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initialdsecretsanta · 9 months

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Initial D Secret Santa 2023!

This year, I had the honor to write some Keikumi spending quality time together for @majozzz.

Not that I ever need an excuse to write Keikumi, but I sure was excited to have one! So excited that it couldn't be contained in just a fic. There may or may not be a bit of bonus content at the end ;)

I hope you'll enjoy your gift, and Happy Holidays!

Read on AO3 here

“Do you have anything planned for Christmas?”

Keisuke’s question, evidently, came unexpected. Takumi turned to him, startled out of whatever thought he’d been occupied with instead.

He shrugged. “Not really. For all I know, my old man’s just gonna go out drinking like every year. We don’t really celebrate.”

Keisuke thought of his own home, almost always dark and deserted on Christmas. His parents didn’t care very much about the holiday when there was a hospital to run, and neither did Ryousuke, who tended to be just as busy.

To be fair, Keisuke wasn’t all that interested, either – he’d never had anyone he even wanted to spend Christmas with, aside from, more recently, his brother. But, once again, Ryousuke wasn’t keen on leaving his desk for anything more than quickly sharing a take-out meal, and that was if Keisuke got lucky.

Add to that the fact that most of his friends did tend to have plans for Christmas (dates, usually), and you got Keisuke spending the day by himself most years.

Seemed like he and Takumi had that in common.

Keisuke glanced over at him, trying to gauge his response.

He steeled himself.

“Do you want to do something together this year?”

Takumi startled again, and blinked up at him.

“Huh?”

Keisuke laughed breezily. “You know, just so we don’t both sit around on Christmas with nothing to do. But we don’t have to if you don’t feel like it,” he added quickly.

Who knew; maybe Takumi actually preferred having some time to himself to… Well, actually Keisuke had next to no idea what Takumi did in his free time that wasn’t racing.

Takumi regarded him for a moment, before saying, “Actually… I would like that, yeah.”

He quickly looked away, but Keisuke caught a glimpse of the small, bashful smile he tried to hide.

“Then let’s meet on Christmas Eve,” Keisuke suggested while the fluttering feeling in his stomach still prevailed, and while his courage was still high. “I’ve always wanted to check out the Christmas market in Takasaki.”

“Sure. I get off work at five.”

“Then I’ll pick you up at six?”

“Sounds good to me,” Takumi replied, and, after a beat, added, “I’ve never actually been to a Christmas market.”

“Neither have I,” Keisuke confessed. “We can check out together what the fuss is about.”

He felt his ears grow a bit hot at the thought – what he’d suggested was all but explicitly a date, and Takumi had said yes.

“I would like that,” Takumi repeated, and didn’t hide his smile this time around.

Ryousuke must have noticed the marked lack of his little brother’s usual questions about eating dinner together this year, but he didn’t comment on it regardless. Maybe he (rightfully) assumed Keisuke had made plans with someone else. Maybe he didn’t really care and was just glad that he could work in peace – Keisuke had picked up on the fact that he had some kind of important deadline coming up.

Either way, when Keisuke went to notify him that he was leaving, Ryousuke barely even looked up from his keyboard.

“Have fun,” he said. The corners of his mouth twitched a little, and not for the first time Keisuke wondered how much his brother knew.

He wasn’t going to be dwelling on that, though.

And certainly not letting it dampen his mood, either.

A few snowflakes descended from the darkened sky as he headed out, not enough to coat the ground – not yet.

Keisuke found the way to Takumi’s home from memory with no issue even though he’d been there only once before, on Ryousuke’s behest.

The tofu shop on the ground floor of the building lay in darkness – which made sense given what Takumi had told him. His father was out of the house, and apparently the son wasn’t expected to keep the shop open in his stead today.

But while the shop was dark, light spilled from a window on the floor above it.

Keisuke considered heading inside instead of waiting in the car just as the light flickered off. Moments later, Takumi emerged from the building, bundled into thick winter clothes.

“I heard you approaching,” he said as he opened the passenger side door and slid into the seat. “Hi.”

Keisuke smiled involuntarily at that afterthought of a greeting. “Hello to you, too. Are you expecting a blizzard?”

Takumi buckled himself in, glancing up at Keisuke only to give him a rather unimpressed look. “Have you seen the weather report?”

“No. Any blizzards on the horizon?”

Takumi huffed in response, and Keisuke grinned as he started the car.

The market was absolutely packed. Keisuke had expected as much, though – despite it being a rather small event compared to other cities’ Christmas markets, it was quite popular. With couples, especially.

