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Winter and, by extension, Christmas, weren’t so bad.
Angel’s first present was a pair of mittens. Denji and Power thought it was hilarious, but he did catch Aki’s eyes before he played dumb focusing on the next present under the tree.
It was his first Christmas, from what he could remember. He wasn’t even properly invited, since he was just passing by when Denji and Power mentioned Aki would be alone on Christmas day after they leave to who knows where.
He didn’t know what presents to give the others, so he limited to Aki’s idea of good ol’ gum for them. Much to Angel’s surprise, they were actually over the moon with that. For Aki thought… it was harder than that. He limited to clumsily wrapping a beanie with a pompom on top. Mittens and beanies, the two most generic “I don’t know you quite yet” gifts.
“It looks like your top knot!” laughed Power. Aki didn’t think it was funny but accepted the gift with a smile, and Angel’s fears suddenly disappeared.
Once the opening of the presents was done, only Aki and Angel were left beside the Christmas tree, cleaning up the mess of paper wrap that was left behind.
“Thanks for the beanie,” said Aki.
“It wasn’t me, it was Santa, right?” Angel played along, he hoped he got the holiday right.
As they finished their cleaning duty, they heard Denji and Power’s loud goodbye from the door, the house now in complete silence aside from the low hum of the radio playing the top ten cheesiest songs to ever exist.
“Want to go out for a bit?” Aki invited him. It was still early morning, and not many people were on the streets.
“It’s so cold though,” Angel grunted, knowing well that no matter what, he would end up doing as Aki said.
“You can use your new present if you want,” he signaled the mittens left in the sofa.
“Fine. Only if you use your stupid hat,”
“It’s not stupid, you chose it for me, I think it’s cute.”
“Corny,” Angel limited to say, grabbing his mittens. They put on the rest of their coats and winter clothes before heading out.
Angel watched as Aki untied his hair so he could use the beanie without a problem, and tried to count the times he saw him with the hair down. Maybe once in the middle of the night while he was staying over, and this was the second. He wished he could use it down more.
“Ready?” Aki asked, waiting for Angel to prepare himself, only the mittens left to wear. Once he put them in, he nodded, and Aki opened the door to the incoming morning sun.
Angel had to adjust his vision for the many inches of snow outside the house, now thinking his Uggs wouldn’t be much against the snow. Oh well.
It took him by surprise when he felt Aki’s hand grab his over the mittens, so warm and fuzzy inside he could barely feel the touch. Maybe that was what the gift was for.
They walked for a bit until no building was near, feeling the vastness of the snow-covered trees surrounding them.
“I’m tired,” Angel said stopping in the middle of the walk.
“We barely made a few blocks away.”
“But it’s cold, that should count as many more blocks,” Angel looked around for a bench, but he was out of luck. So he just flopped to the snow-covered ground.
“C’mon, you’re not a kid anymore,” Aki said, they were still holding hands, and tried to put him on his feet again with no avail.
“Devils don’t age,” Aki got to his level, putting his hand away. Angel thought of it as a chance to flop entirely to the ground and so he did, face to the blinding sun, arms to the side of his body in the shape of a star. “I’m a snow angel,” he said, closing his eyes and flopping his arms twice.
Aki laughed at the comment, and when Angel thought he would go up and leave him there, he got closer, using his scarf as a barrier, and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.
“Your lips are dry,” Angel said, looking at them, imagining how they would feel on his.
“I left the chapstick at home,” Aki played along. Sometimes they wished the other could actually feel them, but they knew it wasn’t possible, so they tried to not dwell on that and choose to live in a fantasy world where they could.
They stayed there, Aki joined Angel on the ground beside him, like two idiots who would not get sick after laying in the snow for who knows how long.
They knew that once home again, they would have hot chocolate, and play the no touching game again, the same game they always played when they were alone, just so Aki wouldn’t die. Their hands would almost touch as Angel would take the hot mug from the other’s hands, but not quite just to not steal any seconds from him.
Being covered from neck to toe had its perks, though, as they could snuggle on the sofa without worrying about touching a bit of skin, only their hands uncovered. Mixed limbs would cohexists as long as a blanket was between them, and they could imagine no curse was upon them.
So maybe Angel did like winter after all, for at least those moments.