[je_hols] The road with no sign
Title: The road with no sign
Pairing: Jin/Kame
Disclaimer: They're not mine. Sad but true.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Jin takes Kame to what should have been a perfect holiday in a ski resort but, alas, things don’t turn out exactly as planned.
A/N: Written for tia_junan during je_holiday Title taken from a line of this wonderfully beautiful song: Beautiful life, by Charlotte Martin
It was quite ridiculous really, how Kame had ended up sitting in the night train’s smoker car, with Jin on the bunk bed above his and his back hurting from the hard mattress, huddled inside a thick winter coat and trying to fall asleep as the snowy landscape passed by behind the window. Jin was blasting music through his earphones and smoking cigarettes like there was no tomorrow, mostly because Jin had always been terrible at sitting still during a trip unless he’s driving, and Kame had absolutely refused to spend God knew how many hours in Jin’s heating-lacking car just to have to take a ferry at the other end.
Though he did regret not having bought some sleeping pills before riding the train.
Kame had been mercilessly swept off his feet the moment he got out of work on Friday, Jin quickly shoved him inside the tiny car, drove him to his place then helped him pack all of Kame’s available winter clothes while he ranted about vacations and travelling and hot springs and skiing all muddled together and confusing until Kame forced him to sit down and elaborate.
Jin worked as a model and clerk in a famous brand’s store in Shibuya, which had organized a prize draw for a trip for two to a nice hotel in a skiing resort in Hokkaido, skiing classes and all expenses included, and Jin had been lucky enough to win so he had been given a week of vacations during Christmas. Apparently the store had intended that the winner went with their boyfriend or girlfriend, but as Jin lacked one and Yamapi couldn’t get off work, he had decided to bring Kame along, since the youngest one wouldn’t have any problems getting the free days.
And so Kame had found himself being snatched away from his job an hour before his shift was usually over, only to be driven home so he could slip into the thickest winter coat he had and a pair of warm Ugg boots before he grabbed his bags. Kame kind of thinks he should have established his rule of not getting dragged on trips without at least a week’s notice to consider the consequences before getting in the cab heading to the station that afternoon.
The train arrived at Sapporo the following morning, after seventeen hours of creaking, freezing cold and constant trips with Jin to the restaurant car in search of snacks. Seventeen hours in which Kame didn’t manage to get more than ten minutes of sleep; unlike Jin, who had been snoring away whenever he was not smoking or devouring snacks out of boredom. Kame wished they could just go to a hotel and get into bed already, but Jin dragged him to a car rental business to rent the tiniest vehicle available and head toward the skiing resort.
Another four hours in a car’s passenger seat without any heating and trying to read a map did not improve Kame’s mood much, but he could feel relief washing through his very tired body when they could finally pick up their cabin’s key from the hotel reception. The logs cabin was a few minutes away from the main building by foot, but it was nice and cozy, and Kame was glad to find out it not only had central heating but also a fireplace. The ground storey had a nice living room with a sofa, a low table and a tv, a small kitchen, a bathroom and a toilet under the staircase. The upper storey had a bedroom with only a double bed, which was to be expected since the trip was meant to be shared with a girlfriend and not a friend. Luckily Kame was too tired to care about that and decided he would rather pay attention to the small onsen bath in the backyard.
Kame could have cried when Jin dumped their bags and proceeded to drag him away from the promising hot bath in search of lunch.
Getting up at sharply 7.30am was not what Kame had expected for a vacation week, and most definitely he had not expected to have to kick Jin out of the bed when it had been his friend who had set the alarm in the first place. Jin whined and rolled around in the sheets, and refused to wake up, but by opening both windows and pulling off the comforter that did the trick, even though he whined and harrumphed all the while they slipped into their various layers of clothes: underwear and thin thermal t-shirts, turtlenecks and sweatpants; the ski coats and trousers were left for after their breakfast.
They had to rent their ski boots, goggles, gloves and skies, and Kame was intelligent enough to rent a helmet too, which Jin thought to be mostly uncool. The trip included skiing classes, and they found their instructor already waiting for them up in the ski resort; she was a young woman dressed in tight fitting ski clothes that made her curves all the more pronounced, and she smirked devilishly when they greeted her. Kame feared the day they had ahead as soon as she explained how to wear their skies and Jin failed at it already.
Luckily the skiing lesson was only three hour longs, because when it finally ended by 13pm Kame was sure every muscle of his body was aching, along with some of whose existence he hadn’t known before. Jin looked miserable too as he dragged himself along, following Kame to the restaurant. They bought two meal sets consisting of hot ramen and beers, though in hindsight Kame regretted giving Jin the chance to regain his energy. As soon as they were done with the meal Jin yanked Kame up from his chair and insisted they made the best out of the few hours left until the resort closed, much to his friend’s despair.
When they finally arrived back at their cabin at the end of the day, Kame was exhausted and both of them had fallen to the ground with more or less painful consequences more times than they cared to count. They took turns in the shower and managed to push themselves toward the main building’s diner for some dinner before Kame was finally allowed to enjoy the small onsen bath in their backyard, surrounded by the pretty snowed landscape. It was quiet and peaceful, the steam rose from the hot water and the stars shone in the dark sky. It did magic to their poor aching bodies, and before long Kame somehow slid down, rested his head on Jin’s shoulder and fell asleep.
Kame didn’t remember getting out of the bath, but he refused to ask how he had ended up in his pajamas and on their bed when he woke up the next morning.
Skiing lessons were harder than Kame had thought they would be, but he was soon pleased to discover he was a bit better at it than Jin. The older man would constantly pout at him from the heap on the ground he always managed to end up in. He managed to steal Kame’s helmet right after the second day, tired of getting snow on his hair. Kame just glared half-heartedly and crossed his path when the instructor was not looking, so Jin gracelessly fell down again with a loud squawk when he tried to avoid the younger man.
They ended up exhausted every day with barely strength enough left to drag themselves to the hotel’s diner to grab something to eat and then sink into the onsen bath for a couple of hours. However the hotel’s cleaning service had left a brochure about the town’s Christmas lights, and Kame decided they needed to go and have a walk around to see them. He pestered Jin around until the older man finally agreed to get dressed and drive him down to the town.
It was not a big town, but it had a nice atmosphere with the snow piled up at the sides of the stone streets and the Christmas themed lights shining over them. Outside the convenience store there was a man dressed up as Santa that gave them a couple of brochures to which neither of them paid much attention, just folding them up and stuffing them in their back pockets. There was not much to see in the town, but it was still nice to walk around for a while, tightly wrapped in their coats, scarves, hats and gloves.
Kame had just stopped to check the menu of the only restaurant they had found when a snowball hit him on the nape, sending him stumbling forward with a yelp. He whipped around to glare at Jin, the look in his eyes very clearly promising revenge.
“I hope you had a very good reason to do that.”
“Eeps!”
Jin started running away as soon as he saw Kame picking up snow to form a ball, but the stone ground was slippery with half melted snow and ice sheets, so the two of them ended up sliding while trying to keep their balance rather than running. Jin turned around to stick his tongue out at Kame mockingly, thus missing the ice sheet in front of him. Kame halted, eyes wide.
“Jin, carefu-”
Jin’s right leg skidded over the ice and was thrown up in the air, his left leg followed as Jin flailed his arms wildly and squeaked loudly in a vain attempt to keep his balance. The noise when the man’s back finally hit the ground made Kame wince in pain, and he rushed to check on his friend, though he was careful not to meet the same fate. Jin’s face was scrunched up in pain, but Kame lost a good deal of sympathy for the man when he made sure Jin could move all his limbs properly. He moved to tower over his fallen friend and held the snowball where Jin could clearly see it. He smirked at the man’s panicked face.
“They do say revenge should be served cold.”
He dumped the snowball over Jin’s face, laughing as the man coughed and spat, trying to sweep the snow off his mouth and eyes. Of course Jin would not let the fight end there, so he moved as quickly as his aching back let him to grab Kame’s hand and try to pull him down. Kame squeaked but stood his ground and pulled Jin up instead; the man was still over the ice sheet and he skidded again, falling over Kame. For a moment they just stumbled clumsily around until they hit a wall; this time it was Kame’s back being painfully slammed, but he forgot all about complaining when he saw Jin blinking down at him with their lips just an inch too close together for comfort. He blushed and promptly tried to hide it by shoving his friend away.
