"How has it been up north? You haven't been causing trouble, have you?"

"I'll have you know I've been shokugeki-free for three days now," Souma says. The cold is extra biting today. He's starting to regret his decision to sit on a bench near the docks, the morning winds stinging his cheeks.

"That's genuinely surprising," his father laughs, voice crackling over the phone. Souma can't help but grin, too.

"So do you know when you're coming back?" he asks.

"Soon," his father says. "The thirtieth, just before New Year's Eve. You don't have to rush home or anything, take your time."

Souma makes a noncommittal noise, drifting his eyes over the waves splashing against the docks. He supposes it wouldn't be so bad, spending a few more days here after Christmas. It's been fun.

"I'm glad you're not spending Christmas alone," his father says. "It's my fault that you almost were."

"It's not your fault," Souma says, stretching his legs, slouching in his seat. He tilts his head back until it touches the backrest of the bench, watching seagulls swoop and caw in the sky. "It's okay."

"Well, I'll make it up to you when I'm back. You can even bring your friend with you if you'd like. Tadokoro, right?"

Souma swallows against his heart which has suddenly leaped into his throat. "Yeah, Tadokoro. Uh, I don't know, I'd have to see if she has any plans with her family, but… Yeah, I guess, it'd be cool if she could come."

"I owe her and her family a big thank you. Maybe I'll cook them something."

"Just not pickled squid and mustard again." Souma grimaces at the memory.

"Hey, I was onto something with that one!"

"You were not and we both know it!"

After he finishes the call and hangs up, he takes a moment to sit and listen to the crash of the waves. Fishermen are calling out to one another on the docks as people gather at the fish market, so busy it's nearly bursting at the seams.

Slowly, he gets on his feet, stretching his arms over his head. Then he heads straight to the shopping district.

When he discussed shopping by himself this morning with Megumi, she was hesitant. And when he explained that she couldn't come along because he was planning on buying a present for her, she turned flustered.

"You don't have to do that, Souma-kun," she protested, but Souma was already slipping his shoes on at the door.

"Too late, I'm going," he said and waved as he shuffled out the door. "Bye! I'll catch up with you later!"

Wandering past gleaming storefronts and painstakingly wading through the endless crowd of shoppers, finding the right gift for Megumi feels like an impossible task. It didn't seem like a difficult endeavor two days ago, but last night's revelations have changed the stakes, placing a greater weight on this than Souma ever expected. A friendly, platonic gift would be fine, sure—hair clips or kitchen knives or keychains would work, but Souma can't help but feel dissatisfied. He's never been very good at keeping his emotions to himself, has never seen much reason to do so in the past, but Megumi is his dearest friend. The last thing he wants to do is scare her away.

"Ugh, this is too complicated!" Souma cries, mussing his hair in frustration, earning strange looks from the people walking past.

Instinctively, his hands move to the headband wrapped around his forearm, fingers finding the knot that is always there. A gift from his dad a long time ago, just the touch of it reassures him and grounds him whenever he feels overwhelmed. Of all things, gift giving has suddenly become monumentally more daunting than any shokugeki he's ever faced.

He looks down at the white cloth between his fingertips, considering. Maybe… Maybe something like…

Souma hurries into the nearest department store.

When he strides through the doors, a store clerk says cheerfully, "Welcome! Can I help you with anything?"

"I'm fine, thank y—" he begins, but stops. "Wait. Do you guys do gift wrapping here? I suck at it."

The brisk evening chill spurs Souma through the inn's front entrance. The employees greet him as he enters, and they must remember him from his first visit because no one makes a fuss as he makes his way to the kitchen, already knowing where Megumi will be.

He nearly walks into her when the kitchen door swings open.

"Oh! Souma-kun!"

Megumi's surprise at seeing him slowly melts into joy. She's in her uniform, an apron around her waist and her hair tied back in a bun. She has a smudge of flour on her cheek. Souma has to resist the urge to reach up and rub it away with his thumb. He swallows.

