NOTE: This takes place in a modern AU, where Shion and Nezumi are ten years old and best friends.
Snowfall
They're ten, and Shion presses his nose to the frosted glass so hard he leaves a clear circle through the fog to the cold afternoon outside.
"It's only snow, idiot," Nezumi tells him matter-of-factly, rolling his eyes as he looks up from his book for a moment to see his friend staring at the weather with such intensity he looks like he's watching an action movie rather than a winter afternoon.
Shion tears his eyes from the window for a moment to frown at the dark-haired boy, looking indignant. "But it's so pretty," he protests, fingers absentmindedly drawing shapes on the glass. "The flakes are so big and the rooftops are just starting to turn white, and they're swirling around and it's so cool,"
Nezumi remains unimpressed. "It's the weather. It can't possibly be that interesting," he answers, returning to his book, refusing to watch the onslaught of snowflakes dance in crazy patterns as the wind blows tree branches back and forth.
The air seems choked with snowflakes—he'd watched in the early morning, and if he kept his eyes on the window for a while, they would change shape—ranging from big, feather-like clumps to tiny, almost invisible pinpricks, as they fall from seemingly everywhere.
There's something almost magical about the first snow of the season, a kind of wonder breaking the dull monotony of the slowly cooling fall, bringing back memories of past holidays and presents.
Shion taps on the window, still staring out the window, the glass almost completely devoid of fog now that he's been sitting there for so long. Only his breath steams up the glass, and seems content to draw patterns there instead.
The snow is falling too hard to go outside and play properly, and it hasn't been long enough for there to be enough to make snowballs, so they stay inside with blankets and television and lamplights. In fact, Nezumi's father had gone down the street to buy some hot chocolate mix from the corner store to make them later.
But it would be a shame not to enjoy this first snow, so Nezumi puts down his book and goes to find his shoes and coat from the hallway.
"What are you doing? Are you going out? Your dad said to stay inside!" calls Shion, tearing himself away from the window to chase after Nezumi, who shrugs in reply, already pulling on a pair of winter boots.
"If we stay in the yard, he can't complain. Besides, I bet he'd prefer this than you getting drool all over the window," he points out, smirking a little as Shion glares at him.
"I was not drooling," Shion sniffs, grabbing his coat from one of the pegs on the wall and pulling it on angrily as he steps into his shoes.
Nezumi rolls his eyes and shoves the door open instead of answering, and both of them shiver a little at the blast of cold air.
Outside looks like a scene from a fairytale or a Christmas movie; the snowflakes seem too large to be real, and the lawns and sidewalks are coated in powdery white. Shion sprints past Nezumi to grab a handful from the ground, grimacing at the cold but examining the snow with bright curiosity, watching the tiny crystal shapes disappear until there's nothing but water left.
His palm, however, is left bright red and tingling, and Nezumi laughs as Shion rubs his hands together frantically to get warm again, breaths coming out in steamy clouds as he blows on his fingers.
Nezumi chooses to stomp through the newly fallen snow—there's something satisfying about it, like walking over an untouched bar of sand, and watching footprints appear in the smooth surface. The patterns from his boots appear blurry and slanted as he walks around the yard in aimless circles.
Shion shivers, sidling up behind his friend and sticking his hand in the other's jacket pocket, where Nezumi's right hand is. It's blissfully warm, even though Nezumi tries to kick him away as Shion's freezing fingers find his own.
"You're cold," Nezumi says after a few failed attempts of shoving Shion into the snow. Shion looks at him in a kind of long suffering way, and Nezumi tries to walk sideways several paces to dislodge him from his pocket. It doesn't work, and Nezumi settles for a glare instead.
Shion looks unfazed, huddling deeper inside his jacket collar for some more warmth and wishing he had a pair of mittens.
"If you're that cold we should go inside," Nezumi says, like Shion's an idiot for not thinking of it sooner, and Shion rolls his eyes with all the superiority of his ten year-old self.
"I'll be warm in a second," he answers, grasping Nezumi's cold fingers in his own. The other hisses at the contact, because Shion is kind of freezing.
Nezumi opts for the more obvious response instead of your hands freaking cold get away from me. "Boys do not hold hands with each other," he states in his most condescending voice. "And your fingers are probably all gross and booger-y anyway,"
Shion frowns. "I do not pick my nose," he huffs, and squeezes Nezumi's fingers painfully tight in revenge.
"Let go," Nezumi orders, trying to walk away again, but unfortunately, Shion's death-grip on his hand prevents it, and he thinks that instead of getting warmer, Shion is freezing everything instead. (Maybe he has superpowers.)
After a moment or two of unyielding staring, Shion shrugs, worming his fingers out of Nezumi's pocket and shoving them into his own, shuffling toward the house again. "I'm going back inside," he calls over his shoulder, and Nezumi gapes at his friend's blatant rudeness. Because honestly, aren't you supposed to ask before entering someone else's home?
"Wh—you—that's my house, you idiot!" Nezumi shouts after him, but Shion is already sprinting inside, kicking off his boots, and searching for a warm blanket to protect him from Nezumi.
Unfortunately, even the heaviest comforter is no match for Nezumi's elbows of doom (actually, Shion is even bonier, but he usually likes to tickle his enemies into submission rather than elbow them). "Breaking and entering," Nezumi says severely, gesturing to the closed door. Both their cheeks are bright red from the cold, and Nezumi's hair is plastered to his forehead since he'd forgotten to take off his jacket during his quest for revenge.
Shion, of course, can't see, although he thinks he might be suffocating under the blanket, and throws it off and onto Nezumi, who flails around trying to get it off as Shion tries to smother him with it so he won't have to face the elbows.
Nezumi's father, of course, comes home to a completely destroyed living room (not to mention the coats and sweaters and socks strewn all over the floor), and gives them both a severe scolding before making them hot chocolate.
And, five years later, every time they walk in the snow, Shion still tries to warm his freezing hands in Nezumi's coat pockets.
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A/N: I wrote the intro to this while watching the first snow here in October, lol. ALSO, this oneshot takes place in a modern AU. The other installment in this "series" is called Simple, which takes place some 5 to 7 years later. I took a lot of liberties with their personalities so it might seem really OOC. I'm sorryy.
Anonystita won the guessing game; yes, it's supposed to be Kanda from DGM. In my headcanonverse he and fem!Alma had Nezumi. LOL. Thanks for all the guesses you guys! Almost all of you got it right. xD