Can we celebrate too?
A really really quick writing because I had a free lesson and haven't written anything short in a while (I have like, 4 large fanfictions on the go right now…) so yeah… hope it's good enough…
It was obvious to Shion what time of year it was. He had been counting the days with Nezumi so that he knew exactly when this day was. He had placed his own little shrine to the day in the hidden corner of the room to the event that he knew he would've celebrated with his mother and Safu if he had still been in No. 6.
It was night time now and almost time for Nezumi to come home. Shion was sat in the corner humming a catchy christmas tune that the mice were swaying to. Outside, the stars shone brightly and twinkled like blinking lights that Shion remembered from his home in No. 6 all around the streets.
"Shion…?" a voice called as the door opened to the underground room that Shion and Nezumi called hone. The white haired boy recognized the voice as Nezumi called from the front of the room. the black haired boy couldn't see where Shion caw at the time but he could hear the rustling of the paper from the back of the room and moved towards it cautiously in case it wasn't Shion. At the same time as Nezumi started to move Shion pulled a string from where it was stored next to Hamlet to tie around the package he was wrapping. The little mouse was helping him with his secret mission so that Nezumi wouldn't find out before Shion was finished. The mice always enjoyed helping Shion whenever they could because they knew that Shion was always fun to play with.
Shion heard as Hamlet squeaked in warning and turned just in time to see Nezumi as he turned the corner. Shion slipped the thing he had been working on behind his back as Nezumi came into sight and turned to smile up at him.
When Nezumi found Shion realised that the younger boy looked a bit of a mess. His white hair was clipped back by two pieces of rusted, bent metal that Shion had found on his way back from Inukashi's house once and decided to use as hair clips to pull his fringe out of his red eyes. His eyes were a little wider than usual and had slight bags from not getting much sleep this morning. His smile was a little too wide and a little too fake. Like he was hiding something while his sleeves were pushed up to his elbows so the long red curling scar was visible on both on Shion's pale arms. Lastly, Nezumi noticed the way Shion's hands snaked behind his back and held something in place there.
"Shion, why are you down here?" Nezumi asked. He offered out a hand for the other boy to take to lift himself up.
"Oh! You can't know yet!" Shion said with a noise close to a giggle. He made no move to get up from his position on the floor shielding all his hard work of the last week.
"Are planning on lying to me again?" Nezumi asked with a raised eyebrow as he folded his arms in front of him. Shion was shocked for a minute. Where had Nezumi even got an idea like that from?
"Eh? No!" Shion said. He was taken aback by what Nezumi had concluded so quickly but still tried to hold his ground and not show the black haired teen what he had been working on.
"It's not the same as lying, I'm just-"
"Keeping something from me that, knowing my luck, will get either you or me killed somehow," Nezumi decided. He turned with a small huff and started to walk away from Shion dramatically. "Whatever, I'm going to make the soup. Make sure whatever you are doing doesn't get the two of us killed," he said as he walked around the bookshelf. Cravat squeaked from his place next to Shion and started to run and climb up his master to sit on his shoulder.
As soon as Nezumi turned the corner, Shion let out a breath he had been holding in. He knew he hated keeping things from Nezumi but he wanted to make the next day the best day of Nezumi's life. He turned to Tsukiyo and smiled. The small black mouse squeaked back at him and darted up onto Shion's shoulder to rub his cheek.
"Hamlet, can you hide this somewhere?" he whispered to the mouse. The little cream-coloured animal's eyes shined intellectually as he nodded a little and grabbed the small package by the string and pulled it up over the top of the shelves. Shion smiled as he saw Hamlet's little face peer down at him from the top of the shelf for a second before he started to squeak happily when Shion gave him a thumbs up.
The other thing Shion was hiding was covered over with a sheet so that a triangle shaped outline was the only thing seen. Shion smiled at a job well done before walking out into the room to see Nezumi cooking their food for the night.
