Chapter Ninety Nine: Once Upon a Christmas

Takashi's POV

Christmas morning I woke up early, wanting to get breakfast started and to mitigate Hana a bit so Sumi could sleep in. When I walked into the kitchen, I found Hana in the family room, trying to find all of her presents. She had already separated out enough of them to make a path to the tree and the TV. She had The Nightmare Before Christmas playing as she sorted through the gifts.

"Hana…" I said her name to get her attention, she looked over at me. "Stick to your stocking for now, we're going to wait for Mom to open the rest of the gifts."

"Okay." She agreed, going back to the couch with her stocking. "Are you going to open yours?"

Shaking my head, I told her, "No, I'm going to start breakfast."

"Can I help?"

"If you want." I answered. She immediately set down her stocking and joined me in the kitchen. I knew as soon as I told her that she could, it was what she would want to do. If Sumi and I were doing something in the kitchen or going out, she'd want to too. Most times, unless it was a date night and we had already gotten a babysitter for her or if whatever we were making in the kitchen wasn't easy for her to help us with, we'd let her.

"What are we making?"
"I was thinking pancakes." I told her.

"Can we put chocolate chips and candy canes in them?" She asked.

"In yours we can." I told her. I'd probably put some cinnamon in mine and a little chocolate and cinnamon in Sumi's. "Go get a couple from the tree." She quickly went to the tree without a word to grab the candy canes. She came back with three. I raised an eyebrow at her, "I said two."

She opened one of the candy canes, stuck it in her mouth, and then gestured to the other two on the island counter. "Two."

I smiled at her amused, "Just try to save a few for your mother."

She nodded.

Kimi's POV

Since Ranka and Haruhi had been so welcoming and so kind to me while I had been living with them, I wanted to do something more for them for the holiday. When they had talked about how they normally spent Christmas, they expressed that they typically order something to be delivered for brunch and they open gifts while they wait. I thought it would be nice instead of them spending money, I could make them breakfast for the holiday instead. I went grocery shopping last night after the two went to bed. By the time Haruhi was awake, I had finished with the pastry spread I had put together, which contained cinnamon rolls, cream cheese danishes, and a gingerbread coffee cake.

"Morning." I greeted Haruhi with a smile.

"Hey, you're up early." She said surprised, "What's all this?"

"I thought I'd make breakfast." I responded, "I have a few different pastries if you want. I have spiced caramel cider that's ready. I also picked up some coffee in case you guys want that, it's a dark chocolate hazelnut flavor. I can start that after your dad wakes up. I have a sausage breakfast casserole in the oven too. It's got another twenty minutes."

"This is awesome, thank you." She picked up one of the cream cheese danishes, taking a bite. "This is amazing."

"Thanks." I told her, pouring her a mug of cider. "You'll have to let me know what you think of this, it's a new recipe."

"Is there anything I can help with?"

"I don't think so." I replied, "The last of the food is in the oven and I cleaned as I went so I don't think there's anything left."

"So do you have any plans today?"

"Hikaru and I are going to do something later tonight." I answered, "He hasn't said what yet."

"I'm sure you guys will have a good time regardless."

"I'd like to think so." I agreed, "Our gift exchange will be fun to say the least, both of our stockings have gag gifts. I also made him some candy from scratch."

Reiko's POV

Carefully, I got out of bed, doing my best not to wake Mitsu. Feeling that there might be an unexpected visitor coming, I showered, got ready, and pulled out the gifts I hadn't set out yet. After setting out the rest of his gifts under the tree, I went into the kitchen to start brunch. I had some time, it's not like he ever woke up willingly before 10 am. As I started to put together the peppermint hot chocolate in the crockpot, the doorbell rang. Sighing at the thought that I couldn't even get brunch together before whomever decided to visit, I went to answer the door.

"Happy Christmas, Yorihisa, Mayumi, Yasuchika." I greeted Mitsu's family. I don't know how they interpreted Mitsu and I wanting to spend our first Christmas as a couple together at home as an invitation to come Christmas morning, but there was no sense in being bitter about it now as they were already here. Yorihisa, who clearly understood our meaning, gave an apologetic look when his wife, Mayumi, was not looking. Yasuchika looked annoyed that he was awake and here.

