“Will you be okay without snow pants? I know you’re not good with the cold.” Ms. Lowell said to Luca, helping the young man tuck his scarf into his winter coat dotingly as he put on his thick gloves, coated with a faux leather lining on the fingers and palms. 

“I’ll be okay. I’m sure the kids won’t be that rowdy.” Luca responded, adjusting the tongue of his winter boots, finishing his winter ensemble. Donning a heavy winter jacket, knitted scarf, hat, gloves, and thick winter boots, it would be difficult for Luca to feel cold, other than through his jeans. Unfortunately, he had forgotten to put on his long johns this morning, leaving only his bare legs between the cold and the denim of his pants. “Besides, this scarf is tied so tight, I doubt any cold air will get into my lungs.” 

“Okay, okay. Go have fun, now.” Ms. Lowell said, pushing Luca lightly on the back towards the back door of the orphanage.

With Ms. Lowell’s blessing, Luca walked up to the door and opened it, stepping out onto the salted sidewalk behind the building. As he walked out towards the playground, two of the nuns, dressed in their winter clothes, waved him over towards the jungle gym. On the bright, heavy plastic equipment were the children playing, some running around the bars underneath the platform, while others slid down the slide and ran back up the stairs to slide again. Most of the older children, however, were playing to the side of the playground, hiding behind two large mounds of snow as they tossed snowballs at each other. 

“Hi, Sister Bethany, Sister Dana.” Luca smiled and greeted the nuns, recognizing them from his time at the orphanage. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” While he did not have the opportunity to greet them before, at least he could see them now.

Sister Bethany laughed, “My, look how big you’ve gotten! If you got any taller, I don’t think I would have recognized you!”

Luca smiled, “I’m still just a hair shorter than Felix.” 

As Luca caught up with the sisters, one of the children from the cafeteria saw Luca and ran over to him excitedly, hurrying to his side and grabbing his jacket sleeve with a gentle tug. “C-can you help us?” The child asked, looking up at Luca.

Luca bent at his knees and spoke to the child. “What’s up?” He smiled, patting the snow off of the young boy’s hat. 

“Can you play with us? Our team is losing the snowball fight.” The boy asked, looking up at Luca with an excited gaze. 

The sisters both laughed, looking up at Luca with smiles on their faces. He was always weak to the children, even when he was at the orphanage. When the younger children would ask to play with him and Felix, he could never say no. Often, he would have a trail of children around him like ducklings. Felix, however, was the one to always lead Luca. 

It seemed like even now, he was still leading him.

Following the young boy, Luca was led to the two large snow mounds created by the children. A group of boys and girls introduced themselves to Luca, each throwing out their names and questions before he could answer them. He could only talk to them one by one, eating away at their short recess time until they were able to start the snowball fight. 

While Luca had participated in sports, he was not the best at throwing things, he had found. He softened his throws as he gathered the balls of compacted snow, sometimes hitting the children on the other side of the mound. His team of four was not bad, and the young boy from before kept making snowballs at a fast pace, making sure the team was stocked and ready to defend their keep as needed. This led to a small advantage for Luca’s team.

“Take that!” One of the children on the other team shouted, throwing a snowball towards Luca and his teammates. Luca ducked to avoid the far-flying ball, but his hat was knocked off of his head instead and tossed into the wet snow.

Holding up his hands, he shouted, “Hold on! I lost my hat!”

For the children, however, there was no waiting. They continued to throw snowballs back and forth, some hitting Luca as he ducked out of the cover of the snowbank and retrieved his wet hat. He was quick to dust it off and continue playing, losing track of the time. Just as the sisters had rung the recess whistle, one of the other children had snuck behind Luca as he was kneeling on the ground, grabbing the back collar of his jacket as they stuffed a large, cold snowball down his shirt. As Luca stood up, the nearby children laughed, hurrying back to the sisters before Luca caught them and threw snowballs back at them in retaliation. 

“Ah! That’s cheating!” Luca yelled, attempting to shake out the snow from inside of his shirt. As he lifted his jacket, shaking it out, a sliver of his bare abdomen showed, exposing his fine muscle lines. While it was only exposed for a short moment, beads of melted water from the snowball trailed down his waist, and the view was caught by a figure standing by one of the windows facing the playground. The figure’s eyes were fixed on Luca’s frame, only looking away when his shirt had been lowered, feeling regretful that they caught only a glimpse as they held a heavy binder in their hands.

“Come line up!” Sister Dana shouted as Sister Bethany collected the rest of the children, lining them up in groups as they were led inside by the other staff, taking them inside line by line until only Luca stood by the door, having held it open for everyone to enter. Once all the children had stepped inside, Luca was quick to follow. Stepping inside, Luca’s hair and shoulders were full of snow, making his face red with cold. As he stepped through the doorway, he shook out his head with his hand, using his other hand to brush off the snow from his shoulders. 

“Achoo!” Luca sneezed, rubbing his nose with his finger, having already removed his wet hat and gloves. 

“Here, take this. You’re soaking wet.” Felix handed Luca a towel as he took the other man’s jacket, hat, and gloves, soaked with water from the melting snow. A look of concern flashed across his face as he said, “Luca, you should take a hot bath to warm yourself up.”

Luca took the towel and began to dry his hair, shaking out the clumps of snow and moisture with a rough shake of his hand. “There’s no rush. I can just take a bath later tonight. It’s not like I’ll get sick, right?” Luca laughed, causing Felix to frown as he took Luca’s wet jacket and hung it on the jacket hooks with the other jackets in their cubbies next to the door.

“If that’s what you want to do then I won’t force you.” Once Luca had changed into his indoor shoes, Felix grabbed his shoulder and said, “Now that you’re back, there’s something I want to show you.” 

“What is it?” Luca asked curiously, adjusting the damp collar of his sweater.

Felix smiled, his gaze softening as he said, “You’ll see shortly.”

… 

Stockpile ends at chapter 11, and then I'll be placing this project on hiatus for a while to focus on YMtK, as the stress of both is making me unable to keep the quality up as I would like. I apologize ;;