Work Text:
Deuce wasn’t sure why he let his friends talk him into going skating at the lake this winter. Frightmas was fast approaching and Heath wanted to come out and support Abbey at her ice-sculpting competition. Now - after Abbey had collected her trophy - Jackson, Heath and Deuce accompanied the ghouls to shack renting out skates. The gorgon did his best to hide his shivering, but even with a heavy jacket and scarf on, his snakes had to bundle together for warmth under his toque.
“Bro, what are you waiting for?” Heath nudged him, both having laced up their skates and falling behind Clawdeen and Draculaura on the ice. With the fire elemental close, Deuce felt a familiar heat coming off his friend, and was tempted to latch onto him to keep the cold at bay.
“I’ll race you to the other end!” Heath pushed off got a head start, scarf trailing behind him (not that he needed it) and Deuce chased after him.
“Dude, so unfair!” The gorgon called to his friend. It would help to be around a group of people at least - assuming Deuce could keep up. He fumbled a bit awkwardly at points but could more or less follow Heath’s lead. That is, until he tried to gain momentum and ended up crashing against his friend’s back.
“Whoa!” Deuce shouted, landing on top of Heath’s warm torso.
“Haha, way to be a sore loser, man!” The fire elemental laughed and lifted his head.
“Sorry, Heath, I wasn’t looking where I was going.” Deuce apologised and reluctantly shifted off of his friend. He looked up and saw Frankie and Jackson skating over to help.
“S’all good, you can make it up to me by buying me cocoa.” Heath smiled and took his cousin’s hand to get up.
“Oooh, hot chocolate sounds good!” Frankie gushed, pulling up Deuce with both arms.
“Cool, let’s do it.” Deuce clumsily skated the the lake’s edge and followed his friends after putting on his boots. It was starting to get dark out - the only light source being the holiday lights in the trees - so even the sun couldn’t help with Deuce’s body temperature now. It dawned on him that his stylish choice of fingerless gloves had not been the most practical of decisions. He just shoved his hands in his pockets and picked up the pace to get closer to hot cocoa.
“What’s got you all shook up?” Clawdeen asked, coming up from behind the gorgon. Deuce flashed a sheepish smiled, not aware he had been visibly vibrating.
“Coldblooded.” His teeth chattered as he spoke.
“Deuce, you must be freezing!” Clawdeen shouted, realisation hitting her.
“It’s okay; we’re getting warm drinks.” The gorgon tried to comfort her.
“You’ve been out for hours, though!” The werewolf hooked her arm around her friend’s and rubbed his arm up and down while they approached the canteen booth. “You’ve gotta get inside!”
“But Jackson and Heath are my ride home.”
“They can leave early! I’m sure they’d under-”
“Heard my name!” Heath cut Clawdeen off and slung his arm over Deuce’s shoulders. Deuce was grateful and linked his own arm around his hip. “You ready to get your hot choc on?”
“Heath, Deuce has something he wants to ask you.” Clawdeen prompted. Heath looked at her in confusion but Deuce pulled him along. “Nope, time to go!”
Once the group was all gathered at the picnic tables with their steaming cups, save for Abbey, they started to take their places. Jackson was about to seat himself next to his cousin when an idea struck Deuce.
“Uh, Jackson - would it be cool if I sat next to Heath?” He requested.
“Oh, um, okay.” Jackson was caught off guard but slid to the side. Heath reacted with a grin and patted his pal’s back.
“‘Course you can buddy!” He turned to the rest of their friends. “Hear that, ghouls? I’m a hot commodity.” No one laughed. Then Abbey spoke up a moment later.
“AH! I get it now - is joke because you fire boy.” They all cracked smiles at Abbey’s charming response and sipped at their drinks. Deuce leaned into Heath a little while the elemental propped his elbows up on the table, and he didn’t seem to notice.
“Why didn’t you get a cocoa, Abbey?” Heath smiled. “Waiting for a handsome stranger to offer and get you one?”
“Why would I do that? Is no cold.” Abbey responded, baffling everyone at the table.
“It’s below freezing!” Deuce said, eyes wide under his shades.
