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As November changes into December, Tokyo gets buried with sudden snow, which is unheard of—to have so much snow so early in the winter.
Kagami is too preoccupied with other matters to care about the snow, even though he falls on his ass more than once on the ice, precariously hidden under the snow.
“You really should get better shoes, Kagami-kun,” Kuroko chides softly.
Kagami doesn’t reply—he gets on his feet and brushes the snow off his clothes, his toes freezing in his sneakers. He hadn’t known it would get this cold in Tokyo, and he’s annoyed and embarrassed about it.
And now his tailbone is also throbbing dully.
“How do you stay on your feet so easily?” Kagami grumbles, eyeing his boyfriend up and down. Kuroko’s light blue hair is hidden under his black beanie—something Kagami bought for him on a whim—but his cheeks are red from the cold.
“I misdirect the ice’s attention away from me,” Kuroko deadpans, and Kagami doesn’t even bother to hide his groan.
“That was terrible,” he says, elbowing Kuroko on the shoulder. “Maybe you shouldn’t have listened to Izuki so much.”
“Not all of his jokes were bad,” Kuroko says.
They continue walking to the school together, tiny flecks of snow floating through the air.
It’s their last year in high school, and they both have already chosen to apply to the same university. It’s going to be new for them both—they’ve been dating for two years now, and would be moving in together when they would start the university.
This would be their second Christmas together, and last year, Kuroko had planned their date.
Now it’s Kagami’s turn, and he’s scared shitless he’ll mess it up, even though he knows Kuroko doesn’t need much—just spending the holiday together is enough. Kuroko would probably be completely fine by just sleeping over at Kagami’s place and curling in a nook to read while Kagami plays video games.
But Kagami knows he can’t half-ass it like that. Aomine and Momoi have both already promised more than once to kick his ass if he does anything to make Kuroko feel bad.
Kagami has to pull it off. And he’s so stressed it’s affecting his mood, and they bicker more than usual.
Or more like Kagami is snappier than he usually is, and Kuroko just rolls his eyes.
Sometimes Kagami thinks that Kuroko’s patience goes too far—there are moments when Kagami is shitty, and even so, Kuroko never argues back, he just lets it all fall off without any repercussions. Kagami knows it’s not a good thing either; his parents had been like that before his mom got enough and decided to leave.
Trying to remember that, not to repeat the mistakes his parents made, Kagami tries to improve his short temper. It’s a work in progress.
The entire Seirin High already knows the two of them are dating—and their teammates are partly to blame they’d even gotten together. Both Kagami and Kuroko had been oblivious to each other’s feelings, so it had required an intervention.
“To stop that damn pining,” Hyuga had said, annoyed. “It affects the whole team.”
Now dating Kuroko is a new normal, but they don’t show affection in public. Japan isn’t the best of places for same-sex couples, and Kagami wants to make sure they won’t get bullied too much.
Kuroko doesn’t care about it that much, and he often takes Kagami’s hand while they’re out in public.
They reach school in one piece, and the day is uneventful. During basketball practice, Kuroko stumbles and very conveniently falls against Kagami.
Kawahara whistles at them. Kagami flips him off.
But they’re all laughing.
***
The Christmas Break starts, and Kagami tries not to stress himself to death. He has a plan, so he hopes Kuroko will like it.
They will have Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with each other, so Kagami has planned out them both carefully. He knows what they will eat and where they’ll go.
Still, he’s nervous when he wakes up on Christmas Eve and makes some last-minute checks that his apartment is clean and decorated enough. He has never really been one to celebrate Christmas, but Kuroko likes it, so that’s why Kagami has a small plastic Christmas tree with simple adornments, lights on the windows and some other splashes of color here and there.
Kuroko’s Christmas present is already under the tree and waiting, but Kagami won’t give it to Kuroko yet. It would be a thing for tomorrow when they would chill inside, watch tacky Christmas movies (another thing Kuroko likes for some reason) and eat all the stuff Kagami has prepared.
Today is the main event, the thing Kagami is most nervous about.
