Work Text:
Iketani sets yet another box of lights down on the porch, on top of a similar half-filled box he dug out of their garage. He doesn't know where his mom kept pulling all of these lights out from.
Or how he's expected to hang them all along the trim and gutters.
He straightens up, pulling the jacket he threw on tighter around himself. It's just starting to snow, a light dusting over the streets that will melt whenever the sun comes back out.
Lights cut through their quiet street and Kenji's 180 pulls up onto their driveway. He parks and climbs out, giving Iketani a half wave with the door half-open.
"You're here early." Iketani shoves his hands into his pockets, half-wishing that he found his gloves from where he threw them last.
Kenji shrugs his shoulders and pulls out a plastic bag filled to the brim before shutting the door. He holds up the bag. "I brought some things."
"I told you that you didn't have to." Iketani gets out of the door. "Go and give it to my mom, she'll know what to do with it."
Kenji frowns but hikes the bag further up on his arm before slipping by Iketani. Just before the door slams shut, Kenji and Iketani's mom's voices filter through in a quiet murmur.
Iketani turns back to the boxes of lights and sighs.
He opens up the first one and starts pulling out the lights, all clumped together in a giant, matted mess of green wire and small bulbs. He finds one of the ends and starts laying out the lights, undoing knots and kinks within the wires.
After a couple of minutes, Kenji slips back outside, pulling on a pair of gloves. "You didn't hafta leave me alone with your mom."
"She likes you just fine, stop complaining." Iketani stands, brushing off some of the snow from his hands.
Kenji shakes his head and holds out another pair of gloves. "You need to stop forgetting these."
"I didn't forget them." Iketani takes the gloves, pulling them on over his aching fingers. Even the thin layer of fabric helps combat some of the chill in the air. Kenji gives him a pointed look and Iketani shoves the knotted lights at his chest. "Here, untangle these."
Kenji grabs them, piling them in his arms to stop them from spilling all over the ground. He gives Iketani a grin. "I just got here and you're already putting me to work."
"I gave you the easy job." Iketani nudges the boxes out of his way with his foot and frees the ladder from its place against the wall. He grabs a bag of clips and shoves them into his jacket pocket before picking up the ladder. He positions it against the edge of the roof, giving it a good shake before climbing up.
The metal is cold, even with the gloves Kenji gave him, a sticky kind of chill. He shakes out his hands one at a time when he gets to the top, getting a little bit more blood flowing through his hands.
Kenji looks up at him from his place crouched down on their porch, some knotted lights in his hands. He shakes his head before returning to his untangling.
Iketani pulls out one of the clips and carefully fastens it to the gutter, looping it around the edge before letting it hang. He fastens a couple of more down the line, giving them a light tug before moving on to the next one.
"Hey Kenji, hand me the end of the lights." Iketani drops down a couple of steps and leans over, holding out a hand.
"I'm not done untangling them yet," Kenji says, gesturing at the pile of lights next to him.
"You can just keep doing it as I go." Iketani grins at the doubtful look Kenji gives me. "C'mon, it'll be fine."
Kenji stares at him for a couple seconds before passing the end up. "If you say so."
Iketani takes the end and guides it to the first clip. He stops where the first bulb starts, leaving the rest hanging to plug in later. The clip pops into place, holding up the wire.
Iketani does the next few, keeping the lights taunt against the gutters. He gets through a couple more clips, attaching them before getting Kenji to give him more slack in the lights.
Once he no longer can reach the next section without risking tipping the ladder, he climbs down. He moves the ladder over, taking care not to hit Kenji or step on the steadily growing line of untangled lights. "If you run out, there's more in the other box."
"I gotta keep doing this?" Kenji asks rhetorically. He glances up at the roof, eyes narrowed. "We don't even need that many lights."
"If we went all the way around the house we would." Iketani doesn't even want to imagine how long that would take. He'd be up on the roof until dark, and then some.
Kenji leans back, looking up at Iketani. "We hafta do the whole roof?"
Iketani cracks a grin and shoves Kenji's shoulder. "Nope, just the front."
Kenji sighs and returns to the lights. "You don't have to be like that." He tries to press his voice flat but he can't hide the thin edge of amusement that cuts through.
Iketani laughs and repositions the ladder a meter or so from the last place he had it.
Between the two of them, it doesn't take that long to get all of the lights up on the roof. Kenji has the lights untangled before Iketani finishes getting all of the lights up and he just stands to the side watching Iketani or keeping the lights from getting caught on something.
Iketani doesn't force Kenji up the ladder to pin up some of the lights, but he considers it.
When Iketani finishes fastening the last clip and secures the end of the lights, he climbs down and pulls the ladder away from the roof. "Kenji, did you find the extension cord?"
