Kaizo's winter plans involved locking himself in his apartment for two weeks straight, catching up on sleep and finally uninterrupted wallowing in misery.

They did not include paying a visit to his heathenous neighbor upstairs, but life rarely goes as expected.

-

The first couple days of break went well enough. Kaizo headed straight home after work, hurrying through rush hour traffic towards the respite of sweet sweet solitude for the rest of the year. His pantry was stocked with easy-fix meals because he wasn't about to actually invest time and energy into cooking food now - it was supposed to be a break.

All in all, he was set until January.

He was having a nice time at it, too, basking in the wintry gloom. He left the curtains open because the dreary overcast sky outside went nicely with the dismal atmosphere he was trying to set in his apartment. Not a Christmas light in sight, thankfully, from the limited view his window offered him.

He didn't have any sentimental value for Christmas, anyways. Frankly, it was a corporate scam at benevolent spirit - encouraging people to give gifts which was really just a thinly veiled excuse to get them to spend money - but it worked.

Kaizo, possessing an above-average critical thinking ability, bought none of it. He would be spending his holiday indoors, not a penny spent on decorations or presents or some other capitalist marketing ploy, and the off-brand packages he was hoarding to keep him alive for the next two weeks were notably indicative of the underpaid laborer lifestyle.

That was, until, his mind started looping Christmas songs on repeat.

Or so he thought.

It started after he woke up from a nap on the second or third day of break. He lay there, snuggled in his warm blankets, head sunken into the pillow, when he heard the faintest echoes of jingly music. It was as though, in spite of all his attempts to isolate from the Christmas atmosphere, his own subconscious was betraying him.

The noise didn't go away when he woke up. One horse open sleighs kept dashing through the snow no matter how much he forced them out via sheer willpower - and when they did, after playing through a full run of the cursed carol, it was only to be replaced by another obnoxious song.

Thus he spent his days slowly spiralling into madness.

-

It took him approximately forever to realize that no one's mind could truly be this cruel and self-destructive. There simply had to be someone else to blame, and he had finally - after a week of suffering - pinpointed the cause of his anguish.

He had been leaned against his counter, staring deeply at his empty refrigerator, as if it were the origin of the noise in his head, when heavy thuds fell against the floor of the apartment above him. Bits of plaster fell from the aged ceiling, right into Kaizo's mug of tea. He stared at the dregs of the tea, examining the white flakes, as someone above him swore aloud, and the music suddenly stopped.

It took a few moments for the echoes to fade in Kaizo's head, and he hardly dared to believe it. Perhaps he had lost his hearing? But then his phone rang out a notification and he snapped to attention.

So he hadn't gone deaf...but the music had...stopped?

And then, with deduction capability that put Sherlock Holmes to shame - Kaizo concluded that he was about to murder whoever lived upstairs.

-

And now he's here.

His hunch was correct. The music emanating from behind the door is loud and unmistakably the source of his pain for the past several days. Time to see who's inside, and give them a good piece of his mind.

He resists the urge to smash the door and instead knocks it with the courtesy of a civil man. He waits. No answer. He knocks again. He waits.

The music is so loud he doesn't even hear footsteps, so it catches him off-guard when the door swings open to the most breathtaking person he has even seen.

From careless blond curls that clearly haven't seen a hairbrush in days framing a chiseled jawline sculpted by the Lord himself. Wide eyes the color of paradisiacal skies, perfect lips parted slightly in surprise - he must be an angel, Kaizo thinks, because it's impossible for a human to be this beautiful.

He finds himself staring at a faded singlet stretched over defined muscles - at least a pair of loose shorts leave something to the imagination. His calves are bare to his ankles, feet covered by thick socks, and Kaizo forces himself to look somewhere else.

"Uh, hello?"

It is then that he becomes aware of the soundtrack to his heavenly ascension, and comes crashing back to cold hard Earth.

Kaizo narrows his eyes and jabs a finger at the blond.

"You!" he spits. "You're the reason I'm losing my sanity this Christmas!"

"Me?" the other asks, visibly confused.

"Yes, you," Kaizo repeats, furious. "You and these freaking Christmas songs that don't stop looping 24/7. Has no one complained yet?!"

The blond scratches his head. "I mean, you're here..."

"And good thing I am!" Kaizo laughs a bit madly. "Or else everyone in this building would have lost their mind by the New Year!"

"The music?" the blond repeats. "Is it disturbing you?"

"Disturbing?" Kaizo laughs again, his voice rising an octave. He all but steps forward to snatch the guy who is visibly bigger than him by his collar and fight him right then and then. "Listen, some people in this apartment are trying to sleep. Myself included."

