A Merry Capitalist holiday to you all.
Do you like fluff? I hope you like fluff. Because I like fluff, especially the super embarrassingly teeth rottingly fluffy kind that you're about to read.
It's been exactly thirty-seven seconds since they managed to escape the party, not that Takumi's been counting. Another four go to waste as Souma takes his time closing the door, although one could argue that any amount of time spent with Souma wasn't actually a waste. The holiday atmosphere filled him with warmth, a confident placebo that left a bubbly feeling in Takumi's gut.
"Ready for your Christmas present?" Souma asks. He's grinning, Takumi's grinning, and the answer is so obvious that neither bothers saying it as Souma digs something out of his pocket.
A small green plant emerges, decorated with small, perfectly round red berries. It's mistletoe – vischio, in Italian.
"Is that a tradition in Japan too?"
If it is, Takumi has never heard of this before.
"Nah," Souma admits. "I had to do some research for this one."
Despite how he looks and sometimes acts, Souma is a thoughtful one. It touches Takumi every time he does this, takes an interest in what he likes or where he's from, even though Takumi rarely gets to do the same for him.
Souma is dangling the mistletoe over their heads now; Takumi is somehow holding back a grimace. It's been three weeks – at least he hasn't bothered counting the seconds for that long – but he's not like other teenagers their age, doesn't believe in collecting kisses and boasting about them like they're trophies, doesn't –
That train of thought is not just derailed, it's hijacked and launched off the side of a cliff by the reckless driver as Souma presses his mouth against Takumi's own. His shoulders tense, his arms haven't left his sides, his lips are nearly pinned together, and he feels more aware of Souma's hand just below his shoulder than he is of the sensation of being kissed, which Takumi is fairly certain is not how it's supposed to go.
The train has crashed.
There are no survivors.
Takumi is never going to recover from this, and he realizes that he probably should've taken Isami's advice and looked up tips online or in a magazine or something after all. Instead, he'd built up the moment in his mind – then tore it down several times, always thinking no, no he'd figure it out later, when they finally got there.
Souma's eyebrows furrow, and Takumi, who's never even closed his own eyes, knows that he is about to pull back probably before Souma himself does.
"Is something the matter?"
"Aside from everything?"
"You've never kissed before?" Souma guesses.
He's hit the nail on the head, of course, and for Takumi expecting anything less would have felt foolish. It also saves him the trouble of having to say it out loud; he nods instead.
Except for right now, Takumi has never thought there was anything too wrong with that. His boyfriend actually finds it cute, not that Takumi would have any way of knowing, given how humans are unfortunately born with a lack of telepathy. But it definitely explains why Takumi had successfully dodged the issue for so long.
"Never would have guessed you, of all people, would not know how to kiss," Souma teases. It's accompanied by a dry laugh – tinged maybe with disappointment?
Blotches of red overtake Takumi's cheeks.
He thinks it's disappointment. He's the cause of the problem, and he is very disappointed.
"There's no better time to learn than now, is there...?"
Embarrassment is being laid on Takumi in layers so thick it feels like he's being swaddled in them, but Souma perks right up at the suggestion. Not that he's ever looked particularly, well, upset, and they were probably going to end up going down this road sometime tonight sooner or later.
Luckily, it's among Takumi's personal preferences to inform Souma that he's definitely okay with "sooner", and Souma readily agrees.
"That's the spirit." A split second of hesitation occurs before Souma adds, "If it makes you feel better, this will be a learning experience for both of us."
"You too?"
"Well..."
It's not exactly Souma's first kiss, but not his fifth or sixth either. A lot of it is going to be purely instinctual, they decide, since Takumi can't manage to sputter out what his vision of a perfect kiss is like and Souma refuses to do it unless Takumi goes first. He's the more experienced one though, which is why Souma is eventually tasked with taking the initiative.
The anticipation alone triggers an electrical spark in the air that Takumi has never felt before, like he's about to experience true romance for the first time. It's a silly notion, but an exciting one. Takumi revels in a happy, nervous tingling sensation spreading all the way to the tips of his fingers and toes. He's willing, eager, to kiss Souma, actually.
"Do I need to do the mistletoe thing again?" Souma asks.
"Ah? N..." Takumi changes his mind about protesting; it's cute and it fits the holiday spirit. It will ensure he remembers this moment for the rest of his life, if there was ever a slim chance he could have forgotten in the first place. "Yeah, go ahead. I-I would like that."
Souma is back in his starting position as soon as the words leave his mouth.
"First things first, you have to close your eyes this time – it doesn't have to be now! And do something with your hands."
He wraps them firmly around Souma's waist. If he is questioned about it later, Takumi will insist they were drawn there naturally by unstoppable magnetic forces. For now, that is exactly where Takumi wants them to be. It's close enough to a hug, but even closer to a certain other thing he's imagined a few –
"You can open your eyes now."
"Haaah?"
"I can see this kissing thing is going to take some practice," Souma sighed. What – "What were you thinking about that you were so zoned out over anyway?"
Tomato red returned to Takumi's face as he recalled. "Um, what to make for Christmas dinner..."
Maybe he should limit new experiences to one per day.
At the beginning, I wrote only three lines and sent them to Underdog Hero:
"Never would have guessed you, of all people, would not know how to kiss," Souma teases. It's accompanied by a dry laugh – tinged maybe with disappointment?
Blotches of red overtake Takumi's cheeks.
"There's no better time to learn than now, is there...?"
She replied in all caps asking if I was going to finish it, meanwhile I still needed to write a holiday fanfiction. So there you go. (I do not actually like writing kissing scenes, to be honest. I find it rather boring... which is probably why I keep dodging it.)