“Last Snow”

It takes a bit of doing, but we somehow pull off a Christmas heist. Raiding every convenience store and baking supply shop in a several mile radius around the dorms. Bellies full of Colorado Fried Chicken be damned!

Drunk on chicken and cheesecake, intent on finding every sweet spice and dried fruit within a reasonable proximity of our university, we are a merry - nay, jolly - force to be reckoned with!

Thankfully a basic enough recipe doesn’t call for soaking the fruit cake in brandy for several months, and I was never a fan of the astringent notes alcohol gives to sweet stuff, plus it’s so expensive over here to get a decent one… anyway, we bungle through the baking process with no less than a dozen spills, including several ingredient fights, but once it’s in the oven in the communal kitchen we slump onto a sofa, exhausted.

A couple of hours baking time - the scent of spice warming in the air already, only deepening as the cake heats and browns - gives us enough time to…

“We should tidy up.”

Kaori is the sensible one here.

“I guess, but I’ll need the apron back for tomorrow.”

“Why tomorrow?” she turns an interrogative gaze upon me.

Shoot! Nearly gave the game away!

“Well you got it today to save your clothes while baking…” indicating the gray patches on my black clothes where flour has not fully wiped away “…it’s only fair I get it tomorrow for the icing!”

Good save!

She furrows her brow, but relents with a shrug.

“It is true, I do not make a good housewife!”

Laughter keeps our spirits up while the cleaning goes as boringly as expected, if not quicker with two bodies at work. We change into casual wear to laze around the common room, keeping an eye on the cake in the oven, and hook up my laptop to the TV to watch some more Christmas schlock.

The night winds down as the fruit cake cools, and we wander up to bed… while visions of sugar plums danced in our heads, or however it goes~

***

KNOCK KNOCK KN-

patpatpatpatpatpatpatpat

BOUNCE!!!

“Tai, Tai, Tai! Wake up! It's Christmas!”

I did not sleep well, but I groggily acquiesce to Kaori’s demands.

She hands me a cup of coffee.

Unexpected, but not unwelcome.

“You really should lock your door, but I am glad it was not…”

A neatly wrapped gift the size of a rectangular tissue box is thrust out to me.

“…for you!”

Kaori perches on the side of my bed as I am still rubbing crystallised sleep from the corners of my eyes.

I place the coffee carefully between my legs to open after I’ve had a drink of my present… hopefully the caffeine will wake me up a bit more.

Her howling and nearly falling backwards off the bed shocks me awake at the realisation of my mistake. Grabbing her arm to keep her steady.

“Laugh it up!”

“H-happ-py Ho-holid-days!”

Yeah, that’s not stopping any time soon. Tears forming as she snorts like a reindeer.

I decant myself from bed, and splash my face with water from the sink. A lingering scent of chicken grease and baking spice over everything.

Kaori hops up, finally out of chuckles, and toddles over with my coffee and gift again.

“Someone’s impatient!”

“Excited!” she corrects me.

Her standing there in sweats and… is that one of my tops? When did she steal that?!.

I go to reprimand her, but remember the open wardrobe policy. Just because there’s not much of hers that fits me, doesn’t mean there isn’t loads of my stuff she could wear as a short dress or just look stunning in… even with bed head.

“Are you going to open it?”

She really is like a kid at Christma- well, I guess the last part is accurate at least.

I’m not trying to be mean to her or put anything off, but the holidays are just kinda something I grew out of, even if our Christmas Eve date was a lot of fun… stop being a Scrooge, Tai! Look at how happy she is!

Kaori’s eyes are almost sparkling in the pale winter morning like snowflakes in the sun.

I take a big slug of coffee, smiling at just how infectiously giddy she can be, when she’s not putting on the stone-cold killer front.

Teeeaaaaaarrrrrrrrr…

NO-F%#&ING-WAY!!!1!

“YOMA’S POETRY BOX!!! HOW?!.”

“Both of them!” she beams and bounces with pride.

