Winter May Be as Much as a Beginning as spring

Prologue

Nighttime fell across the sleepy city, spilling moonlight onto every visible object and giving them a luminescent silver glow. A frosty winter breeze took flight, ruffling strands of blond hair from a certain teen called Chris, causing him to shiver. The metal trashcan emitted sniffles, for in it resided the scrawny boy. Through the night it proved to offer no warmth, and the child's beloved cat, Mr. Foofy, had wandered out looking for a warmer place to sleep comfortably. The rattling tin signified Chris's lack of sleep, the cold kept him up, torturously shivering. Peeking through the top of the tin, he eyed the other member of his group, Ted. The third member, Aiden, was absent. He had been grounded by his mother for throwing a watermelon out of his window for Ted's safekeeping, and now he slept comfortably in his bed in a cozy home with his loving mother. Chris wouldn't really call that a punishment, yet as much as he begs to differ, there was nothing he could do about it. Ted, on the other hand, rested by leaning on a tire and seemed to have no problem dealing with the cold. He was wearing a red turtleneck and a black jacket above it which was lined with fluff and, by the looks of it, very warm. The thought itself seemed to warm Chris a little bit, but not for long before feeling the harsh cold once again hit his body. He stumbled outside of what gave him his little sleeping comfort and mumbled to himself, "I'm FREEZING!" After trying to quietly pace around for a while to accumulate body warmth vainly he concluded to himself under his breath, "I NEED Ted's warm jacket!" Maybe he could slip it off of Ted and borrow it for a while to prevent the bitter winds from getting to him. Although he's been denied of using it when he's asked, what Ted doesn't know won't hurt him. He cautiously tiptoed across towards Ted and leaned over where he was laying. He mischievously grinned at the sight of Ted's unconscious and vulnerable position and at the thought of the snug fluff against his shuddering body and preceded the operation with nimble fingers. He took hold of the zipper and slowly pulled down on it, exposing Ted's red turtleneck underneath and feeling some heat radiate from his body. He kept pulling the zipper down when suddenly it got caught in some of the fur which stopped it from going down. "Darn," Chris thought to himself in a frustrated manner. He involuntarily stuck his tongue out in an attempt to pull it down, when all of a sudden his hand slid and tugged on it too roughly. He glanced at Ted's face to assure himself that he was still asleep but was met instead with Ted's eyes wide open as they locked their eyes together. Ted, startled and confused, instinctively covered himself and fled by squirming into the wall besides him. Judging by Ted's reaction and how easily his actions could be misinterpreted, Chris became flustered and the only heat he was able to achieve was the one rushing to his cheeks, smearing his face in the form of a light blush. "Okay, I feel weird now..." Chris put both of his hands up, as if stating his innocence and felt dense nervousness arise from within him. Heightened adrenaline was pumping through his veins, in his blood, and coursing through his entire body. Both of their heartbeats increased in intensity as the tension in the air was seemingly immobile. Chris retreated to his bin for the night which was colder than it was before. The night that remained was a sleepless and uncomfortable night for both of them, but what they didn't know was that this was just the beginning.