WORD COUNT 6,600+
WARNINGS/DISCLAIMERS I don't own Tsubasa RC, like most other fanfic writers. Don't sue me! I only have $0.41 and 3 expired bus tickets to claim! ..

No spoilers. Except for maybe the part where Yuuko gives them chocolate and the consequences for it. /b

Written for the livejournal OneBlanket community. This was the challenge:

Two (or more) anime characters trapped overnight in a single-room cabin in the middle of a blizzard. Its so cold that falling asleep uncovered will undoubtedly cause hypothermia. One blanket. Endless Possibilities.

Holy crap. My first fic of this pairing (And like…my third attempt at writing a fic) and it turns out longer than I had expected. I'm so sorry! –kneels and begs for forgiveness- This fic is freakishly long. But I really had a lot of fun writing this. I'm warning you. Read ONLY if you have the time, and if you don't mind such a terrible piece of OC writing like this. ;; If some parts didn't flow together smoothly, it's because I had to cut out a LOT to cut down on space.

I really tried to aim at a balance of humor and seriousness, but I really, really suck at writing. Especially tense, so please do tell me if you see any grammar/spelling errors, thank you.

BTW, please go easy on me. This is my FIRST LEMON EVER WRITTEN. AND it's UNBETA-ED.

-goes to hide in her corner-

---

The first thing he'd noticed was how oh-so-sharply the coldness of the air bit into his skin.

The next thing he'd noticed was how oh-so-blindingly the whiteness of his surroundings pierced his eyes the moment he had opened them, and sent sharp, annoying pinpricks of pain to his head.

And already, judging by the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach (which was strangely familiar to the feeling whenever Fai makes a new, sickeningly sweet recipe and insisted that 'Daddy' must take the first bite), Kurogane had a bad feeling about this new land. The best option, he had decided almost instantaneously, was to shut his eyes away from the terribly white, terribly headache-inducing scenery around him and groan. The rustling sound of cloth soon informed him that the other travelers had arrived as well, and thankfully, in the same area as him.

"Wow," a familiar, light voice breathed nearby. More rustling ensued as Fai untangled his limbs from a most ungraceful landing; after all, Mokona had, without warning, expelled them from his mouth forcefully. "This place is…absolutely… beautiful!"

At that comment, Kurogane had to suppress the urge to snort in disbelief. It was hard to imagine this place to be beautiful, really, in all of its cold, icy atmosphere; the whiteness that was so…well, white, to the point where it hurt just to look at, and now that he really had noticed it, the eerie silence, saved by the sound of now the kids' voices drifting from behind him.

"Wow!" that was definitely Sakura, with all of that innocence laced in her bright, cheerful voice. "It's snow!" she announced (Obviously, Kurogane had wanted to point out), and backed up her statement by digging her hands into the powdery soft whiteness. More rustling, and now a deeper voice drifted in the air.

"Princess, are you alright?" Syaoran questioned, concerned. Sakura giggled and thrust her snow-covered hands towards Syaoran.

"Feel how soft it is!" she answered with a bright smile. Syaoran visibly relaxed, seeing that his princess didn't look like she was suffering from the landing. Swiftly, he removed his coat that they had acquired in their previous world and wrapped it snugly around Sakura's shoulders.

Fai stretched and gazed around, his blue eyes scanning the landscape and his breaths coming out in puffs of white smoke. Kurogane watched him silently, noting that the smaller man's eyes were distant even as that damned smile was still plastered on his face. "Why," Fai quipped brightly, the look of familiarity instantly disappearing behind an unseen curtain, "It's almost like where I came from!"

At that, Kurogane snapped to attention, stiffening. Could they be…? No, of course not. That would mean that Yuuko had broken her side of the deal she had made with Fai. "It's not," he grunted abruptly, his voice cutting into the air. He almost winced at how his voice had sounded so intrusive and unwelcome in the suffocating silence. Fai's head snapped back, as if Kurogane had slapped him awake from a trance, and turned to smile brightly at Kurogane.

"Of course not, Kuro-rin," he agreed.

"Where's Mokona?"

Instantly, heads were swiveling in search of the white furball. Kurogane felt a sting of annoyance at that white rabbit-thing. Great, he thought with a growl, now that thing's gone and gotten itself lost, and now if that damned manjuu moves too far, we'll all be stuck in translation hell---

"Mokoooonaaaaaaa!"

