A/N: HA! After completely blanking out about what to write for a Christmas one-shot until a few hours ago... I MANAGED TO FINISH THIS BEFORE MIDNIGHT! Yes! It's still a Christmas fic! Anyway, I wanted to write something short and sweet for Christmas... with Rin and Len because they're just simply adorable. XD Enjoy!
All I Want For Christmas...
-:- -:- -:-
Ding!
I happily hummed as I skipped over to the oven and pulled down the door, checking to see the status of my creations. Gold around the edges, but not too dark—the cookies were finally ready! Fitting an oven mitt around my hand, I pulled the cookie sheet carefully out of the oven and set it on the stove before turning the heat off. I wiped my forehead from the sudden wave in heat, but sighed in contentment at my work before me. I had been extra careful in making these cookies, only because they served another purpose other than being eaten... they were a gift. A Christmas gift to none other than my best friend, Len Kagamine.
Oh, not to mention he's like...my biggest crush ever.
Why didn't I buy him something? Because I'm broke, that's why! How can a high school student with little to no allowance afford anything these days? Besides, do you know how hard it is to shop for guys, let alone your best childhood friend who also happens to be a guy? It's a nightmare! So that's why I resorted to baking cookies: cheap, easy, and not to mention guys will love you if you give them food! Besides, Len is my best friend... he'll like anything I give him, right?
Grabbing a rather festive-looking square of wrapping paper, I wrapped about five cookies and tied it with a shining red ribbon. I straightened the bow as best I could and made sure the gift looked pretty and... proportional? I stared at the fruits of my labor and smiled proudly, but shortly afterward planted my face on the counter. Man, I was so broke! How pathetic do I look giving only a freaking bag of cookies to the guy who I consider to be my prospective boyfriend? No, no! You did your best, Rin, be proud of your work! You made these cookies with love! It was then when I realized something.
"Oh, crap, I'm going to be late!"
I ripped off the apron I was wearing and scurried around the kitchen. Thankfully, my mom was already gone on a business trip, so no one saw my embarrassing display. I had gotten up early that day to bake cookies before going to school—what? It's best to give them fresh! I wouldn't give day-old cookies to Len! Who do you think I am?
"Ahh!" I almost tripped as I fumbled on my socks.
Grabbing my bag, I rushed to the kitchen and placed my present carefully in with the rest of its contents. After wrapping myself in my jacket, I plunged myself out into the cold weather. Well, that's what you get in the middle of December, I guess. I was almost well on my way out of the gate when I realized I hadn't locked the door, so I ended up scurrying back and wasted more time...
I had certainly cut it close... because when the school bell had rung, I had just barely walked in the door and plopped myself down at my desk. I took no note of the other classmates staring at me as I took hold of my collar and fanned myself with it. I suddenly jumped when a voice whispered in my ear.
"Running late, huh? That's unlike you, Rin." I could hear the snicker in his voice.
"Len!" I turned around, "Shush, you. I bet you got here five minutes ago."
"Ten, actually."
"Oh, good for you—"
He silence me by laughing at my tone of voice. Naturally, I joined along with him until the teacher came in the room and silenced us all. And so, another day of school begins...
-:-
After a long day of ruffling my hair over complicated equations, tripping all over myself in basketball, and dreadful mispronunciations in English, I found myself waiting outside the school gate for Len. We always wait for each other after school so we could at least walk some of the way home together. Though this time, I had intended to make something more of it by giving him his present, since I had failed to remember to do so at lunch by shooting all the death glares at the fangirls that threatened him. It would be nice if I could actually toughen up and talk to him about my feelings...nah. I'll save it.
"You look especially spacy, today."
Gah! Does he make it a point to appear out of nowhere? Geez!
"Oh, I was so deep in thought, too!" I teased.
"About what?"
"Oh, nothing." I giggled.
Len stared at me for a moment, bending over so that his eyes were level with mine, looking intently into my eyes as if he was trying to read something. A small smile crept on his face, "Nothing, eh? So if I knock on your head, I'll hear echoing inside?"
