Title: Four Seasons - Of The First Snow
Pairing: Aizawa/Shiraishi
Summary: In which Megumi and the boy from the playground enjoyed the first snow together, unintentionally.
Notes: child!AU Code Blue in Winter *splashes autumn fallen-leaves upon myself*
Winter
The air was getting colder and Megumi knew winter's approaching. What used to be two layers of clothing hugging her body turned to four, or more even, to keep the warmth entrapped within her. She learnt not to forget her shawl (or any other piece of her clothing) ever again, because it could heavily affect others. Truthfully, she still had the remorse of that learning it the hard way. The shawl kept neatly on her drawer served as a reminder of it, and sometimes she still wondered about that certain boy.
Megumi didn't particularly enjoy the season because it took so much effort just to be able to do simple, mundane things. If she could help it, she wouldn't be out of her home as it was so much of a hassle to go out, but before the heavy snow would hit her region and they'd probably couldn't go anywhere but home, they needed to stock up on their supplies and so that was why she found herself in the nearby supermarket with her mother.
Well at least there were usually pretty decorations everywhere on the season, and the thought of that satisfied Megumi quite enough. But when she got reminded of the twinkling lights, beautiful presents, the smell of the heavenly assortments on the streets sometimes, maybe, just perhaps, the snow's worth the trouble it brought upon the universe.
Getting out of the car, Megumi tightened the shawl around her neck and rubbed her hands that was already covered by knitted-gloves together to feel some sort of heat. The supermarket sure was ready for the festivities as she saw the pretty lights decorated the entrance and windows. Her eyes lighten up at the sight and it seemed that she already forgot how freezing it was. Her mother smiled to herself, looking affectionately towards her daughter as she locked the car. The mother and daughter walked hand-in-hand towards the supermarket, psyched about finishing their shopping.
Megumi helped her mother push the cart around the aisles, more often than not distracted at the sight of interesting displays and festivities specialties. The perfectly aligned display came close to her liking, but the thing is, everybody must have felt the need to do the shopping that evening the place was so packed, full of people. After a few turns and rows Megumi kind of lost track of her mother, her being distracted here and there played a great deal to it. Realizing the state she was in, she tried to calm herself remembering the mart was not supposed to be that big and that she'll probably find her mother in the vegetables section anyway so she scurried away from the lighting aisle she found herself in, heading towards the sections she's more familiar with.
She's just about to enter the vegetables section but a sight of the snacks aisle tempted her, as if calling her soul to head there and get just anything from the shelf to her cart. She looked back and forth towards the aisle and the vegetables section (in which finally she could spot her mother somewhere in the middle of it), torn about what she should do. One final look at the aisle and she decided to get just one thing from it, trying to find the healthiest thing she could find in that aisle to justify her action.
It relieved her when she spotted a certain cereal, her most favorite even, one her mother would sometimes buy for her. She grinned to herself, knowing that what she was going to get would not stir too much of a bemusement. The 8-year old tried her best to get her hands on one of the cereal boxes nearest to her as it was located on the top rack and apparently with her height she needed to tiptoe reaching for it. Sadly, even with her utmost effort trying to reach the top shelf she just couldn't reach it. It devastated her so as the distance between where she could reach and the cereal box was less than an inch, but she still couldn't touch it even in the slightest.
Megumi was just about to give up getting it right then and leave, because she could probably ask her mother later to get it together with her when she's finished but she did feet a little down. When she turned back, she felt a presence of someone emerging next to her. As she turned her head to the right, she saw a boy, somehow familiar and after a keen observation her brain finally recognized him-the boy from the playground!- reaching for the same cereal she had been trying to get her hands on and managed to get it in one swift movement.
The girl gaped, eyeing him scrutiny as she thought that their height difference weren't that huge and she felt worse than before, not being able to complete such mundane thing. She gripped her cart tightly and was just about to roll it towards the vegetable section, but something stopped it. When she looked up, she realized that the boy also gripped on the cart -her cart- and she wondered of why he would do that. Their eyes met, though Megumi didn't really welcome him, but then the boy stretched out his hands with the box of cereal he took from the top rack towards her.
"For you," he said in a matter-of-fact tone, telling her that it was actually for her.
Flustered, Megumi could only accept the box of cereal quietly and put it in her cart. Before she could get across her gratitude, the boy left and disappeared on her just like that. She knew there's no use of mourning over spilt milk so she left the snacks aisle and went to the vegetables section to get her mother but deep inside her heart she regret it, how harsh her initial reaction towards the boy. She shouldn't be too prejudiced, she berated herself. When she reunited with her mother, the older woman noticed the addition on the cart and she shot a knowing look to her daughter, smiling amusedly and Megumi returned the gesture in a slightly mischievous manner.
After they finished searching for the items needed on their list for their winter supplies, Megumi and her mother headed towards the cashier. Halfway through unloading the things they were purchasing, Megumi noticed a familiar back of a boy pushing his own cart towards the exit together with a very much older woman. She didn't want to have any more regret, so she decided to run for him after asking for her mother's permission.
She find the need to run (though really carefully) as to not lose the boy and she finally caught up with him. Slightly out of breath, she stopped her tracks next to him and his cart as she grasped his left hand that was holding the cart railing and bent slightly on her knees. Surprised, the boy paused his steps and unconsciously enlarged his eyes. He looked at his grandmother, feeling unsure and quite insecure, because no one has ever done this to him before. His grandmother could only tilt her head sideways as she also wondered what triggered the girl. With confusion evident on his face, he waited for the girl to elaborate with his thumbs moving in a certain rhythm (a habit he acquired for whenever he was thinking deeply or was confused).
"Thank you," was all Megumi said to the boy after she managed to compose herself, staring straight at him tenderly, showing her gratitude in a very modest way. Before he could reply, he felt something cold on his hair and it seemed like the temperature around dropped to a whole another level. He and the girl looked up to the sky in sync, like they could reach each other's mind and they noticed the snow falling upon them, in the supermarket parking lot.
"Ah! The first snow of the season!" Megumi expressed her excitement without thinking and smiled so hard while trying to catch the snowdrops on her hands. With her face so lighten up, she looked very much like an innocent child it startled the boy so much he couldn't take his eyes off of her, he didn't knew why. It suddenly felt warmer, his insides, despite the actual temperature. It must have been the fact that the girl was very pretty, but since when did he concern himself about girls?
What his grandmother said next put all his thoughts to rest (and apparently the girl's too) as she sounded so frantic so suddenly, "Kosaku! Your nose is bleeding!" and the remark bring him around, his trance was shaken. As he touched his nostrils, he confirmed that he was foolishly having a nosebleed, with an unknown cause. Looking at the damp red instance in his hands he could not help but think to himself that he shouldn't care too much of the opposite sex if he didn't want such thing to happen ever again.
Witnessing the first snow unexpectedly with his grandmother and a ((pretty)) girl should've made a good memory, but with him having a nosebleed? Nah, he'd rather not remember it at all because of the embarrassment.
Notes: Well, one more to officially go! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the next installment! In the meantime, enjoy a nose-bleeding Aizawa (I'd like to think Shiraishi's the cause)!