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Everything was perfect. It had to be. Kaito wouldn’t have it any other way.
This was his first Christmas together with Maki – Maki Harukawa! His girlfriend! – and even if they weren’t spending it alone he was determined to make sure that the entire night was as magical as possible.
“So? What do you think?” Kaito turned to his roommate, Shuichi, with a sweeping arm and a proud smile.
Shuichi glanced up from the mirror where he stood, straightening his tie. “I think you’re doing way too much,” he replied, words blunt even if his face seemed to flush as he said them.
“There’s no such thing as ‘too much’,” Kaito countered, deciding to toss a few more strands of tinsel onto their tree for good measure. “Not when it comes to Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars!”
Shuichi sighed and shook his head but, to his credit, didn’t say anything more. He’d probably been friends with Kaito long enough to know when a cause was already lost.
As Shuichi continued to struggle with his tie, Kaito took one last look at their apartment. It was small, and felt even more crowded with the oversized Christmas tree that Kaito had insisted on getting, but that had just made it even easier to decorate from head to toe. Paper snowflakes hung from the ceiling, and Christmas lights were strung along almost every available inch of wall. The tree was decked tip to trunk in ornaments, tinsel, and more tinsel. Seasonal food had been laid out on their small dining table and extended onto their countertops until Kaito had been sure everyone would leave with a full stomach.
Then there was the pièce de résistance.
Mistletoe hung from every possible doorway in their apartment. Even the transition between the living room and the kitchen, which wasn’t really a doorway at all, had a sprig of mistletoe. All in all there were nearly ten mistletoe sprigs around their small home, and if Kaito got his wish he would kiss Maki Harukawa under every single one.
“Please tell me this isn’t as bad as it looks,” Shuichi said, turning away from the mirror and drawing Kaito’s eyes away from the holiday decorations.
Kaito had to bite back a laugh as he was faced with Shuichi’s attempt at a tie. “I can’t lie to my sidekick,” he finally said, crossing the space between them to try and fix the crooked knot. Kaito’s brows furrowed as he held the two ends in his hands. “This is a lot easier when you’re actually wearing it…” he mumbled to himself, struggling to figure out which end went over which.
A knock at the door brought Kaito’s fruitless attempts to an end, and he sent up a silent thank you to whoever was keeping him from embarrassing himself even further. “I’ll get it!” he said, leaving Shuichi standing in the middle of their living room with his tie hanging limp over his shoulders.
“Merry Christmas!” The cheery sound of Kaede Akamatsu’s voice was easily recognizable before Kaito had even fully opened the door. She stood there wearing a knee-length red dress, a Santa hat, and a bright smile. “Merry Christmas!” she repeated, pulling Kaito in for a tight hug. “Your place looks amazing!”
“Yeah,” Shuichi replied over Kaito’s shoulder. “He kind of went all out.”
“To make the best Christmas party ever!” Kaito insisted. “I would want nothing less for my best friends!”
Kaede laughed, pulling back from the hug. Her eyes travelled over to Shuichi, still with his tie untied, then flicked back up to the doorframe above her.
“Kaito…” she chided him, lips turning down into her telltale pout of disappointment.
“What’s Christmas without mistletoe?” he replied.
Kaede shook her head. “I’ll take a raincheck.” She patted him lightly on the arm, then brushed past him and towards Shuichi. “You look like you could use a hand.”
“Ah, yeah,” Shuichi replied, blushing furiously.
“Where’s Maki Roll?” Kaito asked, following behind Kaede. “I thought she was coming with you?”
“She had some last minute gifts to drop off at the orphanage,” Kaede replied, hands moving effortlessly over Shuichi’s silk tie. “She’ll probably be here soon.”
Now it was Kaito’s turn to pout. Kaede finished with Shuichi’s tie, lightly patted his chest, and turned to face Kaito. “Put the long face away. It’s Christmas! And she’ll be here before you know it!” He knew that Kaede was right, but patience had never been one of his strong suits.
“Do you want some punch?” Shuichi asked, fiddling with the cuffs of his suit.
Kaede beamed. “I’d love some!”
Kaito watched as the two of them wandered towards the kitchen, Kaede stopping the flustered Shuichi underneath the mistletoe. She kissed him gently on the cheek, so chaste that Kaito would hardly even consider it a kiss. Shuichi, however, looked as though he might melt. Man, his sidekick sure was a sap.
Before he could get in any teasing words, though, more party guests arrived. Leon Kuwata wasn’t the sort to bother with knocking, instead barging right into the apartment with a case of beer cradled in his arms and Kazuichi, Mondo, and Taka on his heels. “Happy holidays, everyone!” Taka cheered as he stepped inside and began unravelling his scarf.
“Man, you decked this place out,” Kazuichi said with a crooked grin, arms folded over his ugly Christmas sweater.
“What the hell’s with all the mistletoe?” Mondo asked, taking his boyfriend’s scarf and shoving it into the pocket of his long coat.
“Did you invite a bunch of pretty girls?” Kazuichi asked, face lighting up brighter than the Christmas tree.