"Hey," he says, unwinding his scarf from his neck.

"What are you doing here? You don't have to work on your winter break."

"Neither do you," he quips, grinning. "I really don't mind, I like helping out."

Megumi smiles, then gestures for him to come through the kitchen door. "My mother's inside, she'll tell you what to do. I have to go out and help the guests for a bit, but I'll be back."

Before she walks away, he says, "Wait."

She stops. Souma licks his lips, wondering if he should do this, but it'd be rude for him to let Megumi greet guests without letting her know. He lifts his hand, slowly brings it towards her face. His thumb touches her cheek, feather-light, and gently wipes away the flour smudged there. Her skin is soft, then very warm as a blush bursts onto her cheeks.

"Sorry," Souma says, feeling a little breathless. "You had some flour there."

"O-Oh," Megumi squeaks. "Th-Thanks."

"Sure." Souma nods jerkily, glancing away.

"I, um. I have to go, the guests are… waiting for me…" She gestures down the hallway.

"Oh, yeah—yeah, of course! You'd better go."

She walks very quickly down the hall.

Souma takes a deep breath and pushes through the kitchen door. He finds Megumi's mother inside.

"Souma-kun, here to help out again?" she says. She looks tired from the rush of the kitchen, but still managing to keep a smile on her face.

Souma answers her with a grin. "Only if that's okay."

"You're always welcome here." She waves a hand for him to come in.

He unwinds the headband wrapped around his wrist and gets to work.

Working in the inn's kitchen reminds him of the joy of cooking for others. It's different at Tootsuki when so often his cooking is just for satisfying a teacher's assignment for a class. Not that he doesn't put everything he has into those dishes—his father worked hard to drill that into him, after all: that cooking is about putting everything you have onto the plate. But Souma values the time he spent at Yukihira Diner learning how to work alongside his dad to make food for others. He knows the importance of cooperation in the kitchen and the satisfaction of getting dishes out and onto the table. Being able to experience that here in the kitchen Megumi grew up in makes the experience all the more important to him.

In the middle of chopping vegetables, Megumi returns to the kitchen to speak to her mother about something. Souma can't hear much from his station, but Megumi catches his eye on her way back out. She shoots him a smile, quick and bright, before hurrying outside. It's only after she's gone and Souma returns to the cabbage he was cutting that he realizes he's smiling, too.

"Thank you for all your help."

He nearly jumps when Megumi's mother appears right behind him.

"I'm happy to help," he says, finishing with the cabbage and arranging it neatly on a plate.

She regards him for a moment silently, a finger to her chin. The image of Erina judging a dish suddenly flashes in Souma's mind, and though Megumi's mother doesn't have the God Tongue, he feels nervous all the same.

She seems to sense the sudden tension in him, and she drops her hand and laughs. "No need to be nervous, Souma-kun," she says. "I've just been eager to meet you ever since Megumi told me about you."

"Oh." Souma rubs the back of his head, tugs at one of the loose ends of his headband. "Hopefully not about some of the crazier things I've done."

"Like saying you'll beat the entire school?" She smiles amusedly.

"Well…" He scratches his cheek with a finger, looking away.

"But she's mentioned the other things, too. Like helping her cook beef bourguignon for class. And challenging a chef who almost expelled her."

"She didn't deserve to leave," Souma says, conviction strong in his voice. He believed it then and he still does now.

"I'm glad Megumi got to meet someone like you," she says.

Souma doesn't know how to respond to that. He must be gaping because she laughs again into her hand.

"You know," she says, leaning in like she's saying something secret, "I think the tone of her calls home really changed after she met you. I worried about how Tootsuki was for her, even if she insisted that things were fine. But then she started talking about this boy at her dorm who challenged practically everyone at the school, students and teachers alike. But he didn't always do it for himself. He'd do it to help others. And he helped her, too.

"Thank you, Souma-kun."

Embarrassed, Souma frantically waves his hands in front of him. "No, no, I—I'm lucky to have met Tadokoro, too. Without her, I don't think I'd still be at Tootsuki either."

