A Basket of Sugar

Warm as Ice

The two happily skated together until they're feet were sore. They exited the ring and retired their skates. Haechan noticed Jeno's cheeks were red and he himself was freezing. They rushed back to their dorms in order to get out of the cold.

They entered the building and walked up to Haechan's floor. Haechan searched his pockets for his keyes but he took his time. It was pretty obvious to both boys that neither wanted their time together to be over.

"Well I guess I should get going then." Jeno said with an air of disappointment in his tone. He turned and started to slowly walk back towards the stairs when an idea occurred to Haechan.

"You know," He said, causing Jeno to look back at him. "After a long day of skating on the pond as a kid, I would always go back inside feeling like my toes were about to freeze off. My parents always lit a fire in our fireplace, made hot chocolate, and wrapped me in this thick wool blanket we had until my face flushed red from the heat. You need to participate in that to complete the experience of Haechan's childhood. You wouldn't want to miss out on experiencing my childhood would you?"

Jeno smiled a bit. "Not at all."

Jeno smiled as he rubbed his hands in front of the 'fire' Haechan had lit for them. Which was actually just their dorm toaster pushed out into the center of the living room floor. They turned it to a comfortable temperature while also roasting some marshmallows inside it. Jeno flinched slightly at the feeling of something being put on over his shoulders but he relaxed when Haechan came around his front to check on the marshmallows.

"It was the thickest blanket we had." Haechan said while poking at the marshmallows. "And it still wasn't half as thick as the one my parents had."

"I'm sure your childhood will give you a pass." Jeno teased as he adjusted the blanket around his shoulders.

"Hmm." Haechan replied in a noncommittal way. Jeno was surprised by his lack of sass tonight. To tell the truth, Jeno was always caught off guard by the way Haechan's sass seemed to melt away wherever he was with him. Especially since he never passed up the chance to roast anyone else in the group. Even if he didn't know them all that well.

Haechan turned around and pressed a mug of warm hot chocolate into Jeno's hands.

"I made this just the way my parents used too." Haechan explained while continuing to inspect the marshmallows. "By boiling milk and chocolate together. I used some of your leftover chocolate from the four-batches-of-cookies incident." Jeno giggled at the memory.

"Thanks" He said while sipping the hot chocolate. He could feel bumps and ridges on the front of the mug with fingers so he turned it around to see what it was. It turned out that the mug had a kitten carved into the front, it made Jeno laugh a bit.

"My mug at home looks like a unicorn." Haechan said while plopping two toasted marshmallows into Jeno's hot chocolate. "I totally should've bought it with me to college." He sat down next to Jeno with his own cup of hot chocolate. The mug he was holding was just a simple Fireflies University mug. At least Jeno knew now what he was getting Haechan for his birthday.

He noticed Haechan shivered slightly from the drafts coming through the vents so he scooted closer and wrapped the blanket around Haechan. Haechan's eyes widened a bit in surprise but he still pulled the blanket the rest of the way around his body.

"So?" Jeno asked while stirring his hot chocolate with his pinky finger.

"Hm?" Haechan asked after taking an obnoxiously loud slurp of his drink.

"How did today compare to your childhood memories?" Jeno asked.

"Hm." Haechan had to ponder that for a moment. "Well since we were skating on a rink you didn't get to witness the excitement of that truck driving across the pond. And it was also different because there was no real fire. And the hot chocolate doesn't taste as fresh without the fresh milk my parents always had." Haechan said.

"But overall?" Jeno asked. "Overall, how was it?"

Haechan peered at Jeno who was tracing the outline of the kitten on his mug.

"Overall.....I think it was better."

Jeno looked up from his mug to Haechan. "Really? Why's that?"

A faint blush spread across Jeno's cheeks when his eyes landed on Haechan's face only to see Haechan looking back at him with so much sincerity and intensity weaved into his features you'd think he was confessing his love to someone.

"This one just had a special feeling to it." Haechan said.