The sound of Fai's light voice already going lighter than it already was (was it even humanly possible?) rudely interrupted his thoughts, and he stared, in what could be described as despaired amazement, at the mage who was increasingly lifting the pitch of his voice higher and higher as he called for Mokona.

"Mokonaaa? Mokonaaa? Moooooooookooooooooooonnnn---"

"Just shut the hell up already!" he snapped irritably. If he had amused the thought that things might get better, that thought had already died together with his eardrums. "We won't find that white manjuu here if we sit on our asses like this."

"Right," Syaoran agreed, standing up and helping Sakura to her feet. "We must take actions immediately---"

"What if something happens to Mokona?" sniffled Sakura, her eyes increasingly filling with alarm.

"Of course not," Kurogane replied quickly. "That thing's indestructible."

Sakura gazed at him in a mixture of relief and horror; relief from the idea that Mokona could take care of itself, and horror at the thought of how Kurogane learnt about Mokona's indestructibility. Fai laughed lightly and wrapped one of his long arms around her shoulders, giving her a light, comforting squeeze.

"What Daddy means," he explained, "Is that Mokona will be fine. Now let's go look for Mokona, alright?"

Sakura rubbed at her eyes and dipped her head quickly in a nod, smiling again. "Alright," she agreed.

"Now if you want to find someone," Fai continued, smiling equally brightly, "You must call them so that even as they might not see you, they'll most likely hear you. Would you like a demostration?"

"You already gave your ear-splitting demostration," Kurogane muttered darkly under his breath.

"I'll go look over there," Syaoran quickly said, making a swift escape from Fai's high-pitched voice (and probably trying to save his eardrums as well) and headed towards the frozen lake.

"Wait Syaoran-san! I'll come with you!" Sakura called, and hurried after Syaoran, who instantly slowed down for her to catch up with him.

Fai watched them fondly and laughed. "Looks like we're stuck together, Kuro-pon!" he said with a bright smile, and turned, only to find that Kurogane was also trying to make an escape away towards a forest. Instantly, his arm shot out and grasped Kurogane's arm, which unfortunately, did not make a quick enough retreat. "Daddy, wait for Mommy!" Fai scolded with his best version of a pout. Kurogane's face instantly screwed up with annoyance.

"Stop playing those damned family games!" Kurogane snarled in reply, but his threat fell flat as Fai shook the snow out of his blonde curls and tugged his arm towards the forest, laughing.

---

He couldn't stand it anymore.

Actually, he was just surprised blood wasn't pouring from his ears by now. Fai's constant high-pitched calls for Mokona were kept constant, even with the threats he had tried, and he had most certainly tried, to impose on the damned Mage to shut up (and really, that was a lot of threats). And to make matters worse, although neither of the adults had mentioned it (but had definitely noticed, for it was hard not to), there was a hostile, bone-chilling wind that was gradually picking up speed.

"Chilly, isn't it?" Fai suddenly said vaguely, and Kurogane found himself musing that the mage's voice hadn't cracked at all from all of that high-pitched calls. He grunted in reply, still bitter about the ringing in his eardrums.

"In fact," Fai continued, like as if he was talking to himself, which Kurogane was convinced that he was actually, "I'd say that a blizzard is approaching."

And, Kurogane noted, his eardrums weren't the only parts of his ears that was stinging. His earlobes were freezing, as well as his nose and cheeks, and really, all exposed parts of his body (Which, with a growl to himself, was quite a bit as the climate in the previous world was slightly humid, and as a result, explained their attire that was definitely not suited for this new world). He glanced over at Fai to see how the mage was faring.

"You must be used to this sort of climate," he finally said flatly. Fai turned and smiled distantly.

"You can say that."

Silence hung over them then, and the sound of snow crunching under their increasingly wet shoes was the only sounds in the air. A soft laugh beside Kurogane interrupted the silence again.

"Kuro-pi, I don't think our clothes from our previous world is sufficient enough to keep us warm and snug to walk through a blizzard." Taking the lack of reply from the taller man as an agreement, he continued brightly, with a tone much like as if he had just seen his favorite sweet in a candy store, "We might actually need to look for shelter!"

It almost seemed as if the trees had heard him, for right as the words had left his lips, the wind picked up a ferocious howl, and started to whip around their bodies with a renewed vengeance. Kurogane let out an exasperated growl as Fai instantly wrapped his arms around his neck, in fear of being blown away.