She looks like she wants to say more but before she can respond, Megumi reenters the kitchen. At the same time, another chef from across the kitchen calls her over and Souma silently thanks whatever deity above decided to have pity on him. He doesn't think he can handle any more of this particular conversation. He's flattered and all, but he suspects if it went on any longer in the direction it was heading he might have admitted to something he isn't quite ready to voice, least of all to Megumi's mother.

He turns back to the ingredients he was in the middle of prepping when Megumi walks over.

"You look like you're hiding a secret," she says jokingly, and it strikes much too close for comfort.

Souma can feel the gift he bought earlier burning a hole in his pocket, the corners of its box digging into his leg in a way he didn't feel just a moment ago.

"I found a gift for you," he admits, in the most casual way he can muster.

"You didn't have to," Megumi stresses again, but he gives her a look.

"Come on, you took me in for the last few days and kept me from spending Christmas on my own. I owe you. So let me give you something and show my appreciation for you properly, dang it."

Megumi smiles, biting down on her lip like she's trying to hide it. It's—It's unbearably charming. No amount of willpower in the world could stop Souma from grinning back at her.

"Okay, well…" she says, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. Her expression is excited. "Let me treat you tomorrow. How do you feel about ice skating?"

"I'm absolutely down for it but I'm letting you know right now I'm going to be terrible at it and it'll embarrass you in public, so, just be prepared."

Megumi laughs, and it's suddenly the sweetest sound in the world and Souma doesn't know how he ever saw her differently than right now.

"Megumi-chan."

Her mother waves her over, likely with some new tasks for her, and Megumi shoots him one last smile before going over to her. He watches her go and ends up catching her mother's eye, and she gives him a knowing smile.

Souma breaks eye contact so quickly he fears whiplash, and prays his face isn't as red as the pickled ginger on his cutting board.

On Christmas day, Souma gets a text from his dad of a digital Christmas card plus every possible Christmas-related emoji available. It's so absurd and perfect all Souma can do is laugh. Then he takes a selfie and adds a filter that makes him look like Santa, and he saves it and sends it to his dad as well as Megumi.

"Souma, you know I have to show this to everyone at Polar Star, right?" Megumi says, laughing at it on the way to the ice skating rink.

"Just don't show it to Yuuki, it'll spread to the whole school that way."

The weather is even colder than the past few days, unbelievably. Snow is on the forecast for later this evening and Souma can certainly believe it with how numb his extremities feel. It's warmer inside the building for the ice skating rink but only marginally. At least he had the sense to bring his gloves.

Megumi actually has her own personal pair of skates, and while they sit on a bench outside the rink to tie their laces, she explains, "I used to come here a lot. I didn't get really good at it or anything, but it was fun and it seemed convenient to just get my own."

Souma nods, standing up in his skates with wobbly legs, already anticipating the amount of falling he's about to do. "Okay, that's good because I'm going to need your expertise to help me survive."

She stands up on considerably steadier legs, looking amused as she walks with him to the entrance of the rink.

"It's easier than you think," she says reassuringly, stepping out onto the ice first. She glides easily, smoothly.

"Uh," Souma says, already feeling trepidation when he experimentally touches one blade to the ice. "Yeah, I'm not sure about that."

"Come on! You can do it."

Jump first, think later. Souma takes a deep breath and brings both feet onto the ice.

He skitters immediately and clutches the edge of the rink with a white-knuckled grip. "Okay," he yelps, slipping. "I've faced shokugekis scarier than this, I can do this."

"Go Souma-kun!" Megumi cheers from beside him, skating leisurely as he makes his shaky way along the edge of the rink.

It's a little crowded on the ice, the rink full of couples skating while holding hands and the occasional child speeding between the legs of adults. The entirety of Souma's concentration is divided between avoiding hitting other people and not falling on his ass.

"You're doing really good, actually," Megumi says encouragingly, still skating next to him.

"Thanks." Souma grins. "This is fun. I think I'm ready to go faster."

