Princess Evvie

From somewhere deeper in the dorm came a horrifying sound.

“NYAAAAAAAGH — !”

A loud crash followed.

Then silence.

The entire room paused their agenda.

Ace slowly lowered his pen, casting a look down the hall. “...Do we think he survived that one?”

Another miserable wail echoed from the bathroom.

“MY TAIL’S ON FIRE!”

Epel winced. “Okay, naw, ah’m startin’ ta feel kinda bad for him.”

“You weren’t saying that twenty minutes ago,” Deuce pointed out without looking up from his notes.

“Twenty minutes ago Ah didn’ know the smoke was gonna start comin’ out under the bathroom door!”

As if summoned by the statement, a faint curl of dark brown smoke drifted down the hallway.

Yuu let out a long, exhausted sigh and dropped their forehead directly onto the open pages of their textbook.

“I just want one normal evening,” they groaned into the paper.

Jack’s ears twitched. For the first time, he looked up from his notes packet. 

Ace snorted immediately. “You took pity on him on the first day. That was your mistake.”

“I’m serious,” Yuu mumbled, finally lifting their head enough to look around at the group. Their expression was worn down in the particular way only Grim-related disasters could accomplish. “One. Just one normal study night. No ghosts. No explosions. No weird curses.”

Another shriek erupted from the bathroom.

“IT BURNS WHEN I FART!”

Yuu closed their eyes. “And no explosive diarrhea.”

Deuce physically recoiled at the phrase. “You really didn’t have to say it like that.”

“How else am I supposed to say it?!” Yuu threw both hands into the air. “He keeps farting fire! Actual fire, Deuce!”

Right on cue, there was a muffled fwump from the hallway followed by Grim hacking up a hairball. A faint orange glow flickered beneath the bathroom door.

Ace burst into laughter so suddenly he nearly slid off the couch.

“Oh my god, he really is shooting flames out of his ass! I thought you were kidding earlier!”

“Ace!” Deuce snapped, horrified.

“What? He is!”

Jack pinched the bridge of his nose, silently sliding Yuu’s textbook out before they could give themselves a welt.

Epel looked deeply conflicted between concern and amusement. His upper lip twitched in the space between  “What did he even eat?”

“That raspberry-looking plant from alchemy,” Yuu answered miserably.

Jack immediately looked up from his pilfering. “The red one with the spotted leaves?”

“Yeah.”

“That wasn’t a raspberry.” Jack clicked his tongue. 

Yuu sighed, their wrinkles beginning to form wrinkles. “I know that now.”

Ace barked another laugh, close to a strangled garble.

Yuu pointed accusingly toward him and every other mage in the room. “Why does a plant that looks exactly like a raspberry make someone fart fire?! Who invented that?! What sicko in this world thought cultivating that sort of thing would help society?!”

“This is why Professor Crewel says not to ingest random ingredients,” Jack said flatly.

“Okay, in Grim’s defense,” Ace cut in, grinning, “he probably thought eating the magic ingredient would make him stronger or something.”

Another agonized cry rang through the dorm.

“YUUUU! MY TAIL’S GONNA FALL OFF—!” 

Deuce looked increasingly alarmed. “Should we maybe take him to the infirmary?”

“He already went,” Yuu replied tiredly. “They said he just has to ‘let the effects pass naturally.’”

“THERE’S NO NATURAL ABOUT THIS!”

“You’ll live!” Yuu called back automatically.

“IT AIN’T LIVIN’ IF I CAN’T SIT DOWN!”

Jack pinched the bridge of his nose while his tail thumped once against the couch cushion in poorly concealed amusement.

“I don’t like how you’re used to this, but I’m not surprised either.”

Yuu looked him dead in the eye.

“Jack. Three weeks ago he swallowed an entire bottle of shrinking potion because he thought it was grape soda.”

“…Right.”

“And one time he set the foyer curtains on fire while trying to roast chestnuts indoors.”

Ace perked up. “Oh yeah, I forgot about that one! Do you still have them?” 

Without further comment, Yuu juts their thumb towards the nearest hallway. Ace stretched his neck to see the mangled curtain covering only half of the archway window. 

“How do you forget about that one?” Deuce snorted a laugh,”he was missing a patch of fur on his scalp for months.”

“Well now I’ll be shocked if he comes out with anything but a singed ass,” Ace rolled his eyes, “maybe he’ll wear pants now.” 

Another distant explosion echoed through Ramshackle.

Silence settled over the room afterward.

“…Ah can smell smoke,” Epel whispered.

Yuu sighed the sigh of someone aged beyond their years. “Yeah. Me too.”

Jack glanced toward the hall again, brows furrowed. For all his usual bluntness, there was genuine concern beneath it now. “…Should somebody check on him?”

Before Yuu could answer, Grim came tearing around the corner at full speed.

His fur was puffed out twice its normal size, eyes wild with panic, and smoke curled faintly behind him like a cartoon fuse.

“I THINK IT’S GETTIN’ WORSE. CALL SOMEONE PLEASE —”

FWOOF.

A burst of flame shot from behind him.

Ace snickered so hard he had to fold over the arm of the chair. Deuce made a helpless noise that was half groan and half laugh. Epel buried his face in his sleeve, shoulders shaking. Even Jack looked like he was fighting the impulse. 

Yuu simply closed their textbook with the exhausted calm of someone who had already accepted their fate hours ago.

“Come on. Let’s go see if Crewel isn’t upset with you anymore.”

—

Crowley’s announcement about an extended weekend was barely up an hour before the entire campus lit with excitement.

Students flooded the halls making plans, arguing over reservations, scrambling to book train tickets home before everything filled up. Even Ramshackle wasn’t immune to it. Grim spent the last twenty minutes dramatically lamenting that nobody ever took him on luxurious vacations despite the fact he is practically a “campus celebrity”. 

Yuu tuned him out, for the most part.

They were currently crouched beside the old couch in Ramshackle’s living room trying to untangle a charging cord that had somehow wrapped itself around one of the table legs. The late afternoon light filtering through the dusty windows painted the room gold, and outside they could hear the distant chatter of students heading back from classes.

The front door creaked open.

“Yuu?”

Jack’s voice carried easily through the dorm, deep and familiar.

“In here!” they called back.

Heavy footsteps crossed the floorboards before he appeared in the doorway of the living room. He had his gym bag slung over one shoulder, ashen hair slightly damp around the edges like he’d showered recently after practice. His ears twitched once when he spotted them half underneath the coffee table.

“…What are you doing?”

Yuu looked up blandly, holding up the tangled mess of cord. “Fighting for my life.”

Jack snorted through his nose.

It was brief, but Yuu had learned by now that Jack’s quieter reactions usually meant he found something genuinely funny.

They finally tugged the cord free with a victorious little “Ha!” before standing up and dusting off their knees.

“So,” they said, “what’s up?”

Jack shifted his weight.

Immediately, Yuu noticed something slightly…off.

Jack was normally straightforward to the point of bluntness. If he had something to say, he usually just said it. But now his gaze flicked away for half a second, one hand adjusting unnecessarily on the strap of his bag.

His ears angled back faintly.

“There’s a long weekend coming up,” he said. “My family usually heads to a ski lodge in the Shaftlands around this time. We’ve got a membership there.”

Yuu leaned back against the arm of the couch, watching him curiously. The explanation sounded rehearsed somehow, like he’d been thinking about how to bring this up for a while.

Jack continued before the silence could stretch too long.

“My siblings like going every year. There’s good snow this season, apparently.” His ears flicked once. “So I was thinking…”

He hesitated, took his cheek between his teeth. Amber eyes dodged Yuu carefully in a game of stalling. 

Then he finally looked at them properly.

“Do you…want to come with me?”

Yuu blinked.

For a second, they genuinely thought they’d misheard him.

“…Wait,” they said slowly. “Really?”

A faint flush crept onto Jack’s face almost immediately, visible even beneath the darker tone of his skin. He looked away first, shoulders stiffening just slightly as though he already regretted phrasing it so bluntly.

“Yeah,” he muttered.

Yuu stared at him another second before narrowing their eyes suspiciously.

“What’s the catch?”

“There isn’t one.”

“You’re inviting me on a vacation trip. There is absolutely a catch. A fee?”

Jack exhaled through his nose, somewhere between amused and exasperated. “No catch. I just…” He adjusted the strap of his gym bag unnecessarily. “Thought you could use a break.”

The last part came as a flustered mutter, his ears flattened down.

And before Yuu could brush it off or joke again, he quickly added, “Besides, I never really repaid you for helping with the mess in Savanaclaw when we first met.”

“The magift incident?” Yuu asked, the first thing on their mind. 

Jack nodded once, not eager to discuss the details of his dorm’s shame. 

Yuu couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped them. “Jack, you’ve repaid me like ten times over since then.”

“I haven’t.” he argued. 

“You helped me deal with Azul, dummy.”

“That’s different.”

Crowley made the request, and he couldn’t in good conscience leave you to suffer when the other three idiots fell to Ashengrotto’s mercy. 

“You also fix things around Ramshackle constantly.” Yuu gestured vaguely around the room. “The window latch. The porch steps. My hair dryer last week—”

“True,” Jack interrupted, ears twitching faintly. “But I broke that first.”

He’d stopped by for a shower after his morning run, and they’d leant it to him before class. The clogged fan was more-so their own fault yet he still replaced it. 

Jack’s mouth twitched faintly at the corners, the closest thing he usually got to a grin when he had full control. Which he tried to maintain with their eyes scrutinizing every subtle shuffle on his feet. 

Jack finally looked back at Yuu, more serious this time.

“So,” he dragged out, cutting clean through the moment before either of them could dance around it any longer. “Do you want to come?

There was something earnest in the way he asked it now. Not awkward exactly, Jack was too proud for that, but careful in a way Yuu wasn’t used to seeing from him. You opened their mouth to answer, but paused. 

Their nose scrunched up with an afterthought. “What about Grim?”  

The question was practical.. Leaving Ramshackle unattended overnight was one thing.

Leaving Grim unattended was another entirely.

“I already asked Ruggie senpai to watch him.” Jack assured, setting his shoulder back a bit. 

Yuu blinked, shocked. 

“You asked him before asking me?”

Jack looked faintly defensive at that. “Well, yeah. I wasn’t gonna invite you if you couldn’t actually go.”

Jack shifted slightly where he stood near the doorway, one hand still hooked around the strap of his gym bag. There was a quiet confidence to the answer, like this had been settled before he’d even stepped foot inside Ramshackle today.

The thought stirred something in Yuu’s chest. He really meant to give them a break. 

Jack shifted his weight, one hand still hooked around the strap of his gym bag. “Besides, Grim knows Ruggie senpai already. It’s not like he’d be stuck with a stranger.”

“True,” Yuu admitted slowly, though their eyes narrowed a second later. “How much did Ruggie charge you?”

Jack looked away.

That deflection was answer enough.

“…Jack.”

“It wasn’t that bad, believe me.”

“Jack.”

Said man heaved a sigh from his chest. “How much he charged is between him and me, but it’s not unreasonable. So quit looking at me that, alright?” 

He wouldn’t so much as think of the number. Ruggie’s resourcefulness would truly remain a mystery from them and anyone else who wanted to stick their nose in it. 

Rather than drag the painful silence out, Jack jut his chin in their direction. Amber eyes locked pointedly on the drapes behind them rather than see that pitying expression. 

The silent question sat between them for a third time, along with the travel pass in his back pocket. 

A ski trip with Jack.

Cold mountain air. Snow. A few days away from NRC chaos.

Yuu’s eyes crinkled at the corners at the very thought.

“…Yeah,” they said. “I do. Pick me up on Friday? ”

Jack gave them a curt nod before shuffling to tug a small brochure from the lodge out of his duffle bag. It was kept pristine, likely safe in a pocket rather than smooshed with his gym belongings. He handed it over to them with formal courtesy, yet the gentle sway of his tail gave away exactly how glad he was for their decision. 

---

The Shaftland mountaintops are more breathtaking than any hill on the Island of Sages. 

That was Yuu’s first coherent thought, stepping out of the shuttle and into the crisp mountain air.

Snow blanketed everything in soft white layers, thick over the rooftops and piled high along the paths winding between cabins. The surrounding pines glittered with frost beneath the late afternoon sun, and somewhere in the distance Yuu could hear the muffled sounds of people laughing near the slopes.

Their breath fogged in front of them immediately.

“Oh, wow,” they murmured in awe.

Beside them, Jack adjusted the duffel bag over one shoulder, looking considerably more at home in the cold than Yuu did. His ears twitched slightly in the mountain wind.

“Told you it was nice.”

“Nice?” Yuu repeated, looking around in disbelief. “Jack, this place is gorgeous.”

Something pleased flickered briefly across his face at their reaction before he looked away again.

The lodge itself sat further up the mountain, all warm golden lights and dark wood beams against the snow. Smaller family cabins dotted the surrounding area, smoke curling lazily from chimneys.

As they started up the path, Jack cleared his throat.

“So… there’s something I should probably mention first.”

Yuu glanced at him. “That sounds ominous.”

“It’s not.” He paused. “It’s just that my siblings aren’t here.”

“Oh?”

“My sister got grounded for sneaking out.”

Yuu snorted, watching as an elder-brother 's worries drag Jack’s expression to something miserable.

“And my brother ditched the trip for a date.”

That made them fully stop walking, raising a brow with an impish glint.

“…Your little brother?”

Jack looked deeply unimpressed. “Yeah.”

Yuu stared at him for one long second before their shoulders shook.

“No way.”

“Don’t start.”Jack flicked their forehead, “We can still go back to school.”

“Jack Howl got abandoned for a date by his baby brother?”

“He’s not a baby. He’s a rebellious tween who thinks he knows everything.”

“Yet he has better game than you.”

Jack groaned while Yuu skipped beside him, boots crunching through the snow again as they continued up the path.

“It’s not funny.”

“It’s a little funny.” They pinched their fingers together with just a millimeter from touching.

His tail flicked behind him in annoyance, though Yuu caught the faint twitch at the corner of his mouth.

Still, after a moment, Jack glanced sideways at them again.

“…You don’t mind, right?” The question was casual on the surface, but Yuu noticed the subtle hesitation underneath it. Without his siblings, they’d be alone overnight. He was trying to gauge whether this suddenly becoming a trip with just the two of them changed anything. The last thing Jack wanted to be was inconsiderate. 

Yuu schooled the nerves bundling deep down. 

“Jack,” they said, “I agreed to come because I wanted to spend time with you. We can pester your siblings next time.”

Jack nearly missed a step up the pathway, just as his cheeks finally took that tinted color. Although unlike the people surrounding them, his flush wasn't from the cold.

“…Right,” he muttered.

Yuu hid their smile behind the collar of their coat.

—

By the time they reached the cabin area, snow had already started dusting lightly from the sky again.

Jack stopped in front of a large cabin tucked near the edge of the woods. Warm light glowed through the windows, and the entire place looked cozy enough to belong in a postcard.

“This is yours?” Yuu asked.

“My family’s,” Jack corrected as he unlocked the door.

The inside was even nicer.

Warm wooden walls, thick rugs, a massive stone fireplace already crackling with heat. The air smelled faintly like cedar and smoke, and Yuu immediately felt their frozen fingers start thawing.

“This is huge,” they took it in as Jack carried both their bags inside before they could protest.

“It’s easier when everybody comes up together.” He set the luggage down near the small kitchen archway. “My grandparents stay here sometimes too.”

Yuu wandered a little further into the living area, still taking everything in, before turning back toward him.

“So where am I sleeping?”

Jack answered so quickly it almost sounded rehearsed.

“You can take my room.”

Yuu blinked. “Jack, I can just use a guest room.”

“There isn’t really one,” he admitted. “And I figured you’d probably be more comfortable in mine than sleeping around a bunch of my family’s stuff.”

“Oh.”

The sudden thoughtfulness of that hit harder than expected, but this was Jack. They should have expected him to think ten steps ahead.

Jack rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “I’ll stay in my parents’ room. They’re not using it this weekend anyway.”

“You don’t have to give up your room for me.”

“It’s fine.”

And judging by the firm look on his face, arguing about it would go nowhere.

Yuu smiled a little instead.

“…Thanks, Jack.”

His ears flicked upward slightly at the sound of his name spoken so softly.

Then, before the moment could linger too long, he grabbed one of the bags again and jerked his head toward the hallway.

“C’mon,” he said. “I’ll show you where everything is.”

—-

By the time they were ready to leave the cabin, the afternoon properly settled in around the mountain, turning the snow outside bright and almost blinding beneath a pale winter sky.

Yuu stood near the front door in a bundle of borrowed layers, blinking down at themselves as they adjusted the cuffs of the cream puffer coat Jack had handed over from his mother’s closet. It was warmer than anything they’d brought, thick and soft-lined, with a pale, almost feminine cut to it that made it look a little too cute on them in a way they were not entirely prepared for. The matching gloves were a little oversized, and the fluffy ushanka hat kept slipping low over their ears.

Jack, who had apparently decided this was normal and not at all worth commenting on, was tightening the strap on his own gear nearby.

“This is your mom’s?” Yuu asked, tugging the sleeve down over their wrist.

“Yes,” Jack said, glancing over. His gaze traveled briefly over the fit before he nodded once, apparently satisfied. “It suits you.”

Yuu paused.

That earned them an immediate, suspiciously casual look from Jack as he finished fastening his boots.

“It’s just winter gear. Don’t make a big deal about it,” he added, though the faint rise of color on his cheeks suggested he’d been thinking something else entirely.

Yuu smiled to themselves and turned toward the mirror near the entryway just long enough to catch their reflection. Between the soft coat, the scarf wrapped high around their neck, and the fluffy earflap hat Jack’s mother had lent them, they looked warmer than they ever had in their life.

Also, annoyingly adorable.

“I can’t believe you let me wear something this cute,” they said, turning back to him.

Jack huffed softly through his nose. “You act like that’s a bad thing.”

A few minutes later, they were outside, heading toward the slopes with the cold air crisp against their cheeks and the snow crunching under their boots. Jack carried most of the gear without complaint, snowboard tucked under one arm and an extra tube under the other. The beginner slope was already busy with other guests in the distance, though not so crowded that it felt overwhelming. Everything around them shimmered with winter light and movement — people socializing, ski poles flashing, the distant whoosh of snow underboards.

Yuu looked around with wide eyes. “I didn’t expect there to be so many people this time of year.”

Jack glanced at them and gave a small nod. “Told you.It’s a popular spot for tourism. If we went an hour south, you’d be near where Epel’s from.”

“I know, but still.”

He seemed pleased by that in the quiet way he usually was, and for a moment he looked almost at peace here, as if the mountain had been built specifically for him.

Yuu’s gaze dropped to the snowboard in his hand, then to the tube, and they made a face.

“I should warn you,” they said, “I have never skied or snowboarded in my life.”

Jack stopped walking.

“…Never?”

“Nope.”

He studied them for a moment, then said, carefully, “If you want, I can teach you. But maybe not today.”

Yuu blinked. “Why not today?”

Jack gave them a look that was somehow both patient and practical. “Because it’s your first time, and I’d rather not send you down a slope headfirst when you’ve got only one day here.”

Yuu made a soft, offended sound. “I’m not that fragile.”

“Maybe next time,” Jack continued, tone easing a little. “When we have more than one day.”

The wording did something unhelpful and warm to Yuu’s chest, but before they could poke at it, Jack adjusted his grip on the tube and nodded toward the beginner slope.

“There are sled tubes,” he said. “You can start with the bunny run.”

He almost wanted to say it suited them, given how those ear covers knocked their intimidation factor from neutral to docile. Yet thought better of it. 

At the lift, Jack stood behind them when they boarded, one steady hand settling at their waist for balance as the seat swung slightly under their weight. Yuu startled a little at first, then relaxed when they realized he was just making sure they didn’t slip.

The cold air brushed their face as the lift began to rise, carrying them over the white slope below. From up here, the mountain looked even prettier — wide stretches of untouched snow, the sharp line of the trees, and tiny skiers moving like dots below them.

Jack kept one hand lightly at their side, careful and grounding.

“You okay?” he asked.

Yuu leaned back a little, watching the slope grow farther below them. “I think I’m too busy being impressed to be nervous.”

“That’s good.”

He looked ahead again, posture easy but alert in the way it always was. The quiet between them felt comfortable rather than awkward, broken only by the creak of the lift and the distant rush of wind.

By the time they reached the beginner run, Jack dismounted smoothly and then turned back to help Yuu down. He took the tube next, setting it on the snow and patting the inner edge.

“Sit.”

Yuu obeyed, then immediately looked uncertain once they were settled into the tube. “This feels suspiciously like the prelude to disaster and I don’t have health insurance.”

“It isn’t, I promise.” He bit his lip not to laugh. 

Jack knelt slightly in front of them, checking the tube’s position, then adjusted their gloves where they held the handles. “Hold on tight.”

Yuu’s fingers tightened obediently.

Jack’s gaze sharpened just a little. “You’re sure you want to do this?”

Yuu looked up at him. “Yes.”

He didn’t ask again. 

“You want me to send you down?”

That made them hesitate for half a second, but only half. “Yes.”

He held their gaze one second longer, clearly making sure they meant it, before his expression eased. Satisfied, he nodded once.

“Okay.”

Then, with one quick shove of his foot against the side of the tube, he sent them careening down the slope.

Yuu’s scream split the air almost immediately. His ears flicked back on recoil.

Jack followed on his snowboard right after, pushing off with easy control, and for one brief moment he heard nothing but wind —

Then Yuu’s screams broke into laughter.

He caught the sound immediately, sharp and bright over the snowbend.

Jack’s mouth twitched.

Apparently they were enjoying themselves  enough.

He kicked harder, carving down the slope after them while their laughter carried back up to him again and again, warm and delighted and entirely unlike the nervous sound they’d made only minutes before.

At the bottom, Yuu wobbled upright in the tube, cheeks flushed red from the cold and from laughing so hard they could barely breathe. Their hair had come loose from beneath the hat in a messy windblown halo, and they looked thoroughly thrilled.

The tube had half-swallowed them on landing, awkwardly stuck around their hips while they tried unsuccessfully to stand.

“It won’t let me out,” they wheezed.

Jack stepped off his board, amusement obvious now as he grabbed both their hands.

“One, two—”

With a firm tug, Jack pulled them free at last, and Yuu nearly stumbled straight into him before catching themselves. They were still laughing, breathless and bright-eyed, when Jack looked down at them and asked, feigning nonchalance, “Did you like it?” 

Yuu was still trying to recover enough to answer properly, but the smile on their face said everything.

Jack’s gaze softened by a fraction. “Your voice is usually easy to pick out of a crowd,” he huffed a laugh. “But all I heard going down was you.”

Yuu laughed again, breath fogging in the cold air.

Then suddenly they pointed straight up the mountainside.

“Again!”

“Okay,” Jack said easily, stepping back to grab their gear. “C’mon, let’s head ba—”

“No.” Yuu pointed further upward toward another slope entirely. He followed their goal to the advanced placement course. The black diamond. His teeth clenched.

“That one! I want to do that one!” 

—

By the time they reached the top of the black diamond course, Jack was beginning to understand exactly what his senpai meant when they called Yuu his weak spot.

He had told himself it was a bad idea almost the entire way up.

Not because he doubted Yuu’s courage. That was a reoccuring  problem, actually. They had far too much of it.

The second they flashed him that bright, reckless smile and pointed toward the advanced slope, every sensible thought he had about maybe this is too much for a first day had gone right out of his head.

He just couldn’t say ‘no’. 

So instead of refusing, he ended up hauling a two-person tube up the slope while Yuu practically bounced beside him, still buzzing from the first ride like they had just discovered the meaning of life.

At the top, Jack set the tube down in the snow and exhaled slowly, watching his breath fog in the cold air. The slope ahead dropped away sharply, fast and narrow, with hard-packed snow and enough natural bumps to send even a good rider airborne if they hit it right. It was the kind of course that looked fun only after you survived it.

Yuu, naturally, looked thrilled. He forgot how easily they adapted. 

Jack glanced at them, then pointed toward the front of the tube. “You sit there.”

Yuu blinked. “Why?”

“Because I’m heavier,” he said, already stepping around them, “and the back will stay steadier that way.”

Their expression shifted into open amusement. “You’re just worried I’ll fall out, there’s a chasm between your eyebrows that’s going to leave a mark.”

Jack did not answer immediately, mainly because they weren’t wrong and he wasn’t about to tell a boldfaced lie. 

Yuu grinned wider and climbed into the front of the tube with far too much enthusiasm, settling in and gripping the handles. Jack moved behind them, bracing one knee in the snow as he lowered himself into place. The tube dipped slightly beneath his weight, and he immediately adjusted, one arm coming around to steady the side.

His hands hovered for a second at Yuu’s waist, then settled on the handles once he was sure they were secure.

“Hold on,” he commanded, curt. “Don’t let go and keep your feet from skidding.” 

Yuu looked back over their shoulder, eyes shining with ice globs clinging to their hair. “If we hit a rock, do you think it’ll launch me?.”

“Yes. So let’s not.” Jack discouraged the thought, not finding their human slingshot funny. 

That earned him a laugh, soft and delighted, and Jack had the completely unhelpful thought that they looked especially pretty like this—cheeks pink from the cold, hair dusted with melting snow, eyes bright with anticipation.

He looked away before that thought could become anything more dangerous. They’re here for a break. Nothing more. 

Yuu, apparently not intending to give him a chance to recover, rocked eagerly in the tube. “You ready?”

Jack let out a quiet breath. “No.”

He gave one last look down the course, gauged the line ahead, then braced himself.

When he kicked off, the tube lurched forward hard enough to make Yuu yelp, and then they were flying.

The first straight down drop sent them both into screaming. Albeit Jack’s was far less pitched and more from a sink in his chest. 

Cold wind tore at Jack’s ears. The tube bounced hard over a ridge, jolting them up off the snow for a second before slamming back down. Instinctively, Jack’s legs squeezed in around Yuu’s sides to keep them from sliding too far forward. His arms tightened too, one hand braced at the side, the other catching the tube whenever it started to drift.

Yuu shrieked, then immediately burst into laughter so bright Jack almost laughed with them just from the sound of it.

The track was rougher than it looked from below. They hit one bump, then another, and the tube hopped sideways before Jack leaned hard to the left, steering them away from the edge of a cluster of exposed rocks. A few seconds later they hit a dip that lifted them so suddenly both of them left the ground for a breathless moment.

