Cold

Summary: Todd was barely able to make out touch; his nerve endings were frozen; dead to the blue fur that brushed his neck or the hot tears that soaked into his shirt.

A/N: Posted on dA waaaay back in 08? 'Bout time it came over here.

Pairing: Kurt/Todd

The air that surrounded Todd was – for lack of a better word – freezing. No, beyond that- so cold that it bit at his skin and burrowed its way into him. But while Todd could sense the cold, he was numb to it; every inch of him was beyond feeling…

Slowly Todd realised he was conscious; that the blackness before him was just the dark pools set behind his eyelids. And yet, he wasn't quite awake either- everything was somehow muted, distant. The cold, the snow falling against his face, even the warmth, settled above him and pressed to his chest, felt miles away. His nerve endings were dead to the blue fur that brushed his neck or the hot tears that soaked into his shirt. To Todd, there was only the cold…

Then, a low keening moan rose up through the white-noise ringing in Todd's ears, and suddenly, the mutant wanted desperately to open his eyes and seek out the source the sound; but his eye-lids refused to even twitch.

It was at that point, that it dawned on Todd; his chest felt empty and deadly still…

Todd would've gasped or cried out in fear if his voice hadn't already been trapped in his throat. Feeling a wave of wooziness hit him; Todd quickly forced himself to keep calm. Panicking wasn't going to save him…

Todd's attention fell on the thing atop of him. It was trembling and sobbing brokenly, sending waves of warmth into Todd's numb skin. His brain, barely functioning, provided no answers, except that whatever it was, it wasn't pressing too heavily on him. And that puzzled Todd, because his chest felt so tight…

Gathering his energy, Todd tried to take a shallow breath, and struggled to fill his lungs. His chest ached like the muscles were constricted; stiff and unyielding. Slowly, the warmth above him started to seep into his muscles and ease the chill from them.

A tridactyl hand was clutching at his shoulder, with a vice-like grip that Todd slowly realised he hadn't felt until now. A furry face was buried against his neck, hot, shaky breaths sobbed against his chin.

"Todd… no…" the voice was soft and familiar and it broke off into another moan.

Todd knew the voice instantly and he gasped; his lungs flooding with freezing air that made his chest scream and his heart thunder.

But Todd didn't care.

He struggled to move, to snap his eyes open, but they fluttered as his gagged on his breath, and fought to take another.

The warmth above him jumped, a soft gasp filtering through the roar of blood in Todd's ears, but the frog-like mutant didn't care, his hand that felt of nothing but pins and needles, snapped up and clutched weakly at Kurt's arm, while he struggled to open his eyes again.

"Todd?" Kurt whispered, his voice cracked and trembled like his hands. He didn't bother swiping the strands of hair or tears from his eyes; instead he cried harder, his shaking hands gently cupping Todd's face. "Oh Gott, Todd." The blue mutant breathed, his teary yellow eyes widening when Todd's eyes cracked open.

"Blue-?" Todd mouthed; his voice was nothing but a push of air.

But Kurt didn't answer, instead he cracked a broken smile, and sobbed violently, throwing himself back against Todd's chest.

Todd blinked slowly, not sure what to make of the situation. He tried to speak, but his vocal-cords barely crackled. So instead, Todd tried to make out his surroundings. He slowly recognised the narrow walls of an alleyway and grimy trashcans that were shunted against the walls, buried in snow.

Snow…

Why did that ring alarm bells in Todd's skull?

He would've pondered on it longer, if the cold hadn't started to hit him. Before Todd knew what was happening, his body began to tremble. He shuddered, a barely there moan breaking past his lips.

Kurt heard the muted groan and struggled back onto his knees, his tail snapping behind him fearfully. The blue mutant was still for a moment, and then snapped into action, his hands streaking out and gathering Todd into his arms, his blue tail quickly looping about Todd's limp ankle.

As soon as Todd felt his head rest against Kurt's shoulder, the whole world jumped violently. Todd had no chance to catch his breath, before he felt everything jump again, and again.

Finally, everything grew still and Todd struggled to find his equilibrium. But before he knew what was happening, he was lowered down on a warm bed. His eyes were still unfocused, but Todd saw a blue blur, that the shivering mutant assumed was Kurt, moving next to the bed, accompanied by the sounds of discarded shoes thumping against carpet.

Then warmth…

Todd's breathing hitched when Kurt lay next to him, dragging a heavy blanket over them both. His arms, with a mind of their own, struggled against the weight of the material, trying to reach for Kurt, but the blue mutant was faster; all but dragging Todd against him.

