Author's Note: This was written as a self-contained one-shot, but I had a lot of fun writing it. The relationship between Naegi and Mukuro is further along, but they they or may not be an official item in this story-or, at the very least, they haven't admitted it to themselves yet. I had a blast writing this.

This was written as thanks to .nimrod who helped beta the most recent chapter of The Thing with Feathers and creating an amazing cover art, which you can find on Deviant Art. I highly advice you go check out it out, and the other works by Nimrod, because they're pretty awesome and deserve some love.

As an aside: work on The Thing with Feathers next chapter is going good, and you can expect it by Wednesday of Friday.

Makoto Naegi had been awarded the title of Ultimate Lucky Student at Hope's Peak academy. That is not to say that his luck was Ultimately good—it was, in fact, more often than not the exact opposite to an unreal degree. As such, he deeply wished he could blame his current situation on his cursed luck.

However, the truth was he had no one to blame but himself and his poor decision-making skills.

A very unmanly yelp escaped his lips as the other side of the tree truck exploded into a miniature blizzard of snow, as a multitude of snow balls collided with bark with speed and force that should have been humanly impossible to achieve.

Most snow balls were not thrown by a young woman who was the Ultimate Martial Artist, or a young man who routinely threw balls for a living and was called the Ultimate Baseball Star.

Oh look, a piece of bark was stripped away from a snowball. That was probably Ogami's work.

Makoto knew, without a doubt, he was going to die on this winter's day.

It was, however, his poor luck that he had gotten Hifumi and Kiyotaka as partners. Hifumi was currently buried under a snow drift—Asahina might not have the freakish speed or strength of her team mates, but the girl routinely moved her arms in an arcing motion while swimming, which translated into a rapid, if inaccurate barrage of frozen projectiles. And Hifumi was, well, a wide target.

Makoto risked a glance, and saw a strange lump of snow twitching and mumbling about 2D and magical girls coming to save him from the she-demons and the evil snow queen. Makoto did not expect much help from his ally.

Kiyotaka wasn't technically out of the fight, but he had never started to begin with. He was still standing out in the open, ranting on how such an activity was against the regulations and that they would all be written up for their indiscretion. It was actually kind of amazing that he hadn't been taken out. Perhaps his white uniform was good camouflage with all the snow.

Makoto's world became a terrifying flurry of white death exploding against the other side of the tree and flying past either side at bullet-like speeds. He knew that the three of them were slowly flanking him, ready to pounce. And his luck would guarantee that the snowball that did hit him, would do acutally be a snow-covered ball of ice.

If he was fortunate, he would simply get struck below the belt and never have children, instead of being hit in the head and falling into a coma followed by inevitable death.

Crunch. Cruch. Crucnch.

The sound of powdered snow being compacted underfoot rang harshly in his ears as the enemy team advanced on the tree that he had hidden behind. Honestly, he would have stepped out and surrendered, but he would have undoubtedly taken a multitude of projectiles all over his body. A gruesome display of white balls hitting him rapidly from all angles at high speed flashed through his mind, bruising his flesh and reducing his skeleton to shards as the pristine snow was stained red beneath him.

He shook his head. That was ridiculous. What kind of way was "death by a thousand balls" to go out? Utterly preposterous!

Maybe if he curled up into the fetal position he could reduce the amount of damage tone to his body? Just as she was about to do that, he heard Asahina let out a gasp followed by a short squeal.

"What the hell!" Leon called, before Naegi heard the sound of what have been his body impacting with the ground, his fall cushioned by the snow.

Blinking, he dared to look around the tree, and saw an amazing site. The sun was setting, so the snow was painted a rose color, and stark amongst it, was a raven-haired girl, standing defiantly before Sakura. Asahina laid sprawled on the snow, groping her chest.

"You threw a freaking snow ball into my boob!" she cried, clutching the offended part of her anatomy. "That hurts, y'know!?" she cried, looking at the responsible student in apparent feminine-betrayal.

