Work Text:
“Remind me why we chose to come camping in winter?” Atsumu’s bitter grumble from the caravan seats is answered with his mother’s laugh as she boils the kettle at the kitchen end.
“It’s cheaper, quieter, and you boys wanted to get away from home~.” Osamu rolls his eyes.
“We were thinking more of a hotel.”
“Or a ryokan.”
“Even a lodge.”
“Not this piece-of-junk caravan with no heating!” Atsumu nudges the broken radiator with his toe, glaring at it as if that one piece of equipment was the entire reason they were out camping in the winter. It doesn’t help that the pads of his fingers have dried out, so passing a volleyball back and forth between him and Osamu just feels wrong.
“Why don’t you go and jog around the campsite for a bit to warm up?” With identical expressions of disgust and disbelief, the twins stare at their mother.
“Out- Outside?! Are you crazy, woman?! We’ll freeze to death in an instant.”
“I don’t like the looks of those clouds. ‘Tsumu might be right, for once.”
“Whaddya mean ‘for once’? I’m right most of the time.”
“Because the only right you are is a right pain in the ass.”
“Keep talking like that and all that’ll be ‘left’ of you is a memory!”
“I could wipe the floor with you. Bring it.” Before Atsumu can take the jibe seriously and lunge at his brother, a tea towel smacks down on both of them in synchronization. Rubbing at the sore spot, Osamu peers up slowly and gulps, their mother looming over them with an aura of death. She’s furious.
Mama Miya is to be feared.
“... I think I’ll take that jog now.”
“Wait for me, ‘Samu!” Sprinting away from the caravan, the boys flee from the wrath of their mother. When she gets angry at their fighting, she gets scary. Shoving at each other as they run, they don’t even notice the wind picking up and the temperature dropping even further.
“Oof!” Atsumu shoves a little too hard, and Osamu trips over a root, slamming into the ground. Like a good brother, Atsumu… Points and laughs. He laughs until he wheezes, and as Osamu lifts his head from the mud, leaves in his hair, he scowls, reaches out, and grabs Atsumu’s ankles out from underneath him.
Both brothers lie on the floor, Osamu on his front, Atsumu on his back, groaning in various amounts of pain.
“That… Wasn’t a good idea…”
“You’re the one that pushed me over in the first place.”
“You pushed me first!”
“You wanted a fight.”
“You called me a pain in the ass!”
“Yeah, remember that time you threw a javelin at my ass?”
“Okay, first of all, that was hilarious. Secondly, you kicked me right in the back! Suna has a recording!” Osamu snickers under his breath. Then, he cuts off. He goes cross-eyed as he follows a snowflake down to the ground, right in front of his face.
“... ‘Tsumu, I think it just started snowing.”
“Look up, dolt. I knew that ages ago.” For once, Osamu doesn’t reply with something snarky, turning his gaze skywards. His eyes widen. Grey clouds blanket the entire sky, a flurry of white falling towards them. The only reason most of the flakes aren’t making it to the ground is the high speed winds, which are thankfully high up in the atmosphere. There’s no doubt it’s descending though, as their fringes are ruffled by the strengthening breeze.
“... We should head back to the caravan.” Atsumu pushes himself to his feet at Osamu’s mutter, helping his brother up.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.” Shoulder to shoulder, in silence, they walk back the way they had came until the winds really pick up. It’s getting hard to keep walking into them.
“Tch. This couldn’t be in the other direction.”
“There’s snow in my eyes! Snow in my eyes!” With an aggravated sigh, Osamu grabs Atsumu’s wrist and tugs him into the shelter of a large tree.
“We’re not going to get anywhere like this. Either we take shelter, or we call mother dearest.”
“... D’you think she’s still pissed at us?”
“Absolutely.”
“How are we more likely to die; By her hands, or in a blizzard?” Osamu stops to think, tapping at his upper lip silently. He looks in the direction of the campsite. He looks up at the sky. He looks at the branches of the tree they’re standing under, creaking ominously as the blizzard winds throw them around.