“Clumsy idiot.”
They decided to check the local stores since most were still open, and Kame bought some food to cook at the cabin if they got too tired to go to the diner. They each got a stack of the local sweets and Jin was promptly stuffing himself with them. In lack of a napkin he remembered the brochures they had been given earlier, and brought his out. However just as he was about to throw it away something caught his attention, and he stopped to read it.
“Jin?” Kame frowned when he realized Jin had fallen behind and walked back to him. “What’s that?”
“Look at this.” Kame made a face at the sticky substance on the paper, but squinted to read what Jin was pointing at with a not very clean finger. “It’s night skiing. Wouldn’t it be cool?!”
“Jin, we can barely survive day skiing. With daylight and visibility. Do you want us to die?”
Jin pouted, shoving him lightly. “We don’t suck that much! Besides, I’m sure we will be fine if we take it easy! Come on, I’m pretty sure the expenses are included in the prize and it sounds fun!”
Kame raised a skeptical eyebrow and brought out his own brochure, refusing to touch Jin’s sticky one. He read over the information and then looked back at Jin, who was giving him hopeful puppy eyes. Kame did his best to ignore his stomach flopping with a weird feeling of butterflies and frowned.
“We try. On easy trails. And if it’s too hard we return before we break our necks. Got that clear?”
Kame thought he must have been spending way too much time with Jin if his friend’s happy squeal was enough to make him feel warmer even in Hokkaido’s winter frozen night air.
Kame had been nervously checking his backpack for the last fifteen minutes, while Jin watched amused from the couch. After refreshing themselves and having a light dinner in the hotel they had gotten dressed in their ski clothes again, but Kame had insisted on packing a few things just in case. There was a blanket in case Kame got cold in the car during their way back because Kame always got cold easily, and there were four sandwiches and many snacks because skiing made them hungry, especially Jin, and the hotel’s kitchen would be closed by the time they got back. Kame also packed two bottles of water, some painkillers and the day’s newspaper to have something to distract himself from all the painful ways the night could end.
They took a lift to the easy trail they were more used to, but even though Kame feared for their lives a couple of times and deeply regretted having left the helmet down at their cabin, they managed to go all the way unharmed, which started to look like a rather bad thing when Jin felt encouraged to try a more difficult run. He especially liked one that had a pine wood on both sides. Kame didn’t look really convinced, but he agreed to try it as long as they went slowly and Jin skied in front of him; he was still better than the older man, so he would be able to help Jin in case he fell.
It was a while before Kame realized there was no one else skiing down the pines trail. He wanted to call Jin’s attention to that fact, but the man was not listening. Even though the course was illuminated the visibility was still bad, and suddenly Jin ran over a mogul of snow, made a panicked noise and a desperate turn to avoid falling and disappeared into the wood with a yelp. Kame stopped at the border of the trees in the spot he had last seen Jin, and called out his friend’s name. When no answer came, he grew more anxious.
With his heart beating strongly inside his chest, Kame used his poles to give push himself off the run and into the woods, but the snow was piled up in moguls and it was difficult to keep his balance. He kept calling Jin’s name loudly, feeling relieved when he finally had an answer. Kame pushed himself faster, anxious to get to his friend; he tried to do the wedge formation their instructor had taught them, but one ski crossed over the other and Kame stumbled forward with a scream. He rolled down the slope, unable to stop himself until he finally hit a tree. Kame ended up in a heap on the snow with his arm twisted in a weird position; he screamed in pain when he tried to move it.
“Kame?!” Jin’s voice sounded anxious but, more importantly, close. “Kame, are you alright?! Say something! Where are you?!”
“I’m here! I fell down!”
They kept calling to each other for a few moments, until finally Jin came into view. The woods were barely illuminated by the moon, but its rays reflected on the snow and gave barely light enough for him to make out Jin’s worried face. Jin helped Kame to take off his skis and moved him to a sitting position; he took off his backpack to make him rest against a tree, even though Kame complained when his arm was moved.
“Does it hurt a lot?”
“Can’t move it.”
Jin gulped, looking around in his pocket. “Maybe it’s broken. Wait a moment, we need some more light.”
Kame rested his head against the pine’s trunk with a sigh as he heard Jin taking off his skis too and moving around a bit. He opened his eyes when he heard some loud, sharp noises, and saw Jin tearing off a couple of small pine branches with a pole. Soon enough Jin was securing them to the ground and taking his gloves off to fish out the lighter he had been carrying in his pocket. The branches were not very good torches and even though Jin had tried to pick the most inner and dry ones they were still a bit damp with snow so they took a few tries to light, but they gave them illumination enough.
“Kame, we need to take your jacket off, alright?” Kame nodded and gritted his teeth to avoid crying out in pain during the process, but he could not help it when Jin tried to relocate his arm the best he could. “I’m sorry, I know it hurts, but it’ll be worse if I don’t do it. You had packed a newspaper, hadn’t you?”
“Yes… Since when do you know about first aid?”
“Took a course a couple of years ago, thought it would come in handy eventually. Okay, here it is. Oh, and a pocket knife! This will be useful. Wait, we need to cut your sleeve up…”
Kame watched as Jin cut the sleeves of his injured arm out with the pocket knife before taking out the newspaper and then lifting up the outer layer of his own trousers. They had a special one behind to prevent snow from getting in and Kame wanted to protest when he saw Jin cutting a few stripes out of it, but the older man just gestured at him to be silent. He rolled the newspaper and put it under and around Kame’s arm before carefully tying it with the fabric stripes, tightly enough so it would hold but not enough to cause more pain; Jin took off his scarf and made an improvised sling with it. He took some snow in his hands and smiled apologetically at his friend.
“This will be a little cold, but it’ll reduce the swelling.”
Kame hissed when the snow was placed on his arm, but it lessened the pain after a few moments. Jin dried his arm the best he could with the cut up stripes of his sleeve and then helped him pull the jacket over it before he got too cold. Kame slumped down a little against the tree with a tired sigh.
“What do we do now?”
Jin chewed on his lip nervously. It was usually up to Kame to make the important decisions, but now Kame was tired and in pain and it was not probably a good idea to put that weight on his shoulders. Jin dug in the inner pocket of his ski jacket to fish out his phone, but he sighed in resignation after looking at the screen.
“I have no signal. How about you?” Kame tried to take out his phone too, though in the end Jin had to help him. The older man shook his head. “No signal either.” Kame closed his eyes for a moment and Jin sighed again. He put both phones in his pocket and grabbed the backpack. He helped Kame to stand up and patted his healthy shoulder. “Do you think you can ski like that? We’ll go slowly.”
Even slowly, it was difficult. Kame went before Jin, trying to balance himself with one pole while Jin held a torch behind him to light their way. Their weight sank their skies in the non compact snow and made them lose their balance constantly; Jin was carrying the backpack and he fell down a couple of times, but he ignored the pain and pushed himself to continue. However Kame was by far in a worse condition than him, and it was quickly becoming too much for him to keep going on, so they finally decided to stop when Jin’s watch read past midnight.
Kame sat against a tree as Jin helped him take off his skis again before doing the same with his own; he sank them into the snow around the place where Kame was sitting so he could hang their blanket over them, creating some kind of a tent to stop the wind that was coming from behind them. It took a while to get branches enough to light a fire and even then it was small and weak, but strong enough to give an illusion of protection and warmth. Jin huddled inside the improvised tent with Kame and brought the man closer to his own body in an attempt to give him some warmth.
Jin turned to look at Kame after long minutes of silence. The man was staring at the fire with a worried expression. He shifted in pain from time to time, letting out little grunts. Jin opened the backpack again to take out two sandwiches, some snacks and a bottle of water.
“There, we should eat something.”
“Not really hungry.”
“But you need to eat. I’m sure they’ll find us tomorrow, so we should regain some strength. And you need to eat something before taking a painkiller. Come on, it’s just a sandwich. Please?”
Kame smiled, letting Jin unwrap a sandwich for him and taking a small bite. Jin ruffled the man’s hair affectionately and they ate in silence, vaguely hoping that maybe someone would see the small fire, maybe a snowcat driver, even though it became less and less likely with each passing second. Jin gave Kame a painkiller and the bottle of water when they were done eating, and they cuddled a little closer to each other under the blanket. The pines were dark and tall, but in between their peaks the black velvety sky could be seen with some bright stars shining. The wood was eerily quiet, only the wind and the crackling of the fire could be heard, aside from some occasional nocturnal birds that had stopped startling the two men a while ago. Jin rested his cheek against Kame’s head where it rested on his shoulder.
