AN: Hey everyone, Happy Holidays! So it's holiday break and that means it's update time! Thanks again to everyone for your continued support, it's very encouraging. Here's a little holiday special.
Gareki felt the surface beneath him change from rough to smooth. He was now lying on his back in the second ship training room with a massive headache and a desperate need for oxygen.
Both of his hands grabbed the front of his shirt in an attempt to loosen the constricting fabric, but failing to succeed in his panic. He wanted to sit up but lacked the energy to lift himself.
"Relax Gareki," Hirato's calm voice came from right next to him. A firm arm went beneath his back and pushed him into a sitting position. "I told you overusing your powers can be physically damaging."
"You didn't...stop me," Gareki forced out the words with the little air he could get. His breath was beginning to come easier and a bit of his strength was returning, albeit rather slowly, but he used the energy he had to push the four-eyed captain away.
"Well lesson learned now isn't it?" Hirato smirked. "What better way to learn than through your own mistakes?"
"You're enjoying this," It wasn't a question.
"I enjoy the moments when my students make surprising breakthroughs," Hirato said with his ever present smile.
They sat for a while in an uncomfortable silence while Gareki steadied his breathing. A persistent question kept bouncing around in his mind and Gareki was eager to know the answer, but he waited until he had enough energy and breath so he didn't sound like a gasping fish every time he spoke.
"How do you know so much?" Gareki asked. He instantly cursed inside his head at his own foolish question. There's obviously a lot the captain knows, he could have at least been a little less vague. Now he just sounded like a naive child.
Hirato hummed in thought as he studied the teen. "You're wondering how I have extensive knowledge in the area of world making that is supposedly rare to posses? How I know everything you're doing and the energy it takes without having visited it myself? How I can pull you from your world even without your permission?"
"Yeah..." Gareki said lamely as he gaped at the captain. He sure knew just how to hit the nail on the head.
"You'll figure out when the time comes," Hirato said as he ruffled the ravens hair, beginning to walk away. "You should get some early rest tonight, you'll need it for tomorrow."
"Wait," Gareki shouted after him. "If you won't tell me anything else, can you at least tell me why you said my world was interesting?"
Hirato paused at the door, turning to the teen. "Most worlds are based on nature, as that is where everything begins and ends, but yours was based on mechanical, man-made objects. Quite advantageous really."
The next few weeks passed by rather quickly, with Gareki spending most of his time in the training room with Hirato. Although the captain had told him he was making good progress, he sure as hell didn't feel that way. Sure he now had a good section of a city to work with, but compared to what he had seen of Karoku's, his just seemed pathetic.
Gareki now understood why Karoku had to work so hard to keep his world from collapsing in their previous fight. The amount of energy need to create a world is extensive, he couldn't imagine trying to stabilize it. If one moment of lack of concentration could destabilize a world, he couldn't help but feel a little worried about trying to have a battle there.
The weather began to grow steadily colder until all Gareki could see out his window each night was a blurry white blizzard. Christmas was fast approaching and although Nai and the others seemed excited for it, Gareki really couldn't care less. He never cared much about the holidays, especially after he had moved away from his adoptive siblings.
Nai, oblivious to Gareki's annoyed mood, begged him to join their small Christmas party that was going to be held that night. While he would have normally flat out rejected the offer, Nai's cute pleading face forced him to cave in, and thus he found himself standing in the cafeteria with the rest of the Circus crew, holding a glass of fruit punch that Nai had given him when he had walked in.
The room was decorated with strung up lights and paper snowflakes that looked like they were made by a child—which they probably were. A bright Christmas tree was standing in the far right corner with a pile of presents sitting beneath it.
Many people mulled about the room, most of whom Gareki didn't know. Outside of Yogi, Nai and Tsukumo, he had never really bothered to get to know any of the other members. In hindsight, it probably wasn't a good idea to ignore the older, and far more experienced, Circus members. Nevertheless, the unknown members had still come up to Gareki and wished him happy holidays, some even calling him by name. A bit a guilt surfaced at the fact that they knew his name, but he knew none of theirs.
