Work Text:
The sizzling star flew out of Katsuki’s hands, zoomed at lightning speed across Santa Klaus’ workshop and hit Kaminari square in the ass, detonating into a thousand sparkles.
“Bakugou, what the hell!” Kaminari whined, rubbing his sore and soot-stained bottom while every elf around them laughed out loud. “How many times do I have to tell you I’m not your guinea pig?”
“You’ll stop being my damn guinea pig the day you quit bothering me while I’m fucking working,” Katsuki snapped back with a satisfied smirk.
He turned on his heels and sat behind his desk, dusting the minotaur horn powder off his hands before it made his whole working surface erupt like Kaminari’s pants.
Maybe now he would finally get some damn work done. Christmas was a month away and he wasn’t as advanced as he’d planned. It was a task that had proven to be fucking impossible so far. Every time he tried to work on his projects, someone would come to beg for his help.
He didn't mind giving a hand from time to time. If someone needed help, he would do it. Begrudgingly, huffing, puffing, and swearing the whole time, but he would help. But with Christmas just around the corner, elves came to him incessantly and Katsuki's already paper-thin patience was being stretched thinner.
Not that they came to him for no reason. After all, he was the most skilled elf in Lapland and had held onto that title for years now, thank you very much. He was the only one who knew how to make holly garlands shimmer like frost, the only one who could create crystal stars that sparkled with faerie dust. Only he knew how to channel dragon's breath into little trains to make them run faster, and no one else managed to encapsulate snow storms into snow globes but him.
The way he handled magic was unrivalled and, while it filled him with pride, it also meant he'd accidentally become someone too important for the damn workshop to function properly without him. His mood had turned sour weeks ago and now he didn’t hesitate to use spells and clever tricks to keep idiots at bay.
The only problem was that these dumbasses had found his weak spot. Now, whenever they needed a favour from him, they turned to —
“Good morning everyone!”
Ochako’s cheerful voice rang throughout the workshop and everyone froze. Katsuki barely had time to catch a glimpse of her smile before she was swarmed with dozens of elves, speaking all at once with ridiculous urgency.
With a groan, Katsuki slumped on his desk and pulled his pointed hat lower to hide the blush blooming across his face.
Uraraka Ochako was one of the elves operating in the workshop’s construction department while Katsuki worked in the magic department. She was responsible for designing, sculpting and building all sorts of presents. But most importantly, she had to ensure each creation could hold the magic Katsuki’s department would later breathe into them.
Not that Katsuki had ever had any problem with her. Her work was smart and delicate, and he’d often wondered if his magic would truly improve much to her already polished creations. There was never a missing screw, a useless flourish, or an extra cog. He could count on one hand the number of times he asked her to fix something on her inventions - and two of these times, it was because he’d failed to understand her creation’s design.
The buzz of extras finally moved away from her, expectant eyes bouncing from her to Katsuki. Annoyance flared in his mind and he snatched some aged cherry bark, angrily muttering some incantation to extract its glamouring properties.
Fuck that. This time, he’d stand his ground. She could smile and coo all she wanted, but this time he’d stand firm against her and tell her —
He peeked at her from the corner of his eyes as she skipped towards him and immediately deflated in defeat, his heart jumping in his chest with a weird mix of hope and apprehension.
“Good morning Katsuki!” she chirped, beaming so brightly, for a second Katsuki just blinked at her, dazzled.
“‘Morning,” he grumbled back, lowering his head and pretending to be hard at work. No, not pretending — he was hard at work, dammit! He had a to-do list and responsibilities, a timetable and deadlines to meet, and — and —
He glanced back at her and swallowed with difficulty, his heart hammering in his chest.
There was a reason Ochako was Santa’s favourite helping elf. She was clever and resourceful, and her creativity knew no bounds. She made little to no mistakes and was always in a good mood. Even in the thick of it, she managed to lift everyone’s spirits and was the only one maintaining good relationships with other departments.
Including, much to Katsuki’s dismay, himself.
“What do you want?” he asked begrudgingly, already dreading her answer.
“Not much, I promise,” she replied lightly.
He squinted his eyes at her, not trusting her angelic smile. “I’ve already heard that from you before, and it always ended up being far more than “not much”. Spit it out and let me get back to work.”
Ochako gasped dramatically. “Are you implying I’ve lied to you before?”
