Winter Wonderland

By Dyaoka



Disclaimer: I don’t own. Period.

Notes/Warnings: Challenge issued by Yoshiko-chan. I did my best…in other words, I BS-ed my way through this entire fic like I would BS my way through an essay. XDDD!!! Hope you enjoy.

I’ve never been known to be a late waker, nor have I ever been known to skip school. But nevertheless, I found myself doing both those things on one particular day.

It was complete coincidence that my mother and sister had rushed out of the house, late for their work and forgetting to wake me up. I had felt particularly lethargic then, unable to get out of bed even with the alarm. I had turned it off and crawled back under the covers, wanting a bit more rest. There was no one else home, except for me, and I had fallen asleep, completely unaware that school had started. The tennis team didn’t have practice that morning.

It was around ten, when I even felt remotely like getting up and one glance at the clock told me that I had already missed three hours of class. It was terribly uncharacteristic of me, but I decided to forget about going to school that day. The air was chilly and even the carpet was cold. I realize that my window had frosted over during the night. I wrap my blankets around my shoulders, dragging them with me as I got out of bed to open the window.

I was greeted with the sight of white rooftops and roads; the snow had come up and over the sidewalk, and with the snow that had been cleared off the road, the mounds had could bury the sight of any passerby from cars. I smiled softly at the sight of the whitened world before me, watching as my breath came in small puffs in the air. I remembered when I was younger, when Yuuta and I were still together, whenever it had snowed, the two of us had to run outside and play in it. Still, now, as I just observe the white winter land below me, I feel the urge to run outside and play in it. I wonder if Yuuta was feeling the same, at his dorm at Saint Rudolf.

However, I was taken completely by surprise when I saw a single figure walking on the sidewalk, standing out so completely against the white. I smile brighter, knowing whom it was and where his destination was. I smile and my heart is filled with warmth and my icy body no longer feels the cold. Because he is here.

I close the window to my room and set the blankets down onto my bed, carelessly leaving them as they are, not caring that they were not made. I can always do that later, I reason. After all, he is here.

I walk downstairs, and halfway there, I hear the doorbell ring. Right on time. I open the door and I meet him, his face unchanging. He had always been like that, but I do not mind, for he has already shown me so much more.

“Tezuka,” I greeted jovially, the everyday smile I would wear gracing my features.

“Fuji,” he returned the greeting.

“What brings you here at this hour?” I inquire. “There is school today, yes?”

“No,” he answers with a slight pause. “They’ve cancelled it, in fear of a storm. It’s due to arrive around noon.”

I look to the sky, but see no evidence of the forecasted storm. “Hm…that’s interesting. I don’t see the storm at all.”

“A storm isn’t something that one would see until it is almost here,” Tezuka replied. I smiled and I let him in, instead of making him stay outside in the cold.

Later, I had managed to persuade him back outside again, to play in the snow. He had probably thought me insane, but I could not care less. The snow is my friend and to have such an abundance of it around…I felt lucky. I wanted to share the joys of the snow with him. With Tezuka.

I had led him to the yard, where it was large enough to play in. Yuuta and I had played in it often in our youths. We no longer do, now, except for the times when it is snowing.

I had fun with him, Tezuka. We had a competition as to who could make the best snowman. I won, naturally.

My snowman was not very big, nor was it very small, but it was perfect, though it only had two giant snowballs stacked on top of one another instead of the customary three. I thought that two was enough. It had the cutest little pebble eyes and brown, tree-branch eyebrows and a straight, unsmiling mouth. Its nose was a carrot that I stole from the kitchen and its buttons were old, used tennis balls from my youth. A tennis racket stood next to it, leaning lightly against my snowman. I had felt particularly daring that day and peeled off some of the bark from one of the trees in the yard and wrote upon it—as a teasing gesture of course—Ten Laps. I added a tiny heart there to. Tezuka had only frowned when he saw that.

“It’s missing something…” I said, smiling at the taller one out of the two of us. Tezuka only grunted.

I fetched my reading glasses and placed them upon my darling snowman. I took Tezuka’s scarf and placed it upon him as well.

My snowman was complete.

“I shall name it…” I trailed off as Tezuka placed a hand on my shoulder.

“How about you not name it?” he asked. I smiled and nodded, but secretly in my mind, I already had a name.

Mini-Tezuka.

I think I must’ve snickered because Tezuka was regarding me with a slight disapproving look. I continued to look innocent, even when I dumped snow down the back of his shirt. That was his punishment for loosing at the snowman competition. Of course, he got me in return and it became a small snowball fight.

Miraculously, Mini-Tezuka survived the fight. Tezuka’s snowman, however, did not. It had died heroically, trying to save me from the onslaught of snowballs. I shall revere it in my mind.

I must have spaced out there for a moment for the next moment I knew, Tezuka was putting his coat around me. I had not noticed, but I was shivering slightly.

“We should get inside,” he said, his deep voice rumbling as he spoke. I loved to hear his voice, but he would not talk much, whether it was in private or in public. He talked when he had to in the public, and I should feel honored that he speaks perhaps the most to me.

“Perhaps,” I say in return, hugging his coat. It was warm and comfortable—just like Tezuka.

We went back inside, several minutes later, leaving Mini-Tezuka outside just by himself. I wanted to make a Mini-Fuji to keep Mini-Tezuka company, but Tezuka didn’t seemed to want to. I made a small promise to make something later, should I have the time.

The storm hit around noon, when Tezuka and I were eating lunch. Tezuka had prepared them—he knew how to cook, surprisingly. He is a man of many talents and mysteries indeed. And I plan on solving them all.

“I should be getting home,” Tezuka said, around five o’ clock in the afternoon. The radio was on, just lightly. The storm seemed to be interfering with the radio signals, causing more static than ever. It made the song seem like an old phonograph.

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening?
In the lane, snow is glistening.
A beautiful sight,
We're happy tonight,
Walking in a winter wonderland.

Walking in a winter wonderland…