"Daddy is solid enough to stand firmly," Fai explained himself brightly, and Kurogane tried his best to ignore the warm puffs of air blown uncomfortably close to his ear as a result. He scowled and slowly started to advance forward, clawing his way forward using the trees around him, with Fai still clinging around his neck for support.

"We need to look for shelter." He had to raise his voice over the howling of the wind, even with Fai so (and oh-so-very uncomfortably) close to him. Fai laughed, his voice carried away on the wind.

"Now why didn't I think of that, Kuro-wan?"

All of a sudden, the idea to shake off the damnable mage from around him and letting him get blown away by the strong winds like a rag doll started to take on a very, very strong appeal. As if reading his mind, Fai's grip around him tightened slightly.

They, or really he should say HE, struggled on like this for what arguably seemed like hours, and, through the haze of both trying to prevent his mouth from freezing shut and ignoring Fai's invitingly warm breaths on his ear, he vaguely got the impression that the situation was oddly like the stories that old, old grandparents used to tell. He usually had scoffed at those sort of stories with them struggling uphill, with the wind clawing icy fingers with whatever skin contact it could reach, and the deafening howling in the ears, with one leg (Fai hanging off him heavily is enough compensation for a lost leg) in the snow and unable to even see a few meters in front of him.

And, he noticed with a scowl, the last bit was coming true. Snow now, was playing a major part in this 'uphill' walk, torn off from around the ground and flung into the air, and now hitting him in stinging pellets and successfully hindering his ability to see ahead a few meters. A soft voice in his ear brought new problems to the already disastrous situation.

"Kuro-tan, it's almost night-time."

At that, Kurogane instantly, almost mechanically, picked up his pace. Night-time, he decided, was the worst time to be caught out in a blizzard. A prick of terrifyingly icy fingers brushed against his neck, and he almost yelped at the intense coldness.

"Damn it, mage, you're turning into ice!" he snapped, and violently shoved the feeling of what he believed felt like concern back into his stomach. Of course he won't worry, the mage can damn well look after himself without him having to. Fai giggled faintly into the crook of his neck.

"I can't feel my fingers," he confessed. Kurogane scowled.

"I thought your land had similar climate to this."

"Kuro-chi, we had a lot of warm coats and clothes there!"

He could tell that the mage was trying really hard to cover it up, but the faint protest betrayed the mage's weak and sleepy voice. Alarm rose in his throat, and he shook his shoulders violently, which in turn shook Fai. Fai made a tiny yelp of surprise and tightened his loosening grip.

"Walk," Kurogane ordered. "I don't want to drag you around while you're snoozing on me."

"Silly Kuro-wanko," Fai said lightly, his voice going up a few notches. "Were you concerned about me?"

"No," Kurogane snarled. "I just don't want to lug you around while you have it easy napping on me."

Panic rose again as the mage didn't answer for a long time, and Kurogane shook him again violently.

"Oi, damned mage, don't sleep on me!" There was no reply, and, giving the mage a quick glance, he let loose a string of profanities under his breath and began to sweep his legs forward as fast as he could. Ignoring the almost painful stings of snow pelting at his face, he peered into the sea of snow ahead of him, and was very relieved to spot what looked like a tiny shape of a cabin.

He slammed the door open, unceremoniously throwing the mage off of his shoulders and onto the wooden floor in the process. Pushing him inside, he struggled against the wind that seemed more than desperate to keep the door open, and latched the door with a questionable single metal latch. He didn't think he had the luxury of observing the stability and strength of the latch, however, and scanned the cabin desperately.

The cabin was very, very small, and looked about the size of a master bedroom. The walls were constructed out of logs of wood lying on top of each other, with the cracks sealed in at the edges with cemented glue. The floor was planks of flat wood, and, Kurogane noticed with another scowl, almost most of it was covered with a thin layer of ice and snow. He spotted a terribly old, terribly small bed, and lying mercifully on top was a nicely folded blanket. In a few strides, he reached the other end of the cabin and grabbed the blanket (which smelt very old and musty), and then strided back to Fai. He flung the blank over the mage and started to rub furiously, trying to generate heat while he desperately groped around in his mind for information on hypothermia.

Body will be very cold, he decided, and, with the back of his hand, placed it across Fai's cheek. Screw cold, it was freezing, and it didn't help that it was probably worse than what his numb hand could feel anyways. Cursing under his breath, he rubbed his hands together furiously and cupped Fai's cheeks with the newly generated heat. While tingles of pins and needles danced down his fingers, he raked his brain for more information.

