"Hey. Can I have just a minute? I promise that I'm not just dragging you around in the cold for nothing," Sugawara almost pleaded with her. She scrunched up her face in his hands, but sighed and relented for now. He took a deep breath to recenter himself, fishing in his pockets for a moment.
"Okay," he said mostly to himself. Kitsuna pulled her hands out of her pockets and blew on them again, trying to renew the warmth in her fingertips. Her eyes were glued on him as he pulled off his gloves and tucked them into his pockets. Something bright caught her eye, there on his left hand.
"What..?"
"So, I know we've kinda gone out of order for a bunch of stuff," he started with a wavering voice, pulling her hands down from her face and gently spreading out her fingers on the left hand.
"Right," she wasn't sure if she should be listening or talking with him right now, so opted for just a quiet acknowledgement. She could tell from how cold his hands were that he was really struggling now. She was getting nervous, too. Catching his nerves, but also picking up on more and more details that helped her piece together a pretty wild puzzle.
"Well, we started dating about a year ago, right?," he kept going, pulling something out of his pocket and holding it out in front of her hand. He gulped hard, and she nodded along with his little monologue.
"Do you remember what I said, then? I sort of skipped over asking you out and went all the way to…to-"
"Oh. I guess you kinda did," Kitsuna finished off that thought for him. Their faces were burning up despite the icy wind that brushed over them. There was a slight dampness to it from where it blew over the fountain. He slid the shining golden object over her finger finally, letting out another unsteady breath.
"Eh?," Kitsuna wasn't sure how to respond at that moment. Sugawara smiled at her, one of his softer and sweeter smiles. It made her heart flutter every time she saw it, from even before they were an item. He pulled her hand into his own, so the ring on her finger was shining bright in her line of sight. His breath was warm on her fingers as he gently kissed the knuckles. A move she remembered well, even though she was pretending to be asleep for it the first time.
"Suga," she said his name breathlessly. Their eyes met again, and he pulled her hand toward his chest. That pulled her body closer to his, and he cupped her cheek with his free hand again. Gently pulling her in, stepping up for what was obviously a kiss. Kitsuna fidgeted briefly, glancing away before going for it.
Closer. Just a little lower. Their eyes closed slowly, losing the world around them. Or they would have, had something cold and wet not spattered off Suga's head into their faces.
"Dude! I told you to quit, Shitty-kawa!"
"Shut up, Iwa!"
"You! C'mere you little shit!," Kitsuna looked around wildly, locking onto the pair on the other side of the plaza. She tore off, booking it their direction before they could run away.
Oikawa ducked behind his partner, Iwaizumi, who tensed up into an awkward sort of stance ready to intercept her. Kitsuna slid on the ice just before reaching them, latching onto Iwaizumi's outstretched arm and whirling around behind him to land a powerful kick into Oikawa's back. The former Seijoh setter and captain was launched forward with that, faceplanting hard on the ground.
"See? That's what you get," Iwaizumi helped Kitsuna stand up while chiding his friend.
"Tch! They're the ones being all sappy out in public," Oikawa whined while picking himself up. He dusted off his clothes and shot a dirty look Kitsuna's way. She stuck her tongue out in a childish taunt.
"What? All depressed because you're out with your old friend for Christmas instead of a girl?," Kitsuna threw a dangerous jab at Oikawa. He sat there bickering with Iwaizumi for several minutes, with Kitsuna ducking behind the other boy when Oikawa would lash out.
For his part, Sugawara had mostly recovered from the shock and stood with another college student. One a couple years his senior, and the older brother of his very own roommate Satou. They watched with stunned faces as the scuffle unfolded across the way.
"Man, that was such a good shot too," the other guy complained while fiddling with a camera. "Think you could try it again?"
"Uh. Probably not, sorry," Sugawara's face was still red as he answered.
"Well, it's fine. I can probably just edit that part a bit. Thanks a ton," the other guy slid a strap around his neck, supporting the camera there while he folded up a tripod.
"Yeah."
"Still, though. I'm surprised. How'd you manage to pull someone like that? Man, I sure am lucky. Having a bigger name like hers will definitely pull in the views," the young man continued rambling while Suga's nerves settled.
"Huh? What do you mean," he caught the last part of the other guy's rambling a moment later.
"You didn't know? She's kinda big in the streaming scene. Usually doing stuff with some other dude, Monster Hunter and other games."
"Huh. She did mention streaming sometimes. Guess I didn't realize how popular that was," Suga shared his thoughts as they watched Kitsuna knock Oikawa off-balance for a second time. Iwaizumi finally stepped in and pulled her back, shouting at the both of them for making a scene.
"What a woman. For real, how'd you pull her?"
"Ugh," Sugawara expressed his distaste at the whistle the other guy let out. Satou had been pressing him hard for details about his partner for a while now. He finally believed that there was one, asking Suga to help his brother out with a project that would benefit the family business as well. And he got two rings out of it, with a hefty discounted price.
"Oh right, it was volleyball yeah? Guess that's how you know those guys, too? Dude, you might wanna go get her," the other guy was rambling on but pushed Sugawara on toward the end. Things were getting weird, though it was hard to tell exactly what had happened. Kitsuna was huddled down on the ground though, face buried in her hands.
"Right. We'll talk later. Thanks!," Suga ran over, careful of the icy patch Kitsuna had slipped on earlier. As he approached, the other two were obviously panicked and looked to him for help.
"What's up? Wasn't she handing your asses to you a minute ago?," Sugawara's reception was strikingly cold. He knelt down beside his partner, poking at her hands and trying to gently pry them away from her face.
"Kitsuna," his tonal shift was intense, especially for the other two. Kitsuna peeked through her fingers, and only then did the others notice how red her ears were.
"Sorry. Um! Wha-"
She was floundering hard, and sank further into her knees to hide her face. Sugawara laughed a little to chase away his own nerves, pulling her back to her feet.
"Apologize," he turned her by the shoulders to face the other two.
"Hah?! They deserved it-fine. Sorry," Kitsuna relented when Suga's grip tightened on her shoulders. He accepted her half-assed apology and released her, turning his attention on the other two.
"Sorry," they both apologized, one more genuine than the other. There was an intense stare-down among the three boys, until Kitsuna caved first and buried her face in Suga's shoulder. She tugged on his coat string, deflating whatever bravado he had mustered to face his former enemy.
"Right. Let's go, it's cold," Suga shot another nasty look at Oikawa before pulling his arm around Kitsuna's shoulders and leading her away. They got back to the dorm building before she calmed back down, encountering another issue as soon as they stripped their outerwear and got ready to settle down for the night.
"Hey," Kitsuna stood in the walkway from the front door to the other two doors that split off across the room. Into separate bedrooms, with the sitting area to her left. Sugawara stood to her right, arriving at the same realization she did and freezing up.
"Yeah."
"So, is one of us on the couch? Or?," she pointed with both hands to the sofa, then to the door directly in front of them.
"Um. How mad would you be if I said I didn't think about that until now?," Suga broke into a cold sweat.
"What? Really? With all you sneaking around and planning? All this time?"
"W-well. It slipped my mind? Um? I-if you're fine with it…"
Suga trailed off, unable to finish that sentence. Kitsuna gave him an incredulous look, then exhaled sharply and covered her face with her hands again. She pushed her hair up out of her face and let it fall down, her arms returning to her sides.
"We can try it," she caved in. She was tired, and it beat being cold at least. Unless his hands were still cold, in which case it would absolutely suck.