Gareki was distracted from his musings when his vision was suddenly blocked by bouncing white hair and a pair of reindeer horns. "Having fun Gareki?" the overly excited boy asked. With the amount of bouncing he was doing, Gareki wondered in amusement if Nai was having a sugar rush.
"Sure," Gareki said to please Nai. Parties weren't his thing, but he didn't want to ruin it for Nai, so he could at least pretend his was having fun. Gareki set his drink down on the table behind him, unbeknownst to him that he had set his red fruit punch drink down on the wine table.
Nai seemed to light up even more at Gareki's statement. "That's great! Oh, and Yogi was asking for you earlier. I wonder where he went..." Nai glanced around the room, but when he failed to find the blond, he took off into the crowd to look for his missing friend.
Gareki smirked at Nai's antics. He reached behind and grabbed the glass that he thought that he had set down earlier and took a drink of the red liquid.
'What kind of fruit punch is this? It's more bitter than sweet.' Gareki made a face at the red drink, unable to decide whether he liked the taste or not. He continued to sip the drink as he began walking through the crowd of people.
It wasn't long before the ground beneath Gareki felt like it was starting to sway. Feeling off balance, Gareki reached out and grabbed onto a nearby table. His body was feeling a bit warm, so he took a long drink from his glass, hoping it would clear his head.
The dizziness didn't seem to let up so Gareki decided he might as well head back to his room and try to sleep it off. Gareki made it out of the room mostly unnoticed and began heading of in the direction of his room.
Using the wall to keep himself upright, Gareki continued down the hallway for what felt like ages. Is he even in the right hallway? Did he already pass his room? He couldn't tell. Gareki groaned and leaned his back against the wall. He was lost.
His body was unnaturally hot and the dizziness continued to tilt the hallway, making his surroundings unrecognizable.
"Ugh, where the hell is my room?" Gareki complained. He leaned his head back against the cold wall and tried to rub the dizziness from his eyes.
"Gareki?" A familiar voice came from his right. "What are you doing?"
"Going to my room," Gareki replied, lowering his hands to look at the newcomer.
"You're going to bed already? But we haven't even opened the presents yet," Yogi said in disappointment. The blond took a moment to study the teen. He noticed the way the raven was leaning heavily against the wall and the way his eyes didn't seem to focus on him. "Are you feeling alright?"
"I'm fine," Gareki snapped, although he couldn't seem to put any anger into his voice. It came out more slurred than anything.
"Um, you do know that your room is the other way right?" Yogi asked in amusement.
Gareki glanced down the way he had just came from. "Yeah...of course... I was just heading that way." Gareki pushed off the wall but instantly lost balance when his support disappeared.
Yogi instinctively reached out and grabbed Gareki's arm to stabilize him. Surprisingly, Gareki didn't try to push him off.
"Gareki are you drunk?" Yogi couldn't keep the surprise out of his voice.
"No," Gareki said quickly, "I'm just tired." He allowed Yogi to lead him down the hallway, and strangely, he didn't mind Yogi's help.
They reached his room in no time and Yogi led the teen inside.
"Hey Yogi?" Gareki said into the silence of his dark room.
"Hmm?" Yogi hummed in reply.
"Thanks," Gareki mumbled, "for helping me."
"It's no problem Gareki! I'll always help you," Yogi said, feeling overjoyed that Gareki had just thanked him.
"Come here a sec." Gareki pulled on Yogi's shirt to get him to bend over.
"Uh okay," Yogi said confused, and bent down so that he was closer to Gareki's height. He could feel the raven's grip on his shirt tighten before he was pulled forward, and Gareki's lips crashed with his own. Yogi's eyes widened in surprise, but he didn't pull away.
Gareki deepened the kiss, pulling Yogi as close as possible. Yogi momentarily lost himself in the kiss, Gareki's soft lips against his own, but then he remembered that Gareki was probably drunk and had no idea what he was doing.
Yogi gently pushed the raven away. "Gareki, I think you should get some sleep."
"Hmm yeah," Gareki replied. Reluctantly stepping away from the blonde and toward the bed.
Yogi, left Gareki in his room and headed back to the party. Yogi touched his lips, he almost feel the touch of Gareki's lips still on his own. Even if Gareki didn't remember in the morning, there was no way that Yogi could ever forget.