“Uh, yeah? Ouch!” Katsuki yelped when she whacked his arm, rubbing the sore spot as he cracked a smile. “What the fuck was that for?”
“I never lie!” Ochako protested, her fists on her hips. “It’s not my fault if you underestimate the tasks I bring to your attention.”
“Yeah, right,” he snorted, quickly jumping out of reach when she raised her tiny fist for the second time. “Hey! No more of this, I’m fucking warning you! Try that shit again and I’ll let Hatsume deal with your requests!”
Just then, a loud explosion resounded across the workshop, followed by shrieks of fear and an echoing, deranged bout of laughter. Satisfied, Katsuki threw Ochako a pointed glare and she pouted.
Ah shit, she was just too cute, he thought as his heart picked up its earlier pace. How the hell did he end up in this situation? One day she was this nimble-fingered elf from the construction department, the next she was the brightest star in the winter sky — and he was in deep shit.
He couldn’t say no to her. He knew it. She knew it. The entire motherfucking workshop knew it. He just couldn’t. Not when she glanced at him with honeyed eyes and fluttering eyelashes. Not when he spent so much time thinking about how squishable her pretty face seemed and how much he wished he could cup her cheeks.
Just thinking about how much time he spent dreaming about her during the day made him want to puke — or smile, and he didn't know which was the worst.
He cleared his throat and pretended to examine a sapphire the size of his fist. “So? What do you want, Ochako?”
“A couple of things,” she began as she rummaged in her bag.
She pulled out a large circular wooden piece, engraved with delicate runes. Curious, Katsuki left the sapphire and leaned to get a better look. She pulled a wooden key from her green jacket, carved with the same complex symbols, plugged it into the wooden piece and gave it three turns.
The muted sound of rolling cogs rumbled before two door-like panels opened on top of the piece, revealing an intricate interior. A soft and happy melody rose along with planets and stars, slowly taking their place above multiple metal disks and a handful of clock hands, all adorned with gold, silver and copper hues, hand-painted with beautiful colours.
The largest clock hand ticked and Ochako’s astronomical clock chimed. A small trap door opened in its centre, and a miniature sculpted elf rose and began pacing around, determined. Its features bore a striking resemblance to the head of the construction department.
Around them, the workshop slowly came to a stop as every elf paused to gawk.
“It’s a prototype gift for Mr Iida,” Ochako explained in a hushed voice. “I’m his Secret Santa this year, but don’t tell anyone, okay?”
Katsuki just stared at the clock, speechless. Heavenly bodies slowly revolved around a gold sun, held aloft by discreet metal stems. Symbols and iconographies were chiselled onto the various disks — Greek astrological signs, Chinese signs, years, seasons, months, days, hours, minutes, seconds and milliseconds. The light caught Ochako’s invention, revealing more intricate carvings to Katsuki’s stunned eyes.
Two weeks ago, every elf across Santa’s workshop - including Katsuki, to his great annoyance — had picked a name to participate in their gift-sharing tradition bullshit. Two weeks ago. He’d barely had time to gather the parts he needed for his gift, but she’d already almost finished hers?
“What —” He cleared his throat. “What do you need my help for?”
“I need a bit of your magic,” she replied with a frown, her eyes on her clock, oblivious to Katsuki’s gaze on her. “I’ve managed to tinker with candle wicks for the light and stems to keep everything aloft, but I think it needs an enchantment of sorts. It needs different centres of gravity though. The planets need to revolve around the sun — obviously — but the cylinders with the years and months need to follow the mechanism I’ve set for them, especially for the seasons - see how I’ve placed them here, I made sure they wouldn’t —”
Katsuki crossed his arms on his chest and observed her as she began rambling. Her eyes sparkled with excitement, her cheeks red like holly berries and her pointy ears twitching excitedly. A grease stain was smeared on one of her temples like she’d scratched her head while working.
Her eyes snapped back to his and he jolted, embarrassed to have been caught staring.
“So? Do you think you could help me?” she cooed, tilting her head to the side and making the bell on her hat jingle.
His heart gave a very distinct THUMP in response. Welp, fuck him.
“Yeah, okay, I’ll see what I can do,” he sighed, his ears and shoulders drooping in defeat. He grabbed the key to her mechanism, not missing the heavy stutter of his heart when their hands brushed against each other, and he brought the clock back to a close. “You’ll have it before the end of the week.”
