AU-ish. Little bit of fluff. I am not good at fluff but I tried.

Ash/Eiji from Shorter's perspective.

No Mistletoe

"Christmas is annoying,"

"You hate everything, killjoy." Shorter threw a holiday mint at Ash, who squawked.

He pelted his friend back with the same mint. "You don't even celebrate Christmas! You're not Christian!"

"Ah! But I embrace any holiday where getting drunk with good people is part of tradition!"

"That's a lot of occasions for you. I didn't know there were that many holidays," Ash retorted, sitting back in the kitchen chair, putting his feet up on the table.

Eiji smacked him. "Don't do that, it's rude!" He pointed to his socked feet, commanding they go to the floor, "And I want to celebrate American Christmas!"

A green eye gazed lazily in his direction, "You don't know how much trouble Christmas is,"

"Yes! That's why I want it!"

"Well, here is not where you're gonna see it, lovely Eiji," Shorter draped an arm around the small man, "We are too poor for the capitalism that is middle-class American traditions. We could steal some things for you, but I think that defeats the whole heart of Christmas. It's not so much 'sticking it to the man' as it is having the man show he actually cares about you,"

"What?" Eiji looked like that entire conversation had went over his head. His English was still a little shaky at times.

Ash glared at them, "Fine, I'll get you both a gift. I'm not that poor,"

Shorter cheered and Eiji perked up at that, "Christmas is still a few weeks away, so there are other Christmas things to do in the meantime?"

Ash shoved his hands in the pockets of his hoodie, "I'll take you guys to see the lights if you want,"

"Nah man, it's too cold for me. You guys can go look at Christmas lights an' trees and whatever on your own,"

….

They went to time square. Ash kept his hands in his pockets, huddled up in his scarf. He wasn't a fan of the cold either, but Eiji's enthusiasm kept him motivated. The other's bright personality. If only a warm heart could warm his fingers…

Eiji was chattering about Christmas in Japan, and he was listening intently, or at least to the best of his ability. There's no way half of these things were true.

"Family…. KFC and Dating…. And.. I'll take you someday!" He was talking so much he stumbled over the words. Ash smiled to himself. Learning foreign languages was hard, and he had to admit he personally didn't have a knack for it. Golzine always got frustrated at his butchering of the Italian language…..

"Excuse me, what?" Ash was sure there was some kind of translation issue here, "You eat strawberry shortcake on Christmas? Are you sure that's right?"

"Yes, it is all true! Why would I lie to you?"

"Do you want to get shortcake then? I'm sure we can find a café. Let's get some hot chocolate too. It's frigid out here,"

…

The café was warm and loud and smelled of peppermint.

…..

The city was loud, but their apartment was louder due to Shorter and the boys. They hung their coats up at the door to be greeted with a new kind of hustle and bustle.

Ash was relaxed and leaning against him. Thin body chilly from the brisk wind, Ash hid his hand in his ampits to warm them. Eiji pinched him, "Will you need to be sleeping in my bed tonight to warm up? Don't put your cold feet on me,"

Ash snorted, "You wish. I'm sorry honey, I'm not that easy,"

"I know you are not 'easy', that why we go on a Christmas date," Eiji chuckled, "And you accepted, but that doesn't mean I want your cold American body next to me."

"Honey? When did we go on a date,"

"Ah- Just now? Holidays and dating, yes? I told you. I thought…" Eiji was blushing furiously, "Is it not thing here?"

"Ah…. Not really? I don't think? How should I know?" Ash swallowed nervously.

Eiji looked mortified that he had been reading the situation entirely wrong, "Ah, I thought that's why Shorter offered to stay home…."

"No, he just couldn't behave himself in public. S-so you going out with me, without Shorter, was supposed to be a date?"

Eiji looked at the ground, which Ash was thankful for. Maybe the other couldn't tell how flustered he was getting too. The tips of his ears were red, it was probably the cold.

Ash broke the silence. It was hard to form words, "D-do you want to kiss me?"

Eiji twitched nervously.

"I want to kiss you," his voice wavered, "Would you let me? W-when we went out before; to the statue of liberty and library… I-I want those to be dates too, not just friend. I did not know how to ask… you. But I like you as friend, no worry If not-" He let the sentence die, his cheeks flushed.

Ash's heart was pounding. He hadn't let himself hope for this. He leaned forward, then stopped. He didn't think he'd ever hesitated a kiss before. Was this too forward? Was this how it was supposed to be? Eiji completed the distance with a nervous peck on the lips. Short, cute, unsure…. Ash couldn't help but smile.

"Is that all you wanted?" Ash teased, honey voiced. He hoped he was being smooth, but he didn't feel smooth at the moment. His whole body was shaking. He was going to make a misstep and this would all slip away, or he would wake up from this dream and Eiji would be sleeping across the room. Eiji was so hesitant. "Do you want more?"

Eiji stared at him with big doe eyes, frozen. "I-I…" He nodded and let Ash steer the kiss.

The clammy hand he had just annoyed cupped his cheek and played with his hair.

Soft lips…. Pale hair… was it rude to keep his eyes open during a kiss?

"You've kissed me before. It's not so bad," Ash smiled down at him, looking a little less than impeccable, like he couldn't believe what he was doing, "Do you want to do it again?" Asking seemed to be as much for him as Eiji.

The brunette nodded and Ash kissed him again, longer this time. Sweeter. He gripped the shorter man's sweater, pulling him closer.

His heart beat fast. These were new feelings.

Eiji broke the kiss murmuring, "You should do what feels right,"

Ash laughed into his neck. "I don't know, this doesn't feel real,"

"Then you should kiss me again until you believe it,"

…..

Shorter let them have their time in the kitchen. He didn't need more punch that badly. But he'd accidentally seen more than he meant. He had seen Ash in love once before, a long time ago.

Finally growing impatient, he decided to break the moment by loudly opening the door and commenting on the lack of mistletoe. "Alright you two turtledoves break it up!" The couple sprung apart as he chastised them, "Don't be kissing my Christmas angel, but it's not like I didn't know about you two already. Don't be getting' busy in places that guard the alcohol, I don't want to see that,"

Ash gave a mischievous smirk, "Speaking of Christmas angel. Eiji, have I ever told you the story of when me and Shorter first met? He said I looked like this angel on a Christmas card he had, and -!"

"Heyhey hey now! That's enough of that, there's other stories you can tell him! Now move, before I start embarrassing you and tellin' him how long you've had that crush and all the other perfect chances ya had and missed to tell him about it."