Notes:

Merry Christmas! Still working on the next arc, but for now, enjoy some self-indulgent fluff based on Christmas prompts. I only did the OC couples because... well, limited time. I still want to enjoy my birthday. Obligatory spoiler warning to not read unless you've finished the Synchro Arc! And please note that they are dubiously canon at this stage in time-they take place in a world where everything turns out fine. :)

Fireplace - Yuji/Chiaki

Setting: Pre-canon, pre-adoption

The snow went up to the tip of his ears. Yuji lazily kicked his legs outwards, staring up at the sky. He could hear the buzz of noise all around them—people celebrating with their families by the fireplace, eating warm food, giving each other presents…

It sounded like too much work, really. Was any of that worth it?

"You're creating a hole in the snow, I'll have you know."

Yuji tilted his head slightly. Chiaki was back—she'd declared that she needed to find something, and Yuji had been left to guard their meagre possessions in the park where they'd been hanging out. "It's nice," he said.

"It's frostbite, that's what it is." Chiaki was holding onto some black fabric, and she flung it at him. Yuji lifted a hand to his neck, picking it up. It was slightly cold, but as he pulled at it, it revealed itself to be rather long. "Scarf. It's older, but I saw it at the thrift store. If you get a cold, I'm not picking you out of the snow."

Yuji wrapped the scarf around his neck. It went without saying that she had stolen it. "I didn't get you anything," he said.

"Do I need anything?" Chiaki said, rolling her eyes. She grabbed a loaf of bread, splitting it in half. Yuji watched her, not getting off the ground. Her fiery red hair was striking against the snow and night sky. "It's Christmas. We can always find more food later—let's spoil ourselves a bit."

Yuji finally pulled himself up, taking his half of the bread. The two of them sat there for a while, simply eating.

"You know, Yuji," Chiaki said—still so talkative, yet not to the point where she'd annoy him. "Back at the orphanage, we used to celebrate with a tree and a fireplace. They'd make us cut out those paper decorations and hang them around the rooms, and everyone would be singing all those happy songs, and the orphanage would give everyone a single candy cane."

"Sounds comfortable," Yuji said, after a moment of silence. He'd never experienced that—he'd been on the streets his whole life, after all. "So? Do you want to go back?"

Chiaki scoffed. "Absolutely not. You're stuck with me."

"... then…?" Why was she reminiscing?

"I was just thinking," she said, "that I prefer this. But it'd be nice if I could have both."

Both the warmth and comfort of the orphanage, and him…

"You can be the fireplace," he said.

"Huh?"

"Your hair." He waved a hand. "So you're the fireplace… we have a tree there too. We can go and steal some candy canes. There's some newspapers. We can cut them. What else?"

Chiaki watched him. She seemed to see… something. He didn't know what.

"Let's set something on fire," she said.

Yuji shrugged. "Sure."

A family had thrown away half a box of candles and some matches the other day. Chiaki had salvaged them. Making a pile of twigs and leaves, they flung a match into the dried leaves. It didn't work—so they tossed in another. The fire stirred up afterwards, and it crackled.

"That's the fireplace," Chiaki said.

It took about two minutes for the fire to start going out of control. They tossed snow on it until it went out—and Chiaki laughed at the dark spot left on the ground.

"They'll get mad at us," she said.

"That's not our problem," Yuji replied, and she laughed again.

"Guess so," she said. "Thanks, Yuji."

What was there to thank him for? "We can set something else on fire, if you want," he said.

Chiaki looked at the ashen ground. "Nah," she said. "This is good. Don't need anything else. Merry Christmas, Yuji. Let's go to sleep."

Yuji looked at her.

This is good.

… he couldn't agree more. This was good—this was enough.

Snow Angel - Hitoda/Ryoken

Setting: Post-canon, three/four years after end of war

Ryoken sighed as he walked outside. "At least put on a coat."

"Why would I do that?" Hitoda looked at him, her cheeks flushed because of the cold. She was grinning from ear-to-ear, and it was infectious—he felt the corner of his lips twitch. "Don't you want to warm me up later?" Her smile was anything but innocent, but Ryoken had a lot of practice keeping his expression neutral at this point, no matter how shameless her flirting got. He raised the two mugs in his hand, steam rising from them.

"If you don't get up soon, I'll be drinking yours too."

Clearly knowing that he meant it, Hitoda got up, dusting the snow off her clothes. She took the mug from him, her fingers lightly touching his, before she glanced at the ground behind her, sighing.

"I had such a nice shape going too," she said. Her footprints had directly destroyed the shape of the snow angel that she was making in the ground.

"I never really got the point of snow angels," Ryoken commented. "You're getting snow all over yourself for no reason at all."

