The post card arrives the day before Christmas eve- the front says "Welcome to Valencia" in giant, colorful letters. On the back, in a chaotic scrawl sans commas, Toji deciphers the following message for the kids:
MERRY CHRISTMAS I'LL SEE YOU BEFORE THE NEW YEAR!! MISS YOU Y/N

There is a smiley face next to Y/N's name.

Tsumiki preens for an hour solid, and Megumi sulks even more aggressively than before. Toji wonders what to do with it, because it's not like they get a lot of- hardly any- Christmas cards. Eventually he decides on the fridge, between Megumi's painting of their family and Tsumiki's spelling bee certificate. He sticks it on, text out, because now every time he opens the refrigerator, staring out at him in all caps is I'LL SEE YOU BEFORE THE NEW YEAR, like a promise.

They spend most of the day eating half-heartedly decorated cookies, trailing colored sugar all over the house. To be honest, none of them have done much this break other than sit around, eat and sulk. If anything, it solidifies Toji's resolve to deal with the whole Y/N... thing. Clearly, none of the Fushiguros like it when she goes off on family vacations.

Christmas eve itself is better at least- Toji cooks an enormous hunk of meat all day and the kids run around, finally having decided to try to find their presents roughly ten hours before Toji will put them out anyway. Toji actually feels pretty safe- he doesn't think they'll look under their own beds, behind a layer of forgotten socks and balled up papers.

They put the gluttony capstone on their week, eating most of the roast, both kids laying groaning on the couch. Toji takes the opportunity to bring down all the presents from him- leaving the ones from Santa under Megumi's bed. Megumi sleeps like the dead, it'll be a piece of cake to sneak them out later. Toji reminds them about their Christmas eve present and suddenly, they're both filled with an astounding amount of energy.

Megumi runs around the house, punching everything with his Hulk hands until he nearly falls asleep standing up. Tsumiki opens a present he thinks is a video game, only to get a book instead, but he looks intrigued anyway. Toji had gotten the recommendation from Y/N- he makes a mental note to thank him.

Before trying to ask her out, probably.

Megumi has a miniature melt down as Toji is tucking him in.

"Dad, are you sure Santa got my letter?" Megumi demands.

"Absolutely, Megumi," Toji flips off the light.

"The mailman knows how to get it there, right? He got it way early, right?" Megumi pushes.

Toji fights back a laugh. "He got it. I promise."

"Okay," Megumi says reluctantly. Tsumiki had gotten told about Santa on the playground, but Megumi had managed to avoid it so far- it probably helped that Tsumiki was viciously affirming his existence and Megumi was too airheaded to pick up on anything else. "Night, Dad."

"Night, Megumi." He steps out into the hallway and sees Tsumiki's light still on.

"You can read for five more minutes, Tsumiki, but then bed," Toji says, leaning in the doorway.

"Five more," Tsumiki echoes blankly, knees tucked up to her chest, the book inches from her face.

Toji just shakes his head.

He ends up giving Tsumiki fifteen more minutes before finally flipping out the lights in her room. Toji hears a groan, then a sigh and the sound of the book hitting the nightstand.

***

Megumi is up and delivering his signature move- elbowing Toji in the solar plexus- at 5:15 am.

"Dad, Dad it's Christmas! Can I wake Tsumiki up again too, Dad? DAD?!" Megumi shouts virtually in Toji's ear.

"Wake up your sister all you want, we're not opening presents until 7 am." Toji says, smothering his head under a pillow.

There's shouting from down the hallway which Toji can only assume means Megumi did try to wake Tsumiki up again, which, getting Tsumiki up before seven is ugly on a good day.

Toji manages to fall back asleep, assuming there's some sort of amnesty on letting your kids kill each other if it's before six am. It feels like seconds before Megumi is back, this time essentially sitting on Toji's arm.

"Dad, Dad, it's 7. I brought the clock. See?" Megumi whispers loudly. "Tsumiki's up, she's making coffee, Daaaaaaaaad."

Toji groans, stretching, Megumi squawking as Toji's arm moves under him. "Okay, okay. I'm getting up."

Megumi bounces off the bed and is yelling down the hallway before Toji is even sitting up. Tsumiki really is making coffee, which is to say, staring at the coffee maker, the filter and the coffee grounds, looking determined and completely stumped.

"I got it, Tsumiki," Toji says, rumpling Tsumiki's hair. In the spirit of Christmas, Tsumiki doesn't say anything, only scowls and tries to "fix" it. "Go pick out your first present."

Toji yawns, hands automatically working the coffeemaker. By the time he's managed to make himself a cup, the wails of "Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaad" are getting truly pitiful, so he drags himself into the living room.

He watches the kids tear into gift after gift, totally content to watch them and drink coffee. The wrapping paper is just starting to settle when Megumi brings something over for him.

"This is your first present," Megumi instructs him, handing Toji a small box messily wrapped with too much tape, but with a perfect pinwheel on top. Toji frowns at it, trying to think why that's ringing a bell. "We made them in class."

The crate of shining pinwheels in the garage. Toji snorts, takes the pinwheel and manages to stick it on Megumi's chest like a badge. When he gets under all the tape and opens the box, there are two little gold walnuts inside, tied with bright red and white twine.

"Ms. L/N showed us how to make them, they're empty inside but we put something in them. She said it's a really old tradition. Everyone got two for their parents, so I made one for you and Ms. L/N did the other one." Megumi explains.

"Well," Toji starts, stupidly happy. "Which one did you do?"

Megumi stares at them for a second, before finally tapping the one with the uneven bow. "Ms. L/N ties her funny. This one looks like my shoe laces." Toji chuckles and unties it, unrolling the tiny slip of paper that has "MERRY CHRISTMAS DAD!" in Megumi's chicken scratch.

"Thanks, Megumi," Toji pulls him into a tight hug. Megumi squeezes back before squirming away to play with his legos again. Toji glances at the other walnut in the box, taking a deep breath before opening it, curious.

There's a single shining red Hershey's kiss inside, no note.

Toji stares at the box on his lap for almost a minute before Tsumiki demands that Toji open the present from her.

The rest of the morning, Toji periodically looks at the box with the walnut and the kiss, wondering if he's reading too much into it. He gets a text from Y/N around 10 while he's cleaning up after pancakes, a totally benign Merry Christmas! that he has no idea how to respond to except with an equally neutral and safe Merry Christmas Y/N.

The kids run out to play in the fresh snow and Toji finds himself sitting on the couch, staring at the tree with its two wrapped presents left underneath it- the "kids'" sweater for Y/N and her present. He'd actually found Eren's henley from career day, hidden under a winter coat, washed it and wrapped it, "from Toji."

He carefully ties the walnut back together and tucks it into the branches of the tree, waiting- like him- for Y/N to come home.

***

Megumi refuses to let them take down the tree a few days later.

"There are still presents under it!" he cries, like Toji is a monster.

"I'm not going to throw them out," Toji says. "They'll just go somewhere else."

"If there are still presents, there still needs to be a tree," Megumi insists.

"He's got a point," Tsumiki says from where she's sprawled over the couch, still reading the book Y/N suggested.

"All right," Toji throws his hands up in surrender. "Fine."

Second mutiny this Christmas he sends Y/N.

What did you do to the cocoa now? Y/N sends back.

tried to take down the tree. apparently if there are presents under it it's not done

why do you still have presents under it? whose are they?

Toji rolls his eyes. yours idiot

DEFINITELY DON'T TAKE DOWN TREE THEN! :D

Toji wonders about Y/N's taste in men.