“Yes, perfect temperature for snow cone. I wonder why they would no sell it here.” Abbey tapped her finger against her chin in thought.
“ Anyway ,” Clawdeen picked up the conversation after they exchanged confused stares. “It’s getting late, maybe we should all think about heading out.”
“What!” Draculaura protested. “But we didn’t even get to see the Frightmas fireworks show!”
“Yeah, curling up with a special someone for a romantic evening under the stars.” Heath was practically drooling over Abbey while she inspected her nails. Clawdeen bumped the fire elemental and gestured towards Deuce.
“Oh, yeah,” Heath shook his head. “Sorry Cleo couldn’t be here, man.”
“What? Oh, i-it’s f-fff-fine bro.” Deuce winced at his stuttering due to the cold.
“Oh, for crying out loud!” Clawdeen exclaimed. “Not that! The boys practically turning blue, he’s so frozen!”
“What! Oh, man!” Heath put his arm back around Deuce’s shoulder. “Why didn’t you say something? We can drive you home!”
“Wanted to have a good time - d-ddd-dont worry about it.”
“Deuce come on, we can get you there and back in time for the fireworks.” Jackson piped up, grabbing his cocoa and standing.
“Promise?” Frankie asked, smiling at her boyfriend. Jackson nodded.
“Don’t worry, normie boy. I keep Frankie warm until you come back.” Abbey smirked while patting the back of her ghoulfriend’s hand. Frankie blushed, a grin springing to her lips.
“A-are you sure about this guys?” Deuce hesitated.
“As long as no one turns the radio on in the car, I’m sure we can get you there in one piece.” Jackson assured him. Heath trailed behind them to the car. “I don’t want Holt making any unexpected detours in this weather.”
“Fair enough, dude.” Deuce agreed. “Catch y’all later!” He waved to the group.
“I’ll be back soon, ghouls! Don’t you worry!” Heath joined in on waving, keeping Deuce close and he was thankful. Okay, so maybe he wouldn’t have to greet Cleo back from her Frightmas trip as a popsicle.
But just as Deuce thought that, it began to snow.
* * *
“Oh no!” Deuce bemoaned after walking into his front door. He tried to switch the light on and off, but the house remained dark. “The power's out.”
“Huh, must be the storm.” Heath commented.
“Way to point out the obvious, flamebrain.” Jackson rolled his eyes.
“Shut up!” The cousins started to shove one another. Deuce immediately jumped between them to separate their arms.
“Knock it off before I have to stone one of you.” He threatened, only half-joking.
“Fine, fine.” Jackson relented.
“Well, what do we do now?” Heath demanded.
“Uh, I guess I'll have to use my fireplace.” Deuce crossed from the entrance into his living room. “I can get that started until the power comes back on.”
“I knew we should have brought Frankie.” Jackson swore. “She’s be able to give a jolt to the generators."
“Awww, admit it cuz.” Heath teased. “You just can’t stand to be away from your boo.”
“You guys don’t have to stay.” Deuce insisted before Jackson could respond.
“Wha-well are you sure?" Jackson asked, seeming anxious to leave.
“I can start the fire myself, no need for you to miss out.” The gorgon had already started to load wood into the fireplace with shaking hands.
“And I can stay to help.” Heath offered, sitting next to his friend.
“Dude, you don’t have to-”
“Don’t even worry about it - you just need your own personal Heath-ter.” He made a face that showed he was expecting laughter in response to his pun. Jackson again rolled his eyes, but Deuce chuckled and moved closer to the fire elemental.
“Alright, man - if you wanna hang back. Jackson, you can still make it back in time for the light show with Frankie.” Deuce gathered blankets while Heath put a finger to the firewood and lit it ablaze.
“I gotcha covered.” Heath came to sit next to his pal on the couch. “Jackson, tell Abbey I’ll be missing the coolest girl in school tonight.”
“Yeah, I’m not saying that.” With that, Jackson fished out his keys and stepped towards the door. “Have a good night, guys!”
“Thanks for the ride!” Deuce called, and as soon as the door shut, he realised something. “Wait, Heath, wasn’t Jackson your ride home, too?”
