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White. Everything was white. Everywhere you looked.
The landscape of great beauty is like a piece of art painted in white. Nature, along with streets were lost under the cold white of the snow. The way everything was lacking colors aroused the curiosity of a certain brunette who was calmly watching the expanse from a window of a huge building. His amber gaze darted to and fro from time to time, taking in the view in front of him. He could finally relax after a long mission that lasted nearly 1 week. It was a well-deserved break even though it might not last too long. Tecchou sighed softly to himself. He really wished there could be more moments like this. Moreover, because he found this season to be rather interesting. The view was wonderful as always, but the weather itself could be able to send shivers down his spine. Both literally and figuratively.
Standing with the window open, Tecchou could feel the cold wind battering at his face softly. He had already grown accustomed to it. Maybe because his face was so cold that even he, himself, couldn’t feel it anymore. But, he wasn’t bothered, honestly. After all, he was made to withstand all sorts of diseases, fatal wounds, or other things that included harsh weather.
The sky seems silent and gloomy. The rays of the round, pale sun are struggling to break through the thick, gray clouds. From the heights of the sky, small snowflakes kept on rolling and rolling towards the ground that was already covered in a dense, white mantle.
The sound of footsteps brought Tecchou out from his trance. The brunette turned his warm, amber eyes to his right side, blinking slowly. It was none other than his partner, Jouno. The white-haired male walked graciously, chin held high and a hollow smile nearly always plastered on his facial features, as usual. His hair was swaying gently from side to side, red tips looking like tiny flames against his pure white mane. After years of working together and having the latter by his side, Tecchou quickly got accustomed to his partner, as well as knowing very well to brush off every insult with ease. Jouno was a complicated person. But even so, the only thing he didn’t enjoy about him was the way he was tormenting people. Deep inside him, he knew that ever so slightly, the blind male was searching for redemption in his own way. Why was he thinking about this right now anyway?
In the meantime, Jouno was already standing in front of him, tilting his head to the side.
“Where the fuck were you? Teruko-san is throwing tantrums all around the place because she can’t find you and she needs you. In a mission. Right now.” Jouno spat, his brows furrowing. “And why the hell is it so cold here?!” The latter approached him, reaching out with his hand to touch his cheek. “Are you honestly, even more of an idiot than I’ve thought until now?” He demanded in a low tone.
Tecchou hummed, letting his head fall lightly on the other’s hand. He saw Jouno’s expression soften, almost unnoticeable. Tecchou really didn’t know how it happened, but he didn’t mind at all, how the two of them grew so close in the past few months after a certain mission and a rather rushed confession in the heat of the moment. Of course, as expected, Jouno was still being himself, either randomly punching or cursing him, or threatening to kill him. Though, there were certain moments like these when his bad-tempered partner was actually allowing himself to act…well, different.
“How long have you been sitting here you idiot?” He asked, impatience clear in his tone.
“Nearly three hours.” Tecchou simply responded.
He watched in amusement, despite his stoic expression, how Jouno’s face twisted, raising his eyebrows, one of his lips’ corners curling up and twitching. “Three- fucking-” The blind latter slapped his own forehead, resting his head against his hand. “What is wrong with you even?” He hissed.
The brunette turned his head lazily towards the open window. “I like the view. It’s pretty.”
After that, a few moments of silence passed between the two. Not bothering to look next to him, he felt Jouno leaning against the window’s edge next to him, a thoughtful expression on his face.
“Is it, really, that pretty?” He asked in a low tone.
Tecchou hummed as a response, before starting to describe the view to his partner. How everything looked into the pure white, how snowflakes flew everywhere you looked…and even how some certain parts of the streets were covered in thick ice. Jouno listened patiently, his eyelids flickering from time to time. Tecchou knew that he was trying to get a hold of what he was describing, trying to figure out everything in his imagination.
After finishing his little ‘story’ about the landscape, Jouno turned his back to him.
“I still don’t get what’s so pretty to see at this season, Tecchou-san. You seem to like winter very much, as much as you like spring, that is, of course.” The white-haired male yawned. “That, I can understand, but winter…? Absolutely horrible. It’s always cold and everyone is literally freezing.”
Jouno started walking along the hallway while he talked, Tecchou following close behind. The brunette simply shrugged, his stoic expression unwavering from his face as he spoke. “Winter kind of reminds me of you.”
