rubber ducks are ducks made of rubber

part five

part five

after buying the globe, osamu had gone home. he'd considered spending the entire afternoon in suna's store, but had wanted to change into something warmer.

suna's store. that's what it was to him now.

and at exactly one minute to six, osamu was outside suna's store with the snowglobe in his gloved hands. unsurprisingly, it was cold and osamu wished he had bought a thicker pair of gloves; these were a cheap cotton set he had found somewhere in atsumu's house with a hole exposing his left thumb. he clenched his hand into a fist to prevent the wind from freezing it.

he would have liked to put his hand in the comfort of his pockets, but the snowglobe was too big for it to be safely carried, so he was stuck holding it. not that he minded. the globe itself was rather pretty, depicting a classical winter scene of a snow covered street and orange street lamps. of course, to osamu, it was just a snowglobe. but suna had deemed it important, and who was he to argue?

"hey." suna had appeared by osamu's side.

this time, osamu didn't jump at his voice.

"is hey the only way you greet people?"

suna shrugged and began walking towards the exit, osamu following.

"osamu?"

"yeah?"

"did you bring the snowglobe?" osamu handed it to him. suna lifted it up, the light reflecting off the glass and onto his face. "thanks."

"for the snowglobe?"

"yeah. i've wanted to buy it for a while."

"why didn't you just get it before? you have a staff discount, right?"

suna shrugged again.

"i don't get a discount until after i've been working for a month."

"so you used me instead."

suna's mouth twitched mischievously.

"you bought it of your own free will."

"i bought it because you said you were gonna show me something."

"i will. come on."

they left the shopping centre and headed towards a part of the city osamu hadn't explored before. he knew that there was a town square in that direction, which was converted into pop-up markets in the winter months. atsumu had talked about visiting them but osamu had declined; walking around for hours in the december air didn't appeal to osamu at all.

unless suna was by his side. in that case, it was just about manageable.

to osamu's surprise, suna took them past the christmas markets and towards a quiet park. a few people were walking through, but no one stopped; apart from them, it was empty.

it occurred to osamu that he was effectively following a stranger into an unfamiliar part of town, late at night.

"rin?"

"yeah?"

"you're not kidnapping me, are you?"

suna laughed for a second time and osamu resolved to ask more questions like that in the future. suna's laugh was light, carefree, contagious; osamu could listen to it on repeat for hours.

"you think i'd kidnap you?"

"maybe?! it's dark, and i'm tired, and-"

"sit," suna interrupted. they had reached a bench on the path that ran around the park. it was in an open area, so the sky was unobscured and the moonlight glinted off the wet grass.

osamu sat down and suna sat next to him, leaving only a few centimetres of space.

"uh-"

"look at the stars."

"yeah." osamu gave a brief look towards the sky before turning his focus back to suna. "what about them?"

"you can't see the stars like this. not in summer."

"yes you can?"

suna shook his head.

"the nights are shorter. so you don't see them as well."

osamu grunted a little.

"they're just stars."

"they're winter stars. which is infinitely better."

"so that's the only good thing about winter?" osamu asked in mild disbelief. "the stars?"

"that's one of them." he sat there, admiring the sky for a while until he eventually stood up. "it's late. i guess i'll be going back home now."

"wait!" osamu scrambled to his feet, not wanting suna to leave. "that wasn't an hour! you owe me more time!"

suna's eyes sparkled like the stars above him.

"come back at the same time tomorrow. then i'll show you more."