Work Text:
“Fuck!”
Kabru stared with horror as his computer's screen froze before turning to black. He tried to press enter, to just spam on his keyboard but the machine still turned off.
“No, no, no!”
He's been working on this dissertation all afternoon. When was the last time he saved his work? He wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer. He stared at the monitor, his reflection staring back at him on the black screen. He looked… tired. He was, honestly, but who could blame him? His finals were right around the corner and that meant studying and completing assignments until his eyes drooped and he fell asleep at his desk.
The good part about staying on campus for winter break was that no roommates were here to tell him to stop his endeavor and go to bed. To be honest, Kabru felt a little guilty about being the only one left in his dorms. Milsiril was pretty disappointed to hear he wouldn't be home for the holidays. She should be used to it by now, because his finals were always right after winter break, but she still whined about his sweet little boy being all alone for Christmas.
Christmas…
With a sight, Kabru stopped staring at his screen, which was now displaying an update, the mere 1% downloaded taunting him. The calendar on the side of his desk was formal: today was Christmas Eve. He grabbed a post it, writing on it a reminder to call Milsiril and wish her a merry Christmas before sticking it on the corner of his monitor. The bastard was still only displaying 1%. This download was going to take a while…
Kabru stared at his window. It snowed during the night, but right now, the weather seemed nice. Couples and families were taking a stroll, admiring decorations on this perfect winter day. The city looked nice like this, covered in white snow and colorful lights. He could go outside. He haven't been outside since… When did winter break start again? Anyway, he could use a break, enjoy some fresh air and touch some grass -or some snow considering the weather-. His update was not moving an inch, it would be more productive for him to get out a bit rather than staring at the screen, waiting for his dissertation to come back.
As soon as he stepped outside, he knew he was making the right decision. The winter breeze caresses his face and ruffled his hair and he could already feel a bit less tired. He'll walk to his favorite coffee shop, take a latte to go, drink it at the park and then come home. Maybe he'll grab something to eat, something better than the cup noodle he had laying in his cupboard, to make his Christmas Eve a bit less depressing. Yes, that should be enough for his update to finish downloading. If it wasn't, he'll eat and call his foster mother before finally going back to his assignment.
The neighborhood was nicely lit up. Most houses were only decorated by some rainbow lights on the balcony and a Christmas wreath on the door. Others had more sophisticated decorations: a ladder with a plastic Santa coming down, a present made out of LEDs, some giant candy canes. The closer he got to downtown, the crazier they were getting. Even the coffee shop had an inflatable snowman standing by the door.
The nice smell of cinnamon and coffee hit him as soon as he came in. This was just what he needed. The place was pretty quiet in the late afternoon, it wasn't really the time for coffee for normal people. Kabru wasn't normal though. He needed that caffeine rush to put an all nighter and compensated whatever he lost when his computer shut down.
The warmth of the cup against his hands felt good. He read somewhere that lonely people loved holding hot cups of coffee or tea, because the feeling reminded them of human warmth. Maybe he was a little lonely… Kabru was so busy studying that he barely talked to anyone, staying alone in his room for hours in front of his computer. The social butterfly he was craved some social interaction. Calling his foster would be good for him, as overbearing as she could get.
Maybe he should be daydreaming about his evening in the middle of a public space. Maybe he should have watched where he was going. As Kabru walked out of the coffee shop, he bumped into a stranger.
On impact, the lid of his cup flew off and all of his latte landed on the poor guy's shirt.
“Oh my God, I'm so sorry! H-Hold on, let me just…”
Kabru fumbled as he grabbed the napkin that came with his drink, trying to soak away the coffee staining the white fabric. He only seemed to smudge it further. Damn it… Embarrassed, he looked up from the stained shirt to watch his victim. The guy should be furious but he looked unbothered, black eyes blinking at him as if it was all no big deal. In those dumb movies, the protagonist always has their wish come true if it was made right before Christmas. Maybe Kabru shouldn't have wished for some socialization, that would have spared him this awkward situation and the loss of his coffee.
“I'm so sorry, I think it's gonna leave a stain…”
The man shook his head, his deep voice flat as he spoke. “It's OK. Don't worry about it.”
