This was written for canta-brasil03 for the MakoGou holiday exchange over on tumblr.

Gou wakes to the smell of pancakes and panics.

Normally the smell of pancakes wouldn't cause her to nearly have a heart attack. In fact, she likes pancakes. She blames her brother for getting her hooked on western breakfasts.

She panics is because it means her boyfriend is cooking pancakes.

Makoto is a disaster chef. Seriously, the guy is hopeless. The last time he tried to cook ramen on the stove he somehow managed to start a fire (which she had to put out because in his state of panic he forgot how a fire extinguisher works). So he sticks with foods he can make in a microwave, or a toaster oven.

Or a pancake maker.

Like the pancake maker she bought him as a Christmas present and hid in the kitchen, where she was positive he wouldn't find it.

Gou really hopes he miraculously gained culinary skills overnight.

She throws on a robe and heads toward the kitchen.

Their kitchen is a sight for sore eyes. The countertop is covered in eggshells and pancake batter, and there's flour on the floor. Sitting right in the middle of the ooey, gooey mess is, just as she dreaded, the pancake maker.

Her boyfriend sits at their table, munching on a plate of pancakes and beaming at her with that stupid, boyish grin that would make her heart melt if she wasn't so annoyed right now.

"I thought I'd surprise you by making breakfast." He says with his mouth full. There's maple syrup on his cheeks. "You definitely look surprised."

"How did you find that?" She asks, pointing at the pancake maker on the counter.

He swallows, "Oh uh… I was getting a cup from the cabinet when I found it hidden behind some mugs. It's pretty nifty huh? I can finally cook breakfast without burning the house down."

Those were here exact thoughts when she bought it.

He takes another enormous bite, "Mmm... these are really good, I mixed strawberries in them. Your favorite right?"

She nods and doesn't say anything.

He drizzles more syrup on his pancakes, "You know I don't even remember buying this thing. Was it housewarming gift?"

"No, it was a Christmas gift."

"From who?"

"From me!" She shouts, exasperated, "It was supposed to be your Christmas gift!"

He nearly chokes on his pancake, "Oh I am so sorry! I didn't mean to- I didn't know." He scrambles out of his chair and starts packing the pancake maker back into the box, "I'll just put it back where I found it and pretend I never saw."

"Makoto it doesn't work that way! Now that you saw it I have to get you something else." She groans, "Why were you even reaching for the top shelf anyway?"

"I needed a glass for my juice."

"But why the top shelf?"

"There weren't any glasses on the lower shelves."

"But it's so high up!" She exclaims, "Wouldn't it have been easier to wash one of the cups in the sink."

He chuckles, "It's not that high up Gou."

"I had to stand on a chair to get up there!"

"That's just because you're so short."

"I am not short, you're just too tall for your own good. " She sighs, "I'll have to hide it better next year."

Makoto whistles, "Aiko... here kitty. Where are you girl?"

The two of them have a horde stray, outdoor cats that would come and go as they please, but only one house cat. A fat, grey, fluffy thing named Aiko.

It wasn't abnormal for Aiko to be absent. She wasn't the most sociable cat, and spent most of her time... well they weren't quite sure where. Nagisa still thinks they're lying about owning a cat because he's never seen her. Sometimes they would joke that the only way they knew she was alive was because the food in the bowl was gone.

Tonight though her dinner had gone untouched, which was cause for some concern. Aiko wasn't one to miss a meal. They were starting to worry that she'd accidentally wandered outside. She was an indoor cat who'd never expressed interest in going outside before, but they had both been going in and out a lot today, and it was possible she slipped through their legs without them noticing.

"I'll check the basement." Gou says.

"Good idea. I'll look in the spare bedroom."

"I already tried there, but go ahead. Maybe she got up high where I can't see."

He checks under the bed, behind the dressers, under the desk, even in drawers, though how a cat could get in a closed drawer he doesn't know. He doesn't have any luck. Before leaving, he decides to check inside the closet. The doors are closed, so it's not likely she's in there, but it can't hurt to look anyway.

He opens the doors and finds Aiko nestled in a clothes box on the top shelf.

"Well how did you get up there?" He says, as he scoops up Aiko from out of the box. She doesn't appreciate the gesture, and tries to scratch at his arms.

"Honey I found her!" He calls, and sets her on the ground. She looks at him with what he swears is a scowl, and scampers off under the bed.

He chuckles at his cat before turning his attention back to the clothes box in the closet. He's not sure why it's there. They don't keep their clothes in the spare bedroom. He takes the contents of the box out to have a closer look. It's a green, cashmere sweater. The tag is still on it, so it's probably new. It looks like something he would wear, and it would probably fit him, but he's never seen it before.

He hears Gou's footsteps down the hall about to shout and ask her why there's a sweater in the closet when he remembers last year's incident with the pancake press. With Christmas a week away, he gathers that this is obviously meant to be his gift. He hastily stuffs the sweater back in the box and covers it with tissue paper, and only just manages to get it back into the closet before Gou walks in.

"So where is she?" She asks.

"Under the bed." He replies. He hopes he doesn't sound too nervous.

