It was Christmas eve, and smiles and laughter filled the warm, festive vocaloid home.
Inside, everyone was gathered in the warm living room, a burning fire filling the room in a warmth like a giant blanket being draped upon them all.
Miku gently placed a plate of cookies onto a small table in-between the fireplace and a green lounge chair. Kaito almost immediately started over to where she was, a hand outstretched.
Miku gently slapped his hand.
"No Onii-chan! This is exactly why you're being the last to get one." Kaito then went away to sulk and find a band-aid where she had, gently mind you, struck him.
Everyone else chuckled at the blue haired man before going back to what they were doing. Neru and Haku were finishing up with the tree, which they had procrastinated doing until last night, which Meiko scolded the two for.
"Haku, hand me those box of strings." Neru spoke, plopping down onto the chair with a sigh. Haku held a hand to her chin as she looked around to find the box. "It's behind you." Neru spoke, sliding down as if she had given up hope.
Haku clumsily turned around and with a open-mouthed smile, grabbed the box and handed it over to Neru.
"What's in the box Neru-chan?" Akaito asked, leaning in closer to her. Neru leaned away from him, a slight blush running over her cheeks.
"Strings."
"Strings?" Neru nodded. She then brought out a bag of popcorn. "It's the last decoration we have to put up." Akaito's mouth opened.
"Popcorn strings! Oh man, I love doing those, can I do it?" Neru stared at him as if he had lost his mind before simply shrugging then handing him both the box and bag.
"If you're going to do it, i'll go take a break." She stood up and stretched, before walking into the kitchen, Haku quickly followed after her.
Akaito waved goodbye to them before sticking his hand into the bag and taking out a popcorn before sticking it into his mouth.
"Mmm," At that moment, Meiko walked over, giving Akaito a questioning look.
"What are you...?" Akaito jumped and seemed to attempt to hide the bag only to have no actual room to do it, which only caused Akaito to do an awkward dance like motion.
"Ah, i'm stringing popcorn." He said, with a slight smirk.
"Isn't there anyone there to help you... and keep an eye on you?" Akaito frowned.
"I don't need anyone to keep an eye on me! … But, I guess some help would be good." Meiko nodded.
"Okay then," she began looking around. "Who isn't doing anything then?"
"Ah, my brother isn't!" Miku said, as she poked the fire. Meiko cocked an eyebrow.
"Are you sure? I thought I saw him with-,"
"No, he's finished, he's free now." She said, standing up now, "i'll go get him!" At that moment she turned backwards to run to, and up the stairs.
Meiko continued to stare in confusion.
"Well, I guess you have someone to help you then," then with a wave of her hand, she left the room.
Akaito watched as she left, before looking around, seeing no one else in the living room, he quickly grabbed a handful of popcorn and shoved it into his mouth.
"Aren't we supposed to be stringing those?" Akaito jumped at the sudden voice and began harshly coughing, bits of popcorn being sprayed out of his throat. "A-Akaito-san!" Mikuo quickly ran over and began giving him hard pats to the back.
"Ah, you're about to kill me aren't you?" Akaito asked in between coughs. Mikuo looked away.
"Sorry..." Akaito shook his head, and gave a comforting pat to the other's shoulder.
"It's fine, and... wait a second, I swear Miku had just left to get you, what did you run down here or something?" Akaito chuckled a bit. With wide eyes Mikuo began to sputter.
"N-No!" Akaito blinked before laughing.
"I was just kidding, calm down." Mikuo hit himself before sitting down onto the floor in front of Akaito. "Well I guess we can start then."
Akaito handed some strings and a separate bag of popcorn down to him. They both grabbed the tools they needed, scissors and needles, and immediately got to work.
As Mikuo worked, his eyes continuously moved up to the man he was working with, and each time he did, he was surprised to find out that Akaito was actually a fast worker.
A lot faster than Mikuo was anyway. Mikuo actually began feeling a slight feeling of envy growing inside of him. He watched the way Akaito's fingers quickly worked, watching his fingers almost seemed equivalent to watching a spider weaving a web. There was a smooth flow to it.
Mikuo looked down at his fingers as he worked, and it was then he realized how awkwardly his fingers moved. It seemed to take almost an eternity to get the thread into the needle, and his hands wouldn't stop shaking as he tried to get the needle to stick through the popcorn without breaking it.
He looked back up at Akaito's fingers, watching the smooth motion.
"Aht!" Mikuo dropped his needle and grabbed his finger that was now beginning to redden.
"Huh? Did you stick yourself?" Akaito asked, lowering his popcorn garland.
"Ah... well... yeah, but i'm fine." Akaito leaned into him.
"You sure? Do you need a band-aid?"
"No, i'm fine."
"Well okay, so you're not going to bleed all over the popcorn then?" Mikuo closed his eyes with a sigh, he hadn't even thought about the popcorn.
By the time he opened his eyes, he fell back from the frightening scene of Akaito right in front of his face.
Akaito had taken Mikuo's hand and held it up, looking at the finger.
"Well... it doesn't seem too bad, but we should probably still put a bandaid on it." Mikuo looked down, almost seeming to be in shame.
Akaito grinned and roughly patted the other's head before standing up straight.
Mikuo's mouth slightly opened once he felt a warm hand wrap around his own, he was then pulled up.
The two walked to the bathroom, Akaito leading the way, Mikuo being dragged. They then went in, Akaito found the bandaids on the counter, already open.
