As Snow
Prologue
Disclaimer: Don't own
Note: this story is semilinear in structure (a little bit of time skip, although it settles down later) which may or may not be to your tastes. Title comes from Edward Elgar's "The Snow" which I've listened to a lot while writing this. Also big shoutout to akaishokushuu on twitter for fueling my ideals (especially this prologue scene)
He's keeping one eye on the stove and the other on the sports section when Tatsuya calls him from the other room; the stew's got another 45 minutes to go and it'll certainly be fine for a little while so he pads off down the hall toward the bedroom.
Tatsuya's going through yet another box; his mom had passive-aggressively shipped everything he had left in her apartment across the city the other weekend and he's been clearing it all out—even for a guy like Tatsuya, most of it has little sentimental or monetary value. The object in his hand, which looks like some kind of moth-eaten forest green lump, can't have much of either.
"Check it out," says Tatsuya, grin glancing across his features as he shakes it out.
It's a sweater, way too small for Tatsuya, full of holes and patterned with leaping red-nosed reindeer and the words "Happy Holidays" stitched in gold at the bottom. Suddenly Taiga remembers his own experience with the thick green wool in exactly that hue, his own matching Christmas sweater, a dumb tradition that their parents had forced on them for three or four years straight. Those sweaters had been the ugliest of all, and all throughout that winter he had been petrified that somehow someone in his class would see those hideous holiday cards his parents had sent out featuring a family portrait with Taiga in the center wearing that horrible green thing.
Of course, there were good memories, too, like Tatsuya's mother's annual Christmas party where they'd both been forced to wear them and smile for the parade of adults who'd marveled at how cute they looked and how much they'd grown up (and Tatsuya had muttered things under his breath about apparently not being grown up enough to be treated with respect) and after that was done stuffed themselves with candy canes until their mouths were numb from the sharp sweetness and their sticky hands left marks on the wall and they'd wandered off to Tatsuya's room and fallen asleep watching the snow drift almost aimlessly down from Tatsuya's bed, faces glowing in the dim light from Tatsuya's alarm clock.
"Tatsuya."
"Hm?"
He's still holding out the sweater; the box is still on the ground between them. Taiga reaches over anyway, catching Tatsuya's free hand in his. He lifts it to his lips. Tatsuya's fingers curl tighter around Taiga's and he steps over the box, dropping the sweater. His foot is so close to Taiga's that Taiga can feel the warmth radiating from it on the cool wood floor, and he's not surprised when Tatsuya nudges his ankle.
"I love you."
Tatsuya smiles. "I love you, too."