The blond nods slowly in comprehension, then glances away sheepishly.

"Sorry, dude, I didn't realize it was so loud..."

"You mean you haven't gone deaf in here by now?" Kaizo splutters.

The blond shakes his head. "Usually I spend the holidays at my family's place but I couldn't get there this year so I had to stay home..."

"And you play obnoxiously loud music there too?!"

"What can I say, it's the holiday spirit," the blond shrugs. "Sorry for disturbing you, though, man, I'll try to keep it down."

Kaizo nods, pauses a moment, as if his subconscious senses the etiquette of social courtesy, but then he turns on his heel and leaves for his own apartment again.

-

It takes him a while to fall back asleep after that, replaying the glorious image of his neighbor in his head until he's got it memorized, perhaps not as clearly as seeing him in the flesh, but still vivid enough to admire his dazzling beauty.

When he does manage to doze off, it's only to be rudely awakened by a sharp knocking at the door.

Kaizo stirs, and it takes him a few moments to even register the sound, then deduce that it's source is his own apartment door. There's a pause, and he might have imagined a sound at all, but then the visitor is knocking again, and Kaizo sighs, shrugging off his warm blankets and standing up.

To his shock he opens the door to the same face he spent a solid hour or so reviewing in his memory. Only he's standing here, right here, in front of this door, Kaizo's door, and Kaizo finds himself frozen in place.

That is until the logical part of his mind kicks in and overrides his Aesthetic Appreciation.

"Do you have a vendetta against me sleeping?" he asks dryly, to cover up his flusteredness. Why couldn't you go meet your family this year so I wouldn't have to deal with this?

The blond, looking rather sheepish, reaches behind and presents a plate. "I made cookies."

Kaizo glances at it for a long moment.

"They're sugar cookies. I make gingerbread too," the other explains, trailing off, and thrusting them forward again hopefully.

Kaizo sighs and snatches it up. A moment passes, and the other doesn't move.

There's a beat.

"Thank you," the words slip off of Kaizo's tongue.

"You're welcome," the blond offers a polite smile and turns to leave.

Kaizo closes the door, disoriented.

-

He finds himself idly nibbling on a cookie while watching Youtube. He doesn't hear the knock on the door over the sound in his earbuds at first, but the video cuts to an ad break. He mutes the audio and gets up, wondering why his winter break involves so many visitors.

Rather, just the one, repeated visitor, he realizes, as he answers the door.

"First of all, how do you know where I live?" Kaizo asks at the sight of his unbelievably attractive face which has unfortunately been rapidly losing its appeal as of late.

The blond stops dead in his tracks. "I, uh-"

"Second of all," Kaizo ignores him, "why won't you leave me the fuck alone?"

"You live downstairs, so I tried every door," the other explains. "Did you like the cookies?"

Kaizo stares for a long moment, aware of the half-eaten cookie in his hand, though his memories of consumption are hazy at best.

"I mean...yes?"

The blond beams.

"I needed someone to eat them cause I've been bored and baking is fun but I can't finish them all myself-"

"Please leave me alone," Kaizo interrupts.

The blond pauses.

"You live by yourself?!"

"Yes, I quite like it," Kaizo smiles tightly.

"That must be so lonely..."

"What part of 'I like it' do you not understand?"

"Come on, it's Christmas! Don't be a Scrooge-"

"Please get out of my apartment," Kaizo cuts him off.

The blond deflates, slumping his shoulders in defeat, and Kaizo closes the door.

-

Kaizo wakes up the next morning feeling rather guilty. The cookies were quite good, and it's a shame his neighbor is so sexy while also irritating him to no end...

He finishes off the cookies for breakfast, then decides to venture out of his bedroom and kitchen and actually stare outside from the living room window for once. The clouds have thinned out, and the sun peeks out from behind a thick fluffy one, shining on the melting snow on the ground below.

He starts to feel a bit lonely.

The blond's words float back to him and he feels a twinge more guilt. He probably should have been a bit nicer... The guy was so nice - and so hot, too, but mostly nice - even though Kaizo brushed him off over and over.

And he said he was lonely...

Kaizo stares at the empty plate, suddenly craving a cookie. All that's left in it are crumbs of sugar cookie and crushed candy cane. All that's left in his mouth is the aftertaste of the last cookies. All that's left in this apartment is loneliness.

And this plate...isn't disposable, he realizes.

It's not heirloom dinnerware but it's definitely not the kind of thing you would just give to a random neighbor along with baked treats. Plus it looks like part of a set, in which case, the blond would probably want it back...

