#flufffffffff

At the last second, Elliot yanks back the drink he'd begun to offer. "Oh no way! Now I'm keeping this, get your own damn coffee."

"you're not going to drink that."

Defiantly, Elliot takes a swig--

"you're not going to like it~"

--and makes a face. Though his expression goes through a journey from shock, to disgust, to agony, he does manage to gulp down the bitter, black coffee, finally landing on something like defeat. Leo holds out a hand to take the offending beverage, smugly raising it to his lips for a long, contented sip.

"You can't actually enjoy that," Elliot gripes. "Everyone who says they like black coffee is lying for clout."

"ah~ light roast, with notes of vanilla and cherry."

"You're lying!! It tastes like fucking coffee!"

Leo snickers, setting down the cup beside him to return to his book as his friend huffs. "I gotta go get ready for the day. Eugh. I can still taste it. Stop torturing yourself, nobody with a soul can actually enjoy that crap--"

“I do want to hear it again.” Cat folds her arms across her chest and glares at him, shaking her head. “I always want to hear it again.”

“Gendry,” Arya says, very quietly. She’s trying hard not to laugh, he can tell she is, but he also knows she’s pretending to be bored and embarrassed by the whole situation. He won’t blow her cover. He’s damn lucky she lets him tell the story as it is. “If Cat wants to hear it again, why not?”

Gendry sighs, pretending to be put out by what their daughter is asking of him. Though in truth, there’s little in this world he loves more than telling Cat, every single night, just how incredible her mother truly is.  

He rolls over onto his side in their bed so that he’s facing her. Cat’s little nose is just inches from his, and her bright blue eyes are round with anticipation.

“Are you ready?” he asks in a hushed tone.

“Yes.” She nods, solemn. “I’m ready.”

“Okay.” Gendry closes his eyes, and pretends to think hard about where to begin.

He has, of course, long since committed every detail of that horrible night to memory. He probably couldn’t forget them now if he tried. He remembers, like it was yesterday, how convinced he’d been that none of them would live to see the dawn. He remembers that horrible stench of blood, death, and decay that clung to everything as they fought desperately for their survival.

And then, later, after the battle, there was Arya. Arya, her lips on his throat, his hands tangled needfully in her hair, once it was finally over and they found each again.

Most of what happened that night isn’t appropriate for their daughter to hear at this age. Some of it Gendry would sooner die than share with her, ever.

But the parts she can hear…

Gendry committed those parts to memory long ago, too.

He clears his throat dramatically. “Okay. A long time ago, far in the north, there was an evil man called–”

“The Night King,” Catelyn finishes for him.

He nods. “That’s right. The Night King. He spent all his time trying to hurt other people and make them his slaves.”

“Why did he do that, Daddy?” They’ve answered this question for her countless times, and Gendry knows Cat knows the answer, such as it is. But asking it is part of the nightly ritual all the same. Jon tells them it’s normal for kids her age to do this. Gendry has no reason to doubt that’s true. “Why was he so mean to everybody?”

“No one really knows for sure, sweetling.” Arya moves closer to their daughter in the bed, wrapping a protective arm around her. Answering this particular question is the only part of all this that involves Arya’s active participation. The rest of it–the telling of the battle itself, heavily sanitized for Cat’s young ears; and the role Arya played in it–they’ve decided Gendry would handle it all. (“You’re better at this stuff,” she’d told him, bluntly, once Cat started asking questions. “Better with her.” Gendry doesn’t think that’s true at all. But if going along with it here means he gets to tell this story his way he’s happy to oblige.)

“But the important thing to remember,” Gendry continues, “is that the Night King was a very bad, very evil man.” Gendry nods. “And everyone had to work together to stop him.” He swallows thickly, remembering. “So one day, there was a terrible battle, when people from across the Seven Kingdoms came together to try and stop him.”

Cat chews on her bottom lip as she processes this. She looks up at him. “And you fought in this battle, didn’t you?”

Gendry smiles at her. “I did.” He looks over her head to Arya, who’s looking back at him with an expression he still can’t quite read, even after all this time. “And… and your mother did, too.”

Recognizing that they’ve finally gotten to the point of the story, Cat rolls over in bed so she can look at her mother. “You saved everyone.” Cat’s voice is quiet, reverent. “With a knife your brother gave you.”

