"Dashi?"
"Yes?"
"Dashi."
"What?"
"I swear to God if you do not stop humming 'Baby It's Cold Outside' I will fucking glue your laptop shut!"
"Hey, it's a cute song!" Tadashi protests, frowning over at Hiro from where he was finishing wrapping up Fred's Christmas present.
"It's not cute when you've been humming it for the past hour!" Hiro cries.
"...Shit, sorry, I didn't realize I'd been doing it for that long," Tadashi apologizes. "I'll stop."
"Thank you." Hiro sighs before getting up from the couch in the garage where he'd been watching Tadashi work for the past half an hour. "You need any help carrying that thing up to the living room? I'm guessing it's pretty heavy."
"Not as heavy as it looks, but thanks, that would be really helpful," Tadashi answers with a smile as Hiro comes over to help him lift the box.
"This is pretty up to the last minute for you," Hiro comments as they work together to carry the box up the stairs to the Christmas tree in the living room. "Usually you have this stuff done before December even arrives."
"I know, but I was stuck on what to make Fred, and then when I finally got the idea I was rushing to get it done in time."
"At least you'd used similar tech before!"
"Yeah, that definitely helped a lot, although I had to adjust for the right shape, and Honey Lemon had to help me with the fabric parts."
"Well hey, I'm sure Fred's going to love it!" Hiro laughs as they carefully settle the present under the tree. "You know I'm still jealous that you get to have your boyfriend here for Christmas and I don't."
"To be fair, Ezra's family is home for Christmas, and Fred's dad got stuck in Japan thanks to that freak blizzard so if Fred wasn't coming here he'd be all alone for the holiday," Tadashi points out.
"...Touche. Still saying it's not fair."
"Believe whatever you want," Tadashi sighs, playfully rolling his eyes.
"So when's he supposed to get here again?" Hiro asks.
"Probably any minute now-that's why I was panicking trying to get all of this done in time," Tadashi answers. "Fortunately I finished just in the nick of time."
"Am I allowed to guess what you made for me this year?" Hiro teases.
"Nope!" Tadashi laughs. "You know that's not allowed!"
"But Dashi…" Hiro pouts at him.
"And you definitely know that puppy eyes aren't allowed!"
"Fine…" Hiro crosses his arms over his chest. "But what are we going to do until he gets here? Just sitting around is boring…"
"We can go make some cocoa?" Tadashi suggests.
"...All right, I'll bite," Hiro agrees before heading towards the kitchen. "But only because our Christmas Eve Christmas movie marathon would suck without cocoa."
"I completely and totally agree!" Tadashi laughs, following after him.
They'd just about finished with the cocoa when the doorbell rings.
"Oh my gosh that's him!" Tadashi cries, almost spilling the pot of cocoa that he'd just pulled off of the burner.
"Give me that before you dump it and waste all of our hard work!" Hiro pulls it out of his hands. "I'll pour, you go let your boyfriend in."
"Thanks Hiro!" Tadashi gives him a grateful grin before racing over to the door.
"Fred!" Tadashi cries as soon as he has the door open.
"Dashi!" Fred happily wraps his arms around Tadashi in a tight hug. "Thanks again for letting me spend Christmas with you guys!"
"Of course!" Tadashi pecks him on the cheek. "We wouldn't let you have Christmas all alone. That's not what family does."
"Well I'm still super grateful to you guys," Fred answers, pecking him back.
"I get it, you two love each other! Now get inside and close the door before you let all the warm air out!" Hiro calls from the kitchen.
"Right, sorry!" Fred apologizes with an embarrassed laugh.
"You need help carrying anything in?" Tadashi asks, finally letting him go.
"Nah, I think I'm good," Fred reassures him.
"Well… Okay then." Tadashi hovers uncertainly. "In that case, I guess I can show you to the guest bedroom? We've got it all set up for you."
"Thank you-you guys seriously didn't have to go for this much trouble for me!"
"Well we want you to be comfortable!"
"Still, I appreciate it!"
Tadashi beams as Fred pecks his cheek on the way to guest bedroom.
"All right, so, let's get this party started!" Hiro says once Fred had been settled in.
"What exactly are we doing?" Fred asks curiously. "I mean, I know you guys probably have traditions and I definitely don't want to get in the way of them!"
