Reed smiled at them as they approached, while Dwight seemed to be struggling to remove his skates.
Kurt knelt to help the boy his frozen laces, much to Dwight's gratitude.
Blaine plopped down on the other side of Reed on the bench.
As the he did, he felt Reed shiver slightly beside him.
Blaine instinctively wrapped an arm around the smaller boy and pulled him closer, trying to warm him up.
The twins, who stood on either side of the bench, both reached into their bags and each pulled out a blanket.
"Oh dear, door-mouse," Evan exclaimed with a laugh " you'll freeze your fur off!" He wrapped his blanket tightly about the small boys frame.
"Thanks, Evan." Reed giggled, "I knew I should have worn my other coat, but it would clash with my outfit so bad it's humiliating!"
They both laughed at this.
Meanwhile, Kurt had, with much difficulty, removed Dwight's stubborn skates. However, it wasn't just the iced laces that made it difficult. Dwight seemed to be vibrating under his hands.
Ethan noticed this and wrapped the blanket he had removed about the young spiritualist's shoulders.
"Dwight, are you ok?" Ethan asked worriedly, a rare frown across his mouth. He placed a hand on the boy's shoulder."Holy heck! Dwight, you're shaking like a leaf! And your skin is freaking freezing!"
This caught the attention of the rest of the boys on the bench.
Kurt removed his gloves and pressed a hand to the exposed skin on Dwight's wrist, instantly alarmed at its low temperature.
Evan skated to the other side of the bench to stand next to his twin, both their faces now identical looks of worry.
Reed scooted closers to Dwight on the bench in an attempt to share his new found body heat.
Blaine got up and kneel next to Kurt on the ground, trying to get a better look.
Dwight's face was cover from his neck to the bridge of his nose in his scarf. The parts of his cheeks they could see were flushed a violent red. He shook severely. His skin was littered with goose bumps.
Reed pulled off his own blanket and put it over his friends's lap, since the Dwight obviously needed it much more.
" Dwight? " Blaine asked with concern, "Come on buddy, talk to us. What's wrong?"
Dwight clenched his eyes shut, seemingly in deep discomfort. He muttered something from under his scarf. They could only make out a few words and phrases,"so cold" and "numb" among the mix.
"Sorry D," Blaine said," didn't quite catch that. Here," Blaine reach up and lowered Dwight's scarf slightly, " let me just..." He stopped suddenly.
"Blaine?" Kurt asked worried, looking up at Dwight too "what's...HOLY SHOOT! His lips are BLUE!"
"Crud!" Evan swore under his breath,"Dwight, dude, how long have you been out here?"
"Aaa f-f-few hour-r-r-s-s." Dwight managed to stutter and slur out,"my..r-room mate ...left campus..h-he has..the key!"
" That jerk left you locked out in the cold?" Reed demanded angrily.
"I..I...t-told him I'd... be ok!" Dwight said defensively. He didn't want his roommate to get in trouble for what had been his personal screw up.
"Well, obviously, you're not." Kurt said softly, placing a warm hand on the smaller boy's frozen face," You need to go inside and get warm. You're gonna get hypothermia or frost bite!"
"If he doesn't have it already." Evan muttered grimly.
The twins may have been the school pranksters, but they became very protective and serious when something was wrong. There could be no jokes if not all of there friends were in a state to enjoy them.
"Here, hold on a sec." Ethan said. He whipped his phone out and start texting. He sent off the message, which was almost instantly answered. Ethan flipped his phone open and scanned the message, nodding silently to himself.
"Who...who did you text?" Dwight stuttered.
"Caterpillar." Ethan answered, not looking up from the message. " Hans is the only person I know who is still in the dorms. I told him you got locked out of your room, were shaking like a chihuahua, and were freezing so hard you lips looked like shriveled grape gummy worms. He just sent me the new pass code to his room so we could just take you there. He's gonna call the school nurse to come and make sure you're, well, not physically damaged."
Dwight simply nodded. That sounded good. He wondered why he hadn't thought of that. Must have been the cold screwing with his brain.
"Need any help getting up, bud?" Evan asked
"Ya," Dwight nodded, "um...m'feet have...gone numb. I...I don't know if ..."
Ethan raised a hand to stop him. "Say no more, my strange little friend." He smirked,"I got you covered."
He reached down and remove his own skates. After slipping into his boots, he slowly leaned forward and scooped Dwight up. He glanced at the others.
"I'm gonna take him up to Hans." He explained "He's numb from the cold and shaking like crazy. I don't think he'd be able to walk that far on his own. Plus, I'm the one with the code to open the door. I'll be back once he's settled."
They all nodded.
Ethan walked quickly towards the dorms.
Once he was out of sight, Evan turned back to the other. "Well," he sighed with a smile," with Ethan inside, I'm gonna have to reek twice the havoc! I'd better get to it. See you guys later."
With that, he skate away on the ice.