Arya’s eyes are a little too bright, and she looks likes she wants to say something. But she doesn’t. She only nods at Gendry, encouraging him to answer the question.

“She did,” he says. He swallows down the lump in his throat as his mind travels back to the moment he’d found her, shivering and covered in dirt and dried blood, the weapon that had saved humanity clutched tightly in her fist. She’d looked so small, and so fierce. Terrifying. No man had ever been more in love than he was with Arya Stark at that moment.

“And your mother wasn’t afraid, Cat,” Gendry continues. “The rest of us were terrified, thought we were all going to die, but your mother? No.” He shakes his head solemnly. “Your mother marched right up to the Night King, shouted, ‘I won’t let you hurt people anymore!’, and–” He mimes a stabbing motion with his right fist. “And then, she stabbed him with that knife, which broke the evil Night King’s spell and saved the world.”

Cat nods to herself quietly for a long moment before speaking again. She looks up at Arya, eyes round as saucers. “You’re very special, aren’t you, Mother?”

Arya shrugs, looking very much like she doesn’t agree with that assessment at all. She opens her mouth to reply but Gendry beats her to it.

“Very special,” he says emphatically, eyes on his wife. “The most special woman, the best mother, you could have possibly had.”

He reaches across their daughter and grasps her mother’s hand. Gives it a gentle squeeze.

Shuichi woke up, bleary-eyed, to his phone buzzing repeatedly. It rattled to the edge of the table and almost fell off.

When he unlocked it, he found a dozen messages in their class group chat. Photos streamed in of Kaito, Maki, and Tenko on their morning run, wrapped up in scarves and big coats. The entire field was white with snow. Looking out the window, Shuichi saw snowflakes still gently falling past.

Kaito’s final message was a blurry candid of Maki, glaring at the camera. It said: ‘come to the park if u want ur butt kicked!!’

Grinning and rubbing sleep out of his eyes, Shuichi got up to find his gloves and boots.

*

The park was layered with at least four inches of snow. Students were coming out of their dorms dressed up in wintery clothes, buzzing to enjoy the rare snow day that was given. As Shuichi arrived, he spotted Kaito and a few other classmates rolling huge snowballs along the ground.

“Hey!” Kaito waved him over. He was wearing a beanie hat and mismatched gloves.

He greeted Gonta, Tenko, and Tsumugi, who were offering the giant snowballs to a twirling Angie. She claimed that she was going to build some beautiful, Atua-inspired snow statues, and Shuichi agreed he was looking forward to it.

Even Ryoma and Himiko were out, though half as energetic, they seemed to be enjoying the atmosphere. Rantaro was taking pictures of everyone for his blog, and Kiibo was barely able to move in the layers of jackets, coats, and fluffy scarves he was wearing.  

“Shuichi!” Kaito jogged up to him. “When was the last time we had a snow day, huh? Let’s make the most of it!”

He smiled at his friend’s enthusiasm. “What do you have planned?”

“I thought we could a snowball fight with everyone later. And Kirumi said she was gonna bring hot fudge brownies for after!”

The idea of a mass-snowball fight made Shuichi a little nervous, but Kaito was obviously excited for it.

“Well…we can help Angie with her sculptures for now.”

“Alright!” Kaito threw him a thumbs up, then leaned an inch closer. “Oh, and watch out for Kokichi. Don’t let him sneak up behind you with any snow.”

Despite the cold, Kaito radiated warmth as he leaned in. He paused for a moment, holding a breath, skipping a heartbeat. He had to get this crush under control.

“I’ll keep an eye out.”

When Kaito returned to the others, Shuichi immediately missed that warmth. He must’ve shown something on his face, as nearby Rantaro waved his hand with a sly look. Shuichi flushed, shook his head, and went to take a walk around the park.

*

Some time later, Angie had crafted two lifelike snow-people with such detail in their features, Shuichi thought the falling snow was going to disfigure them in minutes. Gonta was in the middle of building a snow-beetle, which was a smooth lump of snow covered in leaves.

The rest of the group had shown; Kaede had a coffee in each hand, following Kirumi with her tray of brownies; Miu was barely dressed for autumn, visibly shivering, but seemed to be enjoying herself anyway; and Kiyo had settled on a bench with a book, content to watch.

Shuichi watched as Tenko became Kokichi’s first victim. He was sure that Tenko would’ve heard Kokichi’s snickering, as he crept up behind her with a handful of snow. But she was too focused on her conversation with Himiko.

