I don't own anything.
Just something little and cute. When typing I typed both Daigo and king, but I tried to go back through and use King all the way through, but if I missed it Daigo is king.
Hope you enjoy
"I'm visiting my parents in America," Amy commented.
"I'm spending Christmas with my dad," Souji mentioned.
"I'm getting a Santa outfit to surprise Rika," Nossan commented.
"What are you doing King?" Nossan asked.
"Well, I don't know where dad is right now, but normally I spent Christmas looking at the lights around town, so probably that again," King told his friends.
"What about you Ian?" Amy asked.
Ian, who was looking down at his phone just quietly replied, "Still working things out."
"Probably spending time with another one of his girlfriends," Utchy said walking in. All eyes turned toward him, except Ian who was still looking at his phone and King who was looking toward Ian.
"Oh yeah, where are you going for Christmas?" Souji wondered.
"Miss Amy has been kind enough to invite me to see America," Utchy said excitedly.
"I heard Torin already left, he's going to visit Ramirez and Tessai," Nossan informed the group.
Two days later, Christmas Eve, the group saw Amy and Utchy off at the airport. After they headed out, Nossan said, "I have to go pick up the Santa outfit and finish wrapping Rika's presents!"
"I have to go see my mom…" Souji said quietly walking off, "Have a good one."
"Have fun seeing your lights tomorrow," Ian told King as he waved his hand goodbye.
"Wait," King stopped him.
Ian stopped but didn't turn around.
"You are spending Christmas with me," he smiled.
"Why would I do that?" Ian questioned, with his back still to his friend.
"I know you don't have plans and I'm not letting you spend a holiday alone," King insisted.
Ian sighed knowing his friend wouldn't give up, "Ok," he agreed.
"Come on," King led him to his apartment. He normally just camped as he traveled, but knowing he would be staying here for a while he got himself a more permanent place. He didn't have much, but he had a bed in one room and a couch and tv in the other.
"Well, the only thing on is Christmas movies, so I hope that's ok," King smiled scanning through the tv channels.
Ian was unsure of how King knew he had no plans, sometimes King just had good instincts, but he was secretly grateful that his friend invited him over. They stayed up until about two in the morning and had watched four movies at that point and when the last one was done when King yawned.
"I think it's about time to sleep. I'll get you a blanket," King informed his friend.
Ian took off his jacket and took the blanket when King came back into the room.
"If you don't mind me asking, I could tell by your answer you didn't have plans, but why do you not have any?"
Ian who was used to his friends questions pulled the blanket around himself and admitted, "I have no family. And the girls are all busy with their families. Last year I spent the whole day at Shiro's grave. Before that I always spent Christmas with him."
"That's rough," his friend admitted, "I've pretty much always been alone on Christmas, Dad stopped by occasionally though."
"Thanks for letting me stay," Ian told his friend as King walked toward his room.
In the morning Ian woke early and decided to go get his friend a small present as thanks for letting him stay. He threw on his jacket and left a note in case King woke up, "Gone to grab a change of clothes, be back soon."
He ran home and quickly changed then rushed to a local store. He looked around but couldn't find anything that seemed like a good present. Finally he came across some keychains. There was one he found that had a little T-Rex on it. He decided that would be good because he noticed the night before that King's apartment key had nothing else on it. He also picked up a few snacks and a pack of cards to give them something else to do.
When Ian arrived back at Kings apartment, his friend was awake and cooking breakfast.
"Merry Christmas!" King smiled having put a tiny tree next to the TV.
"I got some cards, if you wanted to play later?"
"Sounds good. One channel has a marathon of all of the Harry Potter movies if you wanted to watch those?" King suggested.
"It's almost 24 hours to watch them all, if you want me to stay that long," Ian answered taking the snacks out of the bag and putting them onto King's bare counter. It looked like he only owned a couple plates and a few pans, leaving his kitchen spotless.
"Neither of us have anything to do so why not?" King finished up plating the breakfast he was making.
Ian and King sat down on the couch to start the marathon.
"These pancakes are really good!" Ian complemented.
"Thanks," King smiled, "Do you need any more syrup, I just opened a new bottle?"
Ian nodded and took the syrup bottle, but when he went to squeeze it, the whole lid came off pouring syrup over the edge of the plate and onto his chest and lap. "Oh my," he muttered looking at the mess.
"I guess I forgot to tighten it after I took off the safety tag," Daigo confessed jumping up.
Ian just sat there unsure of how to move. His plate was going to spill if he tried to move it, and if he moved his body the syrup would spill from his clothes to King's couch.
King grabbed the pan he cooked the pancakes in and put it under Ian's plate to catch the syrup. He then brought some paper towels so Ian could wipe up most of the mess off himself.
"I can wash your clothes but while it's washing you can wear some of my extra clothes," King offered.