I lightly punched him in the gut.
"Should we get going then?" I laughed, and began walking forward.
"Hey, wait up!"
Len quickly caught up to me after recovering from his "battle wound." We walked side-by-side for a ways in comfortable silence. The sky looked so beautiful today—completely orange, almost like it was on fire or something. That was just me trying to take my mind off of things and procrastinate like usual. I was actually fumbling with Len's poor-man cookie gift in my bag. Just as I was about to muster up enough courage to step in front of him and give it to him, he suddenly spoke up. I silently cursed.
"So, do you have any plans for tomorrow?"
"Uh... school?"
"I mean after school, silly."
The day before Christmas Eve.
"No, why?"
"I was wondering if you could help me out with something?"
Now this was curious. Len asking me to vaguely help him with something. Usually, he'd just ask me straight up, "What is it?"
"So... you're a girl..."
"Yeah, no duh, Sherlock."
Something wasn't going right, because Len didn't react at all to my sarcasm. Instead, he looked slightly away from me. I swear I could have seen a red color paint his cheeks, too.
"So there's... this girl I like. And I want to get her something special this year for Christmas, but I just don't know what... Could you help me out? You know... give me a girl's sense of taste?"
Now I know the meaning of the phrase, "my heart sunk," because it felt like something in my chest did just that. Oh, he likes a girl, eh? And he didn't even bother to tell me until just now? I could feel some twinges of jealousy rising up in me. I seriously considered turning down his offer, slapping him in the face, and calling him the densest man alive. Had he not been reading any of my signals since like... forever? Just as I opened my mouth, I reconsidered. He was my best friend after all... and spending a day with him was spending a day with him.
"Er... sure..."
"Thanks, Rin." He smiled, but still failed to make eye contact with me.
What's that? Feeling guilty, you sorry idiot?
"No problem." I said in a tone that was slightly harsher than I intended.
Only then did I see that Len looked at me in the corner of my eye. I couldn't read his expression since most of my attention was focused on what was in front of me. But before he could say anything, we had reached the place where we usually split up. I turned briefly to look at Len.
"Well then, I'll see you tomorrow."
I quickly turned around and I could have sworn Len opened his mouth to say something a little more important than what I heard from him just then,
"See you tomorrow, too."
Oh, well.
Once I reached my house, the first thing I did when I stepped in was grab the bag of cookies out of my bag and furiously munch on one with crumbs flying everywhere.
The next day, I tried to have a bit of a more positive attitude after having a night's-worth of sleep... if you could consider what I got a night's-worth of sleep.
"Man, Rin, you look exhausted!" Len had exclaimed to me when I went to school that morning.
Okay, I didn't get too much sleep. I was thinking too much about Len and his... mystery girl that he likes. Gah, it must be that twintail, isn't it? The girl who, I swear, see munching on leeks for lunch... That teal-haired—
No, no! Be positive, Rin!
Though, I have to admit—it was kind of hard putting up that front the entire day without making Len too suspicious. But I actually did get better as the school day went on. Things were going pretty good until after school when I waited for Len by the school gate. But instead of being frustrated, I just ended up being a little depressed.
"Hey!" Called a voice not far from me.
There was Len, his usual nonchalant self, walking towards me. I quickly put on a smile to greet him. There was a moment of awkward silence between us. I figured it would be a pretty good thing to do to break that.
"So, what do you have in mind?"
"For presents? Isn't that what you're supposed to help me for?" Len grinned.
You have no idea how much the knife twisted just then.
"I... suppose?"
Another moment of awkward silence.
"Shall we get going, then?" Len chuckled nervously.
This is going to be a long outing.
-:-
"What would you think of chocolate as a gift?"
"That's for Valentine's Day."
"What about a big, giant, teddy bear?"
"Do you want her to think you think she's five?"
"But the bear hugs—"
"No."
Len paused, "What about some frilly panties?"
