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The park is a blanket of chilly white, sparkling as far as the pair of boys can see. The lake hasn’t quite frozen over fully, but it’s icy and sloshy at the edges, thin sheets of ice floating into the deeper center. All the trees that had been full of green earlier in the year are now bare-branches skeletons, holding up drifts of snow until the woody arms eventually give way and dump the heavy flakes to the ground.
Karube loves the snow, he loves the chill in the air. He’s always run warm, so by this time of year, it’s nice to not be sweating in the heat. School is out for the semester and he refuses to stay holed up inside. With Chota celebrating some weird 'religious' thing with his family and Arisu off visiting his father’s side out of Tokyo for the holidays, he turns instead to Niragi to find some company for his fun.
Unlike Karube, Niragi’s clearly not a fan of the cold. As they step into the park, snow crunching beneath their shoes, the lower half of Niragi’s pale face is buried in his scarf. Poking from beneath his dark beanie, the tips of his ears are already pink from the cold. When Karube sees them, he can’t help the short laugh that escapes him. It’s cute.
Niragi catches him staring and shrugs his shoulders up to his ears, frowning behind his scarf.
“Couldn’t we just go see a movie?” he grumbles, his voice muffled.
Karube chuckles and moves around to Niragi’s front, hooking a finger over the scarf to pull it down. Niragi’s cheeks are adorably wind-swept pink too and Karube grins even as Niragi pouts.
“Come on, it’ll be fun,” he says.
“It’s cold,” Niragi complains.
Karube laughs again. He reaches down to take Niragi’s mitten-wearing hand, pulling him further into the park. By the tree line, he spots a familiar pair of girls. Ann is similarly bundled up to Niragi, wearing a heavy puffy winter coat and a long scarf wrapped multiple times around her neck. Her arms are crossed tightly and she’s watching Kuina who’s busy pressing her foot up against the trunk of a nearby tree, jostling it to try and bring down the snow gathered in the high branches. The branches sway, sending small plumes of snow towards the ground, but the bulk remains unmoved.
Ann, hearing the crunching of snow from behind her, turns to see Karube and Niragi approaching.
“Kuina,” she says.
“Hold on, I think I’ve almost got it,” Kuina replies, landing another heavy-footed kicked to the trunk. The branches rustle again, another drifting plume cascading through the cold air.
A thought pops into Karube’s head and he grins wickedly. Holding a finger up to his mouth to hush Ann, he gathers a handful of snow into one hand, quietly taking another few steps until he’s behind Kuina. Grabbing the back of her jacket, he upturns the snow into the opening and Kuina shrieks in surprise.
“Ah, fuck! Cold!” she yelps, pulling at the hem of her jacket to try and shake the snow free from where it was rapidly melting against her back.
Karube bursts into laughter.
“Ugh, you jerk!” she snaps with a shiver.
Leaning down, she grabs a handful of snow, launching it at Karube, who dodges sideways, causing the sloppily-made snowball to hit Niragi in the ankles. Grimacing, Niragi stomps the snow of his boots, his hands shoving into his pockets as he moves to stand beside Ann.
“Oops, sorry,” Kuina says with a wince. Her eyes flick between him and Ann, and she smirks slightly as she jokes, “Is this cold hate a familial thing?”
Ann and Niragi really do look even more alike now, more like twins than cousins. Their matching dark hair and dark eyes, pale skin turning pink in the cold, both bundled up heavily in their dark-coloured winter clothes. Denial of the illusion isn’t helped by Niragi’s worn-longer hair and Ann’s cut-short bob. The pair glance at each other, brows furrowing.
Karube laughs again and Kuina takes the chance to launch at him, tackling him into the snow. She grabs another handful of snow, mashing it against the side of his face and neck. Karube yelps at the cold shock, getting snow in his mouth in the process.
“Truce, truce!” he yells, shoving at her wrist.
Kuina laughs, victorious, rolling off him to get back to her feet.
“We should have a snowball fight~” she singsongs, grinning as she dusts her snowy hands off. She twists towards Ann and Niragi, pointing, “Me and Karube against the two of you.”
Ann and Niragi frown.
“You just want to team up because you’re both the sporty ones,” Niragi shoots back, shoulders hunching as he tries to fight back the chill in the air.
