Work Text:
Ainosuke was four years old when Christmas disappeared entirely from his life. It was the first year without his mum, and the whole Estate was still silent and in mourning, so it was natural for things to not feel festive at all.
He wasn't old enough to know what this particular time of the year was meant to bring around, so he wasn’t aware of what he was missing out on.
By the time he was six, though, he had started to become aware of the magic and warmth that was missing from his life. All the kids in school talked about Santa, decorating Christmas trees, having delightful meals, and going away on skiing holidays, while he himself got to do nothing but spend the break from school in his room, alone and with nothing remarkable happening.
It took him another whole year to get brave enough and ask his father about Christmas and why they didn’t do all the fun things other families seemed to do. He wasn’t sure he got much of an answer to his question, but the heavy slap he received for daring to ask was enough to prevent him from doing such a dumb thing ever again.
He just learned to accept his Christmas-less life. It was all he had ever known, after all, so it didn’t seem that big of a loss in his life.
Ainosuke got to experience little glimmers of Christmas cheer scattered throughout the years; sometimes, Tadashi would share his own Christmas presents with him and sneak him chocolate, or the kids from school would give the whole class cards and cookies on the last day before school broke up for the season. He enjoyed them, but Ainosuke knew that those stolen moments were fleeting, not a regular part of his life, and - most importantly - something that was meant to be kept secret.
By the time he was old enough to decide what to do with himself around Christmas time, Ainosuke had lost all interest in it: as far as he could see, it was a holiday to celebrate family, love, unity, well-wishes, and a load of bullshit he simply did not have in his own life. It simply made no sense for him to pretend to celebrate it.
It wasn't for him.
He was a busy man, anyway, so he had absolutely no reason to waste time around traditions and playfulness that he hadn't grown up with and therefore held no sentimental value for him. It was easier (and more practical) to continue to live in a Christmas-less world now that he was an adult in charge of managing his own time.
He told himself that he wasn't missing out on anything.
"What do you mean you don't do Christmas?" Langa asked, somehow offended by his response to the customary question about his plans for the season while they wrapped up after their latest race. “No one can just not do anything for Christmas.”
"But I don't." Ainosuke simply said.
"Are you Jewish?"
"No."
"Don’t super rich people do Christmas?"
"I think some do?" Ainosuke offered.
"Then why?"
"I don't know. I just don't. I never have, so I don’t have any traditions around it."
"Not even when you were little?" Langa asked in shock.
"No."
"That explains a lot about you."
Ainosuke wasn't sure what his lack of festive spirit said about himself, and neither did Langa explain, so he was simply left to wonder about that until the thought slipped his mind to be replaced with something more useful to his day to day life.
He didn't think back to that conversation at all until a couple of days later, when Tadashi handed him a glittery red and gold invitation that read 'SK8 Christmas Party' written in what seemed to be Langa's questionable penmanship with the rest of his daily post.
"I do not know, Ainosuke-sama. It came for you in the post," the secretary said when asked about that clearly homemade invitation.
Ainosuke knew that was a lie: there was no way that glittery abomination would be allowed to be posted as it was, and it was even less likely that any 'S' related post would make it in alongside his official papers due to Tadashi’s diligent compartmentalising of the two facets of his master’s persona.
Whatever that was about, Tadashi seemed to be in on it. He wasn't sure how he felt about the fact that his loyal dog seemed to be conspiring with others behind his back, but he found some relief in knowing that his secretary wouldn't actively involve himself in something that would make life harder for him, his trust in him restored after the White Eden event.
Even if he wasn't sure of what to expect from it, Ainosuke decided to show up to the Sk8 Christmas Party - he didn't celebrate Christmas himself, but he had been raised right, so he knew that it was only polite to make an appearance when invited to an event, even if he didn’t quite agree with the celebration.
On the afternoon of the event, Ainosuke donned his Matador outfit on, got himself ready to go and headed over to the address specified.
He was surprised when Tadashi drove them to a little Italian restaurant instead of the abandoned mine where they usually congregated, all of a sudden feeling self-conscious regarding his chosen attire: he thought that it being a Sk8 event meant that he needed to show up with the full extravagance of his Adam persona, but now that they were walking into a little restaurant, he wasn’t that sure anymore. Well, at least his mask would prevent this from being tied to his professional persona.
As soon as he opened the door to the small venue, Ainosuke was hit in the face with Christmas cheer: there were wreaths with ribbons, colourful lights, candy canes, penguins wearing Santa hats, present-wrapped boxes and a massive Christmas tree. The whole scene looked like Christmas had thrown up all over the venue.
"Adam!" Langa called from across the room as soon as he saw him, waving at him "You came!"
"Why, yes," he said, feeling all eyes on him "I got the invite, so it would be terribly rude not to."
Langa looked delighted to see him, which made Ainosuke feel warm inside all of a sudden. He had not been expecting the talented skater that had arrived to flip the world of ‘S’ upside down would be so happy to see him all of a sudden.
"Good! Sit, you too Tadashi. We'll have dinner soon,” Langa instructed and motioned for him to come to the table.
