Ice and Snow

Toris always woke up early, before the sun had risen. He would always go downstairs and make himself some coffee, taking a precious few minutes to relax before making breakfast.

This morning, however, was different.

It was cold, so bitterly cold. And it was so quiet, so lonely in the house. Toris couldn't help but remember what it had been like, trapped out in the frozen wastelands of Siberia, in Russia's house where the heating had never worked properly. He would swear he heard General Winter cackling outside, blowing the drifts against his door. God, he was cold. He could swear he saw icicles creeping down the walls, frost dusting the chairs. And outside, icy violet eyes staring…

Feliks woke up to a panicked cry from the kitchen.

"Liet?" he called sleepily. "Like, are you okay?"

There was no response.

"Liet?" Feliks didn't bother sitting up. "I, like, heard you yell. You okay?"

A green-clad blur raced into the room, diving under the covers. Feliks jumped at the ice-cold limbs as Toris snuggled into him. Soft cries of distress escaped the taller nation.

"Okay, Liet, you're, like, really cold," Feliks said, hiding a pang of worry under a breezy comment. "Seriously, you're totally freezing!" When Toris didn't respond, Feliks poked him where he assumed his shoulder was. "Lieeeeeeeeet…"

Finally, he poked his head out from under the covers, shivering. "It's snowing…" Toris said quietly. Feliks had rarely heard fear from his friend. It sounded odd.

"Well, if you're, like, cold, you can totally stay in bed with me a little longer," Feliks declared, trying to sound reassuring. "It's totally warmer here anyway, right?"

"…Yeah." Toris snuggled closer to him, the chill melting from his body. "Much warmer."

Unfortunately, at that moment Feliks' stomach decided it was tired of being empty and growled. Loudly.

"I'll make breakfast," the brunet sighed.

"I'll come with you!" When Toris looked at him, surprised, Feliks quickly settled a lazy expression on his face. "Because it's, like, gonna be way too cold without you in the bed. Totally."

His friend visibly relaxed. "All right."

They padded off to the kitchen, Feliks chattering incessantly to distract Toris from the large flakes tapping against the window. Breakfast was mainly quiet, the little blond abandoning his usual seat across from his friend in favor of sitting next to him, pressing against Toris every now and then to let him know he was there.

However, Feliks quickly grew bored being trapped inside. The snowfall was abating, and they had shoveling to do. But before that…

"Lieeeeeeet." Feliks poked his friend, who was curled up on their old, worn couch under a blanket. "I wanna go out and plaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!"

"It's too cold," he said. Again, his voice was too soft. Feliks bit down a worried frown, hiding it behind a sunny smile.

"If it's any warmer, the snow will melt! C'mooooon!"

"I don't want to go out."

"But I don't wanna go alone! It's no fun building snow forts by myself…" He tugged on his friend's sleeve.

Toris sighed, levering himself up out of the chair. "Okay… Fine."

"Great!" Feliks ran off to fetch their winter clothes. It took him a while to find Toris', buried in the closet instead of in their usual neat piles like everything else.

He couldn't get his friend into the scarf. Or any scarf at all. Not even his favorite pink scarf, the one with the little fluffballs and kittens crocheted on it. Finally, he just gave up and tossed him a turtleneck sweater.

"You're, like, totally gonna freeze out there Liet," he whined.

Toris just smiled and shook his head. "I don't need a scarf."

"You mean you don't want to." Feliks' grin slipped for a moment. "Liet, you're home now. You, like, you know that, right?"

Toris nodded. "I know." He picked up Feliks' hat, settling it on his friend's head firmly. "I just…don't want to…have to deal with the memories."

"We have to deal with them. They're, like what makes us who we are." Feliks pinched his cheek, making Toris whine in protest. "You just have to put them behind you. One step at a time."

The brunet smiled, a real smile. "One step at a time."

"And I'll, like, be behind you all the way." Feliks tugged him towards the door. "Totally."

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This was for the Secret Santa exchange on LJ. I don't own the characters, I just write them.

Also: Been a while, huh? For those of you still waiting on the other 'Ice and Snow'...um. We'll have to see.