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Julius held his hand out the door, letting snow land on his fingertips. He rubbed them together to confirm he wasn't just seeing things.
Yep. There was no doubt about. Snow. It's snowing. In summer.
They closed the hatch door, hopped to floor and sighed. Just another weird thing to happen in their day to day life. If anything this was a more tame oddity. (Though, maybe that's just because of their experience with weird weather in their past.)
He stiffened as something crossed his mind. The others went out to town to do something. They would've gotten caught up in the storm...
Panic rushed through him. The snow happened so suddenly, they wouldn't be prepared! What if something bad happened! They rummaged through the closet, but soon realized there weren't any winter items that could fit themself.
Right, they hadn't been around long enough to think about getting something like that. Still, they grabbed all the large hats and scarves they could. Surely the fellas would need them.
Before they could rush out the door. They heard it open and close, then something dropped down. A large potato, snow covering his head and shoulders, as he held his arms around himself.
"Oh, Sal!" Julius dropped the items, and ran over "You okay? Not frozen solid?"
Sal shook the snow off himself. "Fine. Just damn cold."
Yeah, that was obvious. Julius sprinted to the closet, pulling out a large blanket, then ran back over and draped the blanket across Sal's shoulders. They put a scarf from the dropped pile around him too, just for good measure.
"Aw thanks bud, ya didn-"
"It's no big deal. You're the one who's been out in the snow. This is the least I can do." The man tightened the blankets while speaking, and took a step back after to look over their work.
For a small moment, it almost looked like Sal was embarrassed as he huddled furthered into the cloth. How...cute.
"Oh!" Julius snapped themself out of their staring. "Where’s Ollie and Chauncey? Are they ok? Do I need to go look for-"
"They went to the store. No clue when the storm's gonna let up, so they wanted to get some stuff in case it lasts." While Sal answered their question, he made his way to the large couch and sat down on it, sighing. "Gotta say, the weather goin' crazy? Ruined my good mood."
"I imagine!" Julius made their way to the kitchen to prepare him some warm water. "Any sign that was gonna happen?"
"That's the weird thing. It was hot as usual out there, then a buncha snow just fell outta the sky. Bam. Right onto our heads." Pretty odd, even by Inkwell standards. "Oh, and y'know what I saw when I was coming back? That cup kid. Tryna sell me ice cream of all things. Ice cream!"
Yeah, sounded like him. "Probably taking advantage of the heat at first. Guess the cold front ruined his plan." Julius felt a little bad. Wasn't his fault the weather changed like that...
They made their way to the couch with a warm mug wrapped in a small rag. They sat down on the couch and handed it off to Sal, a little spooked when they almost spilled it. (It wasn't their fault! It was way too easy to sink into these couch cushions...)
The two relaxed for a while before Julius spoke up again. "I’m glad you got back safe, I was worried. Hopefully Ollie and Chauncey get home fine too."
Sal shrugged as he put the mug on the side table. "They'll be fine. We don't like the cold, but we deal with it. Ya gotta when yer like us."
They tilted their head. "What do you mean?"
"Can't stay warm well. It's what you'd call 'cold blooded' I think? Eh. Chauncey would be able to explain it better. He loves his weird facts. "
"Guess I didn't have the chance to realize." After all, there hadn't been cold weather since their arrival, until now. "I'm the opposite actually."
"You are?"
"Yeah. Not warm all the time, but still have an easier time staying that way." Julius held their hand out from under the blanket.
Sal took their hand, and his face lit up in surprise, and Julius' did too. His hand felt so much colder than usual. It never was warm when they held hands before, but never as cold as this.
"Huh..."
"Pretty weird, right?" Their warmth was probably stranger to themself than Sal. They'd thought, with their body being mostly ink now, they'd become colder in general. Yet they stayed the same as when they were human. (They really should get that checked out if they could.)
"Yeah, but it’s nice too." The potato still hadn't let go of their hand, stroking it with his thumb. So fascinated, he didn’t even consider how romantic the gesture was. "Real nice."
Oh. Julius felt their heartbeat increase. "Well. Uh. That's good?" They tried to play it cool. And failed. He kept failing in fact, as Sal kept up his pace, and their face darkened with a gray blush.
"Hey." Sal looked away. "Can I...hold you for a bit?" It was a little embarrassing for him, even if they had been dating for a while, he was still getting used to this whole affection thing. The two mostly stuck to hand holding. Sometimes they cuddled, but it was rare due to how awkward he got.
But his partner being so warm made him willing to put some of that embarrassment aside for a snuggle session.
"Ah. Course you can. Go ahead." Julius held their arms out, maybe a bit too enthusiastically, and Sal took the chance. Wrapping an arm around their shoulder and another around their midsection, bringing them in close.
He had a strong grip, one that made them feel warm and fuzzy. Those feelings intensified as they snuggled into his side. “I’m...doin’ this right. Right?”
“Absolutely.” They nuzzled him for emphasis, finding it sweet when they felt him do the same after hesitating. “I don’t think it can go wrong if it’s with you.”
“Jeez, you’re a cornball.”