Heart, he decided quickly, I need to make sure he's still alive. He carefully arranged the blanket around the mage's small form and pressed his ear to his chest. Yes, there was a heartbeat, but it was very faint, and very, very painfully slow.

Lips, Blue Lips. He grabbed Fai's chin and pulled it up to look, and indeed, his lips were turning a shade of purple. And really, it was very inappropriate, happening at a very inappropriate time, because looking at those small, full lips were stirring something in him. He let go abruptly, taken by surprise at the discovery of this new, alien feeling, and in result, Fai's head connected with the floor with a loud, dull thud.

"Mmnn…"

Relief flooded his entire body and the new discovery was instantly forgotten as the mage stirred, and then rubbed his head painfully with a groan. He shot out his arms and instantly wrapped the blankets tighter around Fai, his lips stretched in a thin line.

"Ku-Kuro-p-p-puu," Fai said through the chattering of his teeth, "W-W-Where---?"

"You idiot," Kurogane snapped, mostly out of relief. "You were about to die."

"O-Oh!" Fai chattered, and managed to tune his voice brighter. "Y-You s-saved m-m-me! K-Kuro-c-ch-chan, you're m-my h-hero!"

"You're shivering like crazy," Kurogane muttered, and shrugged off his coat. Long, slender fingers wrapped around his arm, trying to stop him, and he flinched, trying to ignore the icy pins shooting up his arm.

"D-Don't, you're o-only w-wearing a sh-shirt under-ne-neath," Fai protested weakly.

"I'll be fine."

"N-No y-you won't…!" And the firmness and finality in Fai's voice, despite the shivering and chattering of teeth, managed to freeze Kurogane to a stop. "I-I d-d-don't ca-care if y-you t-think y-you're in-invincible, b-because y-y-you're definitely n-not."

Kurogane scowled, and was about to inform the idiot mage that really, he had almost died, and right now was not the best time to be so flippant about whether he lives or dies, and that the main priority here was to make sure that Fai didn't chatter all his teeth out, because really, the image of a toothless Fai was indeed very scary; but the sudden motion of the very musty and very old blanket thrown around his head and body and then being pulled into Fai's chest muffled his explanation. His first reaction was to snarl and struggle against Fai's vice-like grip, and he flailed his arms about in the blanket, trying to tug the blanket off him.

"S-Stop that, K-Kuro-myu," Fai scolded softly, and Kurogane could feel the shivering raking through the mage's slender frame violently; "You're i-inviting th-the cold a-air in."

With that, Kurogane stopped struggling, and instead concentrated on prying Fai's arms off from around the back of his head. The most however, he could manage was tugging it lower so it fitted around his neck instead, and then he struggled to push his head out from the blanket, as it was getting suffocatingly warm (although, with a sinking feeling, he suspected it was only his face) under there. When he successfully tugged the blanket off of his head, he inhaled the icy cold air deeply and almost instantly regretted it.

"You're s-s-so wa-warm, K-Kuro-min…" he heard a murmur from his chest, and looked down to scowl at the sight of Fai snuggled up against his chest, wrapped tightly in the blanket. Actually, now that he noticed, the blanket was wrapped very tightly around them, and, with an experimental tug, he decided it wasn't going to be easy to unwrap it.

He was contemplating between freezing to death and remaining in this humiliating position with that idiot mage (and the idea of freezing to death seemed a little more appealing than getting discovered in the latter) when Fai murmured,

"I w-wonder how th-the kids a-are d-doing…"

He gazed down at Fai, and realized with alarm that his blue eyes were drifting to a close. He didn't really remember the cold, hard facts of hypothermia (and with a frown, regretted that he wasn't even trying to pay attention when that kind of information arose), but he definitely was sure that some of the symptoms were sleepiness. Grabbing his small and frail shoulders, he gave the mage a rough shake.

"Wake up," he growled, "Don't you dare drift off to sleep."

"B-But I'm s-s-so sl-sleepy..!" Fai whined, and wrapped his arms tighter around Kurogane, pulling their heads closer as a result. "P-Play a g-game with m-me," he suggested lightly. "T-Then I w-won't f-fall asleep."

"NO." Kurogane all but exclaimed, and Fai sat back down heavily, puffing out the bottom of his lip in a pout.

"H-How c-cruel, K-Kuro-pin!"