"Get in the way? Fred. Seriously. You're adopted into the family at this point, you're not getting in the way, you're getting dragged in with the rest of us," Hiro deadpans.
"...That sounds kinda dark but sure, okay, I'm game!" Fred laughs before adding, "Please tell me we're not doing any weird rituals like trying to summon the Krampus."
"That's exactly what we're doing," Hiro answers in a completely serious tone.
"What? No!" Tadashi hurries to reassure Fred-why did Hiro have to make everything sound so dramatic? "Christmas Eve for us is watching a bunch of cheesy Christmas movies until Aunt Cass closes up shop, then we all have dinner together and hang out until nine, at which point Aunt Cass insists we all go lie down-or at least be quiet so she can get in a couple hours' sleep-until we open presents at midnight."
"You open presents at midnight?" Fred asks before quickly adding, "Not that there's anything wrong with that!"
"Hiro never had the patience to wait for actual Christmas morning so we finally just decided to go with it," Tadashi explains.
"Christmas morning is any time after 12:00 am on Christmas, it's a fact!" Hiro states firmly.
"Yeah, there's no arguing with this one, so I just try to make sure Aunt Cass gets her nap so she isn't grumpy during present opening," Tadashi sighs.
"Aww, that's pretty cute!" Fred laughs.
"I am not cute!" Hiro protests.
"Yep, not winning that fight either." Tadashi shakes his head before thinking to ask, "What about you? Do you have any Christmas traditions? If there's anything special that you usually do we can totally find a way to incorporate that in with ours!"
"Nah, my parents weren't really home for a lot of Chritmasses so any 'traditions' that I had were pretty depressing," Fred admits. "That's kinda why I'm really excited to get to share yours…"
"Well we're happy to have you here to share them with us!" Tadashi reassures him.
"Yeah, yeah, enough with wasting time on being mushy," Hiro breaks in. "C'mon, we need to get started if we're going to make it through the whole Disney Santa Clause series before dinner!"
"Oh, you mean the one with Tim Allen?" Fred asks eagerly. "I love those movies!"
"Good, because they're Dashi's favorite Christmas movies and I'm pretty sure he'd break up with you if you didn't like them!" Hiro laughs.
"I would not break up with him!" Tadashi cries before turning to Fred. "I would not break up with you! I would just seriously question your taste in movies…"
"Well no fear there because I love them too," Fred reassures him.
"Good!" Tadashi grins before pulling Fred over to the couch to cuddle with him while Hiro went to put the movie in.
Several hours later, Aunt Cass joined them upstairs after closing the Cafe for the holiday, and they had their traditional Christmas Eve dinner of waffles with scrambled eggs and bacon. After that, Aunt Cass joined them in finishing their Christmas movie marathon, ending right at nine.
"All right, I'm going to go get some sleep," Aunt Cass says, standing up from the couch and yawning. "I recommend that you boys do too, but if you don't you know the rules-no loud noises until midnight."
"Well, I'm heading out to the garage to work on stuff," Hiro says as soon as her door is closed. "I'll leave you two in here to do… whatever." He raises his eyebrows meaningful.
"Oh my God, Hiro, really?!" Tadashi groans.
"Just saying! The bedroom's not going to be in use for three hours-make the most of it," Hiro answers with a shit eating grin before heading towards the garage stairs.
"I am so sorry about him, he seriously has no filter," Tadashi apologizes to Fred.
"It's fine," Fred reassures him. "Actually, lying down does sound pretty nice."
"Oh, of course!" Tadashi hurries to agree. "Yeah, if you want to go lie down I have no problem with that, you can use the guest bedroom or my room if you prefer-"
"I-I meant it might be nice… If we could go lie down together?" Fred says a bit sheepishly.
"O-Oh!" Tadashi feels his heart skip a beat in his chest.
"Nothing sexual!" Fred quickly adds. "Just… Cuddling with you in bed sounds really nice right now…"
"T-That sounds really nice to me too," Tadashi tells him softly.
"Great!" Fred beams at him, gently taking his hand in his own. "Do you want to do it in the guest bedroom, or your room…?"
"My room might be better," Tadashi answers after thinking it over for a moment. "I mean, my bed has been fully fireproofed, I haven't really tested the guest bed but I don't think Aunt Cass would be too happy if I accidentally burned something…"
"Understood." Fred nods in agreement. "Upstairs it is, then." He smiles and leads Tadashi up the stairs to the brothers' bedroom.
