"I'm back," Hinata called when he opened the door. He heard Hope barking as she ran to greet him, and he crouched down in preparation to pet her. Komaeda walked to the hallway as well with a smile on his lips.

"Uh, welcome back! How was your day at work?" Komaeda asked and Hinata couldn't help but notice that the other seemed slightly antsy, like he was nervous about something. He decided to ignore it for now, since he felt like he'd find out the reason eventually. Hope was trying to push him down as well so his thoughts were a bit occupied… He got up to take off his shoes and jacket, and Hope backed away seeming slightly disappointed.

"It's starting to get busier since Christmas is almost here… I'll get to cooking dinner in a moment, I just need to rest for a bit first," he explained as he walked to Komaeda. The other just nodded as they walked to the living room. Hinata quickly found his way under the kotatsu, and he let out a sigh of relief in response to the warmth. Komaeda didn't join him at first, and he glanced at the other with an asking look. He didn't manage to get a response before Hope already came to steal all his attention.

Eventually Komaeda joined him so he decided to not question it.

"How come you're so hungry for attention?" Hinata asked from Hope, who just whined in response. Komaeda seemed to jump slightly at his question and Hinata looked at him again.

"I forgot to take her out on a walk…," Komaeda said dejectedly and Hinata sighed. "I'll go with her when you start cooking."

"Well, that would explain…," he said as he rubbed the back of Hope's ears and she closed her eyes in response. It wasn't like Komaeda to forget about the walk, so this probably meant something was up. Asking straight out from him usually wasn't very productive though, so he'd probably have to just observe the other and try to find out other way.

His rubbing was starting to turn slow due to being in his thoughts, and with a dissatisfied whine Hope wandered to the other side of the kotatsu to get attention from Komaeda instead. Hinata rested his chin on the table as he looked at Komaeda. The other was clearly getting restless from being stared at and tried to cover it up by playing with Hope enthusiastically. Hinata smiled at the two of them gently; this was certainly recharging his energy even more than the warmth from the kotatsu.

He eventually got up; he wasn't going to understand anything from just looking at Komaeda play with the dog, so he might as well make the food first. In response Komaeda also quickly got up and Hope barked excitedly as she probably realized it was finally time for a walk.

"I presume you remembered to go shopping at least?" Hinata joked as he walked to the hallway to get to the kitchen.

"Of course I did, I wouldn't forget… Though I guess I did forget the walk," Komaeda smiled as he answered, following him to the kitchen door. Hinata stopped at the door to look back at him. Komaeda seemed to flinch as a reaction and seemed even more restless than earlier now. He seemed to even squirm under the stares from Hinata and Hope like he was trying to say something, but until eventually Hinata broke the silence.

"Are you going?"

"Y-yeah, I am…," Komaeda said with a disappointed tone and turned to look at Hope who gave an excited bark.

"I'll probably be done with the food when you're back, alright?" Hinata said as Komaeda put on his shoes, and after receiving a nod as an answer, he went into the kitchen. As he took the ingredients out of the fridge he could hear the other opening the door and with a click he was alone. He still didn't really have any idea what was up with Komaeda but at least it didn't seem like it was anything bad, which was a huge plus.

He sighed as he began to cut the vegetables. It had been a while since they had moved in together and even longer that they had been dating, but there was still many things that he found hard to understand with Komaeda. He liked to think that he knew the other better than anyone else, but sometimes even he'd be stumped on what Komaeda wanted to tell him.

Maybe they just weren't meant to be the type of couple to understand each other without thinking.

Not that it was a bad thing, really. It wasn't like most couples came even close to that kind of understanding. And Hinata knew plenty; he knew that Komaeda always insisted on being the one to take Hope out because he felt bad for not being able to cook for him, and making Hinata do it right after work. He knew that Komaeda also cleaned the house every time when he was working, so that Hinata wouldn't have to come home into a mess.

Not that they even made that much mess usually. Hinata also didn't really mind cooking for them, he didn't mind the fact that Komaeda worked from home and he wouldn't mind coming home into a small mess. But if that was what made Komaeda satisfied, then he was happy with it.

Hinata shook his head as he felt embarrassed for his thoughts. He was getting cheesy, but maybe it was the Christmas approaching that was making him sappier than normally. He turned on the stove as he tried to refocus his thoughts. It was a surprise that Hope hadn't peed inside though; even though she was house-trained, she still had accidents occasionally if she didn't get taken out regularly enough.

Seriously, what could it be that had distracted Komaeda so much…? Hinata stared at the food frying on the pan as he tried to think. The house was cleaned up as usual and nothing seemed to be wrong anywhere, so he was pretty sure nothing had happened to either Komaeda or Hope.

The food was pretty soon done as he rattled his thoughts, and he turned off the stove. As he turned to glance at the clock above the door he finally noticed what had been bothering Komaeda and he smiled. As he had thought, it wasn't anything bad.

The mistletoe looked a bit lonely being the only festive thing in the house, and Hinata made a mental note to go buy some more Christmas decorations with Komaeda. He chuckled as he walked to the door and reached to touch the leaves with his fingertips. Komaeda had taken the effort to put it there, even forgetting to take Hope out because of it, and then he hadn't had enough courage to go through with his plan.

"What a dork…," Hinata said quietly as he leaned against the doorframe. The food was ready already so he presumed he could just wait for the two others to return here. He closed his eyes and the smile felt like it was permanently stuck on his face.

It didn't take long for the door to click open and a bark greeted him as Hinata opened his eyes.

"We're back," Komaeda said as he grabbed a towel from the coat rack to dry off Hope's paws.

"Welcome back," Hinata answered softly as he looked at Komaeda carefully wipe the snow off the dog, before starting to take off his jacket and shoes. When she was freed, Hope excitedly ran to Hinata and he crouched down to pet her. She licked his face and he just laughed as he realized the mistletoe was still above them. What a coincidence. Komaeda was looking at them from the hallway before walking over to them.

"Is the food ready?" Komaeda asked as Hinata stood up wiping his face, Hope walking away from them to her bowl in the kitchen. Hinata almost chuckled when he noticed Komaeda was feeling antsy again: this was a whole lot more fun when he knew what was up.

"Yup, just waiting for someone to eat it. There's snow in your hair again…," he said as he began to wipe the snow away, dropping it on the floor where it quickly began to melt. Komaeda just closed his eyes in response, and Hinata used the unaware moment to kiss Komaeda. The other's whole face was cold from being outside, and Hinata closed his eyes while he brought his other hand to Komaeda's hair as well and messed it up deliberately as a grin found its way to his lips.

When he leaned back and opened his eyes again, Komaeda was staring at him in shock, his cheeks even redder now than from being outside, and Hinata nodded towards the mistletoe above them.

"You're supposed to kiss under these, right?" he said teasingly, and Komaeda gave him back an embarrassed smile as he nodded. A bark called for them from behind, and Hinata rubbed Komaeda's shoulder as he nodded towards the kitchen. "Let's eat now, alright?"

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you liked it! This has been the first Christmas special, I'll have the next one ready in two-three days as well~