A/N: Hey, AB section! Another TPS chapter conquered. With each one I get closer to my HC resume point, and absence makes the heart grow fonder, but honestly lately it's been a joy to play in the mountains with these wacky kids. Such a joy that apparently I'm capable of updating within less than a month. It'd be a nice Christmas present to myself if I got to a specific conversation in this before Christmas. Hey, miracles happen!

Anyways, thanks to ZainR for the review! I like that you caught the OUAT tie-in, I hoped it wasn't too subtle. Of course if anyone would know some things about the secretive Storybrooke, it would be Saki! And it is fun to see shippy foreshadowing, isn't it? Things are certainly heating up at the ski lodge, huh? Or at least getting cozy... Hope you got yourself some hot chocolate!

Enjoy!

[Chapter 39]: Another Day, Another Snow Fort

The morning dawned later than Ayato was used to back home, but still bright and early as apparently Masuda was a strict early riser. He was quiet about it, yes, but then he made the mistake of mentioning breakfast to Hejjiguchi. Soon a freshly showered Hejjiguchi was bouncing around the room trying to wake Ayato and get him to come with. Climbing out of bed, Ayato had to hastily assure them both that he was getting up because he usually did chores around this time, not because their "idle" mention that Yuri was probably already down there waiting for him.

They met up with the girls in the dining area, all three of them still looking especially pampered from last night, and caught up over eggs, bacon, waffles, fruit, coffee, and tea at a window-side table. Ami asked them if they had fun while she, Kurimu, and Yuri were gone, and Hejjiguchi was only happy to tell her of Masuda's snowy burial. Cue Masuda defending himself by citing Ayato's and Hejjiguchi's clumsiness during their battle.

"Wait a minute, you two had a snowball fight?" Ami squealed through a giggle, her eyes lighting up as they trained on Ayato as if seeing him for the first time.

Yuri smirked at him over the rim of her coffee cup. "I would've paid to see that."

"They were bonding," Ami positively cooed to her.

Ayato and Hejjiguchi shared a mutually disturbed look – but that may have added even more fire to the flame.

While visibly just as encouraged to hear of them getting along, Kurimu was more interested in the snow fort they had built, and sympathized with Masuda as she mourned its destruction. "Maybe we can all make another one together after the excursion!" she said brightly.

"Good idea, Kurimu! We need to make up for last night's separation," said Ami, already in deep contemplation mode.

Which was your idea, Ayato thought, but nicely kept quiet and ate his eggs. Begrudgingly he had to admit to himself that the effect the onsens had on Yuri suited her. There was a serenity about her and a healthy glow to her skin, which looked smooth to the touch… He had to quell a restless urge in his fingers that he found completely bemusing. Since when was he so enraptured with Yuri's skin? This mountain really was doing something to his head.

After breakfast, they headed out for the morning excursion. Ichinose and Nakahara had them trying something a little harder than a bunny hill this time. There were a few strategically placed obstacles, many of which Hejjiguchi made the most of, launching himself into the air whenever he could with as much pizzazz as possible. Ayato was fairly certain he was trying to make a drawn-out "wooooooooo-HOO!" his new catchphrase. Meanwhile, he again pitied Shiruba, who kept trying to catch up to Ami but often found himself sprayed with a mist of powdery snow as Masuda skied past him.

Yuri stuck with him, and he was doing his best to go at a challenging speed. Thirty minutes in gained him enough confidence to give her a good race, while Kurimu and Ami cheered them both on – Ami for Yuri, and Kurimu for Ayato. One race had them neck and neck until Fujimoto blasted through the middle of them roaring with laughter, with Rumi swooping around them while shouting, "THAT'S NOT A HEADSTART THAT'S CHEATING YOU MORON—" The distraction had slowed Yuri down so much that she only made it to the bottom five seconds after Ayato perfected his hockey stop.

"She's hated him ever since first grade when he pulled out her chair when she was about to sit down," Yuri said to him under her breath when they had paused to take a rest. Her eyes wandered over to the two. Fujimoto had won, but Rumi was making a firm case for why it didn't count. "I wonder what got this started in the first place…?"

"Fujimoto got her to agree to a race that says if he wins, he and the guys are allowed to hang out with us," Hisakawa explained, coming up beside her, with Saki, Nezumi, Hirohashi and Takada at her heels.

Yuri startled briefly, then gave her a blank stare. "Did I ask you?"

A shrug from Hisakawa. "No, but you asked Naoi," she said indifferently, "and how would he know, really?"

