I'm not usually on of those people who writes Disney-based AUs, but… thanks, Fuma, for singing Let it Go and inspiring this |D Please read the notes and warnings! It's a bit weird |D;;
title: Do you want to build a snowman?
rating: g
pairing: Kikuchi Fuma + Matsumura Hokuto… read it however you like
warnings: Fuma and Hokuto are future step-brothers in this fic. There's nothing inherently romantic about their interaction here, so I wouldn't exactly call this incest, but it could be read that way, so if you might find that uncomfortable, please read with caution!
word count: 1,793
beta:
yomimashouauthor's note: This whole thing started half a year ago when Fuma sang "Let it Go" in the MC of Sexy Zone's Yokohama Arena concerts. XD; Somehow, I reimagined Frozen in modern-day Japan with Fuma as the main character. Written for shiritori @
writetomyheartsummary: But there's still one thing about them that doesn't feel right-- in the past few months, Hokuto has become his closest friend in the whole world, but yet, he still doesn't know about Fuma's power.
Magical-- that's the only way Fuma can describe it, really, though it seems so farfetched to him for something that he's lived with every day of his life, something, to him, so incredibly mundane. Sure, being able to freeze things simply by touching them isn't really normal, but it isn't exactly the same as casting sleeping spells on unwitting princesses or riding around on a broomstick, either, and besides, it's just never been a big deal. It's true that sometimes when he gets upset over his mother scolding him, or when an anime he's watching scares him, he freezes various objects in the room without meaning to-- it seems to come out the most when he's emotional; he's been known to make it snow inside when he's gotten a little too excited over Christmas presents or praise from his mother, too-- but somehow, over the course of his twelve years of life, it's never been a real problem. He goes to school normally, plays little league baseball normally, has friends normally. He doesn't think of himself as someone special, just… someone who can create ice and snow with his mind (or possibly his heart) in a way that most people distinctly cannot.
But although it's not a big deal to Fuma, his mother has always been a little worried about the way people might react to something like this, and as Fuma has grown older and more worldly, he understands, too, and so despite the fact that sometimes, it's a little hard, and sometimes, he slips up a little (who can blame him for adding just a little more girth to the snowballs he throws at his friends on a snow day?), he keeps his magic, or whatever it is, a secret. It makes him a little sad; he loves his friends with all his heart and he knows they wouldn't think badly of him, but he also knows it's for the best when there are other kids in his class, other people in the school, who would probably be less than thrilled to know that Fuma had the power to do things that they couldn't. Keeping such a big secret day in and day out weighs heavily on his shoulders, but he knows it's for the best, and so he bites his tongue every time it feels like the truth wants to burst from him.
Still, he wishes that he had at least someone on the inside, someone he could confide in, or at least talk to. At home, it's just him and his mother, and while he loves her with all his heart, sometimes he thinks it's completely impossible for her to fully understand. After all, she's a grown-up, worlds away from his tiny universe full of junior high school entrance exams and elementary school graduation preparations and friend groups and small decisions that feel huge, and as much as she wants to help him, she can't always be there. But he doesn't want to mess up the balance that he's achieved, doesn't want to take for granted the fact that he's managed to build a life that's mostly normal despite the fact that there's something distinctly not normal about him, and so he makes do, finding comfort where he can in books and music when there's no one who really understands what's in his heart.
But then one Saturday halfway through his last year of elementary school, his mother brings home a man. Fuma knows she's been seeing someone and has always wished her the best; he doesn't want to come between his mother and a happy marriage, and besides, he trusts her judgement and doesn't have any delusions that being of the male persuasion gives him any right to tell his mother what to do, and so he's nothing but happy when she decides to introduce him to her boyfriend. However, despite the fact that he seems nice and perfectly fatherly, it's not the man that catches Fuma's attention, it's the boy he brings with him-- his son, and, Fuma can't help but suddenly hope despite the fact that he knows nothing about this boy, perhaps Fuma's soon-to-be step-brother, Hokuto.
He knows that nothing is set in stone, but for some reason, he feels like they're brothers already as his mother urges him to bring Hokuto to his room so they can get to know one another while she goes out with Hokuto's father for the afternoon. Hokuto is shy at first, fidgety as he avoids Fuma's eyes, and at first, Fuma worries that Hokuto doesn't really want to be here. But somehow, it's easier to read Hokuto than anyone else (and Fuma's pretty good at reading people, all things considered), and it's not long before he manages to coax Hokuto out, little by little, with jokes and stories that somehow (as if by magic) light up Hokuto's face in the most wonderful lopsided grin that Fuma has ever seen. And soon, Fuma has Hokuto sitting beside him, shoulder to shoulder, playing video games with him on his bed, and it feels like only moments have passed when, several hours later, Hokuto's father returns to fetch him. Fuma stands on the veranda and waves goodbye to Hokuto as he watches him disappear in the passenger's seat of his father's car, and once he's gone, Fuma only manages to bite his tongue for a few hours before he's asking his mother, as nonchalantly as possible, when she's planning on going on another date.
