Author's Note: It feels excellent to finally get something out there for 8018; they get so little love for how dynamic a pair they are. I'm definitely planning on making this a full-length fic; it just depends on whether any of you are interested in more or not I guess. Either way, enjoy the story, and hopefully you'll like it enough for more? Thanks everyone!
The first snow of winter.
It was cloudy that day.
Yamamoto shivered, hugging his arms tight around himself as he took hurried strides towards the fence. It wasn't nearly as cold an hour ago, and it only seemed to worsen with each minute he stayed out. The weather wasn't completely unbearable though, he mused while he examined the frigid chain links making up the wall in his path.
At least he had a jacket.
He sucked in a breath, wincing at the icy air that stung his throat. No problem.
His lips curved into a small, childish grin as his fingers clutched around the cold metal. This wasn't originally part of the plan, but hey, it worked. His legs sprung up, scrambling against the fence as his steady arms carried him to the top. The deep snow on either side made it easier for his landing, which, admittedly, ended up coming out more as an awkward tumble face-first into a pile of snow.
"Ah, crap..." Yamamoto sputtered, staggering up to wipe the slush off his face. He ran a hand through his hair, which managed to shake off some of the snow, yet still left his head decorated in random patches of ice. It didn't bother him though; after all, his hair probably matched the rest of his speckled appearance now.
He chuckled to himself, snow crunching beneath his tattered shoes as he jogged towards the empty school building. The entire trip here was solely based on luck, and since he was usually pretty good with that sort of thing, Yamamoto figured, well, why not take the chance?
He leant back against the door, peering through a tiny window on his right. The hallways were somewhat dark, lit only by the minimal sunlight coming through the windows. No light meant no company, and after a moment of silence, Yamamoto felt it was safe to assume the school was vacant.
This could either work in his favor or not.
Just depended on if the door was locked.
Rocking back on his heels, he pressed the door further, his entire body reclining the minute he heard a satisfying creak behind him. Maybe luck really was on his side after all.
With a cheerful hum, he sauntered inside, his damp shoes squeaking across the cold, laminate floor. That became the only sound occupying the building, along with the occasional rustle of his jacket as he walked. The solitude did little to faze him, whether it be due to his drive or his oblivious mindset, and he confidently trotted around the corner without second thought.
It wasn't too much of a big deal anyway; he was only going in to grab his bag and get out.
There was...something of a situation the day before that involved the baby, a paintball gun, and a frantic Tsuna bolting through the halls in his underwear. He still didn't really get what happened, but it was pretty funny anyways, at least to see Gokudera's hair covered in pink. Sadly, the storm guardian himself wasn't as amused by the color change.
Come to think of it, the paint did leave quite a mess, regardless of how long the baby made Tsuna stay afterwards to clean up. Examining the walls now, Yamamoto was surprised to find it entirely spotless.
Eh, the issue must've been all in his head.
He rolled his shoulders back a bit, rubbing his hands together to keep in a little warmth. It was kind of weird that the door was left open like that, but it'd probably be a better idea to just snatch the bag and ask questions later.
His Saturday was off to great start, if not a little cold, and if he got out of here in time he'd make it for his dad's new sushi.
The loosened locker door swung open with a loud squeak as he dug through the mess inside. A few spare baseballs came rolling out from the sides as a few notebooks threatened to dive headfirst into the floor, but the pandemonium was all per-usual locker routine for Yamamoto. He grinned as his fingers brushed across the bag's strap and pushed forward to dig deeper through to it. If only he could-
WHAM.
Rapid pressure whacked against his side and all but knocked the air out of his lungs as Yamamoto crashed to the floor in a disheveled heap of limbs and unleashed locker contents. He yelped, wincing as he clambered back up through the pile of death to at least reach a sitting position. With a low groan, he held his bruised head, slowly blinking his eyes open to figure out what the hell could've slammed into him like that. Whatever it was definitely wasn't kidding around with the brutal slugger he just took to the stomach.
But the school was empty!
What could have possibly-
"Get out. Now."
That voice...
"Or I'll bite you to death."
Shit! He'd forgotten all about Hibari!
He put on a sheepish grin, guilty copper eyes trailing up to meet vicious, steel blue. "Hey! Hibari...!"
Hibari stood a few feet in front, clutching his tonfas at his sides as he glowered down at his prey with all the intent of a bloodthirsty wildcat.