“I’m sorry I insisted on the night skiing thing. I didn’t think it’d end up like this.”
Kame rolled his eyes before realizing Jin wouldn’t be able to see him from that position. He finally settled with cuddling a little closer to the man’s bigger body; he was getting cold. “Maybe this will teach you to listen to people obviously more intelligent than you in the future.”
Jin nudged his healthy side gently. “This is where you’re supposed to say ‘It was no one’s fault’, you sorry excuse of a friend.”
“Why? It was obviously your fault.”
Jin rolled his eyes, nudging a little more. “Is that painkiller having any effect?”
“Hmm. I didn’t realize I had packed the ones that make you sleepy.”
“Are you getting sleepy?”
“Hmm.”
Jin smiled, wrapping an arm around Kame’s shoulder to stroke his hair gently. “Goodnight, Kame-chan.”
“G’night.”
When Kame woke up the next morning with the first rays of sun the fire was already reduced to ashes, but his body was strangely warm. It took him a few moments to realize he had an extra jacket over his shoulders, while Jin was only wearing his thermal shirt and turtleneck. He shook his friend lightly, slowly awakening him. Jin blinked confused, still a little sleepy, but he smiled when he saw Kame looking up at him.
“Good morning. How are you feeling?”
“Jin! What’s the meaning of this?” Kame pulled on Jin’s jacket to get it off his shoulders the best he could. “Are you nuts or what?”
Jin sighed, stretching out. “I’m fine, don’t worry.” He moved to press his cheek against Kame’s; it was cold, but still warmer than the younger man’s one. “See? I’m fine. And you needed extra warmth with your arm hurt like that.”
Kame pouted, but Jin just waved a hand at him dismissively and got up to stretch his aching muscles. At least he agreed to wear his jacket again when Kame handed it to him. He brought some snacks out of the backpack and handed a few to his friend for a brief breakfast, then proceeded to check on the man’s broken arm again. It had swollen up again and it still hurt, but having it immobilized had helped a bit. Jin took one of the bags their sandwiches had been packed and filled it with snow before placing it on Kame’s arm, smiling apologetically when his friend hissed.
“Keep it on there until I tell you, alright? Does it still hurt a lot?”
“I can deal with it.”
Jin nodded, but he handed him another painkiller and the bottle of water. The wood was beautiful in the morning light, but they had no time to admire the sights. Jin put their things away in the bag and made sure they weren’t leaving any rubbish behind. He found a map of the ski resort in his jacket’s front pocket, and sat down with Kame to check it.
“The trail we were trying to ski last night is to the east, see? So all we have to do to get back there is go east, which should be easy if we take the sun as a compass. We’ll be back before midday, and then we’ll get some help for that arm of yours and proper food and rest.”
Jin’s enthusiasm was contagious, but it was easier said than done. Even when they managed to get up and start skiing toward the east, the trees and moguls of snow made it difficult to move on. Their bodies ached from the weird postures they had slept in, their feet hurt from wearing their rigid and uncomfortable ski boots for so long and they were hungry and cold. Jin could only imagine what Kame had to been going through with his broken arm.
It was worse when the painkillers started taking their effect on Kame and the man started to get sleepy. Jin could see him losing his sense of balance, and it was only matter of time until he finally fell down, though at least he was lucky enough to fall on his healthy side. It still hurt, and Jin feared the worst when he heard his friend’s scream. He helped Kame take off his skis and sit down against a tree, quickly checking his arm. Jin let himself slide down beside Kame, sitting on the snow with a sigh.
“Maybe we should stop for a while. Sleep a bit, rest and then try again.”
“ ‘m thirsty.”
Jin smiled, pressing the bottle against Kame’s lips to help him drink. The man was too tired to even move, and he fell asleep within moments. Jin finished the water and stored the empty bottle in the backpack before settling down by his friend. Pulling his ski gloves off, he took the map out again and checked his wristwatch. It was almost midday, and they had been skiing since roughly nine in the morning; they should have reached the trail by then. Jin sighed, letting his head fall back against the pine’s trunk. Maybe they had gotten disoriented when they fell last night and they had ended up further away from the trail than he had thought. And still there was no signal on their phones. Jin closed his eyes intending on just resting for a moment, but he was so tired… His last thought before falling asleep was the hope that maybe someone at the hotel had realized they were missing and started a search for them.
He woke up when he felt Kame moving by his side, and he needed a moment to realize he had fallen asleep. His wristwatch read just past four in the afternoon, and Kame was writhing by his side. For a moment Jin feared that his friend had hurt his arm worse, but Kame seemed to be fighting his… trousers?
“Kame? Are you alright?”
“Y- yeah…”
“What are you doing?”
“I… need to go to the toilet, alright?”
Jin laughed at his friend’s flushed cheeks, amused at Kame’s embarrassment. The man glared and tried to kick him, but Jin dodged him and got up. “Do you need help?”
Kame glared again, but at the end he had to give in. He looked down with an utterly ashamed expression. “… maybe a bit.”
He did his best to ignore Jin’s grin as the man helped him up and walked with him a few meters away from the improvised camp. It was weird and utterly embarrassing as Jin helped him undo the ski trousers and pull them down, which Kame hadn’t managed to do with one hand and gloved on top of that, and then pulled his sweatpants down just to his thighs. At least Jin had the decency to leave the rest to Kame and turn around, walking to stand a bit far away from his friend. Kame rearranged his clothes the best he could once he was done, but Jin still had to help him to zip up his ski trousers and button them. Kame blushed again, looking down and feeling uncomfortable with Jin touching him there.
They returned to their camp once Jin had relieved himself too, and picked up their things to try to move on for a couple of hours more while they still had light. Which was for shorter than they had expected, since barely an hour after they started skiing clouds started to cover the sky. It was dark before six, and after a while it started to snow. Jin looked up at the sky in desperation; soon their goggles were wet and it was difficult to move on or to see where they were going. They decided to stop before it got worse, and Jin put up their blanket as a tent again; at least it would help to shelter them from the snow and wind.
Jin tried to smile once they had settled in and ate something, despite feeling down and desperate. It had been a night and a day since they had got lost, and he knew their chances to get back to the trails didn’t look good, but he still tried to be optimistic. He gave another painkiller to his friend and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.
“I’m sure they’ll find us soon…”
“Stop saying that!” Jin was taken aback by Kame’s sudden outburst and stopped talking, looking at his friend with wide eyes. Kame looked a bit like he was about to cry. “Stop saying that already! We’ve been lost for over a day already, and nobody has found us! We’re just going to die here at this rate!”
Before Kame had time to say anything else Jin leaned in and kissed him on the lips, hard. It was a little bit awkward, but it effectively made Kame stop. When Jin drew back his friend just looked up at him with wide eyes, lips still parted.
“What… was that for?”
Jin offered a small doubtful smile. “You kind of looked like you needed one.”
Kame let out a sound between a choked laugh and a sob and buried his face in Jin’s jacket, his healthy gloved hand looking for his friend’s to hold it tight. “Jin?”
“Hmm?”
“I’m cold.”
Jin sighed and moved his legs so Kame could fit in between them and motioned for his friend to get closer. “Come here.” As Kame settled against his chest Jin pulled off his jacket and wrapped it around his friend’s shoulders.
“You’ll get cold…”
“I’m fine, don’t worry. Are you warmer now?”
“Hmm. Jin?”
“Yes?”
“Can you… do it again?”
Jin blinked confused, caught by surprise. “You mean… the kiss?” Kame nodded against his chest, cuddling a little closer. “You liked it?”
“Yeah… You’re warm.”
Jin chuckled, but he slipped a hand under Kame’s chin to raise his friend’s face and kiss him on the lips again anyway. This time it was longer, slower and gentler. Jin moved his lips against Kame’s cold ones, wetting them with his tongue and holding his friend close at the same time. As they broke away and Kame let out a trembling sigh Jin brushed his lips over the man’s forehead, frowning a little at the warmth.
