Mistletoe Confessions
I wrote this for the Edens Zero Secret Santa Exchange on Discord. Here’s some EZ Crew Christmas Shenanigans!
“I know! We can do Secret Santa!” Rebecca suggested. “It’ll be fun!”
“Woahhh,” Shiki muttered, eyes growing wide. “Rebecca, what’s a Secret Santa?”
She gasped dramatically. Weisz rolled his eyes at her antics.
Shiki, Rebecca, Homura, Pino, and Happy were sitting on the couch in Edens Zero’s game room, with Weisz leaning against the arm, debating what to do for the upcoming holiday.
“I am also curious, but I won’t say that out loud.”
“Secret Santa is where everyone picks one person and gets that person a gift.”
“Ooh, I pick Rebecca!” Shiki shouted with his trademark enthusiasm.
“It’s supposed to be secret, idiot,” Weisz said. “And why do you not know, Homura?”
“We did not celebrate this ‘Christmas’ on Odeo.”
“So each person gets one gift?” Pino asked, her antennae wiggling in budding excitement.
“Yeah. Instead of everyone getting a bunch of presents, we each get one present that’s more personal,” Happy explained.
“How exciting!”
“Sounds like a shitty deal if you ask me.”
“Oh come on, Weisz, don’t be such a Grinch,” Rebecca teased.
“I am not a Grinch.”
“You’re totally a Grinch,” Shiki said.
“You don’t even know what that is!”
“It is decided,” Homura said, nodding solemnly. “Weisz is a Grinch.”
“Neither do you! Ugh, you guys suck.”
“What is a Grinch?”
‘Of course only Pino would have the decency to ask first,’ Weisz thought.
“A Grinch is a grump with a shriveled up heart who hates Christmas, gift giving, and cheer,” Rebecca explained, almost like she was giving a lecture to a group of kindergartners.
“Hm,” Pino said as she processed the new information. “The definition does seem to fit Mr. Weisz rather well.”
“What are we shitting on Weisz for this time?” Ivry asked as she, Hermit, and Witch entered into the madness.
“Weisz is being a total Grinch about doing Secret Santa,” Rebecca said.
“Oh, yeah, makes sense.”
“Why is everyone ganging up on me?” Weisz grumbled.
“Oh, are we celebrating Christmas, Lord Shiki?”
“Yeah! Rebecca just told me about it. It sounds like fun! She also told me about Santa and his spaceship that can travel across the entire cosmos in a day!”
“Santa’s not even-”
Before Weisz could finish his sentence, he was staring down the barrel of Rebecca’s spare pistol.
“Don’t even think of spoiling this for Shiki and Pino,” she threatened quietly.
Weisz held up his hands in surrender. Rebecca slowly lowered her gun, eyes narrowed in a threatening glare.
“If it is secret, then how are the recipients chosen?” Homura asked.
“Everyone writes their name on a piece of paper, and then we each take turns picking one out of a hat,” Hermit said, not looking up from her handheld game. “And then you keep who you’re buying a present for a secret until you give them their gift.”
Homura put her hand over her mouth at Hermit’s pointed comment, but said nothing.
“Couldn’t you just write a program or something that pairs us up randomly?” Weisz asked.
“I could, very easily. But I won’t.”
“Why not?” He was nearly whining.
“I’m keeping in the spirit of Christmas. Also, to piss you off, specifically.”
“Why does everyone want to bother me today?” Weisz grumbled under his breath.
“Cause you’re an easy target as long as you keep bitchin’,” Ivry said, punctuated by flicking Weisz’s ear as she strode past.
“Why do you not like Christmas, Mr. Weisz?” Pino asked.
Weisz shrugged. “It’s not like I hate Christmas, I just don’t care one way or the other about it. And it never made sense to me why so many people act like it’s such a big deal. It’s just another day.”
“It’s a holiday. That’s like saying your birthday is just another day!” Rebecca said.
“It is.”
Rebecca gasped again.
“Can you stop being so dramatic?”
“I have paper and pencils for everyone,” Witch called as she walked back into the game room.
Weisz blinked, not having realized that Witch left the room to begin with, but still taking the paper and pencil when she handed it to him.
The room fell mostly silent, with only the scratching of pencil on paper as everyone scribbled their names down.
“What about the hat?” Shiki asked.
Ivry snatched the sorceress hat off of Witch’s head and handed it to him, putting her slip of paper in. “Here ya go, Shiki. There’s your hat.”