"Oh god, if you say so."

She watches as he pushes off the wall and picks up speed. He nearly loses his balance as soon as he does so, waving his arms around wildly. She comes over to him and reaches out, grabbing his arm with two hands and holding on until he steadies.

"Souma-kun!" she gasps. "Please be careful!"

"I got this," he says. The place where Megumi touches him burns like a brand even through the thick layers of cloth. It makes him feel light in the stomach, the feeling of butterflies that is becoming increasingly familiar around her.

It only worsens when Megumi loops her arm through his, tugging him slowly along.

"Come on," she says smiling, pink-cheeked from the cold. "How about you try speeding up speed gradually?"

"I—Okay," Souma agrees, letting himself be pulled along.

Together, they make a lap around the rink, Megumi's hand clutching the sleeve of his jacket, and somehow Souma doesn't feel unsteady or slip on his feet once. It's easier with the reassuring feeling of her holding onto him, knowing she'll be there if he falls. And gradually they do pick up the pace, and Megumi seems exhilarated by it, the smile on her face turning wider and brighter.

Souma's legs begin to tire but he's having so much fun. Even if he doesn't quite have the hang of stopping yet and he keeps crashing into the walls, it makes Megumi laugh and that makes it worth it to him.

But he can't stay faultless forever, and on one curve a child whizzes past them, accidentally bumping Souma in the side.

"Sorry!" the child says before zooming off.

But Souma has already lost his footing on one leg, and he reaches out, cursing, skates sliding beneath him uncontrollably.

"Souma-kun!"

Megumi reaches for his hands, clasps them tightly in her own and pulling with all her strength to help him stay upright. He straightens. He manages to regain control of his feet, finds his balance again.

Panting in awe that they actually pulled that off, Souma says, "Man, I almost ate it. Thanks."

"You did really good at keeping your balance," she says, breathless.

She still hasn't let go of his hands.

Megumi realizes this and turns bright red. "Oh—" she gasps, and begins to let go.

Another child skating much faster than is necessary or safe barrels past them, bumping into Souma again. His knee buckles, and this time neither he nor Megumi are able to recover from it.

He falls, accidentally dragging her down with him by their clutched hands.

He at least has the sense mid-fall to make sure she lands on him instead of the ice. He hits the floor flat on his back. It's hard and wet and so cold, holy shit. Megumi is sprawled over him, and if he weren't so damn cold he'd maybe take a moment to appreciate it.

"I'm sorry!" she cries, pushing herself up with two hands. "Souma-kun, are you okay? I'm sorry I fell on you, it happened so suddenly, I—"

"It's okay," he gasps, lifting his head up to look at down at her. "You're okay, right?"

"Yes, I'm fine. But you…"

"Hey, I promise I'm okay." He gingerly sits up and grimaces at the feeling of ice melting into his pants. "Besides, I told you I'd fall."

Megumi looks over him frantically, making sure for herself that he isn't injured. When she accepts that he isn't, her body relaxes. She exhales a soft, amused sound, looking at Souma fondly.

"That was a pretty dramatic fall," she says, laughter in her voice.

"Yeah, it was." He grins as he shakes the ice out of his hair.

"Come on."

With an ease that speaks of many years of practice, Megumi returns to her feet and reaches her hands out to help Souma up. With an embarrassing amount of gracelessness, Souma manages to get back onto his feet with the help of Megumi pulling him up, but momentum moves him forward when he does and he nearly bumps into her.

"Sorry, sorry," he says, trying to stop himself by planting his hands on her shoulders.

"I-It's okay."

Megumi reaches up and places a light touch on his clothed arm. Souma feels it as clearly as if she were touching his skin. Their eyes meet. For a moment, they are still.

She looks away. Her hand drops from his arm, too, and she touches her cheek embarrassedly.

"I, um. I don't know about you," she says, "but I'm freezing and my coat is uncomfortably wet."

"Yeah, me too. Man. Falling on an ice rink sucks."