Jouno frowned at that. “And why is that, Tecchou-san?”
“Because you’re good-looking. Pretty. But you’re as snappy as the cold wind out there.”
“Why you-”
His partner reached out to grab him but Tecchou already sprang forward, hearing the other chasing after him close behind. That running didn’t last long though. He saw Tachihara right in front of him, a questioning look in his eyes when the brunette skidded to a halt in front of him, panting slightly. His blind partner leaped on him, dragging both of them on the floor and slapping his head numerous times.
“Nothing unusual to see here,” Tachihara said, amusement clear in his tone.
“Yeah, you-”
Whatever Jouno wanted to say got interrupted by footsteps, Teruko’s short figure appearing from behind Tachihara. The two males grunted nervously, before getting up quickly, Jouno fixing his uniform with an annoyed huff in the process.
“So I’m getting overwhelmed by the fact that you, idiot, cannot stay in a single place and have to go God knows where, only so I’d find you here, doing whatever the fuck weird wrestling thing in the middle of a hallway.” She yelled infuriated. She turned her harsh glare on Jouno. “Couldn’t you at least bring him here without wrestling?”
Before his partner could respond, Tecchou bowed in front of her, feeling the three’s eyes on him. “I apologize, Teruko-san. It is not Jouno-san’s fault but mine. I managed to irritate him and we ended up like this.”
Teruko only gazed at him for a few moments before snorting. “You better be sorry then. Because of your incompetence, our commander had to go instead of you. And I wasn’t even allowed to go with him!” She wailed.
The brunette heard Jouno whisper under his breath next to him. “Oh, brother…”
Tachihara chuckled nervously as he watched Teruko stomp off in the other direction. “I’ll take the risk to calm her down,” He said, placing his hand on Tecchou’s shoulder. “Don’t worry Tecchou-san. Look at the good part! At least you’re having the whole day for yourself.”
Tecchou hummed in response, giving him a curt nod.
Tachihara turned around, padding in the short girl’s direction. “I’ll see you later!”
The brunette shifted on his feet, pondering whether to go into his room or resume his watching at the window. He felt Jouno poking him in his ribs. He turned his gaze slowly on him with a raised eyebrow.
“What?”
“Don’t ‘what’ me. You’re not planning to go back and stare outside the window on your whole free day, do you?”
Tecchou snorted.
“Fine. Do whatever then. I couldn’t care less.”
Jouno walked over to the door, reaching out to open it. The brunette turned a questioning look on him. “Where are you going?”
“Wherever I want, obviously.” His partner turned his closed eyelids on him, nose slightly turned upwards.
A sudden thought hit Tecchou. Maybe they should both be doing something since they both had a free day. Before thinking, the question was already out of his mouth.
“Jouno-san, would you like to go out with me?” Well, this is it.
“Out?” The latter asked. “Like out, in the cold, through the snow and wind?”
“Yeah.”
“No.”
Really.
“ Please?”
Jouno sighed exasperatedly. “First of all, you’re an idiot. Second of all, you shouldn’t even go outside. You’re still limping slightly. It’s better even that the commander chose not to wait for you and go on the mission himself. Oh, and did I mention that you’re an idiot?”
“Yes…twice, actually.”
“It was a rhetorical question you, absolute dumbass.” Jouno hissed.
“Okay…well, my leg doesn’t hurt as much. I can manage.”
In their last mission, Tecchou had been badly injured, nearly worse than ever. Of course, the paramedics arrived just in time to at least keep him alive, but some of the scars still remained, along with a still-open wound on his thigh from all the random workouts he does. Jouno had been very close to him the whole time, which led to their current change of hearts .
After a few heartbeats, Jouno sighed. “Fine,” he spat. “But if I’ll be freezing the whole time, my sword is going to cut through your throat.” The white-haired male muttered, leaving the hallway.
—
After what felt like years, Jouno was finally all ready and dressed up, though Tecchou was wondering if the other wouldn’t be cold since he wasn’t dressed so properly for this kind of weather. He decided to brush the thought aside.
“Are we going? I don’t have all day to stay in the cold.” Jouno muttered.
Tecchou gave him a curt nod, leading the way out. As soon as he stepped foot outside, he breathed in the cold air. Tecchou liked it a lot. In fact, he really enjoyed it. Looking over his shoulder, he studied his partner’s expression. The white-haired male was frowning, as usual, already sneezing once or twice, this making Tecchou snort in amusement at the other’s sensitivity for cold weather.
