Opening Notes:

Prepare for a steamy scene, but not smut. Perhaps the horniest we'll get, but who knows.

{2043.12.25, Friday}

Christmas always kept people in good spirits; a time of giving and celebration, even if there was some older meaning obscured by modernisation and cultural adaptation. Tomo didn't have much of a deeper introspective about the day on her mind, though. She was more invested in getting Kazuto to stop gawping at the PC parts and get back to the dinner table, damnit. Sure, she'd helped buy the tech as part of a group present for him, but now gift-opening was over and it was time for dessert! The best part of any cheat night!

"This is the fourth time, Kazu-kun—" she said, impatience swelling in her voice, "—and if you make me call you over a fifth time, I'm gonna drag your skinny ass back to the table by your nostril with the help of this disposable chopstick. Do you hear me?"

That very possible looming threat made Kazuto recoil his head and wince as he thought of the implied pain. "Alright, alright! I give, Tomo! PC build boxes are being put down." He rose from the wingback chair and stretched a little, loosening his back, before following her to the dining room once more.

Maybe I was a little too harsh. Kazu gets that love of tech from his parents, so it's natural to him. "Sorry if I was getting more violent about that than usual, hey – I picked out the entire dessert selection with your mother and I've been anticipating this part all day."

"Ehe, don't worry, Tomo. I know how much of a foodie you are," he replied.

Eating healthy and with plenty of fresh flavour was normal for her everyday diet, but cheat days and cheat weeks were always welcome, as she knew he'd learned from their dates. Sometimes people wondered how she could wolf down enough for someone half again her weight and stay not just healthy but also lean. And yet, the answer was simple: every single day was a day to work out for her. It honestly hurt more for her to skip out on a day's exercise – even a slower part of her fine-tuned routine – than to get the heart rate up and the blood pumping. Tomo had reached that point where going without fitness and conditioning made her body feel like something crucial was missing; she had embedded it into her subconscious rhythms.

The sounds of everyone else's voices, all chatting as they waited for the last two members of the evening's celebration to arrive, roused her from her thoughts. Although dessert wasn't a 'main meal' in the strictest sense of the word, here, Christmas dessert was a key part of the whole affair, and it would be remiss of them to ignore the tradition of starting it off together. Hence why she had to bring her boyfriend back to the waiting dinner table.

As they entered, both Tomo and Kazuto fended off joking prods at the lovebirds taking their time and shot back at family on both sides. For the first time, the Hosaka and Kirigaya families were celebrating Christmas together, united in no small part by Tomo's older brothers wondering who her boyfriend really was. As she'd expected, Kazuto passed their informal tests with flying colours. Kyokushin and boxing were undoubtedly worth their salt as combat arts – and his interest in the design of firearms, as well as his passion for the bleeding edge of information technology, were both admirable as aspirations for a future career. The whole day had been filled with good conversation and great food, so the Hosaka tradition of coming together one last time for Christmas dessert was a fitting way to wrap up the night.

And damn was there a lot of sugar on those big serving platters. An arrangement of individual blueberry lemon curd sundaes, sticky rice with halved grapes and mango slices, a Black Forest gâteau, and of course one gorgeously decorated Christmas sponge cake. Everybody took their slice of the Christmas cake and then served up what they wanted of the rest, with Tomo adding her boyfriend's sundae to her selection right as he plated up a double serve of gâteau cake on his tray.

Blueberries were pretty high on her list of liked fruits, which worked out well with Kazuto's preference for cherries over most berries. We don't really try to feed each other, like you'd see in the movies. That just takes too long. It's all about the convenience of it. And goddamn is this sundae way too delicious to wait for.

They sat beside each other in leather-cushioned wooden dining chairs at an adjacent smaller table, bringing the seats close enough to lean against each other's shoulders as they did. Eyes closed with pure contentment, Tomo hummed to herself as she ate, a tune she had long forgotten the name of playing in her mind.

At some point, after a long but comfortable silence in which they ate together, Kazuto turned to look at her more directly.

"Y'know, you eat like a lady even when you're gorging yourself on desserts. It's cute."

She paused with the tablespoon she'd chosen in her mouth, then pulled it free, looking over to gently gesture at his face. "I'm pretty sure it's just the big spoon making my life easier. Plus, the sundaes are cold; I wouldn't want to give myself brain freeze."

"True, you've got ice cream where I have extra cake on my plate," he agreed, going back for a couple more bites. "Mm-mmmh~! This Black Forest cake is so fluffy, it's absolutely divine. Do you know the baker? I'm sure my family would want to buy from them in the future."

