Christopher Arclight wants to arrive on Kaito's doorstep on December 25th, 2011.

"That is the most cliché bullshit I've ever heard," Kaito tells him over Skype, because, wow, how about no, talk about embarrassing boyfriends?

"You mean you wouldn't grin all big and run into me for a hug?"

"I would slam the door in your face."

"Wow," says Chris. "I'm hurt."

"Think of the poor door your nose'll hit."

Chris snorts, and Kaito, who's working on an essay due tomorrow—the last day of school before winter break mercifully settles in—pauses in his dissertation. "I'm serious," he says, looking straight into the camera. "I'll do it."

"I believe you," says Chris, and so he doesn't arrive on Christmas morning (ugh). Instead the first half of Kaito's day is spent with his brother and his dad and half-hearted ceremony (full-hearted with Haruto, no-hearted with Dad), and the second half is at Yuma's because Ryoga's family went to the Bahamas or something and won't be back until New Year's Eve—which, incidentally, happens to be the day Chris does show up, rings the doorbell and Kaito's dad opens it, so Chris raises a hand and grins and says hello.

Faker shuts the door on him. Which.

Kaito comes down two minutes later, opens the door, steps outside and—deliberately—on Chris's toes. He doesn't look in the least surprised by Chris's appearance three hundred miles south of where he should be. Doesn't look impressed, either, when he crosses his arms and leans against the doorframe, but there's something about how his hair is a bird's nest and his general state of disarray that kind of gives him away.

Chris says in greeting, "Your shirt's on backwards."

"What if you came down here and I was cheating on you. Right here, right now, at this very minute."

Chris quirks an eyebrow, smiling. "Surprise?"

"Surprise," agrees Kaito, and bites his lip to restrain himself from outright grinning. "I'll, uh, be right back," he adds, and slips inside to get dressed and let Haruto know that he's going out and he's not entirely sure when he'll be back, yes he does promise to enjoy himself, yeah, he loves Haruto, too.

Then he's outside again in his V-neck and his Portal hoodie and his jeans, his hair set properly, and Chris nods at him and Kaito's like, "What?" and Chris just goes, "You look good," and Kaito scowls because that seems like the appropriate reaction and drags his boyfriend on their first Official date. Capital totally necessary.

They're halfway to LA when the desperate texts start coming in. He's not too pressed to check them, really, but when his phone won't stop vibrating Chris asks what's wrong and if Kaito's ignoring someone, and since powering Orbital off is unheard of and this is really starting to get annoying, Kaito sighs and looks.

[dude YUMA wants to do something with us]
[like rn]
[he said so]
["I wanna hang out with U 2day! xD"]
[so]
[come over]

[Kinda busy]

[TOO BUSY FOR YUMA?]

[yeah.]
[he didn't say anything to me about it?]

[he prolly didn't realize]
[or wanted me to tell u]

[sure.]
[have you considered maybe he's asking you, singular]
[emphasis on single]

There are a whole lot of ellipses following that, but no message actually comes. Kaito scowls at his phone.

"Everything alright?" Chris asks, leaning over.

"Just a dumbass."

[lifehack: get a life]

[...wtf]
[how am i supposed to use that lifehack w/o a life]

[figure it out]

[kaito]

[oh my god what]

[what do i do]

[say yes]

[wtf]
[that's a terrible idea]

[say no]

[where r u]

[Transylvania]

[your location services are on]

[what]

[i'm binging YUMA to LA]
[binging*]
[BRINGING]

And that's how he spends a good portion of his first Official date looking out for his dumb friends in a packed city where by all logic, Kaito and Chris should be virtually unfindable. He just knows that Yuma'll find a way somehow, and he doesn't know how the hell Ryoga tapped into his location services but he shuts that off, sticks his phone deep in his coat pocket, too, finally puts his hand in Chris's and gives him full attention.

(Hey, Ryoga and Yuma are here together at least; even if it's not a date, maybe they'll be next to each other come 2012, maybe they'll hold hands to avoid getting separated in the crowd, maybe Ryoga'll finally…)

[あけましておめでとう!]

[not yet]

[photons. always so much slower than tachyonic particles.]

[tachyons are a myth. like you.]

[legendary, you mean?]

[mizaeru no densetsu: toki no get bent]

[fighting evil by moonlight—]
[but anyway!]
[happy new year, kaito.]
[miss the fam now more than usual.]

[yeah...]
[happy new year]
[and...]
[thanks!]