“Okay, oh mighty smartass. Where are we heading now?” Jouno asked, skidding to a halt next to him, tapping his foot a few times in the snow that crunched under his boot. “Around the city or-”
“No.” He responded simply.
Jouno raised his eyebrow at that. “Then where the fuck do you want to go? On the fucking moon? Or another planet?” The latter spat sarcastically.
“No.”
Tecchou could literally feel Jouno’s blood boil in rage at this point, but he chose to keep his tongue instead. “Come on,” The brunette signaled as he headed in the opposite direction with quick steps.
“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me where the fuck we’re supposed to go.” He heard Jouno yell after him.
“You’ll see.”
“Tecchou-san, you absolute idiot, I’m blind. ” His partner grunted.
“I know.”
Tecchou walked a bit slower so that Jouno could catch up with him. After this, they made their way side by side in comfortable silence.
Far from the hustle of the city, Tecchou had let them to a small forest, further away from their place. The forest itself was a veritable oasis of peace of mind and visual delight. The wind ran gently through the branches above them, giving voice to a white forest that seemed to be enchanted.
“So you brought us here, in the middle of nowhere.” Jouno sighed, face-palming himself. He raised his head, his nose twitching a few times, before walking slowly forward.
Now if he actually thought about it, Tecchou had no idea where else to go. The city was noisy at this time of the year, much to Jouno’s disliking, so, he thought that coming to a silent place would be better. But, in fact, he didn’t know what he was supposed to do either. Crouching down, he raised his gaze and stared at the tiny falling snowflakes. He enjoyed doing that, he could just lose track of time by concentrating on something else, feeling calmer than ever-
-that was, of course, until something slightly wet and rough hit the back of his head, hard enough for him to grunt and nearly fall on his knees. Getting up quickly, he spun around.
Tecchou blinked in astonishment, before hearing a soft whistle. Looking up, his eyes glittered in curiosity when his gaze landed on his partner’s figure, who was sitting, with a grin on his face, on a thick branch in a tree, a few steps away. Jouno took a handful of snow from the branch he was standing on, folding it slightly before throwing it at him again. This time, Tecchou was quick to react and avoided the blow. Was Jouno possibly trying to fight him here? Right now?
Unsure of what to do, he tensed his muscles, ready to spring into action. Jouno’s grin wavered, raising his eyebrows instead. “What’s wrong? Is there trouble?”
Huh?
Tecchou hesitated before responding shortly. “No.”
“Then why are you all tensed up in a fighting stance?”
The brunette had no idea how to respond to that. If Jouno wasn’t planning on fighting him, then what was on his mind?
His partner simply tilted his head to the side. “Are you kidding me?”
“No?”
Really. What was he on about?
Tecchou watched Jouno jump off from the branch and approach him, a thoughtful expression on his face.
He raised his hand between them. The brunette stared at it curiously, and, unsure of what to do, he placed his own hand gently above his partner’s. Jouno furrowed his eyebrows.
“What are you? A dog? Hold your palm upwards.” He demanded.
Tecchou did as he was told, watching Jouno putting snow in his palm. He kept on staring questioningly at it.
“You can’t do anything by yourself, can you? Are you really, that dumb and useless, Tecchou-san?” The blind male sighed, closing his fingers around the snow, making it fold slightly. “Keep on doing that.” He said. Then throw it.
After repeating the process a few more times, the brunette threw the snow with full force. It landed right in the middle of a tree’s bark, a sickening crack followed not long after the blow.
“Tecchou-san! This is supposed to be a snowball, not a fucking snowbullet!”
Tecchou hummed. He still didn’t get his partner’s point.
Jouno sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose, turning his head away. “I don’t even want to know what kind of childhood an idiot like you had. I don’t want to sit around and freeze. If you’ve brought me here, let’s at least do something.”
“But you hit me with snow.” Tecchou mumbled.
“Because that’s the point, smartass. They are called snowballs, as I mentioned before and you are supposed to hit another person with them. People usually say it’s supposed to be fun. Not a fucking armed fight.”