"It smells great," Shion said sheepishly as he walked out into the open. He was sure that Nezumi was most likely mad at him for keeping a secret and he could tell this in the rigid posture of the black haired boy. Nezumi hummed in reply to Shion but said nothing else as the white haired boy moved to sit on the couch.
"Nezumi? Do you know what month it is?" Shion asked. He was baiting Nezumi to see how much he actually knew about the date.
"We're at the end of December. I'd estimate in the twenties," he mumbled as he stirred the soup and left it to simmer. Shion made a noise to show he had understood before Nezumi moved to sit next to Shion.
"Shion, has Inukashi started paying you less?" Nezumi asked out of nowhere. Shion turned to Nezumi with a thoughtful look on his face. He remembered the money had had been saving for the last few weeks in preparation for the special day. Shion had thought he was being careful, he had taken only a small amount from his pay to save and he had thought that Nezumi hadn't noticed.
"No, Inukashi pays me the same," he said but left it at that as he got up to serve the soup that he was sure was done by now. Nezumi said nothing more on the matter and took the soup he was offered.
Noting different happened throughout the rest of the night. Shion was quiet and Nezumi kept watching him but neither said more to each other than 'Goodnight' when they both went to bed. Shion tossed and turned on the sofa for a minute as excitement took over him and he smiled, unable to sleep until he was too exhausted to keep his eyes open and drifted away into dreamland.
^.^
Early the next morning, Shion woke up and started to move around the room. He moved quietly and pulled the thing he had been hiding out from under the sheet in the corner and asked Hamlet to retrieve the things he had been hiding for the last few days. A money pouch fell into his hand and Shion ventured out into the dark morning's crisp air to pick up the things he had asked Rikiga to get for him. He knew the old man wouldn't be awake this early, so he planned to just let himself into the man's apartment and take the things he had asked for. He knew Rigiga wouldn't mind.
However, the one thing he didn't count on was Rikiga being awake and dressed in his everyday clothes.
"Good morning Shion! Merry Christmas!" he said with a flourish as he pulled off his hat and held it out for a second waiting for a greeting in return.
"Merry Christmas Rikiga-san, I got you a gift," Shion said as he handed out a bottle shaped gift wrapped in red paper and string. Rikiga first put his hat back on before carefully taking the bottle in his hands.
Almost immediately, Rikiga started to tear up and then blubber like a baby.
"Shiiioooonnn! Oh you are such an angel! You didn't have to get an old man like me anything but like the kind boy you are you got me something for Christmas! How could I expect anything less from Karan's son!" he said with a smile as he held onto Shion's shoulders. the white haired boy stood there awkwardly for a minute and laughed nervously before he pulled away from the man.
"Did you get the things I needed?" Shion asked watching as Rikiga produced a bag from behind a cupboard while he was wiping his tears. Two bags were handed to Shion filled with the types of things he would need to make dinner for that night. Shion handed the man the money he had with him and after Rikiga had checked the amount, he picked up the bags ready to leave.
"Rikiga-san, will you join us for dinner later? Around five o'clock?" Shion asked with a smile as he checked the things in the bag. He smiled happily while Rikiga started blubbering again about how 'Shion the angel' should not have to spend time with 'the devil Eve' Shion rolled his eyes and said goodbye before walking quickly over to Inukashi's house and inviting her over to the meal as well. After seeing the amount of food in Shion's arms, Inukashi couldn't help but agree and then sent Shion on his way back to his home with a dog as company.
Nezumi had just woken up when Shion walked in with the food he had gotten from Rikiga. He placed it down on the table.
Nezumi couldn't believe his eyes when he opened them. There stood Shion with a big, pleased smile on his face as he looked at his work. On top of the table sat a small tree decorated with small pumpkin seeds that Shion had saved from their last pumpkin stew, on top of the tree sat a small paper star obviously handmade by Shion because of all the tiny tears in it. He looked under the potted tree to see two small packages. One of the two had his name on while the other said Inukashi. The two packages were poorly wrapped up with only string to hold the paper in place but you could tell it was done lovingly from the care that had obviously been taken.