But when the doorbell rings and Kagami goes to open the door, his nervousness kind of just… melts away.
Kuroko stands in the hallway, with a weekend bag slung on his shoulder, and his cheeks are red. Not only because of the cold.
“Happy Christmas, Kagami-kun,” Kuroko says quietly.
“Same to you,” Kagami returns and pulls his boyfriend inside.
Back when they first started dating, kissing had been awkward and clumsy, but now they ease into it without any trouble at all. Kuroko is so much shorter that he has to stand up to his toes, and Kagami laughs into his mouth.
“So what have you got for today?” Kuroko asks, a bit breathlessly, as they separate.
“Don’t take off your jacket yet,” Kagami says. He takes Kuroko’s weekend bag and takes it to the bedroom, then returns to the entryway to get dressed. “There’s a place I want to take you.”
Kuroko flushes, and once again Kagami is floored by how outrageously cute he is.
Before, it was a source of insecurity for Kagami—how could someone so cute love Kagami like this, when he is mostly just composed of rough edges, toned red hair and piercing eyes, but… Out of all people, Kuroko had been the one to bring out Kagami’s other side, something he hadn’t even known he had.
In some, funny way, the two of them are very compatible, even if their personalities are vastly different. Maybe it’s also thanks to the countless hours on the court—there’s not anyone else Kagami knows as deeply and intimately, not even Himuro.
He pulls on his jacket and takes his beanie and gloves just in case. He’s pretty sure he’ll end up storing them in Kuroko’s messenger bag, but better be safe than sorry.
They leave the apartment, and outside, Kagami takes Kuroko’s hand as they start walking.
There are a lot of different kinds of Christmas events held in Tokyo, but there’s one thing Kagami wants to show Kuroko. Last year, Kuroko took him to a light festival, and it had been beautiful.
This year is one of the very few times a Finnish Christmas Market is being held in Tokyo, and Kagami had seen Kuroko looking at the advertisement more than once. Santa should be there, as well as some popular Finnish Christmas treats.
As they get closer to the market, the first jingles of the songs start to play, and Kagami instantly figures out that the songs are in Finnish and that he absolutely understands nothing of them.
He looks at Kuroko, whose eyes widen.
“Kagami-kun,” he whispers. “The tickets are—so expensive…”
“It’s okay, I saved for them,” Kagami says and squeezes Kuroko’s hand tighter. “You’ve wanted to see this, right?”
They stop at the queue to get the tickets to the market, and Kuroko surprises Kagami by kissing him right there.
“Thank you,” Kuroko says. “I already love it.”
“Just wait until we get inside,” Kagami laughs.
The Christmas market is a bit of a misleading term—it’s more like a village. They walk between small, red houses that have all kinds of Christmas-related stuff for sale, and Kagami buys them huge cups of something that looks like juice. It smells delicious and warms nicely against the cold weather. They also eat some star-shaped Christmas tarts with prune marmalade, and Kagami is surprised to notice how damn good it is.
All around them, Finnish Christmas songs play, and they hear many speaking the language, though they can’t understand a single word.
“Hyvää joulua,” one of the shopkeepers says as Kagami buys a small reindeer statue from her.
“Kiitos samoin,” Kuroko replies, surprising Kagami completely.
“Wait, what did she say? What did you say?” he asks, confused (and annoyed, but he sure as hell could never learn a language like Finnish).
“She just wished us Merry Christmas,” Kuroko laughs. “And I said, you too.”
“I didn’t know you speak Finnish,” Kagami mutters, dejected.
“I don’t speak Finnish, Kagami-kun,” Kuroko says as he looks at the reindeer statue, his eyes sparkling. “I just happened to know just enough to reply back.”
For the next hour, they walk around the village and taste everything they can. Kuroko buys a small snowman plushie from one of the stands and gives it to Kagami, who accepts it with an embarrassed huff.
They stop at a large pavilion to eat, and they are served huge dishes of rice porridge, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. It tastes a lot better than Kagami expected.