Tecchou hummed, again. He was simply unsure of how people considered this as ‘having fun’ , but he obeyed nonetheless, reaching out to take another handful of snow and fold it. Jouno was looking through closed eyelids at him expectantly. The brunette tossed the snowball gently at his chest. It had barely made Jouno move an inch. Oh well…
“What the fuck was that? Harder, Tecchou-san.”
Repeating the process, he managed to land a rougher blow at his partner’s stomach. Jouno grunted, then nodded. “This will do. Maybe a stray dog can learn a breed dog’s tricks.” He joked, a smile on his face.
“And now?”
“Keep on doing this.”
“Can you make them bigger?”
“If you fold more snow together, then, yes, you can.” The white-haired male yelled over his shoulder while heading away through the trees.
Okay then…
—
“Tec- You did not-”
“What?”
Tecchou held a huge snowball above his head. It was probably as big as a car’s wheel. For him, it wasn’t that big though, but Jouno stood in the snow on his knees, mouth open.
“You’re not possibly going to throw that?” He asked nervously.
“It’s a snowball.”
“That’s everything else but a snowball!”
“It’s still made of snow.” He pointed out, right before lowering it and throwing it full force at his partner.
With a yelp, Jouno ducked out of the way, the snow barely missing his entire body. “Are you out of your mind, what the fuck was that for, Tecchou-san?!”
“Snow fight.”
“That’s an entire fucking snow war!”
“So?”
He watched Jouno groan loudly as he sank down in the snow again, dragging his palms down his face.
“I give up.” He muttered in his hands.
Tecchou nodded, but he simply couldn’t understand his partner’s point of view at all. And he wished he could do something about it, he really did. He just couldn’t bring himself to understand. At least not yet, he kept telling himself.
Moving away, Tecchou made his way forward through the trees. Small snowflakes got stuck in his hair as he walked. He heard Jouno’s boots crack the snow under them, signaling that he was behind him.
The soldier couldn’t understand many things. And sometimes ‘having fun’ was one of them. He also knew that his partner had his ways of relaxing and enjoying his free time as much as he could. Tecchou just couldn’t seem to follow them, to his dismay.
He felt a gentle, gloved hand on his shoulder. The brunette turned his warm gaze on his blind partner.
“Let’s go this way.” The male pointed out to his right. It seemed like he was keen on following another route, and that was, going around what looked like a glade that lay in front of them.
“Why?”
“Because- hey!”
Not waiting for an answer, he made his way forward, getting caught off guard by the sudden slip of his feet. He quickly regained his balance. Ah.
It wasn’t a glade, but a frozen lake. He looked around. The ice was covered by a sleek layer of snow. Maybe that’s why he hadn’t noticed it. Tecchou turned around slowly, wanting to go back to the iceless edge. He slipped again, but once again, maintaining his balance, he managed not to fall. He blinked a few times.
“Are you coming?”
“Wait.”
The brunette slid around with tiny steps a few times, surprised that he was rather enjoying this weird thing. Soon enough, he started to walk faster, this resulting in slipping faster and taking sharp turns.
“What now? Are you going to quit your job to become an ice skater?” Jouno asked, tapping his foot impatiently.
“You should try too.”
“No. Thanks.”
Well, Tecchou wasn’t going to let his partner go so easily. He approached him, holding his palms upwards between them, expectantly.
“Tecchou-san, no. ” Jouno spat in a commanding tone.
“You said that if we’re here, we can do something.”
“This is not something.”
“It could be fun though.”
“You have no idea what ‘fun’ actually means.”
Tecchou usually didn’t take Jouno’s insults to heart, but this one hurt a bit. Maybe because it was somehow true.
Jouno seemed to sense that too because his face softened visibly.
“Okay. But if something happens I’ll kill you.”
“I’ve heard that before…” Tecchou whispered while Jouno put his hands in his. Closing their fingers together briefly, the brunette dragged the latter slowly on the ice.
He let go of the other’s hands as soon as they got further away. Tecchou was quick to react when Jouno somehow managed to slip by only taking a small step. Maintaining his balance, he caught the other before falling. Jouno laid against him, gasping.
“It’s so slippery!”
“I know. Try with smaller steps until you’ll get the hang of it.” Tecchou suggested.
Jouno nodded with a huff, letting go of him.
As expected, it didn’t take too long for the white-haired male to understand how to glide around. Now, he was following Tecchou around and even chased him. Tecchou occasionally slid in other directions, but Jouno’s hearing was so sharp, he wouldn’t lose track of the brunette, even on the ice.
