#and secretly likes getting cold just to burrow against Nicky afterwards

[sheafrotherdon]

TOG prompt! Joe / Nicky - coming in from the cold, winter snow cuddles!

The safe house is old, and while the walls are thick and the windows in good shape, it’s bitterly cold in winter. The stone-flagged floors are frigid as Joe tiptoes to the bathroom in the middle of the night, and his long-sleeved tee and soft, grey joggers aren’t nearly protection enough from the drafts that whistle around his ankles. He takes a leak as quickly as possible, washes his hands, and hurries back to the bedroom, huffing and yelping quietly with every step. There’s enough moonlight to guide him safely, and he makes it to the bed without crashing into the chest-of-drawers, or tripping over a chair.

Nicky makes a pained sound as Joe slides back beneath the enormous duvet and the blankets they’ve stacked on top. “You’re freezing,” he whines.

Joe grumbles softly. “I knoooow,” he replies, tugging the duvet up around himself while burrowing lower. “Fire’s out.”

“Fire’s always out,” Nicky says around an enormous yawn, and he turns onto his side to face Joe, his eyes visible above the covers. “You shouldn’t have drunk that glass of water before . . .”

“Ugh, Nickyyyy,” Joe says impatiently. “Come here, I’m so cold, help meeee.”

Nicky sighs but is already wriggling closer, until they’re plastered chest to toe against one another. Joe slides his arm around Nicky’s body and makes a pleased sound as he snuggles in, one matched by Nicky’s cursing. “Cazzo, your feet . . . .”

“I lost my socks.”

“Where?”

“Somewhere.” Joe wriggles his toes, but the errant articles of clothing don’t present themselves.

“You are a disaster,” says Nicky, but he sounds terribly fond of that fact, and Joe smiles as Nicky’s arm comes around him too.

“I am, I am,” says Joe, tucking his head under Nicky’s chin. “God, you’re warm.”

Nicky snorts softly with laughter. “So glad to be useful.” He presses a kiss into Joe’s bedhead, and Joe sneaks a hand beneath the back of Nicky’s shirt, feels him shiver in response. “Stop moving.”

Joe brushes a clumsy kiss to Nicky’s shoulder, and hums when Nicky skates a hand down his spine. “You first.”

“Madre di dio,” Nicky mumbles, and Joe laughs quietly, drowsy and warm and very content.