It had been a slow afternoon. The sky outside was bleak and grey, and it had been snowing on and off for the past several hours. Aoba was curled up on the couch, leaning against the arm at an angle with Ren curled into a ball by his feet. They were surrounded by a thick, fluffy blanket, and Aoba was trying to concentrate on his language exercises. A few weeks ago, he'd spotted a "Teach Yourself German" book on sale in the city, and he'd bought it, thinking it would be nice if he could actually have more of an idea about what was going on around him when Noiz wasn't there to translate.

He scrunched up his face and tapped his pacer restlessly on the edge of his book. What the hell is this? He was stuck. He flipped back through multiple pages, looking for an explanation that might help him. German was very different from Japanese, and he was struggling with it. He was amazed sometimes at how fluent Noiz was in both languages. After reading through the entire chapter for the second time, Aoba sighed and snapped the book shut, using his pacer as a makeshift bookmark.

"Seems like it's time for a break…" he murmured to himself, carefully pushing his blanket aside to avoid disturbing Ren, and freeing his legs. He stood up in a stretch and glanced outside. The snow seemed to be falling more heavily than earlier, and it looked like it was going to stick, at least for a little while.

That could be a pain for Noiz when he gets home from work, Aoba thought. Even though it was a Sunday and he really shouldn't have been working, last night Theo had called Noiz to ask for his help with some last minute paperwork today, and to Aoba's dismay, Noiz had agreed. Aoba had wanted to spend the day with him, but he supposed he couldn't have everything. He crossed the room now and peered out the window, confirming his suspicions. There was now a thick layer of snow built up in the driveway, meaning Noiz wouldn't be able to get into the garage when he came home.

"Well, I guess I have to spend my break doing this now…" Aoba resigned himself to his duty. Noiz would be home in about an hour, so he'd have to get started with shoveling now if he was going to be any help. "Wait here for me, Ren." He retrieved his snow jacket from the bedroom closet and pulled it on, bracing himself for the harsh cold outside.

Opening the front door, he was rocked by a sharp gust of wind. He paused on the front steps to pull his hood up, protecting his ears from the cold. As he slowly descended the steps, he grumbled to himself, "The things I do for that boy…" His boots sank deep into the snow as he plodded his way over to the small shed where the shovel was kept.

Aoba had never had to shovel snow before coming to Germany. Midorijima had been pretty cold in winter, but they'd never seen any serious snow, mostly just sleet. Since the snow had started falling here in late-October, he'd had to shovel the driveway a couple of times to make sure Noiz could get into the garage safely. Even though he complained, truthfully he didn't mind it that much. It wasn't like he was doing anything else particularly important.

The snow crunched loudly as he dug the shovel in. After the first few minutes, it didn't even seem like he'd made a dent. The snow was a bit thicker than he'd thought before, and it didn't help that it was still snowing lightly as he worked, so this was probably going to take him longer than expected. He set his jaw in determination. He was going to have this driveway clear by the time Noiz was home.

He had no idea how much time had passed. Ten minutes? Maybe twenty? It was gradually getting dark out. He was halfway through with the driveway, his face was flushed from the cold, and his arms and shoulders were starting to ache dully. He was suddenly caught off guard when he heard footsteps crunching in the snow behind him. He whirled around, only to be met by an instantly recognizable face.

"Noiz?!"

It was true, Noiz was standing just a few steps behind him, wearing a heavy jacket over his suit, a thick knitted scarf and a smug expression. In his hands, he held two steaming mugs of hot cocoa.

"Are you surprised to see me?" he teased, smiling tenderly but still somehow managing to maintain an aura of smugness. He stepped closer, bumping elbows with Aoba and holding out one of the mugs. "Here, this is for you. You look like you need it," he commented.

"Do you want to explain how you're standing behind me right now? Where's the car?" Aoba asked skeptically, though that didn't stop him from immediately dropping the shovel in favour of the hot cocoa. He cupped his hands around the mug, heating the life back into his stiff fingers, and brought it to his lips. It was delicious, but more importantly it was warm. Aoba could feel it warming his entire body. It was exactly what he needed right now.

But he wasn't about to tell Noiz that. He still wanted answers, and Noiz was just standing there drinking his own cocoa. "So, where's the car?" Aoba repeated, kicking at the snow with his feet. "The driveway's not done yet, but—"

"I didn't take the car today," Noiz interrupted. "I thought I told you this morning? About the weather?" He took a sip of his own hot cocoa, watching Aoba out of the corner of his eye.

"Was that when you woke up for work, and you woke me up to say goodbye?" Noiz nodded and Aoba groaned loudly. "How many times do I need to remind you? Don't tell me important things when I'm half asleep! I'll never remember them!"

Noiz chuckled. "Well, I'll tell you now then."

"It's too late now!" Aoba whined. "I've already started on the driveway, and the car's still in the garage, isn't it? Oh my god." Noiz rubbed his back gently. Combined with the hot cocoa, it was pretty soothing. But it was still pretty cold outside. "Let's go inside," Aoba suggested, bending to pick the shovel back up.

Noiz gave his now-empty mug to Aoba, trading him for the shovel. While Aoba went inside to put the mugs in the kitchen and remove his jacket, Noiz returned the shovel to the shed and joined him a moment later. "So what about the weather…?" Aoba prompted.