“I invited my girlfriend,” Kaito replied, because she was clearly the prettiest girl of them all, “And I’ve already told Taka to make sure that you stay six feet away from her at all times.”
“Whaaaat?” Kazuichi groaned.
“Guys, come on in!” Kaede called from the kitchen. “You don’t have to crowd around the door!”
The group seemed to move as one, following the call towards the food and drink. Just as soon as they’d cleared out of the doorway, more guests arrived. First it was Shuichi’s friend, Kyoko, and her boyfriend Makoto who made sure to catch her under the mistletoe even as her cheeks flared with a blush. Then Kokichi, Gonta, and Miu, who left the latter under the mistletoe cursing up a storm until Gonta finally returned and kissed her on the hand like a ‘gentleman’. She didn’t seem happy about it, but at least she stopped calling everyone in attendance a ‘fucking virgin’. The final guest was Kaede’s friend Ibuki Mioda, who kicked open their door and loudly announced that the party had arrived, blatantly ignoring the mistletoe as she headed straight for the desserts.
Kaito did his best to keep himself busy. He offered appetizers to his guests, and when they were sick of that he offered them punch. When Kaede finally suggested, in that gentle voice of hers, that Kaito let people eat food at their own pace, he moved into the living room and began to fiddle with the holiday playlist he’d crafted. It had seemed so perfect yesterday, and yet now it sounded all wrong.
“Hey man.” Leon approached, holding out a beer. “You’re like, kinda killing the vibe.”
“What’re you talking about?” Kaito asked, looking up with wide eyes. “I am the vibe! I’m throwing the perfect Christmas party!” He accepted the can from Leon, who took the opportunity to grab the aux cord from Kaito’s hands. The music finally settled on a song for longer than twenty seconds, Wham! pouring through the speakers.
“I’ve never seen you this uptight before. You’re giving even Taka a run for his money.”
Kaito deflated instantly. “That bad, huh?” he mumbled in response.
“‘Fraid so,” Leon replied. “But if you ask me, you’ve got nothing to worry about. This party’s pretty sweet when you’re not trying to shove potato salad down my throat. And your girl? I’ve seen the way she looks at you. Even if you threw the worst party in the history of the world, I bet that wouldn’t change a damn thing about how she feels.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Leon replied, giving Kaito a playful shove. “You’ve gotta stop worrying so much. You’re Kaito Momota, ain’t you? Luminary of Space, or whatever?”
“Luminary of the Stars,” Kaito corrected, sitting up a little straighter. “And you’re right! Maki Roll will love me, whether this party is perfect or not! Because I’m the Luminary of the Stars!”
“That’s the spirit!” Leon raised his beer, clanging it softly against Kaito’s. “Now, stop moping and stop fussing with everything. Just come into the kitchen, have a good time, and Maki will be here before you know it.”
Kaito cracked a smile and threw an arm around Leon. They headed back to the kitchen together, where Mondo was in the midst of relaying a harrowing motorbike tale. The next time that someone knocked on the door, he let Shuichi get it. Mondo’s story had finished, and now Makoto was recounting one of Kyoko’s cases while she stood there, a soft flush to her cheeks. Kaito was dying to know how it was going to end.
“Happiest of holidays, everyone!” Sonia Nevermind announced as she entered the apartment, quite literally dressed like Santa Claus; black boots, white beard, and all.
“Let us rejoice on this day as we celebrate the arrival of the Almighty Son!” Gundham agreed, following Sonia inside.
“Who invited this guy,” Kazuichi grumbled into his glass of punch.
“Gonta did!” the entomologist said, pushing past all of the guests crowded into the kitchen to run up to Gundham and lift him into a hug.
“Be careful, great Colossus!” Gundham said, eyes wide with what Kaito could only assume was genuine fright. “Lest you crush the offerings in my coat!”
“Yes, we brought presents!” Sonia said, and she seemed to be smiling beneath that bushy beard.
“Presents?” Ibuki shouted, knocking Kazuichi into the fridge as she bolted towards Sonia. “Ibuki looooves presents!”
The rest of the party guests gravitated towards Gundham, who had since been placed back on the ground by an embarrassed looking Gonta. His long black coat was unbuttoned to reveal a number of small wrapped boxes tucked into his inner pockets. Kaito stayed in the kitchen, watching on as Kokichi tried to climb on top of Miu’s back to reach one of the presents. He was caught between a desire to laugh and to yell at Kokichi to stop acting like he was twelve.
“Hey, Kaito.” Shuichi said, coming up behind his roommate. “I think someone’s looking for you?”
“Huh?” he asked, turning to glance at Shuichi with a furrowed brow. Shuichi inclined his head towards their front door, and when Kaito’s gaze followed he felt his heart nearly jump out of his chest.
Maki Harukawa stood there, fiddling with one of her pigtails and looking like the most beautiful person Kaito had ever seen.
The chaos of the gift giving had exploded in front of her, and none of the other partygoers even seemed to notice that she had arrived. She nibbled on her bottom lip, an expression that Kaito had come to recognize as a nervous tic.
“Hold this!” Kaito said, shoving his plate into Shuichi’s hands.
