A/N: Okay, so - wow. I didn't even know that this thing would be this long. A little Christmas present to all those Platinum Pair fans out there, hm? Enjoy reading! :D
Snow clung onto Niou's hair. He merely laughed at it, not a laughter of complete crudeness or anything that would normally associate with Niou. His level of happiness could not be described to be an empty one though, it was making slow progress, a few drops of water in a wide beaker they often used in Science classes.
Yagyuu watched Niou curiously. He too, did not pay mind to the small snowflakes dropping onto his head and melting slowly, but the snow that clung onto his spectacles and the snow that sometimes dropped right in front of his eyes were getting irritating. Perhaps he should have listened and wore his contacts instead. But no, it didn't make much sense. Being Yagyuu Hiroshi meant he needed his glasses. It was part of his identity.
Niou was already walking off, probably to find a vending machine that served hot drinks. Yagyuu briskly followed, footsteps crunching on the thin layer of slowly built up snow. The atmosphere was cold; he kept his eyes on the ground, counting Niou's footsteps one by one, letting his sigh cloud up in the wind and watching it dissipate in the air.
His eyes opened the moment a weight settles around his shoulders. He turned his head, and Niou was there, his hands on his shoulders, with the usual mischievous grin that looked like he left it there by accident. Yagyuu rolled his eyes, grabbed Niou's scarf—held on.
A beat too short and he woke up to empty space. His alarm clock was beeping and there was a stale, dry taste in his mouth that vaguely reminded him to brush twice this morning.
His shoulders were weightless.
That morning was nothing short of ordinary. Yagyuu got ready for school, and headed downstairs for breakfast. There was less than a week until winter break, and most of finals had finished, and there was nothing much to worry about. He had reviewed and studied and was sure that he'd get a decent grade. His thoughts lingered as he went to take a seat at the table, with his sister already digging into her breakfast, a bit sluggishly. She was never good in the morning, especially during winter.
"You got up late this morning," she said, standing up from her seat and walking to the fridge. "Do we have any juice left?"
"How observant," Yagyuu commented, but didn't say anything more on that. "And no, we don't. I thought you finished it last night."
"I thought we had more," she whined. Yagyuu simply shrugged and slung his bag over his shoulder.
"I'm off," he called. There was a muffled call in reply. He sighed, slipped his shoes on, and left the house wondering why there was uneasiness settling in his stomach.
His discomfort never stopped bothering him. This only lead to confusion as the dream from that morning never really had anything surprising in it's contents. But lately, that dream had been dropping in once too often. Actually, he dreamt of Niou every time he had a dream, as those dreamless nights didn't count. Every other time he felt fine about it, so why would he feel like this now?
He frowned. He only stopped when he noticed that footsteps were mirroring his. Actually, they stopped too, and a familiar arm was roughly placed on his shoulder. Yagyuu didn't have to even turn to know who it was. Niou snorted at his reaction.
"Yagyuuuu," he drawled, practically hanging off Yagyuu's back. "G'mooooorning~"
Yagyuu was very still. The dream slipped through his fingers, fast. It flashed in his memory urgently, whole chunks of reality slipping into unwelcome society, until whatever was left was the lingering surge of feeling that ached, as he reminded himself that a dream was a dream; nothing more, nothing less.
Weightless shoulders.
He pushed Niou's arm off quickly. "Good morning, Niou-kun. It's good to see that you're doing well today." He shoved the rest of Niou off of him, too, and continued to walk.
"Yaaaaagyuuuu! Why so cold? I'm hurt!" Niou clutched his heart melodramatically, before catching up to Yagyuu effortlessly. Yagyuu's expression did not leak a thing, although his thoughts were in waves and he was left bewildered.
"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue? Awww, somethin' on your mind?" Niou grinned. "It's not very nice to do that you know, you didn't wait for me! We always walk to school together! I'm hurt!" Niou frowned. But it wasn't a serious one.
"Busy morning today," Yagyuu said, shrugging. Niou gasped and clutched his chest in a mocking fashion.
"You forgot about me? How rude, Yagyuu—do I mean that little to you?"
Yagyuu hesitated, stopped walking for a moment.
"Yagyuu?" Niou frowned. "Heeeeeeey!"
"Perhaps a little too much," Yagyuu murmured to himself, letting out a tired sigh and continuing down the hallway. Confused and at his heel was Niou, still frowning, confused.
Yagyuu's hesitation didn't escape his notice.
Tennis practice was the same. Almost. Yagyuu seemed to be almost dodging the tennis balls instead of hitting them. His smash attempts were pitiful, lacking power, and more than half of the topspins he hit never made it over the net.
"Something's off today," Kirihara said solemnly.
Marui snorted. "Thank youuu, Captain Obvious." Then he stopped, punched his fist into the air. "I've always wanted to say that!"
"Stop it," Sanada barked. He turned to Niou. Niou lifted his shoulder in a half shrug.
"He was like this this morning, too," Niou reported, giving him a mock-salute and one of those grins that lead to nothing but misery. "Anything else, sir?"
Sanada's facial expression was disapproving. "You've not noticed anything at all?"
"Is that a rhetorical question?"
"Niou—"
"Yes, sir?"
Sanada stared for a while. Jackal put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. "No use talking to him when he's like this, Sanada."
"Affirmative," Niou piped.
Yagyuu walked over. "Is something the matter over here?"
"Let's see now." Marui took a deep breath. "Your play is being terrible today. Do you have a hangover or something?"
