12 Days of Ficmas!

Day 2- Two Turtle Doves

"It's getting pretty chilly out here," Taiki said as he walked by you, his breath becoming a cloud as it left his lips. He glanced over at you and made eye contact with you, causing you to quickly look away with a pink blush on your cheeks. It was a reoccurring pattern between the two of you. Were the two of you dating? Oh no. Heavens no. He was a good friend to you, and you were a good friend to him. "Are you warm?" He asked with a concerned look.

"Y-yeah" You mumbled out. In truth, you were freezing. Thinking that the night would be kind to you, you only brought your jacket and left your sweater at home. You would never tell Taiki, he would scold you for hours. You held yourself in hopes that it would help you keep the warmth in your body.

He must have seen you because he stopped walking and took off his jacket, "You do this all the time." He sighed out and threw the jacket around your shoulders.

"N-no! It's fine! Take your jacket back" You said as you began to take it off, "You'll freeze!" You insisted

He shook his head and pushed the jacket back to you, "You need it more than I do. I'll be fine, besides, I was hot anyway" He added, you knew it was a lie.

You sighed a bit and kept the jacket, secretly thankful for Taiki's kindness. "The snow looks beautiful tonight" You smiled as you looked around the park.

"Yes, I love winter. Many people dislike winter because of its plain white color. But... snow has its own beauty" He said with a slight smile. At first, his random poetic thoughts left you confused, but you slowly started to enjoy them. Now you can't think of a time where you didn't enjoy his ramblings. Not a day goes by without you wondering, 'I wonder what Taiki would say'.

"You have a point, but the snow is cold," You said with a light chuckle.

"It wouldn't have been cold if you remembered your sweater," he shot back, "You need to take better care of yourself" He sighed. Great, here was the lecture.

"I take care of myself good enough," You said defensively. 

"You were shivering," Taiki said quickly, "What if one of these days, I won't be here for you anymore. What then?" he frowned.

Your steps faltered for a moment, the thought never occurred to you. You had just assumed that you'd be friends for a long time, the thought of him leaving your life left you a bit breathless. "Wh-what do you mean?" You asked hesitantly.

"I'm just saying, there's a chance that someday we will go our separate ways. I want to make sure that you're going to be okay if that happens." Taiki explained calmly, "Oh I'm not saying that you can't survive without me, you're a very strong person, (Y/N)" He added quickly, perhaps it was the chill of the night air, or the light playing tricks on you, but you saw a faint blush on his cheeks, "I'm just saying-well I ... you see what I'm trying to say is... never mind" He mumbled and kept walking with his head down.

"I understand what you mean," You said quietly as you followed him, "You're only looking out for me, which I think is sweet, " you said with a smile.

He didn't respond to you, he just kept walking with a straight face. When something troubled him or upset him, you've noticed that he ignored everything else. He did get upset every so often, but you've never seen him this upset before. He's never been this troubled. "H-Hey," You said and tugged at his arm, "What's wrong?" you asked him firmly.

"Nothing"

You stopped walking and kept a hold of his arm, earning you a very confused look from Taiki. "Something is wrong, what's going on? You were happy one minute and now you're... this" You frowned, he tried to move his arm away, but you kept a solid grip on his arm.

"I said nothing was wrong," He said again.

You sighed and looked down, "You were talking about not being in my life and you got upset." You started, "what were you thinking about."

He sighed a bit and looked around. With his other arm, he pointed to the ground, "Do you see those?" He asked, "Turtle Doves." You frowned lightly, first off, turtle doves don't live around Japan. They live around Europe or Africa depending on the season. What was that doing there? Secondly, why did he point those out? 

"Where are you going with this, Taiki?" You questioned.

"I was doing a bit of research the other day. Did you know that they- they mate for life?" He asked and looked back down at you, "Becuase of this, many writers and poets use it as a symbol of love and faithfulness. Even the great Shakespeare uses the symbolism in his playwrights and it is also mentioned in the Old Testament."

"Okay.... so what does that have to do with anything?" You asked, thoroughly confused.

"D-Do you think... Could we..." He sighed heavily and covered his face. "Could we be turtle doves?" He asked strongly.

"T-Taiki..." You muttered breathless, "We are humans. We cannot be birds, I mean yes, science has improved so much over the years, but we cannot change species. It's impossible. Maybe if you-"

Your endless stream of confusion was stopped by Taiki's lips. Your mouth stopped working as you felt his cold lips against your warm lips. Your grip on his arm loosened as he held you closer to him. His hand, which was now free, reached up to the back of your head as he pulled you in closer.

He pulled away until he was an inch away from your lips, "I meant, could we be Turtle doves in a symbolic way? I promise, if you'll have me, I'll make you the happiest person alive. During the past few days, I've been trying to work up the courage to tell you this. I've had feelings for you for a long time now. If you don't feel the same way, I understand. I don't want this to mess up our friendship together, which actually was-"

This time, you stopped his endless stream of words with a kiss of your own. You took your arms and wrapped them around his neck as the two of you held onto each other. Suddenly, the chill of the snow went away, replaced by the warmth of Taiki and his love. 

"I love you, Taiki" 

He beamed and held you close to him. You rested your head on his shoulder and you felt tears run down your cheeks. He must have felt it too because he took your face in his hands and wiped away the tears. "I've been waiting for the day where you would say that to me. You've just made me the happiest man alive. I-I love you too" He said, tears welling in his eyes as well. "This is the best Christmas gift I have ever received."

"Merry Christmas"