Free sat on the edge of the stadium, his bey held loosely by his fingers. The blonde had just finished a round of training and only stopped to take a break to drink some water only to find an empty bottle of water. This happened most of the time. He just drained the bottle of water without thinking until he realised that he would have to go back to if he needed to be hydrated. Free stopped a moment to think through that. Did he really need to be hydrated? That was the real question.

Christina's voice nagged inside his mind, Yes, he could hear her say and he decided to play safe. Free reluctantly made his way through the trees, the familiar surroundings he always felt at home. It was easier to sit by the shade under a lushful tree and feel the breeze on your skin.

It was no longer snowing but the chilly air was all the same. Despite the thick jacket he was wearing he could feel the wind sneaking upon his body. Maybe coming out here to practice in the winter was not a good idea after all.

He clasped the empty water bottle in his hand and walked into the snow blanketed compound of BC Sol. The outdoor stadiums were empty — there was not a single soul outside the warm building, secured with heaters allowing the bladers to practice in the comfort of warmth and security.

It was not until he neared the main entrance that he saw him. Sitting under the eucalyptus tree across the main lawn. The tree — bare of the leaves nursed by it, was standing like a solitary skeleton contrasting against the pure white main garden. He hadn't seen Shu after yesterday's events when he mindlessly blurted out a compliment flustering the albino. He looked at the massive doors in front of him and turned his course.

Shu didn't seem to notice him. Free crossed his arms, standing a few steps ahead of him debating whether to bother his reading or just wait till he noticed. The albino was sitting on top of the Victorian styled metal bench — the dark brown paint almost faded with time. He was occupying the right side, his legs tucked underneath him, his head bent towards the book on his lap. It was only then he noticed the steaming paper cup beside him — coffee? Free didn't know. But wasn't he thirsty.

The blonde walked over and slipped to the space beside Shu. The albino turned to him, startled by the sudden intrusion of his peaceful morning. He blinked, "Free?"

That's when Free noticed the gold rimmed round glasses resting on top of his nose. His sunset-red eyes blinked in confusion behind them. "You wear glasses?" Free asked, not giving Shu any reasons as to why he was here and decided to bother him.

Shu pressed his lips together and carefully plucked it off his face and placed them in the box beside him. "Only when I'm reading" He answered after a while, trying to look casual but miserably failing. His mind kept repeating the incidents of yesterday night.

Free hummed and pointed at the cup between them, "Can I get a sip of that?"

The question was so sudden and out of context that Shu stared at him dumbly for a solid two seconds before answering with a yes. Free took the cup of coffee gratefully sipping as if he had been thirsty his entire life — he was exaggerating but oh well. Shu looked back at his book and wondered whether it was polite to go back to the story. Free didn't seem to be in the mood to make any conversation either. So he might just as well, Shu thought justifying his action.

He shifted his position and untucked his legs. He placed them on the ground and crossed his ankles, leaning against the bench, his eyes shifting back to the white pages of the book. There was one thing he adored about BC Sol — the library it had. Rows and rows of books from different eras and different authors. It was truly beautiful.

Free sipped on the drink, enjoying the warmth seeping through his body. He looked at the albino —engrossed in his book again, from the corner of his eyes. His glasses were long abandoned beside him. His eyes flicked through the lines of the book, his hand resting on his cheek. Free watched the way his bangs tumbled over his forehead framing his soft jaw. The way his long eyelashes flickered unconsciously as he read through.

Free mused at his focus and shifted closer to Shu. His eyes rested on the book in his hands, reading the lines over his shoulder with mild interest.

If Shu was uncomfortable, the male didn't show it. He just clutched the book harder and froze for a while. Realising that Free was just reading the book over his shoulder, he allowed himself to relax and go back to what he was doing. The two sat on the solitary bench outside the BC Sol, crammed against each other.

