[A/N: the first couple of paragraphs were written in like 21' or something. It sure sounds like it comes after "Umbrella," but i think that doesn't really make sense chronologically idk…. I just really like those "Umbrella" vibes, it makes me very happy.

This series taking place in Delaware, it was in the pilot. It snows there. And pretend that the price makes sense. That's all that matters for this fic. Sorry if it meanders too much, i hope you can tell who is talking, bc i try to get their speech patterns down correctly.

TW/CW: teasing, embarrassment, cold weather/feeling cold, hugging, skin getting stuck to cold metal, anxiety/nerves, awkwardness, (tiny bit of) bakery/eating, thrift store, clothes shopping, buying a gift, disappointment, not being able to afford something, help w payment, friendship, holding handssss, the word "temp/erature 16-ish times]

Despite being made of metal, Robot was covered in a puffy insulated coat, a knit hat with a pompom on top, and weatherproof boots. Apparently the temperature in previous winters had proven to be more than his processors could handle and he actually managed to get "cold." The heat that he generated wasn't quite comparable to a human's, but his jacket kept him cozy enough to be comfortable.

Auto, on the other hand, was only wearing a scarf to be festive. His energy system was different than Robot's, and he could operate normally in temperatures twice as cool as it was this evening. It was so awkward for him when he first experienced Robot wearing clothes in order to function in lower temperatures, but now he was more or less used to it.

-

That first time was in mid-December. The crew was walking home from being out all afternoon. "Man, i hate it when the sky looks like this." They all glanced upward.

"Yeah, that grey really brings me down."

"I don't know guys, the grey skies remind me of winter. I-it's like a marker for the season!"

"Maybe that's why i hate it so much: those midterms are always a pain in the nose."

"Y-yeah… But the vacation is nice!"

"Who cares about vacation when you have to work so hard before it?! Then you have to wait to find out whether you passed or failed the thing?! I can't stand waiting that long for such a lousy ending! It's so not worth the anxiety!"

"I can understand not liking the color of the sky. My mom definitely has seasonal affective disorder: she always feels down when the weather is like this. But i also understand the association with the holidays and stuff. I guess it depends on how you look at it."

"Holidays are great! But they don't last all winter long!!"

"Oh come on, you guys are just looking at the negatives! Don't you guys like the snow?! It's so pretty a-and fun to play in!"

"I guess…"

"It's cold, dude."

"My parents don't let me go out in the snow. Which shouldn't be an issue because it is just water. But i guess they do use salt on the roads, and that's definitely a no-no for me. What do you think about the snow, RJ???" Auto glanced over, but the little cubic fellow wasn't there. He looked around, and found that he had stopped in place a few feet back. "Oh, hey! What's the matter, RJ???"

Robot wasn't taking any more steps, but it did look like he was moving to some degree. It looked like he was shivering, which was pretty odd to see a robot doing. Auto cocked his head and walked back to him. "RJ??? Are you okay???" He examined him.

"C-c-c-cold…" The shivering made it sound like his speaker was wavering. He even SOUNDED cold right now.

"You're cold??? How can you be cold???" Auto didn't mean to dismiss him: he was just curious as to how that could actually happen.

"Pr-pr-pr-processors-s… n-not-t-t o-opt-tim-mal-l-l…" He brought his arms up over himself to try to conserve heat.

Auto scanned over his surface temperature and found that it was only a few degrees Fahrenheit higher than the ambient temperature. "Oh wow! I guess you really ARE cold!!"

"I forgot that kind of thing happened to you, Robot. I thought it really only affected you when there was a lot of snow out." Socks came up and stood next to Auto.

"M-m-mi-nim-mum te-temp-perat-ture r-re-re-qu-qui-ire-re-m-m-ment i-i-i-is-s th-th-thir-irt-t-ty t-t-tw-oo-oo de-deg-gre-ee-ees f-f-fa-fahre-ren-ren-he-hei-heit-t-t-t…"

"Hmm… That makes sense. But don't you have antifreeze in you right now???" Auto would have shared if he needed to.

"Y-y-yes-s. B-b-but i-i-i'm s-s-st-still-ll c-c-cold-d!"

"Don't worry Robot! I'll warm you up!" Cubey held out his arms and walked up to embrace him.

"No, Cubey, don't!!" But Auto was too late. Cubey had already wrapped his arms around Robot and pressed their faces together. He instantly felt a sting from the freezing metal and instinctively tried to reel back to himself, but his face was stuck up against Robot's

"Yipes!!! You're totally frozen, Robot!!! And now i'm stuck to you!!!" He tried to pull his skin away, but it wasn't going anywhere.

