My Christmas contribution this year! I worked really hard to get this out on Christmas, and it's still Christmas in my time zone, so I hope this will still register as a Christmas posting. It's not exactly Sarumi, but you can read it if you want to. Also omg how do you do the other Blue clansmen I don't know. This also is largely unbeta-ed from my rush to get it out on time, so there might be mistakes- if you see any, let me know so I can fix them!
I hope everyone had a happy holiday for who celebrates Christmas!
Disclaimer: I don't own Project K
Christmas Tradition
It was their Christmas tradition that they did every year, without fail. Every year.
Every year since they had become friends, without fail, they had exchanged gifts. The year they started exchanging gifts was more because of Yata than anything. He had given Fushimi the gift - a small keychain, nothing much, just something he had seen and thought Fushimi would like - and hadn't expected anything back. There wasn't any fanfare in his giving it to the other boy. Yata had just dropped it on Fushimi's desk before the start of the holiday break, and that was that.
When they got back from break though, there was a small keychain on his desk and Yata knew, though Fushimi never said anything, that it was from Fushimi. And so their Christmas tradition started.
Every year, whether it was before break while they were in school, or on Christmas when they were living together, the two exchanged gifts. Sometimes they were just small gifts, whatever they could afford at the time between rent, but sometimes they saved up, little by little, all year to get something special for the other. They always did it, and the days leading up to Christmas had always been flustered secrets on both parts. Yata, trying to secretly do his shopping and hide it from Fushimi, who always invariably stumbled upon Yata's hiding spot before he had wrapped the gift. Fushimi, with his depressing wrapping skills and inability to hold a candle to Yata's ability, whose luck would have him wrapping Yata's present at the exact moment that Yata would walk through the door.
Yes, it was a tradition that they did every year.
Until the betrayal.
The year of the betrayal, when the Christmas season had rolled around, it had left Yata waffling. Part of him wanted to buy Fushimi a gift - on his way through the city he would inevitably see things that he knew Fushimi would like - but another part floundered, saying that he couldn't. After all, Fushimi was a traitor, and traitors like him didn't deserve a Christmas present.
"I think it's up to you, Yata-chan," Totsuka told him one day the week of Christmas, when he had accidentally blurted out his problem while he helped the older man and Anna prepare for HOMRA's christmas party. "If it's a tradition, then you should let it keep going. There's no sense in letting a tradition die, especially one like the one you have with Fushimi."
"Misaki's afraid Fushimi won't get a present," Anna said, looking at him through one of her marbles. And while Yata was busy trying to deny Anna's words, she added, "...you should wrap it in blue." Before dismissing the conversation completely.
So Yata had gotten Fushimi something and, as Anna had suggested, wrapped it in a blue wrapping paper he had borrowed from his mother that was covered in snowmen. When he had put the tag on it though, Yata chickened out and only put Fushimi's name on it. It was a similar situation when Yata went to deliver the gift. He couldn't actually make himself go through with dropping it off, so he had paid Minoru six hundred yen to run the gift for him.
"I'm here to drop off a gift for Saruhiko, " Yata was able to hear his brother announce to the secretary from where he was loitering right outside the building.
"All right," The secretary was patient with his brother, and that was another reason Yata couldn't just deliver it himself - the secretary was female and like hell he'd be able to handle talking to her. "What's the name?
"Oh, um, I'm Minoru," The brat sounded distracted, meaning something had caught Minoru's attention and he hadn't been paying attention.
"What's this?" A new voice spoke, and Yata vaguely recognized it, though he didn't have a name to place to it.
"Oh, Domyoji, Akiyama," The secretary greeted. "This young man is here to drop off a gift."
"A gift? For who?" One of them asked.
"Saruhiko," Minoru supplied, "Ah, I mean, Fushimi Saruhiko."
"What?!" Both of the Blues had gasped, making Yata wince and grimace. It couldn't be that shocking, could it?
"No way!" One of them continued. "From who?"
"Minoru," The secretary said, but Yata's brother was quick to correct her.
"No, no, no, it's not from me!" Minoru corrected quickly. "It's from Misaki." And Yata wanted to hit the idiot.
"Misaki?" They both sounded confused, and one said, "Isn't that a girls name?" And yes, thank you, Yata wanted the reminder that his mother gave him a girls name. But then again, seeing as Yata only ever went by his surname, they had no way of knowing that the Misaki giving Fushimi a gift was the same Yata from HOMRA.
"A girl? Sending Fushimi a gift?" Yata could hear his brother attempt to correct their mistake, but the Blues just talked over him and Yata hoped his brother came out soon so they could leave - preferably before he could correct their mistake. He didn't mind if the stupid Blues thought he was a girl, if it helped him keep his anonymity with the gift.
Soon enough, Minoru came barreling out the front doors.