“So, was it as good as you hoped?” he asks Kuroko. They’re sitting opposite of each other, Kuroko’s legs between Kagami’s.
“It’s better,” Kuroko mutters, his eyes on his plate, “because you brought me here.”
Kagami didn’t know he could fall any more in love than he already is, but as he looks Kuroko’s red cheeks, he realizes he’s completely gone for him.
He has never been good at stuff like emotions, and it’s still not easy. But it’s getting better, slowly.
“It wouldn’t have been the same without you either,” Kagami says and his face heats.
Kuroko looks at him and gives him a little smile, and it’s also stupidly cute.
(Kagami realizes they’re both being stupidly in love in front of everyone, but he decides he doesn’t care).
Soon he almost chokes when he finds something extra from his porridge. As he takes it out of his mouth, he sees it’s an almond seed.
“You’ll get a reward from it,” Kuroko says. “Rice porridge always hides an almond seed in it, and anyone who finds one, gets something for it.”
“Huh,” Kagami says and goes to the person manning the stall to let them know. He’s rewarded with a bottle of glögg—the same juice-like drink they drank earlier—and a large tin of gingerbread.
“Great, we can eat these tonight,” Kuroko says, excited, as Kagami carries his prizes back to the table.
They finish their porridge and explore a bit more before returning to Kagami’s apartment.
***
The next morning, Kagami wakes up with Kuroko nestled against his chest, sleeping quietly and peacefully. It, too, had taken time to get used to—at first, Kuroko had slept on the sofa, but as they’d grown more intimate, sleeping in the same bed had become more and more compelling.
Now, it’s normal for them. They’re both naked under the blankets, the memory of their lovemaking still lingering on Kagami’s skin.
He smiles sleepily and plants a kiss on Kuroko’s hair before getting up. He takes a shower and then proceeds to the kitchen to get started with breakfast. Around ten minutes later, he hears shuffling from the bedroom, sees Kuroko’s impressive bedhead in passing as the other slips into the bathroom and then hears the sound of the shower. They both had been too tired to clean up last night.
By the time Kuroko appears from the bathroom, Kagami has set the table with toast, coffee, scrambled eggs and clementines.
Kuroko is wearing Kagami’s shirt again, which isn’t anything new. It’s way too big for him and hangs halfway to his thighs.
“You look so good in that,” Kagami chuckles as he walks to the table and bends down to kiss his boyfriend. “Merry Christmas.”
“You too,” Kuroko whispers, practically melting into the kiss.
They eat breakfast, then Kuroko prepares the glögg for them. They take their glasses, and the tin of gingerbread, to the coffee table.
And then it’s time for presents. Kagami watches as Kuroko opens the wrapping, revealing a collector’s edition of a book he’s been hunting for months, but hasn’t been able to find in Japan. It’s in English, but Kuroko has gotten good with the language during the past year.
“Where did you get this?” Kuroko says in amazement, running his hands across the beautiful cover.
“I asked Alex to see if she could find it from America,” Kagami admits. “It was the last one and she sent it to me.”
Kuroko kisses him again. “Thank you so much,” he says fervently. “I love it.”
“I hoped you would.”
Kagami opens his present, and he can’t help but laugh—it’s a collector’s edition from a game he has been hunting for months but that had been out of stock everywhere.
“Akashi-kun found it for me, if you can believe it,” Kuroko says, already opening his book.
“Of course he did, he’s too powerful,” Kagami says and rolls his eyes. He’s not surprised in the slightest that someone like Akashi would find a collector’s edition of a relatively well-known game.
Kagami installs it instantly, and after that, they fall right back into their normal routine. Kagami plays, Kuroko rests his legs on Kagami’s lap and reads his book. Sometimes they exchange a word or two.
At some point, Kuroko makes more glögg, but this time he sits right beside Kagami and leans against his shoulder. “You did really well, Kagami-kun,” he says softly. “I think this is my favorite Christmas so far.”
“Oh yeah?” Kagami says, relieved. “Good to know.”
When they kiss again, it tastes of cinnamon.