"Yagyuu, you were drunk?" Sanada demanded.
"Or better yet, taking drugs," Kirihara added.
Yagyuu stood there with a queer expression and an eyebrow raised. "Do you honestly think I would do those kinds of things? Maybe you should be asking these questions to Niou-kun, hm?"
Kirihara's eyes lit up. "Niou-senpai, you're doing drugs?"
Niou smirked. "And if I am?"
Kirihara took a step back, mouth wide, gaping with surprise. His mouth then closed as quick as it opened though, as Niou's answer sunk into his mind a bit more.
"Wait. Niou-senpai, are you lying?"
"Yeah, 'cause he really is taking drugs, seaweed-head," Marui said, rolling his eyes.
"What are you trying to say, Marui? Are you calling me a liar? That isn't very nice." Niou mocked a sad expression.
"That's my point; you are a liar. Didn't you know? Learned something new today then," Marui smirked as Niou's expression slowly turned from mild amusement to shock at the offending statement.
"Yaaagyuu! Marui's being meeeaaaaan!" Niou whined. Kirihara looked undecided, like he wasn't sure whether to burst into insane laughter or be afraid.
"Deal with it," Yagyuu shrugged. He walked off to a bench that sat on the sidelines and grabbed his water bottle, gulping the liquid down.
"Yaaagyuu! That's not nice! I'm filing for a divorce!"
"I didn't know we were married. Since when?" Yagyuu raised his eyebrow as Niou moved toward the bench. Kirihara and Marui did the same, eager for a good conversation.
"How come I was never invited to your wedding, Niou-senpai, Yagyuu-senpai?" Kirihara demanded with a frown on his face, ignoring Yagyuu's question.
"I was the best man," Marui said, looking proud and smug. Niou patted him on his back, and gave him a random manly hug. Then Niou went to give Kirihara one, as the younger was looking shocked, as though he hadn't been included in their friendship.
"Well, that's okay," Niou said, waving his hand and shrugging. "After we file for divorce, we'll get married again, so you can be invited to that one instead."
Kirihara looked satisfied.
Sanada did not.
"Practice," he gritted out. "What happened to practice?"
"Well, somehow the conversation drifted to things like being drunk. And then drugs. And then Niou added something in about getting married, and—oh wait no, he said something about divorce first. And then he said something about getting married and it was terrible, you know, Sanada, and—oh, you were there! You silly goose, you should have joined in on the conversation; it would have been so interesting—oh wait, no you're Sanada and you're a huge bum that doesn't like talking about anything except—"
Jackal slapped his hand over Marui's mouth. "Uh," he said to Sanada, "We'll get right on it, fukubuchou."
"I was wondering why everyone was over here," Yukimura said, walking over with his arms crossed. "What seems to be the matter? If we don't practice properly, we might lose in the tournament later next season."
"Yukimura-buchou," Kirihara said, "did you know that Niou-senpai and Yagyuu-senpai were married?"
"I did," Yukimura said. "A few months ago. They had a wonderful cake, too, but Marui ate two thirds of it."
"I'm a glutton," Marui proclaimed. "It's what I do."
Niou sneered. "I almost forgot about that. We even ordered two cakes knowing Marui and they were both three-layered cakes. I still have yet to get him back." Niou cracked his knuckles as Marui pretended to be scared.
"Now, now, Niou, don't resort to violence," Jakal tried, as his hand covered Marui's mouth again as he was about to retort. "We have to carry on with practice, yes?"
"Yeah..." Yukimura started. "We can always have our lovely conversation later, after all of you finish your 500 laps. Then, we can all hang out and moan about winter break not coming sooner." Yukimura smiled. "How about that?"
Sanada nodded, knowing Yukimura made perfect sense. "Come along now everyone, before I add more on tomorrow's lap amount." Sanada's tone was ridiculously low, so much so Kirihara whimpered in intimidation.
"It's not good to intimidate our fellow team mates!" Niou began. "Sanada, you should say sorry."
Sanada gave Niou a glare as the others began their laps, Marui groaning and muttering 'scrooge' under his breath, Kirihara trying to start a conversation with Jackal and Yagyuu trailing behind. On purpose? Yes. Probably. Sanada hoped.
Yanagi joined the other regulars who were running. It was Yukimura's death glare that sent Niou running as well, as he was not scared of his fukubuchou, but Yukimura-buchou was someone that earned the respect of all the regulars, the tennis team members, and even the whole school.
"You don't see the Yukimura death glare that often," Niou commented. "Eh, Yagyuu?"
Yagyuu did not respond.
"Yagyuuuuu?"
"Hm?"
Niou frowned. "You've been acting real strange today. Is it me? Oh I know what it is, it's that brat, Kirihara, right, I bet he pulled some prank on you or something—"
"The person who would be pulling pranks on me would be you, Niou-kun."
Niou fingered the strings on his racquet. "...You've got a point."
"Yes."
"Well-wait, no, seriously Yagyuu, do I smell or something? I could put more cologne on or something, because really—"
"You do smell quite awful today, Niou-kun."
"...Do I really? No—WAIT YAGYUU DAMN IT."
"Yes?"
"What's with you?" Niou lifted a hand, but Yagyuu stepped away.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Niou-kun. We should get back to practice. Sanada might yell at us again."
And as he ran off, Niou stared after his back solemnly. He wasn't used to this. But if Yagyuu wasn't willing to tell, then maybe he didn't have to know.
