Yuri stood outside a hard door, letting the snowflakes tangle themselves in his hair. He peered in through the window, and saw light. He could practically feel the warmth emitting from the fireplace, or the comfort of sitting in one of the cozy armchairs.
"Are you gonna knock?" Hikari put his hands on his hips, and raised a hand towards the door. The hand made a rapping noise when it made contact with the door.
"It's called knocking, we use it to tell someone we're outside their door." He explained. Yuri nodded, but remained in silence. Even though he should be used to it by now, Yuri still got nervous when he was about to see Kazumi, it sent a warm chill up his spine.
The door opened with a creak, and a tall man loomed over top the boys. He held a dark demeanor, and his eyes shifted between Hikari and Yuri frequently.
"And just who do you think you are?!" His deep voice thundered.
"Daaaad, don't scare them away, that's my job." Kazumi pouted from behind the muscular figure. The mans face broke into a smile, and he laughed heartily.
"Now why can't I have some fun?" He stood back and chuckled. "Come in, come in." Hikari went in first, and Yuri followed suspiciously. Kazumi rolled her eyes at her father, but cooly went up to greet them.
"Hey, Hikari, Yuri." Her eyes lingered on Yuri. He smiled meekly, and gave a soft 'Hullo'.
"You're here!" Chiyo exclaimed happily from a leather couch, draping her front half over the top. Hikari skipped over to her, and did a belly flop over the couch.
"Fwah! Let's get this party started!" Yuri made his way over to the both of them, grinning ear to ear. Without warning, Hikari grabbed Yuri and pulled him over the couch as well.
"Come with us to the dark side." He hissed. Yuri laughed, bouncing on his back. He landed on the leather couch in a fit of giggles.
Kazumi slid her way on the couch, crushing Yuri's legs underneath her as she did so.
"So what first? I got movies, games, board games, Christmas stuff." She listed off all the things she could think of.
"I have an idea." Hikari's eyes glinted evilly, sending an odd chill up Yuri's spine. "How about we play truth or dare?" The way in which he spoke caused the room to go still, caught in eerie silence.
"All right, tough guy, truth or dare?" Kazumi narrowed her eyes.
"Dare." Hikari's lip curled in a feisty smile.
"I dare you to eat a red hot pepper."
Hikari's face made an odd sort of look, a mixture of disgust and eagerness.
"You're on."
Kazumi dangled the small pepper near Hikari's nose.
"Bottoms up." She taunted. Hikari snatched the pepper from her hands.
"Let's do this." He took a swift bite of the vegetable, finishing the entire thing. However, as Hikari started to chew it, his face slowly grew more and more red. He started making noises, an clenched a fist to stop himself from spitting out the remains of his mouthful. At last, Hikari swallowed, and instantly stuck his head under the kitchen sink
. A rousing chorus of laughter could be heard over the rushing amount of water Hikari was guzzling.
"That was amazing!" Chiyo said between giggles.
"I didn't think he could go that red!" Yuri couldn't control himself from laughing. Hikari returned, wiping water from his mouth.
"You're turn. Truth or dare?" He panted, staring straight at Kazumi.
"Dare. She stuck out her tongue.
"I dare you to spend seven minutes in a closet with Yuri." Yuri felt his face go red this time, as well as Kazumi's.
"W-what?!"
"I never said you had to do anything funny, just seven minutes together. In a closet."
"You- but- fine." Kazumi stared daggers at Hikari, bumping into him as she walked by.
"I'm doing you a favour." Hikari whispered to Yuri.
"Did you have to be so announcing about it?" Yuri replied, grabbing his arm anxiously.
"Seven minutes, on the clock." Hikari pointed to his watch.
"Shut up." Kazumi refused to look at Hikari now, and decided to stare at the ground instead.
"Whatever you say." And with that, the door closed, and Yuri found himself alone with Kazumi. He shifted around uncomfortably, unsure of what to say.
"Sorry you had to get dragged into this." Kazumi broke the silence. Yuri let out a breath of relief.
"Don't worry about it. We can just talk, if you'd like." He was surprised how easily the words came to him, they flew easier than leaves in a breeze. Yuri felt Kazumi shrug- she was closer than he originally thought.
"Sure. Why do you hang around Hikari, anyway? He's a bit if a prick."
Yuri chuckled. "He saved my life, believe it or not. Gave me a home."
"Really?" She sounded surprised. "What happened before you met him, like, how did you end up with no home?" Silence.
"Long story."
"I'm willing to listen. Besides, we have seven minutes."
"I don't really want to talk about it. How did you meet Chiyo?" Yuri changed the subject. Kazumi waited a fraction of a second too long to answer for Yuri's liking.
"I knew her ever since kindergarten. We just hit it off, best friends, the whole deal. We're still as close as we've ever been." She smiled in the dark, teeth shining.
"What do you want to do once you graduate?" Kazumi asked.
"I'm not sure."
"Then think about it more. You know I have this entire plan to be a fashion designer but... The question is, will I be able to make it work?"
"Sure you will. Just keep going, you'll do great. Who knows, I might trail after you as an apprentice." Kazumi giggled at his remark.
"I think you'd make a cool musician."
"A what?"
"You know, you play music and stuff. Like at a concert, and people idolize you and everything."
"That sounds weird."
She laughed again.
"It is, but hey. We all should end up famous now, shouldn't we?" Here was a long pause, in which Kazumi took advantage of, and leaned against Yuri more.
"You're not so bad, you know. A little rough around the edges, but not bad."
"Did you ever think I was bad?" Yuri asked. Kazumi chuckled.
"No. But you have the air about you that makes you seem out of place."
"When I first saw you, you seemed out of place too."
"Maybe that's because you ran into me. Hard."
"Ehh- that too." They shared a laugh, but stopped when Yuri felt a soft hand upon his own. Noticing where her hand was, Kazumi retrieved it immediately.
"S-sorry." She mumbled.
"You have soft skin." Yuri smiled.
"I use a lot of lotion."
"I don't think the lotion should take all the credit." He saw Kazumi smile again, before the door was whipped open in front of them. Hikari stood there, looking a little flustered himself, and said quickly: "Times up!" Yuri let Kazumi out first, gave Hiakri a questioning look, which Hikari gave an I'll-tell-you-later sort of look back to, and plopped on the couch. Kazumi smiled from the other cushions, and gave a tiny wave. Chiyo waggled a case in front of her with a smirk.
"Movie time."
ns 15.158.61.6da2