"Thanks," Ian nodded and while he cleaned himself up, King gathered up an outfit and brought it out to Ian. Ian went and changed and walked back out.
"I feel weird not wearing black, but these are pretty comfortable," Ian confessed about the white shirt and tan pants.
King looked at his friend, "I think you look good. Maybe you should wear different colors more often."
Ian blushed just a little and sat down to continue the movie. Once they got about halfway through the second movie they started to play cards. They played a few rounds of Rummy and played through the end of the third movie. Kings phone started to ring, and he picked it up, "Hello?"
Ian searched his pockets to find his phone so he could check if anyone messaged him, while King was on the phone but he realized it wasn't with him. He instantly panicked thinking it got put in the washer with his clothes.
King had walked into the kitchen, so Ian went off to the laundry room of the building. He pulled his clothes out of the washer and felt all of the pockets, no phone.
"I must have left it at home," he said aloud to himself, panic leaving him knowing it wasn't ruined at least.
He went to move his clothes to the dryer but noticed an 'Out of Order' sign on it. He sighed, 'guess I'll hang it up.'
He walked back to King's apartment and noticed his friend was off the phone.
"Sorry about that, it was dad calling to check up. He didn't really say much about what he's doing though," King's voice wandered off.
"I think I left my phone at home. Also, dryer is broken," Ian shook his head.
"Let's hang it up here," King pointed at an empty curtain rod.
"The next movie is starting," Ian noticed the time.
They sat down and started watching it, when they got to the scene with Hermione hugging Harry before the next trial began Ian commented, "I thought they would have gotten together."
"Well sometimes the obvious choice isn't the best one," King started, "Ron and Hermione have the opposites attract thing going on, and Ginny liked Harry before she even met him, but she got to know him and loved him for more than being the boy who lived."
"Maybe," Ian thought about it more. Once the movie was over Ian suggested, "You said you wanted to look at the Christmas lights, it's almost dark out we could go look around, maybe grab some real food," he pointed to the snacks they'd been eating all day, missing lunch but filling up on chips and candy.
"We'd end up missing the next movie," King assessed.
"It's my least favorite of them," Ian replied, "but if you like it we can stay and watch, I just thought you'd want the lights."
"It was the worst," King agreed, "Let's go."
There was a shopping strip with a huge Christmas tree, each store on both sides of the alley decorated with different décor.
"That one is cool," Ian pointed to one that had a western theme.
"It reminds me of Kyoryuzin Western," King laughed, "I like this one."
Ian looked where he was pointing and noticed a Mexican fiesta theme.
"I visited Mexico once, it was wonderful," King continued.
They walked on and noticed the café had moved their tables out around the tree.
"We'll need some coffee if we are going to stay up and finish the rest of the movies, plus we need some real food," Ian sat down at a table.
"Have you ever been to dinner with someone who wasn't one of your girlfriends?" King wondered.
"Only Shiro," Ian said sadly, realizing his old friend barely crossed his mind today. Thinking about it, he hadn't thought of much other than King. His dates didn't cross his mind, Shiro barely did, even the group hadn't crossed his mind much. It was just King.
"Sorry," King said unsure if he should ask more and risk bringing up Ian's old friend or if he should just stay quiet.
"It's ok, this year wasn't as bad as last Christmas," Ian gave a small smile.
"Aren't you glad I kidnapped you for the holidays?" King joked.
"Thanks again," Ian said after a moment.
"No problem, I wasn't going to let you spend the day alone."
"So what about you, who do you go to dinner with?" Ian wondered.
"Normally while I'm traveling, I'll make friends and eat with them, but then I'm on to somewhere new. Lots of friends, and I do talk to some still, but no one as close as you guys. But I guess I've never stayed anywhere long enough to get to know anyone this well," King admitted.
"I understand how you feel," Ian confessed, "I listen to the girls talk and I try to bring them some happiness, but it's never permanent. They use me to bring them out of sadness from breakups or to prevent annoying guys from asking them out, but then they always move on and none of them really get to know me. But it does give me something to do other than fight Deboss."
"I think it's nice that you try to bring them happiness," King confided in his friend, "but don't risk your happiness for theirs."
Ian thought about what the red ranger told him while he scanned the menu. After ordering the waitress brought out their drinks: King with a pop; Ian with a warm coffee.
"Do you think everyone else is having fun with their holidays?" Ian changed the subject.
"Most likely, I probably would have heard from them if they weren't," King laughed.
They chatted about their friends through the rest of the dinner, and when they were done King suggested, "Well, the next movie doesn't start for another hour still and we saw the lights already, did you want to visit Shiro?"
Ian looked a bit surprised and nodded. There was a flower shop right by the café, so they picked up a flower to put on Shiro's grave. Once they got to the cemetery, Ian led the way and stood in front of the grave, putting the flower down on top of it.
