rubber ducks are ducks made of rubber

part eight

part eight

throughout the next few days, suna took osamu around the city whenever he wasn't working. they spent their time eating, wandering through snowy fields, and eating more. sometimes, they would just sit in a warm cafe and talk, about anything and everything that crossed their minds.

at some point, osamu fell in love.

he wasn't sure exactly when it happened, but he knew why. suna was interesting, suna was interesting, suna was cool without even trying. and he looked good as well, he had an objectively pretty face and his hair wasn't half bad, either.

but the most attractive thing about him was how much he loved the seemingly cold and unforgiving season. how his eyes lit up when osamu admitted that something wasn't as bad as he had thought, how his lips twisted into a smirk when osamu crashed off the sled, how he gave a genuine smile that time osamu bought him another snowglobe because 'it's the kinda thing you would like.'

osamu fell in love with suna's passion.

of course, he couldn't imagine himself ever understanding it. winter was cold, wet, dark; everything osamu hated. suna just made him hate it less.

tonight, they were walking again, past a lake which had frozen over. suna had made a comment about them going ice skating, but danger signs around the edge had thwarted any plans that suna had been brewing.

it was colder than usual, maybe due to the thick clouds in the sky which also obscured the starlight. suna seemed disappointed about that but said nothing as they made their way across the edge of the lake. no words were exchanged between them; their silence was a comfortable one.

"hey, osamu," suna spoke suddenly.

"yeah?"

"your hands are shivering."

"it's kinda cold."

suna laughed, something he had been doing more and more recently.

"you want me to hold them for you?" without waiting for an answer, he picked up osamu's hand and rubbed the skin, trying to warm it up.

"your hands are cold as well," osamu pointed out. "you're making it worse."

"do you want me to let go?" suna's voice was teasing, but osamu panicked at the thought.

"no. you can hold on." he swallowed. "if you want to."

"do you want me to?"

"yeah." osamu gripped suna's hand. "i want you to hold on."

fingers interlaced, they continued, osamu stealing occasional glances at suna. even in the fading winter light, he looked ethereal; as magical as the wisps of ice which flew through the air. his eyes were narrowed and focused on the way they were going, until they flashed to the side and met osamu's. if suna was surprised that osamu was staring, he didn't show it. he smiled.

osamu had seen all of suna's different smiles by now, and he could tell that this was suna's 'soft' one, the same one he wore whenever he saw something he liked.

now suna was smiling it at him.