They had been the only two in the house when the blizzard hit, and perhaps that was a good thing. Mrs. Morgan would have been in a frenzy which would have sparked a chain reaction of worrying amongst the Morgan family and company. Yes, this was definitely better for everyone. The wind howled, and the storm raged on outside. Peering out the window, Ethan could see nothing but the whiteness that was the snow, contrasted by the darkness of the night. It had started a mere fifteen minutes ago but had already turned into a full-fledged snow storm. With a sigh he pulled the curtains shut and went back into the kitchen where Benny was searching through the freezer for a pizza. The boy had been baffled upon discovery that pizza places didn't deliver in such weather. "Ah-ha! Found it!" exclaimed Benny, grinning widely as he placed the pizza in the oven. Ethan smiled fondly at his friend and asked what kind it was. "Pepperoni and sausage," was the reply.

"Cool. Let's get back to the game, the pizza's gonna take a while."

"Right on."

The two proceeded to play for roughly twenty minutes until the timer went off, letting them know the pizza was done. "Foooooooood!" Benny exclaimed. The excited spell caster launched himself over the back of the sofa and ran into the kitchen. Ethan rolled his eyes before pausing the game and following his friend who had already taken the pizza out and was ready to shove a slice in his mouth. "Benny, wait!"

"Ow, hot, hot, hot, hot pizza!" the taller of the two cried, flailing about the kitchen before finally getting the pizza situation under control.

Ethan smiled and resisted the urge to face-palm, instead opting to roll his eyes some more. 'Benny was just too cute,' he thought. Wait... What? Where did that come from? Well, Benny was attractive. Ethan couldn't argue with that... but was he attracted to him? It was definitely a possibility... a very strong possibility. "Ethan?"

"Eh?"

"You okay?"

"Yeah I-"

There was a beep, and the boys were submerged in darkness. Benny almost dropped his pizza, and Ethan could feel his heart briefly speed up. The sound of breathing filled the room. It was Ethan who spoke first. "Come on. We had better grab a couple flashlights and gather some stuff. We don't know how long the power will be out."

"Right. Um, E?"

"What?"

"I can't see anything."

"Come on. I can get to the flashlights in the dark." Ethan replied, grabbing Benny's and leading them to the hall closet where they retrieved the flashlights. Benny's blushing went unnoticed.

Ethan let go of Benny's hand to turn his flashlight on. The two walked back to the kitchen where they ate in silence. Just as Ethan was finishing his second piece he was interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone. "Ethan, are you okay?! Is the power out there?! Is Benny with you?!" came the frantic voice of Samantha Morgan.

"Yeah, the power's out. Benny and I are fine though."

"Good, good. I don't know when we'll be back, but you'll be fine. There's enough food in the house. Just promise me you won't try to go outside."

"Alright, mom. I'm not crazy. We'll be fine."

"Okay. We'll be back as soon as possible. I love you, sweetie."

"Love you too, mom. Bye."

Benny quirked an eyebrow and swallowed his pizza before speaking. "That was quick," he stated.

"Yeah, just the obvious stuff; seeing if we were okay, telling us not to go outside. Ha-ha."

The spell caster chuckled and was thankful he had no pizza in his mouth at the moment. Ethan grinned back at him. The two boys regained their composure and sat staring at each other. "Hey, you wanna play some cards or something?"

Benny laughed despite there being nothing particularly funny about the question. "Sure, sure."

Ethan grabbed a deck of cards, and they played a few rounds of Black Jack. The boys were on their fourth game when they first noticed it. They paid it no mind as it was only a little chill. A couple rounds later it had gotten worse; both boys had pulled on sweatshirts. More time passed, and Benny was visibly shivering. Ethan stood up, grabbed his winter clothes from the closet, and began dressing. "What are you doing?"

"Getting the space heater from the garage."

"No way, Ethan! In case you haven't noticed, there's a blizzard going on out there!"

"Either I go get it now before it gets worse or we both freeze to death in here."

"But-"

"It'll be fine. The garage is close enough to the house. I'll be back before you know it."

Benny nodded in defeat. "Okay."

"Good. Watch from the window, and be ready to open the door for me when I get back."

Benny nodded again as Ethan stepped outside. A large gust of wind made the spell caster shiver, and he was disappointed to find that it had carried in a large amount of snow.

Outside Ethan fought his way through the storm. He couldn't see anything, and staying upright was proving to be a more difficult task than anticipated. Finally reaching the garage, Ethan wrenched open the door, collapsing inside after closing it. Upon catching his breath, he made his way to the back where the space heater was stored. Grabbing it, the seer took a deep breath before stepping back into the storm.

Back outside the wind had picked up even more. About three quarters of the way back a particularly large gust knocked Ethan off his feet. It was even colder on the ground, and Ethan struggled to regain his footing. The storm, however, had other ideas. Then out of nowhere Benny was there, pulling Ethan to his feet and leading him back inside.

Ethan lay gasping on the snow covered kitchen floor with Benny half on top of him. The only thing he registered was heavy breathing and the sound of his heartbeat. Benny stood and offered his hand. The two managed to change clothes and make their way to Ethan's room where they sat side by side on the bed, not quite touching. Eventually Ethan slunk down, positioning his head in Benny's lap. He was both cold and exhausted and would have fallen asleep then and there if Benny had not spoken. "Dude, I know it's cold and all, but do you think you could move your head a bit further north of the equator?"

"Huh? Oh! Sorry..."

The brunette sat up and pressed himself against the cold wall. If not for his already flushed cheeks one would have seen him blush. The space heater was slowly warming the room but not fast enough. Ethan shuddered and pulled his sleeves down over his hands while Benny watched with interest. The taller of the two sighed. "Come here."

Ethan looked up in surprise before crawling back over to Benny. The two now sat with Ethan in between Benny's legs with his back pressed to the spell caster's chest. Benny's arms were wrapped around Ethan; his chin resting on the seer's head.

Ethan sighed and tilted his head back onto Benny's shoulder. They lay like that for quite some time. For how long they couldn't be sure. It must have been a while because the room had finally reached a reasonable temperature. "I could get used to this," murmured Benny.

"What? Being cold and trapped inside during a snowstorm? I don't know about you, but I definitely don't want to go through this again."

"No. This. Me and you just sitting here, not saying anything but not really needing to anyway."

"Oh. I suppose you're right."

"Yeah... Hey, Ethan?"

"Hmm?"

"If you won't hate me for it, could I kiss you right now?"

Ethan's eyes widened, and he turned around to face Benny, whom was looking back at him nervously.

"I couldn't hate you if I tried."

The faintest of smiles was upon Ethan's face as he leaned in for the kiss.