"I don't –care- if I'm cruel. I absolutely –hate- your games." He spoke every word deliberately with as much poison as he could; enough, he figured, to bring any grown man down to their knees, crying and begging for mercy.

"I k-know! H-How about w-we s-strip and s-share b-body h-heat!"

Apparently Fai wasn't just any grown man.

"Y-Your c-clothes are w-wet," Fai continued, as if he didn't just suggested them to strip down to their birthday suits and cuddle up together with nothing on. "T-Take off y-your shoes."

Kurogane growled as Fai wriggled into the blanket and dipped down, the blanket covering him up completely and leaving Kurogane feeling nervous, as now he couldn't tell what the mage was doing. And really, one should realize that you really should keep an eye on Fai always, for he was unpredictable and tended to swing from abnormality to straight out plain insanity.

He resisted the urge to claw his way out of the blanket when he felt his boots being tugged off.

"Damn it, mage, just sit still!" he growled, and faint laughter drifted from under the blankets.

"Now that t-the shoes a-are o-off, we n-need to get t-the o-other troubles-some a-articles of c-clothes o-off."

He could clearly hear something snap in his mind. Like a rubber band, when you stretched it too tightly, or ropes breaking apart under immense weight, or even the sound of a whip cracking on the floor. There were no rubber bands, ropes, or (heavens forbid) whips in his mind however, but he swore he clearly heard a snap. Snarling, he shoved his arm down into the mystery mass of wriggling limbs and, grabbing Fai's slender wrist, pulled himself, Fai, AND the blanket up in an amazing feat of strength and sheer luck (because without it he probably would've ended up tumbling over and landing on his face), and strode them all to the bed, dragging a protesting mage with him.

Flinging the mage onto the bed, he completely forgot that the blanket was still wrapped tightly around his waist, and ended up flinging himself on top of Fai. Confusion struck as blanket wrapped up and obscured all vision, and when he finally managed to tug it off, he realized the compromising situation a bit too late.

Time froze. Fai gazed at him with wide, expectant, blue eyes, for once at loss for words. Numbly, Kurogane was pleased at the thought that maybe he had managed to catch Fai off guard, but really, as the awkward silence stretched on, he struggled on how to get himself out of this mess. Finally, Kurogane settled for glaring at Fai with what he hoped read as This is all your damned fault, you damned mage.

Which only earned him a wide, and what he thought was a flicker of disappointment, chester-cat-style smile.

"Y-You're s-so …d-daring!" Fai managed to say, before he exploded into a tremendous sneeze.

Into Kurogane's face.

"…K-Kuro-pon--! I'm s-so so s-sorry--!" Fai gasped, and Kurogane twitched with disgust, rolling off Fai and wiping his face on the blanket. Fai chattered on, apologizing, trying to help, and grabbed the edge of the blanket and trying to dab at his face. Although most of the tension from before had been killed by the sudden sneeze, the awkwardness was still there, and Fai struggled to fill in the silence with his inane babbling.

"Stop talking." Kurogane snapped, deciding after a few minutes of listening to Fai's ranting that he couldn't take anymore. Fai uncharacteristically obeyed, sitting back down and letting his hand fall to his side, still not meeting his eyes. He was still trying to figure out whether Fai had wanted him to do something and was disappointed, or that the sneeze was really, purely coincidental when Fai broke the silence.

"Will the k-kids be a-alright?"

"Of course," he mumbled, more grateful for the change of topic than really about the topic.

"How a-about M-Mokona?"

"You think I'd care about that white manjuu?"

Soft, nervous laughter drifted from Fai before he exploded into another sneeze, and shivered violently again. Kurogane pulled off his coat before realizing that it was too wet to use, and casted it aside with a growl.

If, he decided, If that Dimension Witch didn't have our clothes held in hostage, and IF that stupid white manjuu had given us enough time to pull our old clothes together, the damned mage would have had his abnormally oversized fluffy coat right now.

It wasn't any use blaming Yuuko for everything that happened so far however, and even as he had much preferred the abnormally oversized fluffy coat to warm up the mage, Kurogane decided quickly on the next best thing.

"Come here," he ordered, and Fai looked at him in surprise, and made no move to shuffle

closer. Growling under his breath, he leaned forward and pulled Fai closer, and wrapped one arm carefully (because he didn't want the mage to get any funny ideas) around his shivering body. Fai said nothing, and only tugged the blanket tighter around himself.

