When given one-word prompts, I tend to deviate a lot from the word, and it ends up only being mentioned like once haha.

Disclaimer: Suzumiya Haruhi and all of her little series are not belong to me.

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Subtleties

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Metal

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It was winter, and it was, accordingly, cold.

The SOS club room was no exception. Luckily, the space heater provided a sort of bubble of warmth around the center of the room. Everyone was huddled around this general area, with the exception of Nagato Yuki. Said alien seemed content as ever in her corner by the window.

"Nagato," Kyon called, rubbing his hands together. Haruhi had recently positioned herself directly in front of the heater, preventing the heat from radiating outward in front, and making it possible for everyone else to only feel it from the sides. Kyon had given up and decided to just stand to the side of the heater instead. "Nagato, aren't you cold over there? It's gotta be even colder by the window. If you come over here, you can get at least a little heat."

He walked over to her, not really expecting her to answer. When she still didn't look up, he gently set his hand on hers to try and get her attention, but almost immediately jerked it back.

"Jeez! Nagato, your hands are freezing! They're like cold metal!"

The other Brigade members looked over at his outburst. "What's going on?" Haruhi demanded, not moving from her heater-hogging seat.

Yuki lifted her head at Kyon's touch. She looked first at him, then at her hand.

"What are you doing to Yuki, Kyon?" Haruhi snapped.

"Nothing!"

"Hmph!" The Leader went back to reading her magazine, and Koizumi and Mikuru just looked at each other and shrugged it off.

Kyon was still gaping at Yuki, who just stared at him. "Is there a problem?" the girl asked, voice monotonous as ever.

"Yeah, you're ridiculously cold!" He tentatively reached out to touch her hand again, anticipating the harsh cold. "Are your hands always like this in the winter?"

"The temperature of my hands seems to be normal. Is it unusual?"

"Yeah, very." Kyon took her hand and wrapped it in both of his own, shivering a bit. "See? They should be more like this..." He couldn't help but notice how soft her hands were, and he got a little embarrassed when he realized how rough his own must feel. Yuki just kept staring, though.

"... Warm."

"Yeah."

They stayed like that for just a moment more. It might've been longer had Haruhi not startled the entire clubroom by shouting something about stealing another heater from somewhere else in the school. Soon, everyone was filing out of the room to fulfill her wishes. Kyon looked over at Yuki as they walked out, blushing a little and then looking down at his hands. He wondered if hers were a little warmer now.

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Reviews are always very welcome~