“You have a fever, Kame.” He only received a soft hum for an answer. He brushed his gloved fingers clumsily through Kame’s hair. “Try to sleep a bit, I’m sure they’ll have found us before you wake up.”
“Jin?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you really believe they’ll find us?”
Jin sighed, brushing his lips over Kame’s temple, and tried to sound confident. “Of course. They’ll find us and take us somewhere warm and nice, and this will become a crazy tale to tell to your kids one day.”
Kame sighed and dropped a small kiss on Jin’s jaw line. He was asleep the next moment, but Jin stayed awake. Kame’s fever mixed with the pain of his arm and the man’s rest was fitful; he tossed and turned and whimpered in his sleep, keeping Jin awake. He was tired too, but he was cold and hungry and his muscles ached; he couldn’t sleep. He kept stroking Kame’s hair and kissing his temple to try to calm him down. He had a couple of cigarettes left in a box in his pocket, so he smoked them to keep himself warm.
Jin sighed when his watch showed him it was almost midnight; soon Christmas day would be over. They had been too worried with their situation to realize it was the 25th of December, but in the cold of the night when worrying made no sense any longer, Jin felt the time slipping out of his grasp. He looked at Kame, who was frowning in his sleep; the man’s hand was still holding Jin’s turtleneck tightly. Jin placed his own gloved hand over it and moved to kiss Kame’s lips again, softly and careful so as not to wake him up. The hands of his wristwatch pointed to twelve o’clock, exactly midnight. Jin sighed.
“I love you, Kazuya.”
A hand was shaking Jin’s shoulder. His brain registered that fact through his dreams, slowly waking him up. The shaking was still there, but it took him a moment to realize it was not a dream, and another moment to react.
“Kame…?”
No, Kame’s only healthy hand was still tightly holding his turtleneck, and he obviously couldn’t be using the broken arm. So it had to be someone else’s hand… Someone else? Jin blinked his eyes open and slowly turned his head; it felt heavy, way too heavy, and his mind was foggy and slow. The sky was a light shade of blue, early morning maybe. Looking down at him with a worried frown was a man in an orange jumpsuit, wearing a helmet and skis.
“Sir? Sir, are you Akanishi Jin-san? Can you answer me?”
“… Yeah.” Jin’s voice was hoarse and speaking hurt his throat; he coughed harshly. The man’s hand rested on his shoulder as he smiled reassuringly.
“Is your friend alright?”
“… Broken arm.”
“It’s okay, Akanishi-san. We’ve been looking for you since yesterday. A medical helicopter is close, we’ll take you to the hospital now. Don’t worry, you’ll be fine now.”
Jin nodded, still too groggy to react in any other way. All the movement had woken Kame up, and he was looking up at Jin with a confused expression. Jin held him closer and burrowed their cheeks together; he didn’t even notice his warm tears sliding down his eyes to his friend’s cold cheeks. A few steps away the rescue team member who had found them was shouting something into his walkie-talkie, but Jin couldn’t care less about the words. He only held Kame closer, as tight as he could.
“Everything’s going to be fine now, we’re going to be fine…”
Jin had fallen asleep as soon as the doctors had strapped him to the helicopter’s seat. Kame was in a stretcher on the floor, arm properly immobilized and an oxygen mask over his chapped and cut lips to help him breathe; he had fallen unconscious a few minutes after having been found. They were taken to the hospital and wheeled away on stretchers to different exam rooms. Jin asked about Kame constantly as the nurses and doctors checked on his vitals and made sure he was alright and had nothing worse than a moderate case of hypothermia, fever and voice loss, but all he got were reassuring words and the promise that his friend was in the best hands possible. He was taken to a ward, helped in to the bed, put on an IV for antibiotics and then wrapped in blankets. It was warm and comfortable and safe, and Jin fell asleep within seconds.
When he woke up a few hours later they had taken the IV off his arm and his fever had receded somewhat, even though his head still hurt; his body was warmer too, and he felt more awake. He turned on his bed slowly, and saw Kame lying on the bed besides his. The younger man looked to be peacefully asleep despite the nurse putting a new bag to the IV hooked into his arm. Jin pushed himself up to sit on his bed with a bit of effort.
“How is he?” His voice was merely a croak, hoarse and rough, but he at least could talk.
“They’ve set his arm and put it in a cast. His fever is still a bit high, but it doesn’t seem dangerous. We’ve given him stronger painkillers and antibiotics, so he’ll be fine.” Jin smiled weakly as the nurse moved over to check on him; she checked his temperature and asked how he was feeling, looking a bit skeptical as Jin reassured her he was feeling fine. “You seem to be doing alright, but you should rest a bit more, Akanishi-san. Do you want me to bring something to help you sleep?” Jin shook his head no and she finally left after scribbling something on the clipboard she was holding.
Jin got up from his bed, swaying a little at the sudden motion. He was wearing hospital pajamas that he did not remember putting on and a pair of fluffy slippers were laying just by his bed. A few careful steps brought him to Kame’s bed, and he sat down on the mattress carefully. Kame looked peaceful, and beautiful too, though Jin could not ignore the thin oxygen tubes going around his face to his nose nor the cast around his arm. He brushed his fingers over the man’s cheeks; they were warm and flushed, maybe because of the fever. The touch made Kame stir slightly and then there were dark confused eyes staring at Jin. He smiled, moving to hold Kame’s hand.
“Hey.” Kame’s voice was even worse than Jin’s, barely above a raspy whisper.
“Hey there, sleepyhead.”
“Where… Are we?”
“Hospital. Told you we’re going to be alright.”
Kame smiled weakly, tugging on his hand to ask Jin to get under the covers with him. As the man complied, carefully avoiding tugging on the IV tube, Kame curled up against him, enjoying the warmth of his friend’s body. Jin brushed his fingers over the fresh cast.
“How are you feeling?”
“Groggy. Must be painkillers. Cold. Fever?”
“Yeah, but they said it’s getting lower. Do you want another blanket?”
Kame shook his head with a hum, straining his neck to kiss Jin’s jaw. “Not blanket. Kiss.”
Jin was taken by surprise and didn’t react immediately, making Kame pout. “You… want a kiss?”
“ Yes… If you want to give it.”
Jin gulped, but nodded slowly and leaned in to kiss Kame’s lips gently. He felt his heart beating faster when Kame kissed him back for the first time, pushing up against his body. They broke the kiss after a moment, both looking at each other with dark wavering eyes.
“Did… Did you like it?” Jin asked. Kame nodded, licking his lips nervously. “I… The reason I brought you here, on this trip… Yamapi could have gotten free days if he had wanted to but I wanted to bring you with me… I wanted to tell you that… I- I love you. I have been intending to tell you for a while but… I thought it’d be nice to tell you here. I thought I’d give you a nice holiday and then tell you on Christmas day.”
“Wasn’t Christmas day… yesterday?”
Jin smiled sheepishly, biting his lip. “Yeah, guess I failed with that.”
“And these are the worst holidays ever.”
“Hey! I did my best.”
Kame tried to laugh, but he choked on a coughing spell. Jin rubbed his back to try to help him breathe better, looking worried. Kame sighed deeply when the coughing finally ended and tried to regain his breath. His chest hurt and he rubbed his healthy hand over it.
“Do you want me to call for a nurse?”
“I want another kiss.”
Jin smiled and complied. He carefully wrapped an arm around Kame’s shoulders, and the man rested his head on Jin’s arm. He closed his eyes with a content sigh. His body and mind felt heavy and clumsy, and he could feel consciousness slipping away from him. The blankets and Jin’s warmth felt good around him, and now he was lying on a comfortable bed with a comfortable pillow under his head; he knew he wouldn’t last awake for much longer.
“Jin?”
“Hmm?”
“I’m sleepy.”
“Sleep then. It’ll help you feel better.”
“Kiss me goodnight?” Jin pressed his lips against his sweetly and lovingly.
“Good night, Kazuya.”
“Hold me?”
Jin smiled, tightening his embrace around the man. “Nothing could make me let go of you now.”
Jin kissed Kame’s forehead and the younger man felt a smile tugging on his lips; he burrowed his face against Jin’s chest to hide it as he started to fall asleep and even though Kame wouldn’t admit it out loud he had changed his mind just a little; maybe this hadn’t been exactly the worst holidays ever, not if he had gotten Jin to hold him and kiss him like that after all.