“Awesome!” he said as he enthusiastically shoved his own paper in it.
The hat was passed around the room and everyone put their names in, though Weisz did it with extreme reluctance.
“Alright! I wanna pick first!”
Shiki nearly punched the hat out of his own grip with his zealousness as he reached in to pick his Secret Santa recipient.
“Remember, you’re not supposed to say who you got. It’s supposed to be a surprise to the person you’re giving the gift to,” Rebecca said.
Shiki handed the hat off to her as he read the name on the paper he picked. To Weisz’s surprise, he managed to keep quiet about who he drew.
As the hat made its way around the room, Weisz vaguely wondered who he’d get.
‘If I had to choose, I guess it wouldn’t be too hard to get a gift for Shiki. That idiot would be excited by actual coal,’ he thought, chuckling quietly to himself.
When the hat finally made it to him, there was only one piece of paper left inside.
Homura Kougetsu
‘Damn.’
He left the game room, wondering what in the cosmos Homura would want for Christmas.
‘Even if I asked, she probably wouldn’t know herself, since she’s never celebrated Christmas before.’
He groaned, dreading the task ahead.
~~~~~~~~
“Okay, we’re off! We’ll be back soon!” Rebecca called out to Witch as everyone piled into the Aqua Wing to venture down to Blue Garden to shop for their gifts.
“I apologize for not being able to go with you. Unfortunately, as you know, I cannot leave the ship.”
“Don’t worry, Miss Witch!” Pino said. “Miss Rebecca and I will help you get your present!”
“Yeah, don’t worry about it. We’ll be in constant contact, it’ll be just like you’re there with us.”
Witch smiled, but Weisz could see that she was a little disappointed.
“In the meantime, I will plan out the decorations.”
Weisz put his new earbuds in to shut out his crewmates’ yammering. He’d taken to listening to music a bit more recently, even if the only songs he listened to were considered “old” by everyone else’s standards.
Though he’d never admit it, sometimes he did miss Norma. Even if it was only a longing for the simplicity of his time compared to the future he hadn’t quite gotten the hang of yet.
‘I still have no idea what Homura could possibly want as a present. I can’t remember her ever wanting anything since I met her, except..’
Weisz cracked his neck, shaking away the thought. ‘That’s not gonna help.’
~~~~~~~~
As soon as Rebecca led them to what had to be the biggest outdoor mall Weisz had ever seen in his life, everyone ran in different directions. Or in Shiki’s case, floated.
Weisz walked slowly, looking at all the shops around him. This part of the mall was mostly clothing stores, which would be useless, as he could make any kind of clothes he wanted in the Dress Factory on the ship.
One shop in particular caught his eye, however.
‘Heh. Christmas-themed lingerie? That’s worth buying.’
He was halfway across the court when he remembered that they’d be giving their presents in front of everyone else. And that Homura probably wasn’t one for lingerie in the first place.
‘I might be shameless, but even I’m not that shameless.’
He grumbled, but kept walking.
He passed by clothing stores, jewelry stores, and sports stores, all of which he doubted would carry anything that Homura could be remotely interested in owning. With each store he passed, his annoyance grew.
’What kind of gift do you give a swordswoman who says everything, but doesn’t seem to want anything material?’
His friends had long since ditched him, but even if he asked everyone on their crew, he doubted any of them could come up with a concrete answer as to what Homura would actually like. Though she said everything that came to her mind, she’d somehow never mentioned her interests, besides…
As Weisz rounded the corner, he finally saw a shop that he could work with.
‘What do you get a swordswoman? A decorative blade,’ he thought. ‘Even though her Ether Gear means she’s literally never without one, and I doubt she’d have a use for a blade that’s not meant to be, well, used, it’s as good a place as any to start.’
A bell rang as he walked into the shop, and almost immediately after stepping through the doorway, the noise from outside seemed impossibly distant. Weisz’s ears started to ring faintly in the sudden silence, one that even the dust seemed afraid to break.
The broad-shouldered clerk at the counter looked up, but didn’t say anything as Weisz began to wander around the shop. The sheer number of pointy-death-sticks hanging on the walls made him a little uneasy.
Guns have a safety function, after all, and knives and swords do not.
‘Zweihänder, Broadsword, Rapier, Dao, Katana, how many fucking ways can you make steel sharp enough to kill someone?’ he thought.