“Watch the turn!” he called, because apparently he was now the responsible one in a situation that involved being hurled downhill in a rubber tube at questionable speed.

“I’m trying!” Yuu shouted back, still laughing hard enough to make the words waver.

Another bump. Another sharp slide.

Jack leaned right this time, narrowly missing a patch of ice and a tree trunk that flashed past just close enough to earn a sharp, startled noise from both of them.

His pulse was beating fast now—not from fear exactly, though there was some of that too—but from the sheer ridiculousness of it all. The cold air, the speed, the rush of being with someone as the world blurred around them. It was different compared to doing it alone on a snowboard. At some point, Jack’s focus bent and it became less about leading the ride and more joining in for the fun 

He got it now.

He understood why people did this for enjoyment. Why his parents had always seemed so fond of the tubing runs when they came here together. With another person in the tube, the whole thing felt different—less like a solo test of balance and more like a shared rush, a sprint through cold air with someone else’s laughter in your ears.

It was more chaotic than snowboarding. Less controlled. 

Far more fun.

Especially when the wind steals your screams and no one is there to judge. 

By the time their tube shot toward the end of the course, both of them were breathless from shouting and clenching their stomachs every time it bounced. Jack barely had time to brace before the run flattened out and they slid to a stop in a spray of snow.

For a second, there was only silence as they caught their breath.

Then Jack leaned forwards, trying to catch the vibrancy back with his pulse in his ears. 

Yuu twisted around in the tube to face him, cheeks flushed, eyes shining so brightly they almost looked lit from within. 

“One more time!” 

Just like before, who was Jack to tell them ‘no’? 

—

By the time evening settled over the lodge, the windows had gone dark with winter night.

Dinner had been simple—salisbury steaks, baked potatoes, and warm rolls from the lodge restaurant—but after a full day out in the cold, it had tasted better than almost anything Jack could remember. Yuu had looked half asleep by the time they’d gotten back to the cabin, all bundled up again and flushed from a dip in the sauna. 

Inside their space, though, the cabin was alive in a different way than when they first settled in. The fireplace crackled softly across the room, casting amber light over the wood-paneled walls and the thick blanket draped around Yuu’s shoulders. They were curled into the corner of the sofa in front of the fire, looking small beneath one of Jack’s heavy blankets and very content about it.

Jack returned a moment later carrying two mugs carefully in his hands.

Hot cocoa steamed from both cups, the scent sweet and rich as he crossed the room and lowered himself onto the couch beside them. It was well past his usual bedtime—far past it, really—but he did not seem even slightly bothered by that fact. If anything, he looked like he had settled into the quiet of the evening as naturally as he did the snow.

Yuu peeked at him over the rim of the blanket. “You’re really staying up this late?”

Jack glanced at the clock, then back at them. “It’s not that late.”

“It is for you.”

He gave them a look that was almost dry enough to count as a joke. “I’m aware.”

That earned a soft laugh from Yuu, and Jack’s tail gave a lazy sweep behind the couch before settling again.

For a while, they simply sat there together, shoulders almost touching, heat from the fire warming their faces while the storm-soft hush of the mountain pressed gently against the windows. Yuu held the mug in both hands, letting the warmth seep into their fingers. Jack leaned back into the cushions with his own cocoa resting carefully in his palm, looking far too calm for someone who had spent the entire day hauling them around the slopes and pretending he was not absolutely charmed by every second of it.

After a little while, Yuu turned toward him.

They lifted their cup without a word, a silent request.

Jack understood immediately. A small smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth as he raised his mug to meet theirs.

The ceramic made a soft, cozy clink.

Yuu smiled at him over the rim. “To Jack,” they said, voice warm with the firelight. “The best guy I’ll ever know. Thank you for bringing me here. I had a lot of fun.” 

Jack froze mid-sip, his grip tightened around the mug handle. He should have expected this, maybe. Yuu was always kind in a way that got under his skin before he had time to brace for it. Too sincere, too sweet, it’s no wonder their enrollment at Night Raven was a fluke. At least partially, since their mind could string sentences most guys there cringed to even think. 

Even him. Jack is not the type to extend an invite to another person. Their company had to be better than his own solitude. Yuu miscontrived his intentions. For that, he was guilty. 

That undeserved admiration settled heavily over his shoulders.

Jack looked at them quietly for a moment, his cocoa forgotten in his hands. The cabin had gone still around them—just the crackling fireplace, the soft hiss of wind outside the windows, and Yuu sitting curled beside him beneath his family’s roof like they belonged there.

Like they belonged with him.

“You’re special,” Jack sighed, resigning himself to honesty’s curse. His voice dipped to a low rumble, short of his usual blunt dictation. 

Yuu blinked at him, clearly caught off guard by the sudden seriousness in his voice.

Jack’s ears twitched once before flattening faintly with embarrassment, but he forced himself to continue instead of retreating from it.

“I meant what I said before,” he admitted. “About wanting to give you a break.” His gaze flicked briefly toward the fire before returning to them. “But that wasn’t the only reason I asked you to come.”

Jack swallowed a thick thought.

“I wanted…” He exhaled slow through his nose. “I wanted time with you. Just you.”

Something in Yuu’s expression softened immediately.

Jack could feel his pulse beating harder now, strangely aware of every inch between them on the couch. The warmth of them. The faint scent of cocoa and cedarwood lingering in the room. The way Yuu’s knee pressed against his when they shifted.

“I like being around you,” he continued, tucking his chin down. “More than anybody else.”

The confession sat between them in the firelight, raw in a way Jack usually hated being.

He waited, not that he could add more if he wanted to. His voice wouldn’t comply. 

“Jack.”

They called, and he turned to face their response with dignity… yet the look on Yuu’s face nearly unraveled him completely. Their eyes were warm and shining in the glow of the fire, their expression so unbearably fond that it made his chest ache.

Yuu moved before he could ask what they were doing, leaning in to press a soft kiss against his cheek. Their lips were warm and quick, and when they pulled back, they reached up with one finger and brushed a little whipped cream from the tip of his nose. He hadn’t realized it was there to begin with. 

“I like spending time with you too.”

That guilt in his stomach dispelled as quick as it made an appearance. 

Something inside him gave way.

He set his mug down quickly on the table beside the couch before it could spill from his suddenly clumsy grip. Then his hand came up to cradle Yuu’s cheek, large and warm against their skin, thumb brushing lightly beneath their eye as though he couldn’t help touching them now that he’d started.

Yuu leaned into his palm, their chest rising with one deep breath.

Before he could wonder what that meant, Jack took the plunge down a new, undiscovered slope. He pulled them in and stole that breath straight from their lungs. 

Yuu made a soft startled sound against his mouth before melting into him almost instantly, one hand catching lightly against the front of his sweater. The kiss tasted faintly of cocoa and whipped cream, sweet and warm from the drinks they’d abandoned moments earlier.

Jack’s fingers flexed gently along Yuu’s cheek as he tilted closer.

He’d imagined this before—more than once, if he was being honest with himself — but reality was somehow worse in the best possible way. Yuu was warm beneath his hand, lips soft against his, their breath mingling with his in little uneven puffs while the fire crackled beside them.

Yuu shifted closer on instinct, and the blanket slipped around both of them as they moved. Jack’s other arm immediately wrapped around their waist to steady them, pulling them into his lap like there was nowhere else they were supposed to be.

The couch cushions dipped beneath the added weight.

Neither of them cared.

Jack kissed them again, slower this time.

He lingered in it.

Savored it.

His thumb stroked softly along Yuu’s cheekbone while their fingers slid upward into the hair at the nape of his neck, gentle enough to make a shiver run down his spine despite the warmth of the room.

Outside, snow drifted quietly past the windows.

Inside, the fire painted a portrait of passion.

Yuu pulled back barely an inch, enough for Jack to feel their smile against his mouth before they leaned in again themselves this time, kissing him with a sweetness that made something deep in his chest tighten painfully.

Mercy.

He liked them so much.

More than he’d realized.

Jack’s forehead rested against theirs when they finally broke apart for air, both of them breathing a little unevenly after the leap they’d just taken together. 

From somewhere deeper in the dorm came a horrifying sound.

“NYAAAAAAAGH — !”

A loud crash followed.

Then silence.

The entire room paused their agenda.

Ace slowly lowered his pen, casting a look down the hall. “...Do we think he survived that one?”

Another miserable wail echoed from the bathroom.

“MY TAIL’S ON FIRE!”

Epel winced. “Okay, naw, ah’m startin’ ta feel kinda bad for him.”

“You weren’t saying that twenty minutes ago,” Deuce pointed out without looking up from his notes.

“Twenty minutes ago Ah didn’ know the smoke was gonna start comin’ out under the bathroom door!”

As if summoned by the statement, a faint curl of dark brown smoke drifted down the hallway.

Yuu let out a long, exhausted sigh and dropped their forehead directly onto the open pages of their textbook.

“I just want one normal evening,” they groaned into the paper.

Jack’s ears twitched. For the first time, he looked up from his notes packet. 

Ace snorted immediately. “You took pity on him on the first day. That was your mistake.”

“I’m serious,” Yuu mumbled, finally lifting their head enough to look around at the group. Their expression was worn down in the particular way only Grim-related disasters could accomplish. “One. Just one normal study night. No ghosts. No explosions. No weird curses.”

Another shriek erupted from the bathroom.

“IT BURNS WHEN I FART!”

Yuu closed their eyes. “And no explosive diarrhea.”

Deuce physically recoiled at the phrase. “You really didn’t have to say it like that.”

“How else am I supposed to say it?!” Yuu threw both hands into the air. “He keeps farting fire! Actual fire, Deuce!”

Right on cue, there was a muffled fwump from the hallway followed by Grim hacking up a hairball. A faint orange glow flickered beneath the bathroom door.

Ace burst into laughter so suddenly he nearly slid off the couch.

“Oh my god, he really is shooting flames out of his ass! I thought you were kidding earlier!”

“Ace!” Deuce snapped, horrified.

“What? He is!”

Jack pinched the bridge of his nose, silently sliding Yuu’s textbook out before they could give themselves a welt.

Epel looked deeply conflicted between concern and amusement. His upper lip twitched in the space between  “What did he even eat?”

“That raspberry-looking plant from alchemy,” Yuu answered miserably.

Jack immediately looked up from his pilfering. “The red one with the spotted leaves?”

“Yeah.”

“That wasn’t a raspberry.” Jack clicked his tongue. 

Yuu sighed, their wrinkles beginning to form wrinkles. “I know that now.”

Ace barked another laugh, close to a strangled garble.

Yuu pointed accusingly toward him and every other mage in the room. “Why does a plant that looks exactly like a raspberry make someone fart fire?! Who invented that?! What sicko in this world thought cultivating that sort of thing would help society?!”

“This is why Professor Crewel says not to ingest random ingredients,” Jack said flatly.

“Okay, in Grim’s defense,” Ace cut in, grinning, “he probably thought eating the magic ingredient would make him stronger or something.”

Another agonized cry rang through the dorm.

“YUUUU! MY TAIL’S GONNA FALL OFF—!” 

Deuce looked increasingly alarmed. “Should we maybe take him to the infirmary?”

“He already went,” Yuu replied tiredly. “They said he just has to ‘let the effects pass naturally.’”

“THERE’S NO NATURAL ABOUT THIS!”

“You’ll live!” Yuu called back automatically.

“IT AIN’T LIVIN’ IF I CAN’T SIT DOWN!”

Jack pinched the bridge of his nose while his tail thumped once against the couch cushion in poorly concealed amusement.

“I don’t like how you’re used to this, but I’m not surprised either.”

Yuu looked him dead in the eye.

“Jack. Three weeks ago he swallowed an entire bottle of shrinking potion because he thought it was grape soda.”

“…Right.”

“And one time he set the foyer curtains on fire while trying to roast chestnuts indoors.”

Ace perked up. “Oh yeah, I forgot about that one! Do you still have them?” 

Without further comment, Yuu juts their thumb towards the nearest hallway. Ace stretched his neck to see the mangled curtain covering only half of the archway window. 

“How do you forget about that one?” Deuce snorted a laugh,”he was missing a patch of fur on his scalp for months.”

“Well now I’ll be shocked if he comes out with anything but a singed ass,” Ace rolled his eyes, “maybe he’ll wear pants now.” 

Another distant explosion echoed through Ramshackle.

Silence settled over the room afterward.

“…Ah can smell smoke,” Epel whispered.

Yuu sighed the sigh of someone aged beyond their years. “Yeah. Me too.”

Jack glanced toward the hall again, brows furrowed. For all his usual bluntness, there was genuine concern beneath it now. “…Should somebody check on him?”

Before Yuu could answer, Grim came tearing around the corner at full speed.

His fur was puffed out twice its normal size, eyes wild with panic, and smoke curled faintly behind him like a cartoon fuse.

“I THINK IT’S GETTIN’ WORSE. CALL SOMEONE PLEASE —”

FWOOF.

A burst of flame shot from behind him.

Ace snickered so hard he had to fold over the arm of the chair. Deuce made a helpless noise that was half groan and half laugh. Epel buried his face in his sleeve, shoulders shaking. Even Jack looked like he was fighting the impulse. 

Yuu simply closed their textbook with the exhausted calm of someone who had already accepted their fate hours ago.

“Come on. Let’s go see if Crewel isn’t upset with you anymore.”

—

Crowley’s announcement about an extended weekend was barely up an hour before the entire campus lit with excitement.

Students flooded the halls making plans, arguing over reservations, scrambling to book train tickets home before everything filled up. Even Ramshackle wasn’t immune to it. Grim spent the last twenty minutes dramatically lamenting that nobody ever took him on luxurious vacations despite the fact he is practically a “campus celebrity”. 

Yuu tuned him out, for the most part.

They were currently crouched beside the old couch in Ramshackle’s living room trying to untangle a charging cord that had somehow wrapped itself around one of the table legs. The late afternoon light filtering through the dusty windows painted the room gold, and outside they could hear the distant chatter of students heading back from classes.

The front door creaked open.

“Yuu?”

Jack’s voice carried easily through the dorm, deep and familiar.

“In here!” they called back.

Heavy footsteps crossed the floorboards before he appeared in the doorway of the living room. He had his gym bag slung over one shoulder, ashen hair slightly damp around the edges like he’d showered recently after practice. His ears twitched once when he spotted them half underneath the coffee table.

“…What are you doing?”

Yuu looked up blandly, holding up the tangled mess of cord. “Fighting for my life.”

Jack snorted through his nose.

It was brief, but Yuu had learned by now that Jack’s quieter reactions usually meant he found something genuinely funny.

They finally tugged the cord free with a victorious little “Ha!” before standing up and dusting off their knees.

“So,” they said, “what’s up?”

Jack shifted his weight.

Immediately, Yuu noticed something slightly…off.

Jack was normally straightforward to the point of bluntness. If he had something to say, he usually just said it. But now his gaze flicked away for half a second, one hand adjusting unnecessarily on the strap of his bag.

His ears angled back faintly.

“There’s a long weekend coming up,” he said. “My family usually heads to a ski lodge in the Shaftlands around this time. We’ve got a membership there.”

Yuu leaned back against the arm of the couch, watching him curiously. The explanation sounded rehearsed somehow, like he’d been thinking about how to bring this up for a while.

Jack continued before the silence could stretch too long.

“My siblings like going every year. There’s good snow this season, apparently.” His ears flicked once. “So I was thinking…”

He hesitated, took his cheek between his teeth. Amber eyes dodged Yuu carefully in a game of stalling. 

Then he finally looked at them properly.

“Do you…want to come with me?”

Yuu blinked.

For a second, they genuinely thought they’d misheard him.

“…Wait,” they said slowly. “Really?”

A faint flush crept onto Jack’s face almost immediately, visible even beneath the darker tone of his skin. He looked away first, shoulders stiffening just slightly as though he already regretted phrasing it so bluntly.

“Yeah,” he muttered.

Yuu stared at him another second before narrowing their eyes suspiciously.

“What’s the catch?”

“There isn’t one.”

“You’re inviting me on a vacation trip. There is absolutely a catch. A fee?”

Jack exhaled through his nose, somewhere between amused and exasperated. “No catch. I just…” He adjusted the strap of his gym bag unnecessarily. “Thought you could use a break.”

The last part came as a flustered mutter, his ears flattened down.

And before Yuu could brush it off or joke again, he quickly added, “Besides, I never really repaid you for helping with the mess in Savanaclaw when we first met.”

“The magift incident?” Yuu asked, the first thing on their mind. 

Jack nodded once, not eager to discuss the details of his dorm’s shame. 

Yuu couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped them. “Jack, you’ve repaid me like ten times over since then.”

“I haven’t.” he argued. 

“You helped me deal with Azul, dummy.”

“That’s different.”

Crowley made the request, and he couldn’t in good conscience leave you to suffer when the other three idiots fell to Ashengrotto’s mercy. 

“You also fix things around Ramshackle constantly.” Yuu gestured vaguely around the room. “The window latch. The porch steps. My hair dryer last week—”

“True,” Jack interrupted, ears twitching faintly. “But I broke that first.”

He’d stopped by for a shower after his morning run, and they’d leant it to him before class. The clogged fan was more-so their own fault yet he still replaced it. 

Jack’s mouth twitched faintly at the corners, the closest thing he usually got to a grin when he had full control. Which he tried to maintain with their eyes scrutinizing every subtle shuffle on his feet. 

Jack finally looked back at Yuu, more serious this time.

“So,” he dragged out, cutting clean through the moment before either of them could dance around it any longer. “Do you want to come?

There was something earnest in the way he asked it now. Not awkward exactly, Jack was too proud for that, but careful in a way Yuu wasn’t used to seeing from him. You opened their mouth to answer, but paused. 

Their nose scrunched up with an afterthought. “What about Grim?”  

The question was practical.. Leaving Ramshackle unattended overnight was one thing.

Leaving Grim unattended was another entirely.

“I already asked Ruggie senpai to watch him.” Jack assured, setting his shoulder back a bit. 

Yuu blinked, shocked. 

“You asked him before asking me?”

Jack looked faintly defensive at that. “Well, yeah. I wasn’t gonna invite you if you couldn’t actually go.”

Jack shifted slightly where he stood near the doorway, one hand still hooked around the strap of his gym bag. There was a quiet confidence to the answer, like this had been settled before he’d even stepped foot inside Ramshackle today.

The thought stirred something in Yuu’s chest. He really meant to give them a break. 

Jack shifted his weight, one hand still hooked around the strap of his gym bag. “Besides, Grim knows Ruggie senpai already. It’s not like he’d be stuck with a stranger.”

“True,” Yuu admitted slowly, though their eyes narrowed a second later. “How much did Ruggie charge you?”

Jack looked away.

That deflection was answer enough.

“…Jack.”

“It wasn’t that bad, believe me.”

“Jack.”

Said man heaved a sigh from his chest. “How much he charged is between him and me, but it’s not unreasonable. So quit looking at me that, alright?” 

He wouldn’t so much as think of the number. Ruggie’s resourcefulness would truly remain a mystery from them and anyone else who wanted to stick their nose in it. 

Rather than drag the painful silence out, Jack jut his chin in their direction. Amber eyes locked pointedly on the drapes behind them rather than see that pitying expression. 

The silent question sat between them for a third time, along with the travel pass in his back pocket. 

A ski trip with Jack.

Cold mountain air. Snow. A few days away from NRC chaos.

Yuu’s eyes crinkled at the corners at the very thought.

“…Yeah,” they said. “I do. Pick me up on Friday? ”

Jack gave them a curt nod before shuffling to tug a small brochure from the lodge out of his duffle bag. It was kept pristine, likely safe in a pocket rather than smooshed with his gym belongings. He handed it over to them with formal courtesy, yet the gentle sway of his tail gave away exactly how glad he was for their decision. 

---

The Shaftland mountaintops are more breathtaking than any hill on the Island of Sages. 

That was Yuu’s first coherent thought, stepping out of the shuttle and into the crisp mountain air.

Snow blanketed everything in soft white layers, thick over the rooftops and piled high along the paths winding between cabins. The surrounding pines glittered with frost beneath the late afternoon sun, and somewhere in the distance Yuu could hear the muffled sounds of people laughing near the slopes.

Their breath fogged in front of them immediately.

“Oh, wow,” they murmured in awe.

Beside them, Jack adjusted the duffel bag over one shoulder, looking considerably more at home in the cold than Yuu did. His ears twitched slightly in the mountain wind.

“Told you it was nice.”

“Nice?” Yuu repeated, looking around in disbelief. “Jack, this place is gorgeous.”

Something pleased flickered briefly across his face at their reaction before he looked away again.

The lodge itself sat further up the mountain, all warm golden lights and dark wood beams against the snow. Smaller family cabins dotted the surrounding area, smoke curling lazily from chimneys.

As they started up the path, Jack cleared his throat.

“So… there’s something I should probably mention first.”

Yuu glanced at him. “That sounds ominous.”

“It’s not.” He paused. “It’s just that my siblings aren’t here.”

“Oh?”

“My sister got grounded for sneaking out.”

Yuu snorted, watching as an elder-brother 's worries drag Jack’s expression to something miserable.

“And my brother ditched the trip for a date.”

That made them fully stop walking, raising a brow with an impish glint.

“…Your little brother?”

Jack looked deeply unimpressed. “Yeah.”

Yuu stared at him for one long second before their shoulders shook.

“No way.”

“Don’t start.”Jack flicked their forehead, “We can still go back to school.”

“Jack Howl got abandoned for a date by his baby brother?”

“He’s not a baby. He’s a rebellious tween who thinks he knows everything.”

“Yet he has better game than you.”

Jack groaned while Yuu skipped beside him, boots crunching through the snow again as they continued up the path.

“It’s not funny.”

“It’s a little funny.” They pinched their fingers together with just a millimeter from touching.

His tail flicked behind him in annoyance, though Yuu caught the faint twitch at the corner of his mouth.

Still, after a moment, Jack glanced sideways at them again.

“…You don’t mind, right?” The question was casual on the surface, but Yuu noticed the subtle hesitation underneath it. Without his siblings, they’d be alone overnight. He was trying to gauge whether this suddenly becoming a trip with just the two of them changed anything. The last thing Jack wanted to be was inconsiderate. 

Yuu schooled the nerves bundling deep down. 

“Jack,” they said, “I agreed to come because I wanted to spend time with you. We can pester your siblings next time.”

Jack nearly missed a step up the pathway, just as his cheeks finally took that tinted color. Although unlike the people surrounding them, his flush wasn't from the cold.

“…Right,” he muttered.

Yuu hid their smile behind the collar of their coat.

—

By the time they reached the cabin area, snow had already started dusting lightly from the sky again.

Jack stopped in front of a large cabin tucked near the edge of the woods. Warm light glowed through the windows, and the entire place looked cozy enough to belong in a postcard.

“This is yours?” Yuu asked.

“My family’s,” Jack corrected as he unlocked the door.

The inside was even nicer.

Warm wooden walls, thick rugs, a massive stone fireplace already crackling with heat. The air smelled faintly like cedar and smoke, and Yuu immediately felt their frozen fingers start thawing.

“This is huge,” they took it in as Jack carried both their bags inside before they could protest.

“It’s easier when everybody comes up together.” He set the luggage down near the small kitchen archway. “My grandparents stay here sometimes too.”

Yuu wandered a little further into the living area, still taking everything in, before turning back toward him.

“So where am I sleeping?”

Jack answered so quickly it almost sounded rehearsed.

“You can take my room.”

Yuu blinked. “Jack, I can just use a guest room.”

“There isn’t really one,” he admitted. “And I figured you’d probably be more comfortable in mine than sleeping around a bunch of my family’s stuff.”

“Oh.”

The sudden thoughtfulness of that hit harder than expected, but this was Jack. They should have expected him to think ten steps ahead.

Jack rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “I’ll stay in my parents’ room. They’re not using it this weekend anyway.”

“You don’t have to give up your room for me.”

“It’s fine.”

And judging by the firm look on his face, arguing about it would go nowhere.

Yuu smiled a little instead.

“…Thanks, Jack.”

His ears flicked upward slightly at the sound of his name spoken so softly.

Then, before the moment could linger too long, he grabbed one of the bags again and jerked his head toward the hallway.

“C’mon,” he said. “I’ll show you where everything is.”

—-

By the time they were ready to leave the cabin, the afternoon properly settled in around the mountain, turning the snow outside bright and almost blinding beneath a pale winter sky.

Yuu stood near the front door in a bundle of borrowed layers, blinking down at themselves as they adjusted the cuffs of the cream puffer coat Jack had handed over from his mother’s closet. It was warmer than anything they’d brought, thick and soft-lined, with a pale, almost feminine cut to it that made it look a little too cute on them in a way they were not entirely prepared for. The matching gloves were a little oversized, and the fluffy ushanka hat kept slipping low over their ears.

Jack, who had apparently decided this was normal and not at all worth commenting on, was tightening the strap on his own gear nearby.

“This is your mom’s?” Yuu asked, tugging the sleeve down over their wrist.

“Yes,” Jack said, glancing over. His gaze traveled briefly over the fit before he nodded once, apparently satisfied. “It suits you.”

Yuu paused.

That earned them an immediate, suspiciously casual look from Jack as he finished fastening his boots.

“It’s just winter gear. Don’t make a big deal about it,” he added, though the faint rise of color on his cheeks suggested he’d been thinking something else entirely.

Yuu smiled to themselves and turned toward the mirror near the entryway just long enough to catch their reflection. Between the soft coat, the scarf wrapped high around their neck, and the fluffy earflap hat Jack’s mother had lent them, they looked warmer than they ever had in their life.

Also, annoyingly adorable.

“I can’t believe you let me wear something this cute,” they said, turning back to him.

Jack huffed softly through his nose. “You act like that’s a bad thing.”

A few minutes later, they were outside, heading toward the slopes with the cold air crisp against their cheeks and the snow crunching under their boots. Jack carried most of the gear without complaint, snowboard tucked under one arm and an extra tube under the other. The beginner slope was already busy with other guests in the distance, though not so crowded that it felt overwhelming. Everything around them shimmered with winter light and movement — people socializing, ski poles flashing, the distant whoosh of snow underboards.

Yuu looked around with wide eyes. “I didn’t expect there to be so many people this time of year.”