“S’all good man! I can crash here, right?”
“I mean, yeah. It’s not like my mom would care, even if she was home for the holidays.”
The combined fireplace warmth and body heat from his friend finally made Deuce feel as though he wasn’t in mortal danger of freezing to death. He decided to stretch out and share his blanket with Heath.
His vipers began to slither their way out from under his cap and inch towards the heat source next to him. Deuce ignored their insistence to press nearer to his friend, and him and Heath continued their conversation as per usual. But after sports, school and ghouls were covered as topics, a lull in their conversation made Deuce start to think.
His cold blood made it feel as though the inside of him was still partially frozen, and while he was wrapped under so many layers, he felt the need to seek something more to thaw him.
He felt comfortable around Heath, he rationalised. Even now their knees touched under the blanket, and they were barely an arm’s length from each other.
“Thanks for staying behind tonight. I know you really wanted to spend time with Abbey.” The gorgon suddenly spoke up.
“Like I said, don’t mention it.” Heath brushed him off. “I shoulda remembered what the chilly weather would be like for my reptilian friends.”
“Yeah,” Deuce laughed. “Well, next time we won’t forget.” Another silence fell between them until the gorgon finally forced himself to ask.
“Can I-can I ask a favor?”
“Uh, sure.” Heath looked curious.
“Would it be okay if I...moved closer to you? I-I'm still kinda cold.” Deuce was glad he posed the question as soon he saw his friend’s reaction.
“Awww, the Deuce-man wants a hug!” Heath spread his arms and urged the gorgon to his side of the couch. “Get in here buddy!”
Deuce chuckled, then shifted to lean against Heath. The fire elemental wrapped his arms around his friend and leaned back into the cushions to get them both settled. Deuce also moved to put his arms in a more comfortable position around his friend’s torso. The snakes were delighted most of all by the contact, sliding against the surface of Heath’s toasty skin.
“Haha, man that tickles!” Heath’s stomach moved under Deuce’s touch with laughter.
“Sorry about that.” Deuce apologised, but Heath just moved to pet the vipers with his glowing fingertips. They wound around his hand in elation. Meanwhile, the increase in temperature was making Deuce a little more groggy.
“It’s getting kinda late.” Deuce remarked, stifling a yawn.
“Yeah, where you wanna sleep?”
“I mean, I don’t really want to move at all.”
“Well, you are between two fires - why would you wanna be anywhere else?”
“Mhmm...but I can’t really ask you to share the couch with me.”
“Why not?” Heath asked. He moved from caressing the scales on Deuce’s head to the top of his shoulders. He patted his back and started to rub a circle there. “You still feel really frosty.”
“To you maybe.” Deuce laughed.
“Man, if you don’t wanna cuddle with the Heath-meister for the night, just say so.” He joked.
“Hmm, if you’re offering...” The gorgon sighed playfully.
“Is this the part where one of us starts singing ‘Baby it’s cold outside’?” The fire elemental started to warble the first line, very off-key. Deuce buried his face further into the blankets, unable to stop from cracking up. Heath broke off and quickly joined him in snickering.
“Okay, okay - Heath, you wanna stay the night on the couch with me?” The gorgon decided they were past the point of this getting too weird. He was practically curled up against his friend’s chest by the fireside.
“Well that depends.” Heath pondered.
“On what?”
“Are you big spoon or little spoon?”
“Doesn’t matter to me.”
“Little spoon it is!” Heath slid down to lie next to his friend, and they spent a moment adjusting pillows and blankets to accommodate their new position. Deuce finally rested with his friend’s arm against his chest, Heath cuddling him from behind.
“Okay, Heath, you’re the best.” The gorgon expressed gratefully.
“Nah man, this is nothing. Just wait until I roast marshmallows for breakfast.”
“What? Like roasted on your head?” Deuce chortled and then yawned.
“Oh, hell yeah.” Heath squeezed him tighter. “I’m told I make a mean s’more.”
Deuce didn’t know if his friend said anything after that, he just drifted into a dream-like state with a smile on his face and feeling warm all over.