"Oh no, don't pull it!!!"

"Hahaha!!! That's why i never hug anyone!!" Mitch and Socks laughed.

"Here, let me help you. Give me one second." Auto stepped up beside them and shook in place a bit. He brought his face close to where theirs were touching and opened his mouth to blow some hot exhaust air on them. It was warm enough for only a few seconds to be enough to unstick the two of them.

Cubey stumbled backwards and touched his gloved hand to the red spot where he had been stuck. He pat the pain and tried to warm it up again. "Thanks, Auto. But maybe try a breath mint every now and then."

Auto shrunk with embarrassment. "Oh, sorry. I-i don't usually use my oral exhaust fan."

The boys giggled. "It's cool, Auto. But what are we gonna do about Robot???" They all looked over at him.

Auto quickly considered. "I don't think human temperature is gonna be enough to warm him up. You guys would probably freeze before he got up to temp. We should probably get him inside."

Mitch elbowed Sock's arm and grinned wide. "Hey Auto! Why don't you just warm him up yourself? You've overheated plenty of times before! I'm sure that would do the trick!"

Socks tried to stifle a giggle. "Yeah, you can warm him up in no time! Why don't you give it a try?" He tried to hide his smile.

Auto glanced away and blushed. "Aww, i don't think i can get up to temperature fast enough to even him out."

"Come on!! I'm sure he'll reeeaally appreciate it!! He'll probably even hug you back, won't you Robot???" Robot stiffly nodded.

Auto couldn't deny that he could already feel his gauge rise. He inched closer to Robot just in case the little bit would help him at all. "I really don't think i'm gonna be able to make a difference…"

"Well you won't know if you don't try it!" Cubey pantomimed as he described it. "All ya gotta do is wrap him up in your arms, nice and tight, and snuggle him up reeaal close to you. I'm sure ANY heat that you're giving is gonna warm Robot right up!!"

Auto cringed and blushed more. "Th-that's not… that's not gonna do it."

"Well at least ask him if he wants it! I'm sure he doooees!!" Socks leaned in excitedly.

Auto looked over at him. "Robot, i-is it okay if–"

"P-please A-a-auto-o."

Auto's eyes got wide and he felt himself heat up even more. He glanced at the guys' eager grins and felt very embarrassed. He willed the courage to do this, stretching his arms out longer than they usually were in order to wrap around Robot. He nervously snaked them around him and brought their bodies close together.

The cold of Robot's panels was very tactile, and Auto felt guilty for making him wait so long. It was strongly overplayed by the thrilling feeling of Robot wrapping his arms around him, as well him cuddling his head close to Auto's chest. Despite the cold, Auto still felt very warm because of everything.

"Th-th-th-thank-k y-you, A-a-a-auto-o." Robot sighed and pulled him closer. "I-i-i alr-re-ready-dy f-f-f-feel b-b-b-bet-ter." He zapped a tiny bit of energy into Auto's neck. Auto immediately flushed red and his temperature went up high enough to make the metal between them hiss with steam.

The boys were already giggling from the initial hug, but seeing Auto's reaction made them burst out laughing. When he finally heard them, he turned his head quickly and dreaded the sight. "D-d-don't list-sten to th-them. They-ey're-re useless-ss."

"Hey!! At least i TRIED to help you!!" Apparently Cubey heard him.

"Ineff-fectively. Y-your sk-skin got st-stuck."

"Yeah! I'm not made of metal, you dork!!"

"Pr-recisely. This is m-more effective." Auto felt his hard drive become calmer.

"Whatever!!" He pointed at Robot. "You just wanted to hug Auto, didn't you, you weirdo?"

"Who cares if he did or not? He's obviously feeling better now, and that's all that matters." Auto looked down at him. "Are you warm enough to move now, RJ???"

He huffed. "Af-firmative. But, what should we do now??"

"We've gotta get you inside. At least there'll be a heater that can even you out completely." He scanned around. "Okay, there's a bakery right here! That's perfect, let's go in there for a minute."

The boys went inside as they normally would, not really interested in what was happening until they smelled all of the breads and pastries that had been made there. They instantly became too distracted to notice the weird, crabby dance that the two entwined androids were doing to get into the warm building.

Robot held tight onto Auto until he was out of the cold because he didn't want to freeze up again, and Auto didn't mind holding him so close at all. They stayed tied up for a few more seconds until Robot was certain that this place was going to be warm enough. "Pheeewww! That was brutal!!! The weather report this morning said it was going to stay in the 40s!!!" He looked at Auto. "Thank you for helping me, Auto. I really needed it."