Jack glanced at them and gave a small nod. “Told you.It’s a popular spot for tourism. If we went an hour south, you’d be near where Epel’s from.”

“I know, but still.”

He seemed pleased by that in the quiet way he usually was, and for a moment he looked almost at peace here, as if the mountain had been built specifically for him.

Yuu’s gaze dropped to the snowboard in his hand, then to the tube, and they made a face.

“I should warn you,” they said, “I have never skied or snowboarded in my life.”

Jack stopped walking.

“…Never?”

“Nope.”

He studied them for a moment, then said, carefully, “If you want, I can teach you. But maybe not today.”

Yuu blinked. “Why not today?”

Jack gave them a look that was somehow both patient and practical. “Because it’s your first time, and I’d rather not send you down a slope headfirst when you’ve got only one day here.”

Yuu made a soft, offended sound. “I’m not that fragile.”

“Maybe next time,” Jack continued, tone easing a little. “When we have more than one day.”

The wording did something unhelpful and warm to Yuu’s chest, but before they could poke at it, Jack adjusted his grip on the tube and nodded toward the beginner slope.

“There are sled tubes,” he said. “You can start with the bunny run.”

He almost wanted to say it suited them, given how those ear covers knocked their intimidation factor from neutral to docile. Yet thought better of it. 

At the lift, Jack stood behind them when they boarded, one steady hand settling at their waist for balance as the seat swung slightly under their weight. Yuu startled a little at first, then relaxed when they realized he was just making sure they didn’t slip.

The cold air brushed their face as the lift began to rise, carrying them over the white slope below. From up here, the mountain looked even prettier — wide stretches of untouched snow, the sharp line of the trees, and tiny skiers moving like dots below them.

Jack kept one hand lightly at their side, careful and grounding.

“You okay?” he asked.

Yuu leaned back a little, watching the slope grow farther below them. “I think I’m too busy being impressed to be nervous.”

“That’s good.”

He looked ahead again, posture easy but alert in the way it always was. The quiet between them felt comfortable rather than awkward, broken only by the creak of the lift and the distant rush of wind.

By the time they reached the beginner run, Jack dismounted smoothly and then turned back to help Yuu down. He took the tube next, setting it on the snow and patting the inner edge.

“Sit.”

Yuu obeyed, then immediately looked uncertain once they were settled into the tube. “This feels suspiciously like the prelude to disaster and I don’t have health insurance.”

“It isn’t, I promise.” He bit his lip not to laugh. 

Jack knelt slightly in front of them, checking the tube’s position, then adjusted their gloves where they held the handles. “Hold on tight.”

Yuu’s fingers tightened obediently.

Jack’s gaze sharpened just a little. “You’re sure you want to do this?”

Yuu looked up at him. “Yes.”

He didn’t ask again. 

“You want me to send you down?”

That made them hesitate for half a second, but only half. “Yes.”

He held their gaze one second longer, clearly making sure they meant it, before his expression eased. Satisfied, he nodded once.

“Okay.”

Then, with one quick shove of his foot against the side of the tube, he sent them careening down the slope.

Yuu’s scream split the air almost immediately. His ears flicked back on recoil.

Jack followed on his snowboard right after, pushing off with easy control, and for one brief moment he heard nothing but wind —

Then Yuu’s screams broke into laughter.

He caught the sound immediately, sharp and bright over the snowbend.

Jack’s mouth twitched.

Apparently they were enjoying themselves  enough.

He kicked harder, carving down the slope after them while their laughter carried back up to him again and again, warm and delighted and entirely unlike the nervous sound they’d made only minutes before.

At the bottom, Yuu wobbled upright in the tube, cheeks flushed red from the cold and from laughing so hard they could barely breathe. Their hair had come loose from beneath the hat in a messy windblown halo, and they looked thoroughly thrilled.

The tube had half-swallowed them on landing, awkwardly stuck around their hips while they tried unsuccessfully to stand.

“It won’t let me out,” they wheezed.

Jack stepped off his board, amusement obvious now as he grabbed both their hands.

“One, two—”

With a firm tug, Jack pulled them free at last, and Yuu nearly stumbled straight into him before catching themselves. They were still laughing, breathless and bright-eyed, when Jack looked down at them and asked, feigning nonchalance, “Did you like it?” 

Yuu was still trying to recover enough to answer properly, but the smile on their face said everything.

Jack’s gaze softened by a fraction. “Your voice is usually easy to pick out of a crowd,” he huffed a laugh. “But all I heard going down was you.”

Yuu laughed again, breath fogging in the cold air.

Then suddenly they pointed straight up the mountainside.

“Again!”

“Okay,” Jack said easily, stepping back to grab their gear. “C’mon, let’s head ba—”

“No.” Yuu pointed further upward toward another slope entirely. He followed their goal to the advanced placement course. The black diamond. His teeth clenched.

“That one! I want to do that one!” 

—

By the time they reached the top of the black diamond course, Jack was beginning to understand exactly what his senpai meant when they called Yuu his weak spot.

He had told himself it was a bad idea almost the entire way up.

Not because he doubted Yuu’s courage. That was a reoccuring  problem, actually. They had far too much of it.

The second they flashed him that bright, reckless smile and pointed toward the advanced slope, every sensible thought he had about maybe this is too much for a first day had gone right out of his head.

He just couldn’t say ‘no’. 

So instead of refusing, he ended up hauling a two-person tube up the slope while Yuu practically bounced beside him, still buzzing from the first ride like they had just discovered the meaning of life.

At the top, Jack set the tube down in the snow and exhaled slowly, watching his breath fog in the cold air. The slope ahead dropped away sharply, fast and narrow, with hard-packed snow and enough natural bumps to send even a good rider airborne if they hit it right. It was the kind of course that looked fun only after you survived it.

Yuu, naturally, looked thrilled. He forgot how easily they adapted. 

Jack glanced at them, then pointed toward the front of the tube. “You sit there.”

Yuu blinked. “Why?”

“Because I’m heavier,” he said, already stepping around them, “and the back will stay steadier that way.”

Their expression shifted into open amusement. “You’re just worried I’ll fall out, there’s a chasm between your eyebrows that’s going to leave a mark.”

Jack did not answer immediately, mainly because they weren’t wrong and he wasn’t about to tell a boldfaced lie. 

Yuu grinned wider and climbed into the front of the tube with far too much enthusiasm, settling in and gripping the handles. Jack moved behind them, bracing one knee in the snow as he lowered himself into place. The tube dipped slightly beneath his weight, and he immediately adjusted, one arm coming around to steady the side.

His hands hovered for a second at Yuu’s waist, then settled on the handles once he was sure they were secure.

“Hold on,” he commanded, curt. “Don’t let go and keep your feet from skidding.” 

Yuu looked back over their shoulder, eyes shining with ice globs clinging to their hair. “If we hit a rock, do you think it’ll launch me?.”

“Yes. So let’s not.” Jack discouraged the thought, not finding their human slingshot funny. 

That earned him a laugh, soft and delighted, and Jack had the completely unhelpful thought that they looked especially pretty like this—cheeks pink from the cold, hair dusted with melting snow, eyes bright with anticipation.

He looked away before that thought could become anything more dangerous. They’re here for a break. Nothing more. 

Yuu, apparently not intending to give him a chance to recover, rocked eagerly in the tube. “You ready?”

Jack let out a quiet breath. “No.”

He gave one last look down the course, gauged the line ahead, then braced himself.

When he kicked off, the tube lurched forward hard enough to make Yuu yelp, and then they were flying.

The first straight down drop sent them both into screaming. Albeit Jack’s was far less pitched and more from a sink in his chest. 

Cold wind tore at Jack’s ears. The tube bounced hard over a ridge, jolting them up off the snow for a second before slamming back down. Instinctively, Jack’s legs squeezed in around Yuu’s sides to keep them from sliding too far forward. His arms tightened too, one hand braced at the side, the other catching the tube whenever it started to drift.

Yuu shrieked, then immediately burst into laughter so bright Jack almost laughed with them just from the sound of it.

The track was rougher than it looked from below. They hit one bump, then another, and the tube hopped sideways before Jack leaned hard to the left, steering them away from the edge of a cluster of exposed rocks. A few seconds later they hit a dip that lifted them so suddenly both of them left the ground for a breathless moment.

“Watch the turn!” he called, because apparently he was now the responsible one in a situation that involved being hurled downhill in a rubber tube at questionable speed.

“I’m trying!” Yuu shouted back, still laughing hard enough to make the words waver.

Another bump. Another sharp slide.

Jack leaned right this time, narrowly missing a patch of ice and a tree trunk that flashed past just close enough to earn a sharp, startled noise from both of them.

His pulse was beating fast now—not from fear exactly, though there was some of that too—but from the sheer ridiculousness of it all. The cold air, the speed, the rush of being with someone as the world blurred around them. It was different compared to doing it alone on a snowboard. At some point, Jack’s focus bent and it became less about leading the ride and more joining in for the fun 

He got it now.

He understood why people did this for enjoyment. Why his parents had always seemed so fond of the tubing runs when they came here together. With another person in the tube, the whole thing felt different—less like a solo test of balance and more like a shared rush, a sprint through cold air with someone else’s laughter in your ears.

It was more chaotic than snowboarding. Less controlled. 

Far more fun.

Especially when the wind steals your screams and no one is there to judge. 

By the time their tube shot toward the end of the course, both of them were breathless from shouting and clenching their stomachs every time it bounced. Jack barely had time to brace before the run flattened out and they slid to a stop in a spray of snow.

For a second, there was only silence as they caught their breath.

Then Jack leaned forwards, trying to catch the vibrancy back with his pulse in his ears. 

Yuu twisted around in the tube to face him, cheeks flushed, eyes shining so brightly they almost looked lit from within. 

“One more time!” 

Just like before, who was Jack to tell them ‘no’? 

—

By the time evening settled over the lodge, the windows had gone dark with winter night.

Dinner had been simple—salisbury steaks, baked potatoes, and warm rolls from the lodge restaurant—but after a full day out in the cold, it had tasted better than almost anything Jack could remember. Yuu had looked half asleep by the time they’d gotten back to the cabin, all bundled up again and flushed from a dip in the sauna. 

Inside their space, though, the cabin was alive in a different way than when they first settled in. The fireplace crackled softly across the room, casting amber light over the wood-paneled walls and the thick blanket draped around Yuu’s shoulders. They were curled into the corner of the sofa in front of the fire, looking small beneath one of Jack’s heavy blankets and very content about it.

Jack returned a moment later carrying two mugs carefully in his hands.

Hot cocoa steamed from both cups, the scent sweet and rich as he crossed the room and lowered himself onto the couch beside them. It was well past his usual bedtime—far past it, really—but he did not seem even slightly bothered by that fact. If anything, he looked like he had settled into the quiet of the evening as naturally as he did the snow.

Yuu peeked at him over the rim of the blanket. “You’re really staying up this late?”

Jack glanced at the clock, then back at them. “It’s not that late.”

“It is for you.”

He gave them a look that was almost dry enough to count as a joke. “I’m aware.”

That earned a soft laugh from Yuu, and Jack’s tail gave a lazy sweep behind the couch before settling again.

For a while, they simply sat there together, shoulders almost touching, heat from the fire warming their faces while the storm-soft hush of the mountain pressed gently against the windows. Yuu held the mug in both hands, letting the warmth seep into their fingers. Jack leaned back into the cushions with his own cocoa resting carefully in his palm, looking far too calm for someone who had spent the entire day hauling them around the slopes and pretending he was not absolutely charmed by every second of it.

After a little while, Yuu turned toward him.

They lifted their cup without a word, a silent request.

Jack understood immediately. A small smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth as he raised his mug to meet theirs.

The ceramic made a soft, cozy clink.

Yuu smiled at him over the rim. “To Jack,” they said, voice warm with the firelight. “The best guy I’ll ever know. Thank you for bringing me here. I had a lot of fun.” 

Jack froze mid-sip, his grip tightened around the mug handle. He should have expected this, maybe. Yuu was always kind in a way that got under his skin before he had time to brace for it. Too sincere, too sweet, it’s no wonder their enrollment at Night Raven was a fluke. At least partially, since their mind could string sentences most guys there cringed to even think. 

Even him. Jack is not the type to extend an invite to another person. Their company had to be better than his own solitude. Yuu miscontrived his intentions. For that, he was guilty. 

That undeserved admiration settled heavily over his shoulders.

Jack looked at them quietly for a moment, his cocoa forgotten in his hands. The cabin had gone still around them—just the crackling fireplace, the soft hiss of wind outside the windows, and Yuu sitting curled beside him beneath his family’s roof like they belonged there.

Like they belonged with him.

“You’re special,” Jack sighed, resigning himself to honesty’s curse. His voice dipped to a low rumble, short of his usual blunt dictation. 

Yuu blinked at him, clearly caught off guard by the sudden seriousness in his voice.

Jack’s ears twitched once before flattening faintly with embarrassment, but he forced himself to continue instead of retreating from it.

“I meant what I said before,” he admitted. “About wanting to give you a break.” His gaze flicked briefly toward the fire before returning to them. “But that wasn’t the only reason I asked you to come.”

Jack swallowed a thick thought.

“I wanted…” He exhaled slow through his nose. “I wanted time with you. Just you.”

Something in Yuu’s expression softened immediately.

Jack could feel his pulse beating harder now, strangely aware of every inch between them on the couch. The warmth of them. The faint scent of cocoa and cedarwood lingering in the room. The way Yuu’s knee pressed against his when they shifted.

“I like being around you,” he continued, tucking his chin down. “More than anybody else.”

The confession sat between them in the firelight, raw in a way Jack usually hated being.

He waited, not that he could add more if he wanted to. His voice wouldn’t comply. 

“Jack.”

They called, and he turned to face their response with dignity… yet the look on Yuu’s face nearly unraveled him completely. Their eyes were warm and shining in the glow of the fire, their expression so unbearably fond that it made his chest ache.

Yuu moved before he could ask what they were doing, leaning in to press a soft kiss against his cheek. Their lips were warm and quick, and when they pulled back, they reached up with one finger and brushed a little whipped cream from the tip of his nose. He hadn’t realized it was there to begin with. 

“I like spending time with you too.”

That guilt in his stomach dispelled as quick as it made an appearance. 

Something inside him gave way.

He set his mug down quickly on the table beside the couch before it could spill from his suddenly clumsy grip. Then his hand came up to cradle Yuu’s cheek, large and warm against their skin, thumb brushing lightly beneath their eye as though he couldn’t help touching them now that he’d started.

Yuu leaned into his palm, their chest rising with one deep breath.

Before he could wonder what that meant, Jack took the plunge down a new, undiscovered slope. He pulled them in and stole that breath straight from their lungs. 

Yuu made a soft startled sound against his mouth before melting into him almost instantly, one hand catching lightly against the front of his sweater. The kiss tasted faintly of cocoa and whipped cream, sweet and warm from the drinks they’d abandoned moments earlier.

Jack’s fingers flexed gently along Yuu’s cheek as he tilted closer.

He’d imagined this before—more than once, if he was being honest with himself — but reality was somehow worse in the best possible way. Yuu was warm beneath his hand, lips soft against his, their breath mingling with his in little uneven puffs while the fire crackled beside them.

Yuu shifted closer on instinct, and the blanket slipped around both of them as they moved. Jack’s other arm immediately wrapped around their waist to steady them, pulling them into his lap like there was nowhere else they were supposed to be.

The couch cushions dipped beneath the added weight.

Neither of them cared.

Jack kissed them again, slower this time.

He lingered in it.

Savored it.

His thumb stroked softly along Yuu’s cheekbone while their fingers slid upward into the hair at the nape of his neck, gentle enough to make a shiver run down his spine despite the warmth of the room.

Outside, snow drifted quietly past the windows.

Inside, the fire painted a portrait of passion.

Yuu pulled back barely an inch, enough for Jack to feel their smile against his mouth before they leaned in again themselves this time, kissing him with a sweetness that made something deep in his chest tighten painfully.

Mercy.

He liked them so much.

More than he’d realized.

Jack’s forehead rested against theirs when they finally broke apart for air, both of them breathing a little unevenly after the leap they’d just taken together. 

From somewhere deeper in the dorm came a horrifying sound.

“NYAAAAAAAGH — !”

A loud crash followed.

Then silence.

The entire room paused their agenda.

Ace slowly lowered his pen, casting a look down the hall. “...Do we think he survived that one?”

Another miserable wail echoed from the bathroom.

“MY TAIL’S ON FIRE!”

Epel winced. “Okay, naw, ah’m startin’ ta feel kinda bad for him.”

“You weren’t saying that twenty minutes ago,” Deuce pointed out without looking up from his notes.

“Twenty minutes ago Ah didn’ know the smoke was gonna start comin’ out under the bathroom door!”

As if summoned by the statement, a faint curl of dark brown smoke drifted down the hallway.

Yuu let out a long, exhausted sigh and dropped their forehead directly onto the open pages of their textbook.

“I just want one normal evening,” they groaned into the paper.

Jack’s ears twitched. For the first time, he looked up from his notes packet. 

Ace snorted immediately. “You took pity on him on the first day. That was your mistake.”

“I’m serious,” Yuu mumbled, finally lifting their head enough to look around at the group. Their expression was worn down in the particular way only Grim-related disasters could accomplish. “One. Just one normal study night. No ghosts. No explosions. No weird curses.”

Another shriek erupted from the bathroom.

“IT BURNS WHEN I FART!”

Yuu closed their eyes. “And no explosive diarrhea.”

Deuce physically recoiled at the phrase. “You really didn’t have to say it like that.”

“How else am I supposed to say it?!” Yuu threw both hands into the air. “He keeps farting fire! Actual fire, Deuce!”

Right on cue, there was a muffled fwump from the hallway followed by Grim hacking up a hairball. A faint orange glow flickered beneath the bathroom door.

Ace burst into laughter so suddenly he nearly slid off the couch.

“Oh my god, he really is shooting flames out of his ass! I thought you were kidding earlier!”

“Ace!” Deuce snapped, horrified.

“What? He is!”

Jack pinched the bridge of his nose, silently sliding Yuu’s textbook out before they could give themselves a welt.

Epel looked deeply conflicted between concern and amusement. His upper lip twitched in the space between  “What did he even eat?”

“That raspberry-looking plant from alchemy,” Yuu answered miserably.

Jack immediately looked up from his pilfering. “The red one with the spotted leaves?”

“Yeah.”

“That wasn’t a raspberry.” Jack clicked his tongue. 

Yuu sighed, their wrinkles beginning to form wrinkles. “I know that now.”

Ace barked another laugh, close to a strangled garble.

Yuu pointed accusingly toward him and every other mage in the room. “Why does a plant that looks exactly like a raspberry make someone fart fire?! Who invented that?! What sicko in this world thought cultivating that sort of thing would help society?!”

“This is why Professor Crewel says not to ingest random ingredients,” Jack said flatly.

“Okay, in Grim’s defense,” Ace cut in, grinning, “he probably thought eating the magic ingredient would make him stronger or something.”

Another agonized cry rang through the dorm.

“YUUUU! MY TAIL’S GONNA FALL OFF—!” 

Deuce looked increasingly alarmed. “Should we maybe take him to the infirmary?”

“He already went,” Yuu replied tiredly. “They said he just has to ‘let the effects pass naturally.’”

“THERE’S NO NATURAL ABOUT THIS!”

“You’ll live!” Yuu called back automatically.

“IT AIN’T LIVIN’ IF I CAN’T SIT DOWN!”

Jack pinched the bridge of his nose while his tail thumped once against the couch cushion in poorly concealed amusement.

“I don’t like how you’re used to this, but I’m not surprised either.”

Yuu looked him dead in the eye.

“Jack. Three weeks ago he swallowed an entire bottle of shrinking potion because he thought it was grape soda.”

“…Right.”

“And one time he set the foyer curtains on fire while trying to roast chestnuts indoors.”

Ace perked up. “Oh yeah, I forgot about that one! Do you still have them?” 

Without further comment, Yuu juts their thumb towards the nearest hallway. Ace stretched his neck to see the mangled curtain covering only half of the archway window. 

“How do you forget about that one?” Deuce snorted a laugh,”he was missing a patch of fur on his scalp for months.”

“Well now I’ll be shocked if he comes out with anything but a singed ass,” Ace rolled his eyes, “maybe he’ll wear pants now.” 

Another distant explosion echoed through Ramshackle.

Silence settled over the room afterward.

“…Ah can smell smoke,” Epel whispered.

Yuu sighed the sigh of someone aged beyond their years. “Yeah. Me too.”

Jack glanced toward the hall again, brows furrowed. For all his usual bluntness, there was genuine concern beneath it now. “…Should somebody check on him?”

Before Yuu could answer, Grim came tearing around the corner at full speed.

His fur was puffed out twice its normal size, eyes wild with panic, and smoke curled faintly behind him like a cartoon fuse.

“I THINK IT’S GETTIN’ WORSE. CALL SOMEONE PLEASE —”

FWOOF.

A burst of flame shot from behind him.

Ace snickered so hard he had to fold over the arm of the chair. Deuce made a helpless noise that was half groan and half laugh. Epel buried his face in his sleeve, shoulders shaking. Even Jack looked like he was fighting the impulse. 

Yuu simply closed their textbook with the exhausted calm of someone who had already accepted their fate hours ago.

“Come on. Let’s go see if Crewel isn’t upset with you anymore.”

—

Crowley’s announcement about an extended weekend was barely up an hour before the entire campus lit with excitement.

Students flooded the halls making plans, arguing over reservations, scrambling to book train tickets home before everything filled up. Even Ramshackle wasn’t immune to it. Grim spent the last twenty minutes dramatically lamenting that nobody ever took him on luxurious vacations despite the fact he is practically a “campus celebrity”. 

Yuu tuned him out, for the most part.

They were currently crouched beside the old couch in Ramshackle’s living room trying to untangle a charging cord that had somehow wrapped itself around one of the table legs. The late afternoon light filtering through the dusty windows painted the room gold, and outside they could hear the distant chatter of students heading back from classes.

The front door creaked open.

“Yuu?”

Jack’s voice carried easily through the dorm, deep and familiar.

“In here!” they called back.

Heavy footsteps crossed the floorboards before he appeared in the doorway of the living room. He had his gym bag slung over one shoulder, ashen hair slightly damp around the edges like he’d showered recently after practice. His ears twitched once when he spotted them half underneath the coffee table.

“…What are you doing?”

Yuu looked up blandly, holding up the tangled mess of cord. “Fighting for my life.”

Jack snorted through his nose.

It was brief, but Yuu had learned by now that Jack’s quieter reactions usually meant he found something genuinely funny.

They finally tugged the cord free with a victorious little “Ha!” before standing up and dusting off their knees.

“So,” they said, “what’s up?”

Jack shifted his weight.

Immediately, Yuu noticed something slightly…off.

Jack was normally straightforward to the point of bluntness. If he had something to say, he usually just said it. But now his gaze flicked away for half a second, one hand adjusting unnecessarily on the strap of his bag.

His ears angled back faintly.

“There’s a long weekend coming up,” he said. “My family usually heads to a ski lodge in the Shaftlands around this time. We’ve got a membership there.”

Yuu leaned back against the arm of the couch, watching him curiously. The explanation sounded rehearsed somehow, like he’d been thinking about how to bring this up for a while.

Jack continued before the silence could stretch too long.

“My siblings like going every year. There’s good snow this season, apparently.” His ears flicked once. “So I was thinking…”

He hesitated, took his cheek between his teeth. Amber eyes dodged Yuu carefully in a game of stalling. 

Then he finally looked at them properly.

“Do you…want to come with me?”

Yuu blinked.

For a second, they genuinely thought they’d misheard him.

“…Wait,” they said slowly. “Really?”

A faint flush crept onto Jack’s face almost immediately, visible even beneath the darker tone of his skin. He looked away first, shoulders stiffening just slightly as though he already regretted phrasing it so bluntly.

“Yeah,” he muttered.

Yuu stared at him another second before narrowing their eyes suspiciously.

“What’s the catch?”

“There isn’t one.”

“You’re inviting me on a vacation trip. There is absolutely a catch. A fee?”

Jack exhaled through his nose, somewhere between amused and exasperated. “No catch. I just…” He adjusted the strap of his gym bag unnecessarily. “Thought you could use a break.”

The last part came as a flustered mutter, his ears flattened down.

And before Yuu could brush it off or joke again, he quickly added, “Besides, I never really repaid you for helping with the mess in Savanaclaw when we first met.”

“The magift incident?” Yuu asked, the first thing on their mind. 

Jack nodded once, not eager to discuss the details of his dorm’s shame. 

Yuu couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped them. “Jack, you’ve repaid me like ten times over since then.”

“I haven’t.” he argued. 

“You helped me deal with Azul, dummy.”

“That’s different.”

Crowley made the request, and he couldn’t in good conscience leave you to suffer when the other three idiots fell to Ashengrotto’s mercy. 

“You also fix things around Ramshackle constantly.” Yuu gestured vaguely around the room. “The window latch. The porch steps. My hair dryer last week—”

“True,” Jack interrupted, ears twitching faintly. “But I broke that first.”

He’d stopped by for a shower after his morning run, and they’d leant it to him before class. The clogged fan was more-so their own fault yet he still replaced it. 

Jack’s mouth twitched faintly at the corners, the closest thing he usually got to a grin when he had full control. Which he tried to maintain with their eyes scrutinizing every subtle shuffle on his feet. 

Jack finally looked back at Yuu, more serious this time.

“So,” he dragged out, cutting clean through the moment before either of them could dance around it any longer. “Do you want to come?

There was something earnest in the way he asked it now. Not awkward exactly, Jack was too proud for that, but careful in a way Yuu wasn’t used to seeing from him. You opened their mouth to answer, but paused. 

Their nose scrunched up with an afterthought. “What about Grim?”  

The question was practical.. Leaving Ramshackle unattended overnight was one thing.

Leaving Grim unattended was another entirely.

“I already asked Ruggie senpai to watch him.” Jack assured, setting his shoulder back a bit. 

Yuu blinked, shocked. 

“You asked him before asking me?”

Jack looked faintly defensive at that. “Well, yeah. I wasn’t gonna invite you if you couldn’t actually go.”

Jack shifted slightly where he stood near the doorway, one hand still hooked around the strap of his gym bag. There was a quiet confidence to the answer, like this had been settled before he’d even stepped foot inside Ramshackle today.

