A/N: Happy (belated) New Years! I hope 2019 started on a good note for you~ ^w^
This is my totally late Secret Santa gift for Avistella from the Kacchako Secret Santa exchange on tumblr. I had promised her a Knights AU but I didn't manage to include everything I had planned for it here. So after my exams, I hope I'll be able to write the rest of this AU. Enjoy some snow shenanigans for now!
The title was courtesy of Gab (silhouettart at twitter/tumblr) from the kacchako server!
The cheerful chime of the clock tower's bells reverberated all the way to the eastern bastion. Ochako huddled deeper into her fur coat and rose from her seat. The shift was over. Soon someone would come to relieve her from her duties. Lo and behold, like clockwork, Sir Gunhead's footsteps echoed on the staircase. His burly frame, combined with his armor, almost reached the support beams of the ceiling when he entered the room.
"Is everything alright?" he asked.
Ochako stood in alert. "Yes, sir! No trespassers or potential assassins scaled the walls. The crown can rest in peace tonight."
He chuckled, the sound ringing through his helmet. "Thank you for all your hard work, squire Uraraka. You're dismissed. Return to your chambers and get some rest."
Placing her fist on her chest, she bowed slightly. "I will."
"And watch your step on the wall."
The warning seemed a bit odd. Stray lonesome snowflakes had danced outside the narrow windows of the bastion for most of the shift. Ochako thanked him but it wasn't until she stepped outside that the storm was revealed in all of its glory. Snow covered the gabled roofs of the main building like a cozy blanket. Even the cobbled walkway in front of her had patches of white spread across its length.
Ochako hurried inside, bouncing around the thin layers of ice.
Winter had always been lukewarm at the southern village she called her hometown. On the off chance there was snow, it was sprinkled on the rooftops for a day at best before it would eventually melt. This was something new and fascinating, and she really wanted someone to share the experience with. Her options were limited though. Most of the squires and knights had returned home after the winter solstice. It was just a trip down the hill, after all.
Except…
Her gloved hand muffled her knocking a bit, but no other sound came from behind the door anyway. Ochako took a deep breath and rapped the wood again. His window still had a light on when she crossed the wall. A loud thud made her pause. The door was yanked open and Katsuki appeared wearing his boots and his nightshirt messily tucked inside his trousers. Red bleary eyes tried to focus on her form as he ran a hand through his disheveled hair. Ochako noticed it spiked in several more directions than usual.
"What do you want?" he grumbled.
Hearing the low rumble of his voice, Ochako willed her knees to stay straight. There was no time to lose her composure. She had to catch his attention as soon as possible.
"I challenge you!" she said with her most authoritative tone. "Meet me at the courtyard before the next bell. And please put something warm on."
Before Katsuki could voice any objections, Ochako dashed away. She had imagined their first conversation after the Yule celebration a lot differently. Still, a ploy like this had been her best bet to finally get something out of him. Katsuki's pride was legendary to the point he wouldn't back down from anything—except talking to her for the last two days. But the one thing Ochako had learned since she arrived in the Capital was that sometimes you have to play dirty to win.
The night had laid out its dark veil over the castle grounds, casting obscure shadows on the courtyard. Ochako had crouched inside a pocket of moonlight. Cold nipped on her exposed face; each breath flowing like a frozen river into her throat. Despite that, she continued the task at hand with a joyful tune.
Soft crunching footsteps approached her until another shadow joined hers on the ground.
"So what do you think?" she asked, waving at her creation with a smile.
Katsuki adjusted his scarf, his nose featuring the same tone of red. "That's the ugliest snowman I've ever seen."
"It's not that bad!"
Truth be told, the snowman's body sprouted solid from the ground like the nightmare tree of fairytales. Ochako had placed splinters from a nearby torch as hands too. The pebbles for eyes and mouth were the final touch to its angry demeanor.
"It looks ready to cut-throat anyone that gets near it," he said.
He sneaked a hand behind his back for his trusty knives, no doubt. As per usual, Katsuki came prepared for anything and everything. It was no brainer, considering Ochako had left her declaration kind of vague. The scabbard of his sword was missing though.
"It's just snow." She placed some straw on the snowman's head. "Look! It kinda looks like you now, don't you think?"