He smiled nervously. "It's nothing, RJ! I'm glad that you're getting back up to temperature." He glanced at their fleshy friends disappointedly and sighed. "Well… at least they know how to get me to overheat…"

Robot scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Okay, so they're NOT completely useless. It was still mean what they did to you."

Auto hummed. There was something about them that was making him think. "Do you think wearing a jacket would help you???"

Robot cocked his head. "A jacket???" He thought about it. "I don't know! I suppose the insulation would work just as well for me as it does a human."

"You wouldn't have to be at their body temp even for it to be effective: just as long as it keeps your components from running inefficiently, then it'll do it's job." He looked at the boys again, quickly determining that none of them would have spare clothes that would fit Robot. He considered. "Hmm, let's see if there's a thrift shop around here. I'm sure they'll have some coats that we can afford right now."

He walked up to the counter and asked the puzzled baker where the nearest thrift shop was. They told him and he thanked them kindly. "They say there's one a couple blocks away. Do you think you'll be able to make it over there???"

"That shouldn't be an issue. I can probably last outside now until we get there. But just to be sure," he latched onto Auto's hand, making him jolt with a bundle of nerves in his chassis; "maybe we should keep contact. Any heat transfer is going to facilitate things." Auto tried not to blush, but there was already enough heat in his hand to keep Robot warm until they got there. He looked over at the humans. "Hey guys, are you ready to go??"

Each of them had their own half-eaten treat in their hand and their mouth. Socks spit out some crumbs of his cupcake. "Uhuh."

They all followed Auto, who was following the baker's directions. It only took three minutes to get there, and Auto kept Robot warm enough with his hand alone that he didn't have to worry about his components running inefficiently at all. Auto still rushed him inside to make extra certain that was the case.

He looked over the different areas of the store and quickly found a few racks with some winter coats on them. He pointed them out, "oh hey! There's some right there!" The pair hurried over to take a look at the selection, and Auto started flipping through the ones that they had. "What size do you think you might be, RJ??? I think maybe a medium will work, but we'll look at the larges just to be sure."

Robot examined the ones that he was looking at and glanced down. "Um… Auto??"

"Yeah? Did you like that one???" He held the jacket out for him to see.

"Did you want to keep holding hands???"

"Oh, ah!!!" Auto ripped his hand away from Robot's, dropping the jacket to grab ahold of the rogue appendage. He blushed and grinned nervously. "S-sorry RJ!!! I kind of forgot that we were… doing that. Eheheh…" He glanced away anxiously and dipped down to retrieve the covering.

"That's okay, Auto. It wasn't that big of a deal. I just thought you'd be better able to browse with two hands." He studied the jacket that Auto sheepishly held up. "That one looks okay. Do you think it will fit me???"

"Th-that should fit you, i-i think." Socks was clearly just giggling. "T-try it on, Robot!"

Auto undid the fastenings and slipped the hanger from the arms. He placed it on the rack again and held the jacket out for Robot to just slip into it. He kept his hands nearby when it seemed just about on him completely to make sure it wouldn't slip, and he adjusted it when it was fully on him. Robot glanced up at him. "Thank you, Auto." Auto felt his temperature rise again, but tried not to let it show on his face. "How does it look???"

They all looked at him. "It looks kind of big for you, Robot."

"Yeah, you need something smaller."

"And more stylish!!" They looked at Socks, who took a moment to realize that they did. He glanced around. "W-well, h-he might as well look good if he's gonna wear clothes, right??!"

"That sounds reasonable. Alright, i guess we will look for the next size down." Robot slipped the jacket off of himself and handed it back to Auto, who replaced it on the hanger and the rack. He tried on a few others with similar scrutiny from his friends. Either they were too big or too small or didn't look good enough, or whatever else it was that made them say that any given choice was the wrong one.

Auto dressed him with another puffy coat and took a look at him. "Oh hey! This one looks like it fits perfectly!!"

"Does it???" Robot turned his head around to look.

"Yeah, that one is just your size, Robot!!"

"A-and it doesn't look too bad!!"

"Do you really think so???" He glanced around for a mirror and walked up to it when he spotted one.

"Yeah! You should totally go with that one!"

"You look great, RJ! I think it'll keep you nice and insulated in the cold, so it's basically perfect!"

Robot was happy with what he saw. He smiled at his reflection and made up his mind. "Okay then! I'll take it!!"

The boys gave a little cheer for him. Auto found the price tag and quickly snipped it off the jacket with his fingers. He took it to the counter, but his friends weren't all too certain what he was doing. "I'm gonna buy this coat, please." He pointed to Robot and handed over the ticket. "He's wearing it right now."