“Really?! Woah, thank you so much Katsuki!” she squealed, jumping on her spot, her little bell tinkling excitedly.
“Don’t mention it,” he grumbled as he carefully put the clock away, before he glared with a warning in his eyes. “I mean it — don’t mention it, alright? To anyone. I’ve already got enough work on my damn hands as is, I don’t need any more fuckers running to me because I let this one slide, got it?”
Without an ounce of discretion, Ochako’s eyes widened and she quickly placed a parchment scroll behind her back. “Of course not! Don’t worry, I won’t say a word!”
Katsuki squinted at her, distrust oozing off him. “Well, if that’s all you wanted, you can leave. Like I’ve said, I’ve got a fuckton of work.”
“I do have a question actually,” she chimed, jumping to sit on his desk.
Behind her, Katsuki distinctly heard a few gasps. There were very few elves who dared to touch Katsuki’s workspace and lived to tell the tale, and none who had the fucking guts to sit on his motherfucking desk.
“And what in the ever-living fuck do you think you’re doing?” Katsuki snapped, bewildered by her sheer audacity.
Ochako ignored him — she just fucking ignored him — and batted her eyes at him, mischief sparkling in her eyes. “Will I have a Christmas present from you this year?”
A nervous bark of laughter escaped him and he kicked the bunched parts he’d hidden beneath his desk further away.
Every year, all the elves across the workshop participated in their gift-sharing tradition. Every year, elves waited eagerly to see who would receive Katsuki’s impressive gifts. Every year, Ochako asked if he’d gift her something, seeing how he only gave presents to his Secret Santa and his closest friends on Christmas.
And the truth was that, every year, Katsuki tried to craft something for her. But nothing ever seemed good enough. No matter what he came up with, it always paled compared to what she invented, or simply didn’t feel suitable enough for her. And so, every year, he reduced his present to ash, unwilling to let her have a half-assed, mediocre gift.
Except this year, he was Ochako’s Secret Santa.
“Who knows,” he replied with a shrug, his neck and ears growing uncomfortably hot.
“Aw, Katsuki, you say that every year!” she whined with a roll of her eyes. She grabbed the sapphire and began toying with it, her legs dangling from his desk. “Come on, not even a little something?”
“You’ll just have to wait and see like everyone else,” he quipped, snatching the sapphire from her hands.
She grinned at him. “Are you afraid my gift could be better than yours?”
Katsuki made a choked sound and glowered at her, scandalised. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me right.”
“Do you know who you’re talking to? I’ve got people fighting over my gifts all over the workshop, what makes you think I’m afraid that — I ain’t afraid of shit!”
She picked a phoenix feather and examined it. “That remains to be seen.”
“The fuck?!”
She pointed at him with the feather, a devilish smile on her lips. “You know what? Even if you gifted me something, I bet I could make you something even better — something that would blow your mind.”
Katsuki jumped to his feet and snatched the feather, gripping it so tightly its tip began sizzling. “Is that a fucking challenge, Ochako?”
“And what if it is?”
Katsuki scoffed, amazed. She had some fucking balls to come and second-guess his abilities to his face. He crossed his arms, chin up.
“You know what? Fine,” he replied loud enough for the whole department to hear. “Let’s fucking do this, Ochako. No matter what your present is, I bet you I can offer you something even better. Something that will blow your mind.”
Ochako jumped off his desk and extended her hand to him, her grin turning victorious.
“Something that will blow your mind.”
With a ferocious smirk to mirror hers, Katsuki shook her hand. “I feel sorry for you, accepting a challenge we both know I’ve already won.”
“Mighty words coming from someone who’s already lost,” she retorted.
He snickered, amused as she squeezed his hand lightly before letting it go. She stepped back and Katsuki swore her cheeks grew pinker.
“Oh! One last thing,” she quickly added. “I know you’ll probably be like, super busy preparing my present, even though it definitely won’t be as amazing as mine —”
“What?!”
“— and I know it’ll probably be because you’ll have to work on other people’s tasks too —”
“Listen here Cheeks, no matter how much fucking work I have, I’ll definitely make you something you’ll remember for the rest of your days, ya hear me?!”
Ochako’s grin widened.