“It’s only fair. Brains against brawn,” Karube says as he sits up, ruffling snow out of his bleached hair.
“Wouldn’t it be better make teams of brains and brawn?” Ann asks, “Or guys against girls?”
“C’mon, just take the win of being called the brains,” Kuina teases.
“What are the ground rules?” Ann begrudgingly continues.
“No face shots,” Niragi proposes immediately.
“Does that include back-of-the-head shots?” Kuina asks.
Niragi’s mouth twists slightly, “No, I guess not.”
“And you can’t leave the park grounds,” Karube offers as rule #2.
“How long do we go for?” Ann asks, hands rubbing over her hands.
Kuina grins, “Until either team gives up.”
Karube hops to his feet and reaches out to wrap a hand around Kuina’s wrist, a grin flashes to his lips.
“You get fifteen minutes to prepare!” he shouts, turning to run off and dragging Kuina with him, both eagerly laughing.
Ann and Niragi both shiver. They glance at each other, seeming to wonder how they both managed to fall for such jock-ish people. Niragi sighs, the fog of his warm breath catching in his scarf and blowing up into his lens, making him grimace and pluck his glasses off, wiping them clear. Ann shakes off the chill and tugs on the wrists of her mittens.
“We should make a fort,” she grumbles.
“So long as it’s not under a tree, sure,” Niragi replies.
“Well, duh.”
Shoulders hunch, the two march off further into the park to find the perfect spot to set up.
Karube and Kuina, having much the same idea, start piling up and patting down snow in an attempt at a shielding wall. As Kuina balls together snow and sets them into a pile, Karube works on building up the snow wall to a sizeable height. He peers over the top to look at Niragi and Ann, the two patting together their own wall, working efficient-and-effectively. They almost look like little ghosts, the pallor of their skin almost blending with the snow around them, their hair, eyes, and clothes coal-dark by comparison.
Distracted while watching the pair, he doesn’t notice Kuina inching closer until she dumps a pair of heaped handfuls of snow on his head. He squawks in surprise, snow falling in his eyes and catching on his lashes, almost knocking over their wall as he jerks away.
“Quit staring at your boyfriend and get back to work on building,” she says, dusting her gloves off before she turns back to the heaping pile of snowballs she’s already made.
“Could’a just said that,” he complains, weakly throwing an elbow into her side.
Fifteen minutes are soon up and both pairs huddle behind their makeshift defences, waiting to see who’d make the first move. With Niragi’s insistence on no face shots, it’s not as easy as waiting for one of them to peek up over the top of their respective walls.
Finally - and impatiently - Kuina hops to her feet and lobs the first snowball.
It’s arcs through the air to slap into the front of the cousins’ wall. Snap quick, Ann and Niragi both leap up, pelting a snowball each. Ann’s goes wide, but Niragi’s hits Kuina in the shoulder, spattering her coat with snow, and she quickly ducks back down.
With that, the game begins.
Snowballs fly through the air. They duck and dodge, whipping the snowballs out across the few metres that make up their battlefield. One hits Niragi in the side of his head, dislodging his dark beanie, which he quickly yanks off and stuffs into his jacket pocket, shaking snowflakes out of his hair. Ann hits Kuina directly in the middle of her chest with a snowball, making her slip in the snow. From across the battlefield as Karube helps Kuina up, they’re surprised to hear Ann whoop a victorious yell.
As Kuina rights herself, Karube aims a few snowball in a more upward angle in an attempt to get them over the snow wall as Ann and Niragi duck down to make more snowballs, apparently having overlooked doing so during their earlier fifteen minutes of prep time.
With their own snowballs running low, Karube and Kuina duck down, their backs to the snow wall. Kuina starts to bunch more snowballs together, patting them in her palms, her gloves slick and partly frozen with slightly melted flakes. Karube shifts, glancing over the wall. Ann and Niragi are still out of view.
“Hey,” Karube says, elbowing against Kuina’s arm, then he flashes a grin, “Do you think should we rush ‘em?”
Kuina grins back and starts to fill her arms with snowballs. Karube down the same, packing the snowballs tightly as he tucks them into the crook of his arm against his chest. Crouching, they look at each other, then slowly count down in unison. Leaping up with charging roars, they run around the side of their snow wall and towards Niragi and Ann’s.