"You brought me outside for this?"
"Don't be rude. I didn't think you go to bed as soon as the sun sets."
Katsuki scoffed. "That's what normal people do."
"People that don't get the night shift you mean."
"I'm not going to ask again, Uraraka. What do you want?"
Ochako reached behind the snowman for the pre-prepared snowball stash. "To spend some time with you is all."
The snowball whistled in the air and crashed right onto Katsuki's face with a thump. He had managed to shut his eyes on time. But as snow trickled down like pieces of pie, Ochako could help it and burst out laughing. Still, she wasn't naïve. Grabbing more snowballs from the pile, she ran off.
"That's how you wanna go, huh?" Katsuki shouted. "Come back here you sneaky weasel! You're getting murdered tonight!"
What followed was the most intense snowball fight Ochako had experienced in the fifteen years of her life. Frozen projectiles whizzed from one side of the courtyard to the other like arrows. Most of the icicles hanging from nearby windowsills didn't survive the process. Katsuki had applied into this the same mentality he used in all of his fights—take no prisoners. His shots always went for the most vital body parts, namely the head and knees, with deadly accuracy.
On the other hand, Ochako didn't manage to land another shot again. At some point, she even began to wonder if that first one had been a fluke. The thought of Katsuki letting anyone hit him on his own volition was ridiculous at best. But she managed to get her revenge the moment Katsuki lost her from his sight. He stood in front of the portico-lined outer hallway, scanning his surroundings. No doubt wondering where she had disappeared to. Ochako stifled a snicker as she scouted around the nearest supporting column. With deadly precision, she pulled at his scarf and sent a handful of snow down his back. Katsuki's screech was priceless. Jumping on the ground, she put a great distance between them.
"That's cheating!" he roared. "You were out of bounds."
"We didn't set any bounds or rules," she said. "Everything is fair in love and war!"
"Stop running and I'll show you how fair it is!"
They chased each other around for a while longer. The clock's ninth bell found them hunching over, exhausted and soaked from head to toe.
"I… win…" Katsuki's shoulders heaved as he panted, a milky cloud escaping his mouth with each breath.
"Yeah, keep telling yourself that." Ochako brushed off the snow caught up in her hair. "It might end up true."
"You have a death wish today or what?"
Her laugh echoed joyfully in the calmness of the night. "I'd prefer to live a bit longer, thank you," she said, pushing her head back.
The moon was so bright. It washed out the sky to the point no stars were visible anymore. Ochako opened her arms as if she was ready to take off with the slightest gust of wind. Instead, she dropped backward. She had been shin-deep into the snow but the ground turned out a lot closer. Her shoulders hit on it at the same time her head did. The impact rattled her brain; pain rippling from the back to the front in waves. Because of the monotone tune in her ears, she didn't hear Katsuki approaching this time.
He leaned over her with a pinch of concern on his face. "What do you think you're doing?"
Ochako tested her limbs by moving them up and down, tracing shapes on the snow. "I'm a starfish."
"You're an idiot that will get sick. Get up." He offered his hand.
Grabbing him by the elbow in the regular Knight-greeting way, she returned back on her feet. As he was letting go though, Katsuki stopped at her wrist and observed her gloved hand from all angles.
"Do you feel anything?"
She freed her hand, cradling it close to her chest. Her fingers had become numb at this point and it hurt to curl them. "I'm fine. Why're you asking?"
"These are simple leather gloves," he said deadpan. "Good for show but not for this kind of weather."
Ochako had always been blunt about her intentions for enlisting. It surprised her when her fellow squires showed nothing but unconditional support for this decision. However, at this moment, it felt like something which shouldn't be meddled with. That didn't stop her from spilling her guts anyway.
"I sent most of my salary to my parents so by the time it got cold, I didn't have much to spend. The shoemaker in town gave me some leather at a good price so I made them myself. It's not that big of a deal."
"Give me your hands," he said.
"Eh?"
"You have to take care of them or you won't hold a sword again in your life. Just give them, okay?"
Instead of grabbing them, he waited patiently for her initiative. She offered them—not without some reservation though. His palms enveloped her own like they were meant to fit perfectly there. The same way they had fit on her waist during Yule. Ochako couldn't forget that night. The music and the crowd had faded while they slow-danced like there was no one else in the room.
