What's up it's a cielbury oneshot nobody asked for but that I absolutely wanted to write. I just finished Kirapre this year! So hyped to have legal Precure streaming here in the States now! Anyways, Kirapre is filled with good ships but Cielbury really takes the top notch slot for me. Gotta love that dynamic!

As always, thanks for reading!

spread a little christmas cheer

canon: kira kira precure a la mode

characters: ciel kirahoshi, bibury

"Bibury, can you come here for a second?"

Narrowing her eyes, Bibury looked up from her slice of bûche de Noël- her twenty-fifth of the day, actually, but who was counting?

(Certainly not her.)

"What?" She asked, annoyed at having been interrupted. She'd already been inconvenienced by Elisio's ill-timed attack, she'd rather avoid any other annoyances today.

And if there was one thing Kirahoshi Ciel was, it was an annoyance.

"Now, now, don't sound like that." Ciel just smiled, making a beckoning motion with her hand. "Come here."

Bibury's frown deepened, but after a moment she simply heaved a sigh, setting down her plate. At least she never had to worry about the Precure stealing her food.

"Fine," she said, "-but make it quick."

Ciel's smile just grew, and Bibury had to avert her eyes. Not because it was a nice smile or anything like that- it was just so cheerful it was almost kind of annoying. She caught Julio- Pikario's- eye as she did, who just huffed, pointedly looking away. For just a second she swore she caught the edge of a bemused smile pulling at his lips, before Ciel took her by the wrist and led her away, back into the now empty storefront.

Oh. She hadn't realized she'd wanted her alone.

"So?" Bibury asked, once Ciel let her wrist go. "What was it that you wanted?"

"You know, Bibury," Ciel said, taking one step back, "-there's actually one Christmas tradition we haven't done yet."

"And?" Bibury asked. "Don't beat around the bush. What is it?"

Not that she was all that interested in Christmas. She just wanted to get this over with so she could go back and finish her cake. The Precure might not actively steal her food, but if she left for too long, there was a good chance that Pekorin could gobble most of what was left up. For such a little fairy, she had a pretty voracious appetite.

Well. Not that she was one to talk.

"Just one moment!" Ciel said, before ducking around to the other side of the counter.

Bibury watched her with mild interest as she dug around in the cabinets. What did she mean, one tradition they'd skipped? It wasn't like she knew all that much about Christmas- it hadn't exactly been big in Japan one hundred years ago, and it wasn't like they'd had Christmas celebrations in Noir's lair. This was the first time she'd ever celebrated it.

Honestly, she didn't feel as if she'd missed much.

"Ah, here it is!" Ciel exclaimed.

Before she could so much as ask, she'd popped back up, setting a wrapped box on the counter. She couldn't help but note that it was wrapped in green paper with unicorns printed on it.

"What, couldn't find a pegasus?" Bibury asked.

Ciel huffed slightly. "I did try to find some, but all they had were unicorns."

So she'd actually looked for some. Really, she didn't know why she was surprised. That sounded exactly like something Ciel would do.

...not that she knew her that well or anything. She was just crashing at her place because she had nowhere else to go, that was all.

"Anyways," Ciel said, coughing into her hand before she slid the present closer to her, "-this is for you."

Bibury blinked. Then blinked again.

"Why would you give me a present?" Bibury asked, instantly suspicious. "You didn't even give any to the Precure."

"We all agreed that today's party was our Christmas present to each other." Ciel said. "But that agreement didn't include you. Besides, I wanted to get you something."

Narrowing her eyes, she studied the present skeptically. Was she for real? Why would she even bother? Up until a little while ago, they'd been enemies! Sure, that was just because she'd been tricked by Noir, but-

-but she'd still hurt them. Hurt Ciel. Heck, she'd been the one they'd been fighting when her brother had taken that shot for. Sure, she wasn't the one who had fired it, but it was true that if it hadn't been for her, Pikario wouldn't have spent months recovering. She didn't even have any excuses for it. She'd just been so desperate to prove herself to Noir that she would have done anything for him.

If that was what love was, she never wanted to feel that way again.

"Why?" Bibury asked before she could stop herself. "I don't get it."

"I don't think it's really something you have to get." Ciel mused. "I just wanted to do it, that's all."

Bibury frowned. That was the same kind of reasoning she'd given back when she'd made her that shaved ice, and no matter how she turned it over in her head, she didn't understand it. They might not be enemies anymore, but buying her a present... wasn't that something you did for people you were close to?

But... looking at Ciel's face, somehow she didn't feel like she could refuse. Sure, her smile was annoying as hell, but her disappointed face was even worse. She guessed she could play along just this once, if it meant avoiding that.

"Well, I guess since you already went to the trouble, I have no choice but to accept it." Bibury said, folding her arms in front of her. "But it better not be something lame."

Ciel's smile brightened. Just for a moment, it felt like something squeezed in her chest, but before she got the chance to dwell on it, Ciel was already shoving the present towards her. Scrambling to take it, Bibury frowned at it for a moment, before heaving a resigned sigh. Setting it down on the stool, she spared Ciel another quick look before she carefully opened it to reveal-

"Wow," Bibury said dryly, "-a box."

"It's what's inside the box, silly." Ciel said.

Bibury bit back that it had been a joke- and not just because she was embarrassed that it had gone over her head. Instead she just focused on opening the box, picking the tape off with her nail and peeling away the cardboard.

Oh.

"Well?" Ciel asked expectantly. "Do you like it?"

"It's," Bibury began, abruptly realizing that her words weren't quite coming out, "-it's a... penguin?"

"Oui!" Ciel chirped. "You know, like the shaved ice I gave you!"

Bibury swallowed. It was indeed a penguin- a stuffed one, which for the briefest moment summoned unpleasant memories of Iru.

"Do you maybe not like it...?" Ciel asked, her face falling. "Sorry, maybe I should have realized a stuffed animal wasn't the best choice."

"No," Bibury was surprised to hear herself say, "-it's fine."

It was fine, actually. Once she got past the initial kneejerk reaction, the expected ugly feelings hadn't actually come. Sure, Iru had represented a dark time in her life, but he'd also been her one true companion- even if he had just been a tool of darkness that Noir had used to ultimately trick her into serving him. Iru was gone now, but in quieter moments, sometimes she couldn't help but feel his absence.

Had she maybe noticed that...?

"Really?" Ciel brightened. "That's a relief. Then you like it?"

Like it? Did she? Picking up the stuffed penguin, she squinted at it. She guessed it was sort of cute- if you were into that sort of thing.

"Well," Bibury said, "-I guess it's not terrible."

"That's great!" Ciel chirped. "Come to think of it, you never actually got to eat that shaved ice. Maybe next summer, we can both try making it together!"

Something in her chest squeezed again, but to her surprise, she found that she didn't entirely dislike it. It was almost warm, like a hot drink on a cold drink.

"...I guess that wouldn't be too bad."