A/N

Hi everyone! Thanks for giving this story a chance. It's the first chapter of a Karasuno Christmas fic I was inspired to write over the break, and chapters should be updated before spring semester starts. Please leave a comment if you have any compliments or criticism to offer.

Thanks again, and enjoy!

Powdery snow crunches under Sugawara's foot as he makes his way to the Karasuno volleyball clubroom. He shivers, cursing his lack of forethought this morning when he brought his team jacket instead of his winter coat. His breath smokes in front of him as he joggs up the stairs leading to the clubroom, and he twists the door open only to be blasted with warm air and yelps from his teammates.

"Damn it, close the door before we die of pneumonia!" Tanaka yelps as he tries to cover his naked torso with his bare arms. "I don't want to get sick again before we get to the spring tournament!"

"Maybe you should try keeping your shirt on during practice, dummy." Ennoshita scolds from behind Tanaka. "We keep telling you you're gonna suffer in the winter if you don't keep your clothes on, but you insist on stripping yourself every time something exciting happens."

Tanaka pouts and Suga closes the door, quickly making his way to his locker. He gives a bright smile to Tsukishima and Yamaguchi as he passes them, and stops next to a changing Daichi. Suga rubs his face a bit before giving a solid punch to Daichi's side, the setter's cold hand making the Captain shiver and flinch.

"I assume it's still snowing out there," Daichi grunts, giving Sugawara a once-over before taking a t-shirt out of his locker. "From the amount of snow in your hair and how red your face looks."

"Mm, Daichi thinks he's pretty observant, but what makes you think I'm red from the cold and not from the hard drills we had earlier?"

"Captain's intuition." He gives Suga a look that makes the setter freeze from reaching into his bag. "I've seen you practice enough to know when you're flushed from working out and when you're flushed from the cold. Or embarrassment, when it rarely happens."

Suga blushes a darker shade of pink, and the setter is grateful when Daichi doesn't seem to notice and turns away to dress again. Suga goes back to opening his bag and removes his school uniform, and he's almost done changing when the club room door bursts open again in a cloud of snow and chilly air. Nishinoya sprints next to Tanaka and jumps up and down excitedly, reminding Sugawara of Hinata when he found a stray cat next to the baseball field last week.

"Oi, Tanaka look at this! Kiyoko gave me some cookies to celebrate Christmas!" The Libero shakes a bag in front of the spiker and waves his hands excitedly."This proves that my love for Kiyoko-san isn't unrequited! I shall endeavor to pay back Kiyoko-san with my undying love and devotion!"

"Aren't you already devoted to someone else, Nishinoya-san?"

The libero turns around and gives Tsukishima a baffled look, while the blond and Yamaguchi snicker behind their hands and give quick looks to their resident Ace. Asahi feels the gazes on his back and turns, giving an oblivious smile to the first years before catching up to the conversation.

"Yeah, I think I remember Kiyoko saying something earlier about giving Christmas presents to the team." He shrugs, then closes his locker and makes his way to the door. "I'm not completely sure, though."

There was a flurry of activity after that piece of news, the whole team scrambles to shove their jackets on and put their bags on their shoulders before making their way back to the gym. Tanaka and Nishinoya are the first ones out the door, followed by a sprinting Hinata and a jogging Kageyama who tells him to 'slow down, dumbass!.' Tsukishima and Yamaguchi are the last to leave and soon Suga is alone with Daichi.

"I didn't know Kiyoko made treats for the team, that was really considerate of her."

Daichi faces Suga with raised brows. "Christmas is always special for her. You remember last year when she made those chocolates for everyone? She made sure to make everyone's favorite flavors, and she even made a special batch for Asahi because of his peanut allergy." The captain scratches his head. "I believe her parents worked in Europe for a while before she was born, and they were really big on Christmas. They made it a family tradition to make gifts for friends near Christmas, and Kiyoko told me that they even have a fresh pine tree that they decorate and put in the middle of their living room."

Suga makes a speculative noise. He remembers the chocolates their manager made for the team last year. They were pretty good, and he remembers wondering if Kiyoko would make these for anyone special on Valentine's day. But, now that he thinks about it, Koushi also remembers how Kiyoko decorated the club last year with Christmas lights and little bushy wreaths covering everyone's lockers. The team was surprised to see the red and green decorations, to say the least, but it was fun to have the clubroom be festive for a while. The decorations were eventually taken down because of the fire hazard the lights presented, but Kiyoko had a smile on her face every time one of the members complimented her efforts.

Sugawara thinks about his own Christmas traditions, how his parents are often busy during the holidays and he's usually left alone to take care of the house while they're gone. Koushi always went to either Daichi's or Asahi's homes during the holidays when his parents were away, and this year will probably be no different.

Suga gasps, back ramrod straight and eyes bright and excited. He grabs his friend's arm and squeezes, making Daichi grimace in pain and give Suga a curious look.

"I know what we're going to do this year, Daichi."

