The minute they ran out of decorations to place on the tree, Uryuu tucked himself away in a corner and leaned his head against the wall. It was… he didn’t know what to feel about… whatever this all was.

It was loud and noisy and cheerful, and Urahara-san was the loudest, noisiest, and most cheerful of them all.

It was exhausting.

(It was warm.)

(He’d been included without hesitation, his existence remembered on this day reserved for family and lovers.)

(Was this… was this what family was supposed to be?)

“You could always retreat to my room for a bit,” Kaito murmured as he settled gracefully at Uryuu’s side. “Father wouldn’t mind, and we can keep the others busy until you feel up to coming back out.”

“Aren’t you tired, too?”

Kaito shrugged and brushed a few strands of hair out of his face. “Why do you think Father keeps sending me into the kitchen every half hour or so? It’s not just because he wants me to fetch something for him.”

“Oh.” Uryuu pursed his lips and gave Kaito’s father a thoughtful look. He’d long ago realized the man doted on Kaito in his own way, but having yet more evidence of that was… still somehow surprising.

“Yeah. Sorry I didn’t think to take you with me before now,” Kaito apologized, leaning a bit into Uryuu’s side. “I’ll make sure to remember when I go to the kitchen next. Tsukabishi-san has the best treats, and we can sit and relax in relative quiet for a bit while we nibble.”

Uryuu nodded in agreement, liking the idea of having an escape from the chaos. Being included was nice, and he appreciated all of them, he really did, but… it was overwhelming.

(He hadn’t expected this, hadn’t braced himself for anything like it, and trying to cope without a break was exhausting.)

He sighed and leaned into Kaito in turn, pulling lightly on his senpai’s warm-calm-peaceful reiatsu and holding it close. It helped soothe his raw nerves and let him find his balance once more, made everything… better.

(It was such a relief that Kaito let him do that.)

“Where did you get the tree from?” Uryuu asked once his mind settled, staring up at the gigantic thing buried in ornaments, tinsel, and lights. It almost didn’t look like a tree anymore, obscured by all the decorations, but there was plenty of greenery pinned up elsewhere to make up for it.

It was more decorations than Uryuu had ever seen in one place before, every vertical surface covered in something, and it verged on absurd.

(The whole place smelled of pine and cookies.)

(He didn’t think he’d ever forget this.)

“Father dragged us out early this morning,” Kaito said, reiatsu shading towards bemused as he looked over at his father. “We went all over, looking for a tree that he liked. And then it was too big, so Father gave Tsukabishi-san a look and Tsukabishi-san used kido to… I guess warp space? So that the tree fit. For, uh, certain values of fit.”

Uryuu looked closer at the point where the tree ran into the ceiling; branches did seem to be coming straight out of the ceiling, but he’d thought it was just Urahara-san going that extra distance to make it look like the tree was passing through the ceiling, not that it actually was. “Is this… normal?”

Kaito shrugged, gaze tracking his father across the room as the man carried stacks of wrapped presents from the back and began to pile them around the base of the tree. “I’m unsure. This is… I’ve never celebrated this holiday before, much less with him.”

He hummed at Kaito’s admission and let the subject drop in favor of letting both of them relax. He’d meant what he told Kaito after the reveal of who the other had once been: Kaito’s experiences would never be his experiences, so his senpai didn’t need to tell them anything.

Everything was different now, even Uryuu himself, and the few stories that Kaito had let slip were more than enough to squash any curiosity Uryuu had.

Urahara-san pulled Kurosaki aside and together they dragged the large table out of storage and set it up. Everyone settled around it once Urahara-san and Kurosaki were done, leaving space open next to Urahara-san for Uryuu and Kaito to slip into when they felt up to it.

Yuzu even brought the two of them cups of hot cocoa from the tray that Tsukabishi carried out. She didn’t say anything, just smiled at the two of them as she handed the mugs over and then returned to the table without a fuss.

(Included but not forced.)

(It made something uncoil in his chest.)

Uryuu held the mug between his hands and let the warmth seep into his hands as he blew on the cocoa to cool it down.

“Thank you for having us, Urahara-san,” Inoue said with a smile. “I’m really happy we get to spend time together like this!”

“Maa, maa, it’s no trouble at all,” Urahara-san replied, fluttering his fan as if to brush aside Inoue’s words. “You’re all good friends to my son and I’m glad that you turned to me for this gathering. My home is open to all of you whenever you need.” His gaze moved between them, never lingering on anyone longer than the others.

Uryuu gripped his mug tighter and dropped his gaze, unsure how to handle such insistence. He’d already taken advantage of Urahara-san’s hospitality out of the blue once; that the man would let him do it again seemed unbelievable.