Ainosuke could do nothing but follow said instructions and sit himself down on the long table someone had assembled using a bunch of regular-sized tables. He was still a little unsure of his environment, but he was comfortable enough to let Miya force a Santa hat upon him and smirking when the kid insisted Tadashi wore reindeer antlers with bells on them.
“Joe’s cooking a whole bunch of stuff; my mum gave me some good recipes we used to have back in Canada. And Joe’s made mulled wine but won't let me have any even though I’m eighteen.”
“It’s twenty over here. No dice, kid,” Cherry pointed out.
Ainosuke was torn between being some sort of semblance of a responsible adult and back Kaoru up with the rules, and pointing out the many times Joe, Cherry and himself had been absolutely piss-drunk being a couple of years younger than Langa was.
“Mulled wine has barely got any alcohol in it,” Ainosuke pointed out. Clearly, humouring Langa won over the fight against trying to be a responsible adult.
“And I’m not losing my restaurant over barely any alcohol,” Joe said “No underage drinking under my watch, at least not with government officials in the building.”
“Does that mean I can drink if Adam goes out for a smoke?” Langa asked.
“As long as I don’t see it.” Joe said with a shrug.
“Tadashi, add a smoking break into his schedule.” Langa said immediately, causing all eyes to set on the secretary.
“If he gets to drink, so do I.” Miya announced.
“I’m afraid there is no room for a smoking break, young master Snow.”
Ainosuke had never thought that Tadashi could be funny, but apparently his refusal to let the children drink had been enough to make the whole room laugh out loud. It was an odd sensation, having the whole ‘S’ elite laughing together in the same room seemed unreal with how things had been for them when Langa arrived into their lives.
Ainosuke and Tadashi sat with the group, eating and drinking, and tentatively participating in conversation as the little party continued to unfold around them.
It was definitely different from anything Ainosuke had experienced before: it was a party, but it was absolutely nothing like the boring, stiff, work-related Christmas parties that he had been to in the past. It felt warm, cosy and comfortable in ways that he wasn’t prepared to experience.
Just like that, Ainosuke was enveloped in the Christmas spirit.
It was like a flip had switched within him, prompting the once-feared Matador of Love to sit peacefully amongst the people he had previously seen as rivals, happy to share a meal with them and listening to the stories they shared and the way that interacting started to naturally happen between them all.
Ainosuke had never imagined himself willingly spending time with that lot while off skateboards, but now that they were surrounded by a warm, Western-style Christmas dinner and covered in festive cheer, it was easy to find common ground with the lot of them.
There was room for improvement still, sure, but it was clear to him that his relationship with every single person present in that room was better than he ever thought it would be given their shared history.
Ainosuke had no way of knowing how horrified Langa had become by the distinct lack of Christmas in his life and how quickly he had mobilised to push his whole group of friends into organising a party with him in mind, to make him happy.
And it did make him incredibly happy.
Ainosuke wasn’t sure of what kind of Christmas miracle he had just experienced, but what he did know was that Langa had once more saved him without even knowing it; that this little Christmas party was a balm upon his bruised heart, exorcising the ghosts of Christmas Past and opening the door to a brighter tomorrow.
Regardless of how fun and heart-warming the little Christmas party was, it had to come to an end sooner rather than later, leaving Ainosuke with some sort of indefinable feeling now that everything was wrapping up. He didn’t necessarily want it to end, afraid that whatever they had gained that night would disappear once the party ended.
“I’m so happy you came, Adam. I wasn’t sure you would…” Langa said as they started to wrap up the evening, getting up after a long meal and preparing to make their way home.
“Of course I would come, my dearest Snow,” he said “How could I not when you asked so nicely?”
In the aftermath of the White Eden event and everything that had unfolded, Ainosuke had started making a conscious effort to tone his flirting with Langa down, having become more aware that his advances weren’t likely to be reciprocated and that it perhaps wasn’t the best look for him to be flirting with a younger man. He wasn’t always successful trying to amend his tone, but at least he was no longer buying Langa big flower bouquets.
“I don’t know, you’re often busy. Tadashi said he couldn’t guarantee your schedule would be clear around this time of the year.”
Ainosuke laughed.
“He always says that. It gives me an easy way out just in case I don’t want to do something.”
“Smart,” Langa said, nodding. “To always have a way out. I'm glad you didn't need an out from Christmas this time.”
Ainosuke nodded, giving him a smile and doing his absolute best to remind himself to keep on his best behaviour around him.
“I wonder if you’ll want an out now.” Langa said, looking at the older skater with an expression Ainosuke couldn’t quite place.
That is, until the younger man looked up above their heads.
Mistletoe, of course.
Before Ainosuke’s brain could catch up with the situation, Langa was already pressing their lips together into the chastest little peck the universe had ever seen. The kiss didn’t last long at all, but it was enough to cause Ainosuke to feel breathless and disorientated.
“Is this okay?” Langa asked him in a whisper when the kiss ended, offering him a little smile.
Ainosuke nodded, unable to trust himself to speak after that.
“Good,” he said, “Then ask Tadashi to call me. You know, if your schedule is free.”