"Merry Christmas Reiko." Mayumi greeted me as I let them inside, "I thought since you and Mitsukuni wanted to spend Christmas at home, we'd come to you. The holidays are about family and it's not like you two have any children to keep you busy."

I bit my tongue at her mention of kids. It made no sense why she was mentioning it, given our age. We weren't very old, he was 19 and I was 18. We weren't ready and we weren't going to be ready for at least a few years at minimum. However, our objections typically went one ear and out the other. Everytime we visited with his family since he got married, his mother brought up the subject of kids. In all honesty, the idea of pregnancy freaks me out. I love kids and I eventually wanted them, but actually having them and going through it scares me to my core. And I don't have to face my fear on that yet because Mitsu wasn't ready to be a parent either. At this point, I let Mitsu deal with the conversations about children with his mother.

"That was nice of you guys." I responded after a moment. Yasuchika shot me a look that clearly called me a liar, which I'll admit that I was, but I wasn't going to be rude either. "Please make yourselves comfortable in the living room, I will go get Mitsu."

After they sat down in the living room, I quickly went to wake up Mitsu. When I got to our room, he was still sound asleep. Against my better judgement to let him continue to sleep, I selfishly woke him up. I didn't want to handle his mother by myself. She's a lovely woman, but she was very opinionated and it was difficult to make any argument against her that she'd listen to. The only one who could make her temporarily back off was Mitsu.

"Rei, I thought we weren't going to do the whole early morning Christmas thing." Mitsu grumbled, "I'm surprised you're up."

"I was gonna start breakfast for us, but we ended up having company." I told him, "Your family is sitting in our living room."

He groaned, "Getting up, give me like 15 - 20 minutes and I'll be out."

"Okay." I left to join Mitsu's family in the living room, "Mitsu will be out in a bit. Do you guys want any coffee or tea or anything? I had just started making breakfast when you arrived."

"Tea would be great." Yorihisa answered, "If you're busy in the kitchen, we are more than capable of entertaining ourselves."

"Thank you, I'll be right out with your tea." I responded before going back to the kitchen.

After I finished prepping the peppermint hot chocolate, I put on the kettle for their tea. While that was boiling, I turned my attention to breakfast. Knowing his family was not fond of sweets, I looked through my recipes to find a savory dish along with the one I was intending to make for me and Mitsu. After putting together a quiche for his family, I made red velvet waffles for me and Mitsu. By the time I was finished making breakfast, Mitsu was already sitting with his family. He was mostly talking to his dad. His mother had a vexed expression much to Yasuchika's amusion.

"Rei, do you need any help in the kitchen?" Mitsu asked kindly. As much as I would have loved to say yes, I enjoyed it when he helped me in the kitchen, I was already finished.

"Breakfast is ready actually if you're ready to eat."

"Great." Mitsu smiled, "Mom, Dad, and Chika are only staying for breakfast, they have other things to do today. They also know we're not going to be home much today, we have plans this afternoon."

"Okay." I responded befuddled as he and his family stood. His family passed by us as they made their way to the dining room that we rarely ever used. "I guess we're eating in there…"

"I'll help you bring the food out." He slipped his hand into mine.

Hikaru's POV

Five minutes into my parent's annual Christmas party and I was already bored. There was no way I was staying here the entire duration of the party. Hell, I didn't even want to stay another ten minutes. Kaoru looked as bored as I was.

"I vote we ditch." I told him.

"What do you want to do?" Kaoru asked curiously.

"I don't know what you want to do, but I was hoping to go pick up Kimi and go to that old beach house mom and dad used to take us to when we were kids."

"You know, I don't think the boss had any plans; you could probably drop me off at his house before you go pick up Kimi." Kaoru suggested.

"What about Carmen?" I asked him, "You're supposed to be her escort or whatever."

He shrugged, "We take her with us and we drop her off wherever she wants to go."

Groaning, I replied, "Go get her, hopefully she doesn't want to go anywhere out of our way."

"I'll see what I can do." He replied before going to get Carmen. When he came back with Carmen by his side, he said, "Carmen's gonna hang out with me and Tamaki, we're gonna go in my car though because we're gonna pick up a few things."