Tadashi felt a tiny bit nervous as they climb the stairs-this was the first time he could remember that he and Fred would be sharing the same bed, unless you counted that first night and a few brief makeout sessions-but when Fred suggests that they change into pajamas to be more comfortable, he felt himself relaxing slightly, realizing that if they were going to the trouble of changing into something as unsexy as pajama pants and t-shirts there wasn't going to be anything sexual going on. Still, as it turned out, he had to admit that Fred's idea of cuddling was nice-very, very nice.
Once they were changed, Fred let Tadashi climb into bed first, and then he climbed in after him, lying against his back and wrapping his arms around his waist, nuzzling against his neck. Tadashi lets out a contented sigh as one of Fred's legs crosses over both of his own, turning this into a full-body cuddle, and he definitely didn't mind when, a few minutes into cuddling, one of Fred's hands wanders its way underneath his shirt to rest on his stomach. Fred's hand felt absolutely wonderful against his bare skin, sending tiny excited thrills through his body, and there was something so incredibly warm and comforting about it…
It took almost a full minute for Tadashi to realize the reason why the spot Fred was touching felt so warm.
"Holy shit!" Tadashi jerks upright as he sees flames dancing under his shirt and around Fred's hand-his pajamas wouldn't burn since they were made out of fireproof material like the rest of his clothes, but without wearing his hoodie to bed that didn't mean that his body couldn't still produce fire.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Fred asks worriedly, sitting up too. "Are you okay?"
"Am I okay? I should be asking you that! Your hand is literally in the middle of fire right now!" Tadashi cries, a shamed flush crossing his cheeks and unable to comprehend why Fred hadn't moved his hand yet. "I'm so sorry, this is my fault, if you're hurt-!"
"Dashi, I'm not hurt!" Fred hurries to reassure him. "I told you a long time ago, your fire isn't going to burn me. And I wasn't saying anything because it feels really, really nice."
"Y-You like it?" Tadashi asks in disbelief.
"Yeah, definitely!" Fred grins at him. "It's like you're a human heating pad! ...Okay, that probably wasn't the best choice of words. But I just mean it feels warm and nice and I really, really don't mind it."
"I… Okay." Tadashi still couldn't believe that anyone would purposefully want to be in contact with his fire, but Fred sounded so sincere it was hard not to believe him.
"C'mon." Fred lies back down and gently tugs Tadashi down with him. "Just relax, okay?"
Tadashi tentatively tries to do so, snuggling back into the curve of Fred's body, doing his best to be calm. Then he feels Fred starting to gently massage his stomach and he lets out a quiet mew of pleasure-how did Fred always know how to make him feel better?
"I'll take it you like that," Fred chuckles, and Tadashi felt himself blushing as it became evident that his fire was spreading.
"Fred, this is embarrassing…" Tadashi mumbles, ducking his head.
"What? No it's not! It's great, it means I'm able to tell if I'm doing something right!" Fred answers.
Tadashi bites his lip. Part of him wanted to put a stop to this because even though he wanted to believe that Fred was right, he wasn't sure that it was a good idea to put this so seriously to the test. On the other hand, what Fred was doing felt so good that he really didn't want it to stop…
Well, if they were going to test this, they might as well do it properly. Tadashi slowly lets the part of his back that Fred was pressed up against ignite-Fred said he liked the warmth, so might as well see if he liked it when there was more of it. Tadashi was fully prepared to shut it down the moment that Fred told him to, but instead of telling him to stop, Fred lets out a rather blissful sounding sigh, mumbling out, "That feels great, Dashi…"
"Y-Yeah?" Tadashi stammers out.
"Mm," Fred agrees, nuzzling against the back of his neck before pressing a kiss to it.
That was enough for Tadashi. He didn't think that Fred could be faking this, and since apparently he was enjoying it…
Tadashi lets his eyes slide shut, allowing his body to relax and just do whatever it wanted, focusing on Fred's steady breathing and heartbeat until finally he drifted off into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.
"Dashi! Fred! Wake up, it's time for presents!"
Tadashi blinks his eyes open at the sound of Hiro's voice, his body protesting having to wake up when he was so warm and comfortable.
