-1It was mid-December in Chicago, wind-wiped and snow covered as always. T-bag laid curled up under the blankets, shivering uncontrollably. Damn these Illinois winters, damn them. No warm white sand beach to drive to, no control of the thermostat. Officially, prison was miserable.
"Pst," T-bag said kicking the mattress above him, "Maytag…you still up, Precious?"
Jason rolled over and took a deep breath; his eyes slowly opened, pulling his blankets off his head, "Mph…wha?"
"I'm cold. Give me a hug," T-bag demanded. He felt miserably tired, so tired he couldn't sleep anymore, and the cold was destroying his grip on life.
Maytag muttered something under this breath and swung his torso over the bed and patted T-bag on the head softly with one hand, "Hug."
T-bag snatched the wrist quickly, "Get down, boi. I'm not playing around."
Jason yelped and tried his best not to fall off the top bunk. Rolling he got his feet on the ground, blanket wrapped around himself. He blinked tiredly at T-bag, shaking his wrist free and muttering something else.
"What was that?"
"I said scoot over."
T-bag sat up, "Oh, so you're giving the orders? Precious, we've had this talk nicely. We've had this talk with a shank. We've had this talk with my dick up your ass, how many more times am I going t--"
Maytag was curled up next to T-bag by the time he stopped talking, giving up on thinking for the night. T-bag smiled at that, arms reflexively snaking around the young man's body, hugging him.
The extra body helped immensely to warm him up, like a cup of hot coffee on early morning hikes. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath of the other's scent, he'd come to know it as well as any lover's. Lover, partner, boyfriend, girlfriend--he went over the progression in his head, the progression of what he'd had in his life.
A deep breath in and he nuzzled Maytag's neck, the younger inmate giggled in his sleep, "Tickles…"
T-bag smirked at that and sighed softly. He'd always liked snuggling, with people he liked, that was. And Maytag, Jason, was starting to grow on him. Theodore smiled and pushed some loose strands from the other's eyes, rather cute when he was sleeping.

"Rise and shine, ladies!" Bellick's voice carried over the rumble of cells opening. T-bag groaned and rolled over, finding a warm body in his bed next to him he latched on once more for warmth.
"Bagwell, Bucan--well don't that make you sick," Bellick said standing outside their cell, hands on his belt. He hesitated a moment then pulled a penny from his pocket launching it at Bagwell's head, "Alright snuggle bunnies, freak show's over."
His head moved, dodging the penny lazily, "Sho'nuff, boss," he grumbled. His fingers caressed into Maytag's belly, pulling him closer, leaning over so he could whisper in the other's ear, "Maytag, Precious, sun's up. Time to start another day."
Maytag shivered and curled into a ball, pushing T-bag to the edge of his own bunk. Bagwell clung to the posts of his bunk to keep from ending on the floor. He nipped at Maytag's neck and ears, "Jason. Up. Now."
Maytag opened his eyes and stretched out, "mmmph?"
"You're lucky you're warm, boi, you're trying my patience."

Maytag jumped as T-bag set his breakfast tray down noisily, "Scare you?" T-bag asked with a smirk.
"Startled," Jason said quietly, index finger of his left hand around T-bag's pocket as he prodded his sausages, eating the first one in a single bite.
"Hmmm, you are good at that, Maytag," Bagwell joked watching the inmate put the whole metaphor into his mouth at once.
Jason burst into giggles and nearly choked, closing his eyes tightly to stop from laughing out loud. There was nothing more embarrassing than the rest of the GenPop knowing that you were laughing about an innuendo. Especially about an innuendo T-bag made.
Theodore rubbed his cellie's back softly, making small circles and scooted a bit closer to him, despite the fact Trokey settled himself opposite the table of T-bag. The two were chatting idly about how miserable the cold was and how bitter they were that the caf wasn't serving hot coffee that morning.
Bagwell must have been in a better mood, despite last night; he was already chatting up the Alliance but instead of forgetting Jason was even there, as usual, T-bag was still paying attention to him, which was special. Jason smiled at that, daring to scoot closer to the other man and make puppy eyes over Theodore's shoulder at the everyone else, trying to get them to mention him, positively or negatively; he knew T-bag would make him feel welcome either way. No one said anything.

"Love," T-bag sang as tepid water hit his face, "the kind you clean up with a mop and bucket. Like the lost catacombs of Egypt, only God knows where we stuck it." The closest thing to rap, or 'rughead music' T-bag would ever sing.
Maytag smirked at that and shivered as a pair of cold lips pressed into the back of his neck. "Rule number one; don't drop the soap," the luxuriously accented voice whispered from the lips, "Rule number two; in the event of soap drop-page, have someone cute pick it up."
At that, Maytag out right giggled, pushing against the other body reflexively. The shower was a bad place to wrestle, it'd only lead to a lot of bruised knees and a week in the SHU. But, boys would be boys, and wrestling with T-bag was more trying to keep him from snapping a bone on 'accident' anyhow.
T-bag pushed back harder than usual and turned off the water, grabbing a towel and fluffing his hair with it lightly before wrapping it around his waist. Maytag was still leaning on the wall, laughing into it; sometimes that boy was just a giggle box. And on cold days when he was teetering on the verge of a foul mood, it wasn't a good thing.
He ignored Maytag for a while, who was trying to give him apologetic looks as he pulled his pants on. T-bag took his left pocket, turning it inside out and bend over to pick up his shirt out of his locker. Maytag took the pocket, letting go of it as the other leaned forward.
"You breakin' our deal, Maytag?" T-bag snapped and stood up.
"Huh? No. Not at al--"
"Then you'd best hold on a little tighter, hadn't you?" From singing in the shower to this, December in Chicago didn't sit will with the Alabamian, it made him moody. Trokey and the rest of the alliance referred to it as T-bag's 'Time of the year'.

