Chapter Text
It was the middle of winter and the forest was covered in a heavy blanket of glittering snow. Snowflakes danced and twirled through the air, dragged towards the ground by their heavy tutus in a mesmerising display as they glittered in the weak winter sun. The sound of heavy boots crunching in the snow startled a magpie, a twig with berries falling out of her beak as she squawked indignantly as her beady eyes met with a slitted yellow gaze. Its owner tipped his purple top hat to her stiffly and she, placated by the gesture, ruffled her feathers before swooping down in a blur of black and blue, picking her boon haughtily and flying away.
The lizardfolk huffed out a frustrated puff of air, his breath turning into a faint cloud of vapor, shoving his gloved hand back into his pocket to keep warm.
“As if I needed even more bad luck,” he grumbled quietly, burrowing his face deeper into the scarf. Kremy felt incredibly sluggish, the enchanted coat managing to keep him warm just enough that he avoided falling into brumation. The longer their track to the Inn at the End of the Road took, the grumpier and grouchier he got, having tucked his tail into the crook of his arm so it wouldn’t drag through the snow.
A sudden wave of warmth hit his left side and it took all of his willpower not to plaster himself against Gideon’s body, mostly due to his fear of breaking the gifts the genasi was tasked with carrying.
“How ya holding up, Krem?”
A giant snowflake dared to land on the tip of Kremy’s snout and he shook his head in an attempt to get it off - unsuccessfully to his building ire.
“Just peachy. I’ll never be fuckin’ warm again. Gonna become the first alligator ice sculpture at this rate.”
Gideon chuckled at his husband’s dramatics and was about to say something, when a snowball hit Kremy square in the middle of the back of his head as his top hat got knocked off to the snowy ground.
Quickly he recovered from his shock, whipping around to see Gricko, the goblin’s blue eyes open wide in shock, a second snowball in his hands.
“Kremy. Hey, I - I swear I was aimin’ at Gideon.”
Ominous jazz cut through the still winter air as purple crackled in Kremy’s narrowed gaze. Gricko yelped, dropping his second snowball before quickly scurrying to hide behind Frost who had been watching the whole exchange with reluctant amusement.
“Kremy, let’s think about this!” Gricko cried out, peeking out from behind Frost’s green robe, oblivious to the shadows that were closing in on him from behind. Unexpectedly, his salvation came in the form of Torbek as the bugbear pointed his spindly fingers somewhere behind the lizardfolk.
“Mr Kreeemyyy? Looooook,” he drawled, catching the warlock’s attention. Kremy turned to look at whatever caught the bugbear’s attention, the jazzy tune fading as his frown finally smoothed out.
“Oh, thank the Good Baron,” he breathed out, picking up his top hat swiftly before setting off in a brisk walk towards the Inn, revenge on Gricko forgotten in favour of getting inside.
A pillar of white smoke curled up towards the sky, flowing from the chimney uninterrupted, carrying with it the tantalising scent of beef stew, bidding Kremy to push through the stiffness in his limbs as he raised his hand to knock on the front door shakily.
“WHO GOES THERE!”
Kremy rolled his eyes as he recognised it as Twig putting on a menacing voice.
“Twig if you don’t let us in this instance I swear to gods I’ll eldritch blast this door down,” he drawled in an empty threat, yet the door swung open quickly, revealing excited Twig, her wings a blur as they held her propelled up in the air.
“You made it!” she exclaimed, clapping excitedly, as she moved back so the small procession could enter. Kremy immediately sighed in relief as his body was enveloped by the cozy warmth of the inn, closing his eyes as he basked in it.
Something tugged at his pant leg and he let out a confused sound, looking down - only to see Pigtunia gently grabbing the fabric with her snout, pulling him in the direction of the main living room. Curious, he followed the familiar, leaving the group behind as they greeted each other warmly.
Once Pigtunia was sure he was following her, she let go of him, trotting in front to lead the way to a couch that was situated to face a hearth, crackling fire making the room cozy. The little pig jumped up on the soft cushions, doing a few circles in place next to a pile of blankets before looking up at him with her gentle eyes expectantly.
Kremy smiled at the scene, shrugging off his coat and scarf, carefully hanging the articles over the backrest of the couch before taking the fluffiest blanket. As he draped it over himself, he let out a pleased hum, pleased by the soft material. The warlock sat down, wrapped securely in the blanket and Pigtunia didn’t waste a second before she climbed up into his lap, curling up with a satisfied huff.
Kremy closed his eyes once more, basking in the warmth of the fire, Pigtunia’s weight and soft grunts lulling him into an unexpected nap.
Kremy woke up to gentle fingers tracing his cheek scales, the touch warm even on his fire-warmed face. Reluctantly he let his eyes open just a sliver, a red blurry shape hovering just to his side.
“Hey, darlin’, brought you some stew,” Gideon whispered, and as if on cue, Kremy’s nose was hit with the aroma of the rich beef stew that was Twig’s specialty. His eyes focused on the genasi, a steaming bowl with a spoon in hand as he smiled softly at the sleepy lizardfolk.
“How long was I out?” he asked, shimmying his arms out of the blanket cocoon, noticing that Pigtunia must have left sometime during his impromptu nap.
“About an hour. Was gonna let ya sleep in longer but I know how grumpy ya get when you sleep too long.”
Kremy narrowed his eyes playfully at the teasing remark but graciously chose to let it slide as he took the offered bowl, frowning slightly as he noticed he had forgotten to take his gloves off but feeling too lazy to do anything about it.
They fell into companionable silence as Kremy ate, wondering for the hundredth time what secret ingredient Twig put in the broth to make it so damn delicious - he had to get the recipe out of her over the course of their stay, he had spent months trying to figure it out and it was slowly driving him insane not to know.
“Where’re the others?”
“Twig, Hootsie and Torbek went out to build snowmen I think. And Gricko and Frosty disappeared to their room to hmhmhmmmm if you know what I’m sayin’,” Gideon accompanied his description of their friends’ activities with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle, making Kremy roll his eyes with a soft scoff.
“Just cause you’re worse than a buck in a rut, don’t mean they’re hmhmhmmmmm, cher,” Kremy mimicked Gideon’s voice, a teasing smile making his teeth glint in the light of the fireplace. It froze in place however, as soon as he saw the ambers in the genasi’s eyes turn from gentle smoulder to a roaring blaze in the span of a few seconds. He clutched his now empty bowl as he watched Gideon lean in closer, an impish grin spreading over the genasi’s lips.
“Oh? Don’t remember you complainin’ about that during our honeymoon,” Gideon purred, pressing a heated kiss to where Kremy’s maw met his neck, just at the spot where the scales were thinnest. A shudder ran through the lizardfolk, claws scraping into the clay bowl, leaving thin lines as he remembered exactly what they had been doing during their honeymoon. Vividly . The trail of passionate kisses getting pressed down the column of his throat didn’t help clear his mind either.
“Giiid,” the lizardfolk whined as the fire genasi bit down, denting the scales slightly. Gideon chuckled, the sound rich and warm, the vibration of it making Kremy growl lightly in return. The genasi’s hands moved to the edges of the blanket.
“How about we leave this here and you let yer husband keep ya warm?”
And well, Kremy was never really good at saying no to Gideon, was he?