Concerning foods, Felix liked savory tastes more than sweet ones, but over the years he had gotten used to the cakes Mirren always fed him whenever he stayed at his house, and to be honest he didn't complain about them, because they were the best in town.

Especially the chocolate and pear one, it was simply divine!

He ate it heartily, caressing Fallon with his free hand in the meantime.

“Durke, it's not hygienic” Mirren scolded him, passing him a hand sanitizer.

Felix rolled his eyes, chuckling to himself.

“I’m petting her with one hand and eating with the other. I don't mix germs” he reassured his friend, scratching the dog in her favorite places.

She was quite old now, and Felix was trying to enjoy her company as much as possible.

“Ugh, do as you like, but if you get sick don't complain to me” Mirren gave up, finishing his piece of cake.

It didn't escape Felix that during the exchange Amabelle, Petra and Norman hadn't missed a word, and Amabelle was probably taking notes too, under the table.

Felix knew her well, and knew she was up to something. Luckily, he also knew her well enough to know that whatever it was, it wasn't a real danger.

He ignored the matter and tried to enjoy the cake.

“Wow, it snowed a lot this afternoon” Amabelle commented, in a fake surprised tone.

Mirren looked out the window, where the snow had stopped falling leaving an inviting white blanket.

“It did. And it's getting dark. If it starts again it could be dangerous to go home” he commented, thoughtful and a little worried.

“What? Snow? I hadn't really noticed!” Denny exclaimed, falling from the clouds and anxiously looking out the window.

“Why don't we take advantage of the fresh snow and the little light left to have a snowball fight like the old times?” Amabelle proposed, excited, taking Norman and Petra by the arms as if to encourage them to approve of her stupid idea.

“It's practically night now, I don't think that…” Denny tried to object, worried, but was immediately silenced by Amabelle.

“The external lights of this house are very powerful. Come on, just a little bit, to have fun before going back to studying” she insisted, with her puppy eyes.

“Go ahead, but be careful. And if it starts to snow again, it would be best to conclude the study session and…” Mirren began to say, but was interrupted by Amabelle.

“…and have a nice sleepover!!” she proposed, clapping her hands cheerfully.

Mirren fell silent, unable to object because it was rude to throw her out but at the same time definitely not eager to host everyone for the night.

“It's not snowing right now, so I'd say we should go out and enjoy a good game. Are you with us, Mirr?” Felix steered the conversation to the immediate future instead of letting it wander into the possibilities, and gave a hopeful smile to his best friend, who sighed, and nodded reluctantly.

“I’ll join you just for a few minutes, then I'll go to work” he finally agreed.

“Fantastic! Let's go!” Without asking anyone else what they thought of the proposal, Amabelle got up and started dragging Petra and Norman outside.

“I’m staying here to wash the dishes…” Denny offered, but Amabelle let go of Norman to take him by the arm.

“No, all together! I'll clean up later! We haven't done a decent challenge in ages!” she insisted.

It was really hard to say no to her.

Petra turned on the lights in the courtyard and after putting on scarves and coats, the six went out. Fallon tried to follow, but Mirren stopped her at the door.

“No, Fallon, you stay inside. You haven't been very well and I don't want you to catch a cold” he said kneeling beside her and gesturing for her to stay still.

Fallon sat down and just watched them, wagging her tail.

“Well, there are ways and ways to play snowball fights…” Amabelle began to illustrate, in a sacred tone, after standing up on a table.

Felix took some fresh snow and started compacting it.

“We could split into teams and make a scoring system…” continued the girl.

“Oh yes! It's my favorite method! Fewer rivals!” Denny exclaimed, ready to hide somewhere and avoid as many snowballs as possible. It was his favorite strategy.

“…or we could play a simple and liberating battle to the death” concluded Amabelle, and Felix took the opportunity to throw a snowball right in her face, missing and hitting her on the shoulder. Well, that was already something.

“Hey! She was talking!” Petra complained, hitting Felix back with pinpoint precision on the nose.

“Battle to the death it is!” Amabelle yielded, taking some snowballs in turn and starting to target Felix, ignoring all the others.

“Mirr, help me!” Felix tried to ask for the support of his friend, who took a few snowballs, and with a grin started chasing him together with the girls.

“Traitor!” he complained, looking for a hiding place to stock up.

“I can't go against my sister,” he apologized, earning a victorious exclamation from Petra.

Felix tried to ask Denny and Norman for silent help, but while the former was already out of sight, the latter was on the sidelines, stocking up on snowballs for the girls.

In the end, they had basically split into teams: everyone against Felix.

And Felix was fine with it.

Because he hadn't enjoyed snowballing like this in years, at least not with Mirren.

He hadn't told anyone, not even Felix, but his friend knew that the last few months hadn't been easy for Mirren. The new job stressed him more than he let on, he didn't sleep much at night and the only moments he was able to disconnect and enjoy life were with the Corona Crew.

Felix leaned over from the tree he was hiding behind and looked at him for a moment. He was chuckling to himself, covering his mouth with his hand. His glasses were fogged up, his nose was slightly runny, but he had a very rare light in his eyes.

Felix felt his chest warm up.

Then his face cooled down due to the umpteenth snowball that hit him.

He hid behind the tree again.

“Norman! Throw a giant ball at Felix!” ordered Amabelle, decisively.

Norman did, but as he threw he skidded on some ice, and the giant ball flew much higher than Felix, right into the branches of the tree where he had been hiding behind.

Felix looked up to see the damage, and was just in time to recoil before a huge drift of snow fell on him, straight from the treacherous branches of the tree.

Backing away quickly, however, he slipped on the ice, and fell straight back into the mound, after an unathletic spin on himself.

