Yato I know you're feeling down, but come to my place please, I have a surprise for you. -H

Yato looked at his phone and the message that blinked on the screen, debating whether or not it was worth it to get out of bed.

"You should go," Yukine said, reading the message over his shoulder. Yato yanked the phone out of the brat's line of sight.

"Mind your own business," Yato grumbled, rolling over and pulling the blanket over his head.

"You're going!" Yukine said, yanking the blanket away from Yato and kicking him hard in the side.

"Leave me alone!" Yato said. Yukine grabbed a broom and swatted Yato with it until he got to his feet, grumbling, "Alright, alright, I'm going." He shot Yukine a dirty look, then disappeared.

Hiyori didn't start when Yato suddenly appeared on her bed, she was used to him just popping in like that.

"What's with that look, Hiyori?" He asked.

"I didn't expect you to come, is all," she told him.

"Yukine kept whacking me with a broom until I came," he said aggravatedly. Hiyori giggled and smiled at him, and Yato felt some of the heaviness in his chest lift.

"So what's this surprise you have for me?" Yato asked, looking around the room for it. His eyes landed on a strange shape on Hiyori desk covered by a blanket. He stood and pulled away the blanket, then gasped at what he saw.

"I hope you like it," she said, looking a little nervous. "You always talk about how you wanted one so badly, so I decided I'd make you one to make you happy."

Yato reached out and picked it up, a small shrine, with his name carved on the plaque in the arch. It was a shrine to him. Hiyori had made him a shrine. It was quite well done too. He stared at it in disbelief, his surroundings slipping away.

In his head he heard his own voice, saying that he wanted a shrine, and his father saying he had no need of such things. He could feel all the years of being nameless and shrine-less that weighed down on him lifting. He could picture how he would have felt had someone ever made this effort for him then. But no one had. No except Hiyori.

He felt tears pricking behind his eyelids, and since he and Hiyori were alone, he let them fall.

"Yato?" Hiyori said timidly, looking at him anxiously. He set the shrine, his shrine, down gently, turned to Hiyori, and pulled her into a tight embrace. "Yato," she said again, and he pulled her closer to him.

"Thank you, Hiyori," he whispered as she wrapped her arms around him. He buried his face in her neck and inhaled her scent. He could feel her body temperature rising as the blood rushed to her face, and he wondered if she could feel his heart pounding against his chest.

"It was nothing, no big deal," she said, but she didn't understand. It was a big deal. It was a very big deal, to him. He pulled back just enough to look her in the eyes, and rested a hand on her cheek.

"It is a big deal. Before you, no one has ever cared enough to build one for me. I honestly though no one ever would. It's a huge honor for a god to be given a shrine, and those that don't have one are invalid, they don't matter. You made me matter again."

"You've always mattered to me," she said, and Yato sucked in a breath.

He looked down at her, feeling his heart pound, and wondered how she would react if he kissed her. Would she beat him up? Maybe. But was it worth the risk? He looked down at her smiling face and made his decision. He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers.

Yes, he thought, it's worth the risk.