Shiratorizawa - Dorm Days

Secret Santa

"Merry Christmas, Wakatoshi-kun!"
Ushijima rolled over to face him, "This is the only day of the year you're up early, Tendo. It's 5:30 am and we don't have practice. Go back to sleep."
Tendo just grinned and flipped onto the bed next to Ushiwaka. "Impossible. It's Christmas morning and we're gonna do Secret Santa soon."
"No one will be up yet. Well, except maybe Shirabu."
"Ah, ah, ah," Tendo said wagging a finger. "Don't underestimate Goshki, hmm? He already sent me an excited text ten minutes ago." Satori snickered, Goshiki always kept him on his toes.
"So," he rolled over, resting a cheek on his elbows. "Who'd you get for Secret Santa?"
"I'm not telling you, Tendo." It's supposed to be a secret."
"Well, I'm pretty sure Semisemi got me. He's a horrible liar. Plus, I just have a hunch." Tendo's eyes flashed mischievously. His hunches, more often than not, were correct. "Knowing our beloved band-boy, he'll have gotten me socks or something. Absolutely no people skills. Or fashion sense."
Ushijima rolled his eyes. "Alright fine. I'm getting up since you're clearly not going to go back to sleep."
"Perfect." Tendo rubbed his hands together, "Now we just need to get Semi, Reon, Taichi and—"
The ace cut him off. "How about we get breakfast first?"
"Fineee," Tendo groaned exaggeratedly. "But I fully intend to wake them all up when we get back."
"I know. Also, I don't think I've said it yet, but Merry Christmas, Tendo."
Tendo winked at Ushijima, and the two left the dorms, heading towards a small cafe that opened early, even on Christmas morning.
They had to wait a few minutes still, but soon Ushijima had a bowl of oatmeal while Tendo enjoyed one of the pastries.
The two sat in comfortable silence, and Tendo stole a sip of Ushijima's coffee, which, unfortunately for Tendo, was lacking any sort of cream or sugar.
"Oh, yuck. You really don't have much of a sweet tooth, do you Walatoshi-kun?" Tendo rid himself of the taste with a gulp of his hot chocolate. "Here," he poured a bit of his hot chocolate into Ushijima's coffee, "That's gotta be a bit more enjoyable. Plus, it's Christmas. You have to have something sweet! Er—sweeter anyways."
When they finished eating, Tendo grinned expectantly at Wakatoshi.
The ace, it turn, let out a long-suffering sigh. "Fine, We'll go get them."

By the time everyone was gathered in the gym, it was around 7:30. Tendo could hardly wait. He loved Christmas. Friends, presents, decorations, it was the best. Secret Santa made it even better. He loved reading people to try and figure out who had gotten who.
"Alrighty," he crowned. "Why don't you get us started, hmm, Tsutomu?"
Goshiki eagerly grabbed the present with his name on it and tore apart the wrapping paper. His eyes widened, "No way!" Shocked, he held up a signed Japan volleyball jersey.
Tendo sighed happily, Goshiki's enthusiasm was infectious, and the rest of the team was feeling it too. "So, Tsutomu, who do ya think got you the gift?"
Goshiki glanced around, uncertain. "Umm, Ushijima?"
Wrong, Tendo thought giddily. It was definitely—
Reon raised a hand, "it was me."
Whelp, better luck next time he supposed. But he was sure Shirabu had Semi, and he was also sure neither of them would be very happy about it.
After Goshiki thanked Reon profusely, they continued on.
Yamagata got Reon a jacket, while Ushijima had bought Taichi some candy and a gift card—a gift card, classic Wakatoshi. Taichi had picked out a board game for Yamagata, and Tendo overheard discussions of a future board game night. Goshiki had gotten Shirabu a set of pencils and pencil crayons. Surprisingly, Shirabu seemed to like it, though he tried to disguise it.
Tendo smirked, can't hide anything from me Kenjiro.
Shirabu, in turn, had bought a pair of headphones and guitar picks for—score— Semi.
Shirabu was already smirking, probably because he knew his gift was spot on, which of course made Semisemi fume. He really did have such a short fuse.
Ushijima opened his present next. It was three manga issues. Tendo was sure that Wakatoshi would enjoy them. Was it a bit of a self-serving present? Maybe, but he knew that Ushijima enjoyed the stories and their conversation about them. He'd even left little notes and drawings inside as commentary.
The ace smiled, "Well, I assume this is from you then, Tendo?"
"Guilty as charged, Wakatoshi-Kun!"
"Thank you, I'll cherish these forever."
Tendo blinked and his heart fluttered a little. "Umm, that's good to hear, Wakatoshi." He regained his composure and tilted his head, "Let me know when you finish them, hmm?"
Ushijima nodded in response.
"Well, then. That leaves me. And, of course, Semi as the gift-giver." Tendo wiggled his eyebrows, "just as expected."
"Will you shut up and just open the present already?" Semi's eye twitched, but, surprisingly, he didn't lose his cool. Was Tendo losing his touch?
"Alright, alright. I'm going Jeez, Semisemi." Tendo tore into the wrapping paper, fully expecting to see a pair of socks, when all of a sudden he stopped.
Inside was a small photo album. Carefully, he lifted it up out of the box, and opened it. It contained a series of photographs of him and the team. There was a group shot, one of him teasing Shirabu, and another of him with his arms stretched up, showing Taichi how to block properly. There were pictures of him with the other third years, one where he had his arm draped around Goshiki and one where he was blocking Ushijima.
In the margins, there were little notes from his teammates, the final being by Semi himself, next to a picture of the two of them at nationals last year.
Merry Christmas, Tendo. Thank you for being the glue that holds this team together.
Tendo felt himself start to tear up a bit. This team meant so much to him, and having these memories and notes from them, that Semi had gotten it together— well, let's just say that Semi had surprised Tendo Satori, and hit the mark exactly.
Tendo wiped at his eyes and cleared his throat, "Ah, thanks Semisemi."
Semi smirked, "Ha! You probably thought I was going to get you socks or something, huh?"
"I will neither confirm nor deny that theory. But... seriously. Thank you Semi."

Eventually, the team parted ways and headed off to do their own things. Ushijima spent the rest of the day laying on the bottom bunk in Tendo's room, reading manga. He kept smiling slightly at Tendo's drawings and notes.
Tendo, meanwhile, was curled up on the top bunk, flipping through the pages of the album again and again, eyes shining.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I hope whatever you celebrate, it was/will be a special day, even with everything going on. Also, look at me getting this up on time, and so soon after the last chapter. I'm proud of myself. Anyways, this is my little gift to you guys. I hope you enjoyed it!
~lunxpop