The man at the counter seemed to be the only employee in the shop, and he watched as Weisz navigated all the complicated classifications that he never even knew existed.
‘Well, a big sword is out of the question,’ he thought. ‘I don’t know if I can even lift it, let alone…’
He blanched as he noticed the price on a nearby Claymore.
‘..Afford it. A smaller knife will be fine. I think.’
The employee never spoke, but Weisz could feel his stare as he moved through the shop.
‘I know I’m a thief, but he can’t possibly know that, and I sure as hell can’t steal anything from here if I can’t even carry it.’
The silence was nearly unbearable, and as he came around to the back of the shop, Weisz was seriously tempted to just leave and get a generic Christmas gift that no one could dislike.
‘It’s not like someone who’s never celebrated Christmas before would know the difference, right?’
He shook his head. Homura couldn’t lie, and he- and everyone else- was sure to hear how much or how little she liked his gift. And he refused to be the only one unsuccessful in their Secret Santa charades.
Out of the corner of his eye, he just barely caught part of the description of a small dagger.
Valkyrie.
He nearly gave himself whiplash with his double-take.
Valkyrie Wingblade Dagger.
Even Weisz could admit that it was a beautiful work of art. The blade itself was somewhere around six to eight inches and two-pronged, but that wasn’t the most impressive thing about it.
Spreading out from the handle was a set of wings. Each individual feather had been meticulously crafted, and the wings formed a hand-guard of sorts. The handle itself was simple, yet elegant, and there were two little things jutting out from the bottom of it.
‘Maybe that’s for hanging it?’
“Find something that interests you?”
Weisz jumped as the employee’s deep voice boomed in the silent shop. He could hear his accelerated heartbeat in his ears.
“Uh.. yeah, maybe.”
“The Valkyrie dagger, huh? It’s a fine choice. Who’s it for?”
“A friend. She.. likes swords, and her teacher’s name was Valkyrie.”
“...Interestin’. I heard stories about some warrior single-handedly changing the tide of the war on Odeo about ten years ago now. Some of ‘em put ‘er name as ‘Valkyrie,’ but I thought that was just hearsay. It is an ancient name, after all. Didn’t think anyone besides historians and sword experts knew about it.. Wonder if it’s the same person.”
Weisz blinked at the history lesson. “Valkyrie Yuna. That’s her name. And she’s definitely the same person as my friend’s teacher.”
“Yer friend must be one hell of a fighter, then.”
“Yeah..”
“You gonna get that one, or keep lookin’?”
Weisz glanced down at the dagger’s price tag, and breathed a quiet sigh of relief to find that it was reasonable.
“Sure, I’ll get this one.”
The clerk reached into the display case to grab it. “If you want, you can get it engraved. It’ll cost a little extra, and take a bit of time, but it’s a common option this time of year.”
“How much more?” Weisz asked hesitantly. “And how long will it take?”
~~~~~~~~
Edens Kitchen looked nearly unrecognizable. Witch had gone far beyond what Weisz had expected in turning it into a winter wonderland; Color-changing lights and garland criss-crossed the room, and fake snowflakes that he suspected Witch had cut out herself all hung from the ceiling. Christmas tree and gingerbread man cutouts decorated the bottom two feet of the walls, red and green ribbons were wrapped artfully around each of the tables and chairs, and fake snow covered the floor. There was even a real Christmas tree in the corner that was so picturesque, he vaguely wondered what movie it was stolen from.
Not to mention the mistletoe that was hanging in just about every doorway in and around the kitchen, which he took careful measures to avoid meeting anyone under.
Pino had frozen in excitement for a solid twenty seconds when she saw the decorations, to the point that Weisz was nearly concerned Hermit would have to reboot her. Shiki was equally excited, temporarily losing control over his Ether Gear in the process. Witch and Rebecca had to weigh him down so he wouldn’t ruin the decorations on the ceiling.
Weisz was impressed. Witch’s decorations almost put him in a festive mood, which was more than he could say for any other Christmas celebration he’d been to in his life. Even the food was festive, with holiday staples like mashed potatoes, turkey, and stuffing all decked out in red and green embellishments wherever possible. Even the eggnog and hot chocolate had red and green shavings in them, which Witch had assured all of them were just pieces of chocolate and sprinkles.
What she missed in Secret Santa shopping, she more than made up for with the decor.
“It’s beautiful, Miss Witch!” Pino’s antennae were nearly invisible with how fast they were wagging.
