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It was a weird time of year, that midpoint between Fall and Winter where it was too cold to be considered Fall and not cold enough to be considered Winter. It was just cold enough to be annoying; you could survive with a jacket, but it wouldn’t be worth it.
This was also the time of year where Panda would start taking advantage of the heater in his room, something his younger brother had literally no use for and something his older brother didn’t want. Unfortunately, the heater had stopped working in early August of that year, and Panda had been putting off getting it fixed, cringing every time he checked his bank account. Grizz had noticed the drastic drop in temperature and had alluded to getting it fixed, but the money they currently had wasn’t nearly enough to fix it-- what little they had was being spent on food and bills. The heater just wasn’t high on their list of priorities right now.
This would have been pretty much fine during the day, when there were enough things to distract Panda with to make him mostly forget about the broken heater, but he was slowly losing his patience come nightfall. He had a blanket, sure, but it did little to warm him up-- it also didn’t help that his windows didn’t close all the way anymore, and the cold air was seeping in through them.
Tossing and turning uncomfortably in his bed as he tried to warm up, Panda genuinely considered grabbing his phone and looking through Wikihow to figure out how to fix this damn heater himself. His brother had the tools, probably, what’d he have to lose?
Nah, he wouldn’t stoop that low. Not yet. Speaking of his brother, he had asked if he’d be able to fix it, but he seemed oddly evasive when Panda had asked, like he didn’t want to fix it or something.
There had to be some other way, right? Weren’t there more blankets in the linen closet? No, those were in the washer, they wouldn’t be clean until morning. Panda shivered, he really hated winter.
Oh wait, light bulb! Charlie had blankets in his car! He only lived, like… half a mile away, right? That wasn’t too far, it was worth it for what he’d get out of it. Wait, shoot, would Charlie be using them? He’d been sleeping in the cold for… probably a while now, maybe he had adapted to the cold? Maybe, maybe...
Charlie. Lately, Panda had no idea how to think about Charlie. Things were different, but heck if he knew what exactly was different. All he knew right now was that he longed to be near Charlie, and it made him too flustered to go any deeper than that.
Panda battled with himself for a bit over whether or not it would be wise to make the trek to Charlie’s house, ultimately to take the little warmth he had for himself. That probably made him selfish, but he’d still make it up to him as soon as he could. It couldn’t hurt to ask him, all he needed was one more blanket and he’d be good. And if Charlie said no, that’d be fine too!
Panda sighed, getting up from his bed, having let the cold get to him. Now that the cold had defeated him, he slowly, making sure not to wake his brothers, exited his room and headed towards the front door. He looked around cautiously, making sure everyone was still asleep before twisting open the door knob and immediately regretting it when the cold hit him. He took a deep breath, and reminded himself what this was all for. He’d just have to live with it for now, the bitter cold making his fur stand on end. He trudged on, his fur puffing up. He prayed to God that there weren’t any girls watching him right now, or he might be a bit embarrassed.
Panda seemed to naturally remember the directions to Charlie’s house, even though he had been busy looking for something to paint when Charlie told him them. They were just stored in the back of his mind, he guessed.
He fell back into that same mud puddle he’d fallen into a thousand times on the way to Charlie’s house, but thankfully most of it had frozen over-- that didn’t stop his fur from becoming dirty though, groaning as he tried and failed to brush most of it off.
“Panda?”
Panda nearly jumped out of his skin, stifling a yelp. Shooting his eyes upward, he immediately softened when he realized it was only Charlie. Panda mentally kicked himself, who else would it have been? He’d recognize that voice anywhere.
“Oh, C-Charlie, hey!” Panda chuckled awkwardly, hoping to cover up his mini-outburst. This only served to make things more awkward, though, unfortunately.
“Missed me that much, huh?” Charlie joked, wrapping Panda up in his characteristic hug. Panda appreciated the warmth, quietly wishing Charlie’d never let go. When he did, however, Panda found it hard to look Charlie in the face. “What are you doing here so late at night?”
Oh yeah. That. Panda suddenly felt all the guilt in the world right then and there, and stammered nervously as his head fought with his heart-- it was too late to back down now, he’d made it this far. Why did he feel so nervous to talk to Charlie all of a sudden? It was only Charlie.
“Oh, you know, heh…”
Charlie did not know. “Get inside the house, Panpan! You’ll freeze out here!”
Panda went along with Charlie as he took Panda by the paw and guided him into the house, where they sat in the back seat. Panda wanted to snuggle into Charlie, but chose not to to avoid seeming weird. He huddled into himself closely; the car did little to warm Panda up, but it did provide some protection from the chilly wind. Charlie must have picked up on this, because he wrapped a protective arm around Panda’s shoulders. Panda was sure his face was burning hot enough to provide heat for the entire season, and he rode that high by leaning into Charlie’s embrace.
“Panda, you’re darn near frozen solid!” Charlie fretted, rubbing Panda’s arm. “You should go home, you’ll freeze to death out here!”
Panda felt bad making Charlie worry like this, it felt weird to be doted over like this like a baby.
Charlie paused for a moment, and got up from the car without telling Panda where he was going. Panda looked up in confusion as he heard the trunk of the car opening and closing, and when Charlie returned a moment later, his face was barely visible past the mountain of blankets he carried in his arms. He placed them on the floor of the car, pulling a couple out and wrapping them around Panda’s shoulders.
He felt the warmth immediately, sighing deeply as he was enveloped in pleasure.
“Ain’t it warmer at the cave?” Charlie asked.
“O-Our heater is kinda broken right now…” Panda averted his eyes, embarrassed.
“You shoulda said something earlier, I could fix it for ya!” Charlie chirped, leaning back against the door of the car, stretching his legs across the length of the seats. He took Panda by the paw and pulled him in so his head was right on Charlie’s chest, and Panda did all but scream. Panda blanked for a moment, shifting so he’d be more comfortable. He put his arm around Charlie, half for warmth, and half securing him so he wouldn’t fall off. To say it was comfortable would be an understatement; he was dangerously close to falling asleep here-- he didn’t know what he’d tell his brothers. He’d cross that bridge when he got to it, he guessed.
“Y-You know how?” For now, though, Panda was with Charlie. Warm, loving Charlie. He felt a lot warmer this way, curled up with Charlie and under more blankets than he’d ever been under in his life. He was so warm he was almost hot.
“Oh, sure,” Charlie began stroking Panda’s fur, absentmindedly playing with his little black ears. It tickled, sending a shiver down Panda’s spine. Panda was guilty of this too, though, running his paw up and Charlie’s own courser, dark fur. Charlie was so handsome, Panda thought. “If it’s not cleaned properly that could limit how much heat comes out of it. The weather may have also busted your circuit board.”
Panda made an interested noise. It was definitely weird that Charlie knew this kind of stuff when Panda was the one with a home, but he didn’t put voice to that opinion. Instead, he let Charlie keep talking as they continued playing with each other’s fur.
“Heh, yeah, I guess you just pick up on this stuff after a while,” Charlie grinned, giving Panda an obligatory smooch on the forehead. “I can come over and take a look at it if you’d like.”
Panda simply nodded silently, his eyes already fluttering shut as he cuddled into Charlie one last time.
“Goodnight, Pumpkin,” Charlie ever-so-slightly tightened his arms around Panda’s sleepy form,
If Panda wasn’t so tired, perhaps he would have wished never to fall asleep that night.