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Shinkai's teeth chattered violently as he waited outside the clubroom for Arakita. Practice had ended early because of the sudden snowstorm, and although many teammates decided to stay back and engage in weightlifting or stamina building indoors, both Shinkai and Arakita simultaneously agreed that they were not in the mood to drain what little energy they had left.
"Hey, sorry. Fuku-chan entrusted me to find fuckin' Wonderboy and make him do his chores before leaving."
Shinkai nodded in understanding, but was too cold to flash Arakita a smile as the other approached him on the snow-covered sidewalk.
"Dang Shinkai. You're gonna break your teeth if you keep that shivering up," Arakita huffed as he pulled the hood of Shinkai's coat over his head. Despite wearing a hat, Shinkai was grateful for the added layer. He allowed Arakita to dote over him a little longer, appreciative of the attention. Arakita adjusted his scarf, pulled his gloves over Shinkai's to add yet another layer, and rubbed warmth into his cheeks by massaging them ardently before assaulting his nose and lips with a quick succession of kisses. Shinkai melted into the other with searing cheeks and a fluttering stomach. He adored the other’s spontaneous bursts of affection.
"Yasutomo, you're so cute!" Shinkai whined into the other's neck.
"I'm definitely not, but you keep thinking that."
"I'm cold," Shinkai complained as he backed away from the other to pout. It was his lazy way of avoiding confrontation. He knew if he fought Arakita over the fact that he definitely was, without a doubt, 100% adorable, then they'd be stuck out in the cold for hours.
"You're a baby is what you are," Arakita grumbled as he and Shinkai began making their way down the path. "You need a warmer hat," he added as a side comment.
Shinkai hummed as he considered the suggestion. Arakita was definitely right about that. His hat was made out of a thin, cheap material that added almost no warmth to his freezing ears. It was old and well worn, and had lost its vibrant colour over countless instances of laundry over time. It had even developed a small rip at the back from rough handling in the previous year, making the hat as unattractive as it was useless.
"Would you help me buy a new one Yasutomo?"
"Sure," Arakita said with a shrug. "Will you die if we don't do it today?"
A violent shudder ran through Shinkai, and he nodded in response while blinking against the fat snowflakes landing on his eyelashes. Arakita stopped Shinkai from walking so he could kiss his eyelid, his warm lips melting the snow blocking his line of sight. Shinkai's heart palpitated uncontrollably at the act.
"You are seriously too cute Yasutomo," he croaked as the other dusted the snow off his shoulders before continuing to lead Shinkai down the salted pavement. "Yeah, yeah," Arakita brushed off with a wave of his frost-bitten hand before stuffing it into his pocket. Shinkai pulled close and linked his arm with Arakita's before mirroring the raven's actions and placing his double-gloved hand into his coat pocket, a slight spring in his step now that the other had helped him warm up considerably.
***
Arakita and Shinkai didn't take long finding a clothing store. A small shop not too far from school, squished between two other equally-as-small stores —well known for selling useful accessories to high school and university students— was spotted easily amidst the blindingly white snow with its bright Christmas lights and obnoxiously colourful signage. The inside of the store was larger than the outside let on. Longer than it was wide, the store stretched back like a large hallway, with shelves and tables full to the brim in clothes, backpacks, and other miscellaneous products.
Shinkai spotted the hats immediately, but diverted their route to other corners of the store until Arakita dragged him back.
"Okay Shinkai, enough distractions."
"Aww, you're no fun Yasutomo!" Shinkai chuckled while putting down the ridiculously large rabbit plushy Arakita refused to purchase for him.
"I'm here to make sure you don't get sick, moron. If you want to cuddle with something cute at night, you have me," he added stubbornly. His voice had cracked at the end of his sentence, and his face grew scarlet with the realization of what he had just uttered.
Shinkai practically pounced on Arakita as he pulled him into a tight hug.
"You just admitted you're cute," Shinkai whispered to the other in awe.
"I take it back," he squawked while attempting to pull out of Shinkai's vice grip. Shinkai roughly kissed Arakita’s cheek before holding him at arm’s length. He grinned from ear-to-ear while observing Arakita's knit brows, familiar scowl, and rosy cheeks. He opened his mouth to say something reassuring to the other’s apparent embarrassment, but he felt redundant with wanting to tell the other how adorable he found him.
“Anymore of this precious behaviour and I might faint, Yasutomo.” Shinkai warned him. “Please try to control yourself.”
“I kinda wanna see you faint now,” Arakita admitted with a malicious grin.
"You’d have to do something astronomically cute to get me to do that,” Shinkai replied with a wink and a charming grin. Arakita smiled back while shaking his head, and returned his attention to the pile of winter hats in front of them.