I flip the bundle over to find the second one lined up behind the first.

Ultra-rare, limited release, not available outside of Japan. My favourite singer’s only solo works. I never saw them once for less than your firstborn child as imports, and even on YooHoo they basically never came up.

No emotional outburst. No tears. Just full adrenaline hype.

The albums still in hand, I scoop Kaori up and spin around with her. She gives a small squeak and begs to be put down.

I’m elated, so it takes me a second to safely comply. Sliding her feet back to the floor. Her body pressed against me all the way down. Her top slightly riding up. The skin of her back sliding against my arms. Her stomach grazing my lips. Our faces slowly become parallel. Her scent filing my senses.

Breathless, we stand before each other. Blushing and incapable of separating.

Now would be the time to kiss her.

…

My heart strains under the pressure of its own pounding.

…

Just do it, you coward!

…

“I take it you like your present, then?”

…

The moment passes.

…

Idiot.

…

“Yeah, it’s perfect. Thank you so much.”

Kaori smiles and steps out of my embrace, hands left hovering where her hips had been.

“How are you going to top that then?”

She sits on my bed again, a conqueror on a stolen throne.

The impulse to walk over, push her down, and… NO! STOP! Have some self-control!

I close my eyes and breathe deeply. Centering myself.

“Well, aren’t you the mercenary! You’re not meant to give a gift only to expect something in return!”

Quips to cover my sins.

Kaori smirks.

“By my count, it is three against none, so surely I deserve something.”

Temptress.

Wait.

She pouts.

“Two gifts in one wrapping. They do not come as a set, you are aware of that…”

Fair.

“…and the fruit cake is cancelled out.”

“HOW?”

“Because I sorted our Christmas Dinner!”

“Hmmmmm… alright…”

I grumble my acceptance - the chicken was good - even if she didn't make it.

“…and the rest, then?”

She leans back on the bed. Letting her hair splay out everywhere. Recreating the mood of when I first got to go into her room, and Kaoru confessed he was a sis-con.

“Am I not the gift that keeps on gifting?”

Smug little shi-

“It’s giving, not gifting, and I’ll take it you actually believe bringing me coffee counts?”

Kaori sits back up like I took her favourite toy away. Dead on the money.

“Does it not?”

“Not when it’s self-serving. You just wanted me up sooner.”

I’ve got your number!

She scowls for a moment, but it quickly falls away as she rises to her feet again.

“Fine.”

A sulky toddler walk follows… How was she not an only child?!.

I have no idea where she’s going, so I grab her gift out the wardrobe, and leisurely tail her to the common room.

“Icing time!”

Cake for breakfast it is.

“You open that, and I’ll sort the Christmas cake.”

Kaori blinks in confusion.

“I thought I was not meant to expect anything in return?”

“You aren’t, but I hope you like it.”

She unwraps it eagerly, grinning all the while. Carefully dissecting seams instead of shredding the paper like I did…

“Tai!”

I’m part way through putting on the apron when she calls for my attention.

“Merry Christmas!”

Kaori’s face glows with joy as she holds the clothes against herself.

“You can try it on later…” she goes to carry on her petulant child routine, but I intercept, “…reheat our coffees in the microwave, and I’ll have this ready in a moment.”

The prospect of cake rekindling her enthusiasm with a manic grin, saving the holiday spirit.

We shuttle about to prepare our festive breakfast. The cake looks impressive enough all decorated, if not a bit plain. Upon first taste, however…

“It’s bitter?!.”

“Maybe I used too much clove?”

“And dry!”

“Guess I really did need to soak it in alcohol…”

It’s a failure.

“Told you I was bad at baking.”

Kaori scrunches up her face in disappointment.

“That’s why I got these!”

Just in case.

I pull out a pack of gingerbread men. Nothing special, but a solid seasonal choice.

She lights up.

Worth every yen.

Coffee and cookies on Christmas morning is as idyllic as it gets, even with the looming battle of dinner approaching.