Just another cold evening. The harsh rain pounded at the few windows, like it was begging to be let in. However, it seemed it had no one to surprise if it did manage to barge through the glass. The small, aged cluster of rooms was empty at the moment. Or, so it seemed. One of the two inhabitants of the apartment were out in the storm, very likely walking home from the store at this moment. The other was sitting on the torn, faded couch, wrapped in a heavy fleece blanket, sharp, but flattened quills digging into the back of it subtly, unnoticeable to the naked eye because of the darkness of the room. There were no lights on, it was only the occasional piercing flash of lightning, and the chilling teal glow of the lights on his glove-cuffs to provide sight for the light grey hedgehog.

A flash illuminated the room for a split second, and shockwave of strong thunder graced the room with sound. Silver flinched at it instinctively, ears flattening, eyes squeezing shut, quills involuntarily and suddenly lifted with shock. He wasn't one to be scared of something as trivial and harmless as a thunderstorm, but he couldn't help but to feel generally uneasy in the atmosphere. He let a breath out in relief as his quills flattened to their normal state, a small bit of the condensation from his warm breath hanging in the air briefly as a wisp of vapor. A shiver of discomfort ran through his body, the hedgehog's slender frame uncontrollably shaking for a moment under the blanket.

It had only been four days without electricity, yet it was proving a challenge. Silver and his roommate had been living in a desolate, crumbling city of the future merely a month or two ago. Now, he was sitting on an old couch in an apartment of the present, and they had no power due to the marathon storm that was passing, annoyingly slowly, through the region. Those memories in the city, somehow, feel more comfortable than what he felt right now, a small rock of anxiety in the pit of his stomach that sent out a wave of sharp alarm when the thunder struck every so often. He felt truly freezing, a feeling that was more than skin deep. Maybe because he was used to sharing cold with someone that made everything warmer…

The thunder crashed outside again and Silver felt it to his very core. Attempting to huddle closer inside the blanket, he began to shiver violently in waves. He felt more than just the cold stone of nervousness in his belly. There was now a subtle, begging feeling aching in his chest now. It was painless, yet it hurt just the same. The trembling hedgehog attempted to ignore it, he knew where it stemmed from. He mentally scolded himself for being so childish, he was acting like a child missing his playmate, worrying about how she was and if she would ever play with him again. Out of all the things he could be anxious about, it had to be one of the most insignificant things to worry about at the moment. At least, that's what he tried to tell himself. The untainted, immature side of his thoughts begged to preach… As of lately, it had been the most significant thing to him, despite what he wanted it to be. Or, more like she had been the most significant.

As if on cue with the hedgehog's scrambled thoughts, his ears perked up as he heard someone entering the main hall that lead to all the apartments' individual doors under the incessant rain. Jumping up and pushing off the blanket that was now essentially embedded in his back two sections of quills, he stood a few meters in front of the door, hoping. He wasn't positive if it was his roommate, but there was the chance. Silver wanted to be there for her when she opened the door and brought in the groceries, so the first thing that she saw when she walked in would be his face. It was a gesture of care and good intentions, however subtle.

Pleasingly, Silver saw the doorknob to their apartment jiggle and twitch in the dark, and he hurried over to the door in sock-covered feet to open it, with the intention of saving his roommate the trouble.

Opening the door, he saw the lilac cat that had been occupying his mind relentlessly ever since she left for a food run. Except this image of her was much more disheveled, wet fur and put-up hair pressed back by the weight of water, tail and ears pointed down in drenched displeasure. Her normal clothes were sopping as well, the only things that seemed at least somewhat dry were the three plastic bags of food, and the constant hard, fiery amber gaze that looked back at him.

Of course, he didn't look the best either; all of his quills were disarranged in one way or another, his chest fur was tangled and his fur was dull from exhaustion. (You can only guess how hard it is to get a good night's sleep with thunder bringing you back from sleep every once and a while.) He was wearing nothing but his traditional gloves and a pair of crew-length, turquoise socks. There were subtle bags under his eyes from paranoia, defying his newly-livened golden pupils.

"H-hello Blaze," the hedgehog stuttered from the cold, "Need me to take some of those for you?" He gestured at the bags.

"That would be great," she answered distractedly, obviously wanting to get dry as soon as possible. She handed him two and he took them with ease, setting them on the counter a few paces away. The cat set her remaining bag next to his, and looked at him. He was already looking at her, not much to her surprise.

"Thank you for doing the grocery run this time," Silver looked a bit sheepish, but grateful.