The Ultimate Soldier did not answer, instead staring up at the taller marital artist. The two female titans stared each other down.

"I think it would be best, Hina, if the game was called as a draw," Sakura decided, nodding at Mukuro, having received some kind of unspoken message from one warrior to another. "Come," the white-haired girl said, easily lifting the smaller girl from the snow, "I believe there are donuts and hot chocolate in the cafeteria for students to avail themselves with," she said. The Ultimate Swimmer's face lit up, and all pain was quickly forgotten in the face of donuts and warmed liquid chocolate.

"It is safe to come out not, Makoto," Mukuro said, turning to face the tree. Naegi came out without any reservation; Ikusaba had always had his back, and he trusted her with his life. He thought she looked adorable: the lower half of her face was covered with a scarf, but the visible part was red from the cold, showcasing her youthful freckles for any close enough to see.

"Thanks, Mukuro!" Makoto chirped, walking towards her and rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "I seemed to have bitten off more than I could chew with that one," he admitted.

Mukuro did not agree, but she gazed warmly at her friend, taking in the sight of his small frame covered in places by snow. He reminded her of a small puppy that had been let out to frolick in the new falllen snow.

Unwrapping her scarf, she bundled it around his neck tightly, nodding at a job well done. Makoto colored at the intimate gesture and closeness of his best female friend. People already teased them of being a couple—to say nothing of when his younger sister had met Mukuro and instantly demanded that he marry her soon, calling Mukuro big sister and flustering them both greatly.

Not even the Ultimate Soldier who had traversed the width and breadth of a hundred fields of foreign battle with a scar could stand up to the might of his little sister.

He was both proud and terrified at the same time.

"Do you want to go get some hot chocolate, Makoto?" Mukuro asked, blinking at him.

Naegi glanced around. Leon's lower half was sticking out of a snow bank, having been upended. Makoto probably should have been more concerned, but it had been the Baseball Star who had suggested the teams, with an evil grin, and then drawn Asahina in to sway the normally fair and honorable Sakura in favor of the lopsided match.

Kiyotaka was still ranting to whoever would listen; Makoto was certain that he would help out the fallen students—eventually. Probably.

"Sure," he agreed, and then took Mukuro's warm hand in his cold one, walking side-by-side to the cafeteria.

Night had fallen, and the students were doing various activities. Asahina was cocooned in a pile of blankets, lulled to sleep by the warmth and the large amounts of donuts she had consumed and numerous mugs of cocoa. Sakura sat nearby, quietly reading a book near her friend.

Kiyotaka had eventually dragged Hifumi and Leon inside, giving them an earful in the process, but now he and Mondo were locked in a game of Go Fish that was far more intense than such a sedate game had any right to be, with Chihiro watching the spectacle with wide-eyed interest.

Leon, who had been quite disgruntled, now appeared to be in better spirits, having been coaxed into singing Christmas carols with Sayaka, who knew of his dream to break into the field of music.

Celeste sat at a table with Hifumi and Kirigiri, teaching them both a game that involved a multitude of six-sided dice and cups. It seemed to be a combination of poker and dice, with an emphasize on deception. They all seemed to be in good cheer, even though Celeste won the vast majority of the games.

Byakuya seemed to be content to simply read novel or another, and he suprisingly did not mention or protest to Fuka lurking a few feet away in a shadowed corner, staring at him doe-eyed, trying and failing to remain hidden.

Yasuhiro was offering special holiday discounts on fortune readings. He hadn't gotten any takers, but that didn't seem to dampen his enthusiasm, but, then again, few things did.

And in all this, Makoto and Mukuro sat side-by-side shoulders touching in front of one of the great glass walls, a cup of steaming cocoa held by each, as they watched the snow fall in the night.

They did not notice Junko glaring darkly at the pair of them, a black look on her face that did not belong on any adult, let alone a teenager. It promised horrible things to come, but for the moment, the Ultimate Lucky Student and the Ultimate Soldier were content.