Tonaegiri Week 2025 - Day 1:
Hope's Peak Academy (Pre-despair) Era/Neo-world Program Era/Holiday
...
Byakuya woke up on Christmas morning with the warmth of a shared bed and the sneaking suspicion that there was one fewer person in bed this morning than had been when he fell asleep last night.
He reached over to don his glasses, at which point he discovered that he was right: while Makoto was still sleeping in the exact same spot in the middle of the bed, Kyoko had evidently woken up before them both and was now nowhere to be seen.
Careful not to disturb Makoto, Byakuya rushed out of bed, pausing only to put slippers on before hurrying down two sets of marble stairs, past the movie room and guest library, all the way to the set of French doors through which, as expected, he could see Kyoko standing outside.
He didn't bother trying to be soundless, as he opened the door and joined her outside.
"Less than an inch," she informed him, without preamble.
He gazed out at the snow and managed not to sigh. "There's still time. Dinner is at 7."
"Hm." Kyoko looked at him. The cold had brightened her cheeks with a rosy flush, and her hair was tied behind her in a long braid, like it always was when she slept. She was still in her pajamas and robe, with slippers and the cashmere sleep gloves Byakuya had gifted her at some point in the past year. "Let's just say I heard Aloysius reminding Emoto to get the car ready."
Byakuya sighed but refused to resign himself to the implications of that.
While he had agreed that they would have dinner at the Naegi house if the snow allowed for it, he had been betting on the snow, all this time. He'd had his fingers crossed for heavy snowfall and a private dinner at his house, with his...Well, with Makoto and Kyoko.
It was nothing against Makoto's family, or even their food. (Actually, he'd come around on Makoto's parents' cooking a lot more than he'd expected to, and he got along fairly well with Komaru, now that he knew her preferred genres of manga and music and, as such, could very easily buy her off.)
He just didn't like feeling in competition with all of them for Makoto's attention. And he especially didn't like the tacit expectation that he was supposed to allow that, since they were Makoto's family.
Of course, he pretended it was about the food. But a few wry smiles suggested Makoto might know better, and Kyoko definitely did.
"With his luck, I wouldn't bet against me just yet," he said mildly. "With his luck, the snow will melt in the morning and then a rogue winter storm will sweep in at 6:30, rendering travel impossible."
"I suppose we'll see," Kyoko said, with a smile. "I think the lamp just turned on in your room, by the way."
Byakuya gasped and hurried back into the house and up the stairs. He could hear Kyoko behind him, but he intended to get there first.
Makoto had gotten dressed in a thick, green sweater and started combing his hair (despite the fact that combing it typically made very little difference), by the time his boyfriend and girlfriend arrived.
"One year, I'm going to wake up before both of you," he teased, by way of greeting.
Byakuya, having reached the room first, got to give him the first Christmas kiss– for the second year in a row. (Naturally. Victory was his natural state.)
"Merry Christmas," Makoto said, when they separated. "You haven't found my gifts already, have you?"
Byakuya looked to Kyoko. It was for her benefit and enjoyment that Makoto did his best to hide the gifts he got both of them. For Byakuya's benefit, Makoto had taken to buying a few extra gifts for all three of them collectively and letting Byakuya decide how they should be divvied up and used.
"Depends on how many there were," she said.
"Five."
"Then you've done better than last year; I only found four of yours, so far. And all of Byakuya's, unless there were receipts he didn't file in his usual gift folder."
"I wouldn't disrupt my own filing system just to hide presents from you," Byakuya lied. In fact, there was an extra gift in his closet safe, and the receipt lay atop it, to be filed away after the gift was given.
"And my gifts are in the living room, as usual," Kyoko said. "You saw me bring them in. There are none hidden, but you can't open them until you guess."
"As usual," Byakuya echoed, with the smile of one very much up to the challenge. Kyoko's gimmick was that she placed all of her gifts in identical boxes with identical wrapping and made them guess what was inside based on weight and whatever other factors they could observe. They didn't have to guess correctly, per se, but she enjoyed hearing their logic before they discovered whether they were right or wrong.
Kyoko reached for Makoto, reeling him away from Byakuya and whispering something in his ear that made him laugh quietly.
Byakuya was curious but felt no urgency about it. No immediate need to ask questions, like he would if it had been anyone else whispering in Makoto's ear. He recalled a visit to the Naegi house in which Makoto and Komaru had spoken exclusively in inside jokes and references to past arguments for a minute straight, and he'd felt like a disgruntled cryptographer. But sharing Makoto with Kyoko was different from sharing him with his family.
Easier.
Makoto's eyes met Byakuya's stirring him from his thoughts. "Hey," he said. "Let's go downstairs already."
"If you insist," Byakuya said, and made a point of walking behind the other two, so he could smile as stupidly as he wanted.
