Archive of Our Own ^beta

Kou has been buzzing for 2 whole weeks about how excited he was about the snow trip the Kamome Academy was organizing, only for his year which meant Nene couldn’t assist which was a shame to be honest.

Teru had survived hearing his brother talking about the same thing over and over again every day at dinner.
Since only their year was assisting that left Kou with Sousuke to pair up in the rooms.
This was chosen about one month and a half ago and both of them rolled their eyes as a joke.
They were both happy about it, it’s not like they aren’t ‘friends’ after all.

Things between them had been weird for a couple weeks, nothing had happened between them but Sousuke was acting.. strange?

It was not like he was ignoring Kou but he was slightly avoiding him and treating him rudely, like he usually does but this time it was real, not joking.
Kou has texted him a couple times in the last 5 days, asking him if he did something, he wants to know how he can fix his mistake if there’s one.

They had been so close for years and now he’s weird all of a sudden?
Sousuke has replied with the driest responses ever but he refuses to admit there’s something wrong.
Hopefully he'll stop soon because Kou does not wanna deal with a friend who's mad at him for three days which are supposed to be fun.

‘Do you have everything packed already?’
It was the night before the trip and Teru was peeking through Kou’s door.
Even if he doesn’t seem like it he misses Kou a lot when he is not at home since, well, it’s only the two of them and Tiara.

For Teru’s bad luck Tiara was at Kunishige’s temple this week since there were festivals in their prefecture and she was going to each of them with Kunishige, he couldn’t go along with them since an exorcist works everyday of the year.

‘You’ve asked me that twice in the last hour. Yes I think I have everything, and if I’m forgetting something it will only be 2 nights so I’ll survive, don’t worry!’
He was already missing Kou and he hasn’t even left yet.

There was a second of silence between them and Teru was already going to turn sideways and leave to his own room.

‘Can I talk to you about something..?’
Maybe talking with Teru would make him feel better or at least help him understand how Sousuke was treating him.
They've been friends since forever, something definitely must be wrong.

‘Sure, what is it?’
Teru stepped inside the room and sat on Kou’s bed since Kou himself was on the floor with his suitcase still open but seemed to be full already.

‘You know Sousuke, right? Well, he’s now treating me.. bad? Like I don’t want to blame it on him because he might be dealing with stuff and I’m just being overdramatic or I don’t know but he makes me feel bad and I don’t know what to do because he says nothing is wrong between us but he is now mean to me and not in a funny way…’

He felt slowly how a knot created down his throat which made him unable to keep going, holding back tears like his life depended on it.
Kou turned to the side and wiped his eyes fast with his arm to try and stop tears from pouring down his cheeks.
Teru sighed and sat down next to his brother on the floor, placing a steady hand on his shoulder.

‘Kou, it’s not your fault. Yes you don’t know what’s wrong with him but that doesn’t mean you have to blame it on you either, he’ll probably tell you what’s wrong soon, you two have been friends for a few years and I’m sure friendships don’t end all of a sudden, even if I haven’t really had many friends myself.’

That felt relieving, it was not his fault but he needed someone to reassure him.
Kou wasn’t trying to hide his face anymore and just accepted the fact that he was crying and he couldn’t stop.
He placed his head between his knees, surrounding it with his arms.

Their dad would be so ashamed of him if he saw him and also ashamed of Teru for comforting him. When they were kids their dad always acknowledged Kou was the sensitive and weak one while Teru was the son that was ‘worth’ to carry such a surname.

‘But we are sharing a room in the hotel and I don’t want to have a bad time with him..’
Part of Teru’s heart breaks seeing his brother so sad about something he can’t fix because he has not even broken it.

‘I’m sure he doesn’t want to have a bad time too, he’ll snap out and if he doesn’t then you’ll have to make your way out of it and enjoy the trip by yourself, he won’t ruin it for you, promise?’
Kou hesitated, he knew he didn’t have the strength to ignore Sousuke but Teru was right, he couldn’t be the thing that ruined his trip anyway.
He mumbled ‘promise’ and Teru hugged him to make him feel better somehow.

‘Anyway, it’s getting late already. We should go to sleep or you’ll be late tomorrow.’
Kou nodded and closed his suitcase rapidly, it wasn’t really stuffed so it was easy.
He cleaned his tears with the back of his sleeve, trying to make it seem like nothing has happened.

‘Good night, Kou’
He smiled at him and turned the light off, closing the door completely.

Right after a minute Kou could already hear Teru shutting his door too, so now the only noise was coming from the heather and the occasional wind blowing against the windows.
It was one of those nights where sleeping felt so comfortable because you were cold but buried in blankets, the kind of feeling that makes you want to kick your feet.

But there was nothing joyful going on.
Why is Sousuke treating him like that? He always makes sure he treats everyone well and he is sure he hasn’t done anything to him.
He is his closest friend, he could never be rude to him.

Kou wishes people could sometimes think the way he does.
He does everything in a way that it can’t ever hurt someone, he doesn’t want anyone to feel bad or excluded, why couldn’t Sousuke care about his feelings too?

Maybe Kou’s heart is just too big for his body.

He cried, quiet as always because it was not worth waking up Teru because of this again.
Maybe he was the problem and not Sousuke.
Perhaps, he deserved to be treated like this?
While drowning in his thoughts his body just gave up along with his mind and he fell asleep on the side of his pillow that was wet with tears.
Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

The next day arrived as expected.
Kou woke up cheerfully even though he could feel how his eyes were a bit swollen from the crying session of last night and he had kinda noticeable eyebags.
He had already ironed his clothes the night before and they were neatly placed on his chair, waiting to be worn today.

Just taking a look at their house you could tell that they had money but Kou’s clothes were always the simplest ones you could think of.

His outfit for today was a dark blue shirt with a black sweatpant, there’s no way you are seeing this guy wearing jeans to a snow trip. Even though he will be covered by a sweatshirt plus his green winter coat, it was November after all and he was going to a snow zone.

After washing his face he went downstairs with his coat on one hand and the suitcase on another, leaving them at the entrance before entering the kitchen where Teru was already doing coffee since he doesn’t know how to do much more when it comes to cooking.

‘Morning’ Kou mumbled before sitting down in the chair next to the counter and rubbing his eyes to finally finish waking up for once.
Teru greeted him, he noticed the eyebags but decided to not bring it up and just started pouring the coffee in the mugs.

Both of them had their favourite mug, Teru’s was one Kunishige gifted him a while ago with no apparent reason.
It doesn’t have anything special, it’s just dark blue and the handle is white.
That old man was important to him even if they never show appreciation for each other, he is kinda like a parental figure for the siblings even if they don’t say it out loud.

