Please, snow prince, let me be your knight!

CHAPTER I

The vast and snowy courtyard of the school was still full of children, intent on exchanging love letters and little meaningful gifts, either to celebrate their unbreakable friendship, or young love. 'Excuse me...' Heruse would say to pass among that crowd of students, until he saw a few, familiar grey locks: in all his cuteness, Fubuki was there, with the winter breeze caressing his flushed cheeks, as he took probably the hundredth love letter from one of his classmates, in this case, a fairly short girl: of course, what Sakuma told him was correct, the boy had a lot of admirers around Hokkaido, and at the thought, he pouted with jealousy; those girls probably knew him better than him, and he probably wasn't the first person he went on a small date with (if he even accepted, that is). He was quite far away from Fubuki, therefore, cautiously, he decided to get closer, hiding behind a pine tree, attempting to eavesdrop on the conversation between that little girl and his beloved.

The letter was still in the greenish gloves of the shorter girl, who stood on tiptoe to deliver it to the person she deeply admired; the envelope had been sealed with a sticker in the shape of a snowflake, childish enough, but after all they were among children, and that letter, like the many others he had received, deserved to be kept in his special drawer in his bedroom. So, he opened it making sure not to break even the snowflake, and he couldn't help but giggle at the surprise that awaited him.

'To my best friend Fubuki! You get so many of these, but art can say a thousand words.'
Exactly, in addition to those sweet words that didn't imply anything romantic between the two, there was a drawing that depicted the taller boy intent on skiing. Fubuki had a pretty keen eye for details and, he could tell, by all those erasures, that some effort had gone into that sweet gift.

"Thank you so much, Araya, you don't have to do this every year." He smiled at her, stroking her head, meanwhile, poor Heruse had shrunk, boiling as if he was a teapot, with anger, which surely would soon turn into deep sadness, he hadn't even recognized this 'suitor', despite having played with her a few day ago...

"Don't even mention it! After all, friendships are celebrated on Valentine's Day, aren't they?" His mouth turned into a small 'o', and his eyes lit up with nothing but pure joy. 'Of course!' he thought, giving a small, but firm punch to that pine tree. 'that's Araya Konko!' According to Haruna's data, she shared a deep friendship with the ice defender, so it was all just a silly misunderstanding, now he just had to wait for her to leave.

But suddenly, everything became white, and cold, the impact with his head caused him to fall on the ground.

...

"Perseus..."

That voice lulled him as he felt two arms getting wrapped around him, as a soft, small hand wiped all that snow away from his face: he didn't want to move, that's how tender that embrace was, it somehow reminded him of his brother, who'd hold him everytime he had nightmares.

...

"Perseus!"

'Ah!' Heruse exclaimed as someone, who was later on revealed to be Araya, shook him. Took by surprise, the boy looked around, a crowd of students had gathered around him, all with a concerned expression, whispering among eachother. "What...Where..." He brought an hand to his orange hair, squinting his eyes when he realized, that they were all wet, he could only imagine what happened and why all that attention was on him now, and almost as if he was a scared feline, with a leap he stood up, embarrassed. "Fine! I'm fine—" how was he ever going to ask Fubuki out, after such a poor figure? Not to mention that, he was sitting on the ground, and putting two and two together, he realized that his 'prince' was the one who was holding him nevertheless. His cheeks flared up. "I have to go now, t-thanks guys!"

But someone grabbed him by his sweater's sleeve, making him gulp once he spoke. "You're Perseus, right? We played together the other day." They didn't only play together, but Fubuki was also teaching the team how to snowboard, so that they could improve their speed and endurance and finally, be able to put up with those aliens. "You're a guest, and you risk a fever in these conditions. Come on," Fubuki said, taking his wirst and smiling softly at him. "I'll give you something warm to drink while I dry your hair."