He grabbed the box and using his pointer and thumb fingers, pulled out a bandaid. He then sat onto the toilet seat.
He took his time getting the wrapper off the bandaid and placing it onto Mikuo's finger, and then, everything was better.
Mikuo looked down at the finger with the bandaid on it, his mouth a small circle.
"There we go, all better." Akaito threw away the trash and placed the bandaids into the cupboard. "Let's go back now." He spoke, giving Mikuo a smile. Mikuo looked away and simply walked out, mumbling a thanks.
/0.0\\\
It was now Christmas night; everyone who had done their part, had finished with grandiose results. The vocaloid home was beautifully festive, and it was time for the Christmas party to start.
Unfortunately, that wasn't quite a good thing. Mikuo, panting heavily, dashed across the street trying his best to make it home before guests began to arrive. During Christmas shopping, they had forgotten to get a very important party item.
Sake.
So, as punishment for getting a splotch of blood onto a popcorn garland, he had to go out and get it.
But luckily, he was a fast runner and soon made it back with only two arrived guests.
He opened the door to the house and walked in. Still panting.
"Ah, Mikuo welcome back." Meiko spoke waving. Mikuo gave a slight wave back before handing the sake over to her.
"Thank you."
Mikuo nodded in reply then walked to head upstairs.
"Ah, Mikuo-kun," Mikuo blinked and looked over to see Kaito standing there, pressing his blue scarf against his mouth. "Have you seen Akaito outside anywhere before you came in?" Mikuo looked down at the floor, his face suddenly becoming hot. "I can't find him anywhere, and I want to pull a prank on him." Kaito spoke, chuckling a bit into his scarf. Mikuo blinked.
"A prank?" He asked. Kaito nodded.
"Yeah, I put up a mistletoe." At that, Mikuo's face seemed to change from curiosity to slight fear. "I mean, Amaha-chan is here, so why not?"
"Amaha...chan?" Kaito nodded again.
"Un, Amaha Sora! The last time her and Akaito were in the same room, they kept looking over at each other a lot!" Kaito stated, giving a wide smile.
"Is that so?" Mikuo managed to get out, although his throat seemed to be tightening.
"Yeah, but nothing seemed to happen then, so i've decided to give them a little bit of a push."
Mikuo watched as Kaito then walked away, probably continuing his search for his brother, Mikuo then continued on as well. As soon as he turned the corner, he was greeted with the face of his sister; both of their eyes widened at the sudden meet-up.
Then, she gave him a small smile and a wink before walking past him, giving his back a light pat as she did so.
He looked back at her, watching her back as she walked away, then shrugged, continuing to his destination. He opened the door and walked out, he was on the balcony, feeling as the icy, sharp air bit as his cheeks, leaving them with a light rosy shade.
He could see mostly the whole backyard except for where the trees covered. He placed his arms onto the railing and crossed his arms, resting his head onto them.
He let out a long, tired exhale, the air from his nose mixing into the light gentle breeze.
He continued to rest there for a moment, feeling his hair dance around with the wind.
"Yo." Mikuo's eyes jerked open. He looked down, there stood Akaito, however, he wasn't looking in Mikuo's direction, he was looking forward. He didn't even seem to notice Mikuo was there.
Mikuo's stared at him, his face growing a light shade of pink.
"I've been looking for your forever!" Mikuo watched as a scarfless Kaito came up to him, wrapping a loose arm around his shoulders.
"For what?" Akaito questioned.
"I just need you to come with me for a moment."
Mikuo's fingers curled tightly into his palm. He continued to listen in.
"For what?" Akaito repeated.
"Just come on, geez, go along with a surprise please?" Mikuo continued to stare down at Akaito, trying to make his stare hard and burning.
"Fine, whatever." The burning stare didn't work. Okay then, Mikuo, try something else.
Mikuo quickly turned and ran inside, slamming the door shut as he did so. He then ran into his room, jumped onto his bed and whimpered.
Okay, that's really not going to get him anywhere.
He pushed himself up, his eyes closed, his expression stern. He sat up, sitting on the edge of his bed.
At this very moment, Kaito was pulling Akaito inside, probably telling him some excuse to leave him standing somewhere, that somewhere coincidentally being the place of the hung mistletoe, and then Amaha-san would go under as well.
Mikuo, opened his eyes a bit, a slight frown alternating his mouth, his eyes dazed.
Then someone would point out the obvious, "hey, you two are under the mistletoe! You know what that means!" and then.
Mikuo bit his lip.
There was a knock at his door. Mikuo looked over at it right as it opened, there stood Miku, a small smile on her face.
"Hi, Mikuo." She spoke, walking over to him. Mikuo looked away a bit. "What are you doing up here, everyone is downstairs... including Akaito~"
"I know." Mikuo mumbled, resting his chin into the palm of his hand, covering his lips with his fingers.
"Then... why are you up here?" Miku asked. Mikuo closed his eyes.
"We should forget it, Miku, I'm not going to... He doesn't like me in that way." Miku's mouth opened.
"What? What do you mean?" She asked, frantically.
"He likes Amaha-san." Mikuo grumbled.
"Amaha-san..." Mikuo gave him a sad look. "I'm... I'm sorry Mikuo! Really! I really thought he liked you back, I really thought-,"
"It's fine." Mikuo threw himself into his pillow.
"I guess.. you're not coming out then?" Miku asked, Mikuo didn't look at her. She slowly stood up, holding her arms. "I'm sorry, Mikuo.."
She then left the room, leaving Mikuo alone.