Part I:Mistletoe}
"Onee-sama—"
"Shut it, or I'll zap your mouth off."
"But it's a tradition, we have to uphold it—"
"I don't care! Leave me alone to enjoy this holiday, will you?"
The redhead shook her head with a resigned sigh, her auburn pigtails bouncing along with her head. What could she do? It was an accident, or they all were accidents afterall. Certain things happened unexpectedly during their little Christmas date, leading the couple into awkwardness. For once, the teleporter had done nothing but to lead Misaka into places that she thought were good for dinner. As for their date, it had always been tradition among the girls of Tokiwadai to celebrate Christmas, be it their loved ones or best buddies.
In this case, Kuroko only wanted to spend it with her adored Misaka.
Just a few weeks back, Kuroko had practically begged to celebrate their Christmas together, with her big puppy eyes. She knew that cute things were the brunette's weakness and shamelessly used it against her. And Misaka hadn't regretted at all when she reluctantly agreed and saw the genuine, innocent shine in the Teleporter's eyes.
Until now.
When the two were walking along the streets along with the crowd, they had passed by a family restaurant. The particular family restaurant that they had seen advertised that they had special Christmas set meals. But that wasn't the thing that tugged at Misaka's attention. Her attention was entirely drawn to the adorable mascot characters that accompanied the lovers meal for two, with a matching pair of Mr and Mrs Froggies with each set purchased. Kuroko, seeing the familiar glint in her onee-sama's eyes simply smiled and offered to dine inside, to which Misaka agreed quickly.
All was perfect, until the moment when they had to suffer a rather long queue (it was Christmas, afterall) and when they had stepped in and were finally escorted to a table, the couple had been seated at a table for two just by the window.
Directly under the mistletoe.
Misaka cried out in surprise when she saw the ring of shrub just dangling above her while Kuroko, following her gaze, smirked instantly, her brown eyes mischievously looking at her shocked partner, who, abruptly, tried to run. Kuroko didn't miss her chance of escape and grabbed her before she could. All the while, Misaka struggled, she realized that there were only few mistletoes scattered throughout the restaurant, and they weren't even placed directly above places. Just a few feet away, like decoration. So why did this one have to place itself here and obviously hint at something?
… And so the couple was arguing on their "tradition", with one insisting on following along while the other flat out denied. The rising commotion caused diners to look up with curiosity and management threw the couple out, scolding them for being so noisy on a Christmas day.
Huffing a breath of air that was visible in the cold weather, Misaka scowled at the idea of not only being thrown out, but the idea that her dear, beloved froggie was in someone's hands—
"If you're regretting about Mr and Mrs Froggie, it was your fault for being so stubborn."
"What? There's no way I could have done that!"
"Onee-sama is so cold."
"Whatever then! You shouldn't have spent Christmas with me."
Kuroko, simply ignored her partner's childish outburst and turned around instead, focusing on the rows of shops and restaurants, all filled with people. She was feeling rather hungry and she was sure Misaka was, too. Walking towards a café in the corner that had caught her eye earlier, the Teleporter started to make her way there, with Misaka stumbling after her.
Reaching the glass door of the café, Kuroko noticed that it was surprisingly not as crowded as the rest of the restaurants had been. This one had a homely atmosphere, with a heater in the corner and the smell of cinnamon in the air. More couples were scattered about in seats for two as usual and Kuroko (this time, taking note of the place), went to a seat and pointed to it.
"You can sit down, I'll get the orders."
Misaka, who was now surprisingly quiet, only nodded, much to her surprise. As she went to the counter, Kuroko had noticed that the couples had presents with them and she mentally slapped herself. How could she have forgot! What good was Christmas without the joy of sharing and giving? No wonder her partner had been so quiet earlier. It seemed like the both of them had totally forgot about their presents.
Though, for Kuroko, she was sure that her Onee-sama was the only present she wanted.
"Sorry for the wait! Here you go."
The preppy waitress chirped as she placed two plates of pastas on the table;one creamed pasta and the other with tomato sauce. Before leaving, she placed a note on the table and winked to Kuroko, who was rather confused as to why she had winked at her. Taking the small sheet of paper and reading it while Misaka waited expectantly, she nearly dropped her fork when she looked at the accursed object that was the cause of their pain earlier.
A mistletoe was drawn prettily on the sheet, with small words scribbled under the corner.
Enjoy your Christmas! You know the rules. It said, with a comically drawn wink. The teleporter looked at her onee-sama and gulped, thinking that she wouldn't actually be able to enjoy it. Misaka was still looking at her, a puzzled expression as to why Kuroko had seemed so horrified.
"What's wrong, Kuroko?"
Her partner could only manage a shake of the head and a forced smile as she clutched her fork, which disappeared in an instant and stabbed the piece of paper on the plastic table. Kuroko loudly gasped in an exaggerated manner, quickly looking back and forth between Misaka and her. She had accidentally targeted her fork at the paper! Now Misaka was bound to be suspiscious. She scrambled to grab the note before it was too late but Misaka had beaten her to the punch, calmly taking the piece of paper.
It was time for the teleporter to start counting her death wishes.
With a scared face, she waited for her partner to go violent and start to zap her to burnt bits. Instead, her partner's face was lowered for a few minutes silently, making her face unreadable. Then, she looked up and her hesitant brown eyes made direct eye contact with Kuroko's, a deep blush running across her face.
"O-Onee-sama?"
Suddenly, Misaka leaned forward and gave her a swift peck on the forehead, before retreating. The deep blush was even deeper now and it took the teleporter to register what was going on. Before she could answer, however, Misaka had interrupted in a soft tone.
"I-I forgot to give you your Christmas Present, so this is my present for you. M-Merry Christmas."
Oh no, Misaka thought. Had she done it wrongly? She hoped that it wouldn't be too awkward between them with her sudden prompt. Afraid to look up, the railgun kept her head down low again.
Kuroko regretted that she hadn't been able to fully savour the kiss since she hadn't expected it, but hearing the girl so shy made the teleporter break into a tender smile. She reached for Misaka and gave her a brief peck on the cheek as well, her softened expression smiling at her partner, who was equally surprised by the kiss like Kuroko had been earlier.
"It's no fair for onee-sama to be such a darling. That will be my present for you as well. Merry Christmas to you too, onee-sama."
For once, none of them exchanged a word as they dug in to their dinner and in comfortable silence, with a shy smile visible on the railgun's face and a tender one on the teleporter's, though, not for too long.
"... Onee-sama, I didn't quite receive that present you gave me. So could you do it again?"
"Don't push it, Kuroko."