A few minutes passed by in silence, and Kurogane was starting to feel a little nervous. He really hated getting so close to someone, but, telling by the decrease in shivering in Fai, could tell that sharing body heat was working.He glanced down at the mage, mostly out of suspicion, as the other man was rarely silent (In fact, he couldn't remember a time when Fai had not made a sound for five minutes straight).

"Oi."

Fai jerked, as if he was jerked out of a dream, and gazed up at him dazedly. "Huh…? K-Kuro-chi?"

Kurogane scowled. "You weren't just about to drift to sleep, were you?"

Fai laughed a little guiltily. "Well, Kuro-puu," he teased, smiling brightly. "If you're so desperate t-to keep me awake, play w-with me."

"No." he replied firmly, leaving no room for discussion.

Fai pouted before removing himself from Kurogane's grip. "Well, I for one, am g-getting out of my wet c-clothes." He announced, and slowly, sleepily, started to wriggle out of his wet things. Kurogane watched him warily, tensed and ready to flee to the other end of the cabin should the mage deemed it possible that his clothes also needed removal.

Then again, his clothes were getting increasingly colder as the chills in the air was freezing the water in them. He finally decided that it couldn't hurt to remove his things, as long as he was back in them long before the kids decided to show up. Shrugging off his shirt, he noticed that Fai was watching him and threw him a glare.

"What?" he snapped, and Fai laughed.

"Isn't this better than those chilly wet clothes on us?" Fai cheerfully said, and squeezed his thin frame between Kurogane's legs as soon as he was finished removing his clothes. "Kuro-wan, you really should've stripped those awful wet things off us a long time ago."

A deep growl rumbled from his chest in reply. Fai only laughed lightly, and twisted his head around, brushing his fingers against Kurogane's cheek.

"You're cold," he stated, worry creasing his face as he traced his long, slender finger along his jaw-line. Kurogane settled on not saying anything, and ignored the feather-light touch running along his jaw. Looking after the mage was sapping all of his remaining strength, and he couldn't muster the energy to argue.

"Why are you so stubborn?"

The sudden question took him by surprise, and he blinked crimson eyes downwards at Fai.

"Why are you so damned enigmatic?" he finally replied. Fai smiled, amused.

"Why don't you just hold me if you're cold? I can afford to share body heat with you."

"How about you keep your distance from me?"

"How about we remove our wet boxers---"

"How about not?" he snapped, for the idea of one of them losing the last, vital piece of clothes that kept them from being completely stark naked mortified him. Fai exaggeratedly sighed and, grabbing Kurogane's arms, wrapped himself within them.

"You're going to catch a chill down there," he warned lightly. Kurogane shifted his arm uncomfortably, not really liking that he had the idiot mage wrapped up in his arms, yet relishing the waves of warmth flowing into them.

"I don't care. And I don't think it's even possible."

"Well then," Fai finally said after a few moments of silence, wrapping the blanket securely around the both of them, "The blizzard isn't going to end anytime soon."

And judging by the howling of the wind, Kurogane had to agree. He didn't bother to suppress a groan at the idea of being stuck in a small cabin together with Fai for what seemed like an infinitely long time.

The temperature took a steady dive as the minutes crawled by, and the wind picked up volume. It was quiet in the cabin, thankfully, leaving Kurogane to his thoughts about finding the kids. He hated to admit it, but he was definitely worried about them. He wondered vaguely, if they had found shelter, and hoped that Syaoran had enough sense to make sure that the two of them did not freeze to death---

He almost leapt out of his skin when a pair of cold hands pressed into the insides of his thighs without warning. He sent Fai his best, deadly death glare and growled warningly, giving him a look that clearly stated, What the hell do you think you're doing? Fai turned and smiled apologetically back.

"It's warm," he mouthed, and Kurogane felt the familiar urge to push him off the side of the bed arising again. He observed, however, that the shivering was returning to Fai, and the pale, smooth body pressing into him trembled slightly.

He decided that the overly sized fluffy coat was probably the only reason someone as lean as Fai could've survived in an icy climate like this. And probably, he thought grimly, they probably used magic to warm their clothes. A little envious, he shifted a little, and earned himself a small whimper of protest as they lost some skin contact. Raising an eyebrow at this strange, uncharacteristic sound, he glanced downwards again.

"Oi, mage. You don't look too good."

"Hmm." Came the unconcerned reply, and Kurogane growled again.

"Don't plan on sleeping."