"Auto, what are ya doing?!" Robot jolted and hurried over to the counter.

"I'm gonna buy it for you! It's something you need, and you shouldn't have to buy things that you need!

"It's gonna come out to $8.50." The cashier waited.

Auto went stiff and staticky when he heard the price. "O-o-oh… Uhh… okay." He reached into his body compartment and pulled out his little change purse, which he knew had at least $5 in quarters for the next time they all went to the arcade, but probably not much more. He carefully dumped out the contents and piled them up into individual dollar stacks. He had only one extra quarter on him, but that was all of the money he had right then. He felt very disappointed and embarrassed that he wasn't able to actually afford this gift for his friend.

"Oh Auto, you must be glitching. I can pay for this jacket myself!" Robot opened his body compartment and fished out the quarters that he had, which turned out to be only $2.50. He huffed. "Oh. I guess i cannot pay for this on my own…"

"We've got you covered, Robot!" Socks grinned and held up a quarter, and Mitch held up one too.

Cubey checked in all of his pockets for any spare money that he had, but he wasn't finding anything. "Total dud!!! Don't tell me i spent all my money on that stupid cookie!!!" He slumped down and thought. "... It was a good cookie, though…" He looked up at Robot. "I'm sorry bro, but it looks like i'm completely outta moolah!"

"How unfortunate. We were only a few cents away from being able to afford it. I guess i'll have to leave the jacket." He started to pull his arms out.

"I'm really sorry, RJ. I didn't realize that i couldn't afford it when i offered. I'm so embarrassed about this…" He sighed. "Hopefully that will keep you warm until you can get home…"

The cashier rolled their eyes. "Alright, alright, enough with the waterworks. I'll cover for you this time, but next time, make sure you have the right amount." They pulled a quarter from their pocket and placed it on the desk, and mumbled that they didn't get paid enough.

Robot and especially Auto immediately brightened at the kindness. "Oh, thank you thank you!!! You don't know how much this means to me!!!"

They sighed, "yeah, whatever kid. Let's just get this over with." The kids all handed over the money to the cashier and they rang up the coat. They handed Auto the receipt and the kids all happily left the store.

"Man, that sure was nice of the cashier to help us out!!"

"Yeah! That was a total life-saving move!!"

"Strangers aren't usually so nice to me!" Auto tapped his cheek. "I really owe that guy."

"Ah, don't sweat it, Auto! It was just a quarter! They probably admired that you were trying to do something nice for someone. You're an inspiration!" Cubey pat his back and walked ahead of him with the others.

Auto reflected on the gesture in silence, and didn't notice anybody walking beside him. "Thank you for getting me the coat, Auto."

He looked over at Robot smiling at him, and nervously smirked back. "Oh, uh… s-sure RJ. B-but i couldn't even afford it myself. You should thank Socks and Mitch too."

He rolled his eyes. "I suppose they helped a bit. But it was your idea to get it in the first place." He raised his arm. "It's doing a great job at keeping my components at an optimal temperature."

He sighed, "oh, good, that's good to hear. Hopefully it'll still work in even colder conditions. I-i don't know what was expected for this winter."

"It should be fine. But there is one thing that could be an issue."

"Oh no, what's that???" Auto leaned in and looked him up and down, hoping there wasn't a hole in the coat that they didn't spot before.

"My hands are still cold!" He smirked and held one up. "Would you mind helping me keep it warm???" He held it out.

Auto jolted with surprise and blushed at the proposition. "Aahh, uh… s-sure RJ! Ha i-i-i'm sure i can keep it warm for you." He nervously wrapped his hand around Robot's claw, and he smiled brightly at Auto. He tried to stifle a giggle, and Robot quietly giggled in return.

-

They glanced at their friends in front of them, and Robot waved his hand off to them with another giggle. "They still don't understand how heat transfers through metal." He shook his head with a smile.

"Oh boy. Well… at least they don't have to tease me to get your temperature stable anymore."

"Good riddance!! You know i hate it when they tease you. Those guys really suck sometimes!"

"Yeah…" Auto looked at the sidewalk ahead of him. "I'm glad i don't HAVE to warm you up like that anymore."

Robot nodded in agreement. "Me too. But even if you did…" He squeezed Auto's hand. "I know how to get the heat out of you much better myself." Robot stretched to give Auto a little spark of a kiss on his cheek.

Auto blushed and fiddled with his scarf with his empty hand. He giggled happily and felt the temperature in his body rise up, keeping the both of them comfortably warm for the rest of the evening.