And yet he did.
Niou sighed and readied his position on the court. Maybe things would be fixed by tomorrow. But Niou couldn't guarantee that it would happen. He swung his racquet frustratedly upon seeing the ball headed for him.
It hit the net.
Tomorrow started with a disappointment. Yagyuu was still acting strange. He didn't look at him once, fully, in the eye that morning, not on the way to school, not during morning practice. Not at all. The others asked Niou what was wrong with Yagyuu, like they were expecting him to know automatically. Niou was actually itching to know even though he did, surprisingly, allow people to have a bit of privacy.
He ended up asking Yanagi Renji for assistance.
Experience with handling that guy told Niou that Yanagi wouldn't always just give information out, especially when it came to people he were especially close to. Like Yagyuu. Yagyuu and Yanagi actually got along quite well, both being in the student council and having similar personality traits, not only because they shared a kanji in their surnames.
So that was that, Niou was going to go to Yanagi's classroom at lunch to look for him. For now, he had to survive four lessons before lunch.
The day was lazy. Or rather, Yagyuu was. He didn't manage to get anything productive done, spending the hours in class scribbling endless nothings in his notebook and drumming tuneless beats on his desk. It wasn't very 'Yagyuu' of him, but thinking was an impossibility. Thinking would lead to other nonsensical procedures.
Sometimes, once in a while, his mind would travel through the walls next door, where Niou was - and then he'd be forced to snap back to his original surroundings.
Focus, his brain told him. Focus, focus, focus, focus—forget about him for two seconds, just two, and it'll all be over.
Only it wasn't.
During lunch, he headed to the rooftop. People said that they could think clearer there. Or rather, they didn't have to think there. You had a choice: to think, or not to think. It wasn't that hard, because Yagyuu had no intention to think. The intention wasn't there, like it was supposed to be.
So—for the first time through the day, he slept. After all—a lazy day needed to be spent being lazy. And even though Yagyuu wasn't very good at being lazy, he tried anyway.
He slept.
It took Niou about ten minutes to find Yanagi. On a good day, he would usually find him in five, but then again, it was Yanagi Renji he was talking about here. He was everywhere during lunch. On one day he could be out on the courts, another cooped up in the student council room working, another eating lunch with Yukimura and Sanada.
It turned out that Yanagi was actually eating lunch on his own in the student council room. It was conveniently empty, thankfully. Yanagi looked up at Niou as he shut the sliding door behind him and went to casually take a seat next to the 'Master'. Niou eyed Yanagi's impressive collection of sushi (he was quite a traditionalist sometimes) until Yanagi pushed the box toward him. Niou muttered a thanks before popping a few into his mouth and nodding contently.
"You've been looking for me, Niou? I'm sure you're not just here to steal my lunch."
"Yeah, actually, Yanagi. Do you know what's up with Yagyuu? He's been acting weird."
"Yes, he has. And?"
"Well, do you know why he's being weird?"
Niou hated it when Yanagi didn't go straight to the point. But Yanagi smiled. He was always like this anyway.
"If you don't notice it, then I can't really tell you. It's up to you." Yanagi shrugged, taking another piece of sushi and biting into it.
Niou picked up another shamelessly; he already ate about six.
"No, seriously - he told me I smelled awful the other day. Do I smell bad?" Niou grabbed the collar of his own shirt and gave it a sniff. "I don't think I smell that bad. I could be wrong, though." He shrugged.
"I thought you were observant," Yanagi commented, pushing the container of sushi closer to himself.
"I know it's got something to do with me," Niou muttered. "But he's being too damned emotionless for me to tell anything. Do you know how frustrating that is?"
"Some of us have known for a while," Yanagi said, giving him a half smile. "It shouldn't be hard for you to find out. You know him well."
"Well," Niou scoffed. "Obviously not well enough, since he won't tell me." He reached for another piece of sushi, but Yanagi slapped his hand away.
"No more," he said. "And well, maybe you're thinking too hard about it. Think simple. It's not hard."
"You're stupid," Niou complained. "You won't tell me?"
"This is something you have to find out by yourself. Unless Yagyuu decides to tell you or something."
"He's not going to want to tell me."
"He'll have to, in good time." Yanagi sighed. "Now get out of here, you're wasting my time."
Niou snorted. "You're no help. At all."
"I'm sure I wasn't. Goodbye."
And Niou left the room, more confused and unsure than he'd been in a long time.
When the bell for lessons to resume rung out, Niou couldn't be bothered going to his next class. No, he wasn't in the mood of learning more about the Edo period. They'd been on that for weeks on end anyway. What harm would it to be to skip class? Well, if you were to skip class, you usually went up to the roof. And, Niou had conveniently picked up the keys for the roof door from the key post in the student council room. Yanagi probably noticed, but who cares? He doesn't usually go as far to stop people anyway.
So Niou was already down all the corridors that led to the set of stairs which lead toward the roof. He fished the key on a chain out of his pocket and opened the door.
The wind blew into his face, taking his breath away. It was rather cold also. Couples would make out here, slackers would have a nap. Things like that.
Yagyuu was never a slacker. From what Niou could see, anyway - and obviously he didn't see clearly enough because he didn't know what Yagyuu was hiding from him. But Niou never would have—never could have—imagined Yagyuu being a slacker.
But alas - he was here, splayed across the surface, hair tousled and glasses still on his face, appearing to be sleeping.