Kou’s favourite mug was one he used when he was little and his mother was still alive, she was the one that gifted it to him.
It’s really simple, it just has a lion in the front and says ‘Kou’ in the back in bright orange.

It's one of the only things that his mother didn’t take with her after dying, even though everything she stole from the family after dying wasn’t material.

‘You know you can call me if anything is wrong, right? I will be there in a flash if needed’
Kou felt lucky to have such a brother.
He wasn’t alone after all, he mattered.. at least for him.

‘Yes, I will call you. But it will take you like..3 hours to arrive though’
Teru laughed, he was right and they don’t even own a car yet even if he does have the license.
The only one who has a car is their dad and that’s the one he uses for work so yeah, there’s no way their father is lending them the car.

He doesn’t even answer the phone to start with.

Breakfast was over and both of them went upstairs to brush their teeth.
Back at the entrance both of them were putting on his coats.
Even if Kou was leaving for the snow trip it was Friday so Teru had to go to school too.
The walk to school was full of questions from Teru asking for every object or piece of clothing he could think of just to make sure Kou had it in his suitcase.
He was overreacting a little bit, Kou was only leaving for a weekend so he will be coming back on Sunday anyway.

When they finally arrived at the Academy Kou started fidgeting with his hands, trying to spot Sousuke without recalling much attention.
Teru hugged him once again, telling him he could call him if anything happened.

Kou hugged him back, it’s not like he’s scared of sleeping outside of his house but how things seemed regarding Sousuke the trip didn’t really sound like a fun idea anymore.

To look uninterested instead of nervous he started scrolling down his phone.
He wasn’t doing anything in particular but he saw an unread message particularly long from Nene.
‘Kou-kun have fun on the trip and send me lots of pics so that I can whine about how much I want to go, perks of being older ig 😔, Hanako says he already misses how well you cleaned his boundary but he refuses to tell you in person. HAVE FUN!’
At least they both did care about him.
He couldn’t even think about taking pictures without making him feel sad, normally he was the one that helped Sousuke to take pictures whenever they had the opportunity.

‘I will! Hopefully they will make a trip for your class soon dw, also tell him that he should learn how to clean his own place properly 🐧.’
Why the penguin? Because it would sound too dry if he didn’t add anything else and he doesn’t want anyone to think he’s mad at them.

He will fix things today with Sousuke, yes.
He was not going to let this situation ruin the trip he has been so excited for.

Without looking around for a long time he spotted Sousuke, not everyone has pink hair so it was easy.
He approached, his heart beating faster the nearest he got.
Not from excitement but fear.
Sousuke didn’t even seem excited about today, he was listening to music through his headphones while looking for something in his phone.

‘Sousuke!’
He called him cheerful as always, maybe if he acted like nothing was happening the pink boy would too.

‘Ah, Minamoto-kun’
He lifted his eyes from his phone, turning it off.
This was new, he was paying attention to him for once but not looking him right to the face.
Okay, what was he going to say next?

‘Aren’t you excited for the trip?’
Kou's hands were sweating now, he was talking so deliberately that it didn’t feel like Kou Minamoto anymore. Things have never felt so uncomfortable between them.

‘I guess so, and we are sharing a room right?’
He remembers, that’s good.
Does he know they are sharing a room because they’re friends? friends treat each other right and so on..
God please have mercy on what Kou has done to be trying so hard to interact with his best friend, it’s not even his fault and he is paying for the broken dishes of whatever is going on with Sousuke.

‘Yeah we are!’
His stomach was starting to hurt from how nervous he was, the fear of interacting like this forever intensified inside him.
This was worse than hell.

Finally the teachers started calling each of the students by their surnames so that they could form a queue in front of the bus.
This wasn’t Kou’s lucky day, he is Minamoto and Sousuke is Mitsuba so there was no way to escape from their fate.
They were sitting in the bus together.

Kou doesn’t get dizzy easily but with the stomach ache he was dealing with now from how weird everything felt he didn’t feel like taking the window seat.. but if Sousuke asked for it he won’t have the guts to complain.

‘What seat do you want?’
Sousuke asked.
Wait, this meant he didn’t care at all.

‘I rather have the no window seat if you don’t mind’
The pink haired boy nodded and sat next to the window, it really seemed like he didn’t care about the seat or maybe he would just nap the whole ride and he wanted the window to rest his head on it.

Maybe he should have taken the window seat instead so that he could sleep and not think about this or deal with anything.
Sousuke was just smarter than him.

They were awfully quiet for around 7 minutes until the bus finally started moving, beginning its way.
They had 3 hours ahead of them.
In such a time they could even solve whatever is going on.
To start with, there was something in his backpack that he hadn’t brought up yet.

‘Sousuke..I brought this for you, I just thought you’d like it’
He took out of his backpack a tupper with custard inside, the one that Sousuke likes.
He knows it from all the times he has been at his house, that’s always the dessert Mitsuba’s mom brings them.

Kou is such a pure soul trying to fix whatever he thinks he has broken.
Minamoto would personally forgive someone if they brought him homemade food, he had made it specially for Mitsuba.

With shaky hands he offered him the container, neatly cleaned, closed and with a note on the side that said ‘for Sousuke’.

Mitsuba’s eyes widened.
Out of all the things Kou could have had in his backpack he decided to carry.. custard? for him?
He felt really guilty for how he was treating him but he knew why he did it.
It was for his own good, he loved Kou too much and refused to hurt him by telling him the truth so instead he was trying to avoid him.
But he just couldn’t, Kou was too kind for his own good.

‘Thank you. It means a lot.’
That came out really dry but Kou felt a little relieved, his efforts were being appreciated at least.
He handed him the container and Sousuke saved it in his own backpack.

Now that he looks at it, Mitsuba hasn’t taken out of his backpack their matching keychain.
Kou wears a weird bug on his backpack as a keychain and Sousuke wears a penguin, they got those from when they went to the aquarium together a couple months ago.
If only he could go back to how Sousuke used to treat him usually..

The ride was slow and calm, there weren’t many harsh turns so everyone was pretty much having a nice time talking with their friends.
Between the two friend’s seats the tension could be felt, Kou really wanted to bring up the subject again.
He really wanted to know what was so annoying about him, was it his fault?

‘Sousuke.. you know you can tell me if you’re mad at me..’
Kou once again looked to another side, trying to seem as strong as possible because this is no place to start crying. This was not his house and his brother wasn’t the one sitting beside him now.

The pink boy sighed, he really didn’t want to talk about this again.
But if he's honest with himself he hasn’t even given Kou a proper reason.

He doesn’t even admit something is going on between them because even if he does all of this on purpose he doesn’t want to make it harder by looking Kou in the eye and his sad puppy face.
He knew him so well he could tell he had been crying lately because of the dark red marks at the corner of his eyes, he has had them for the past few days and he is sure it’s because of him. He feels guilty, really guilty.
Even Nene had asked him if he had told or done something to Kou since ‘his light has dimmed recently’ in her own words.

