So after much...apprehension and inactivity, I finally decided to upload this story here. Originally published on my AO3, this was my HQ Secret Santa gift for tumblr user as-mad-as-a-march-hare.

Snow crunched under Kenma's feet as he was running, puffing and panting. His cheeks were red with the cold and there was a constant cloud of breath in front of his face. His dyed-blond hair was tucked underneath a wool cap and he wore a thick winter coat over his red Nekoma tracksuit, under which he wore his hoodie and practice clothes. The footprints his shoes left in the snow followed him all the way to the corner of the school gym, where the Nekoma boys' volleyball team were supposed to be having an unofficial practice match with the Karasuno boys' volleyball club.

Showing up late to a practice match wasn't the ideal start to a wintry Saturday morning that Kenma had visualized. In fact, the night before, he had promised himself that he would wake up early especially for this practice match. It was after all the first match between Nekoma and Karasuno in ages (albeit unofficial) and it had been a while since Kenma had last seen his friend Hinata Shouyo.

Unfortunately for him, something had gone terribly wrong with his phone alarm, causing him to wake up an hour later than originally planned and by the time he had left the house, he was late for the practice match by an hour and a half.

He hadn't even eaten a proper breakfast yet and Kenma could already feel his stomach begin to protest to that. He grimaced as he forced his hunger down and slowed to a jog, finally getting closer to the front of the gym. He just had to turn that one corner and he would be there.

His mind began to wander to the possibilities. What would happen once he opened the gym doors and stepped through? No doubt the practice match would have started by now. He wondered who was playing setter for Nekoma in his place and he wondered if Kuroo would be angry or upset about his lateness. He wondered who was gaining the lead and if Karasuno had improved since their last practice match. That was definitely something Kenma would want to see. As a team, Karasuno showed a lot of potential and to have that potential brought out was definitely a sight to behold.

Still, he wondered how everybody would react to his unusual lateness. Especially the members of his own team. He tried not to imagine Kuroo's face when he walked through those doors, already more than an hour late. The thought of all those eyes on him was sickening enough already, he didn't need the weight of Kuroo's stare added onto that.

Realizing that he was now nearing the corner, Kenma sucked in a deep breath as he steeled himself for the embarrassment to come and turned the corner, the exclamation of "Sorry I'm late!" already on the tip of his tongue.

But what met him when he arrived at the gym's entrance made the exclamation die on his lips and made him come to a sudden stop as he stared wide-eyed at the assembly of volleyball players gathered right outside the doors, from Nekoma and Karasuno alike. Everyone lifted their heads when Kenma turned the corner, surprise registering on their faces when they saw him.

Hinata was the first to react, bounding up to Kenma excitedly, a grin splitting his face. "Kenma! Hey, where've you been, we were all really worried!"

Kenma highly doubted that last statement but smiled slightly at Hinata and gave a small nod as a reply. "Sorry I'm late."

"Kenma." Kuroo pushed himself off from his position leaning against the wall, his usual shit-eating grin gracing his features but his eyes betraying the relief he felt at Kenma's arrival. "Took you long enough. Have you been staying up late playing video games again?"

Despite the slight embarrassment he felt at everyone's attention on him, Kenma still managed to scowl up at Kuroo and mutter a reply. "No."

Kuroo laughed and clapped him amiably on the back. "I was just kidding, pudding cat! Glad to see that you still decided to show up!"

Kenma grimaced. "Please don't call me that."

"Though I must say," Kuroo continued, ignoring Kenma. "There really was no point in coming here."

Kenma frowned up at him. "What do you mean?" His gaze turned to the other assembled players, passing over his teammates (who all gave him nods and smiles of acknowledgement earlier) before eventually landing on the Karasuno players in their identical black jerseys. "Why are you all sitting outside anyway? Shouldn't you have started the practice match by now?"

Here, he turned to look at Kuroo, who sighed and shrugged. "There's really nothing much we can do about it, to be left the keys to the gym with Coach Naoi." Here, Kuroo stopped to shoot a dark look in the direction of Lev, who immediately spoke up to defend himself. "What?! Nobody told me we had to keep the gym keys ourselves!" He whined, earning him a punch on the arm from a disgruntled Yaku who muttered, "Shut up, you idiot!"