"Dashi, get up or I swear I will get the ice bucket!"
Hiro had definitely not been above dumping ice on him before and so, not wanting to relive that experience, Tadashi manages to wrench himself up from the mattress.
"Guess it's time for presents?" he hears Fred's voice saying, and for a moment he panics, having forgotten that Fred was in the bed with him, but then his memories from what had happened right before falling asleep come back to him and he turns to offer Fred a sheepish smile.
"Hey." Tadashi turns back to offer him an embarrassed smile. "Sorry about him, he's very serious about this whole presents thing."
"He's still a kid, it's allowed," Fred chuckles, sleepily kissing Tadashi's cheek. "Besides, I'm excited to give you my present."
"Aww, well I'm excited to give you my present too," Tadashi says with a smile, kissing him back.
"Great, then let's get going before Hiro comes back with that ice!" Fred laughs, standing up and pulling Tadashi up with him.
"Right!" Tadashi laughs, following after him.
Soon they were all settled around the Christmas tree, each with a glass of Aunt Cass's homemade eggnog and a plate of her fresh chocolate chip cookies.
"All right, so, who wants to go first?" Aunt Cass asks with a smile.
"You know the tradition, Aunt Cass-you get your present first," Tadashi answers, going to retrieve an envelope with red poinsettias on it from under the tree before handing it to Aunt Cass. "This is from the three of us-Fred pitched in to help make it happen."
"Oh my gosh, Fred, that is so sweet of you, you didn't have to do that!" Aunt Cass cries.
"You've done so much for me, accepting me into your family, I wanted to find some way to show you how grateful I am," Fred answers with a sheepish smile.
The three boys exchange eager glances as she opens up the envelope, pulling out a card and opening it to find a small voucher inside.
"Oh my goodness! I-Is this-?"
"Yep!" Hiro says proudly. "It's good for a full spa day at that place you like over on Geary Street!"
"And as part of your present, both Hiro and I will work shifts for free at the Cafe so that you don't have to worry about getting anyone to cover for you!" Tadashi adds.
"I don't know what I did to deserve you three boys! C'mere!" Aunt Cass beams and pulls all of them into a group hug.
"Love you, Aunt Cass," Tadashi says, beaming as he hugs her back.
"All right, now on to you three's presents!" Aunt Cass says when she finally lets them go.
"Right!" Tadashi agrees. "Can I go first with giving the rest of mine?"
"Of course, sweetie!"
"All right, Hiro first," Tadashi says, going over to retrieve Hiro's present from under the tree.
"Thanks, Dashi!" Hiro beams at him as he accepts the box.
"Of course!" Tadashi beams at him, hoping that Hiro would like this.
Hiro tears the wrapping off of the box (he'd never been one to waste time on carefully undoing the tape like Tadashi) and then opens the flaps of the box.
"Oh my gosh… No way. No way!" Hiro gasps, beaming as he reaches into the box and pulls out a small robotic Gyarados that was already activated so that it came to life as soon as he had it in his hands. It was only two feet long, just big enough to wrap around Hiro's arm, but Tadashi was glad that Hiro still liked it.
"I thought it seemed fitting for you since he's your favorite!" Tadashi says, beaming as he watches Hiro playing with his new little friend, playfully scratching it under its chin.
"He's perfect, thank you nii-chan!" Hiro grins at him.
"Of course! And this one is for you." Tadashi brings Fred's present over to him.
"Aww, thank you, Dashi!" Fred grins at him before opening his own box, letting out a small cry of surprise as a puppy-sized version of Growlithe comes jumping out at him as soon as the flaps are open.
"He's so cute!" Fred coos as soon as he gets over his initial shock, cuddling the Growlithe close as it eagerly licks his face.
"I'm glad you think so!" Tadashi beams at him.
"I definitely, definitely do, thank you!" Fred answers, beaming back at him.
"Okay, my turn!" Hiro says, standing up and going to get his presents from under the tree. "Dashi, this is for you!"
"Thanks, Hiro!" Tadashi accepts the box from his brother, feeling how heavy it was and wondering what Hiro had come up with this year.
"Wait, you didn't-Oh my gosh, you did!" Tadashi cries when he finally has it unwrapped and inside finds a perfectly lap-sized Eevee inside which lets out a small yip before bouncing up into his lap.
