Hercules hated being late to anything. He was staying the night at his girlfriend's house for the first time, and all of his other date-mates would be there. So why today? Why today did it have to start pouring down the rain when he was riding Pegasus there?
One look at his outfit told him that he would have to borrow someone's clothes-and while that was fine, it was still a bit embarrassing. It would most likely be Kronk's clothes he would have to borrow-he only hoped that the similar-sized man brought spare clothes with him.
Finally, Hercules arrived at the home, clutching his soaked bag into his stomach, trying to at least protect his electronics from the wrath of the weather Gods.
When the door opened, it was Jasmine. His girlfriend stared at him in pity before ushering him inside, her tiger immediately rubbing against the man's legs.
"Oh, thanks for trying to warm me, Rajah. I appreciate it. I think Pegasus might need some warming up, too." He teased, knowing the two animals didn't get along very well.
The tiger seemed to grumble at that before laying down a few feet away from the duo, the equine busying himself with cleaning his wings. Jasmine laughed lightly before turning her attention back to Hercules, whose clothes were starting to make him shiver in the cold home.
"Now, let's go find the others and get you something to change into. I'm guessing you forgot dry clothes." She said in a teasing tone, flicking his little bundled bag with her finger.
Shrugging lightly, Hercules smiled. "You know me so well. Now, bring me to the men."
Unable to hold back, Jasmine snorted at that. "That's the spirit. They're in the living room, just follow me."
Contrary to what she said, only one of their partners was in the living room. It was Kronk, who took note of the man's wet clothes and immediately started to open his bag and pull out some fresh clothes.
When asked where the other two were, Kronk tensed up a bit. "Well, Quasi is in the dining room." Innocently, he helped Hercules shrug off his damp shirt and into a new shirt, not giving the whereabouts of the other partner.
"And where did Aladdin go?" Hercules asked, cocking his head to the side curiously.
Turning away from the two to mumble to himself to their knowledge and his little angel and demon to his knowledge, Kronk took a minute before he returned his attention to his two partners in front of him. "I promised not to tell. He asked me not to."
Pouting a bit, Jasmine grew a knowing look on her face. Suddenly, she stormed out of the room, the other two following her curiously. "Again, Al? Seriously?"
She threw open a door, and sure enough, Aladdin was inside of the room, perched on top of a pile of pillows, wrapped in seven different blankets. At first, she tried to keep a serious face, and he simply glared back, but the moment Hercules started laughing, they all started to join in. It was a ridiculous sight, after all.
"So, why are you bundled up in several blankets, Al? You look ridiculous." Hercules teased, slowly unraveling the covers, one by one, much to the pouting of Aladdin.
The other man tried to pull the blankets tighter on himself but was easily overpowered as Jasmine and Kronk joined in, unraveling the man. "I was cold! Let me have the blankets."
"You don't need all of these!" Jasmine said, throwing one to the ground. "Plus, what if we get cold?" She motioned to her two standing boyfriends, who nodded in agreement.
Aladdin just stuck his tongue out, and that prompted the trio on their feet to all began aggressively tugging the covers off the man.
Once he was uncovered, Aladdin gave a dramatic shudder before standing up and leaning in to kiss Hercules cheek. "Oh, and glad you made it." He reached forward to touch the others arm before recoiling. "Why are you so cold?"
Stepping forward, Jasmine gave a look of pity. "Our poor handsome gladiator got caught in the rain."
Chuckling sheepishly at the compliment, Hercules rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I forgot my umbrella at home, and I thought it was just going to sprinkle."
Rolling his eyes affectionately, Aladdin gazed up at the other, "Herc, we told you it was going to storm…" he trailed off for a moment before gently rubbing at the man's arms, "you poor little hero." He whispered, a touch of sarcasm in his voice.
Shaking his head with a small smile, Kronk set an arm on the other's shoulder before starting to lead the other bulky guy out of the room, the other two partners following. "Well, I'll go and tell Quasi you made it. We'll just all have to warm you up." He said the words with an innocent-enough tone, but Hercules couldn't help but flesh out in shades of pink at that.
Letting out an awkward chuckle, he let two of his partners lead him back to the living room, where they both sat on one side of him on the couch, leaning on him and blowing lightly on his skin, trying to heat him up a little bit.
When Quasi and Kronk returned, they both joined the cuddle pile on the couch, nuzzling against each other. The group stayed like that for a while until Hercules suddenly started to sneeze, dispersing his cuddle partners a bit.
"Are you okay, Herc?" Quasimodo reached up and touched the other's forehead slightly. "You're still very cold."
Right away, the rest of the lovers encircled the god and started to feel his head and dote over what to do.
Aladdin decided that building a fort with the blankets he was hoarding earlier was necessary, and started on his new mission right away, quickly making a mess of the living room. At first, only Aladdin was stacking pillows and stringing covers around the room, but Kronk quickly got involved, trying to help Aladdin make sense of the fort.