“Ah- Okay!”
Despite the mad scrambling in the apartment as everyone clamored for a gift, Kaito could see nothing but Maki. She wore a red dress with puffy sleeves and a purple ribbon tied around her neck which perfectly matched the colour of his jacket. She looked like a Christmas present; fitting, as she was the only thing that Kaito had wished for this year.
“Maki Roll!”
She looked up at the sound of her name, face first slightly alarmed and wide-eyed before softening into that smile that Kaito knew she saved just for him.
“Holy crap, you look beautiful.”
“Shut up,” she grumbled, cheeks puffing out.
“When did you get here?” Kaito pressed on, ignoring the adorable blush in her cheeks.
“I came in behind Sonia and Gundham.”
“Damn, I didn’t even hear you! You sure do know how to be stealthy!”
Maki rolled her eyes, but Kaito could tell it was the affectionate kind rather than the kind she so often aimed at people like Kokichi. “Maybe you didn’t hear me because everyone was yelling about presents.”
Kaito laughed. Yeah, he’d give her that one. Even Taka, who was normally so rigid and self-restrained, was trying to shove his way to the front of the crowd to receive his present from Sonia Claus.
“But Maki Roll, didn’t you see what was above the door?”
“Above the door?” she repeated, raising an eyebrow. She turned her head, peering over her shoulder at the sprig of mistletoe. A small huff left her lips. “Do you want to die?”
“You’re supposed to wait until someone joins you there to kiss you,” Kaito replied.
“I know how it works,” Maki said with another huff. “I’m not interested.”
“I thought you might say that!” Kaito stepped in front of her, wearing a bright smile. “So I put mistletoe around the entire apartment! Just tell me when and where you want to smooch, and I’ll be there!”
Maki’s cheeks burned. “Kaitoooo,” she hissed.
“Hey, Kaito! Don’t you want your present?” Mondo shouted, a head taller than nearly everyone else who had swarmed into the living room.
“In a second,” Kaito called back, waving off his friend’s words. He looked at Maki, tipping her chin up so that she would meet his gaze. “Can I show you something?” he asked, voice suddenly soft.
“What is it?” Maki mumbled, only keeping eye contact with him for a moment before glancing away.
“Come with me,” Kaito said, reaching for her hand. “Do you trust me?”
There was no hesitation in Maki’s nod. She entwined her fingers through his, then allowed herself to be led past the chaos of the party and towards the back of the apartment. Mistletoe hung from every conceivable door frame; even the linen closet had been decorated, just in case.
Kaito gave Maki’s hand a gentle squeeze as he opened his bedroom door and guided her inside.
“I’ve seen your room before, Kaito,” she said, glancing around. “Although I don’t know if I’ve ever seen this much of the floor.”
“Hey!” Kaito replied.
Maki’s lips curved up into a smile, and then Kaito couldn’t help himself. He had to smile back.
“So if you didn’t want to show me that you finally cleaned your room, what did you want to show me?”
He didn’t answer, not immediately. Instead he ran his thumb over the back of Maki’s hand and smiled down at her. She looked breathtaking, and he wanted to remember every single second of this night. “I wanted our first Christmas Eve together to be special,” he finally said, giving Maki’s hand another soft squeeze. “You should’ve seen me earlier, I was a complete mess!” Leon had helped talk some sense into him, but it was Maki’s arrival that had truly brought him back down to Earth. “I hung up all that mistletoe because I wanted us to have a night to remember. Even with everyone else here for the party, I wanted to be able to look back at tonight and remember us. And I maybe got a little carried away–”
“You? Never.”
“--but I still want everything that I said. To have a special Christmas with you. My girlfriend.” He’d said the words a hundred times before, but it still made his head feel light, like he was floating through zero gravity.
“And I want a special Christmas with you,” Maki agreed.
“So you don’t have to kiss me under all that mistletoe out there,” Kaito continued. “Unless you want to.”
Maki tugged on one of her pigtails. “There’s so many people…”
“I know.” He offered her a gentle smile. “But if you would, I’d like to kiss you under this mistletoe.” Kaito reached into the inner pocket of his jacket, producing another small sprig. “Here. Just the two of us.” He reached up, hanging the mistletoe from one of his ceiling hooks beside a scale model of the planet Jupiter.
“You’re such a dork,” Maki replied, nudging Kaito with her elbow.
“Is that a yes?” he asked, wrapping his arms around her.
“Like you even have to ask,” she replied, pressing onto her toes to meet his lips in a kiss. It felt like the true epitome of Christmas magic, just him and Maki together, underneath the mistletoe just as he’d imagined it. He didn’t have to think about music, or food, or the guest list, he just had to think about his girlfriend, and the press of her red lips against his.
Maki pulled back, cheeks tinged with a blush, and Kaito pulled her in against his chest. She could certainly hear the rhythmic thump thump of his heart, a song composed just for Maki. “Merry Christmas, Maki Roll,” he whispered, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead.
“Merry Christmas Kaito,” she whispered back.
He held her for a long moment, just the two of them making their new Christmas memory.