Kuroo shook his head before continuing, "Anyways, Coach left the keys in the faculty room and Kai and Inuoka are heading over there right now to get it." The Nekoma captain sighed and shrugged. "But I doubt that it's open to be faculty room, I mean. It is winter break and like nearly the entire school is deserted except for us. And given that this is an unofficial practice match, meaning we decided this ourselves and none of the coaches are in on it, I don't think Coach Naoi or Nekomata are coming to the rescue."

His eyes shift over to the Karasuno team, who all seemed to be watching him with a little apprehension. "There's really no point in having a practice match if the gym's unavailable. Worst case scenario, we're going to have to cancel it."

There was an uncomfortable silence before it was broken by Yamamoto, who looked up at Kuroo with furrowed brows and said, "Then maybe you should have told Coach that we'd be having a practice match today. Maybe then he wouldn't have left the keys in the faculty room."

For once, Kuroo looked at a loss for words. All eyes were turned towards him as he stared down at Yamamoto, opened his mouth, then quickly shut it. His eyes fell on Lev, who looked like he was stifling his laughter, and pointed an accusatory finger at the male. "Tell that to Lev, he's the one who gave Coach Naoi the keys!"

Everyone's gaze shifted to the tall Russian who froze at the unwanted scrutiny. He opened his mouth to let out a weak chuckle but before he could say anything comprehensible, Kai and Inuoka came running from out of the school building to join them.

"Well?" Kuroo turned to face them. "Do you have the keys?"

Kai looked up at the captain and sighed, shaking his head. "Sorry Kuroo, but when we got there, the faculty room was locked and there weren't any teachers around to open it."

"So, basically..." Kenma raised his brows.

Kuroo turned his eyes skyward and sighed, hands on his hips. "Yeah, it's just as I thought. The practice match is cancelled." He grimaced and added, "Unless you'd like to practice out here in the cold, with no ball and no net."

There were groans and sighs of disappointment as everyone rose to their feet and brushed themselves off. Kenma watched silently as everyone began to leave.

"I'm really sorry." Kuroo was saying to Daichi, who smiled at him reassuringly and held up a hand to indicate that it was okay. "It's fine, we'll just schedule another one at a more convenient time."

"Hey, since we're all here, why don't we all go somewhere?" Nishinoya was saying excitedly. "Good idea!" Tanaka grinned, giving the shorter boy a thumbs-up.

"Ooh ooh, where are we going?" Hinata was at their side in seconds, hopping up and down in excitement. Kageyama immediately brought a firm hand down over Hinata's mess of orange hair to restrain him. "Dumbass Hinata, stop jumping all over the place!"

Tsukishima clicked his tongue in displeasure as he pulled his headphones up over his ears. "No point in staying here any longer. Come on, Yamaguchi." The freckled boy glanced between Tsukishima and the rest of his teammates before following after the bespectacled blond, who was already beginning to make a way through the snow.

"Oi Tsukishima!" Tanaka grabbed Tsukishima's collar and began dragging him back. "You're not going anywhere!"

"What the-" Tsukishima struggled against the 2nd-year's grasp. "Let go of me!"

"No." Tanaka said with a tone of finality, managing to successfully bring the blond back to the group whilst pushing his headphones down. (Much to Tsukishima's annoyance.) "We're all going to go somewhere as a team! Come on, even Suga-san's on board!"

The gray-haired setter of Karasuno smiled uncertainly. "Well it does seem a waste for us to come all this way just to have the practice match cancelled. We should make the most of our time here and at least go somewhere worthwhile."

"Yeah, yeah!" Nishinoya nodded his head vigorously. "Hey hey, do you think we could call Kiyoko-san while we're at it?"

"Ooh let's invite Yachi too!" Hinata added excitedly.

Kenma hadn't realized that he had been staring at them for a while now until he felt someone drape a lazy arm across his shoulders. Looking over, he saw Kuroo smirking at him. "You better not be getting jealous now."