“Yeah, you really went all out! It looks amazing!” Rebecca said, trying to pull Shiki away from getting tangled in the lights.
“I must agree,” Homura said from behind her hand. “I feel as if I am in that Christmas-themed village from that movie Rebecca spoke of.”
“Thank you. I wanted to make our first Christmas together truly special,” Witch said, blushing. She’d replaced her sorceress hat with a Santa one, and her staff with a giant candy cane. “I even made everyone a Santa hat to really get in the spirit!”
“Everyone meaning everyone,” Ivry said, with a pointed look at Weisz. “And you gotta wear it. Ship rules.”
Weisz grumbled, but Witch looked so happy with herself and her efforts that he didn’t want to ruin it.
“Fine,” he said. “I’ll wear the damn hat.”
‘I guess it won’t kill me, it’ll just do significant psychological damage.’
After an hour of partying, eating, drinking eggnog, and watching Pino try to meet everyone, including him, under the mistletoe- which he reluctantly agreed to, letting her give him a cold kiss on the cheek, both because he feared he might be staring down Rebecca’s pistol again if he didn’t, and she was just too adorable for words while asking(though he’d never admit it)- it was time for Secret Santa.
“It’s time for presents!” Rebecca sang.
Everyone scrambled to the pile of presents under the tree, rushing to give theirs first.
“Here,” a dry voice spoke beside him.
He turned to find Hermit presenting him with a small box.
“Thanks,” he said, opening it slowly. He wouldn’t put it past the little troll of a Shining Star to give him a gag gift that would blow up in his face.
He was pleasantly surprised to find a real present in the box, but also a bit confused by it. “Is this just the Arsenal Suit?”
“More specifically, Arsenal Suit Mark One-Point-Five. I spent two days slaving over the formulas to make it more cost effective. Plus a couple of other special features. We can test it out tomorrow.”
He nodded. “Thanks, Hermit.”
“Of course,” she said coolly.
As he looked around, he saw Pino giving Witch a box that was bigger than the little bot was- or, more accurately, Pino was sitting on top of the box, and Rebecca was handing it over- Ivry standing behind them, a gift he assumed was for Rebecca in hand, and Shiki giving Happy a candy cane colored bag.
He found Homura standing in the doorway under the mistletoe. As Weisz walked over, he made sure not to step under it.
“Here,” he said, suddenly embarrassed as he handed the long box over to her.
“Thank you, Weisz.”
As she moved to open it, Weisz was struck with sudden anxiety.
‘If she doesn’t like it, no one will let me live it down for who knows how long,’ he thought. ‘And I actually tried with this. She has to like it.’
He briefly wondered why he was so concerned about her reaction now, when he hadn’t been before.
‘Is it really only because this is the first time I’m giving a gift to someone who’s opinion really matters to me? Or is it because this is the first swordmaster I’ve tried to give a gift to?’
She stared into the box silently. And somehow, her silence was worse than her outright saying that it was horrible. He’d never seen Homura speechless before.
Slowly, she reached in and pulled out the blade, examining it carefully.
“Valkyrie wings…” she said quietly.
“Yeah,” he said, unsure of what else he could say.
He watched as her eyes roamed over the dagger, taking in every detail. Her eyes widened when she noticed the engraving.
“So, what did you want the engraving to say?” the clerk asked.
“Valkyrie Homura.”
Finally, Homura looked up at him, her mouth slightly open and eyes widened a bit in shock. Then, she pressed her lips together as tears welled up in her eyes.
‘Son of a-’
“Thank you.” She interrupted his train of thought, a smile spreading across her face.
“Y- you like it?”
She nodded. “Yes.” She took a deep breath. “Immensely so.”
Putting the dagger back in the box and closing it, she looked back up at him and smiled again. A genuine smile, one that Weisz had never seen on her face before.
‘She looks really pretty smiling like that.’
His shoulders scrunched up in embarrassment as he realized what he was thinking, and he looked away in an attempt to hide the blush he was sure was spreading across his face, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Good.” He cleared his throat. “I’m glad you like it.”
“I would not have expected something so thoughtful from you,” she said, immediately covering her mouth as she realized what she said. “Oh, I hadn’t meant to say that aloud. My apologies.”
“No, I’m with you on this one. I wasn’t expecting it, either.”
She giggled behind her hand.
“So, why are you standing over here?”
“I was hoping to meet Shiki under the mistletoe.”