"I thought she was just looking for an answer in general," Nezumi volunteered. Takada pursed his lips and swiftly nodded his agreement.

At that moment, a triumphant-looking Fujimoto trudged over to join them. "I told her I'd agree to another race but if I won that time, she'd have to high-five me after," he said. "She decided it wasn't worth it."

Hisakawa laughed knowingly, while Yuri seemed to be wrestling a smirk. But then it faded as she tilted her head at him.

"All this because she bruised her butt eleven years ago," Hisakawa said. "Why did you do it, anyway? I know you were a kid, but it doesn't seem like you."

Nezumi snickered and bit at his knuckle, earning him an elbow jab from Hisakawa.

"Don't laugh! It was so mean!"

This only made Nezumi's face go red with choked up glee. "No, you don't understand—" He trailed off, laughing even harder.

"Nezumi," Fujimoto singsonged a chuckled warning, "shut up…"

"I know, I know," Nezumi wheezed. "I didn't say anything."

While they were distracted, Ayato took the opportunity to herd Yuri away from them. "I'm starting to think that our current predicament is like fighting a hydra monster," he intoned as he was steering her by the shoulders in another direction. "We cut off the Kimito head but a bunch of classmates keep growing back in its place."

Yuri snorted. "You're getting very popular, you know."

"It's your fault," he said in a playful whine. "You and your little fan club… You know, you could stand to be a bit less lovable."

"Then how would I keep you around?" Yuri teased, looking back at him with a charming grin.

Ayato narrowed his eyes at her. "What did I just say?" he said sternly, trying and failing to fight back a smirk of his own.

"Nakamura, Naoi," Ichinose called out, gesturing them over. "If you two are finished flirting…?"

Dumbstruck, the two of them exchanged mortified glances before shuffling over to join the group next to Ami, who was giggling shamelessly. He heard Shiruba murmur, "It's like, get a room, right?" which made Ami giggle more and swat at him with a shushing noise. Ayato decided he was now especially glad he sabotaged those drama club cakes.

Satisfied with their overall skiing prowess, Ichinose and Nakahara dismissed the second-year students to go do whatever. Naturally Fujimoto and Takada took that to mean "promptly pelt each other with a thousand snowballs," though they had to band together when the unlikely recurring trio of Sayuki, Kaori, and Rumi swooped in on them.

"Guys against girls!" Takada whooped.

"No mercy!" hollered Fujimoto.

"We're not offering any!" Rumi shot back, going in for the kill.

Farther away, Hirohashi must've been making some unimpressed comment about the battle, because Nezumi and Saki turned to each other with a nod and lobbed their respective snowballs. Saki's hit him in the back of the neck and he made a sound like a frightened fox, missing her dance of triumph but whirling around in time to see Nezumi high-five her. Hirohashi bolted towards Nezumi for revenge and the latter, guffawing, ran for his life. He dove for Shiruba and clung to his shoulders, trying to use him as a shield, but almost knocked him over again in the process, so Shiruba turned on him with a cry and the two started roughhousing. In all the chaos, Hisakawa stumbled backwards trying not to get crashed into by the boys and lost her footing, falling on her back in the snow. After a moment of disorientation, she apparently shrugged it off and started making a snow angel.

Yuri covered her mouth to stifle her cackles, eyes shining in malevolent mirth. Her face was flushed pink with restrained joy. Ayato couldn't believe someone could look so lovely in the midst of such wicked laughter…

What was he thinking? He hastily turned his gaze back to the scene to subdue his thoughts. Saki had flopped down beside Hisakawa and begun making one too out of solidarity.

"Nice recovery," Hejjiguchi commented, weaving around their figures so as not to disturb construction.

"Well, I figured, while I'm down here…"

Kurimu giggled appreciatively. "That does look like fun – I want to do it too!" she said, and fell gracefully in the snow like a prim young lady into a delicate faint.

Ayato couldn't believe what he was seeing – the girl even dropped to the ground politely. He watched, shaking his head, as she blithely formed her wings.

"Yuri would make one too," he said, sympathetically clicking his tongue since he was apparently unable to hold it, "except hers just wind up looking like devils…"

Yuri uttered an indignant gasp, at first making as if to shove him. But then she reconsidered, bent down to scoop up a handful of snow, and dropped it down the back of his coat. He danced away, yelping, as Ami, Hejjiguchi, and Yuri cracked up. When at last the snow had either melted or been dislodged, he dug up his own fistful of winter warfare and came after her. Yuri shrieked, still laughing, and darted away as he gave chase.

