Work Text:
Chapter 1 — The Winter Offer
Marin Kitagawa sat cross-legged on her bed, idly kicking her feet in the air as she scrolled through her phone. Outside her window, the december sky hung low and grey, the air already carrying the crisp bite of the oncoming winter break. She should’ve been thinking about Christmas or winter anime releases.
Instead, she was too busy admiring the selfie Gojo and her took at sunset a few days ago. She couldn’t help but smile like a fangirl as she admired it.
Sure she was bummed she couldn’t work up the courage to tell Gojo her feelings yet, but with winter break coming she was excited to spend time with him and was already planning some fun ideas to cosplay.
She was about to reopen her pictures of the next character she was to cosplay when an email notification from her modeling agency appeared at the top of her screen.
Quickly opening it she was shocked and staring blankly at an email so unreal she’d had to re-read it at least twelve times.
“We would like to invite you to Europe as a featured model for our Winter Holidays Campaign…”
“…all expenses paid…”
“…two-week travel itinerary across European cities…”
Her heart fluttered every time she reread it. This was the kind of opportunity real professional models dreamed of. A paid European campaign? Photoshoots in Paris, Munich, Prague, Rome? It felt like a dream.
A dream—
—that instantly soured in her chest.
Her smile faded.
Her shoulders slumped.
And she tore her eyes away from the screen with a groan.
“Uggghhhh… this suuucks…”
Because, tucked at the bottom of the offer, highlighted neatly in bold, were the words:
“Minors must be accompanied by a guardian for all travel.”
Hilarious.
Painful.
A cosmic joke.
Her dad was, as usual, working abroad—weeks, maybe months. Totally unavailable. And even if she did somehow convince him to fly to Europe, it would just mean…
Time away from Gojo.
Marin flopped dramatically onto her back, one hand draped across her forehead like a tragic heroine.
“Why now? Why this offer? Why Europe? Why… whyyyyy!?”
She kicked her legs again, but this time out of frustration.
Winter break was short—barely two weeks. If she left Japan for the entire campaign, she wouldn’t see Gojo-kun at all. No homemade meals with Gojo and Grandpa. No cosplay design and work with Gojo. No sweet, shy smiles. No moments where he said something unexpectedly gentle and kind that she had to look away before her face caught fire.
The thought alone made her stomach twist painfully.
Eventually, she shot up and grabbed her coat.
She needed to talk to someone.
And she knew exactly who.
Gojo Residence
The warm smell of simmering miso greeted Marin as she knocked on the open shōji door.
“Gojo? Grandpa? I’m coming iiiin!”
Gojo Wakana appeared from the adjoining room, still in his apron, hands lightly dirtied from his cooking. His face brightened instantly when he saw her.
“K-Kitagawa! Hello, we weren’t expecting you, did you need something?”
The way he said her name always made her heart wobble. She swallowed hard, trying to hold herself together.
“Um, yeah. I, uh… got some news.”
Grandpa Gojo perked up from behind his low table, where he was polishing a doll’s kimono accessory.
“News? In December? Hope it’s not about that boy band you like falling apart again.”
Marin puffed her cheeks. “That was one time!”
She sat down across from Gojo, fiddling anxiously with her phone.
“So, uh… I got an email. A big one. From a European modeling agency.”
Gojo blinked. Twice.
“Eh?”
“They want me for a Winter Holidays campaign,” she explained quickly. “Like—real modeling. Real money. Real Europe.”
Gojo’s eyes widened, awe lighting up every line of his expression.
“That’s amazing, Kitagawa!”
His pride hit her harder than the actual offer had.
She forced a smile. “Y-yeah. Except… there’s, like… a tiny, stupid, horrible problem.”
She explained the guardian requirement. Her father’s absence. She decided it was best to leave out the helicopter-crushing weight in her chest at the idea of leaving Gojo for two whole weeks.
She didn’t say that part out loud, of course. She didn’t feel like dying of embarrassment.
When she finished, she slumped onto the table dejected.
“So basically I can’t go,” she mumbled.
Gojo’s face fell in quiet sympathy. “Kitagawa… I’m really sorry. You must’ve been excited.”
He reached over a laid a supporting hand on her shoulder with a kind sympathetic smile in his face. His eyes seemed to shine with sincerity.
Her throat tightened.
He always said the right things.
He always made her want to cry in the embarrassing, happy-sad way.
Before Marin could drown in her own self-pity, Grandpa Gojo took a slow sip of tea, cleared his throat, and said:
“Well, that’s easy. I’ll go.”
Marin froze.
Gojo froze.
Grandpa continued calmly, as if stating tomorrow’s weather forecast:
“I’ll go as her guardian.”
Marin shot upright so fast she nearly launched into the ceiling.
“EH!?”
Gojo sputtered. “G-Grandpa! Y-You would… you’d really—?”
“Of course. I’ve always wanted to see Europe,” he said sagely. “And if I go… then naturally Wakana would have to come along. Can’t leave him alone here and I’m sure he can help to handle the costumes, after all.”
Marin’s entire brain short-circuited.
This was too good.
Too perfect.
Too impossibly wonderful.
“Is that—Is that okay!?” she squeaked, hands pressed to her cheeks.
Grandpa shrugged. “Well, your father would have to approve.”
Marin was already calling him at light-speed.
Five Minutes Later
Her father’s voice crackled through the phone:
“If Mr. Gojo can accompany you then… yes, Marin. I’m proud of you. Go.”
She nearly dropped the phone.
“THANKYOUSOMUCHILOVEYOUBYE—!”
Hanging up, she looked at Gojo with bright, trembling eyes.
“Gojo… w-we’re going to Europe.”
His cheeks flushed pink with a happy smile.
“Y-yeah… I guess we are.”
Marin clapped both hands over her heart to keep it from exploding.
Europe. The cities, the food, the people,
The monuments and Christmas lights and celebrations.
And best of all, two whole weeks with Gojo!
This was going to be the best winter break of her life!