"They wouldn't listen to me," He complained as they headed for the gates. "They think you're a girl Misaki. But they said they'd give Saruhiko your gift for you!" As they passed through the gates, Minoru seemed to think about it, before saying,
"Why didn't you just drop it off yourself?" Yata cuffed him on the head in response.
"Mind your own business," He answered, and walked Minoru back home.
Yata didn't expect anything in return - if he was honest, he actually expected Fushimi to throw the gift out without unwrapping it. Or, considering how the Blues had sounded at the idea of Fushimi getting a gift from someone they thought to be a girl, throw it out after being forced to unwrap it.
He hadn't expected this.
"Yatagarasu," The Ice Queen of the Blues had greeted him when he entered HOMRA a few days after Christmas. She was sitting at the bar, drinking one of her weird martinis that Kusanagi always hated making for her. Kusanagi was smiling though, and it wasn't one of his forced smiles that he wore after making the Ice Queen's drinks. "This is for you." And she took something off the bar counter and handed it to Yata.
It was a gift, wrapped in candy-cane striped paper, with a red gift bow stuck on the top. The name tag read Misaki, and it looked written three times - the first two times were written by an obviously careless hand, before someone had apparently gotten fed up with the lack of care and wrote his name in a far neater script. In the same handwriting, someone had marked the gift as fromSaru-chan, though the -chan had been scribbled out angrily.
"Unfortunately," Awashima said with the seriousness she always seemed to speak with, "Everyone on the squad seems to be under the belief that you are a girl." Well, was trying to anyways. Yata could tell that both her and Kusanagi, sharing looks as they were, were trying to keep from laughing, and there was mirth in their eyes like they thought the situation was funny. "They forced Fushimi to re-do it several times before they gave up and took care of wrapping the present themselves."
"I see," Yata had muttered, accepting the present nonetheless.
The next year, and every year after that, instead of sending his little brother to drop off Fushimi's gift, Awashima would invariably show up at the bar at some point in the days leading up to Christmas, and take Yata's Christmas present to give to Fushimi. Then, at some point between Christmas and the New Year, Awashima would come back, dropping off Fushimi's gift. Yata worried every year, afraid that it was the year that Awashima would say enough was enough and she wasn't playing courier any longer, but Kusanagi reassured him that the Blues' second in command didn't mind the job.
Yata and Fushimi's Christmas tradition was handled in this manner up until the year JUNGLE stole the Slates.
"I wasn't sure if you wanted to have your Christmas gift returned to you."
Awashima appeared at HOMRA New Year's Eve. With her, she held a box under her arm that Yata recognized as the gift he had given her just days prior for Fushimi. He could tell by the shimmery blue paper that covered the gift, and the yellow bow that had been stuck on top after having been picked at random by Anna.
"He's going to come back," Yata dismissed the conversation that Awashima was trying to avoid bringing up by bringing it up. He turned away from the Ice Queen, staring at the alcohol he had been given by Kusanagi. It was his first of the two drinks Kusanagi had said he was allowed for the evening, barring the toast at midnight. The strict limit, he mused, was probably because of the topic everyone had been dancing around discussing whenever Yata was nearby.
Still, even if he did want to drink himself into a stupor to not think about it, Yata knew he couldn't. Not when JUNGLE was still around, not when they were going after everyone - including Anna. He couldn't protect Anna if he was drunk or nursing a hangover.
Not that he could protect anyone, of course. That much was obvious.
"Yata-chan," He heard Kusanagi sigh and, even though he was focused on his drink, Yata knew that they were sharing an exasperated look over his head.
"It's all right," Awashima spoke, though Yata wasn't sure if the line was aimed at him or Kusanagi. "Of course he's going to come back, Yatagarasu. I apologize if I came off as having the view point on the situation. Here."
On the counter, she set down a gift bag. It was plain red in color, with white tissue paper wrapping whatever was inside. The tag had his first name written in sloppy kanji, like the person writing it had been in a rush.
"It had been sitting on the dresser in his dorm room," Awashima elaborated after a moment, Yata never breaking his staring contest with the gift bag. "I believe Fushimi would want you to have it on time, regardless if he was here to pass it on himself or not."
"Thanks," Yata mumbled, more to his forearm that to Awashima.
"It's not a chore," Awashima shook her head. "I'm glad you two exchange gifts, even if it is like this. Although, I do look forward to the day that you two actually exchange them in person, rather than using some sort of go-between."
She bade Kusanagi a farewell, rather impressively turning down his invitation to stay for the midnight countdown, and left.
And Yata let Fushimi's gift sit on the counter. Unopened.
A lot could change over a year. The city itself was constantly changing, adapting, to accommodate anything and everything new that was thrown its way. Even with the dismantling of the Slates, there was still trouble that found its way around Shizume, and even though they didn't have the power from the Slates backing them, SCEPTER 4 was still a crucial part to the city's government.