He wondered if this was supposed to be fun because it felt like it. He felt free and even chuckled a few times when Jouno nearly fell and tripped around with short yelps.
Tecchou stopped, looking over his shoulder. His heart warmed pleasantly despite the cold he felt. And maybe it was because Jouno was smiling at him. One of his partner’s genuine, gentle smiles which were a rarity to ever witness. The blind male stood slightly bent forward, hands placed firmly on his knees. They were both panting like they just ran miles because that’s what it actually felt like when sliding around at a somewhat fast pace.
Tecchou grinned too. He really wished they would do that more, but with a pang, he remembered that something always called for them. Their job, their duties to save civilians, to maintain peace, to track down and stop any murderers or armed attacks. To do what is right. The soldier closed his eyes briefly, wishing and wishing for this to never end. To never leave that enchanted place, to be free from everything, and to have Jouno beside him. He knew that wasn’t possible though. Only when he opened back his eyes, he realized they had lost track of time, because it was already nearly pitch dark. And they had to go back. Before he could stop himself, he called out.
“Jouno-san,” He started.
Jouno simply nodded. His partner must have already guessed what he was thinking about earlier. “We should head back.” He spoke softly, seeming unsure.
“Yeah, we should-”
Before he could finish, Tecchou got interrupted by a loud crack. It took him only a few heartbeats to realize that they were far from the lake’s shore and the ice broke, giving away to the water in which Jouno already fell in. Within seconds, Tecchou jumped, lunging forward and grabbing his partner by the shoulders. The white-haired male grunted, letting himself fall limp in Tecchou’s arms so that he could take him out of the water.
“I wasn’t going to die, you know? It’s just a little water, Tecchou-san.” Jouno chuckled.
“Yeah, freezing cold water, Jouno-san.” Tecchou pointed out firmly.
“I could have gotten out by myself anyway. It was pretty deep though. But it’s to be expected since we were nearly in the middle of a fucking lake. I didn’t expect the ice to break, though. It lasted long enough until now.” His partner said, moving one of his legs to push Tecchou lightly in the shin.
Tecchou took that as a signal to let go of him. He was pretty surprised, seeing that the water managed to reach up till the other’s hips. The brunette turned carefully, as not to break the ice any further. “Come on. You’re going to be freezing and catch a cold now that you’re wet.”
“I didn’t notice that. But why, thank you, Tecchou-san. I didn’t know you cared so much about my well-being as to go back when there is half of the day left. We could have still wasted it here.” Jouno smiled.
“And I didn’t know you were looking forward to spending time with me around here,” Tecchou responded with a smile of his own.
Jouno’s nose scrunched up. “Oh, shut up, idiot.”
Tecchou chuckled at that. And this seemed to catch his partner off-guard since Jouno was staring in his direction, eyebrows raised. He muttered something under his breath, but Tecchou couldn’t catch a hint of what he might have said.
“What?”
“Nothing,” Jouno quickly changed the subject. “Let’s head back. Maybe we can find something else to do. Like annoying Teruko-san.”
“Are you by any chance suicidal?” Tecchou looked to his right, frowning.
“I was joking, Tecchou-san. I will probably try to assassinate you.”
“Oh. Huh.” The brunette hummed, stopping for a moment to glance around.
“You’re so dumb.” Jouno stopped next to him as well.
He leaned closer, brushing his cheek against Tecchou’s. Tecchou sneaked his arms around the other’s waist, pulling him even closer.
“Even though you’re an absolute idiot, I still enjoyed spending time here. With you,” His partner added the last part silently, as he buried his face into the crook of Tecchou’s neck.
Unfortunately for both of them, Jouno pulled away from the embrace a little too soon. He only leaned in again to place a soft kiss on the brunette’s lips before jumping back and turning around, startling Tecchou.
“Come on now. I think that my legs are nearly frostbitten,” Jouno raised his voice, proceeding to start walking faster.
Tecchou smiled to himself. While he couldn’t always stay in nature and relax, or ‘have fun’ in some weird ways on his free days, he knew that he would have his partner next to him at all times while at work and in his everyday life.
His lover.
The thought warmed his whole body. In a way, his wish was already living next to him. So, he chased after Jouno, through the trees and into one of the darkest nights.