"Well, of course you wouldn't—you're allergic to pointless things." Ryoken rolled his eyes, even as Hitoda laughed. "You should try making one. See if you still don't get the point after that."

"Why should I?" He said with a shrug. "There's no point."

Hitoda smirked. "Because you want me to warm you up?" She teased.

"I have the hot chocolate for that. I hardly need you."

"Oof, ice cold." Hitoda leaned on his shoulder. "You really do blend in well with the snow after all. Come on, it'll be funny. You have these long, lanky limbs—you'd make a really nice-looking snow angel, I bet."

Ryoken leaned towards her. "Maybe it's not a good idea to call your boyfriend long and lanky," he said. "We're hardly teenagers anymore."

"Oh, is he offended?" Hitoda pressed a finger to the bottom of his chin, tilting it upwards slightly. "What a pity!~ I guess that if you don't get in the snow, you won't be able to prove me wrong."

She was baiting him again. This woman…

Ryoken put down the cup of hot chocolate. Feeling ridiculous but deciding to humour her, he laid down in the snow. How did one do things like this? He slowly waved his arms and legs up and down in the snow, leaving gaps in it. Was that how it was supposed to work? Why wasn't she saying anything?

"Have I amused you enough?" He called out. His skin was freezing.

He heard her laugh, before she came into his vision, kneeling down next to him. Some strands of her hair had come loose from the hair bun. "You're always the most entertaining," she said—before she leaned down, pressing her lips to his in the snow. Her skin was still warm from the hot chocolate, and he could taste the cocoa on her lips—her presence lingered, even as she pulled away.

Ryoken opened his mouth. He closed it.

"Whoops," Hitoda said shamelessly. "I accidentally finished your cup of hot chocolate too, while you were lying down. Looks like we'll have to go back inside so that you can warm up a bit." She cast a look at him. "... you're right. Lanky isn't the right word for you. But you do cut a good figure in the snow." Mischief filled her words as she leaned in closer to him again. "So, are we going in to get a coat? Or do you want me to join you down there?"

Christmas Tree - Shino/Ryo

Setting: One year pre-canon

"Do you enjoy decorating that much?"

Shino, who had been hanging a few blue and silver baubles from the tree, turned to look at him. There was glitter all over her hair. Ryo fought the urge to laugh—keeping a stoic expression, he watched as she leaned down, picking up a few more baubles from the ground. "Well, we need to have a bit of festive spirit here! Maybe it'll cheer people up more."

Ryo rather thought that decorations would end up distracting people from training—a bad thing, considering the upcoming war. Still…

Shino reached up. Considering her current issues with height, she was barely able to reach a third of the way up the tree. Ryo watched her struggle, until she finally hooked the bauble on one of the branches.

He couldn't exactly say that this was useless, not when she was trying so hard.

Morale was important, after all.

"Want some help?" He ended up asking.

"If you're volunteering, I wouldn't refuse!" Shino smiled at him—she seemed rather relieved, actually. "You can do the top part, I'll do the bottom?"

"Sure." Ryo reached down, picking up one of the glittery silver baubles. He grimaced as some of the glitter came off on his hands.

Shino noticed, as she usually did. "Want to do the lights instead?" She offered. "I have a bit of difficulty stringing them up…"

"That'll work." He handed the bauble off to her, picking up a string of lights. "I didn't even know we had a budget for Christmas decorations. The Professor is rather generous."

Silence greeted him.

"... Shino," Ryo said, raising an eyebrow. "Does the Professor know about this?"

"... well, unless he wants to be an absolute grinch, it'll be too awkward for him to tell me no, as long as we're already done," Shino said, flashing a smile at him. "Come on! Everyone that's staying at Academia this year is either on bad terms with their families, or they don't have anywhere to go. They all deserve a good Christmas, don't you think? Even if it's just some ambience, I think it'll go a long way."

… Ryo hadn't even considered that.

Shino was back to humming, even as she hung up a few smaller silver spheres on the next tree. The ones that she was decorating were in Academia's courtyard, visible to everyone. There was no one around other than the two of them—it was the dead of night, after all.

"If only we could put presents under the trees too," Shino continued. "But there's far too many people for that."

"What about you?"

"Hmm?"

"What do you want for Christmas?" Ryo clarified. "If you're so eager about celebrating it, you must have something that you want, right?"

"What I want…" Shino looked at the decorations. "... well, right now, what I want is to put this star on top of the tree. Want to help me?"

She was deflecting, as usual. Typical Shino. Still, he reached out a hand for the star, only for Shino to reach out and hold onto his arm—and pull herself up, carefully balancing and leaning on him.