Kenma scowled before brushing the taller male's arm off. "I'm not jealous."

Kuroo hummed in response, giving him his famous shit-eating grin. "Then why don't we go somewhere too?"

Kenma frowned up at him, "What do you mean?"

"I mean we should take the entire team somewhere too." Kuroo said. He jerked his head behind him to where the rest of the Nekoma boys' volleyball team still stood, talking among themselves. "Everyone's still here, so like that setter dude said, we should make the most of our time. Don't you think so?" He raised his brows at Kenma.

The short blond seemed to contemplate the thought, staring down at the snow by his feet. He had to admit, the prospect of spending the rest of the day out with the team didn't seem so bad. A break was something they all probably needed right now. But then again, the thought of returning home to his cozy bed and playing video games in the warmth of his own room, away from the biting cold and awkward social situations, wasn't all too bad either. Actually, if Kenma were to be completely honest, the latter appealed to him more than the former did.

He glanced up at Kuroo, who was looking at him expectantly, still waiting for an answer. Finally, Kenma sighed and said, "Thanks, but no thanks. I'll just go home. Bye." And with that he turned to leave, the thought of having a hot breakfast at home already beginning to warm him up.

"Wait, what?" Kuroo said disbelievingly. "What do you mean you're just going home?"

"Exactly what it sounds like." Kenma replied without looking back at him. "Bye."

A few seconds passed with no response from Kuroo and Kenma was almost secretly pleased as he walked back the way he had come from earlier. Then suddenly, he felt something cold and compact hit his left shoulder, splattering into pieces upon impact. Kenma whirled around, golden cat-like eyes wide with surprise as he searched for the culprit.

Kuroo stood a few feet away, hands behind his back while he tapped his foot leisurely on the ground. He was determinedly avoiding Kenma's eyes as he looked at anywhere but him, glancing up at the sky and looking around at his surroundings.

Kenma glared at him before shaking his head and turning his back on the other, starting to walk away once again before another snowball hit the small of his back. This time, the blond was quicker to turn around and was just in time to see Kuroo's hand swiftly drop down to his side as he began to whistle a tune, trying to appear inconspicuous.

Kenma narrowed his eyes at the dark-haired male, not taking his eyes off of him for a long moment, before he slowly turned back and quickened his pace as he walked away.

The third snowball hit him right at the back of his head, nearly knocking his wool cap off. The glare was ready on Kenma's face as he turned and this time, he caught Kuroo right in the act. The taller male still had his hand raised from when he had thrown the snowball, his famous shit-eating grin on his face. His teammates from Nekoma were right behind him, some grinning, while others were glancing uncertainly between him and Kenma.

"Will you please stop that?!" Kenma yelled at him before he received a snowball right in the face as a reply, Kuroo's laughter ringing out as a tense hush seemed to fall over everyone else.

Oh that was it.

Kenma huffed as he bent down, scooped up a handful of snow and began to pack it into a ball. He wiped off the snow on his face with the long sleeve of his coat before positioning himself and drawing his hand back, aiming straight at Kuroo Tetsurou's grinning face. He was just in time to see the Nekoma captain's eyes widen and panic begin to overtake his features before he let the snowball fly, throwing it with all his might.

The Nekoma members behind Kuroo had scattered the moment Kenma had raised his arm to throw. Kuroo, however, wasn't quick enough and the snowball successfully implanted itself on his face. His teammates laughed and hooted at him, pointing. A moment passed in which Kuroo remained motionless before lifting a hand and wiping the snow off his face. As the last of the snow was brushed off, Kenma could clearly see that he was grinning at him.

"It's on."

No sooner had the words left Kuroo's mouth then he grabbed some snow, quickly rolled it up into a ball and threw it straight at Kenma. The blond managed to dodge this one and retaliated with another snowball, managing to clip the side of Kuroo's arm before running to the left. Kuroo laughed as he aimed another one at Kenma. As he sent it flying, the blond quickly ducked out of the way and the snowball struck the unsuspecting back of Sawamura Daichi.