"Shion… What is this?" Nezumi asked looking from the grinning boy to the tree on the table.
"Merry Christmas Nezumi!" Shion said with a wide smile as he handed the wrapped gift to Nezumi. He got a strange look from the black haired boy but he just smiled and explained Christmas for Nezumi to understand.
"So it's an old tradition that people in No. 6 still act upon because of their greed ans so they can remember the past?" Nezumi asked. He wondered what the point of it all was; all he saw was a gift Shion had gotten him for no reason.
"It's more than that, my mom used to tell me all about the story of Christmas and how we celebrate because it's a time for giving," Shion explained. "It means inviting people over for dinner and giving gifts and being nice," Shion added with another smile. "By the way I asked Rikiga-san and Inukashi over for dinner because its Christmas," Shion added causing Nezumi to look up sharply, ready to protest but when Shion noticed this he pointed to the two bags he had bought home with him.
"Rikiga-san provided the food. I paid him a little for it but he gave me all the ingredients for a dinner like my mom would make," Shion explained. Nezumi raised an eyebrow at him causing Shion to blush a little knowing that Nezumi was silently telling him he was rambling.
"so my point is, Nezumi," Shion paused as he looked up with his eyes wide. the expression he was portraying was dangerous for Nezumi to even look at, he knew that it was the expression nobody could resist. "Can we celebrate too?" was all Shion asked before waiting for a reply.
Nezumi didnt know what to say, he knew that the people in No. 6 would be celebrating this holiday right now, and he didnt want to be anything like No. 6 in the slightest... but... he thought to himself if its what Shion wants to do...With a sigh, Nezumi looked Shion right in the eye and nodded causing the white haired boy's eyes to light up even more as he started to skitter around the room.
"Yay! Thank you Nezumi!" Shion exclaimed happily before pointing to under the tree, "Why dont you open your gift while I start cooking? I need to get all the food cooked before the others arrive,"
With that, Shion suddenly became very busy. Nezumi blinked at the speed in which the smaller boy was moving but shrugged it off after a few seconds when he realised he could have some time completely to himself. It gave Nezumi time to himself to grumble and look at whatever Shion had gotten him. The small package was easy for Nezumi to open because he only had to pull the string but inside was a small pastel blue and purple music box. At first Nezumi was puzzled but when he got it to play, he realised it was one of the songs that he had sang for Shion once when they were goofing around in the snow the week before the tiny ballerina dancer inside seemed to have been replaced with a pair of dancers instead of one but there was nothing inside for Nezumi to take.
"Why a music box?" Nezumi asked from his position on his bed.
"Well, I was going to get you a bracelet but I thought you wouldn't appreciate it," Shion said with a smile. As soon as Shion turned his back, Nezumi smiled at the gift himself and played with the tiny dancer dolls he found there.
The rest of the day went by quickly. Shion was able to keep everyone in check so that they didn't fight and remained civil. Inukashi opened his present to find a small necklace Shion had found with a dog charm. He smiled and thanked the white haired boy before asking assistance on putting the jewellery on. The dinner also went well and in the end everyone was stuffed full of food and couldn't move.
When the others left and the two boys lay down for the night, Nezumi called over to Shion.
"Do you feel disappointed that nobody got you anything?" he asked as he lay on his side to look at the white haired boy.
"No," Shion answered with a smile. "I'm just glad everyone else is happy," he answered with a smile. Nezumi let out a snicker.
"Typical Shion…" he muttered before he drifted to sleep.
How was that? Too rushed? Too full of mistakes to read? I can't improve unless I'm told! Review today please!
And also, sorry if Nezumi came out as Nekumi at some points. I've been writing quite a bit TWEWY (The World Ends With You) fanfiction and kinda auto-write Neku now... opps!
