I WAS GONNA POST THIS ON CHRISTMAS DAY BUT WOULDN'T LET ME LOG ON. But um anyway. This was a present for motolokiev on Tumblr, who draws absolutely fantastic art. And she's fantastic. And this was for Zexalmas. Anyway, enjoy!
Though the holidays were meant to be a time of peace and relaxation, this, sadly, was not the case for Chris and Kaito. This was the first Christmas they would spend without their family; after moving out of their respective homes and finally moving in together, it was deemed more appropriate to spend this holiday alone together. It could have been quiet with just the two of them, as well. But with just the two of them, it meant that they would have had to do more, which just made the holiday a little more stressful. They would live, though. Maybe.
The night before Christmas, the two of them laid in bed together, curled up under the sheets, fast asleep and comfortable in their bed. That was before Kaito's eyes snapped open, and a realisation hit him. He looked at the time - it was two in the morning. Chris wouldn't have wanted to be woken up at this time, but who cared? Obviously, not Kaito. This was important.
"Chris," Kaito mumbled in a sleepy daze, shaking his shoulder. "Did you take the turkey out of the freezer?"
And from the expression on Chris' face - it was something similar to a face one would pull after accidentally eating something incredibly spicy - it was clear that both of them had completely forgotten to take out the turkey. This was already the start of a fantastic Christmas. After Chris awkwardly shuffled out of bed to take out the turkey to defrost, he shuffled back into his warm bed, where Kaito had already gone back to sleep and was snoring softly.
Chris woke up first in the morning, combing his fingers through his hair. He glanced at the clock on the nightstand with a sleepy sigh. It was 11am, and nothing had been done for dinner. In hindsight, they should have set an alarm, probably. Chris rolled out of bed and shuffled into the kitchen, preparing hot chocolate for himself and for Kaito. He was certain Kaito would have grumbled something about being able to do it himself. But it was Christmas; for once, he should have relaxed a little. He probably wouldn't have, not really.
By the time Chris returned to their shared room, Kaito was already awake, but he had decided to lie in bed for a little while longer. What? Even Kaito could have lie-ins, sometimes. Not often, though. Chris sat on his side of the bed as Kaito sat up and was handed a cup of hot chocolate. He pulled a face, just like Chris knew he would.
"I can—"
"Make it yourself, I know. But I thought this would be nice, as well," Chris finished for him, putting his cup on his bedside table.
Had it been any other day, Kaito would have been willing to fight about it. But it was Christmas, and Kaito didn't really want to cause an argument on a day that was supposed to be about family. Instead, he accepted the hot chocolate with a mumbled 'thank you', taking a sip out of it and putting the cup down.
They sat in bed together for a little while, with their backs against the wall and their fingers intertwined. It was only when Kaito had realised the hot chocolates had gone mostly cold and neither of them had really touched theirs that they realised they probably should have gotten up. It was time for lunch by the time they had risen from their bed.
Kaito sat down by the tree, waiting impatiently for Chris to preheat the oven and put the turkey inside. What the hell was he messing around for? Kaito wanted him to open his present, for God's sake! By the time Chris came back, Kaito was drumming his fingers on his lap, frowning. It took him long enough.
The minute he sat down, a present was shoved in his arms. Typical. But he accepted it with a smile, carefully unwrapping the paper. This did nothing but frustrate Kaito further - he wished Chris would just rip the damn paper open. But he wouldn't; he would be as careful as possible, like he was handling a doll. It was only paper, though. He was so strange.
The gift wasn't anything big, but that was because Chris insisted that it had to be small, and he would not accept anything large or expensive. In his hand, he held a small, sort of thin box. He looked at it curiously, trying to decipher what it was before opening it.
"Chris, just open it," Kaito said, pinching the bridge of his nose with a harsh sigh.
He lifted the lid off of the box, with Kaito staring at his fingers in absolute silence. If Chris didn't know him, it would have been unnerving. In the box sat three cards that he had been looking for but could not find in any booster pack. In all honesty, he was certain Kaito would have either had to spend a lot of money searching through endless amounts of booster packs - this was the most likely option, since he was stubborn and seemed to like making his life difficult for himself - or he would have bought them online.