Everyone but Kuroo froze and fell silent as the Karasuno captain slowly turned his head, a dark and dangerous smile on his face. Daichi grabbed a handful of snow, formed it into a ball within milliseconds and threw it straight at Kuroo, who ducked just in time, causing it to hit Yamamoto instead.

Tanaka burst out laughing, stomping his feet and clutching his stomach before he was silenced by a snowball to the mouth. Nishinoya let out what sounded like a battle cry before he started throwing snowballs at Nekoma. Hinata was at it in a heartbeat and before long, so was everybody else.

The rest of Nekoma were shouting and laughing as Kenma ran to join them, coming to a shaky halt next to Kuroo, who grinned and handed him a few choice snowballs. Quite despite himself, the blond grinned back and grabbed one, aiming it at Karasuno's general direction before letting it fly.

"Enemy sighted at 2 o'clock!" Nishinoya cried out from his perch on the branch of a tree. He closed one eye as he took aim and fired straight at Lev, successfully hitting him in the chest.

"Hey, no fair!" Lev protested angrily, pointing a finger up at Nishinoya, who was roaring with laughter. "No climbing!"

"Says who!" Nishinoya called back down to the Russian before firing another ball at him, hitting him on the top of his head. Lev began forming his own snowball and was just about to throw it in Nishinoya's direction before one suddenly hit him in the side of his face.

Hinata laughed, another snowball ready in his hands. "There's more where that came from!" Lev immediately forgot about Nishinoya and ran to pursue another target, who gave a terrified squeak when he realized he was being chased and quickly turned tail.

"Karasuno, fight!" Tanaka yelled, standing atop a crudely-built snow fort, his jacket and scarf off, as well as his shirt, which he was waving in the air above his head. Two snowballs hit him in the face at the same time, effectively knocking him off his perch and down to the ground below. Yamamoto and Inuoka burst into laughter and gave each other high-fives. "Nice one!"

Behind them, a small team composed of Kenma, Yaku and Fukunaga were busy constructing a small defensive snow fort while Kuroo and Kai stood defending them, throwing snowballs at anyone who came near.

"Is it done yet?" Kuroo asked, dodging a snowball thrown at him by a glaring Tsukishima, who had made it his personal business to take down whoever had started this damn snowball fight in the first place. "I don't think I can hold on any longer. Plus,Tsukki doesn't look like he'll be relenting any time soon." Upon hearing Kuroo call him by his nickname, the glare on Tsukishima's face seemed to grow deeper and the next snowball he threw seemed much more forceful than the last.

"Shut up and keep throwing." Kenma said simply, piling another handful of snow on top of the half-finished wall. Kuroo shot him a look before taking a vicious blow to the neck from Tsukishima, which sent him toppling backwards to the ground.

"Captain down! Captain down!" Kai began yelling as everyone turned their head to look. Kenma himself couldn't help but smile as Kuroo slowly sat up, rubbing a hand over the spot on his neck where he had been hit. Their eyes met and Kenma chuckled lightly at the ridiculous expression of incredulity on the dark-haired male's face. For a fleeting moment, the corners of Kuroo's lips twitched upward into an amused smile before it morphed into something akin to horror and he pointed wordlessly to something over Kenma's shoulder.

By the time the blond noticed this and turned his head to look, it was already too late.

The snowball hit him on the nose, knocking him backwards into their snow fort which collapsed under his weight. Yaku groaned and immediately set to making a snowball out of some of the snow from their fallen fort. Taking careful aim, he threw the ball towards Kenma's 'killer', Yamaguchi. It missed the freckled boy by inches and Yaku cursed as Yamaguchi laughed and ran away to avoid another one.

Kenma wiped the snow from his face and groaned, feeling slightly dizzy. He heard someone laughing from right above him; a deep, amused laugh. When the dark spots finally cleared from his vision, he was surprised to find Kuroo smiling down at him. The blond pushed himself up on his elbows and sat there, staring back at the older male in silence.

