➪ gingerbread house
↳ haikyuu x reader
↳ miyagi prefecture secret santa event
⟳ warnings: slight angst, mentions of cheating
⟳description: christmas parties with your ex aren't as romantic as hallmark makes it seem.
⥅Hiraeth: deep longing for something, especially one's home or a homesickness for a home in which you can not return, a home which maybe never was; the nostalgia, the yearning, and the grief for the lost places of your past
Christmas movies have been a trademark for the holiday for years with the common themes: the joy of giving, white winters, and love are found in unlikely places. And yet, all it seemed to teach you was high expectations for scrouges and romance.
It's never this awkward in the hallmark movies. It's anything but romantic and cheesy when you're trying to avoid your ex. Then again, the guy never seemed to be painfully, socially constipated in them. Always very professional, loaded, and seemingly beyond the standards even if he's average looking. Your ex, on the other hand, is a brooding volleyball player with an accidental sense of pride.
And yet, your mother, of all people, invited him and his family over for a small Christmas get together like this was every other year...
"Mom, why-" you start, turning around smoothly to follow your mother into the living room, both hands occupying a cup of hot chocolates while she trails out of the kitchen with a platter of snowman and tree-shaped cookies, "-did you invite them? We broke up last year and he has obviously-"
You duck away from the garland around and above the doorway, narrowly avoiding the sharp cranberry leaves with your arms.
"I know you two broke up, but that doesn't mean you can't be friends, does it?"
She stares you down before smiling again with a practiced gaze and enters the living room where the rest of the two families are sitting around. On the sofas and scattered around the floor and walls are friends of your family. The chatter is lively and the people even more so, dressed to the nines in ugly Christmas sweaters and tacky jewelry. It's more forgiving with the excess amount of LED lights coming from decorations compared to the normally harsh lighting that would wash anyone out in bright reds and greens.
Once everyone settles around in a circle, the gift exchanges begin for a secret Santa game. Most of the presents are gag gifts of stupid card games to socks, one or two people getting perfume or lotions. You get stuck with a bar of soap carved out to look like some musician you had never heard of until tonight. The laughter has died down now, and the calm of winter floods into your humble home before your mother claps her hands together with a content sigh. Her eyes seem to light up when she looks across the room to her best friend, a sly look that gleams in them when she says, "How about some food?"
As if on cue, the small gathering of you all starts back up with exaggerated calls for food and babbling about who brought what. "Can you two help me set up a bit?" Two fingers jab at you and your ex sheepishly and are gone before you can get an answer out.
Before you even enter the kitchen, she turns back around with the claim she forgot something. The two of you shuffle in beneath the doorway, him ducking down under the arch when you're stopped again by his mom's tsk. She motions above the two of you, pursing her lips and turning away, leaving you with the taller boy underneath a single branch of mistletoe hanging between the two of you.
He sheepishly rubs at the back of his neck, a habit not unfamiliar to you, and he refuses to meet your eyes for even the briefest second. Yet, it seems he gathers the courage to mutter out something.
"I said, we should probably follow tradition."
You scoff at that, wrapping your arms tighter around yourself in a forgiving hug while he frowns. The overwhelming smell of pine is starting to make your nose burn and skin itch and you just desperately want to get out of this situation now.
"This is stupid and wrong. You know, I never took you as the type to take a dig like that and cheat!"
At that, he looks bewildered. His eyebrows furrow and a crease forms and indent itself into wrinkles on his forehead before he sputters out, "Cheat? What do you mean, 'cheat'."
"What do you mean, 'what do you mean'. Is that not your new girlfriend?"
By now his face is red, ears tinting pink in embarrassment when he shakes his head, "No! She's my cousin who had a flight come in early. I- I wouldn't be able to move on that fast."
And with that, it's like the world falls silent except for the soft, fleeting snow outside. The comment making everything tilt on its axis and pause in thought, the grip on the sleeves of your sweater loosening. Maybe...
Maybe it could be like a Hallmark movie.
⥅authors notes ; week two of the secret Santa collab is complete two weeks late. This is probably my least favorite piece because of the character and how I portrayed it. can you guess who this one was about? thank you for reading and make sure you check out the other collabs pieces, tagged below!