This, of course, was the one feature Yamamoto skipped over as his gaze took in his assaulter. Hibari wore his usual shirt and over-the-shoulders jacket combo, although, something struck as kind of off about him today. Yamamoto blinked as he caught sight of the older male's shoulders tremble. He let his eyes travel back up to Hibari's face, pale skin considerably flushed from exposure to the cold, his eyes weary and bloodshot beneath the glare he held. Hibari just looked downright miserable.
"Yamamoto Takeshi." He seethed through grit teeth. "You have no authorization to enter school premises after hours, unsupervised."
"Yeah...sorry about that! See, I forgot my bag here yesterday and since the door was open, I figured it would be ok, right?"
"No." Hibari's scowl deepened. "Not right."
The remaining baseballs then, as though released through an invisible floodgate, decided to spill out onto the floor, bouncing to a neat array at the cloud guardian's feet. Frosty eyes remained locked onto their victim's set in the silence.
"Fix it. Then leave."
Yamamoto chuckled weakly despite himself, slowly crawling over like a red-handed toddler to start picking up the clutter. Hibari appeared to simmer down more or less, choosing to prop himself against the lockers as he waited for his victim to finish. He exhaled, tiredly closing his eyes while he crossed his arms tersely over his chest. Yamamoto's hand carefully extended to grab a baseball at Hibari's feet, his attention hesitantly turning back up to the teen's quiet form above him.
It was rare moments like these when Yamamoto could completely read the emotion on Hibari's face.
Not only only was Hibari exhausted, he was drained.
It made Yamamoto wonder why he'd still be at school if he was in such bad shape, or, if he even went home at all.
"Say, Hibari?"
"Are you finished?"
"Well, not yet, but..."
"Then don't waste my time."
Hm. So much for that plan. He'd just have to get Hibari to talk after he tamed the mess back into his locker.
And for the record, his locker felt a hell of a lot smaller trying to put everything back in than it did just a few minutes ago when he was trying to take something out. He shouldered himself against the locker, lurching forward every so often to jam the loose items inside. Hibari shortly grew irked with the fact that his back rest started to jostle around and straightened himself up, throwing a disapproving glance in Yamamoto's direction.
"Senseless herbivore."
"Huh?" Yamamoto laughed, thrusting himself towards the locker as a book started slipping. "What's with that?"
"The deplorable condition of your locker violates school regulations."
"It does?" He asked, genuinely surprised as turned back to the chaos. "I mean, I knew it was messy, but I didn't think it was that bad."
Hibari grunted.
With a grin, Yamamoto stepped forward once he managed to get his locker shut. "Maybe sometime you can help me out with that."
"Ridiculous." Hibari began strolled back towards the door, the empty sleeves of his jacket trailing behind him along with his tag along rain guardian. "I have no intention to settle your problems. Do it yourself."
"Alright, alright...I guess I can try." He shrugged as he slung his bag back over his shoulder.
Clearly agitated, Hibari marched forward, gripping onto the bar to push open the door. Yamamoto waited patiently, bouncing a ball in his hand as he watched his companion's back. Hibari remained at the door, keeping mute while his hand clung to the metal bar. He seemed to immediately tense up after a minute, his other grip tightening on his tonfas.
Muttering inaudibly under his breath, Hibari began to perform an act similar to Yamamoto's on his own locker earlier. Only, this version included the repeated slam of tonfas against the surface.
Bewildered, Yamamoto simply observed the event. From his point of view, it all looked like some sort of awkward game Hibari was having with the door as he rammed himself back and forth against it. Considering his current condition though, Yamamoto would bet anything that he wasn't having much fun doing it.
"Hibari?"
The aggressor panted, reluctantly coming to a stop when he heard his name called. His dark bangs fell over his eyes as his turned around, slightly sinking against the door while his tonfas loosely fell to his sides.
Yamamoto frowned, taking an unsure step towards Hibari's subdued form. "Are you alright?"
"Locked."
He blinked. "What?"
Hibari's voice rose, the frustration evident in his growl. "Someone locked it from outside the building."
"Someone?" Yamamoto scratched his head, peeking out the tiny window on the door. "But I thought no one was here...well, except for you, I guess."
"Custodian. Most likely just finished."