Fai screwed up his nose in reply, his eyes still stubbornly shut. "Kuro-chu, you're s-so strict."

There was no denying it; he was definitely shivering again. Kurogane unwrapped his arms from around Fai, placing them firmly on his shoulders. He was going to regret this, and Fai would probably never let him live it down, but it was the best thing to do in this situation.

Fai let out a sound of protest as the warm arms unwrapped from across his chest, and he really didn't understand what happened next. A firm grip, his body falling towards the bed with amazing speed, and a surprised "Oof!" was forced out of his lungs as he hit the mattress and lay sprawled out on his stomach. He lay there dazed for a split second before something heavy and oh-so-deliciously warm lay on top of his back, effectively pinning his body onto the mattress. He sneezed lightly and pulled the twitches at the corners of his mouth that was threatening a grin of delight into a light frown.

"Kuro-myu," he gasped, and wiggled a little uncomfortably, trying to untangle some parts of his body that wasn't lying completely flat on the bed. "The mattress smells so old."

"Lie still," came the answering snarl, breathing delicious, tingling warm air into his ear. Fai ceased his wiggling, and decided to concentrate on absorbing as much of the delicious heat he could feel.

"You're heavy," he finally said, and the weight on him shifted a little, lightening up. He suppressed the urge to burst into gleeful laughter, in fear of scaring off the bulkier man from on top of him, and decided instead to trace the lines of Kurogane's muscles in his arms with one of his fingers. He watched as the muscles twitch, presumably in annoyance.

"Would you stop moving!" Kurogane snapped in his ear, and Fai heaved a sigh.

"You're no fun," he said; and then contemplated the idea of actually lying still for a few hours, in which he abruptly declared to himself, was boring. And, in this kind of compromising situation, Fai decided, one would be a fool to let such an opportunity pass, and that the next best step to...better things was to make small talk.

"Isn't your back freezing, Kuro-tan?"

"No."

"Liar," he murmured affectionately, and struggled a bit to turn on his back. Reaching underneath Kurogane's arms, he rubbed his back, trying to create some warmth. "You should just tell me the truth."

"Shut up, I don't want to hear that from you." Kurogane snapped, and Fai laughed and waved off the comment dismissively.

"You're so tense," he whispered, and began to massage the tight muscles in Kurogane's back. Kurogane watched him warily, but allowed himself to relax under Fai's talented fingers. Fai continued to weave his fingers across Kurogane's back, and smiled to himself as he felt him relax under his touch. Without thinking, really, it was just an afterthought; he unconsciously brushed his lips gently on a tanned cheek.

Instantly Kurogane jerked backwards and glared down at him. "What are you doing?" he hissed dangerously, and Fai blinked, unsure himself of his actions.

"I…well…" grasping for words, he finally said, "You didn't like it?"

Kurogane scowled.

"Why does that matter?" he snapped, and both of them instantly realized he had slipped up. Fai's mouth exploded into an all-knowing grin; and Kurogane's face instantly screwed into a look of alarm. He pushed away, scowling.

"No," he warned, but he was too late; Fai sat up, a disturbing look coupled with an equally disturbing smile plastered on his face.

"That was your cheek," Fai said brightly, and drew his face up suddenly to Kurogane's face, grabbing the sides of his head into a strong grip. "It actually feels softer on the lips."

"Like hell I care," Kurogane growled dangerously, and tried to wiggle away. Damn it, the blanket was securing them together.

"Aren't you curious?" Fai laughed, and, before Kurogane could even utter a word of protest, crushed his lips onto Kurogane's.

At that point Kurogane blamed the temperature. Usually people would blame heat, but the cold could surely also prevent too much blood from going to the brain as well. He couldn't really remember what happened next, but he did remember pinning the smaller male onto the bed (and Fai had complained, panting in the heat of the moment, that the bed was dirty and he didn't want to get dirty), and he remembered tasting a lot of hot flesh. He remembered whimpers, moans and mewling, and vaguely musing that he never did realize the mage could make such sounds like those. He could remember the silky feeling of blonde curls running through his fingers, and an intoxicating scent of a certain annoying mage, and the erotic heavy panting into his ear as hungry fingers roamed over exposed skin desperately.

He also remembered the astonishing disappearing act of two boxers, and remembered grabbing at teasing fingers, pulling long arms above the owner's head and pinning it there firmly (he didn't trust Fai's definition of teasing, for the damned mage tended to go too far), and Fai's protesting huff at having his exploration time cut off, before collapsing into a heap of indistinguishable moans and cries when Kurogane had stroked him.