“Hey, you like when I talk like this, admit it.”
“…It is cute…”
The two sat in silence, content with just relaxing. Until Julius heard the sound of snoring. They looked up, only to be met with closed eyes.
Ah, Sal fell asleep. His hold wasn't gonna be broken without a rude awakening, so they were gonna be stuck there for a while. That wasn't such a bad thing though. This was worth not getting up for an hour or two.
Accepting his situation, Julius chose to get himself in a more comfortable sleeping position, and let himself drift off...
"We're back!"
A voice yelled, stirring Julius awake. Coming in from the door above was Ollie carrying some grocery bags, and Chauncey tagging behind.
"Brrrrrr. Glad that's finally over. Can't wait to-"
The two froze as they saw the sight on the couch. Julius stared back, not knowing what to say, before Chauncey began snickering.
"Heh! You two really got chummy while we we're gone, eh? You guys neck before he conked out or somethin'?"
Julius' face turned into a blushing mess. "It's not like that!
"Aw hey, I was just jokin'. 'Sides we're all datin' you here. Why so flustered?"
They would've thrown back a snarky comment, but Ollie interrupted by standing in between the two.
“Sorry we took a while, there were a lotta people also tryna prepare just in case. Not to mention Chauncey decided to get into a fight when the line got long.”
“You don’t gotta mention that…” The carrot grinned. “I kicked their asses anyways.”
“Sure, sure.” Julius sighed while Ollie went to put the goods up. He probably wasn’t lying, he’s seen how he can put up a fight. It was just so in character of him to be that petty. Then again, they found that pettiness strangely charming.
"Seriously though.” Chauncey pointed at the pair. “I can't believe Sal's a giant teddy bear right now..."
"You have icicles hanging from your nose."
"Eh?" He felt his face. When he realized they were indeed telling the truth, he turned his back to them and tried to chip the ice off.
If Sal wasn't awake to tease back at him, they could at least do it for him. Plus Chauncey deserved it after that earlier comment.
Once he got himself he fixed up, the carrot turned back around. "Anyway. How'd you get him of all people to join ya for a nap?"
Julius rolled their eyes. "Don't act like a little hug's gonna kill him." Sal might not have always been a cuddle bug, but he could still be sweet. "It's cause I'm warm."
"...Warm?"
"Yeah, turns out compared to you I'm-"
Before they could explain Chauncey grabbed their face, cradling it in his hands. His face lit up when he felt the heat radiating, and when he saw how flustered his partner got.
"Oh. Dang. Big guy gotta lucky getting time with you. Heh, makes we wish I left Ollie at the store."
"Hmph. Maybe I should’ve left you there."
The two turned to see a miffed, and slightly hurt looking, Ollie.
"I was just kidding, don’t get worked up-!"
"Alright boys. Don't wake him up that way." Julius interrupted He gently shook Sal's shoulder. "Wake up, hun."
"Mffngh..." Sal rubbed his eyes, which shot open quickly once he saw Chauncey’s smug grin.
"Mornin' sleeping beauty. You two have fun?"
"I was. 'Til I saw yer ugly mug."
"Hey now, you can bicker later. Let's enjoy the moment...One sec…” Julius hopped off the couch and patted where he was sitting. “You sit here Chauncey. Ollie you can sit to the right-”
They all got into their new seating arrangement. Julius sat in the middle on Chauncey’s lap (Did it count as one if he didn’t have legs?) with Ollie and Sal by their sides.
Ollie shyly leaned into them, Sal kept close while holding one of their hands, and Chauncey wrapped one arm around them while resting a hand on top of their hair.
Julius sighed. They really were a lucky fella, getting to be in a situation like this. “See? Isn’t this nicer?”
“Hmm.” Sal went back to rubbing their hand like earlier. “Yep. Can’t be beat.”
Chauncey caressed and played with their hair. “Makes this weather almost seem like a blessing if we get to do this.”
“Wait...you're gonna get your hand stained if you touch it like that.”
“It’s worth it.”
Ollie nuzzled his cheek against theirs, pressing closer against them and wrapping his free arm against theirs. “We should do this more often, even if it ain’t cold for a while, hehe.”
Taking it all in, Julius felt themself tense up as they soaked in the affection. It wouldn’t shock them if they turned gray and started emitting steam. Even if this was their idea, being held by all their boyfriends at once was…
“Huh?” Sal grinned, gaining some confidence upon seeing his boyfriend hot and bothered. “Hey, how come you weren’t like this earlier?”
“Heheh." Chauncey’s fingers raked through their hair again, amused when he felt them lean into his hand. ”Guess he can only handle one atta time? That right, partner?”
”Ahehehehe. Guys c’mon. Don’t tease me like this...”
“Aw, but you’re even warmer now.” Ollie poked their cheek for emphasis. A rather mischievous grin formed on his face, a rarity for him and it’s charm made their heart race. “Can’t stop when your nice and toasty.”
Oh boy. Hopefully they’d have mercy and not accidentally kill them with love. Though they supposed a death from being doted on wasn’t the worst way to go…
Either way. All of them were in for a nice, comfy for rest of the day.