“Okay, let’s concentrate on finding you a fucking hat,” Arakita digressed as he began sifting through the messy pile. Shinkai followed suite, and the two shared a brief moment of silence until Shinkai spotted…
Rabbit ears?
“Would I look good in this?" Shinkai asked while placing the white hat over his head. Arakita blinked at the beanie in resentment, and Shinkai knew he was glaring at the giant floppy ears sticking out from both ends for the woolen cap.
"You'd look like an idiot."
Shinkai glanced at Arakita with a humourless smile, to which Arakita responded to with an indifferent shrug of his shoulders.
"It's really warm," Shinkai continued whilst feigning ignorance. "Don't you think so Yasutomo?"
"I'm sure it is," Arakita scowled while scrutinizing the gravity defying bunny ears sticking out of the hat like the manmade equivalent of Manami's ahoge. "But why don't you try on something different?”
Shinkai hummed as he adjusted the ears on his head distractedly. He was joking about buying the large bunny plushy earlier, but the idea of owning a hat that looked like Usakichi was beginning to sound like a good idea.
“What about this one?" Arakita mentioned after rummaging through the selection. He held up a simple, light brown beanie, almost the colour of caramel. It looked attractive and warm, and above all else, it was ear-less.
"You don't like the bunny ears?"
"They'll make your hood slip off."
"That’s practical," Shinkai begrudgingly agreed.
"That’s common sense," Arakita scoffed without missing a beat.
Shinkai ignored the quip as he pulled out a hat the same colour Arakita had picked, except with—
"Dog ears?! Shinkai get the fuck outta the animal section!"
Shinkai laughed as he looked down at a black beanie with cat ears with wide eyes.
"Quick Yasutomo!” Shinkai screeched as he put the hat over Arakita’s head. “Do something cute!"
Arakita hastily brought his closed fists up near his cheeks and clawed at the space between him and Shinkai before letting out a small Nya~.
Shinkai lost it.
He wasn’t excepting Arakita to do what he had just done; hence why he fell onto the floor screaming the other’s name between his fingertips.
“Shut up!” Arakita hissed as he loomed over the other. “The owner’s glaring at us!”
A strangled sound escaped the back of Shinkai’s throat as he muffled his mouth with the palms of his hands. Shit! He could feel the blood in his body instantly rush to his face as if someone had hit a switch. His lips quivered violently as he tried to control his urge to scream the other’s name a second time; and his nose twitched slightly in exertion, almost as if he were trying to hold back a sneeze. Shinkai brought his knees close to his chest as he tried to come to terms with what he had just witnessed.
“Stop fuckin’ over exaggerating!” Arakita hissed desperately, his face tomato red as he hovered over Shinkai’s fallen body.
Shinkai glanced up at Arakita between his fingers and teary eyes.
“Are y— are you crying?!”
“I almost fainted,” Shinkai croaked as he continued looking up at Arakita and his cat ears in all their glory.
Arakita muttered something under his breath as he pulled Shinkai off the floor.
“Can you please wear those? I’ll buy them,” Shinkai begged as he wrapped his arms around Arakita’s shoulders as if his life depended on it.
“We’re supposed to be buying you a hat,” Arakita sighed while gently pushing Shinkai away. He was eyeing the curious shopkeeper at the back of the store nervously, which Shinkai took as an indication to let go.
“We can have matching ones,” Shinkai suggested while holding the ends of Arakita’s fingertips.
“Fine,” Arakita caved as Shinkai proceeded to pout at him. “But only if you get a sensible hat too.”
Shinkai didn’t argue the other as he snatched the caramel hat off the display case and the cat-eared hat off Arakita’s head before running to the register. When they made their way out into the frigid cold once more, Shinkai handed Arakita his black hat while placing his brown one over his messy mop of auburn hair. He sighed in relief at how much warmer it was while pulling his hood over his head.
“The hell? Why aren’t you wearing your shitty bunny hat?” Arakita questioned in shock, his cat ears comically perking in the wind as if he were the one controlling them.
“They’ll make my hood slip off,” Shinkai explained patiently. He didn’t have time to shield his face from the large pile of snow Arakita flung his way, and laughed uncontrollably as the frozen water dripped off his face in chunks. Shinkai forcefully kissed Arakita lips so the other could taste the snow stuck to his skin, and the two instantly made a truce after a few minutes of mutually initiated roughhousing.
Shinkai ended up catching a cold the next day despite buying a hat to avoid the very situation he was in; not that he minded. Arakita was on his case the entire time he was sick. Between lectures and scolding, Shinkai was showered with kind gestures —from being spoon fed soup to having a cold towel place on his head every few minutes for hours on end. Arakita visited him before class, during lunch, and right after school, well into the weekend until Shinkai got better. And even though he was in a sickly state, Shinkai made sure to remind Arakita how cute he was every chance he got, and was happy to see that he received zero resistance as a result.