December 21st

Makishima hadn't actually been planning on celebrating Christmas, despite the fact that living in England meant that he had been bombarded by the western traditions since late October.

He'd simply decided to take the chance to have a well-deserved break, what with both his university and the design studio being closed for Christmas holidays. Even his older brother was away from the apartment for a couple of weeks, having taken off to Italy with his lovers, and so Makishima had been eagerly awaiting the coming period of peace and quiet.

Of course, his plans had come crumbling down around him on the second day of his voluntary solitude, when frantic knocking came from the apartment's front door, startling Makishima out of the light nap he was having on the couch.

Grumbling about having been interrupted, he levered himself away from the comfy cushions, sweeping his hair back from his face with one hand as he opened the door and squinted at the visitor making such a goddamn racket.

With one hand clutching the door handle and the other tangled up in his hair, Makishima was defenceless against the tanned arms that wrapped around him, squeezing the air out of his lungs as he flailed in a vain attempt to get free.

"Hi Maki-chan!" Toudou exclaimed once he'd let go of Makishima, taking a step back and very obviously looking his former rival up and down. "Surprise!"

The groan that Makishima let out was only half serious; a quick peek into the hallway proved his suspicions when he saw a pile of matching luggage sitting against the wall, but if anyone was going to impose on his peaceful break, Makishima was at least a little happy that it was Toudou. Although they regularly exchanged emails, or at least Toudou blew up Makishima's inbox and Makishima sometimes replied, they hadn't seen each other in person since the last time Makishima had been in Japan.

Thinking back, Makishima realised that it had been almost two years since he'd last seen Toudou in something other than photographs. Although that still didn't explain how Toudou had found his way to the Makishima apartment.

Forgoing the usual pleasantries that had always been unnecessary when it came to dealing with Toudou, Makishima demanded an explanation, simultaneously ushering the visitor and his ridiculously oversized pile of luggage into the apartment.

"Well," Toudou grinned as he flopped onto the couch without bothering to wait for Makishima to offer him a seat, "You said you were going to be on holidays, I had some leave to take, and your brother gave me directions and said it was okay for me to crash here. Oh hey, did you do these?"

Makishima reached out and quickly gathered up the pile of loose design sketches that Toudou was aiming for, holding them close to his chest in an attempt to stop Toudou from seeing the rough, unfinished work he'd been going through. "I don't remember ever telling you that I had time off."

Pouting about having the sketches kept away from him, Toudou stood up and began to wander around the living room, inspecting the pictures hanging on one of the walls. "It was a while back, I don't know. Is that your brother? He doesn't really look like you."

Trying to keep up with the disjointed conversation, Makishima stashed the drawings and then looked at the framed picture that Toudou was pointing towards, rolling his eyes for the millionth time about how cheesy it was to display a picture of Ren between his partners, with them each kissing one of his cheeks.

"Ren's in the middle," Makishima confirmed, "and that's Alex on the right and Sam on the left."

"And the three of them are..." Toudou trailed off, waving one hand in a way that was probably meant to imply the rest of his sentence. Makishima just nodded, used to people being curious about his brother's relationship, and Toudou hummed in consideration.

"No wonder your parents were so casual about you coming out to them," Toudou muttered as he looked through the other pictures, none of which had Makishima in them. "Anyway, I think it was a couple of months ago you told me you'd be off, and I've always wanted to see what a proper Christmas is like, so I figured I'd come surprise you."

"You're mad," Makishima replied as he shook his head, letting his long hair fall into his face and hide the tiny smile that was threatening to ruin his reputation. Hearing Toudou's voice was actually making him happier than he would ever have expected, and there always had been something infectious about the man's energy. "You flew halfway across the world to surprise me without even knowing if I'd be home."

"Of course!" Toudou grinned, moving around the room and taking a sudden interest in the bookshelf that sat against a different wall. "I'd do anything for you, Maki-chan. And I know what you're like, I wasn't exactly worried that you'd be out with friends."