"It was no issue, Silver. If you will excuse me, I'm going to change out of these clothes and into something… more comfortable." She walked into their shared room, and closed the door behind her.

Suddenly alone and standing in the dark, Silver felt a bit guilty for having her walk half a mile and back in the rain to go to the store. Since they hadn't stocked up for a while and then the storm came along, they didn't have much of a choice; nothing substantial was left in the cupboards or fridge. He did feel better knowing she was home safe, though. The deep longing in his chest had lessened, although it was still there. He still felt quite cold, but it seems movement had helped his shivering.

The hedgehog walked over to the kitchen table, and turned on the battery operated light he didn't bother using while home alone, or when it was day. It illuminated the room with a somewhat warm, strong, spreading glow. Being quite the contrast to the dark he had been in for the past time, he squinted at it before making his way over to the counter where the groceries were, beginning to sort through the bags.

Blaze had bought all the necessities: bread, milk, some basic ingredients for a low-budget pasta meal, some canned fruits and veggies, crackers, things like that. Then, previously hidden behind a box of dry pasta, a bar of chocolate was revealed. It wasn't the cheap kind either. Silver thought this was strange; Blaze didn't especially care for sweets.

It was then, their bedroom door opened with a click, and the purple cat stepped out, her fur still appearing damp, and her hair still up. Though, she was now wearing black leggings and a loose dark grey t-shirt, Silver recognized it as one of his own, she must have picked it up in the dark without realizing it was his. (He didn't wear clothes regularly, most males didn't, but he had a few things for formal events and such.) Her feet were bare.

Blaze walked over to where he was standing, her paw pads making soft noises on the floor. "Did I buy everything that was needed? I accidentally lost the list in the rain, so I had to guess on a couple things…" she trailed off.

"Nope, you're good, except why'd you buy the chocolate?" Silver said, first cheerfully, then asking honestly. Blaze looked shocked for a second, then subtle resignation clouding her gaze.

"It was going to be a surprise… for you…" she said softly, looking down. "But I guess you couldn't keep your nose out of it long enough for me to give it to you formally." she looked up, her eyes sparking playfully.

"Hah… sorry…" Silver said, a light flush rising to his cheeks in embarrassment.

Blaze looked at him. "You're so naive sometimes, Silver." she said, half to herself, and then took the bar from the bag and held it out to him. "This is for you, because I know… I know you love sweets, and I can't remember the last time you had some…" she looked at him, a small, happy smile on her face. He took it gently, and looked down at it. "T-thank you, Blaze. I-I appreciate it, I really do," His soft eyes showed genuine emotion, and he had an earnest grin on his face, along with the color in his cheeks that was no longer embarrassment. "I didn't th-think you would remember something like that about me…" he looked to the side, secretly much more touched by the gesture than he showed. The stuttering that was occuring in his voice was no longer from the chill of the room…

Blaze moved a bit closer to him. "I think you need to stop underestimating me." She remarked playfully with a smirk before turning away from him and to the groceries. "Now, we have dinner to make, before it gets too late…"

xoxox

The hedgehog and the cat sat at the table, the emergency light shining on them somewhat intensely, eating hastily made spaghetti as the rain tapped away at the outside world. There would be a severe flood warning soon, Blaze was sure of it. The atmosphere was warm, untroubled. The food they had made together was far from the best, but it got the job done, and the fact that they had made it together made it taste much sweeter than reality. Silver sat across from her, gently eating the pasta. The chocolate bar beside his plate caught her eye and the feline felt herself warm up looking at it, the happy memory made mere minutes ago. She wondered to herself, when was he going to eat it?

The two finished in a handful of minutes, leaving the dishes for when they had water in the apartment again. The unspoken consensus was that after dinner, then came the time when they would usually watch television, but since the power was out, that was clearly not an option. Nonetheless, they both made their way to the beaten, soft sofa, each sitting down on either end. Everything was calm, the two shared the comfortable vibe like a blanket, neither willing to break it, until the weather did so for them. An especially vicious clap of thunder and a parallel lightning flash shook the silence. Out of the corner of her eye, the lilac cat saw something jump along with the noise. Turning her head, she saw the grey hedgehog, looking suddenly startled, his eyes shut tight, quills spiking up and piercing the couch once more.