“I- a- .. oh. Really?” he asked, ten kinds of confused all at once.
“Yes, I was hoping to challenge him to a duel.”
“A- uh, what?”
“Ivry explained mistletoe to me. If two are caught under it, they must duel. She called it ‘mistlefoe.’ She said it was a time-honored tradition.”
Weisz burst out laughing so hard that he had to lean against the doorway so he didn’t fall over completely.
“What is so funny?” she asked, her hand coming back up to cover her mouth again, this time out of embarrassment.
“That’s not what mistletoe is for,” he said after he managed to calm down enough to be understood.
“Then what is it for?”
Now completely calm, he stood up straight. “The point of mistletoe is that you’re supposed to kiss whoever you meet under it.”
They both froze as they realized that Weisz had stepped underneath said mistletoe without realizing it. Matching blushes sprung up on their faces as they struggled to speak.
“W-well, I suppose I would not mind it so much,” Homura said, slapping both hands over her mouth with a high-pitched squeak.
His shoulders scrunched up even further at her confession.
“Y-... you wouldn’t?”
“I-... I, umm..” her voice was almost a full octave higher than normal. “Sister Ivry!”
“Oh, shit,” the wicked nun cackled, hiding behind Witch as Homura stormed over to her.
Weisz stayed frozen, staring at the now empty space in front of him, his heart racing.
~~~~~~~~
A few hours later, everyone was passed out in the game room. Rebecca demanded they have a “Christmas Movie Marathon” after their Secret Santa shenanigans, and of course Shiki agreed.
Now, both of them were asleep on top of each other, drunk off their asses from Ivry’s spiked eggnog. The nun in question was also drunk, sprawled out on the floor.
‘I didn’t know Ivry could get drunk, seeing as she drinks all the time. And she’s an android.’
Hermit was sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch, with Pino and Happy curled up in her lap, all of them asleep.
‘Apparently, androids sleep, too.’
Weisz shook his head, stretching his neck out and looking at the other side of the couch where Homura had been sitting. She left an hour ago, citing wanting to go to bed as the reason, but she left with both hands forcefully covering her mouth, and he had a sinking feeling it was because of him.
When they came in for the movie marathon, they sat on opposite sides of the couch and didn’t look at each other the entire time. Their earlier conversation crept, unbidden, into his mind again.
‘I wouldn’t mind kissing Homura, either, I guess. She’s beautiful, strong, kind-’
He considered it nothing short of a Christmas miracle that his stomach growled at that moment, interrupting his train of thought.
On his walk to the kitchen, he tried overthinking about what to eat, so as to keep thoughts of Homura and kissing out of his mind. It was easier to just brush off that conversation as the holiday spirit affecting her in an odd way than to think about wanting to kiss her and the ramifications of doing so.
‘For one, she can’t keep a secret to save her life, so everyone else would know within twenty-four hours,’ he thought. ‘She’s probably never even- Why am I still thinking about this?!’
He almost forgot about the decoration explosion in the kitchen. Walking into it was a decent enough distraction as he forced himself to change the subject in his mind.
The leftover food from their party hadn’t been put away yet; The bowl of mashed potatoes was nearly empty, both of the pies and the cheesecake were completely gone- most likely courtesy of Rebecca’s bottomless pit of a stomach- and the turkey was split down the middle almost perfectly, with one half picked at and the other untouched.
Weisz tore off a small piece of turkey and tossed it into his mouth. None of the party food really interested him, so he pulled up the holographic menu to skim through. But it didn’t do as much as he’d hoped in terms of distracting him. After five minutes of mindless scrolling where his mind wasn’t really on the food, he gave up and ordered a glass of water.
‘Do I really want to kiss Homura, or did that damn Santa hat do more damage than I thought it would?’
The kitchen slid his glass of water over to him, and he sipped on it slowly.
‘Is this what it’s like to doubt yourself? Have I really never doubted myself in my entire life? I probably should’ve.’
“Wow, I’m a selfish prick,” he muttered.
No longer hungry, he finished off his water, deciding to just go to bed.
‘Hopefully I’ll wake up and be able to convince myself that all of the “Kissing Homura” business was just a dream.’
As the kitchen door slid open, he ran into someone coming in. That someone being Homura.
‘Either the universe hates me, or it just likes laughing at me.’
“Weisz,” she said quietly.
“Homura,” he said, his mouth suddenly dry.
“I was just going to get some water.”
He nodded, unsure of what else to do.
