"HIYORI." A voice called from below. Still catching her breath, Hiyori turned around in time to catch Yato jump up to the wooden platform just below where she stood; creaking as he adjusted his balance. He snapped his head up to make eye contact with her, his eyebrows narrowed. "What the hell was that?! You can't just kick me so that you can win!"

Hiyori smirked at him, leaping down to meet him on the platform that hydro workers must have used to fix the electrical equipment. "Oh really? Well you seemed to have your rules pretty set at the beginning, huh?" She tucked her frozen hands into the opposite arm's sleeve behind her back and took a step toward him on the other end of the platform, "And I didn't hear you say anything about not being allowed to do what you can to win."

Yato tried to play through the rules he'd set before they'd started racing, and realized that he really hadn't said anything specific about it. He crossed his arms high on his chest like a child in frustration, bunching up his signature fluffy fluff scarf.

"Tch."

He should have known she'd pull a move like that on him during the race. Hiyori never missed an opportunity to use a fighting technique she'd learned. And hell, according to his own rules, he could have just used his godly-powers and shifted from their starting point over to the finish line. A twitch of pain from his cheek knocked Yato from his thoughts. He broke his eye contact with Hiyori, pulled both of his fists as far as he could get into his jersey sleeves, and pressed one to his face. It already felt a bit swelled.

Hiyori watched him in their moment of silence, and felt a pang of guilt knocking on her chest. She really didn't need to kick him to win, she could have just accepted the loss. It wasn't like a race with Yato was a life or death situation between them; for once. The neutral expression on her face fell at the corners.

"I'm sorry."

Yato slowly brought his gaze back up to her. "For what?"

Hiyori raised a single eyebrow at the god, "What do you mean, for what? I kicked you in the face to win a stupid race, that's what." She swung her arms back around her body so she could hold her hands together in front of her. "So I'm sorry for hurting you."

Yato's eyes moved plainly from Hiyori's face to her pink phantom tail, peeking out just beyond her shoulder. It waved in smooth curves back and forth in the air.

"Whatever." He retorted, flicking his eyes back at her for just a moment, "It's not like this is the worst I've had." Yato made his way to the front end of the platform, dusted some snow off, and sat down, his long legs swinging over the edge from the knees. Hiyori followed suit, taking a seat a comfortable distance from him on the wooden planks. The sun was completely gone now, the only trace of it left being its light reflected by the moon in the dark sky. Hiyori looked up, tracing lines between various dim stars above her to make constellations that she couldn't name. She tensed her muscles when she heard a heavy breeze whisk through the park's bare trees in the distance; it hit them only a second later. It picked up the ends of her hair, throwing them about, and swept into her jacket and sweater. Hiyori's whole body felt like it had frosted over already, even though the race with Yato had kept her moving. She held her hands together between her ridged knees and wiggled her toes inside of her inadequate boots. They had to go back soon, or else Hiyori thought she might lose a few extremities from frostbite.

"Cold?" Yato's smooth voice arose after the wind died down.

"Huh?" Hiyori perked up, turning to Yato, "Oh uh, no, I'm okay. Just a little chilly, I guess." her voice fluttered as she moved her eyes to their footprints in the snow next to where they sat. She felt a small wave of relief when she thought he would say that they should go home, but she was confused when she heard a plastic zipper coming undone. "Uh what are you doing..?" Hiyori asked a little offhandedly, her eyes widening in confusion as Yato stripped off his jersey.

He looked up at her with a waiting expression as he slid his arms from the sleeves, fully revealing his white long sleeve shirt he always wore underneath. "You said you were cold, didn't you? You can take my sweater."

Hiyori's face flared up at her cheeks in embarrassment. She felt her tail straighten in shock behind her, though she didn't have much control to calm it. "Y-Yato I can't, you-"

"I won't be cold. I'm fine." He replied before she even finished her statement. He quickly scanned her small face in the dull moonlight before continuing, "Please don't make this more cliché than it has to be, just take the sweater, Hiyori." Yato couldn't believe it when his own face started feeling warm. Why couldn't she just take it and stop making such a big deal about it? He didn't want her to notice his shameful blush, so Yato knit his brows and looked down at her dangling feet instead.

"O..okay." Hiyori finally accepted, shuffling slightly closer to him to retrieve the jersey. She carefully swung it around her shoulders and slipped her arms into the sleeves. Her numb fingers managed to do up the zipper up to the collar, and she noticed that the sweater was only a tad big for her, even with a light coat underneath. She used the extra length of the sleeves to tuck her fists into, then let her face sink into the high collar. Hiyori exhaled as she started to feel her own body heat radiate back to her. For a dumpster-dive tracksuit sweater, it wasn't half bad, she thought. When she breathed in again, it was filled with his smell. Hiyori closed her eyes softly, feeling calmed by the subtle sweet scent. No wonder other phantoms wanted to follow him; even she couldn't get enough of it.