Pairing: Jin/Kame
Disclaimer: They're not mine. Sad but true.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Jin takes Kame to what should have been a perfect holiday in a ski resort but, alas, things don’t turn out exactly as planned.
A/N: Written for tia_junan during je_holiday Title taken from a line of this wonderfully beautiful song: Beautiful life, by Charlotte Martin
It was quite ridiculous really, how Kame had ended up sitting in the night train’s smoker car, with Jin on the bunk bed above his and his back hurting from the hard mattress, huddled inside a thick winter coat and trying to fall asleep as the snowy landscape passed by behind the window. Jin was blasting music through his earphones and smoking cigarettes like there was no tomorrow, mostly because Jin had always been terrible at sitting still during a trip unless he’s driving, and Kame had absolutely refused to spend God knew how many hours in Jin’s heating-lacking car just to have to take a ferry at the other end.
Though he did regret not having bought some sleeping pills before riding the train.
Kame had been mercilessly swept off his feet the moment he got out of work on Friday, Jin quickly shoved him inside the tiny car, drove him to his place then helped him pack all of Kame’s available winter clothes while he ranted about vacations and travelling and hot springs and skiing all muddled together and confusing until Kame forced him to sit down and elaborate.
Jin worked as a model and clerk in a famous brand’s store in Shibuya, which had organized a prize draw for a trip for two to a nice hotel in a skiing resort in Hokkaido, skiing classes and all expenses included, and Jin had been lucky enough to win so he had been given a week of vacations during Christmas. Apparently the store had intended that the winner went with their boyfriend or girlfriend, but as Jin lacked one and Yamapi couldn’t get off work, he had decided to bring Kame along, since the youngest one wouldn’t have any problems getting the free days.
And so Kame had found himself being snatched away from his job an hour before his shift was usually over, only to be driven home so he could slip into the thickest winter coat he had and a pair of warm Ugg boots before he grabbed his bags. Kame kind of thinks he should have established his rule of not getting dragged on trips without at least a week’s notice to consider the consequences before getting in the cab heading to the station that afternoon.
The train arrived at Sapporo the following morning, after seventeen hours of creaking, freezing cold and constant trips with Jin to the restaurant car in search of snacks. Seventeen hours in which Kame didn’t manage to get more than ten minutes of sleep; unlike Jin, who had been snoring away whenever he was not smoking or devouring snacks out of boredom. Kame wished they could just go to a hotel and get into bed already, but Jin dragged him to a car rental business to rent the tiniest vehicle available and head toward the skiing resort.
Another four hours in a car’s passenger seat without any heating and trying to read a map did not improve Kame’s mood much, but he could feel relief washing through his very tired body when they could finally pick up their cabin’s key from the hotel reception. The logs cabin was a few minutes away from the main building by foot, but it was nice and cozy, and Kame was glad to find out it not only had central heating but also a fireplace. The ground storey had a nice living room with a sofa, a low table and a tv, a small kitchen, a bathroom and a toilet under the staircase. The upper storey had a bedroom with only a double bed, which was to be expected since the trip was meant to be shared with a girlfriend and not a friend. Luckily Kame was too tired to care about that and decided he would rather pay attention to the small onsen bath in the backyard.
Kame could have cried when Jin dumped their bags and proceeded to drag him away from the promising hot bath in search of lunch.
Getting up at sharply 7.30am was not what Kame had expected for a vacation week, and most definitely he had not expected to have to kick Jin out of the bed when it had been his friend who had set the alarm in the first place. Jin whined and rolled around in the sheets, and refused to wake up, but by opening both windows and pulling off the comforter that did the trick, even though he whined and harrumphed all the while they slipped into their various layers of clothes: underwear and thin thermal t-shirts, turtlenecks and sweatpants; the ski coats and trousers were left for after their breakfast.
They had to rent their ski boots, goggles, gloves and skies, and Kame was intelligent enough to rent a helmet too, which Jin thought to be mostly uncool. The trip included skiing classes, and they found their instructor already waiting for them up in the ski resort; she was a young woman dressed in tight fitting ski clothes that made her curves all the more pronounced, and she smirked devilishly when they greeted her. Kame feared the day they had ahead as soon as she explained how to wear their skies and Jin failed at it already.
Luckily the skiing lesson was only three hour longs, because when it finally ended by 13pm Kame was sure every muscle of his body was aching, along with some of whose existence he hadn’t known before. Jin looked miserable too as he dragged himself along, following Kame to the restaurant. They bought two meal sets consisting of hot ramen and beers, though in hindsight Kame regretted giving Jin the chance to regain his energy. As soon as they were done with the meal Jin yanked Kame up from his chair and insisted they made the best out of the few hours left until the resort closed, much to his friend’s despair.
When they finally arrived back at their cabin at the end of the day, Kame was exhausted and both of them had fallen to the ground with more or less painful consequences more times than they cared to count. They took turns in the shower and managed to push themselves toward the main building’s diner for some dinner before Kame was finally allowed to enjoy the small onsen bath in their backyard, surrounded by the pretty snowed landscape. It was quiet and peaceful, the steam rose from the hot water and the stars shone in the dark sky. It did magic to their poor aching bodies, and before long Kame somehow slid down, rested his head on Jin’s shoulder and fell asleep.
Kame didn’t remember getting out of the bath, but he refused to ask how he had ended up in his pajamas and on their bed when he woke up the next morning.
Skiing lessons were harder than Kame had thought they would be, but he was soon pleased to discover he was a bit better at it than Jin. The older man would constantly pout at him from the heap on the ground he always managed to end up in. He managed to steal Kame’s helmet right after the second day, tired of getting snow on his hair. Kame just glared half-heartedly and crossed his path when the instructor was not looking, so Jin gracelessly fell down again with a loud squawk when he tried to avoid the younger man.
They ended up exhausted every day with barely strength enough left to drag themselves to the hotel’s diner to grab something to eat and then sink into the onsen bath for a couple of hours. However the hotel’s cleaning service had left a brochure about the town’s Christmas lights, and Kame decided they needed to go and have a walk around to see them. He pestered Jin around until the older man finally agreed to get dressed and drive him down to the town.
It was not a big town, but it had a nice atmosphere with the snow piled up at the sides of the stone streets and the Christmas themed lights shining over them. Outside the convenience store there was a man dressed up as Santa that gave them a couple of brochures to which neither of them paid much attention, just folding them up and stuffing them in their back pockets. There was not much to see in the town, but it was still nice to walk around for a while, tightly wrapped in their coats, scarves, hats and gloves.
Kame had just stopped to check the menu of the only restaurant they had found when a snowball hit him on the nape, sending him stumbling forward with a yelp. He whipped around to glare at Jin, the look in his eyes very clearly promising revenge.
“I hope you had a very good reason to do that.”
“Eeps!”
Jin started running away as soon as he saw Kame picking up snow to form a ball, but the stone ground was slippery with half melted snow and ice sheets, so the two of them ended up sliding while trying to keep their balance rather than running. Jin turned around to stick his tongue out at Kame mockingly, thus missing the ice sheet in front of him. Kame halted, eyes wide.
“Jin, carefu-”
Jin’s right leg skidded over the ice and was thrown up in the air, his left leg followed as Jin flailed his arms wildly and squeaked loudly in a vain attempt to keep his balance. The noise when the man’s back finally hit the ground made Kame wince in pain, and he rushed to check on his friend, though he was careful not to meet the same fate. Jin’s face was scrunched up in pain, but Kame lost a good deal of sympathy for the man when he made sure Jin could move all his limbs properly. He moved to tower over his fallen friend and held the snowball where Jin could clearly see it. He smirked at the man’s panicked face.
“They do say revenge should be served cold.”
He dumped the snowball over Jin’s face, laughing as the man coughed and spat, trying to sweep the snow off his mouth and eyes. Of course Jin would not let the fight end there, so he moved as quickly as his aching back let him to grab Kame’s hand and try to pull him down. Kame squeaked but stood his ground and pulled Jin up instead; the man was still over the ice sheet and he skidded again, falling over Kame. For a moment they just stumbled clumsily around until they hit a wall; this time it was Kame’s back being painfully slammed, but he forgot all about complaining when he saw Jin blinking down at him with their lips just an inch too close together for comfort. He blushed and promptly tried to hide it by shoving his friend away.