Well, maybe that's what was wrong - maybe he wasn't getting enough sleep. Niou walked over to where he was and sat down next to him.
"If you weren't sleeping enough, you could've told me, you know. You're so dumb."
There was no response, but Niou didn't expect one. He turned to look at his face.
"And at least remember to take you glasses off when you sleep, stupid," Niou added, reaching across Yagyuu's face to tug at his frames. As he did, his wrist brushed Yagyuu's cheekbone gently. Niou jerked his arm back, dropping the glasses, his eyes wide.
"Uh," he muttered to himself. "I, uh."
Yagyuu's sleeping form stirred. Niou quieted.
He sat in silence for a while before reaching over again and brushing the same spot to reach for Yagyuu's glasses. Niou snatched his hand away quickly, fishing the frames with the ends of his fingers. Upon the fall they took, they didn't seem to have broken or anything.
Niou looked back at Yagyuu. He'd been sure that by now, Yagyuu would have been awake; Yagyuu had always been a light sleeper, after all.
Niou breathed, putting the pair of glasses aside. "This is stupid." And he jabbed his fingers into Yagyuu's side, startling him into wake.
"Niou-kun," Yagyuu said blearily, rummaging around with his left hand for his glasses. "What—what—"
"I decided to skip," Niou said loudly, passing him the pair of glasses. "I didn't think I'd find you here."
Yagyuu said nothing, only took the glasses and settled them back upon his face. "Thank you."
Niou shrugged. "Wanna tell me why you were sleeping here?"
"I was fatigued," was Yagyuu's only explanation.
"I meant why, stupid," Niou snorted. "You need to tell me things. I've been feeling like I'm invisible lately. I feel stupid. It's partly your fault."
Yagyuu didn't say anything.
Niou stood up, straightened up properly from when he was crouching down and stretched his arms pointlessly.
"If you want to be like that, then fine. I just thought we were best friends and we could tell each other things." Niou sounded genuinely disappointed, and that tone of voice placed a frown on Yagyuu's face.
Yagyuu sat up and rolled his shoulders. His nap was pleasant, well, it was as pleasant as it could get. It was chilly and it was winter. He had missed too many classes, it would surely affect his attendance. Father wouldn't be pleased, but he could always pass it off. Blame it on being human.
Yagyuu didn't know what came over him as he reached to grab Niou's wrist as he was turning to leave him.
Niou turned as Yagyuu stood up. "What do you want now?"
"Well, Niou-kun," Yagyuu's eyes could not really meet Niou's. It was hard to breathe, and it wasn't the wind's fault. He felt a little faint, actually.
"What?" Niou was getting impatient. He was never patient in the first place, anyway. He was always the rash one.
"Get on with it, for god's sake!"
"Well, I'm sorry." Yagyuu looked down slightly, and Niou opened his mouth to made a snide comment, but found he could not. It... wouldn't sit well with him.
It was probably Yagyuu's sincerity that caught him off guard.
"I am sorry," Yagyuu tried to say, but the words were stuck in his mouth, throat clogged with emotion, and it didn't feel good at all.
"Yagyuu?" Niou looked worried now. "A-are you alright?"
"Fine," he managed. "I—I'm sorry, I can't tell you just yet."
"Yagyuu—"
"I will," he said again. "I'll have to, anyway, sooner or later. You're the only person I'm not allowed to not tell."
"Yanagi said that, too," Niou muttered. "Fine," he said loudly. "But it'd better be good. If it's not, then I'll replace all of your clothing with pink, frilly dresses until the end of the school year. You'll have to play tennis in those, too."
Yagyuu almost cringed. "...Okay."
Niou grinned. "Until then, I'll let it go, okay? I mean, we're married, right? A husband can't abandon his wife in her time of need."
"Last time I checked, I think Marui and Kirihara dubbed you the woman in this nonexistant relationship."
"...You need to shut up."
"As do you."
Niou laughed. Yagyuu managed a smile.
Things would be okay. For now, at the very, very least, and that's all that mattered.
Unsurprisingly, things got harder and harder for Yagyuu each day. His mind wandered off too much, even when he was sitting and having lunch with the others. This just meant more confusion for Niou; he could see it on his face. Yagyuu could not even look at him, nor could he stay in a conversation with him. It was disgusting by far.
But he'd have to grit his teeth and bear it, as he had no control. Since when did control ever dropped into his hands anyway?
Yagyuu never imagined that it could get so bad, and out of hand. He lost sleep, and it was costing him dearly. He performed poorly during every single practice, so much so Yukimura had to pull him away and ask him what was wrong himself. It didn't go well with Yagyuu when Yukimura suggested that he'd take a few days rest until winter break, which was conveniently coming at a slow pace.
It was another moment. His head was fixed with one of the migraines he had been experiencing lately, and the thoughts taking over his mind wasn't helping. It was stupid. Really.
Every little thing reminded him of him.
His schoolwork textbooks reminded him of the time Niou accidentally dropped one of his favourite books, actually, the name of it was kind of hazy in his mind, into a huge puddle of mud because it was getting more attention than him. At the time, Yagyuu wasn't very pleased, but it was a memory he could laugh at in a good mood.
The advert for the paint Niou often liked to use. He was always a creative person, choosing to let his creativeness out in more odd ways. Like dropping paint from the second storey on some unfortunate. The color would vary from time to time, but he'd often choose white. Or grey.