Something told Makishima that he probably should've been offended by that, but considering the fact that Toudou had a point, he let it go. Although there were people from the studio and university that he occasionally went out with at night, his few close friends all lived in Japan.

Not that he was exactly sure how he could categorise his and Toudou's relationship, because just calling it a 'close friendship' didn't exactly sound right.

Yes, they were friends, and Toudou was one of the few people whose company Makishima could say he came close to enjoying. But the friendship was built on rivalry and competition, with their emails often just consisting of competition times and vows to win once they could race together again.

Put all that aside though and Makishima was left with the fact that Toudou's emails often brightened his day, and that he would sometimes even find himself missing the sound of the other man's voice in the phone calls he no longer received.

Plus there were one or two times before he'd left where he and Toudou had possibly maybe gone on not-quite-dates, but his sudden departure from Japan had stopped anything more from developing there.

Except Toudou was apparently willing to show up unannounced at his door in England, and that possibly seemed to imply that their relationship was still more serious than just friends or rivals.

Shaking his head at his confused, barely coherent thoughts, Makishima just watched as Toudou pulled a few books out, quickly glanced at them and then shoved them back into place, apparently just snooping instead of looking for anything in particular.

"So, uh," Makishima started, frowning as Toudou continued to poke around the room, "Do you have any plans here, or..."

"Oh!" Toudou exclaimed, whirling around and grinning brightly as he went for his bags and started digging through one of them. He straightened up with a bunch of papers clutched in one hand, waving them in Makishima's direction.

"We're going to celebrate Christmas like real Westerners!"

"Um..."

"I'm serious!" Toudou was practically bouncing on the spot, his face lit up with the kind of genuine excitement that Makishima didn't think he himself was actually capable of experiencing. "It looks like fun in all of those American films, and it's kinda pricey to find all the right stuff in Japan."

"...So you flew from Japan to England just to celebrate Christmas?"

"No, Maki-chan," Toudou sighed, rolling his eyes. "I came to England to see you, I just figured it might be fun to do this together while I was here."

The minute Toudou started to pout, Makishima knew that he was being played. Still, it had been a long time since he'd been subjected to that look in person, and any protests died on his tongue.

"Fine," Makishima muttered, pushing his hair back with feigned apathy. "Do whatever you want."

He disregarded the flutter in his stomach when Toudou's entire face lit up with happiness, putting it down to the fact that he hadn't had any coffee yet for the day. He was caught off guard when Toudou grabbed him again, wrapping him in another tight hug and shaking him from side to side. Before Makishima had the presence of mind to even move his hands from his sides, Toudou had danced away, rustling the sheets of paper in his hands as he muttered quietly to himself.

"Oh! Is there a department store or something nearby?"

Narrowing his eyes suspiciously, Makishima nodded, hoping in vain that Toudou would explain himself.

He didn't.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Toudou declared as his grin became a smirk, his arm outstretched as he pointed a finger at Makishima.

"Stop that," Makishima bitched, knocking away the hand that was a little too close to his face. Toudou just winked back, grabbing the coat he'd slung over the back of the couch and shrugging it on, juggling the sheets of paper between his hands.

"C'mon Maki-chan, let's go shopping!" Toudou pulled a page from the bunch, waving it in Makishima's general direction. Makishima could barely make out any details, but it looked like a rather long list, written in Japanese. Before he had a chance to ask, Toudou filled him in.

"There are so many decorations we need to buy...plus it's not Christmas if we don't buy presents for each other!"

Makishima's long, despondent groan didn't seem to put Toudou off at all, so he resigned himself to having to battle the madness that had apparently overtaken the entire city as December 25th got closer. Thankfully the closest shops were within walking distance so they didn't have to battle the chaos on the Tube, but that was only a slight consolation in Makishima's opinion.

Toudou chattered away the entire walk, making Makishima glad that the skies were blessedly clear so that he wasn't stuck huddled right beside Toudou under the umbrella he'd brought with him. In any case, the familiarity of Toudou's voice was oddly nice, and although he wasn't exactly listening to the words Makishima let it wash over him.