Why is he even doing it?
He used to cry every now and then a few years ago because of how bad he got treated at school but now he is making Kou feel as bad as he felt?
Kou for sure didn’t deserve it.

Sousuke’s feelings won’t change after all.
They are wrong.
He is disgusted by what he feels towards him.
You can try to hide it, try to make it seem like it’s just confusion, like you haven’t experimented with what is ‘right’ yet but he knows that even if he hides those feelings they will never go away.
He just can’t escape himself.

‘We are fine, don’t worry’
That sounded true, at least for now which was relieving.
Kou felt a little better.

The road trip was boring, phones were admitted in the bus but there wasn’t anything fun to do with them after half an hour.
Kou kept fidgeting with his hands without noticing and he bit his lip a few times making it bleed most of them.
Teru always told him to stop doing it but it was like a reflex, the pain made him forget about what he was thinking before.

‘Minamoto-kun about the past days..’
Sousuke had finally decided to open up, not telling the truth but he was going to apologize for being a horrible friend these past days.

To his own surprise Kou had fallen asleep.
He always did that, when something hurt physically or even just mentally he would just sleep to not think about it. He would even skip meals if it was necessary.
Even at the sleepovers at their houses when Sousuke said something hurtful without meaning to he would just mumble something and fall asleep right after so he could stop repeating that sentence internally.
He always tried to avoid having problems with anyone.

Kou looked so peacefully asleep that he refused to wake him up just to apologize, he would just do it later or at the hotel room if he waited more.
He looks pretty even sleeping.
His blond hair was shining with the light from the window even though he fell asleep facing the other side just so he didn’t have to look at Mitsuba directly.
How did Nene choose Hanako instead of such a boy like Kou?
Sousuke wondered for a while.
He would choose Kou over any person, always.

Eventually Sousuke ended up falling asleep too.
In his case he just rested his head against the window while his headphones were still blasting music.
At some point Kou’s head lolled to the side and was now laying on Sousuke’s shoulder.
None of them noticed, both of them were sleeping after all.
But even if they weren’t, if things were perfectly fine between both of them it wouldn’t even have mattered.

The bus finally stopped after 3 hours.
It had stopped around 2 times before but they were just quick rests to pump gas and keep going.
Kou was the first to wake up, he was already alert right after he felt the bus stop.
He realized the position he had been in for the past 2 hours but didn’t mind at all, they used to do that a lot.

He nudged Sousuke’s shoulder without saying anything and grabbed his suitcase, leaving the bus. The pink boy followed him right after with his luggage in hand, he carried more stuff than Kou.

Just by stepping outside the bus you could tell how freezing it was.
It was so bad that with only a few steps you started feeling as if your socks were getting wet, or just stopped feeling your feet and the tips of your fingers at some point.
The distance from the bus to the hotel they were staying at wasn’t even that far but how dense and deep the snow was made it difficult for anyone to walk properly.

Sousuke could already feel like his whole hands were on the verge of falling off from the cold, unlike Kou who was okay with the snow.
He’s probably immune to colds because of all the times he has forgotten his coat and had to walk home while it was raining with a short-sleeve shirt.
He seemed to be enjoying himself, he doesn’t go out on vacation really often since it’s only his siblings and himself and Teru has to work anyway.

‘I can help you carry your bag if you want’
Sousuke seemed to be having a hard time carrying 2 big bags with both of his hands along with his backpack so help was indeed appreciated.
He couldn’t talk because of how cold it was but he nodded gracefully and gave Kou the lightest one.

The hotel was beautiful.
The lighting was perfect, it felt peaceful and not like the school lights which are literally hospital white plus they flicker.
And the most important thing was that it felt warm inside.
If the entrance was like this, imagine the rooms.
Now that everyone was inside they took off their gloves and scarfs, making sure they kept them close just in case.
Kou was cheerfully inside, his cheeks were red from the cold but he was excited about what awaited them.
He couldn’t wait to take pictures with Sousuke and send them to Teru and Nene but most importantly.. making sure the pink boy had a good time along with him too.

The room they had assigned was on the second floor, mind you the hotel has 4 floors.
They had room number 12, curiously there wasn’t a number 13 in the hallway.

As they imagined from before, the room was nice.
They had 2 beds which weren’t extremely big but not small either, the room was cute, a bit crowded but cute.
They owned a shared bathroom but both of them had their own closet, it was a bit rusty and the wood was old but it would only be a weekend so they didn’t mind at all.

They’ve been really quiet since the bus stopped.
Sousuke hadn’t even looked at his phone but he hadn’t said something either.
Kou was willing to say something but the words just didn’t come out, he didn’t know how to formulate sentences to talk with ‘this Sousuke’ anymore.

Without asking Mitsuba placed his stuff on the bed from the left side, quietly opening his luggage which was full of everything you could think of.
There was even a hairdryer to start with.
Kou directly sat on the bed from the right, leaving his only suitcase and his backpack on the floor instead, he didn’t need something from inside yet.

By the time they had already left his things inside the room it was already still morning.
They had a whole day ahead of them.
A couple days ago the teacher told the students they had until 1pm today to do whatever they want in the room and then go downstairs for lunch, after that the activities will start finally.
They would have to talk or this would be really awkward.
I mean in the worst case if they decided to ignore each other Kou would end up napping until lunch time while Mitsuba scrolled on his phone.

‘What do you think the first activity would be!’
Kou wanted to show how excited he was to see if Mitsuba shared the same interest in the trip, or in him.

‘Well we are surrounded by snow so..skiing I guess?’
Predictable but fair.
That didn’t seem like showing interest though..
Why was he even worrying about this?
Teru had already told him to not let Sousuke ruin his trip if he was going to still act weird around him.
This could be a disaster.
He wanted to cry and leave even if 5 minutes ago he was glowing from excitement.
Before he could give up on everything and sleep his phone buzzed.
It was Nene again.

‘HII! SO HOW IS IT?? Sousuke is sharing a room w you, right 😋?’
She did show excitement even if she wasn’t there.
It would have been cool sharing a room with Nene, it would’ve been more joyful and since Sousuke is acting all weird she would have made him feel better about it.
Wait no, it’s wrong thinking this, Mitsuba is his very best friend no matter what.
He shouldn’t be saying this stuff about him, he’ll then feel guilty after.
Kou was the most comprehensive person ever but he really couldn’t understand why he was being treated like this.

He spent a couple minutes texting with Nene, no pictures yet since Sousuke was the one that always took them and then sent them to him, the pink boy was the talented one for photography after all.