Todd shuddered and whimpered; his head pressing against Kurt's furry chest. His trembling intensified as more muscles thawed, then slowly the blue mutant's body heat started to overpower the deep set chill in Todd's body.

It wasn't until his shivering started to ebb, that Todd felt Kurt's hands rubbing his back, or the quietly spoken German prayers whispered against his hair. He blinked his eyes open that he hadn't noticed he'd closed, and for a moment, stared at Kurt's chin.

He wasn't sure what to do, what to say, or more importantly, what to feel. But he felt at ease despite where he was. He didn't care that he supposed to hate Kurt; he didn't care that they'd hurt each other before this moment; the only thing he cared about was that Kurt was with him, and that for the first time since he could remember, he felt safe.

Finally, Kurt's prayers trailed off and silence swept over them both, the silence comforting for only a moment.

"I thought you were dead…"

The words took a moment to reach Todd, and he slowly drew his mind from the comfort. He tried to lean back so he could look up into Kurt's face, but the blue mutant's arms wouldn't let him. For some reason, that made Todd feel even safer.

"I… heard you were missing," Kurt continued slowly, recalling Lance, who had been yelling and stomping through the snow around Bayville High in search for the smallest Hoodling, who hadn't turned up for school. Lance had even gone as far as to track down Duncan, threatening to kick his ass if Todd turned up with a scratch on him. Kurt almost smiled, but it fell away too quickly, "Lance was worried… I was…" Kurt stopped himself, shaking his head and burying his face against Todd's mousy-brown hair, "Gott… I found you… I was walking home and I saw you… you… you weren't breathing and- I-"

Todd froze when he felt tears start to seep into his hair. But, despite the shock, Todd struggled to move his arms.

Kurt felt Todd struggling to move and froze, suddenly terrified that the other mutant was going to shove him away. But, instead, Todd's hands gently returned the one-sided hug, his arms weakly encircling the blue-mutant's waist. "Thanks, man."

The quiet spoken words sounded loud in Kurt's ears, and he blushed helplessly as more startled tears flooded his eyes. He sobbed quietly, for a moment, tightening his own hold on Todd, as if frightened to let go. "I'm so glad you're alright…" Kurt whispered, closing his against in attempts to ignore the fear that was still in his heart. "I was so sure you were dead."

Todd laughed quietly, breathlessly, closing his own eyes as exhaustion flooded him. "M'wasn't dead…" he began softly, "Was hibernating…"

Kurt blinking open his eyes, slowly releasing Todd, so he could lean back and look into the smaller mutant's eyes, "What? Hibernating?" Kurt asked, unabashedly blinking away tears.

Todd forced open his eyes, despite every fibre of him that screamed for sleep, "It's my mutation, 'yo," Todd said, closing his eyes again, "S' like hibernating, 'cept not."

Kurt was stunned for a long moment, but he quickly shook off his surprise and quickly curled back against Todd, "So… if you knew that, then why were you out?"

Todd mumbled quietly, cracking one of his yellow eyes open, "I walked to school… thought I could make it…" Todd sighed unhappily, closing his eyes again. Obviously that hadn't been one of his best ideas...

Kurt smile was small and a little sad, he felt that last bit of fear and adrenalin finally fade, and he chuckled to himself after a long moment of silence.

"... You're half asleep, aren't you?"

"Mmm…" was Todd's sleepy response. The spindly mutant's big hands twitched around Kurt's waist, as if to draw the blue mutant closer. Kurt obliged, laughing quietly to himself when Todd made a pleased noise while he snuggled closer to Kurt.

If the blue mutant wasn't drained from the day's events or finally feeling a sense of calm hit him; he might've considered the consequences of bring Todd into the manor. Kurt smiled and shook his head; knowing Xavier, the psychic probably already knew. Kurt shook his head, there was no point dwelling on the inevitable, so he settled down, enjoying the feel of Todd's face pressed against the crook of his neck; and slowly, Kurt let himself drift into oblivion along with Todd.

END

A/N: I was considering Todd's mutation; basically, frog-like abilities. And frogs cannot handle winter; because they are cold blooded. This causes them to estivate (or hibernate, but that's not the right word for it - and Todd wouldn't know it either); it basically forces the frog's body to slow down and they lose consciousness until things warm up.
Enter Kurt. Todd's opposite. A creature suited for winter. Does anyone else find that absolutely gorgeous? XDD *cracks up*