As they get almost halfway over, the two jump up from behind their cover and start hurtling snowballs in a flurry. Kuina and Karube can hardly manage to throw any of their own against the attack. Karube almost trips, his legs getting pummeled with snowballs. Kuina loses her armful of snowballs, getting hit once in the collarbone and then against the elbow of her snowball-cradling arm in quick succession. Ann and Niragi are clearly a force to be reckoned with, their faces serious as they aim and throw each snowball.
“Retreat!” Kuina yells, covering her head as she turns heel and scrambles back towards their fort.
Karube skids in the snow, landing roughly on his ass. Scrabbling, he gets back to his feet, kicking up snow as he shoot after Kuina. A packed ball of snow cracks into the back of his head as he runs back and he dives over the top of the wall, taking out one of the corners with his foot.
The park goes quiet as the flurry of snowballs slows.
Karube and Kuina press against their snow wall, panting and swiping the snow off their jackets and pants. With a shiver, Karube wriggles to try and dislodge snow from where it’s slipped down the back of his jacket’s neck. Kuina ducks down just in case Ann or Niragi try to lob any snowballs at the back of her head. Plucking up a snow-covered twig, Karube twists to jam the pointy end through the snow wall and makes a small hole. He peers through it, trying to see Niragi and Ann.
Suddenly, another snowball flies. It hits the trunk of the tree next to their wall. Karube and Kuina look at the white mark left by the snowball. They laugh slightly, their breaths puffing into the chilly air.
“Guess their aim’s getting bad,” Kuina says.
“You getting tired or something?” Karube calls out.
“You got snow in your eyes?” Kuina shouts, taunting.
Another snowball. It just misses the trunk, but was clearly aimed higher up than the last. Karube and Kuina laugh again, loud enough that they’re sure the other team hears. Another snowball, then another, both apparent misses.
Then, there’s a low creak of the tree branches. Another snowball lobs into the bunch of snow held up by the branches, making it shake. Karube and Kuina barely have a chance to react, let alone move, before one last well-aimed snowball hits the drift of gathered snow directly and it all comes crashing down right on top of them. Immediately, Karube and Kuina are engulfed in icy, bone-chilling snow.
They sputter, kicking and throwing their arms out to get free of the snow pile. As they finally get their heads free, they come face to face with Ann and Niragi, both armed with snowballs.
“Yield,” Ann says, a shiver in her voice.
“Do you give up?” Niragi asks, raising a snowball.
Karube and Kuina look at each other. Their teeth chatter, snow melting against their skin where it slips in between the gaps of their clothes, down their necks and between their gloves and sleeves. Karube ruffles a gloved hand over his head, his ears feeling frozen.
“Yeah, we give up,” he says with a shiver.
“Y-yeah,” Kuina quickly agrees.
Instantly, Niragi and Ann sigh in relief, both of them dropping their wielded snowballs. Ann shivers, her mouth in a grimace as she wraps her arms around herself, an attempt at fighting off the cold. Niragi steps around the side of the mostly demolished snow wall and offers a hand out to Karube, helping him up out of the snow pile. He shuffles through the snow around to Kuina’s other side, then he and Karube pulls Kuina out of the snow and back onto her feet, where she shakes off the snow as best she can.
Snow slowly starts falling. Kuina leans her head back, catching a snowflake on her tongue, then shaking her head with a shiver. Ann puffs a quiet laugh, then hooks her arm with Kuina’s, pulling them close together as they start to walk away from the snowy battlefield.
“Let’s go get a coffee, I’m freezing,” Ann says. Kuina quickly agrees.
The boys start to follow after them. Niragi glances sideways at Karube, then huffs through his nose. He pulls his beanie out of his pocket and tugs on Karube’s arm to stop him, turning him and then putting the beanie on him, making sure to cover his ears.
“You’re going to freeze your ears off,” Niragi says.
Karube chuckles, taking Niragi’s hand as they keep walking.
“I’ve got hot chocolate at my place, you know?” Karube offers with a smile. Niragi glances at him. He pulls on Niragi’s hand, turning towards his street, calling out to the girls, “You two get out of the cold soon, okay? We’ll see you later at the bridge!”