And Yata, for some reason, found himself standing outside SCEPTER 4′s headquarters a week before Christmas.
Months ago, he and Fushimi had started to repair their relationship. Maybe they weren't as close as they were before, but Yata liked to say that they were near that point. Hopefully.
Because, really, that was the reason that he was outside of the SCEPTER 4 headquarters. To drop off Fushimi's Christmas gift. In person. For the first time since the betrayal.
"Come on Misaki, are we gonna go inside or not?"
And he wasn't alone.
His siblings had wanted help Christmas shopping for Mom, and Yata had also been asked to invite Fushimi to Christmas dinner. Yata's original intention had been to not ask Fushimi, because he could predict the answer without asking - a flat "no" - but his siblings had caught wind that he was dropping off Fushimi's Christmas gift, and had insisted on tagging along to "make sure Misaki asked Saruhiko to Christmas dinner!"
"Yeah, yeah, we're going," Yata grumbled, walking up to the door and holding it open to shepherd Minoru and Megumi into the building. "Hurry up or I'm leaving you outside to freeze."
Once inside the building, he was practically dragged up to the secretary by both his siblings.
"I'm, um, here to drop off a gift for Fushimi Saruhiko," Yata informed the secretary, doing his best to neither blush nor stutter while talking to her, gaze focused directly at the counter top.
"Name?" The secretary asked politely, but before Yata could say anything, a new voice interjected, giving the entire situation a feeling of deja vu to Yata.
"Hey, isn't that Yata-san?" Yata recognized the voice as one of the members of the squad Fushimi was on in SCEPTER 4. Fushimi complained about them whenever they talked and while Yata made an honest attempt to remember the names, he could never put them to the right faces. As a result, whenever he interacted with them - which was an increasing amount, considering the fact that they seemed to be trying to be friendly with him, because of his friendship with Fushimi - Yata avoided directly saying their name so he wouldn't get it wrong.
Still as the squad member called out their surname, all three of them turned around to look, even though Yata knew that it was only him being called out to.
"That was spooky," The squad member commented idly, laughing despite his words, "Are these your siblings, Yata-san?" Yata nodded, and hoped to God that his siblings didn't ask to be introduced.
"Yeah!" Megumi vocalized enthusiastically, both arms clamped around Yata's left arm in a vice grip. He could feel her accompanied nod-nod-nodding rub quickly against his forearm. "Big Brother is here to drop off his Christmas gift to Saruhiko!"
"You got a Christmas gift for Fushimi-san?" The squad member - Yata was beginning to think it was Domyoji, but he wasn't certain - seemed surprised, but didn't question it further than that, before offering, "If you want I can take it back for you."
Yata was ready to hand the gift over right there, but then Minoru had to open his mouth -
"Can we take it back to him? Please?" And Yata knew it was more because Minoru wanted to see the inner workings of SCEPTER 4′s headquarters than anything, but his mentioning that reminded Megumi of the other reason why they were there -
"Oh yeah, can we can we?" Megumi added. "Big Brother has something he needs to ask Saruhiko!"
Maybe-Domyoji was hesitant, and Yata knew his eyes were screaming for the answer to be "no", but he took one look at Yata's siblings - a fatal mistake - and caved.
"I don't see why not," Sighed Maybe-Domyoji, giving Yata an apologetic look over the top of his siblings' heads.
Still, Yata thought he could salvage this. In and out, without any problems. Hand Fushimi his gift, apologize for bothering him at work, ask about Christmas dinner, and then leave before Megumi and Minoru could cause any trouble. After all, Fushimi should be at his work station, so they wouldn't be bothering anything too badly - Yata was certain that if Fushimi had been in a meeting or something, Maybe-Domyoji would have said something.
That's why Yata was woefully unprepared when they were walking through the halls, and Fushimi was standing a short ways away. To make matters worse, he wasn't alone - he was standing conversing with Awashima, and the Blue King. Having been staring at the floor, only watching his siblings through his peripherals, Yata never saw them. He only heard Maybe-Domyoji mention something along the lines of,
"Oh, there he is, with the Lieutenant and Captain." Just as he heard Minoru hiss to Megumi,
"That's Misaki's Saru."
Maybe-Domyoji said something about waiting, as Yata jerked his head up to actually see if it really was Fushimi ahead, but he was a shot too late.
By the time he had gotten a proper look and seen that, yeah, that was Fushimi standing with Awashima and Munakata, Megumi had pulled away from Yata and was launching herself towards Fushimi.
"Shit!" Yata cursed, lunging for Megumi's hood but, honestly Yata swore, she was faster than an Olympic track runner, and slipped by him before he could grab her. Sometimes he sorely wished that they made toddler leashes for eight year olds.