Kabru couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. Who could be so calm after being splashed with burning hot coffee? Sure, if he was in his shoes, he wouldn't have made a scene. He would have forced a smile and pretend it was fine but “pretend’ was the keyword. On the inside he would have been furious and strangled the stranger in his mind. This guy however stayed unphased, he seemed more bothered about the fact that Kabru was still here than by the hot stain on his shirt.
“-Please let me pay for a deep cleaning, or a new shirt, or-
-As I said, don't worry about it.”
On one hand, Kabru was relieved. He was a broke college student, the last thing he wanted was to buy a brand new shirt for some guy, it looked expensive. On the other hand, not doing anything seemed wrong. He did ruin the dude's shirt, after all… On Christmas Eve… It would be pretty shitty of him to just go his way, even if the guy stared at him with the blankest expression known to mankind.
“At least let me buy you a drink! I need to get myself a new one anyway.”
The stranger stared at him a bit more. There was something unsettling about his eyes. Not the fact that one of them was drooping and not quite looking his way, no. The one that was actually glaring was such a deep black, it seemed as if it was looking straight into his soul. After some more prolonged eye contact, the man shrugged and followed him inside.
Buying him coffee seemed more affordable than deep cleaning a shirt. Kabru just had to get him a cup of whatever he would like and then he'll be able to forget this awkward moment without thinking about it in shame at 4am for the next few months. As they walked to the counter, he waited for the man to order. The guy was staring at the menu written with chalk on a board. He stared as Kabru waited in a long uncomfortable silence.
The waitress seemed a bit tired of waiting. “Did you find what you want?”
The man bit his chapped lips, still staring at the menu. “No.”
The waitress gave them her best customer service smile to keep her composure. “Call me when you made your choice then.”
With that, she went on to refill the fridge with some canned drinks, leaving Kabru with the undecided stranger. There weren't a lot of drinks, what could take him so long?
“Is it your first time here?”
The stranger nodded. Kabru held back a sight of annoyance, or a little laugh, he wasn't sure. There was something comical about this grown man struggling to pick between the few drinks on the menu. “If you want some recommendations, their cappuccino is really good! You can ask for cinnamon on top instead of chocolate to make it more Christmas-y!”
The man thought about it for a good minute before giving another nod. “OK. I'll take that then.”
Kabru couldn’t help but smile a bit. There! All he needed was a little suggestion! Now they just needed to order and it would all be over. He'll go back to his studies with a nice latte. When the waitress gave them their drinks, he was ready to take his leave but the guy stood in front of him.
“Where do you want to sit”
Kabru tilted his head to the side.
“-Huh?
-You invited me to drink. Where do you want to sit?
-I-I…”
He didn't! Did he? His plan was just to buy him something to make up for his clumsiness, not actually drink it together. He forced a smile. He did ruin this guy's shirt with hot coffee, he could stay a few minutes to make up for that… He'll just have to skip his walk through the park and go straight to his dorm.
“-Do you mind going outside? I spent the whole day inside and the weather is quite nice today.
-It's ok, I don't mind.”
This time, Kabru was careful as he exited the coffee shop, heading toward one of the little tables outside. The sun was about to set, the light taking some orange hues despite it being still pretty early. The air was chilly but with his coat on, he still felt warm enough. It really was a perfect winter day, that he was about to finish with a total stranger.
He took some time to look at the guy, who was staring at his cappuccino. Maybe he was waiting for it to cool down… He was a pretty guy, his wavy gray hair nicely framed his face. He looked tired, dark circles underlining his black eyes but Kabru couldn't say he looked better.
“-So… What's your name?
-Mithrun.
-I'm Kabru, nice to meet you!”
Mithrun just hummed. Okay… Kabru was alright with spending time with him if they actually talked. He has better things to do than to just stare at this guy, as pleasing as it was to look at him.
“-What were you doing at this hour at a coffee shop?
-I wasn't actually going there, I just mistook it for another place.
-Oh! Where were you going?
-Home.
-Is someone waiting for you? I don't want you to be late.”
Mithrun softly shook his head.
