Kurapica liked the look of snow, although he wasn't so fond of being outside in it. It was hard to move quickly in, which was important when you had the kind of work he did. It certainly was pretty, though, and for once he could enjoy it. He'd taken a week off to come visit his friend during winter holidays, and so far he didn't regret coming at all.
Leorio chose that moment to come stomping in from outside carrying bags, still covered in snow, and strode over to Kurapica's comfortable perch.
"Hey! It's freezing out there! Here, have some," and with no more warning than that, he dumped a double handful of snow on Kurapica's head.
Well, maybe he did regret coming. Just a little bit.
Kurapica set down his cup and stood, leveling a glare at Leorio, although the effect was slightly diminished by the snow still on his head. "That was not funny."
"Yeah, yeah, I know, sorry. But you looked really warm. I bet you are. I'm jealous." Leorio grinned and leaned in, pressing cold lips to Kurapica's.
Kurapica rolled his eyes, but let Leorio kiss him for a moment before pushing the taller man away. "I hope you bought food. It looks like we're going to be snowed in pretty soon." He brushed the snow off himself, and raised an eyebrow at Leorio, who was beginning to drip. "And maybe you should take your coat off."
"I got plenty of food, we're set for a few days." Leorio shrugged his coat off.
"Gon and Killua called. They got snow where they are, as well. Gon seemed really excited, he said that he needed us to know how much fun it was going to be. They say hello." Kurapica picked his cup of tea up and walked into the kitchen, taking Leorio's bags and beginning to put the food away.
"Man, I remember when I was a kid, I loved playing in the snow. Snowball fights, sledding, those were the days," Leorio said, and perked up a bit. "Hey, you know, we're not too old to go play in it. It'd be fun!"
Kurapica shook his head. "Just because you never got out of puberty doesn't mean I didn't, Leorio. I have no desire to go freeze outside." He put the last can of soup away, and took a moment to pour himself more tea. Without thinking about it, he poured one for Leorio as well, and brought it out to the other man. "We're going to stay in."
"Aw, fine. Oh! I have a great idea. I'm gonna build a fire, I knew there was a reason I got an apartment with a fireplace. A nice roaring fire… it'll be really romantic." Leorio grinned again, taking the cup from Kurapica, and headed over to the fireplace.
Kurapica sighed and thought about pointing out that they didn't really have much firewood, or any need for a fire, but Leorio seemed to be enjoying himself. And it wouldn't be too bad. Probably. Unless Leorio managed to catch something else on fire. On second thought, Kurapica would keep an eye on him.
He really wasn't entirely sure how he'd ended up with Leorio. They were so different. But it felt natural, and there really weren't many people Kurapica trusted so deeply. Besides, despite his occasional immature actions and general flightiness, Leorio was a good man, who cared about his friends and wanted to do good things. Kurapica really couldn't do anything but admire that.
And really, Leorio needed someone around who was a little more organized. Kurapica couldn't stay forever, but he planned to enjoy what time he had.
Meanwhile, Killua was learning the simple pleasure of smacking your best friend in the face with packed snow.
Naturally, it wasn't anything he'd ever gotten a chance to do when he was young. It was similar to some of the training he'd gotten, but much less deadly. And so much more fun.
"Killua! No fair! You ambushed me!" Gon flailed his arms and pushed the snow off his face. "I didn't get any warning!"
Killua pointed and laughed. "Then you should be more careful, Gon!"
Gon apparently decided that he wasn't going to win this one with words, and pounced on Killua.
A few minutes later, after a very satisfying snow fight, the boys were sitting on an exposed tree root, catching their breath.
"Hey Killua, after this, Mito-san said she's going to make a special dinner. She said that we're going to have a big celebration, with presents and everything. It's going to be great!" Gon was excited, cheeks and nose pink with the cold.
"Mm… yeah. A lot of different places have winter festivals and stuff like that. That's what I heard, anyway." Killua put his hands behind his head and grinned. He was excited as well, but he'd decided not to crack his cool and composed exterior to let anyone know. It never really worked on Gon, though.
The snow had started falling again, and he watched it come down while listening to Gon chatter away about parties and Mito-san and presents.
It was comfortable and, despite the temperature, warm. Like a real family. Like something normal people did, although Gon was certainly not normal. Killua had never done anything like this. His family didn't care about those sorts of things.
It was really almost perfect, at least until Killua pushed Gon face-first into the snow again.
Elsewhere, Illumi wondered what exactly he had done to deserve this. He didn't believe in any kind of god, but he was beginning to seriously reconsider that stance. Only the curse of some all powerful being could explain this.
Of course, no displeasure, or any other emotion besides mild disinterest, registered itself on Illumi's face.
It came very close, though. After all, what reaction besides horror could he have to the sight of Hisoka in a red suit, wearing a fake beard, singing some sort of strange carols?
The whimpering man dressed as a reindeer was an interesting touch, but Illumi was fairly certain that no winter tradition anywhere required the exchange of severed fingers from previous victims.
And if Hisoka really thought he was going to fall for the mistletoe trick again, he was even crazier than he seemed.