"Spirou, I need to talk to you", the new manager of Hôtel Moustique said, "Come to my office." Spirou just finished dragging baggage to hotel room 628. When he entered the office, the manager turned his seat. "You see, Spirou, you're getting too old for this job, and therefore too expensive."

"What?" said Spirou in surprise, "But I'm only - "

"Yes, yes, but remember how old you were when you started working here? If children of 13 or 14 years old take over your work as a bellhop, it will be much cheaper."

"T…that's unfair! Aren't there other things I could do in the hotel?"

"There are no vacancies open at the moment. It's time for you to get a more serious profession. You have a quarter of an hour to get your stuff and then you're out of here. You can keep your uniform as a keepsake. Goodbye forever."

Spirou was devastated. Not that the job paid well, but at least he had a roof above his head and he wasn't starving. How dare they to kick him out of Hôtel Moustique just before christmas? There wasn't a lot to pack but Spirou grabbed his belongings and Spip.

'What's going on? Where are we going?' Spip said-thought.

"My dear Spip, I just got fired. We have to find another place to stay."

'What?! How can I live my carefree squirrel life in peace now?' Spip thought-said selfish.

Entresol didn't seem to mind very much when Spirou stepped out of the hotel, into the snow. Spip hid himself under Spirou's cap to stay warm. Spirou had no idea what to do and where to go, so he just started walking in a random direction. He saw kids playing in the snow, making snowmen and snow angels. He even saw someone a bit older taking the snow more seriously and building an igloo. It didn't snow every winter in Belgium, but when it did, the children were happy. Spirou, on the other hand, wasn't. Where would he be going, what was he going to do? He had a lot of friends with who he often played soccer, but were they really close enough friends that he could stay with one of them for a little while? Spirou didn't think so. He was sure he could have stayed for at least a few days at Fantasio's, but he had military service at the moment.

Thinking about Fantasio made Spirou feel happy and warm inside, despite the cold. A small smile crept to his lips. Spirou had realized a while ago he really liked Fanta, more than just a regular friendship. More than best friends liked each other. Spirou wasn't sure but he thought the feelings were mutual. The way Fantasio looked at him, smiled at him, cared about him, comforted and hugged him a few times made Spirou think, hope Fanta liked him just as much. When he would come back from military service, Spirou decided he would tell Fanta the truth and confess his feelings. He didn't know what would happen. If he liked him back then that would be great, if he didn't, Spirou was sure Fantasio was nice enough not to destroy their friendship and then Spirou would be happy just to be his best friend. The warm fuzzy feeling froze when he thought of something horrible he tried not to think of. If Fantasio wouldn't survive the war. Until now, Spirou managed to buy a newspaper almost every day but he didn't know when the war would end and if Fantasio was still alive. He thought about him every day and being raised as a catholic, he often prayed for the war be over soon and his Fantasio to come back unharmed. They had decided to work together as journalists and Spirou was really looking forward to that. But for now, how was he going to make money, where was he going to stay? Spirou just walked around without a goal, until he saw someone with a bunch of matches. The unknown merchant approached him.

"You look like you could use a job. Do you want to sell matches?"

Spirou could vaguely recall having ever read a story about a little girl selling matchsticks and that didn't end well. But he had to try something, and besides, he wasn't a girl.

'No, I'm a squirrel' thought-said Spip, proud to be a squirrel.

"How much does it pay?" asked Spirou.

"If you sell them all, you'll earn 150 Belgian francs."

"All right. I'll do it." Spirou said. 'I hope this won't end in tears', he thought. It wasn't much money but he didn't have a choice and how hard could this possibly be? Spirou took the handful of matchsticks.

Now where to sell them? He started by just asking people on the street at the market place.

"Excuse me, madam, do you want to buy some matchsticks?"

- "No, thanks. I don't need them."

"Pardon, sir, do you want to buy some matches?"

- "No, go away."

"Bonjour, er… do you want to buy any matches?"

- "No, good luck selling them to someone else."

But they all kept saying they didn't want them. Some of them even called him a ragamuffin or a pauper. Everywhere he saw people inside their houses being warm and cozy. Meanwhile, Spirou was freezing. He was only wearing his uniform and no winter jacket. He was worried about Spip, who was sleeping in his cap. Spirou decided to light up one match, just one, to warm himself and Spip. He sat down in the snow between two houses and kindled one matchstick. He warmed his hands and suddenly, Fantasio was there. Spirou didn't know how it was possible but didn't care. "Fantasio…"

Fantasio smiled at him. "Come to my arms, Spirou." Fantasio lifted up Spirou and held him close. Spirou felt like he was floating. Fanta's chest felt nice and warm and Spirou loved the feeling of Fanta's hands caressing his back. But suddenly he was gone and Spirou fell down to the cold snow. The match was burned out. "Just one more match…" muttered Spirou while lighted up one. He was safe in Fantasio's arms again and he relaxed. It felt nicely comfortable and he felt like this was the right time.

"Fanta, I… really like you." Spirou blushed.

"Spirou, I love you. Everything's okay." Fanta whispered in his ear. But it wasn't, because Spirou fell into the snow again. Hastily he kindled all of the left matches at once and Fantasio was back. "Spirou, can I kiss you?" he asked. When Spirou smiled and nodded Fanta kissed him on the cheek. Spirou's nice, fuzzy feeling got stronger. His heart fluttered and he felt loved and safe. He knew this was the last time he'll ever see Fanta, but that didn't worry him. He wished it could just stay like this forever, but suddenly everything was dark.

The next morning, a blue frozen boy in a bellhop suit with a smile on his face was found. Some nice people managed to defrost and save the life of the squirrel curled up in the cap. It was said the frozen boy tried to warm himself with the matchsticks, but no one knew what he had seen and how happy Spirou felt just before he died.