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“I’m bored,” says Nobara, tossing her phone on the bed and rolling over. “Let’s get pizza.”
“Okay!” Yuuji agrees, sitting up and clapping his hands.
“No, it gives me a stomachache,” grumbles Megumi. "And why are you both on my bed? You both have your own beds and your own rooms, even.”
“Your room is bigger and your bed’s more comfortable,” Yuuji says, stretching and then flopping back down. “Your comforter is so soft,” he runs his hands over it and sighs in pleasure.
“It’s not appropriate for the two of you to hang out in my room,” Nobara says primly. “I’m still bored. We don’t have to get pizza, but we should go do something fun.”
Yuuji frowns, thinking, then snaps his fingers. “What about the illuminations?”
Nobara shrugs. “Maybe. The last one we went had non-stop old j-pop Christmas songs playing and I wanted to blow up their speakers so I wouldn’t have to listen to them anymore.”
Yuuji tries again. “Christmas market?”
“Now you’re talking!” Nobara starts searching for Christmas markets on her phone and Yuuji scoots closer to look over her shoulder at them. He reaches over her shoulder to point something out, and doesn’t remove his arm, letting it drape across her. Megumi watches them together, envying their casual comfort with each other, when a sudden clattering on the roof makes them all jump.
Moments later they hear loud footsteps echoing down the hall. Yuuji and Nobara exchange glances and get to their feet, ready to confront whoever it is. Megumi gets up and opens the door, gesturing for their visitor to come in.
When they see who’s at the door, Yuuji’s jaw drops and Nobara just blinks in confusion.
“Ho ho ho!” Standing in the doorway is none other than a smiling, rotund man with a white beard, wearing a red suit and black boots, a red cap on his head.
Yuuji is first to break the silence. “Colonel Sanders? Is it really you?”
Nobara elbows him and guffaws. “That’s not Colonel Sanders, idiot! It’s Santa-san!”
To their further surprise, Megumi lets the man pull him into a hug. “Megumi-kun, so good to see you again! Look how tall you are now! I hope you haven’t made any plans for tonight.”
Megumi shakes his head, smiling slightly.
“How have you been? Did you get any presents this year for your birthday?”
“What?” Yuji and Nobara holler in unison. “When was your birthday?”
Megumi looks away, abashed. “It was two days ago.”
“It was your birthday and you didn’t tell us?” Nobara screeches.
Yuji chimes in. “Yeah! We would’ve taken you out, gotten a cake, done something fun!”
Megumi hunches his shoulders. “Nobody ever really made that big a deal about it when I was little,” he says quietly. Santa pats him on the shoulder reassuringly.
“Do you want to invite your friends to come along tonight? That could be fun for everyone.”
Yuuji and Nobara instantly nod their agreement, and the next thing they know their school uniforms have been transformed. Yuuji looks like a younger version of Santa in a red suit and boots, Megumi is an elf in green tunic and pants, while Nobara is wearing a red dress with a flared skirt and a green bolero jacket. She twirls around in delight before following them out the door.
Santa’s sleigh is outside. Instead of the cute reindeer from the Western illustrations, the sleigh is drawn by several giant deer that look over in unison when they see Megumi. He stops to pet them; they snuffle his hand and he smiles at them. “I know you want me to call Gyokuken out to play, but we have a lot of flying to do before the night’s over.”
He gives them a last pat, then goes to get in the sleigh, where he finds the seat next to Santa occupied by Yuuji. “Do you mind if I ride next to Santa-san, Fushiguro?”
“It’s fine, I’ll sit with Kugisaki.” Nobara scoots over to give him room, but they are still sitting closer together than they normally would. Santa is just starting his route in Japan, so they are forced into close proximity because of all the presents. Nobara presses herself closer to Megumi and his breath catches; she twists and pokes at the pile of presents behind herself for several moments, then turns around.
“There were all these boxes poking me - I had to move them before they drove me crazy,” she says by way of explanation.
The sleigh begins to move and they’re thrown together again. The takeoff is smooth and it doesn’t even feel like they’re flying, more like a bullet train pulling out of a station.
“If you want to look out of the sleigh, I’ll hold onto you so you don’t fall,” Megumi says to Nobara, who’s watching him intently.
“In a second. First I want to apologize for not doing something for your birthday. My grandmother always made it special for me, and I feel bad that I didn’t do anything.”
Megumi waves it off. “Don’t be sorry - you didn’t even know. If I’d wanted you to know I would’ve said something. Second of all, It’s not a big deal to me. My family never did anything, and later, Gojo-sensei tried to convince me it was some jujutsu sorcerer thing to not celebrate birthdays, and then he convinced Santa-san to take me with him on Christmas Eve, which was more fun than a party.”
“Okay, but next year we’re definitely doing something for your birthday, got it?”