“Oh, that’s such a relief to hear! Then you won’t mind taking a look at this?” She pulled the parchment scroll she’d hidden earlier and placed it on his desk. “It’s nothing much, just a list of items that need their enchantments altered or completed. It’s nothing at all for you, I’m sure — right?”
She tilted her head to the side, her big brown eyes blinking at him.
Goddammit.
Katsuki glared at her. She had him exactly where she wanted him. If he refused, he’d agree that it was too much work for him and that he wasn’t as good as he’d just boasted to be.
Not that he would have refused anyway, not if she looked at him like that.
He sighed through his nose. “Fine,” he grumbled through his teeth, snatching the parchment scroll. “You better be working on something fucking amazing, got it?”
“Thank you, Katsuki! Don’t worry, my present will leave you speechless,” she promised as she backed away from his desk. “May the best one win!”
“You already know I will!”
His heart drummed louder in his chest as she happily skipped away, her hat bell jingling in her wake. Ochako was going to work on a present for him, he realised. On Christmas morning, she would come to him and give him something she poured her heart into creating.
Katsuki bit his lips to hold back a dumb grin and opened the scroll.
The parchment rolled, and rolled, and rolled until it reached Kirishima’s desk four feet away. He gawked at it with wide eyes for five solid seconds, before he snapped his head back towards the fleeing little coward.
“OCHAKO! WHAT THE FUCK?!” he roared after her.
But Ochako just waved at him, ready to disappear behind the massive double doors.
“Do your best, Katsuki!”
—
“Fuck!”
The expletive echoed in the empty workshop, followed by a crashing sound when Katsuki furiously swept the surface of his desk clean, parts and magical items clattering onto the ground.
He was fucked. He was so fucked.
It was four in the morning, Christmas was a week away and he still had nothing for Ochako. So far, he’d started over twenty-six times and failed just as many times. What the fuck was wrong with him? When he had to create three hundred prototypes for random people across magical lands, he could do it with his eyes closed, but crafting one single motherfucking present for the elf he’d spent years longing for was too much?
“Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!” he repeated, slamming his forehead against his desk with each expletive.
“You okay there?”
Startled, Katsuki jumped and whirled around. Kirishima stood behind him, looking genuinely surprised. Katsuki groaned and slumped back in his chair.
“No,” he replied bluntly. He grabbed his pointed hat and threw it on his desk, the bell bouncing and tinkling loudly. He buried his face in his hands, massaging his eyes. Gods, he was exhausted. His brain was fried beyond repair. He wouldn’t be surprised if it started leaking out his ears. At least it would be doing something instead of the useless spinning it had been doing for the past three weeks.
“Whatcha working on?” Kirishima asked, eyeing the scattered pieces on the floor.
“On nothing, apparently!” Katsuki exploded, throwing his hands in the air. “I thought I could at least create a decent gift, but I can’t even put two fucking sticks together to build a snowman!”
Kirishima blinked at him. “Uh — okay. Maybe you just need a good night's sleep?”
“No, what I need is a solid idea for a fucking Christmas gift.” With a heavy sigh, Katsuki opened his drawers one by one and pulled out everything that came into his hands.
“You know, sleep is a critical component of a productive working day —”
Kirishima had the good sense to pause under Katsuki’s seething glower and cleared his throat.
“Who is it for?”
Another glare.
“Come on buddy, just tell me. I might help you move forward.”
Katsuki squinted his eyes at him before he sighed in defeat. Oh, what the hell, he might as well spill the beans. Nothing could be worse than what was going on right now.
“It’s for Ochako,” he mumbled, his voice so quiet Kirishima had to lean in. “I’m her Secret Santa this year.”
“Ah.”
Katsuki pressed his lips into a thin line.
“I know what you’re about to say, and you’re fucking wrong,” he grumbled as he grabbed a massive sapphire, a log of rosewood and one of maple wood, comparing their colour with the gem. “She doesn’t like me. I mean she does, but not — not —” He sighed, pushed the rosewood aside and pulled his carving tools. “She’s kind to everyone. I’m no different than any other extra to her.”
Bitterness sank into his heart like an arrow. She would never like him the way he did. Why would she? She was Santa’s little favourite, the cutest elf of them all. Why would she ever look at him differently than a simple colleague?