The thought stirred something in Yuu’s chest. He really meant to give them a break. 

Jack shifted his weight, one hand still hooked around the strap of his gym bag. “Besides, Grim knows Ruggie senpai already. It’s not like he’d be stuck with a stranger.”

“True,” Yuu admitted slowly, though their eyes narrowed a second later. “How much did Ruggie charge you?”

Jack looked away.

That deflection was answer enough.

“…Jack.”

“It wasn’t that bad, believe me.”

“Jack.”

Said man heaved a sigh from his chest. “How much he charged is between him and me, but it’s not unreasonable. So quit looking at me that, alright?” 

He wouldn’t so much as think of the number. Ruggie’s resourcefulness would truly remain a mystery from them and anyone else who wanted to stick their nose in it. 

Rather than drag the painful silence out, Jack jut his chin in their direction. Amber eyes locked pointedly on the drapes behind them rather than see that pitying expression. 

The silent question sat between them for a third time, along with the travel pass in his back pocket. 

A ski trip with Jack.

Cold mountain air. Snow. A few days away from NRC chaos.

Yuu’s eyes crinkled at the corners at the very thought.

“…Yeah,” they said. “I do. Pick me up on Friday? ”

Jack gave them a curt nod before shuffling to tug a small brochure from the lodge out of his duffle bag. It was kept pristine, likely safe in a pocket rather than smooshed with his gym belongings. He handed it over to them with formal courtesy, yet the gentle sway of his tail gave away exactly how glad he was for their decision. 

---

The Shaftland mountaintops are more breathtaking than any hill on the Island of Sages. 

That was Yuu’s first coherent thought, stepping out of the shuttle and into the crisp mountain air.

Snow blanketed everything in soft white layers, thick over the rooftops and piled high along the paths winding between cabins. The surrounding pines glittered with frost beneath the late afternoon sun, and somewhere in the distance Yuu could hear the muffled sounds of people laughing near the slopes.

Their breath fogged in front of them immediately.

“Oh, wow,” they murmured in awe.

Beside them, Jack adjusted the duffel bag over one shoulder, looking considerably more at home in the cold than Yuu did. His ears twitched slightly in the mountain wind.

“Told you it was nice.”

“Nice?” Yuu repeated, looking around in disbelief. “Jack, this place is gorgeous.”

Something pleased flickered briefly across his face at their reaction before he looked away again.

The lodge itself sat further up the mountain, all warm golden lights and dark wood beams against the snow. Smaller family cabins dotted the surrounding area, smoke curling lazily from chimneys.

As they started up the path, Jack cleared his throat.

“So… there’s something I should probably mention first.”

Yuu glanced at him. “That sounds ominous.”

“It’s not.” He paused. “It’s just that my siblings aren’t here.”

“Oh?”

“My sister got grounded for sneaking out.”

Yuu snorted, watching as an elder-brother 's worries drag Jack’s expression to something miserable.

“And my brother ditched the trip for a date.”

That made them fully stop walking, raising a brow with an impish glint.

“…Your little brother?”

Jack looked deeply unimpressed. “Yeah.”

Yuu stared at him for one long second before their shoulders shook.

“No way.”

“Don’t start.”Jack flicked their forehead, “We can still go back to school.”

“Jack Howl got abandoned for a date by his baby brother?”

“He’s not a baby. He’s a rebellious tween who thinks he knows everything.”

“Yet he has better game than you.”

Jack groaned while Yuu skipped beside him, boots crunching through the snow again as they continued up the path.

“It’s not funny.”

“It’s a little funny.” They pinched their fingers together with just a millimeter from touching.

His tail flicked behind him in annoyance, though Yuu caught the faint twitch at the corner of his mouth.

Still, after a moment, Jack glanced sideways at them again.

“…You don’t mind, right?” The question was casual on the surface, but Yuu noticed the subtle hesitation underneath it. Without his siblings, they’d be alone overnight. He was trying to gauge whether this suddenly becoming a trip with just the two of them changed anything. The last thing Jack wanted to be was inconsiderate. 

Yuu schooled the nerves bundling deep down. 

“Jack,” they said, “I agreed to come because I wanted to spend time with you. We can pester your siblings next time.”

Jack nearly missed a step up the pathway, just as his cheeks finally took that tinted color. Although unlike the people surrounding them, his flush wasn't from the cold.

“…Right,” he muttered.

Yuu hid their smile behind the collar of their coat.

—

By the time they reached the cabin area, snow had already started dusting lightly from the sky again.

Jack stopped in front of a large cabin tucked near the edge of the woods. Warm light glowed through the windows, and the entire place looked cozy enough to belong in a postcard.

“This is yours?” Yuu asked.

“My family’s,” Jack corrected as he unlocked the door.

The inside was even nicer.

Warm wooden walls, thick rugs, a massive stone fireplace already crackling with heat. The air smelled faintly like cedar and smoke, and Yuu immediately felt their frozen fingers start thawing.

“This is huge,” they took it in as Jack carried both their bags inside before they could protest.

“It’s easier when everybody comes up together.” He set the luggage down near the small kitchen archway. “My grandparents stay here sometimes too.”

Yuu wandered a little further into the living area, still taking everything in, before turning back toward him.

“So where am I sleeping?”

Jack answered so quickly it almost sounded rehearsed.

“You can take my room.”

Yuu blinked. “Jack, I can just use a guest room.”

“There isn’t really one,” he admitted. “And I figured you’d probably be more comfortable in mine than sleeping around a bunch of my family’s stuff.”

“Oh.”

The sudden thoughtfulness of that hit harder than expected, but this was Jack. They should have expected him to think ten steps ahead.

Jack rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “I’ll stay in my parents’ room. They’re not using it this weekend anyway.”

“You don’t have to give up your room for me.”

“It’s fine.”

And judging by the firm look on his face, arguing about it would go nowhere.

Yuu smiled a little instead.

“…Thanks, Jack.”

His ears flicked upward slightly at the sound of his name spoken so softly.

Then, before the moment could linger too long, he grabbed one of the bags again and jerked his head toward the hallway.

“C’mon,” he said. “I’ll show you where everything is.”

—-

By the time they were ready to leave the cabin, the afternoon properly settled in around the mountain, turning the snow outside bright and almost blinding beneath a pale winter sky.

Yuu stood near the front door in a bundle of borrowed layers, blinking down at themselves as they adjusted the cuffs of the cream puffer coat Jack had handed over from his mother’s closet. It was warmer than anything they’d brought, thick and soft-lined, with a pale, almost feminine cut to it that made it look a little too cute on them in a way they were not entirely prepared for. The matching gloves were a little oversized, and the fluffy ushanka hat kept slipping low over their ears.

Jack, who had apparently decided this was normal and not at all worth commenting on, was tightening the strap on his own gear nearby.

“This is your mom’s?” Yuu asked, tugging the sleeve down over their wrist.

“Yes,” Jack said, glancing over. His gaze traveled briefly over the fit before he nodded once, apparently satisfied. “It suits you.”

Yuu paused.

That earned them an immediate, suspiciously casual look from Jack as he finished fastening his boots.

“It’s just winter gear. Don’t make a big deal about it,” he added, though the faint rise of color on his cheeks suggested he’d been thinking something else entirely.

Yuu smiled to themselves and turned toward the mirror near the entryway just long enough to catch their reflection. Between the soft coat, the scarf wrapped high around their neck, and the fluffy earflap hat Jack’s mother had lent them, they looked warmer than they ever had in their life.

Also, annoyingly adorable.

“I can’t believe you let me wear something this cute,” they said, turning back to him.

Jack huffed softly through his nose. “You act like that’s a bad thing.”

A few minutes later, they were outside, heading toward the slopes with the cold air crisp against their cheeks and the snow crunching under their boots. Jack carried most of the gear without complaint, snowboard tucked under one arm and an extra tube under the other. The beginner slope was already busy with other guests in the distance, though not so crowded that it felt overwhelming. Everything around them shimmered with winter light and movement — people socializing, ski poles flashing, the distant whoosh of snow underboards.

Yuu looked around with wide eyes. “I didn’t expect there to be so many people this time of year.”

Jack glanced at them and gave a small nod. “Told you.It’s a popular spot for tourism. If we went an hour south, you’d be near where Epel’s from.”

“I know, but still.”

He seemed pleased by that in the quiet way he usually was, and for a moment he looked almost at peace here, as if the mountain had been built specifically for him.

Yuu’s gaze dropped to the snowboard in his hand, then to the tube, and they made a face.

“I should warn you,” they said, “I have never skied or snowboarded in my life.”

Jack stopped walking.

“…Never?”

“Nope.”

He studied them for a moment, then said, carefully, “If you want, I can teach you. But maybe not today.”

Yuu blinked. “Why not today?”

Jack gave them a look that was somehow both patient and practical. “Because it’s your first time, and I’d rather not send you down a slope headfirst when you’ve got only one day here.”

Yuu made a soft, offended sound. “I’m not that fragile.”

“Maybe next time,” Jack continued, tone easing a little. “When we have more than one day.”

The wording did something unhelpful and warm to Yuu’s chest, but before they could poke at it, Jack adjusted his grip on the tube and nodded toward the beginner slope.

“There are sled tubes,” he said. “You can start with the bunny run.”

He almost wanted to say it suited them, given how those ear covers knocked their intimidation factor from neutral to docile. Yet thought better of it. 

At the lift, Jack stood behind them when they boarded, one steady hand settling at their waist for balance as the seat swung slightly under their weight. Yuu startled a little at first, then relaxed when they realized he was just making sure they didn’t slip.

The cold air brushed their face as the lift began to rise, carrying them over the white slope below. From up here, the mountain looked even prettier — wide stretches of untouched snow, the sharp line of the trees, and tiny skiers moving like dots below them.

Jack kept one hand lightly at their side, careful and grounding.

“You okay?” he asked.

Yuu leaned back a little, watching the slope grow farther below them. “I think I’m too busy being impressed to be nervous.”

“That’s good.”

He looked ahead again, posture easy but alert in the way it always was. The quiet between them felt comfortable rather than awkward, broken only by the creak of the lift and the distant rush of wind.

By the time they reached the beginner run, Jack dismounted smoothly and then turned back to help Yuu down. He took the tube next, setting it on the snow and patting the inner edge.

“Sit.”

Yuu obeyed, then immediately looked uncertain once they were settled into the tube. “This feels suspiciously like the prelude to disaster and I don’t have health insurance.”

“It isn’t, I promise.” He bit his lip not to laugh. 

Jack knelt slightly in front of them, checking the tube’s position, then adjusted their gloves where they held the handles. “Hold on tight.”

Yuu’s fingers tightened obediently.

Jack’s gaze sharpened just a little. “You’re sure you want to do this?”

Yuu looked up at him. “Yes.”

He didn’t ask again. 

“You want me to send you down?”

That made them hesitate for half a second, but only half. “Yes.”

He held their gaze one second longer, clearly making sure they meant it, before his expression eased. Satisfied, he nodded once.

“Okay.”

Then, with one quick shove of his foot against the side of the tube, he sent them careening down the slope.

Yuu’s scream split the air almost immediately. His ears flicked back on recoil.

Jack followed on his snowboard right after, pushing off with easy control, and for one brief moment he heard nothing but wind —

Then Yuu’s screams broke into laughter.

He caught the sound immediately, sharp and bright over the snowbend.

Jack’s mouth twitched.

Apparently they were enjoying themselves  enough.

He kicked harder, carving down the slope after them while their laughter carried back up to him again and again, warm and delighted and entirely unlike the nervous sound they’d made only minutes before.

At the bottom, Yuu wobbled upright in the tube, cheeks flushed red from the cold and from laughing so hard they could barely breathe. Their hair had come loose from beneath the hat in a messy windblown halo, and they looked thoroughly thrilled.

The tube had half-swallowed them on landing, awkwardly stuck around their hips while they tried unsuccessfully to stand.

“It won’t let me out,” they wheezed.

Jack stepped off his board, amusement obvious now as he grabbed both their hands.

“One, two—”

With a firm tug, Jack pulled them free at last, and Yuu nearly stumbled straight into him before catching themselves. They were still laughing, breathless and bright-eyed, when Jack looked down at them and asked, feigning nonchalance, “Did you like it?” 

Yuu was still trying to recover enough to answer properly, but the smile on their face said everything.

Jack’s gaze softened by a fraction. “Your voice is usually easy to pick out of a crowd,” he huffed a laugh. “But all I heard going down was you.”

Yuu laughed again, breath fogging in the cold air.

Then suddenly they pointed straight up the mountainside.

“Again!”

“Okay,” Jack said easily, stepping back to grab their gear. “C’mon, let’s head ba—”

“No.” Yuu pointed further upward toward another slope entirely. He followed their goal to the advanced placement course. The black diamond. His teeth clenched.

“That one! I want to do that one!” 

—

By the time they reached the top of the black diamond course, Jack was beginning to understand exactly what his senpai meant when they called Yuu his weak spot.

He had told himself it was a bad idea almost the entire way up.

Not because he doubted Yuu’s courage. That was a reoccuring  problem, actually. They had far too much of it.

The second they flashed him that bright, reckless smile and pointed toward the advanced slope, every sensible thought he had about maybe this is too much for a first day had gone right out of his head.

He just couldn’t say ‘no’. 

So instead of refusing, he ended up hauling a two-person tube up the slope while Yuu practically bounced beside him, still buzzing from the first ride like they had just discovered the meaning of life.

At the top, Jack set the tube down in the snow and exhaled slowly, watching his breath fog in the cold air. The slope ahead dropped away sharply, fast and narrow, with hard-packed snow and enough natural bumps to send even a good rider airborne if they hit it right. It was the kind of course that looked fun only after you survived it.

Yuu, naturally, looked thrilled. He forgot how easily they adapted. 

Jack glanced at them, then pointed toward the front of the tube. “You sit there.”

Yuu blinked. “Why?”

“Because I’m heavier,” he said, already stepping around them, “and the back will stay steadier that way.”

Their expression shifted into open amusement. “You’re just worried I’ll fall out, there’s a chasm between your eyebrows that’s going to leave a mark.”

Jack did not answer immediately, mainly because they weren’t wrong and he wasn’t about to tell a boldfaced lie. 

Yuu grinned wider and climbed into the front of the tube with far too much enthusiasm, settling in and gripping the handles. Jack moved behind them, bracing one knee in the snow as he lowered himself into place. The tube dipped slightly beneath his weight, and he immediately adjusted, one arm coming around to steady the side.

His hands hovered for a second at Yuu’s waist, then settled on the handles once he was sure they were secure.

“Hold on,” he commanded, curt. “Don’t let go and keep your feet from skidding.” 

Yuu looked back over their shoulder, eyes shining with ice globs clinging to their hair. “If we hit a rock, do you think it’ll launch me?.”

“Yes. So let’s not.” Jack discouraged the thought, not finding their human slingshot funny. 

That earned him a laugh, soft and delighted, and Jack had the completely unhelpful thought that they looked especially pretty like this—cheeks pink from the cold, hair dusted with melting snow, eyes bright with anticipation.

He looked away before that thought could become anything more dangerous. They’re here for a break. Nothing more. 

Yuu, apparently not intending to give him a chance to recover, rocked eagerly in the tube. “You ready?”

Jack let out a quiet breath. “No.”

He gave one last look down the course, gauged the line ahead, then braced himself.

When he kicked off, the tube lurched forward hard enough to make Yuu yelp, and then they were flying.

The first straight down drop sent them both into screaming. Albeit Jack’s was far less pitched and more from a sink in his chest. 

Cold wind tore at Jack’s ears. The tube bounced hard over a ridge, jolting them up off the snow for a second before slamming back down. Instinctively, Jack’s legs squeezed in around Yuu’s sides to keep them from sliding too far forward. His arms tightened too, one hand braced at the side, the other catching the tube whenever it started to drift.

Yuu shrieked, then immediately burst into laughter so bright Jack almost laughed with them just from the sound of it.

The track was rougher than it looked from below. They hit one bump, then another, and the tube hopped sideways before Jack leaned hard to the left, steering them away from the edge of a cluster of exposed rocks. A few seconds later they hit a dip that lifted them so suddenly both of them left the ground for a breathless moment.

“Watch the turn!” he called, because apparently he was now the responsible one in a situation that involved being hurled downhill in a rubber tube at questionable speed.

“I’m trying!” Yuu shouted back, still laughing hard enough to make the words waver.

Another bump. Another sharp slide.

Jack leaned right this time, narrowly missing a patch of ice and a tree trunk that flashed past just close enough to earn a sharp, startled noise from both of them.

His pulse was beating fast now—not from fear exactly, though there was some of that too—but from the sheer ridiculousness of it all. The cold air, the speed, the rush of being with someone as the world blurred around them. It was different compared to doing it alone on a snowboard. At some point, Jack’s focus bent and it became less about leading the ride and more joining in for the fun 

He got it now.

He understood why people did this for enjoyment. Why his parents had always seemed so fond of the tubing runs when they came here together. With another person in the tube, the whole thing felt different—less like a solo test of balance and more like a shared rush, a sprint through cold air with someone else’s laughter in your ears.

It was more chaotic than snowboarding. Less controlled. 

Far more fun.

Especially when the wind steals your screams and no one is there to judge. 

By the time their tube shot toward the end of the course, both of them were breathless from shouting and clenching their stomachs every time it bounced. Jack barely had time to brace before the run flattened out and they slid to a stop in a spray of snow.

For a second, there was only silence as they caught their breath.

Then Jack leaned forwards, trying to catch the vibrancy back with his pulse in his ears. 

Yuu twisted around in the tube to face him, cheeks flushed, eyes shining so brightly they almost looked lit from within. 

“One more time!” 

Just like before, who was Jack to tell them ‘no’? 

—

By the time evening settled over the lodge, the windows had gone dark with winter night.

Dinner had been simple—salisbury steaks, baked potatoes, and warm rolls from the lodge restaurant—but after a full day out in the cold, it had tasted better than almost anything Jack could remember. Yuu had looked half asleep by the time they’d gotten back to the cabin, all bundled up again and flushed from a dip in the sauna. 

Inside their space, though, the cabin was alive in a different way than when they first settled in. The fireplace crackled softly across the room, casting amber light over the wood-paneled walls and the thick blanket draped around Yuu’s shoulders. They were curled into the corner of the sofa in front of the fire, looking small beneath one of Jack’s heavy blankets and very content about it.

Jack returned a moment later carrying two mugs carefully in his hands.

Hot cocoa steamed from both cups, the scent sweet and rich as he crossed the room and lowered himself onto the couch beside them. It was well past his usual bedtime—far past it, really—but he did not seem even slightly bothered by that fact. If anything, he looked like he had settled into the quiet of the evening as naturally as he did the snow.

Yuu peeked at him over the rim of the blanket. “You’re really staying up this late?”

Jack glanced at the clock, then back at them. “It’s not that late.”

“It is for you.”

He gave them a look that was almost dry enough to count as a joke. “I’m aware.”

That earned a soft laugh from Yuu, and Jack’s tail gave a lazy sweep behind the couch before settling again.

For a while, they simply sat there together, shoulders almost touching, heat from the fire warming their faces while the storm-soft hush of the mountain pressed gently against the windows. Yuu held the mug in both hands, letting the warmth seep into their fingers. Jack leaned back into the cushions with his own cocoa resting carefully in his palm, looking far too calm for someone who had spent the entire day hauling them around the slopes and pretending he was not absolutely charmed by every second of it.

After a little while, Yuu turned toward him.

They lifted their cup without a word, a silent request.

Jack understood immediately. A small smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth as he raised his mug to meet theirs.

The ceramic made a soft, cozy clink.

Yuu smiled at him over the rim. “To Jack,” they said, voice warm with the firelight. “The best guy I’ll ever know. Thank you for bringing me here. I had a lot of fun.” 

Jack froze mid-sip, his grip tightened around the mug handle. He should have expected this, maybe. Yuu was always kind in a way that got under his skin before he had time to brace for it. Too sincere, too sweet, it’s no wonder their enrollment at Night Raven was a fluke. At least partially, since their mind could string sentences most guys there cringed to even think. 

Even him. Jack is not the type to extend an invite to another person. Their company had to be better than his own solitude. Yuu miscontrived his intentions. For that, he was guilty. 

That undeserved admiration settled heavily over his shoulders.

Jack looked at them quietly for a moment, his cocoa forgotten in his hands. The cabin had gone still around them—just the crackling fireplace, the soft hiss of wind outside the windows, and Yuu sitting curled beside him beneath his family’s roof like they belonged there.

Like they belonged with him.

“You’re special,” Jack sighed, resigning himself to honesty’s curse. His voice dipped to a low rumble, short of his usual blunt dictation. 

Yuu blinked at him, clearly caught off guard by the sudden seriousness in his voice.

Jack’s ears twitched once before flattening faintly with embarrassment, but he forced himself to continue instead of retreating from it.

“I meant what I said before,” he admitted. “About wanting to give you a break.” His gaze flicked briefly toward the fire before returning to them. “But that wasn’t the only reason I asked you to come.”

Jack swallowed a thick thought.

“I wanted…” He exhaled slow through his nose. “I wanted time with you. Just you.”

Something in Yuu’s expression softened immediately.

Jack could feel his pulse beating harder now, strangely aware of every inch between them on the couch. The warmth of them. The faint scent of cocoa and cedarwood lingering in the room. The way Yuu’s knee pressed against his when they shifted.

“I like being around you,” he continued, tucking his chin down. “More than anybody else.”

The confession sat between them in the firelight, raw in a way Jack usually hated being.

He waited, not that he could add more if he wanted to. His voice wouldn’t comply. 

“Jack.”

They called, and he turned to face their response with dignity… yet the look on Yuu’s face nearly unraveled him completely. Their eyes were warm and shining in the glow of the fire, their expression so unbearably fond that it made his chest ache.

Yuu moved before he could ask what they were doing, leaning in to press a soft kiss against his cheek. Their lips were warm and quick, and when they pulled back, they reached up with one finger and brushed a little whipped cream from the tip of his nose. He hadn’t realized it was there to begin with. 

“I like spending time with you too.”

That guilt in his stomach dispelled as quick as it made an appearance. 

Something inside him gave way.

He set his mug down quickly on the table beside the couch before it could spill from his suddenly clumsy grip. Then his hand came up to cradle Yuu’s cheek, large and warm against their skin, thumb brushing lightly beneath their eye as though he couldn’t help touching them now that he’d started.

Yuu leaned into his palm, their chest rising with one deep breath.

Before he could wonder what that meant, Jack took the plunge down a new, undiscovered slope. He pulled them in and stole that breath straight from their lungs. 

Yuu made a soft startled sound against his mouth before melting into him almost instantly, one hand catching lightly against the front of his sweater. The kiss tasted faintly of cocoa and whipped cream, sweet and warm from the drinks they’d abandoned moments earlier.

Jack’s fingers flexed gently along Yuu’s cheek as he tilted closer.

He’d imagined this before—more than once, if he was being honest with himself — but reality was somehow worse in the best possible way. Yuu was warm beneath his hand, lips soft against his, their breath mingling with his in little uneven puffs while the fire crackled beside them.

Yuu shifted closer on instinct, and the blanket slipped around both of them as they moved. Jack’s other arm immediately wrapped around their waist to steady them, pulling them into his lap like there was nowhere else they were supposed to be.

The couch cushions dipped beneath the added weight.

Neither of them cared.

Jack kissed them again, slower this time.

He lingered in it.

Savored it.

His thumb stroked softly along Yuu’s cheekbone while their fingers slid upward into the hair at the nape of his neck, gentle enough to make a shiver run down his spine despite the warmth of the room.

Outside, snow drifted quietly past the windows.

Inside, the fire painted a portrait of passion.

Yuu pulled back barely an inch, enough for Jack to feel their smile against his mouth before they leaned in again themselves this time, kissing him with a sweetness that made something deep in his chest tighten painfully.

Mercy.

He liked them so much.

More than he’d realized.

Jack’s forehead rested against theirs when they finally broke apart for air, both of them breathing a little unevenly after the leap they’d just taken together. 

From somewhere deeper in the dorm came a horrifying sound.

“NYAAAAAAAGH — !”

A loud crash followed.

Then silence.

The entire room paused their agenda.

Ace slowly lowered his pen, casting a look down the hall. “...Do we think he survived that one?”

Another miserable wail echoed from the bathroom.

“MY TAIL’S ON FIRE!”

Epel winced. “Okay, naw, ah’m startin’ ta feel kinda bad for him.”

“You weren’t saying that twenty minutes ago,” Deuce pointed out without looking up from his notes.

“Twenty minutes ago Ah didn’ know the smoke was gonna start comin’ out under the bathroom door!”

As if summoned by the statement, a faint curl of dark brown smoke drifted down the hallway.

Yuu let out a long, exhausted sigh and dropped their forehead directly onto the open pages of their textbook.

“I just want one normal evening,” they groaned into the paper.

Jack’s ears twitched. For the first time, he looked up from his notes packet. 

Ace snorted immediately. “You took pity on him on the first day. That was your mistake.”

“I’m serious,” Yuu mumbled, finally lifting their head enough to look around at the group. Their expression was worn down in the particular way only Grim-related disasters could accomplish. “One. Just one normal study night. No ghosts. No explosions. No weird curses.”

Another shriek erupted from the bathroom.

“IT BURNS WHEN I FART!”

Yuu closed their eyes. “And no explosive diarrhea.”

Deuce physically recoiled at the phrase. “You really didn’t have to say it like that.”

“How else am I supposed to say it?!” Yuu threw both hands into the air. “He keeps farting fire! Actual fire, Deuce!”

Right on cue, there was a muffled fwump from the hallway followed by Grim hacking up a hairball. A faint orange glow flickered beneath the bathroom door.

Ace burst into laughter so suddenly he nearly slid off the couch.

“Oh my god, he really is shooting flames out of his ass! I thought you were kidding earlier!”

“Ace!” Deuce snapped, horrified.

“What? He is!”

Jack pinched the bridge of his nose, silently sliding Yuu’s textbook out before they could give themselves a welt.

Epel looked deeply conflicted between concern and amusement. His upper lip twitched in the space between  “What did he even eat?”

“That raspberry-looking plant from alchemy,” Yuu answered miserably.

Jack immediately looked up from his pilfering. “The red one with the spotted leaves?”

“Yeah.”