"What's wrong, pudding cat?" Kuroo laughed, holding a hand out towards Kenma. "Come on, let's go extract revenge and kick some ass."

Kenma visibly hesitated, glancing uncertainly between Kuroo's grin and his outstretched hand. Then slowly, he took Kuroo's hand and allowed him to pull him up to his feet, feeling the other male's strong fingers wrap around his own; firm yet surprisingly warm and gentle. So pleasantly warm.

"Hey, you okay?" Kuroo asked, a note of concern in his voice as he raised his brows inquiringly at Kenma.

The blond studied him for a long moment before smiling and nodding his head. "Yeah, I'm fine. Come on, didn't you say something about kicking ass?"And with that, he scooped up a handful of snow and began running towards where the rest had converged to initiate one last stand against Karasuno.

Kuroo stood there for a moment, stunned, before he grinned and followed after Kenma, laughing.

Kenma all but collapsed on his bed the moment he entered his room, exhausted and still in his practice clothes. Kuroo followed after him and sat down on the edge of the bed with a sigh. He grinned down at Kenma and poked him on the shoulder a few times. "Hey. You still awake?"

The blond only gave a small nod as a response before reaching over to grab his hoodie from one of the bed posts. Pulling the hoodie on, Kenma sat up and sighed. He turned his head to look out at the snow falling outside his window, a small pile already beginning to form on his window sill.

"It's getting really cold, isn't it." He said to no one in particular. Kuroo was silent as he studied the blond. Then without warning, he reached out and wrapped both his arms around Kenma's waist, pulling him closer towards him.

Kenma gave a start as he felt Kuroo's arms tighten around him and as they both fell down to the bed. He was pressed right up against Kuroo, his face mere inches from the other's neck. He could feel the dark-haired male's breath against the top of his head, ruffling his hair slightly. He watched as Kuroo's chest heaved up and down with each breath and he was suddenly painfully aware of exactly how close they were to each other.

Kenma felt his face redden as he looked up at the older male. "K-Kuroo, what are you doing?" He asked, sounding hesitant and apprehensive.

Kuroo gave a small smile and only pulled the blond closer. A hand was brought up to stroke the back of Kenma's head, slowly and gently. "You're right, it is getting cold. Thought this was a good way to warm up. You don't mind, do you?"

The expression on Kuroo's face was nothing like Kenma had ever seen before when he looked down at him. There was a grave sort of seriousness on his features; it was almost funny and laughable. But his gaze was steady and his dark eyes shone with a strange determination and something that Kenma had never noticed there before. There was reassurance there, a look that told Kenma that he could trust Kuroo with anything and that if he found that he did mind, then he would stop and he needn't worry about it. It looked almost protective, as if it was reassuring him that he would never let anything bad happen to him. Suddenly he found that he couldn't look away, couldn't tear his eyes off the other's face.

There was still something else there. A strange kind of look that Kenma couldn't quite place. It was weird; it made his chest flutter and his stomach stir. His cheeks were starting to warm and he suddenly felt restless and insecure, self-conscious and not knowing what to do or say.

But still, he couldn't look away. He was frozen; the simple action of turning his head already seeming like an impossible task. But then his golden eyes locked with Kuroo's dark ones and without really understanding why, he knew what he wanted.

Kenma shook his head and inched closer. "No, I don't mind." He whispered softly as he nuzzled his face into Kuroo's neck. He could tell that Kuroo was holding his breath, stunned and almost disbelieving. Then he heard a light chuckle and he felt Kuroo's chin rest against the top of his head. His arms held the blond close, just like how he had held his hand earlier. Strong and firm, as if he was never going to let him go, but also warm and gentle.

Kenma draped an arm over Kuroo and closed his eyes, breathing in the other's scent and feeling him shift slightly next to him. He felt something soft and gentle against his forehead and realized that it was a kiss.

The blond smiled as he gave himself up to his drowsiness. He pulled Kuroo closer till their chests were right against each other, their legs entangled and their breaths almost mingling into one.

"It's warm." Kenma whispered just before he fell asleep in Kuroo's arms.