Chapter Text
Skye looked out at the falling snow as it began covering more and more of the window. It began to truly settle in for Skye that she was trapped. Even though she knew her situation could be a lot worse— Everest and her best friends were far from the worst pups to be trapped with— it certainly wasn’t ideal. She wanted to be able to go home and lie in her pup-house away from Everest and her feelings for her.
“Uhh, guys,” Marshall said and pointed to the fireplace. The pups instantly saw snow starting to pile up at the base, coming down from the chimney. “What do we do?”
Everest and Chase looked lost at what to do, so Skye figured she had to take charge. “I guess we should start a fire. Jake has logs stored in his cabin, right Everest?”
“Yeah,” Everest responded. “He has lighters too. It may be hard for us as pups to use, but we can try.”
“A fire would also help with the cold,” Chase said. While it was much warmer in here than outside, Skye could feel herself getting cold as well.
The pups rolled logs into the fireplace and pushed the snow out of the way. They broke off small sticks from the logs for kindling. They placed a lighter on the ground and with careful paw movement, Marshall used the lighter to start a fire. The fire quickly spread to the entire fireplace and started to melt the snow, prompting the pups to grab towels to keep the water from ruining the floor.
“Well would you look at that,” Everest said. “We make a good team.”
Everyone murmured their agreements and then split off. Skye was the only pup who remained, opting to sit down and watch the fire. She could feel the warmth of it on her fur, and enjoyed how nice it felt.
“Hey Skye, you should play against me in Pup Pup Boogie!” Chase called.
Skye turned to Chase, who was standing near the TV with two Pup Pup Boogie boards. She suddenly remembered that Jake bought the newest edition of the game.
“You think you’re gonna beat me this time,” she teased, her concern shifting to playfulness. She supposed it made sense to at least make the most of her time. She always felt better when she was playing that game, no matter how silly the name of it was.
“Yeah! I’ve been practicing! Right, Marshall?” Chase said as he turned to the dalmatian for support.
“Uhh, yeah,” Marshall said, clearly less confident in Chase’s ability to win. But he wasn’t going to tell him that. “He’s been getting pretty good.”
Skye confidently walked over to the boards (maybe just a little too egotistically), and hopped onto the one to the right; Chase hopped onto the other one beside her. The game started, and Skye immediately got into rhythm. She said the directions to herself as she went, a strategy that was yet to fail her. She could hear Marshall cheer on his boyfriend, but could also hear Everest cheering her on. Why couldn’t Everest be ‘her Marshall?’
Instead of letting herself get distracted by thoughts of Everest, she let those motivate her into winning. By the end of the game, she was winning by almost 500 points.
“Yes, go Skye!” Everest cheered. Skye turned to her and gave her a smile.
“Good job, Skye,” Chase said, giving her a smile. “I guess I have more practicing to do.”
“So you’re going to beg me to constantly play against you more, huh,” Marshall lightly teased, pretending to be more annoyed than he really was.
“You’re only complaining because you always lose,” Chase retorted, gaining back some of his smugness.
“Only because I’m clumsy,” Marshall replied. “You know for a fact I have better rhythm than you otherwise.”
Everest rolled her eyes and giggled at the interaction. “Boys are idiots, huh,” she quietly said to Skye.
“I think it’s just those two,” Skye replied with a giggle of her own.
Skye saw Everest smile at her joke, then turn to look at the television screen. She then turned back to the two boys who were now giggling at each other.
“Here, I’ll play against you, Marshall,” Everest said. “I don’t play as often, so you definitely stand more of a chance.”
Marshall immediately agreed to this, and walked up to the closer Pup Pup Boogie board. The game started and the pups started dancing. Chase started to cheer on his mate, but Skye was too lost in thought to support either pup.
She was thinking about what Everest said about not playing Pup Pup Boogie as often. Skye knew Jake owned the game, so she knew the reason that Everest rarely played was because she rarely had anyone to play with. Skye felt guilty about not visiting her more often, especially since the main reason was because she was nervous about facing her feelings for the other pup. It was selfish, and not how a good friend should behave.
Skye lost her train of thought when she saw Marshall trip and fall on his stomach. While he was in the lead beforehand, this gave Everest the advantage she needed to surpass him. Skye saw Chase still encouraging his boyfriend to keep going, and started cheering for Everest.