Why is he spending so much time on his phone?
Sousuke kept giving quick glances to Kou who didn’t seem to notice.
He was having fun while texting with Nene, it seemed like he had forgotten the issue for a bit.
Mitsuba really has messed up but the trip had just started, he could be sorry and finally treat Kou properly again.

As time flew by, both of them didn’t even talk to each other apart from basic questions like at what hour do they have to be downstairs.
Sousuke tried a couple times to say something but he regretted it right before making a sound.

It was finally lunch time.
Kou was wondering how the food will be here, he is not a picky eater unlike Mitsuba.
The dining room was crowded, full of known faces from Kou’s year and class but still.
The menu for today was hijiki salad, fried chicken with cucumber slices and of course a rice bowl by its side. They gave everyone a chocolate cookie for dessert.

The day couldn’t get worse for Kou, he couldn’t eat hijiki.
Out of all the food from the world it had to be this specific seaweed.
Even if Sousuke was acting strange he knew Kou so well to know mostly everything about him, from his shoe size to the food he can’t eat too.

‘..You can’t eat that, you should tell a teacher so they can give you something else instead’
This was positive, he was caring about Kou and the blond itself really appreciated it.
It was a nice gesture coming from a friend ‘who is mad at him’
‘Yeahh you’re right, but I don’t really wanna make this a big deal.. I won’t eat it and keep going’
Does this guy even know what cross contamination is?

They sat to have lunch finally.
Everyone was talking but surprisingly Kou and Sousuke weren’t an exception this time.
Mitsuba had brought up the subject of ‘experiences near death’ since he fell from his bicycle last week after rushing to reveal some photos for his photography club and he hadn’t told Kou yet because of everything that has been going on with them.
Kou continued the conversation by bringing up the time they were doing a project at his own house and Sousuke cut the cardboard along with Kou’s finger by mistake.
They laugh about it now because it is somehow funny to remember it but when it happened none of them had fun, both of them freaked out and Kou had to get stitches on his finger.
Sousuke had to carry his bag for like 2 weeks because he couldn’t use his right hand until the stitches healed and the pink boy felt guilty.
Kou doesn’t blame him for anything though.

This did feel like home, like how both of them treated each other everyday.
It was heart warming for both of them even if it was filled with jokes and rude comments, this time they weren’t hateful but fun instead.
Lunch ended, Kou was still hungry since he hadn’t had one of the plates due to his food restriction but he was fine.

‘Do you want this? I had most of my food but you didn’t so you probably need it more than me’
He chuckled behind his comment, it was meant to be sharky but not in the real mean way.
Kou’s eyes widened, I swear you could see sparks forming across his face.
He thanked Mitsuba and ate the cookie in a bite, Sousuke had another dessert in his bag after all.

The instructions from the teachers now were to get ready to go skiing as Sousuke had predicted earlier.
The skis and helmets themselves were given by the instructors but they had to wear their winter clothes because they will literally end up launching themselves into the snow after all.

Kou had his usual green winter coat which has never failed him and Mitsuba had a magenta one, it would appear black if you only took a quick glance but he wasn’t the kind to wear black clothes if you paid attention.

They don’t even remember if they closed the door of their room properly but in a flash they were already on the snow hills, waiting for a tutorial on how to ski without dying in the attempt.
Skiing seemed easy or that’s what they thought and saw.

The first one between the two boys was Sousuke, shocking for everyone who knew him.
His legs were like jelly most of the way but it wasn’t really that bad to be his first time, he did it really slow but he didn’t fall which was the point.
He didn’t want to get injured within the first try.

The next one was Kou.
As expected he definitely knew he wasn’t an expert but he went as fast as he could, he wanted to reach the real end of the hill.
He swore he could do it.
At some point, when he reached Mitsuba’s side to distract him, he kept going forward until he fell.
A big chunk of snow made him fall awkwardly to the snow, face first.
Sousuke didn’t speed up since he didn’t want to be the next one falling but ended up reaching Kou within a minute.

The blond wasn’t hurt but he could feel how his face was turning into ice and how his helmet was gone.
Kou cleaned the snow from his face trying to make it seem like it didn’t hurt at all.

Sousuke saw this, relieved internally because Kou was not seriously hurt.
Without giving it much importance he stroked his friend’s head harshly to clean the snow that had gotten on it.
It felt nice.

‘I wish I could have recorded that, you went all face in’
He crouched to be at Kou’s eye level since he was still sitting down in the snow.
He couldn’t help but chuckle and both of them burst in laughter.
Oh how Kou missed these days, maybe things have finally been fixed.

Sousuke stopped for a second without noticing, the boy looked so cute with his now red flushed cheeks and his already messy blond hair that he wished he could stare at him forever.

Kou didn’t have words either, he wasn’t uncomfortable with anything that was happening.
Sousuke was the prettiest boy he has ever met after all but he just won’t say it out loud.
They stayed like this for a solid minute before Sousuke snapped out of it, saying it was just an eyelash that had gotten in his face and rapidly ‘took it out’.. or maybe it was just an excuse to stare at Kou.
Both of them were red but they blamed it on the cold.
Kou gave him a grin which made Sousuke’s heart skip a beat or two.

They tried skiing many times, in most of their attempts they fell but none of them was injured, they were just freezing and maybe developing a cold slowly.
They had a really fun time skiing, it felt as if nothing had happened between them.
Kou couldn’t wait to update Teru about it, maybe he could start helping Sousuke take photographs now since the trip wasn’t ruined and it seemed like it would be a nice memory to conserve.

The spent the whole day on the snow hill so for their surprise when the activity was over it was already 6:30pm, mind you they started skiing at 2:27pm

Their room was the same as they left it.
Both of them took a shower before going down to have dinner.
Kou went first since Sousuke takes ages inside the bathroom, mostly because he dries his hair inside.

Kou’s new outfit was another pair of sweatpants with one color t-shirt again, covered by a blue hoodie with a small lion in the center and on the other hand we had Mitsuba who was wearing a red jacket.
‘Do you think we’ll survive tomorrow? like I don’t know how you don’t have a broken bone yet’ Sousuke was joking but Kou was just too motivated to try out new things such as skiing that he didn’t even care about how fast he was doing things.
‘Thank.. god?’
It’s not like he really thought before launching himself into the snow, he was like a cat who always lands safely.

The dining room wasn’t full this time, many people were used to skipping dinner so it wasn’t crowded anymore.
They sat on the same spot from earlier.
This time the food was fine for both of them, including Kou.
As dessert everyone had a quirky small chocolate cake piece, it looked extremely sweet but none of them refused having dessert, never.

