Chapter Text
The second they step outside, cold air bites at their cheeks and noses. The yard is covered in untouched, glittering snow, and Bokuto is the first to yell,
“SNOW WAR!”
Oikawa shrieks as a snowball hits him from who knows where, and chaos instantly explodes. Snow is flying. People are slipping. Hinata is screaming about “a quick retreat,” while Kageyama is yelling, “STOP RUNNING INTO MY LINE OF FIRE!”
Kenma had tried to stay by the door into the apartment complex. He really did.
But Kuroo grabs the back of his coat.
“Oh no you don’t. If I’m freezing, you’re freezing with me.”
“Kuroo—” is all he gets out before snow hits his face.
He wipes it off slowly. “…Okay. War.”
Kuroo beams like he’s been waiting his entire life to hear that.
They duck behind a half collapsed snow fort Kageyama built “with structural integrity, idiot!” and Kenma peeks over the edge to aim at Oikawa.
Another snowball flies in, hard.
“RETREAT!” Kuroo declares dramatically and grabs Kenma’s wrist, pulling him toward the trees for cover.
They skid to a stop behind a thick trunk. Kenma turns to look at Kuroo..
and suddenly realizes he’s pinned.
Not harshly. Not intentionally.
Just… Kuroo leaning too close, arms braced on either side of the tree, breath visible in soft white puffs. Kenma’s back hits the bark as Kuroo tries to catch his own breath after running.
For a second, Kuroo doesn’t even notice how close they are.
Then he looks down.
Right at Kenma.
And Kenma watches Kuroo’s eyes flick down, a long good 4 seconds, straight to his lips.
Kuroo’s pupils widen just a tiny bit.
Then he jolts like he touched a live wire.
“Uh—uh—t-tactical positioning,” he stammers, looking anywhere but Kenma’s eyes and mouth. “Taking—uh—taking cover. Yep. Cover. Tactical. Very… strategic of us.”
“Kuroo,” Kenma whispers tiredly.
“I KNOW,” Kuroo groans into the tree trunk, forehead bonking against it in defeat.
Before anything else can happen, two snowballs smash into them from opposite sides.
“AMBUSH!!” Bokuto screams.
Oikawa shouts, “I KNEW YOU TWO WERE HIDING BACK THERE!”
Kuroo sputters, “We were NOT—!!”
Kenma calmly grabs Kuroo’s sleeve, yanks him forward, and trips him straight into the snow.
Kuroo lands with a loud, confused “???”
Kenma stands over him with a small, quiet, smug smile. “Counterattack.”
Kuroo just lies there, blinking up at him in disbelief… then starts laughing, breathless and bright.
Kenma offers his hand to help him up.
Kuroo grabs it.
And for a tiny moment, just a second, they both look at each other.
Eyes soft.
Breaths visible.
Smiles impossible to hide.
Then Bokuto tackles Oikawa into a big snow pile, Kageyama yells something about “STOP USING ME AS A SHIELD,” and everyone is back to war.
Kuroo and Kenma only join in after that one quiet look fades, but did it ever really?
Not really.
Because they both still feel it.
Under the snow.
Under the noise.
Under everything.
The same look they gave each other.
It still lingers.
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