The others spoke their thanks and Uryuu could hear the sincerity in their words, even in Kurosaki’s short response.

(He wasn’t the only one who had turned to the man for something.)

(How had Urahara-san come to care so much for them?)

(None of them were related to him and yet he cared so fiercely about all of them…)

(How was it possible?)

“Enough of this seriousness,” Urahara-san declared as he set his mug down and bounced to his feet. “Presents time! Karin-chan, Yuzu-chan, would you like to help me pass the first round out?”

“Yes!” Yuzu agreed as she scrambled to her feet and followed Urahara around to the stack of presents he had heaped under the tree.

Karin huffed and lingered at the table, but her darting gaze made her attempted nonchalance a lie even to Uryuu. “I suppose,” she said as she rose and trailed after her twin, trying not to look overly eager.

“Hmm, let’s see here… what shall I pass out first?” Urahara asked as he dug through the pile, examining gifts and setting them aside with an exaggerated flare. “Yuzu-chan, Karin-chan, will you help me pick something good for everyone’s first gift?”

“He means it, you know,” Kaito murmured, voice barely loud enough for Uryuu to hear, while everyone was distracted by the spectacle his father was making. When Uryuu cast a side-long glance at Kaito, he nodded to reinforce his words and continued, “He’s practically adopted you already.”

Uryuu took a drink of his cocoa to give himself a moment to process his senpai’s words. The idea made a disturbing amount of sense, given the way Ryuuken had suddenly backed off and stopped making demands; laying the whole thing on Urahara-san’s feet made more sense than anything that Uryuu had considered before. “Does that bother you?”

Kaito tilted his mug back and forth as he considered Uryuu’s question, staring down into it with a tiny furrow between his brows. “No,” he eventually said with a shake of his head. “I’m pleased that he decided to help you.”

Uryuu frowned at the lack of elaboration, but Kaito had a stubborn set to his posture that meant he wasn’t going to say anything else. Still, nothing that he sensed from Kaito led him to believe his senpai had lied to him about his feelings, so he had to accept that Kaito was just fine with it.

(He… didn’t know what to think about that, about Urahara-san caring about him and Kaito agreeing…)

(It was… odd.)

(Warm…)

“Here, have some presents,” Karin announced as she set a package in front of him and then another in front of Kaito. “And you better not forget to fight me after this!” she told Kaito as sternly as a middle-schooler could.

An easy smile smoothed out the stubborn edge of Kaito’s expression as he reached out to ruffle Karin’s hair. “I promise,” he said as she squirmed away with a pout. “We’ll have a good spar and you can rub it into your brother’s face how good you’re getting.”

Karin whooped and darted back to the tree in order to grab another present to pass out, enthusiasm sparked by the promise of a spar.

“How good she’s getting?” Uryuu repeated in bemusement, nudging Kaito with an elbow and arching an eyebrow at his senpai’s faux-innocent look. “Is everyone coming to you for lessons?”

With Karin being taught by him, that left only Yuzu as someone who hadn’t taken lessons from Kaito, and even that was a ‘maybe’ since he hadn’t realized that Karin was taking lessons from Kaito until this very moment.

(Did Kaito really enjoy teaching so much…?)

Kaito smile slyly and elbowed him back. “Maybe.”

“If Kurosaki tries to beat you up for corrupting his little sister, I’m not helping either of you,” Uryuu told Kaito firmly.

“You could always team up with Karin-chan and help her show Kurosaki-kun what she thinks of that.”

“If she asks nicely.”

“Ishida-senpai, will you pleas help me trounce my overprotective big brother for me?” Karin asked loudly as she walked past with another present, a big grin on her face.

Kurosaki’s offended noise had the whole group laughing.

“Of course I will,” Uryuu answered her as gravely as he could through the laughter. “He does need to be taken down a few notches every so often.”

“Traitors, all of you,” Kurosaki muttered as he slumped across the table and buried his face in his arms. “Betrayed by my own friends and family! Woe, for I am lost! However shall I survive this horror?”

Sado leaned over and patted Kurosaki on the back, a smile curling his lips and his voice drier than usual as he said, “You’ll live.”

“Et tu, Chad?” Kurosaki asked plaintively. “Kaito, stop turning all my friends against me!”

The group’s renewed laughter drowned out anything else Kurosaki tried to say, and he lifted his head enough to see most of the group. He was smiling, just the barest curl of his lips and crinkle of his eyes lessening his scowl, but for Kurosaki it was unmistakable.

(It was a warm look, a good look.)

(Uryuu resolved to never let this group, this warmth, go.)

(He would never survive its loss.)