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THUMP!
Goro almost jumped in shock from the sudden noise, eyes following the sight of snow splattered into his window. He was currently focusing on reviewing for their tests next week and he knows only one person who would do such a thing (most often though those were rocks thrown, not snow).
“Akira you—!”
Goro opened the window only to get a snowball hit him square in the face. The impact was enough to make him fall over and barely hear the worried voice of his friend below his window (or in a tree, he doesn’t know with how random the other gets).
“Goro?!”
Wiping the snow off his face ( it’s so cold ! ) Goro leaned out of his window again, this time to glare at Akira whose face first showed worry before morphing into a sheepish smile (the audacity of this man), wrapped up in a scarf and jacket for the weather.
“... Whoops?”
“You better have a good reason as to why you threw snowballs at my window and my face.” Goro growled out with a matching sinister smile directed at the male below.
Goro could see Akira shivering from his gaze (or maybe that’s just the cold, who knows) before waving his hand, both a hello and a motion for him to join him.
He remembers a memory of a similar sight, just with a much younger Akira leaning from a tree branch with an armful of snowballs, scarf hastily wrapped around his neck that it almost wrapped around his head as well.
“You do know you could’ve just messaged me instead of doing the most cliche thing and using snowballs.”
Akira stuck out his tongue childishly and blew him a kiss before waving at him again to come down, and knowing Akira for almost 12 years now he knows if he ignored the male and closed his windows Goro will get a barrage of snowballs on his window until he gives in and if not he’ll get a snowball to the face the next day.
Sighing, Goro held out a finger, a signal to wait, before closing his window, getting his coat and scarf before stomping down to the living room.
"Let me guess: Akira?" The teasing voice of his mother called from the kitchen.
Goro groaned but nodded, hoping his mother’s teasing would be lighter today. Ever since he and Akira got together their mothers have not stopped teasing their sons about, and he quotes: “their years of pining for one another” and “how finally they got together because it got so painful watching them dance around their feelings”. Sure he’ll admit that they were probably pining ever since, well… maybe forever, but that doesn’t mean they’re dense or oblivious! They’re just… busy? To notice.
“I’ll spare you the teasing today since you’ve been studying for a while now, but you know the rules young man!” Goro let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.
“I know mom.” Goro rolled his eyes with a fond smile, going to his mother to kiss her on the cheeks before going out to the cold, cold night.
Akira waits for him by the gate, looking deceivingly innocent, rolling by the balls of his feet.
“So, why did you make me come down outside to the cold on this fine, fine , afternoon?” Goro grumbled halfheartedly, looking at his best friend.
“I saw you studying your ass off from 10 up until now so I thought, y’know, why not make you take a break?”
"We have a test tomorrow, of course I'll be ' studying my ass off '. I'm not like some people who don't review and still get high marks."
He could see and hear Akira pout, making him laugh a bit. “Shouldn’t I be the one saying that to you?”
“You say that like you’re not the same!”
“... True. But still my point still stands!”
A moment of silence passed by them, gray eyes staring at red in faux indignation, before the two friends broke into peals of laughter, finding both amusement and stupidity at what they’re doing.
"Seriously though, why call me out here? It’s fucking freezing.”
Akira grinned, not wasting another moment to take Goro’s hand before starting to walk, dragging Goro along.
“I already answered it.”
Goro scoffed but didn’t struggle out of the hold, just letting Akira lead them to wherever he had in mind. Goro supposed this uncalled break is okay.
“Then where are we going?”
“To our secret hideout! Where else?”
Now that made Goro laugh a bit. “It has been a while, hasn’t it?”
“Yeah. When one half of the duo is busy studying their ass off nearly 24/7 the place feels just lonely, y’know?”
“Are you seriously never going to let go of that? That’s going to be us in University either way.”
“And this is why we should enjoy our teenagehood as much as we can while we can!”
Goro rolled his eyes but he couldn’t stop the smile on his face from growing. Akira does have a point but he won't say that right now.
The two talked along the way, some about their usual daily lives, school related gossip, their moms who also gossip about them, Featherman, and just random things they have in mind, supplying the silence with their chatter and usual banter.
