A one-shot from the Love in a Tent series. You don't need to read it for this to make sense.
Taichi x Yamato
Dedicated to born a dreamer
Sleet
Like shooting stars, how brief we are,
I wish this moment could last forever
- Decyfer Down
It had only seemed a few moments since the hectic camping trip in the summer of that year, but months had indeed past with the speed that happy time seems to possess. In the way it often does, winter had approached with little warning, bringing with it dark nights and cold mornings, a refreshing frost and the promise of snow lingering in the sleet.
The annual school Christmas holidays found the two of them walking down the street, burdened down with shopping bags, the day before Christmas Eve, after a half-pointless shopping excursion, where, yet again, they had been unable to think of presents for certain people. It seemed like a lot of people would be getting chocolate, again, this year.
Clouds had overcast the sky, hanging low, and a sleet-y rain drenched the city, half frozen, turning the busy place grey, neon Christmas street-lights shining through the monochrome streets, making the scene some-what comforting, if you were watching it from indoors.
Unfortunately, Matt and Tai were not sheltered inside, with warm drinks and hot radiators, but were returning from their partially pointless trip.
Most people, out of the ones they were buying gifts for anyway, were easy to choose presents for. The pair hadn't got to the point of joint presents just yet, so both were carrying heavy bags, although Matt seemed to have a bigger problem as he juggled a particularly large bag, as well as an umbrella to keep himself dry.
It was often said that Matt cared more for his hair than was sensible,
He cursed the shop assistant who had convinced him to take the large, pink cushion for Mimi then, rather than come back for it, because now he was struggling, and there was no way that Tai, nonchalantly walking next to him, would be willing to help.
Because, you see, Tai had a problem with the umbrella.
Not all umbrellas, it must be added, just specifically this one.
After one incident where his unruly hair had got stuck in the prongs of the umbrella, he had flatly refused to walk under it, or even be civil when it was around, claiming it was cursed, which was in fact the main reason why the aforementioned person's hair now dripped with moisture, and his clothes were sticking to him from the battering they had received from the rain, which although was light, still seemed to stick to him in the half-melted form it fell in, then melt onto him, making him feel a hell of a lot colder than he'd like to.
None of this, however, would be enough of an irritation to convince him to use the umbrella.
It was often said that Tai cared more for his pride than was sensible.
Matt sighed, exasperated at the brunette.
"Tai, seriously. You're going to get ill if you won't stay dry."
Tai stuck his nose the air, shaking his head.
"No way! I don't like that damn thing of yours, so I'm not going to use it. Ever"
Matt rolled his eyes, but decided to drop the subject, because Tai always got so frustrated shopping, and the last thing the blonde wanted to do was to aggravate Tai so close to Christmas.
Tai gave himself a self-satisfied smirk as he watched Matt struggling, glad he had picked presents that were compact, and easy to carry. He ran through his head the list of bought gifts- including that of Matt's, because despite their agreement of not buying each other something, to save their limited allowance, Tai had wanted to, so he had found something, not bothered at all that he would not be getting anything in return.
He'd give him the specially selected gift that night, he had already decided, since in both of their household's Christmas Eve and day were specifically for family alone.
They arrived, eventually, outside Matt's, which was, as usual, empty, since Matt's father was a self-confessed workaholic, and of course Tai was invited inside, as he always was. Matt left his bags in his room, left the umbrella dripping on the radiator, and came back out to find Tai, who was also currently dripping, having propped his smaller amount of bags up against a wall.
His shirt stuck to his torso, a shade darker than what it originally was, and his jeans clung to him uncomfortably, saturated with dirty rain water. The points of his hair sagged under the weight of additional moisture, and his face was damp, his cheeks rosier than normal because of the cold, his eyes bright.
He shivered, and Matt, being the observant person he was when it came to Tai, noticed.
"You're freezing," he stated, and grinned.
Tai glared at him.
"And?"
"You want a hot towel and a new set of clothes?"
Tai's shoulders sagged in supplication as he decided to agree. Normally, he would have braved it out, determined to appear manly, but he was so cold he could not be bothered.
He pulled his shirt off right then and there, in the hallway, as Matt went to find him some new clothes. He hung it on the radiator next to the blonde's umbrella, his coat and over-large jumper already hung up. As Matt returned, the saturated brunette grabbed the proffered towel and dried himself. He took the clothes, and went to change, leaving Matt feeling slightly turned on by the sight of Tai's wet, naked, and rather defined upper body.
