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“Scott, I already told you, I’m not sick!” Jimmy’s voice comes out in a bird-like squawk, his wing feathers fluffing up behind him. As his wings unwrap from where they had been pulled around him in a blanketing cocoon, Jimmy shivers violently, immediately pulling the wings back around himself and hunkering down once more. Scott crosses his arms.
“Are you sure ?” he asks, eyebrows raised in disbelief. “Because it’s been frigid recently, and I know avians aren’t big fans of the cold.”
Scott, on the other hand, is a different story. His blood runs cold as ice- and when he’s feeling emotional, he only gets colder. In fact, more times than Scott can count, he’s gone to take a huffy, upset shower, only to find the water freezing on his skin and crusting the scales of his snakes. Scott adjusts his shades momentarily, the eyebrow-raising movement having made them slip down his nose a little bit. And if there’s one thing Scott just doesn’t want right now, it’s for his eyes to be exposed and a ray of ice to shoot across everything he looks at.
“N-no, I’m fine,” Jimmy protests. The fact that he’s completely wrapped up in golden wings, only his eyes and the blond top of his head peeking out, tells Scott otherwise.
“Listen,” Scott says, “I can tolerate the cold. Hell, I’m practically made of ice. You, on the other hand? No offense, Jimmy, but you’re going to freeze to death if we don’t get you upstairs and all bundled up.
“B-but-” Jimmy’s cut off as a massive sneeze ratchets through his body, and he sniffs, pulling mucus back up into his nose. “Okay, fine, maybe I am a little sick. But I wanted to watch this movie!”
“And we can do that another time,” Scott promises, “but you’re going to freeze to death down here if we don’t get you under some blankets. Honestly, how can a small illness like this make you so, so cold? Is there anything I can really do to help?”
Jimmy shakes his head. “N-not really. And it’s avian anatomy- we’re u-used to tropical islands, or at least canaries like me are. It’s where we evolved. So the fact that it’s cold isn’t great by itself, and then when you combine that with the normal shivers you get when you’ve got a fever? Not great.”
“Oh, Jimmy , do you have a fever?” Scott’s heart aches as he moves towards the avian, pressing the back of his hand to Jimmy’s forehead. “You do! Why did you pretend you weren’t sick? You clearly knew you were.”
Jimmy looks away, flushing a little. “I just- I dunno, I wanted to have a nice evening and watch a movie and s-stuff. With you.”
Scott does not blush, because he isn’t allowed to have a crush on Jimmy. His dad isn’t here to tell him otherwise anymore, and Scott knows- he knows - that being gay is normal and okay. But there’s still that twisting feeling in his stomach whenever he thinks about it, and so Scott prefers to stay as far away from the subject as possible.
He and Jimmy have- have kissed, of course. Jimmy had told him that much. But it had been made very clear to Scott just how much Jimmy did not like him, and the boundary that Scott had broken. And so now he does his best not to let any romantic feelings for the avian slip past his walls- because he’s afraid that if they do, he might not be able to keep living like he doesn’t love Jimmy.
Therefore, Scott ignores the way his stomach flips when Jimmy says things like this, and he ignores his brain screaming out about how much he loves this stupid bird, and he just… well, he just keeps on keeping on, really.
“Well, we can do that any night, Jim,” Scott assures him. “Right now, I think it’s just important to make sure you’re comfortable. Especially since you’re shivering as much as you are.”
Jimmy mutters some kind of defense, but it doesn’t mean anything, because immediately after he slumps, sniffling. “Fine,” he relents. “Let’s go upstairs.”
Scott’s snakes hiss in relief, laying down calmly on his head. He hadn’t even noticed how agitated they were- does he really care this much about Jimmy’s wellbeing?
Well, that’s a stupid question. Of course he fucking does. Scott loops an arm around Jimmy’s back and underneath his other arm, and Jimmy puts one over his shoulders. Together, the two of them struggle upstairs. Jimmy crawls into his nest of comforters, and Scott pulls the blankets up over him, turning off the light and climbing into the bed that the two of them now share.
Jimmy relaxes into their shared body heat, one of his wings coming up to wrap around Scott as well. Scott appreciates the gesture, especially since he knows how cold his body is to the touch, even if it does still put out heat. But Scott’s calm right now, and so his skin is nowhere near the freezing point that it sometimes reaches. In fact, if anything, Scott is warmer right now than he’s been in a while- maybe ever. There’s just something about Jimmy that makes Scott feel safe, and Scott wonders if there’s something about him that makes Jimmy feel the same way. It would certainly make sense, giving the heartbreaking amount of trust Jimmy continually puts in him.
The avian’s breaths slow, sniffling and coughing every few seconds, his fever running its course as he drifts off into sleep. Scott finds himself nestling closer, and within thirty minutes, he’s asleep as well.