Ian shivered, which King noticed. "Are you cold?" he asked.
"The coffee was keeping me warm, but I'm used to having my warm jacket with me," Ian admitted.
"It won't cover your arms but do you want my vest to keep you a bit warmer?" King offered.
"Thanks," Ian nodded putting the vest around him, noticing how it smelled sweet like his friend.
They started walking back to King's apartment, which was past the café and flower shop.
"Hey, wait here, I need to make a quick stop," King told Ian, who sat himself on a bench by the café and huge Christmas tree. He hugged the vest closer to himself trying to keep the warmth in, and secretly, slightly enjoying wearing his friend's clothes.
Ian noticed the couples at the café, all happy, exchanging presents. He remembered the keychain he bought for King, which was sitting in his pants pocket still needing to be given. He felt bad for not wrapping it but knew his friend wouldn't mind anyway.
"Merry Christmas!" King said from behind the bench.
Ian turned around to see his friend holding out a black rose, "I know it's not much…"
Ian was overcome with emotion. Trying to keep his cool demeanor, he turned his head and took a deep breath. He also focused on pulling the keychain out of his pocket.
He turned back around and held out the keychain, "it's not much, but Merry Christmas," he gave a small smile.
"It's great Ian! Thank you!" He smiled, taking the keychain from his friends hand and exchanging it with the rose, "I wasn't sure what to get you, but I knew you always give people flowers, so I thought maybe you should have one too."
"Thank you," Ian blushed, "I've never received a flower before," he admitted to his friend.
"I'm surprised no one has given you one," King commented.
"Like I said, everyone is so focused on themselves, they just enjoy my flowers and compliments," Ian said quietly staring at the flower.
"Maybe someone needs to focus on you then," King changed the subject, "Anyway, the next movie is about to start, we better get to it. Three movies to go."
When they arrived at King's apartment they put Ian's flower in a little vase on the counter.
Ian and King sat on the couch and snacked on popcorn.
"Thank you for everything the last couple days," Ian told his friend.
"Anything for you," King said quietly.
Ian thought about what King said unsure if he meant as a friend or something more.
Halfway through the seventh movie, Ian found himself fighting to keep his eyes open, it was early morning, and he knew the marathon would end around 8 or 9 in the morning. If he could make it until then he'd head home. He tried to focus on the story but next thing he was aware of he heard a knocking on the door. He awoke with a start, as did King.
Ian noticed he had fallen asleep and had been using his friend as a pillow. King stayed up later than Ian, so he knew Ian was asleep on him, but they both looked at each other confused. King confused about the knock on the door, Ian confused about when he fell asleep and how he ended up leaning on King.
They heard the knock again which brought them to their senses. King got up to open the door and was surprised with "Merry Christmas!"
"We know it's a day late, but we came to bring the holidays to you since we knew you'd be alone," Amy said.
"We tried calling Ian but he didn't respond," Souji commented.
"We brought lunch!" Nossan commented, holding up Christmas tree shaped sandwiches.
King opened the door further to let them in.
Ian was standing by the couch stretching the sleep out of his body.
"Oh, were we interrupting something?" Utchy commented.
Ian looked at the group coming in, "Hey guys."
"I see you got into Kings pants," Nossan joked at Ian, who was still wearing King's clothes.
"Oh my," Ian replied shaking his head, "It's not like that."
"It looks like that," Amy laughed.
Ian went and pulled his clothes down and went to the bathroom to change.
When Ian came out Utchy and Amy were on the couch, Souji and Nossan were sitting on the floor and King had already changed and was standing near the group listening to what they did the last couple of days.
"So Ian, we tried to call you," Souji started.
"I left my phone at home," Ian said shortly.
"His date fell through and so we watched a movie, I spilled something on him so until his clothes were washed and dried he borrowed mine," King laughed, telling a lie about the date part.
"Speaking of dates, I need to get going," Ian pointed toward the door.
"Have fun," the group said in unison.
Ian gave a small wave goodbye and walked out the door.
"Oh this is for his date," King muttered remembering the flower. He grabbed it and ran out the door.
"Ian," he tried to get his friends attention.
Ian turned, confused why his friend was coming after him.
"You forgot this," King laughed holding up the flower, "I told them it was for your date."
"I'm not sure I even have a date, without my phone on me, I just need some sleep," Ian admitted giving a small laugh.
"Well if you want a date later…" King offered.
"I think this is the first time someone else has asked me out," Ian smiled.
"Well, lots of firsts the last few days right?" King smiled, "Is that a yes?"
"Yes," Ian grinned.
"And just be yourself, you've charmed me already without your smooth moves," King started walking back down the hall toward his door.
"Merry Christmas King," Ian walked off toward the stairs, surprised but happy at how things had changed over the last few days, and excited to see what the future held in store.