“That wasn’t a raspberry.” Jack clicked his tongue. 

Yuu sighed, their wrinkles beginning to form wrinkles. “I know that now.”

Ace barked another laugh, close to a strangled garble.

Yuu pointed accusingly toward him and every other mage in the room. “Why does a plant that looks exactly like a raspberry make someone fart fire?! Who invented that?! What sicko in this world thought cultivating that sort of thing would help society?!”

“This is why Professor Crewel says not to ingest random ingredients,” Jack said flatly.

“Okay, in Grim’s defense,” Ace cut in, grinning, “he probably thought eating the magic ingredient would make him stronger or something.”

Another agonized cry rang through the dorm.

“YUUUU! MY TAIL’S GONNA FALL OFF—!” 

Deuce looked increasingly alarmed. “Should we maybe take him to the infirmary?”

“He already went,” Yuu replied tiredly. “They said he just has to ‘let the effects pass naturally.’”

“THERE’S NO NATURAL ABOUT THIS!”

“You’ll live!” Yuu called back automatically.

“IT AIN’T LIVIN’ IF I CAN’T SIT DOWN!”

Jack pinched the bridge of his nose while his tail thumped once against the couch cushion in poorly concealed amusement.

“I don’t like how you’re used to this, but I’m not surprised either.”

Yuu looked him dead in the eye.

“Jack. Three weeks ago he swallowed an entire bottle of shrinking potion because he thought it was grape soda.”

“…Right.”

“And one time he set the foyer curtains on fire while trying to roast chestnuts indoors.”

Ace perked up. “Oh yeah, I forgot about that one! Do you still have them?” 

Without further comment, Yuu juts their thumb towards the nearest hallway. Ace stretched his neck to see the mangled curtain covering only half of the archway window. 

“How do you forget about that one?” Deuce snorted a laugh,”he was missing a patch of fur on his scalp for months.”

“Well now I’ll be shocked if he comes out with anything but a singed ass,” Ace rolled his eyes, “maybe he’ll wear pants now.” 

Another distant explosion echoed through Ramshackle.

Silence settled over the room afterward.

“…Ah can smell smoke,” Epel whispered.

Yuu sighed the sigh of someone aged beyond their years. “Yeah. Me too.”

Jack glanced toward the hall again, brows furrowed. For all his usual bluntness, there was genuine concern beneath it now. “…Should somebody check on him?”

Before Yuu could answer, Grim came tearing around the corner at full speed.

His fur was puffed out twice its normal size, eyes wild with panic, and smoke curled faintly behind him like a cartoon fuse.

“I THINK IT’S GETTIN’ WORSE. CALL SOMEONE PLEASE —”

FWOOF.

A burst of flame shot from behind him.

Ace snickered so hard he had to fold over the arm of the chair. Deuce made a helpless noise that was half groan and half laugh. Epel buried his face in his sleeve, shoulders shaking. Even Jack looked like he was fighting the impulse. 

Yuu simply closed their textbook with the exhausted calm of someone who had already accepted their fate hours ago.

“Come on. Let’s go see if Crewel isn’t upset with you anymore.”

—

Crowley’s announcement about an extended weekend was barely up an hour before the entire campus lit with excitement.

Students flooded the halls making plans, arguing over reservations, scrambling to book train tickets home before everything filled up. Even Ramshackle wasn’t immune to it. Grim spent the last twenty minutes dramatically lamenting that nobody ever took him on luxurious vacations despite the fact he is practically a “campus celebrity”. 

Yuu tuned him out, for the most part.

They were currently crouched beside the old couch in Ramshackle’s living room trying to untangle a charging cord that had somehow wrapped itself around one of the table legs. The late afternoon light filtering through the dusty windows painted the room gold, and outside they could hear the distant chatter of students heading back from classes.

The front door creaked open.

“Yuu?”

Jack’s voice carried easily through the dorm, deep and familiar.

“In here!” they called back.

Heavy footsteps crossed the floorboards before he appeared in the doorway of the living room. He had his gym bag slung over one shoulder, ashen hair slightly damp around the edges like he’d showered recently after practice. His ears twitched once when he spotted them half underneath the coffee table.

“…What are you doing?”

Yuu looked up blandly, holding up the tangled mess of cord. “Fighting for my life.”

Jack snorted through his nose.

It was brief, but Yuu had learned by now that Jack’s quieter reactions usually meant he found something genuinely funny.

They finally tugged the cord free with a victorious little “Ha!” before standing up and dusting off their knees.

“So,” they said, “what’s up?”

Jack shifted his weight.

Immediately, Yuu noticed something slightly…off.

Jack was normally straightforward to the point of bluntness. If he had something to say, he usually just said it. But now his gaze flicked away for half a second, one hand adjusting unnecessarily on the strap of his bag.

His ears angled back faintly.

“There’s a long weekend coming up,” he said. “My family usually heads to a ski lodge in the Shaftlands around this time. We’ve got a membership there.”

Yuu leaned back against the arm of the couch, watching him curiously. The explanation sounded rehearsed somehow, like he’d been thinking about how to bring this up for a while.

Jack continued before the silence could stretch too long.

“My siblings like going every year. There’s good snow this season, apparently.” His ears flicked once. “So I was thinking…”

He hesitated, took his cheek between his teeth. Amber eyes dodged Yuu carefully in a game of stalling. 

Then he finally looked at them properly.

“Do you…want to come with me?”

Yuu blinked.

For a second, they genuinely thought they’d misheard him.

“…Wait,” they said slowly. “Really?”

A faint flush crept onto Jack’s face almost immediately, visible even beneath the darker tone of his skin. He looked away first, shoulders stiffening just slightly as though he already regretted phrasing it so bluntly.

“Yeah,” he muttered.

Yuu stared at him another second before narrowing their eyes suspiciously.

“What’s the catch?”

“There isn’t one.”

“You’re inviting me on a vacation trip. There is absolutely a catch. A fee?”

Jack exhaled through his nose, somewhere between amused and exasperated. “No catch. I just…” He adjusted the strap of his gym bag unnecessarily. “Thought you could use a break.”

The last part came as a flustered mutter, his ears flattened down.

And before Yuu could brush it off or joke again, he quickly added, “Besides, I never really repaid you for helping with the mess in Savanaclaw when we first met.”

“The magift incident?” Yuu asked, the first thing on their mind. 

Jack nodded once, not eager to discuss the details of his dorm’s shame. 

Yuu couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped them. “Jack, you’ve repaid me like ten times over since then.”

“I haven’t.” he argued. 

“You helped me deal with Azul, dummy.”

“That’s different.”

Crowley made the request, and he couldn’t in good conscience leave you to suffer when the other three idiots fell to Ashengrotto’s mercy. 

“You also fix things around Ramshackle constantly.” Yuu gestured vaguely around the room. “The window latch. The porch steps. My hair dryer last week—”

“True,” Jack interrupted, ears twitching faintly. “But I broke that first.”

He’d stopped by for a shower after his morning run, and they’d leant it to him before class. The clogged fan was more-so their own fault yet he still replaced it. 

Jack’s mouth twitched faintly at the corners, the closest thing he usually got to a grin when he had full control. Which he tried to maintain with their eyes scrutinizing every subtle shuffle on his feet. 

Jack finally looked back at Yuu, more serious this time.

“So,” he dragged out, cutting clean through the moment before either of them could dance around it any longer. “Do you want to come?

There was something earnest in the way he asked it now. Not awkward exactly, Jack was too proud for that, but careful in a way Yuu wasn’t used to seeing from him. You opened their mouth to answer, but paused. 

Their nose scrunched up with an afterthought. “What about Grim?”  

The question was practical.. Leaving Ramshackle unattended overnight was one thing.

Leaving Grim unattended was another entirely.

“I already asked Ruggie senpai to watch him.” Jack assured, setting his shoulder back a bit. 

Yuu blinked, shocked. 

“You asked him before asking me?”

Jack looked faintly defensive at that. “Well, yeah. I wasn’t gonna invite you if you couldn’t actually go.”

Jack shifted slightly where he stood near the doorway, one hand still hooked around the strap of his gym bag. There was a quiet confidence to the answer, like this had been settled before he’d even stepped foot inside Ramshackle today.

The thought stirred something in Yuu’s chest. He really meant to give them a break. 

Jack shifted his weight, one hand still hooked around the strap of his gym bag. “Besides, Grim knows Ruggie senpai already. It’s not like he’d be stuck with a stranger.”

“True,” Yuu admitted slowly, though their eyes narrowed a second later. “How much did Ruggie charge you?”

Jack looked away.

That deflection was answer enough.

“…Jack.”

“It wasn’t that bad, believe me.”

“Jack.”

Said man heaved a sigh from his chest. “How much he charged is between him and me, but it’s not unreasonable. So quit looking at me that, alright?” 

He wouldn’t so much as think of the number. Ruggie’s resourcefulness would truly remain a mystery from them and anyone else who wanted to stick their nose in it. 

Rather than drag the painful silence out, Jack jut his chin in their direction. Amber eyes locked pointedly on the drapes behind them rather than see that pitying expression. 

The silent question sat between them for a third time, along with the travel pass in his back pocket. 

A ski trip with Jack.

Cold mountain air. Snow. A few days away from NRC chaos.

Yuu’s eyes crinkled at the corners at the very thought.

“…Yeah,” they said. “I do. Pick me up on Friday? ”

Jack gave them a curt nod before shuffling to tug a small brochure from the lodge out of his duffle bag. It was kept pristine, likely safe in a pocket rather than smooshed with his gym belongings. He handed it over to them with formal courtesy, yet the gentle sway of his tail gave away exactly how glad he was for their decision. 

---

The Shaftland mountaintops are more breathtaking than any hill on the Island of Sages. 

That was Yuu’s first coherent thought, stepping out of the shuttle and into the crisp mountain air.

Snow blanketed everything in soft white layers, thick over the rooftops and piled high along the paths winding between cabins. The surrounding pines glittered with frost beneath the late afternoon sun, and somewhere in the distance Yuu could hear the muffled sounds of people laughing near the slopes.

Their breath fogged in front of them immediately.

“Oh, wow,” they murmured in awe.

Beside them, Jack adjusted the duffel bag over one shoulder, looking considerably more at home in the cold than Yuu did. His ears twitched slightly in the mountain wind.

“Told you it was nice.”

“Nice?” Yuu repeated, looking around in disbelief. “Jack, this place is gorgeous.”

Something pleased flickered briefly across his face at their reaction before he looked away again.

The lodge itself sat further up the mountain, all warm golden lights and dark wood beams against the snow. Smaller family cabins dotted the surrounding area, smoke curling lazily from chimneys.

As they started up the path, Jack cleared his throat.

“So… there’s something I should probably mention first.”

Yuu glanced at him. “That sounds ominous.”

“It’s not.” He paused. “It’s just that my siblings aren’t here.”

“Oh?”

“My sister got grounded for sneaking out.”

Yuu snorted, watching as an elder-brother 's worries drag Jack’s expression to something miserable.

“And my brother ditched the trip for a date.”

That made them fully stop walking, raising a brow with an impish glint.

“…Your little brother?”

Jack looked deeply unimpressed. “Yeah.”

Yuu stared at him for one long second before their shoulders shook.

“No way.”

“Don’t start.”Jack flicked their forehead, “We can still go back to school.”

“Jack Howl got abandoned for a date by his baby brother?”

“He’s not a baby. He’s a rebellious tween who thinks he knows everything.”

“Yet he has better game than you.”

Jack groaned while Yuu skipped beside him, boots crunching through the snow again as they continued up the path.

“It’s not funny.”

“It’s a little funny.” They pinched their fingers together with just a millimeter from touching.

His tail flicked behind him in annoyance, though Yuu caught the faint twitch at the corner of his mouth.

Still, after a moment, Jack glanced sideways at them again.

“…You don’t mind, right?” The question was casual on the surface, but Yuu noticed the subtle hesitation underneath it. Without his siblings, they’d be alone overnight. He was trying to gauge whether this suddenly becoming a trip with just the two of them changed anything. The last thing Jack wanted to be was inconsiderate. 

Yuu schooled the nerves bundling deep down. 

“Jack,” they said, “I agreed to come because I wanted to spend time with you. We can pester your siblings next time.”

Jack nearly missed a step up the pathway, just as his cheeks finally took that tinted color. Although unlike the people surrounding them, his flush wasn't from the cold.

“…Right,” he muttered.

Yuu hid their smile behind the collar of their coat.

—

By the time they reached the cabin area, snow had already started dusting lightly from the sky again.

Jack stopped in front of a large cabin tucked near the edge of the woods. Warm light glowed through the windows, and the entire place looked cozy enough to belong in a postcard.

“This is yours?” Yuu asked.

“My family’s,” Jack corrected as he unlocked the door.

The inside was even nicer.

Warm wooden walls, thick rugs, a massive stone fireplace already crackling with heat. The air smelled faintly like cedar and smoke, and Yuu immediately felt their frozen fingers start thawing.

“This is huge,” they took it in as Jack carried both their bags inside before they could protest.

“It’s easier when everybody comes up together.” He set the luggage down near the small kitchen archway. “My grandparents stay here sometimes too.”

Yuu wandered a little further into the living area, still taking everything in, before turning back toward him.

“So where am I sleeping?”

Jack answered so quickly it almost sounded rehearsed.

“You can take my room.”

Yuu blinked. “Jack, I can just use a guest room.”

“There isn’t really one,” he admitted. “And I figured you’d probably be more comfortable in mine than sleeping around a bunch of my family’s stuff.”

“Oh.”

The sudden thoughtfulness of that hit harder than expected, but this was Jack. They should have expected him to think ten steps ahead.

Jack rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “I’ll stay in my parents’ room. They’re not using it this weekend anyway.”

“You don’t have to give up your room for me.”

“It’s fine.”

And judging by the firm look on his face, arguing about it would go nowhere.

Yuu smiled a little instead.

“…Thanks, Jack.”

His ears flicked upward slightly at the sound of his name spoken so softly.

Then, before the moment could linger too long, he grabbed one of the bags again and jerked his head toward the hallway.

“C’mon,” he said. “I’ll show you where everything is.”

—-

By the time they were ready to leave the cabin, the afternoon properly settled in around the mountain, turning the snow outside bright and almost blinding beneath a pale winter sky.

Yuu stood near the front door in a bundle of borrowed layers, blinking down at themselves as they adjusted the cuffs of the cream puffer coat Jack had handed over from his mother’s closet. It was warmer than anything they’d brought, thick and soft-lined, with a pale, almost feminine cut to it that made it look a little too cute on them in a way they were not entirely prepared for. The matching gloves were a little oversized, and the fluffy ushanka hat kept slipping low over their ears.

Jack, who had apparently decided this was normal and not at all worth commenting on, was tightening the strap on his own gear nearby.

“This is your mom’s?” Yuu asked, tugging the sleeve down over their wrist.

“Yes,” Jack said, glancing over. His gaze traveled briefly over the fit before he nodded once, apparently satisfied. “It suits you.”

Yuu paused.

That earned them an immediate, suspiciously casual look from Jack as he finished fastening his boots.

“It’s just winter gear. Don’t make a big deal about it,” he added, though the faint rise of color on his cheeks suggested he’d been thinking something else entirely.

Yuu smiled to themselves and turned toward the mirror near the entryway just long enough to catch their reflection. Between the soft coat, the scarf wrapped high around their neck, and the fluffy earflap hat Jack’s mother had lent them, they looked warmer than they ever had in their life.

Also, annoyingly adorable.

“I can’t believe you let me wear something this cute,” they said, turning back to him.

Jack huffed softly through his nose. “You act like that’s a bad thing.”

A few minutes later, they were outside, heading toward the slopes with the cold air crisp against their cheeks and the snow crunching under their boots. Jack carried most of the gear without complaint, snowboard tucked under one arm and an extra tube under the other. The beginner slope was already busy with other guests in the distance, though not so crowded that it felt overwhelming. Everything around them shimmered with winter light and movement — people socializing, ski poles flashing, the distant whoosh of snow underboards.

Yuu looked around with wide eyes. “I didn’t expect there to be so many people this time of year.”

Jack glanced at them and gave a small nod. “Told you.It’s a popular spot for tourism. If we went an hour south, you’d be near where Epel’s from.”

“I know, but still.”

He seemed pleased by that in the quiet way he usually was, and for a moment he looked almost at peace here, as if the mountain had been built specifically for him.

Yuu’s gaze dropped to the snowboard in his hand, then to the tube, and they made a face.

“I should warn you,” they said, “I have never skied or snowboarded in my life.”

Jack stopped walking.

“…Never?”

“Nope.”

He studied them for a moment, then said, carefully, “If you want, I can teach you. But maybe not today.”

Yuu blinked. “Why not today?”

Jack gave them a look that was somehow both patient and practical. “Because it’s your first time, and I’d rather not send you down a slope headfirst when you’ve got only one day here.”

Yuu made a soft, offended sound. “I’m not that fragile.”

“Maybe next time,” Jack continued, tone easing a little. “When we have more than one day.”

The wording did something unhelpful and warm to Yuu’s chest, but before they could poke at it, Jack adjusted his grip on the tube and nodded toward the beginner slope.

“There are sled tubes,” he said. “You can start with the bunny run.”

He almost wanted to say it suited them, given how those ear covers knocked their intimidation factor from neutral to docile. Yet thought better of it. 

At the lift, Jack stood behind them when they boarded, one steady hand settling at their waist for balance as the seat swung slightly under their weight. Yuu startled a little at first, then relaxed when they realized he was just making sure they didn’t slip.

The cold air brushed their face as the lift began to rise, carrying them over the white slope below. From up here, the mountain looked even prettier — wide stretches of untouched snow, the sharp line of the trees, and tiny skiers moving like dots below them.

Jack kept one hand lightly at their side, careful and grounding.

“You okay?” he asked.

Yuu leaned back a little, watching the slope grow farther below them. “I think I’m too busy being impressed to be nervous.”

“That’s good.”

He looked ahead again, posture easy but alert in the way it always was. The quiet between them felt comfortable rather than awkward, broken only by the creak of the lift and the distant rush of wind.

By the time they reached the beginner run, Jack dismounted smoothly and then turned back to help Yuu down. He took the tube next, setting it on the snow and patting the inner edge.

“Sit.”

Yuu obeyed, then immediately looked uncertain once they were settled into the tube. “This feels suspiciously like the prelude to disaster and I don’t have health insurance.”

“It isn’t, I promise.” He bit his lip not to laugh. 

Jack knelt slightly in front of them, checking the tube’s position, then adjusted their gloves where they held the handles. “Hold on tight.”

Yuu’s fingers tightened obediently.

Jack’s gaze sharpened just a little. “You’re sure you want to do this?”

Yuu looked up at him. “Yes.”

He didn’t ask again. 

“You want me to send you down?”

That made them hesitate for half a second, but only half. “Yes.”

He held their gaze one second longer, clearly making sure they meant it, before his expression eased. Satisfied, he nodded once.

“Okay.”

Then, with one quick shove of his foot against the side of the tube, he sent them careening down the slope.

Yuu’s scream split the air almost immediately. His ears flicked back on recoil.

Jack followed on his snowboard right after, pushing off with easy control, and for one brief moment he heard nothing but wind —

Then Yuu’s screams broke into laughter.

He caught the sound immediately, sharp and bright over the snowbend.

Jack’s mouth twitched.

Apparently they were enjoying themselves  enough.

He kicked harder, carving down the slope after them while their laughter carried back up to him again and again, warm and delighted and entirely unlike the nervous sound they’d made only minutes before.

At the bottom, Yuu wobbled upright in the tube, cheeks flushed red from the cold and from laughing so hard they could barely breathe. Their hair had come loose from beneath the hat in a messy windblown halo, and they looked thoroughly thrilled.

The tube had half-swallowed them on landing, awkwardly stuck around their hips while they tried unsuccessfully to stand.

“It won’t let me out,” they wheezed.

Jack stepped off his board, amusement obvious now as he grabbed both their hands.

“One, two—”

With a firm tug, Jack pulled them free at last, and Yuu nearly stumbled straight into him before catching themselves. They were still laughing, breathless and bright-eyed, when Jack looked down at them and asked, feigning nonchalance, “Did you like it?” 

Yuu was still trying to recover enough to answer properly, but the smile on their face said everything.

Jack’s gaze softened by a fraction. “Your voice is usually easy to pick out of a crowd,” he huffed a laugh. “But all I heard going down was you.”

Yuu laughed again, breath fogging in the cold air.

Then suddenly they pointed straight up the mountainside.

“Again!”

“Okay,” Jack said easily, stepping back to grab their gear. “C’mon, let’s head ba—”

“No.” Yuu pointed further upward toward another slope entirely. He followed their goal to the advanced placement course. The black diamond. His teeth clenched.

“That one! I want to do that one!” 

—

By the time they reached the top of the black diamond course, Jack was beginning to understand exactly what his senpai meant when they called Yuu his weak spot.

He had told himself it was a bad idea almost the entire way up.

Not because he doubted Yuu’s courage. That was a reoccuring  problem, actually. They had far too much of it.

The second they flashed him that bright, reckless smile and pointed toward the advanced slope, every sensible thought he had about maybe this is too much for a first day had gone right out of his head.

He just couldn’t say ‘no’. 

So instead of refusing, he ended up hauling a two-person tube up the slope while Yuu practically bounced beside him, still buzzing from the first ride like they had just discovered the meaning of life.

At the top, Jack set the tube down in the snow and exhaled slowly, watching his breath fog in the cold air. The slope ahead dropped away sharply, fast and narrow, with hard-packed snow and enough natural bumps to send even a good rider airborne if they hit it right. It was the kind of course that looked fun only after you survived it.

Yuu, naturally, looked thrilled. He forgot how easily they adapted. 

Jack glanced at them, then pointed toward the front of the tube. “You sit there.”

Yuu blinked. “Why?”

“Because I’m heavier,” he said, already stepping around them, “and the back will stay steadier that way.”

Their expression shifted into open amusement. “You’re just worried I’ll fall out, there’s a chasm between your eyebrows that’s going to leave a mark.”

Jack did not answer immediately, mainly because they weren’t wrong and he wasn’t about to tell a boldfaced lie. 

Yuu grinned wider and climbed into the front of the tube with far too much enthusiasm, settling in and gripping the handles. Jack moved behind them, bracing one knee in the snow as he lowered himself into place. The tube dipped slightly beneath his weight, and he immediately adjusted, one arm coming around to steady the side.

His hands hovered for a second at Yuu’s waist, then settled on the handles once he was sure they were secure.

“Hold on,” he commanded, curt. “Don’t let go and keep your feet from skidding.” 

Yuu looked back over their shoulder, eyes shining with ice globs clinging to their hair. “If we hit a rock, do you think it’ll launch me?.”

“Yes. So let’s not.” Jack discouraged the thought, not finding their human slingshot funny. 

That earned him a laugh, soft and delighted, and Jack had the completely unhelpful thought that they looked especially pretty like this—cheeks pink from the cold, hair dusted with melting snow, eyes bright with anticipation.

He looked away before that thought could become anything more dangerous. They’re here for a break. Nothing more. 

Yuu, apparently not intending to give him a chance to recover, rocked eagerly in the tube. “You ready?”

Jack let out a quiet breath. “No.”

He gave one last look down the course, gauged the line ahead, then braced himself.

When he kicked off, the tube lurched forward hard enough to make Yuu yelp, and then they were flying.

The first straight down drop sent them both into screaming. Albeit Jack’s was far less pitched and more from a sink in his chest. 

Cold wind tore at Jack’s ears. The tube bounced hard over a ridge, jolting them up off the snow for a second before slamming back down. Instinctively, Jack’s legs squeezed in around Yuu’s sides to keep them from sliding too far forward. His arms tightened too, one hand braced at the side, the other catching the tube whenever it started to drift.

Yuu shrieked, then immediately burst into laughter so bright Jack almost laughed with them just from the sound of it.

The track was rougher than it looked from below. They hit one bump, then another, and the tube hopped sideways before Jack leaned hard to the left, steering them away from the edge of a cluster of exposed rocks. A few seconds later they hit a dip that lifted them so suddenly both of them left the ground for a breathless moment.

“Watch the turn!” he called, because apparently he was now the responsible one in a situation that involved being hurled downhill in a rubber tube at questionable speed.

“I’m trying!” Yuu shouted back, still laughing hard enough to make the words waver.

Another bump. Another sharp slide.

Jack leaned right this time, narrowly missing a patch of ice and a tree trunk that flashed past just close enough to earn a sharp, startled noise from both of them.

His pulse was beating fast now—not from fear exactly, though there was some of that too—but from the sheer ridiculousness of it all. The cold air, the speed, the rush of being with someone as the world blurred around them. It was different compared to doing it alone on a snowboard. At some point, Jack’s focus bent and it became less about leading the ride and more joining in for the fun 

He got it now.

He understood why people did this for enjoyment. Why his parents had always seemed so fond of the tubing runs when they came here together. With another person in the tube, the whole thing felt different—less like a solo test of balance and more like a shared rush, a sprint through cold air with someone else’s laughter in your ears.

It was more chaotic than snowboarding. Less controlled. 

Far more fun.

Especially when the wind steals your screams and no one is there to judge. 

By the time their tube shot toward the end of the course, both of them were breathless from shouting and clenching their stomachs every time it bounced. Jack barely had time to brace before the run flattened out and they slid to a stop in a spray of snow.

For a second, there was only silence as they caught their breath.

Then Jack leaned forwards, trying to catch the vibrancy back with his pulse in his ears. 

Yuu twisted around in the tube to face him, cheeks flushed, eyes shining so brightly they almost looked lit from within. 

“One more time!” 

Just like before, who was Jack to tell them ‘no’? 

—

By the time evening settled over the lodge, the windows had gone dark with winter night.

Dinner had been simple—salisbury steaks, baked potatoes, and warm rolls from the lodge restaurant—but after a full day out in the cold, it had tasted better than almost anything Jack could remember. Yuu had looked half asleep by the time they’d gotten back to the cabin, all bundled up again and flushed from a dip in the sauna. 

Inside their space, though, the cabin was alive in a different way than when they first settled in. The fireplace crackled softly across the room, casting amber light over the wood-paneled walls and the thick blanket draped around Yuu’s shoulders. They were curled into the corner of the sofa in front of the fire, looking small beneath one of Jack’s heavy blankets and very content about it.