"Let's go in there!" Toudou suddenly exclaimed, his fingers grabbing Makishima's wrist and tugging him towards a store that had apparently seen an explosion of red and green. Makishima let himself be pulled along, eyes glued to the spot where Toudou was holding him. His skin felt uncomfortably warm where Toudou's fingers went past the sleeve of his coat and touched his bare hand, but he didn't shake the other man off, an anxious feeling developing in his chest.

He jolted when Toudou let go of him to open the store's front door, self-consciously shoving his hands in his pockets to resist the urge to rub at his wrist.

Dutifully following Toudou around the store proved to take a lot longer that Makishima expected, as apparently Toudou had some sort of specific idea in mind, leading to him picking things up, carefully inspecting them, and usually putting them down again eventually.

Finally, finally, Toudou took the few ornaments that had passed inspection to the counter, pulling his wallet out of his pocket as the cashier smiled at him.

"How are you today?" She asked as Makishima stepped up beside Toudou, reluctantly prepared to take over the conversation in English.

He ended up staring at Toudou as his former rival replied in accented but perfectly functional English, and it suddenly occurred to Makishima that he'd never once actually heard Toudou speak in English or ever mention being able to speak it well.

"What the hell?" He asked in Japanese as soon as Toudou had taken his bag of purchases and turned away from the register. Toudou's smile was more than a little smug, the man visibly preening while he replied.

"We have a lot of international visitors at the inn, Maki-chan. English can be helpful to fall back on if they don't speak much Japanese. Now c'mon, we've got a lot more shopping to do."

By the time Toudou finally declared that they were done for the day, Makishima felt like he was about to scream. Most of the shops Toudou took them to were filled with harried parents and screeching kids, and Makishima couldn't exactly say he was a fan of crowds.

At one point he'd nearly let his detached attitude drop, but honestly Toudou couldn't actually have thought that a eight foot Christmas tree was going to fit in the apartment. He'd managed to argue Toudou down to a much smaller and cheaper tree in a box that could comfortably be carried back home.

Which of course ended up being his job, Toudou's arms too full of bags to carry the tree as well. Makishima's one bag wasn't a hindrance, having only briefly ducked away to buy Toudou the present he was insisting upon. The two headbands weren't exactly a creative or unique gift, but it wasn't like there was a single chance that Toudou wouldn't like them. He hadn't changed that much, after all.

Banging through the apartment door, Makishima dumped the box in the corner and haphazardly threw the bag into his room, returning to the small living room to slump down on the couch and turn on the TV to drown out Toudou's whining. There was no way in hell that Makishima was going to decorate right then and there, and he told Toudou as much.

He was surprised when Toudou let it slide, moving away to sort out his bags before laying down on the couch, plopping his head in Makishima's lap and making the other man tense up.

"Thank you for coming with me today," Toudou said with a smile that made Makishima forget about how annoying it was to have Toudou touching him so casually. Muttering something slightly untrue about how annoying the whole day had been, Makishima forced himself to relax as Toudou turned his attention to the TV, apparently quite content to keep his head in Makishima's lap.

December 22nd

Makishima shook his head as he looked around at the mess his apartment had become, eternally grateful that his brother wasn't around to witness the chaos. The tree looked a lot bigger in the living room than it had in the store, and apparently Toudou had bought enough tinsel to wrap around almost any spare inch of space through the entire living room. It had been a hard-fought battle to get Toudou to restrain himself to decorating just the living room, but Makishima thought he'd made the best choice.

Toudou had only sulked about it for five or so minutes, but in return Makishima had found himself agreeing to let him play the first of too many Christmas-themed albums he'd bought. The music was so unbearably cheery that Makishima had almost researched ways to deafen himself, and it was only 10am.

But the glee on Toudou's face was the only motivation Makishima needed to put up with it all, so he continued handing things to Toudou as requested, trying not to react every time his hand brushed his friend's.