"Oh." He sighed, taking a place by Hibari and glancing at him hopefully. "That shouldn't be too bad though...you have a key with you, don't you?"
"Not currently."
"Really?" Yamamoto's eyes widened. "But...where do you usually...?"
"Hibird."
He exhaled in relief, grinning gratefully. "Oh, that's good!" He looked around. "So...where's Hibird?"
"Outside."
"...Ah." Yamamoto nodded slowly, crouching down with a long, deep breath. "Maybe the other doors are open?"
"No."
After that, neither said a word. Yamamoto remained squat down on the floor, looking altogether empty as Hibari kept an odd position of gradually sinking against the door. By the time Yamamoto broke the silence, Hibari was sitting in a pounce-like crouch position in order to avoid his bottom hitting the floor.
"Can I break the door?"
"I forbid the destruction of school property."
He pursed his lips. "Even now?"
"Always."
"I see."
Another extended period of silence ensued, this time accompanied by the occasional tapping of Yamamoto's foot. Hibari's continued to hang his head down, his expression entirely unreadable. This was when Yamamoto's optimism struck.
"Hey, maybe this will be fun!"
This was also when Hibari blew up.
Yamamoto choked as a rough hand seized his shirt collar, twisting the fabric coarsely as it slammed him against a wall. He winced as the hand continued to constrain his shirt, shaking angrily as it did so. With one eye slit open, Yamamoto glimpsed down at the source of pain: a deathly, frustratingly angry Hibari Kyoya.
Hibari let out an agonizingly slow breath, chagrin seething through his clenched teeth. Wide and frozen with rage and fatigue, his dead tired eyes sent a spiteful glare directly at his target.
"What exactly is fun about this situation, Yamamoto Takeshi?" He spat, his voice a little louder than a spiteful whisper. "The temperature is less than twenty degrees and we are locked inside an empty building that no one can or will access until the weekend ends. The blizzard outside is only predicted to get worse and the temperature is granted to lower to even more serverly than given now. My bird is left alone out in that weather with the belief of my return and I haven't been able to sleep since the night before.
"Tell me." He snarled, his glare only intensifying as his attention snapped back up. "What. Is. Fun."
A firm hand rose up to seize onto shaking, pale fists as calm, copper eyes met the glacial stare they were challenged with. Yamamoto kept his grip steady on Hibari's, even as the smaller male's hands futilely struggled to slip away. His honest gaze continued to pierce through the faltering glare with stern worry and Hibari grimaced, letting out a low growl as he turned his head away.
"I never said it would be fun." Yamamoto stated coolly. "I said maybe. I thought, that maybe, we could make this fun instead of stressing over it."
Hibari said nothing in reply, but his expression grew increasingly uncomfortable, his eyes bright with frustration and outrage as he tried to pull his hands away.
"Hey. Listen to me." Yamamoto's eyes softened, his lips pursed in a concerned frown. "From what I've seen, your bird is pretty smart. I'm sure it'll fly off after a while to get some help."
Hibari stopped struggling. His bangs fell back over his eyes, casting a concealing shadow over his face. His grip on the shirt loosened and Yamamoto released his own grip, allowing Hibari's hands to falls down at his chest before retracting limply back to his own sides.
It didn't matter how well he tried to hide it; Yamamoto could see it very clearly.
Hibari was entirely defeated.
Yamamoto glanced over him, his eyebrows creasing thoughtfully as he did so. He then promptly took a step back, effortlessly removing his jacket as he did so.
The trembling in Hibari's shoulders stopped the minute the jacket fell over his own shoulders. Yamamoto smiled contently, buttoning the oversized jacket around Hibari's slim torso. Hibari didn't say or do a thing to resist and quietly stared down at the ground, his bangs still hiding the shock lit in his eyes.
"You should've brought a better jacket if you were going out." Yamamoto chuckled softly, reaching in his bag to remove a soft, gray winter hat. He gently placed the hat over Hibari's downcast head. "You'll catch a cold."
Hibari slowly staggered back, leaning up against the wall opposite of Yamamoto. His expression remained indecipherable as he completely sunk down to the ground, his head resting face down against his knees. Yamamoto said nothing more, walking over to take a seat by Hibari on the floor. He took a similar position as well, only turning his head on his knees to glance at his counterpart.
"You should get some sleep, Hibari."
Hibari didn't hear him.
By that time he was already fast asleep.