The Cold Meets Cozy

Ch 2

The clown made rather quick work of setting up the blanket fort with some help from Sigma, who refused to just sit there and do nothing. Fyodor continued nodding off by the fire while the others built the fort around him. Bram would eventually get up and move to sit by Fyodor's side, looking just as bored as before.

Fyodor sighed quietly as he leaned onto Bram's shoulder.

"You haven't been sleeping well, have you?" Bram asked.

Fyodor shook his head, "never do."

Bram chuckled, "such is the way of a non-human."

Fyodor chuckled at that, "I suppose you're right." Then he laid his hand over Bram's leg, "how are they treating you?"

"The prosthetics? Well, nothing will ever come close to how I used to be. They work well enough, thought I'm still getting used to moving around again... It has been a long time since I've... walked."

Fyodor absently ran his thumbs along the material of Bram's pj pants. He closed his eyes, "I did what I could..."

"I know, and they're very nice. I can tell whoever made them is a master at the craft..." Bram sighed as he put his hand on top of Fyodor's. "I know Fukuchi is going to go crazy when he finds out I've got limbs again..."

"Probably," the smaller man smiled.

"I do miss feeling..." Bram pressed his gloved hand against Fyodor's bare hand.

"Here," Fyodor turned towards him slightly, putting his nose in the crook of Bram's neck.

Bram smiled just a little bit, "I always forget how warm your kind are..." He closed his arm around Fyodor's shoulders. "I will offer you this respite for a short time. Why don't you sleep?"

Fyodor shook his head slightly, "you know I can't do that... not with so many people around..."

"I know..." Bram whispered, squeezing the man called Demon gently.

"All done!!!" Nikolai announced gleefully, diving into his masterpiece.

"Careful!" Sigma called out, but it was too late. The Clown had disappeared into the blankets, scuttling around like a small creature of the night. A rather unsettling sight, to say the least.

"Oh!" Nikolai exclaimed, seeing Bram and Fyodor, "is it cuddle time?!?!" Obvious envy burned in his one visible eye.

"Shh," Bram scolded him, "he was just about to sleep."

"No I wasn't," Fyodor sighed through his nose.

Ivan smiled from where he was diligently tending to the fire and fixing the blankets so they would stay as far away from the flames as possible. "It's nice to have so many people around... it almost feels like this is a real home..."

"He's so weird," Nikolai whispered rather loudly as he wrinkled his nose.

"Not any weirder than you," Fyodor pointed out.

Nikolai's jaw dropped and he scoffed, "betrayed by my own-"

Sigma made his way in, "Shibusawa is back with tea. We're going to have to rearrange the entrance so we can get the cart in."

"Oh, shoot a monkey! He brought a whole cart???" Nikolai followed him back out.

Bram's small smile returned, "this is a rather... goofy group of people..."

Fyodor nodded, pulling the comforter tighter around himself. "At first I thought Gogol might cause problems between you all... but his presence is the kind of brightness us gloomy types need."