Notes: Ha ha ha, oh but Emily, Christmas was months ago!

... (¬▂¬)

So here is my Christmas Trade fic for Max's a couple of weeks late, my bad. Please enjoy the trashy goodness

As the weather changed so did the clientele. During the sunny days of spring, the variety of different customers that had come through the cafe doors had been different and vibrant. But now as the weather turned cold and the snow threatened to start falling over night, the customers and their needs shifted.

In the place of ice tea and sweet drinks, coffee and hot chocolate sold better. Not that Yamaguchi minded. He preferred making and serving hot, steaming drinks. The sugar and smell of freshly roasting coffee made his mouth water and his senses spin. But the customers he did not like, the couples entering hand in hand with smiles and heat in their eyes. Couples cuddling up on the long, padded benches of the cafe, holding each other close, kissing, touching and in some overly graphic cases licking. It made his stomach turn, especially when he had to go bus those tables, taking cups and discarded sugar wrappers and getting in all close to the happy couples and their embrace.

He shouldn't have been so bitter, his boss was always berating him on it. How could someone so young be so bitter appeared to be a constant mysterious to Suga but it mattered little to Yamaguchi. People and their happiness could stay far, far away from him especially during the winter and holiday season.

"If you keep frowning like that, you'll trip over your own lip." Jumping slightly as his employer tapped him lightly on the shoulder, Yamaguchi felt his face flush in embarrassment.

"Sorry, just tired." Smiling sadly at him, Suga nodded.

"Well clean up here and you can head home early. It is the weekend after all." Opening his mouth to immediately decline the kind offer, the silver haired man would hear no word of it. "No excuses, Daichi will be here any minute and he can help me lock up. You can head off."

Keeping his head down as he went about his final tasks with a small smile, Yamaguchi was moved by his boss' kindness, even more so as the fatigue of the week came down upon him in the last minutes of his shift. Calling good bye to Suga as the cafe owner's tall, dark and some what scary looking boyfriend walked in only to give him the thumbs up. Even when he was being nice Daichi was some what scary, so it made his fumbling attempts to pull on his jacket and wrap up his scarf before making for the door a little harder.

Pushing his scarf away from his chin as he looked out the window, his quick glance up didn't save him from bumping into a customer entering the store. Stepping back with a red face and ears burning, his eyes flickered up quickly to the tall blonde who'd just passed the threshold and who completely ignored his existence.

And of course he would, Yamaguchi thought, ducking around the tall man as he pushed open the door and winced in the cold air. Looking over his shoulder for a final time, he took a moment to take in the blonde he'd so recently encountered. No doubt he'd be awaiting some drop dead gorgeous date for the evening. With his imitating height and honey amber eyes he would never be alone on a Friday night. Unlike himself, who was bitterly alone and had nothing better to do then go home for a hot shower and eat packet mac and cheese.

Dragging his feet down the cold, yet crowded pavement he snuggled deeper into the depths of his jacket and scarf. Suga giving him the Friday night off might have seemed like a kind thing to do, but in truth it did nothing but highlight his loneliness.

It wasn't that Yamaguchi was unhappy, he was just lonely, at least that's what he told himself. Opening the door to his apartment with cold, numb fingers he was immediately set upon by a bouncing bundle of housemate.

"Why is Suga texting me saying you need to get drunk or laid or both?" Pushing Nishinoya aside as he hung up his coat and pulled off his scarf, the freckled man frowned.

"He said that?"

"Yup" his loud housemate continued without a breath. "So what's it going to be? I have a stack of beer in the fridge or Tanaka and the boys waiting on speed dial for a night out." Shaking his head as he passed through the house, he switched on the light in the empty kitchen and headed straight for the fridge.

"Neither, I'm going to shower then sleep. Work starts early tomorrow and I have no desire to work with a hangover." Groaning Nishinoya pouted.

"Come on, a cafe is like the best place to work with a hangover. All that free coffee you can drink."

"And it is blatantly obvious you have never worked in retail." Staring at the shelves of the fridge, Yamaguchi was amazed to see that Nishinoya had not been lying when he spoken about the beer. "Thanks for the offer, but not tonight."

Booing him as he sorted through to the back of the fridge, Nishinoya would not budge.

"Come on, boys night in? Boys night out? You can't just crash out on the sofa, watching late night volleyball, it's what you do every night." Deciding on a small container of eatable left overs, Yamaguchi shook his head, trying in vain to work around his housemate's good intentions.

"There's nothing wrong with that and I don't do it every night." Shaking his head, his bright bleached crown shaking with him, Nishinoya disagreed.

"Nearly every night. Come on, just come out for a little while." Slamming the door of the microwave closed, Yamaguchi stared at the tub bathed in unnatural golden light as it circled the heated box.

"Not tonight, maybe next week. Thanks anyway though." Sighing as he reluctantly admitted defeat, Nishinoya slumped down on the kitchen bench, watching his friend closely.

"Fine, but promise you'll come out with us soon okay? I feel like we haven't chatted in ages. And Tanaka's feels the same." Feeling guilty all of a sudden, Yamaguchi rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Maybe when Suga puts on a newbie at work." He didn't mind giving up his Saturday morning every now and again, but he missed sleep ins and until his boss got around to interviewing some new barista, he was stuck opening Saturdays.

Humming as he fiddled with his phone, Nishinoya gave him a pointed look.

"Fine, but the minute he puts someone on we've getting shit faced. No excuses. You will get drunk and or pick up, even if it's the last thing I do." Waving off his ramblings as the microwave dinged, Yamaguchi moved off to his bedroom, steaming tub and chopsticks in hand.

"Whatever you say."