Prompt: Snowed In/Blizzard

Chapter content warnings: mentions of violence (none on screen); death mentions (none in story)

Don't forget that you can find me on tumblr: we - are - all - of - legend - now and that my ao3 account is wearealloflegendnow (even though I haven't posted there yet)!

~TLL~

Rose rubbed her hands together. Despite the Huntsgirl's thick gloves Rose was losing all feeling in them and she shivered against the harsh wind and the thick white wall of snow that she was battling against. She damned the mountains and the master as she walked into the nothingness, she was going to die out here, probably. And for nothing.

Rose thought she was starting to hallucinate as a small cabin started to appear in front of her. Rose's hand wrapped around the knob and she breathed a long sigh of relief when it opened Rose didn't even care if the occupant was there. She'd fight anyone she had to as long as she had shelter for the night. Rose rushed straight to the fire, not caring about how stupid it was to turn her back on the room. She needed to feel the warmth.

"How did you find me?"

Rose jumped and turned her back on the fire, the slight bit of warmth reminding her just how wet and gross her clothes were. She couldn't let any of the matter now because there, on the other side of the tiny one-room cabin, was the American dragon.

"What are you doing here?" she snapped.

"Me?" He pretended to look shocked at her question. "I was just innocently hiding from the storm when here you come to attack me!"

Rose crossed her arms over her chest. "You don't look very attacked to me."

"You're a dragon hunter. It had to be on the to do list."

"I didn't even know you were here! There is no list!"

"So why don't you run along and find your own hideout," the dragon continued as if Rose hadn't even spoken.

"You can go if you're uncomfortable," Rose said, sitting down in front of the fire and stretching her hands toward the heat to show just how casual she was about the whole thing. Rose stayed tensed for his attack as she said, "I'm going to stay here, thank you."

"You can't," the American dragon said, his tone bordering on a whine. "This is my hideout."

The dramatics were knocked out of him when there came a 'thud' at the door, one that caused the frame of the cabin to shake. The American dragon went to the door and tried to open it. But even as he shoved all of his weight against it, the door stayed shut.

"Great, now we're both going to die in here," Rose muttered. Well, at least she'd die warm. Could she really ask for much more than that?

"I'm going to blame you for this too."

"By all means."

Rose got up from in front of the fire, keeping an eye on the dragon's position just as he watched her position. Rose went to the dressed and hoped that there would be some form of clothing for her to put on. She started digging through the drawers, feeling dismayed as all she came up with were thick, long nightgowns. Not the ideal thing if she were to end up fighting the dragon but staying in her wet clothes had to be much worse.

"Don't look."

"At what?" the dragon said.

Rose shimmied her shirt off and then yanked the long nightgown on over her head, maneuvering all of her other wet clothes on from underneath it. Rose's fingers hesitated at her mask, casting a glance at the dragon. He was staring at her. Screw it, Rose decided and then she pulled the mask off too. She wasn't going to spend the entire night completely uncomfortable.

"Whoa," the dragon said. "The Huntsgirl's face. How scandalous."

Rose rolled her eyes at him. "I showed you mine, now show me yours."

The dragon just winked at her. "This is it. The whole package."

Rose snorted and then returned to scouring around the cabin. She was hoping for some kind of provisions. She found a couple of old water bottles that were mercifully full, a can opener but no cans, and two forks. At least she and the dragon would have something to kill each other with. Rose replaced everything back where she had found it and then went to sit by the fire.

"Hopefully we're not completely buried," the dragon said, still fighting with the door.

"If we are and you open that door, we're screwed," Rose said practically.

The dragon moved away from the door, coming to sit closer to the fire and to her. Rose watched him suspiciously.

"What?" he asked, noticing her glare. "Dragons get cold too. Plus, it's me you have to thank for getting that fire started anyway."

"Thank you," Rose said, catching him by surprise.

The dragon tossed another log into the fire. "Why are you out here anyway?"

"Why are you?"

It was Rose's turn to be surprised when he actually answered her. "There's a Yeti colony out here. Or, supposed to be. There's been no contact for long enough that I was sent to make sure that they were all okay. Your turn."

"Hunting Yetis."

The dragon snorted.

"Kidding," Rose said, because she hadn't even known there were Yetis out here. "Survivalist mission. I'm starting to wonder if I was even supposed to come back."

There was sympathy in the dragon's eyes and Rose realized that it was too much to say. The chill in her bones, the building headache, the exhaustion in her limbs, it was all getting to her.

"I think that's my cue to go to bed." Rose started to stand.

"You know there's only one bed," the dragon said. "And I was here first. You know that."

"So? You're a dragon. You're not even going to fit." The dragon kept staring at her. "I thought you were supposed to be, like, chivalrous or something."

"Not to the Huntsclan," he said. "You lost that privilege."

"Well, if I get in it first, you're not going to kick me out," Rose said and then she made a run for it.

The cabin was small enough that she was able dive into the bed and grab onto the covers before the dragon was even on his feet. She snuggled herself in and stared innocently up at him, the fire light dancing off his red scales making him look less terrifying, somehow, than he normally did when they were facing each other down. He kept his gaze locked on hers and picked up one of the corners of the blanket.

"Ah, ah," Rose said as if she were scolding a child and pulled the blanket from his grasp. "What would all of the other dragons say? You in bed with a Huntsclan member? I don't think your reputation would ever recover."

"Come on, Huntsgirl."

"And scales? I mean, who wants to cuddle scales?" Rose had more to her speech but there was a magical flash and then there was no dragon, just a boy. A cute boy, with dark eyes and cheekbones that the orange flames illuminated. Rose swallowed her words.

"Move over." The dragon rolled her easily and took the outside of the bed. Rose flipped onto her side so that she was facing him, only to find out that he was already looking at her. "You know, I think you're my first sleepover."

"Can we make a pact that we both wake up in the morning, dragon? We can go back to being on opposite sides when we get out of here."

He pretended to think about it for a second but then he offered her his hand. His warm, human hand. Rose's fingers brushed his and she breathed in sharply. When was the last time that a boy her age had touched her bare hand? It was too pathetic to think about it.

"By the way, Huntsgirl, my name is Jake."

"Jake," she repeated to herself, wondering if he was lying to her. But he was smiling so easily, so casually, that in the moment it was hard to believe that he was a dragon and she was a Huntsclan member. "I'm Jake."

"Sleep tight, Rose," Jake said.

"You too, Jake."

Rose found the courage to close her eyes and let his deep breathing lull her to sleep. Even though they were on their opposite sides of the small bed, it was shocking and not surprising at all when Rose woke in the morning to find that they had wrapped around each other in the night. She wondered what it all meant but then she put her head back down against the flat pillow, deciding that she was just going to enjoy this moment for what it was and not think of the future at all.