Soon enough they arrived at their secret place. Their “secret place” being the Samegawa Riverbank, now blanketed with white snow. Goro could see some cats lingering around but he’s sure that’s not why Akira has brought them there (or maybe it does, just secondary).
“You don’t expect me to sit on the snow, aren’t you?” said Goro.
“Aw man you got me, my ploy this entire time is to have you sit on my lap while we freeze in our secret hideout.” Akira grinned as he pulled Goro down the Riverbank, brushing off the snow on one fallen tree log.
Goro scoffed playfully, rolling his eyes at how ‘gentlemanly’ Akira guided him to sit down before sitting down beside him, leaning his head to Goro’s shoulder. It was peacefully quiet, the sound of the rushing river accompanied by the noises of crunching snow from the few bypassers walking by.
“So just Samegawa River?” hummed Goro, not really minding just chilling in Samegawa Riverbank.
“Honestly I didn’t think this through.” Akira chuckled, nudging closer to Goro.
“Sentimental fool.” Such a hypocrite, saying those words with as much sentimentality.
Laughter was shared between the two, Akira’s hand going to hold Goro’s in a soft hold, before a blanket of comfortable silence wrapped around them both, leaning against each other. It was the kind of calm that always makes Goro melt and soft, one that only Akira can make and do.
Even in the cold he feels warm.
“Hey.” Akira broke the silence, voice soft and filled with nostalgia. “Remember the first time we met?”
Goro snorted. What a weird question. “Of course I do, I’ll never forget the idiot that slipped on ice, dragged me down with him, and cried very, very loudly.”
“H-Hey!” Akira whined, pushing Goro slightly at the remembrance of that particular memory, clearly not the intended memory he had wished resurfaced.
“I also will never forget how you that kid refused to let me go afterwards."
"Then afterwards at break he challenged me to a duel for, and I quote: 'the sake of his dignity'."
"Now that's over exaggeratin—!"
"And proceeded to lose spectacularly from me and asked for a rematch until one of the teachers were forced to pry us apart."
"Because you refused to let go of me!"
"You were also holding on to me! If I remember correctly you were 'he's my rival now! I need to defeat him! You can't stop me!'"
" Goro! "
Akira whined, nudging at Goro to make him stop bringing up embarrassing childhood memories but only made Goro laugh out loud.
"Embarrassing memories aside—" Goro looked up to the cloudy skies, watching snow fall, smiling softly. "That breaktime was the first time I ever enjoyed snow with someone else other than my mom.”
Akira hummed, Goro could hear the smile in his small noise. “... same here. No one wanted to play with me with how chaotic I was.”
“I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: they missed out so much, you were fun to play with and every outing with you was an adventure in and of itself. Your wildness is one of the reasons why I love you.”
Goro turned his head to face Akira just in time to see the red blush overpower his cheeks, red eyes meeting greys. Under the grey skies and the lampposts above them Akira's eyes are like silver, twinkling brightly.
But of course this is Akira.
The moment was ruined with the feeling of ice cold water slipping down his back.
"AKIRA!"
Akira laughed out loud and smiled wide. “I know it's a mood killer but you gotta admit that was a good time to pull my good ol’ prank!”
Akira is still laughing even though he got pushed out of the log they’re sitting on while Goro went to pat away the snow that is still left on his coat.
“All compliments I’ve given, I take them back. You’re horrible.” Goro said half-heartedly, crossing his arm and pouting.
“Aww~ And I thought ‘my wildness’ is one of the reasons why you love me!”
“I’m questioning that choice as of now you stupid idiot.”
“Back to being spicy.”
Goro took this time to throw a handful of snow to Akira’s still laughing face.
“You’re such a menace!”
“But you looooooove me~!”
An innocent kiss was placed on Goro’s blushing face, halfly hidden on his scarf.
"Well now that you mentioned childhood memories!" Akira stood up, gathering a handful of snow and forming it into a ball. Goro already knows what's going to happen as he stood up as well, mirroring Akira.
"It's 5 for me and 4 for you right?"
"You got it all wrong, sweetheart. It's 5 for me and 4 for you. "
If they went home sopping wet well... their mothers already know what happened.