He spends the next week practicing his surprise face in the bathroom mirror. Even his most convincing awestruck gasps though can't fool her.

"You found it when we were looking for Aiko didn't you?" Gou frowns as she pulls tufts of cat hair off of the sweater.

"Yeah."

There is a stack of Makoto's old textbooks piled high up on a shelf in the basement. He never uses them, and all they're good for now is collecting dust and taking up space. He keeps saying one day they'll come in handy, but she rolls her eyes. He calls himself a sentimentalist, she calls him a packrat.

No matter what he claims about them still being useful, he hasn't actually touched them since they moved in. It doesn't look like that will be changing anytime soon. There also really high up. Even he would at least need a stepstool to reach them. So while he's not home she gets the ladder out of the garage and stashes his Christmas present up there.

"Hey Gou do you know where we keep the stepstool?" He calls to his fiancée who's cooking dinner in the kitchen.

"I think it's in the basement. What do you need it for dear?"

"I just got a call from Ren. He wants to borrow one of the books I keep in the basement."

He hears a loud clatter and what he swears is a whimper from Gou.

"Is everything okay?" He asks, concerned.

"Yeah everything's fine. I uh... dropped a bowl on accident that's all."

"Are you hurt? Did anything break?" She's usually much more careful than that.

There's a pause, "I'm okay, and nothings broken."

"Okay I'll be in the basement if you need me." He says as he goes down the basement stairs. As he's picking up the stepstool he hears light footsteps treading quickly down the stairs.

"I thought you'd never use those again!"

"Yeah I know, but I told you one day they'd come in handy." He teases.

"Why don't you let me get the book?" She says.

"Well that wouldn't make any sense. We'd need to drag the ladder out of the garage so you could reach the top shelf. Besides, you don't know what book you're looking for."

"Well you could tell me which book it is, and I can reach it on the stepstool!"

"I appreciate your offer honey, but you're just not tall enough." He climbs up on the step stool and looks through the collection of books.

"Oh what's this?" He says, picking up a set of books on the shelf he doesn't recognize, "The Cormac McCarthy collection. I don't remember reading these in college."

She sighs, "Do I really have to say it?"

He freezes, "Oh no this was my Christmas present wasn't it?"

"I'll take it back to the store and get you something else."

This year Gou is determined not to have Makoto find her gift. She moves it around a couple of times because she keeps second guessing her hiding spot. For a day it was in the garage, then the laundry room, then her dresser, then the garage again. None of them seem right, and she's terrified that he will accidentally stumble on it. Then she thinks of the perfect hiding place. He can't find his gift if it isn't even in their house.

She walks up to her brother's door with a shoebox under her arm, and knocks.

"Hey, do you think you could do me a favor?"

"Guys, calm down." Makoto sighs. Of all the petty arguments Haru and Rin get into, this one has to be the pettiest. The three of them were reminiscing about their old high school days, when somehow Nagisa's giant, inflatable inner tube came up, and the two of them couldn't remember or agree on what color it was.

"It was blue!" Haru says forcefully.

"No I'm telling you, it was red." Rin shouts in reply.

"No it was definitely blue."

"Makoto, tell this idiot that it was red."

"I uh… think you two should work this out yourself." He says gently. He's not getting dragged into one of their arguments. Besides, he's pretty sure it was pink.

"Haru, do you still have the scrapbook Gou made? Maybe there's a picture in it."

"Yeah it's in the attic. I'll go get it."

"Why don't you let me get it." He suggests. He couldn't think of anything worse than being stuck with a riled up Rin.

"It should be on the bottom shelf." Haru says as he leaves.

"No it's on the middle shelf!" Rin shouts in reply. He shakes his head. Those two can always find something to bicker over.

Though a bit cramped, their attic is organized and tidy, and it doesn't take long to find the scrapbook on the top shelf of one of the shelving units. He chuckles quietly to himself. Neither one of them were right. As he's reaching for the book he accidentally knocks a shoebox onto the floor.

"Whoops." he says, and picks up the shoebox.

"Hey Makoto, did you find it o-" Haru stops, seeing Makoto holding the shoebox. "Where did you find those?"

"I accidentally knocked it off the shelf." He says apologetically.

Haru frowns, "Don't tell Gou you found that."

"Why would I tell Gou I found a shoebox in your attic?"

"Just... don't tell her alright?" He says

Next week when they're opening up Christmas presents he mentions that he saw a shoebox just like his present in Rin and Haru's attic. That was his big mistake. If he had just remembered what Haru said, Gou probably never would have known he found her present. He didn't mean anything by it. He figured he and Haru just owned the same brand of shoes, not that Gou had hid his gift at their house.

"If it helps, I didn't even see what was inside." He says sheepishly. She just groans.

"So have you bought Makoto's Christmas gift yet?" Rin asks her before taking a bite of his noodles. Gou had invited him out to lunch. With his vigorous training schedule she hardly ever gets to see him anymore, not that that's different from any other point in her life. Still it's nice to catch up with her brother every once and awhile.

"Not yet." She sighs, "I'm not even sure what the point of getting him a gift is. He always finds it before Christmas no matter where I hide it."