"Yep!" Hiro grins at him. "I knew that you were making Fred a pokemon so I thought it would be fun for you to have one too so they could play together. I didn't know that you were making one for me, but I guess now they can all be friends?"
"Hiro, that is seriously adorable! I love her, thank you!" Tadashi beams as he hugs the Eevee close and she nuzzles up against him.
"You're welcome!" Hiro grins at him.
"I feel like I'm a kid again wanting to be a pokemon trainer, only this time I've actually got a pokemon!" Fred laughs.
"Well I'm glad you like your new friend!" Tadashi beams at him.
"I do! I really, really do!" Fred reassures him.
"Okay, Fred, I think maybe you should go ahead and give your presents now because I kind of want to save yours for last," Hiro says.
"Um, sure, okay?" Fred agrees before going over to the tree and picking up a rather long, slightly lumpy looking package. "Sorry, I'm not that great at wrapping…"
"No sweat!" Hiro reassures him before curiously tearing open the wrapping. "Oh, wow! I-It's a keyblade! But… It's not any of the keyblades I've seen in the games? Wait, but it has all our team's symbols on it… I-Is this a Big Hero 6 themed keyblade?!"
"Yep!" Fred agrees. "I commissioned a few of my artist friends to get this put together for you-one of them to create the design, one of them to model it on their computer and 3D print it, and another one to paint it."
"This is seriously one of the coolest things anyone has ever given me!" Hiro cries. "Thank you!"
"Of course! I'm really glad that you like it!"
Tadashi beams at Fred-it was ridiculously sweet that he had remembered just how much Hiro loved Kingdom Hearts and had gone out of his way to have this made for him.
"And this," Fred says, turning to Tadashi and pulling a small wrapped box out of his pocket, "is for you."
"Thank you, Freddy!" Tadashi saw that he looked slightly nervous for some reason so he pecks him on the cheek before carefully taking off the wrapping paper and opening the box.
As soon as he saw what was inside, he felt his heart stop. Wait. Wait wait wait. This couldn't be- They hadn't been dating nearly long enough for this!
"I-It's not an engagement ring!" Fred cries, clearly reading the panic on Tadashi's face. "I know we haven't known each other long enough to be making that kind of commitment! But it is a promise ring-which basically means that I'm committing to seeing this out for the long term and, if we eventually hit the point where we're ready for it, I'd love to replace this ring with a real engagement ring. Y-You don't have to take this if you don't want to! I just… Wanted to make sure that you knew that I love you and I feel very, very seriously about you."
"Oh my gosh, Fred…" Tadashi says softly before throwing his arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug and kissing him on the cheek. "I would love to wear it…. Thank you."
"I love you so much," Fred whispers, hugging him tightly back.
"I love you too," Tadashi answers before giving him a proper kiss.
"So, is it okay if I put it on you?" Fred asks with a sheepish smile when he finally pulls away.
"O-Of course!" Tadashi answers, feeling himself shaking slightly but beaming as Fred carefully slips the simple silver band onto his finger.
"Congratulations you two!" Aunt Cass cries as soon as it's on.
"Thanks, Aunt Cass." Tadashi flashes her a sheepish smile as he leans against Fred's side for support-he could hardly believe that this was really happening.
"You know that this means I'm going to be keeping an even closer eye on you to make sure that you're treating Tadashi right, right?" Hiro says to Fred, giving him a serious look.
"I wouldn't have it any other way," Fred reassures him, slipping an arm around Tadashi's waist.
"Good." Hiro nods, looking pleased by his response, before picking up a small box from under the tree. "This kind of makes my present to you that much more fitting."
"Okay?" Fred accepts the package from him, opening it up to reveal what Tadashi recognized as one of the ear-mounted walkie talkies that the team used on missions and a piece of paper with what looked like the rough sketches for the schematics of a kaiju-themed superhero suit. Wait. Was Hiro -?
"W-What is all of this?" Fred asks, frowning in confusion as he picks up the piece of paper.
"That," Hiro answers with a small smirk, "is some preliminary sketches for your superhero suit."
"M-My what?" Fred cries, eyes going wide.
Oh gosh. Oh gosh, did Hiro really mean-?
Hiro grins at Fred. "Welcome to Big Hero 6."