Eventually, Toudou stood in the centre of the room, turning in a slow circle as he looked over his handiwork. The bursts of colour around the room made the place look more lived-in than it ever had before, and Makishima had to admit that Toudou had an eye for co-ordination, as everything from the tinsel to the tree ornaments to the wreath hanging on the wall flowed together in a coherent picture.

Of course, Makishima might have preferred a little more spontaneity, but this was Toudou's show. He was just a spectator at this point.

"I almost forgot!" Toudou suddenly yelled, ignoring Makishima when he reminded his friend that there were neighbours around who might not appreciate the noise as much as some. Digging through his bags, which were still sitting next to the couch that he had spent the night on, Toudou stood up and thrust something in Makishima's face with a thoroughly unnecessary flourish.

Leaning back to actually see what Toudou was showing him, Makishima couldn't help but laugh.

"Where in the hell did you get those?"

"The internet," Toudou replied cheerfully, smiling as he affixed the pair of road bike-shaped ornaments to the tree. They were quite honestly one of the dumbest things Makishima had ever seen, but he understood what Toudou was going for, and the warmth he felt from the realisation that Toudou had clearly been planning this for a while was more than welcome.

"Perfect!" Toudou clapped his hands together as he looked around the room once more, only to focus his laser-sharp gaze on Makishima.

"What?" Makishima asked self-consciously, taking a step back as Toudou approached him with a determined look.

"Maki-chan," Toudou smirked, still advancing as Makishima was pushed closer and closer to the wall. "You know your hair is Christmas colours, right?"

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Feeling defensive, Makishima was stopped short when his back hit the wall, Toudou coming unsettlingly close and still looking like he was scheming.

"Let me decorate your hair, Maki-chan."

"What? No!" Trying to step out from Toudou's warpath, Makishima found an extended arm blocking his way, Toudou's palm flat against the wall next to his head. Suddenly reminded of how similar he and Toudou had always been in height and weight, Makishima looked awkwardly off to the side, trying not to think about how close Toudou was.

"Maki-chan," Toudou reiterated, "Please?"

The childish whine was a lot more like the Toudou Makishima remembered than the one with such aggressive body language, but it was hard to think when his heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest.

"Makishima."

"No."

"...Yuusuke."

Long fingers were playing with the ends of Makishima's hair that fell over his right shoulder, and he could feel the close proximity of Toudou's body to his own. It was almost painfully intoxicating, and suddenly the idea of disagreeing seemed like the last thing he would ever want to do.

His silent nod was apparently all the motivation Toudou needed to practically start bouncing around with glee, and suddenly Makishima felt like he could breathe again. Toudou was confusing the absolute fuck out of him, and Makishima wasn't even sure if he knew exactly what he was doing.

During high school, Tadokoro had found it hilarious to make jokes about the perceived sexual tension between Makishima and Toudou, but Toudou was just a touchy-feely person; at least, that's what Makishima had found himself repeating over and over again. Toudou was his friend, his rival, a pain in his ass who didn't understand the concept of personal space.

Ambiguous fluttery feelings weren't enough for Makishima to actually put himself out there for rejection, so he let himself embrace the status quo.

Even if the status quo of their friendship was apparently him sitting on the floor between Toudou's legs as the other man sat behind him on the couch, running a comb through the knots in his hair and letting it sift through gentle fingers.

In the end, it took Toudou an hour and a half before he was satisfied with the way he'd decorated Makishima's hair, and at the end of the day it took Makishima another half an hour to rescue his hair from the tinsel braid and festive clips that it had been manipulated into.

Toudou complained when he saw Makishima with his hair down at the end of the day, but it was entirely certain that he'd make up for the disappointment by sending the pictures to everyone that he knew.

Despite what was certain to be future humiliation, Makishima fell asleep with a smile on his face and the memory of Toudou's hands playing in his hair.