They stared at each other for a few moments until Homura nodded and moved to walk past him. He was content to just let her pass him by- at least, he thought he was. But somehow, his mind and his arm weren’t on the same page, because he found himself reaching out to stop her walking away.
“Hey.”
She turned to face him, a hand coming up to cover her mouth. “Yes?”
‘Fuck it.’
“Did… did you mean it? What you said earlier?” he forced out.
“A-about.. kissing?” her voice was unnaturally high again.
He sighed heavily, suddenly very aware of his racing heartbeat. “Y- yeah.”
“I… yes,” she whispered, her cheeks a fiery red.
His shoulders scrunched up far enough that he felt like a turtle trying to retreat into its shell. His pulse pounded in his ears, and suddenly it seemed as though his entire torso was burning in embarrassment.
Of course it was only then that both of them looked up and noticed that they were right back where they were before: under the mistletoe.
Homura took a deep breath, straightening up. Her confident posture only lasted a couple of seconds before she spoke. “What about you?”
His eyes widened in shock. “Do I… wanna kiss you?”
She nodded, refusing to look at him.
“I, um… Well… You’re not drunk, are you?”
“W- what?” she asked, shocked. “No. In truth, I do not like alcohol. Not its taste, nor its effects.”
“...Okay.”
“Why?”
“It’s a weird day,” he said, shaking his head.
“Are you?”
“Stone cold sober,” he said. ‘Though this conversation is making me feel like I’m drunk,’ he thought. ‘Either that, or I’m in a fever dream.’
Homura paused, eyes darting back and forth. “You never answered my question.”
Weisz breathed in, then out slowly. “... Yeah,” he said, surprising both of them with his answer. “Yeah, I- I.. want to kiss you.”
Both of them were silent for a moment, uncertain of what to do.
“I have… never actually kissed anyone before. Is it like a battle?”
The noise he made was somewhere between a sigh and a chuckle. “No, it’s not that complicated. It’s pretty easy, actually. Haven’t you ever seen a movie or read a book with a kiss in it?”
“Well, yes, but how can I know how much of that is fiction, and how much is accurate to reality?”
Weisz tilted his head to the side. “Fair point. But it’s basically the same, for the most part. It’s, well.. I mean, it’s just something you learn by doing.”
“Then let me learn. Or teach me, rather.”
“O-okay.” For the first time ever, Weisz hesitated to kiss her. Not even his first kiss was this drawn out.
He rolled his shoulders, projecting a calm he didn’t feel, and brought his hand up to her cheek. Without giving himself time to overthink, he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers.
The first couple of seconds were awkward. Homura stood still, not quite grasping how to respond. But she proved herself a quick learner when she started kissing back.
Weisz brought his other hand to her waist, pulling her closer. Homura covered his hand on her cheek with her own, resting the other on his arm.
He ended their kiss sooner than he would have liked, but he didn’t want to overstep with a too-intense one. Resting his forehead on hers, Weisz still kept close to her lips, torn between wanting another kiss and wondering if Homura did.
At this distance, it was hard to not look at each other, but they both tried.
“That… was nice.”
He nodded slightly. “Mhm.”
“Weisz,” she whispered, finally looking him in the eyes.
“Yeah?”
She gulped. “...Teach me again?”
The corner of his lips turned up in a small smile. “Okay,” he said, leaning in again.
“Wait.”
He stopped. “Hm?”
Homura moved the hand that was resting on his arm to instead lay on his cheek. Then, she leaned forward and reconnected their lips.
Weisz’s hand on her waist slid around to the small of her back, pulling her even closer than before. His hand resting on her cheek slid down to join the other. He allowed himself to kiss her a little harder, nearly losing himself in the moment.
When they pulled apart again, they were breathless.
“Well… You’re definitely a fast learner,” he said, clearing his throat.
“Thank you, I pride myself on it.”
Weisz chuckled, which set Homura off giggling before taking a step back. Neither of them took their hands off the other.
“Thank you… for teaching me.. about mistletoe. It was…-”
“Yeah, it was good for me, too.”
Homura nodded, a small smile growing on her face. She looked away from him.
“Well, it has certainly been… an interesting first Christmas,” she said, stepping away slowly. “Goodnight, Weisz.”
“Night.”
She turned her head away, hiding her smile as she walked past him.
Weisz touched his lips lightly. “Yeah,” he said to himself. “Maybe Christmas isn’t so bad.”