The lights on the Christmas tree sitting next to the TV reminded him of last Christmas Eve. The tennis club had a Christmas party then, and all the lights burst, from the tree, to the ones decorating the tops of the windows. And for extra effect, the light in the room was switched off too. They liked to think it a coincidence that Niou happened to be the one shouting 'Merry Christmas, everyone' as it hit midnight.
Yeah, that's how Niou always was. Liked to have fun, but was never mean or cruel unnecessarily. But then again, his thoughts of necessary and unnecessary were very different to a normal person.
Yagyuu's hands started shaking.
He dropped the book that was in his hands.
No, no more.
No more.
It was the first night after school had officially ended for winter break. Like many other bored teenagers in the area, Niou was lying on his couch at home, popping chocolates in his mouth, letting them melt slowly while watching his favourite game show. His parents were out visiting friends and giving them their presents, his sister left the house, meeting up with her friends, and his brother was probably hanging out with some girl. The charming genes always ran through the family. He would know – himself and his dad were perfect examples. Apparently, his mum converted a womanizer. Pfft.
It was sweet having a whole house to himself though. It meant he could do just about anything.
As the commercials came on, and Niou was left to stare at a flashing television screen, advertizing men's cologne - though he did stop to ponder over whether he should get it or not; maybe it would help his smelling-so-bad situation - the phone rang.
He groaned, slinked over to the other side of the couch, and picked it up, slurring a lazy, "Hellooooo~" into the speaker.
"Uh, uh, uh - is this Niou-san?"
"No, this is your personal nightmare, and you will die in seven days," Niou yawned into the phone. "Hey, you sound familiar."
"Um, this is Yagyuu Hitsumi, and—oh, this is really bad."
Niou creased his brow. "Oh, hey - you're Yagyuu's little sister!"
"Um, yes, uh."
"What's up? Wait, why are you calling? Something the matter?" Niou smirked. "Ooh, do you have a crush on me? Though I must say, confessing over the phone really isn't a good idea, since I wouldn't be able to mess with your head like that. Oh, no - maybe that could work, since you can't see me right now. Hm, yeah."
"No! No," her voice squeaked. "I, uh, have a problem..."
"Mhmmm? If this is about English homework, then I can't help, sorry - I'm afraid I don't speak the language of... English. It is the bane of my existence."
"No," she repeated, sighing. "This is um, about my brother, but..."
"Yagyuu?"
"...Uh, he's kind of lying on the ground and not moving, and he won't respond, and I don't know what to do—should I call the ambulance?"
Niou blinked. "You sure he isn't playing dead or something?"
"He doesn't do that, and you know this!"
"Hm, calm down, Hitsumi-chan. Did he eat anything funny? Or was there something really scary on TV, like a fat woman naked? No, no, it would be illegal to put that on air."
"Niou-san, since when were we on first name basis?"
"Since now," he sang. "Uhh... I'm coming over. Five minutes, okay?" Niou hung up, stood, walking over to the coat hanger by the door, grabbing his coat and scarf. His keys should be still in his coat pocket. Yup. He turned to take one last look at the room, and made a face at the blistering winds. There might be a snowstorm or something. Uh oh. Not good. He could probably stay over at Yagyuu's? Yeah, he'd let him stay over.
He nodded, then promptly went to set the alarm while not bothering to switch off the TV or attempt to clean up.
Once he stepped outside, he regretted not getting new gloves. His old pair was sacrificed for a good trick, but now it just left his hands defenceless against the horrid weather. Niou probably had blocked out the wind's noise with the TV, as he liked things loud.
Having locked the door, he battled with the wind. It was quite fun actually, if it wasn't so cold as well. Luckily, Yagyuu didn't live too far away. What Niou didn't like about his situation was he couldn't possibly use any of his short cuts to get to his house (there had been a few other entrances Niou liked to use, like Yagyuu's bedroom window) and he had to be boring and walk on the boring road instead. He managed a sad face even though his face felt like it was going to freeze off. The conditions weren't excellent either, as a lot of his surrounding area was covered in ice. Just thinking of ice gave Niou ideas, but now wasn't the time.
He made it to Yagyuu's house under five minutes actually. Niou didn't realize he was paying attention to the time.
He rang their doorbell, knocking on the door as well, just in case. "Hitsumi-chaaaaan," he called. "I'm here to slap Yagyuu silly."
Hitsumi opened the door, shivering when a gust of wind hit her. "Come in," she said, dragging him in. "It's really cold out."
"It is," Niou agreed, closing the door behind him and shaking his coat off his shoulders, looking around. He hadn't been to Yagyuu's house in quite a while, actually. It was small and quaint, quiet and relaxing, very much unlike Niou's house, where things were always happening. But it didn't matter much to him.
And on the floor, a few feet away, was Yagyuu, lying on the floor with his glasses off and his slippers still on his feet. He looked kind of funny, but Niou thought he could spare him the embarrassment of doing so after he woke up.
"Yagyuu, are you dead?"
No response.
Hitsumi stared at him. "And I thought you were going to help."
"Well, if he doesn't respond," Niou said, trailing off. Then he shrugged. "You never know. My first impression of him was similar to that of a living corpse, you know.
So I think it would be reasonable and all. Get what I mean?"
Hitsumi stared.
Niou shrugged again. "That's okay," he amended. "No one does, really. Except for Yagyuu, but he's busy playing dead." Niou nudged Yagyuu with his foot. "Wake up," he said loudly.
"Um," Hatsumi began, looking worriedly at her brother. "Should I call the ambulance?"