December 23rd

Sipping his drink a bit faster that he probably should have been, Makishima pretended he was interested in whatever his co-worker was saying, wondering why he'd thought it was a good idea to bring Toudou along to his work Christmas party. He should've cancelled the moment Toudou appeared at his door and saved himself the hassle.

Someone's friend's sister-in-law owned a bar, and the design studio had gotten a cheap deal on hiring the place out for the night, so even though Makishima only recognised the people he directly worked with, it was obvious that everyone around were his co-workers to some degree.

That meant playing nice with everyone, because he never quite knew if the unassuming blonde off to one side was an underling like himself or a higher-up he'd just never met before.

His tactic when he had originally RSVP'd had been to quietly hang out in a corner, make just enough conversation to have his presence acknowledged and then disappear off into the night as soon as he possibly could. Toudou was making that incredibly difficult, though, as he apparently wanted to be friends with everyone and was insistent on involving Makishima in every new conversation he started.

Also it was painfully obvious that no one believed him when he answered the question of whether Toudou was his boyfriend.

Not that anyone cared, it was the fashion world and stereotypes were powerful things, but it was uncomfortable to have people prod at the nebulous state of his relationship with the other climber.

At least the bar was open and most people were beginning to get staggeringly drunk, so Makishima didn't feel bad about taking advantage of his employer's money and drinking enough to feel a little more at ease in the highly social situation.

Thankfully Toudou seemed to be taking it a little slower, his mouth too busy talking to actually get any substantial amount of drinking done. Where a lot of people in Japan (beyond his fan club, of course) found Toudou's general attitude obnoxious and over-the-top, the Brits that Makishima worked with seemed to find Toudou oddly charming, which was probably helped largely by his proficiency in English and work with international guests at his family's inn.

"Maki-chan!"

Looking around to find where Toudou had wandered off to, Makishima saw him waving madly from near the bar, two people from Makishima's department with him.

"Yuusuke," said Jasmine, a slightly older brunette in a dress from their current collection, "How come you never told us about your boyfriend?"

Makishima's denial was predictably ignored, his co-workers laughing it off like his introverted tendencies were just shyness. Most of the people at the studio only knew what little they did about his personal life because of Ren's big mouth, so it really wasn't surprising that they would take a new bit of gossip and just run with it.

Toudou on the other hand didn't seem bothered, and the way he immediately plastered himself to Makishima's side definitely wasn't going to help with the rumours. Apparently he'd been mistaken about Toudou's level of sobriety and alcohol tolerance, because there was nothing sober about the way that Toudou was nuzzling his arm.

"Ooookay," Makishima muttered as he tried and failed to separate himself from his leech. "Look, guys, I think it's time for me to take him home."

"Awwwww," The pair chorused like it was the sweetest thing they'd ever heard, and as buzzed as he already was, Makishima drained the rest of his drink because he was not amused.

"He's my friend," Makishima snapped a little more harshly than he'd meant to, but thankfully Jasmine and Daniel were drunk enough that they just laughed.

"And you're my Peak Spider," Toudou mumbled as he continued to cling onto Makishima, rubbing his cheek on his shoulder like that was appropriate behaviour.

Rolling his eyes, Makishima finally managed to pull himself free, sharply telling the other man to shut up. Thankfully Toudou was aware enough to stand and walk on his own, and Makishima simply directed him towards the door, briefly waving at the few people who tried to talk to him along the way.

It was raining outside, and Makishima groaned as he realised that if he wanted to keep Toudou as dry as possible, they were going to have to be awfully close together. After the first few times of pushing away the arm that kept snaking around his waist, Makishima gave up and let Toudou do what he wanted, realising that it was easiest to keep Toudou under the umbrella if he was clinging.

At least his co-workers weren't around to see it this time.

After navigating a messy Tube ride from the bar, Makishima practically dumped Toudou through the front door, not entirely convinced that his intoxication level was entirely genuine. Toudou was known to be overly dramatic, and so Makishima didn't think that there was too much of a hangover waiting in the other man's future.

Still, it took a bit of an argument to get Toudou into the shower, and Makishima was eternally grateful once he finally got Toudou settled on the couch and was able to take his own shower.