The packaging the cards were sitting on was soft to the touch, almost like the velvet one would use in a jewellery box. Yes, duelling was important, but surely the cards weren't so important that they needed to be treated like pure gold. But, all in all, Chris was pleased with his gift.
"I..." his fingers gently traced along the edges of the card, lost in thought for a moment. Kaito seemed to be on the edge of his seat, waiting for his reaction. His lips curved into a small smile as he let out a gentle laugh, completely lost for words. "Thank you, Kaito."
He cupped Kaito's cheek in his hand and pulled his head closer, planting a sweet kiss on his free cheek. He noticed the change of tint on Kaito's cheek into a light pink before changing back to its usual colour. Ah well, it was cute while it lasted.
Chris reached under the tree for his gift to Kaito and handed it to him. The box was neatly wrapped, with a beautiful bow on the top, which Chris had made himself. He was always eager to impress, after all. The box was somewhat small and in the shape of a cube. Kaito's first assumption was a watch, which would have been expensive and Kaito would have killed him for, since Chris had insisted he didn't want anything fancy. Perhaps he would have wanted to outdo him. Sneaky little...!
When Chris gestured to Kaito for him to actually unwrap the present, he snapped out of his thoughts. Ah, that's right. Unlike Chris, he wasn't going to be so gentle with the wrapping paper, which caused Chris to frown a little, but he wasn't going to stop him. Not everything had to go his way, after all.
Under the wrapping paper was a white box, and it only made Kaito even more certain that it was a watch. For God's sake, Chris was ridiculous. But he said nothing. Instead, contrary to his treatment of the wrapping paper, he was much more careful with opening the box. What he found inside where pieces of protective tissue. He certainly didn't expect this.
He removed the tissue one at a time until he saw something under it. And it certainly wasn't jewellery. As his fingers touched the object, his skin felt a pointy surface, which only added to his curiosity. With a cautious hand, he removed the item from the box. In his hand, he held a smallish figurine. It was an exact replica of Galaxy-Eyes, and every single detail was perfect. Kaito looked over at Chris, his mouth open.
"I thought you might like something like that, Kaito. I had it made special, just for you. I do hope you like it."
Kaito stared down at the figure, completely silent. If anything, it only made Chris nervous. His fingers traced along the dragon's body, seemingly taking in all of the details in the figurine. Without a word, he put the figurine back in the box, and Chris' heart sank. He didn't like it then.
In a swift movement, he put down the box and practically pounced on Chris. He wrapped his arms around Kaito, lightly rubbing his back.
"You didn't have to get me something so nice," he mumbled into Chris' chest.
"Of course I had you. You mean the world to me," Chris replied into his heart. He could feel Kaito relax a little bit.
"You're too soft."
Chris laughed a little. "I know I am. It's partially your fault."
Soon enough, Chris released Kaito, and the two of them opened the rest of their presents from their respective family and friends. The turkey - and the rest of dinner - was completely forgotten, too used to having someone else make dinner. Instead, the television was turned on, where Christmas film after Christmas film was played, with some Christmas specials and occasionally other films were playing.
Chris has gotten up and returned to their room to dig out the ugliest Christmas sweaters he could find before returning to the living room. After many, many protests, Kaito finally put his sweater on, with Chris sitting next to him, already wearing his incredibly ugly sweater. Kaito noted that, at the very least, he could make it work. Unlike Kaito.
The smell of something burning alerted the two of them, confusing them. The burning smell burnt their nose, but they couldn't quite figure it out. It was only when the smoke detector sounded through the house that Chris realised, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. He rose to his feet, rushing to the kitchen and quickly equipping oven mitts. As he uttered hushed expletives, he pulled what remained of the turkey out of the oven. Though, admittedly, he couldn't help but laugh at this. With the turkey in his gloved hands, he returned to the living room.
"Kaito," he started. Kaito turned to him, and his face fell when he saw the caramelised mess that was once a turkey. "Do you think any takeaway places will be open today? It's a long shot, but as you can see..."
"I'll take a look," Kaito sighed. They were doing very well with Christmas dinner this year.
By some stroke of luck, one of the takeaway places were, indeed, open. Chris couldn't help but thank his lucky stars for religious diversity. The two of them sat on the couch, sharing pizza and watching whatever cheesy Christmas film happened to be online.
They made a pact not to tell anyone else about the dinner. It was bad enough without their families mocking them for their incompetence.