When dinner was over they met with the instructors who had a map in hand but for their bad luck they weren’t leaving the hotel anymore for that day with permission from the teacher at least.
They explained the whole activity for tomorrow.
A game composed by stages:
Everyone was going to be grouped up in pairs and right after breakfast tomorrow they had to pack lunch in their bags and leave the hotel.
The activity consisted of the students having to search for notes or ‘hints’ the teachers had left around the zone, 1 kilometer far maximum.
It sounded easy and fun for everyone and the task was for the whole day which meant the finish time was dinner time, it was a cool plan.

When arriving to the room back again it was 8:12pm already.
Kou had a couple unread messages from Teru who was asking him how the trip was going, revolving everything.

‘Sousuke I’ll come back in a second’
Kou left the room, closed the door and sat next to it, in the hallway.
I don’t think he knows how sound amplitude works but it’s not like he was going to confess a murder on a phone call either.
It took 2 phone calls for Teru to answer but he finally picked it up.

‘Kou! How is everything going? Are things going.. better?
He enthusiastically explained to Teru most of what had happened in his day, how it went from wanting to die to fun.
‘I’m glad to hear that! I told you he was going to snap out of it soon’
Kou still wondered why Sousuke was like that for days in the first place but he’ll try to figure that out later.
Having his friend back felt so peaceful, he was going to finally sleep well for the last 2 weeks

While he spoke to Teru the pink boy was laying in his bed, take in mind his bed is on the left side which is closer to the door than Kou’s bed.
He didn’t pay attention at first but when he heard his name from the other side of the door his concentration went all into the phone call.

He could only hear a couple things since Kou wasn’t yelling nor talking loud at all.
The sentences he could catch were stuff like ‘he was being as mean as lately at first’, ‘I rather sleep in the bus than keep trying to talk to him’.
Sousuke was starting to think Teru might hate him now.
But not everything was bad, not everything made him feel bad about how he has been treating Kou lately.
‘But things changed after lunch, it’s like we clicked and he was himself again’, that made him feel relieved instantly, he was trying to fix everything he has done to Kou or exactly how he has treated him and avoided him recently.
Kou deserved an apology from him and Sousuke knew it.

After what felt like an eternity Minamoto came back to the room, if you looked closely he had cried a bit but he seemed really happy anyway.
‘Was it your brother? He’s soooo overprotective with you’
Sousuke rolled his eyes and Kou nodded, laughing because Mitsuba was right.
‘Yeah, I guess he just really loves me. He only has me and Tiara after all’

As lonely as it sounds Kou had already grieved the fact of not having parents.
When the anniversary of Kou mom’s death was near, Sousuke organized a sleepover at his own house so Kou could stop thinking about it, at least for a day.

Sousuke has known him for years so he had seen Kou crying because of it, which was awfully sad because he wanted to give Kou the world but at the same time he didn’t know what to do or how to comfort him, he has lost his father but he has a loving mother after all so they’re not the same.

Kou did have a dad but he was so absent he didn’t even deserve being called a father by none of his kids.
Sousuke really likes hanging out with Kou, indirectly he does it to reassure Kou there’s more people that love him and cares for him apart from his siblings even if he can’t bring himself to tell Kou he appreciates him with words.

‘So, what do you want to do now? It’s too early to already sleep’
Kou normally sleeps late and wakes up late too unlike Mitsuba who really cares about how many hours he sleeps since he hates having eyebags but also likes to wake up early because he wants to make the most of the day.
Still, being with Kou was an exception.

‘How about if we watch a movie?’
It was just an idea.
They didn’t even have a television but they were teenagers, they had their phones and you can find everything on the internet.
Kou’s eyes widened, that was a great idea actually.
About cinematic preferences Kou was more into action films with explosions and pretty much everything that made him laugh, get amazed or both.
Sousuke was more of a fan of horror movies, and also movies that treated real struggles from his age, such as everything about lily chou chou or even sharing the secret.

Kou would not survive watching a movie about disordered teens, it might just not end well.
How about an animation movie?
They have lost count on how many times they’ve watched nightmare before christmas.
Plus they’ve gone to the cinema every time a new despicable me movie came out since Tiara forced them to go with her because Teru couldn’t since he was working until late.

‘Mm, what do you think about Coraline?’
If Kou was honest he would have refused because it’s not his cup of tea but coming from Sousuke and knowing he likes that movie he was fine with it.
As long as Sousuke likes it he will watch it.
He agreed and they both laid in the same bed, in Sousuke’s bed this time since they were going to use his phone which had more battery.
They placed the phone on the bed’s headboard and both of them laid facing down, putting a pillow in front so that they could place their arms and head on top.

The movie started well.
Both of them were glued to the screen even though Sousuke had already seen this movie a lot of times, even his mom had been forced to watch it.
Kou said brief comments about it, mostly saying he really liked Wybie because he looked and acted funny.

Within 20 minutes of the movie when Coraline had just crossed the tunnel Sousuke noticed Kou was quieter, not making much comments anymore but instead fighting the urge to fall asleep.
He decided not to point it out or ask if he wanted to sleep already, Kou is like one of those kids who get asked if they are tired because they are clearly falling asleep and he just jumps out of bed saying he is full of energy.

As expected, with only 6 minutes more Kou was already quietly sleeping.
He wasn’t looking at the phone anymore since he was sleeping with his head turned to Sousuke’s side.
Even if he didn’t look like it his body was exhausted from all the physical activity he has done today, going up and down on a snow hill several times wasn’t for the weak.

He looked so peaceful there that he couldn’t bring himself to wake him up to change beds, he will just let him rest there and he will sleep in Kou’s bed.

Now taking a better look at him the red corners of his eyes were more visible.
He felt bad about making Kou feel awful, about making him feel like he did something wrong and worse of all, making him cry.
Trying to avoid him was not going to solve the main issue here.

Sousuke stood up, Kou still had his regular clothes but waking him up to change them was not an option.
He decided to ignore it and place the blanket over him anyway so he wouldn’t be cold, he cared.
Kou stirred for a second mumbling something and turning to the opposite side, still heavily sleeping.

The day was already ending but Sousuke was able to not feel as shitty as lately, he in fact had solved the things with Kou even if the blond didn’t have to change anything nor talk about something with him. Mitsuba was the main problem here.

He wanted to stop thinking about it for today at least, confronting his feelings meant being brave and he was a coward who would rather avoid them and make Kou separate from him so it could be easier for them, neither of them was earning something about this.

Sousuke changed into comfortable clothes finally and went to Kou’s bed.
It didn’t have anything different from his after all since he hadn't been on it for most of the day. He was about to close his eyes when a phone buzzed.
It was Kou’s, not his.
He had conveniently left it charging on the night stand which was a shared one and the thing that separated both beds.
Mitsuba couldn’t help but take a peek, he didn’t grab the phone but he approached enough to see the phone screen.
It was, once again, Nene.