And then the salty taste of Fai's milk on his fingers, and smearing the liquid on the mage's entrance, soft pleading urging him on; Fai's expression twisting in pain with the shock of intrusion, but instantly disappearing under a shaky smile. He had told Kurogane to continue, and that 'it'll only hurt for a little while,' which left Kurogane wondering how Fai had so much knowledge about this sort of things (but strangely not surprised; you have to realize that this was Fai he was talking about). He had carefully prepared Fai, taking his time, while the lean body underneath him writhed with impatience mixed with pain and pleasure.

"Go on," the whispered words urged him, but he refused, and gazed at him.

"I have your permission, right?" he had asked. Fai opened his glazed eyes and stared at him incredulously.

"You don't realize," he had laughed lightly, or more like panted-wheezed-laughed really, he was so out of breath; "that I've been waiting for this for a long time now."

And that was all he had needed to hear, and he had thrusted slowly into the tight, hot entrance, and felt Fai's back arch off the bed, crying out. He had pressed Fai's arms more firmly into the bed, unwilling to let it loose in fear of Fai scratching marks across his back. It was tight, almost unbearably tight, and he had gritted his teeth and continued to push inside until Fai was completely filled. And when that had happened, Fai collapsed back onto the bed, blue eyes wide with lust and pleasure, and his small, pale chest rose and fell heavily with every pant.

He remembered thinking how beautiful the mage looked with his blonde hair strewn all over his face and spread out in a halo on the bed, body trembling and sweating profusely, and finally, finally, no more invisible walls between them; it was only Fai, naked in more ways than one, exposed completely to him. No longer was the mage trying (or even really, attempting) to hide anything behind a smile or a mask; all of his emotions of pain and pleasure danced across his face without reserve.
He had waited till Fai had gotten used to the feeling and the walls around him unclenched, just a little, before he pulled out slowly and started a slow rhythm. He had bent down to lay a kiss on Fai's opened mouth, and he had felt Fai's tongue eagerly explore his. He had picked up the pace then, and Fai had whimpered and moaned in his mouth, in sync with his thrusting, and the sound of the old bed creaking in protest at the motion.

He remembered finally releasing Fai's arms to grab those tiny hips of the mage, tilting it higher to gain better entrance, and Fai's pant-laughter as he wrapped his arms around his neck. "About time," he remembered the mage teasing, his voice hitting a notch higher with every deep thrust, "My arms were going numb, Kuro-wan."

And, as if to punish him, he had quickened the pace, rendering Fai speechless as he tried to catch his breath through his surprised moans. And Fai had lifted his hips to match with his speed as he continued to pick up the pace, until finally Fai had came again, his cries of ecstasy drowning out the sound of the howling wind, warm liquid splashing onto his pale stomach. He had came too soon after, and had collapsed onto Fai.

And now, a few minutes later, Fai managed to gather up the remainder of his strength (to which Kurogane frowned at; maybe he should have drawn it longer to make sure there was no such remainder) to press his soft lips to his neck, nipping and sucking at the sensitive flesh. Kurogane frowned to himself tiredly; if the mage was going to leave his mark on him, he was going to have a hard time trying to shield it from the children's eyes so that there would be no concerned and good-intentioned questions about it.

"Well, that's one way to stay awake," Fai suddenly laughed softly, and blew on his mark he had placed on Kurogane's neck proudly. "We should get stuck in a cabin during a blizzard more often, Kuro-pon."

Kurogane managed a low growl. "It's morning, and the blizzard's gone," he observed. Fai smiled brightly and tugged off the blanket, resulting in a shocking contact of icy cold air meeting hot, sweaty skin. He sat up and watched the mage tug on his clothes, chattering brightly about how it was fabulous that they had managed to stay awake the entire night, and oh, how Daddy was absolutely wonderful in bed, and then musing about how the children must be faring.

As he tugged on his own clothes, he heard Fai sauntering over to the door and small noises of struggle to open the almost-frozen metal latch, and the sound of the door opening, and then… silence. Curiosity pricked at his exhausted mind, and he looked up.

"What---?"

A wall of extremely blinding whiteness.

That was all he saw. And then he heard mischievous laughter drift into the air from the slender male.

"Kuro-rin, I think we're snowed in."

Fin