Shirtless and with his sweatpants slung low on his hips as he towelled away the last few areas of dampness that the hair dryer hadn't reached, Makishima was looking forward to sleeping off his drunken state in his nice, warm bed after the debacle that was the Christmas party. It could've been worse, of course, but he was rather hoping that everyone else would be too drunk to remember Toudou's existence.

Makishima didn't bother turning on his bedroom light as he threw the towel in a corner, telling himself he'd deal with it later. He probably wouldn't, of course, but that didn't exactly matter.

As drunk as he was, Makishima nearly screamed as he finally went to get into his bed, only to have his hand land on something that definitely wasn't his mattress. Stumbling back a few steps towards the light switch, Makishima slapped frantically at it, somehow managing to fill the room with light while his heart beat a million miles an hour.

Toudou blinked blearily in the sudden light, grumbling incoherently as he squinted in Makishima's direction.

"Maki-chan," he whinged, "Turn that off, it hurts my eyes."

Later he would blame it on the alcohol, but Makishima found himself shrugging as he did what Toudou said, making his way back to the bed and crawling in beside his friend. A leanly-muscled arm was warm where it tucked around him, Toudou having flipped onto his stomach so that he could rest his head on Makishima's bare chest.

Makishima had never actually slept with any of his one-night stands, making Toudou the first person to actually share his bed.

It was nice, Makishima thought as the alcohol got the best of him and forced him into sleep.

December 24th

Toudou had rolled away at some point during the night, tucking himself into a foetal position with one arm reaching out to splay on Makishima's chest. Even though he had no idea how long it would take the other man to wake up naturally, Makishima didn't let himself move, not wanting to disturb Toudou.

With the morning light coming through the gaps in the curtains and Toudou's gentle breathing being the only sound in the room, all Makishima could think was that he wanted this.

He wanted to wake up with Toudou as often as he could, despite the fact that they lived in different countries.

He wanted to spend as much time as possible with Toudou, whether they were touching and kissing or just being in the same room together, enjoying each other's company.

He wanted to be able to nod awkwardly when he went back to work and his co-workers asked whether he really had brought his boyfriend to the Christmas party.

Pressing his hands over his face, Makishima laid like that for longer than he realised, only resurfacing to the real world when Toudou's arm pulled away, the man yawning as he woke up.

"Mmm, good morning," Toudou muttered tiredly, stretching out his body and leaning up to briefly peck Makishima on the lips. Almost immediately realising what he'd done, Toudou shoved himself to the edge of the bed, eyes wide with shock as he shook his head.

"No, no, no," Toudou panicked, shoving his hair out of his eyes and shying away from the hand that Makishima reached towards him.

"It's okay," Makishima soothed as well as he could, mind stuck on a loop of oh god Toudou kissed me and I want him to do it again.

The frantic way that Toudou shook his head hit Makishima right in the chest and he drew his hand back to himself, wondering why he'd ever thought it was a good idea to let Toudou get to him.

"No, Maki-chan," Toudou repeated, worrying at the ends of his hair as his gaze darted around the room. "That was our first kiss and I ruined it and you'll never want to do it again because my breath probably tasted terrible and-"

Eyes wide, Makishima lunged forward and pressed his palm over Toudou's mouth, cutting the tirade off mid-sentence. He needed a moment to process, and he couldn't do that while Toudou was blathering on. He pulled his hand away when Toudou stopped making muffled noises, but it was only then that Makishima realised that he was on all fours, looming over the other man.

The way he saw it, he had two options.

The first one was to pull away, apologise, brush off the awkwardness and then let them keep trundling along at the same pace they always had.

Makishima wasn't exactly a fan of that option.

Taking advantage of his position, Makishima sat back on his heels, grabbing Toudou by the waist and pulling him close enough so that he could lean forward and get right into Toudou's personal space.

