Something instinctual always alerted Skwisgaar before his eyes even opened that the first snowfall of the year was upon the land. Rather than lay in bed and wonder if he should even bother to look, he pulled some pants on and opened a blind. The sun remained obscured behind a thick cloud and its relinquishment, but the white lawn more than made up for its lack of light. Skwisgaar reached for his phone. Traditionally, he or Toki always pointed it out to one another. Sure enough, he received a text a couple hours earlier.

'Sures a lot'

'Ja has been coming down all nite! Lets go outside!'

'Kind of cold tho'

'Quit being such a pussy n bundle up!'

Begrudgingly convinced, Skwisgaar strolled to his closet to dig out his winter wear. He was in the process of berating himself for not sorting gloves into pairs last spring when Toki announced his presence. "You readies yet?"

"Just abouts. Come on in." Skwisgaar scoffed when he heard the shrieking chafe of snow pants. "What's you wearing dose for?"

"Never knows, I mights want to make snow angels, or gets on a crazy carpets."

"On whats hill?"

". . .Well, maybes I want to make snow angels, then. Don'ts you got any snow pants?"

"Ja, but I nevers wear dem." Skwisgaar compared two gloves similar in appearance, but they were both left-handed. "I hasn't playeds in de snow since I was a kids."

"Aw, why nots? Is the only things to do with it!"

"De snow ams brutal, Toki," Skwisgaar replied. "You looks at it, you t'ink about how bleaks and dark you life ams, ands den you writes a song about it."

"Maybes in Sweden and Norway, but not here! Is a totalies different ball games!" Toki crashed onto the chair. "Come on Skwisgaar, puts on the snow pants and plays with me!"

"Fines, fines. . ."

Rather than head out the door, Skwisgaar towed Toki down to the garage. Their lengthened delay inside Mordhaus led Toki to unzip his jacket and shove his hat into his pocket. "What's we doing down here?"

"I boughts dis t'ing last winter for de fucks of it, never used it." They passed all their cars, both business and personal purchases, and came upon the corner dedicated to smaller toys. Murderface had an affinity toward ATVs, Nathan toward golf carts, but Skwisgaar bought a snowmobile when shopping led him to the vicinity of one. "You gots any sleds? We ties it up behind."

Toki gasped with excitement. "I got so manies! Lets me go pick one!"

Skwisgaar tracked down one of the klokateers in charge of the area and half-listened while the lady updated him on recent maintenance and went over how to run it. "I figures it out. It ams a snowmobiles. What ams dere to know?"

"You bought a powerful one, my lord. You might want to go easy."

"I figures it out," Skwisgaar repeated with a dismissive wave of his hand. "You t'inks I hasn't driven one of dese, befores? How you starts it, anyway?"

He gave up after the first try on the pull start, relying on the klokateer to get it running and moved outside. Toki came running back after the whiff of gasoline dissipated and wayward flakes darted inside through the open bay doors. "Okays, I ready!"

Skwisgaar sat backward on the seat and watched Toki secure his snow racer with a thick rope. "You shore it'lls hold?"

"Prettys sure. I just floats to a stop if it snap, anyways." Toki sunk a couple inches in the snow when he jumped onto the GT. "Okay, now goes real fast!"

The machine jerked ahead with the lightest push on the throttle. Toki weaved back and forth when they plateaued at a good speed, glee audible over the low, rumbling engine. He especially enjoyed corners, leaning inward and spraying any and all he could with a fine white curtain. A couple klokateers jumped out of the way and some yard wolves took a half-assed chase; most were too intimidated by all the noise to even poke their heads out, though.

Toki held up his hand to make Skwisgaar stop, grin wide. "Goes to one end of the yard and let's see how fast we cans go!"

"You shore dat ams a good idea? You mights get hort."

"I just jumps on with you, then. I wants to go fast."

Skwisgaar massaged his right hand while Toki detached his GT. He'd taken to using his palm to maintain their speed once the muscles in his thumb grew too sore. "We comes back for dat if you wants to go longer."

"My face's starting to gets cold." Toki's cheeks and nose indeed reddened, even behind his balaclava. Some snow clung to his eyelashes. "Maybes we come back out later, but I kinds of want some hot chocolates."

"Ja." Skwisgaar only dealt with wind, not flying snow, but his skin too tightened and numbed. "Climbs on, den. Let's see what we gets it to."

The nights wishing for Toki pressed up behind him like this had to be pushed from Skwisgaar's mind. He concentrated on the snowmobile instead, since that klokateer was right that he picked a powerful one. He only let it get to fifty miles an hour before tapering off; any higher, and the snowmobile wobbled on its track. His heart raced at any rate, and Toki's arms tightened around his middle when he laughed. "Wowee, does it agains!"

"Uh oh." Skwisgaar pointed at the nearest entrance to Mordhaus after a couple more goes. Nathan and Pickles stood there with their arms crossed, expressions stern when the Scandinavians slowly approached and killed the engine.

"Whet the hell're you two doin', goin' thet fast?" Pickles asked. "You coulda hert yerselves! Then whet? There goes the band!"

"Yeah, guys. You gotta think a bit more before you start racing around, going all fucking fast, and. . .hm." Nathan stared at the snowmobile. "Actually kinda looked like fun."

Pickles sighed. "Nate, remember we were gonna be a team about this."

"But Pickles, look at it this way. They didn't get hurt, right?"

"No. . ."

"Maybe, uh. . ." Nathan looked back at Skwisgaar. "Can we use that? Just for a bit?"

"Does what you want." Skwisgaar dismounted after Toki. "We goings in."

"Why?"

"We gots cold."