"My ma will probably tell yours, y'know. Oh, wait, you've got something– lemme just…" Trailing off mid-sentence with a soft hum, she reached over and wiped away the spot of cream filling that had gotten onto his chin. It wasn't large, but it was still a bother to leave it there.

Before she could retract her hand and do away with the mess on her own terms, Kazuto darted his head forward and licked the cream off her presented index finger with a brief lavishing of tongue. Oh, is that what you want, now~? Her whole body shivered in response to his touch, but she kept the visible extent of her reaction under wraps to keep him from pressing the advantage. Instead, she reached forward again and slowly traced a heart shape over his lips and chin with the same finger, smiling as he reacted to the moisture against his skin with a blink.

"Aren't you going to finish your cake before you have mine, big boy~?" Tomo leaned into the sultry purr that came naturally as she spoke, drawing out the syllables of those last two words to great effect.

Her boyfriend blushed at the sudden desire lacing her words, and she emphasised it by pushing her finger back between his lips, playing with his supple tongue. A moan escaped him as the back of her fingernail brushed gently against the hard roof of his mouth, followed by the tip of her short fingernail scraping at his tongue and the insides of both cheeks. She could tell he was already lost in the sensations, his eyes closed and breaths shuddering, when she licked her own lips in preparation. Smiling to herself, Tomo hooked the tip of her finger downwards and slowly pulled his head towards hers by the inside of his jaw.

C'mere, Kazu~

Kazuto's eyes remained closed even as he seemed to realise what she wanted, even as they both slowly stood to maintain balance. As her index finger went slack and slipped free of his mouth, her other hand wrapped around the back of his head and pulled him the rest of the way into a deep kiss.

Oh god yes…

They already knew each other's favourite parts of passionate kissing, due to experience. With a low sound somewhere between pleased hum and ardent moan, she nipped the tip of his searching tongue – right as he slipped his fingers into her hair and leaned back just enough to make her reflexively tug on his head with her own hand. Carding through her hair, his slender fingers felt electric, as she swore jolts of something ran down her body from her skull to her toes with every curl and stroke of her short locks.

It made her redouble her own efforts, her now-free hand sliding down from his back to grope his ass, as she now scraped her teeth against the length of his long tongue. His butt was supple under her hand and a pleasant shape to squeeze, so squeeze she did. The way her grip dug into the plump muscle drew another sound of pleasure from his throat, and she pulled his hips closer to hers, heedless of their surroundings as they drew together. Stout spool-heeled boots kept her stable as she grinded against him, feeling the strain against his linen pants and the urgency in his own body.

Naturally, one of his hands slid down from her head, across the fabric of her blouse, and over her spray-on jeans to seize her own ass. Thanks to his larger hand, the entire swell of her cheek fit into his slender-fingered grip – something she loved just as much now as she ever had. He kneaded her ass right back, eliciting a purr from her throat as their kiss continued. She searched his mouth with her tongue the same way he had entered hers, so they entwined again and again. Their faces never strayed far apart, even when the hand he kept in her hair tugged playfully on her locks, since she would lean into the grip placed on the back of his head. In fact, their bodies were so close and so united that she began to lose awareness of where her own self ended and his person began. But that was fine by her.

Their deep embrace went on long enough that she abandoned her sense of time, yet Tomo wouldn't let her boyfriend stop till she was satisfied.

You're mine, you know that? I may be yours, but you're always gonna be bound by this love to me. You're mine, and nothing in the universe will change that. Understood?

Good.

Eventually, she loosened the hold she had on his head and his hips, and let the embrace be broken. Her eyes immediately met his, the heat in her still-hungry gaze matching the fire she saw stoked within his own. She felt her weighty breaths and how close she was to panting like a dog – saw how Kazuto was breathing the same way. There was a moment where her body screamed to resume and take him now, damn the circumstances, but her mind shut down that urge as she recalled where they were.

"God, sis, you made the whole room warmer."

The youngest of her brothers, Ryukai, broke the silence that had ensued. His own face was slightly red, though that was more from alcohol and visible embarrassment, if the bottle in his hand was anything to go by. That fearsome part of her body still howling for union with Kazuto turned to Ryukai and levelled an unreadable expression his way, before she again dragged it back under control and shot her tipsy brother a little smile. Being closest in age, she related to him the most of her siblings, though he was also the one that drank the most sake by far, while she abstained for mental clarity. Regardless, she didn't want to put him or anyone else at the table in an uneasy situation, so she spoke up.