"It's too early to be so noisy," Makishima murmured, pretty sure he could see colour flooding Toudou's cheeks. The other man opened his mouth to say something, closed it, and visibly swallowed hard before starting again.

"Don't toy with me, Maki-chan."

"I wouldn't."

Now that he was more aware of what was happening, Makishima could tell just how soft Toudou's lips were, apparently confirming his suspicions that the other man was fond of lip balm or something similar. The kiss started out slow as both of them realised that they had finally broken the odd limbo in which they'd existed for years, but the release of all that pent-up sexual tension was impossible to stop, Makishima and Toudou quickly falling into each other with frantic passion.

"Holy shit," Toudou gasped once Makishima finally pulled back, two fingers dragging along his bottom lip like he wasn't sure if he was dreaming. "You can't make me go back to just being your friend, Maki-chan."

"Toudou..." Makishima gasped when Toudou suddenly lifted one of his legs, his thigh pressing into the growing bulge in Makishima's sweats.

"I don't want a one time thing," Toudou reiterated, his hand stroking through Makishima's hair, nails scratching across his scalp then down his neck and chest, skating just past a taut nipple. "I need you to tell me no if I've misread you and you don't want to be more than friends."

"I let you bombard me with texts at all hours," Makishima forced out, trying not to ride Toudou's firm thigh as much as he really wanted to do.

"I actually told you I was leaving, instead of letting you find out from someone else," he continued, ducking in to nip at Toudou's bottom lip.

"I let you mess up my apartment with all your Christmas bullshit," a hand cupping Toudou through the tight underwear he had slept in.

"And I let you spend the night in here instead of physically dragging you back to the couch." Breathing hard, Makishima ground his hips down as his fingers teased the covered head of Toudou's dick, smirking when pre-come dampened a small patch of the cloth.

"Does that fucking sound like I'm going to toss you away?"

"Awww," Toudou suddenly cooed, his eyes wide even though his leg was still pressing up against Makishima, sending shocks of pleasure down his spine. "I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

"...Shut up."

Makishima wasn't exactly prepared to admit that he was a sap when it came to Toudou, and so he looked away from the other man's face, focusing instead on watching what he was doing as he pulled down Toudou's underwear.

He had a nice dick, Makishima reflected as he wrapped his fingers around it, gently pulling down his foreskin and feeling how nicely it seemed to fit in his hand. Finally risking another glance up, Makishima saw that the expression on Toudou's face had turned into something better than any gravure magazine could ever show him, his cheeks flushed and hair messy falling around his face while he breathed heavily through a slack mouth.

"You're gorgeous, Jinpachi."

A breathless laugh sounded, Toudou's lips curving into a loose smile as he replied, "I know. And you're not too bad yourself."

Toudou slipped his hands to Makishima's bare waist, fingers just barely sneaking under the waistband of his sweats as he encouraged the green-haired man to grind faster against him.

In the end, it was Toudou who came first, his hand gripping the ends of Makishima's hair in a way that was better than it should have been, and wow was he going to have to explore that later. Shaking, Toudou gasped out an 'Oh my god' as he came into Makishima's hand, and the green-haired man wasn't even thinking as he shoved his sticky hand inside his own pants, frantically using Toudou's come to jerk himself off until the insides of his sweats were an uncomfortable mess.

Rolling to one side so that he didn't fall on top of Toudou, Makishima wiped his hand on his dirtied pants, chest heaving almost in time with the other man's as they lay next to each other.

"You know," Toudou started, his head flopping to one side so that he could watch Makishima's flushed face, "I was going to do this properly. Tomorrow, after we ate all that food we bought yesterday, I was going to kiss you. Had it all planned out."

A pathetic laugh was all Makishima could muster until he gave himself a few more moments. "Sorry for ruining your plans."

A warm hand grabbed his own, and Makishima squeezed gently, feeling Toudou return the gesture.

"It's okay. I've never been patient."

December 25th

In the end, Toudou did get to kiss Makishima after their overly-large dinner, and it felt like a promise that no matter how long they were apart, they'd always come back together again.