“Felix!” Mirren rushed to help him, but slipped as well and ended up on top of him.

“Sorry…” he said, trying to recover.

Felix wasn't going to accept the apology, because more than anything he wanted to thank him.

He was practically all over him, pressing him against the snow, but also warming him quite a bit with his body heat.

Felix's primal instinct was screaming loudly at him to push his friend against him and hug him tightly without letting him go, but he had been fighting against that cursed instinct for ten years, and he certainly wouldn't have let him win right at that moment.

So he just stood perfectly still as Mirren struggled unsuccessfully to his feet, muttering apologies and pleas for help to their friends.

He could also hear Amabelle muttering intelligible words to herself, and he could picture her holding everyone back so they wouldn't help them. A gesture that Felix silently approved in his mind.

He watched Mirren's failed attempts with a wry smile and tried to control his breathing. The best way was not to think of the heat, not to think of the blush in Mirren's cheeks, or his hair ruffled by the wind that was about to blow his hat away. Ignore the surroundings, ignore his heartbeat, think of something else. The thesis, homework, his sister Tender, his cat Happy, his collection of gems, his drawings. Yes, his drawings, did he cover well the ones he did while trying to write his thesis? He hoped so. In the end they were just sketches, nothing to be afraid of, even if they all illustrated Mirren.

Oh no! Mirren again, that was no good. Why did his mind always go to him? Ugh, what else to think?

“Felix?” a kick on his leg roused him from his thoughts.

Mirren had stood up and was holding out his hand to help him up. The look in his eyes was clearly worried.

Dang it!

Felix smiled and took his wrist, helping himself to his feet as well.

He slipped again, and they nearly fell again, but Mirren kept him standing.

“Sorry” Felix smiled, holding onto his shoulders to avoid falling.

“It will be better to go back, it's starting to be dangerous. And I also have to work” Mirren pushed him away firmly, and started to head back.

“I think we'll stay here a little longer,” Amabelle told him, with a not-very reassuring smile.

“Be careful” Mirren said only, returning.

“I’m going too. Do you guys want a hot chocolate?” Felix asked, walking to the door carefully and checking the visible raised hands.

Denny was still hiding somewhere.

“Perfect. I'm going to prepare it” he immediately returned behind Mirren, who seemed to be waiting for him, and in the meantime was caressing Fallon.

“I’m making a hot chocolate, would you like some?” he asked, taking off his jacket, hat and gloves.

“I’ll put myself on the kitchen table to work” Mirren revealed to him, before disappearing up the stairs, toward his room.

Felix walked to the kitchen, smiling to himself.

Since he and Mirren were little in their respective houses there was the saying "make yourself at home" respected in all its facets, so Felix had no problems tinkering with the stove or better controlling the heating.

Mirren joined him shortly after, and began to open the accounts, without saying a word.

A few minutes later, Felix sat across from him and handed him a cup, trying not to disturb him.

Mirren took it without looking at him, and brought it to his lips.

He stood still for a few seconds too long, and Felix readied himself for the questioning.

“Are you okay?” he asked immediately afterward, looking him in the eyes and placing the still completely full cup next to the documents.

“I’m fine” Felix assured him, smiling brightly.

“You stood there for almost a minute while I was waiting for you to take my hand” Mirren revealed to him, skeptical about the reassurance.

So much? Geez!

“What can I say, I was comfortable” Felix belittled the situation, stretching.

Mirren sighed.

“You know that I only worry about you, right?” he approached him slightly.

Felix avoided his gaze.

“I’m just a little tired, okay? There's no need to make a fuss about it” he took a sip of his own chocolate, but his stomach was closed.

“I’m always available to talk if you need to” Mirren insisted, straightening up and adjusting his glasses.

"I know," Felix muttered to himself.

He was always willing to listen, and almost never to share his problems. This was something Felix hated, but whenever he tried to bring it up, Mirren avoided it, and the silent treatment was on.

They weren't even an old couple.

…it would have been so amazing if they were an old couple.

Felix shook his head slightly to drive the thought away before it caused more trouble, and his smile recovered.

“Of course, you know you're my number one confidant” it was the pure truth, even if he fought the place with Tender and Happy, his decidedly reliable sister and his cat who couldn't talk even if he wanted to.

Before Mirren could say anything else, Felix got to his feet and glanced out the window. It was too foggy and too dark to make any sense of it, but Felix pretended to see snowflakes.

“It’s better if I go. Before it starts snowing too hard again” he put the almost full cup on the table and started to go out.

“Hey, wait…” Mirren tried to stop him, but the four revenants did it for him.

They stormed into the room, completely white with snow.

“It started to snow heavily. You can't see beyond your nose. We almost got lost in your backyard” Denny exclaimed, trembling.

“I admit that it was exciting as much as scary” Amabelle nodded, trying to warm up.

“I’m checking the forecast, and it seems that it will continue throughout the night” Norman informed them, showing the phone.

“Take off your wet clothes” Mirren encouraged them, getting up to take the jackets and put them to dry in the radiators “You can't go home in this weather” he then turned to Felix, who gritted his teeth slightly.

“Come on, it's only a few meters on foot. And then I have the light of the street lamps to guide me” he objected, confidently.

He didn't even manage to finish the sentence, that, with the sound of a snap, the lights in the whole room went out, and the only source remained Norman's phone.

“Oh…” Felix commented, surprised by the incredible coincidence.

“I guess that the sleepover will take place for real” Amabelle commented to herself, with a little smile.

“And Bonnie won't come back!” Petra exulted, victorious.

Felix glanced at Mirren, but failed to make out his expression from this distance.

One thing was certain, it was going to be a long night.