Description: It's cold. He's warm.

Characters: Sprx and Nova

Snowfall

Tauria

Nova shivered in her sleeping pod, pulling the thick blanket tighter around her shoulders. The cold still bit at her, even from beneath her fuzzy blanket. However, she wasn't getting out to get more.

She pulled her feet in closer to her body, and wrapped her tail around herself. She ducked her head beneath the blanket as well, and tried to go back to sleep.

No such luck.

Why is even so cold anyway? the golden warrior thought, straining her mind to remember. Oh yeah!

They had crash landed the other day, chasing one of the remnants of Skeleton Kings evil over a snowy plain. Though their engines were in action and heated, the frost had crept in and now they were stranded.

Gibson and Otto were trying to fix the engine, but a monkey could only stand so much of the cold at a time. They had made good progress, however, so Nova tried not to complain too much... or lose her temper.

Suddenly, there was a 'whoosh' noise as her door was opened. She stilled, deepening her breathing and trying to pretend that she hadn't woke yet. No such luck.

The door to her pod opened. "Rise and shine, sweetheart," the voice of the red pilot entered her ears.

She considered hitting him, but decided that it was too much energy, and therefore, not worth it. "Go away," she mumbled sleepily, and rolled so her back was to him. "I'm hibernating."

Sprx scoffed. "Babe, you can't be hibernating now!"

"Are the engines fixed?" She asked him in between a yawn.

"No..."

"Do we have enough heat to block away the cold?"

"...I suppose not..."

"Then I'm hibernating. Go away."

Sprx chuckled. "Hon, you should know I don't give up that easy. Besides... I have a present..." He grinned cheekily, sure she'd get up now.

Nova frowned, curiosity nipping at her. Sprx and she had only gotten together a week or so ago — the red monkey finally got the guts to admit it... in sky-writing of all things! —but already, he knew exactly what buttons to push.

Not that he didn't before... she thought, a wry smile on her face.

Allowing her curiosity to get the better of her, the golden female sat up, an eye ridge raised at the crimson male before her.

He offered a box, neatly wrapped. He had a grin on his face — one she was sure he rehearsed every day.

She took it, giving him what she hoped was a warm smile... It was hard for her to manage 'warm' today. Carefully, she undid the bow and unwrapped the present.

She lifted the lid off the box and smiled widely. Within the box was a monkey-sized, thick winter jacket. The inside was covered in faux-fur, and the outside was leather-like. She pulled it on, and below it discovered a scarf as well.

She looked up at him, intending to say 'thank you' but he beat her to it.

"Can't have you getting cold in this weather," he grinned. "After all, I'm not always going to be there to keep you warm!" He winked at her.

Nova felt her cheeks heat up, and she laughed softly. She put the scarf on as well and pulled him into a gentle hug. "Thanks Sprx."

He hugged her back, planting a kiss on her cheek. "No problem, sweetheart. Now, what do you say to breakfast...?"

"...can I eat it in the stove?"

"No, but Otto installed heaters downstairs... Plus we have plenty of hot beverages, and hot food..."

Nova was standing the moment he said heaters. She grabbed her thick blanket, took Sprx's hand, and headed downstairs. The red monkey grinned.

Sure enough, three large heaters stood in the Command Center, creating a somewhat-warm area for the team to eat and hang out at. Nova sat down near one of the heaters after grabbing her food, with the blanket around her shoulders, scarf and jacket secured tightly about her body.

Sprx took a seat beside her, and she leaned against him, surprising the red monkey. Nova took a long gulp of the hot chocolate she had grabbed, while Sprx drank his coffee. Everyone was silent; there wasn't much to talk about that morning.

Once breakfast had been finished, Gibson and Otto stood. "We had best get back to fixing the engines," the blue monkey said softly.

"Yeah! It's not going to repair itself, after all!" The ever-excitable Otto grinned goofily. Even in the freezing cold, nothing could bring him down.

Then, Sprx stood. "I'll go out on patrol then," he stated. No one argued, cluing Nova in that she had apparently missed a discussion.

She glared up at him. "You should stay inside."

Antauri cleared his throat. "Someone had to patrol, Nova. We don't know what's out there, and it would be best that we don't find out the hard way. Sprx is our best pilot... he is the only one suitable for the job. I'm sorry."

Nova just frowned more. "I'm going with him," she stated, standing.

"Novs... You should stay here," the red monkey tried to convince her. "You don't like the cold, and I'd rather you not subject yourself to it."

"I also don't want you going out there alone," she said pointedly. "Buddy system; safety in numbers; you get it." The she tossed him a sly look. "Besides Sparky, what if one of us gets cold?" She blinked her big pink eyes at him, holding back triumph and giggles at seeing his red cheek fur turn an even deeper crimson.

"Fine. You can come," Sprx relented. "But you're riding in the fist rocket with me...and I'm not holding back on the tricks."

"I didn't think you would." She grinned at him. She waved to the others, and grabbed Sprx's hand. Together, the red and yellow monkeys entered the red tube and got in their positions in Sprx's fist rocket.

It was surprisingly nice, having Nova ride along in the backseat. Of course, Sprx had known it would be enjoyable, but he hadn't known exactly what it would be like.

She actually enjoyed most of his tricks, though a few made her a little green. She also noticed things - like little ice demons - that Sprx would have missed had he been alone. She kept him company too; he made her laugh and she made him laugh in return.

Now, she had curled up to take a nap, deciding that it was beginning to get too cold to stay awake.

Sprx shivered. The cold was finally starting to invade the Fist Rocket, and it was beginning to be freezing. Every so often he would glance back to make sure Nova was alright.