Jack returned a moment later carrying two mugs carefully in his hands.

Hot cocoa steamed from both cups, the scent sweet and rich as he crossed the room and lowered himself onto the couch beside them. It was well past his usual bedtime—far past it, really—but he did not seem even slightly bothered by that fact. If anything, he looked like he had settled into the quiet of the evening as naturally as he did the snow.

Yuu peeked at him over the rim of the blanket. “You’re really staying up this late?”

Jack glanced at the clock, then back at them. “It’s not that late.”

“It is for you.”

He gave them a look that was almost dry enough to count as a joke. “I’m aware.”

That earned a soft laugh from Yuu, and Jack’s tail gave a lazy sweep behind the couch before settling again.

For a while, they simply sat there together, shoulders almost touching, heat from the fire warming their faces while the storm-soft hush of the mountain pressed gently against the windows. Yuu held the mug in both hands, letting the warmth seep into their fingers. Jack leaned back into the cushions with his own cocoa resting carefully in his palm, looking far too calm for someone who had spent the entire day hauling them around the slopes and pretending he was not absolutely charmed by every second of it.

After a little while, Yuu turned toward him.

They lifted their cup without a word, a silent request.

Jack understood immediately. A small smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth as he raised his mug to meet theirs.

The ceramic made a soft, cozy clink.

Yuu smiled at him over the rim. “To Jack,” they said, voice warm with the firelight. “The best guy I’ll ever know. Thank you for bringing me here. I had a lot of fun.” 

Jack froze mid-sip, his grip tightened around the mug handle. He should have expected this, maybe. Yuu was always kind in a way that got under his skin before he had time to brace for it. Too sincere, too sweet, it’s no wonder their enrollment at Night Raven was a fluke. At least partially, since their mind could string sentences most guys there cringed to even think. 

Even him. Jack is not the type to extend an invite to another person. Their company had to be better than his own solitude. Yuu miscontrived his intentions. For that, he was guilty. 

That undeserved admiration settled heavily over his shoulders.

Jack looked at them quietly for a moment, his cocoa forgotten in his hands. The cabin had gone still around them—just the crackling fireplace, the soft hiss of wind outside the windows, and Yuu sitting curled beside him beneath his family’s roof like they belonged there.

Like they belonged with him.

“You’re special,” Jack sighed, resigning himself to honesty’s curse. His voice dipped to a low rumble, short of his usual blunt dictation. 

Yuu blinked at him, clearly caught off guard by the sudden seriousness in his voice.

Jack’s ears twitched once before flattening faintly with embarrassment, but he forced himself to continue instead of retreating from it.

“I meant what I said before,” he admitted. “About wanting to give you a break.” His gaze flicked briefly toward the fire before returning to them. “But that wasn’t the only reason I asked you to come.”

Jack swallowed a thick thought.

“I wanted…” He exhaled slow through his nose. “I wanted time with you. Just you.”

Something in Yuu’s expression softened immediately.

Jack could feel his pulse beating harder now, strangely aware of every inch between them on the couch. The warmth of them. The faint scent of cocoa and cedarwood lingering in the room. The way Yuu’s knee pressed against his when they shifted.

“I like being around you,” he continued, tucking his chin down. “More than anybody else.”

The confession sat between them in the firelight, raw in a way Jack usually hated being.

He waited, not that he could add more if he wanted to. His voice wouldn’t comply. 

“Jack.”

They called, and he turned to face their response with dignity… yet the look on Yuu’s face nearly unraveled him completely. Their eyes were warm and shining in the glow of the fire, their expression so unbearably fond that it made his chest ache.

Yuu moved before he could ask what they were doing, leaning in to press a soft kiss against his cheek. Their lips were warm and quick, and when they pulled back, they reached up with one finger and brushed a little whipped cream from the tip of his nose. He hadn’t realized it was there to begin with. 

“I like spending time with you too.”

That guilt in his stomach dispelled as quick as it made an appearance. 

Something inside him gave way.

He set his mug down quickly on the table beside the couch before it could spill from his suddenly clumsy grip. Then his hand came up to cradle Yuu’s cheek, large and warm against their skin, thumb brushing lightly beneath their eye as though he couldn’t help touching them now that he’d started.

Yuu leaned into his palm, their chest rising with one deep breath.

Before he could wonder what that meant, Jack took the plunge down a new, undiscovered slope. He pulled them in and stole that breath straight from their lungs. 

Yuu made a soft startled sound against his mouth before melting into him almost instantly, one hand catching lightly against the front of his sweater. The kiss tasted faintly of cocoa and whipped cream, sweet and warm from the drinks they’d abandoned moments earlier.

Jack’s fingers flexed gently along Yuu’s cheek as he tilted closer.

He’d imagined this before—more than once, if he was being honest with himself — but reality was somehow worse in the best possible way. Yuu was warm beneath his hand, lips soft against his, their breath mingling with his in little uneven puffs while the fire crackled beside them.

Yuu shifted closer on instinct, and the blanket slipped around both of them as they moved. Jack’s other arm immediately wrapped around their waist to steady them, pulling them into his lap like there was nowhere else they were supposed to be.

The couch cushions dipped beneath the added weight.

Neither of them cared.

Jack kissed them again, slower this time.

He lingered in it.

Savored it.

His thumb stroked softly along Yuu’s cheekbone while their fingers slid upward into the hair at the nape of his neck, gentle enough to make a shiver run down his spine despite the warmth of the room.

Outside, snow drifted quietly past the windows.

Inside, the fire painted a portrait of passion.

Yuu pulled back barely an inch, enough for Jack to feel their smile against his mouth before they leaned in again themselves this time, kissing him with a sweetness that made something deep in his chest tighten painfully.

Mercy.

He liked them so much.

More than he’d realized.

Jack’s forehead rested against theirs when they finally broke apart for air, both of them breathing a little unevenly after the leap they’d just taken together. 

From somewhere deeper in the dorm came a horrifying sound.

“NYAAAAAAAGH — !”

A loud crash followed.

Then silence.

The entire room paused their agenda.

Ace slowly lowered his pen, casting a look down the hall. “...Do we think he survived that one?”

Another miserable wail echoed from the bathroom.

“MY TAIL’S ON FIRE!”

Epel winced. “Okay, naw, ah’m startin’ ta feel kinda bad for him.”

“You weren’t saying that twenty minutes ago,” Deuce pointed out without looking up from his notes.

“Twenty minutes ago Ah didn’ know the smoke was gonna start comin’ out under the bathroom door!”

As if summoned by the statement, a faint curl of dark brown smoke drifted down the hallway.

Yuu let out a long, exhausted sigh and dropped their forehead directly onto the open pages of their textbook.

“I just want one normal evening,” they groaned into the paper.

Jack’s ears twitched. For the first time, he looked up from his notes packet. 

Ace snorted immediately. “You took pity on him on the first day. That was your mistake.”

“I’m serious,” Yuu mumbled, finally lifting their head enough to look around at the group. Their expression was worn down in the particular way only Grim-related disasters could accomplish. “One. Just one normal study night. No ghosts. No explosions. No weird curses.”

Another shriek erupted from the bathroom.

“IT BURNS WHEN I FART!”

Yuu closed their eyes. “And no explosive diarrhea.”

Deuce physically recoiled at the phrase. “You really didn’t have to say it like that.”

“How else am I supposed to say it?!” Yuu threw both hands into the air. “He keeps farting fire! Actual fire, Deuce!”

Right on cue, there was a muffled fwump from the hallway followed by Grim hacking up a hairball. A faint orange glow flickered beneath the bathroom door.

Ace burst into laughter so suddenly he nearly slid off the couch.

“Oh my god, he really is shooting flames out of his ass! I thought you were kidding earlier!”

“Ace!” Deuce snapped, horrified.

“What? He is!”

Jack pinched the bridge of his nose, silently sliding Yuu’s textbook out before they could give themselves a welt.

Epel looked deeply conflicted between concern and amusement. His upper lip twitched in the space between  “What did he even eat?”

“That raspberry-looking plant from alchemy,” Yuu answered miserably.

Jack immediately looked up from his pilfering. “The red one with the spotted leaves?”

“Yeah.”

“That wasn’t a raspberry.” Jack clicked his tongue. 

Yuu sighed, their wrinkles beginning to form wrinkles. “I know that now.”

Ace barked another laugh, close to a strangled garble.

Yuu pointed accusingly toward him and every other mage in the room. “Why does a plant that looks exactly like a raspberry make someone fart fire?! Who invented that?! What sicko in this world thought cultivating that sort of thing would help society?!”

“This is why Professor Crewel says not to ingest random ingredients,” Jack said flatly.

“Okay, in Grim’s defense,” Ace cut in, grinning, “he probably thought eating the magic ingredient would make him stronger or something.”

Another agonized cry rang through the dorm.

“YUUUU! MY TAIL’S GONNA FALL OFF—!” 

Deuce looked increasingly alarmed. “Should we maybe take him to the infirmary?”

“He already went,” Yuu replied tiredly. “They said he just has to ‘let the effects pass naturally.’”

“THERE’S NO NATURAL ABOUT THIS!”

“You’ll live!” Yuu called back automatically.

“IT AIN’T LIVIN’ IF I CAN’T SIT DOWN!”

Jack pinched the bridge of his nose while his tail thumped once against the couch cushion in poorly concealed amusement.

“I don’t like how you’re used to this, but I’m not surprised either.”

Yuu looked him dead in the eye.

“Jack. Three weeks ago he swallowed an entire bottle of shrinking potion because he thought it was grape soda.”

“…Right.”

“And one time he set the foyer curtains on fire while trying to roast chestnuts indoors.”

Ace perked up. “Oh yeah, I forgot about that one! Do you still have them?” 

Without further comment, Yuu juts their thumb towards the nearest hallway. Ace stretched his neck to see the mangled curtain covering only half of the archway window. 

“How do you forget about that one?” Deuce snorted a laugh,”he was missing a patch of fur on his scalp for months.”

“Well now I’ll be shocked if he comes out with anything but a singed ass,” Ace rolled his eyes, “maybe he’ll wear pants now.” 

Another distant explosion echoed through Ramshackle.

Silence settled over the room afterward.

“…Ah can smell smoke,” Epel whispered.

Yuu sighed the sigh of someone aged beyond their years. “Yeah. Me too.”

Jack glanced toward the hall again, brows furrowed. For all his usual bluntness, there was genuine concern beneath it now. “…Should somebody check on him?”

Before Yuu could answer, Grim came tearing around the corner at full speed.

His fur was puffed out twice its normal size, eyes wild with panic, and smoke curled faintly behind him like a cartoon fuse.

“I THINK IT’S GETTIN’ WORSE. CALL SOMEONE PLEASE —”

FWOOF.

A burst of flame shot from behind him.

Ace snickered so hard he had to fold over the arm of the chair. Deuce made a helpless noise that was half groan and half laugh. Epel buried his face in his sleeve, shoulders shaking. Even Jack looked like he was fighting the impulse. 

Yuu simply closed their textbook with the exhausted calm of someone who had already accepted their fate hours ago.

“Come on. Let’s go see if Crewel isn’t upset with you anymore.”

—

Crowley’s announcement about an extended weekend was barely up an hour before the entire campus lit with excitement.

Students flooded the halls making plans, arguing over reservations, scrambling to book train tickets home before everything filled up. Even Ramshackle wasn’t immune to it. Grim spent the last twenty minutes dramatically lamenting that nobody ever took him on luxurious vacations despite the fact he is practically a “campus celebrity”. 

Yuu tuned him out, for the most part.

They were currently crouched beside the old couch in Ramshackle’s living room trying to untangle a charging cord that had somehow wrapped itself around one of the table legs. The late afternoon light filtering through the dusty windows painted the room gold, and outside they could hear the distant chatter of students heading back from classes.

The front door creaked open.

“Yuu?”

Jack’s voice carried easily through the dorm, deep and familiar.

“In here!” they called back.

Heavy footsteps crossed the floorboards before he appeared in the doorway of the living room. He had his gym bag slung over one shoulder, ashen hair slightly damp around the edges like he’d showered recently after practice. His ears twitched once when he spotted them half underneath the coffee table.

“…What are you doing?”

Yuu looked up blandly, holding up the tangled mess of cord. “Fighting for my life.”

Jack snorted through his nose.

It was brief, but Yuu had learned by now that Jack’s quieter reactions usually meant he found something genuinely funny.

They finally tugged the cord free with a victorious little “Ha!” before standing up and dusting off their knees.

“So,” they said, “what’s up?”

Jack shifted his weight.

Immediately, Yuu noticed something slightly…off.

Jack was normally straightforward to the point of bluntness. If he had something to say, he usually just said it. But now his gaze flicked away for half a second, one hand adjusting unnecessarily on the strap of his bag.

His ears angled back faintly.

“There’s a long weekend coming up,” he said. “My family usually heads to a ski lodge in the Shaftlands around this time. We’ve got a membership there.”

Yuu leaned back against the arm of the couch, watching him curiously. The explanation sounded rehearsed somehow, like he’d been thinking about how to bring this up for a while.

Jack continued before the silence could stretch too long.

“My siblings like going every year. There’s good snow this season, apparently.” His ears flicked once. “So I was thinking…”

He hesitated, took his cheek between his teeth. Amber eyes dodged Yuu carefully in a game of stalling. 

Then he finally looked at them properly.

“Do you…want to come with me?”

Yuu blinked.

For a second, they genuinely thought they’d misheard him.

“…Wait,” they said slowly. “Really?”

A faint flush crept onto Jack’s face almost immediately, visible even beneath the darker tone of his skin. He looked away first, shoulders stiffening just slightly as though he already regretted phrasing it so bluntly.

“Yeah,” he muttered.

Yuu stared at him another second before narrowing their eyes suspiciously.

“What’s the catch?”

“There isn’t one.”

“You’re inviting me on a vacation trip. There is absolutely a catch. A fee?”

Jack exhaled through his nose, somewhere between amused and exasperated. “No catch. I just…” He adjusted the strap of his gym bag unnecessarily. “Thought you could use a break.”

The last part came as a flustered mutter, his ears flattened down.

And before Yuu could brush it off or joke again, he quickly added, “Besides, I never really repaid you for helping with the mess in Savanaclaw when we first met.”

“The magift incident?” Yuu asked, the first thing on their mind. 

Jack nodded once, not eager to discuss the details of his dorm’s shame. 

Yuu couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped them. “Jack, you’ve repaid me like ten times over since then.”

“I haven’t.” he argued. 

“You helped me deal with Azul, dummy.”

“That’s different.”

Crowley made the request, and he couldn’t in good conscience leave you to suffer when the other three idiots fell to Ashengrotto’s mercy. 

“You also fix things around Ramshackle constantly.” Yuu gestured vaguely around the room. “The window latch. The porch steps. My hair dryer last week—”

“True,” Jack interrupted, ears twitching faintly. “But I broke that first.”

He’d stopped by for a shower after his morning run, and they’d leant it to him before class. The clogged fan was more-so their own fault yet he still replaced it. 

Jack’s mouth twitched faintly at the corners, the closest thing he usually got to a grin when he had full control. Which he tried to maintain with their eyes scrutinizing every subtle shuffle on his feet. 

Jack finally looked back at Yuu, more serious this time.

“So,” he dragged out, cutting clean through the moment before either of them could dance around it any longer. “Do you want to come?

There was something earnest in the way he asked it now. Not awkward exactly, Jack was too proud for that, but careful in a way Yuu wasn’t used to seeing from him. You opened their mouth to answer, but paused. 

Their nose scrunched up with an afterthought. “What about Grim?”  

The question was practical.. Leaving Ramshackle unattended overnight was one thing.

Leaving Grim unattended was another entirely.

“I already asked Ruggie senpai to watch him.” Jack assured, setting his shoulder back a bit. 

Yuu blinked, shocked. 

“You asked him before asking me?”

Jack looked faintly defensive at that. “Well, yeah. I wasn’t gonna invite you if you couldn’t actually go.”

Jack shifted slightly where he stood near the doorway, one hand still hooked around the strap of his gym bag. There was a quiet confidence to the answer, like this had been settled before he’d even stepped foot inside Ramshackle today.

The thought stirred something in Yuu’s chest. He really meant to give them a break. 

Jack shifted his weight, one hand still hooked around the strap of his gym bag. “Besides, Grim knows Ruggie senpai already. It’s not like he’d be stuck with a stranger.”

“True,” Yuu admitted slowly, though their eyes narrowed a second later. “How much did Ruggie charge you?”

Jack looked away.

That deflection was answer enough.

“…Jack.”

“It wasn’t that bad, believe me.”

“Jack.”

Said man heaved a sigh from his chest. “How much he charged is between him and me, but it’s not unreasonable. So quit looking at me that, alright?” 

He wouldn’t so much as think of the number. Ruggie’s resourcefulness would truly remain a mystery from them and anyone else who wanted to stick their nose in it. 

Rather than drag the painful silence out, Jack jut his chin in their direction. Amber eyes locked pointedly on the drapes behind them rather than see that pitying expression. 

The silent question sat between them for a third time, along with the travel pass in his back pocket. 

A ski trip with Jack.

Cold mountain air. Snow. A few days away from NRC chaos.

Yuu’s eyes crinkled at the corners at the very thought.

“…Yeah,” they said. “I do. Pick me up on Friday? ”

Jack gave them a curt nod before shuffling to tug a small brochure from the lodge out of his duffle bag. It was kept pristine, likely safe in a pocket rather than smooshed with his gym belongings. He handed it over to them with formal courtesy, yet the gentle sway of his tail gave away exactly how glad he was for their decision. 

---

The Shaftland mountaintops are more breathtaking than any hill on the Island of Sages. 

That was Yuu’s first coherent thought, stepping out of the shuttle and into the crisp mountain air.

Snow blanketed everything in soft white layers, thick over the rooftops and piled high along the paths winding between cabins. The surrounding pines glittered with frost beneath the late afternoon sun, and somewhere in the distance Yuu could hear the muffled sounds of people laughing near the slopes.

Their breath fogged in front of them immediately.

“Oh, wow,” they murmured in awe.

Beside them, Jack adjusted the duffel bag over one shoulder, looking considerably more at home in the cold than Yuu did. His ears twitched slightly in the mountain wind.

“Told you it was nice.”

“Nice?” Yuu repeated, looking around in disbelief. “Jack, this place is gorgeous.”

Something pleased flickered briefly across his face at their reaction before he looked away again.

The lodge itself sat further up the mountain, all warm golden lights and dark wood beams against the snow. Smaller family cabins dotted the surrounding area, smoke curling lazily from chimneys.

As they started up the path, Jack cleared his throat.

“So… there’s something I should probably mention first.”

Yuu glanced at him. “That sounds ominous.”

“It’s not.” He paused. “It’s just that my siblings aren’t here.”

“Oh?”

“My sister got grounded for sneaking out.”

Yuu snorted, watching as an elder-brother 's worries drag Jack’s expression to something miserable.

“And my brother ditched the trip for a date.”

That made them fully stop walking, raising a brow with an impish glint.

“…Your little brother?”

Jack looked deeply unimpressed. “Yeah.”

Yuu stared at him for one long second before their shoulders shook.

“No way.”

“Don’t start.”Jack flicked their forehead, “We can still go back to school.”

“Jack Howl got abandoned for a date by his baby brother?”

“He’s not a baby. He’s a rebellious tween who thinks he knows everything.”

“Yet he has better game than you.”

Jack groaned while Yuu skipped beside him, boots crunching through the snow again as they continued up the path.

“It’s not funny.”

“It’s a little funny.” They pinched their fingers together with just a millimeter from touching.

His tail flicked behind him in annoyance, though Yuu caught the faint twitch at the corner of his mouth.

Still, after a moment, Jack glanced sideways at them again.

“…You don’t mind, right?” The question was casual on the surface, but Yuu noticed the subtle hesitation underneath it. Without his siblings, they’d be alone overnight. He was trying to gauge whether this suddenly becoming a trip with just the two of them changed anything. The last thing Jack wanted to be was inconsiderate. 

Yuu schooled the nerves bundling deep down. 

“Jack,” they said, “I agreed to come because I wanted to spend time with you. We can pester your siblings next time.”

Jack nearly missed a step up the pathway, just as his cheeks finally took that tinted color. Although unlike the people surrounding them, his flush wasn't from the cold.

“…Right,” he muttered.

Yuu hid their smile behind the collar of their coat.

—

By the time they reached the cabin area, snow had already started dusting lightly from the sky again.

Jack stopped in front of a large cabin tucked near the edge of the woods. Warm light glowed through the windows, and the entire place looked cozy enough to belong in a postcard.

“This is yours?” Yuu asked.

“My family’s,” Jack corrected as he unlocked the door.

The inside was even nicer.

Warm wooden walls, thick rugs, a massive stone fireplace already crackling with heat. The air smelled faintly like cedar and smoke, and Yuu immediately felt their frozen fingers start thawing.

“This is huge,” they took it in as Jack carried both their bags inside before they could protest.

“It’s easier when everybody comes up together.” He set the luggage down near the small kitchen archway. “My grandparents stay here sometimes too.”

Yuu wandered a little further into the living area, still taking everything in, before turning back toward him.

“So where am I sleeping?”

Jack answered so quickly it almost sounded rehearsed.

“You can take my room.”

Yuu blinked. “Jack, I can just use a guest room.”

“There isn’t really one,” he admitted. “And I figured you’d probably be more comfortable in mine than sleeping around a bunch of my family’s stuff.”

“Oh.”

The sudden thoughtfulness of that hit harder than expected, but this was Jack. They should have expected him to think ten steps ahead.

Jack rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “I’ll stay in my parents’ room. They’re not using it this weekend anyway.”

“You don’t have to give up your room for me.”

“It’s fine.”

And judging by the firm look on his face, arguing about it would go nowhere.

Yuu smiled a little instead.

“…Thanks, Jack.”

His ears flicked upward slightly at the sound of his name spoken so softly.

Then, before the moment could linger too long, he grabbed one of the bags again and jerked his head toward the hallway.

“C’mon,” he said. “I’ll show you where everything is.”

—-

By the time they were ready to leave the cabin, the afternoon properly settled in around the mountain, turning the snow outside bright and almost blinding beneath a pale winter sky.

Yuu stood near the front door in a bundle of borrowed layers, blinking down at themselves as they adjusted the cuffs of the cream puffer coat Jack had handed over from his mother’s closet. It was warmer than anything they’d brought, thick and soft-lined, with a pale, almost feminine cut to it that made it look a little too cute on them in a way they were not entirely prepared for. The matching gloves were a little oversized, and the fluffy ushanka hat kept slipping low over their ears.

Jack, who had apparently decided this was normal and not at all worth commenting on, was tightening the strap on his own gear nearby.

“This is your mom’s?” Yuu asked, tugging the sleeve down over their wrist.

“Yes,” Jack said, glancing over. His gaze traveled briefly over the fit before he nodded once, apparently satisfied. “It suits you.”

Yuu paused.

That earned them an immediate, suspiciously casual look from Jack as he finished fastening his boots.

“It’s just winter gear. Don’t make a big deal about it,” he added, though the faint rise of color on his cheeks suggested he’d been thinking something else entirely.

Yuu smiled to themselves and turned toward the mirror near the entryway just long enough to catch their reflection. Between the soft coat, the scarf wrapped high around their neck, and the fluffy earflap hat Jack’s mother had lent them, they looked warmer than they ever had in their life.

Also, annoyingly adorable.

“I can’t believe you let me wear something this cute,” they said, turning back to him.

Jack huffed softly through his nose. “You act like that’s a bad thing.”

A few minutes later, they were outside, heading toward the slopes with the cold air crisp against their cheeks and the snow crunching under their boots. Jack carried most of the gear without complaint, snowboard tucked under one arm and an extra tube under the other. The beginner slope was already busy with other guests in the distance, though not so crowded that it felt overwhelming. Everything around them shimmered with winter light and movement — people socializing, ski poles flashing, the distant whoosh of snow underboards.

Yuu looked around with wide eyes. “I didn’t expect there to be so many people this time of year.”

Jack glanced at them and gave a small nod. “Told you.It’s a popular spot for tourism. If we went an hour south, you’d be near where Epel’s from.”

“I know, but still.”

He seemed pleased by that in the quiet way he usually was, and for a moment he looked almost at peace here, as if the mountain had been built specifically for him.

Yuu’s gaze dropped to the snowboard in his hand, then to the tube, and they made a face.

“I should warn you,” they said, “I have never skied or snowboarded in my life.”

Jack stopped walking.

“…Never?”

“Nope.”

He studied them for a moment, then said, carefully, “If you want, I can teach you. But maybe not today.”

Yuu blinked. “Why not today?”

Jack gave them a look that was somehow both patient and practical. “Because it’s your first time, and I’d rather not send you down a slope headfirst when you’ve got only one day here.”

Yuu made a soft, offended sound. “I’m not that fragile.”

“Maybe next time,” Jack continued, tone easing a little. “When we have more than one day.”

The wording did something unhelpful and warm to Yuu’s chest, but before they could poke at it, Jack adjusted his grip on the tube and nodded toward the beginner slope.

“There are sled tubes,” he said. “You can start with the bunny run.”

He almost wanted to say it suited them, given how those ear covers knocked their intimidation factor from neutral to docile. Yet thought better of it. 

At the lift, Jack stood behind them when they boarded, one steady hand settling at their waist for balance as the seat swung slightly under their weight. Yuu startled a little at first, then relaxed when they realized he was just making sure they didn’t slip.

The cold air brushed their face as the lift began to rise, carrying them over the white slope below. From up here, the mountain looked even prettier — wide stretches of untouched snow, the sharp line of the trees, and tiny skiers moving like dots below them.

Jack kept one hand lightly at their side, careful and grounding.

“You okay?” he asked.

Yuu leaned back a little, watching the slope grow farther below them. “I think I’m too busy being impressed to be nervous.”

“That’s good.”

He looked ahead again, posture easy but alert in the way it always was. The quiet between them felt comfortable rather than awkward, broken only by the creak of the lift and the distant rush of wind.

By the time they reached the beginner run, Jack dismounted smoothly and then turned back to help Yuu down. He took the tube next, setting it on the snow and patting the inner edge.

“Sit.”

Yuu obeyed, then immediately looked uncertain once they were settled into the tube. “This feels suspiciously like the prelude to disaster and I don’t have health insurance.”