"Masuda, don't let him get me!"

"Oh no, I'm not getting into the middle of this again!" Masuda said at first, but ended up moving to shield her anyway when Ayato side-stepped.

Yuri eventually got restless and ducked out from behind Masuda, but when Ayato headed her off, he discovered she was once again armed as well. They stood there, posed in a stand-off, until suddenly a couple of snowballs hit Ayato and then Yuri. Startled, they turned to see Ami and Kurimu standing side-by-side, both with another snowball at the ready.

"Now how about both of you call a truce and drop the snow," Ami said, her voice terrifyingly calm.

"Or hold on to it!" Kurimu suggested, beaming. "Because we'll need it for the snow fort."

Ayato and Yuri obeyed, putting up their hands in surrender and opening them so that the snow tumbled to the ground.

Having found the perfect spot to build, they had just begun building when Ami decided aloud, "I think we could use some more recruits." She gestured to Yuri and Masuda. "Come with me?"

Out of some sort of drama club solidarity, they nodded in unison and got up to follow her. Ayato did too, annoyed by both this bizarre feeling of separation anxiety and Ami's tendency to lure Yuri off somewhere.

"We'll just be here!" Hejjiguchi and Kurimu called after them, and shared a smile, obviously happy to seize any chance to be alone together (even for something as simple as fort-building).

Ami led the charge through the path of the ongoing snowball war between Team Fujimoto and Team Rumi. Once they got beyond all that, she stopped in front of her destination to find Nezumi and Shiruba still wrestling in the snow. Rather, Shiruba was on top of a struggling Nezumi, pushing him down and mushing handfuls of snow in his hair. Ami put her hands on her hips and waited patiently until Shiruba noticed her. Silently Masuda moved forward to stand at her side, taking in the sight with a raised eyebrow.

It took a moment but Shiruba finally registered the shadows hanging over him and looked over his shoulder. Upon spotting Ami and Masuda, he quickly scrambled to his feet, clearing his throat. Nezumi also got up and brushed himself off.

"Hey, guys. Ami," Shiruba greeted, standing tall.

"I let him pin me," Nezumi clarified.

"I don't doubt that," Masuda said shrewdly.

Both boys looked puzzled and then suspicious at his comment, but let it slide. "So, what's up…?" Shiruba asked in a deeper voice.

"We're making a snow fort – do you wanna help?" Ami asked, jabbing a thumb over her shoulder.

Shiruba looked as if she might as well have just kissed him on the mouth. Thrilled, he turned expectantly to Nezumi, who considered his face for a moment and then threw out his arms in a shrug. "Why not?"

Ami gave a happy cheer of triumph before turning on her heel and leading them back. A preening Shiruba was perfectly content to follow, while Nezumi fell into step beside him.

"I'm sure you could use the manpower anyway," Shiruba said, side-eyeing Masuda smugly and bumping his shoulder as he passed him. Masuda didn't look too impressed, but a bristling Ayato definitely squinted, so Shiruba added, "No offense, Naoi."

"Yeah, no offense, Naoi," Nezumi echoed, throwing in a wink for good measure. And then, "Oh, hey Hejjiguchi."

Hejjiguchi said nothing, only turned to Ami and made a little hand gesture like, are you serious?

Ami sucked air through her teeth, shrugged through an apologetic wince, and gestured with her eyes toward Shiruba. He's the one I wanted!

Hejjiguchi widened his eyes at her. THEY'RE A MATCHING SET.

Ayato watched all of this as it continued on, more than a little disturbed that he was able to follow along.

Despite Hejjiguchi's and Masuda's misgivings, the snow fort came together a lot more quickly with the added help. Jinko even came along and joined them when Ami flagged her down. Apparently she and Matsumoto were supposed to go check out the movie theater but Matsumoto kept being slowed down by various admirers. He never ignored any of them, so she eventually walked away unnoticed while he tended to his fans.

"The price of being beautiful," Nezumi sighed, shaking his head in deep empathy.

"It's truly a heavy burden," Ayato agreed, and tried not to preen when Nezumi laughed and threw him an approving grin.

(Hejjiguchi, for some reason, looked slightly annoyed at the exchange.)

"Oof, Masuda, you're doing this all wrong," Shiruba tsked, nudging Masuda out of the way to fuss over the spot he'd been working on. "Ami, you're lucky you came and got me when you did. You know the 'three little pigs' story? Let's just say this guy would be building you a house of straw, and I'm the one with the bricks."