"...I seriously hope you were joking just then."
"...Maybe."
"Look, what are you trying to say to her by giving her this 'special gift'?" I painted my voice with a strange tone, trying to lower it to mockingly imitate Len's.
We had stopped in the middle of the sidewalk in front of some stores in the shopping district. Len ruffled the front of his hair with frustration, his messy bangs flying all over the place. He looked up at the sky clearly trying to think up something clever, but evidently it didn't work because he ended up looking back down and shrugging.
"Just... that I like her?"
"Then get her something that screams meaningful...ness..."
Len folded one arm across his chest and pressed his other fingers to his forehead, lowering his head in deep concentration.
"What if I got her sexy lingerie with her favorite—"
"LEN!"
Len laughed at this and raised both his hands, "I'm kidding, Rin." He then looked around and sighed, "I guess we'll keep looking."
And with that, we were off once again, walking silently side-by-side each other. I tried looking around at different shops trying to think of an inspiration but quickly gave up when I realized what the main purpose of being there was. Not to mention I was so darn cold—blast these school uniforms! I snuggled in my scarf a little tighter and held my arms closer to my body, walking more stiffly. Suddenly something very warm wrapped around my hand.
I instinctively looked down, found that my hand was being held by another and followed the arm up to Len's face, staring down at me. The sight of his blue eyes catching the twilit sky and the city lights was mesmerizing. I felt my face heat up for a bit, too, before I quickly changed my expression to that of questioning.
"You looked cold, so I thought you needed a body warmer." He winked.
I kind of sort of wanted to bash his face against the wall behind him. What was he pulling?
But I had to admit, it felt nice...
I decided to seize the moment for all it was worth while he was still single and lean my body against him. Our shoulders touched and hips bumped against each other's hands as we walked. Enjoy it while it lasts, Rin... That thought kind of made me want to cry.
-:-
The next day I didn't want to get out of bed. Granted, that was possible since it was Sunday and there was no school that day. But it was Christmas Eve and I knew what Len was going to be doing today. Ugh, I couldn't even just hang out with him as a friend, he had to go give his present that I helped pick out to some girl he claimed he likes. I pulled the covers over me, thinking of some stupid song to clear my mind so I could just stay there the whole day. It was working until my stomach let out this obnoxiously loud growl.
Well, that sucks.
I guess I couldn't just starve myself today. Don't want to be an emo, now. You're better than that, Rin.
I crawled out of bed, taking the sheets with me and nearly collapsed on the floor. Fine, if I was going to get up and eat something, I wasn't getting out of my pajamas. Not for the whole day. Nope. It's just Rin time for me.
I went downstairs and fixed myself something to eat, taking note that the time that blared on the oven clock was close to noon. I guess I compensated for not sleeping well the night before? I thought of my moment with Len the previous night and wanted to cry again. It almost made me lose my appetite. I shoved down my brunch anyway.
After I had eaten, it truly was Rin-alone-time. I could have sworn I didn't move from the couch for the whole day with a blanket wrapped around me and watching some cheesy live-action the whole day. The sun was just starting to turn that favorite shade of orange before I was finally stirred. What woke me from my splendid vegetation was my cell phone's ring tone. Blaring my favorite song, I lazily reached down for my phone and flipped it open.
"Hello?
"Hey, Rin?"
"Len?"
"Do you want to... hang out with me tonight?"
"Are you sure? I thought you already had plans or something."
"What's wrong with wanting to hang out with my best friend?"
"Okay, fine. Sure, sure."
"Then can you please let me in?"
"Where are you?"
"I'm standing outside your front door. Please hurry, it's really cold."
By then I was already there, still with my phone open I swung open the door to find Len clothed from head to toe with his best jacket and scarf wrapping around his neck. He still held his phone to his ear and seemed to take a moment to register that I had opened the door. When his brain had fully computed, he shut his phone and chuckled.
"You're still in pajamas, Rin?"
