Nigou shivered visibly when Tetsuya set him down on the snow but took off soon after, romping away toward the rest of the team. Straightening, Tetsuya watched him chase the powdery flakes as they drifted down until Kiyoshi beckoned him over.
He greeted him as he approached. "Good morning."
"Morning Kuroko," Kiyoshi said, grinning. They stood together for a few moments, watching Nigou barrel through the first years on his way to greet Koganei and Mitobe. "It sure was nice of Riko to give us the day off," he commented, "Although we ended up spending the day together anyway."
Tetsuya agreed. They still had practice during the winter holidays but they'd been so busy training that Riko had decided to excuse them for a day and had expressly forbidden them to seek out basketball games.
She'd been especially careful in warning Kagami, although she hadn't neglected Tetsuya either, seeing as they were more likely to operate in a pair. "The last thing we need is either of you slipping on ice or something and getting hurt," she'd said.
"It's a nice change of pace," Tetsuya said, smiling as Hyuuga snapped at Izuki for some unheard pun. Seeing the same thing, Kiyoshi laughed.
Most of the team had assembled in the otherwise empty park and had progressed to preparing for a snowball fight. His declinal of Kagami's invitation to join was less polite than it could have been but because it was Kagami, he didn't mind, just returned to aggressively stockpiling snowballs. As the fight started, Tetsuya crouched to the side, watching the white blurs hurtle through the air, listening to the different sides shout out warnings and challenges.
There had been a few days like this in Teikou as well, during free time at winter training camps or on holidays.
Momoi had loved when it snowed; so had Aomine, for different reasons. Once Kise joined the team, they were the two most likely to start slugging snowballs, mostly at each other. Kise quickly learned that Tetsuya returned the favor twice over and at the least expected times too so usually focused on Aomine. Momoi wasn't afraid to join in either, dumping snow down Aomine's shirt and aiming directly at Kise's face with no hesitation. Otherwise, she loved to simply stare at the flakes, cheeks and nose pink from the cold.
Tetsuya always offered to share his scarf; she only accepted once and smiled the entire time.
Midorima would show up eventually, either passing by or called by Momoi. He never failed to be ganged up on by Aomine and Kise or be baited into proving time and again that his skills extended to anything he could shoot – even snow. Even he couldn't hide the smile on his face the time they'd tried to build a snow house large enough to house his lucky item, a miniature moose, though.
If Murasakibara showed up, he didn't play much, preferring instead to sit and watch, munching on whatever snacks he could handle while wearing gloves. He would, however, consent to building towering snowmen with branches for arms and draped in whatever garments any of them could shed. The tallest one they'd been able to build was near Murasakibara's height; Tetsuya loaned his scarf while Kise took charge of depicting a face and Aomine hunted for something to crown it with. He eventually relinquished his cap and and Momoi take a picture with all of them posing around their creation.
Akashi rarely joined in but when he did, Tetsuya found himself smiling long after they'd parted ways and he was at home, warm and content. Obviously he enjoyed playing basketball with everyone, but it was nice to know too that they had another connection, outside of team practices.
Cold snow shocked him out of the memory. Blinking it out of his eyes, he looked up to see Kagami's grin, arm still outstretched. "Sorry," he said, not looking sorry at all. "You were looking so lonely over there, I thought you wanted to join in."
Well, since he'd said it. Tetsuya stood, dusted himself off and walked to join the side opposite Kagami's. Taking his place between Hyuuga and Izuki, he silently began shaping his own snowball.
Kagami's grin was inextinguishable. "Now we're talking."
From the other side, Kiyoshi laughed and said, "Isn't it great everyone's having fun together?"
Kuroko didn't miss those times in Teikou. Not because he hadn't enjoyed them; he had. He was still working on making peace with those days and that included accepting that the good ones couldn't be replicated. Besides, he'd found something new, something precious with his current team.
Kise had promised to show up later in the day, possibly with some other members of Kaijou. Tetsuya had been texting Momoi the other night as well and received confirmation that Aomine was definitely free and would probably agree to some shooting practice later on. Midorima would never take the initiative on his own but Tetsuya knew if he were to send him a message too, he'd get some sort of response.
Yes, he'd found many precious things during his time with Seirin.
As the snowballs started to fly again, this time with him in the midst of the onslaught, a genuine smile curved his lips and the happiness he felt was reflected back through Nigou's excited barks from the sidelines.