‘Kou-kun! You haven’t send me any pic yet 💔
How are things going w Mitsuba-kun tho, is he still treating you weird?’
Well turns out Kou had told Nene about his concerns.
That made him feel worse, Kou felt so bad about what was happening he even told Nene knowing he always tries to deal with everything alone.
Enough for today, he was trying to change again.
He will stop avoiding what he felt for once.
He had to tell him at some point.

He texted his mom for a second, reassuring her he was fine since she had already sent a few messages earlier and finally went to sleep.
He was knocked out almost instantly.

A new day came by.
Sousuke was woken up around 8:23am by the sound of water running in the sink.
He stirred awake and Kou wasn’t there, he must be the one in the bathroom then.
After 3 minutes Kou was back, already with other clothes.
He was better than yesterday, his eyebags were gone and he didn’t seem like had been crying.
He finally rested after all those infernal weeks.

‘Morning. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to finish the movie with you.. Oh and also sorry for sleeping in your bed’
Even if he was apologizing he didn’t feel bad about it or so, he knew Sosuke definitely wasn’t mad at him for this.
The pink boy just shaked his hand and told him it was fine.
He didn’t mind, plus he was happy inside that Kou was able to rest for once.
Kou gave him a grin and started tidying the stuff inside of his suitcase while waiting for Sousuke to get ready to have breakfast.

Around 20 minutes later both of them were ready.
Seems like they were a bit late because a few of their classmates were already going upstairs instead.
Breakfast was extremely basic.
A toast with jam, a fried egg and the juice you picked, or coffee if you were sophisticated enough.
Kou did have coffee instead of juice, he is used to drinking it after all.
Mitsuba picked peach juice.
They kept talking the whole breakfast time about how bad they will be at finding the hints from the activity that was next.
They joked about getting lost.

When they were finally done they went upstairs to grab their bags for the next task.
Both of them had brought their school bags but of course they were stuffed with things for the trip, not textbooks.

Mind you they were going to be out for the whole day and they will be coming back at dinner time.
Kou’s backpack contained his phone, a pair of gloves, water, a few types of candy Tiara had sneaked inside and a pair of socks in case the ones he was wearing got wet, he hates walking on wet shoes.

Sousuke’s contained his phone, his beloved camera which hadn’t seen the light yet, water, chapstick which he had already used a second before, his headphones just in case and last but not least important, the custard tupper from yesterday.
He had kept the container inside the small fridge they have inside their room so that it stayed edible.

‘Do you think we need anything else?’
Sousuke said, analyzing both backpacks while checking the tags to know the flavors of Kou’s candy.
Kou shook his head and opened the room door.

Downstairs the instructors were already waiting to give every student a sandwich, explaining the limits of the snow zone and making sure they leave the hotel.
They had a list with every student’s name so if one of them didn’t return at the assigned hour then they’ll know and will immediately look for them.
There wasn’t much variety but Kou picked a chicken with curry sandwich and Sousuke decided to have an egg one.

The day was grey.
None of them worried because if there was a possible snow storm then the instructors and teacher should have known.
And if they already knew then it won’t be that bad because that’s why they were able to go to the activity in the first place.

‘So, what side do we pick?’
Kou said, paying attention to where most of the students were heading too.
‘Well, since most of them are going to the right then we should go to the left because we’ll be the first to find the hints on that side’
Even if he gave an explanation Sousuke was already directing Kou to the left side, none of them thought much about why everyone was heading to the other side.

It hadn’t snowed last night but the snow was still dense which made it hard to walk and you could trip easily with anything that was below, specially tree roots or just simple rocks.
Kou felt like this was the perfect opportunity to ask Sousuke about what was happening with him, if he refused to talk now then he had decided that he’ll just leave it there and try to forget the past weeks like nothing has happened.

He took a deep breath to introduce the subject but before he could say anything Sousuke pointed out a tree which had a paper with something written on it stuck to its trunk.
Both of them rushed to get it just in case anyone from other teams had already seen it so that they could be the first, the point of this activity was to find as many hints as possible so the pair that had the most won.
The paper didn’t have anything special, just a blue triangle with something written on it ‘3-S’.

‘Do you think we should turn to the other side now?’
Sousuke was the one asking now, it was becoming weird the fact of not seeing students around.
‘If there was a hint here then I think we should keep going straight forward, it seems like there are more trees up there.. only if you want though!’
Sousuke nodded, he understood what Kou meant and they wanted to win after all.

Both of them had lost measure on length but they’ve already gone a bit past 1 kilometer.
They kept going straight for around 10 minutes.
They have only found 2 hints for now, ‘3-S’ and ‘7-T’.
They were now facing a new snow hill, it didn’t seem like it was used to skiing, they were too far from the hotel.
Now, this was Kou’s opportunity.
‘Sousuke.. about the past weeks..’

He was hoping Mitsuba was going to understand what he was talking about and finally get an explanation on what has been happening, and why he has treated him so badly lately.
‘K- Minamoto-kun I-’
He doesn’t even know why he can’t get himself to call him by his name, Kou does call him Sousuke and it feels totally fine.
Sousuke turned back, facing him now.

When he was about to continue his phrase his foot got stuck on something, probably a tree root. When he was about to continue walking his foot didn’t come out and he tripped on himself.
As a reflex he tried to reach down for anything so he wouldn’t fall down the hill.
Kou immediately tried to catch him in time.
He was able to catch Sousuke by his hand but their balance was completely gone so the two of them rolled down the hill, hugging each other tightly hoping that it wouldn't hurt too much.

The fall didn’t even last a solid minute since they were harshly stopped by a tree on the way. Kou was the one that hit the tree first but it wasn’t that bad because his backpack received most of the impact.
Although he could hear something had broken, could be his phone or a bone.
They were hugging each other at that moment, facing the other with a stunned expression because of all that had just happened.

They slowly separated and sat down, unable to feel any type of pain at that moment.
Sousuke’s backpack somehow didn’t fall along with him and was at the very top of the hill, on the other hand Kou’s bag did fall with him but everything inside was probably broken.

Both of them looked at each other for a few seconds.
Kou was the one that started laughing and Sousuke followed by, what else could they do?
‘Now, this was a near death experience’
Mitsuba agreed.

They looked each other in the eye, Kou’s eyes widened.
Sousuke had blood dripping from his head and he could already feel it on his forehead, not alarming because it didn’t seem like a deep wound but concerning.
‘Wait, you’re bleeding..’
Kou approached immediately, it’s not like he has a medical career but it was common sense the fact that you have to stop a bleeding wound.

