Cold Comfort
The wind was howling outside the boiler room as the sound of creaking wood could be heard through the walls, coupled with the wisping of snow outside the windows. In contrast to the frigid weather outside, the inside of the boiler room served as a means of providing warmth to those who needed it, such was the case of a humble brown wolfdog hybrid who was contentedly resting by the fireplace, though shivering slightly when he felt a bit of the wind make its way inside. However, the slight shiver turned into something more as suddenly a huge gush of wind entered through the room, causing the canine to rise with a jolt.
"What the?!" He exclaimed as he looked towards the open door...and suddenly felt himself growing silent. Standing in the doorway, covered with snow, and having a distinct coat of black and white was a tall, proud Malamute, who ironically wasn't looking too proud at the moment if the slight shiver in his legs was anything to go by.
"Move over, wolfy, I'm bunking here!" The larger canine commanded in his usual pompous manner, shaking the snow off him, some of it landing on the smaller canine, intentionally or not would be up to anyone's guess.
"My name's Balto, Steele..." The wolfdog said, slightly offended, but it wasn't as if the Malamute seemed to care as he walked over to him.
"Yeah, yeah, anyway, I'm chilling to the bone and need a place to stay for this stupid storm to blow over", Steele replied as he casually moved towards the fireplace to warm himself up, Balto looking on rather hurt as he went over to a spot in the room and laid down, watching the Malamute from a distance, not sure if he'd be able to enjoy the warmth now with a certain canine now present. He sighed as he looked down towards the floor...what he didn't see however was Steele looking over at him from where he stood. For some reason, the Malamute couldn't help but feel...curious about the wolfdog laying over there by his lonesome, it wasn't a feeling of pity, nor was it a feeling of remorse...at least, that's what he thought. Nevertheless, he made his way over to where Balto was laying and stood over him, the brown canine looking up at the white legs in front of him and then meekly looking up at the unamused expression before him.
"Yes…?" Balto asked sheepishly, feeling smaller underneath the hulking canine standing before him.
"I'm prolly gonna regret this but...make some space…" Steele replied, sounding almost...hesitant at his own words as he turned around to position himself against Balto as he laid down next to the wolfdog. Balto was at a loss for words seeing this display, out of all people to lay down next to him, he'd never imagined Steele being one to do so...well, to say he never imagined would be a bit of an exaggeration, but he'd never say it out loud.
"Your tail's whipping…" The sound of the Malamute pulled Balto out of his thoughts as he realized that his tail was moving about more than he realized and sheepishly put it down.
"S-Sorry about that…" He murmured, feeling rather embarrassed at the display and putting a paw on his face. More than likely, Steele would have hurled another insult his way, but for some reason, it never came. Instead, the larger canine kept looking Balto over while he was looking away, and noticed that the wolfdog was fidgeting slightly...and, whatever compelled him to do it, licked behind Balto's ear, causing the brown canine to shiver...and then look awkwardly up at Steele. "Why...why'd you do that…?" He asked, hoping not to come off as intrusive.
"Because I felt like it, what else?" Steele replied brashly, trying not to sound awkward, but the sharpness of his response still felt like it. Even he couldn't explain the recent gesture, and he was so caught up in his thoughts when he felt something...lick on the bottom of the left side of his chest. He looked down at Balto retracting his tongue and looking away once more, murmuring an apology when the Malamute pulled the wolfdog's head back to face him with his paw.
"S-Steele…?" Balto said shyly as he looked up towards the larger canine, who stared back into his golden eyes. The two canines sat there in silence for a few seconds...before Steele once more returned a lick behind Balto's ear, causing the wolfdog to shiver once more, and resulting in him licking in the same spot on Steele as he did before. As the two canines' faces slid by one another as they pulled away from their respective spots, they found themselves nose to nose with one another...once more, they looked into each other's eyes...before they found their tongues making contact with one another...followed by their lips...it was only a few seconds before they pulled away, looking away awkwardly from one another and not making a sound, the room being silent apart from the wind outside.
"Not a word…" Steele said simply, breaking the silence as he positioned himself against Balto's side to settle down for the night.
"Yeah...keep it dark…" Balto concurred as he made himself comfortable against Steele, ready for a night's sleep. Although he wasn't sure if it was plausible to think, the thought crept into the wolfdog's head that; maybe this could be the start of something...the start of something...pleasant.