Quasimodo joined in as well, helping make sure that the fort was spread out enough to fit all of them and still give everyone a clear view of the television. Jasmine was ready to start picking out movies for a marathon, but she found herself distracted as well, helping their sick boyfriend into the unfinished fort, making sure he had plenty of space, tissues, and tender loving care.
Once the fort was finished, everyone started to climb inside of it except for Kronk, who decided to start heating up some homemade chicken noodle soup for the sick man. Feeling pampered and loved, Hercules found himself feeling too warm now, but he kept his mouth sealed so he could keep his partners cuddled up against him.
Finally, Kronk finished cooking the soup and surprised everyone with a bowl of their own, claiming it was to prevent everyone else from catching Hercules' cold as well. Once everyone was cuddled up inside, they flicked on the television and began to marathon romantic comedies, with Aladdin and Jasmine criticizing the bad chemistry in all of them. Kronk found them all adorable and fawned over the films, but still claimed that the dynamic the five shared was far stronger. Quasimodo started to doze off, having seen all of the films before a dozen times with Kronk, and Hercules stayed more focused on his soup and the lovebirds leaning against him than the films, though he still found himself chirping in with his own criticism every thirty minutes or so.
After a while, Hercules finally finished his soup and the group had slowly started to all fall asleep in their cuddle pile, and Hercules was no exception. With Kronk leaning heavily on one of his arms, Jasmine spooning him, Quasimodo curled up beside him, and Aladdin sprawled out over top everyone, Hercules was extremely comfortable, and near ready to drop off into sweet dreams as well when suddenly, Pegasus ran into the room and directly into the fort like a bowling ball, knocking it all down and waking everyone up instantly.
When the group finally freed themselves from the fort's blankets, they all looked around in confusion. For some reason, the room's light had somehow been turned off. Confused, Jasmine yawned and slowly stood up, the others following her curiously.
"Did you somehow turn it off, Pegasus?" Kronk whispered, but the equine seemed offended at the idea and nuzzled against Hercules nervously.
"Ah, sorry, I think my big strong unicorn is afraid of the dark," Hercules teased, speaking in a baby-talk tone to the equine who broke free of his hold, neighing in discouragement.
Chuckling, Kronk started to stroke the face of the animal, calming him down rather quickly. "If not him, then who turned the light off? I'm pretty sure we were all asleep."
Quasimodo stretched and yawned, leaning against the hooved creature. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure we were all asleep…" he wiped at his eyes, "maybe it was Jasmine's dad?"
The girl shook her head. "Papa is out of town right now. That's why he let me have everyone over at the same time…"
Aladdin shrugged, sprawling himself onto the floor again, on top of the crumbled fort. "Probably was just a ghost."
Nervously, Kronk gasped at that, and Quasimodo squeezed at the hand of the larger man. "He's just playing around, Kronk. There's no such thing as ghosts."
Rolling his eyes, Aladdin crossed his arms. "Uh, yeah there is. Ghosts are totally real." The two went back to forth in the dark for a moment, before Hercules and Jasmine noticed how skittish it was making Kronk.
"That's enough, you too. We can argue over whether ghosts are real or not later. Maybe when the lights are actually on." Jasmine hissed at the two, who also followed Jasmine's eyes and took in the sight of Kronk clinging lightly to Hercules, looks of embarrassment crossing them.
Aladdin reached forward and let his hand gently caress Kronk's cheek. "I'm sorry we freaked you out, Kronky." Quasimodo nodded in agreement, reaching forward and grabbing at the other's hand, squeezing it yet again.
Right away, the larger man settled noticeably. Though he still held tight onto Hercules, his shoulders relaxed, and he began to smile again. "It's fine." He said simply, instantly accepting the apologies.
Still, the question of who turned off the lights plagued the group. Willing to find the answer, Hercules strode over to the light switch ad flicked it on, only for the lights to stay off. He sighed before looking up at the light bulbs on the ceiling, biting his lip. "Think your lights are blown. Do you have any spare light bulbs somewhere?"
"Can't you just like, zap light back into it?" Aladdin asked plainly, gazing up at the other from his comfortable spot on the floor.
Rolling his eyes and grinning, Hercules let out a laugh. "Sadly no, I can't just do that."
"Plus he's sick. He needs to save all his energy." Kronk added, causing the group to nod in agreement.
Undeterred by the silly words of her boyfriends, Jasmine joined Hercules by the lightbulb and frowned. "That's weird. Papa just replaced those before he left…I don't think we have any more, either."
The group thought in silence for a moment about what to do when suddenly, a strike of thunder sounded from outside, sending Hercules clinging to Jasmine and Kronk clinging to Quasimodo.
Groaning, Aladdin tried switching the television back on before flopping back to his seat. "Great, the power's out. What do we do now?"