With only the first contact his right hand had with the snow floor he felt a wave of pain travelling through his whole arm.
‘OW!’
He fell on his left side, curling on himself and keeping his right arm towards his chest as if his life depended on it, he was already feeling liquid dripping on his clothes hoping it wasn’t blood and just the cold sensation from the snow.
He has had a lot of accidents in his life but this was one of the worst pains he has ever felt.
Sousuke reacted almost immediately, approaching Kou and looking at the view.
‘Hey! What 's wrong? Are you hurt?’

Kou used the energy he had left to sit down again, still holding his arm like a lifetime.
His green coat was already full of the crimson liquid in the center where he had been holding his arm.
Sousuke felt how the color drained out of his face.
None of them had noticed the puddle of blood in the snow.

‘Oh fuck’
He couldn’t even bear looking at it.
Apart from the awkward angle his wrist had landed on which already looked slightly unnatural and bruised it had a not really huge but deep wound which was bleeding a decent amount of blood in such a rapid rhythm. Sousuke couldn’t even see how deep the wound was because of all the blood.

His stomach flipped to the sight and he turned back to throw up, and that’s when Kou knew it was bad even if he refused to look at it.
His right arm had probably cushioned the bumps while they fell down the hill.
It was the worst injury Sousuke had ever seen.

The pink haired boy wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve and came back, he had to be strong for Kou and he also had to take advantage of the fact that he was the only one with 2 functional arms and wasn’t losing such an amount of blood, plus he didn’t have a broken bone unlike his friend.

Sousuke was trembling, what was he supposed to do in this case?
No phone, and only one sandwich inside Kou’s bag which had probably exploded with the fall.
‘Minamoto-kun look at me. You are gonna be fine, okay?’
Sousuke hesitated for a second but tried to look as brave as he could even if he was hardly holding back tears.
He hesitated for a second before deciding to use his scarf as a bandage, at least to stop the blood until they were able to get proper help.

‘I’m sorry..’
Those were the only words Kou was able to say, he was now crying and not trying to hide it this time.
He cried because of all that was happening, everything hurt and not just physically.
‘For the love of god why are you even apologizing, are you dumb!?’
He was going to reply but his words choked in a sob because Sousuke was tightening his yellow scarf around his wrist and it felt like it was setting his arm on fire.
Within 2 minutes the yellow scarf was stained with red liquid which was concerning for both of them.

‘..Y’know.. At least I don’t have to do homework for a while now..’
Kou's cheeks were now extremely flushed from the cold in contrast with his pale face, tears were still sliding down his cheeks, all of this made the joke unfunny.
Mitsuba just ignored him and started looking for stuff in the blond’s backpack, he couldn’t search in his own bag because he didn’t have it and he refused to leave Kou alone even if it was just for a second to look for it.

Sousuke used the corner of his coat to clean the blood that was slowly dripping from his own head, it wasn’t a big deal compared to Kou’s wound even though both of them might need stitches.

‘Sousuke.. why were you so mad at me..?’

Kou said, this was still an opportunity to ask.
He didn’t look directly at him but looked at his injured arm, placing it over the snow so that the pain eased a bit without caring about the possible infections.
Those words felt like a knife twisting in the pink boy’s chest.
Out of all the things that could be worrying him this first thought was this?

‘Minamoto-kun. After everything that has just happened in the span of 10 minutes are you really only worried about that? Do you even know how bad it is having a wound actively bleeding plus a clearly broken wrist?’

None of them were doctors but Sousuke knew the basics when it came to medicine.
His mother is a former nurse and she talks to him during dinner about all the patients she sees and what she does in each case.

‘..Yeah I know, but we have to talk while we think about how to get out here, don’t we? I know that if I sleep I might not wake up so you should keep me entertained!’
Even if he seemed so normal about it he was afraid, it’s not like you go on a school trip and wonder about the possibility of not coming back home.
Plus, he was already worried about the fact of going back home and not being able to cook, clean or do mostly anything.
After all, Kou was right.
There was no escape, Sousuke had to stop ignoring the elephant in the room.

He looked straight down to the snow for a solid second but also avoided looking at the puddle of blood from earlier, organizing his own ideas to make sure none of what he said could be misunderstood.

‘..I’m sorry, for everything. For how I’ve treated you for the past weeks, the looks I gave you and how I’ve tried to avoid you. I’ve really tried to change but I can’t, I just can’t feel the things that are supposed to be right and it’s disgusting’
Kou’s mind was blank, what exactly are ‘the right things to feel’?
There’s nothing wrong with the concept of feeling, emotions and sensations are whole new experiences we get to live during our entire life.

‘Sousuke, I could never find you disgusting. I’m sure feeling is the base of being alive after all.. You will always be my friend no matter what, you know that right?’
His words slurred a bit at the end, the cold and the pain were getting to him but he meant everything he was saying.
If you don’t feel then I fear you aren’t a living thing.

‘It doesn’t work like that..’
The knot in his throat was making it hard to talk, he could already feel the tears brewing in his eyes.
Sousuke was ashamed of the truth, liking another boy is wrong and Kou was definitely not into guys. This might be the very end of their friendship but Minamoto needed to know the truth.
Kou was expectantly waiting for the final reply, how things seemed it might be the last thing he heard before passing out or maybe he was just being dramatic.

‘Minamoto-kun, I like you.’

Kou’s eyes widened and his ears went deaf for a few seconds.
Instead of blankness, his mind was now full of memories and new things he hadn’t even thought about before.
Sousuke liking him back had never crossed his mind.
For Kou, liking someone has never been a big deal, nor their gender.
While one of them was thinking about how this was the end and liking a boy was basically destroying his life the other one was excited, having someone that reciprocates feelings is like winning the lottery or even better.

How could love be something bad?

Sousuke was peeling the skin from the side of his fingers while waiting for an answer which felt like an eternity. His fingers were already bleeding in a second.
The more he waited the more agonizing the feeling got.
Crying was inevitable, hot tears were already streaming down his cheeks and he was trying his best not to do it out loud.
His life was over.
He had lost his first love ever and worse, his best friend.

Sousuke started apologizing over and over again, the things he was saying were starting to become unintelligible because of how much he was crying.
‘I’m really sorry, I know you just don’t feel the same but I just couldn’t keep up with this anymore.. Minamoto-kun you’re the best person I’ve ever met and I’m sorry I treated you awfully, I hate myself for that. I just didn’t want to tell you I thought making you hate me would be easier..’
He couldn’t keep up because he was even choking with his own tears, the cold making it harder to regain his breath every time.
He felt so bad, treating Kou like an enemy for weeks just to end up telling him the truth behind it and ruining everything.

It took 3 minutes or more for Kou to snap out of it, he had been zooming out the whole time.
Not because he didn’t like him back but because he wanted to make him know he reciprocated in the best way possible.