"Oh no," Niou scoffed. "He'll be fine. I think." He paused. "Has anything like this happened before?"
"No, there hasn't. Although he's had a lot of migraines though." Hitsumi nodded to herself. "He wasn't really feeling his best lately."
Niou walked over to Yagyuu's lying body and felt for his heart. Sure enough, there was a good, solid beat.
"Well, at least he's not dead. I've told him a few times not to die on me." Niou pondered. "He might be just tired or something. Why don't you go grab him some medicine for headaches and some water, and I'll carry him to his room. I don't think he's heavy, but you never know during this time of year." Niou tsked at himself.
"Okay!" Hitsumi immediately sprung into another room, the kitchen, Niou guessed. Niou himself grabbed one of Yagyuu's arms and lifted him up, not bothering with the glasses. Niou knew Yagyuu well enough that his eyesight wasn't so bad that he couldn't see without them.
It wasn't as easy as Niou thought it was. Even with his level of fitness (come on, five hundred and or more laps a day) it still required some effort trying to carry Yagyuu upstairs. Niou was actually thinking of carrying him bridal style or something.
Niou groaned, let go of Yagyuu, pointed at him. "Objection," he said solemnly. "YOU WILL WALK."
Yagyuu didn't move.
"I'm going to just drop you down the stairs then," Niou complained. "Or maybe you've gotten fat or something. Ate too much chocolate with your holiday spirit, didn't you. Woohoo."
Yagyuu still didn't move.
"I give up." Niou grabbed Yagyuu's wrist and used his other hand to grab onto both legs. "Now you're the girl in this nonexistent relationship," he muttered to himself, and continued to his room.
Yagyuu's room was quite large, but comfortable and clean. Niou remembered walking in for the first time several years ago and marvelling at how he could see the floor. Yagyuu had been very nonchalant about his reaction, and needed to point his tennis racquet at him before Niou finally shut up about it.
He flopped Yagyuu's unconscious body on his bed and sat down next to him. "You really are getting fat," he complained. "Or I don't know, it could be muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat, did you know? I bet you did."
Yagyuu made no movement.
"Should I have to worry?" Niou asked aloud. "You're Yagyuu, and you can take care of yourself; I know that. But I don't like it when you hide things from me." He stared at Yagyuu pointedly. He wasn't surprised when he didn't react. "You need to wake up," Niou grumbled. "It feels like I'm talking myself, and that's not fun. At all."
There was silence.
"You know, if Kirihara or Marui catch me talking to myself, I'll be ridiculed for the rest of my life." He reached over and poked Yagyuu's cheek.
"...Maybe I should draw on your face, too."
Yagyuu's eyelids were heavy, and his head pounded. No, that wasn't it. It was more of a constant ringing. His conscientiousness was slowly kicking in. He sneezed. He was sure he was lying on a bed—his bed. Did he faint or something? If he was still in his room that meant that Hitsumi didn't call an ambulance. That was good; it wouldn't sit right with him if mother and father were worried.
With a struggle, his eyes opened, and he was met with his blank ceiling. His eyes stung a little, and his body felt weak. He'd feel better in time, anyway. Yagyuu sat up, tried to focus, and it probably helped that he didn't have his glasses perched on his nose. After he felt a little better, he took in his surrounding area. Yeah, his room. Wait.
He picked up the lone piece of paper, probably ripped from one of his note pads.
Niou had been here.
Wanna go out on Christmas Eve? We'll spend Christmas together, y'know? It's what all married couples should do, yeah?
Niou didn't even sign his name at the bottom, but Yagyuu recognized his writing in one glance. And the way he ripped the piece of paper was definitely Niou.
He used a whiteboard marker?
Yagyuu rolled his eyes.
He then tried to slowly get off his bed and stand, but instead he sort of fell slightly, but he took the things on his desk with them and they ended up flying off to their death. Gravity was a cruel mistress, but Yagyuu didn't bother caring at that moment. He could clean up later.
He groaned at the pain at the back of his head as he tried to make his way out of his room. All he had to do was to survive the stairs. It wouldn't be so hard... right?
As he made his way down the stairs, Hatsumi was in the kitchen, and when she heard the sound of his footsteps falling, she stared at him. "Um," she began.
"What?"
Hitsumi kept staring.
"Hitsumi?"
"Oh," she said, shaking her head. "It's nothing. Um. What are you doing out of bed?"
He groaned in response. "Medicine."
Hatsumi opened the cupboard, reached inside, and pulled out a white pill bottle. Then she frowned and turned over the label. "...Oh," she said quietly.
"What?"
"Oh nothing, nothing," she said brushing it off and waving her hand in the air with a sheepish laugh. She put the bottle back in the cupboard and pulled out another one, tossing it to him and grabbing a glass to pour water into.
Then she asked nervously, "...Are you feeling alright?"
He shrugged. "Hn. A bit dizzy, but that's all."
"...You're sure?"
"Mhm." He took the glass of water and downed it after taking the pill. "Why?"
"Oh! No reason, no reason, really. I was just asking. You know, being a good sister and all."
Yagyuu eyed her suspiciously. She shot him a grin.
Yagyuu headed toward the couch, and sat himself down. He sighed, letting the medicine get to work. He nodded to himself when he saw his glasses sitting on the coffee table, light shining off it. By this time, Hitsumi was already up the stairs, and Yagyuu faintly heard her door being slammed shut.
