Disclaimer: All stories are individuals of themselves and are unrelated to each other.
Gale wasn't the biggest fan of winter. He never had been, and he didn't think he ever would be. Everything died and shriveled up and it was entirely too cold, especially when it snowed.
But Madge loved winter, and he loved Madge, so he at least tried to be cheery about it.
She was over now, a blanket draped around the both of them as they looked through Netflix trying to find an old movie to watch. The cable had been on the fritz with the weather, it had been snowing all afternoon, but for some reason Netflix was working fine so they just went with it.
She shivered violently and Gale tugged her closer, pressing a kiss to her forehead. He wouldn't have invited her over if he knew his heater was going to die–and it wasn't like they could go to her apartment now due to the weather. They were stuck in Gale's frozen apartment until further notice.
"I'm sorry," Gale said as Madge nestled closer. She looked up at him curiously, wondering what he could possibly be sorry for. "It's really fucking cold," he said.
"It's okay," Madge said back with a little smile. "You're great at keeping me warm."
Gale smiled at that, tugging her closer ever so slightly to try and share body heat. Eventually they selected Clue (from 1985) and Madge shifted onto his lap. He wound his arms around her waist and nuzzled into her neck, pressing warm kisses to her collarbone.
"Mm," she hummed as Gale nosed her throat. "See? Nice and warm."
He laughed a little, relieved that Madge wasn't one of those people that became fussy over things like this. He'd thought, for a long time, that she was materialistic and stuck-up. Gale had learned in time, however, that Madge was anything but. He couldn't believe how much time he'd spent hating her before realizing she was nothing like he thought.
But they'd been together for a few months after one heated debate when they realized they were strongly arguing for the same thing, not opposing things – which led to coffee the next day and Gale realizing he'd been an ass. From there was a lot of apologies, and later a lot of kissing.
"Are you going home for Christmas?" Madge asked as he suckled down her throat. She was going to have a trail of hickeys but he was sure she wouldn't mind or she would've swat him away earlier. "Or staying here?"
"Home," he murmured. "Aren't you, too?" She didn't respond right away and he peeled back, tipping her chin to look at him. "Aren't you going home?" he asked. Madge shrugged her shoulders a little. She lived two hours from their school but travel had never been an issue before. "Madge."
"It's been weird," she said quietly. "I don't know. There's all this weird tension at home and I don't know if I want–"
"It's Christmas, babe," Gale reminded her quietly. "It's not just like, a weekend trip. It's a holiday." She frowned, pulling her chin from his grasp. "You want to talk about it?" he asked. Madge shook her head and Gale leaned backwards slightly. He wanted her to talk about it. "You know you can talk to me," he said carefully.
"I know," she said. "Just not now."
Suddenly she shivered, the apartment getting increasingly colder, and Gale wound his arms tighter around her waist. "Okay," he said softly, nuzzling back into her neck.
Hardly ten minutes had passed when she murmured, "I think my parents are getting divorced."
Gale pulled back again, leaning in a way so he could look at her. "Why do you think that?"
"They've been fighting for forever," Madge said, her eyes still trained on the TV. "And it's–I don't know how to explain it. They talk about this Christmas like it's going to be the last. And–I mean, if they… if they are getting divorced then I don't want to remember our last Christmas all… all forced and angry, and I just–I just don't want to go."
"Have you asked them?" Gale prompted. He'd always been very family-oriented, he just couldn't grasp the idea of not being with family for the holiday - even if they were arguing. "Or talked to them at all?" Madge stayed silent and Gale sighed, tugging her back just a bit more. "You should talk to them," he said.
"I can't," she said back.
"Why not?"
"I just…" Madge trailed off, shaking her head. Again Gale fell silent, hoping that she would talk when she was ready. Her eyes were on the screen once more but he doubted she was watching. She was somewhere else, her mind distant.
Gale stopped pressing distracted kisses to her skin and instead tried watching the movie as well. The chill of the apartment was starting to infiltrate their blanket cocoon. He should get up and grab more blankets and some socks and sweatshirts for them.
As he went to move Madge off of his lap she instead spins, wrapping her legs around his hips. "I was going to get more blankets," he murmured as her hips rocked against his.
"I'm plenty warm," Madge murmured back. She cupped his face in her hands and pulled him toward her, kissing him deeply. Gale smiled against her lips and went to lean forward when she pulled back, pressing her forehead to his. She still cupped his face between her hands. "I love you," she whispered.
Gale smiled again. He'd never get over hearing her say that. "I love you," he echoed softly.
"No, I really love you."
The sound of her voice made his smile slip. Gale reached up, covering her hands with his. "What's wrong?" he asked. His thumbs glided over the back of her hands. "Talk to me," Gale whispered.
Madge's eyes flickered from his lips to his eyes and she shrugged. He could feel the energy draining from her. "My parents loved each other too," she finally said. "And if they–if they could fall out of love with each other…" Madge trailed off, lowering her hands from Gale's face, but he didn't let her out of his grip. "When I was a kid," she continued quietly, "all my friends' parents were getting divorced. And I remember telling them, I said, 'That'll never happen to my parents because they love each other.' And now it just… it feels like everything's been a lie."
"Well for starters," Gale said gently, "you don't actually know if they're getting divorced." Madge sniffed, dropping her eyes from his. He let go of one of her hands and reached up to cup her cheek. "And secondly," he murmured, "even if they are, you aren't your parents.We aren't your parents."
It was true that Gale had no idea what was in store for them in the future. They had only been together for a few months. But he loved Madge now. There was always a possibility that things would change, no matter how distant and unlikely it felt in the moment, buried under blankets tangled together. But that wasn't something to be afraid of, not unless that got to that bridge.
"I know," she murmured. But she still wouldn't look at him. "It's just scary to think that you could fall out of love with someone."
Gale wasn't sure what else to say. Instead he brushed his thumb across her cheek and waited for her to look back at him. When their eyes met it was as though he'd said something after all because she looked at him as though she understood. Maybe it was something along the lines of, you deserve an endless love, or maybe, I'll never let that happen to us. Whatever it was, Madge understood, and she agreed.
She tipped her chin back then and moved closer, allowing Gale to kiss her gently. Madge rocked forward and Gale smiled into the kiss, lifting his other hand to her other cheek.
Her cold hands snuck under his shirt and he shuddered, causing Madge to laugh. She pulled back and pressed a warm kiss to his jaw, and then to his throat, and Gale groaned as she suckled across his skin as he had earlier.
"My room has more blankets," he breathed. "And a bed."
Madge laughed again, this time into his neck, and she easily wound her legs around his hips. As she wrapped her arms behind Gale's neck he readjusted the blanket around them to carry it into his room as well. When he stood he wobbled, a little unbalanced, and Madge started kissing his neck another time.
It took him a few unsteady steps to finally get to his bedroom where he laid Madge down on his mattress gracefully before they climbed under the blankets together.
They stayed warm together even after they'd lost their clothes and tossed them out of the blanket fort. Madge was nestled into Gale's side, their Netflix movie forgotten, the broken heater a problem neither of them cared about anymore.
And again, as he played with the tips of her hair, Gale thought about how much he hated winter. But he loved Madge, so very, very much.