“It isn’t, I promise.” He bit his lip not to laugh. 

Jack knelt slightly in front of them, checking the tube’s position, then adjusted their gloves where they held the handles. “Hold on tight.”

Yuu’s fingers tightened obediently.

Jack’s gaze sharpened just a little. “You’re sure you want to do this?”

Yuu looked up at him. “Yes.”

He didn’t ask again. 

“You want me to send you down?”

That made them hesitate for half a second, but only half. “Yes.”

He held their gaze one second longer, clearly making sure they meant it, before his expression eased. Satisfied, he nodded once.

“Okay.”

Then, with one quick shove of his foot against the side of the tube, he sent them careening down the slope.

Yuu’s scream split the air almost immediately. His ears flicked back on recoil.

Jack followed on his snowboard right after, pushing off with easy control, and for one brief moment he heard nothing but wind —

Then Yuu’s screams broke into laughter.

He caught the sound immediately, sharp and bright over the snowbend.

Jack’s mouth twitched.

Apparently they were enjoying themselves  enough.

He kicked harder, carving down the slope after them while their laughter carried back up to him again and again, warm and delighted and entirely unlike the nervous sound they’d made only minutes before.

At the bottom, Yuu wobbled upright in the tube, cheeks flushed red from the cold and from laughing so hard they could barely breathe. Their hair had come loose from beneath the hat in a messy windblown halo, and they looked thoroughly thrilled.

The tube had half-swallowed them on landing, awkwardly stuck around their hips while they tried unsuccessfully to stand.

“It won’t let me out,” they wheezed.

Jack stepped off his board, amusement obvious now as he grabbed both their hands.

“One, two—”

With a firm tug, Jack pulled them free at last, and Yuu nearly stumbled straight into him before catching themselves. They were still laughing, breathless and bright-eyed, when Jack looked down at them and asked, feigning nonchalance, “Did you like it?” 

Yuu was still trying to recover enough to answer properly, but the smile on their face said everything.

Jack’s gaze softened by a fraction. “Your voice is usually easy to pick out of a crowd,” he huffed a laugh. “But all I heard going down was you.”

Yuu laughed again, breath fogging in the cold air.

Then suddenly they pointed straight up the mountainside.

“Again!”

“Okay,” Jack said easily, stepping back to grab their gear. “C’mon, let’s head ba—”

“No.” Yuu pointed further upward toward another slope entirely. He followed their goal to the advanced placement course. The black diamond. His teeth clenched.

“That one! I want to do that one!” 

—

By the time they reached the top of the black diamond course, Jack was beginning to understand exactly what his senpai meant when they called Yuu his weak spot.

He had told himself it was a bad idea almost the entire way up.

Not because he doubted Yuu’s courage. That was a reoccuring  problem, actually. They had far too much of it.

The second they flashed him that bright, reckless smile and pointed toward the advanced slope, every sensible thought he had about maybe this is too much for a first day had gone right out of his head.

He just couldn’t say ‘no’. 

So instead of refusing, he ended up hauling a two-person tube up the slope while Yuu practically bounced beside him, still buzzing from the first ride like they had just discovered the meaning of life.

At the top, Jack set the tube down in the snow and exhaled slowly, watching his breath fog in the cold air. The slope ahead dropped away sharply, fast and narrow, with hard-packed snow and enough natural bumps to send even a good rider airborne if they hit it right. It was the kind of course that looked fun only after you survived it.

Yuu, naturally, looked thrilled. He forgot how easily they adapted. 

Jack glanced at them, then pointed toward the front of the tube. “You sit there.”

Yuu blinked. “Why?”

“Because I’m heavier,” he said, already stepping around them, “and the back will stay steadier that way.”

Their expression shifted into open amusement. “You’re just worried I’ll fall out, there’s a chasm between your eyebrows that’s going to leave a mark.”

Jack did not answer immediately, mainly because they weren’t wrong and he wasn’t about to tell a boldfaced lie. 

Yuu grinned wider and climbed into the front of the tube with far too much enthusiasm, settling in and gripping the handles. Jack moved behind them, bracing one knee in the snow as he lowered himself into place. The tube dipped slightly beneath his weight, and he immediately adjusted, one arm coming around to steady the side.

His hands hovered for a second at Yuu’s waist, then settled on the handles once he was sure they were secure.

“Hold on,” he commanded, curt. “Don’t let go and keep your feet from skidding.” 

Yuu looked back over their shoulder, eyes shining with ice globs clinging to their hair. “If we hit a rock, do you think it’ll launch me?.”

“Yes. So let’s not.” Jack discouraged the thought, not finding their human slingshot funny. 

That earned him a laugh, soft and delighted, and Jack had the completely unhelpful thought that they looked especially pretty like this—cheeks pink from the cold, hair dusted with melting snow, eyes bright with anticipation.

He looked away before that thought could become anything more dangerous. They’re here for a break. Nothing more. 

Yuu, apparently not intending to give him a chance to recover, rocked eagerly in the tube. “You ready?”

Jack let out a quiet breath. “No.”

He gave one last look down the course, gauged the line ahead, then braced himself.

When he kicked off, the tube lurched forward hard enough to make Yuu yelp, and then they were flying.

The first straight down drop sent them both into screaming. Albeit Jack’s was far less pitched and more from a sink in his chest. 

Cold wind tore at Jack’s ears. The tube bounced hard over a ridge, jolting them up off the snow for a second before slamming back down. Instinctively, Jack’s legs squeezed in around Yuu’s sides to keep them from sliding too far forward. His arms tightened too, one hand braced at the side, the other catching the tube whenever it started to drift.

Yuu shrieked, then immediately burst into laughter so bright Jack almost laughed with them just from the sound of it.

The track was rougher than it looked from below. They hit one bump, then another, and the tube hopped sideways before Jack leaned hard to the left, steering them away from the edge of a cluster of exposed rocks. A few seconds later they hit a dip that lifted them so suddenly both of them left the ground for a breathless moment.

“Watch the turn!” he called, because apparently he was now the responsible one in a situation that involved being hurled downhill in a rubber tube at questionable speed.

“I’m trying!” Yuu shouted back, still laughing hard enough to make the words waver.

Another bump. Another sharp slide.

Jack leaned right this time, narrowly missing a patch of ice and a tree trunk that flashed past just close enough to earn a sharp, startled noise from both of them.

His pulse was beating fast now—not from fear exactly, though there was some of that too—but from the sheer ridiculousness of it all. The cold air, the speed, the rush of being with someone as the world blurred around them. It was different compared to doing it alone on a snowboard. At some point, Jack’s focus bent and it became less about leading the ride and more joining in for the fun 

He got it now.

He understood why people did this for enjoyment. Why his parents had always seemed so fond of the tubing runs when they came here together. With another person in the tube, the whole thing felt different—less like a solo test of balance and more like a shared rush, a sprint through cold air with someone else’s laughter in your ears.

It was more chaotic than snowboarding. Less controlled. 

Far more fun.

Especially when the wind steals your screams and no one is there to judge. 

By the time their tube shot toward the end of the course, both of them were breathless from shouting and clenching their stomachs every time it bounced. Jack barely had time to brace before the run flattened out and they slid to a stop in a spray of snow.

For a second, there was only silence as they caught their breath.

Then Jack leaned forwards, trying to catch the vibrancy back with his pulse in his ears. 

Yuu twisted around in the tube to face him, cheeks flushed, eyes shining so brightly they almost looked lit from within. 

“One more time!” 

Just like before, who was Jack to tell them ‘no’? 

—

By the time evening settled over the lodge, the windows had gone dark with winter night.

Dinner had been simple—salisbury steaks, baked potatoes, and warm rolls from the lodge restaurant—but after a full day out in the cold, it had tasted better than almost anything Jack could remember. Yuu had looked half asleep by the time they’d gotten back to the cabin, all bundled up again and flushed from a dip in the sauna. 

Inside their space, though, the cabin was alive in a different way than when they first settled in. The fireplace crackled softly across the room, casting amber light over the wood-paneled walls and the thick blanket draped around Yuu’s shoulders. They were curled into the corner of the sofa in front of the fire, looking small beneath one of Jack’s heavy blankets and very content about it.

Jack returned a moment later carrying two mugs carefully in his hands.

Hot cocoa steamed from both cups, the scent sweet and rich as he crossed the room and lowered himself onto the couch beside them. It was well past his usual bedtime—far past it, really—but he did not seem even slightly bothered by that fact. If anything, he looked like he had settled into the quiet of the evening as naturally as he did the snow.

Yuu peeked at him over the rim of the blanket. “You’re really staying up this late?”

Jack glanced at the clock, then back at them. “It’s not that late.”

“It is for you.”

He gave them a look that was almost dry enough to count as a joke. “I’m aware.”

That earned a soft laugh from Yuu, and Jack’s tail gave a lazy sweep behind the couch before settling again.

For a while, they simply sat there together, shoulders almost touching, heat from the fire warming their faces while the storm-soft hush of the mountain pressed gently against the windows. Yuu held the mug in both hands, letting the warmth seep into their fingers. Jack leaned back into the cushions with his own cocoa resting carefully in his palm, looking far too calm for someone who had spent the entire day hauling them around the slopes and pretending he was not absolutely charmed by every second of it.

After a little while, Yuu turned toward him.

They lifted their cup without a word, a silent request.

Jack understood immediately. A small smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth as he raised his mug to meet theirs.

The ceramic made a soft, cozy clink.

Yuu smiled at him over the rim. “To Jack,” they said, voice warm with the firelight. “The best guy I’ll ever know. Thank you for bringing me here. I had a lot of fun.” 

Jack froze mid-sip, his grip tightened around the mug handle. He should have expected this, maybe. Yuu was always kind in a way that got under his skin before he had time to brace for it. Too sincere, too sweet, it’s no wonder their enrollment at Night Raven was a fluke. At least partially, since their mind could string sentences most guys there cringed to even think. 

Even him. Jack is not the type to extend an invite to another person. Their company had to be better than his own solitude. Yuu miscontrived his intentions. For that, he was guilty. 

That undeserved admiration settled heavily over his shoulders.

Jack looked at them quietly for a moment, his cocoa forgotten in his hands. The cabin had gone still around them—just the crackling fireplace, the soft hiss of wind outside the windows, and Yuu sitting curled beside him beneath his family’s roof like they belonged there.

Like they belonged with him.

“You’re special,” Jack sighed, resigning himself to honesty’s curse. His voice dipped to a low rumble, short of his usual blunt dictation. 

Yuu blinked at him, clearly caught off guard by the sudden seriousness in his voice.

Jack’s ears twitched once before flattening faintly with embarrassment, but he forced himself to continue instead of retreating from it.

“I meant what I said before,” he admitted. “About wanting to give you a break.” His gaze flicked briefly toward the fire before returning to them. “But that wasn’t the only reason I asked you to come.”

Jack swallowed a thick thought.

“I wanted…” He exhaled slow through his nose. “I wanted time with you. Just you.”

Something in Yuu’s expression softened immediately.

Jack could feel his pulse beating harder now, strangely aware of every inch between them on the couch. The warmth of them. The faint scent of cocoa and cedarwood lingering in the room. The way Yuu’s knee pressed against his when they shifted.

“I like being around you,” he continued, tucking his chin down. “More than anybody else.”

The confession sat between them in the firelight, raw in a way Jack usually hated being.

He waited, not that he could add more if he wanted to. His voice wouldn’t comply. 

“Jack.”

They called, and he turned to face their response with dignity… yet the look on Yuu’s face nearly unraveled him completely. Their eyes were warm and shining in the glow of the fire, their expression so unbearably fond that it made his chest ache.

Yuu moved before he could ask what they were doing, leaning in to press a soft kiss against his cheek. Their lips were warm and quick, and when they pulled back, they reached up with one finger and brushed a little whipped cream from the tip of his nose. He hadn’t realized it was there to begin with. 

“I like spending time with you too.”

That guilt in his stomach dispelled as quick as it made an appearance. 

Something inside him gave way.

He set his mug down quickly on the table beside the couch before it could spill from his suddenly clumsy grip. Then his hand came up to cradle Yuu’s cheek, large and warm against their skin, thumb brushing lightly beneath their eye as though he couldn’t help touching them now that he’d started.

Yuu leaned into his palm, their chest rising with one deep breath.

Before he could wonder what that meant, Jack took the plunge down a new, undiscovered slope. He pulled them in and stole that breath straight from their lungs. 

Yuu made a soft startled sound against his mouth before melting into him almost instantly, one hand catching lightly against the front of his sweater. The kiss tasted faintly of cocoa and whipped cream, sweet and warm from the drinks they’d abandoned moments earlier.

Jack’s fingers flexed gently along Yuu’s cheek as he tilted closer.

He’d imagined this before—more than once, if he was being honest with himself — but reality was somehow worse in the best possible way. Yuu was warm beneath his hand, lips soft against his, their breath mingling with his in little uneven puffs while the fire crackled beside them.

Yuu shifted closer on instinct, and the blanket slipped around both of them as they moved. Jack’s other arm immediately wrapped around their waist to steady them, pulling them into his lap like there was nowhere else they were supposed to be.

The couch cushions dipped beneath the added weight.

Neither of them cared.

Jack kissed them again, slower this time.

He lingered in it.

Savored it.

His thumb stroked softly along Yuu’s cheekbone while their fingers slid upward into the hair at the nape of his neck, gentle enough to make a shiver run down his spine despite the warmth of the room.

Outside, snow drifted quietly past the windows.

Inside, the fire painted a portrait of passion.

Yuu pulled back barely an inch, enough for Jack to feel their smile against his mouth before they leaned in again themselves this time, kissing him with a sweetness that made something deep in his chest tighten painfully.

Mercy.

He liked them so much.

More than he’d realized.

Jack’s forehead rested against theirs when they finally broke apart for air, both of them breathing a little unevenly after the leap they’d just taken together. 

And so, taking advantage of your new wallet on legs, you found yourself browsing fresh fruit at the heart of Sage Island’s marketplace, Jamil perusing to your left and Azul haggling with the vendor to your right. Your mouth had only just started to water at the thought of refilling Ramshakle’s consistently empty pantry when you heard a shrill voice cry out deafeningly behind you. It was calling Azul’s name.

There was a flash of red and teal, and then, a new shape was latched onto Azul’s back – a teenage boy. He must’ve been a student, but his uniform was unfamiliar and Azul looked less than elated by the sudden reunion, visibly fighting to keep his composure as the new boy all-but strangled him in a full body hug. “Azzy,” he cried, burying his face in Azul’s shoulder. If you hadn’t known better, you would’ve thought he was greeting a lover freshly back from some terrible war. “It’s been so, so, so long. You never write anymore, and I was so excited when I found out we’d be going to school on the same island, and—”

Next to you, Jamil snickered. You pursed your lips.

“Is this your fault?”

“This is just karma,” Jamil admitted. “Everyone deserves a visit from home, now and then.”

“Is that right, Viper?”

You turned your attention to yet another new face – a significantly taller boy. He wore a delicately braided headscarf and enough gold jewelry around his neck to pay your bills for the next decade. Hmm. Maybe you’d been summoned to the wrong school after all.

Immediately, Jamil’s grin fell into a grimace, only to be quickly replaced by a strained, sickeningly polite smile. He turned to you, gesturing to the newcomer. “(Y/n), this is—”

“Minajael. And the leech over there is Rielle.” He waved toward his red-headed companion. “I didn’t realize Jamil had such pretty friends.”

Jamil’s smile wavered. “We’re just classmates. (Y/n) is another student at—”

“Half a student,” you corrected. “Since I don’t have any magic.”

Minajael let out a breath of a laugh. “I didn’t know Night Raven was so accepting.”

“Oh, they aren’t. They kinda had to let me in, since I was summoned here from another dimension and don’t know anything about this world and all. I would probably starve to death if they kicked me out. The headmade even made me work as a janitor for a while, too.” You paused to think. “That, or I have a really bad concussion. I did hit my head pretty hard when all the house-wardens attacked me during the opening ceremony.”

That was enough to catch Rielle’s attention, too. He looked away from Azul just long enough to ask, “Wait, so you don’t know anything about life here?Like, anything at all?”

Azul grunted. “We’ve taught them plenty.”

“That’s right,” you said, nodding wisely. “They taught me all about playing magift.”

“Among other things.”

“Oh, yeah. I learned how to cook and clean while working for Azul’s restaurant. That’s why he didn’t have pay to me.”

Again, Azul opened his mouth, but you shot him a look and he closed it just as quickly. It wasn’t as if the real explanation of your as-of-yet uncompensated labor was any less damning.

Minajael’s expression took on a concerned note. “But, they are taking care of you now, right? I didn’t take Kalim for the type to leave a member of his dorm—”

“Oh, no, I’m not in Scrabia.”

Rielle beamed. “Octavinelle, then?”

“Nope.” You took care to pop the ‘p’ appropriately. “I actually sleep in a dilapidated shack on campus. Not all alone, obviously. The ghosts keep me company. And the fire-breathing dire-beast who lives in my kitchen.”

Minajael’s eyes widened and Rielle audibly gasped. You were thankful you’d left Grim with Ace and Deuce, today. Your monster was more horrific in description than he was in reality.

“Not that we aren’t ecstatic to host,” Jamil added. It was almost impressive – how broad he could smile when he was trying to save face. “You just stayed with us over winter break, remember?”

“Ah, right. You guys were so happy to have me, you actually locked me in my room every night. With a bar across the door and everything.” You laughed, shaking your head. “I don’t know how that slipped my mind. Must be the concussion acting up again. Never did see anyone about that.”

Jamil moved to interject, but Minajael was faster – shoving past Jamil and taking your hands in his. When he spoke, his voice was delicate, lowered into a hush. As if anything louder would break you into pieces. “Do you want something to eat, sweetheart? Maybe a place to stay? We could even have a little chat with our headmage. Only if you wanted to, of course.”

Rielle was much more blunt. “Do you want us to call the police?”

You feigned shock. “There are cops in this world? Jamil said that no one would ever, ever come to save—”

You weren’t allowed to finish. Jamil was already grabbing your wrist and spouting off an excuse about an early curfew or festival preparations or some other trivial but urgent matter all of you had to attend to in next five minutes. Before you could protest, you were being dragged out of the marketplace and toward Night Raven, a flustered Azul trailing just a few steps behind.

“You,” he started, malice thick in his tone, “are a hazard to yourself and others.”

“Especially others,” Azul huffed.

Mans was not expecting a present. At all. This is his first year beyond Harveston, where the most romance going on is between the squirelles in the trees. Since Valentines day is a ‘our-earth’ holiday…well, Epel definitely is a bit dense. You might mention it in passing but he won’t think much. Especially since the topic isn't re-occurring. It's definetly there in the back of his mind, but he forgets until the day of.

On the opposite spectrum - Rook clung to the idea like bees to a fresh bloom. He gave out flowers to anyone who crossed his path - all in the pursuit of spreading joy. Vil gets a giant bouquet of roses, but Epel’s happy with his little bushel of lavender sprigs.

It's kinda nice to get a gift just because - y'know? He isn't going to prepare anything since he doesn't want to lose his 'macho bravado'. Yet Pomefiore gets in the spirit hardcore, so he can't escape it.

Whether it’s obligatory, or romantic - Epel’s grateful to get a gift from you. Flattered. Dare I say puffing up just a lil’ bit, because you ain’t giving this to anyone else, right? He’s getting a bit cocky on the inside, look out.

To get a gift on a day like this one, you have to think he's cool. At least better than the others. His competitive streak comes out a wee bit.

He’d have accepted your last cup noodle as a gift (taking great effort to smuggle it in to Pomefiore without being policed. All he wants is one. Just one. ) - but the fact you went out of your way to get macarons makes him feel all sweet inside. Like honey-crisp jam and clotted cream over warm biscuits. He tries to push that feeling down but it just takes over.

Especially when Ace tries to snag one for a taste. Epel should've known better than bringing it to lunch. He let it slide since Ace couldn't come to Fleur city with them, but you bet he was guarding that box like a bloodhound.

Out of all the trouble that came from Fleur city - you remembered his preference and that’s enough to make him accept the gift without a peep. Expect a freshly baked apple pie on White Day. He’s not much for words, but Epel will pull out the best apples for it. No bruises or soft spots.

Idia.exe has crashed. Please reboot and try again.

Seriously. He opened the door expecting Ortho with his monthly snack restock - just to get ambushed! You can’t just pop into a guys safe space without warning!

Aka. Ortho indeed came back with his delivery + 1.

Knowing Idia and his tendency to self-sabotage….yeah, it’s best not to breathe a word about the holiday in advance. He’s not exactly prying for information on ‘our-earth’…well, aside from our tech and a bit on your personal lore. Everything else is on a need-to-know basis.

Considering Ortho brought back a signed card and a few extra bags of gummy worms than he ordered? Now is definitely part of the ‘need-to-know’. Sparing his crap attack by not dropping in personally just causes more anxiety - because is it obligatory? Is it romantic? Does he want it to be romantic?

Ofcoursehedoesbutthatsopeningapandorasboxthatheisntemotionallyreadytoconfront

Holy shit you got his favorite brand and - did he ever tell you that? Have you been watching him like he’s been -

Oh man. Oh man. This is way too much for something he can’t even research - and now he’s gotta get you something back, right? He knows exactly what you’d want but ew why would you want a Valentines gift from someone like him. He can get Ortho to grill you, right? Right. But it can’t be too obvious and he needs to say thank you but can he just send a text or is that lame?

Expect Ortho to drop off a gift-card for one of the systems Idia gave you back in CH.6…and a bag of candied pomegranates. Some sugar coated, some covered in dark chocolate. Definitely higher quality than anything you could afford.

You mention the holiday when discussing the opportune market back in ‘our-world’. Azul does have a nasty habit of making everything about work - even if you’re just stopping by for a spot of tea. Unheard of by any other student.

Alas. Holidays are a great chance for promotions. You’ve seen festivals and the like in Twisted Wonderland - but there are some tips and tricks to contribute. Like how western culture has totally whipped consumerism in gear with a holiday tacking a price tag on love and affection

Whether you buy into Valentines Day or not - Azul does not forget, and tries to establish a bit of a promotion at the Lounge. Hard to do in a school with nearly 100% male population…but he does manage, there are many forms of love other than romantic. It’s also easy to prey on lonely shmucks feeling down on their luck -

*sigh*

Despite remembering the day and campaigning for it - Azul isn’t prepared to receive a present. Not one without strings attached. It’s nothing much. A singular piece of rich, creamy cheesecake, wrapped in a neat little box with his name scrawled on a gift tag. Just enough to indulge but not tempt him to gorge. The perfect sweetness for someone like him to kick back at his desk and enjoy a brief respite.

Has consistently inviting you over for tea finally worked? All those nights of meticulously planning, trying to gather notions and novels while not overbearing you…like fishing. Carefully reeling in and letting loose until you willingly came to him

…no. He mustn’t assume. He will not. This could be obligatory, friendship….familial? No. Certainly not yet.

For all his predatory behavior on those lovesick ‘shmucks’ - Azul enjoys that piece of cheesecake with a bit more gusto than he’d let on. On White Day, do accept a ‘traditional’ assortment of cookies and chocolates, alongside a private dinner reservation.

Oh sweetheart, he’s already way ahead of you. This sunshine never forgets a single holiday. Any chance to celebrate is always taken. He was the first to ever inquire about what parties and events people in ‘our-world’ follow, or at least the ones you do.

Kalim likely picked out gifts in advance - some for his friends, his dorm-mates, a special thank you for Jamil…

And you, of course. The main focus of Valentines is romance, eh? You think he’s going to let that chance slip through his fingers? Especially if you’ve never gotten anything for Valentines before. You’ll be setting off to go track him down, just to find him carrying a teetering stack of boxes up to Ramshackle. Grim’s already drooling.

Part of him wanted to make something with his own two hands. Yet with limited experience in the kitchen, his options were small. He also didn’t want to frustrate Jamil by making a mess…but isn’t the point of this holiday to make one’s feelings clear?

Enlisting help also wouldn’t do. He had to do something on his own. Kalim can buy you the world, but some things need to be done with a man’s own two hands.

Inside the smallest box on the very top is a paper elephant that Kalim folded himself. It’s nothing extravagant, but he’s done crafts with his siblings before. Rather than toll away in the kitchen to come up with something near inedible, Kalim wanted to do something with his skills. Something fun and unique. You can fold it down too, so it can be stored away somewhere safe.

The sight’s a bit intimidating, especially with your small bouquet of yellow and roses, partnered with a few sprigs of baby’s breath. Yet Kalim looks so pleased to bring you his gifts, it’s hard to feel anything but happiness. Especially when he takes one look at the flowers and near bounces to the clouds.

Sure, you might’ve given little gifts to your friends but no one else has flowers. You thought of him first!

Does that mean he’s special? He sure hopes so. Part of him wishes he got you more gifts, but he had to stop somewhere. Otherwise you’d feel overwhelmed…

Guess you’ll both have to do something for each other on White Day though, huh? A banquet for two sounds perfect to his ears.

Ruggie's easy to please. If it's free, he'll take it. You could have offered up the last soda in your fridge, and he would have took it without a second thought.

Problem is - nothing's 'free'. He knows you're not like that - the cunning type (like him) - at least when it comes to abusing others for personal gain. Socially, to be clear. Aka. You know the struggle of scraping coins together to get by, so he's 99.98% sure you're not one to toss a gift his way just 'cause you don't want it anymore. You're also not abundant in resources - so you wouldn't use money to butter him up like Leona does. Maybe a bit of pulling the heart-strings (which regrettably works, not that he'll ever admit it).

Which is why he's doing a lil' mental rodeo when presented with heart-shaped cream donuts. Not the cheap kind either. The good ones. Glazed with cholate, stuffed with vanilla custard, and a dollop of whipped cream on top with a cherry. He won't look a gift horse in the mouth, and takes the basket like you're handing over gold.

For something this good, you've gotta have a good reason. It's not his birthday. Not a holiday he knows about. He hasn't helped you out at all either - at least, nothing out of the ordinary. He'd be super suspicious if this was literally anyone else.

Let's just completely bypass the heart-shape and nervousness bleeding out as you hand the goods over. Ruggie knows better than to hope for a good thing.

He just chalks it up to you spending too much time picking up baking tricks with Trey - ya do hang around Heartslabyul a lot. Ruggie's admit to enjoying a good donut - maybe you were using him as a test dummy for a recipe? Yeah. That's it. He won't get ahead of himself. He'll totally be chowing down on these later, and stuffs the box away for safe keeps (Savanaclaw bros will eat anything).

