Let's Have Ourselves A Merry Little Christmas

Be My Fire In The Cold

Kokichi wandered aimlessly through the halls of the Ultimate Academy. It was late, but not yet time for the nighttime announcement. Kaede's speakers would softly singing out Christmas songs, some with vocals and some just piano. The sun had long set, but the song continued to fall outside and replaced the messy courtyard in a new layer. It reminded him of the crime scenes after the trials, how they were so perfectly cleaned and restored as if nothing had ever happened. The snowfall was icing over the fun memories of snowball fights and playful scream-laughing from the morning.

The supreme leader found himself sitting in one of the spare classrooms near the front of the school, sat on the window ledge and staring out into the darkness. He watched as Kirumi and Tenko entered the dormitory, hugging their arms and shaking their heads to dislodge the flakes of snow stuck there. Many of his classmates had already retired for the night but Kokichi couldn't quite work up the encouragement to brave the death defying race through the cold towards the dorms.

Kokichi sighed, his breath puffing up onto the frost glass of the window. When he first settled, he'd been torn between pity and amusement to see that Kaito had dragged Shuichi and Maki into training despite the foot of snow, setting sun, and chilling air. Of course, Maki had breezed through her efforts and quickly fled back into the heated safety of the dorms, Kaito following shortly after. Shuichi, surprisingly, had entered the Academy again instead of following after his friends.

Some time later, Kokichi was jerked from his thoughts by a knock on the open door to the classroom. Kokichi turned, allowing a mischievous smile to come across his face, "You look like a drowned rat."

Shuichi stood there with his shoulders and hair drenched from thawed snow, his face flushed from the cold, and white fingers curled around two mugs of steaming liquid.

"Kaito was pretty insistent..." Shuichi defended himself weakly, crossing the room to hand Kokichi a mug.

Kokichi eyed its contents suspiciously. It could be coffee. He hates coffee.

The leader took a careful snip, pouting when it scorched his tongue. It wasn't coffee, but hot chocolate.

"We should get marshmallows."

"A-ah?"

Kokichi rolled his eyes, "Marshmallows! Since I'm not insane like you are."

Shuichi produced a small bag of miniatures marshmallows from his pocket, offering them to the liar. "You did mention that earlier."

Kokichi happily snatched the bag, placing his mug on the window sill and ripping open the bag. "Wow! You remembered!"

Shuichi stood awkwardly by the other end of the window, pretending to look out the window but the reflection showed his gold eyes watching Kokichi has he happily poured an unhealthy amount of marshmallows into his mug, causing the chocolatey liquid to splash out.

"Careful!"

Kokichi snickered his signature laugh. "Hey, hey! Let's go to your research lab!"

"Why?"

"Because it has a fireplace! And I'm cold!" Kokichi complained, hopping off the window sill and grabbing his drink. "Race you~ If I win, I'm dumping this all over the couches!"

Shuichi started, "Wha? Hey, be careful! You're gonna spill your drink if you go too fast!"

"Aww, does Shumai care about little ol' me?" Kokichi rocked on the heels of his feet, having paused by the doorway. "Not that I care anyway!"

Shuichi sighed as Kokichi ducked out of sight. The sound of his footsteps echoing loudly up the stairs as the detective was forced to trail more slowly behind him, conscious of his mostly full beverage. The music from the speakers had gotten even quieter as it got closer to nighttime so it was mostly silent apart from the running footsteps ahead and the concerning thuds! that followed occasionally. Arriving at the door to his lab, Shuichi half wasn't expecting Kokichi to even be there but when he pushed open the door, he found the little liar sitting on one of the couches my the fire, swinging his legs like a child.