Next to him, Takumi had stopped walking. Head tilted backwards, he was marvelling at the bright decorations that had been hung above the street.

Keisuke’s eyes lingered on his profile for a moment; when he noticed what he was doing, he quickly looked away.

Someone bumped into them, and Keisuke quickly reached for Takumi’s sleeve so he wouldn’t get pushed away by the crowds. He then glared at the offender, who was too distracted laughing at something his female companion said to notice Keisuke’s ire.

Takumi, however, had been torn from his admiration of the lights.

“That stand over there looks interesting,” he said. Keisuke stopped glowering and let himself be led through the crowd to one of the market stalls.

He wondered if he could risk slipping his hand into Takumi’s, but decided against it as they stopped in front of a display of wooden figurines.

“This one is fun,” he said, pointing at a small angel holding a pizza in one hand and a very delicate-looking pizza shovel in the other.

Takumi hummed his agreement and started inspecting some wooden tree ornaments, only to grimace once he looked at the price tag.

“Do you put up a tree at home?”

Takumi nodded. “You?”

“My mother insists on it, even though she doesn’t even enjoy Christmas that much. It’s definitely not as pretty as that one.”

Keisuke pointed at the huge fir that had been put up in the middle of the square, covered over and over in lights, baubles, and decorative wrapped presents. The tree in their living room was plastic and decked out in cold silver ornaments that Keisuke didn’t really like, but he also wasn’t willing to start a discussion with his mother over something so meaningless. Nobody cared about that damn tree, anyway.

“That one’s really pretty,” Takumi agreed; oddly enough, for a moment he looked like he wanted to add something else as he looked at Keisuke instead of the tree. Instead, he quickly returned to looking around at what the other stands had to offer.

Keisuke couldn’t tell whether the pinkness in Takumi’s cheeks had to be blamed on the cold or not.

Snow was still coming down from above, thick, white flakes illuminated from below by the myriad of lights.

As the cold crept into Keisuke’s extremities, he mulled over trying the spiced hot wine he saw offered at quite a few booths – but while it did smell quite nice (and spread that scent across the entire market, mingling with the aromas of caramelised sugar and fir needles and fried food), he’d never particularly liked the taste of wine.

Instead, he and Takumi both settled for a mug of hot chocolate each, topped with a generous portion of whipped cream dusted with cocoa powder. Takumi blew on his drink to cool it down a little, an action that had half of the cocoa powder flying off and spreading itself across mostly the ground, but also a bit of Keisuke’s coat.

“Oi,” he muttered and dusted himself off while Takumi apologised, laughing. If Keisuke had been a little bit annoyed, that feeling vanished immediately.

He couldn’t remember seeing Takumi in such a good mood before, laughing freely and teasing him back.

Maybe that was the so-called magic of Christmas.

They shared a portion of glazed almonds, fresh out of the kettle and still warm. Takumi sighed happily as he sneaked another handful.

“I didn’t think it would be this fun.”

‘Everything is fun when it’s with you,’ Keisuke almost said, but caught himself just in time. His ears were burning. That was close.

“I’m glad I don’t have to feel like I dragged you here,” he said instead.

Takumi shot him a look. “You don’t. I really looked forward to this,” he said. Then, a bit more quietly, “I don’t want it to be over, honestly.”

It was getting late, so this wasn’t entirely unfounded.

But Keisuke only found himself smiling, butterflies in his stomach that even the cold would be hopeless to smother.

“We don’t have to leave already. I didn’t even have anything for dinner yet.”

Takumi smiled back.

“Sure, let’s look around some more.”

Keisuke was so happy that he failed to notice the greedy hand stealing the last of the glazed almonds before it was too late.

It had gotten quite late by the point that the two of them returned to Shibukawa.

Keisuke stopped his car back in front of the tofu shop, house and street now blanketed in white. And it was still snowing. When Takumi opened the passenger side door, a cold gust carried a few flakes inside that quickly melted on the dashboard.

“Bye, then,” Keisuke said, trying to not let the good mood this evening had brought him be dampened by the fact that it was already over. “I had a great time.”

Takumi got out of the car – only to, instead of closing the door, linger a bit hesitantly.

“Would you- would you like to come in for a bit?”

Keisuke blinked at him, needing a moment to parse the offer.

He thought about the empty dark house he was going to return to, all its other inhabitants busy with work if they were even present at all.

“Sure,” he said at length.

They entered the living space of the house through the shop.

Keisuke took it all in, this being the place where Takumi lived, and him never having been inside the house, but tried not to be too obvious about it.

