Like A Snowflake Melting On His Tongue

Fandom: Warui Series
Pairing/Character(s): Shinonome/Yukimura
Rating: PG
Genre: Romance, Fluff
Word count: 1464
Disclaimer: Not mine, no fame, no money. Sadly.

Yukimura wasn't disappointed.
Almost being swallowed by the much too soft couch, he sat there with his legs crossed and squeezing the equally soft pillow close to his chest. Kohaku Uta Gassen was playing on TV but Yukimura had long since stopped following the happenings, instead staring blankly at the screen and telling himself he wasn't the least bit disappointed.
Other than the soft sound from the TV it was eerily silent in the room, in the whole house, to be exact, because Yukimura was the only one there. It was the thirty-first of December. The last day of the year. And he was all alone.
When the telephone rang through the house it came so sudden, and compared to the relative silence so loud, that Yukimura almost toppled off the couch. After a brief moment of confusion, he quickly threw the pillow to the side, jumped to his feet and rushed to the floor to get the wireless phone.
"Yuki?" the voice of his brother reached his ears. There were muted sounds of traffic in the background, and Yukimura immediately stiffened, knowing what was about to come.
"Yes, nii-san."
"I'm so sorry," was what came next. What had come in exactly the same way, the same guilty intonation, as it had previously been uttered to him by both his parents who were stuck somewhere in a Hokkaido hotel.
"I won't make it. I'm in a traffic jam and it's still a long way... Will you be all right?"
And Yukimura replied the same way he already had once before, "It's not your fault, nii-san. I'll be fine, don't worry."
They exchanged a few more inconsequential niceties before hanging up. Yukimura sighed, trying to ignore that dark, gloomy feeling hovering over him. He was not disappointed his family wouldn't be there for New Year's. He wasn't and wouldn't be. It wasn't like they had always been together on this day in the past or that they had always followed all those traditions, eating odon-noodles (there were still four plates on the kitchen table, all gone cold long ago), going to visit shrines and wishing each other a good New Year.
He was about to return to his lonely spot and resign when the doorbell rang. Yukimura couldn't believe his ears at first. Had his parents made it after all? Had it all been a prank? With a hopefully pounding heart he ran to the door and swung it open, only to have his hope crushed when in front of him weren't his parents but Shinonome.
"What's with that frown? You want to say you don't want to see me that much?" Shinonome joked, grinning. The cold air quickly rushed into the house and Yukimura repressed a shiver and glared at his annoying neighbour. He had stopped straining himself so much denying his feelings for the brunette, but that didn't mean he would say them out loud.
"Yes, and now please leave, I'm busy." Yukimura already wanted to half-heartedly close the door, but Shinonome pushed inside before he could even begin, watching Yukimura with a silly smile.
"Busy doing what? Watching TV all alone?"
That remark hit home. Shinonome had spoken the absolute truth, and with it out in the open, Yukimura's throat felt constricted and he couldn't speak - but what should he say anyway?
Shinonome raised a brow. "See? I have a much better idea. C'mon, get dressed!" he said excitedly. Yukimura simply furrowed his brows.
"Don't look so sceptical! I won't jump you or anything." Which only served to increase Yukimura's suspicion, but he unconsciously already had reached for his winter jacket. Not wanting to seem indecisive, he went through with the motion and got dressed, until Shinonome smiled at him approvingly.
"I need to turn off-"
"No turning off anything. It's okay to leave it be for one night." And with that, Shinonome grabbed his arm and pulled Yukimura along on the way, carelessly letting the door fall shut. He was surprised how little resistance he showed, but then again, his spirits weren't exactly in the best of conditions.
Save for the street lamps and window lights that obscured the sky and made it almost impossible to see the stars it was quite dark on the street. Luckily, the wind had decided to stay calm, and so it was very still and sounds like the distant mewling of a cat and muffled happy voices carried over to them. If anything, it felt a little isolating out here when everyone else was still enjoying Kohaku Uta Gassen on TV.
"Where are you taking me anyway?" Yukimura asked quietly, irrationally afraid to disturb the silent darkness, but Shinonome didn't slow down one bit. He did release Yukimura's arm but quickly took a hold of his hand instead, clutching it tightly in his own.
"It's a surprise!" was what he answered. Yukimura didn't try to get out of his hold.
"Idiot. You should be with your family." Because Shinonome's parents and sisters were surely there. Yukimura had seen the cars parked in front of their house. Unlike his own family. And it shouldn't hurt him as much as it did, but he couldn't help but feel his chest tightening painfully at the thought.
"They'll see me soon enough," Shinonome said and looked back at Yukimura with an expression he couldn't quite read in the dark, but was pretty sure it was meant to be tender and loving. That sap shouldn't be able to get his heart doing those back flips, and he shouldn't be able to make Yukimura feel so grateful. But he did. And Yukimura was so preoccupied with these feelings and with Shinonome's thumb drawing patterns on his palm that he didn't pay attention to where he was going. When he raised his head again after some time walking in silence, he realised where they were headed. The scenery had changed from blocks of houses to trees on either side, and lanterns hanging on thin strings along the way.
"You're not taking me to a shrine already," Yukimura whispered, trying to sound annoyed but getting it out with a lot less spite than intended. Shinonome chuckled quietly, then suddenly stopped and turned around. His bare hands softly brushed Yukimura's cheeks and jaw when Shinonome gently pulled him close.
"I wanted this to be the first thing we do after the bells, but I don't think I can wait that much longer," he said with a tiny, soft smile. Then he pulled Yukimura into a kiss, and it was nothing like the heated, wanton kisses they had shared before, or even the slow, passionate ones when Shinonome managed to catch Yukimura in a good mood. This kiss felt more... profound. More tender and tasting and reassuring. It was like a snowflake melting on his tongue, but at the same time, it felt like eternity. Like Shinonome was telling him hey, I'm here, I've got you and I'm not letting go, ever.
When they parted, still standing so very close to each other, Yukimura didn't open his eyes. Their foreheads rested against each other and he let Shinonome hold him, hanging on to the remnants of this kiss.
"I wouldn't mind a repeat of this later, you know," Shinonome said after a while and Yukimura finally opened his eyes to see the slightly blurry grinning face of Shinonome. He blinked the blurriness away and glared at his boyfriend.
"Don't glare like that, Yuki-chan. A smile is lucky for New Year's, not a frown!" Shinonome said, trying to sound and look serious but failed miserably when he burst out in voiceless laughter, the bastard.
Hmph-ing, Yukimura extracted himself from Shinonome's hold and stomped off towards the shrine. Of course, Shinonome immediately hurried after him. "Hey, Yuki-chan, that was a joke! You know I love you, even with a frowny face."
Yukimura stomped forward even faster, but rushing didn't help him get those boiling emotions back under control, and so he couldn't stop the goofy smile from spreading on his face.
He hadn't really got what he wanted. But Shinonome had successfully distracted him, and what he got from his boyfriend was definitely worth the smile. Even if Shinonome didn't see it. Yukimura had a hunch that he knew anyway. And when the idiot caught up with him and reached for his hand again, Yukimura did him the favour to reciprocate.
The lanterns cast warm, red and orange light upon them and the dark night sky above them and lack of people out in the streets made him feel like they were the only two people on earth. The only two people to enjoy the quiet of the dark and the beauty of nature at night no one else could see.
No, he definitely wasn't disappointed.