The Cold Meets Cozy

Ch 1

Fyodor sighed heavily. He woke up and had a terrible feeling in his stomach. But maybe that was a side effect of taking so many pills on an empty stomach...

Either way, he didn't feel good.

Then there was a hesitant knock on his bedroom door.

Fyodor sat up, wondering who would need him at this hour. It was just around midnight and Fyodor had actually gone to bed at a decent time that night...

Now that Fyodor was standing, the memory of his dream started trickling into his mind. He shook it off, leaving it for later. He didn't want to deal with that right now.

Fyodor slowly opened his door, "yes?"

Before him stood Sigma, holding a candelabra with lit candles on it. "Uhm," he smiled nervously, "the power went out..."

Fyodor blinked. Then he realized just how cold it was. He nodded tiredly. "Alright... would you have everyone gather in the living room?"

"Of course," Sigma hurried down the hallway.

Fyodor sighed again, grabbing the comforter off of his bed and pulling it over his shoulders. Then he made his own way through his large estate to the living room. He tried every light switch on his way and none of them worked.

When he arrived in the living room he found that Ivan Goncharov had already started a fire in the fireplace and he had lit a lot of candles, too.

"Dostoyevsky," he smiled, "I'm so sorry to disturb your sleep. A snowstorm suddenly rolled in."

"Don't apologize," Fyodor sat down in front of the fire, "you had nothing to do with it."

Ivan nodded, "of course, of course... but maybe it will be good to be properly introduced to everyone. It's such a big mansion and I'm certain I haven't met half of everyone staying here."

"You've met about half..." Fyodor started absently chewing on his nails.

Then the door opened again, and in stepped Sigma and Nikolai Gogol. The clown eyed Ivan with a smirk, "nice weather, isn't it?"

"Yes," Ivan's smile grew, "now we can all spend time together."

Nikolai glared at him, "uh-huh..."

Sigma spoke up, "I couldn't find anyone else... but I still don't have the whole place memorized yet, either."

"That's alright," Fyodor said quietly, "they'll find their way here... The whole house will start to freeze soon..."

"And how is our lovely host doing on this fine evening?" Nikolai asked as he sat down beside Fyodor.

The smaller man sighed, "tired..."

Nikolai giggled, "that's such a dry answer~ Anyway! Feel how soft my pajamas are!" He took Fyodor's hand away from his mouth and put it on his arm, forcing him to feel the texture.

"That is soft," Fyodor stated plainly.

"I know right?!" Nikolai exclaimed as if Fyodor were being just as enthusiastic as he was. Then he pulled his sleeve over his hand and pressed it against Fyodor's face, "see! It's so soft!" He slowly caressed the smaller man's face with his sleeve.

Fyodor sighed to himself, "yeah."

Ivan sat down on Fyodor's other side, "you shouldn't let him take advantage of you like that..." He carefully placed his hand on Fyodor's arm.

"I'm not taking advantage of anyone," Nikolai stuck his tongue out. "You're just jealous that my pajamas are the softest."

Ivan shook his head, "you can see how tired our host is. He is obviously too tired to refuse anything."