“Come on, you can do it, Everest!” Skye encouraged.
Despite her efforts, Marshall managed to surpass Everest and win by 20 points.
“Yeah, good job Marshall!” Chase cheered.
“You both did great!” Skye encouraged them.
“Thanks Skye,” Everest said a little shyly. She gave the smaller pup a small smile before shifting her focus over to the window. Skye looked over to see that the sun was setting and the falling show was quickly turning into a blizzard.
“Can we have dinner now? I'm starving,” Marshall said from behind her.
Skye realized she was hungry herself, and she could sense that Chase and Everest shared this sentiment. They agreed and got a box of dog food. Usually, Jake or Ryder would feed them, but they managed to pour food into their bowls. Skye started to eat out of her bowl but was thrown off by the taste of the food.
“Oh yeah, Jake bought this new brand for me,” Everest explained. “You'll get used to the taste.”
Skye watched as Chase nervously took another bite out of his food. After seeing that it was okay, Marshall followed suit. Skye eventually joined in and ate out of her bowl.
“It's not actually that bad,” Marshall commented after he finished eating.
“Yeah, it's pretty good,” Skye agreed, mostly because she didn't want to accidentally offend Everest. She still definitely preferred her usual kind, and could tell that Chase still looked uncertain about the different food.
After dinner, Skye looked over to the window to see it was fully covered in snow.
“We really are trapped in here, huh,” Skye commented.
“Yeah, well at least I'm trapped here with you,” Everest said without thinking. “All of you, I mean.”
Skye’s heart fluttered. Did Everest feel this way because she was so used to being alone with Jake, or was it something more? She couldn't tell, and she hated the feeling of uncertainty.
“Hey, uh, are there any private rooms me and Chase can use? We need to have a conversation,” Marshall explained. Everest raised an eyebrow, causing the poor dalmatian to blush and swiftly shake his head. “It's nothing weird, I promise! We just need to talk.”
“I’m just giving you a hard time,” Everest said with a giggle. “Go ahead.”
<>
After Marshall closed the door behind them, he quickly turned to Chase, who abruptly leaned in and kissed him.
“Calm down, Chase,” Marshall said with a giggle. “I actually need to talk to you.”
“Okay, what?” Chase asked.
“Skye and Everest.”
Chase tilted his head to the side, before realizing what Marshall was thinking. “You want me to help you get them together, huh.”
“Yeah. It’s so obvious that they like each other.”
“Well… I guess we could try,” Chase said, clearly conflicted. He didn’t like the idea of interfering with other pups’ love life, but he also wanted to make the other pups happy. “Okay, but we can’t tell them they like each other, we have to convince them to like each other.”
“Obviously,” Marshall said, almost thinking of himself as an expert on this subject. Probably based on the amount of romance movies he tried to force Chase and Skye to watch with him.
“So, what should we do? Skye’s trying to shut away and hide her feelings.”
“Put them in a position where they’re more vulnerable,” Marshall replied. “What if we invite them to start sharing stories? If we can get a more vulnerable conversation going, maybe one of them will take the opportunity to confess.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Chase said thoughtfully. “Maybe we need to share stories about some of our dates. Get the topic on their minds?
“That’s a good idea,” Marshall responded. “It would be worth it, to see them happy. Just like how I’m happy with you.”
Chase’s ears fell, and he couldn’t help but lean in and give Marshall another kiss. “You win, I’ll help. Your empathy is one of the main reasons I fell for you.”
Marshall wagged his tail. “Okay, let’s go see Skye and Everest again.”
<>
“What do you think Marshall and Chase are talking about?” Everest asked.
“I have no clue. They always liked to talk to each other one-on-one a lot, especially after they started dating,” Skye responded.
“Yeah… I can see that,” Everest said. “Well, what’s new with you?”
“Me?” Skye asked, caught off guard. “Well, I uh…”
Skye racked her brain for what to say. Did she do anything special outside of her usual missions recently? “Uhh, Ryder and I cleaned my helicopter..”