He made his best attempt to get on his knees, approaching Sousuke with the help of his left arm.
Sousuke was so close already that he didn’t even have to move much.
He used his non-injured hand to wipe the tears from Sousuke’s face.
He was the prettiest boy that he has ever met, both inside and out and nothing was going to change that.
That boy might be cocky, mean and arrogant but at the end of the day, he loved him no matter what and Kou himself didn’t even know why.

Sousuke finally stopped avoiding the other boy’s gaze, staring at Kou’s blue eyes who were also looking at him.
Their faces were so close.
It even felt like there was no oxygen between them.
Sousuke decided to finally take advantage of having 2 functional hands and placed both of them on Kou’s cheeks.
They could be red and with dried tears but he looked as cute as always.
Kou also placed his left hand on Sousuke’s face without caring about the blood.
He carefully placed his hair behind his ear to finally take a whole look at his face.
He stained Sousuke’s cheek with blood but it didn’t matter.
Nothing mattered anymore.

They leaned to the touch and kissed.

It felt relieving, almost magical.
Both of them could feel the heartbeat from each other even behind all those layers of clothes.
Kou could taste the cherry chapstick Sousuke always wears and tasting it from his lips made it even better.
The blond’s lips were chapped from the cold and from biting them until they bleed but it didn’t matter for Mitsuba, he felt like he had achieved a dream which at the start looked like the end of his life.
His very first love was kissing him right now.
What else could he ask for?

They lost balance once again and ended up falling in the snow.
None of them even know how much the kiss lasted but the feeling was unforgettable.
Right after they separated from each other their heads were laying in the snow, looking at the other and smiling.

‘So.. Do you still think it’s disgusting?’
Sousuke raised his eyebrows.
There was nothing disgusting in this, Kou was the best thing that has happened in his life.

‘I really liked it,.. because it was with you..’
That made Kou flush, he has never felt so loved in this way by someone.
Even with all the problems and fights they’ve had having Sousuke by his side made him feel loved, his siblings appreciate him too but that’s another kind of love.

‘I like you too Sousuke, and if you think this is a sin or something then I don’t mind being a sinner for you’
Kou was not into any religion but if that made the pink haired boy feel better then he will do whatever it takes.
That was the most relieving thing Sousuke has heard in years.
If love was a sin then both of them will be sinners, together.
They hugged for what felt like an eternity in the best way possible.

The sun was setting, they should have already had lunch around half an hour ago but the situation didn’t allow it, the only sandwich they had basically exploded in Kou’s bag.

Kou was laying down on his good side, along with Sousuke facing him.
His wrist had already stopped bleeding, the stains on Mitsuba’s scarf were already brown because they'd dried out.
The fracture was not going to fix itself but it didn't hurt as much as before, partially because his wrist had been placed in the snow for a while which numbed the pain.

‘Sousuke, I’m sorry to ruin this but we should really start looking for our way out..’
It was starting to feel colder than before.
Both of them were shivering and their lips were turning purple, especially Kou’s.
In fact the darkest it got the lower the temperature was.

They’ve been in the same place and circumstances for like a bit less than an hour.
It was time to get moving or hypothermia might hit them both and in that case maybe none of them was going to make it out.

‘You’re right. Minamoto-kun I know it’s cold but how about if we use your own scarf to make a temporary sling? At least until we arrive since you shouldn’t really be moving your wrist’
Sousuke wished he brought two scarfs at that moment to make Kou as safe as possible but since he didn’t have them Minamoto was the only one left with a scarf.
Kou nodded, taking out his scarf and handing it to Mitsuba.
He made a handmade sling with it, he tried to be as gentle as possible to try and not make Kou flinch and also to not make it too tight around his neck.

Sousuke stood up.
Cleaning most of the snow in his clothes and head and also checking the view to know where to go to go back to the hotel.
Now that he was standing up he could feel how his head hurted from the concussion but Kou was worse so that didn’t matter now.
He grabbed the blond’s backpack and helped him to stand up.
‘If you need to support on me please do it because I don’t want you to pass out on the snow’
Kou nodded and placed his good arm on Sousuke’s shoulder, while he gently placed a hand around his waist to make sure Kou wouldn’t fall. The pink haired boy was extremely tired but he was sure he would be able to make it even if his energy consumed faster because he was supporting a part of Kou’s weight on himself.

‘..Aren’t you going to go back for your backpack or..?’
Kou words slurring a bit.
‘You are more important than that. We need to get help, especially for you so I’m not stopping for it.’
That made sense and Kou nodded, looking down to make sure he was stepping in the right place because he felt like if he fell he might not be able to stand up again.
The snow was even more dense now so it was a hard task to walk.
The whole time they walked was quiet because talking was starting to left them breathless.
‘Sousuke.. why don’t you start calling me by my name? I think we’ve already reached the peak of being close to each other..’
All this was followed by a wave of coughing, at least each step they did meant they were closer each time.
Sousuke chuckled.
They’ve already kissed, there was no reason to keep calling him ‘Minamoto’.

‘Well in that case, Kou, have this’
He gave the blond a candy from his own bag, none of them have remembered about them.
All of the candies were deformed but it didn’t really matter, they were still edible after all.
Kou ate an orange one and Sousuke a strawberry one.
It seems like Tiara picked the flavours carefully when packing them on Kou’s backpack.
Eating sweets after being for hours in the snow felt like a blessing.
They were hungry, bleeding, their sugar was low and they were on the verge of collapsing so it really felt nice.

It was awfully cold but both of them kept walking until they started to see the very top of the hotel at some point. That’s when they knew they would definitely make it.
‘Y’know.. I even thought we were going to sleep there at some point’
Sousuke started joking, trying to make sure both of them could actively keep up walking.
‘At least we’ll have matching scars after this..’
Kou smiled at him, he was so pale he was even matching with the snow.
Even if this was a disaster he was glad he was along with Mitsuba the whole time.
Teru will die when he hears about this whole story from his younger brother’s perspective.

Their way back to the hotel was basically the way they’ve used earlier but of course avoiding the hill which made their walk a bit longer.
After what felt like a lifetime but were around 35 minutes because they had tried not to stop anytime they reached the plane surface outside of the hotel entrance.
They crossed the door which opened automatically and immediately collapsed onto the floor which was the warmest thing they’ve felt in the whole day.
Their bodies weren’t even answering properly from how tired they were but they used the energy left in their bodies to intertwine their hands which made them reassure themselves that after everything they still had each other no matter what.

‘..You know what?.. I don’t really regret falling down the hill..’
Kou talked slowly, he couldn’t think properly anymore so making phrases was a hard task, he could already feel how his eyelids were starting to close without him being able to stop them.
Exhaustion won.
Sousuke bursted into laughter which slowly turned into tiny sobs mumbling something about how scared he was and Kou followed him, telling him he was glad the one that was with him the whole time was still there, next to him.