Quasimodo sighed. "Well, let's start with lighting some candles. It's not too bad once you get used to it. The lighting from candles is actually pretty good."
Jasmine let out a whine. "I'm so sorry this is happening, though. It just had to be today that it stormed, didn't it?"
As Kronk set a gentle hand on the girl's back and tried to comfort her, Hercules couldn't help but slip out a joke. "I'll have to yell at Dad for this next time I see him, won't I?"
Right away, Aladdin snorted very loudly, causing the rest of the group to descend into giggles. "Yeah, he thought it was funny to rain all over you and then cause the lights to go out. That's kind of a jerk move." Aladdin added, causing Hercules to nod.
"I mean, you have a point. That was kind of a jerk move. He never seemed to like you guys, so he's probably just mad I can get a date and he can't." Hercules teased, another strike of thunder outside causing him to roll his eyes. "Sorry, Dad, it's just true."
The group all stood up and began to search through the home for candles, everyone holding a flashlight that Kronk brought, as he did everywhere he went. Finally, they found some fancy candles in a closet in the guest room, and slowly they began to put at least one in each room.
Once the house was very lightly lit-up, the group made their way back to their destroyed fort, gazing at it sadly. Without warning, Aladdin pushed his lovers over one by one, falling with them while they all lay on the clump of blankets. With a smirk, he started to attempt to roll everyone up in a single blanket burrito, though the result was less of a burrito and more of a clump and limbs and laughing faces.
Within a few minutes, Aladdin had somehow dozed off again, caught up in all the warmth that the group radiated. With equal smirks, the rest of the group stood up and started to pull the sleeping Aladdin around the home. The sleeping man only woke up when they accidentally pulled too hard on the blanket and sent Aladdin rolling off the blanket. Once the initial shock wore off, Aladdin burst into chuckles and grabbed the ankles of his partners, causing them to fall back down onto the clutter of blankets.
This time, instead of using the opportunity to fall asleep, Aladdin leaned forward and grinned. "Let's play monopoly."
Within a few minutes the board was set and ready, and it didn't take long for everything to go haywire. Jasmine was far too skilled in controlling large businesses for it to be a fair game from the get go, but still everyone was willing to team up and destroy her. Aladdin was also fairly talented at the game, having played it so many times against Jasmine, but still struggled with overpowering her on his own. Soon, however, with the help of Hercules, who also was an avid player of monopoly, though a constant loser against Phil, he was slowly gaining speed on the master of the game. Quasimodo had never played the game beforehand, but he was naturally talented at the game. He quickly gained the lead in front of everyone, with Jasmine very close behind. Kronk ended up quickly going bankrupt and struggling for money the rest of the game, as he was too caring and would tip the bank every time he owed them money, simply for the sentiment.
When the game finally ended, it was because Aladdin was losing, and as an attempt to convince someone to pity him and give him more money, he ate his own game piece as what he called a 'protest against monopolies' and started choking instantly. The little metal car was quickly unloaded from his throat, but everyone agreed they needed to play a different game.
Of course, Aladdin somehow weaseled his way into strip poker, and continuously proclaimed that he won since he was already half-naked. While everyone kept telling him the object of the game was to keep your clothes, Aladdin stubbornly insisted he was right.
Still bitter, Jasmine finally convinced Aladdin to play a different game, yet again. The game of choice ended up being go fish, which ended with Kronk crying after he won, apologizing for being so naturally talented at the game.
The crying quickly led to cuddling and comfort kisses, and now the group lay scattered over the clump of blankets yet again. This time, Kronk was sandwiched between Jasmine and Hercules, with Jasmine spooning him, and himself spooning Hercules. Quasimodo lay curled up, facing with his back to Jasmine, and once again, Aladdin sprawled out on top of the entire group.
Peacefully, everyone slept until around 2 in the morning, when Aladdin woke up with a start and decided to steal all the seven blankets, rolling himself up again. The next time Aladdin woke up, all his date-mates were somehow holding onto him in some way, attempting in their sleep to leech some warmth off the blanket hog.
Other than the occasional shivering in the night, with the help of Pegasus, Abu, and Rajah joining them, the group slept rather warmly and peacefully into the morning light, when they woke to Kronk cooking them all up some fresh pancakes.
Morning kisses were exchanged between all the members before they set down to breakfast, with a few extra awarded to Kronk in thanks, and with a few less for Aladdin as a reminder of the repercussions of stealing all the blankets in the middle of the night. It didn't take long for the group to forgive their favorite blanket hog, though, as once he had rebuilt the fort entirely by himself and hooked up his Wii with the finally revived power, they had all forgot about last night and were too focused on the game of Mario Kart that was going on to think about anything else.
Of course, once Aladdin won the first round, and instantly shouted out that he earned his right to steal all the blankets later that night, it took a billion kisses from everyone to convince him that sharing certainly was caring; of course, with blankets, but especially with his love.