Hinata finished up packaging the last gift and let out a relieved sigh as he glanced at the mountain of gifts. It always took it's time, but the result was always satisfying after taking his time to choose everyone a fitting gift and wrapping them himself. New friends always got surprised by his dedication but he loved giving gifts to people, and he gladly took any chance he could to give them some. So the whole December he spent planning what he was going to give everyone and collecting them one by one.

He glanced at the clock; it had been three hours already and it was starting to get late in the evening. He stood up from the floor as he stretched his whole body. He had locked Komaeda and Hope out of the bedroom to focus on the wrapping and to not let Komaeda see his present.

They would probably be in the living room; that's where Komaeda usually seemed to spend his time when he wasn't cleaning or doing something else, always under the kotatsu to get away from the cold. And Hope seemed to follow Komaeda most of the time; Hinata sometimes felt that she liked Komaeda a bit more out of the two of them, but that was probably since she spent most of her time with him.

He opened the bedroom door and closed it behind him as he walked to the hallway. He could hear Komaeda talking behind the corner, and he walked to see what was going on. The other was putting his jacket on, holding Hope in a leash.

"Are you taking her out?" Hinata asked and Komaeda yelped in surprise, having not seen him coming.

"H-Hinata-kun. Yeah, Hope seemed a bit restless so I thought we'd go a bit earlier this evening," Komaeda said and the dog let out a small bark in response to her name, her tail wagging happily at the sight of Hinata. He smiled in response as he petted her head. "You got them all wrapped now?"

"Yeah, sorry that it took so long," Hinata responded as he turned to look at Komaeda. "Do you mind if I join you two? I want to get some fresh air."

"No, of course I don't," Komaeda answered as expected, and Hinata took his jacket from the coat rack. Hope seemed to be growing impatient waiting, so he tried to hurry up. He grabbed his keys before they opened the door and stepped to outside, the chilly air greeting them instantly. Hinata yawned as he stretched his hands up, taking in the fresh air while Komaeda closed the door behind them. They started to walk in silence, Hope walking ahead of them and yanking them along by the leash the whole time.

"Have you ever ran with her?" Hinata asked off the top of his head, and the look he got from Komaeda told him the answer instantly. "Maybe I should take her running someday… when I have time from work again," he added as he sighed. The whole Christmas season was just horrible at work.

"Your holiday will start next Monday right? There hasn't been any changes to that plan?" Komaeda asked and Hinata nodded. He had specifically arranged to get a week vacation over the Christmas to have time for giving out the gifts and meeting his family.

"But it's not fun to jog during the winter…," Hinata complained as he looked up to the sky to look at the moon. "Maybe Asahina-san would want to take her running someday. She mentioned at lunch the other day that she'd want to see Hope again."

Komaeda glanced at him and nodded, and Hinata looked back at him tilting his head.

"Uh, we could ask her to take Hope running and go give your presents out to everyone," Komaeda suggested as he turned to look back at the road. "It'd be a bit easier to give out the presents that way than arranging a specific meeting with everyone like you did last year…," he added and Hinata pondered the suggestion. Last year his vacation had been a lot longer so it had been easier to arrange a meeting with most of the people, but Komaeda was right. This year it wasn't really feasible to achieve…

"I guess you're right. I'll try to catch her tomorrow and ask if she'd be up for it," Hinata said. Komaeda seemed pleased at his answer, and Hinata raised his eyebrows. The other seemed abnormally invested into his presents. Komaeda seemed to notice he was being stared at, and he gave a nervous smile to him.

"You really put a lot of thought into the presents this year as well, I'm sure everyone will like them again," Komaeda said as he stared at Hope who still kept pulling the leash slightly, still having given up on trying to make them move a bit faster.

"There were a few ones I'd have wanted something different instead, but they were sold out so I had to find something else…," Hinata said. He could somehow see Komaeda's fingers playing with the leash on the other side from Hinata. "I'm looking forward to seeing people's reactions, though even more than that I'm looking forward to just staying at home under the kotatsu with you and Hope." Slyly he slid his hand on Komaeda's free one, giving it a soft squeeze. Komaeda looked a bit surprised at first, before squeezing back and burying half his face into his scarf. Hinata just looked at him with a smile as he bumped their shoulders together.

"I'm looking forward to that too…"

It's almost Christmas! Woo! There'll be one or two Christmas specials still, kind of depending if I manage to write them both. So there'll either be one update on the Christmas Day OR one on the Eve and one on the Day. We'll see! Hope you liked today's chapter, and I thank you for reading!