"Yeah." Kenji pulls out a long cord from the other box of lights, shaking off any of the bulbs clinging to it. "Do you even know if any of these lights work?"
Iketani looks up at the lights that he just spent the past hour or so stringing up. "Not really."
They worked last year, so that should be enough, right?
Kenji just plugs the extension cord into the wall and connects the other end with the lights.
All of the lights blink on, a faint yellowish-white against the grey gutters.
"See, you got all worried for nothing," Iketani says as Kenji steps over the boxes to join him.
"I think it was a fair question." Kenji looks up at the lights, something satisfied in his expression.
For a second they just stand there and watch the lights. They're nice, even if they're the lights that his mom has had for who knows how long.
Maybe he should be grateful that they still work.
Iketani readjusts his grip on the ladder, his fingers starting to ache again. "Let's get this stuff back in the garage."
"I should've just come when you told me too," Kenji says, unserious. He grabs the two boxes and follows Iketani to their garage.
Iketani shoves the ladder into a corner. "Set the boxes wherever, I'll put them away later."
Kenji sets the boxes down by a shelf, looking at Iketani's S13 up on blocks. He gestures to her with a nod. "Working on something?"
"The suspension, I'm working on replacing the shocks and struts right now." Iketani glances over his shoulder at the sound of car doors slamming, headlights flickering in through the garage door. "I'll show you after dinner."
"Assuming that we aren't roped into a conversation we can't leave."
"My family isn't that bad." Iketani pushes open the door and holds it. "C'mon."
Kenji slips by him and Iketani follows him into the foyer where his mom is already greeting the guests. Iketani grins at the sight of his cousins and joins the conversation.
— —
After dinner, Iketani and Kenji leave with the promise of returning to bid everyone farewell when they leave. Kenji carries two steaming mugs of hot chocolate, one filled with whipped cream and the other with marshmallows. Iketani has the plate of cookies one of his aunts practically forced on him, the dry ones that she makes every year.
They retreat to the garage. Iketani pushes some of the tools and parts on the workbench to one side and sets the plate down. He pulls out the little space heater he keeps in here and turns it on, keeping it away from anything flammable.
Kenji hops up on the bench, sitting in the one clear space. He grabs the mug with the marshmallows and takes a long sip.
Iketani grabs the other one and just holds it in between his hands.
Kenji lowers the mug to his lap. "So your S13?"
"I'm getting her ready for the spring." Iketani takes a slow sip from his mug, savoring the rich flavor cut with the light cream. "I'm going to work on the brakes and rotors too."
"All of that at one time? You sure you can handle being off the road that long?"
"It'll be worth it." Iketani can't wait to see how his S13 will drive once he's done with this. She'll definitely be better than when he brought her into the garage. "I'm going to get better next year."
Kenji gives him a long look. "Dude, you say that every year."
"Well, this year it's going to happen." Iketani takes a pointed sip from his hot chocolate. "Our team is growing, I need to get better too."
Kenji nods. "We definitely got some interesting members."
"That's putting it lightly." Between Itsuki and Takumi, one of which isn't even an actual member of their team, it's been an interesting year for Iketani.
But it's all been worth it. He hasn't felt this raw desire to take his car to new heights since he first bought her.
It's exhilarating.
"Well, the snow always makes this time of year boring." Kenji reaches over and grabs one of the cookies and Iketani does nothing to stop him.
"For you, maybe." Iketani watches Kenji out of the corner of his eye, hiding a grin with his mug. "Drifting in the snow's fun."
"Says the person who's car is going to be on blocks for most of the winter." Kenji takes a bite of the cookie and makes a face, a cross between confused and disgusted. "Those are not good."
"Why do you think they pawned them off on us?" Iketani grins at the look Kenji gives him.
Kenji just rolls his eyes. "You could've warned me."
"I think they're something everyone has to try at least once. To get the full experience." Iketani can't keep his expression flat, laughing.
"Of course you'd say that." But Kenji finishes the rest of the cookie with a long swig of hot chocolate.
"You didn't have to finish it." Iketani watches with some sense of fascination.
Kenji shrugs. "It felt rude not to finish it."
"To someone who isn't even here?"
"Yeah."
"I didn't realize you could be that polite." Iketani drains the rest of his hot chocolate and sets the mug down on the bench, already missing the warmth from the ceramic. "You're not like that with me."
"And I think you know why." Kenji takes another sip from his mug. "You made me untangle lights in the snow."
Iketani laughs. "It was barely snowing."
"My point still stands."
Iketani leans back, resting his elbows against the bench. The S13's paint gleams in the overhead light, still shiny from the cleaning he gave her a couple of weeks ago.
They're going to get better next year, he knows it.