She probably did something wrong.
His gaze wondered onto the bottle of medicine that he placed onto the coffee table before he sat down. What happened exactly, before he fell asleep and waking up like he just had a hangover?
Hold on a minute.
If Niou came over, something serious must have happened. Hitsumi didn't like talking to strangers, and even though Niou came over often, she never really talked to him much. And she hated speaking to people on the phone that weren't one of her friends.
He vaguely remembered falling.
He fainted?
Yagyuu wasn't surprised by this, he had been troubled for the past week or so. With... yeah. He didn't want to think about it. He was probably stressed.
Medicine... medicine...
Did Hitsumi give him the wrong medicine?
Oh.
Right.
That made sense.
Ah well, he'd sort that out later. He felt drowsy at the moment. The medicine was working.
Yagyuu woke up to an irritating ringing doorbell at ten o'clock in the morning on Christmas Eve. As much as he wanted to turn over and fall back asleep (Yagyuu was definitely not much of a morning person), a few minutes later, there was simultaneous knocking going along with that doorbell. Yagyuu lay in bed for a few more minutes, when the doorbell started ringing along to the theme of 'Deck the Halls', and finally, throwing off his sheets and grumbling all the way downstairs, he flew open the door.
It was Niou.
"Surprise, surprise," he cackled, throwing his arms in the air. "I know how you love mornings."
Yagyuu made to slam the door in his face, but Niou quickly intercepted with his foot.
"Whaaaat," he complained. "It's Christmas Eve, Yagyuu. Lighten up a bit."
Yagyuu stared at him. "I," he began, "do not know you." And he tried to close the door again.
"Yagyuuuuu," Niou whined. "Didn't you get my note?"
"...What note?"
"The one that I left yesterday or something. When you were pretending to be dead? And aren't you going to invite me in? It's cold."
Yagyuu kept staring. "I don't remember a note."
"Yes you do."
"No," Yagyuu said, creasing his brow. "I don't."
"It was on that night, remember, when you were all dead and I had to carry you and I was bored so I drew on your face and-"
"You what?"
"I threw food on your face, that's what I said."
"You are ridiculous," Yagyuu told him, holding the door open and letting Niou step inside. "Absolutely ridiculous."
Niou bowed. "Why thank you; that's so sweet of you to say so."
Yagyuu sighed. Niou would be Niou. No matter how irritating he may be.
"Brother, why are you leaving the door open?" Hitsumi was sitting on the couch watching Christmas movies with her chocolate and her lemonade. Why she still has her thin figure Yagyuu would probably never know.
Yagyuu groaned. He was not in the mood for this. With a sigh, he moved to let Niou in, and shut the door after him. Before he went back upstairs, he turned to glare at Hitsumi.
"Why did you not get the door?"
"I'm intelligent, brother. If I let the doorbell continue to ring, you would wake up. And I knew Niou-san would be ringing; he called before telling me he'd be coming." Hitsumi's eyes didn't leave the screen as she popped another piece of chocolate in her mouth.
Yagyuu rolled his eyes.
"Don't take too long, love! We're going exploring!" Niou grinned at him, his coat already off and lying on the floor.
"Shut up." Yagyuu snapped.
"Ohhhh, someone's cranky." Niou laughed. "But seriously though, don't take too long. I'm planning to drag you all over town."
Yagyuu gave up, and headed upstairs. He might as well - he had nothing to lose. He'd just end up wasting time at home.
He was already awake now.
Yagyuu was exhausted, though it didn't show on his face. He had never really been the type of person to go around and, as Niou called it, 'explore'. But Niou was making it really difficult to not feel at least the tiniest bit of annoyance towards him.
"Niou-kun," Yagyuu said, feeling his patience wear thin. "Are we done yet?"
"Hold on, dear, I'm looking for a good dress for you to wear."
"...What?"
"For Christmas! Ooh, you'd look terrific in one of those sparkly ones." He rummaged through the racks.
Yagyuu pinched the bridge of his nose.
"How about this one?" Niou lifted the hanger from the rack, and lifted the whole dress up so Yagyuu could have a clear view. The dress itself was a hideous pink, full of mismatched sequins and was a slim fitting design that would obviously hug the body, and it was meant to stop above the knee.
Yagyuu almost gagged as an image popped into his head. No. Just. No.
Niou seemed amused by Yagyuu's reaction though. "Nah, I'm not getting you that one, Yagyuu. Look, it's on the clearance rack! It wouldn't be nice of a husband to get his wife something so cheap for Christmas!" Niou burst into laughter, and earned some looks at a few last minute shoppers in the clothes store.
"Rhetorically, I don't think a husband should buy his wife her Christmas present if she was right in front of him." Yagyuu shook his head.
"So you're going to play the wife role?" Niou snorted, covering his mouth as he placed the dress back down.
"No." Yagyuu had enough. He turned to leave the shop with the bored looking sales assistants, with Niou's calm footsteps right behind him. Yagyuu felt an urge to try and run away, but the part of his brain that still stored his logic knew that Niou was a fast runner – quicker than him even, and plus, Niou knew the way around town like the back of his hand and Yagyuu hardly ever came into town.
So Niou's hand quickly ended up settling on a shoulder, and Yagyuu's ears were then forced to hear Niou moan and whine and annoy.
"Hey, it's dark! We've been out the whole day. Doesn't that satisfy you?"