"Megumi, don't!" He shouted as a last ditch attempt to stop his sister, and maybe as a warning to Fushimi, but it was for naught.
The trio looked up and over towards Yata, Fushimi and Munakata both half-turning to assess the situation. There was a look of confusion that quickly turned to amusement in Munakata's eyes, while Fushimi was one of wholly caught off-guard surprise. Especially when Megumi crowed,
"Bang!" And slammed herself right into Fushimi's knees.
If it hadn't been so embarrassing, it would have been a truly remarkable sight. An eight year old, who barely weighed 25 kilograms, tackling and sending SCEPTER 4′s third in command sprawling to the floor on his ass.
All right, maybe it was only Yata who was mortified, because Maybe-Domyoji was snickering at his side and Minoru wasn't even hiding his laughter. Even the Blue King let out a chuckle, and there was laughter belied in Awashima's eyes as she tried to keep a neutral expression, not letting the smile that wanted to get out rise on her face.
"What the hell?" Were the first words out of Fushimi's mouth, scowling, as he stared down at the youngest Yata.
"Domyoji, what is this?" Awashima asked, somehow keeping her voice even. Something registered in the back of Yata's head, telling him, hey, he did get the name right, but he wasn't concerned with that at the moment as he somehow forced himself forward to lift his sister off of Fushimi when it was obvious she wasn't going to move herself.
"They're here to drop off a Christmas present for Fushimi-san," Domyoji sounded sheepish, and something told Yata that they probably weren't supposed to have left the lobby of the building.
"Yeah, yeah!" Megumi agreed with more enthusiasm than Yata thought physically possible as he set his sister down and Fushimi climbed to his feet. "And because we're supposed to ask if M-mmph!"
Before his sister could say his first name - or the embarrassing phrase "Misaki's Saru", like Fushimi was his or something - Yata quickly clamped his hand over Megumi's mouth.
"I am supposed to ask," Yata continued, nervously, holding his sister as tightly as he could as she struggled to get out of his grip. "If you want to join us for Christmas dinner, Saruhiko. My mom was asking." And he didn't break stride in his speech, even when Megumi licked his hand in an attempt to be released.
"I can't," Fushimi looked annoyed, and Yata honestly didn't blame him considering the circumstances, but he looked far more annoyed when the Blue King answered,
"I don't see why not," As if he was the one invited, and not Fushimi.
"Captain," Fushimi clicked his tongue in annoyance. "You can't make someone's Christmas plans for them." Munakata continued speaking as if Fushimi hadn't said anything.
"Everyone has off on Christmas anyways," Yata had a feeling like he was watching the world's most lethal staring match as he moved himself and Megumi out from between the Blue King and Fushimi. "I was planning a mandatory Christmas party for everyone that day, but you've already gotten such a nice invitation to dinner that we wouldn't want to ruin those plans, would we Fushimi-kun?"
Something changed in Fushimi's expression, right around the point where Munakata had mentioned something about a mandatory party - which was strange in itself to Yata, because why would you need to make a party mandatory. But whatever it was, it had the effect of making Fushimi break the staring contest and say to Yata,
"Fine," As he clicked his tongue. "What time should I be there?"
And okay, yeah, now he was grimacing, because Megumi was drooling on his hand now, so he moved his hand and wiped it on her coat. She was grinning, and Minoru was probably too, though Yata couldn't see him.
"Ah, dinner's at two, so you can show up at any time before that." Yata told him. He almost pulled Megumi away so they could all leave, before he remembered -
"Oh yeah, here," Without fanfare, he held out Fushimi's gift. It was in a gift bag this year. "Merry Christmas." Fushimi appeared a bit surprised, but before he could take it, Megumi had snatched the bag from Yata's limp grasp, scurrying back to stand with Minoru, clutching the gift to her chest.
"No!" She protested while both men stared at her dumbfounded. "If -" And oh god, she was going to say it and Yata wasn't there to stop it "-Misaki's Saru -" God damnit "-is coming on Christmas, he should get his gift on Christmas!"
"Megumi," Yata was exasperated, and just unhappy with how the whole situation had been going, but before he could scold his sister, Fushimi unexpectedly jumped into the conversation.
"It's all right," Even though he was clicking his tongue yet again. "I don't have your gift anyway. I'll just get mine on Christmas when I give you yours."
"If you're sure," Yata sighed, and then his siblings were on him, tugging him back down the hall towards the entrance. As he was bodily dragged away, he called back behind him, "I'll see you on Christmas!"
And he could hear Fushimi's half-hearted goodbye, Awashime give a quiet acknowledgement, and the Blue King call out,
"Merry Christmas, Yata Misaki-kun."
But what stood out most of all was Domyoji's belated yelp of,
"Wait, Misaki?"
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