Suddenly, something warm wrapped around at him, and he jumped, surprised. A quick glance back revealed that Nova had wrapped one of her blankets around his shoulder. She kissed his cheek.

"Can't have you getting cold," she smiled at him, nuzzling his fur.

"No... Not really," he chuckled. "Get some sleep."

She nodded. "Alright, honey."

She curled up once more, making sure she was all bundled up and yawned a large yawn.

He smiled at her, and focused his full attention on the controls. They hadn't flew for very long when there was a sickening 'crack!' at the back of the ship, and they went down.

Using his training, he was able to prevent fatalities for both him and Nova, as well as the ship. Turning his attention to what had attacked them, he groaned.

"You have got to be kidding me!"

A giant snowman looked before them, black eyes staring down. It raised one of its arms and went to destroy the ship for good, but then... It stopped.

Sprx's onyx eyes widened, and then, he squinted up at it, glanced behind him and...

"NOVA!"

Sprx dug frantically through the snow. Nova had gone out to fight the giant snowman, and by the time he had gotten out there, she had already blew it up... Only, she hadn't come out of the snow.

The red monkey felt like his very blood and bones had been turned into icicles, but he didn't stop digging. He no longer registered the pain; he felt it, but he ignored it easily. All that mattered was Nova.

Finally, after what had seemed like hours, he found her buried beneath the snow. She blinked up at him and giggled.

"Sparky!" She sang, reaching her arms out to him. "It's cold!" She pouted, dragging out the word cold. "I don't like the cold... Nu huh..." She looked at him childishly, giggling again.

Sprx lifted the golden warrior up. This isn't good...

She giggled again. "Where are we going, Sparky?"

"...to the Fist Rocket... To get you warm again."

"I like being warm," she giggled. "But you know what I like better then being warm?"

"No... What?"

"This!"

And she gave him a big kiss, smack on the lips. Taken by surprise, the red monkey crashed into the snow, as Nova began running a hand through his chest fur.

Sprx soon regained his rational thought, and gently pushed her back, standing and lifting her up again. "Let's save that for later, sweet cheeks."

She pouted at him.

He soon reached the Fist Rocket, wrapping blankets aplenty around her, and cuddling with her himself. During the kiss, he had found that her body was scorching hot, a pretty good sign of a high fever.

He found his first aid kit, and mentally thanked Gibson for his lessons on how to use it. He checked Nova's temperature, and swore.

He called the Robot, thankful the Fist Rocket still had power.

"Antauri?"

"Yes Sprx?"

"Right, I don't have time to explain everything, but Nova's running a super high fever, and my engines have been destroyed. Think you could swing by and pick us up?"

Antauri nodded. "I shall 'swing by' in a moment."

Sprx relayed his coordinates, and they waited for the silver monkey to arrive. Fortunately, it was not long before the Brain Scrambler lifted the Fist Rocket and brought it home. After attaching everything, they rushed Nova to med bay, where it was revealed she was extremely sick.

Sprx was assigned to take care of her, because the others had things to do...

...plus Nova wouldn't let go of him.

Gibson had said Nova would be delirious for a while, until her fever was brought down. She would also be tired.

Not to mention downright clingy... Sprx thought, though he truthfully didn't mind Nova never letting him up. It was something he could enjoy.

"You hungry, doll?" He asked the bleary eyed yellow monkey, who's arms were wrapped around him in a tight embrace.

She nodded sleepily. He smiled, untangling himself from her cool metal arms, and got her some soup.

Once she had eaten, she fell right back to sleep.

Sprx stroked the back of her head, feeling guilty.

Nova's wet coughs woke him from his dreamless sleep. He patted her back, until finally she had coughed what she needed out of her system, and she relaxed once more.

He pressed his hand lightly against her forehead, and breathed a sigh of relief. Her fever had gone down, finally. Despite this, he still pressed a damp washcloth against her forehead, like he had been doing every couple hours, to help.

He had taken care of her to the best of his abilities, feeling partially responsible for her condition.

"Don't feel bad," she whispered at him.

He looked at her, confused.

She smiled, nuzzling his chest fur. "You have that look on your face; the one that says you're beating yourself up over something."

"...oh."

"It's not your fault, Sprx."

"But if I had just protested a little more-"

She cut him off. "I chose to go along. I chose to fight the snowman. I'm too stubborn for you to have stopped me either way." She smiled at him. "You know that."

He smiled a little. "I suppose, but I still feel like I could have done something..."

She chuckled, kissing his nose.

He blushed, then decided to ask a question. "Y'know... When you were all loopy from the fever, you said some thing..."

"Like?" She raised her eye ridge.

"Like... How you said that there was something you liked better then being warm?"

"And that was...?"

"You kissed me, knocking me in the snow," he said.

She blushed. "Oh."

"Oh...?"

She laughed. "Shut up, Sprx."

"Did you mean it?"

"...mean what?"

"That you liked me better then being warm." Sprx knew it was a stupid question - after all, she was dating him! However, he knew that during the time, getting warm was the most important thing to her, and so it was a pretty big deal.

She smiled, kissing him briefly. "I think I did," she smiled at him.

He grinned at her. Suddenly, neither of them felt quite so cold anymore.

Tauria: Hi! So, I decided to start a new one-shot collection! In Darkest and Lightest Moments was beginning to get overly full, plus a lot of the stories in there were kind of old, and not my best writing ^.^' However, I will be posting something to wrap that up.

Anyway, just so everyone knows, I posted this from my phone (my Internet is out) so if there are any mistakes, please let me know! My phone has a habit of correcting even words that are spelled right...

Hope you enjoyed the fluff! Please leave a review!