Ann and Kuina look back at them, then offer waves goodbye as they keep heading down the street towards a nearby coffee shop. Walking hand-in-hand, Niragi and Karube continue down the street towards Karube’s house. His parents aren’t home, still busy working this late into the year. Niragi’s own mother is home, so they have more of a chance of privacy at Karube’s place instead.
They walk up the small path. Niragi stomps the snow off his boots and swipes it off his clothes as best he can while Karube unlocks the front door. Pushing the door open, they stumble inside, kicking their snowy shoes off at the entrance and shuffling further in. Karube shivers.
“Damn, I should’ve kept the heater running,” he complains, quickly turning it on in the living room, then waves Niragi towards the hallway, “There’s an electric blanket in my room.”
Niragi nods, the begrudgingly shrugs his jacket off so he’s not trailing any snow through Karube’s house. Unwinding his scarf from around his neck, he folds it and leaves it on the counter with his mittens. Despite the thick fabric of his mittens, his fingers are still red from the cold. He finds Karube’s room easily, already familiar with the layout, and pushes into his room. It’s as familiarly boyishly messy as he remembers. With a small smile, he plucks Karube’s school bag up from the ground and zips it closed before hanging it over the back of his desk chair, then turns towards his bed.
It’s inviting looking, the covers slightly rumpled and his pillow case wrinkled, but it looks cozily warm with the added thick blanket laid across its top. More than just a little tempted, he wants to climb into it and let the cold seep out of his body, to let himself be engulfed in the warmth and the scent of Karube on his sheets.
He chews his bottom lip, he’s sure Karube wouldn’t mind and it’ll take a while for their drinks to be ready anyway. Fuck it, he decides, Karube had dragged him out into the snow, the least he could was let Niragi get warm in his bed. Shucking his still-slightly-snowy pants off, he makes sure the electric blanket is on and crawls under the covers.
By the time Karube finishes heating up the drinks, he flicks off the stove and shifts the small pot aside. Glancing back, he’s confused to not see Niragi anywhere around. He’d never heard him come back up the hallway either. With a slight frown, he pulls the beanie off and ruffles his hands through his snow-damp hair. He shivers as he feels a drip of melted snow slide down the back of his head and down his nape.
Walking down the hallway, he glances into his room, surprised to find a dark-headed lump in his bed. Chuckling, he takes a few steps into his room and peers over, finding Niragi quietly dozing beneath his covers. Well, it’d seem a shame to drag him out now that he’s got him here. Quietly kicking off his snow-damp pants, he tugs the covers back to quickly slip into his bed before the cold can creep in.
Niragi’s dark eyes blink open as Karube shuffles in closer. Reaching up, Karube runs his thumb over Niragi’s still-cold-pink ear and he smirks.
“You’re still all chilly,” he says, “I can warm you up.”
He yanks the heated blanket up over their heads, encase them in a cozy warm bubble. Leaning over Niragi, he catches his jaw and kisses him. The kiss takes on fervour as Niragi’s pierced tongue slips into Karube’s mouth. Niragi’s hand slides down Karube’s back, smoothing over the soft fabric until he reaches the hemline and his fingers slip underneath. Karube jerks, breaking the kiss.
“Ah, cold hands,” he whinges, wriggling.
“Yeah, well, you dragged me out into the snow and my gloves got soaked through,” Niragi shoots back and shoves his hands further up under Karube’s shirt, his palms pressing flatly over his back and the side of his ribs.
Karube squirms, the cold of Niragi’s hands seeping into his skin. Hooking a leg overtop Niragi, he straddles over him and wrestles his hands away, pinning them by the wrists over Niragi’s head. Karube huffs out a breath, his shirt falling back into place, the electric blanket a heavy weight against his back. Niragi shuffles under him, a slight glint in his eyes as his wrists shift in Karube’s hands, making him grip tighter.
Karube looks down at him, dark hair haloed around his pink face, and then he smirks, shaking his head as he notices the expression. Leaning down, he kisses Niragi again. His hands slide up from Niragi’s wrists, tangling their fingers. He feels the slight curve of Niragi’s smile, then a quick nip of teeth against his bottom lip.
Pulling back, Karube’s eyes drag over him, a thought popping into his head.