Yato really wasn't that cold. Of course, the absence of his jersey didn't keep him any warmer, but he'd rather be cold then let Hiyori freeze. He was the one used to sleeping on the front steps of a shrine in the dead of winter, anyway. Although his scarf wasn't knit or thick like Hiyori's usual pink one, it did its job when the next frosty breeze came sweeping by. Unfortunately, it didn't stop him from shivering.

Suddenly Yato felt a head on his shoulder; he peered down and found Hiyori nestled into his side. He looked at her until she lifted her head warily to make eye contact.

"Uhm, is this... okay?" She questioned with wide eyes, "I took your jacket, so I thought this might keep you a little warmer." Hiyori began to move her head away from his shoulder awkwardly. She felt the tips of her ears heat up, but he didn't pull away from her.

"Yeah...of course." Yato replied, a wavering pause between his words. He heard her inhale quickly at his response before resting on his shoulder again, her dark hair softly draping down his arm. Yato thought for a moment, his teeth slightly drawing in his lower lip. He slowly moved his right arm from his side, and being mindful of her phantom cord, carefully slipped his hand around Hiyori's slim waist. He expected her to at least tense up, but she seemed to welcome his gentile touch. "Is this okay, then?" Yato asked softly down to her, just in case.

"Mhmm." Hiyori permitted just loudly enough for him to hear. She cuddled her face in further toward the inside of his shoulder and scarf without thinking first; it just felt like what she needed to do.

Yato couldn't believe it. Hiyori had always seemed so offset when they'd ever gotten in each other's personal space, on purpose or on accident. Though he had to admit, she fit perfectly wrapped under his arm and tucked into his side. Sitting with Hiyori like this, despite the temperature, felt so right. The relief that came from it seemed to fill a spot in his stomach that he never knew was empty. Yato shifted his face toward the sky and sighed into the night, curling his long fingers around the fabric of his jersey on her waist a little more.

Minutes went by as the two stayed quiet, staring out over the snowy scenery, their backs to the city. Hiyori tried her best to remain still in her leaning position, worried that if she shifted at all, Yato would take his arm away from around her. They'd never really been this close intentionally before, though Hiyori found it strangely comforting to be with him like this. She tried her hardest to not think of them sitting together as awkward, considering how some interactions with Yato made her a little anxious. They were friends, just friends..right? Friends are allowed to sit together like this if they want. She wanted to convince herself, though if her heart wasn't fluttering so quickly, she might have thought she was still staying close to Yato strictly for warmth.

"Yato..?" Hiyori said aloud, intentionally breaking her own train of thought. She felt her head rise a bit as he took a deep breath.

"Yeah Hiyori?" His words sounded muffled from within his chest.

Hiyori hesitated before opening her mouth again. "Earlier... when we were walking? What were you thinking about?" What a dumb question to ask. He was probably thinking that right now. She mentally scolded herself; if she had nothing better to say, she shouldn't have said anything. Hiyori closed her eyes tightly as if they would defend her from an awkward reply that she was sure would come. Her head lowered as he exhaled beneath her.

"Us."

Did she just hear him right? Hiyori took a moment to process the single word he'd just said. Did he mean it like she thought he did?

Hiyori slowly lifted her head away from his chest, stopping when her eyes were level with his. She felt Yato's hand on her waist begin to slip away until it came to rest just shy of the middle of her back. She forced herself to control her breathing, or else it would give away how franticly her heart was pounding again; enough to feel it in her ears. Hiyori stared at Yato, realizing how close their faces were. Another frozen breeze swept in, tossing his choppy bangs in front of his strangely calm and serious eyes. She still wanted to ask him for clarification, but no words came to her. Hiyori's mind was blank; all she could register was his eyes on hers, the lingering scent of his jacket, and his hand burning into her back.

"We - I should go home." She sputtered out. Yato's hand fell from her back. He tried not to let his shoulders fall too.

"Oh yeah, you have all of your homework to do. Right." Hiyori couldn't help but feel a sense of disappointment rolling off his tongue. Yato blinked twice before changing his expression to a thin-lipped smile, whatever emotion he was feeling seconds ago disappearing at the flick of a switch. He swiftly brought his boots back up to the platform and stood tall above Hiyori. Before she could make the effort to stand alongside him, he offered her a hand. She looked at it, then cautiously took it, being pulled up by Yato with ease. Hiyori brushed the snow from her leggings and Yato's jacket.

"Ready to go?" He asked her, shoving his hands into his front track pants pockets. She nodded twice in response.

"Mhm."

