Remember, this is an independent plot, so Toad doesn't know Toadette in this story. This may be the longest chapter I've written!

Chapter 2: Climber's Company

The door revealed a Blue Toad, with a vest covered with snow. He instantly faltered and stepped back, thinking that he was ruining Toad and Ana's moment.

"Oh! I'm s-sorry... sorry for barging in on you two." The Toad apologized.

"It's alright." Toad replied, smiling.

"May I c-come in?" the Toad asked.

"Sure!" Toad answered, and the Toad ran over, sticking his hands next to the fire.

"Ahh..." he sighed in comfort.

"How far did you go up the mountain?" Ana asked, noting his climbing apparatus and the snow covering him, slowly beginning to melt because of the heat.

"The highest marker I passed was 12,000 feet." the Toad stated.

"Markers? I never noticed." Ana admitted, chuckling. "All I cared about was getting to the top." Now they all were giggling.

"There are markers that show how high you are every... I wanna say 250 feet." Toad said, unsure of his estimation.

"Anyways, this one cliff had this vertical overhang that I couldn't find any real purchase on, so I backtracked trying to find a way around, and by then I just gave up." the Toad explained.

"Oh, I came to that too." Ana piped up. "I simply jumped off the middle of it, grabbed the overhang and climbed up."

"How do you make it that easy?" the climber asked, speechless.

"I never said it was easy. It took me a few tries."

"So what's your name anyways?" Toad asked.

"The name's Gabriel. You can call me Gabe." Gabe said.

"Nice to meet you, Gabe." Ana stood up and took Gabe's hand. "I'm Ana."

"Nice to meet you, Ana." Gabe replied, shaking Ana's hand.

"Well, I'd better leave. It's getting late, and I gotta go back to my quarters. Night, Toad. Night, Ana." Gabe walked off, waving, picking up his backpack, the clatter of pots and pans filling the room.

"Good night, Gabe." the two others replied, and Gabe walked out and shut the door behind him, the metallic clatter fading with his steps. Toad turned back to Ana.

"I don't have anything to sleep on here... I didn't even set up camp. I'm an idiot like that sometimes."

"Don't worry!" Ana chuckled. "I didn't bring anything either. I'm what you call a light traveler."

"Well..." Toad looked around the room with the fireplace in it, seeing beanbags around the floor. "We can sleep on those." Ana looked, and smiled.

"Sounds good. But one thing... What do you mean by 'those'?" Toad was confused.

"I mean the beanbag chairs, silly!"

"No, no, another thing. If 'those' implies multiples..." Ana took the largest beanbag she could find, about four feet in diameter, and pushed it between them. "Then why can't we just use one?" Toad blushed.

"Do you seriously wanna sleep with me? I just met you..."

"Well, not really in a romantic sense! Just in a friends sense."

"Well..." Toad contemplated it for a second. "Okay." He laid on the left side of the beanbag, and Ana laid on the right side. They sighed in contentment, laying on their backs.

"Wait, I totally forgot to change, didn't I?" Toad giggled and stood up. "Give me a second." He trotted off towards the men's restroom, located outside the lodge in a separate building, windows at the tops of the walls.

"I did too! No worries!" Ana called, as she followed him to the restrooms. Several minutes passed. Whistling could be heard outside the wooden doors. Finally, Toad came out wearing blue footie pajamas, throwing open the door, followed by Ana seconds later, wearing pink ones. Instantly she ran.

"Oh, that's cold!" She ran to the lodge as fast as her feet could carry her. "Cold, cold, cold, cold, cold!" Toad giggled as he walked after her. When Toad walked into the lodge, Ana was by the fire, sighing in warmth.

"Ahhh..." Toad giggled some more.

"How was it cold out there? I was perfectly fine."

"I don't know... I guess I stepped on ice or something." Toad looked at her choice of attire.

"Looks like we have the same interest in fashion." Toad noticed, gesturing to their pajamas and their similar designs.

"Yeah, we do." Ana smiled, looking at the similarities. All that was different was their color and the fact that Toad had his chest zipper unzipped.

"Oh, and I got my zipper down cause it's pretty much my normality to wear a vest, you know? So this is pretty similar." Toad said as in answer to a question, even though Ana hadn't asked anything.

"I get it. And I don't really think it's weird or anything, if you're wondering that. In fact I think it... I think it looks better." Ana admitted.

"T-thank you." Toad blushed a bit, as he laid down on the beanbag again, with Ana next to him.

"Don't mention it, Toad. You little cutie." Ana cooed, but instantly covered her mouth and pulled away. "Oh, I'm so sorry! Oh my goodness! I didn't mean to say that..."

"No, no, it's perfectly fine. You can let out anything." Toad smiled.

"Really?" Ana asked, moving a bit closer.

"Of course, Ana. No need to be shy. You can say anything to me."

"Thanks, Toad." Ana smiled and laid down next to him. Minutes passed. "Toad?"

"Yeah?" Toad asked, ruffling his pajamas a bit.

"I need to tell you something." Ana said.

"Shoot." Toad coaxed.

"If it feels like I'm rushing into this... It's because I feel lonely sometimes. I don't really have any real friends in here at the moment, you know? All I have is Kat, and she can be annoying sometimes... Point is, I don't really have anyone I can share my feelings to or talk with..." She began to sniffle, and Toad took her hand.

"Ana, it's okay... I feel like that too sometimes. I don't really have any friends I can talk with regularly either... Since I'm a Toad and all, people usually don't rely on me unless they're desperate..."

"Thank you for understanding me, Toad... No one's ever seen my point in this..."

"It's no problem, Ana." Toad assured, squeezing her hand. "And I really don't think you're rushing into this friendship at all... even if you are, you have a good reason, after all you've been through."

"Really, Toad... No one has understood me the way you do... so thank you..."

"I try to think about what the other person is going through in these kinds of things." Toad explained.

"Well, it works..." Ana sniffled again. "It's heartwarming that someone understands... and in this way too..."

"It's really nothing, Ana." Toad squeezed her hand again. "If people knew what you were going through, they would understand too. I know that you're a very nice person and you don't deserve to be shut out like that." Ana covered her mouth in surprise.

"You... you think I'm nice?" Toad nodded.

"I think you're really kind and caring too."

"R-really?" Ana moved a bit closer, hopefulness in her voice. "You r-really mean it?" Toad nodded again, and Ana wasted no time in flying towards him and holding him close to her.

"Ana!" Toad giggled at the sudden movement.

"What's the matter?" Ana joked. "Can't take my hugs?" She giggled and held him tighter. After a few minutes, they pulled away. Toad giggled again, smiled at Ana, and went to turn off the light.

"Wait." Ana said, and Toad stopped. "I can do it." Toad laid back down on the beanbag with Ana. She pulled out her bo staff and threw it at the light switch. The light turned off, and they could hear the wooden staff clattering to the floor.

"Nice throw." Toad smiled.

"Thanks." Ana replied casually, smiling back at him. The only source of light was the orange glow of the fireplace, lighting them up comfortingly.

"Good night, Ana." Toad smiled, laid down on the beanbag one last time, and closed his eyes.

"Good night... Toad." She scooted a bit closer, Toad not knowing because he was facing the other way. After a little while, she closed her eyes as well, drifting off to sleep, and smiled.

To be continued...