Everest nodded, but Skye could tell she was pretending to be more satisfied with her answer. Skye tried to think of what else to say. “Sorry; I don’t know, really. I guess my life hasn’t been very interesting recently. Just more rescues and dealing with Mayor Humdinger’s antics.”
“Yeah, I guess I could say the same,” Everest agreed. “Hey, if you could change one thing about your life, what would it be? You know, to make it more interesting.”
Skye didn’t know how to answer that. She was overall happy with her life, wasn’t she? When she was younger, she would have wished she was bigger, but nowadays her insecurities about it were decreasing. Now, all she really wanted was to be with Everest, but it wasn’t like she could just tell her that. “I… don’t know. You go first.”
“I think I would like to have more friends up here in the mountains. Or have visitors more often at least,” Everest said thoughtfully. When she noticed Skye’s guilty face she quickly added on, “I didn’t mean it like that. I understand that you and the other pups must be really busy.”
“Yeah, sorry,” Skye said with an uneasy giggle.
“It’s fine. Your turn, now.” Everest said. “If you have anything you would change, at least.”
Skye hesitated, before hearing the sound of a door opening and footsteps.
“We’re back,” Marshall announced casually, suddenly walking back into the room with Chase. Skye mentally thanked him for saving her from answering Everest’s question.
“Hi!” Everest said cheerfully. “Wait, how did you two manage to open the door?”
“Skillfully,” was all Chase responded with.
They all just stood there awkwardly for a second until Marshall said, “Wait, let me tell you about the time me and Chase decided it was a good idea to have a date at the Golden Dogbowl.”
The Golden Dogbowl was the name of a fancy restaurant for dogs in Adventure City. They heard Liberty talking about it earlier, but she never went, as it was mostly for dogs with rich owners. However, Marshall mentioned that he wanted to go just to see what it was like, and Chase decided it was his job to practically beg Ryder to make a reservation for the two of them.
“I didn't even care about it that much, Chase,” Marshall reminded him as Chase recounted the story. “You just freaked out at the thought of me being sad about something.”
“Maybe that's true,” Chase said, a little embarrassed. “I just like seeing you happy. But either way, we went there and every pup and human looked like a fashion icon. It wasn’t like me and Marshall didn’t dress up, but they looked ridiculous. This one poodle with a little yellow hat walked up to us and asked us why we were dressed so poorly, and if our tuxedos were being washed. We had to explain that we didn’t have any, and eventually what the PAW Patrol was. I think once she figured out we were working pups she avoided us for the rest of the evening.”
“Weird,” Everest said, clearly trying to imagine the situation. Skye supposed she hasn’t seen much outside the mountains and Adventure Bay, where pups being used to help citizens was the norm.
“I shouldn’t have asked to go in the first place anyway,” Marshall said. “They gave us like, eight bites of food each. It tasted good, but I was still hungry afterwards.”
“You should’ve taken the rest of mine,” Chase said. “I offered it to you.”
Marshall rolled his eyes in mock annoyance. “You were as hungry as I was. And besides, we got more food from Ryder when we got home anyway.”
Skye couldn’t help but admit that the way Chase always tried to make everything perfect for Marshall was cute. It made her want to try her own attempts to try to make sure Everest was happy, especially since this was one of the only times they got to see each other in a non-work setting. She would do for her what Chase does for Marshall in a heartbeat.
“Everest, do you have any cool stories?” Marshall asked. “I’m sure you have lots, being in the mountains.”
“Well…” Everest began. “There was this one time this tourist came to try snowboarding, and wouldn’t listen to me and Jake trying to teach him how to control it. He ended up crashing into a tree.”
“I hate when people don’t take advice seriously,” Marshall said. “Especially the ones that won’t listen to pups, as if they’re better than us because they’re humans.”
Skye knew the dalmatian wasn’t always taken seriously by strangers due to him being almost infamous for his silliness and clumsiness. All the people that knew him knew he was a responsible pup, especially when it comes to fire safety, but people from places outside of Adventure Bay weren’t always the nicest to him.
“There are really people like that?” Everest asked. “I guess I haven’t met as many people as the rest of you.”
“You must get lonely up here,” Skye asked before she could give herself time to think.