Her high pitched ‘eek!’ made Shuichi jump out of his skin. Kokichi stuffed the snow down the back of her jacket and ran, cackling all the way. Tenko’s expression was scary as she gave chase.

“If she catches him, Ouma may die,” Kaito said solemnly.

Shuichi laughed. “I hope he’s fast, for our sake.”

They kept running, chasing, dodging between Angie’s sculptures and unsuspecting classmates. They were both fast, but Kokichi was starting to pant, while Tenko hadn’t broken a sweat. Kokichi slowed to a stop and brought his hands up.

“Wow Tenko, I’m sorry, okay? I’ll let you hit me with a snowball for free. Come on, make it a good one, and we’ll call it even?”

She stared him down, then gathered a nasty-looking snowball. Himiko turned away, muttering, “I can’t watch.” Rantaro grimaced but pulled up his camera.

Once the snowball was launched, Kokichi did an acrobatic dive-roll. Strategically placed behind him was Ryoma, like the Archduke Ferdinand, the snowball clocked him on the head, knocking his hat clean off.

By now, everyone was watching. Tenko’s eyes went from blazing fury, to pure terror.

Ryoma picked up his hat and brushed it off. “So that’s the game we’re playing…”

“R-Ryoma! That was, uh, totally an accident. I mean, Kokichi–”

There was no mercy left in the ex-Tennis player. He was ruthlessly quick, and his swing was strong enough to knock most people out. The snowball shot like a cold bullet, missing Tenko’s head by mere centimeters.

“I’ll give you five seconds to run.”

Everyone scattered.

*

The simple, fun snowball fight Kaito planned became much more like a war. The park was a battlefield of barricades and trenches, with three teams plotting their moves.

Before Shuichi could really pick a side, he’d been pulled behind a snow barricade by Kaede, with Tenko, Himiko, Tsumugi, Rantaro, and Angie. He saw Kaito duck behind the opposite side. The next time he saw him, it’d likely be in battle.

With Tenko scouting, Angie and Kaede drew up the plan of attack. Himiko would stay and supply the ammunition from the safe zone, with Tsumugi laying cover fire from a distance. He and Rantaro were the frontline (or ‘meat shields’, as Tenko explained), for the other girls to try and knock down the enemy lines.

Of course, they also had to distract the neutral team. Wandering in the no man’s land, Ryoma and Maki carried their weapons, ready to aim at the first thing that moved. Gonta stayed outside as well, apparently immune to snowballs.

“So I’ll go and try to convince Maki to join us, while you and Tenko go with Rantaro and Shuichi, and push as far across as you can. Destroy as much of their walls and ammo as you can, got it?”

Kaede made a convincing leader, and Shuichi found himself getting fired up. If he saw Kaito out there, he wasn’t going to hold back. Everyone pitched in to make a final batch of snowballs before they set out.

“Wait - do you hear that?” Tenko hushed everyone and peeked over their barricade. “Someone’s coming.”

Before they could ask who, a quiet voice called out. “I come in peace! Take me to your leader!”

“Get lost, Kokichi!”

“Aww, man. I have juicy secrets from the other side of the field, but I guess I’ll take them to Ryoma instead…”

“Deserter! Why are you even here?” Tenko hissed at him.

“Those guys didn’t give me an exciting role, so I’m snitching! Isn’t that obvious?”

Rantaro and Shuichi shared a glance. This couldn’t end well. The team looked between each other, ultimately falling to Kaede. She shrugged.

“Might as well hear what he’s got to say?”

“Yaaay!” He hopped over their defenses and planted himself among the team. “You guys are gonna need a lot more snowballs. Miu’s installing an automated snowball flinger inside Kiibo, and Kirumi’s gonna bribe Gonta with sweets.”

“Great. Now what are they actually planning?” Rantaro asked coolly.

Kokichi pouted. “Alright, one of those two things is true. I wasn’t listening to anything else Kaito was saying, so I have no idea what they’re planning!”

It took a full minute for Himiko to convince Tenko not to bury him alive, let alone raise her voice. Meanwhile, the others came up with a back-up plan to intercept Kirumi, and discussed what kind of tactics Kaito would come up with.

“Shuichi, you know him best - what’s his game?”