Megumi giggles, then she gestures towards the exit. "Want to go home and change? I think I've had enough skating for now. Who knows when another kid is going to come by and knock us down again."

They make their way off the rink thankfully without incident. They unlace their skates, and Souma returns his to the rental booth while Megumi tucks hers away into a bag. When they step outside, the sky has become dark and overcast, the clouds heavy with impending snow. He buries his hands deep in his pockets, exhales and watches the thick white that billows out into the air.

They begin the walk home in companionable silence. Christmas lights begin to illuminate the fronts of apartment buildings and shops lining the streets, one by one, like stars emerging in the night sky.

Souma glances over at Megumi and notices her rubbing her hands over her arms, shivering.

"Are you cold?" he asks.

She looks up at him, smiling embarrassedly. "Silly me, I didn't think I'd need my scarf today but…"

"Here."

Souma unwinds his scarf, drapes it around Megumi's neck. Her narrow shoulders make it look bigger on her than it does on him, a curtain of red plaid spilling down her front, and it makes him grin.

Flustered, Megumi says, "A-Are you sure? Don't you need it too, Souma-kun?"

"I'm alright," he says, looping the scarf around. "Promise."

"O-Okay."

She hides the bottom of her face behind the line of the scarf, and as they continue their way home she walks closer to Souma than she was before, their arms brushing.

They turn onto the street for Megumi's house, and the lights are on in all of the houses lining the streets, families home to celebrate. Just as they enter the gate in front of Megumi's front door, she says tentatively, "S-Souma-kun?"

He stops, turns to look at her.

She clutches her hands, fidgeting.

"I…" she begins. "I—I'm glad you're here."

He raises his eyebrows.

"I mean," she starts again, her blush turning even darker. "I'm glad you decided to visit, and that we've had so much fun here and that it hasn't been boring and… and that I haven't bored you, and… Um…"

She shakes her head as if trying to shirk the nervousness plaguing her. Souma feels like maybe he should say something encouraging, but his heart is beating so quickly he finds himself unable to gather his senses enough to find words.

Megumi reaches out to grasp one of his hands with hers, and she squeezes her eyes shut as she blurts out, "I really like spending time with you!"

He is quiet for one heartbeat, two, then he laughs lightly. "I like spending time with you too, Tadokoro."

"I guess what I mean to say is…" Megumi swallows. "I like—"

She pauses when a snowflake lands on the tip of her nose.

Another drifts down after that one, landing in her hair. More and more specks of white fall slowly from the sky, dancing in lazy, unpredictable patterns. They look up, watching them fall.

"Oh," Megumi says softly. "Snow."

"Yeah." Souma grins widely. This is the first time he's ever seen it. "Awesome."

She giggles at his wonderment, and he looks at her again. She is still holding his hand. Quite a few snowflakes have collected on her hair now, her clothes, even the tips of her eyelashes. Her hair is damp and curling against her cheeks, and she looks beautiful.

Jump first, think later.

"Hey," he says, catching her attention.

When she turns to him, he reaches out and cups her cheek.

Megumi freezes, eyes widening.

Slowly, slow enough to give her time to pull away if she wishes to, Souma leans in. He inhales shakily, licks his lips. This close he can feel the warmth of her breath too, the way it puffs softly against his skin. Her eyes are dim, golden embers in the sparse evening light, and her eyelids flutter shut as he closes the last few inches of space between them and kisses her.

The world doesn't suddenly stop turning and the sky doesn't fall down from above. Souma still feels the cold numbing his toes and fingertips and snow beginning to melt down the back of his collar. But within, he feels warm—like he always does when he's with her. Nothing's really changed, he realizes. Maybe a part of them has always been gravitating towards this.

Megumi parts her mouth on an exhale, bottom lip dragging against Souma's, and it makes the warmth glowing inside him burn, and their lips push more firmly together. Her fingers catch on the front of his jacket, clinging, and Souma's other hand rises up to touch the side of her neck.

"Souma-kun," Megumi gasps.