It turns out, Fuma discovers the next Monday morning when he asks around in his class, that Hokuto goes to one of the other two local elementary schools in their small town up in the mountains-- he goes to karate classes with one of his classmates once a week after school-- which means that he lives close but just quite not close enough. Part of Fuma is frustrated, but the another is hopeful, and sure enough, a week later, when Hokuto and Fuma shyly ask their parents if they couldn't bike to a nearby park after school to meet up, they're rewarded with an empathic yes and a plethora of positive comments about how well they're getting along.
It is pretty amazing, really, Fuma thinks, how at home he feels around Hokuto when they've only met so recently, but it feels as if Hokuto's a piece of Fuma's life that he didn't realize was missing for the past 12 years but that he can't live without now that he's found it. They meet up several days a week after school, as well as whenever their parents go out, and eagerly exchange contact information and then emails daily when their parents finally allow them to have cell phones as their entrance into junior high school draws nearer. Somehow, there's just something about Hokuto that clicks with Fuma, and despite he fact that he's a little awkward, despite the fact that he communicates more easily through touches than words, despite the fact that he's not even entirely sure of how Hokuto feels towards him, by the time their parents finally announce their engagement, Fuma already feels like Hokuto has been his brother for years.
But there's still one thing about them that doesn't feel right-- in the past few months, Hokuto has become his closest friend in the whole world, but yet, he still doesn't know about Fuma's power. It's true that, when he's with Hokuto, he doesn't think about his secret nearly as much as when he's with his other friends, but still, it feels wrong, it feels like lying every time he thinks about how Hokuto has never been anything but honest with him and Fuma is keeping something huge from him. Despite what his mother has always told him, he wants to tell Hokuto so badly, more and more with every day, with every meeting, with every mail, and he knows Hokuto would understand… but somehow, something always stops him. After all, for all Fuma loves Hokuto, and for all Hokuto seems to want to spend time with him just as much as Fuma wants to spend time with Hokuto… well, there's really no way to be sure. Hokuto is bad at expressing himself, and even though he'll take Fuma's hand, or bump shoulders with him emphatically at times, Fuma isn't really one hundred percent sure what it means. And so he bites his tongue and does his best to try to show just how much Hokuto means to him, and tries as much as he can not to freeze articles of Hokuto's clothing every time they touch.
And so they go on this way for another few months, until one day, just a few days before their respective elementary school graduations, Fuma gets caught up helping his mother out after school and ends up a few minutes late to meet Hokuto. It's not so late, only fifteen minutes or so, but when he arrives, parking his bike and heading to their usual meeting spot, he finds Hokuto standing in the middle of the park, looking utterly lost amidst the playground equipment and the trees. Perhaps no one else would notice, but when Fuma catches a glimpse of his facial expression, just a moment before Hokuto notices him, it almost breaks his heart; Hokuto looks completely broken, sad and lonely and on the verge of tears, before suddenly, his face lights up, and he practically trips over himself running towards Fuma.
Fuma wants to make a joke to lighten the mood, or at least tell Hokuto he's sorry for making him wait, but his voice catches in his throat and then dies entirely when Hokuto doesn't stop short, instead practically throwing himself at Fuma, pulling him into a tight hug that makes Fuma's heart feel as if it's exploding into fireworks in his chest. Around them-- and nowhere else in the park-- it begins to snow, but Fuma doesn't care, can't care when Hokuto's arms are tight around him and Hokuto's face is pressed into his shoulder and Hokuto's voice, warm and familiar but also somehow intimate in the rarity of this expression of his feelings, "I was so afraid you weren't going to come, and I didn't know what I was gonna do."
And Fuma isn't sure whether he wants to sing or cry out of joy but somehow, in this awkward, strange gesture, he knows. And so, while it would probably be normal to apologize, or to explain what happened, or to assure Hokuto that he'd never stand him up, all that Fuma can think to say, as he pulls away slightly to meet Hokuto's eyes with a warm grin tugging at the corners of his mouth, is, "Do you want to build a snowman…?"