“Well I can’t say for sure…” Shuichi was thankful that the cold disguised his pink cheeks, “I think he’d make the first move. I mean- he’ll rely on aggressive maneuvers to catch us by surprise. We should be careful, even here.”

As he finished explaining, a hefty snowball cracked into the barricade behind him. Tsumugi yelped and Kokichi took off running with a laugh.

“Th-they’re coming! Remember your stations, people!” Tenko narrowly dodged another snowball as she peeked over the wall.

A battlecry tore across the field. Shuichi grinned, adrenaline pumping for the first time in a while.

*

Kaito charged over the trench, scanning his eyes across the park.  His team seemed to be following his plan for the most part, half splitting off to distract and recruit Gonta. The rest had begun their assault. He threw another snowball towards where the opposition were starting to react.

A head popped up near where the snowball impacted, a familiar hat searching for the source. He made a ‘come at me’ gesture at Shuichi, who stared blankly at him for a moment. Was that too far…?

Then Kibo and Miu’s flank chased the rest of Shuichi’s team out of their barricade, a series of shrieks and loud laughs turning the battlefield into chaos. Kaito lost track of Shuichi as he dodged a volley of attacks from both Maki and Angie. He was easily caught up in the spirit of competition, returning fire, and throwing some fighting talk.

As the two teams fought, snowballs were launched from every direction. The walls crumbled, Angie’s statues became fodder, and before long, it was every man for himself.

Gonta and Himiko retreated to build a safety igloo, defended viciously by Tenko. Korekiyo and Maki soon lost interest, and Kirumi was none too happy when Kaede came out with a bruise on her forehead. Ryoma remained undefeated.

Kaito was crouched behind a snow lump and cherishing the last of Kibo’s ammo stockpile. He was breathing hard, creating puffs of fog in the cold air. With all this running and messing around, he could barely feel the cold - if anything, the snow stopped him from overheating.

He heard a light laugh nearby. Footsteps crunching on the other side of his cover. Kaito grinned, scooped up a snowball, fully expecting Miu or Kokichi trying to get the drop on him.

“It won’t be that easy, y’know,” Kaito spun round, aiming his shot- “Shuichi?!”

The moment he hesitated, it was over. Shuichi was beaming with a pure happiness, throwing Kaito so off-guard, he earned a snowball to the face. He staggered, sputtering, throwing his snowball at Shuichi halfheartedly.

“I expected more from the Luminary of the Stars.”

“You-! What-, damn, Shuichi!” Kaito brushed snow out of his beard. “Is this how it ends? My sidekick turns against me?”

Shuichi tossed his snowball in the air and caught it. “Any last words?”

He was too giddy to respond. Shuichi’s shameless smile was so cute, long lashes resting on bright pink cheeks, sugary snow dusting his dark fringe. His eyes were alight with a surprise competitive streak.

“Wh-whaddaya say we team up? You and I can take out the rest, easy!”

Shuichi seemed to consider his request, rolling the snowball in his hands. Kaito put his hands up in surrender and took a couple hesitant steps towards him.

“Hey…Shuichi… We’d make a great pair, right?”

Kaito worried for a second when Shuichi’s gaze dropped, cheeks getting redder. He held his breath. When Shuichi looked back up, his eyes went wide.

“Behind you Kaito!”

In an instant, he turned around, finding Kokichi dual-wielding snowballs with a sinister grin. He ducked, throwing himself behind the snowbank. As he went, he grabbed Shuichi’s hand and pulled him with him. One of Kokichi’s shots flew over their heads.

Kaito squeezed Shuichi’s hand, their faces inches apart. “Knew you’d have my back! Now go and get that bastard.”

Shuichi nodded wordlessly, lingering in Kaito’s warmth for a moment longer.  He squeezed Kaito’s hand back in a rush of affection. Then Kaito stood up, waving his arms at Kokichi and yelling. His hand felt cold without Shuichi’s.

“Hey! Over heeere!”

Taking the signal, Shuichi made a dash for the flank.

*

Everyone was frozen and exhausted by mid-afternoon. They went back to the college common room, ushered by Kirumi’s promise of hot chocolate and freshly baked cookies. Scarves, hats, gloves, and boots were abandoned at the doorstep. Kibo spent five minutes unwrapping, and everyone’s skin was dusted pink after coming in from the cold. After some chilled out music, chatter, and sweets, eventually the group started dropping back to their own rooms.