“Clumsy idiot.”
They decided to check the local stores since most were still open, and Kame bought some food to cook at the cabin if they got too tired to go to the diner. They each got a stack of the local sweets and Jin was promptly stuffing himself with them. In lack of a napkin he remembered the brochures they had been given earlier, and brought his out. However just as he was about to throw it away something caught his attention, and he stopped to read it.
“Jin?” Kame frowned when he realized Jin had fallen behind and walked back to him. “What’s that?”
“Look at this.” Kame made a face at the sticky substance on the paper, but squinted to read what Jin was pointing at with a not very clean finger. “It’s night skiing. Wouldn’t it be cool?!”
“Jin, we can barely survive day skiing. With daylight and visibility. Do you want us to die?”
Jin pouted, shoving him lightly. “We don’t suck that much! Besides, I’m sure we will be fine if we take it easy! Come on, I’m pretty sure the expenses are included in the prize and it sounds fun!”
Kame raised a skeptical eyebrow and brought out his own brochure, refusing to touch Jin’s sticky one. He read over the information and then looked back at Jin, who was giving him hopeful puppy eyes. Kame did his best to ignore his stomach flopping with a weird feeling of butterflies and frowned.
“We try. On easy trails. And if it’s too hard we return before we break our necks. Got that clear?”
Kame thought he must have been spending way too much time with Jin if his friend’s happy squeal was enough to make him feel warmer even in Hokkaido’s winter frozen night air.
Kame had been nervously checking his backpack for the last fifteen minutes, while Jin watched amused from the couch. After refreshing themselves and having a light dinner in the hotel they had gotten dressed in their ski clothes again, but Kame had insisted on packing a few things just in case. There was a blanket in case Kame got cold in the car during their way back because Kame always got cold easily, and there were four sandwiches and many snacks because skiing made them hungry, especially Jin, and the hotel’s kitchen would be closed by the time they got back. Kame also packed two bottles of water, some painkillers and the day’s newspaper to have something to distract himself from all the painful ways the night could end.
They took a lift to the easy trail they were more used to, but even though Kame feared for their lives a couple of times and deeply regretted having left the helmet down at their cabin, they managed to go all the way unharmed, which started to look like a rather bad thing when Jin felt encouraged to try a more difficult run. He especially liked one that had a pine wood on both sides. Kame didn’t look really convinced, but he agreed to try it as long as they went slowly and Jin skied in front of him; he was still better than the older man, so he would be able to help Jin in case he fell.
It was a while before Kame realized there was no one else skiing down the pines trail. He wanted to call Jin’s attention to that fact, but the man was not listening. Even though the course was illuminated the visibility was still bad, and suddenly Jin ran over a mogul of snow, made a panicked noise and a desperate turn to avoid falling and disappeared into the wood with a yelp. Kame stopped at the border of the trees in the spot he had last seen Jin, and called out his friend’s name. When no answer came, he grew more anxious.
With his heart beating strongly inside his chest, Kame used his poles to give push himself off the run and into the woods, but the snow was piled up in moguls and it was difficult to keep his balance. He kept calling Jin’s name loudly, feeling relieved when he finally had an answer. Kame pushed himself faster, anxious to get to his friend; he tried to do the wedge formation their instructor had taught them, but one ski crossed over the other and Kame stumbled forward with a scream. He rolled down the slope, unable to stop himself until he finally hit a tree. Kame ended up in a heap on the snow with his arm twisted in a weird position; he screamed in pain when he tried to move it.
“Kame?!” Jin’s voice sounded anxious but, more importantly, close. “Kame, are you alright?! Say something! Where are you?!”
“I’m here! I fell down!”
They kept calling to each other for a few moments, until finally Jin came into view. The woods were barely illuminated by the moon, but its rays reflected on the snow and gave barely light enough for him to make out Jin’s worried face. Jin helped Kame to take off his skis and moved him to a sitting position; he took off his backpack to make him rest against a tree, even though Kame complained when his arm was moved.
“Does it hurt a lot?”
“Can’t move it.”
Jin gulped, looking around in his pocket. “Maybe it’s broken. Wait a moment, we need some more light.”
Kame rested his head against the pine’s trunk with a sigh as he heard Jin taking off his skis too and moving around a bit. He opened his eyes when he heard some loud, sharp noises, and saw Jin tearing off a couple of small pine branches with a pole. Soon enough Jin was securing them to the ground and taking his gloves off to fish out the lighter he had been carrying in his pocket. The branches were not very good torches and even though Jin had tried to pick the most inner and dry ones they were still a bit damp with snow so they took a few tries to light, but they gave them illumination enough.
“Kame, we need to take your jacket off, alright?” Kame nodded and gritted his teeth to avoid crying out in pain during the process, but he could not help it when Jin tried to relocate his arm the best he could. “I’m sorry, I know it hurts, but it’ll be worse if I don’t do it. You had packed a newspaper, hadn’t you?”
“Yes… Since when do you know about first aid?”
“Took a course a couple of years ago, thought it would come in handy eventually. Okay, here it is. Oh, and a pocket knife! This will be useful. Wait, we need to cut your sleeve up…”
Kame watched as Jin cut the sleeves of his injured arm out with the pocket knife before taking out the newspaper and then lifting up the outer layer of his own trousers. They had a special one behind to prevent snow from getting in and Kame wanted to protest when he saw Jin cutting a few stripes out of it, but the older man just gestured at him to be silent. He rolled the newspaper and put it under and around Kame’s arm before carefully tying it with the fabric stripes, tightly enough so it would hold but not enough to cause more pain; Jin took off his scarf and made an improvised sling with it. He took some snow in his hands and smiled apologetically at his friend.
“This will be a little cold, but it’ll reduce the swelling.”
Kame hissed when the snow was placed on his arm, but it lessened the pain after a few moments. Jin dried his arm the best he could with the cut up stripes of his sleeve and then helped him pull the jacket over it before he got too cold. Kame slumped down a little against the tree with a tired sigh.
“What do we do now?”
Jin chewed on his lip nervously. It was usually up to Kame to make the important decisions, but now Kame was tired and in pain and it was not probably a good idea to put that weight on his shoulders. Jin dug in the inner pocket of his ski jacket to fish out his phone, but he sighed in resignation after looking at the screen.
“I have no signal. How about you?” Kame tried to take out his phone too, though in the end Jin had to help him. The older man shook his head. “No signal either.” Kame closed his eyes for a moment and Jin sighed again. He put both phones in his pocket and grabbed the backpack. He helped Kame to stand up and patted his healthy shoulder. “Do you think you can ski like that? We’ll go slowly.”
Even slowly, it was difficult. Kame went before Jin, trying to balance himself with one pole while Jin held a torch behind him to light their way. Their weight sank their skies in the non compact snow and made them lose their balance constantly; Jin was carrying the backpack and he fell down a couple of times, but he ignored the pain and pushed himself to continue. However Kame was by far in a worse condition than him, and it was quickly becoming too much for him to keep going on, so they finally decided to stop when Jin’s watch read past midnight.
Kame sat against a tree as Jin helped him take off his skis again before doing the same with his own; he sank them into the snow around the place where Kame was sitting so he could hang their blanket over them, creating some kind of a tent to stop the wind that was coming from behind them. It took a while to get branches enough to light a fire and even then it was small and weak, but strong enough to give an illusion of protection and warmth. Jin huddled inside the improvised tent with Kame and brought the man closer to his own body in an attempt to give him some warmth.
Jin turned to look at Kame after long minutes of silence. The man was staring at the fire with a worried expression. He shifted in pain from time to time, letting out little grunts. Jin opened the backpack again to take out two sandwiches, some snacks and a bottle of water.
“There, we should eat something.”
“Not really hungry.”
“But you need to eat. I’m sure they’ll find us tomorrow, so we should regain some strength. And you need to eat something before taking a painkiller. Come on, it’s just a sandwich. Please?”
Kame smiled, letting Jin unwrap a sandwich for him and taking a small bite. Jin ruffled the man’s hair affectionately and they ate in silence, vaguely hoping that maybe someone would see the small fire, maybe a snowcat driver, even though it became less and less likely with each passing second. Jin gave Kame a painkiller and the bottle of water when they were done eating, and they cuddled a little closer to each other under the blanket. The pines were dark and tall, but in between their peaks the black velvety sky could be seen with some bright stars shining. The wood was eerily quiet, only the wind and the crackling of the fire could be heard, aside from some occasional nocturnal birds that had stopped startling the two men a while ago. Jin rested his cheek against Kame’s head where it rested on his shoulder.
