Yu, resting his head against his shoulder, smiling as he felt Yu’s fingers beginning to play with his hair. The two spent the rest of the night snuggling each other in front of the fireplace.