“-I'm alone for the rest of the week.
-You don't have anyone to celebrate Christmas with…?
-Do you?”
Kabru lowered his head. “My family lives far away and I have my finals right after winter break. I've been studying all day lately.”
Mithrun hummed in acknowledgement once more and the conversion ended here. The silence was less awkward this time, almost comfortable as Kabru drinked down his latte. Mithrun, on the other hand, didn't touch his drink.
“Your cappuccino is going to be cold.”
Mithrun stared down at his cup, as if remembering its existence. “I don't really want coffee right now.”
Then why did you order one?
Kabru smiled but inside his head, he was grabbing Mithrun by the collar and throwing him into the sun. As on cue, the man explained himself.
“-I'm… not good at wanting things. It's hard for me to drink or eat or… basically everything. I usually just follow along when people order something to avoid being a bother.
-Oh… Thanks for telling me but you didn't have to justify yourself. You don't owe me anything, it's ok if you don't want to drink it, I bought it so you would forgive me. You can leave it.
-You were forgiven right away, Kabru. You didn't have to buy me anything. I'll drink it, just… give me a moment.”
Kabru was done with his cup for several minutes when Mithrun finally tried his cappuccino. The cream and cinnamon left a mustache-like shape over his lips, making Kabru giggle. “Hold on, you got cream all over yourself!”
Mithrun raised an eyebrow before trying to swipe it with his napkin, only smudging the cream ever more over his face. Kabru had a hard time holding back his laughter.
“Just let me…” He grabbed his own napkin, delicately dabbing it on his face until it was clean. “There!”
He smiled as Mithrun thanked him with another nod. He made a mess with his other sips but Kabru waited for him to be done before helping him clean out.
“Was it good?”
Mithrun shrugged.
“-It was ok. Thank you for the drink.
-Thank you for not getting mad over your shirt!
-It's just a shirt. I don't really care about it.
-Still… Having hot coffee poured on you isn't really a nice way to start Christmas Eve.
-It didn't hurt and it was nice to spend time with you. It made my evening less lonely.
-Are you really gonna spend the night all alone?”
Mithrun nodded.
“-My roommates all had last minute emergencies so I'm on my own.
-Do you have something planned?
-What's the point if I'm alone? I'm going to reheat a frozen dish and watch some TV before going to bed.
-Don't you think it's a bit sad…?”
Another shrug.
“-I don't really mind. It's not my first sad and lonely night and it won't be the last.
-Yeah but it's not just any night, it's Christmas Eve, it's a time for celebrating!
-You're on your own too, your situation is just as sad as mine.”
Kabru lowered his eyes. Yeah, his situation was sad. His mother and all his foster siblings were gonna celebrate without him. It's not really like he had a choice. His grades were very important to him, he couldn't just laze around during the whole break and he wouldn't be able to study at home, with his family distracting him and telling him to take a break when he clearly could go for another hour or two. He couldn't come home only for Christmas either, the trip was long and expensive, it wasn't worth it for a single day.
However, everything was a bit more sad when it happened to someone else, in his opinion. Taking care of others was easier than taking care of himself. Kabru put his hand over his mouth, thinking hard about his course of action. If he came home right now, would he really work on his assignment? Honestly, seeing how fast his download was, it would probably still run for a few hours. Maybe he could take a break for just one night.
“Maybe we could make our situation less sad then.”
Mithrun raised an eyebrow, his neutral expression shifting into something more puzzled. “What do you have in mind?”
Kabru gave one more look at the man in front of him, judging how crazy what he was about to suggest was. Mithrun was a total stranger. He knew nothing about him, he only spent a little time with him out of guilt. He should already be heading home. Yet, Kabru felt compelled to stay with him a bit longer.
Maybe it was because he craved human connections after so many days locked up alone in his room? Or because he was relating a bit too hard to the sadness and loneliness of their shared situation? Or perhaps because he found Mithrun beautiful and thought he was absolutely adorable with cream smeared clumsily on his gorgeous face?
“Well, if we’re both alone on Christmas, the solution would be to spend it together. That way we wouldn’t be lonely.”
