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Candy Canes for Christmas
Shuichi sneezed.
It was cold. Of course it was cold, it was winter. No, it wasn't winter, it was Christmas!
'Yuuuki....!' he wailed.
Silence.
What had he done this time?
Okay, rephrase that.... What had he done this time that was different to all the other times?
'Yuuuki! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!'
Approaching footsteps caught his attention and he turned, sniffing quietly. The streetlamps were already flickering, lighting a familiar face in the early evening gloom.
'What's my cold hearted brother done to you this time?'
Shuichi pouted as Tatsuha made his way to the door. 'He's not cold! Yuki is sweet and kind...'
The younger boy turned to look at him, as if waiting for something.
Shuichi sneezed.
'Uh-huh, so what are you doing out here?'
'I don't know... I mean, I do, I just, I don't, I was only...'
Tatsuha raised his finger to push the buzzer.
'Don't!' Shuichi yelped, running to intercept. 'I mean, I wouldn't, um, Yuki must have kicked me out for a reason, right?'
'Ah, so he kicked you out?' Tatsuha grinned.
'No! Not at all, he just...umm...' he began to sniff again, louder this time.
'Okay, okay, don't cry. Come on, let's get away from here for a bit.'
'Kay...' Shuichi sniffed, then mumbled '...I was only trying to warm him up...'
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It was already getting dark as they sat down at the park bench, shivering in the cold air.
'Candy cane?' Tatsuha offered a box to Shuichi, who stared blankly. 'Do you want one? To eat? You know?'
'Oh, right, sorry.' He took one and stared at it, the red stripes making him cross-eyed.
'Cheer up, this is supposed to be a happy time! Of goodwill and sugar and stuff.'
Shuichi sighed 'I suppose so.'
Tatsuha took a stick and began to suck, leaning back on the cold wood.
'You know,' he began. Shuichi looked up from his daze 'The sugar in these candy canes... is a lot like love.'
'It is?'
'Yeah.' He pulled the stick from his mouth and began to lick it, tracing the red stripe with his tongue as it spiralled down the minty core.
Shuichi looked at his own cane, untouched. He looked back at Tatsuha, his tongue moving with expert precision.
'You see,' the younger boy continued, looking up 'You're ever so careful to get it right, to get it going,' he nipped on the end of the cane again, before returning to the spiral, the red gradually fading as he worked over it.
'But then, you start to get impatient...' he began to suck again, harder this time, moving more of the stiff sweet into his mouth.
Shuichi stared, transfixed.
'And then...' he glanced up, words obstructed by the cane '...it's just too much, and you snap,' the stick broke into two with a crack. Tatsuha crunched the broken piece loudly, laughing to himself.
Shuichi winced.
'Yep, it's sweet and fresh and frustrating.' He carried on, voice sticky with sugar 'You're trying to savour it, but you know there's more to be had, and you want it right away, you want it now.' He began to crunch on the remaining stick, making his way up to the curve of the cane.
'But it's important to appreciate what you have, as you get to it,' he glanced back at Shuichi, now staring at his own stick. 'You can eat it you know, the sugar will warm you up.'
'Mmm.' Shuichi said, breaking the curved top of the cane off with his teeth.
'Ahh, you see, you approach it differently, getting the difficult part out of the way first.'
Shuichi crunched on the candy 'It's still as sweet.'
'If you think so.' Tatsuha said, coming to the bend in the cane 'Ahh, I bet Ryuichi tastes this sweet, maybe even sweeter...'
Pulling the stick from his mouth, Shuichi examined it critically. Yuki was definitely a little more...substantial... And not quite as sugary... Well, there was always room for experimentation...
He blushed.
Tatsuha turned back to his brother's lover, who was blushing despite his shivers, and smiled to himself. He twiddled the little hook of candy between his sticky fingers.
'Shuichi, when you think about it, the relationship between you and my brother is a lot like this.' He stopped turning and held it up on its side.
Shuichi blinked 'It's bent?'
'Yeah. But it's also indecisive,' he pointed to the chewed end 'You see, when something goes wrong, it starts to move away, trying to find an even surface again...' He traced a finger along the curve 'but once everything evens out again, it turns and heads back the way it came.' His finger came to the neat, unchewed end of the cane. 'But when it gets back, although it seems like nothing has changed...' he tapped the end 'it's actually at a new place, a little higher above where it started.'
'It moves?'
'It advances,' Tatsuha corrected.
'So what you're saying is...'
'What I'm saying is, you should go back to Yuki, praying he's calmed down, apologise, and everything will be fine.'
'It might even be better?' he asked hopefully, eyes lighting up.
Tatsuha shrugged 'Maybe. Who knows?'
Shuichi stood up, vigour renewed 'Thanks Tatsuha! I know Yuki will forgive me! Our love is as sweet as a candy cane and just as minty fresh!'
'Good luck,' the younger boy smiled, finishing off the long suffering sweet. 'I'm expecting a card!'
'Of course!' Shuichi called, already running back to the apartment, as fast as his frozen feet could manage.
'Oh! And give my brother this!' he threw a large, ribbon wrapped candy stick at Shuichi, who caught it, before vanishing down the road, waving as he did so.
Tatsuha sighed, now alone on the park bench. He picked up another candy cane and looked at it expectantly.
'It's just you and me now, Ryuichi...'
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Several days later, a small box found its way to Tatsuha. Attached was a card, and inside was written in Shuichi's typical pink scrawl...
Dear Tatsuha,
Thank you for your wonderful advice! Everything is going fine again, and I am being super careful and behaving this Christmas. I don't think Yuki likes the cold, it makes him hungry.
I think I shall buy him some new slippers - maybe even some pink fluffy ones to go with the yukata I bought him! Ah, but don't tell him, it's a SECRET!
I hope you are having a good holiday, and are keeping safe with plenty of candy and Nittle Grasper. After all, what would any season be without them?
Lots of love, Shuichi -xxx-
P.S. Yuki sent you some candy, too! Isn't that cute? He said you would 'know where to put it'. Ahh, so sweet! That's my Yuki!
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