It's colder than expected when Frankie Kazarian steps outside, but he'd already agreed to this so he keeps his discomfort to himself and follows alongside Christopher Daniels with a small smile on his face. They're both in jackets, hands deep in their pockets, by the end of the driveway, and Kaz waits for Daniels to decide they should head back home... but it never comes. He seems perfectly happy to walk on in the dark and cold, examining the neighbors' light displays with a critical eye.
"That one's kinda cool," he says, stopping outside of a home with an entire yard full of inflatable Christmas characters- from Mickie and Minnie Mouse in Christmas hats, to The Grinch lurking around the corner, watching a group of inflatable Whos.
Kaz nods, wiggling his fingers around in his pocket for some friction, an attempt at finding some warmth. "It is," he agrees softly, and they move on. Once they finish with their own street, Daniels turns left and Frankie exhales quietly, following him. There are more decorated homes and yards in this street, and Daniels beams in the glow of it all, Frankie quickly losing the will to interrupt and demand they return home immediately.
They're heading down a fourth block when Daniels turns to ask Frankie something and pauses, his brows furrowing. "Frankie?"
Frankie blinks, hard, and then looks up, realizing he's stopped moving, a good few feet between them. "Oh," he says bashfully, jogging to catch up. "Sorry, guess my mind wandered."
Daniels makes a unconvinced noise before stepping closer to him, staring intently at him and touching his knuckles to the side of Kaz's face, then grabbing one of his hands out of his pocket. Whereas Kaz is close to shivering as more wind buffets down upon them, bringing a fresh chill through Frankie's jacket, Daniels is still warm and cheerful and Kaz shakes his head helplessly, clinging to his fingers.
"Man, you should've told me you were cold," he chides. "Come on, let's double back."
"No, it's fine, I'm not cold, just a little chilly. We can continue," Frankie insisted, but Daniels shakes his head.
He tugs their hands up between them and squeezes them, showing him how pale his normally healthy looking fingers are in comparison. "We've seen plenty. Come on." He keeps ahold of Frankie's hand and pulls him along until Frankie gives up and keeps step alongside him.
Even then, Daniels doesn't let go of his hand and Frankie has to smile deep into the darkness as his best friend keeps him close, making him feel just a little bit warmer until they've walked back the entire way much faster than Kaz would've expected after how excruciatingly long the walk this far had been. Once back inside, Daniels bustles off, muttering something about warm apple cider, and Frankie sits in the glow of the Christmas tree to toe his shoes off, listening fondly to him moving around in the kitchen.
He thinks he'll never know for sure what he did right to gain this man's friendship for well longer than the last decade, but he's beyond thankful for it