I'm Alive! I'm Alive! After 4-5 years of mental block, I'M ALIVE. Lord, you guys don't know how PROUD I am of this. I hope that finishing this encourages me to write more and actually get started on the other fics I plan on writing (if you know my Labyrinth fic, I promise I'll get to finishing that soon!) Hope you guys enjoy this one because I'm VERY proud of this huhu.

"It seems that today will be a bit chilly, Takeshi-san. Though the temperature as of this moment is at 5 degrees Celsius, there are chances of it further falling as the day progresses; maybe even reaching the negative when evening comes. We should also expect snow to fall around mid-day afternoon, so people should take care to stay warm, whether they are at home or out on a date with their loved one. It is December 24th after all! Now back to you, Takeshi-san."

-x-

[No New Messages]

(Y/N) scrunched her eyebrows togethe. It was unusual that Sugawara would be late for a date, especially when he was very adamant about spending today together.

-x-

"Aw c'mon, (Y/N)! It's such a waste of perfectly good weather – and possibly an aesthetic photo-op for Instagram – if we continue to stay indoors like this," Sugawara said as she rolled her eyes at him. They were sitting on the couch of her dormitory room, facing each other. Sugawara had one leg tucked under him while she was hugging her knees to her chest, wiggling her painted toes.

"I also think we deserve to spend time together after college deadlines kept us apart for two weeks," he continued, stretching his arm alongside the back of the couch to run his fingertips affectionately alongside the back of her neck.

"I know, but why can't we spend it here inside like we always do?" She asked him. She leaned her head back to rest on his forearm, enjoying the feel of his fingers now focused on caressing the base of her neck. She hummed when his fingers occasionally slipped beneath the collar of her shirt.

He gave an exasperated sigh. "Exactly. That's what we always do. Plus, it's Christmas Eve! We always see the Christmas lights together and we've never missed a year since we've gone out. We'd be hitting two birds with one stone!"

"Isn't it usually the girl who begs the guy to go out on dates on an occasion like this?" She said as her eyes glinted with amusement. (Y/N) couldn't help but smile at how bright his eyes were as he rolled them at her and how that little dimple at the corner of his eye, when he smiled wide enough, made its appearance.

"Well, you can't blame me for wanting to spend so much time with the person I'm in love with, now can you?"

She let out a nervous laugh and he grinned. He knew the only times she laughed that way was whenever he made her heart skip a beat. He glided his right hand to her waist and with the arm he had at the back of her neck, proceeded to pull her closer to him. Instinctively, (Y/N) repositioned her legs so that they rested across his lap instead. With barely any space between them now, she hid her rosy cheeks on his shoulder and laughed again.

"Remember when you couldn't even hold my hand without turning beet red?" (Y/N) asked.

"Pft, shut up."

Even without seeing his face, she had a good feeling he was slightly pouting. Chuckling, she continued teasing him nonetheless, "Look at you now, saying those things without even breaking a sweat. I bet you can have your pick of the ladies with how smooth you've become, Koushi."

"I'd rather have you instead," he whispered in (Y/N)'s ear without missing a beat, voice low and husky. He lightly bit the tip of her ear and she blushed, pushing him with both hands as fast as she could. His laughter rang in the room. (Y/N), on the other hand, her one hand on her ear and another on her chest, tried keeping her heart from bursting out of her chest.

"Koushi! Ugh, you can't give me one heart attack after the other!" She was pouting now, still blushing, and grumbling about how he certainly didn't act like an angel despite looking like one. He chuckled and prevented her from trying to scoot away from him in mock annoyance.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." He brought her closer to him again and kissed the side of her head tenderly. "So, Christmas Eve, you and me, on a cliché date out there in winter wonderland. What do you say?"

(Y/N) rolled her eyes at him. He was persistent, she'll give him that. She cupped his face and pressed her lips on his in a sweet kiss. Sugawara sighed contentedly. Before he could deepen the kiss, she pulled away, gave him a brilliant smile and whispered, "Okay."

He grinned from ear to ear. "Great. Now where were we?" He whispered as he gently held her by the back of her head with his right hand and, because she was already looking up at him with half-lidded eyes, pressed his lips on hers once more, this time slowly licking her bottom lip before plunging it deep into her mouth.

-x-

They were supposed to meet at around 12:45 and it was usually her running late on a date. She checked the time on her phone again.

1:27.

She sighed, placing her phone back in her bag. She had tried calling him earlier but the automated voice kept telling her that the number could not be reached. She wasn't at all worried, though.

She wasn't worried that he might have stood her up.

Nope.

'This is Koushi we're thinking about. Sweet, beautiful Koushi,' she countered. 'He would never leave anyone hanging like that, especially me.' (Confidence is key, folks).

Nor was she worried that he might have gotten into an accident either.

Nope.