He shrugged off his shoes and nudged them out of the way with his foot, distracted by the Fujiwara’s living room. It was small. Homely. No ugly silver Christmas tree anywhere in sight, although there was a small and a bit wonky-looking potted fir placed on top of a chest of drawers, decorated with a few red ornaments and a shiny golden star on top.

Keisuke thought it was beautiful.

Takumi raised a hand to the back of his neck.

“I’m sorry it’s a bit untidy.”

Keisuke stopped looking around, hearing the embarrassment in Takumi’s voice.

“Untidy? This is nothing. You should see my room.”

A tentative smile spread across Takumi’s face. “That bad?”

“Aniki constantly gets on my ass about it.”

The smile widened into something genuinely amused. “I imagined Ryousuke-san would be the kind of person bothered by that.”

Keisuke grinned. “You’re spot on. He’s a total neat freak.”

To be honest, the Fujiwara home really wasn’t all that untidy, especially not in comparison to Keisuke’s room. But Keisuke hadn’t been paying much attention to that in the first place; instead, his attention had been drawn to the kotatsu in the middle of the room. He shot it a longing look, rubbing his still stiff and cold fingers. Takumi got the hint immediately.

“Sit down, I’ll bring us something to drink.”

He vanished through a door that probably led to the kitchen, while Keisuke gratefully sat on the floor and slid his legs (and his hands) into the wonderful warmth underneath the heavy quilt.

He absent-mindedly started fiddling with the edge of the small item he’d been carrying around in his pocket the entire time while he listened to the sounds of Takumi rummaging around in the kitchen. Certainly this was already the best Christmas experience he’d had in a few years, if not in his entire life. Spending time with Takumi was something he couldn’t get enough of – but outside of Project.D, that didn’t happen too often.

Takumi returned carrying two cups and a plate with oranges, and sat down opposite from Keisuke.

“Thank you for inviting me today,” he said quietly and slid over one of the cups. “I really enjoyed it.”

“Me, too,” Keisuke said, and decided that it was now or never. He pulled the small paper bag out of his pocket.

“I’ve got a gift for you. Didn’t have any time to wrap it or anything, but here.”

Takumi took it from him, surprised.

“I don’t have anything for you,” he confessed sheepishly, turning the paper bag in his hands.

“I don’t care.”

Takumi let out a quiet sigh, and, hesitating, opened up the bag and glanced inside.

“Oh…”

He pulled out one of the wooden tree ornaments he’d been looking at at the Christmas market. It was shaped like a snowflake, and in its centre it showed the delicately-cut silhouettes of two people in winter clothes pulling a sled through the snow.

Takumi smiled, a faint blush painting his cheeks.

“Thank you. I love it.”

Keisuke preened. He’d used the opportunity while Takumi was distracted waiting in line for their hot chocolates to buy it for him. It had been a spur-of-the-moment decision, but it had paid off.

“I’ll put it on the tree,” Takumi said, still smiling, and got up again to do just that.

Keisuke, meanwhile, reached for one of the oranges and started peeling it. He appreciated the reassuring effect of keeping his hands occupied while he watched Takumi look for a spot to hang the wooden snowflake.

He wasn’t sure whether it was the pleasant calm and quiet, the comfortable warmth of the kotatsu, the evening having gone so well, or everything at once that fuelled Keisuke’s confidence, but when Takumi returned to the table, he patted the space next to him invitingly.

Takumi caught his eyes and didn’t hesitate for a moment before sliding under the kotatsu next to Keisuke. It was a little bit crowded with their legs, but not too much – and Keisuke didn’t mind the closeness at all.

Takumi stole an orange slice.

“You could have just asked,” Keisuke complained, protectively covering the fruit with his arms when Takumi’s hand returned for more.

“Could I please have one,” Takumi asked, polite as ever, but with a mischievous glint in his eyes. He opened his mouth, as if expecting to be fed like a baby bird.

Keisuke laughed and obliged.

They kept talking, and eating, and at some point Keisuke felt movement underneath the table and fingers bumping against his.

He turned his head and found Takumi looking back at him, sort of expectant, only somewhat nervous.

Keisuke wordlessly slid his hand into his and looked away again. Neither of them commented on it, but when their conversation eventually slowed down into tired, companionable silence and they both lied down, shuffling deeper into the warmth underneath the quilt, Keisuke’s arm moved to wrap around Takumi like it was the most natural thing in the world, and Takumi scooted closer into the empty space between them.

Keisuke closed his eyes and dreamed of the future.