“I’m sorry I insisted on the night skiing thing. I didn’t think it’d end up like this.”
Kame rolled his eyes before realizing Jin wouldn’t be able to see him from that position. He finally settled with cuddling a little closer to the man’s bigger body; he was getting cold. “Maybe this will teach you to listen to people obviously more intelligent than you in the future.”
Jin nudged his healthy side gently. “This is where you’re supposed to say ‘It was no one’s fault’, you sorry excuse of a friend.”
“Why? It was obviously your fault.”
Jin rolled his eyes, nudging a little more. “Is that painkiller having any effect?”
“Hmm. I didn’t realize I had packed the ones that make you sleepy.”
“Are you getting sleepy?”
“Hmm.”
Jin smiled, wrapping an arm around Kame’s shoulder to stroke his hair gently. “Goodnight, Kame-chan.”
“G’night.”
When Kame woke up the next morning with the first rays of sun the fire was already reduced to ashes, but his body was strangely warm. It took him a few moments to realize he had an extra jacket over his shoulders, while Jin was only wearing his thermal shirt and turtleneck. He shook his friend lightly, slowly awakening him. Jin blinked confused, still a little sleepy, but he smiled when he saw Kame looking up at him.
“Good morning. How are you feeling?”
“Jin! What’s the meaning of this?” Kame pulled on Jin’s jacket to get it off his shoulders the best he could. “Are you nuts or what?”
Jin sighed, stretching out. “I’m fine, don’t worry.” He moved to press his cheek against Kame’s; it was cold, but still warmer than the younger man’s one. “See? I’m fine. And you needed extra warmth with your arm hurt like that.”
Kame pouted, but Jin just waved a hand at him dismissively and got up to stretch his aching muscles. At least he agreed to wear his jacket again when Kame handed it to him. He brought some snacks out of the backpack and handed a few to his friend for a brief breakfast, then proceeded to check on the man’s broken arm again. It had swollen up again and it still hurt, but having it immobilized had helped a bit. Jin took one of the bags their sandwiches had been packed and filled it with snow before placing it on Kame’s arm, smiling apologetically when his friend hissed.
“Keep it on there until I tell you, alright? Does it still hurt a lot?”
“I can deal with it.”
Jin nodded, but he handed him another painkiller and the bottle of water. The wood was beautiful in the morning light, but they had no time to admire the sights. Jin put their things away in the bag and made sure they weren’t leaving any rubbish behind. He found a map of the ski resort in his jacket’s front pocket, and sat down with Kame to check it.
“The trail we were trying to ski last night is to the east, see? So all we have to do to get back there is go east, which should be easy if we take the sun as a compass. We’ll be back before midday, and then we’ll get some help for that arm of yours and proper food and rest.”
Jin’s enthusiasm was contagious, but it was easier said than done. Even when they managed to get up and start skiing toward the east, the trees and moguls of snow made it difficult to move on. Their bodies ached from the weird postures they had slept in, their feet hurt from wearing their rigid and uncomfortable ski boots for so long and they were hungry and cold. Jin could only imagine what Kame had to been going through with his broken arm.
It was worse when the painkillers started taking their effect on Kame and the man started to get sleepy. Jin could see him losing his sense of balance, and it was only matter of time until he finally fell down, though at least he was lucky enough to fall on his healthy side. It still hurt, and Jin feared the worst when he heard his friend’s scream. He helped Kame take off his skis and sit down against a tree, quickly checking his arm. Jin let himself slide down beside Kame, sitting on the snow with a sigh.
“Maybe we should stop for a while. Sleep a bit, rest and then try again.”
“ ‘m thirsty.”
Jin smiled, pressing the bottle against Kame’s lips to help him drink. The man was too tired to even move, and he fell asleep within moments. Jin finished the water and stored the empty bottle in the backpack before settling down by his friend. Pulling his ski gloves off, he took the map out again and checked his wristwatch. It was almost midday, and they had been skiing since roughly nine in the morning; they should have reached the trail by then. Jin sighed, letting his head fall back against the pine’s trunk. Maybe they had gotten disoriented when they fell last night and they had ended up further away from the trail than he had thought. And still there was no signal on their phones. Jin closed his eyes intending on just resting for a moment, but he was so tired… His last thought before falling asleep was the hope that maybe someone at the hotel had realized they were missing and started a search for them.
He woke up when he felt Kame moving by his side, and he needed a moment to realize he had fallen asleep. His wristwatch read just past four in the afternoon, and Kame was writhing by his side. For a moment Jin feared that his friend had hurt his arm worse, but Kame seemed to be fighting his… trousers?
“Kame? Are you alright?”
“Y- yeah…”
“What are you doing?”
“I… need to go to the toilet, alright?”
Jin laughed at his friend’s flushed cheeks, amused at Kame’s embarrassment. The man glared and tried to kick him, but Jin dodged him and got up. “Do you need help?”
Kame glared again, but at the end he had to give in. He looked down with an utterly ashamed expression. “… maybe a bit.”
He did his best to ignore Jin’s grin as the man helped him up and walked with him a few meters away from the improvised camp. It was weird and utterly embarrassing as Jin helped him undo the ski trousers and pull them down, which Kame hadn’t managed to do with one hand and gloved on top of that, and then pulled his sweatpants down just to his thighs. At least Jin had the decency to leave the rest to Kame and turn around, walking to stand a bit far away from his friend. Kame rearranged his clothes the best he could once he was done, but Jin still had to help him to zip up his ski trousers and button them. Kame blushed again, looking down and feeling uncomfortable with Jin touching him there.
They returned to their camp once Jin had relieved himself too, and picked up their things to try to move on for a couple of hours more while they still had light. Which was for shorter than they had expected, since barely an hour after they started skiing clouds started to cover the sky. It was dark before six, and after a while it started to snow. Jin looked up at the sky in desperation; soon their goggles were wet and it was difficult to move on or to see where they were going. They decided to stop before it got worse, and Jin put up their blanket as a tent again; at least it would help to shelter them from the snow and wind.
Jin tried to smile once they had settled in and ate something, despite feeling down and desperate. It had been a night and a day since they had got lost, and he knew their chances to get back to the trails didn’t look good, but he still tried to be optimistic. He gave another painkiller to his friend and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.
“I’m sure they’ll find us soon…”
“Stop saying that!” Jin was taken aback by Kame’s sudden outburst and stopped talking, looking at his friend with wide eyes. Kame looked a bit like he was about to cry. “Stop saying that already! We’ve been lost for over a day already, and nobody has found us! We’re just going to die here at this rate!”
Before Kame had time to say anything else Jin leaned in and kissed him on the lips, hard. It was a little bit awkward, but it effectively made Kame stop. When Jin drew back his friend just looked up at him with wide eyes, lips still parted.
“What… was that for?”
Jin offered a small doubtful smile. “You kind of looked like you needed one.”
Kame let out a sound between a choked laugh and a sob and buried his face in Jin’s jacket, his healthy gloved hand looking for his friend’s to hold it tight. “Jin?”
“Hmm?”
“I’m cold.”
Jin sighed and moved his legs so Kame could fit in between them and motioned for his friend to get closer. “Come here.” As Kame settled against his chest Jin pulled off his jacket and wrapped it around his friend’s shoulders.
“You’ll get cold…”
“I’m fine, don’t worry. Are you warmer now?”
“Hmm. Jin?”
“Yes?”
“Can you… do it again?”
Jin blinked confused, caught by surprise. “You mean… the kiss?” Kame nodded against his chest, cuddling a little closer. “You liked it?”
“Yeah… You’re warm.”
Jin chuckled, but he slipped a hand under Kame’s chin to raise his friend’s face and kiss him on the lips again anyway. This time it was longer, slower and gentler. Jin moved his lips against Kame’s cold ones, wetting them with his tongue and holding his friend close at the same time. As they broke away and Kame let out a trembling sigh Jin brushed his lips over the man’s forehead, frowning a little at the warmth.