Kirishima didn’t argue with him. Maybe he’d decided not to turn his terrible mood even fouler, or he’d taken pity on him. Both seemed pretty fucking awful to think about.
“Why don’t you try a different approach?”
“I can’t,” Katsuki immediately snapped. “It has to be a mind-blowing present. Something she’ll remember for the rest of her life.”
Kirishima rolled his eyes. “I know, I know. She’s been talking about that mind-blowing rule of yours for weeks now. But what if you tried looking at it from a different perspective? It doesn’t have to be something that blows her mind, so long as it touches her heart, right?”
Katsuki froze.
He blinked once, twice as he processed Kirishima’s words.
Not something that blew her mind, but something that touched her heart. That was… unexpectedly smart.
And fucking mind-blowing.
“Something that touches her heart,” he repeated in a breath.
He glanced at the sapphire he held in his hand, the one Ochako had been playing with weeks ago.
“Something… that touches her heart.”
An idea bloomed in his mind. His carving tool clattered on his desk and he frantically searched for his jeweller’s kit, mumbling to himself.
Kirishima chuckled as he sat at his desk.
“I’ll leave you to it then.”
—
Christmas was final-fucking-ly over.
Presents had been distributed all over the globe without a hitch and now, elves could relax and enjoy a belated Christmas. They ate, drank, sang and danced from dusk till dawn, until eventually, the moment Katsuki dreaded arrived.
“Gather around everyone!” Iida shouted, standing on top of a table. “It is time for our Secret Santa!”
Cheers erupted from all sides, followed by excited chatter as everyone sat in a circle. With his heart in his throat, Katsuki followed Kirishima, Sero, Kaminari and Ashido on weak legs, his palms wet. Not long after, Iida called the first name.
“Yaoyorozu Momo!”
Jirou jumped from the crowd and slipped a metal box in her hands, her face bright red. Yaoyorozu left with her gift — a collection of leather-bound books — and Jirou stayed in the centre.
“Jirou Kyouka!”
Sero leapt to his feet with a confident grin and a bundle under his arm. Katsuki watched as elves exchanged gifts one after the other, some delighted, amused, confused or straight-up disappointed.
His hand clutched the small box tucked in his pocket. Shit, what if she didn’t like his present? Fuck, he shouldn’t have listened to Kirishima — no one wanted to be moved for Christmas, they wanted to be amazed! She literally told him to blow her mind! How could he be so dumb?
“Iida Tenya!”
As soon as Iida called his own name — like a fucking nerd — and Ochako sprang out of the crowd, Katsuki’s heart followed her motion and leapt in his chest so hard, he thought he might throw up. She gave Iida the clock, floating planets and stars illuminated by fairy lights. Iida opened and closed his mouth multiple times, moved to tears by her present’s sheer magnificence.
“Uraraka Ochako!”
Katsuki froze.
Seconds went by, and he didn’t move.
A puzzled murmur ran in the crowd.
Ochako’s expectant grin turned to a confused half-smile.
Oh gods, he was gonna throw up. He was gonna puke all over this fucking carpet. And then he’d have to fucking clean it before puking all over again.
Next to him, Kirishima gently nudged him. His heart hammering like a madman against his ribs, Katsuki slowly rose to his feet and took a few steps forth. Disappointed whines erupted across the room from elves hoping to get a present from him this year, but Katsuki bore them no mind. He was too busy trying not to barf right there and then. Maybe if he fainted though, he wouldn’t have to do this, especially not in front of a big ass crowd.
Following the noise, Ochako turned around and her big brown eyes locked with his. His shoulders hunched, Katsuki stopped three safe feet away from her, his face burning. He swallowed painfully — when did his mouth turn so dry? — and pulled the velvet box from his pocket.
“Merry Christmas, Ochako,” he croaked. Great. Fucking great. Now he was a damn toad. Perfect. If the floor could fucking swallow him right about now, he wouldn’t mind.
Confused, Ochako stared at him, then the box in his hand, blinking at it. Then, to Katsuki’s great horror, her smile fell and her pointed ears drooped.
“You’re… my Secret Santa?” she asked, disappointment filling her voice.
Katsuki didn’t reply. He didn’t even open his mouth, because if he was worried before, now he was sure he’d throw up if a single word crossed his lips.
“So…” Sadness washed over her features. “You didn’t… craft me anything?”