When he's in the clear? Happily downing his spoils in the sanctity of his dorm, chilling by the waterfall in the lounge? Jack pops in,, spots the donuts, recognizes the wrapping, and comments that they're different from what everyone else got.

and thus - Ruggie learns about Valentines day...and recounts the encounter with a new perspective.

Ruggie acts nonchalant about it. He was already savoring the donuts, but now he's eating slower. Reallllly thinking it over....he's not dumb, y'know.

You might have slipped by him this time, and as a bit of payback he'll reign himself in. It'll be fun watching ya stumble here and there for a bit - knowing he's got the 'good thing' guaranteed.

For White Day? Expect the tables to turn with a pack of sugar cookies - what? They're quick, simple, and sweet. Oh, and they're shaped like hearts too. Familiar? Take that as ya will, shishishi~

Well-informed about Valentines Day. Grim would not shut up about it for an entire week with all his whining and bemoaning about being surrounded by candy that he couldn't eat. Not if he wanted to keep living in Ramshackle.

Deuce thinks it's admirable that you prepare gifts for everyone. Group mentality, y'know? Making sure no one gets left out...even the people who don't deserve that kindness. It's no wonder you're a prefect, even if it was by default.

Yup. Somehow the holiday inspires him. Deuce is invested and supportive. He offers to keep Grim on lockdown at Heartslabyul if you really want to protect all the goodies. Just in case of sticky paws.

Also? Deuce will do anything to make you feel a bit more at home. Seeing you so excited to celebrate something from your world, especially after adhering to Wonderland's festivals (starsending, harveston sledathon, cloudcalling etc) - well, it would be shitty of him not to be supportive. Do you want help passing out gifts? You helped him collect wishes when he was a stargazer, it's only fair.

Imagine when the day comes and everyone's received their little baggie of treats - Deuce is left with one short. He made sure that everyone got their share first, and was happy to have helped despite being disappointed that he was one-short. He thinks you've miscounted and it was on accident. Not for a moment does Deuce think you would intentionally forget him.

Which is exactly why he doesn't say a word. Seeing you happy an being a part of your holiday is more than enough for Deuce. It's corny, but your smile is his present. He'd rather swipe some of Ace's and fib than make you feel bad for miscounting.

Except you didn't miscount. When Deuce heads back to his dorm for the night, he opens his bag to see a surprise slipped inside the outer pocket.

There's a small card, explaining that it felt unfair for everyone to get a surprise but him. Expressing gratitude for his support - both for helping celebrate Valentines and as a friend. Also that his gift was 'special,' and you wanted to spare him the awkwardness of receiving it in front of everyone.

He wonders what kind of 'special' you mean. Deuce pulls out a box of creme filled chocolate eggs. While the bags he passed out earlier were all exactly the same in quality and size - this gift was different.

Different. Special. Cute. Thoughtful. Romantic? If his gift was 'special' compared to everyone else's....

His roommates find Deuce passed out in an emotional sugar coma on the ground. No one moves him. Ace gives you crap for 'running juice-y ragged' the next day and gets pummeled for it.

Deuce tries time and time again to see if your gift meant more...but ultimately fails. His seniors can't watch him flounder anymore, and on White Day he steels his courage. Ready for battle, Deuce offers a bouquet of wild flowers and heartfelt sentiment.

Impressing Leona is both the simplest and most daunting task. What can you give a man who can purchase anything he wants on his own?

Wholesome Sincerity.

Leona acts uninterested when discussing your world - and for the most part? It's not feigned. He grows curious when politics, sports, world progression (research, etc), and how function without magic works. Good examples could be American Football and Rugby - which play similar to Spelldrive and pique his tactical mind. Also diplomatic relations between our countries, the use of differing energy sources other than magic, etc. The stuff a prince who wants to improve his homeland would want information on.

He does not care about celebrity fads or a famous gorilla named Harmbe.

Using this logic, you'd assume he wouldn't want to hear about a commercialized holiday like Valentines Day...right?

Partially correct.

No, he does not care about capitalism preying on sweethearts and monetizing love. Waste of his brain space. What Leona does care about is your investment in the holiday. Just like how he'll have one ear tuned in during those rare moments you let information about your life before Night Raven slip out.

You don't breathe a word about celebrating the holiday to him, but Leona expects a gift. Cocky, sure. He just knows ya too well, sue him. Even though you don't mention giving presents out, you bring up the holiday one too many times when chatting with others in his vicinity. Unlike the fresh meat, he doesn't need to be told straight out when cogs are turning in your head.

So he's plays the quiet game all day. He won't seek you out, but he'll hang around spots you know to find him at. Ruggie pops in during lunch with a wrapped baggie of sweets in one hand and lo-behold, Leona was right. You were giving gifts out like the good herbivore he knew you were. A few look arounds while walking on campus show the same goody bag in roughly every 10th student walking around. All in freshman year, all you likely see in class. With the exception of more obvious relations such as the...eugh...Leech Twins. It's hard not to know Floyd got something with his loud mouth and taunts.

All the same. Obligatory, he notes.

Leona spends longer than usual lazing in his dorm's lounge that night, resting with his eyes closed and lazing on one of the open rocks. A singular perked ear gives him away though, and it twitches when familiar footsteps approach.

Just as planned, you're leaning over him with that sickeningly earnest grin. All to eager to hand over one of those little bags of chocolate he's seen -

Except you set a large, heavy box on his stomach, and he can't maintain his indifference when faced with something....well, definitely not obligatory. An idiot would think this is obligatory.

Ceramic Sunflowers. Exactly six of them in a small white vase. The paint job is shoddy and honestly Savanaclaw is not a place to keep fragile items. He kind of wants to, since the only place you could get a kiln for this is the Gargoyle Studies Club...the thought of that lizard showing you how to carve clay taints the gift just a tad.

Except it's entirely novel all the same, and the hidden meaning is blatantly obvious too. Sickeningly sweet, he might lose a fang. Giving a gift like this to someone like him...with that poorly hidden affection.

He prepared a return gift in expectation for your chocolates. He's a jerk but wouldn't put down your holiday...but before that, he'll ask straight out of this is romantic or platonic. No mercy.

If romantic? Well, he'll waste no time meeting your sweetness with a kiss, clasping a colorfully beaded necklace around your neck in the moment.

Tradition is meant to be honored! Just because you are no longer in your world, does not mean you can shirk your civic responsibilities!

It takes some effort to explain that Valentines is an optional holiday. That it is not celebrated in every country in your world, and that most people do not partake at all. No holiday is mandatory, although some are more widely advertised than others. The meaning behind those days changes by the person.

You can try using Malleus' birthday as an example - it's a big day in Briar Valley after all. It won't work, since Sebek thinks it should be celebrated worldwide and anyone from Briar Valley not doing so should be considered treasonous.

Regardless if you enjoy Valentines or not - Sebek will remember the day (as well as others you mention, and any traditions that you may consider important). He wants you to celebrate, and already told his liege. Malleus was all too eager to hear a bit of your past and is going to send a card. Are you going to not return his good grace?! That's unthinkable - you will celebrate and that is that.

It's important to note that Sebek honed in on the familial and friendship aspects of Valentines. Aka he heard about a chance to revere the people he cares about and went with it. He did not ignore the romance part. In fact, it wavered him enough for his thoughts to roam a brief moment. Then he forcibly snapped himself out of it, and returned to lecturing you about upholding tradition....

He doesn't intrude upon your home - isn't it expected for the giver to prepare their gifts alone? That is what gives the present meaning.

On Valentines day, he presents Malleus and Lilia with presents. Silver too...begrudgingly. Also small candies for his 'friends' since Lilia said it would be against the day's law to forgo them for his ego. Malleus gets the most though, since he is whom Sebek admires above all. Fair warning.

He is pleased to see that you've given out presents to the others as well. Proud, even. It is important to remember your roots and he is pleased to have played a part.

Which is exactly why Sebek proudly boasts a gift for you. It's not the small candies the others received, nor the lavish sweets given to Malleus. As per tradition, Sebek presents you with a heart-shaped box of mixed truffles. He does it in front of everyone else too...very loudly...and despite his insistence that your gift is different since you're a close friend to Malleus? That bright red blush creeping out of Sebek's collar says otherwise.

Emotions and admiration are not something to be hidden. Repressed? Perhaps, but not hidden.

So you give him his gift in turn. Somehow his heart pounds just as hard for your box of chocolates as it did for Malleus' card. He takes it with the stiffest movements you've ever seen, jerking like a toy doll. As if anything beyond a curt 'thank you, human' will cause him to combust

That's because it will. Just saying.

....oho?

Ah. What a precious holiday. Truly.

Lilia is always looking for ways to spice up life. Compliance and predictability are good - but do you know what's better? Fun. Sometimes it’s best to just ‘go with the flow’ as people say.

Your flow always has something exciting in it's path - but so rare does it involve lighthearted joys such as as sweets and love. What a nice change of pace, and novel too! Lilia can't help but grow curious when you tell his about Valentines. A baby that flies through the air and shoots people with arrows? Clad in a diaper? Don’t give him ideas. Maybe TWST could use a bat Cupid…

He’s eager when you invite him and his boys to a party. Malleus is overjoyed to have an invitation to Ramshackle, Sebek goes whereever Malleus does, and Silver wouldn't make light of an invite from a friend. You must be excited to host as well, no? Can he help at all?

He almost refrains from pulling mischief. Almost. In Lilia's defense, his intentions were pure. You wanted to share a bit of love with the people you cared about, no? It would be negligent for him not to do the same!

So….he prepares a special batch of brownies to the potluck. Made with the eggshells included for a crunch! And what’s love without a little spice? He added extra hot sauce for a kick. He just knows it will be a hit!

It was a ‘hit’ alright….you hadn’t the heart to tell him no, and Silver had no time to swap out Lilia’s batch for a palatable option. His brownies sat mostly untouched on the table for the entire party. He tried to steer some unfortunate souls friends towards them, but somehow they never met their mark. Cater tripped and dropped his on the floor. Kalim was a bit quick to add that he needs his food tested, and Jamil was always preoccupied somewhere out of sight. Grim wolfed one down but disappeared before Lilia could ask how it tasted.

At some point half the platter did go missing….Silver said that it was so good, he was the one to eat them. Well, he’s still growing. Lilia doesn’t mind but he should have saved some for everyone! This is a day meant to spread joy and love after all.

Luckily Lilia prepared. To be safe, he’d made an extra batch. One he intended just for you. He made this one extra sweet with roughly chopped coffee beans inside. The strong kind that can keep a horse for three days straight! With the most “satisfying” texture! He knew soldiers that would crunch these bad boys whole during the war, and you do have much on your plate these days. He cut them into hearts as well. Someone name a better use for his blade skills? He’ll wait.

So he leaves the party early, intent to let his boys have their fun and return later on in the evening. That night a tiny bat carrying such a heavy package zips through the kitchen window, nearly scaring the plates out of your hands.

Now. On one hand, you’re happy he’s returned. He left so sudden and you wanted more time together.

On the other?….it’s doomsday once you see that tray of brownies. Lilia is proud when he describes all the ‘beneficial’ ingredients and why he chose them just for you. It would make your heart throb if not for the fear twisting knots in your gut.

Lilia wiggles the platter just by your face, his impish grin pressing his cheeks plump. Only to be rendered stupefied when you pull out a plate of chocolate strawberries from the fridge.

These weren’t on the menu earlier. He’d recall such a cute assortment. The berries are all dipped in fun toppings as well - akin to a sweet Russian roulette packed with unexpected combinations. It seems you were more than saddened that he left early…his invitation extended past the pretense of a friendly party. The blush on your cheeks says as much.

As does a brownie from his earlier tray. You seemed to snag one, not wanting to eat it during the party aka wanting to have it when your stomach could perish in peace

While Lilia hadn’t been amiss to these developments in both your heart and his….well, he hadn’t expected a personal present. Perhaps some joking flirtations, but you were a sweet thing. Much more than he could expect, and Fae never take on matters of the heart with mirth.

This was your holiday, no? Just because it dabbles in amour does not mean you would intend to pursue a cheeky thing like himself….alas, he’s too cute to resist and so are you. Give him a moment to process and expect the party to truly begin

What are you waiting for? Have a brownie <3

Head of the ‘Gimmie Gimmie Brigade’. Ace isn’t invested, but he’s also not disinterested. Valentines seems like something people over at Royal Sword Academy would buy into. From the way you’re talking about it - a holiday meant to celebrate lovers and all the amorous things in life is way too goody-goody for Night Raven.

No one here’s happy enough to buy into that. Wait - no, scratch that. They’re all miserable but with a bit of tweaking it could have some merit. Thing is that people here are way too invested in themselves to ever pull a gift exchange or be open about their *gag* feelings

Of course, Ace only aims to shut you down when it comes to spreading the love with campus. You want to keep it within Heartslabyul? Better yet, just between the two of you? He’s all for it. We all know he’s just talking it down to look cool. This is his plan from the get-go.

Hey. Think you guys could get a holiday excuse from class? Is this a religious thing? No? Damn. Can you lie and say it is?

Ace knows you’ll go out of your way to make something for everyone - if ya do it at all. Which is likely since once an idea gets set into that skull of yours, Ace knows it’s better to just ride the coaster than try to hop off…

For a holiday meant for lovers, you’re sure dense. Has he told you that you’re a Dummy yet? Yeah? Well he’s going to say it about every other hour, because you’re completely missing his signals. It has to be on purpose. He is absolutely sure that you’re screwing with him, making candy for all these other dudes.

For all his complaining, Ace isn’t going to let anyone ruin your holiday spirit. His protective side comes out and Ace is right there doing the delivery route too. He’ll hand over the candy on your behalf to anyone that even looks like they’ll give a bit of lip. A bit more harsh than necessary too, with his little challenging squint. Again. He seriously thinks you should’ve kept this to Heartslabyul and maybe your close friends…other dorms don’t deserve it.

He also makes a point to enforce that it is obligatory chocolate, given as a gesture of good will as a new Ramshackle Holiday. So no one gets any funny ideas…chk. Dream logged bastards.

As part of the gimmie gimmie parade, he expects a gift of his own. Ace makes sure to snag one (or three) of the candy bags while you guys walk around….and for his leg work? He wants to sleep over. So you better give him the bed. He takes your easy compliance as a won victory, and sticks his tongue out to Deuce while packing his bag cause it’s ‘helpers only’ night.

On one hand? Bro is happy the day is done with. It was good giving a bit back and seeing you so happy. Although he will once again say that you shouldn’t have given chocolate to so many guys - just to really grill it in there before bed

Speaking of the bed? It’s so nice. Much better than a stuffy dorm with three other guys…that is, until you rip the sheets out from under him and send Ace’s ass to the floor. He’s this close to doing the same. His hand’s reaching over the bedside with malicious intent, but your head pops over the ledge and points to the clock

11:58pm - the day’s almost done, and you’ve got a last surprise for him. Tadaaaa! Cherry cordial chocolates. Just for Ace. Did you really have to push him out of bed for it? No, but he was a whiney jerk all day so you felt it was right.

Ace is peeved. Not enough to yank you down anymore, but he takes the entire box of candy and starts to eat them all in one-go so you can’t have any. They’re his, yeah? Special jussssst for him? Maybe this isn’t a bad holiday after all…so long as you don’t do anything special for another guy.

For all your ‘good will’…he’ll be happy to drag you along to an ice-cream parlor on White Day. With a bit of wordplay, getting the day placed as mandatory activity is a breeze.

The only way to catch Malleus by surprise is when he’s most vulnerable. Aka…morning hours. Surely he lets his guard down more when it is just you and him, but there’s still decorum. There is still calculation. There is still a working braincell in his head.

And oh do you wish to surprise him. Just once in this lifetime. He loves hearing stories about your world and sharing thoughts. You couldn’t spend the winter holiday together. Everyone left campus and so you partied with Grim and the ghosts….but now there is a chance to give Malleus a cultural experience!

Which means you will need to enlist help. Insert Vanrouge, who unceremoniously hints that the dear Ramshackle Prefect is freezing their tukus off in a dorm with only a hearth to heat the building.

Hook. Oh, woe is the prefect. Humans can get sick from the cold and even die from hypothermia.

Line. Despite the fire fairies working hard to maintain NRC’s temperature during the cold months, Ramshackle is still on the tail end of their list. Other dorms take precedent due to their population.

Sinker. The poor prefect, all alone in that large building. They toughed out the winter but there’s supposed to be an unexpected ice storm this weekend! Possibly the biggest that the Isle has seen in years! Hopefully they stocked up on firewood and safety gear.

And thus, an invitation was extended.

Malleus is hardly one to insist, then again he’s rarely denied. Yet your body is a temple and he would love to have you as a guest. Better yet, transfer to Diasomnia? No? Okay. Guest will do. You can even stay in the room next to his. It’s been empty since his enrollment, and he will personally see to your safety.

Little does he know that there will be no ice storm, you are as fit as a fiddle, and Lilia will do anything to give Malleus a fun surprise.

Truth be told - Malleus thought you were a bit quiet. Mayhaps secretive. At first he thought you felt intimidated by his dormitory, and it saddened him so. He did lay the invitation on thick but it was for your safety! You wouldn’t let anyone carry your bags, not even when he offered to teleport them to your quarters.

While you chat the first night away, sipping tea and enjoying each other’s company in the lounge…a rare evening for him indeed. He quite likes the sight of you in Diasomnia with him. Regardless, Malleus goes to bed with a disquieted heart. He hopes you like it here, and that he won’t feel off-put when it is time for you to go home. Malleus remembers how he felt when you disappeared to the Isle of Woe. It was unpleasant to say the least.

Unsuspecting and a bit miffed from missed sleep - Malleus wakes the next day with an unceremonious stretch and yawn. He’s about to get ready for the day when there’s a loud string of crashes and thuds from the next room. Needless to say, he forgoes to even put on his slippers before teleporting over.

….

Concern is definitely a word that describes one of the various emotions going on. Bewildered is another. Also something else - lacking definitim and unfamiliar. It teeters somewhere on the cusp between good and bad. A weird, twisted fondness that he’s only felt in your presence on occasion.

You stacked a chair on top of the dresser, trying to hang paper streamers of hearts and snowflakes across the ceiling. Grim was hissing curses while trying to lift said dresser off you, because the whole thing came crashing down in the process.

Along with the curtains. The rod barely clung to the window, with one end hanging in the air. A splatter of melted icecream cake streamed down the wall and onto the floor. It left stark streak of red against Diasomnia’s brick

Your expression - utterly horrified. He can ascertain that without any hints. Not with fear but just complete mortification. Malleus has no idea what’s going on, but it’s so ridiculous that he’s biting down laughter while levitating the dresser back to it’s normal state. His brain was lagging behind just -

What lets him loose is the little ‘surprise?’ you squeak once freed - which is is nothing but a grasp at straws as you try and fail to salvage the wall cake. By the time Lilia comes to check on your ‘progress,’ he finds Malleus laughing harder then ever.

All this just to surprise him? Oh. Please tell him the entire story from idea to execution. People go to extreme lengths for Malleus all the time, but this is just something so entirely….hm. That feeling isn’t going away. It seems all he needs to do is think about your clumsy efforts and it comes around again.

This is a gift in itself. He must know how to reciprocate appropriately, so what do you wish for this ‘White Day’? He hasn’t been this excited to gift something in quite some time.

Special Mention : Grim!!

This little shit.

This smug little shit.

Grim thinks he’s sooooooo smart. Doesn’t matter who you’re making treats for - he’s claiming tax on every bag. It’s a one for you, one for me scenario.

Every batch of chocolate prepared comes with that forsaken paw stretching up past the counter, the ‘gimmie’ motion is getting old. He needs new tricks or else you’ll swat him with the rolling pin next.

Valentines day? That’s another human holiday, huh? He ain’t heard of it….but if it’s important to you, then he’ll bite. It helps that he gets free food out of it.

And tuna. Lots of tuna. Grim doesn’t want to see you give ANYONE else a gift that’s bigger than his. They don’t deserve it. None of them do. Maybe Ace and Deuce….and Jack, but that’s it. Even if they get somethin’ big, Grim’s should be better

Which is exactly why by the time Valentines day comes, he’s on his ‘nth’ can of tuna and you physically have to take privilege away before your pockets go dry.

Why’s it like this? Because you’re his henchman. You shouldn’t love anyone else more than you love him. You’re a team.

He sees you give the ghosts chocolate and tries to swipe it. They can’t even eat the stuff! Why bother?

Thus, Grim gets his little but chased out of the kitchen…and the dorm…and all the other dorms since he’s tailing your delivery runs

Grim doesn’t care too much about the meaning behind Valentines day. Yet no one getting your candy better be ungrateful, or expect anythin’ more than obligatory gifts. He has claws and will use them. He ain’t known his ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ too well before NRC…but these guys better use it or they’re getting fried tooshie instead of sweet nothings.

And at the end of the day? He doesn’t have much to offer ya in return, but there’s a stack of ‘favor’ coupons smacked over your head right before bed. Isn’t a big stack, since Grim can only tame himself so much…but they’re exchangeable for good kitty behavior! There’s one for uninterrupted studying, one to have the bed to yourself for a night, one for a free delivery, and a few chore coupons. His handwriting is hard to read, but you assume Riddle helped with the arrangement from the nice stationary and perfect spelling.

Mama a girl behind you

Based on this post on Twitter

The bag you handed him looked so small in his hands, minuscule even when held up between his thick fingers.

"Well? Open it!"

With a confused look towards you first, he returned his gaze to the delicate silk drawstrings and pulled them apart. His face turned from one of confused concern to giddy excitement as the contents registered in his now racing mind. Excitedly pulling out the small pieces of fabric from within, although delicately given his propensity to rip and tear with his strength, Bane grinned towards you, eager as ever.

"Ay, mi amor, you will look exceptional in these."

Not wanting to let him get too carried away with that thought, as flattering as it was, you corrected him.

"Oh! Oh no, Bane. These are for you!"

His lip twisted up at one corner, nose crinkling adorably and betraying his stoic and fearsome default expression.

"I see… Are you… Will they fit?"

"Of course! And if they're a little tight… Well, that's kind of what I'm hoping for."

You flashed him a mischievous grin, hoping that it would ease him into it. He was experimental. Perhaps not always playful, but willing to try and definitely enthusiastic once he was engaged.

"OK then. I'll be right back."

The wait wasn't long, but it felt arduous, physically painful. If only because you knew that behind one single door, not even locked, Bane was either entirely nude or squeezing himself into the lewdest underwear you had been able to find. But the painful suspense was very much worth it, as the moment he opened the door and stood in the frame, his hulking form having to stoop and squeeze just to fit there, you were speechless. Sweat had begun to form on your brow and your mouth flooded with saliva as you looked at the gift you'd given yourself.

"Oh. Jesus… Fuck. That is… Wow."

The underwear, already made from a thin fabric as it was, had become sheer due to the way they were stretched over his ample form. So much so that you could make out every line of detail in the shape of him. Each vein, the curve of his head, the way the fabric pulled away from the defined muscles on his abdomen because of the way his cock had been stuffed in there. He barely fit, but he'd tried his hardest to squeeze all of him inside of the underwear. Your response, however, with blushing cheeks and open, drooling mouth, had meant he'd become slightly more excited than he was in the bathroom, so his bulging, growing erection was making it even harder for him to remain completely within the fabric boundary.

"I don't think these quite fit… Que mal…?"

"Oh, it's not bad at all. It's very good."

You made your way over to him, unable to control yourself, feeling drawn like a magnet, and without a moment of hesitation you placed your palm against the front of the panties, rubbing his length over the top of the fabric. He let out a hiss in response, sucking air in through his teeth and exhaling in a shuddering breath.

"Fuck… You're pretty close already, huh? Do you feel pretty? Like how they feel against you?"

Bane closed his eyes, tilting his head away from you a little, his cheeks turning a sweet shade of dark pink as he nodded silently while you giggled.

"Yeah, I can tell. You're leaking through the front of them."

With a tender touch, you rubbed your fingertips against his head, letting the fabric spread over it, pulling away and stretching the trails of precum in front of your face in awe.

"I… It feels nice… Against…"

He seemed so embarrassed to be admitting this to you, and you were more than happy to help him with his confession.

"Feels nice against your head, hm? I'll be it does. So sensitive, yeah? What about this?"

You placed your palm back against it, instantly sticky with his spreading precum, pressing harder onto his slicked head. But as you moved over the tip of his cock in faster circles than before he grabbed your wrist and pulled you from him.

"What's wrong?"

"I just… Any more of this and I might ruin these. And… I would like to keep them, to wear again for you."

It was such a sweet gesture, and the way he looked to the ground, voice quieter than usual, had your heart fluttering as well as your stomach tensing.

"Oh no. Let's ruin them. I can always buy you more."

He didn't put up a fight, in fact before he let go of your wrist, he seemed to pull you back in closer to his crotch. And when your hands gripped at his now fully erect and impressively thick cock he leaned his head back and let himself be taken by the ecstasy, the way the fabric felt against him as you stroked his cock through it, the tingling, the texture, the act of being pleasured by you.

As he stood on legs that threatened to give way as the tension in his abdomen mounted and his thigh muscles twitched, he bucked his hips forwards to chase the friction of your hand against him. It was a dangerous move, given how close he seemed already, but you couldn't help yourself. With him shirtless, his thick body, plump, firm stomach, chest muscles that heaved and nipples that were as stiff as his cock was, you couldn't have been expected not to begin kissing at his body, worshipping him for the marvel he was. Your free hand teased at one of his nipples while you lapped at the skin of his torso with a flitting and desperate tongue, and with that, you felt his body tense with grunts and groans.

His cum seeped through the fabric and onto your hands, the dark patches highlighting the shape of him, and though he immediately doubled over, likely through the exhaustion of holding himself upright through the orgasm you'd given him, he did seem to be hiding what he felt he should be ashamed of.

"Stand up straight, big boy. I get to see the mess you made, or that I made."

With a sheepish smile, cheeks now crimson and the skin on his body flushing the same colour, he stood up straight. One arm reached behind his head as he nervously rubbed at his neck, not used to displaying himself that well. But the pose he struck, the way his cock glistened through the sheer panties, he looked perfect.