"Silver?" She called out to him and leaned towards his end of the sofa, genuinely concerned. Silver was one to attempt to hide any fear he had at all, only for the safety and sanity of others. Sure, the thunder had died down a bit once she had arrived back at the apartment, so this thunder strike was more of a surprise, but he still wasn't startled this easily. His eyes blinked open uncertainty and he met her amber gaze, his eyes glazed with shock. "Are you alright?" she looked back at him confusedly.

The hedgehog froze for a moment, looking at the floor somewhat shamefully, heat creeping up to his cheeks. "I'm o-ok, Blaze… just… n-not… not used to s-storms…"

While he answered, the cat on the other end got a good glance at him, and saw that he was trembling quite harshly, his ears flat and his short tail curled as close to himself as it could be. Shaking out of terror or cold, Blaze didn't know which, but she knew she couldn't just sit idly and leave him alone like this. She made a decision without hesitation, a decision she normally would overthink anxiously until the moment passed; she moved closer to him, crawling across the couch. Silver looked at her, not knowing what her intentions were until she held out a bare hand to touch his forearm. When her bare finger-pads touched his metallic fur, she drew back a bit, surprised. "You're freezing, Silver…" she almost whispered, staring at his arm with concern on her features. She wondered why for a split second and then she remembered;

She was a pyrokinetic, she always had the soul of a flame at her core, preventing her from feeling cold under normal conditions. There were of course, exceptions, like when she was sick or starving, or in extreme cold, but apart from those instances, she was always warm. She often forgot that this wasn't the case for all other mortals, she was just so used to it.

That being said, Blaze more or less had the ability to control her external body temperature, and she was going to use it like she used to during those freezing, desolate, seemingly hopeless winter nights in the future. Of course, there were many more scorching, smoky nights than chilly ones in Crisis City, but even hell has to freeze over for a few days sometimes.

First laying a gentle lilac hand on Silver's arm, she felt the expressionless cold of his fur once again. Looking up, she gazed into the caring, soft eyes of the hedgehog, looking for any confirmation that he knew what she was going to do. All that the cat had found was the perfect description of the word "puzzled."

Being a bit more bold, Blaze leaned in closer, and moved her hand farther up his trembling arm before concentrating on warming their connection. Apparently, it was getting clearer what she was going to accomplish, because when she looked into his eyes again, they were clear. Although this could be a sign to keep going, she was not completely sure.

"You… you're freezing in this cold…" the feline restated the obvious to start, and waited a moment. "It's been a long time, since we've faced cold, hasn't it…" she continued with uncertainty. Mentally, Blaze was slapping herself for trying to be smooth about this. Why couldn't she just ask if he wanted to be warmed by her? She had blatantly asked before in the past when he was openly cold, why couldn't she now? Some part of her told her things were different, more awkward…

The hedgehog beside Blaze went through a wave of violent shaking, and she was brought out of her thoughts.

The feline took a deep breath… and just as she was about to continue speaking, Silver finally said something.

"Yeah… it has been…" he breathed out, averting his gaze. "W-would you… uh…" he could feel the flush returning to his cheeks. "mind warming me up again? Like… l-like old times..?" He managed to stammer out with some hesitation and difficulty.

Blaze breathed out in secret relief. Secretly, Silver's naivety was one of her favorite things about him; the way he usually wasn't afraid to admit his feelings, the way he was often aimlessly cheerful, they way he didn't overthink things, like she did. And it was instances like this when she was reminded that she loved that about him.

She gave him a small smile, carefully placed happiness in her eyes. "Of course." She softly told the hedgehog, not bothering to tell him the millions of things that had flitted through her mind.

"Lay down…" she gently ordered him, making sure that it didn't sound like an order by softening her voice with genuine care.

She stood up from the couch momentarily to give the hedgehog enough room to lay down. After he was situated on his back, quills spread out, still trembling, she moved towards him, first placing a knee on the cushion beside his thigh, then pressing a hand into the space near his shoulder. It wasn't long before her slender body was molded over and against his in the dim light. He had also adjusted his to fit in with the position she set. Once the two had stopped moving, she began concentrating, slowly lifting her body temperature.

The hand she had on Silver's chest absentmindedly began combing through the mats that had formed in it over the past few days as she was warming him, along with her long, usually kinked tail, straightening out and wrapping itself around one of his thighs. It felt comforting to Silver, to again feel the touch of another he hadn't felt in a long while. He and Blaze hadn't done this in at least a year; the feline was very reserved when it came to physical touches. Along with the mental comfort, there was also the physical comfort of becoming warm again.

