Work Text:
It’s well into winter, past Christmas and New Year. It’s starting to get warm, but the cold air gets into their clothes and they shiver.
“Are you sure you’re not cold in those clothes, Kohane?” An asks, comfortable in her jacket and her hands in her pockets. She’s pretty sure that Kohane is shivering under that thin sweater, it’s not the thick ones she always wears during this season, and An can’t help but worry.
“It’s okay, I’m holding heat packs in my pockets. They’re keeping me plenty warm. And it’s not that cold anymore.” Kohane assures, showing her the heat packs in her hands, though only for just a moment.
“If you say so.” An relents, easily. As she always does. But, she makes compromises for herself. Like how she’s walking just a little closer to her than usual, hoping to radiate some of her warmth to her.
Akito loudly sighs behind them.
“What?” An looks back at him with a roll of her eyes. She immediately changes it to a placating one when she sees Toya looking at her. Not anything piercing, or disbelieving, Toya’s not like that. He’s just looking the way he normally does, which is partly scary in An’s book.
“He’s just frustrated at the way he sang earlier.” Toya answers for him, which Akito huffs as he sinks into his scarf and his hands deeper into his jacket pockets.
“Sure, we can all be better.” An says, adjusting the ear muffs Kohane has on and patting away the snow that have found themselves stranded on the blonde hair, before she returns the ear muffs to its place. “That’s why we’re training under my dad.”
She makes Kohane turn to her, smiling at her. Her smile widens when she hears the adorable giggle and the way her face scrunches up that it seems like she’s glowing. Then, there’s that spot on her nose that easily gets red in the cold. “Thanks.” She mumbles while she giggles more with An squishing her cheeks.
It honestly just makes her want to engulf her in a hug.
She can. Yes, she can.
But, Kohane said she’s fine.
Akito sighs, again. Still at the same volume.
An just raises an eyebrow at him this time, observing the way he just rolls his eyes. Her eyes switches to Toya, who’s making the same face as her.
“An.” He finally lets out a word, its stern. The same tone he uses when he starts the group practice.
They all keep walking, since he didn’t stop his own steps. They’ve walked these streets more times they can count, know the people around like they’ve been there their whole life, like how music always found its way to their hearts and striking the chords of their souls at just the right way.
“She’s not gonna mind. She has let you do all that.” Akito mutters under his breath, annoyance slipping through his voice, while his hands find its place on Kohane’s shoulders. Kohane only looks at him with confusion and his last name at the tip of her tongue. “It feels off. That you’re holding back, with her of all people.”
“…What made you think that?” An makes the mistake of glancing down to her partner, her eyes already questioning her if that’s true, before looking up at Akito with scrutinizing eyes. It’s done unconsciously, pulling Kohane to her and away from him. It’s probably that of a protective instinct, maybe possessive, because she knows Akito wouldn’t do anything to actually harm them. They’re friends, for god’s sake.
“Nothing.” He raises his hands up, something akin to surrender but they all know it’s nothing like that. It’s up in the air for a second and into his pockets the next, not wanting to get his bare hands getting a full blast of cold air. “We’ll go on ahead. Let’s go, Toya.”
“Hey, Akito…” Toya mumbles his name while he waves the girls, following after the briskly walking guy. Like he’s still annoyed at something.
Well, An knows the reason. Now, at least. She lets out a sigh of relief.
She didn’t really want to unravel right then and there. Akito knows that.
“An-chan…”
She hums, returning all her attention to beautiful, adorable Kohane.
“Your hand.” Kohane tries to change the way An is holding her, from gripping her wrists to a proper handhold, however, An’s grip is a bit tighter than what Kohane is used to.
“Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean to hold your hand that hard.” An loosens her hold, let Kohane play with it all she wants. Whenever she wants to.
Silence always finds its way to intervene, it settles whenever it wants. Sometimes its welcome, sometimes not.
In this case, its okay.
They let it linger for just a moment than intended, and the cold wind find it the perfect moment to pass.
Kohane shivers at the contact, An feels it at the tip of her fingertips. And its taking everything in her to not think about how huggable Kohane is at the moment, because she sees her trying to say something with the way her lips were trembling.
“What Shinonome-kun said.” Kohane starts, still playing with An’s fingers, now unto her pinky from her ring finger. “What is it you’re holding back?”
An bites her lip, ignoring the way her hand feels warmer on the spots Kohane has just touched or the glint in Kohane’s eyes as she looks up at her expecting a direct answer. She does rarely give an indirect answer, unless its about her test scores which she’s more inclined to hide than tell. Where she fails everytime because she’s absolutely weak to everything Kohane.
So, she folds.
“You’re really cute.” She hears a squeak. “And adorable.” She lets her mouth run and her other hand to play with Kohane’s, the same way she just did. “And amazing. The best partner I could ask for.”
“You’ve told me all that already.” There’s a waver in her voice, and it just makes her more adorable to An’s ears.
“I can still go on.” An grins at her, the confident one that never fails to make Kohane relax before a live. But, relaxing is the last thing An is doing to Kohane at the moment. “It’s not the point. It’s important you hear it frequently enough though.”
Kohane blinks at that, and she feels like her ears are burning already. If she says anything more to add to that, maybe Kohane will come out as overcooked. She starts to brace and prepare herself for whatever An would be telling her, she’s not sure why she has to though.
“I just wanted to hug you.”
She blinks her eyes again. Twice. And tilts her head to the side.
“An-chan,” Kohane gulps, she swears the red on her face isn’t only on her nose anymore. Because An, that An, who practically smothers her in physical affection on sight, is asking for permission.
If An is going to ask, tell her, what she wants to do to her every single time after this, Kohane doubts she’ll manage to pick herself back up and fast. Since there’s a different kind of anticipation in this now, not just the surprise she gets when An does something to her unannounced.
“I asked if you were cold earlier and you told me you’re fine.” An has stopped playing with Kohane’s fingers and just interlocked them, squeezing them, getting Kohane’s attention back. “I really wanted to hug you then. I settled with taking the snow off your hair and its not even snowing that hard.”
“You can, An-chan.” Kohane looks at her with a big smile, one that almost always makes the words break in An’s mouth. “Always.”
This time, Kohane is the one who initiates the hug while An is frozen in place, feeling everything, from how her fingers slowly leave her hands to the small of her back, overly aware that Kohane deliberately put her arms around her under her jacket. She feels instantly warm at the realization, only just noticing that the tips of Kohane’s ears are red and she’s burying her face in An’s neck.
An is certain that there’s a goofy smile on her face as she pulls Kohane as close to her as she can.
And no, she’s not thanking Akito.