"I felt bad that Tamaki-Senpai was spending Christmas alone." Carmen said softly, "No one should have to spend the holidays alone."

"That's where I told Mom and Dad, you'll be too in case they ask." Kaoru told me, "I also texted Tamaki, he invited Carmen and I to stay with him through New Year's and said if you and Kimi feel like joining us you're more than welcome too."

"I'll see what Kimi wants to do, we might join you guys New Year's Eve." I replied as we made our way to the garage to get our cars. It's not like we'd trust a driver to take us, they'd tell our parents. After Kaoru got into his red BMW M340i with Carmen and drove off towards Tamaki's house, I got in my blue one, thankful I had the foresight to put Kimi's gifts in the backseat of the car last night so I wouldn't forget them.

When I got to Haruhi's apartment, Ranka answered the door. He was in pajamas and had most of his hair in a bun, he looked like he had been up long enough to have coffee. I felt kind of bad for coming over so early. He smiled softly though and said, "C'mon in, Hikaru. Kimi mentioned you'd be by sometime today to pick her up. I think she thought you'd be by later this afternoon though, she's getting ready." He shut the door behind me and I followed into the kitchen. "Kimi was nice enough to make breakfast. There's still some pastries left if you want any."

"Sure, thank you."

"Would you prefer a danish or a piece of gingerbread coffee cake?" Ranka offered.

"The gingerbread coffee cake please."

"Good cause I want the last danish." He replied.

We both sat down at the table with our pastries and made small talk while I waited for Kimi. He had asked what we were up to and how long we'd be gone, both questions I had been expecting. I was honest with him, telling him that we were going to my family's beach house, that we might be spending New Years with Tamaki, and that I would have her back on New Years day. He treated her like she was his daughter and I respected that. She deserves someone who sees her like that. She deserved a family. I couldn't always provide her that right now.

"Hikaru!" Kimi greeted me happily as she came out of the room she shared with Haruhi. She was as beautiful as always dressed in a white crochet sweater with a mint green shirt underneath and distressed stone washed jeans. Her long black hair, which was usually up, was loose and framed her face perfectly. I smiled as she sat down next to me. "I thought you weren't coming til later."

"I wanted to see you." I told her.

"What about the party?" She tilted her head, "Didn't it just start?"

"I didn't want to stay." I responded, "I hate those parties, most of the people don't even know which twin I am and don't see me as an individual. I'd rather spend my time with the person who does. I was thinking we would go to the beach house and hang out and then maybe spend the New Year with Tamaki, Kaoru, and Carmen."

"Okay." She agreed, "Let me go get your gifts and we can go." She stood and went back to the room she shared with Haruhi.

"If one of you could text me when you get there so I know you got there safely and when you go to see Tamaki, I would appreciate it." Ranka told me, standing and picking up both of our empty plates. I nodded and promised we would.

When Kimi came out with my stocking and another little box, I lifted the stocking out of her hand and took her hand in mine. We bid Ranka goodbye, wished him and Haruhi a merry Christmas, and headed out the door. As we walked to my car, I teased, "I thought we were only exchanging stockings, you got me something else?"

"I made you something." She replied blushing a little. She looked nervous.

After setting the gifts in the backseat next to the ones I got for her, I kissed her cheek, "I made you something too."

Yuki's POV

As Kyoya and I hung out in the hotel room, I couldn't help but stare at him every now and again. I had found myself doing this while we were out too. I loved how relaxed and at ease he was. He was happy, going with the flow, and eating things his rich palette would have criticized back in Japan. It was surprising, but a nice change of pace. Noticing my gaze, he self-consciously asked, "What?"

"You're happy here with me, right?" I confirmed.

Snaking his arms around my waist, he pulled me close to him. He kissed my shoulder and my cheek, "Yes, you know that. What spurned on this?"

Leaning against his chest, I told him, "I've just noticed you've been acting a little different since we got here. It's not a bad thing, just a little surprised at the things you've been willing to go along with and the stuff you've been willing to eat."

"I knew things would be different when I came here, that a lot of the things I was used to were not going to be a part of my life here." He replied, "I knew in exchange for the material things I was losing, I'd have something more worthwhile." He shifted us slightly and kissed me softly. "I love you."

