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scrambled into his clothes, shoving on his sole pair of winter boots, as he heard the crunch of
footfalls on packed snow. Thank God; he had tired of lying to himself. He had a minute to stand
and smooth his clothes down before Leander knocked.
Even though he'd been expecting it, Axton winced. He had to say hi to Leander, ease any
suspicions, and then get rid of him. This wasn't a human friendly climate, not without
preparations, and he couldn't stay on two legs for long. He went to the door.
"Hey!" Leander said, stepping in and engulfing him in a hug. "Found you for once."
"Hey!" Axton copied, in what he hoped was the same tone of voice, eyes wide and mildly
panicked as he was hugged, "Yeah, I--good--what are you doing here?"
"And you remain an excellent head of the welcoming committee, Axton," Leander said,
drawing back but still somehow wiggling his way into the house, "Hi to you, too."
Axton fought off a blush.
"It's not that, just--it's winter."
"Yes!" Leander enthused. "It's winter! Isn't it beautiful?"
Axton peered out of his windows dutifully.
"It's cold," he said, and there was an unpleasant twinge behind his eyeballs. He ignored it.
"Yeah, I thought it would be warmer in here."
"Furnace broke," Axton said quickly, "I just fixed it. It'll kick in soon."
"Right." Leander was busily looking around the cabin, glancing at the windows, taking in the
sparse furnishings. Axton wondered why--he supposed it was rather shabby, after all. "You
want to grab some coffee at my place while this warms up? I think the heat is working fine and
I switched it on when I got in."
No, Axton was ready to say, Please go away, I am very busy and cannot see you right now.
He waited a millisecond too long, giving Leander the chance to turn his earnest grey eyes
on him.
"Okay," he said, after waiting all of two seconds. "Okay." He started for the door.
"Aren't you going to put a coat on?" Leander asked, eying him, "It's not right next door."
Axton looked at him blankly.
"Yes," he said slowly, "Right."
Luckily, he did have one, and he nipped back into his closet to get it. Axton could not
remember the last time he wore a snow coat.
++
Though it was warmer, Leander's cabin dismayed Axton immediately. It was simply but
stylishly furnished as ever, with a wooden chair placed just right, and a rug in front of the fire
place. It was also not at all proofed for winter, and the few supplies Leander had unloaded into
a corner were not going to magically transform the cabin into something that was cold weather
viable. While Leander made coffee, Axton paced the cabin neurotically, peering discreetly as he
could into every box and drawer he could get near. There was nothing, nothing to indicate that
Leander understood the brutality of this winter. The furnace was working but all the heat was
going to disappear through the cracks in the windows, and that was only the start of his
problems.
With a mounting sense of dismay, Axton realized what Leander had been doing over at the
other cabin: he'd been confirming that Axton didn't do much for winter. He'd glanced into the
cabin before, even when fall was on the cusp of turning nasty, so he knew. He knew Axton's
cabin wasn't geared up for winter. He knew Axton stayed there for the winter. He thought of
Axton was very experienced in living out there. So why wouldn't he assume the cabin was
perfectly all right? He'd taken his cues from someone he trusted.
Well, fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. There was no way to change that perception now.
By the time Leander handed him a cup of coffee with a happy hum, Axton quietly wrecked.
"Slice of pie?" Leander offered.
"No, thank you," Axton said automatically. Then he paused. "Pie?" He kind of wanted to ask
about Cindy. It was neither the time nor the place for stupid questions, and what did it matter,
if Leander had slept with her or not, when Leander was about to risk frostbite and he was
probably going to turn werewolf mid pie slice?
It sort of mattered. A little, maybe.
"Yeah, from that nice little diner on Main Street, you know," Leander said breezily, "They like
you there."
Axton blinked.
"They like me," he said skeptically. It was very difficult to not add, you're the one that slept
with a waitress. Maybe slept with a waitress. Maybe.
"Yeah," Leander said, "Nancy just loves you."
"Well Cindy likes you," Axton managed, and he patted himself on the back for not sounding
too passive aggressive. Probably.
"She's a fine young woman," was all Leander said, smiling, "Why, do you prefer her to post
office girl?"
Axton closed his eyes and took a long huffy drink from his coffee cup just to avoid looking
at him.
When he looked up, Leander was drinking from his own cup, grey eyes watching him over
the rim and dancing with amusement.
Axton gave a long suffering sigh and dropped his cup down onto the windowsill.
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