"Just give me the star," he said. "No need to tire yourself out."

Shino shot him a smile. "But I want to put it on myself!" She leaned up, precariously balancing as she tried to put the star on the top of the tree. However, even as she was struggling to hold onto him, she also wasn't nearly tall enough.

Ryo sighed. "Fine," he said.

He wrapped an arm around her, lifting her in the air. Shino let out a sound of surprise.

"Does that work for you, Your Highness?" He said sarcastically.

She recovered quickly, placing the star on the top of the tree. It glittered, bright gold. Then, she turned to him, winking. "I'll have you know that they're calling me the Empress of Dragons now! Maybe someday I'll take your empire from you, Your Imperial Highness."

Her eyes were bright. For a brief moment, Ryo just looked at her—before he turned his head away.

"We might as well do all the stars at once, before my arms get tired," he said. Together, they decorated the other clearing. It took them well over an hour, but when they were done—

Well, it was undeniable that there was a certain atmosphere that had been missing before.

"That's much better," Shino said, sounding satisfied with herself. She clicked a switch, and all of the lights on the trees turned on. The snow below was immediately stained with colours—red and green and blue and yellow, all dancing along the trees. "Do you like it, Ryo-san?"

Ryo looked at the clearing. "... maybe it's not so pointless after all," he said.

Snowball Fight - Nue/Shun

Setting: Post-canon, three or four years.

The thing about Nue, Shun thought, was that she did not play fair. And that when someone suggested a normal and casual game, she would inevitably find some way to turn any resource in the game into the equivalent of a nuclear weapon.

In unrelated news, he was now buried in the snow beneath a tree, after a snowball fight had ended with him triggering a trap that had dumped an entire tree's worth of snow on him.

Nue at least had the decency to look chagrined. However, that had not stopped her from declaring her victory as she stood over his snow-covered body.

… he really liked her. But he was also freezing.

"If you're done, I'd like you to help me out now," he said, shooting her his most unimpressed look.

Nue chuckled, smirking as she held out a hand. Shun shook some of the snow off him, taking her hand and letting her pull him out of the snow. They were both wearing gloves, but even so, her skin felt chilly—clearly, she hadn't dressed in enough layers for the winter.

"How'd you even do that?" He said, turning to look at the tree that was now almost completely bare of snow. There was no tripwire or anything—it wasn't like Nue would have been able to set that up while they were fighting, anyway.

"I can't give away my secrets so easily," Nue said, still looking far too amused at his expense. "Maybe the trees just wanted to help me today. So anyway, I win. You're cooking our dinner for tomorrow."

"There's a saying I heard once," Shun said, folding his arms. "Never turn your back on your opponent."

"Huh?"

And then, Shun nailed her with a snowball to the forehead—he'd been holding it behind his back, while she'd helped him up. She fell back with a gasp of shock—and then she laughed.

Shun grabbed another chunk of snow from the ground, tossing it at her. She retreated, even as he carried on pelting her with snow. Eventually, he tackled her into a snowdrift, both of them rolling over, still laughing.

"I think I'm looking like the winner right now," he said with a smirk.

Nue dropped a bunch of snow down his shirt, and he let out a yelp. She was smirking the whole time. "Call it a draw?" She said. "We both look like winners, from where I'm standing."

"You're not standing," Shun said, just to be contrary.

"And you won't be either when I'm done with you," Nue said—before her eyes widened as she realised the implications of her own words. Shun caught it a moment later, and even as Nue scowled and shoved his shoulder, he couldn't help smirking too.

"Oh, I won't be standing, huh—"

"It was a slip of the tongue, leave it be—"

"—I wonder what you'd be doing to force me to stop standing, huh?"

"—I swear, Shun—"

He couldn't help but laugh then. Nue's eyes softened and her scowl faded, and eventually, she rolled her eyes and pressed her lips to his forehead.

"Merry Christmas, Shun. Come on. We should get home."

And well, it was rare that they were both in a celebratory mood. Shun got up, and they both dusted themselves off.

"I'm not cooking the turkey though," Nue said, and it was at that moment that Shun remembered how much of a schemer she was.

"We'll store-buy it," he said. "It's not like anyone can tell the difference."

"... now that's sacrilegious." Still, she grinned. "Yeah. That works for me."

Presents - Kaname/Makoto

Setting: Post-canon, three or four years

"At this point, you're living such a charitable life that you might as well become a shrine maiden," Makoto snarked as Kaname stepped out of the orphanage. Still, he put his hand in hers, pulling her along to the D-Wheel. "So, where's our next stop, Miss Miko?"

Two streets over.