Due to the limited supply of blankets, Kaito had absolutely insisted that Shuichi share a space, curled on the couch beside him. There was still a decent distance between them, but Shuichi felt himself leaning into Kaito’s ever-present warmth. Over time, the distance slimmed, but Shuichi was sure he hadn’t moved at all.

The room became a much smaller group of friends by evening. Shuichi was dozing, barely keeping himself awake; Kaito, Kaede, and Kokichi were arguing over music taste; Rantaro and Maki finished off the snacks, sharing glances when someone said something dumb.

When he woke up, Shuichi had no idea how long he’d been sleeping. His head was leaning on Kaito’s shoulder, a spot that was so warm, soft, and comfortable, that he didn’t want to move. Only when he realised where he was did he sit up, face flushing.

Shuichi became acutely aware of his space, of Rantaro and Maki catching his eyes, and Kokichi snickering from behind a cushion. The conversation carried on as normal, but Kaito was pretending he hadn’t noticed. He had to be.

He yawned dramatically, planning his escape. “Well, I should probably head back. I’m getting kinda tired…”

“How can you still be tired?” Kokichi frowned at him. “You’ve been asleep for three hours now.”

“It was like two minutes,” Maki interjected, saving Shuichi from a heart attack.

“Ah…all the more reason to call it a night…”

He stood up and said goodnight to everyone, missing Kaito’s blanket and body heat with a shiver down his spine.  Kaito was unusually quiet, only offering a smile and a nod as he left. Shuichi’s heart sank. It looked like he’d made things awkward between them now.

*

When Shuichi left the room, Rantaro threw a cushion at Kaito.

“Hey! What was that for?”

Rantaro rolled his eyes. “You spend all day giving him gooey eyes, he falls asleep on your shoulder, and you’re just gonna let him walk away like that?”

“You’re breaking my heart right now, Kaito,” Kokichi whined.

Kaito rubbed his temple, looking for Maki and Kaede for help. Maki shook her head and Kaede pointed at the door.

“Go on. Or I’ll never forgive you.”

He hesitated for a moment longer, then without looking back, he jumped up to follow Shuichi.

*

Footsteps filled the corridor but Shuichi didn’t dare turn around, until he heard his voice behind him.

“Shuichi.”

Kaito sounded a little more serious than his usual tone. Shuichi put on a sheepish smile.

“Hey. Sorry about earlier, that was pretty embarrassing…”

“It’s fine, man, I don’t mind,” Kaito gave him a thumbs up and a grin. “My shoulders’ always here for my sidekick.”

Shuichi didn’t meet his eyes. “Yeah… Thanks, Kaito. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Alright!” His enthusiasm fell into the quiet corridor, creating an uneasy pause between them, before Shuichi turned to leave.

“Damn it– wait, Shuichi! I should be the one to know that communication is the most important thing in a team. Especially between friends.”

A breath caught in Shuichi’s throat. He waited for Kaito to continue, too nervous to reply, the heat of swirling emotions in his chest becoming sickly.

“So we should talk. Cuz you’re my best friend, and I wanna make sure everything’s good between us.”

“Everything’s fine.” His voice was quiet enough that Kaito almost missed it.

Kaito stepped towards him, concern on his face. “You sure?”

“Yeah. Why would anything be wrong?”

They held each other’s gaze for what felt like a minute. Kaito searched Shuichi for any hint of truth, for any reason he was keeping himself at a distance. Shuichi returned it with stubborn refusal. Kaito sighed.

“If you say so, then I trust you. I’m here for you if you need me, alright?”

Shuichi nodded, tearing his eyes away from the taller man. As soon as he figured out whatever he was feeling, he could talk to Kaito. For now…

“I had a lot of fun today, with you, and everyone else.”

“Yeah!” Kaito beamed, “It got kinda crazy, but hanging out with everyone was the best thing I could ask for. I’m, uh, really glad you had a good time.”

“Me too. Let’s do more stuff like that,” Shuichi mustered a smile to match Kaito’s.

“I’ll let you get some sleep. Message me if you need anything. See ya tomorrow for training!”

They parted ways - Shuichi spending the rest of the night thinking too hard, and Kaito going back to his room without facing the others. It snowed again during the night, but neither of them noticed.

[thanks for reading!! please like/reblog if u wanna, send me more prompts, oh my gosh, it’s 5am already, sorry for any mistakes]