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Someone is stealing the nose from Eddie’s snowman.
One would think that moving to a good neighborhood would prevent this kind of shit from happening, but apparently not.
Almost every morning, when Eddie goes outside to get his mail, the damn nose that should be on the snowman’s face is just gone.
After over a week of this shit, Eddie is starting to run out of carrots.
But this stops today.
Because, you see, since the first time his snowman’s nose disappeared, Eddie’s been keeping an eye on the poor bastard. He checks it out when he comes back from work, checks it out before going to bed.
Thanks to his observations, now Eddie knows that whoever it is that is stealing the nose is doing it early in the morning; between seven and eight a.m. to be precise, and Eddie’s gonna catch the thief today.
He turns off his alarm at six. Rubs the sleep off his eyes as he pads over to the window and checks his snowman’s condition.
The nose is still there; bright orange in a sea of pure white snow.
Good.
Yawning, Eddie pulls the armchair closer to the window and perches himself on it.
And then he waits.
Five, ten, fifteen minutes.
Eddie’s eyes are heavy with sleep, the sky is still dark outside, but he forces himself to concentrate anyways because this is important; he needs to save his snowman.
At seven, the deep blue sky starts softening. Shy rays of light begin to peak on the horizon, announcing a new day.
Eddie is still perched on his armchair, vigilant.
At 7:13, it happens.
A flash of gray fur crosses Eddie’s front yard and runs straight towards the snowman. It jumps, snatches the nose from the snowman’s face, and runs back to the house across the street just as fast as it came.
Eddie blinks, stunned, just to break down laughing like crazy a few seconds later.
Holy shit, that’s a surprising turn of events right there.
Still laughing, Eddie pulls on his coat and shoes, wraps a scarf around his neck, then dashes down the stairs and out the front door. The sharp, freezing wind makes him shiver before he even sets foot outside.
His poor snowman is there, on the left side of his yard, noseless once more, but this time the sight just makes Eddie start cackling all over again, white puffs of condensed air escaping his mouth and nose with each laugh as he makes his way to the house across the street.
He hops up the three steps to the porch, rubbing his hands together for warmth before he rings the doorbell.
A few moments later, he hears footsteps approaching, then the door swings open.
“Eddie? What are you doing here so early?”
Steve’s bedhead is one of the cutest things Eddie has ever seen. He never gets tired of it, it never loses its charm no matter how many times he sees it.
This morning, though, his focus is somewhere else.
“Morning, Stevie. Do you happen to know where Cyrus is?” Eddie asks
Cuter than his bedhead is the confused face Steve makes when Eddie goes off on tangents he’s not expecting. This little frown brings his eyebrows together, his lips forming a small pout as Steve bends his head slightly to the side, like a confused puppy.
“Cyrus, my dog?” he asks, as he steps back to let Eddie in.
Eddie nods. “Yep, the one and only.”
He can’t seem to understand why Eddie is knocking on his door, early in the morning, to ask about his dog’s whereabouts, but Steve still answers, “I think he’s playing outside. I opened the back door for him before I started breakfast. Why?”
“Remember that I told you someone was stealing my snowman’s nose?” Eddie asks, following Steve to the kitchen. Still lost, Steve nods. Eddie’s smile becomes a full-on grin. “I’ve just found the thief. Guess who it is.”
At first there’s nothing. Steve just stares at him with the same confused puppy look as before. But then something clicks, his brows fly up in shock as his eyes widen.
“That freaking dog!” In disbelief, Steve crosses the kitchen so he can look outside through the glass door and Eddie joins him. Cyrus is right there, just like he had been the last time Steve had looked, but he’s now clearly munching on something Steve knows wasn’t in the yard before. “How is he even getting out of the backyard? The gate is locked.”
“Don’t know, but as far as I know Cyrus is the only Husky around the neighborhood, and the little thief I saw snatching the nose out of my snowman was definitely a Husky.”
“I am so, so sorry,” Steve says, hazel eyes shining with guilt. “I promise I’ll check the yard later to see how he’s getting out.”
So. Damn. Cute. It’s bad for Eddie’s heart. He can’t take that much adorableness.
“Nah, that’s okay,” he says. With care, Eddie brushes a stray lock of hair out of Steve’s eyes, his fingers running down the soft skin of Steve’s cheeks before gently resting under his chin and tipping it up a little just as he leans in. “I thought the kids in the neighborhood were being little shits. But now that I know it’s Cy, I don’t really care.”
“Oh, yeah?” Steve asks, his tone changing from apologetic to flirty in a second as Eddie’s hands finds his and tug him in until they’re sharing the same air. “What made you change your mind?”
“Well, I happen to like his dad very much, you know.”
“Wait. You mean his biological dad or—”
Chuckling, Eddie bumps their noses together in reprimand. “Oh, shut up.”
Steve is still laughing when Eddie finally kisses him.