Chapter Text
After Neil died, Todd thought he might never be warm again, especially when Headmaster Nolan officially announced Neil’s passing to the rest of the school and Todd turned to a block of ice inside… until he found one of Neil’s sweaters in his own clean laundry later that evening, the worn green wool still holding a ghost of his scent: something earthy, like moss, like forest; a breath of crisp outdoor air.
Todd kept Neil’s sweater—it was the only reminder of his best friend that had remained behind at Welton after Mr Perry picked up the rest of his belongings—and he wore it that night over his pyjamas, when the temperature dropped below zero with a fierce wind that pushed its way around the gaps of the window sash: the room’s radiator could no longer keep up with the chill and his teeth chattered with the cold.
Curled beneath the covers, Todd imagined he could feel Neil’s presence all around him too as he grew used to wearing it, how it wrapped him in its warmth; his shivers slowly abated, and his grief-fogged mind cleared a little as he finally relaxed and drifted off in the sweater’s embrace.