After all these months of training together, Ochako thought she understood him better. Her first impression of him—aloof and courteous—changed very quickly when Katsuki revealed his brash personality. His snarky comments had only sharpened her blade and resolve to prove him wrong. Although their first fight during training had resulted in Ochako's loss, something changed again. Not in her though. Maybe she had been amazed by his splendid technique but she still didn't like him as a person. Until he showed up during her private practice and backhandedly admitted how close she had been into beating him. It was the first of many such meetings. As time went by, Ochako even started reconsidering her opinion enough to give him another chance.
The thought of them together crossed Ochako's mind. With both being knights-in-training, their standing was equal. It wouldn't bother anyone if something more came to bloom. Even Katsuki, himself, mostly bragged about his abilities than his family's status. Word went around though, and her soul couldn't stop wondering if it was meant to be something temporary after all.
"What are you doing here?" she asked out of the blue.
He scoffed. "Saving your daft ass from frostbite."
She shook her head. "I mean, why become a knight? Your family is a branch of the Dragons, right? You already have servants to do your bidding and guards to protect you. So why would you go through this sort of training, willingly?"
Katsuki stared back with an unreadable expression for a couple heartbeats. "My folks aren't that important. They have an estate inside the wall and maybe a handful of servants at best." A cynical smile spread across his face. "When I'm done with my service, they want me to go back and run things. Can you imagine that?"
"No." She chuckled. "Okay, maybe a little. You already have the shouting orders part down."
"Maybe. But doing that while sitting on a porch with a mug of ale? Nah… The quiet life of a lord isn't for me. That much I know."
"Then what?"
"I'm going to become a King."
Katsuki stated this declaration in the same tone one might talk about the weather. Ochako searched in his features for a hint that he was pulling her leg. When she found none, her jaw dropped slack.
"Seriously?"
"Huh? Of course!"
"Do you even have a right to the throne?"
"No," he admitted. "That's why I'm going to get stronger than that bastard. When I beat him in combat, he won't have any other choice but give me the crown and the kingdom."
She couldn't help the giggles shaking her whole. "I can't believe I just had a snowball fight with our future ruler. Excuse me, your Highness. That. Was. Childish. Of. Me."
"What's so amusing? Think I can't make it?"
There were many words Ochako associated with him. Regal usually wasn't one of them. As the silver glow of the moon spilled over his form though, Katsuki radiated authority, power, and a wild drive to make his dream a reality. Under all that, there was warmth too. So far she had gotten only glimpses of it but Ochako was willing to let it consume her whole.
"I didn't say that." Then as an afterthought, she added. "When you become the King, will you let me serve as your Knight?" Her heart struggled to leap out of her chest, drowning every other sound around her. "I mean, you obviously won't need someone. Your strength will be clear as day to everyone but ya know. Kings have to deal with finances and lots of other things than the battlefield. After de-throwing the previous ruler, some might conspire against you too. So it might help to have trusty subjects look after your back."
The silence dropped on her shoulders like deadweight. Ochako had crossed every line possible. If anyone heard them talking, they'd be hanged for treason. Their families or more precisely her parents could be killed too. This was no laughing matter to talk so casually about.
"I…" Katsuki said. "I won't stop you if that's what you want."
She looked up from their joined hands, her cheeks so warm she didn't feel the cold anymore. "For real?"
He broke eye-contact, coughing in his scarf. "It's going to be a tournament anyway. I'll only accept the strongest people in my court," he said. "The competition will be tough."
"You think I can't make it?" she joked.
The moment he grinned was when Ochako received the answer she had been looking for all along. "Nah. I don't want to have to pretend I'm sorry for the other guys."
A/N: Comparing this and last year's Secret Santa, I found a pattern. Although I'm supposed to write for someone else, I end up writing the most self-indulgent fics. I'm so glad the recipients enjoy them because I'm feeling really embarrassed (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄
To be honest, I've dropped the same way Uraraka did before. My country doesn't get snow days often so when we ended up with heavy snowfall two years ago, I wanted to make snow angels. The thing is I didn't learn my lesson the first time I tried into shallower snow and did it again in the span of an hour maybe. Honestly, do you have like lay on the snow carefully first or something? XDDD