#initialdsecretsanta2023 #fanfic

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initialdsecretsanta · 9 months

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Snow Tires, Never Worn

Secret Santa for @sierra-touge-bitch !!!! This was a blast to write.

Also my entry for the 2023 @initialdsecretsanta

Snow falls steadily outside. Three cars, all alike in dignity, gradually join the white landscape as they are left to fend for themselves in the elements. An unceasing wind forces the snow to collect in whorls and drifts around the parking lot, and despite the short amount of time it has been falling, the ground is already difficult to discern. Light and shadow play with each other– glowing warm and yellow where there are lamp posts, flickering rapidly in the same breadth, unable to keep up with the weather.

And inside one of the apartments lining up the parking lot, a television plays loudly. It fills the tiny space with rote, serious droning, a bassline to ambient chatter and clatter of pans.

“Road’s blocked!” Sayuki shouts.

She’s sprawled out, half-draped over the back of the couch while her feet rest on the coffee table. Her head is thrown back to project her voice, which carries easily anyway.

“What do you mean, road’s blocked?” Shingo shouts back, slightly slurred.

“Your road! Back home!”

“Would you two stop yelling? The apartment’s not that big.” That’s Nakazato from the kitchen.a

Sayuki lifts her legs and twists off of the couch in one smooth motion. With a long, deliberate stride, she slides into the kitchen, or at least hovers at the edge of it. Her hands wrap around the painted wood of the doorway. The newfound light reveals a faint flush to her cheeks. A beer bottle on the countertop hints to why.

“I’m saying,” Sayuki says, far quieter, “that your guys’ road. The one you and Shingo need to get out of here. Is blocked. The– the snow.”

“Ah,” Takeshi says. “Shit.”

He glances over to Mako, slightly nervous. Sayuki looks at her too, and in a moment, three pairs of eyes are on her. While Sayuki broke the news– Mako’s in charge of the little abode.

Mako has her tongue stuck out as she tends to a mess of ingredients. She lifts her head, blinking in confusion at the sudden prolonged silence.

“Uhh– it’s a pull-out couch? Just stay here,” Mako says. “Like hell you were gonna drive home drunk…”

“I haven’t been drinking,” Nakazato protests.

“But you brought the beer,” Shingo says, laying a hand on Nakazato’s shoulder. “Thanks for that.”

He shrugs Shingo’s off, because he knows it’s a ploy to steal what little prepared food has been set out. Still, Shingo manages to snake an arm around and grab a tempura from the plate, even as it burns his fingers.

“Are you happy?” Nakazato says, watching him huff around the still-hot shrimp. “Do you feel proud of yourself? Sayuki!”

He rounds on Sayuki next, brandishing a pair of battered chopsticks in her general direction.

“You guys are taking forever!” Sayuki exclaims, half-way from the plate. “Come on…”

She turns her big, pleading eyes to Mako. Mako sticks her tongue out at her, unrelenting.

“Why don’t you and Shingo go find the spare blankets?”

Sayuki sputters. She worms her way around Nakazato to drape herself over Mako’s shoulder, one arm squeezing tight around her middle. With how small the kitchen is, she’s smashed up against the fridge, which rumbles balefully at the disturbance.

Mako bows her head in defeat. With slightly trembling fingers, she lifts a hunk of carrot for Sayuki to grab with her teeth.

“Why’d you eat it like that,” Mako says, brows drawn down.

“You’re the best! We’ll be right back!”

She grabs Shingo’s arm on the way out of the kitchen, laughing somewhat maniacally. The free-flowing alcohol makes them both clumsy, and they trip over a loose shoe in the middle of the floor almost instantly.

—-

The blizzard makes the little apartment colder as the night draws on. The television, long since turned down, lays a flickering haze over the room. Sayuki watches the shadows dance in time to the characters on the screen. An older movie is playing, some kind of drama. She glances around the darkened room next, counting the heads of her friends counter-clockwise. Mako is awake, slumped against the couch. Nakazato is asleep with his head cradled in Shingo’s hands. The latter is trembling violently.

“Come up here,” Sayuki hisses. “I have the blankets.”

Mako and Shingo look at her at the same time, confused. Shingo gestures at Nakazato frantically.

“Drag him here too. We need to make the bed, anyway!”

Shingo groans and shoves up at Nakazato. He barely avoids the arm he gets in return and slaps him in the side.

“Come on, we have to get up,” Shingo grunts.

“But it’s cold…”

Mako giggles uselessly as she tries to stand up in one fluid motion, but she stumbles, bracing herself on the edge of the coffee table for a moment. She and Sayuki share a look and then they’re both laughing, not sure at what, but definitely at the pair of Night Kids on the floor. It’s only when the light turns on that they stop, bewildered at the change in their environment.