“I think we stand more of a chance in the caravan. At least then, all we have to do is minor chores.”
“Good point.” For a moment, they just look at each other, and Atsumu raises and eyebrows, holding out his hands in a flat gesture as if to ask why they’re just standing there.
“Well? Aren’t you going to call her?”
“My phone’s on charge. In the caravan. You do it.” Atsumu reaches into his pocket for his phone. He freezes. He drastically pats himself down, searching every inch of anywhere a phone could be.
“... ‘Samu, we have a problem.”
“You fucking idiot.”
“Wha-?! You’re the one who-... Forget it! Let’s just go!” He grabs Osamu’s wrist and tugs him back into the blizzard, gritting his teeth and fighting against the winds as he struggles forwards. The snowflakes feel like bullets, and he can barely see his own hand in front of him. The snow on the ground makes it slippery, and there’s a few times he slips, taking a reluctant Osamu down with him.
“Can we stop now, ‘Tsumu...? I’m cold…” Out of the two brothers, although Atsumu complains more about the temperature, it’s Osamu who feels it. Atsumu might be shivering, but Osamu’s teeth are chattering and he’s trying to curl in on himself, fingers tightly gripped around his jumper red fading into pale blue. He’s seriously cold.
“Hold on a little more, ‘Samu.” Worried, Atsumu quickens his pace, dragging Osamu through the snow that’s getting thicker by the second. This blizzard is deadly, and it’s intense. Suddenly, a beaming light slices through the snow in bright, vivid splotches of green, red, and white.
Christmas lights. Specifically, the Christmas lights they’d hung up around the caravan earlier.
“We’re almost there! C’mon!” Osamu manages a tiny, shivering smile, forcing his feet to shuffle forwards as Atsumu pulls him, heading towards the caravan. As they get closer, even over the howling winds, they can hear their mother calling for them, her voice fraught with worry.
“Osamu! Osamu! Boys?! Atsumu, please! Come back!”
“Mom!!” Shouting out, Atsumu almost chokes as the cold air floods his lungs and it feels like he’s unable to breath. Osamu thumps his back, and then they continue walking, stumbling through the snow with cold legs and colder faces, immediately wrapped in a hug as soon as they’re within reach.
“Oh, thank goodness you’re safe! Hurry, get in the car. I’ll put the heating on full blast, we’ll fight over the radio and drink hot chocolates and- I’m so glad you’re safe!!!” Atsumu hugs back tightly, making sure his brother is wedged between them to get most of the heat. He needs it, considering how frosty he looks.
“We’re safe. ‘Samu pulled me onto the ground though!”
“You made me trip first…”
"Oh, and I lost my phone." Mama Miya sighs, hugging her boys a little tighter. It’s hard being a single mother to these rambunctious rascals, but she loves them with all her heart, despite their constant squabbling.
“Alright, alright. Argue over it later. Get in the car.” The twins bustle in, sighing in relief as the car radiator warms them up, emergency blankets already on the backseat. Mama Miya gets into the driver’s seat, and passes over a thermos each - one yellow with Pokemon on, the other blue with Yokai Watch decorations - turning on the radio to a classical station.
“Hey ‘Tsumu.” It takes a while for the boys to warm up, but once they have, Osamu is the first to speak. Atsumu grunts in response. Osamu doesn’t continue his sentence, but instead stares at Atsumu with a scary kind of hollowness in his eyes. Atsumu shuffles uncomfortably, sneering back.
“What?”
“Shotgun.”
“Oh, HELL no!” Elbows and knees, playing dirty, the twins both scramble to get into the front seat, fighting each other by all means to try and climb through the small gap, squabbling noisily and making the car rock from side to side.
Mama Miya simply rolls her eyes, swinging her legs across onto the passenger seat, and waits. They’ll wear themselves out soon enough. With any luck, they’ll fall asleep and the snow will melt and she can drive home in peace.
The blizzard might have ended their holiday early, but there’s warmth in all the snow and frost, one little family who care deeply for each other.