Chapter Text
It was a silent night in toon town, snow was falling, toons were playing, and the cogs had been snowed in, and were trapped in their main headquarters with no sign of freedom.
“ Misty, is there anything you can do about this?” Brian questioned as he peered out the window, looking over the sea of snow that covered the ground of toontown.
Misty frowned as she looked out the window with him. “ Sadly I can’t, I can change the weather, but not the temperature. If I tried to make it rain, it would just turn into hail.” Misty explained, awkwardly twirling her hair in her hand as she seemed to reflect on something. “ Let’s just say… frozen chunks of oil, really hurt when they hit you.” She winced a little at the memory of it.
Belle walked up behind the two and put her hands on their shoulders, she smelled strongly of freshly made cookies and nutmeg. “ Well don’t let this get you down dearies!! We celebrate the holidays together here!” She said while Flint walked over with a nearly empty tray of, slightly burnt chocolate chip cookies. The chocolate chips in said cookies being computer chips covered in chocolate.
Brian sighed as he picked up a cookie without looking away from the window. “ Well we might as well get comfortable now, based on the records I collected in the Toontown schoolhouse, this most likely let up until the end of the week if we’re lucky” Brian said as he took a bite out of the cookie, how he took a bite out of it without a mouth, no one was sure
“ And if we’re not lucky?” Misty continued as she too took a bite out of a cookie.
“ We’ll be here until New Years.” He explained with a deadpan expression on his face, seemingly already accepting the fact that they were going to be trapped there
While both Misty and Flint seemed a little upset at this news, Belle brushed it off as she reached forwards to close the blinds so that no one could look outside anymore. “ Well let’s not dwell on that, if we can’t change our situation, then let’s make the most of it instead!” She announced in a chipper tone as she turned away from them. “ If you’d like, I had Cosmo and his boys run upstairs to collect some decorations for us, and I’m sure he’d love the help decorating”
Misty’s expression brightened up a bit, while Brian continued to look rather gloomy. “ You know, that actually sounds really nice” Misty responded as she, Belle, and Flint moved away from the window, forgetting for a couple of moments that they were still in fact trapped in their HQ.
“ I’m glad you think so! If you’d like to wait here for a moment dearie I’m sure he’ll be back in a moment.” Belle instructed as she and Flint made their way back towards the small kitchen that they were making food in. “ He can drop some decorations off and then you and Hydra can get started on the decorations!”
Misty nodded, her enthusiasm growing as Belle and Flint left the room.
The kitchen that the two were working in was incredibly cramped, even more so now that the counters were lined with trays of cookies, or cups of hot cocoa that Cathal had made in their absence. Belle didn’t seem to mind this however, in fact the clutter seemed to only brighten her mood even more.
“ Oh Cathal, that hot chocolate smells wonderful! I’m sure the others will love it” She beamed at Cathal while she shuffled through the kitchen, carefully adjusting the oven mitts she was wearing. “ Flint be a dear and help him find the marshmallows would you?”
Flint awkwardly laughed as he placed the now empty tray of cookies he was holding into the sink. “ Maybe that’s not the best idea…” Flint held his hands in the air, waving them a bit. “ My, uh, hands burn too hot for that… the marshmallows would just end up mush.”
“ Oh I see… Well then I’m sorry Cathal dear, but it seems you must find the marshmallows on your own.” Belle turned to Cathal as she spoke, her tone severely apologetic. Though as she turned she realized Cathal already had the marshmallows in his hands, somehow having found then in the brief moment that neither she nor Flint was looking at him. “ Oh! Well that was certainly fast! I’m impressed Cathal”
“ It’s nothing… I have a knack for finding food…” Cathal explained, his gaze shifting to the side. He didn’t have the heart, or energy, to tell her that he’d actually been snacking on the marshmallows the whole time while he waited for the hot chocolate to brew.
Cathal handed the now half empty bag of marshmallows to Belle so she could sprinkle a couple into each mug of hot chocolate, humming a tune as she did so. Meanwhile Flint had started washing some of their dishes, trying his best not to be blinded by the amount of steam coming off of his hands as the water from the sink evaporated after a couple of moments.
“ So Cathal, I’ve been meaning to ask, how come you’re still here? I would have thought you and your dad would have been some of the first people out of here.” Flint asked, looking at Cathal which provided some relief from the cloud of steam that had just been in his eyes.
Cathal shrugged. “ Dad had a bunch of work he needed to catch up on… and now we can’t fly out during a blizzard… so I guess we’re stuck here now.” He didn’t seem too bothered by that fact as he opened a second bag of marshmallows and began snacking on them. How he managed to find a second bag no one knew. “ … how come you’re still here? Can’t you, like, melt through the snow.”
Flint awkwardly laughed “ Well, yeah I suppose I could, but then it’d just turn into water, and I really don’t feel like wading through a river of water to get home.” Flint explained as he flicked the remaining droplets of water off of his hands, watching as they quickly sizzled and turned to steam upon contact with the sink. “ And it won’t evaporate as easily since it’s so cold outside.”
“ Well like I told Misty and Brian, nothing we can do about it now except for make the most of it!” Belle spoke up as she threw the now empty first bag of marshmallows into the trash can. “ Would you two like to help me take these into the next room?”
“ Sure!”
“ Nope”
Flint and Cathal responded at the same time, Flint quickly shooting Cathal an unimpressed look as he helped load the cups of hot chocolate onto trays, while Cathal completely ignored the look Flint was giving him and grabbed a cup for himself. Belle didn’t seem too bothered by Cathal’s unwillingness to help as she picked up a tray, balancing it on one hand like a waitress at a cafe while she opened the door.
“ That’s okay Cathal dear, but please do make your way out here later! I’ll be handing out gifts and I don’t want you to miss out” Belle flashed Cathal a really big smile as she held the door open for Flint, who was struggling to not drop any hot chocolate onto the ground.
Belle turned to see the main room partially decorated, Misty and Hydra were both struggling to put garland on to the top of the wall, while Brian and Benjamin had moved towards the fireplace, something Belle hadn’t noticed in the room the first time she’d walked in there. Chip and Tawny had also arrived, the latter had taken up most of the space on the couch so they could sleep while the former was just stood awkwardly in the corner of the room, looking like he was trying not to take up too much space.
The atmosphere in the room was rather stilted, but Belle brushed it off just like she’d done with every other even slightly negative thing that night. She announced to the room that she and Flint had hot chocolate with a smile, and felt a warm feeling in her chest as she saw the rest of the room brighten up at the offer, Tawny even woke up from their nap to get a cup. Despite their current situation, and the possibility that they could be trapped in this building for a couple of weeks, she knew they were going to make the most of the holiday season anyway…. That and she knew she was going to have to spoil someone on Christmas since she most likely wouldn’t be able to spoil her grand-kids until later.