“Ye-Yeah, I did,” he grumbled, his voice breaking a little. Part of him noted with pride that he did not, in fact, barf all over the place. Another pointed out the night was still young and there was still a high chance it might happen within the next minute if she didn’t quit looking at him like he’d just ripped apart her favourite teddy bear.
She gave a light scoff that sounded a little too close to a sob for Katsuki’s mind not to enter full-alarm mode.
“Yeah, but only because you had to, right? Since you’re my Secret Santa. Right?”
Tears welled up in her eyes and Katsuki’s panic turned to horror.
“No — no, I — I wanted to —” He clutched the deep blue velvet box with both hands, painfully aware of the sudden silence surrounding them. “I wanted to gift you something, I just — I just happened to be your Secret Santa this year, and I —” He stared at the box, his breath short. “I wanted you to have something beautiful, but — every time, it was just — it wasn’t — I tried for years, but it was never — I could never —”
He clenched his teeth, his heart slowly sinking in his chest. This was a fucking disaster. How on Earth did he think he had a shot at catching her heart? How fucking dumb was he?
“For… years?”
Ochako’s eyes had grown even bigger as she blinked back her tears, hope shimmering within. His heart in his throat, Katsuki swallowed and nodded, once. Mustering what little courage was left in him, he crossed the small distance between them and gently placed the box between her hands. He didn’t miss how her breath silently hitched in her chest, nor how her cheeks flushed bright pink.
Ochako opened the velvet box, revealing the white gold necklace Katsuki had spent the past eight nights working on. He’d broken and chiselled the sapphire into hundreds of tiny stones like so many stars scattered across the winter sky. In its centre, a single sapphire the size of a walnut glimmered with magic.
When Ochako didn’t move and kept gawking at the necklace, Katsuki took it off the box and gently clasped it around her neck.
“Make a wish,” he whispered in her ear.
Ochako’s hand slowly rose to the necklace, her fingers brushing against the large sapphire. As soon as she did, magic burst from her fingertips and whooshed around her, a cold wind rustling her clothes and ruffling her hair. Purples and greens and turquoise flashed brightly, earning shrieks and gasps from the amazed crowd of elves.
Northern lights surrounded Ochako, dancing softly around her as snowflakes fell like fairy dust.
“I know you’re from farther north,” Katsuki explained in a rough voice, “and I know you miss it a lot. I’ve heard you talk about how the northern lights and the cold winds didn’t hold a candle to what we have here. I thought that maybe… you’d like to have a small piece of it here with you.”
Ochako didn’t reply and just gawked at the scene revolving around her, the shimmering lights and stars reflecting in her wide eyes. Katsuki anxiously waited for her to say something, standing ramrod straight when she finally turned to him.
“Thank you, Katsuki,” she breathed. “It’s… I love it.”
She beamed at him, her eyes still full of tears, and his heart skipped a heavy beat. No matter how hard he tried, he doubted he could ever create anything half as exquisite as her.
“Did I blow your mind then?”
She laughed and wiped her tears, the sound making his shoulder slump in relief.
“It’s still a competition,” she reminded him, her cheeks slowly turning redder. “I need to give you my present before we decide who won, right?”
Katsuki cracked a smile at her. “Go on, do your worst.”
She giggled and bit her lower lip, nervously glancing around.
“Okay.” She cleared her throat and peeked at him through her lashes. “Okay. Hold your hands out and close your eyes.”
Curious, Katsuki obeyed. He heard the excited buzz of the crowd, then felt Ochako’s small hands slide into his. Before a single thought crossed his mind, she gently pulled him down and pressed her soft lips to his, bringing him into a shy kiss.
Katsuki’s eyes popped wide open. Barely an inch away, Ochako’s eyes were squeezed shut, her face flushed like a red Christmas ball.
Gasps and whistles erupted around them, and just like that, it was over. Ochako’s hands slipped from his and she stepped back, out of breath.
“Merry Christmas, Katsuki,” she squeaked.
Before he could even process what the FUCK had just happened, Ochako spun on her heels and dashed away from him under the entire workshop’s screams and hollers. Stunned out of his mind, Katsuki buried his burning face into his hands and groaned out loud, his heart fluttering like a caged bird in his chest as a realisation dawned on him.
He’d lost their bet in the most wonderful, spectacular way.