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"Hey, kid! You dropped this!" Kohaku told a little boy who had dropped his little blue mitten as he ran by.
"Oh, thank you, miss! Now my hands won't be cold!" the boy beamed brightly up at her.
It was winter after all, so temperatures were naturally dropping.
With that he took his mitten, putting it on and running off to chase a few other kids he had been playing with, leaving Kohaku to watch after him with a tender smile.
"Kukuku~ Always a caregiver, aren't you, Lioness?" Senku chuckled from where he stood a few feet away, holding two cups of something steaming.
"I'm not a lioness! But I will take being called a caregiver, along with whatever this is!" Kohaku snapped before happily and greedily taking one of the cups.
"Hot chocolate from that cafe at the corner. I even remembered to have them add lots of whipped cream for you. Now who's the best?" Senku grinned smugly.
"The old lady who owns the cafe and makes the best hot chocolate of course!" Kohaku grinned back cheekily, making him snort.
"But thanks, Senku. I really needed this and not just for the taste. The warmth feels nice, especially on my hands. They're freezing." she told him as they started walking home again like they'd been doing after school.
"Guess it's time for you to break out the gloves. You were literally making sure that kid had his own." Senku shrugged as he drank his own drink.
"I am wearing gloves." Kohaku pointedly held up a hand, showing she was indeed wearing pink woolen gloves.
"But you know, I think that back when I was little and still mostly wearing mittens like that kid, my hands always felt warmer and a bit colder with regular gloves. I mean, gloves still help, but I think the mittens helped more. Does that make sense?" she asked.
"Actually it does." Senku nodded.
"Mittens are warmer than gloves because they keep fingers together, allowing them to share body heat and trap it more effectively. The design also reduces the total surface area exposed to the cold, and the shared space allows warm air to circulate more easily than it can in the individual compartments of gloves." he explained.
"Huh," Kohaku blinked at that, "Too bad I never really see mittens for adults in the store."
"Yeah, you don't." Senku agreed looking thoughtful, glacing between her face and hands.
Neither of them mentioned the topic anymore as they walked.
"Still got cold hands, Lioness?" Senku asked a few days later as he walked up to her where she was waiting for him by the school gates, blowing on her hands.
"Not a lioness!" was the only expected answer he got, making him snort.
"Also, kinda." she added to which he smirked.
"Yeah, I actually got you a litte something for that." he told her, casually digging his pinky in his ear before reaching into his pocket.
"Ha! What would that be besides another drink? Did you find some decent adult-sized mittens or something?" Kohaku joked, thinking back to their talk a couple days ago before her eyes went wide at seeing what he pulled out.
"Well done, Kohaku. Ten billion points to you." Senku said, holding out a pair of yellow-ish mittens.
"Wha-?!" Kohaku's jaw dropped.
"I- I don't know what to say! Thank you!" she said as she came closer, looking back and forth between between his face and the mittens.
"Kukuku, sounds like you know what to say after all!" Senku chuckled before sobering up.
"Look, it's no problem, really. You mentioned having cold hands and mittens helping more than gloves, so I figured I'd get some for you. Mittens for adults are actually still pretty easy to find if you google them." he told her and even while trying to act like it was nothing to him, she knew he'd done so cause he cared for her.
And that made her happy.
Smiling she stepped closer and wrapped her arms around him in a hug, resting her head against his shoulder, feeling him tense up but not pushing her away.
"Still, I really appriciate it, Senku. You're the best." she told him, meaning it wholeheartedly before surprising even herself by pecking him on the cheek.
She froze right after, realizing what she did and prepared for him to tell her off.
"The best, huh? Even better than the lady who makes hot chocolate?" he instead asked jokingly and she laughed, pulling back to look up at him, finding him him grinning down at her, though she could have sworn that his eyes had this extra fond look in them his cheeks held a light pink hue.
Her own were probably brighter pink or even red.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." she told him, lightly hitting his shoulder keeping their banter going while she stepped back.
"What? You go on kissing her too?" he lifted an eyebrow, looking amused now.
"Ah! N-No of course not!" she right away denied and right away regretted doing so as this seemed to be what Senku was either hoping for or already expecting. Probably both.
"Oh? So I'm not the best but still deserve a kiss when 'the best' doesn't? Careful Lioness, or I may just start thinking it's cause you've finally fallen for me~" he grinned one of his stupid goofy grins as he leaned closer, making her lean back, her own face burning.
"A-As if!" she cried out as he snickered at her.
"Can I try them on?" she asked as she glanced at the mittens he still held, both really wanting to try them and for them to just drop the current topic.
"Sure." Senku luckily agreed easily and handed them over.
Kohaku found they were a perfect fit and felt happy, only for Senku to snicker again, confusing her.
"Huh? What's so funny?" she asked.
"You really haven't noticed yet? Turn those hands around, would ya?" he told her and she did so without thinking so she could see the back of the mittens.
And all the happy positive feelings she had been feeling were promptly replaced by disbelief and annoyance.
Lion faces.
The mittens were both decorated to look like lion faces.
"You are such an asshole!" she roared, attempting to strike him, only for him to easily dodge.
"It took me hours to find those online but it was totally time well spend! You should see the look on your face right now!" he cackled gleefully.
"Ugh! I take that hug back! I take that kiss back! You're the worst!" she yelled and tried to attack him again.
Still laughing Senku took off running to which she gave chase.
She did however end up wearing the same mittens the next day and several ones after that and though Senku obivously noticed, he made no comment other than give her a smug smirk.