Suga grins evilly and shakes Daichi with his constricting grip. Daichi starts to sweat at the hungry gleam in the setter's eyes. The captain knows he can only accept what was coming at this point, so he stays silent and waits for Suga to explain. Suga huffs a laugh.

"We're going to have a volleyball team Christmas party."

It took some meddling and extra chores on Suga's part, but both his parents agree to let him host a team Christmas party at their home. Whether they did it out of a sense of guilt for going on another business trip during the holidays or they just couldn't hold up to their son's begging eyes anymore, Suga wasn't sure, but he is grateful nonetheless. He texts Daichi that night and calls coach Ukai right after, explaining his idea about a party and crossing his fingers that it would be approved. The coach tells him that as long as the party isn't funded by the school, then he is good to go.

That was why today, before practice starts, Suga and Daichi stand in front of the Karasuno Volleyball Team and call for their attention. Daichi claps his hands and speaks in his official captain's voice, gathering everyone's focus towards him.

"Okay guys, we're going to get to practice in a bit, but Sugawara and I have an announcement to make."

"You guys finally got together? We didn't need an announcement for that."

Kiyoko hits Nishinoya over the head with her clipboard, and everyone else groans.

Daichi's face turns an interesting color before he coughs and glares at Nishinoya, raising his hands in a half motion that could be interpreted as an effort not to strangle his teammate.

"As I was saying, Suga and I talked last night, and we both agreed to hold a Christmas party for the team over at his house this weekend-"

Everyone breaks into excited chattering and cheers, and both Suga and Daichi are bombarded with enough questions to make them dizzy. Hinata and Nishinoya want to know if they could have a snowball fight, Kageyama has his usual angry look but with a slightly curious glint in his eye, and Tsukishima is muttering about how far he would have to walk in the cold. Ennoshita and Narita ask if they need any help with the food or decorations, and Asahi gives Suga a puzzled look that's starting to give him goosebumps.

"Enough! Teenagers, getting overexcited about a goddamn Christmas party," Coach Ukai glares until the gym is quiet, and he waves to Sugawara before sitting down again. "Listen to your senpai, he has everything you need to know about the party this weekend. And no," he interrups before Tanaka can open his mouth. "I will not be going. I will be drinking at the local bar with my high school teammates, reminiscing about a time when Karasuno students knew when to shut up."

Suga covers his laugh with a cough, and he raises his voice to his disgruntled teammates while Takeda-sensei quietly asks Ukai if he could join as well.

"I know this is kind of sudden, but I need to know if anyone won't be able to come this weekend. This is to help with food preparations and to see if I'll have enough space for everyone."

Nobody raises any protests, except for Kinoshita, who has a date with his girlfriend that weekend. Suga is mildly shocked by this piece of news, and it seems that Daichi is too when he turns to look. Asahi raises his hand, and Suga gives him a nod to go ahead.

"Are your parents going out of town again?"

Suga's smile falters briefly. "Yeah, they'll be gone until New Years."

Asahi doesn't say anything else, just gives the setter a consoling smile. Suga turns to the bench Ukai and Takeda-sensei are sitting on and lifts a baseball cap from it, holding it upside-down so his teammates can see small folded pieces of paper inside the cap.

"Before the party, everyone who will be going needs to draw a piece of paper from here," Suga jostles the hat a little to mix up the papers. "The name you draw from this hat will be the person you will need to get a present for by the party." He cuts his hand across the air. "It doesn't need to be expensive. In fact, you could make your present if you wanted," A thoughtful look crosses Yamaguchi's face. "The only rule is that you can't tell anyone whose name you got. If you draw your own name, but it back in the hat and draw a new one."

The setter then moves to the left of the group, starting with Ennoshita. The spiker puts his hand into the hat and grabs a small paper. He opens it with a mild look of surprise before putting it away. Suga moves down the line and watches his teammates' reactions, varying from neutral to mischievous to disappointed ("Trade with me Kageyama? Pleeease?" "No way, dumbass!") When Asahi opens his it looks like someone put the fear of god in him; he starts sweating strenuously and looks almost ready to make a break for it, but Nishinoya distracts him before he can panic too much.

There are only four pieces left, and Suga approaches both of Karasuno's managers with a cheeky smile.

"Hitoka-chan, do you want to draw first?"

Yatchi lookes flustered, turning towards Kiyoko-san. The older manager nods, and the first year takes a paper from the hat and gasps. She gives an excited little giggle and tries to hide her blush with her paper, eventually turning away to hide her mirth.

Kiyoko draws next, giving a small smile before pocketing it.

Two left, and Suga shoves the hat towards Daichi who draws his paper and snorts in amusement. The last paper stands on its own inside the cap, and Sugawara takes it and opens it close to his face.

Yamaguchi-kun, eh?

Suga doesn't really know who he expected to draw, but Yamaguchi isn't someone he had considered. He grins, thinking of ideas for what he wanted to get the first year.

Daichi claps his hands and the murmuring stops. "Now that you all have your names, let's start practice. We'll give you more information later today about the time and location, as well as other details you might have questions about. Let's go!"

"Hai!"

Suga jumps into stretching with an excited grin.