"Oh, that," Noiz said thoughtfully, removing his jacket and hanging it up as he spoke. "There was a weather report this morning that said there would be unusually heavy snow today. So I decided to get a lift to work with Theo because I didn't want to drive in it. When I got home, I saw you shoveling the driveway. You were so distracted, you didn't even see Theo's car pull up. So I went in through the back door and made hot cocoa for us."

Aoba wasn't really sure of what to say. Noiz had seen him shoveling the driveway and had just left him to do it? "Thank you," Aoba said finally. "For the hot cocoa." He supposed he couldn't really bring himself to hold it against Noiz. It wasn't like he'd asked Aoba to shovel the driveway just to mess with him. Aoba had volunteered, and it was his own fault for not remembering their conversation from the morning. He stood on his toes and craned his neck to kiss Noiz on the forehead. "Welcome home."

Before Aoba could react, Noiz caught him by the chin and tilted his head, planting a kiss right on his lips. Aoba's face and ears turned bright red. He wasn't sure if he could ever get used to how forward Noiz was sometimes. He liked it a lot, but it was always surprising and embarrassing.

"Do you want to cook dinner tonight, or should I order something?" Noiz asked casually, loosening the tie around his neck. The way he dressed may have changed a lot, but his eating habits had remained virtually the same as when he'd been living in Midorijima. He still had no idea how to cook for himself, so he usually either relied on Aoba, or ordered food to be delivered from one of the restaurants in the city. Aoba supposed at least he wasn't living on pizza and pasta now.

"I'll cook," Aoba offered. "There's no need to waste money on getting food delivered." He pushed past Noiz and entered the kitchen. It was very sleek and modern, and filled with expensive appliances. Some of them he didn't even know how to use. He'd taught himself how to use the espresso machine, but when the hell was he ever going to use a wine preservation station? He opened the double door fridge to inspect what ingredients he had to work with.

Sidling up beside him, Noiz leant against the fridge with his hand and closed one of the doors. "Before that, why don't we light the last candle?" he suggested.

"Oh, that's a good idea!" Aoba agreed. Just a split second ago, he'd been primed and ready to scold Noiz for getting in his way, but now that he knew the reason, he was excited. "I'll get the lighter." He opened the third kitchen drawer, which was an absolute mess filled with miscellaneous tools, and dug around in search of the lighter.

Noiz was already in the living room when Aoba came in, flicking through Aoba's German book. "So you got confused on this one?" he asked, gesturing to the page Aoba had marked.

"Uh, yeah," Aoba replied awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head. "I mean, I'm sure it's pretty simple, I just don't get it…" Noiz was so good with languages. Aoba didn't want to look stupid in front of him.

"No, this one's actually pretty difficult for non-native speakers," Noiz reassured him. "Don't worry. You're not failing. Here, I'll show you…" He clicked Aoba's pacer and began scribbling on the page, drawing arrows and writing his own explanation. Aoba peered over his shoulder. He was surprised. What Noiz had written actually made much more sense than the explanation in the book. Maybe he should go to Noiz for help more often.

"Thank you," Aoba said gratefully. He'd have to read over it properly later when he had more time. "Anyway… I found the lighter."

"Oh, good," Noiz replied, putting the German book back on the couch next to Ren and snatching the lighter from Aoba's hand. "Come on." Aoba followed him to the grey stone mantelpiece, which was unlit at the moment, but that was where Noiz had chosen to rest the Advent Wreath.

Noiz had been very insistent that they do this, since it was Aoba's first Christmas in Germany. He'd explained that it was a tradition in German families to have an Advent Wreath in their homes, and to light a candle every Sunday for the four weeks leading up to Christmas. Their wreath was a beautiful evergreen, dotted with red berries and golden tinsel. In the center there were four tall, red candles. Three were already lit, and this was the last one.

Sparking the lighter, Noiz carefully held the flame to the wick and then stood back. He wrapped an arm around Aoba's waist. "There, that's the last one," he confirmed, admiring the wreath. The flames flickered in his eyes as he spoke in a slow, soft tone. "You know… I never got to do this with my family when I was younger…"

Aoba suddenly realized with a jolt that Noiz probably would have been shut up in his bedroom when his family had lit the candles on their wreath. He felt a raging fire inside him whenever he thought about how Noiz's family had isolated and neglected him. But he also realized that getting angry right now had no point. It wouldn't help Noiz. It became obvious to Aoba that Noiz had been so insistent on following this tradition not just because it was Aoba's first Christmas in Germany, but also because he'd wanted to finally be a part of it himself.

Snuggling into Noiz's arms, Aoba mumbled, "At least you're doing it with your family now." Noiz was silent for a moment. Oh no. Maybe he'd never thought of Aoba as family before? Aoba was starting to panic. Had he gone too far? Shit, he couldn't take it back now.

"Yeah…" Noiz said slowly. "Yeah, this is nice." He didn't say anything else after that, but his arms tightened around Aoba slightly.

"Should I go make dinner now?" Aoba asked after a little while. He could feel his stomach starting to rumble, and surely if he was hungry it meant Noiz would be by now too.

"Yeah, that would be nice," Noiz replied, still not taking his eyes off the wreath. Aoba thought about asking if he was okay, but decided to just give him space while he cooked dinner. They had all the time in the world to talk later.