In the "worst" case scenario, she mused, he simply must have slept through his alarm clock. The ex-Karasuno volleyball team had an outing just a few days ago; three days of volleyball and two nights of drinking and shenanigans. It was fun, he said in a text he sent, but it wore him out enough to make him pass out for the majority of the days afterwards.

She blew on her hands, rubbing them together to generate a little bit of heat. It was cold, and according to the news, it would get colder later on. Sugawara would scold her for forgetting to wear her gloves again and she knew that he would offer her his instead. She'd argue, telling him "then you'd get cold" and reach a compromise where he gives her one of his gloves, entwine their ungloved hands together, and put it in his coat pocket to keep warm.

Totally not according to plan. Pft.

As she silently watched people pass, she felt a gloved hand rest on her shoulder from behind. She turned around and immediately became cautious. The first thing (Y/N) noticed was that he was warmly dressed, a fluffy blue scarf wound tightly around his neck and covering the lower half of his face. The second was that he had on a ridiculously pink striped beanie complete with a fuzzy ball on top, and it was pulled down low over his head. The only thing she could see was his half-lidded eyes (or was it droopy?), and it looked like he was smiling at her. She couldn't really tell.

"Could I… help you?" she hesitantly asked.

"I'm sorry I'm late," he replied, voice muffled by his scarf. Her eyes widened. Sure, the voice sounded scratchy, but she recognized it instantly.

"Kou-" she started, but was interrupted by a series of coughs that came from him. She immediately stood and went to his side, guiding him to sit on the bench. She rubbed his back and waited until his coughing fit was over.

"Are you alright?" (Y/N) asked him worriedly. He pulled down the scarf to reveal his mouth and a slightly red nose.

"I'm fine," he sniffed. Doubtful, she pushed both of hands under his scarf and lightly wrapped around his neck.

"A-ah. Your hands are cold. Did you forget your gloves again?" he scolded her lightly, pulling her hands away from his neck so he could cradle them in his hands.

"And you're hot!" she hissed at him.

"Thank you." He grinned at her, smiling in that adorable way of his. Sadly, it was cut short by another coughing fit, this time making his body shudder slightly.

"No, you're not. You're obviously sick, Koushi!"

He cleared his throat once the coughing stopped. "I'm fined."

"You're obviously not," she said while rolling her eyes at him. "You can't even say 'fine' right!"

"I'm fine…d!" He sniffed again. "I'm well enough to be able to get here on my own, right?" Saying that, he stood up albeit shakily, grabbed her hand, and pulled her with him towards wherever he planned to take her. "Let's go. We're going to waste the day if we keep staying here!"

(Y/N) had other ideas. She pulled him in the other direction, causing him to slightly lose his balance. "Koushi, we need to get you home."

"I'm fineeeeeed…" Sugawara insisted. "I promise I won't push myself, okay? Besides, you're here with me. I already feel healed!"

And just as he said that, he sneezed loudly. (Y/N) shook her head and pulled him in the other direction again, telling him things such as "stop hiding the fact that you have a fever" and "it's too cold for you to walk around in your state." Sugawara, try as he might, pulled (Y/N) to the direction he wanted to go, but alas, his body was already weak from the effort he exerted to arrive at their meet up spot.

Their little tug of war continued back and forth (mostly (Y/N) tugging him to a greater distance than he is), earning curious looks from bystanders, when Sugawara gave a big sigh and tugged her enough to make her stop. She was about to turn around, ready to scold him again when he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and rested his forehead on her right shoulder. (Y/N) blushed since they stopped in the middle of the sidewalk.

"(Y/N)…"

"Yes?"

"It's not as bad as you're making this out to be. I'm feeling fine(d), okay?" He sniffled. "I really want to see the Christmas lights with you…" From this close, she could hear he was having a hard time breathing.

"Your nose is clogged, you're burning up, and you're coughing hard every few minutes. I don't think you even realize what kind of beanie you're wearing either." She flicked the fuzzy pink ball on top of his head.

"I think it's yours. I just grabbed the first thing I could in my closet," he mumbled.

"Oh… That's why it looked familiar…" She flicked the ball again. "Why are you so persistent about seeing the lights? We always see them every year," (Y/N) said gently. His arms tightened, pressing her back against his chest, and he nuzzled the crook of her neck, sighing miserably.

"Koushi?"

"Mmffmg hhmdnfh mmghhfm mmfbbrmnf," he said. She tilted her head to look at him and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I said… It's stupid." He mumbled and hid his face on her neck. She could even feel the heat radiating from his face.

"I don't think that's what you said, Koushi. Tell me, please?" She coaxed him gently. He raised his head, resting his chin on her shoulder. She noticed that his cheeks were red, probably the cold weather already getting to him. She smiled at him encouragingly, placing a hand on his, entwining their fingers together.

