Being Human (UK) Ficlet: Warmer Together
Jul. 7th, 2019 09:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kat_lair***
The heating is off. Not by choice. And not because the boiler is broken.
“Are you kidding me?” George huffs, standing in the middle of the lounge. The sofa cushions are scattered all over the floor from a desperate search that has produced only a lonely sock and a lot of crumbs of dubious origin.
“Annie?” he calls toward the kitchen.
The sound of rummaging ceases. Annie comes to the doorway and shakes her head sadly.
Mitchell emerges at the bottom of the stairs at the same time. “Nothing,” he says before George has a chance to ask. “Sorry.”
“Fuck!” The exclamation hangs in the air for good five seconds before evaporating.
George shivers, sticking hands under his armpits. Now that he’s stopped tearing the house apart in vain hope of finding some change to feed the gas meter, the cold is quickly seeping back.
It’s February and they’ve ran out of money full two days before the payday. There’s still some left on electricity but plugging in the electric radiator eats it up quickly, and would mean no hot drinks. George is pretty sure a steaming cup of tea is all that stands between him and hypothermia right now.
“Maybe I could try to like… haunt it into thinking it has credit?” Annie suggests. There are little sparks sizzling between her fingers. It’s tempting but George thinks it may also result in the whole house burning down so…
“No! No thanks.” He deliberately softens his tone after the first irritable snap.
With a sigh he starts putting the sofa back together, building a kind of nest from the pillows and duvets he’d carted from upstairs earlier.
“I could go and… ask around for a loan?” Mitchell looks miserable at the prospect, largely because ‘asking around for a loan’ is code for ‘attempt to rob someone’ or ‘let the other vamps know how far he’s fallen’.
“It’s fine,” George says, feeling a bit bad for his earlier tirade. He hadn’t been best pleased to come home to a freezing house, and two housemates casually unaffected by it.
Annie doesn’t exactly feel warmth or coldness anymore, and Mitchell’s body pretty much acclimatises to whatever the ambient temperature is. Unless it’s direct sunshine, actual fire or cold so deep it freezes meat, he’s fine. Right now, cold as it feels to George, it isn’t even enough to slow Mitchell down.
George climbs into the pile of blankets, momentarily wishing for housemates with actual body heat to cuddle with. But then Annie hands him a hot mug of tea with honey in it, and Mitchell sits next to him on the sofa, blocking the draft from the window, and maybe it isn’t the worst, maybe not even that bad, considering.
“I charged your laptop at work,” Mitchell says after a minute or so. “Could put a movie on?”
“Yes!” Annie jumps up from where she’s been perched on the sofa arm. “I’ll make more tea!”
In five minutes, George has a mug in each hand and the opening credits of Empire Strikes Back are rolling across his laptop screen. Annie and Mitchell are squeezed close on either side of him, ostensibly to better see the movie, though George suspects that’s only part of the reason, and a small one at that.
The house is still freezing, his breath still visible at every exhale and strictly speaking he probably isn’t much warmer than he was twenty minutes ago. That doesn’t matter though, because right now George feels warm in a way that no amount of gas credit can buy.
***
Title: Warmer Together
Author: kat_lair / Mistress Kat
kat_lair / Mistress KatFandom: Being Human (UK)
Characters/Pairing: Annie/George/Mitchell – friendship or more as you prefer
Rating: G
Word count: 595
Disclaimer: Not mine, only playing.
Summary: Huddling for warmth requires people with actual body heat. George is out of luck.
Author notes: For prompt ‘huddling for warmth’. 7th fic for the 100 Fandoms Challenge I’m doing with pushkin666 and dreamersdare. AO3 Collection here.
pushkin666 and dreamersdare. AO3 Collection here.The heating is off. Not by choice. And not because the boiler is broken.
“Are you kidding me?” George huffs, standing in the middle of the lounge. The sofa cushions are scattered all over the floor from a desperate search that has produced only a lonely sock and a lot of crumbs of dubious origin.
“Annie?” he calls toward the kitchen.
The sound of rummaging ceases. Annie comes to the doorway and shakes her head sadly.
Mitchell emerges at the bottom of the stairs at the same time. “Nothing,” he says before George has a chance to ask. “Sorry.”
“Fuck!” The exclamation hangs in the air for good five seconds before evaporating.
George shivers, sticking hands under his armpits. Now that he’s stopped tearing the house apart in vain hope of finding some change to feed the gas meter, the cold is quickly seeping back.
It’s February and they’ve ran out of money full two days before the payday. There’s still some left on electricity but plugging in the electric radiator eats it up quickly, and would mean no hot drinks. George is pretty sure a steaming cup of tea is all that stands between him and hypothermia right now.
“Maybe I could try to like… haunt it into thinking it has credit?” Annie suggests. There are little sparks sizzling between her fingers. It’s tempting but George thinks it may also result in the whole house burning down so…
“No! No thanks.” He deliberately softens his tone after the first irritable snap.
With a sigh he starts putting the sofa back together, building a kind of nest from the pillows and duvets he’d carted from upstairs earlier.
“I could go and… ask around for a loan?” Mitchell looks miserable at the prospect, largely because ‘asking around for a loan’ is code for ‘attempt to rob someone’ or ‘let the other vamps know how far he’s fallen’.
“It’s fine,” George says, feeling a bit bad for his earlier tirade. He hadn’t been best pleased to come home to a freezing house, and two housemates casually unaffected by it.
Annie doesn’t exactly feel warmth or coldness anymore, and Mitchell’s body pretty much acclimatises to whatever the ambient temperature is. Unless it’s direct sunshine, actual fire or cold so deep it freezes meat, he’s fine. Right now, cold as it feels to George, it isn’t even enough to slow Mitchell down.
George climbs into the pile of blankets, momentarily wishing for housemates with actual body heat to cuddle with. But then Annie hands him a hot mug of tea with honey in it, and Mitchell sits next to him on the sofa, blocking the draft from the window, and maybe it isn’t the worst, maybe not even that bad, considering.
“I charged your laptop at work,” Mitchell says after a minute or so. “Could put a movie on?”
“Yes!” Annie jumps up from where she’s been perched on the sofa arm. “I’ll make more tea!”
In five minutes, George has a mug in each hand and the opening credits of Empire Strikes Back are rolling across his laptop screen. Annie and Mitchell are squeezed close on either side of him, ostensibly to better see the movie, though George suspects that’s only part of the reason, and a small one at that.
The house is still freezing, his breath still visible at every exhale and strictly speaking he probably isn’t much warmer than he was twenty minutes ago. That doesn’t matter though, because right now George feels warm in a way that no amount of gas credit can buy.
***
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