The evening was quiet.
Too quiet for New Year's Eve.
Inside the small house, *** sat on the floor of his room with his back against the bed. A small desk lamp lit the pages of the manga in his hands.
He had been reading for almost two hours.
Volume after volume.
The title on the cover read Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Outside the window, distant fireworks occasionally exploded in the sky.
Red.
Blue.
Gold.
*** barely reacted.
He just turned another page.
His room smelled faintly of paper and dust. Somewhere downstairs a television murmured quietly, but nobody called his name.
Nobody asked what he was doing tonight.
So he kept reading.
Then his phone vibrated violently on the floor.
*** glanced down.
The name on the screen was simple.
Chri.
He sighed quietly and answered.
"Hello."
On the other side of the phone there was loud wind and distant voices.
Then Chri's voice exploded through the speaker.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TONIGHT?"
*** blinked.
"Reading."
A pause.
"What."
"Reading."
"What are you reading."
*** looked at the manga cover.
"Evangelion."
Another pause.
Then Chri asked slowly:
"…Where."
"At home."
A longer silence followed.
Then Chri asked the final question.
"…Are you alone?"
"Yeah."
For about three seconds there was complete silence on the phone.
Then suddenly—
"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"
*** held the phone slightly away from his ear.
Chri's voice practically exploded.
"I CAME DOWN HERE TO ASK YOU TO GO OUT WITH ME AND YOU GIVE ME THAT BLAND ASS ANSWER?!"
*** blinked again.
"Yup."
Another pause.
Then Chri groaned loudly.
"You are unbelievable."
*** turned another page.
"I know."
Chri sighed dramatically.
"Okay."
A pause.
"New plan."
*** waited.
Chri spoke again, calmer but still energetic.
"What if we get fireworks."
*** stopped turning the page.
"…Fireworks?"
"Yeah."
Chri sounded excited now.
"Petards. The loud ones."
*** thought for a moment.
The idea slowly formed in his head.
Then a small smile appeared.
"…You convinced me."
Chri immediately shouted into the phone:
"GODO!"
*** pulled the phone away again.
"Calm down."
"NO."
Chri laughed.
"I'M COMING UP."
The call ended.
*** stared at the phone for a moment.
Then he quietly closed the Neon Genesis Evangelion volume.
Twenty Minutes Later
The cold night air bit lightly at their faces.
The streets were full of distant fireworks and laughter from houses and balconies.
Chri crouched beside a small pile of petards in the middle of an empty street.
His eyes sparkled behind his thick glasses.
"This one is gonna be loud."
*** stood a few steps away, watching him.
"You say that every time."
"Because it's true every time."
Chri lit the fuse quickly.
Then he ran back beside ***.
Three seconds passed.
Then—
BOOM.
The explosion echoed between the buildings.
Chri burst into laughter immediately.
"Did you hear that?!"
*** couldn't help it.
He started laughing too.
"Your neighbors are going to kill you."
Chri wiped a tear from laughing too hard.
"Worth it."
They lit another one.
And another.
The street slowly filled with smoke and the sharp smell of gunpowder.
After a while they started doing other stupid things.
Throwing small snowballs at street signs.
Trying to slide on frozen patches of pavement.
At one point Chri tried to kick a bottle cap across the street and completely missed.
*** laughed so hard he had to lean against a wall.
"You're terrible."
Chri pointed at him dramatically.
"You try then."
*** kicked the cap.
It flew perfectly into a drain.
Chri stared.
"…Okay that was actually cool."
They both laughed again.
For a moment everything felt simple.
Light.
Like the world had no heavy thoughts inside it.
Then Chri lit the last big petard.
"This is the final boss."
He crouched and lit the fuse.
The flame started running along the string.
Chri ran back beside *** again.
The two of them watched it together.
The fuse burned shorter.
And shorter.
Then—
BOOOOM.
The explosion shook the quiet street.
Chri burst into uncontrollable laughter again.
And this time *** laughed just as hard.
They leaned against each other slightly from laughing too much.
For a moment neither of them spoke.
The smoke drifted slowly through the cold air.
Chri looked sideways.
*** was still smiling.
Just watching him.
Something about the way he looked felt warm.
Quiet.
Almost soft.
Chri suddenly grabbed his hand.
"Come on."
*** blinked.
"Where."
"My house."
Chri started walking, pulling him along.
"You can't stay outside all night."
*** followed.
Half running to keep up.
Then he said something.
Quietly.
"Chri…"
"Yeah?"
"…I lo—"
BOOM
Another distant firework exploded somewhere across the city.
The sound swallowed the rest of the sentence completely.
Chri didn't notice.
They reached his house a few minutes later.
Inside it was warm and smelled like food and smoke from fireworks outside.
Chri threw his jacket on a chair.
Then he looked back at ***.
"…Hey."
*** looked at him.
"You wanna stay over?"
*** blinked.
The question felt simple.
But something inside him warmed instantly.
He smiled.
A little brighter than usual.
"…Yeah."
He shrugged lightly.
"Let's say yes."
Chri grinned.
"Good."
Then he grabbed two blankets from the couch.
"Because I already decided for you."
*** laughed quietly.
And for the first time that night—
New Year's Eve didn't feel empty anymore.