"I made a perfectly good snow fort just last night," Masuda replied, not even bothering to spare him a glance. "I know what I'm doing."

Shiruba feigned a look of surprised curiosity. "Oh yeah? Where is it now?"

Closing his eyes, Masuda muttered, "Hejjiguchi and Naoi fell on it."

Nezumi and Shiruba shared a huge grin before dissolving into a snickering fit. "Shoddy workmanship," Shiruba said. "No excuse for it, if you ask me."

"I didn't ask you, but alright…"

Kurimu frowned worriedly at the budding tension. "Wasn't it just a fluke? I mean, any snow fort could collapse under someone's weight…"

"That's a wonderful point, Kurimu," Masuda praised her. "Shiruba, what say we push you in once we're done and see how your snow bricks stand after that?"

"That sounds like a threat—"

"No threat, just a simple test of its structure—"

"Boys!" Ami singsonged, bracing her hands on their shoulders as she popped in between them to separate them. "Less banter, more building!"

Grumbling, Shiruba shot Masuda one last look of vexation before obeying, but an unaffected Masuda was already working away.

"Remember when Hejj was my only competition?" he hissed aside to Nezumi.

Nezumi razzed. "If you call that 'competition'…"

Meanwhile, Yuri leaned over to Ayato, her lips parting into a smirk. "I still can't believe you played with Hejjiguchi last night," she said under her breath.

Ayato made a face. "We did not play. We're not ten years old. It was winter warfare and I defeated him."

Yuri snorted with laughter. "Yeah, sure, in a tickle fight after you fell in the adorable snow fort you made together. I can't believe I missed that!"

"Okay, you know what—" he said, turning to her.

"What?" Yuri beamed. The teasing twinkle in her eyes made him hesitate.

From the other side, Masuda spoke up. "They were rolling in the snow giggling like idiots afterward. Surely a common practice following a perilous battle."

"Traitor!" Ayato exclaimed, as Yuri burst out laughing. He swatted some snow at her and she gave a little shriek as she tried to shield herself.

Once the fort was built and hollowed out, Hejjiguchi emerged from the entrance and stood, clapping the snow off his gloves.

"Cool, I think we're all done," he said, and glanced around. "So, I forget, did we vote yes on testing the structure? Shiruba, Nezumi…?"

"Of course not!" Kurimu stepped up between Hejjiguchi, Shiruba, and Nezumi, putting a hand on the snow fort protectively. "They did a fine job helping us build this fort and I thought it was nice that we all worked together. It would be a shame to ruin our group project, so this one is staying up."

Nezumi smiled. "Thank you, Kurimu." And then, looking at Hejjiguchi, "I agree, some of us might even call teamwork a real superpower!" He dramatically punched the air for emphasis.

A flush of red bloomed in Hejjiguchi's cheeks, and he rolled his eyes as Nezumi dissolved into snickering. "I said it one time at track, so it'd be really cool if you'd just let it die!"

"No, no, I like it!" Nezumi said exuberantly. "The guys and I still say it all the time. Don't we, Shiruba?"

Shiruba bobbed his head in agreement. "It's a great rallying cry."

Hejjiguchi side-eyed Ami accusingly before giving the snow structure a decisive pat. "Well, thanks for the help with the fort, you two! Now that it's done, speaking of the guys, maybe you should go rally your group. See what they're up to."

Nezumi blinked at Shiruba. "I think he just told us to get lost."

"Or, put it this way." Hejjiguchi packed a snowball and brandished it with a smile. "Either you end the joke, or I end you."

The friends exchanged scandalized glances. "A call for violence!" Nezumi gasped.

"Who dares threaten the king?" Shiruba demanded in a rush, moving forward to guard him.

"No, no," Nezumi said calmly, and Ayato thought he could see a flicker of hand movement behind Shiruba. "What's the purpose of a snow fort, if not for—" He cut himself off and lobbed a snowball at Hejjiguchi, who ducked in time so that it hit Masuda instead.

"Hey!" Masuda and Hejjiguchi said indignantly, and the latter hurled his snowball.

War ensued as Nezumi and Hejjiguchi chased each other down, landing blow after frozen blow. Masuda battled an internal conflict over protecting the snow fort but eventually jumped to Hejjiguchi's defense, nailing Nezumi with a snowball while Hejjiguchi had him distracted. Shiruba, who had done little more than play defense for Nezumi until then, reacted with an "oh hell no!" and immediately launched his own attack. Now it was Nezumi versus Hejjiguchi and Shiruba versus Masuda.