There is just a hair's breadth of space between them, and they stop, their gazes meeting.

"I didn't get to finish confessing," she says faintly.

The laugh that bursts from Souma is more of a snort, horribly unattractive, but Megumi laughs too and holds on to him.

"I'm sorry," he says, grinning, and rubs her cheek with his thumb. "You can finish now."

Megumi buries her face in his chest, arms wrapping around him in a tight hug.

"I really like you," she says quietly.

"I really like you too, Megumi," he replies, enunciating every syllable of her first name.

She flushes hotly, smacks a hand lightly against his chest. "Y-You can't just drop that on someone so suddenly!"

"Aw, your accent came out again."

"Souma-kun!"

He leans in for another a kiss and somehow Megumi lets him, even meets him halfway. He feels her smile into it, and he suddenly laments the months they've spent not doing this already.

He's about to wrap his arms around her waist and deepen the kiss when the front door of her house begins to open.

They tear themselves apart at the first sound of the lock turning, but there's no wiping away the red on their faces or the closeness of their bodies.

The door opens and Megumi's mother is on the other side.

After an endless, agonizing moment of silence where neither Souma nor Megumi are able to find the right response to the situation, her mother speaks.

"What are you two doing just standing out here? It's freezing, come inside!"

They shuffle in awkwardly, toeing their shoes off at the door and hanging their coats. Souma walks further inside the house and behind him he can hear Megumi's mother pull her aside and whisper, loudly enough that he knows it's deliberate, "It's about time."

Souma quickens his pace up the stairs, trying not to snicker at Megumi's embarrassed stuttering.

In the guest room, he changes into a dry pair of sweatpants and new socks, tugs a hoodie over his head. Just as he's about to leave, his eyes catch on the box he left on the desk, wrapped in glossy red paper. He can already hear Megumi opening the door to the next room over, and before he can think about it twice he grabs the box off the desk.

"Megumi," he calls out to her before she heads down the stairs. It feels right to say her name, and he doesn't know if he'll ever get used to it. He walks over to her and holds out the box. "Merry Christmas."

"Oh, thank you, Souma-kun," she says, gently taking the box from his hands.

"You can open it now, if you want. It's—It kind of feels like a dumb gift, but I hope you like it anyway."

She tears the wrapping paper with her fingers, revealing the plain white box inside. When she lifts the lid, she gasps.

"Souma-kun," she laughs. "Oh my goodness."

She lifts the white headband out of the box, one long cloth strip of it, just like Souma's.

"I can't believe you!"

"I told you it was kind of dumb."

"No, no, I love it." Megumi covers her face with a hand, beside herself.

"See, now we can match!"

"Was this your big way of wooing me?"

"That depends." He leans in closer. "Did it work?"

"Oh shut up."

She gives him a quick kiss on the cheek. It stuns Souma more than he's willing to admit.

"I have a gift for you, too," she says. She gets up on her toes so her mouth can reach his ear, and she whispers, "But I'll give it to you later. In private."

She's blushing tomato red when she pulls away and walks quickly past Souma down the stairs. He stands there for a moment, dead silent as his brain short circuits.

"Souma-kun!" Megumi calls. "Come and help with dinner!"

His imagination doesn't even know what to think. For now, he goes downstairs and tries to act completely normal as he helps Megumi and her mother in the kitchen. Whatever terrible, wonderful, mysterious gift it is, it can wait until after dinner.

(It turns out to be a new sharpening stone for his knives which, though not at all the scandalous gift Souma expected, is exactly what he's wanted for ages and he's so grateful when he opens it that he could kiss her. Then he realizes he actually can kiss her, that that's a thing he's allowed to do now, and he does so, more than once, until Megumi is flushed and laughing in his arms.

She kisses him back and it's worth it, it's all worth it.)

notes: thank you so much for reading! i'm contemplating writing a bonus chapter that may or may not be spicy makeouts BUT that will be considered later because it is late and i am sleepy. for now, thank you again for reading! c: