Chapter Text
Four shivers, the new cold breezes announcing the shift from summer to fall. He was taking a stroll through the forest close to their home, to see the colorful leaves fall. He wore a scarf, but it barely helped with how cold it was outside.
Four looks up, and he sees some birds starting to migrate to wherever they went for the winter. Four sighs, a cloud of warm air from his mouth, visible in the frigid air. He turns around to head back home.
“Why does it have to get so cold all of a sudden? Ugh, I hope I don’t catch a cold.” Four said to himself.
The sun was nearly gone once Four finally got back home. He opened the door to his house, and walked in. He felt extremely relieved to feel the warmth of his home, and walked inside. Four saw X asleep on the couch, with a sweater on. He had a bag of chips on top of him, half finished.
“Oh my… again?” Four said softly.
But then Four smiled, and quietly cleaned up the mess. He made sure that X was comfortable, before heading to bed. Four yawned, and covered himself with a warm blanket, and was soon sound asleep.
Four woke up in the middle of the night, uncomfortably hot. Four’s mouth was dry, he was sweating, and got up from bed. He creeped around the couch where X was asleep, and got a glass of water, drank it, and got like 3 more glasses of water.
Once he finished, he went ahead and added more blankets to X, before turning off the heater. Four hopped back into bed, hoping to eventually cool off. But he didn’t. He added even more blankets to X, and turned on the air conditioner.
After a while, his body temperature went down. Slightly. He was still uncomfortable, but he could sleep now.
Once morning came, Four woke up. The air in the house was supposed to be cold. But Four was still uncomfortably warm. He got up from bed, and found X all bundled up in the blankets Four put on him last night. X looked at Four, his eyes showing slight concern, but mostly tender kindness.
“Good morning, Four! Say, did you turn on the AC last night? Because it’s really cold in here!” X said. He shivered.
“Yeah, I did. Sorry, X. I guess my body stole some heat from summer, and now it’s trying to keep me extremely warm now that it’s cold. Heh.” Four responded. He hoped that was true. It couldn’t have been because he was out yesterday, in the cold. The entire day. Without proper warmth.
…
Wait a second. He didn't feel sick. Yet he was having symptoms of being sick. That was weird. X couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.
“Four…? Are you feeling alright?” X asked, his voice showing how concerned he was. Four blinked out of his thoughts before he answered.
“Yeah, I’m ok. Um… is it too cold for you? I can turn the heater back on-“ Four responded, before X cut him off.
“Then why are you sweating, Four?”
X asked, getting up from the couch. Oh yeah. That.
“Are you sick?? Four, come on! I told you not to spend so much time outside!” X continued, now abandoning his warm blankets to put his hand on Four's forehead, trying to check his temperature.
X looked even more concerned now, removing his hand.
“Four… you’re burning up.” X said softly. Four just looked at X.
“But I’m not sick. I’m just extremely warm, that’s all.” Four responded. That sounded like a lie, but it was the truth.
X looked at Four, and X knew that he shouldn’t push further. There was a silence between them.
“Ok, Four. I hope you’re telling the truth.” X said at last. The tension (that Four hadn’t even realized was there) in the room broke up, and X walked to their room to put on a thicker sweater. After that, he went to the kitchen to get started on breakfast.
Four walked to the bathroom and splashed his face with cold water, hoping to cool off eventually. When that didn’t work, he walked outside, and sat on a chair outside. Not only then did he finally feel cooled down.
After a while, X walked outside and gave Four a plate of food. While Four was eating, he noticed that X was shivering a lot.
“You know you can just turn the heater back on in there, right?” Four said. X nodded.
“Well then turn it on, for maths sake! You’ll turn into an icicle if not! I’m ok out here, alright?” Four continued.
“Okay, Four. Just please come back inside once you start to feel cold.”
X replied, and immediately headed back inside.
Four heard the heater turn on, and sighed knowing that X wasn’t going to turn into a frozen variable after all. He finished his breakfast, and placed it on the table next to him. Today better go fast.
The day passed uneventfully. All Four did was sit outside, and every time he tried entering the house, he nearly caught on fire. So he resolved to stay outside. X brought a heater outside so he could be with Four, and they spent the day talking.
X tried his best to ignore the obvious fact that something was wrong, but as long as it wasn’t fatal (or lead to something fatal), then it was ok with him.
Even though it was barely fall, it had already started to snow. It was so cold outside that it was snowing. And Four was outside, perfectly warm without the help of a scarf or jacket.
“Are you sure you’re not cold?” X asked for like the millionth time. And he got the same answer every time.
“Yeah, I’m not cold.” Four responded. Even though through the day, he progressively got more and more warmer, despite the air getting more and more colder.
Which was very unusual for an Algebralien.
…
X decided not to think too much about it. Soon, it was night time again, but X was doubtful if he should leave Four out here to sleep, in the dead of the cold, with no blankets or anything.
And not to mention the dangers of wildlife and other things. Maybe Fourteen might break out of his cage and find Four outside completely unprotected. Or some other horrible thing.
All X knew was that he wanted to be close to four, to make sure he doesn’t die. He would sleep out here with Four.
Four noticed X starting to close his eyes, and eventually X was asleep. Four knew that X would insist on staying out here with him, so he just made himself comfortable in a giant pile of snow, and fell asleep.
“Four? Four?? Four, where are you? Please, don’t tell me something took you away!!” X’s panicked voice woke Four up. The first thing he felt was heat. Too much heat. He opened his eyes to darkness, and almost panicked, before he remembered that he had slept outside in the snow.
Maybe it snowed overnight, and he was underneath a giant pile of snow. He got up, and discovered he was right. Snow rolled and melted off of him, and he saw that it was morning.
X spotted him and ran up to him, pouncing on top of Four.
“I thought you died, Four!!! Are you alright?!? Can you feel your body? Oh my algebra, you’re way too warm! How do you even do that?!?” X snuggled up against Four, X’s cold body soothing Four’s burning body.
Four hugged X, rejoicing from the comforting cold from X.
Wait. X was so cold that even Four could feel it. The snow beneath him felt warm, but X was completely cold. Four panicked.
“X! ARE YOU OK?!?” Four asked, holding X by his shoulders.
“I’m just cold, that’s a-“ X answered before getting cut off by Four.
“THEN HOW COLD ARE YOU THAT EVEN I CAN FEEL HOW COLD YOU ARE?!? Not even the snow is as cold as you are!!!” Four interrupted. X was silent for a moment.
“I am?” X asked, his voice soft and quiet. Four looked at him concerned.
“Yes you are! We need to get you inside as soon as possible.” X was about to protest when Four picked him up and hurried inside the house. He turned on the lights, and nearly caught on fire from the wave of heat from inside the house.
But Four didn’t care. He needed X to stay alive.
X obviously relaxed the second they entered the house. But Four felt like he just walked into that giant, flaming hot furnace from one of his challenges back in BFB. Yet he stayed inside the house this time, instead of retreating back outside.
Four placed the shivering X on the couch, and covered him with all of the blankets he could find. Then Four sat right next to X, to keep him warm with his abnormal heat.
Because of the blankets, Four felt as if he could just incinerate on the spot, but he needed to keep X warm. Eventually, X was warm once again. Four breathed a sigh of relief.
After a while, it was obvious that X caught a cold. Four fussed over him for the rest of the day. Of course, Four had to step outside for a bit a couple of times, before he could go inside the house.
One of the times when Four stepped out of the house to cool off, he saw Two walking up to their house. Four rolled his eyes, but he stayed outside.
“Oh, hey Four! …are you alright? You don’t look so go-“ Two said, before Four cut him off.
“I’m perfectly fine, Two! Go mind your own business.” Four replied sharply. Even though Four knew he probably looked horribly awful (and was growing increasingly hotter and hotter temperature wise), he didn’t want anyone else to know about this.
“Ok, ok, yeesh. But for maths sake, you look like you were pulled through hell and back! I hope you take good care of yourself, Four.” Two said, concern in his eyes. Two hesitated for a bit before walking away.
Four rolled his eyes again, and then winced. His abnormal heat was starting to burn and sting now.
“How much longer do I have to withstand this…?” Four muttered to himself, flexing his fingers
…
Huh. That was weird. His hands felt sticky. He looked down at his hands, and simply looked in absolute shock.
He was melting.