"I… I make a wish on it every year," he mumbled, averting his eyes. From this angle, she could see the endearing beauty mark he had at the corner of his left eye.

"What do you wish for?" she coaxed him gently. His cheeks flushed pink. He hugged her so close that she could feel his erratic heartbeat.

"That… That we'll see the lights again next year… together…" Her eyes widened. He took a shaky breath and gulped. "And that… no matter what… you'll continue to feel the same way… the same way I do about you." He hid his face on her neck again. (Y/N) sucked her breath in surprise.

They stayed silent for a minute, his heart beating wildly and hers doing the same. She was looking down at their hands, face burning red.

"Do you always… wish for the same thing… every year?" She whispered. She felt him nod slowly. "Why…?"

"It's because I'm more crazy about you than when I first met you," Sugawara whispered softly. "I'm in love with you, (Y/N)." He tightened his fingers on hers. "So, so much."

Her heart didn't know what to do. It didn't know whether to beat erratically or to soar through the heavens. All that raced through her mind was that she was so lucky that this man – this sweet beautiful angel – felt so deeply about her to do something as make a tradition out of wishing on Christmas lights, and he filled her up with so many warm fuzzy emotions that could make her cry. He could've been together with anybody. Someone more beautiful, someone more kind, someone that could've been better; but he was hers.

She slowly turned to face him, yet he didn't look at her. His scarf was covering the lower half of his face again, so she pulled it down and placed both of her hands on his cheek to make him face her. His shoulders were slumped and his eyes still refused to look at her. She caressed his cheek with her thumb and smiled up at him.

"Look at me, Koushi." After a moment, he did.

He was warm. She was warm.

She pulled him down so that their foreheads touched, face close together.

"I don't know what I did to deserve you," she whispered softly, his hands gently caressing the small of her back.

"You won't make fun of me?" he whispered. Air rushed out of (Y/N)'s nose, surprised that he'd even ask her that.

"Of course not, baby." His face flared up again at hearing the term of endearment. They don't often call each other that, but when they do, it always made them feel special, even when the receiving end (sometimes both) turned into a fumbling, blushing mess.

She stared deep into his eyes, losing herself in how much emotion she saw in there; losing herself in how tightly he held her, losing herself in the feel of their hearts synchronizing. Everything melted away and they remained in that little bubble he had created for her. His eyes flicked down to her lips, then back to her eyes. Gently smiling, she tiptoed and tenderly kissed where his beauty mark was. His eyes fluttered close as she tilted his head to the right, working her way downwards and kissing the tip of his red nose. Finally, she pressed her lips a second or two longer at the very edge of his mouth. She dropped her heels back to the ground and smiled up at him. He smiled at her in return, pressing her body close to his as he kissed her temple. He brought his hand up to guide her chin upwards to him. (Y/N) closed her eyes as he lowered his face, and just when their lips briefly touched, he had to push her away and turn his face as another coughing fit seized him. She immediately clapped him on the back, hoping that would ease his coughing.

With the bubble broken, (Y/N) realized that they were still in the middle of the sidewalk. She also realized that some people were staring at them, either with curious stares or grins on their faces. Her whole body flushed as she rubbed Sugawara's back.

"Right, let's get you back home, Koushi." He nodded. Taking his hand in hers, she guided them back to his apartment. They only walked a few paces away when he pulled her to a stop again. Surprised, she turned around to look at him.

"What is it? Do you feel tired?" Not getting a response, (Y/N) stared at him as he pulled the glove of his left hand and put it on hers. He then entwined his left fingers to her right and tucked it in his coat pocket.

"There, now you won't be cold," he said, voice a little scratchy, and gave her a bright smile. She smiled goofily, nudging him with her right shoulder. "You cheeseball," she said while blushing. They continued to walk in silence, bodies close together.

-x-

"Ah, shit."

A soft thud woke Sugawara up. He opened his eyes to semi-darkness. His bedroom door was open, and so the light from the hallway peeked through. When they arrived at his house, (Y/N) quickly ushered him to his bedroom, pulling his coat away and taking off that ridiculous beanie. She made him drink the medicine she got from the medicine cabinet, pushed him to bed (other days, he wouldn't really complain about this certain action), fluffed his pillows and tucked him in. He would've invited her to lie with him, if not for the fact that he passed out the moment his head touched the pillow. He sat up and squinted in the darkness, zoning on the figure crouched at the foot of his bed.

"(Y/N)?" He throatily asked. Her head looked up in surprise.

"Koushi! I'm sorry, did I wake you?" She quickly stood up to give him the water from his bedside table.

"Not really. How long was I out?"

He took a sip from the glass and watched as she placed her hand on his forehead, feeling his temperature.