"Well. I guess it's about time for my boyfriend and I to take our leave, isn't it? My bedroom's far enough upstairs. Thanks for all the food, mama, papa, Mrs. Kirigaya," said Tomo, her voice much calmer than she was expecting. It was evident to herself that underneath her clothes was a rather hungry body, and being so close to her man kept her very much aroused. Guess my mind really is strong as an anvil when it needs to be. I was all but expecting to be husky-throated after that.

Her parents and Kazuto's mum all bowed their heads when thanked, excusing both her and her boyfriend from the room. Without further delay, she shifted her grip to take one of his arms in both hands to lead him over and up the stairs.

"Neh, Tomo-chan? Sis?"

Another voice – her eldest brother, Yuutarou – called to her right as she was mid-stride. She looked back over one shoulder to meet his gaze and tilted her head in confusion. Was there something important she'd missed in the midst of all of this?

He paused to mull over the words that he wanted before he continued. "There's a gift someone left at your door, so don't forget about it." No further elaboration was forthcoming.

"Aaah. Thanks." What does that even mean, big bro? Seriously?

It took Kazuto only twenty more seconds to figure it out, once they'd rounded the banister at the top of the staircase. After that, it took Tomo only three seconds more to realise what he was indicating. And she was quite surprised, to put it lightly.

Someone had hung up mistletoe over the doorway into her bedroom.

There was no avoiding the twig, and taking it down would also go against the spirit of the night. Some obscure memory crept forth from a distant corner of her mind, where she once read that the older days of this tradition involved removing a berry after each kiss, and a berryless mistletoe would no longer enforce the couple's connection. But that was irrelevant. Right now, Tomo was hanging onto her self-control by a fraying thread, and she knew that her boyfriend was, too. They had been holding onto the need for privacy as their last reason for showing restraint, but this was an invitation – no, an encouragement in their eyes – to abandon that idea and pick up right where they had left off.

"Shall we?"

Kazuto waited till they were within reach of the closed door before he nodded. She immediately responded by flinging off her baggy t-shirt in one fervent but fluid motion, yanking open the door to her bedroom and throwing the cloth as far across the room as she could. Enraptured, his gaze magnetised to her body, and she used that distraction to give her the time she needed to seize the front of her boyfriend's raglan long sleeve and rip. A satisfying sound filled the air between them as the heather grey fabric tore in two. Her hands moved up to make sure the v-neck collar didn't impede her planned results, and then she encouraged the ruined shirt off of his figure.

There we are. My gorgeous man, my lover.

While he wasn't broad of frame or a specimen of sheer brawn, he was lean enough to constantly possess that wiry, chiseled body of an active adept climber and callisthenics athlete. Summer bod every day, got 'em saying 'damn, okay'. She'd improved his routine by introducing him to these new pursuits, from there enhancing his physique and giving him greater confidence as a karateka. In a sense, removing his shirt was the best way to reveal her boyfriend's progress and the work they'd put in together. And you've come a long way, Kazu baby.

Tomo's admiration of the body before her was interrupted by the feeling of a warm bare hand against her abdomen. It was neither ticklish nor forceful, and at first it lingered. Now each and every breath she took was one of very conscious self-awareness, knowing that Kazuto had begun to caress the contours of her own muscled form. There was a practiced gentleness in his motions, a deliberate slowness; she thought of a sightless man who stood before a sculpture, tracing the expanse of the work. His attention was laser focused on this exploration with one hand – oh, never mind, that makes both hands – and she couldn't find a shred of will to disrupt him. Of course, he had seen her midriff before, even her full nude figure, but she knew he'd lost none of his pure admiration for her body as he touched her skin.

The raging desire for him was still fully present, though. Her initial surprise at his contact wore off as she remembered what she had removed both of their shirts for, and so she resumed her advance from earlier with much vigour. Right as he began to roam her body with more confidence and intent, she reached up to Kazuto's face with both of her own hands, cupping his cheeks. She watched his eyes pull away from her physique to meet her gaze, and she smiled at her boyfriend cheekily before she suddenly snatched the back of his head and yanked him into another kiss.

This one wasn't quite where they left off last, but she sure liked it even more. His first reaction was to pull her tighter, palms against her bare lower back and fingers pushing down on the waistband of her jeans, exposing some of her ass. She loved it when he took just enough initiative that their choices flowed together, their bodies and minds communicating without words to make for a perfect embrace. When her tongue pushed its way inside his mouth, her boyfriend's tongue swirled into hers with a raw intensity he hadn't shown before. That's more like it, babe.