...Shoot! I looked down at myself and turned completely red in the face. Then I felt the cold rush in and began to shiver. Len caught sight of this and took this as a sign for him to come in and close the door.
"So..." He began, "why the pajamas?"
"Long story," I waved my hand, "Anyway, why the sudden visit?"
"Didn't you hear my conversation on the phone? You know, about hanging out?"
"Well, yeah, but—" I was interrupted when a small, awfully familiar present was held in front of me.
I looked from the present to Len, whose eye contact kept flickering to and from me, "I wanted to give this to you..."
"What, did your girlfriend bail out on you?" I said sarcastically, "You didn't want it to go to waste?"
"Wow, Rin, are you dense or something? I'm giving it to you because it's for you."
That shut me up.
To break the awkward moment, I silently untied the ribbon that held the small box together and lifted the lid to find a crystal heart set in a molded frame of velvet.
"Give her something meaningful..." I had said.
"Hey, Rin, what about this?" Len's voice echoed in my mind, "What do you think of this? Would you want this as a present?"
I stared at the most beautiful piece of crystal in the store—a carefully shaped heart that was meant to symbolize someone's love for another—or so the tag said. But I couldn't help but be a little mesmerized by it and a little torn apart knowing that even if I had asked for it from him, it wasn't meant for me.
"Yeah, I would..."
"Great!" He replied, "And it'll be like I'm giving my heart to her!"
I looked up from the box's contents to Len's face, whose countenance was that of a deep, deep red. He nervously bit his lip and shoved his hands in his pockets and rolled his feet on the ground, eyes still flickering away from and back to me.
He then murmured very softly, "I... love you, Rin."
…
Can this guy be any more adorable?
After placing the lid back on the box, I tightly wrapped my arms around him. Hoping that it could partially make up for my snappy behavior and cure the guilt trip that he had just put me through. But I cannot begin to describe how relieved I was. I could feel my heart pounding faster and faster as I remained there, feeling his arms snake around my waist. Then I realized something,
"Shoot!" I suddenly drew myself back.
"What?" Len looked shocked right along with me.
"I ate your Christmas present!"
"...What?"
"No, seriously! I ate it! I thought you were getting a present for another girl... I got jealous, and then... ate your present."
Len looked at me, blinked, and threw his head back in laughter.
"Well, I suppose you'll just have to get me something else, then!"
"Len, I'm poor. You know how my mom is with allowances."
"Then give me something you can afford."
"Like what?"
"Oh, I don't know..." Len tilted his head teasingly, "a kiss."
"A what?"
"Kiss. K-I-S-S."
He then leaned forward a little closer to me and I felt the heat come onto my face. He closed his eyes, tilted his head toward me, and froze, waiting for me. What the heck was I supposed to do? A moment ago, I was bagging on him in my mind for "liking another girl" and the next we're suddenly a couple? Okay, maybe that was just my inner excuse. The truth was that I was really, really, really heating up and blushing and couldn't move. Well, this is embarrassing.
"This is suuuuch and awfully long kiss, Rin."
"S-sh-shut up!"
Finally, I closed my eyes and touched my lips to his. And boy, did it feel tense at first. I could have sworn I was shaking, but as Len held me longer, something just soothed through my body. His fingers of one hand traced along my back while the other hand fell down to my thigh and stroked it in a painfully slow circular motion. I never knew his lips were this soft and warm.
Can someone please say, "holy crap", for me?
We pulled apart, staring into each other's eyes for a moment. And with his mouth hovering just over mine, he whispered,
"That's all I want for Christmas..." He finished with a short brush against my lips.
He then let me go, turned me around, and pushed me away.
"Now hurry up and get changed. I wanna go out!" He was practically singing his last sentence.
"Yeah, okay." I was still in a trance from before.
As I was climbing up the stairs I heard him call,
"I can still get that sexy lingerie with your favorite fruit on them!"
"LEN!"
A/N: Merry Christmas! And thank you for reading! Please leave a review if you wish to tell me what you thought. :3