This was just sad. It was a little funny at first, but now it was mostly just depressing.

Oikawa stood at his window, peeking out from behind the curtain, and watched Ushijima pace around in the snow while his packed bags sat on the curb gathering white fluff. While Oikawa had no plans to go home for the holidays since Iwa-chan wasn't going to be able to make it home and his brother and sister-in-law had plans with her family, it looked like Ushiwaka had been all set to go back to Miyagi.

Since he'd gotten a part-time job to pay the extra in his tuition for a campus apartment instead of a dorm room (because, really, who wanted to share an already cramped room with another person?), getting snowed in over Christmas wasn't that big of a deal for Oikawa. He could just walk to the convenience store for any groceries he might need. There were plenty enough surrounding the college campus. But Oikawa knew that Ushiwaka lived in the dorms. He distinctly remembered pitying they boy's poor roommate. And the dorms closed over breaks, requiring all students to find housing elsewhere.

Oikawa could only guess at what had happened to put Ushiwaka out in the snow, pacing the slippery sidewalk and making several calls. Either way, watching his university teammate-something he was almost loathe to even acknowledge-occasionally slip on patches of ice before catching himself had been Oikawa's sadistic little pleasure for the past several minutes. At least, it was until Ushiwaka looked up and saw him standing in his window.

"Shit," Oikawa swore as he quickly ducked back behind the wall. Well, damn. Ushiwaka had definitely seen him. They'd made eye contact. Now it was just a question of how nice Oikawa wanted to be. He could pretend that he hadn't seen anything. But he knew he should at least check and see if Ushiwaka was okay.

Groaning at the decision he could practically hear his mother pushing him to make, Oikawa padded over to his front door, slid the chain, flipped the deadbolt, and opened up to the freezing dark Christmas Eve night. "What seems to be the problem, Ushiwaka-chan?" He called out in a voice sweet enough to make even him almost cringe.

Ushijima looked up at the nickname that he'd given up trying to correct Oikawa on. Lifting his phone, he answered back, "I was on my way to the airport when I got a text alert that my flight had been cancelled."

There was a moment of silence except for the soft sound of the continued snow accumulation, and in those otherwise quiet few seconds, Oikawa was screaming internally. Really, it took all of his willpower not to stomp his foot and throw a small tantrum right on his doorstep. Why did he have to open the door and ask? Why did he have to do the decent thing? He could have just pretended that he'd never seen Ushiwaka out in the snow and cold. He could have just gone to bed. Ushiwaka was a big boy. He was surely capable of finding a hotel on his own, right? In the snow. Late at night. On foot. On Christmas Eve.

Tilting his head back with what was every bit a long-suffering sigh, Oikawa stepped to the side of his doorway and waved the taller boy in towards his apartment. "Get your bags and come inside," he offered. "I can't very well let the ace freeze to death on Christmas Eve."

Surprise kept him where he was for all of the few seconds it took for Oikawa's look to turn impatient. He may not have been the best at reading moods, but after years of knowing each other, he was at least aware that Oikawa wasn't particularly fond of him. Quickly brushing the snow off of his bags, Ushijima carefully made his way up the sidewalk and inside Oikawa's warm apartment. "Thank you."

"Yeah, yeah," Oikawa waved him off as he took the bags from Ushijima's hands and put them off to the side for the time being. "Shoes off, I'll get you some slippers. You can hang your coat up on that hook," he said before giving Ushiwaka a quick once over. He'd been outside long to pick up a decent amount of snow. "Actually, if you have a change of clothes in you bag, you can use my bath. You'll catch a cold at this rate."

Again, Ushijima wasn't sure what to say in the situation, so he settled for nodding in appreciation with a quick "Thank you" as he grabbed one of his bags and followed Oikawa's instructions down the hall and to the left.

Oikawa was reclined on his couch, feet propped on the edge of his slightly cluttered coffee table, when Ushiwaka finally made his way back into the living room. The ace was in a fresh set of clothes and still working on towel-drying his hair.

To: Iwa-chan [21:53]
He's back

It took almost no time for the phone in his hand to buzz with a response.

From: Iwa-chan [21:54]
I still can't believe you let him in. Christmas miracle?

To: Iwa-chan [21:54]
Doubt it. Probably a lapse in judgement

Slipping his phone into his pocket, Oikawa pushed himself onto his feet. "You just sit down there, Ushiwaka-chan," he said as he pointed to one end of the couch. "I'll make something warm to drink." Oikawa had already passed Ushiwaka in his hasty retreat to his small kitchen when he heard the taller man sit down. He really wasn't sure how to just sit next to Ushijima Wakatoshi without being snarky, so until he figured it out, he was going to stall.

Saucepan, cocoa powder, sugar, pinch of salt, milk. Heat and stir. Make sure everything is dissolved. No lumps. Don't scorch. Watch for steam. Turn off the heat. Add vanilla. Stir again. Pour into mugs. Clean up the spill on the counter. Where'd he put those little marshmallows? Checking his phone before he picked up the mugs, Oikawa saw that he really hadn't killed as much time as he'd hoped.