"No, stay out and watch us." Nathan pointed at a klokateer. "You! Make a fucking fire, or some shit."

"All rights!" Toki exclaimed. "And brings to us hot chocolates and marshmallows!"

The snowmobile screamed up and down the yard after Nathan and Pickles dressed more appropriately for the weather. Over by the picnic table, a substantial pile of wood crackled and burned underneath a pair of treats suspended on sticks. "Okays, I admit it. Dis was kinds of a fun day."

"It was greats." Toki peeled another layer off his marshmallow, too impatient to wait for the entire thing to cook. "I mights want to go some more if it isn't dark when they's finally done."

Skwisgaar peered at his golden snack, a perfectionist himself. He was done playing for the day, but he could stand to sit out here a while longer. Perhaps as a hangover from his youth, bullshitting around a fire denoted special occasion. It brought back some of the happiest, non-guitar related memories Skwisgaar had of Sweden. Parents and socioeconomic status never mattered here, in the small world illuminated by orange glow.

He chuckled as Toki attempted to work some cooled marshmallow out of his fu manchu, garnering his attention. "What so funny? You got a big blobs of it what looks like jizz."

"Where?"

Toki smeared his thumb in the crease of Skwisgaar's jowl. "Rights there."

"Thanks." Skwisgaar rolled his eyes and scratched at it with his thumb nail.

"Aw, leaves it. Is becomings to you."

"How come no one ever tellsch me when you're all going outschide?" The bassist loudly announced himself, making them both jump. "I juscht schat around like a fucking dildo for an hour, waiting for all you asscholesch to get out of bed. . ."

Murderface put himself in control of the marshmallows, doling them out to the rest of the band when the snowmobile finally ran out of gas. Skwisgaar kept mostly quiet while the others settled in and Pickles brought some booze out of his pocket. Did Toki really think about him with jizz on his face, or was he just teasing? Either prospect made him drink a bit too deeply when the flask was handed to him.

While Pickles didn't mind sharing under his own volition, he gripped his drink when Nathan tried to take it. "No, it's mine!"

"You two suck at sharing. Give me some fucking marshmallows, and give me some fucking booze."

"Git yer own!"

"I didn't hear you schay the magic word. . ."

Klokateers arriving with more whisky created a nice change from their usual evenings in the hot tub. When the cold finally got to him, Skwisgaar fell back onto his seat after attempting to stand. "Fucks. I guess I'ms a littles drunk."

Toki giggled. "Come on, I helps you. I hads enough of this anyway."

Testing the waters, Skwisgaar drug his feet more than necessary. Toki stood him up against the wall outside his bedroom. "You cans make it from here?"

"I don'ts know. . ."

"Come on, thens. Oh, don't sits on you bed, you's gonna gets it all wet if you don'ts undress first." Toki pulled Skwisgaar's gloves and hat off, then instructed him out of his jacket. Before he could prompt Skwisgaar on tending to his lower half, his gaze dropped as his coat zipper in kind came down. "What's you doings?"

"I's not dat drunk," Skwisgaar told him. Maybe with some alcohol in their systems, the ice would break. His gaze flicked up to gauge the other man. Toki didn't pull away when fingers crept up under his shirt and grazed over his abs. With fear and foresight successfully repressed, Skwisgaar slipped two fingers into the waistband of Toki's pants and leveraged himself closer. "What's you t'ink?"

"I thinks maybe you are drunk." Seeming to snap back to his senses, Toki removed Skwisgaar's touch from his body.

"I ams pretty sure I wasn'ts drunk all dose times I jacks off t'inking about you." Skwisgaar paused. "A couples time, maybe."

"You—whats?"

"It takes all I cans not to gets a boner when you beings bossy wit' de sorvants." Despite Toki's warning about getting his bed wet, Skwisgaar plopped down on its edge. "Why you looks at me like dat? You t'inks I wouldn'ts want it dat way?"

Toki shifted where he stood, hands balling into fists.

"Maybes I get tired of tellings people what to do, sometimes." Skwisgaar kicked his boots off. "Maybes I like it every way."

"If you's joking, you better quits."

"Or whats?"

Force centre-chest easily pushed Skwisgaar onto his back. Stringy, brown hair dangled above his face, the blue eyes framed within challenging him to take back everything he said. When he didn't, Skwisgaar let his head be turned in order for Toki to gain access to his neck. A tingle in his skin transformed to fire when the first jab of pain pricked his collarbone. Flat, greedy hands roved his body, behaving like magnets in how they shifted him. Did this really happen, or did wishful thinking simply become incredibly intense while intoxicated?

Toki lifted his head abruptly to study him. "I can'ts tell if this you or if you just reallies drunk."

"Ams me, keeps going."

"You says that now, but what's about tomorrow?"

"Will stills be me, why ams you stopping?" A disheartened sigh slumped Skwisgaar's shoulders when Toki stood back up. "Why you gots to quit?"

"Because I not stupids enough to does it this way."

Skwisgaar sat up, leaning on shaky arms as he watched Toki gather his strewn articles of outside clothing. "At least lets me blow you."

"You nots doing nothing when you like this."

"And why nots?"

"Because I won'ts let you. Sleeps it off."

"Toki—"

"Goes to fucking bed, I's not tellings you again."

Unable to believe Toki could pull away that quickly or easily, low spirits slowed Skwisgaar in getting his snow pants off. He shivered, thanks to the combination of wet clothes and electrified nerves, and immediately tried to make rid of the yearning Toki left him with. The inflammation where teeth worked at his skin throbbed as his adrenaline wore off, as helpful as a ghost but better than nothing.