Note: I wanted to post a bit of holiday fluff this Christmas! It's a non-despair AU where everything is happy and full of joy and no one dies ever. Happy holidays!

"It's a ridiculous tradition and I'm not doing it."

"Aw, come on, Togami, don't you have any holiday spirit?" Asahina laughed, sidestepping to block Togami as he tried to move past her.

"No." Togami glared at her, then turned in the other direction to face the boy standing beside him. "Naegi, tell me you have enough working brain cells to object to this idiocy."

"Well… I guess it's a little silly," Naegi said thoughtfully, "but you know, silly can be fun sometimes! No one else is making a big deal about it."

"Very true," Celeste said, sending Togami her sweetest smile as she sipped a cup of steaming peppermint tea. "A single kiss beneath the mistletoe is hardly something to complain about, wouldn't you say?"

"Of course it isn't," Kirigiri said, only the faintest glimmer of mirth in her eyes hinting that she was anything other than perfectly serious. "After all, someone who felt so strongly about avoiding holiday traditions could have simply avoided the area where Kuwata hung the mistletoe."

Togami scowled at both girls. "Or you could have warned me that idiot boobytrapped the room before I arrived. I don't see why I should have to participate in your nonsense when I wasn't informed beforehand!"

"Absolutely not!" Ishimaru boomed from across the classroom, where he and Fujisaki were cutting out paper snowflakes. "The rules of mistletoe are a well-known holiday standby, familiar to all regardless of whether you knew about the specific plant here. You're present in the room, so ignoring the dictates of tradition would be unacceptable!"

Togami looked around the room, full of his grinning classmates, and drew himself up in his best haughty manner. "I have no interest in bowing to the whims of a vulgar, commonplace tradition, no matter what you say."

"Oh, is that the problem?" Maizono asked, with angelically wide eyes. "Are you sure there isn't some other reason you might object to being caught under the mistletoe with Naegi?"

Togami acted as though he hadn't heard her, but a dusting of pink appeared high on his cheekbones.

"Come on, everyone, leave him alone," Naegi said, his eyebrows drawing together in concern as he looked up at Togami. "Seriously, it's fine."

"You want to flout tradition, too, Naegi?" Kirigiri asked, raising one eyebrow as laughter sparkled in her eyes. "I wouldn't have expected it of you."

"And it most certainly is not fine," Celeste added. "The rules should be followed."

"Fine, then." Naegi reached up to grab Togami's shoulder. Too startled to resist, the taller boy found himself hauled down to Naegi's height and –

Scarlet bloomed across Togami's face as warm lips pressed briefly against his cheek.

"There." Naegi released Togami's shoulder and turned back to the rest of their friends. "Was that good enough?"

"It wasn't much of a kiss," Asahina said disapprovingly. "But I guess you have to work with what you've got. It'll do." She moved out of the way.

Both boys quickly stepped out from under the spotlight of the mistletoe, and the other students' attention drifted back to other festivities.

Naegi glanced back up at Togami. "See? That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Togami swallowed, the brush of the other boy's lips still lingering on his cheek. "I suppose it was endurable."

"Great!" Naegi beamed up at him, so bright and cheerful that Togami's heart stuttered in his chest. "Then try to relax and have a merry Christmas, okay?" He turned and headed over to join Maizono and Kirigiri as they threaded cranberries onto strings.

Togami watched him go, not quite smiling as he heard the other boy laughing. Even with the mistletoe, it was turning out to be a better Christmas than he'd expected.