"Got it, got it. I'm really just being your driver today, huh?"

If you minded, you'd tell me.

"Well, you've got that part right." Makoto glanced at her as she sneezed. "We can pick up the next batch of presents and go. You aren't wearing a scarf, are you? You're going to get a cold at this rate…"

Kaname shrugged. It had been her idea to buy tons of presents and donate them to the orphanages around the city—Makoto had heard about it, rolled his eyes and muttered something about people being too generous when they should spend more money on themselves. Still, he'd come along with her on Christmas Eve, even when she'd told him that it was fine for him to stay at home—that they could still spend the latter half of the day together.

"If you're going to be getting up at a god forsaken hour in the morning, Kaname, you're going to wake me up anyway," he had said. "Might as well make it easier on you."

Right, she said. And it's not because you want to spend the whole day with me.

(It was a good day for her, to get out such a long sentence.)

"Well, obviously I do," Makoto had said. "But you have to at least let me pretend to be cool."

So they dropped off all the presents, and once they got home, Kemuri was pacing around anxiously under the tree. Makoto picked it up and it hissed at him.

"Oh, don't get an attitude with me now," he muttered. "This ungrateful, mangy cat."

Kaname smiled, and she reached out, taking the cat from Makoto. Kemuri immediately purred and licked her face.

"Oh, you two-faced—"

Kaname put the cat down, and it ran around the room. She then walked forward, carefully wrapping her arms around Makoto's waist.

She would never stop being grateful, she thought, for these moments. Just peaceful, in their apartment, their own little world, no worries other than their possibly bipolar cat.

"… oh, come on, Mizuchi. Don't get to the cuddling yet." He sounded slightly overwhelmed too—he'd retreated to calling her by her last name too, which he only did when… aww, he was getting shy now. "I had such a fun day planned too."

'…?' She carefully let go of him.

"Very fun." Makoto turned to her, smirking. "As your partner, if you're going to try to make your Christmas all about other people, I'm going to make this one all about you. I'll cook what you like for dinner, I'll shower you with presents, I'll even give you a nice massage."

Kaname raised an eyebrow, though she couldn't avoid blushing.

"Okay, you're right." Makoto kissed her cheek. "The massage is my present."

'Appreciate. Don't. Need.'

"Oh, I know you don't need it. But come on, Kaname. I'm not as generous as you. And it's the Festival of Giving." Another soft kiss, decidedly less chaste. "Let me be greedy for your time, just a bit longer, alright?"

He could have it, Kaname decided. After all, anything could be a present on Christmas, if one chose to give it to someone else.

And well, he'd always been pretty persuasive.

Gingerbread House - Kyorin/?

Setting: Post-canon, two years or so

"You've got to be careful with the weight of it," Kyorin explained, even as she carefully layered some icing on the edges of the gingerbread house. Her companion watched her actions carefully, and she felt just a bit more self-conscious, but she carried on anyway. "My father always liked making these, so I picked up a few things."

"I assume that most of your first attempts collapsed," he said.

"Oh, they were really bad," Kyorin said, nervously smiling. "Really bad… ah, I learned eventually. Sometimes, they stick, sometimes they don't, sometimes no matter what you do, the dough just can't support the weight."

"Architectural understanding for a gingerbread house," he snarked. He glanced at his own… hmm, failed attempt at a gingerbread house (that was probably the politest way that Kyorin could put it.) "Yours is pretty impressive, at least. I like the blue patterning you've done."

"Ah, snowflakes are always the most fun to do…" Kyorin looked at the blue fractals that she'd drawn along the top and sides of the gingerbread house. "Maybe I should have gone for red or white. More seasonal."

"It was a compliment," he said. "You never take those well, do you?"

Kyorin felt like melting into the floor. "Well, you know how I am!"

"You're right, I do. You're exceedingly humble for no apparent reason." He sighed, glanced around and then finally kissed her on the cheek. Kyorin nearly yelped in surprise, though it wasn't unwelcome. "Come on, help me with mine. Otherwise, we're about to be here all day."

Despite his casual and almost uncaring tone, his grip on her wrist was gentle.

"I mean, if you're not enjoying it…"

"I am. It's my first time celebrating Christmas with you. My family was never really concerned with… well, all these kinds of things." He ran his thumb over her knuckles. "And I can't stand to be bad at something. You'll have to teach me."

… god, this person…

"Okay," Kyorin said. She began to guide him through the steps again—at some point, when he nearly put a certain piece in the wrong place, she caught onto his hand first. Then, blushing, she guided it to the right place. When they were done, the gingerbread house looked… well, good.

"Alright," he said. "So when do we eat it?"