For the first time, Shu wasn't agitated by the close presence of the blonde. Though he blamed himself the most for the events at the Snakepit and the crude way he behaved, a tiny part of him did blame Lui and Free —especially Lui that he was the main force which drove him to desperation. But there were moments he wondered what would've happened if Free didn't leave him alone. Stopped for a second and made him understand what he meant. He often discarded the thoughts, the speculation because they were not getting him anywhere. In the end he had only himself to blame, not the people around him. He was supposed to save himself, not anyone else.

But it would've been nice if someone was there — to tell him everything will be alright during those painstriken nights, those hours of self-deprecation.

He turned back to the book discarding his thoughts when a soft weight of his shoulder drove him back to the blonde sitting —rather dozing off, beside him. Shu turned to see his eyes were closed, his soft blonde locks tickled the side of his neck and cheek. Shu realised how close they were — so close that he could count his eyelashes. Shu stiffened, unsure how to act.

Should he wake him up?

Should he just stay like this?

Shu decided to go with the second option. He carefully uncrossed his ankles and made himself comfortable before turning back to the book. He might just well read while he waited for Free to wake up.

The time passed by, minutes ticking to an hour. Free was sound asleep despite the dark clouds gathering upon them, Shu was too distracted with the book to notice any of the changes in the surrounding. When the first snowflake landed on the white page, Shu looked up to see the sky — the clouds robbing of the initial fragile sunlight of the winter. "Crap" He muttered, turning to the peacefully sleeping male beside him.

Now what the hell was he going to do?

Shu decided to wake him up. He carefully closed the book and tapped on his leg — a feather light touch. Shu sighed, tapped with a bit of force which did the trick. Free moved, his hair tickling his neck. Shu bit back a chuckle as the blonde rubbed his eyes, yawning. He sat up straight, stretching his arms finally out of the confusion of sleep. "Oh, it's snowing"

"Yes" Shu said, he awkwardly gestured at the building. "We should probably go in"

Free leaned back without any hurry, "Did I fall asleep on you?" He asked instead.

"Yeah"

"Oh" Free looked surprised, "Uh, sorry I guess" He looked at the book, "What happened to that guy anyway? The one who got ran over the lorry"

Shu blinked, "You were actually reading the book?"

Free smiled at this statement, "Yeah, before I dozed off that is"

"I'll give you this after I read" Shu suggested, "You can read it"

Free looked as if he was about to reject but then nodded. "Sure" He said, quite surprised by his own reply. Since when did he read books?

The two were quiet again as they watched the snowflakes escaping the dark clouds gathered in the sky. "Should we make a run for it?" Free asked, looking at the closed doors in BC Sol. Shu turned to him and back to the snow in front of them, now flocking on the ground. He didn't feel like going in to listen to the cheers pouring out of the stadium while he was nowhere near okay to look at his beyblade. Free stood, dusting off the flakes collected on his lap. Shu looked at the blonde and wondered if he should follow his example and just walk in. Soon, the snow would collect to the point they wouldn't be able to walk into the building without tripping.

But Shu felt like it would be easier to be buried in a foot deep snow. "Or" Free said, scooping a handful of snow and pressing them in his hands. Soon, he was holding onto a milky white fresh snowball with a smirk. "I can just hit you with this"

"Is that a challenge?" Free shrugged at Shu's question. The albino placed the book down on the corner of the bench where it would be safe and stood up stretching his arms. A marching smirk on his face.

Free smiled in satisfaction and threw the snowball at him. Shu stepped to the side, narrowly escaping it. "Wait," Shu blinked, "You didn't tell me when it'll start!"

Free shrugged, "Life doesn't warn you before it slaps you across the face, does it?"

Shu tilted his head, "Fair"

The pair were soon absorbed in their snowball fight to care about the passing time. Free was fast — and Shu was not surprised, Free had the agility of a tiger. He took the hit right on the face one or two times. Shu groaned as another snowball hit the side of his neck sending shivers down his spine. They were not at all dressed for this weather. "You're too good at this" He muttered wiping his neck.