"Good. Your fever went down. You've been sleeping for a few hours. It's already 9:42 PM." She took the glass from him and set it at his table again. "While you were gone like a light, I went out to the store and bought medicine. I also bought some ingredients to make you soup. Let me go heat it up so you can have something warm in you." As she stood up, he quickly grabbed her arm to stop her. She looked at him but he wasn't looking at her. He probably didn't know it, but he was biting his lower lip and wore a troubled expression. Even without saying anything, she knew what he was thinking about. She pried his hand off of her arm and went to close the door.

"(Y/N)? What are you doing?" He asked in the darkness, but she didn't respond. He could see her figure crouch at a corner beside his desk and it looked like she was fumbling for something. He was about to call out to her again, when all of a sudden, tiny lights began shining to life. He looked in awe, mouth agape, as he followed the trail around his room. It seemed to start where (Y/N) was, the lights trailing on the floor to climb the wall and wrap itself around the doorknob of his room. The trail proceeded to circle or go around the various items on his dresser, trailing up to circle through his closet handles, latching itself to hang repeatedly on his wall, occasionally hanging from frames and posters. It then went down to trail along the headboard of his bed, to circling around his lamp on the bedside table, trailing on the floor until it hung on different levels of his bookshelf, then climbing up his desk chair to run along his desk, and end where it started, right where she was. Though the lights were small, there were enough of them to fill his room with a soft glow as he stared at (Y/N) in delight and confusion. She laughed and walked towards him, sitting on the bed while facing him. She entwined her hand to his, and watched as he stared around his room in amazement.

"Did you do this…?" He whispered. She let out a soft "yeah." He focused on the one along his headboard and bedside table. Reaching out with his free hand to run his fingers alongside the lights, he gasped in surprise and turned to face her.

"Are these…?" He choked out. She smiled and caressed her thumb along the back of his hand, blushing slightly.

"Those are Christmas lights, yeah." He stared at her, eyes wide and confusion swirling in them. He gave a soft sniffle and tilted his head slightly at her.

"Well, while I was out, I remembered mom packing these for me when I first moved to the dormitory, so that I could put it up every Christmas. I eventually forgot about it since I'm always here at your place anyway. I remembered it while walking and decided to drop by my place to grab them," she explained, scratching the back of her neck and laughing awkwardly. "You told me how important the Christmas Lights we go see every year were to you… and… I wanted to surprise you."

He looked at her in awe, biting at his lower lip and then smiling oh so beautifully at her. She stared at him, her eyes running along his face. She stared as the glow emphasized his features perfectly; adding a little twinkle in his eyes, shading his cheekbones just right, tempting her to lean in and taste what his lips felt like as if she's forgotten. Seeing him smile at her the way he was now melted her heart. And there it was, the dimple that showed itself when he smiled wide enough. It was pure happiness on his face, and she gave herself a mental pat on the back for doing a good job.

"Do you like it?" she asked him.

"Yes," he whispered, pulling her abruptly down on the bed with him. She squeaked as she landed on top of him. She was about to scold him when he tightly wrapped his arms around her small frame and buried her head on the crook of his neck. She sighed contentedly and made herself comfortable. Sugawara hummed quietly as he absentmindedly played with her hair. This time, it was her who made their little bubble. He looked down at her and watched how the light danced across her eyelashes. When her eyes met, he sucked in his breathe, marveling at how clearly he saw his reflection in her eyes. She was looking at him, and he wouldn't want it any other way, because he was only looking at her.

And then his stomach let out a protest.

They both let out a laugh. "I think I'd like that soup now," he whispered to her. She grinned at him and pushed herself to get up. She suddenly paused. He looked at her curiously as she moved to straddle his waist instead; placing both her hands on his chest and leaned slightly down towards him. He instinctively wrapped his arms loosely around her waist.

"Hey, Koushi?" She started. He looked up at her in question. "Did you make your wish?"

He pulled her down on him with a mischievous glint in his eyes and a grin on his mouth.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" He whispered, placing a hand on the back of her knees and slowly caressed the back of her thighs. She giggled at him and stuck her tongue out. He returned the gesture.

She sat up once again. "Ne, Koushi," she said. Leaning down, she held the side of his face tenderly with one hand, kissed the corner of his lips once more, and moved to whisper in his ear.

"I'm more crazy about you than when I first met you too."

This time, it was his turn to laugh nervously as his heart rammed across his chest. A blush bloomed across his face and he gave her a loving smile. He rolled them around on the bed so that they were both on their sides. (Y/N) wrapped her arms around his neck while Sugawara held her tightly, cradling her head with one hand and legs entwining against each other. She placed a light kiss on the base of his throat and whispered, "I'm in love with you, Koushi Sugawara."

He wished for something different this time. He knew, from that moment on, that there would be no one else but her.

And so when the time comes, he wished that she would say Yes.

Please leave a review! I'd really appreciate it, even criticisms are welcome! (uwu)