Out in the yard things didn't get much better. T-bag sat with his arms crossed, knees to his chest and his teeth chattered. The rest of the Alliance pretended they didn't notice, but moved a little closer to T-bag, tacitly offering their own body heat.
Since the snow had stopped falling, Pope decided the inmates needed fresh air and exercise; sitting in the rec-room would waste their time. Maytag scooted nearer the older male and rest his head on his shoulder. Usually T-bag was against signs of affection; he'd rationalized it the assurance there was a bad memory about P.D.A., though he never explained it; but today Bagwell even put his head against Maytag's and shivered endlessly.

"LIGHTS OUT, LADIES!" Bellick shouted, the cold put him in a particularly nasty mood as well. The cell doors locked into place. The lights faded until there were only solitary book lamps scattered around GenPop. The bunk in the 16th cell was shaking, but not from it's usual activity.
"Theodore?" Maytag asked, laying on his back on the top bunk, starring at the Calvin Klein ad T-bag had given him to tape there.
T-bag continued to shake uncontrollably, "Don't call me that."
"T-bag?" Maytag corrected.
"What is it?"
"It's cold."
"No shit," T-bag said sarcastically and pulled the blanket closer around him.
"Are you mad at me? I didn't make it snow, you know."
T-bag sighed at that and curled up on his side, that warmed him up enough so he didn't shake the beds, "Not mad at you, precious. Just hatin' the world, don't mean to include you in the general population."
"You…want me to cheer you up?" Maytag offered, getting skull-fucked for five minutes was worth a night of peace.
T-bag just shook his head, "S'too cold to take my pants off. But s'mighty kind of ya offer."
"Don't…have to take your pants all the way off," Maytag said leaning over the edge of the bed, tilting his head slightly.
"Maytag, you're sweet. Really. I just ain't in the mood to freeze my dick off."
A pause, Maytag slipped down from his bed, slid under the blanket next to the older man and teasingly pinned him to the mattress, "Well," Jason started, "Maybe I'm in the mood. Whatcha gonna do about that?" Though he tried his best, he couldn't help but smile.
"Jas, I ain't playin' around you get off me or you'll loose a tooth," but there was something insincere in that threat, despite T-bag's reassurance it was true. Jason stayed put, straddling the other's hips and keeping T-bag's arms pinned above his head.
"Don't tell me I've gotta force you, Maytag," Teddy said with a wicked grin and thrust his hips upward.
"Thought you didn't want to take your pants off…"
Bagwell growled playfully at that and lunged, pulling his arms free. In a twist of blankets and quiet laughter Maytag found himself on his stomach, arms behind his back. Theodore felt the fiery lust run through him and it heated him. He grabbed at the back of the other's pants and started to pull them downwards, but the laughter caught his ear and he let go. Hot shivers ran up his spine seeing Maytag smiling at him, not crying out for help, noticing the only struggles were playful, not for the other's life.
"Mmm, that's hard," Jason said and broke Theodore's concentration.
"That would be my elbow," T-bag said into the other's ear softly, kissing the back of his neck.
Jason smiled at that, T-bag's touch was soft, despite his moodiness that day, "Elbow? That's what they're calling it these days?"
T-bag didn't reply to that, continuing to kiss the back of the other's neck. Icy fingers slid over Maytag's stomach, causing him to shudder and gasp. As Maytag's hips arched up off the mattress, T-bag slipped his arm around the other's middle.
The icy fingers pulled the pants down and Maytag fished under the beds for a bottle of lotion they'd swiped from the shower supply closet. The fingers switched from the removal of clothes to the lubricating. Jason giggled again and the warm shiver ran up from T-bag's chest to the back of his neck again.
The bed shook again, only half in the usual way. Usually it was full of the sounds of lust and satisfaction, but now it was laughter and backwards kisses. Maytag gasped, letting the satisfied T-bag roll off him and lay, panting, beside him in the bed.
T-bag slowly started shivering once more. Maytag whimpered at that, taking a minute to conjure up the courage to say what he'd been thinking all day, even if the mood shifts; "I. I love you."
Theodore blinked at the other's words, words that sent the red-hot shivers up his spine. He thought for a minute, it'd been a long time since he'd heard anyone utter those words to him. He looked down at the other inmate, running his fingers gently through his hair, and a smile spread over his lips.
"I love you," he repeated absentmindedly and the heat spread through his whole body.
Neither one of them shivered again that night.