"We can eat it later!" Kyorin gestured to the couch. "I guess we can watch a movie first? Sorry, I didn't really plan this out…"

"There's no need to apologise." He shrugged. "This much is fine. Next year, you can come over to my place, and we'll go… what do you feel about skiing?"

Mistletoe - Mion/Reiji

Setting: Post-canon, three years

"You've learned mischief," Mion said, glancing at the mistletoe that hung above each of the doors. "… really, Reiji?"

"I was informed that it was a good way to celebrate the season," Reiji said calmly, and well, if she didn't already know him so well, Mion might have believed that he was genuinely oblivious.

"We're married, Reiji," Mion said, raising an eyebrow. "We've been married for a year. Have you considered just asking?" Really, it'd been so many years and this man was still simultaneously the most practical and impractical man she'd ever met. "How much did this cost again?"

"… you're already standing under the mistletoe," Reiji said, avoiding the topic. He casually walked forward. "Shouldn't we be doing something?"

"I'm not one for tradition," Mion said with a shrug. "You know me."

"Humour me," he said.

She looked at him, and then she sighed. "Mistletoe is poisonous," she said. "We're taking it down after today, just in case. But fine. Just for today, I'll humour you."

She tiptoed, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"But," she said, "you really don't need to make grand romantic gestures like this. Come on. The pie will get cold."

"I know I don't. But I want to." Reiji shrugged. "You've made a whole meal. I have to do something more, no?"

"You just need to sit there and eat what I've made," she said. "You're a busy man." She reached out, squeezing his hand—fingers trailing down his knuckles to his wrist. "I appreciate your time, you know. And you."

"… if the most you can say is that you appreciate me," Reiji said, "then it looks like I haven't been treating you well enough." He raised her hand, carefully meeting her gaze, before he brushed his lips across her knuckles. "Do I have to fix that?"

Star - Miharu/Yuno

Setting: Pre-canon, two or three years

"Happy birthday!"

"… did you really race over from the other end of Den City for this?" Miharu commented, pulling away the curtain. Yuno, who was beaming from ear to ear, slipped through her window, landing on his feet like a cat.

"Well, I had to be the first!"

"We have phones."

"We do, but it's not the same as saying it in person." Yuno winked. "And I have to be the first too. Am I?"

"You are," Miharu said, watching the smile on his face grow. "Does your father know you're here?"

Yuno sat down on the balcony, still smiling. "I'll be home before he knows. Come on! I heard there would be a meteor shower tonight. I wanted to watch with you."

Miharu looked at him, his untied shoes and messy hair, and she reflected that she'd probably never been so genuinely happy in her life.

"I want to show you something," she said.

They snuck out together in the middle of the night, and they ended up at the bridge.

"It sparkles like stars!" Yuno ran along the bridge, looking at its luminescent sheen. "Oh, that's so pretty!"

"We can watch from here," Miharu said. "No one comes here other than us."

"Great." They leaned on the railing together. "Look at the stars, Miharu! They're so much brighter here."

"It's not brighter," Miharu said. "Light pollution and all that… it's denser when you go deeper into the city. They look brighter because it's darker here."

"Well, I like it more here anyway. Hey, if you're born on Christmas, then…"

"I'm not actually born on Christmas," Miharu said. She thought about her father asking her what day she wanted to be her birthday—because they knew nothing about her.

It's a day that belongs to you for the rest of your life.

It's a day when you get to look at the stars and be happy that you exist in this world.

It's a day when you get to look at the world and say "I am glad that I exist". That I got to live another year, and another year—

That's what he told me, anyway.

Miharu breathed out.

"But if you chose it, it's still yours. I chose mine too, after all!"

Mm. She'd picked that up at a certain point.

"And well, it's past midnight, so it's Christmas now! It's your day." Yuno grinned. "Aren't you excited?"

Excited might have been the wrong word.

'Content'. That was better.

She was comfortable.

The fireworks went up over the bridge—light above, light below, the snow glowing brightly around them.

"I hope we're always this happy every year!" Yuno declared, smiling from ear to ear.

Does that mean you want to spend…

Well. It's not like I mind.

"Merry Christmas, Yuno," Miharu said, watching the fireworks explode in the sky. Her hair was free and untied in the wind—she felt free.

Yuno reached out, squeezing her hand. "Merry Birthmas," he quipped. "To many more!"

A/N: Yes, I gave Miharu the same birthday as me. Honestly, most of the OCs' birthdays are shamelessly stolen from the birthdays of people I know, including myself. The reason why her birthday is Christmas is for a different reference though :)

I'll probably come back and edit the chapter once I reveal who Kyorin is actually paired with, lmao. But for now, that has to be redacted.