Sayuki rolls onto her side and blinks blearily up at Nakazato poised by the light switch.

“Well? Come on. Or we’re stealing your guys’ bed,” Nakazato says, staring at her.

“Hell, no, you’re not.”

She drops to the floor, dragging the bedding with her.

Nakazato, probably because of his nap, is now the most alert of all of them. Shingo has slid back onto the floor, sprawled out like a fish, while Sayuki methodically dumps the blankets on top of him. Mako wiggles her eyebrows when they make eye contact.

“Let’s just sleep on the floor,” he sighs.

He comes up from behind and upends a couch cushion onto the ground. It flops, revealing a stained underside that Sayuki just shakes her head about frantically. It doesn’t stop her from dropping onto it, or Shingo from following, curling up against her side. He smiles fondly, just for a moment, at the sight.

Mako follows Nakazato to the far end of the room where the window is. Despite the snow, the lamps outside still give them enough light to see, and it’s not– pretty. Only a couple flashes of blue and red are visible beneath the white. She frowns, bears her weight down on Nakazato’s shoulder.

“You guys might be stuck for a while,” she says. “Hope you didn’t have anything sensitive going on.”

He shrugs. ”Just a couple parts coming, but when do we not?”

“Well, they won’t be coming in this…”

No, they wouldn’t be. Nakazato stares out into the snow for a moment, arms folding across his stomach.

“Now I just feel bad for our cars. Do you even have snow shovels?”

His poor, miserable R32, left to fend for herself in the elements…

Mako grins wryly. “Why don’t we just go to bed? You don’t wanna know the answer.”

—

It’s still snowing by the time they’re all awake – which is closer to one in the afternoon. Someone’s turned the television back to the news. The difference between night and day is not a lot, it seems, as everything blends together. All three of them cluster by the window, making noises of vague discontent.

“How did we not hear about this…” Nakazato says, despairing.

“None of us watch the news,” Shingo says. “Who watches the news?”

“We had it on last night–”

“My dad told me to,” Sayuki says with a shrug. “Besides…”

Mako chooses that time to reappear from one of the rooms in the back. Her arms are laden with wintry gear that she dumps unceremoniously onto the ground next to the door. She has a hard, determined look in her eye, not unlike the expression she wears before a race.

“We’re gonna have to clear it now,” Sayuki finishes, gesturing to Mako. “So you boys have fun!”

Mako grabs the back of her shirt. “No! I need you to help me with the old man–”

“Wait, why are we cleaning up the snow? Shouldn’t the apartment do that-?” Nakazato pipes up, looking even more harried.

“We’ve already been here a couple years, man,” Sayuki says. “Just put on the jacket.”

–--

The next hour is nothing but the scrape and bite of plastic shovels against the concrete. A sharp wind blows intermittently, cutting into what exposed skin they have left, and their breaths huff out in long blasts. Shingo casts long, forlorn glances back at his EG6, only stopping when Mako knocks him lightly in the hip.

“Don’t stop now!” She sings, brandishing her shovel.

“This is stupid,” Shingo says blandly. “What–”

He freezes, suddenly locked onto Sayuki creeping through the snow several feet ahead of them. She’s hunched over, telling Mako to be quiet, while cradling what is clearly a snowball in her hands. Just in front of her, an unsuspecting Nakazato.

WHAM.

Nakazato shouts. It echoes oddly in the snow-covered world and is drowned out by Shingo losing it, laughter devolving into snorts.

“Sayuki! Shingo– Shingo, do something!”

Nakazato hefts up his shovel and shoves the snow he’d collected at Sayuki. She just throws another snowball at him, and then it’s on, with both of them charging back at Shingo and Mako.

Shingo, wheezing, grabs onto Mako for stability– and she dumps into the snow drift they’d made. He wails, arm outstretched to the sky.

“I thought we were friends!” Shingo cries. “How could you?!”

A second later, another snowball hits Mako, right in the chest. Nakazato hovers manically about a foot away with the stuff spilling out of the top of his jacket.

Shingo manages to vault up and grab Nakazato by the sleeve, throwing them both to the ground, and the cold means nothing when you’re trying to kill each other–

In the end, they only stop when Mako’s elderly neighbor scolds them for horsing around. But he does invite them into his home, offers them tea, and lets them (or forces them to) use the shower after spectacularly getting covered in the snow outside.

#initialdsecretsanta2023 #fanfic

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