Kaizo immediately curses himself for even considering going back to that blessed-cursed apartment, then sighs, giving in.

So what if he suddenly feels like visiting his neighbor. He deserves to partake in some long-overdue Christmas spirit and it's high time he enjoyed some company.

-

The music is just softly audible over the wooden panel of the door when Kaizo raps on it with his knuckles.

"You came?!" his neighbor greets him with pleasant astonishment.

"You left your plate," Kaizo explains, slightly flustered.

The blond snatches it up and leans against the doorway.

"Sure, feeling lonely yet?"

"Just...bored," Kaizo explains innocently.

The song changes to a livelier track and the blond's eyebrows jump. He thrusts a hand forward.

"Come on, let's dance!"

Kaizo simply blinks at him. "I don't dance..."

"You don't dance?! And you live alone?" The blond looks appalled.

"Uh-"

"You've never 'danced like no one is watching'?!" the other presses.

Kaizo shakes his head and the other splutters in outrage, then, before Kaizo knows it, he's grabbed his hand and is beckoning him forward, into his apartment, into his arms, and Kaizo is awkwardly following his lead and hoping he doesn't fumble like the clumsy klutz he is.

The blond interlocks his fingers with Kaizo's, extending their arms and shaking them gently as he steps back, to the side, forward, to the side...

Okay, this is actually kind of fun.

Kaizo holds back a small smile and the other grins. A stupidly cute grin, Kaizo thinks, and swallows, forcing his gaze elsewhere before his blush gives him away. He drags his eyes around the room, and lands on the plate of cookies on the counter.

"You made more cookies?" Kaizo asks before he can stop himself.

"Yeah," the other smiles, pausing. "You want some?"

Kaizo nods, trying not to look too desperate, and the other laughs.

"I'll make some hot cocoa," the blond decides, releasing Kaizo's hands.

Kaizo watches him pull a fancy chocolate bar out of a cabinet while a saucepan of milk simmers on the stove.

"Couldn't you just make it with powder in the microwave?" he asks, as the other chops the bar into pieces and drops them into the milk, stirring with a whisk.

The blond stops dead in his tracks. He's silent for a moment.

"I beg your pardon?"

"What?"

"Did you just ask me to make hot cocoa in the microwave?!" the blond asks quietly, offended. "With powder?"

Kaizo sweats. "Uh, isn't it more convenient?"

The blond jerks the whisk in his direction.

"It is not about the convenience," he declares, "but the quality."

Kaizo shrugs. "Cocoa is cocoa."

The blond screeches in outrage, and Kaizo realizes a moment too late he has touched a Nerve.

"When this is done, trust me, you will know the difference between that cocoa and this, real cocoa. And you'll never go back."

"Who has time to chop chocolate," Kaizo points out.

The other grumbles, unimpressed, and grabs two mugs to pour the hot chocolate into. Kaizo watches the creamy brown liquid pour into the mugs, steam rising from the saucepan, mesmerized. The blond puts the mug down next to him and Kaizo stares, lost in the swirling sea of cocoa.

The cookie plate is brought near and Kaizo picks one up, hesitantly dipping it in, then taking a cautious sip.

Oh, wow.

His surprise must show on his face because the other nods, a small smirk on his face.

"Don't ever talk to me about microwaving hot chocolate again," he threatens light-heartedly, and Kaizo offers an apologetic smile.

"So, tomorrow's Christmas," he mentions. "Any plans?"

"Uh..."

"I'm free," the blond offers. "You can come over if you want. It's pretty lonely- I wouldn't mind company."

"I mean, sure," Kaizo shrugs in spite of himself.

The blond grins and Kaizo flushes again.

"Say, I didn't catch your name before."

"Kaizo."

"Nice to meet you. Call me Ramen."

"Is that your...real name?"

Ramen shrugs. "Who knows."

Kaizo narrows his eyes, and Ramen laughs, and the author is relieved she can stop using epithets now.

Their cups are empty, the pile of cookies is half what it was before, and Kaizo stares at the traces of liquid in his, feeling ever-so-slightly disappointed.

"Do you have to go?" Ramen asks, also sounding disappointed.

Kaizo pauses.

"I mean, not really..." he says slowly. "It's not like I do anything all day, anyway..."

"You can stay here as long as you like," Ramen invites.

Kaizo hesitates. "What would you be doing?"

"Cooking. Singing, dancing, ringing up old friends," Ramen lists off, then sighs. "I get bored."

Kaizo pauses a moment longer, then cracks the smallest of smiles.

"Okay," he agrees. "I'll stay."

And the smile Ramen gives him makes it all worth it.