Ami, who had been watching this from the beginning with a look of unsurprised resignation, finally snapped and flung herself between the four boys.

"All right, will you stop?" she exclaimed, though Shiruba had already lowered his weapon at the sight of her. "I hope you boys got it all out of your systems, because outside of snowball fights you'd better get along! No one's telling anyone to get lost. We're happy to have you with us as long as everyone behaves." She cast a weary look toward Yuri and Jinko, begging for empathy. "Good grief, this is like Christmas all over again…"

Nezumi leaned an arm on Shiruba's shoulder. "Good, 'cause I'm not going anywhere. I'm afraid you can't have this one all to yourself." He looked to Ayato and gave him a little nod. "You gotta watch out for Ami Kawata. She's a regular people-stealer. You know what I'm talking about."

Ami threw a clumsy handful of snow at him. "I am not a people-stealer!" she hollered (but Ayato did indeed know what he was talking about).

Laughing, Nezumi dodged most of it. "Doesn't matter! I don't care. Water under the bridge and all that," he said with a shrug. "But anyways, it's the least you can do after you borrowed Shiruba for Christmas."

"I didn't borrow him either! He's a person, not a cute pair of shoes," Ami countered, making Nezumi snicker. "But if it makes you feel any better, yeah, Shiruba spent Christmas in my company, but most of his attention was spent elsewhere."

Nezumi's laughter faded into a scoff. "What do you mean?" he asked, still smirking.

"I mean the whole time he paid more attention to Masuda than to me!" said Ami, gesturing to Masuda behind her.

His elbow slipped off Shiruba's shoulder as he raised both eyebrows. "Oh, really?" Traces of scorn lingered in his features but melted away little by little.

"Oh yeah," Yuri piped up to vouch for her, while Shiruba started to look anxious. "It was like she wasn't even there."

"They spent pretty much the entire night just arguing with each other," Ami laughed.

"DID they?" Nezumi's smile, now quite forced, turned to Shiruba.

His eyes darting and blinking, Shiruba looked very much like a rabbit in a dark, unfamiliar wood, in that he sensed trouble but couldn't yet figure out how or why. "That's – they're exaggerating," he said, trying to wave it away with a scoff. "It's not – he kept butting in – he was distracting me—"

"That's true," Jinko spoke up. "He was so distracted he walked into a pole."

Ami and Yuri giggled into their hands, and even Masuda was failing to suppress a smirk.

Flushing red, Shiruba sputtered some more. "Okay, don't listen to them, they're deliberately – I mean – don't misunderstand or anything, that's not—"

"Nah, I understand everything perfectly," Nezumi teased, folding his arms across his chest. "But you should've told me you already had a drama king. Sorry, Masuda, didn't mean to usurp your title."

"Alright, do you want some more of what you were getting earlier?" Shiruba warned. "'Cause that's where you headed if you don't shut up."

"Oh please, like I said, I let you pin me," Nezumi said. "You couldn't—"

He let out a yelp as Shiruba grabbed him by the shoulders and sent them both sprawling to the ground. Nezumi wrestled for control but Shiruba seized his wrists and pinned his arms down as well. But as Shiruba let go to grab handfuls of snow, Nezumi stole his opportunity and soon they were rolling, kicking, shoving, and locking – way too close to the snow fort. One side caved in before they rolled in the other direction, Shiruba for the most part maintaining power.

"There it goes again," Masuda muttered, watching a quarter of the fort crumble away (much to Kurimu's dismay).

"You know, Shiruba's not so bad, actually," Hejjiguchi said, half-grinning as if Nezumi's protests were music to his ears.

"When did he get so strong…?" Ami wondered.

Ayato turned to share an eye-roll with Yuri, only to find her staring at the wrestling duo with a peculiar look on her face. Almost pensive. He nudged her. "What is it?"

She shook her head. "Oh, it's nothing. Just…" She blinked. "Déjà vu."

"Ah," he said in understanding. He didn't know how or why, but he had a strange feeling he knew exactly what she was talking about.

A/N: Hard at work on Chapter 40. Hope to update soon! Until then, take my meager preview quotes.

Preview:

"How's my love line looking?"

"I'm tempted to go hit my head against a pole."

"It's more serious than that!"

"Let me guess, I fall in love easily?"

"Poor Yuri!"

"She thinks the Grinch is sexy?"

"You have to die."

"I'm sure this is going to be fun."

"You guys are so mean!"

[Chapter 40]: Fun and Games.