Mithrun’s head softly lolled to the side as he seemed to think all of this over. After a few minutes of silence, deep in thought, he finally spoke up.
“Are you asking me out?”
Kabru felt a blush creep up his face. Was that what Mithrun was puzzled about?
“-N-no! I don’t have anything like that in mind, I swear! It’s just that.. Why spend Christmas alone when we can celebrate together? I mean, we both have no plan for tonight and we just so happen to bump into each other, what are the odds?
-Are you saying that our meeting here was fate?
-No, I don’t believe in fate. I just think it’s too much of a coincidence to ignore it! So, what do you think?”
Mithrun glared back at him, taking once again his sweet time to make his choice.
“Okay.”
Kabru answered with a smile. There was something exciting about spending Christmas with a total stranger. It sounded like a story straight out of a movie, or the kind of hard to believe Facebook posts that Milsiril liked to send him. Maybe it could be fun. At least, it would give him one hell of a story to tell his roommates once winter break is over.
They spent the rest of the afternoon at the café, planning their evening together. Their improvised Christmas party would be held in Mithrun’s apartment, since it had a proper kitchen and no roommates lurking around for now. They agreed on the fact that they’ll never find a restaurant with a free table that wasn’t a fast food at the last minute, so they settled on making dinner together. Kabru was not really confident in his ability to cook a proper meal, even less a Christmas dinner, but Mithrun affirmed he knew his way around the kitchen.
They knew anyway that they wouldn't have the best meal ever. The supermarkets were about to close and they’ll have whatever was left in the aisles after anyone else bought the ingredients they needed. They rushed to the nearest supermarket still open with no list in mind, ready to improvise. On their way, Mithrun tripped over some black ice and Kabru catched him at the last minute. He spent the rest of the trip holding his arm to avoid another accident.
The supermarket was as empty as they expected. As soon as they grabbed a cart, a voice in the speaker announced that the store would be closing soon and all customers were invited to finish their shopping and go to the cashier. Kabru let out a laugh as they ran across the aisles, scavenging what they could from the near empty shelves. When a security guard kindly guided them near the exit, Kabru could help but giggle looking at the mismatched content of their cart. “Will we even be able to cook something with that?”
Mithrun just shrugged in response. “We’ll manage.”
Once it was their turn to pay, Kabru was about to ask the cashier to split the bill in half but Mithrun slid his credit card and paid for the whole thing before he could speak up.
“-Are you sure about this?
-You bought coffee, I’m buying dinner.
-It’s not really a fair trade! Hey! Let me at least grab one of the grocery bags!”
Mithrun was already carrying all of their bags and making his way towards… wherever he thought the entrance was. His little arms were holding them as if their groceries weighed nothing at all.
“-It’s ok, I hold the groceries and you lead the way.
-Why would I lead the way?! We’re going to your house!
-I’m not really good at directions, you’ll have an easier time finding the path to the apartment than I.”
Kabru wasn’t so sure about it. It took them a while to finally reach their destination and when he finally realized where it was, he screamed a little internally. This was two streets away from the supermarked, how in the world could they have walked for more than twenty minutes?!
Keeping his frustration to himself, he climbed the stairs after Mithrun, hoping that he would at least find the right apartment from there. It seemed so, because his keys fit at the door he stopped at. Inside was a little messy, not in a dirty way but as most apartments where a lot of people lived were. It was a cluster of different styles clashing together but it felt homey in a way.
Ignoring the living room, they went to the kitchen, contemplating their groceries and brainstorming what they could eat. They had a frozen yule log that would definitely not defrost in time, a bottle of mediocre red wine, two pieces of salmon, a bag of sweet potatoes and some asparagus. Kabru had no idea on how to improvise a proper meal out of this.
“We fumbled this, didn’t we?”
Mithrun hummed as he stared at the counter. “Red wine and fish don't go well together.”
Kabru couldn’t help but chuckle.
“-Is that what you’re worried about?
-Yes. Other than that, I think I can manage.
-You… can actually make a dish with that?
-Yes. You will be surprised to learn that we have a fridge and some cupboards here. I have other ingredients that could make us a three course meal, even though the wine will not really match.”