“Well…” Everest searched for a response, shifting her weight back and forth between her paws. “I have Jake, he’s pretty great to talk to. And visitors stop by a lot. It’s not like I’m super lonely.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry for bringing that up,” Skye said unnecessarily.
“No, it’s fine. It was… sweet of you,” Everest said.
“Huh?” Skye was taken aback.
“What? It was,” Everest said with a giggle.
Skye was so off guard that she almost didn’t notice Chase and Marshall give each other a look, followed by Marshall saying that the two of them were going back to check on the window. When Chase and Marshall were out of hearing range, Skye managed to muster up a “thank you.”
“You're welcome. You are sweet, you know,” Everest said. Skye inhaled, realizing this could be her chance. Everest continued on, “You care about me, it’s what made you a good leader during our roadtrip adventures. It’s what makes you the coolest girl I know.”
“Really?” Skye said in a high pitch she didn’t know she could make.
“Yeah,” Everest said, starting to become a little sheepish.
Skye turned to Chase and Marshall, who were visibly trying not to glance at the two pups. She finally understood that those two were purposefully trying to set her up with Everest. Those sneaky little shits, she thought, annoyed yet lovingly.
Skye knew that if she got rejected, it would make the rest of the night awkward. But if Everest returned her feelings, which she was starting to suspect, confessing could change everything. Not only for tonight, but for their entire lives. If Chase and Marshall had the courage to confess their feelings, so could she.
“You’re the coolest girl I know too,” Skye said, gaining her confidence. “The way you can handle it up here in the mountains, the way you’re willing to help everyone both up here and down in Adventure Bay, I think it’s amazing.”
“Skye, can I tell you something?” Everest asked.
Skye’s breath hitched, and she hoped Everest didn’t notice. “Of course. You can tell me anything.” Skye knew there was a good possibility this wasn’t a confession of love, and either way it would be better to be supportive of Everest no matter what this question was.
“Even if you might think it’s… weird?” Everest asked. Her eyes were to the floor and she was fidgeting with her paws.
“Of course. I won’t judge you,” Skye said. “I promise.”
Everest stopped fighting with her paws and turned upwards to face Skye. “I think I like you Skye. You know… like how pups like-like each other. I don’t mean friendship or anything…”
“I know what you mean,” Skye said as she placed her paw on top of Everest’s, who was beginning to panic. “I feel the same way.”
Everest almost froze when the words left Skye’s mouth. “You do, really?” she asked, showing a mixture of surprise and excitement on her face.
“Of course I do,” Skye said with a comforting smile. “You’re a great pup.”
“You are too,” Everest said.
Skye started to fidget with her paws. She didn’t know what to do next. She wanted to go on dates with Everest, show off all her favorite places, and call Everest her girlfriend in front of her friends. But right now, she was still trapped in Jake’s cabin.
“So, uhh, do we kiss now?” Everest asked. Then she quickly added, “You don’t have to if you don’t want to!”
Skye could see the regret in Everest's eyes. The pup thought she had messed up. “I’m sorry, I guess I just don’t fully know how this works.”
Skye fidgeted with her paws more. She wanted to kiss Everest, but that thought had been a fantasy for a long time. It couldn’t be that crazy, right? Chase and Marshall did it all the time. “Sure, why not? I don’t think it usually happens that fast, but every relationship is different.”
Skye looked at Everest’s lips. She felt nervous, but could visibly see that Everest was feeling twice what she felt. It looked like she would be the one to initiate the kiss. She took a breath, and then leaned her head forward. She closed her eyes as her lips met Everest’s. She could feel the satisfaction of the touch as Everest reciprocated the kiss. When they both pulled away, Skye had a smile on her face. The kiss lasted no longer than two seconds, but it was everything she ever wanted. Skye could see a smile on Everest’s face as well, and it was the most beautiful thing she ever saw.
“Looks like there’s going to be even more PDA around here now,” Marshall giggled. She had just noticed that Chase and Marshall were returning from the window. Skye would have side-eye’d the dalmatian if she wasn’t feeling a mixture of pure joy and slight embarrassment. “But seriously though, we’re happy for the two of you,” he added on. “Right Chase?”
“Yeah, you two make a cute couple,” Chase said with a small smile.
“Well, thank you,” Everest said. “You guys too, I guess.”
“Thank you,” Chase responded.
