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Looking back on their decision, Scott Borealith, the ice mage's room, which was about the temperature of a frozen lake, may not have been the most comfortable place to hold a sleep over. Had Scott tried to make this point as four people showed up at his door that evening, with pillows, blankets and their best spooky stories for a sleepover? Yes, he'd even suggested that Pyro's room — who was also there, making himself the most at home in Scott's small living room — would probably have a much nicer climate where they wouldn't all need to huddle up to not shiver. Looking back later in the night, when everyone was cuddling, laying together in a human dragon pile of limbs, Scott felt the inkling that this was purposeful.
Scott's meagre living room very quickly was full of bodies and he couldn't help but look on with a warm heart, as they shoved his couch away from the fire — "Hey- be careful with that!" — so they could all fit in front of the hearth and soak up the warmth, and Shelby started going through his kitchen cabinets — "I can just get you stuff-" — while Drift and Pyro climbed up the layers, to further pilfer his room and things… and Scott couldn't find the energy to chase them down, just letting out a laughing sigh as he sat down next to Elaina and her dragon.
Eventually, Pyro came back down from the layer of Scott's bed, absolutely encumbered by the many furs Scott had either brought with from Tegrith or made while he was here — and unceremoniously dumped them down to the ground floor.
"Pyro-!" Scott stood up, much to the giggling of Shelby and Elaina, and marched over to the furs and started picking them up and placing them more gently on the couch. "You know, some of these are yours." It was mumbled with much annoyance but also soft affection. The affection only bloomed as Cindy found and curled up on the fur that Scott was most careful with. The one that had been his and Pyro's first go at skinning an animal, a hare, which was weirdly the perfect size for the little red dragon to make herself comfortable on.
"This is my first ever sleepover!" Elaina sounded both excited with this news and apprehensive, laughing a little but biting her lip in a way that signalled she was almost expecting to be judged even in this company.
"This is my first with more than just Pyro." Scott said with a small smile of his own, toying with Pyro's hair from where he was sprawled on Scott's chest, one hand in Shelby's. "Hard to make friend when there's literally one other person your age."
"And you have a massive crush on him." Pyro added helpfully, grinning up at Scott, who's face went very red as he hit Pyro round the back of the head. "Oh don't be like that, you love me." Pyro said in return to the icy silence. "Get a load of this guy. Maybe I'll tell them about the first time we kissed—"
"Well!" Scott cut the other off with a high pitched attempt at talking. "Unless you count me baby sitting the littles over night as a sleepover, I was usually just their mannequin." He chose to ignore the way Shelby and Elaina leaned into Pyro and very subtly whispered about he absolutely must tell them about that first kiss. Scott was never going to live that one down, was he?
The dorm crashers were lucky that Scott had very much become the cook of the Vulpes dorm. Pyro would never let the blonde hear it, but the thing he'd missed most in the last eight years was the food. Northern staples and family recipes hadn't been exactly the easiest to find in Moffa, the moment that Scott pulled out the pouches and jars of spices he'd been holding out on Pyro with, his mouth was already watering. Other ooo's and aaah's chorused from the girl behind him as Pyro stood up, wrapping his arms' around Scott and craning his neck round the side of the man's unfairly large biceps — Pyro would forever be annoyed the other had ended up taller than him.
"You've had these the whole time, and never told me?!" Pyro was deeply indignant, letting out a huff as fingers reached onto the counter-top and snagged some dried sweet berries — which he literally hadn't had since he left home. They tasted just as good as they did in childhood, melting on his tongue in a sugary rush with only the slightest hint of sourness after. "Scott I haven't had these since we were kids!" Scott laughed and pressed the bag into Pyro's hands gently, pressing a kiss to his head.
"Well now you've got some. Don't eat them all at once, I only have so many." Scott was making hot chocolate, because that was what you did at sleepovers. And while having a Pyro shaped limpet on his back who was trying very hard to get his finger's chopped off every time he reached to steal a morsel under Scott's blade, whether it be chocolate or berries.
Learning how everyone liked their food had been something Scott had enjoyed learning. It was a new group, a new set of people and tastes — the biggest worry he'd had was the fact that maybe Pyro's tastes had changed, that sweet tooth he'd had, the love of anything spicy they could get their hands on in frozen Tegrith. But Pyro was still the same man at base, he was still Scott's. He still loved spicy things and he missed the tastes of home. Scott would never say it but he loved cooking for the other again, being able to share what he never thought he'd get to share with the other.
Shelby liked hers on the sweeter side, more sugar than Scott would usually add, but it wasn't as bad as some of the littles. Elaina liked hers extra chocolatey, sickeningly so, but also with extra nutmeg and berries. She deserved decadence and her partners gave it to her, piles of lollies and chocolates for her. Scott made a note to deliver a jar of sweet berry preserves to her dorm. Drift was more like Scott and Pyro, liked it more spiced. Scott spooned in some chai for the three of them, a gift from Pyro from Moffa. Scott thought Igna would love it, so like Pyro in tastes.
Scott did think about the bottle of sweet berry wine and how nice it was heated and spiced… that one would come later.
Scott didn't know how he'd ended up as a hairdresser for the night, but he wasn't complaining as the girls lined up for their hair to be braided. Elaina had complemented his little plaits in the scruff of his hair, lamenting over how hard it was for her to do her own hair. And one thing lead to another, Pyro pulled nail polish out of somewhere and Scott was pulling hair back into intricate designs with promises he'd do this often.
Shelby and Drift worked together to add flowers to Elaina's hair, Drift conjuring the blooms and Shelby tucking the colours into the braid, behind her ear, kisses on her nose. Scott couldn't help but giggle and elbow Elaina when he saw Pyro's pout out the corner of his eyes, an eye roll and how the man got so easily jealous. That ended up with a flower crown for everyone, and their dragons, the flowers woven between horns and any of the lavender Scott had was taken as a gift for the dragons and no one would complain.
Each flower was met with a compliment, kisses pressed to cheeks and lips, warmth shared through gentle touches and favourite blooms shared, notes taken mentally by each partner for the bouquets that would be left outside dorms, be placed in vases and would be tucked behind ears. Pyro tucked lavender behind Scott's ear and kissed him gently, muttering about how much he missed those eyes, kissing his eyelids and the deep circles that had bloomed over those lonely years.
Pyro was the one to bring out the alcohol. His small collection of warm whiskeys and bourbons, spiced with cinnamon and layered perfection that Scott had never tasted. Shelby had actual moonshine, which should have been more surprising but after here pointing out that she was a nomad, suddenly made a lot of sense. The moment Scott pulled out the sweet berry wine, Pyro was like a limpet again, grabbing at the bottle and drinking out of it like they were teens again, to a chorus of "gross!" and "ew!" from all the others, until the wine was wrestled back into Scott's hands for him to heat up and make a drink out of.
A game of spin the bottle started as Scott made the drinks, laughs as the bottle kept stubbornly landing on the only two members of the circle that weren't together, presses of platonic kisses to cheeks between Pyro and Drift as everyone laughed, glasses full and hearts warm.
True to their brief shared teen years, Scott could not hold his alcohol. Not even half way through his glass, he had started to melt onto Pyro, becoming essentially an oversized teddy bear for the other, clingy and loving, an affection not limit to his boyfriend but given in spades to all his friends too. Neat plaits got redone with drunk hands, Scott bundling his friends up and nudging them closer to their partners with drunken giggles — ever the match maker it seemed.
And they stayed awake till the wee hours of the morning, one by one falling into gentle slumbers, no one moving to their own rooms or Scott's bed. Shoulders, necks, and back would complain in the morning, but for tonight, this gentle domestic bliss was enough. Dishes could be cleaned later, the room could be placed back into its proper way in the afternoon of another day when they'd all had their fill of quiet moments and kisses.
Pyro, ever the insomniac was of course the last awake.
But for once he wasn't afraid to go to sleep, the itching feeling in his gut to run wasn't there. Each and every person he loved was right here, safe, where he could protect them. And tucked in Scott's arms, with Elaina and Shelby on his other side, Drift on the far side of them, Cindy tucked with Aurora, curled in the space of his stomach, the furs of this home over him, Scott's cold balancing out the heat, he felt loved.
No nightmares haunted any of the five of them that night. And if they had? Well, they were loved and would be okay.