Free pointed out the small ball in Shu's hands, "Your snowballs are too small" He said, walking up to him. Shu looked down at the sphere or snow in his hands.

"Is it?"

Free stepped closer that he was in the reach of Shu and without missing a beat the latter broke the snowball into two and pressed his hands on the blonde's cheeks, rubbing the snow right onto his skin. Free stood there, literally frozen. He grabbed Shu's arms and detached them from the grip on his face. He tilted his head to the side, "You're cheating"

"All is fair in love and war"

"Which one is it?" Free asked, still holding onto his hands, careful enough not to hurt his injured one. "Love or war?"

As he guessed, Shu's ears flushed. He tried to free his hands mumbling, "War of course!" Free looked fascinated.

Shu really do get flustered by little things, doesn't he? He came to this conclusion last night. Shu Kurenai —Red Eye, the toughest blader that had thousands of audience shivering in fear was here in front of him, flushed by a simple joke.

But then again, you could never really judge a person by the way he appears in front of a crowd. In the silence of a solitary companionship, a person could be starkly different from the persona he had built upon to please the crowds, shield himself from the world.

"Can you like, let go of my hands?" Shu asked, giving them a faint tug.

Free turned back to the male standing in front of him and shifted his gaze to his palms —his slender white fingers, now a visible red because of the cold. "I think we should probably go inside," He said, releasing Shu's hands.

The albino flexed his fingers with a shiver, "They're numb" Shu cupped his hands and blew on them to give them some warmth when the blonde reached and took hold of them, his fingers lacing against Shu's. Free himself didn't know why he did that. It was pure reflex. Like last night when he told Shu that he was cute.

In fact, Free felt he could tell him that again looking at the male in front of him. His cheeks flushed in pink —and he could verify it's not the cold. Free blinked, "I think there's snow on top of your head but I can't make sure"

Shu stripped his gaze away from their entangled hands for Free's face at the sudden change of topic. "Huh?"

Free untangled their right hand —still holding onto his left one, reached for the top of the head and made a dusting off motion, a sprinkle of snowflakes fell to the ground. "See?"

Before Shu could answer, Valt's excited voice echoed through the snowy compound. The duo hadn't even noticed the layers and layers of snow being collected around them. The pair unconsciously took a step back untangling their fingers, a visible blush on Shu's face an exasperated expression on Free's. "We were worried!" The younger exclaimed, jumping up to the albino and tackling him to a hug, completely oblivious to the blush on his cheek.

It was only when Honcho reached them he saw the flustered expression of Shu. "Are you alright?" He asked, but thankfully Honcho interpreted his red face as a consequence of being in the cold. He pulled off the scarf around his neck and handed it to Shu. "You look like you're going to turn into a living tomato any moment"

Shu chuckled nervously, accepting it. "Thank you"

"Oi, oi" Silas said, walking to the group. He already had a snowball in his hand. "Free De La Hoya, today you're going to be defeated by my hands"

Free shrugged sporting his same bored look. "Oh, I don't know. You might as well loose like all the other times you challenged me"

Silas growled, "What did you just say? I'm gonna flatten you to earth you arrogant banana milkshake"

Sasha patted his shoulder with a snort, "Now, now. Why don't we divide into two groups and settle this with a good old snowball fight?" She turned to the rest of the group who were still losing their shit after the banana milkshake.

Free shared a glance with Shu, noticing how tired the latter looked. "If only Shu is the judge" Free said, turning to the group, "He's the only person I know who can do proper maths"

Honcho agreed, "I think Shu should take a break too, you're looking worryingly red over there"

"Lowkey insulting," Rickson said, turning to Shu. "Is it okay with you?"

The albino nodded gratefully, "Yeah, I'll do it" Shu walked to the bench to watch them silently thanking Free in his mind, the moments in the afternoon still fresh in his mind.

Oh if only Honcho knew why Shu was blushing, he wouldn't have heard the end of it.