One-Shots {Mostly Corpse Party}

Mistletoe (Houtaeru)

This is my one-shot story to celebrate the season of winter. (We've broken records for actually being in the 60 degree range?? How?)

Anyway, the first part that I finally got to is a request from my lovely best friend that_epic_turtle since her love for Hyouka cannot be controlled. Seriously. Just say, "Oreki-san!" and she'll flip for sure, guaranteed.

This is for Houtaeru and Houtarou x Eru shippers. Rejoice!

Houtarou couldn't recall a start to the new year where he hadn't been napping the entire day. That's what he had originally planned to make a tradition again. Cherishing the idea of a peaceful winter break, he stumbled back onto his mattress and closed his eyes with a content smile. Finally, a day dedicated to doing absolutely nothing.

Or so he believed.

He was drawn from his thoughts of sleep and energy saving when he caught the faint sound of his door creaking open. "Yes, he's here. Would you like to talk to him?"

This resulted in a grumble from Houtarou. "What do you want, Tomoe?" he asked, irritated that his period of slumber was being disturbed. Instead of a wordy answer, a phone was shoved in his direction.

"Chitanda-san wishes to speak with you," Tomoe responded. Houtarou stiffly nodded, rolled his eyes, and gave Chitanda a groggy and partially muffled greeting.

"Good afternoon, Oreki-san," she replied. "There's a winter festival tonight, and I was wondering... will you accompany me?"

"What about Ibara?" Houtarou inquired. Wouldn't this be the perfect opportunity for the girls to hang out, or was he just formulating excuses so he didn't have to leave his house?

"She's going with Fukube-san." This caused Houtarou's eyes to roll to the back of his head. To be honest, he had already predicted that this would be a probable response. Chitanda followed with, "I don't remember the last time I was present at this festival, and I can't ask anyone else. Please, Oreki-san! I'm curious!"

Oh, joy. He could only imagine how overly wide her purple eyes were just now. They started to bore into his mind, reminding him of the daydream he had of her upon meeting her. It was getting to the point where he was catching the Chitanda disease again, and that meant his answer was evident from the beginning. "Alright, fine," he gave in. "When would you want to meet?"

"Is five o'clock alright with you?" she asked. No matter what situation she was in, she was always considerate of him. His face burned bright red upon realizing this.

"Yeah," he answered shortly. "See ya."

"Thank you, Oreki-san. See you soon." Click.

Houtarou prayed for the trip to be roughly thirty minutes at the most. A festival wasn't important enough to waste his energy on, and he'd done so too many times previously because of Chitanda.

He turned over to read the clock. 3:30. Great. Not only did he have no more time to sleep, but he was well aware that his holiday was going to be spent at a winter festival. He remembered the result the last time they had gone they had gone to one- it wasn't the exact same one, but him and Chitanda were stranded in a locked shed with no way out.

Time had ticked, but Houtarou made an effort to straighten his untamed bedhead and debate on an appropriate attire. He finally decided not to make too much of a deal out of it, and picked a simple blue shirt and jeans to wear under his white coat and yellow scarf.

4:30. "Later, Tomoe," he waved. "I'm meeting Chitanda at the festival."

"Okay, don't have too much fun in public," she emphasized the word "fun," which was easy for someone like Houtarou to interpret.