Ah. Yes, of course he had other ingredients at home. He wasn’t a broke college student with only a small cupboard and a kettle in lieu of a kitchen. Still… Was Mithrun good enough of a chef to improvise a full meal out of the stuff they bought with no rhyme or reason at the store?
“-Okay, show me what you got! I’ll be your sous-chef!
-I’m counting on it. “
As on cue, Mithrun grabbed a pot and handed it to him. “Fill this with water, add some salt and put it on the stove, maximum heat. You’re in charge of our starter.”
What starter…? Could he at least know what he was going to cook? Kabru was about to ask but gave up on the idea. There was something exciting about keeping it a mystery. And about being ordered around, if he was being honest. As passive as he seemed at the cafe, Mithrun proved to be quite assertive in the kitchen, watching over Kabru and telling him to put more salt or grabbing his hand to position it better on the knife, guiding him as he cut a block of parmesan cheese -straight from the fridge- into some thin slices.The contact of his hand against him was electricizing.
Man, he was really craving for some human interaction, wasn’t he? When was the last time he went on a date? An actual date and not a weird encounter that ended up in dinner with a stranger. He was so busy with studying lately he didn’t notice how wounded up he was.
Every brush of Mithrun’s shoulder on his sent a shiver down his spine. Every firm command made his head spin. Every time he brushed a strand of hair out of his face made him stare in awe. And he didn’t even have wine yet.
He should have said that he was indeed asking him out, it would have made things way easier for him right now.
After some preparation, a nice meal was set on the dining table. Asparagus with balsamic vinegar and slices of parmesan for starter, followed by grilled salmon with a sweet potato casserole and then their wonderful desert: partially frozen yule log. Kabru whistled at the final result, quite impressed with what Mithrun managed to pull out. “You really do know your way around the kitchen!”
Mithrun shrugged as he uncorked their cheap wine.
“-I had a good sous chef.
-No, seriously, where did you learn how to cook like that?
-A friend taught me. He’s an actual chef, he thought it would help me feel better if I had a hobby to keep me busy.”
Feel better? Kabru didn’t dare to question him any further on that side. He didn’t want to ask something too insensitive. “Did it help?”
“A bit.” Mithrun said as he handed him a glass of wine. “Anyway, cheers.”
Kabru took his glass, carefully putting it against Mithrun’s. “To this first Christmas with a stranger!”
That meal was one of the best Kabru had in a while. Compared to quick sandwiches and noodles or the bland dishes they served at the cafeteria on campus, it was heavenly. Good company made it taste even better.
Mithrun was so nice to talk with. He was honest to a fault and it made all of his reactions so endearing. What might seem rude on someone else looked adorable on him. Kabru had to admit he was even more pleasant after a glass of wine, alcohol making him a bit more… less aware of personal space.
It was nothing scandalous, just Mithrun leaning against him or intentionally brushing their feet together under the table. Innocent touches that seemed ready to escalade into something that Kabru would absolutely not say no too.
Mithrun traced the contour of his second glass with his finger, probably aware that he shouldn’t drink it if he wanted to stay lucid and coherent. “You know, it’s a shame that you didn’t actually ask me out. It would have been a lovely date.”
Kabru almost choked on his bite of still half frozen yule log. How could someone be so blunt? As his cheeks darken with embarrassment, he gulped down the rest of his wine, searching for some liquid courage. “It’s not too late to make it a date, is it?”
Mithrun smiled at him, a soft smile that made him look so gentle and warm. “It’s not, indeed.”
Feeling a bit bold, Kabru got up from his chair, taking a step toward Mithrun. As soon as Kabru set a hand on his armrest, looming over him, the smaller man closed his eyes, lifting his chin up, waiting to be kissed.
Fuck, this was really happening, wasn’t it? Ignoring the fact that he felt like the protagonist of some cheesy Christmas romantic comedy, Kabru leaned down, slowly closing the distance between them until their lips were just inches apart.
A ringing interrupted them.
With a groan, Kabru pushed back to stare at his phone that kept blasting his ringtone and ruining the mood.Damn it! He forgot to call Milsiril…