Megumi smiles at her. “Sure. That would be fun.”
“I’ve always wondered how Santa-san delivers presents to houses without chimneys,” Yuuji says, as they approach the first house on the list.
Santa carefully guides the giant deer to land on the roof and turns to Yuuji. “Many children have theorized over the years, and now you’re going to be one of the few who knows.” He makes an intricate gesture with his hand and murmurs “Domain expansion - chimney,” and a chimney top with a wide mouth appears.
Yuji and Nobara look on with wide eyes as Santa nods to Megumi, who takes an armful of presents from the sleigh and disappears into the chimney, only to reappear moments later with a handful of cookies, which he distributes to Yuuji and Nobara. He offers one to Santa, who waves him off with a smile. “I ate before I left - too many cookies give me heartburn.”
Once they see how it works, Yuuji and Nobara clamor to help out, and the work goes much faster with three helpers. Nobara loves to look around at the decorations inside, while Yuuji likes to arrange the presents in intricate formations. They high-five each other after finishing their first house and whoosh up Santa’s chimney to the sleigh to hurry on to the next stop.
“Santa-san! I found a present that belongs to this house - what should I do?” Megumi has already disappeared into a house when Yuuji finds a gift that should have gone along with him.
“Take it down to him, of course,” Santa responds, waving him toward the chimney.
Yuuji nods and jumps. Inside the house, Megumi is counting the presents with a worried look on his face. “You forgot this one, Fushiguro,” Yuuji says, holding the present out to him. Megumi nods and Yuuji puts it under the tree. They head back to the chimney, but when they enter, they find themselves stuck.
“Why aren’t we moving?” Yuuji says, fidgeting in the narrow space.
“Hold still for a second,” Megumi mutters, “Santa will notice that something’s wrong and pull us out.”
Instead of widening, the chimney contracts further, and now Yuuji and Megumi are pressed closely together. Yuuji smells good, like a pine forest in the snow, and Megumi can’t help but notice how solid Yuuji is against him, his muscles twitching as he tries to control his agitation. “Calm down,” he says, putting a hand on Yuuji’s chest, where he feels his heart beating rapidly. “Deep breaths. I didn’t know you were claustrophobic.”
Yuuji closes his eyes and inhales deeply. “I’m not claustrophobic, I’m just —“ he shifts, and suddenly Megumi feels something poking his leg. He shifts, and Yuuji’s face is scarlet, like he’s been dunked into boiling water. Just as Megumi realizes what’s going on, the chimney expands and they’re up on the roof again.
“Sorry, lads! I was talking to Nobara-chan and lost track of time. Hop in, we’ve got a ways to go!” Santa pats the seat next to him and Megumi takes opportunity to sit in front for a while. Yuuji climbs in the back, carefully not looking at him, and sits next to Nobara.
Hours later, the presents have all been delivered, and Santa turns the sleigh towards Tokyo. Nobara’s in the front seat next to Santa; Yuuji and Megumi have fallen asleep, awkwardness forgotten as they lean on each other.
“They look cute like that,” Nobara says softly.
Santa glances over his shoulder and smiles. “I’m glad you all have each other. You’ve become good friends, haven’t you?”
Nobara looks down at her nails, absently picking at a loose piece of skin, then looks away. “Good friends, but not good enough, in some ways. I think there could be more between us, but nobody wants to take the first step.”
Santa nods in understanding. “Leave it to me, Nobara-chan. Close your eyes and I’ll have you back in the dorms before you know it.”
Yuuji is the first to wake up, hours later. They’re all sleeping on Megumi’s bed, curled together like puppies. A flash and a sparkle catches his eye, and when he sits up he realizes that it’s from the blinking lights of a fully-decorated Christmas tree that hadn’t been there the day before. At the bottom of the tree are piles of presents.
He shakes Megumi awake, then Nobara. “Look what Santa left us!”
Nobara yawns and stretches, then gasps when she sees the tree. “Wait, that actually happened? I thought it was just a dream!”
An hour later, they’ve opened all the presents and are back on Megumi’s bed. Nobara is cocooned in a fluffy new sweater and reading a fashion magazine, Yuuji is weaving a friendship bracelet, his tongue sticking out slightly as he concentrates on the intricate pattern, and Megumi has just finished the latest volume of his favorite manga when he notices one last present tucked under the tree.
When he brings it back, the other two crowd around to see what it is.
“It’s for all of us, but it’s so small! What could it be?” Yuuji says.
Megumi unwraps the small package to find a sprig of greenery with white berries on the stems, with a red ribbon tied at the base. “Is that…?” Nobara says.
“It’s mistle — mmf!” He doesn’t finish the sentence because Yuuji and Nobara dive across the bed to land on Megumi and cover him with kisses.