Tuesday came around quickly, and with it, the new month as well. The eleventh month of the year was the beginning of the harshest cold; frost coated the ground when the sun rose, only melting after more than an hour. Students had at last dug out their coats and bundled up in them, keeping handwarmers in their pockets.
Rin actually had three in his pockets. He was prone to getting cold hands, and his aunt was prone to worrying, so she’d nagged him until he took an extra. Rin decided to walk to school and use one of them up to give her the satisfaction of thinking he actually needed it.
He hadn’t walked to school in a long time. It was pleasant in a way; at this time, not many people were up and about on the sidewalks, so it was silent and peaceful, the frost and cold winter sunlight giving the world an ethereal effect.
Rin reached school with about five minutes to spare. The classroom was almost entirely full when he walked in. But the warmer in his pocket was indeed cooling down; he tossed it into the trashcan and took his seat.
Class started soon after; Rin had zoned out a little when the teacher suddenly said his name.
“Shiniama Rin, you have a new lab buddy,” he said. “Since you and Nao Suruna are both loners in lab, you’re partners from now on, in light of your good teamwork during your simultests. Please help each other do your best. Alright, and on with learning.”
Rin found himself glancing over at Nao. Nao was looking his way; he smiled and waved a little, then turned forward once more. He rubbed his hands together and breathed on them.
Rin frowned, suddenly thinking that he should’ve held onto his extra handwarmer for a while longer.
The morning’s classes slipped by; in no time at all, the bell signaled lunch break. Nao carefully put away his things from his last class before joining Rin and Wen Xulong, while Wen Xulong had haphazardly stuffed it all into his desk and joined Rin in mere seconds. Together, the three started walking to the cafeteria.
While they walked to the sound of Wen Xulong’s chatter, Rin noticed that Nao was still trying to warm his hands up to no avail. He frowned to himself for a moment, then said, “Nao-kun.”
Nao looked up from his hands and met Rin’s gaze. Rin reached out. “Give me your hand.”
Nao looked curious, but did as Rin instructed. His hand was indeed cold; Rin pulled Nao a little closer and put his hand in his own pocket, where his second handwarmer sat burning up its fuel. Nao gasped a little, then relaxed and gave Rin a shy smile. “. . .Thank you, Rin-san.”
Wen Xulong turned around and started walking backwards to face them. He raised a brow, seeing Nao’s hand in the pocket of Rin’s hoodie. “Shini-sama, that only warms up one of Nao-chan’s hands. You should think of something more effective.”
With an expressionless face, Rin pulled out his third handwarmer, popped the button to get it working, and stuck it in Nao’s pocket.
Nao blushed and waved his free hand. “Rin-san, it’s really fine, you don’t have to give me your other one. . .”
“Of course he does!” Wen Xulong said. “Both of Shini-sama’s hands fit in his pocket, but only one of yours can fit. But if he gives you the other warmer, you can keep both of your hands warm and he can keep both of his hands warm. It’s better for everyone.”
“But then he won’t have one for later. . .” Nao said, looking torn.
Wen Xulong grinned. “That’s alright, the warmth of knowing his small kindness helped someone out is enough to keep Shini-sama’s hands warm even without a handwarmer.”
Rin blushed a little and rolled his eyes. “You’re dumb.”
“But I’m right!” Wen Xulong said, spinning around again.
Rin was about to retort when Nao’s now-warm fingers pressed against his, separating and intertwining with them. His voice died in his throat as a stronger flush spread across his cheeks. He turned his head to look out the hall windows, hoping Nao wouldn’t notice the redness.
Rin tried not to think overmuch about Nao holding his hand—but it was very hard not to. While it was clear for anyone to see that Nao’s hand was in Rin’s pocket, they couldn’t see that on the inside, their hands were entwined, with the toasty handwarmer sandwiched between their palms. . .
Rin’s heart started to race, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get it to slow. He reminded himself that Nao probably wasn’t into guys and this was likely only a platonic gesture as thanks for the warmth, but his heart still refused to calm down, and the blush didn’t recede from his face, only lightening a little.
It came back in full force when the three of them walked into the cafeteria and countless other students’ eyes caught on Nao’s hand in Rin’s pocket.
Nao was also flushed now. In a quiet voice, he said to Rin, “Rin-san, um. . .people are staring at us. . .”
He attempted to withdraw his hand, but Rin tightened his hold expressionlessly. “Let them stare. Sharing handwarmers isn’t weird.”
“. . .Okay. . .”
Nao stopped trying to pull away; he even came a small step closer to Rin, causing their shoulders to brush. The stares turned a myriad of emotions—some were shocked, some were despairing, still more were disbelieving, and a handful were humorous. Rin ignored them all and followed Wen Xulong to their table with Nao.
Wen Xulong was normally talkative, but today he only sat down and pulled out his tablet, typing with one hand while he ate his lunch with the other. Nao and Rin sat side-by-side on the opposite bench; Rin prepared to let go of Nao’s hand, full of reluctance, then found that Nao made no effort to extract his right hand and actually picked up his chopsticks with his left.
Rin tilted his head, surprised. “. . .You’re left-handed?”
Nao shook his head with a faint blush. “Ambidextrous.”
“Right, I’ve seen you use your right hand in class to take notes,” Rin recalled—then flushed as he realized how creepy that sounded.
But Nao only smiled. “Yeah, I’m used to using my right hand in class because that’s what I was taught growing up. But I can use my left hand just as well.”
Rin felt a sudden rush of happiness. If Nao could eat just as easily with his left hand as his right, then that meant Rin could keep holding Nao’s hand. It was such a silly reason to be happy, but Rin was overjoyed all the same, barely able to fight off a smile.
But although Rin was very happy, and Wen Xulong also had a lazy sort of contentment about him, Nao didn’t appear to share their good mood to the fullest extent. As he ate, there was a slight crease between his furrowed brows, as if he were turning over a difficult problem in his mind.
Rin squeezed Nao’s hand gently, causing the other boy to look up and meet his gaze. Frowning in concern, he asked, “What’s wrong?”
Nao didn’t answer for a moment, only searched Rin’s gaze before finally giving a crescent-eyed smile. “It’s nothing. . .Just thinking of the future.”
Wen Xulong glanced up at the two of them from across the table and silently put in earbuds, effectively giving them privacy.
“You look worried,” Rin said.
Nao’s smile softened, holding the same melancholy it had back when he had only just been reborn. It made Rin’s heart drop a little to see it again now.
“Rin-san. . .If you were to find out some huge secret of mine that I’d kept from you, despite many chances to share it. . .would you still want to be my friend?”
Rin wasn’t sure why Nao was saying something like this suddenly, but he was sure of the answer. Gripping Nao’s hand tightly inside his pocket, conviction written in every plane of his countenance, he replied, “Yes.”
Nao looked up at him again. “Alright. Thank you.”
Without saying anything else, he resumed eating, though he only looked a little more at ease. Rin wondered what exactly he was thinking of.
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