Work Text:
Yuuji presses his face against the living room window. The coolness of the glass stings his nose and cheeks but he ignores it. He runs his fingers against the window and watches as he leaves clear tracks in the fog that was building up. Out of boredom he lets his eyes skim along the outline of white snow outside. He wants to go out and play in it, but Choso said his gloves are in the wash, so he won’t be playing anytime soon.
“Do you think we’ll go to school today?” He asks his older brother Choso, his face now pulled away from the window.
“Probably not,” Choso murmurs as he flips the page of the book he was currently engrossed in.
Yuuji purses his lips and lets out a huff before nodding, “Do you think we’ll go to school tomorrow?”
Choso takes a second to respond, his face still not lifting from his book, “Maybe.”
Yuuji sighs before turning back to the window. Pressing his face against it once more, he watches snowflakes fall from the sky. He blows air onto the window and watches it fog up. Afterwards, he draws a smiley face on it. It’s just him and Choso in the living room this morning. Ryomen is sleeping in and Nanami is making a call to his work.
By now, Nanami would’ve left for work, and Choso would’ve dragged Ryomen out of bed so the three of them could walk to school together. Choso would drop Yuuji and Ryomen off at their respective third grade classes, the two of them had been separated for obvious reasons, then he would walk over to the middle school building. Which was directly across from the elementary school.
But earlier this morning the snow was high enough that it could reach up above Yuuji’s ankles. Choso told him that they should wait at home, that it was only a matter of time the school would call and tell them school was canceled.
“Nanamin can’t go to work because the road is frozen over,” Yuuji says to Choso as he shuffles over to him on the living room floor, “It’s dangerous, right?”
Choso squints at something he read before nodding, “Yeah, I was there when he told you.”
Yuuji only smiles, the birthmarks under his eyes crinkling from the action. He lies down and places his hands on his stomach. Closing his eyes as if to fall asleep. Choso merely glances at him before ruffling his pink hair. Yuuji laughs while Choso places his book on the ground and flops down next to him.
“What to do,” Choso sighs, “What to do?”
He props himself up on his elbow and looks at Yuuji. His brows furrowed in thought. Yuuji looks at him patiently, wondering what his older brother will come up with.
“Nanami-san should be done with his work call soon,” Choso mumbles to himself as he runs his fingers through Yuuji’s hair, “Maybe we should ask him to make us cookies.”
Yuuji’s face lights up with the mention of the word cookie, “Cookies? Yeah we should ask him!”
Choso gives Yuuji a smile as he hums to himself, “And none for Ryomen!”
Yuuji’s face contorts to a frown as he sits up, “No, Ryomen should have some.”
Choso chuckles to himself before nodding, “Okay, he can have some. ”
A smile spreads across Yuuji’s face once more before the sound of quiet shuffling fills the hallway. The shuffles are followed by a yawn and soon the familiar pink hair and birthmarks under two sleepy eyes comes into view. Out walks Yuuji’s brother, twin brother, Ryomen. Wrapped in his blanket and still dressed in his pajamas.
“Why did no one wake me up?” Ryomen asks, trying to wipe the tiredness from his eyes.
“Oh, sorry,” Choso says as he sits up properly, “I think it’s going to be a snow day today, so I didn’t feel like trying to get you up.”
Ryomen yawns again and shrugs. He plops himself down next to his two brothers and leans back. Yuuji gives him a big smile and opens his mouth to say good morning. But suddenly the sound of the house phone ringing fills the air.
“I’ll get it!” Ryomen and Yuuji say in unison.
They both rush to go grab the house phone, but somehow Choso gets there before them. The two pink haired boys try to grasp at the phone from their older brother’s hands, but Choso pushes them off. As they continue to rush back at him, he picks up the phone.
“Come on, it was my turn to answer the phone!” Ryomen shouts as he lands two punches to Choso’s sides.
The hits don’t hurt him, they’re just a little annoying. Choso continues to push the two away as he answers the phone.
“Hello?” Choso asks, covering the phone with his hand in hopes to muffle out the sounds of his brothers bombarding him.
“Uh huh. Oh. Uh huh. Okay. Thank you for telling us. Yes. I’ll tell our father. Thank you.”
Once Choso puts up the phone, Yuuji and Ryomen back up to look at him. Ryomen has a look of annoyance on his face, mostly from not being able to be the one who answered the phone. But Yuuji beams at his big brother.
“Who was it?” Yuuji asked, with his signature smile plastered on his face.
“Just your school,” Choso says shrugging, “You have a snow day.”
Yuuji shouts in excitement then rushes over to his and Ryomen’s room to go grab his winter coat and boots. Ryomen is about to follow him, but he stops in his tracks and turns to Choso.
“What about your school?” He asks, one of his brows raises as if he suspected something.
“Oh, they called earlier this morning.”
“So if we had to go to school, you wouldn’t have told us you had the day off?”
“Yeah probably.”
Ryomen’s face morphs into a scowl at his older brother’s words. He sticks his tongue out at him before rushing off after Yuuji. Choso only smiles and shakes his head before following behind them. He quickly grabs Yuuji’s gloves out of the washing machine and then throws on his winter coat and boots.
“My gloves…my gloves!” Yuuji exclaims as he crouches down to look for his gloves under his bed.