“Anyway, you two should come look out the window with us. It looks cool out there,” Marshall said, abruptly changing the subject as he wagged his tail.
Skye still wanted some time to process that her and Everest were really together now, but she guessed she could check out the window in the meantime. She followed Marshall with the others to the window. She put her front legs on the windowsill to only see the solid white of fallen snow.
“Need a little boost?” Everest asked. Normally, this would cause Skye to feel insecure about her size, but her mind was too occupied with other thoughts at the moment.
“Yeah,” Skye responded before being lifted onto Everest’s back. She was surprised Everest was strong enough to hold her weight. Despite this newfound strength, she kept most of her weight pressed against the windowsill to help make it easier for Everest to keep her up. She looked out the top of the windowsill to see snow pouring down fast outside. She couldn’t see very far, only able to see the white falling snow contrast the pitch black of night.
She hopped off of Everest’s back and turned to the pups. “It’s crazy out there. It’s weird that none of us knew about the blizzard.”
“I assumed Chase would,” Marshall said.
“Either you or Skye is usually the sensible one,” Chase responded.
“I wasn’t exactly thinking about the weather,” Skye admitted.
Everest shifted her eyes away from the group in slight embarrassment, yet Skye could tell the other pup knew what she meant and found it cute. “Well, if me and Everest are dating, I guess we have to figure something out to make sure we’re able to see each other,” Skye said, ready to go back to thinking about her new girlfriend.
“It would make more sense for me to come to you than for you to come to me,” Everest said. “You know, with your PAW Patrol duties and all. There’s also way more stuff to do down there in town than up here.”
“Yeah, there are so many places we could go,” Skye said. “Both in Adventure Bay and maybe in Adventure City. We could go there sometime. If you want, I mean.”
“Sure,” Everest said. “I do want to. I want to see more of the world with you.”
“Maybe just don’t go to the Golden Dogbowl,” Marshall said with a giggle, breaking the silence he had kept for this conversation. This caused the other pups to giggle as well.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Skye said before shifting her focus back to Everest. “Anyway, if we’re dating, I’ll make sure to find time to see you more often. I’m sorry for not doing that before.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Everest said. “I’m fine up here. It’s not like I’m alone, I have Jake with me.”
“I don’t think being alone with just one other person all the time is enough,” Skye said. “You deserve other pups to play with. And I should have been one of those pups.”
“Yeah, us too,” Chase said a little sheepishly.
“I've already told you this, Skye. It’s not your responsibility to make sure I’m never lonely,” Everest said. “You guys have responsibilities back at Adventure Bay. You can’t spend all your time up here with me.”
“I can try,” Skye said, lightening the mood and causing Everest to smile.
“And I’ll try to visit you as much as possible too,” Everest said. “That can be our deal.”
This brought the conversation to a pause. Skye looked around at her three companions. She was grateful that they were the ones she was trapped with, and even a little grateful for the blizzard.
“If it weren’t for that blizzard, we wouldn’t be together,” Skye said. “Maybe it ended up being a good thing.”
“Yeah, as long as no one got hurt, I think we could say that the blizzard was secretly a blessing,” Everest responded.
“Must be fate,” Chase added.
“I wonder how Jake’s doing right now,” Marshall wondered aloud.
“Wait a minute. I could call him with my pup tag. I don’t know why I haven’t,” Everest said. “Or why he hasn’t contacted me.”
Everest activated her pup tag and tried to speak to Jake, but couldn’t get a response. “I can’t get a signal,” she said in frustration.
“Here, let me see if I can contact Ryder,” Chase said. He activated his own pup tag, but couldn’t get a response either.
“It must be because of the blizzard,” Everest said.
“It’s fine, Ryder probably contacted Jake,” Marshall said. “I bet he’ll arrive with Ryder and Rubble in the morning.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Everest said as the others shared their agreements.
With their conversation done, Skye walked back over and sat down next to Everest as Chase and Marshall walked off citing how they wanted to enjoy the fire. Skye and Everest didn’t speak, and were simply able to sit together, enjoying each other's presence in comfortable silence. Even though this situation was foreign to her, Skye felt that this situation just felt right, as if this was how it was always supposed to be.
And maybe it was.