Her left hand snaked down his shirtless figure, letting her relish in the feeling of his muscles along the way to grabbing his ass once more. Instinctively, she snuck inside his pants to feel the pliance of his unclothed butt in the same way that he fondled hers. There was an added layer of intensity in not fully undressing, in being too impatient to wait and retaining a slim façade of decency. A part of her subconscious especially loved that Kazuto could feel the lacy edge of the deep wine red pair of panties she had chosen for this day, matched to that silky push-up bra with extensive lacework she was right now pressing into his chest. I saved up for these comfy sexy babies for three months and they're already proving their worth. God, I don't think he's ever been this hard.

Indeed, there was an urgency in her boyfriend's movements that clued Tomo into his peak arousal. Where he had been almost floating through their earlier kiss, spellbound by her assertive advance upon him, this time every fibre of his being had been activated by seeing her strip off her shirt with such allure and practiced ease. From his tongue's ferocity in wrestling across both their mouths and his ragged breathing to his hands now all but glued to her ass – kneading both cheeks like the plump hot buns they were – and even his active lean into her body. Before, their embrace had been a sublime entwinement of both bodies and souls; now, it was all carnal passions and no shred of higher sentiments.

Yeah. You know what? Let's kick this up a notch.

With a sudden decisiveness, Tomo broke the body to body connection and the potently ardent kiss. She cradled her head beside Kazuto's neck to prevent him from kissing again, and kept him off balance with both the collar tie grip on his head as well as her other hand extended in a frame, which kept his loins away from grinding against hers. Sorry to use my grappling against you, hun, but I have plans.

"Trust me," was all she murmured.

It was enough to make the young man who loved her so fiercely regain some self-control as he eased off in trying to fight her hold on him – a reaction that made her next move much easier.

Before doing anything else, she double checked the floor and what she could see of the hallway to make sure that he was positioned in front of her open doorway. Perfect. Stepping in, she scooped her hand behind his closer knee and lifted up, picking up the leg that had most of his weight as she let go of his neck. He began to hop backwards as she continued to advance, and then she pushed him away by letting go of his leg. Right as he began to recover his balance, she rushed forward and jumped into a glomp hug with all four limbs wrapping around his bare torso.

"Oof—!"

The momentum in this connection threw their combined centre of gravity behind him, causing Kazuto to fall backwards—

—and crash onto her bed.

Pressed against him as she was, she both felt and heard the breath whoosh out of his lungs as their bodies slammed into the mattress, leaving him with a brief fit of coughing. And then came the chuckling, which escaped from both of them. Tomo was very pleased that she'd pulled off that plan, and she could tell Kazuto was relieved that she'd achieved her goals without injuring either of them – especially when his head could have hit something else.

"That's one way to get onto the bed fast, babe. But, please, Tomo, can we agree to never do that again? Ever?"

She propped herself up on her hands to look into his eyes and pouted. "Not even when we get our own house and buy a super-sized California King bed that barely fits in the master bedroom?" Even knowing the safety risks, it had been a lot of fun for her.

Kazuto could never win against her pouting face, and they both knew it. "…fine, but only then. And only once."

"I'll make sure you know enough about grappling by then that you can do it back to me. Sound fair?" she asked.

"…I'm not gonna have any real say in this matter at all, am I?"

"You jump out of windows to leave rooms!" Tomo countered. "And you don't even do parkour!"

"Wh– w– well, at least my shihan in Kyokushin taught us ukemi for receiving throws…."

The eyebrow she raised at that paltry reply rose sharply. "You're talking to the amateur fighter who grew up with judo, Kazuto."

He had nothing left to defend himself with, and his gaze broke away from her face in the wake of such embarrassment. "A-anyway, aren't we here to get busy with less clothes? That's why you have that matching fancy red lingerie today, right?" I see he's a perceptive man – not every guy would be on top of that little detail.

"Y'know, you're absolutely right. Oh, and before you ask, I got on the pill after the last time we went at it, so no condoms need to get in the way from here on out."

The realisation on his face ran through several stages, each one more amusing to see than the last, till he had cast away all restraint and left only a newfound arousal.

"Don't bother closing that door, then, honey. They'll hear every syllable either way."

Endnotes:

This one took longer than expected, and is much longer than I first anticipated. Here's hoping the others aren't so long.

Next up – Secrets.