Chapter Text
“Good. You’re all here,” Satori spins his seat around, a wicked grin on his face as his hands clasp together, fingers curl and pressing lightly against each other like a cartoon villain who is up to no good. The other seven people in the room look at him almost unenthusiastically.
“You might be wondering, why did I call all of you here for a team meeting?”
“I thought Ushijima-san called for this meeting,” Kenjirou asks.
Satori laughs as if saying poor silly little Kenjirou-kun, “That was a trick. All of you fall for it like I expected. I’m such a genius.”
“I knew Ushijima-san wouldn’t use hehehe,” Tsutomu whispers. Reon pats his head in pity.
Satori announces, “Gays and gentlemen, we are gathered here today because I have a proposal. Hear me out,” He pauses for dramatic effect. “A christmas party and a secret santa.”
“Satori, it’s Christmas and we are broke!”
“It’s too much work…”
“You want to party? At school?”
As Satori expected, a chorus of complaints immediately fills the air. That’s fine, it’s nothing he has not heard before. Jesus was hated because he told the truth and Satori is nothing but history that repeats itself. He has a plan in motion. First, he needs to sell the idea.
Satori claps his hands once to get all of their attention, “Now, now. Think about it. We can have the party at the gym. There’s already tables and chairs inside the storage room and I’m pretty sure there’s leftover decorations there too. Each of us can chip in for the food. It’ll be easy to set up.”
He can see some of them nodding, accepting the logic that he had presented. Some of them still look a bit unconvinced so he decided now is the time for the second phase. Guilt-tripping, or as Satori prefers to call it, gaining emotional sympathy via joint memory.
“Besides,” Satori says in his best mother-whose-children-no-longer-visit voice. “We won’t be spending much time together. Us third years are graduating soon and who knows when we’ll see each other again. Maybe we’ll see each other in a year or maybe 10 years.”
His audiences go silent, letting the truth of Satori’s word sink in. Tsutomu looks so close to crying, Eita is biting his lip, Reon and Kenjirou look conflicted and Hayato is fidgeting. Great, Satori thinks.
And then, comes the kicker, “I just want to spend Christmas together, one last time. As a team. As a family.”
He gets teary eyes and pouts for dramatic measure. He can see the team shift uncomfortably and look at each other trying to gain a consensus. Hook, line, sinker.
“I can’t believe we let you guilt-trip us like this,” Reon sighs defeatedly. “Fine, we’re in.”
“Great! We’ll have the party before we all leave for home!” Satori cheers before slamming a make-shift small box made out of paper in front of them. In it are the names of the team members. “Now, everyone picks one name from the box.”
One by one, each member picks out one name out of the box. Satori analyses each team members’ expression trying to gauge who gets who. Tsutomu is not at all subtle as he keeps glancing at Hayato. Hayato nods in satisfaction which means he probably gets someone he already knows too well. This could be any of the third years. Kenjirou scrunches his nose, probably in disgust, and that indicates he either gets Satori or Eita. Though Satori thinks it’s probably Eita.
Eita has a little grin on his face which means he likes the person he gets because it’s easy for him to buy a gift for. So, it’s probably one of the third years. Reon looks troubled and is avoiding eye contact with Taichi in particular. Taichi raises an eyebrow at the name in his hands which indicates he is not impressed. Satori can deduce that he probably gets Tsutomu or Satori. Wakatoshi is expressionless as ever but Satori can tell that he is already thinking about what possible gift he can buy for his giftee.
Finally, Satori unfolds the paper he had picked out. One name stares back at him in his own messy scrawl. Tsutomu-kun, it says.
“Is everyone satisfied?” Satori asks.
“Sure,” Taichi shrugs, uncaring.
“We should go to the mall this weekend to buy the gifts,” Hayato suggests and a few of them murmurs agreements.
“Right on! Which reminds me,” Satori grins, another plan forming in his head. “We should get the coaches' gifts too! Think about it, it’s our last Christmas together and we probably won’t see them until years later. And we didn’t even get to go to nationals this year so this is the least—”
“Okay, stop guilt-tripping us, we agree,” Kenjirou comments, rolling his eyes.
“That was low blow dude, don’t mention the national tragedy,” Eita sulks, which gains him a sympathetic pat on the back from Tsutomu.
“Yeah, dude. It’s snow laughing matter,” Hayato adds. There is a long silence. “Get it?”
“Please don’t tell me you’re planning to tell christmas puns again this year,” Taichi deadpans.
Hayato scoffs, looking offended, “My puns are amazing. Besides, I need to tell 50 puns this year to beat my record of 30 puns last year.”
“Literally nobody asks you to do that.”
“Yule be sorry for—”
“Okay,” Reon stands up, diffusing the fight between Taichi and Hayato, “I guess it’s settled then. We’ll go to the mall this weekend, right?”
Everyone voices out their agreement.
“Does anyone have any questions?” Satori asks.
Tsutomu’s hand shoots up.
“Yeah, Tsutomu?”
“If this is a team party, then why is Soekawa-san and the others not here?”
Silence.
“...We’ll get them some presents.”
“Agreed.”
Soon enough, the meeting is adjourned and the six of them leave their meeting room which is just Wakatoshi and Satori’s shared dorm room. Satori throws himself on his bed, grinning excitedly at the prospect of his idea, “I’m so excited for this, Wakatoshi-kun.”
Wakatoshi nods. The lack of answer causes Satori to turn and look at him. After knowing Wakatoshi for almost three years now, Satori can basically read what is in his head. He’s not at all as mysterious as everyone made him out to be. People just need to look closer and they’ll find their answers—like the crease on his forehead which means he’s contemplating something.
“What’s on your mind, Wakatoshi-kun?” Satori asks.
“I’m thinking,” Wakatoshi replies. “About what you said.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s our last moments together. Someone told me that we should make our last meaningful. After we lost, I thought we didn't have that chance anymore. But, I think,” Wakatoshi pauses, finally looking at Satori, “I want this Christmas to be meaningful. So that I can look back at it fondly.”
Satori smiles, “I’m glad you think that way, Wakatoshi-kun. We should cherish all the time we have left with each other.”
Wakatoshi nods, “Thank you for the Christmas party idea, Satori.”
“You’re welcome.”