"I love you too." I kissed him lightly.

"What would you like to do for the rest of the night?"

"You." I answered, "We can do something else if you're too tired."

Pulling me onto his lap from where I was sitting next to him on the couch, he kissed me fervently. Once I responded to the kiss ardently, he stood - picking me up - and walked us into the bedroom, never breaking the kiss. Reluctantly, I broke the kiss as he set me down on the bed.

"Do we still have-" I started to ask.

"I picked up another box while we were out." He answered before I could finish.

"How did I miss that?" I asked as he laid down next to me.

"You went next door to pick up something for us to eat while I got the last of what we needed."

"Oh yeah." I responded, thinking about the events of this afternoon. "Was there anything else we needed to get for the house?"

"Yes, but they're things that can wait until we move in." He answered, "I did order that furniture that we were looking at that you liked. It's arriving on the 27th. I have a list of what's left on my phone that we can pick up on the 26th after we move into the house." He then asked, "What do you want to do tomorrow?"

"Stay here, I guess." I responded, "We still have leftovers from dinner and we picked up pastries for tomorrow. We could watch some movies, open gifts, and hang out. That way you could sleep in and I'll hang out in the morning and watch a movie or something."

Pressing against me, he asked, "You don't want to sleep in with me?"

Slipping my arms around his neck, resting them on his shoulders, I replied, "I'd have to stay up really late to sleep in as late into the morning as you do."

"I think we could manage that." He kissed me lightly, "If you're not too tired."

Kaoru's POV

After Carmen and I picked up a few gifts from the only place that ended up being open - a commoner's convenience store - and picked up a change of clothes for Carmen, we headed over to Tamaki's house. He happily invited us in once we arrived and showed us to the rooms we'd be staying in. Once I set down my things in the guest bedroom, I went to join Tamaki in the media room.

"I was thinking maybe we could watch a movie." Tamaki suggested, "I don't know Carmen well enough, so I didn't know if I should have set up the game system."

"I don't know either." I replied, "We haven't hung out a lot, you'd have to ask if she'd be interested in playing. Kimi and Hikaru would have been."

"What are they up to?" He asked, "I'm a little surprised the three of you aren't together."

"They went to our family's beach house together." I responded, "They wanted some time to themselves."

"Are you okay with that?" He asked.

"Yeah." I replied generally since I wasn't sure about which person he was talking about or if it was both of them. I was okay with their relationship and that Hikaru has been spending more time with Kimi as time passed. It was healthy for him to want to spend time with her and I was happy for them.

"It doesn't make you feel awkward?"

Shaking my head, I responded, "No, Hikaru has more in common with Kimi than I do and they bring out a part of each other they rarely show on their own."

"Why would Kimi and Hikaru's relationship make him feel awkward?" Carmen asked, walking into the room. I couldn't remember if I had told her about the fact that I had dated Kimi.

Not knowing how much Carmen knew, Tamaki casually told her, "Because they used to date."

Carmen tilted her head at him and then looked to me for confirmation. In all honesty, I didn't see why she'd care. Kimi and my relationship was over before I even met her, we're just friends, and while I may be intended to her, we're not dating. It was no concern of hers who I dated as long as I wasn't dating anyone now. This was an arrangement made by our parents and I was changing places with my brother to keep it. I liked her, but who I've dated and if they're still in my life now was none of her business.

"Yeah, we dated." I replied nonchalantly.

"It's kind of weird that she went from dating one twin to dating the other." She commented.

"No, it's not." I responded annoyed, "Just because she and I dated doesn't mean that Hikaru couldn't date her. He was the one who asked her out, not that it really matters."

"I guess not." She replied uncomfortably.

"So how about a movie?" Tamaki changed the subject. He held up a few DVDs, trying to ease the tension. "I could have a maid bring us some popcorn and soda."

"A movie sounds great." I agreed.

Sumi's POV

The smell of cinnamon wafted through the house filling my senses as I stumbled into the kitchen around noon. I hadn't slept that late in ages, it was nice. I had been planning to wake up earlier though given the day.

