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Kei’s asleep. Contently, almost blissfully asleep without a care in the world. It’s a Sunday morning, and as far as he knows, he doesn’t have anywhere to be. A cold and wintery Sunday morning, but he has enough blankets to make up for it. And he’s sleeping next to an actual living heater, too.
It’s a nice feeling.
"Oh my god, Tsukki, wake up!”
Kei's promptly shoved in the side and after that, he has no choice but to wake up. He can’t see anything - no, duh - but the room seems brighter than it should and he wonders why.
“What?” He asks in a sleepy drawl, blinking a few times at a snail’s pace.
“Oh, right, sorry!” Tadashi’s face is blurry when he turns around, but Kei can easily see what he's doing. Using two hands and careful precision, he grabs Kei’s glasses off the nightstand and slips them onto his face. “Better?”
Kei nods, looking out the window again now that he can actually see. It's almost blindingly bright, too bright to be just the sun. He notices the lack of color in the yard outside and how it's just a sea of -
“Holy shit, is that snow?”
“Uh-huh!” Tadashi nods, unable to suppress his excitement. He looks like an awestruck seven-year-old stuck in a sixteen-year-old’s body. “It's actually snowing for once, can you believe it?”
Kei doesn't answer. It hasn't snowed here in years, not since he was in elementary school. It's nothing less than a miracle.
“It's better than it being all rainy and grey and depressing all the time.” Tadashi smiles, sitting up and stretching his arms above his head. “Come on, we're going out.”
“Haaah?” Kei whines. He can't help it, he just woke up and he's tired and he wants nothing more than to just fall asleep again. The snow’s going to be there when he wakes up, there's no need to rush.
“Tsukkiiii ,” Tadashi whines back.
“Tadashii - umph!” Kei feels something against his chest as he's shoved out of the bed. “Hey!”
“I'm not letting you be a wet blanket on a snow day.” Tadashi gives a triumphant smile as he gets out of bed, walking toward his closet. “Do you want to borrow a coat?”
“I’ll be fine.”
“You won’t be.” Tadashi turns around and grins. “Stop trying to play it cool, we both know you’re not.”
“Excuse me?” Kei sits up, raising one eyebrow.
“You’re not !” Tadashi laughs, tossing a huge coat in Kei’s direction. Kei didn’t know he had something that big. But considering that he isn’t an actual lizard like Kei is, it makes at least a little sense. “Get up, we’re going sledding.”
“I don’t get a say?”
“Nope.” Tadashi grabs some clothes for himself. “I’m going to go change, we’re leaving in ten minutes whether you like it or not.”
Before Kei can respond, Tadashi’s already walked out of the room and shut the door. He supposes he has no choice.
Ten minutes later finds them walking out the door into the snow, which is a good few inches deep. Tadashi can’t stop talking about how perfect it is for sledding, which Kei, to no one’s surprise, finds pretty damn endearing. Tadashi keeps rambling on as they walk over to the park between their houses and school, which happens to have the best sledding hill in town. There are already kids there when they get there, but they aren’t much of an obstacle.
Kei holds back a chuckle. Tadashi would probably kill him for even thinking that.
“I didn’t expect there to be so many people here.” Tadashi frowns. “I mean, I know it hasn’t snowed here in years, but it’s still early, right?”
"It's eleven." Kei shrugs. "Want to give it a go?"
"But we might run over the kids, Tsukki!"
"The kids are staying on the sides, no one's going right down the middle."
"That's true." Tadashi's hat and scarf combine to almost completely obscure his face, but Kei can still see him smile. "Let's go once. It'll be good or it'll be bad, and then we can go from there."
Kei nods, following Tadashi up the hill with the sled under one arm. There's a kid, around five or so, who's sliding down the hill on one of those sleds that looks like a giant neon green frisbee and screaming his head off. He almost runs Tadashi over, and Kei just barely resists cussing him out.
He's never been good with kids.
Tadashi reaches the top of the hill first, looking out at the view. It isn't much, but there's more to see than there is at the bottom.
"Hey, I can see your house from here!" Tadashi points off in the distance with a smile.
"Really?" Kei looks where he's pointing, and sure enough, there's the familiar brick wall-fence on the corner.
Tadashi looks down the hill. "It's steeper from up here."
"All the better." Kei sets the sled down on the snowy ground. "I'm sitting in back."
"Good." Tadashi sits on the front end, holding onto the sides so tight that his knuckles start turning white. "This'll be fun."
"Unless we run over a kid."
"You're in charge of steering."
"So I'm at fault if we run over a kid."
Tadashi shrugs.
"You're horrible." Kei sits down himself, noting how the sled creaks under his weight. He doesn't even weigh that much; he's been called a stickbug by plenty of people, including himself. "Are you sure this thing can hold both of us?"
"I guess we'll just have to find out." Tadashi's breath fogs up in front of him. "Let's go."
Kei nods, pushing off with his hands. He probably should have thought this through better, considering that he has little to know upper-body strength, but it's too late now. They're moving slow, but they're moving.
And once they actually start going down the hill, they start going a lot faster.
Tadashi's laughing, and Kei wishes he could see his face right now. The path is still open, and they're halfway down the hill, so Kei isn't expecting any surprises.
But, of course, those stupid kids have to deliver, and he realizes why no one was riding down the middle of the hill when they got there.
Someone had set up a jump out of tightly packed snow, and since it blends in with the rest of the snow on the hill, neither of them see it coming. The sled goes flying, and Tadashi whoops in excitement as his scarf trails behind him. They land right side up, but the sled is out of control, and it looks like it's going to spin out.
Eventually, someone leans over too far to one side, and the sled tips over, sending both of them rolling out onto the snowy ground. They end up next to a tree, which the sled rams into. It miraculously isn't broken.
"Are you okay?" Tadashi giggles.
"Yeah." Kei doesn't know how he's out of breath, but he is. "Are you?"
"I'm fine." Tadashi unwraps his scarf and grins. "That was fun, right?"
"I guess."
"That's better than usual." Tadashi sits up, looking at the hill again. "Want to do it again?"
Kei blinks. "Do you?"
"Yeah, but I'll only do it if you want to."
"You're not making this any easier for anyone."
Tadashi smiles, standing up before grabbing Kei's hand and pulling him up to his feet. "We're going again."
"Okay." Kei doesn't know how Tadashi manages to drag him along by one hand after grabbing the sled with the other, but he supposes he just has to live with that.