He could see Blaze's face, she was staring out into space with a numb, but far from displeased expression. He could tell she was concentrating on warming every inch of her fur, the moisture previously remaining in it long gone. Her hair was still up in her classic ponytail though, and she never slept with it that way. Plus, Silver, admittedly, wanted something to run his fingers through as well.

Slowly moving the hand that was on Blaze's back up to the top of her head, he let his fingers drag, but not in a ticklish way. He could feel a small shiver go up the feline's spine, and she nestled in closer to him, the heat from her body becoming only slightly more intense. He let his hand rest between her ears for a moment before grasping the red band that held her flowing hair in place everyday. Gingerly pulling on it to the ends, the hedgehog watched her hair, piece by piece, fall down to her head and shoulders. After the movement was complete, he moved his hand so that the elastic slid around his wrist, and he returned his hand to her hair, sliding his fingers through it repeatedly, gently removing the tangles.

The memories were coming back, not all of them blissful, but all of them nostalgic and most of them comforting. The many cold nights he spent with Blaze under the stars, under clouds, under treetops, under stone, under an actual roof... Her lithe, taut frame pressing against his own to keep him warm or secure like no one else could. The nights they had gone to bed without eating, the nights they had gone to bed sick and injured, the nights they had found good shelter, the nights they were crying, hopeless, laughing, cheerful. He remembered them all, and he was sure she did too.

But what Silver was feeling right now, was different from all of those nights. Having his chest fur stroked and his body caressed by the one he cared for most was pure bliss. The peach pit of anxiety in his stomach was gone, and even with the storm at its most merciless outside, the ache in his chest had turned into a quiet, warm beat. And with the beat was a faster movement somewhere else, and it was creating a sound, deep in his throat.

A slow, ebbing purr. A sound that gently rumbled its way out of him that he couldn't control. It wasn't the deepest, and it wasn't very loud, but it was there, and he was sure that Blaze heard it too, because she halted stroking him for a second, her breath hitching when she felt the gentle vibrations of his chest. She was surprised; she had no idea hedgehogs could purr, she thought it was only her own species. Yet alas, the hedgehog she was laying on top of proved her wrong. It was definitely quieter than a cat's, but she had never heard him do it in her life.

As Blaze continued stroking his now-combed chest fluff, she slowly began to hear herself beginning to purr as well. Silver apparently noticed, because he stopped petting down her hair for a moment before freeing his other arm from underneath him and using that to stroke her ears. His movements were gentle, kind, with only good intentions, just as hers were.

After a minute of this, Blaze lifted her head from his chest, and met her golden eyes to his. To her subtle delight, they were soft and light as always, and they were bright with euphoria and bliss. There was a small smile on his face, and color to his cheeks. He looked both truly alive, and as if he could fall asleep at any second simultaneously. She smiled at him with genuine care, and moved her face forward, without any hesitation. The seconds between them felt like minutes, Blaze was scanning his features carefully for any hints that the gesture would be unwanted. She was only met with happiness.

Finally, as long as the buildup was, the payoff was incredible. Eyes slid closed easily, muzzles met, lips touched. Bodies and arms moved to form an embrace. There was no sultry behind anything, just pure happiness, wholeness, contentedness. Tongues did not meet, it was just their lips, but that was all that was needed to convey the feeling. The purring had continued through all of this, only hitching slightly once they kissed. Pulling apart gently, they looked at one another, thinking the same thought.

"I…" Blaze started, talking through her purring… "I want… to make you feel like this… for… forever…" She slowly drew out her words, wanting Silver to understand the intent.

The hedgehog looked down, then back up at her shining eyes. "I…"

There was a moment of hesitated silence…

"...Blaze?"

"Silver?"

"I love you… more… more than anything…"

"..."

"Do you love… me too?"

"...You're so naive, Silver…"

He looked into her eyes clearly, cut out of the euphoria by the apprehension of the question but still purring. "W-what is that supposed to mean?"

Blaze smiled at him a bit before whispering "Truly naive…" and closing the gap between their two muzzles once again. Once they drew apart again, she looked at him once more, her eyes now filled with a sleepy, dazed playfulness.

"Of course I love you."

And with that, the purple feline rested her head down on the hedgehog's chest once again, their arms and bodies still locked in a hug, her tail still coiled around his thigh, his arms circling her back. The bliss resumed, letting both of them fall into slumber on the beaten couch, knowing that their feelings were reciprocated, however hard it was for the both of them to come to terms with their emotions in the first place.

Outside, the rain drummed on. Thunder crackled and lightning strobed.

Inside, the purring continued, even into sleep.