"Morning…" Takashi greeted, kissing my cheek and handing me a cup of tea. "How'd you sleep?"

"Good." I answered, taking a sip of my tea. "Why didn't you wake me? I would have gotten up."

"I know." He replied, "You looked so peaceful, I didn't want to wake you. It's been awhile since I've seen you sleep like that." He rested his arms around my shoulders.

"Where's Hana?"

"Shower." He answered, "She's already eaten. We wanted to wait for you to open gifts."

"What about you?"

"I wanted to wait for you." He responded, "How do you feel about pancakes?"

"That sounds good." I leaned back into him.

"Chocolate cinnamon okay?"

"Yeah." I answered. He kissed my head and prepared both of our plates.

By the time both of us were finished with our food, Hana was dressed and sitting in front of her gifts. She opened her gifts as Takashi and I each got another cup of coffee. Neither of us were in a rush, we didn't even start to open our gifts until Hana started setting them in our hands. As she was consumed with opening her gifts, Takashi and I talked about easy things that we could make for dinner. After a while, we settled on pasta since it was simple; it didn't hurt that vegetables could be added to it and Hana would actually eat them. We also talked about New Years and how we wanted to spend that until Hana brought us back to the present moment.

Hunny's POV

My family finally left after quarter to two. I loved my family, but my mother knew we wanted to be alone today. She decided to come and bring Dad and Chika with her. There was nothing they would have been able to do to stop her. If they had said no, she would have just dropped by on her own. It was the same thing with our wedding. We told her we wanted to plan it on our own and she still took over all of our plans. The only way we'd be able to have a holiday to ourselves was if we left, which was what we were going to do. When Reiko told me that my mom invited herself and the rest of the family here, I started looking up flights to take us anywhere for New Year's. Since my classes didn't start up again until the 6th, I arranged for us to be gone from tomorrow through the fifth. I booked a hotel in Osaka and we could decide later what we did on the day, if we did anything at all.

"So where are we going?" Reiko asked as she poured us each another cup of hot chocolate.

"I thought we'd drive down to Osaka." I answered, lifting the mug out of her hands. "I know it's a long drive, but I thought it'd be a nice escape. I booked a hotel for a little over a week. We can do anything you want, I just ask that we spend the New Year like we did last year."

She smiled, "When do we leave?"

"Early tomorrow morning." I told her, "I can drive if you want so you can sleep and we can stop halfway to get something to eat."

"Okay, but you'll have to let me drive after lunch, so you can nap." She replied, "We should probably open our gifts so we know what we want to pack."

"Is there anything else like what I opened last night?"

"I guess you'll have to open them and see." She answered, which confirmed there was.

Kyoya's POV

"Yuki, your phone…" I groaned, hearing her alarm go off. Normally, I would be thankful that she had her alarm connected to Spotify. However, we went to bed only an hour ago. It needed to be turned off.

"You get it…" She murmured half asleep. Trying to go back to sleep, she turned on her side to rest her head on my chest. Knowing it would be easier for me to turn off the alarm than to have her do it, I reached over to her other side to get her phone. Doing my best not to wake her, I turned off her alarm. Wrapping my arms around her, I pulled her close and fell asleep.

Light flooding into the room led me to waking up what seemed like hours later. However, unlike how I fell asleep, I woke up alone. Stumbling tiredly out into the living area, I found Yuki on the couch watching Scrooged. I stopped in silence to watch the scene the film was at with the ghost of Christmas present. After the scene, I sat down next to Yuki.

Resting my arm around her shoulders, I commented, "I thought the plan was to sleep in, how long have you been out here?"

"Not very." She answered, leaning into me, "I turned the movie on right around the time he called Marion from Raiders."

"So what do you want to do today?"

"I don't know, I'll probably shower after this." She gestured to the TV, "Christmas Story's on next and I've never really been a fan of it, so might as well.

"Nothing else on?" I asked, a little amused with her timing.

"Jingle All the Way, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, Bad Santa, and Krampus." She rattled off.

"So this was the only good option."

"I'd say so."

"When do you want open gifts?"

"Probably after we shower." She answered, "What do you want to do today?"

"We can make it up as we go." I kissed her softly.