Ryeowook huffs in exhaustion, briefly watching the way his breath wisps and curls into the chilly morning. His face is flushed from the wind and from running, cheeks a rosy hue as he trudges quickly through the thick snow.

He spots him standing underneath the streetlight; curly, unruly black hair fluttering along with breeze. His woven scarf flutters too, revealing his best friend’s perfect straight nose and frowning plump lips. Ryeowook finds himself giggling when he sees his best friend shivering, looking incredibly miserable in his vibrant red winter jacket.

“Kyuhyun-ah!” Ryeowook shouts excitedly, sprinting through the snow to reach him.

Kyuhyun stops frowning, lips curling into a warm smile. “Finally, you’re here! Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for you?!”

“My mom wouldn’t let me leave until I cleaned my room.” He admits, a little breathless from the running but still smiling. “Sorry for taking so long.”

“Whatever.” Kyuhyun just rolls his eyes, wordlessly taking one of Ryeowook’s gloved hands to hold, as they walk together. They hold hands out of habit – Ryeowook has absolutely no sense of direction and Kyuhyun is constantly afraid of losing his hyung.  So they walk through the snow together, listening to the soft crunch of snow beneath their feet until Kyuhyun gets an idea, a smirk sweeping across his lips.

“Ryeonggu.” Kyuhyun says sweetly, as Ryeowook glances at him rather innocently and obliviously to his scheming. “For being late, you should buy me a cup of hot chocolate!”

Ryeowook quirks a brow, not understanding his logic. “Why?”

 “Because you made me wait so long and I’m coooooooooooold!” He whines, tugging on Ryeowook’s hand and Ryeowook reaches into his pocket to check how much money he has – his mother only gave him enough to ride the bus to and back home (and maybe a snack, but not enough to buy two).

“I don’t have money for chocolate, Kyu…” Ryeowook pouts, realizing he doesn’t have enough to buy his best friend anything. Kyuhyun groans his disappointment, silently sulking at the missed opportunity, while Ryeowook continues to think. (He’s not really good at math.) And as they pass by the corner store, the eight-year-old boy thinks of something else that makes him stop walking altogether. He tugs on Kyuhyun’s hand, pulling his friend to turn around and walk the other way.

“Hyung?”

Ryeowook just looks at Kyuhyun and smiles brightly, and oddly enough, it eases Kyuhyun’s worries enough to follow him willingly into the store.  They weave through small aisles of snacks and instant food until they reach the warm food section, where Ryeowook snatches a warm meat bun. He runs to cashier to pay for it, all while dragging Kyuhyun around the entire store – not that he minds.

They walk back into the frosty winter cold, shuffling away from the entrance before Ryeowook stops to release Kyuhyun’s hand. He takes off his gloves to rip the plastic package, smiling at the little wisps of steam emanating from the cooked bun. He quickly splits it in half, holding it out to his best friend, who –despite being a year younger- keeps growing a little taller than him by the day.

“It’s not hot chocolate, but it will make you feel warm,” Ryeowook offers, before munching on his half.

Kyuhyun quirks his lips into a gentle smile, grabbing his half with a low mumble, “You’re so strange, Ryeowookie.” But his smile gets wider as he chews happily, enjoying the warm taste of beef and he feels even warmer when Ryeowook holds his hand again.

“Now, let’s go to the park already!” Ryeowook shouts gleefully, energized from the small snack. “I want to build a snowman!”

“That’s so lame. We should have a snowball fight!” Kyuhyun laughs, pulling Ryeowook until they’re both running down the street, to the only small park in their neighborhood.

They spend their afternoon playing with snow, building snowmen and forts, until it became a snowball fight. (No one gets with calling Ryeowook’s snowman ugly.) They laugh and squeal and run until they’re out of breath, exhausted from playing around for hours. So, they lie down in the snow for few minutes, making snow angels by failing their arms and legs before standing up to look at them.

“Why does yours look so weird?” Ryeowook points out, while Kyuhyun shrugs, thinking the same exact thing. Ryeowook stares at him, about to ask again until he notices the sun nearly setting, a pale orange hue reflected on surrounding snow. “Kyuhyun, I think it’s time we go home now...”

Kyuhyun presses his lips into a straight line, trying to suppress his disappointment. He isn’t ready to go home yet. He never is. But, he doesn’t say anything when Ryeowook grabs his hand and they leave the park in silence. The excitement and joy of spending the day with Ryeowook wears off instantly at the thought of going home. So Kyuhyun purposely walks slower, to spend more time together.

Ryeowook stays quiet because he knows Kyuhyun is upset – it’s always like this. He peeks at his best friend from time to time, noticing the permanent frown of Kyuhyun’s lip, the empty gaze of his dark eyes. It scares him whenever Kyuhyun is like this.

“Is something wrong, Kyuhyun-ah?” He asks quietly, timidly. And the answer is always the same  - Kyuhyun merely shakes his head and squeezes Ryeowook’s hand tighter for reassurance. “Are you sure?”

“…I’m fine. I…I just wish we could play outside forever,” Kyuhyun admits in a low mumble. He glimpses at Ryeowook for a second, before continuing. “I don’t want to go home.”

Ryeowook blinks at him in confusion because he doesn’t understand. Who wouldn’t want to go home? “But we have to go home, our parents are waiting for us.”

And Ryeowook misses the pained look that sweeps across Kyuhyun’s face, because he’s too busy trying to figure out how to get home.

“Yeah, hyung. I know.”