Yes, I'm well aware that it's March, not December, and therefore no longer Christmas. But I drew a Christmas piece of Hiro and Maiye that I only recently got to finish (which I used for the cover art here go me) and ended up writing this little ficlet to go along with it. Blah blah, sue me (actually please don't, I'm a college student on a budget lol). You can view the entire thing on my DeviantArt, but for now, have this oneshot. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Big Hero 6 is owned by Disney and Marvel.
The Lee family Christmas Eve party was in full swing. A yearly tradition, Fred and his parents would go out of their way to invite everyone they knew to get together and celebrate the holiday season. Throughout the spacious mansion, guests were talking, dancing, and drinking their fair share of holiday eggnog. It was the night before Christmas, and festivities were abound.
In one room, someone had brought out the karaoke machine for partygoers to sing their favorite holiday tunes. After one too many glasses of spiked eggnog, Maiye's parents thought it would be a good idea to join in. Now, the police chief of San Fransokyo was standing in the front of the room with his wife, Maiye's stepmom, crooning away to a slightly tipsy version of "Baby, It's Cold Outside."
As entertaining as it was watching her parents put their own spin on classic holiday hits, Maiye was starting to tire of the festivities and wanted nothing more than a quiet moment to herself. When she happened to catch Hiro's eye from across the room, it was clear that he wanted the same thing.
Without making a fuss, the pair quietly slipped out and met up in the hallway. Once they were there, Hiro immediately turned to grin at Maiye.
"Can I just say," he told her. "That I never knew your parents could sing that well?"
"Heather can," said Maiye in response. "She has her own band and everything. My dad, on the other hand..."
"Does not?"
"Definitely not."
The two teens laughed a little before Hiro spoke again. "Think he's going to be embarrassed later on?"
"Nah," Maiye shrugged. "He'll probably just ask for photographs, which I'm sure his colleagues will be more than happy to give him."
"Probably." Hiro held out his hand towards Maiye. "Want to go for a walk?"
Maiye smiled. "Do I ever."
Taking his hand in hers, the young couple began to wander down the dim, lengthy corridors of Fred's home, all the while discussing their holidays, their projects, and exactly what next semester might hold for them. As they walked, there was a part of Maiye's mind that remained entirely focused on the warm feeling of Hiro's hand in her own. His grip was gentle, fingers covering hers, palms callused from working with his hands all day. They hadn't been dating for long, a couple weeks at most, but just holding his hand like this gave her warm feelings that were not quite attributed to the holiday spirit.
Turning a corner, the pair came upon one hallway that was different from all the others. Not only was it shorter than what they'd seen before, but it was far more decorated. One side of the hall was made entirely of floor-to-ceiling glass windows, which looked out upon a courtyard now covered by darkness.
But the room was far from dark.
Along the edges of the hall, from the ceiling, there hung dozens upon dozens of paper lanterns, all offset at various heights. In sharp contrast to the twinkling lights and Christmas trees found through the rest of the house, they were lit softly in varying shades of yellow and white. The darkness outside allowed them to reflect upon the glass windowpanes, making it seem as if there were more of them than there were, and illuminating the room in a soft, warm glow.
Hiro's eyes widened at the sight. "Wow," he said softly.
"I know," replied Maiye. "It's beautiful. I never would have expected this."
The pair was silent for a moment, silently admiring the decorations. Then, out of the corner of her eye, Maiye saw Hiro glance up quickly, widen his eyes, then look away as fast as he could.
This puzzled her. Turning her gaze towards Hiro, she asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," he mumbled. "It's just, I, uh - don't look up."
"What?" Maiye raised an eyebrow and raised her head towards the ceiling. "Why shouldn't I look-?"
She stopped short once she saw what was there. Hanging directly above her and Hiro's heads, in an all-too perfect position, was quite possibly the most classic Christmas decoration of all time: a fresh sprig of mistletoe.
"Oh," she said quietly.
"Yeah," Hiro said, still looking away from her. "I, uh, wasn't expecting this."
"Neither was I," said Maiye. "But it doesn't bother me."
"Me neither," said Hiro quickly. "I just don't want to make you uncomfortable, that's all."
"Are you uncomfortable?" asked Maiye.
"No," said Hiro, still looking towards the ground. "I've just... never had this happen before."
"What," Maiye grinned. "You mean to say you don't go around kissing random girls under oversold, potentially poisonous holiday plants?" She tsked a couple of times and slid her arms around Hiro's neck. "How shocking."
It was a good thing the room was somewhat dark, because at that moment, Hiro's face had gone the same shade as his red holiday sweater. When he glanced up towards Maiye though, any nervousness he felt at the situation suddenly evaporated.
"Yeah," he smiled a little and settled his hands at her waist. "I'm just full of surprises."
They were closer now, with Maiye's hands moving to settle on Hiro's shoulders, her face in close proximity to his. There was very little space left between them as her nose lightly brushed against his. Leaning forward, they closed the gap between them in a soft kiss.
The hesitancy found in the earlier stages of their relationship was all but gone now as Hiro's lips moved gently but firmly against Maiye's, his eyes sliding closed in pleasure. Before her, Hiro had never given much thought to the idea of kissing, only knowing it was something couples did when they were really close with one another. Now though, he understood why people liked it so much. There was something utterly euphoric about being with someone like this, holding them in your arms, and feeling their lips on yours, knowing they felt the exact same way about you as you did them. Just... wow.
In the meantime, Maiye's eyes had closed as well, while her normally-racing mind slowed down she continued to kiss Hiro. She used to think it was silly, being forced to kiss someone just because the two of you happened to be standing under a certain plant. Now though, as she tilted her head to kiss him a little deeper and her arms moved to settle around his neck, she silently thanked whoever came up with this dumb tradition in the first place.
A few moments later, they broke apart, but still held onto each other. In the dim lighting of the paper lanterns, during what would hopefully be the first of many Christmases together, Hiro whispered,
"Merry Christmas, Maiye."
Ah, the classic Christmas cliche of sharing a kiss under the mistletoe. Constantly appropriated by fanfiction authors but rarely experienced in real life, clinical trials show that you are guaranteed to find at least one story like this in every fandom under the sun. Trust me guys, I'm a college student. I've done my research.
Anyways, hope you all liked this, and I'll see you when I post the next chapter of the Trials of Love! Bye guys!
-Liz