“You have a fever, Kame.” He only received a soft hum for an answer. He brushed his gloved fingers clumsily through Kame’s hair. “Try to sleep a bit, I’m sure they’ll have found us before you wake up.”
“Jin?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you really believe they’ll find us?”
Jin sighed, brushing his lips over Kame’s temple, and tried to sound confident. “Of course. They’ll find us and take us somewhere warm and nice, and this will become a crazy tale to tell to your kids one day.”
Kame sighed and dropped a small kiss on Jin’s jaw line. He was asleep the next moment, but Jin stayed awake. Kame’s fever mixed with the pain of his arm and the man’s rest was fitful; he tossed and turned and whimpered in his sleep, keeping Jin awake. He was tired too, but he was cold and hungry and his muscles ached; he couldn’t sleep. He kept stroking Kame’s hair and kissing his temple to try to calm him down. He had a couple of cigarettes left in a box in his pocket, so he smoked them to keep himself warm.
Jin sighed when his watch showed him it was almost midnight; soon Christmas day would be over. They had been too worried with their situation to realize it was the 25th of December, but in the cold of the night when worrying made no sense any longer, Jin felt the time slipping out of his grasp. He looked at Kame, who was frowning in his sleep; the man’s hand was still holding Jin’s turtleneck tightly. Jin placed his own gloved hand over it and moved to kiss Kame’s lips again, softly and careful so as not to wake him up. The hands of his wristwatch pointed to twelve o’clock, exactly midnight. Jin sighed.
“I love you, Kazuya.”
A hand was shaking Jin’s shoulder. His brain registered that fact through his dreams, slowly waking him up. The shaking was still there, but it took him a moment to realize it was not a dream, and another moment to react.
“Kame…?”
No, Kame’s only healthy hand was still tightly holding his turtleneck, and he obviously couldn’t be using the broken arm. So it had to be someone else’s hand… Someone else? Jin blinked his eyes open and slowly turned his head; it felt heavy, way too heavy, and his mind was foggy and slow. The sky was a light shade of blue, early morning maybe. Looking down at him with a worried frown was a man in an orange jumpsuit, wearing a helmet and skis.
“Sir? Sir, are you Akanishi Jin-san? Can you answer me?”
“… Yeah.” Jin’s voice was hoarse and speaking hurt his throat; he coughed harshly. The man’s hand rested on his shoulder as he smiled reassuringly.
“Is your friend alright?”
“… Broken arm.”
“It’s okay, Akanishi-san. We’ve been looking for you since yesterday. A medical helicopter is close, we’ll take you to the hospital now. Don’t worry, you’ll be fine now.”
Jin nodded, still too groggy to react in any other way. All the movement had woken Kame up, and he was looking up at Jin with a confused expression. Jin held him closer and burrowed their cheeks together; he didn’t even notice his warm tears sliding down his eyes to his friend’s cold cheeks. A few steps away the rescue team member who had found them was shouting something into his walkie-talkie, but Jin couldn’t care less about the words. He only held Kame closer, as tight as he could.
“Everything’s going to be fine now, we’re going to be fine…”
Jin had fallen asleep as soon as the doctors had strapped him to the helicopter’s seat. Kame was in a stretcher on the floor, arm properly immobilized and an oxygen mask over his chapped and cut lips to help him breathe; he had fallen unconscious a few minutes after having been found. They were taken to the hospital and wheeled away on stretchers to different exam rooms. Jin asked about Kame constantly as the nurses and doctors checked on his vitals and made sure he was alright and had nothing worse than a moderate case of hypothermia, fever and voice loss, but all he got were reassuring words and the promise that his friend was in the best hands possible. He was taken to a ward, helped in to the bed, put on an IV for antibiotics and then wrapped in blankets. It was warm and comfortable and safe, and Jin fell asleep within seconds.
When he woke up a few hours later they had taken the IV off his arm and his fever had receded somewhat, even though his head still hurt; his body was warmer too, and he felt more awake. He turned on his bed slowly, and saw Kame lying on the bed besides his. The younger man looked to be peacefully asleep despite the nurse putting a new bag to the IV hooked into his arm. Jin pushed himself up to sit on his bed with a bit of effort.
“How is he?” His voice was merely a croak, hoarse and rough, but he at least could talk.
“They’ve set his arm and put it in a cast. His fever is still a bit high, but it doesn’t seem dangerous. We’ve given him stronger painkillers and antibiotics, so he’ll be fine.” Jin smiled weakly as the nurse moved over to check on him; she checked his temperature and asked how he was feeling, looking a bit skeptical as Jin reassured her he was feeling fine. “You seem to be doing alright, but you should rest a bit more, Akanishi-san. Do you want me to bring something to help you sleep?” Jin shook his head no and she finally left after scribbling something on the clipboard she was holding.
Jin got up from his bed, swaying a little at the sudden motion. He was wearing hospital pajamas that he did not remember putting on and a pair of fluffy slippers were laying just by his bed. A few careful steps brought him to Kame’s bed, and he sat down on the mattress carefully. Kame looked peaceful, and beautiful too, though Jin could not ignore the thin oxygen tubes going around his face to his nose nor the cast around his arm. He brushed his fingers over the man’s cheeks; they were warm and flushed, maybe because of the fever. The touch made Kame stir slightly and then there were dark confused eyes staring at Jin. He smiled, moving to hold Kame’s hand.
“Hey.” Kame’s voice was even worse than Jin’s, barely above a raspy whisper.
“Hey there, sleepyhead.”
“Where… Are we?”
“Hospital. Told you we’re going to be alright.”
Kame smiled weakly, tugging on his hand to ask Jin to get under the covers with him. As the man complied, carefully avoiding tugging on the IV tube, Kame curled up against him, enjoying the warmth of his friend’s body. Jin brushed his fingers over the fresh cast.
“How are you feeling?”
“Groggy. Must be painkillers. Cold. Fever?”
“Yeah, but they said it’s getting lower. Do you want another blanket?”
Kame shook his head with a hum, straining his neck to kiss Jin’s jaw. “Not blanket. Kiss.”
Jin was taken by surprise and didn’t react immediately, making Kame pout. “You… want a kiss?”
“ Yes… If you want to give it.”
Jin gulped, but nodded slowly and leaned in to kiss Kame’s lips gently. He felt his heart beating faster when Kame kissed him back for the first time, pushing up against his body. They broke the kiss after a moment, both looking at each other with dark wavering eyes.
“Did… Did you like it?” Jin asked. Kame nodded, licking his lips nervously. “I… The reason I brought you here, on this trip… Yamapi could have gotten free days if he had wanted to but I wanted to bring you with me… I wanted to tell you that… I- I love you. I have been intending to tell you for a while but… I thought it’d be nice to tell you here. I thought I’d give you a nice holiday and then tell you on Christmas day.”
“Wasn’t Christmas day… yesterday?”
Jin smiled sheepishly, biting his lip. “Yeah, guess I failed with that.”
“And these are the worst holidays ever.”
“Hey! I did my best.”
Kame tried to laugh, but he choked on a coughing spell. Jin rubbed his back to try to help him breathe better, looking worried. Kame sighed deeply when the coughing finally ended and tried to regain his breath. His chest hurt and he rubbed his healthy hand over it.
“Do you want me to call for a nurse?”
“I want another kiss.”
Jin smiled and complied. He carefully wrapped an arm around Kame’s shoulders, and the man rested his head on Jin’s arm. He closed his eyes with a content sigh. His body and mind felt heavy and clumsy, and he could feel consciousness slipping away from him. The blankets and Jin’s warmth felt good around him, and now he was lying on a comfortable bed with a comfortable pillow under his head; he knew he wouldn’t last awake for much longer.
“Jin?”
“Hmm?”
“I’m sleepy.”
“Sleep then. It’ll help you feel better.”
“Kiss me goodnight?” Jin pressed his lips against his sweetly and lovingly.
“Good night, Kazuya.”
“Hold me?”
Jin smiled, tightening his embrace around the man. “Nothing could make me let go of you now.”
Jin kissed Kame’s forehead and the younger man felt a smile tugging on his lips; he burrowed his face against Jin’s chest to hide it as he started to fall asleep and even though Kame wouldn’t admit it out loud he had changed his mind just a little; maybe this hadn’t been exactly the worst holidays ever, not if he had gotten Jin to hold him and kiss him like that after all.