It wasn't really all that long of a walk back to her house. Since Yato insisted that he walked her home, Hiyori opted for them to take the shortcut from the park through a network of residential streets. She'd taken it so many times, the sharp sidewalk turns were engraved into her memory, she didn't even have to glance at the street signs. Yato followed alongside her, his hands never straying from his pants pockets. Whatever tension had been created back at the park had seemingly lifted, as Yato made an effort to create half-decent conversation between them. He talked on and on about his and Yukine's most recent jobs around the city, and how just the other day Kofuku had managed to break every teacup in the house. He laughed to himself when retelling how Daikoku had actually tried to glue some of them back together. Hiyori giggled along too; it sounded like something he would make the effort to do. Before long, it seemed to her as if Yato had forgotten what had happened at the park. He spoke in a cheerful voice, walking with his shoulders back and chin up. Hiyori wondered if it was really all that big of a deal for him. She wasn't even completely sure what her feelings were on it, though she guessed it was behind them now. Maybe he didn't feel what she thought she felt between them in that moment. Hiyori shook her head; it didn't matter right now.

"Well, here's your mansion." Yato emitted as he came to a stop beside her front gate. Hiyori noticed that she'd been so lost in consideration that she'd completely zoned out on whatever else Yato had said up to right then. She turned toward him and scoffed in response.

"It's not a mansion."

"Sure looks like it to me." He glanced at the house again, then raised his eyebrows at her and gave her a sly smile, hopefully to show her that he meant it jokingly. Hiyori made eye contact with him again, in turn making her smile a bit too.

"Oh, before I forget," she quickly unzipped his jersey and wriggled out of it, handing it back to Yato, "Here."

"Thanks." He accepted it, putting it back on and zipping it up to the top. He adjusted his scarf so it sat around the high collar. "Sorry we ended up getting back so late. You probably don't have a lot of time to finish up your work now..." He said apologetically, his words trailing off at the end.

"No, it's okay, Yato. I'm really glad we went out, I really needed a break."

"You owe me a rematch for that race though. No Jungle Savate next time, either." He teased. Hiyori let out a quick laugh.

"Alright, no Jungle Savate." She agreed, laying a hand on the gate latch to open it. Yato stayed standing, tall and still.

"Promise me you'll come and visit this week?"

Hiyori took a moment to smile genuinely at him. "I promise."

A puff of breath escaped him, "I'll hold you to that, Hiyori." With that, Yato turned away from her, and bounded up onto the roof of her neighbour's house. Hiyori watched him as he leapt from house to house back toward the city, until he was lost in the backdrop of the dark cloudy sky.

Hiyori awoke back in her bed, her lap covered in various notes and other papers. She groggily turned to look behind her, and sure enough, no phantom tail. Her spirit was back in her body where it was supposed to be. Suddenly, there was a knock on her bedroom door. She sat up in her bed just as her mother opened the door and poked her head in.

"Oh, so you are awake! I came up earlier to check on you and you were asleep."

Hiyori instinctively rubbed her eyes with the knuckle of her index finger. "Yeah, I was just really tired all of a sudden."

"Well now that you've had a nap, come downstairs, your father just got home and supper is on the table." Mrs. Iki crooned before closing the door softly behind her.

Hiyori yawned once. Even though her body slept while she was out, her mind never had a wink of rest, leaving her feeling just as exhausted as when she'd gotten home from school that afternoon. She stood up from her bed, neatly setting aside her school notes for later. Hiyori caught a glimpse of a pile on the floor near her window, composed of the thin jacket and boots she'd worn out with Yato. She must have taken them off just before letting her spirit slip back into her body. Just then, Hiyori felt like a spark went off in her head. Yato had lent her his jacket while they were gone, and she never once said thank you to him for it. Did he notice? She pulled open her bedside table and grabbed her phone, holding her thumb on the home button to unlock it. She had a few texts from Yama asking for answers to a few math questions, and one from Ami about plans they'd made for the weekend, but nothing new from Yato. Hiyori tapped his message thread and started typing.

Text to Yato, 7:13 pm

Hey, I just realized that I never actually thanked you for lending me your jacket. Next time we go out, I'll make sure to wear something warmer (^.^")

Hiyori was surprised when it only took a moment for him to reply

Text from Yato, 7:14 pm

No trouble, Hiyori. Just let me know next time you have too much homework. I'll be there when you need a break.

Well, that's it for this fic! I had planned to post this final chapter on Valentine's Day, but I got sidetracked. Thank you again to those of you who have followed this story since I started posting it and those of you who just found it in your search for some sweet-sweet Yatori fics, I hope that you all enjoyed it! I plan on writing some new Yatori stuff soon, so gimme a follow if you liked Homework and wouldn't mind reading some more of my work! Also don't forget to drop a review, I really thrive off of seeing what my readers enjoy from what I write (I actually have quite a few reviews saved on my phone, they make me really happy to read :3). I'd really appreciate it! Thanks again, hope to see you soon!