Ryomen just stuffs his already gloved hands into his jacket. He watches Yuuji waddle around frantically in his puffy winter coat. He even snickers to himself. But then Choso walks in, properly dressed for the cold weather, holding out Yuuji’s gloves.
“Thank you Choso!” Yuuji exclaims as he grabs his damp gloves from Choso.
“It’s all good,” Choso laughs, ruffling Yuuji’s hair, “They’re a little damp so go hold them over the heater while I tell Nanami-san we’re going outside.”
Yuuji nods and rushes out of the bedroom and Ryomen walks closely behind him. Choso smiles as the two leave. He then walks over to Nanami’s bedroom-repurposed as an office.
“Nanami-san?” Choso asks as he knocks on the doorframe, “I’m taking my brothers to go play outside, their school said they didn’t have to go today.”
“Alright Choso, thank you for telling me,” Nanami says from his desk in the corner of the room.
Choso smiles and nods at him. He’s probably working right now, so it’s best not to disturb him. Before Choso can leave, Nanami calls out to him.
“Don’t be too long, okay? Once I finish this paperwork, I can make some hot chocolate for you all,” Nanami says as he gives Choso a smile.
Choso nods, “Of course Nanami-san.”
He smiles as he walks out the doorway. Yuuji and Ryomen will be glad to hear what Nanami just told him. But then he decides to keep it a secret.
It’s been a good whole year since Nanami took them in, but it feels like they’ve already been a family for so long. Ryomen and Yuuji are standing above the living room heater. Yuuji, holding out his gloves so they could dry off quickly, just as Choso advised him to.
“C’mon let’s go,” Choso says as he opens the door, “You guys stay close by, okay?”
Yuuji and Ryomen nod as the two rush out the door. Completely ignoring Choso’s instructions and running off in the powdery snow. The two of them couldn’t get far enough to outrun Choso, but far enough that they could hide behind a car.
“Guys, where’d you go?” Choso asks as he looks around.
Yuuji is snickering as Ryomen throws his hand over his mouth. Ryomen shushes him before peeking over the car they’re hiding behind. Ryomen signals to Yuuji that he’s going to make snowballs. He quietly instructs Yuuji to throw them at Choso as fast as he can.
Yuuji gives him a big grin and a thumbs up, “OK!” He whispers before Ryomen clamps his hand back over his mouth.
By the time Choso makes it to the car Yuuji and Ryomen are hiding behind, Ryomen has already made more than enough snowballs. Choso is about to call out to his brothers again, but then he sees a tuft of pink hair. Before he can even decipher if it’s Ryomen or Yuuji, a cold ball of packed snow hits face.
“Guys!” Choso shouts as he wipes the snow off his face.
But then Ryomen and Yuuji run from behind the car, snowballs in arms, and start firing snowballs at him. Choso does his best to guard his face, but ultimately ends up covered in more snow everywhere else. In a last ditch effort, he grabs a handful of snow and tosses it at his younger brothers.
His low effort snowball hits Ryomen right in his face. For a moment, everything goes still. Choso and Yuuji look at Ryomen warily. Before Choso can react or apologize, Ryomen is laughing and tossing more snowballs at the two of them.
“Hey, quit it!” Yuuji laughs as he too has snow thrown at him.
“You shouldn’t have let your guard down!” Ryomen says in between his fits of laughter.
Choso and Yuuji only laugh along with him, picking up their own snowballs and reciprocating Ryomen’s attacks. They continue to throw snowballs at each other until their arms are sore and their clothes are soaked in melted snow.
Choso collapses onto the ground and throws his hands up, “Time out guys,” He exclaims, out of breath already.
Yuuji only wipes the snow off his face and sits down next to him. Ryomen scoffs before reluctantly tossing his remaining snowballs on the ground and joining his brothers.
The three of them sit in silence until Yuuji pipes up, “I’m hungry.”
Ryomen nods and looks over at Choso, “Me too.”
Choso nods in agreement with the two of them, “I’m hungry too,” He gets up and starts to dust off his pants, “Let’s go home.”
-
When the three boys enter the house, their faces are flushed red from the cold weather and their clothes are dripping wet. Nanami’s eyes widen as he catches a glimpse of them as they walk in.
“Did you have fun?” Nanami asks as he gets up to greet them at the doorway.
All three boys give Nanami a bright and happy yes before taking off their winter clothes. Choso is helping Yuuji take off and put up his coat, but Ryomen is already making quick work of his boots. He kicks the snow covered footwear off and throws his jacket on top of them.
Before he can rush off to the kitchen to grab a snack, Nanami grabs his shoulder, “Ryomen, you have to put things away properly.”
Ryomen huffs and shimmies over to his shoes and jacket. His socks make squishing noises as he does so. Choso looks at him and smiles. His black hairs stuck to his forehead.
“Do you need help?” Choso asks after he finishes helping Yuuji.
Ryomen shakes his head before dealing with his boots and jacket himself. Choso watches him as Nanami approaches the three of them.
“I made some hot chocolate for you all,” Nanami begins, “But I think it would be best if you had a bath before you drank it.”
Yuuji and Ryomen exclaim sounds of joy as Nanami mentions hot chocolate. Choso nods and smiles at the two of them.
“You two will bathe first,” He states as Yuuji and Ryomen start to rush for the bathroom.
Choso follows after them and smiles to himself. But that smile is soon cut short as he hears his two brothers arguing over which one of them should bathe first. So he rushes into the bathroom to break it up.