"Here you go," Okiawa offered with his best plastic smile. He set Ushiwaka's mug on the coffee table before turning it so that the handle was facing the left for the lefty's convenience. "Hot cocoa a la Oikawa."

Picking up the offered drink, Ushijima looked at the slightly melted marshmallows as he asked, "Isn't it a little late for something this sweet?"

"Oh, dear lord," Oikawa breathed as he sat back down on his end of the couch. "Do you have somewhere you need to be in the morning?"

"Not anymore."

"Then staying up late and sleeping in a little isn't going to hurt anything, is it?"

Ushijima frowned. "A regular sleep cycle is important."

Stopping short of his first sip, Oikawa tilted his head back and sighed in a quiet bid for the mental strength to make it through the night. "Fine, Ushiwaka-chan. Then don't drink it. You're a big boy and make your own decisions."

Ushijima was quiet for a moment, watching Oikawa's profile as he sipped his cocoa and pulled out his phone to text someone again. Rubbing his thumb along the smooth surface of his mug and feeling the heat of the drink inside, he decided since it was a special occasion, he was stranded, and it would be best not to offend his host, that he would enjoy his drink for now and worry about correcting any disturbance in his sleep schedule later. With a careful test sip so as not to burn his mouth, Ushijima licked a little marshmallow foam from his top lip before he said, "It's very good."

Withholding his surprise that Ushiwaka had actually given in, Oikawa lifted his chin a little and preened, "I know." His mother's recipe was the one thing he'd been determined to perfect before leaving home. He could order takeout for food, but there was no replacing some things. And since Ushiwaka had decided to join him in a small bit of holiday spirit, Oikawa decided to share in one of his traditions. "Do you watch Christmas specials, Ushiwaka-chan?" When Ushiwaka looked at him in question, he explained, "Iwa-chan and I have watched the same specials together since we were kids, but I'm was watching them on my own this year." Reaching for the remote, Oikawa turned on his TV and the old stop-motion animation specials were playing just like they'd been when he turned the TV off earlier, though it was a different movie now.

"I watched these growing up, too," Ushijima told him with a small, nostalgic smile. Focus now on the TV, he took another sip of his cooling cocoa.

Oikawa tried to play it cool as he picked up his phone again and tried to get a picture to send to Iwa-chan. He just couldn't get past the weird of the whole situation. Bringing up his front-facing camera, what Iwa-chan often called "selfie mode," Oikawa acted like he was taking a selfie of himself drinking his cocoa but fiddled with the angle so that Ushiwaka was in the background of the shot, because oh god he was smiling. His thumb had just tapped the capture button when he noticed Ushiwaka looking at him in the picture and he nearly drowned in his cocoa.

Sputtering and trying not to spill his drink, Oikawa set his mug on the table before using his fingers to wipe the cocoa and marshmallow foam off of his face.

"Is that for Iwaizumi?" Ushiwaka asked gesturing to the picture still displayed on Oikawa's phone screen.

Oikawa looked at the picture and immediately frowned. "It was." Because there was no way in hell he was sending anything less than perfection to Iwa-chan, and him splashing cocoa onto his face didn't make that cut.

It took a while but the awkwardness of the whole situation gradually eased up. It definitely wasn't the comfort that friends would share, but the tension wasn't as thick as it usually was between them. Oikawa thought it had to be Rudolph. It was too hard to be serious while watching a little reindeer become friends with an elf who just wanted to be a dentist. Before he knew it, he was even humming along with their little songs like he always did, and Ushiwaka's face seemed to have just adopted that little grin.

When the second special was wrapping up and the credits were rolling, Oikawa's phone buzzed and he moved to check it.

From: Iwa-chan [00:02]
Merry Christmas, Oikawa

Oikawa smiled. Iwa-chan was always the first one to tell him Merry Christmas.

To: Iwa-chan [00:02]
Merry Christmas, Iwa-chan~

Standing to stretch out his back, Oikawa picked up his and Ushiwaka's discarded cocoa mugs before heading to the kitchen to run water in them. Dishes could wait until the morning. His mother would have a fit.

Without a word to his guest, he went to his bedroom to rummage around for some extra pillows and blankets before returning to the living room. He already knew that Ushiwaka was too tall to actually fit on the couch, but the way he saw it, he'd already done his good deed for the night by letting him in the house. He wasn't giving up his bed.

"This should make the couch a little more comfortable," Oikawa said as he handed off the small stack of bedding to Ushijima.

"Thank you," Ushijima nodded.

It really hadn't as bad as he'd expected, sharing his space with Ushiwaka. Weird and a little awkward, but not terrible. "Well, goodnight," Oikawa said before taking a step back with the intent of beating a retreat to his room, but he paused halfway through his turn. "And, uh, Merry Christmas, Ushiw-Wakatoshi-chan." There it was. There was a Christmas miracle for Iwa-chan.

Ushijima had no clue what to say. For the first time that he could remember, Oikawa had called him by his proper name, even if he was being a little familiar and still added a -chan. "Merry Christmas, Oikawa. And goodnight."

Oikawa nodded firmly once, feeling much more awkward than he had a moment ago, and finished his retreat before Ushiwaka had a chance to notice or question the heat that was slowly but surely darkening his cheeks.