"And that's a bad thing?" He chuckles, "Don't you remember how we'd go searching for presents when we were younger? My seven year old self envies him."

"But I want to surprise him! It's not much of a surprise when he already knows what it is."

"Maybe your hiding places are too predictable."

"My hiding spots are not predictable!"

"Okay where do you hide them? Besides my house. By the way last year was not my fault."

"I know I know." She rolls her eyes, "Let's see, I hid it in the kitchen cabinet, then in the spare bedroom closet, and then a shelf in the basement."

"I was wrong. You're hiding spots weren't obvious. They were in plain sight."

"They were not in plain sight! They were all the way up on the top shelf."

He covers his mouth to stifle his burgeoning laughter. She glares at him. "What is so funny?"

"I'm sorry, but what did you expect? The guy is a giant, of course he's going to find things on the top shelf."

She frowns, and tears her bread roll in half.

It takes him a few deep breaths and a sip of water to calm down, "Okay I get it. Not helpful. How about you hide it lower this year?"

"I don't want the cat to get it."

"Didn't she do that anyway even when it was hidden up high?"

She purses her lips. He has a point, but it's not one she wants to hear.

He tries again, "How about you could wait until Christmas Eve to go shopping."

"I hate last minute shopping." She says. She likes everything to be in order and according to plan. The absolute chaos of last minute shopping is too much for her to handle.

"What about buying him a gift he can't find?"

"Wow, a gift he can't find. Thanks for such a fantastic suggestion." She says sarcastically.

"I mean something that you wouldn't keep in your house. Like a magazine subscription, or like last year I got Haru a membership to the mackerel of the month club."

She grimaces, "That's a real thing?"

"Sometimes I still don't believe it."

"Well I don't know what kind of magazine he'd want, and I'm not getting him a membership to the gross mackerel of the month club."

"Okay. What about a trip somewhere?"

"We just went on our honeymoon a couple months ago."

"A small trip? I thought he likes museum. What about going to the aquarium, or the planetarium?"

She has her eureka moment, "The planetarium! Stars! It's perfect! Why didn't I think of it before? Thanks for the idea."

"So you're going to take him to the planetarium?"

"No, but something similar, and something he definitely can't find in the house."

Makoto treads carefully for the weeks leading up to Christmas. He doesn't want to accidentally stumble on his Christmas present... for the fifth time in a row. He watches Gou for any indication that he's about to find his Christmas gift, but he doesn't catch anything. She probably caught onto him, and every time he studies her reaction she gives a smug little smile. Wherever her hiding place is this year, it must be pretty solid.

When Christmas rolls around he's completely in the dark about his present, and he couldn't be happier.

"I didn't find it this year. Aren't you proud?" He says Christmas morning as they're exchanging gifts.

"Of course you didn't. I hid it way too high for you to find."

He laughs, "Too high for me to find huh? Did you hide it on the top shelf of your dresser?"

"Higher."

"The top shelf of your closet?"

"Higher."

"Uh.. On the roof?"

"Even higher than that."

He looks at her puzzled. "How could you get it higher than the roof?"

She hands him an envelope, "This might explain things."

He opens it and reads the paper inside aloud, "'December 25 forecast. Tonight: Low 0°C. Clear skies. No wind. No chance of precipitation.' I'm still not sure I get it."

She grins mischievously at him, "You'll understand tonight when I give you your gift."

They go over to his parents' house in the afternoon, then Gou's mothers in the evening. When they ask what Gou got him for Christmas, he shrugs and says she'll show him tonight. He tells them her clue, but none of them know what to make of it either, although he suspects Rin knows something from the way he smiles slyly when he mentions it.

On their drive home, she asks him to stop at a park. He's not sure why she wants to, but he complies. Once they're parked she zips up her coat and gets out of the car, directing him to do the same.

She grins excitedly, "Come on, don't you want to see your present?"

"Does it have to be outside?"

"Yup."

"But it's so cold out. And dark." He clutches his wife's arm.

She giggles, "You are such a baby sometimes." He continues clinging to her as they walk through the empty park. When they reach a wooden bench they sit down.

"Are you ready for your present?" She asks. He nods.

"Look up." He does. She takes his hand, and uses it point out a star. It's not the brightest, he can tell it isn't part of any constellation. But it must be significant for Gou to point it out

"Merry Christmas." She says sweetly, and rests her head on his shoulder.

Things start to make a bit more sense, "You bought me a star."

"I didn't actually buy it, just named it after you, or whatever you want it to be called. I haven't gotten the certificate printed yet, so it's not too late to change the name."

"I think Makoto is a good name for a star." He says. He takes his eyes off of it to give Gou a gentle kiss on her forehead. "You were right, it was too high for me to find."

She turns to face him, and kisses him on the lips, which he returns with enthusiasm. When they break apart she smiles. "I'm glad you like it."

He grins, "So what are you going to do next year to top it?"

She frowns at him, "Don't ruin the moment."

"Right. Sorry."

They sit cuddled together in a comfortable silence, staring at the sky.

I couldn't decide whether to make Mako and Gou engaged, married, or just dating, so I went with all of the above.