Disclaimer: this title doesn't have anything to do with the fic but fuck do i love this song huhu best christmas song ever! and his birthday is on the 30th! kim taehyung i lob u

SS Secret Santa Prompt: Sasusaku decorates their first Christmas tree together!

"No, love. You can't put tomato ornaments on the tree."

"Why? They're red."

Without turning around to look at her very new, very handsome, and apparently very silly husband, Sakura knows there is a slight pout on his soft lips as he defends his tomato obsession. She is tickled by the thought of him acting like a kid whining because he didn't get what he wanted. Only she can see this, and Sakura feels like she's won a contest.

And this life she has with Sasuke is the grand prize.

She feels his presence behind her even before he says, "Why can't I hang them?" He towers over her in reality but he curls himself forward just so he can tuck his face against the side of her neck. "They're… nice…"

Still busy removing all the Christmas decorations from the boxes, Sakura chuckles under her breath, earning a groan from Sasuke, "By nice, you mean cute. Right?" She feels a warm puff of breath on her skin as Sasuke stubbornly refuses to confirm or deny his wife's inquiry. He only burrows his head deeper into Sakura's neck and it makes her laugh.

"Maybe next Christmas," she teases. "It's our first Christmas tree anyway. You'll have all the chances you can get when you beat me in rock, paper, scissors next year."

Sasuke lifts his head and Sakura looks at his face, "What do you mean we still need to play that? I thought we'll take turns in choosing the theme."

She pokes the tip of his nose gently, "Nope." And then she picks up her ornaments and walks away from him to start decorating their very first tree as a married couple.

"When did I agree to that?" Sasuke follows her.

"Last night. After dinner. In bed. When I was doing that thing you like with my mou-"

"That was serious?"

Sakura puts her hands on her hips and faces him, "You think I take tree decorating lightly?"

"I think you take it too seriously," Sasuke counters, crossing his arms as well for emphasis. Sakura tries her best to not notice his biceps bulging from his fitted tee, but god her husband is the most beautiful. Truly.

She knows he knows her eyes definitely darted to his pecs, evident by the slight lifting of his lips. Sakura's brows meet to conceal her affectionate disdain for her husband knowing her too damn well. "Look who's talking? You're the one who keeps on bugging me to put your favorite fruit in there. It's not a garden!"

"Trees are still plants. It totally makes sense."

"But they're not Christmas-y. I refuse!"

"I'll put it on the topmost part so your short legs won't reach them."

A gasp, "You did not just say that! And you won't!"

A perfect brow is lifted, "I just did, and I will."

Scrunching her nose that she knows he thinks is adorable on her, she asks, "Are you making fun of your wife, mister?!"

He's trying hard not to smile but the tug of it is harder this time so Sakura has a front-row view of Sasuke's boyish grin reserved only for moments like this. It stops her train of thought; her smart comebacks to his jabs about her height are gone with the winter wind.

Nothing else matters but this view right here— his rare smile that she wants to cherish and save for a rainy day, that makes her want to dream of wonderful things, that lets her feel safe and warm and loved.

And with the certainty of a wife loving her husband too damn much, Sakura knows that Sasuke sees this on her face— her love unabashedly staring directly at him through her gorgeous eyes. She wants him to see it plainly on her so that he can picture this moment when days are too dreary. She wants him to receive the same amount of elation he has given her; the same solace and security.

She looks at him as he seems to back down from their childish faux argument because he slowly raises his hands up in surrender and his grin softens down into a small smile. And after a few heartbeats, with dark eyes glittering amidst their bare living room lights looking straight at her starstruck form, he whispers his answer— earnestly, tenderly.

"Fortunately, I love my wife too much to piss her off over our Christmas tree. I owe a lot to her."

Her heart beats a little louder inside her chest and she is suddenly filled with so much pride for him.

Growing up the way he is, an Uchiha, there are certain aspects of life he wasn't able to experience and discover despite the money and the glory of his family legacy. A normal 5-year-old can play outside and scrape his knees as he chases his playmates, but 5-year-old Sasuke was with his tutors either playing the piano or honing his academic skills instead. A regular 13-year-old kid usually loves video games or talks shit with friends and has tiny little crushes with a cute classmate, but pubescent Sasuke didn't have the chance to enjoy anything online related fun, let alone develop an admiration for someone because he's already training in their company. 19-year-old boys are brimming with hormones and probably have already tried dating someone they find really attractive or interesting, but when Sasuke was 19 he was a recluse university freshman who only wanted to get over his studies and be done with it so that his family could stop pressuring him.

Sakura knows all this because he opened up to her. As if his entire life, he was only waiting for someone to listen to his story; to make someone understand that money can't buy anything and that sometimes, families can be a burden too and cause you so much pain.

That's all it was until 19-year-old Sasuke met a 19-year-old Sakura Haruno, and all the things he missed were suddenly possible. The young Sasuke who wasn't able to experience roasting a marshmallow on a bonfire, or eating a homemade birthday cake, or decorating a Christmas tree— he is finally no more. Sakura has made sure of that.

So seeing him like this— uninhibited with his smiles and unafraid to show, and speak, his feelings— moves her. And move she goes.

Sakura brings herself closer to Sasuke, who automatically circles her in his arms, and tiptoes to plant her lips on his. She feels his smile against her as they continue, her hands finding purchase on his wide shoulders up to the back of his neck to pull him lower so she can kiss him deeper. His on the other hand glides back and forth on her back, soothing her as if he knows what she's thinking. He probably does. She won't put it past her husband.

"This.. is definitely.. a good compromise.. for the loss.. of my tomato charm…" he murmurs in between kisses against her mouth and Sakura bites his lip in retaliation. His large hands grip her hips hard in return while he groans.

They part ways. She looks into his eyes, then gazes at his kiss-swollen lips, and breathes onto him, "If only your precious tomatoes were dressed as Santa.."

He's about to dive right into her mouth again when he hears that but he stops inches away from her lips and looks at his wife, "Really?"

The childlike innocence in his 27-year-old voice and face is so endearing Sakura can only kiss him again to let him know he can decorate their tree, their house, their future together all he wants... Just like how he did her life and changed it for the better. For the best, really.

Sakura won't have it any other way.

"What're you doing?"

"..online shopping..?"

"For what?"

"..customized stuff.."

"..."

"..."

"You're trying to order customized tomato Christmas ornaments dressed as Santa Claus, aren't you?"

"..yes.."

"..."

"..."

"You're too cute for me, Sasuke-kun. I might die."

"Thanks, love. And no. I won't let you."

~fin~

a/n: hello! this is a few days late after Christmas but i wanted to share it first with Aya (❁´◡`❁) i wish you all happy holidays! (and yes i still remember making a promise i'll be updating a fic before this year ends but idk if i can still make it lol but i do have an upcoming year-end/new year fic for u all so i hope it can be a good subsitute for now kajfhdafhaj)

i appreciate every single one of u still here, reading my fics and supporting me. my little black heart is filled with rainbows. mwa! 😘