"No," Yagyuu sighed. He preferred a quiet Christmas Eve. One where he could sit in his room and read a book in candlelight or something. He didn't know why he let Niou drag him all around town anyway. It was a waste of time—but Niou was Niou. Nothing would change.
The city lights were dim, the streets dark, and yet people were still wandering around, carrying bright red and green shopping bags in their hands. The snow was everywhere, clinging to peoples' boots and crunching softly under their feet, slush on the sides of the roads and the damp murkiness of the night flourishing through.
And despite himself, Yagyuu admitted that even though Niou had been a huge pain in the everywhere for the entire him, if it wasn't for him, then he wouldn't have gotten the chance to see the lights during Christmas outside.
"Hey."
Yagyuu looked up. Niou was smirking again. "What?"
The smirk only grew wider. Yagyuu's chest tightened.
"Wanna go see the lights?"
It took a while to get to the spot Niou was talking about. By the time they arrived at the large field, Yagyuu's phone told him it was twenty minutes to ten. He would forget about his parents this time. Just... this time. It'll be worth it.
But Yagyuu was seriously amazed. Sure, Niou made him trespass by climbing over a battered and old fence, but Niou convinced him that a lot of people came to this field, and that no, Yagyuu wouldn't be prosecuted for trespassing.
Somehow, a half smile rose onto Yagyuu's face. Sure, he would have rather spent time at home now (he first thought spending his time at home would be unproductive, but his mind wasn't thinking clearly; obviously it was more productive than hanging around town with Niou of all people) but this made him change his mind.
The sky was so, so clear. The grass was wild and uncut, but it wasn't that bad. The air was fresh, so fresh, and he almost forgot about the bitterness of the winter. Besides, he had his scarf wrapped around his neck, his warm trench coat around him, his gloves too. In fact, the cold was something he was already forgetting.
The thin layer of snow decorated the place, and with the trees in the far distance and the moon sitting high and shining bright in the sky, it looked like a scene from a Christmas card.
"You like then?" Niou grinned, obviously proud that he had showed Yagyuu this. "Well, this isn't the best place. Although yeah, it is quite nice here, the grass is too overgrown."
Yagyuu looked like he didn't hear Niou at all, as he was too busy gazing at the sky. The sky was not pitch black, but it was getting there. All above him was a sea of stars, many not so obvious and were only a white dot in the sky, but there were a few big and bright ones. This was... rare, he supposed. As far as he knew, stars were at their best during summer nights. He briefly wondered why Niou hadn't taken him here before, such a quiet, beautiful place. It would be great in summer.
Before he knew it, Yagyuu and Niou stopped by the end of the huge field. The fence there was quite tall and obviously looking in much better shape than the ones they went through to get here, but it wasn't much of a difficultly to get over.
They entered a small forest. Yagyuu was sure it was small as he was pretty sure they were still in Kanagawa. The trees were towering above them, and entering such a place when it was almost pitch black wasn't the best idea , however Yagyuu was more worried that he would lose sight of Niou, who was quite ahead of him, than anything, or anyone being a danger to him.
But then, they arrived.
There was a small clearing in the middle of the small forest. The grass didn't grow very high compared to the field outside, and it was acceptable to sit on.
Yagyuu looked surprised when Niou took out something from his shoulder bag. It was an old blanket of some sort, but it would do. It looked like it would have enough space for the two of them to sit on.
"Did you plan this?" Yagyuu asked, while Niou wordlessly started to grab an end of the blanket and wave it into the air so it would spread easily on the floor.
"Maaaybe." Niou smirked. Yagyuu rolled his eyes.
Yagyuu looked up, but he couldn't see a single star. He must have looked a little disappointed, since Niou started talking.
"Come on, you should be happier. It's my Christmas present!" Niou shrugged.
Yagyuu rasied his eyebrow and pushed his glasses further up his nose.
"Honestly? I shouldn't have bought you those trainers that you liked then." Yagyuu smirked as Niou's face turned into one of shock and surprise.
"Really? You got me them? Too bad, my parents bought me them. I can tell." Niou then looked bored.
"I lied."
"You... what?"
"Lied." Yagyuu shrugged like it was nothing.
"But you never lie, unless we're doing the switch. That's not the Yagyuu I know!"
"Shame. Your present's under your tree."
"So's yours." Niou grinned. "Why do we bother? We put each other's presents under our trees every year."
"You ask me, Niou-kun. You ask me."
Niou changed his position from sitting opposite Yagyuu to sitting next to him at an uncomfortable distance.
"So." Niou waved his hand pointlessly. "Can you tell me?"
Yagyuu looked aside. He felt warm, sickly, uncomfortably, warm. His breathing quickened, but he still tried to slow them down.
Don't let Niou notice. Don't let Niou notice.
"Oh."
Yagyuu quickly turned to look at Niou in surprise. What was with that reaction? He might as well not go for the cliche and do it properly. He wasn't a girl.
"I like you... At least, I think so."
There was a silence. Cold, chilled silence. It frightened Yagyuu to the very core, but he wouldn't run. He couldn't do that.
Niou's eyes widened. "I thought you were straight!" He started laughing, destroying the awkwardness, almost.
He half smiled. "At least you spilled it."
Niou smirked. "You're stupid."
"What?"
"Reasons are stupid, and so are you."
He leaned in.
A/N: Well, that's it! It's a bit late, but Merry Christmas to everyone out there. Stay safe, and have wonderful holidays! Don't get run over by a reindeer or something; that'd be very unpleasant. D: