"Christmas is a time for giving," Sanae sighed as his young boss sat in front of him with a cup of coffee. Joshua flipped his light coloured hair before taking a sip of the dark steaming liquid. "It's a time to give the people you appreciate and love gifts to show them your feelings," Sanae continued his teaching while Joshua just drank from his cup.
"I know that, Sanae. You keep telling me," Joshua said as he placed the cup back on its saucer gracefully with the elegance of someone who had been raised in a rich family stuck in old ways.
"I'm just saying, J, I think you should do something nice for Phones," the older man said as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Why would I do anything for Neku for Christmas?" Joshua asked feigning innocence to what Mr H was implying.
"It isn't exactly common knowledge, I guess. But god J, you sure aren't the most conspicuous person when it comes to liking someone," Mr H said with a small smile as he turned to leave the composer to deal while his thoughts about what was being said. It didn't take Joshua long to have a protest ready.
"Sanae what are you-"
"Mr H!" a voice called as two girls ran into the café. They were followed by two boys who walked in at a leisurely pace.
Shiki walked up to the counter first. Joshua noticed that she was sporting a red and white Santa hat and wearing more red and green colours than he was used to seeing the brunette in. Recently Shiki had gotten rid of her thick rimmed glasses in favour of contact lenses which turned her brown eyes to an ice blue. Neku had tried many times to get her to change them, but she didn't ever listen to him.
In her hands she was holding two bags from Mus Rattus. The two bags were filled with small colourfully wrapped packages.
"We decided to swap presents here; can we have some coffee for our table while we wait for Eri to show up?" She asked with a large smile as Mr Mew, decked out with a collar of tinsel and a small candy cane stitched to his hand with one stich.
It was only then that Joshua noticed that none of the teens were empty handed, Neku held a backpack while Beat had an over the shoulder bag and Rhyme had a tote bag. Mr H nodded and ushered the teenagers over to a booth. Shiki thanked him and pulled a gift out of her bag. Joshua watched as she explained that it was a 'thank you' from all of them for the help he had given during the game. The black haired male took the gift while awkwardly scratching the back of his neck and offering up thanks.
Joshua pouted slightly when nobody offered him a present or even acknowledged his presence in the café. As Mr H walked past he gave Joshua a shrug as he walked into the back to put the present away without opening it. It was only 3 days until Christmas, he would wait until then.
When Eri arrived ten minutes later, she pushed the presents on the table before she even sat down. She was full of apologies but the rest of the group just brushed it off with laughs as they told her it was fine. Gifts and thanks were exchanged, the teenagers were loud enough that the noise carried to Joshua who sat alone at the counter with his thoughts and a cold cup of coffee while Mr H had abandoned him to go and serve his customers.
When Mr H went over to ask Neku and his friends if they wanted another drink, most of them declined, Joshua heard as they each told the bartender where they were headed. Beat and Rhyme decided to go home while Eri and Shiki decided that they hadn't been around the shopping centres all over the town in 2 days and therefore would go and check out the Christmas sales. Neku said nothing, but Joshua didn't notice as he had suddenly become very engrossed in his coffee cup when he heard his producer mention the other boy's name.
"Bye Mr H!" Shiki called with a smile as she waved the arm of Mr Mew up at the man who was standing behind the counter. The black haired male smiled and waved back as he watched the group leave. Joshua sighed as he looked down at his coffee. Joshua had turned down his vibe so he was in the RG but was like background noise so that he could listen without being noticed while the group were in the café. He didn't want to be noticed eavesdropping on them, especially seeing as last time he did Shiki punched him because she was talking to Eri about some 'personal matters' meaning where their next date would be. When he noticed that the others had left he allowed himself to return to the normal vibe for someone in the RG and let out a sigh.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Mr H joked as he walked past carrying empty coffee cups.
"Just get me another coffee," Joshua grumbled as he balanced his head on his hands. Mr H let out a small noise of amusement before he looked behind him. He smiled at the person before looking back to Joshua.
"Whatever you say boss, Phones is looking at you by the way," Mr H then turned and started to clean the cup that Joshua had left in front of him. As soon as Mr H mentioned the other boy's presence, Joshua's eyes noticeably lit up and he realised that he could hear Neku's breathing and even his shuffling around almost as if he was nervous.
"Neku?" he asked as he swivelled on his chair to face the other boy. Neku smiled a little at the acknowledgement that he was there before he moved forward to stand closer to Joshua. Joshua's eyes danced in happiness that Neku seemed so comfortable around him and he almost missed that Neku was even talking before he snapped himself out of it.
"I got you a gift. You know, Christmas?" Neku said as he pulled a pink and blue wrapped box out of his bag. On the top was a spotted bow that didn't look like the kind of thing that Neku would choose to wrap presents with.
"Pink and blue, Neku? I had you pinned more for the black and purple wrapping paper kind," Joshua giggled as he took the present out of his Proxy's hands.
"Shut it, it was the last of the wrapping paper my mom left out when she went to America for a few weeks," he said with a small dust of blush on his face.
"So just you and your father for Christmas then?" Joshua asked while tilting his head to the side. He didn't understand why anyone would want to leave their family at Christmas. Neku didn't say anything for a second, he just scowled in a downwards direction from Joshua.
"My dad walked out on us when I was twelve," he mumbled while crossing his arms. Joshua realised him mistake and frowned himself.
"So you're all alone at Christmas this year?"
"Nope," Neku said as he shoved his hands into the pockets of the blue jacket he wore. Joshua noticed that Neku's jacket was done up all the way so he knew he didn't intent on staying long. Joshua blinked with wide eyes almost as if he hadn't heard the other boy properly
"So nobody at all will be at home with you at Christmas?" Joshua asked. He remembered when he was a child and his mother wouldn't let any of their family leave if it was a special day.
"That is what I just said Josh, But it doesn't matter, I don't get anything much for Christmas," Neku said while looking straight at Joshua with blank eyes.
At first, Joshua wanted to say something to comfort Neku and try to make him feel better. Christmas was one of the few days of the year that should be spent with your family. And by family, he meant even the crazy uncles who you just want to stay away from. But then a plan started to formulate in his head and in his mind, Joshua smirked. On his outwards face he scowled a little and covered his mouth with his hand as if in thought and then pulled it away with a shrug.
"Hm, that is a shame. Well, I forgot Christmas this year, so how about I just get you two presents next year or something," Joshua said while moving to sit so he was leaning on the table with a smirk while he leant on his open palm.
"Boss-" Mr H started to protest but Joshua waved his argument off with his other hand and a sigh.
"Listen Neku, I've got to go. I guess I'll see you soon," Joshua said as he got up from his stool and strolled around the counter and past a door that went deeper into the back of the coffee shop where Neku thought maybe Mr H lived. The orange haired boy felt annoyed as Joshua made his hasty exit.
"What is his problem?" He asked Mr H in annoyance while the older male just let out a small mouse of amusement and shrugged.
"my job is to make sure he's not dead at the bottom of a well or something, I don't make it my business to look inside his head," Mr H rubbed his chin almost in thought, before he shuddered at whatever he was thinking and went back to cleaning a cup he had in his hand.
"You wanna stay around for a little while, Phones or are you gonna head home?" Mr H asked without even looking up. Neku looked around the café and noticed he was the only one there. Next, he looked at his phone and noticed he was close to the curfew his mother had told him to keep to while she was away. He knew he would have to go home now.
"I better get going Mr H, I still gotta go get whatever takeout I want for today so I can eat the leftovers tomorrow and maybe head out and get a small chicken for one of something for Christmas Day," the boy thought out loud as he stood. He pulled his wallet out of the bag he had carrier the presents in and checked to see how much money he had left. He only had enough for maybe one medium pizza, that could last him 2 days of he was lucky and then he could go out on Christmas Eve to buy his small feast for his day home alone.
Neku stood and mapped the way over to the pizza place in his head as he headed over to the door.
"Hey! Merry Christmas, Phones," Mr H said with a sincere smile as he wiped at a cup absentmindedly. Neku smiled back slightly as he turned to look at the black haired man.
"Merry Christmas Mr Hanekoma," he said with a small nod of goodbye as he left.
As soon as Neku had left, a frown made its way onto Mr H's face.
"Joshua! I know you're still here, now come downstairs and explain," he called up the hall to where the living room and spare bedroom were. Joshua was almost always in one of those. The silver haired composer made his way back down the hall to his friend with a smile on his face. Not a real smie, the same grin he wore all the time.
"There isn't anything to explain Sanae, I didn't want to ruin this surprise I'm going to give him," Joshua said as his grin became larger. He balanced on the counter again with his chin resting on the back of his hand.
"Hey, hey, hey! You get into trouble too easily so I want to know exactly what you're doing," Mr H decided holding up his hands almost as if he was trying to push Joshua away.
Joshua giggled as he sat back in the seat he had occupied before. "Fine, I'll tell you," Joshua decided with a wide smile. "Here's what I'm going to do..."
-/-
It was Christmas Day now and Neku sat alone in his living room. He was lying on the sofa with his headphones on and his one present beside his feet. His mother had gotten him some good quality paper and sketch pencils, just like he had asked her for except it came with the added bonus of some coloured pencils and a couple thousand yen for missing Christmas for the third year in a row. Neku just sighed as he tried to find inspiration of something to draw. Nothing caught his attention and he soon realised that he was totally and completely bored out of his head.
The TV was off and going to remain that way as Neku hated the stupid Christmas films they played and the stereo was off because the stupid Christmas songs always annoyed Neku. He had his own music because he didn't want to listen to another carol again.
Neku sighed as he rested back on the sofa and rested his head on his folded hands as he lay down. He knew this whole day was going to be more than just boring…
All is a sudden there was a knock at Neku's door. At first he was cautious not to open it, but eventually he just shrugged and stood up to go to the door. He put on a scowl but didn't say anything as he opened the door expecting to see carollers or charity workers or someone on those kinds of lines.
The one thing he didn't expect to see was Joshua in a red hat and his normal outfit while holding a large sack that seemed to be full to bursting with random stuff.
"Merry Christmas!" The older boy said with a giggle as he placed the bag down and walked into Neku's house. The orange haired boy knew there was nothing he could do, so he just let the silver haired tornado swirl around his house until he came back with an opinion.
"your house hasn't got a single Christmas decoration up. Why isn't there anything here?" Joshua asked. He shook his head as if Neku was a useless cause and pulled a few pieces of tirsel out of his bag.
"HEY! Joshua, what are you doing?" Neku asked as he watched the other boy walk around the living room looking at different spots and seeming to test their size by looking through his one eyes into a rectangle he made with his fingers on each hand.
"I'm seeing where it would be best to place the tree," he told Neku matter-of-factly. He eventually decided on a spot and pulled out of his phone. After pressing a few buttons, a tree that was already decorated poofed into existence in the living room next to the TV Neku had decided not to turn on.
The tree was beautiful. It was real and almost instantly gave off a smell of pine forests. It was decorated with ornaments in beautiful silver and gold colours with white sparkling lights and a white, detailed silhouette of an angel on the top. Under the tree, Neku could see four colourful wrapped boxes in different colours. One of the boxes was the present that Neku had gotten for Joshua while the others all looked professionally wrapped.
"Joshua… did you just make a tree appear in my living room? Neku asked in annoyance. Joshua giggled and nodded.
"I think it's pretty. Now I just want to put some of this stuff that Sanae gave me around the house," Joshua said as he pulled out an assortment of tinsel and wall stickers from his bag. Neku said nothing as he watched the boy move around the house happily. Neku didn't move to stop Joshua, he just sat down and waited until he came back from wherever he was putting the decorations and sat down beside Neku's feet.
-/-
Neku had to admit that this had to be the best Christmas' he had had since his dad had left. It wasn't that Christmas with his mom was boring, it was just that she had only been here for two of the five since his father had left and one of them she had just been trying to outdo the fun they had had last year which had caused her to break down at the end of the night.
Christmas with Joshua was just… entertaining. Neku couldn't say it was relaxing, because there was always some activity Joshua would tell Neku he had never done before on his Christmas days with his family and they would have fun having a go at that. They had made their dinner and a gingerbread house –Joshua said he had never made one before and that he wanted to- and then they opened their presents before they ate.
After lunch they had had a little argument over Joshua's decorations.
"Neku~! I like this piece of… tree thing…. I want to hang it up there!" Joshua said pointing up at the entrance to the hall. Neku looked over to the other boy with his hands on his hips lazily before realising what Joshua held in his hand.
"That is not going in the archway," Neku announced straight away. Joshua pouted and levitated to put it there anyway.
"It's going there," Joshua said stubbornly crossing his arms in annoyance at Neku. Neku growled a little.
"Joshua, that's mistletoe. I don't want to kiss you," Neku said. Joshua's mood changed immediately from annoyed to playful.
"Nobody said anything about kissing Neku," Joshua giggled as he walked closer to Neku the orange haired boy scowled even more in annoyance to the playful attitude Joshua was putting on.
"Dumbass. That's what you do under mistletoe. It's what we were all taught must happen so take it down because I don't wanna kiss you!" Neku growled before walking away to do anything but talk to Joshua. After a couple minutes he came back when Joshua called to ask if he wanted to open his presents.
Neku got a new phone from Joshua and a canvas full of smaller printed graffiti from Mr H. he planned to hang the canvas in his room above some of his own drawings.
Joshua refused to open his presents but told Neku straight away that he knew that the one off the producer was most likely paperwork that he had to fill out and wrapping it was something that the black haired male enjoyed doing to make it more 'fun' for Joshua to open.
It was around six now and the two boys were lying down in the living room playing Monopoly. They had been playing for an hour when Joshua had suddenly decided the game was boring and he had won.
"I win," Joshua said with a smile. Neku just raised an eyebrow at the other boy.
"Why? How have you won exactly?" Neku asked in annoyance. Joshua beamed at him with an almost scary smile.
"Well, I'm the composer, so I say I win,"
"Josh, you're bankrupt and have no properties I have houses on four sets and a hotel on one and half a million in monopoly money. I think I win,"
"But Neku, if I'm the composer I own everything but nobody knows so really I own those houses and hotels of yours and I win because I can materialise money so I have more that you," Joshua smiled again when he saw the scowl of annoyance on Neku's face.
"Cheat," Neku muttered as he stood up and stood in the archway of the room between the hall that lead to the kitchen and the living room. Joshua looked at Neku then looked up and then looked back to Neku with a Cheshire cat grin.
"Why, Neku, it seems that you are standing under the mistletoe," Joshua giggled as he got up to stroll over to the other. Neku looked up and blushed after realising his mistake he began stammering random garbage as Joshua made his way over and stopped just in front of Neku with his hands on his proxy's shoulders.
"Neku… Shhh" Joshua said before he slowly moved to cover Neku's lips with his own. Joshua closed his eyes straight away and after a little while Neku followed suit and soon grabbed onto the back of Joshua's shirt.
Joshua was the first to pull away with a small giggle.
"I think you enjoyed that just as much as I did. Oh look, now I'm under the mistletoe, oops." Joshua found his way straight back onto Neku's lips and felt Neku respond with almost-eagerness. Joshua kissed Neku forcefully and the orange haired boy couldn't do much to protest against the composer.
"Joshua, stop it," Neku breathed as he blushed at the thought that he had just kissed his friend. His lips were on fire as well as the places on his hips where Joshua's hands had touched.
"But I like doing this and I want to kiss you more. So why can't I do what I want? I always get to do what I want," Joshua said with crossed arms.
"It's just… I…"
"Ohh, did you really like it and now are having mixed feelings about that little crush you've had on Shiki since the games ended?" Joshua snickered. Neku glared at him but sighed.
"This isn't funny, Josh. And besides that, I don't have a crush on Shiki!" Neku shouted. He was a little annoyed but still a little embarrassed that he had made a mistake like standing under the mistletoe with Joshua around.
"Well, Neku if there isn't anyone that you really like right now, how about going on one date with me?" Joshua asked as he moved to sit on the sofa behind the forgotten monopoly board.
"Huh?" Neku asked in shock. He was taken aback that Joshua would even asked him. a giggle could be heard from the silver haired boy's place on the sofa.
"Okay, let's go out on the 27th for a few hours. We can walk around in the snow and maybe make some snow angels and snowmen in the park," Joshua said while looking over to smile in Neku's direction.
"But it hasn't snowed this Christmas," Neku informed the composer while looking out the windows to the black night and snowless streets.
"wait until tomorrow," Joshua said with a wave of his hand. "Now come and sit down, I want to roast marshmallows on a fire,"
"Josh, that's camping. We don't have a fire," Neku informed the composer. Joshua let out a hard exhale and looked around before staring back at Neku with mischief in his features.
"I can rectify that problem," he grinned.
Anyone who walked past the house at that moment were slightly disturbed from the things they could hear from the house. For the rest of the day they could see two boys chasing each other around the house with shouts of 'no fire in the living room!' for the one of the two boys.
A neighbour eventually heard what was happening and realised that it was just the son of the woman who lived there and a friend. He knew that Mrs Sakuraba had gone away for a few weeks and now decided to tell the woman everything that went on her house in the next two weeks. Lets just say that by the third day of quiet, the neighbour had forgotten all about the journal he was writing and it was left on the table as he decided on leaving the town for an extended fishing trip over the end of the year.
He missed the chance to tattle on Neku for having a large new year's party for all his friends and Joshua's reapers who never had parties so joined in from the RG. Everyone got drunk and nobody remembered a thing.
Well, except for Joshua, but he won't tell anyone.
I know… crappy ending, but I wanted this done and I didn't know how to do it.
Sigh… I told myself I would finish this seeing as there are no new fanfictions in TWEWY and have only been like, 2 new ones since I joined the fandom a few months ago. MONTHS PEOPLE! And there aren't even many for me to read either! How annoying!
So I made 2 of my own (hopefully the other should be up tonight as well) which should be nice for anyone like me who wants more fiction.
NOT A SINGLE CHRISTMAS FIC IN THIS FANDOM! Seriously, none. I'm disappointed.
For now:
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! :D