He was positive Tai had done it on purpose.
He often did.
Matt went back to his room, where he pulled a package from a bag and slipped it into a gift-bag, which he quickly secreted in the living room. He was just entering the kitchen to make them hot drinks when Tai emerged, immediately following Matt and wrapping his arms around the taller boy's waist from behind, hampering the blonde's efforts at drink-preparation.
Not that said blonde particularly minded.
Tai lifted the bottom of Matt's shirt slightly to put his hands on the warm skin, and Matt yelped in an extremely undignified way as cold hands ran themselves lightly across his stomach.
Tai laughed, and, satisfied that he had once again made the calm and cool Matt loose his composure, went to the living room, swiping a small bag from inside a larger one in his pile in the hall.
The living room lights were turned down very low, and the bright lights from the Christmas tree sent comforting shadows up the wall. The room was warm, very cosy, with a definite festive feel to it.
Throwing himself down on the couch in the patented 'Taichi' way, with complete abandon and flopping of limbs, he stretched, then sat up again, looking down the side of the coach between it and a table, hoping to find somewhere to slot in his bag.
Instead, he found another bag, not a carrier bag, but a gift bag, sealed at the top.
It was decorated with red and green stripes, and had no tag, and it wasn't one that Tai had seen Matt buy when they had purchased wrapping paper and gift bags earlier that day.
Confused, he shook it, only to hear the rattle of a box hitting the walls of the bag.
He was still shaking the bag when Matt walked into the room, slowly so he didn't spill any of the hot chocolates he'd made for the pair. He stopped when he saw the bag in Tai's hand, and this abrupt stop caused the hot drink to slop over the sides, running over his fingers.
Tai glanced up.
"Hey, who's this for?"
The blonde's shoulders sagged, and he smiled. He didn't answer, just shook his head and placed the cups down on the ring-stained wood of the coffee table, and sat down next to the other.
Matt scratched his head awkwardly.
"Well, I know we decided that we weren't going to buy each other presents, but I wanted to anyway… so, yeah. It's yours."
Tai smiled goofily, not sure what to say. So, he decided to do the only thing he could think of- tackle the blonde around the waist, knocking them both off the sofa. Tai lay on top of the surprised other, and buried his face in his neck.
"Thank you, Matt."
Matt grinned, hugging Tai and rolling, so they lay next to each other. Tai kept his grin on his face as Matt's arms slipped up the back of his shirt, causing Tai to arch into Matt as he tried to move away from the payback of the other's cold hands.
Matt took full advantage of this surprised movement and kissed him, pulling him closer and moving one hand up to the base of Tai's neck, tilting his head forward to deepen the kiss. Matt slipped his tongue into the others mouth, and both softly moaned into each other as Matt began to slide Tai's shirt further and further up.
Tai pulled away, suddenly, still smiling.
"Well, I got a present for you, as well."
He pulled out the perfectly wrapped present, thrusting it at the blonde with a faint blush grazing his cheek. Matt raised an eyebrow at the ribbon decorating it, a look which Tai caught.
"Yeah, I know, I'm awful at wrapping, so I got the woman in the shop to do it for me, with all the ribbon and stuff."
Matt laughed to himself and shook it, almost mirroring what Tai had done just a few minutes earlier. He moved to open the wrapping, but was interrupted by a strict warning from Tai.
"No! You can't open it until Christmas day, or else!"
"Or else what?"
Tai just winked to that comment, and as Matt blinked in confusion Tai took the present from him, going across the room to put it under the tree. He paused at the window, and his face lit up.
"It's snowing!"
The sleet, once half-solid, grey and ugly, had frozen as the colder temperatures of the night had settled in, turning it into soft, fat flakes of snow, settling on everything, turning the city into an almost magical setting as it glittered in the light from the street-lamps.
Matt came over to join him, sliding an arm around the smaller boy's waist. Tai rested his head against the others shoulder, both of them forgetting the presents and hot chocolate as they watched the snow.
Tai yawned, lulled to sleepiness by the warmth and comfort of the room. He pulled Matt to him and kissed him, a chaste, brief kiss, before turning back to the snow.
Matt's arm tightened around the other's waist as he smiled, softly, to himself.
"Merry Christmas, Tai."