“You’re wearing those big scarves all winter, right?” he muses with a smile.
Niragi’s brows scrunch, “Why?”
Instead of answering, Karube just darts in and latches onto his neck. Niragi makes a short noise, feels a light drag of teeth against his throat followed by a flick of Karube’s tongue. When he finally pulls back, he wears a satisfied smile, squeezing Niragi’s hand. Niragi huffs at him.
“I’m not going to be wearing the scarf inside,” he says.
“Well, too late,” Karube answers, not sounding apologetic at all.
Niragi squirms, wriggling under Karube until he manages to get a leg free and hooks it around Karube’s hip, knocking him sideways back onto the bed. He wrestles out of Karube’s grip, reversing their positions as he sits over Karube’s waist. Karube’s much warmer than Niragi, that much is obvious from the hands that slide under the hem of Niragi’s shirt to rest on his hips.
“If it’s no big deal, then you won’t mind matching,” Niragi says.
Before Karube can reply, Niragi ducks in and kissing against the sharp line of his jaw, sliding his pierced tongue down the side of his throat. Less gentle than Karube, Niragi bites at his neck. Karube sucks in a breath, his thumb presses against Niragi’s hip. Niragi nibbles over the mark, then pulls back slightly, breathing out over Karube’s neck. Shifting up, his mouth hovers over Karube’s, a hint of a smile on his lips. One of Karube’s hands comes up off his hip, tangling into Niragi’s hair, pulling him into another kiss.
The sun is long past set as Ann and Kuina find an open spot near the bridge. Ann is still miserable-levels of cold, wondering if she should’ve worn another layer under her winter jacket. Kuina seems somehow unaffected, her own layers on the thinner side and her gloves slightly too old. Already, Ann is thinking about buying her a new pair to replace the threadbare ones she’s wearing. She’d already bought Kuina a gift or two, what was one more thing, especially considering this weather?
Reaching out as they step up to the railing, she takes Kuina’s hand and pulls it into the warm pocket of her own jacket. Kuina looks at her and smiles, her head tilting slightly. Disentangling her hand from Ann’s, she takes a step closer as she tucks in behind her, slipping her arms around to slide her hands into both of Ann’s pockets. She leans her chin onto Ann’s shoulder.
“What do you wanna bet those two idiots are going to be late?” Kuina says.
“I’ll be surprised if they remember to come,” Ann replies, then rolls her eyes as she leans back into Kuina’s arms, “Probably got distracted sucking face.”
Kuina rumbles a laugh, the sound vibrating into Ann’s back. She squeezes Ann, leaning to press a glossy kiss to her cheek. Ann tucks her own hands into her pockets, laying them over Kuina’s and squeezing them. It’s been a long year, she thinks, this wasn’t where she’d imagined she’s be at the start of it - in fact, this was better than anything she’s considered back then.
Shifting her sleeve up, she checks her watch.
“It’s going to be time soon,” Ann says, “They’d better not miss it.”
A crowd is forming as they wait. Kuina and Ann stare across the icy water, waiting for the show to start. Behind them comes a bustle through the crowd, a familiar voice apologises, then a shoulder bumping against Kuina’s as the pair of boys topple against the railing.
“Oh good, it hasn’t started yet,” Karube puffs out.
He’s wearing Niragi’s dark beanie, the colour not matching with his otherwise colourful winter-wear. On his other side, Niragi is leaning against the railing, huffing and shuffling his scarf back into place. From the looks of it, the two had had to run to make it in time. Kuina smiles, rolling her eyes. Count on them to almost miss it.
“What took you so long?” Ann asks.
Niragi buries deeper into his scarf. It’s impossible to tell if the blush pink of his cheeks is from embarrassment or the cold.
“We fell asleep,” he confesses, his voice muffled by his scarf.
Kuina starts to laugh, but it’s cut off by the whizzing-then-bang of the first firework. Within moments, the sky is filled with exploding colourful fireworks, their eyes sparkling as they go quiet and watch. Kuina cuddles up against Ann. Niragi shifts closer to Karube, taking his hand. Snow drifts slowly down from the sky, the tiny flakes catching in their hair and on their shoulders, giving them a dusting of white.
As they watch the shining fireworks, the cold goes forgotten and a calm peace fills the night.