Chapter Text
It was cold. Colder than it should be this time of year. Despite being buried under multiple layers of warm, knit blankets, Zane was freezing.
Maybe this was normal. To be expected after discovering his ice powers. Though, logically, it would make more sense for him to be resistant to the cold. But he wasn’t. He was freezing.
He didn’t remember exactly what had shocked him out of his sleep. That’s not new. Zane doesn’t remember much. The earliest thing he remembers was waking up in a freezing forest and wandering until Sensei Wu found him.
Freezing seems to be a pattern. Zane likes patterns. Maybe not this one, though.
Zane sits up in his bunk, wracking his brain for any hint of a memory in his dream. It felt familiar. Like the forest he woke up in. He was still shivering.
Closing his eyes, he could almost see a face. A face with a kind smile and warm eyes.
Warm. That’s a good idea.
But how could he go about getting warm if he already stole half of the monastery's blankets. Well, not “stole”. More borrowed.
Back to his current issue.
Blankets weren’t helping. The chill was bone deep. You can’t warm that up with just a blanket.
He was brought out of his thoughts by a loud snore. Kai.
Ah.
Kai.
It was like a lightbulb went off in Zane’s head. Kai was warm in the same way Zane was cold. His fire powers warmed him and everyone around him to the bone. It was a comforting thing to have the cold that permanently rests inside of you chased away.
It was the only logical idea Zane could think of. He climbs out of bed, still shivering under the blanket he carried to the other side of the room the four boys shared.
“Kai,” Zane whispers, careful not to wake Jay in the bunk above Kai. Anything could wake Jay up.
He gently nudged Kai’s shoulder, quickly pulling his hand back under the blanket. If he could see in the dark, he would probably see the tips of his fingers beginning to turn blue.
Kai groaned. “What?” he hadn’t even opened his eyes, sitting up and yawning.
“I have a question,” Zane crouched on the floor next to the bed. Still shivering. Still cold. He thinks his teeth might be chattering.
“Zane?” That woke Kai up. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, “are you ok?”
“Yes, I think I’m fine. Mostly,” talking about things like this was hard. Zane wondered if it was always hard for him, or if that was new too, “I had a dream. I don’t remember it, but I think it was bad. A nightmare. I think my powers are reacting to whatever I was dreaming about,”
“What’s that mean?” Kai definitely wasn’t fully awake. Zane thought he was making perfect sense.
“I’m cold. Freezing, actually. None of the blankets are helping. I was wondering if you could help. Maybe,” Zane doesn’t like needing help. He’s supposed to help others. He thinks. He doesn’t have any evidence for that.
Kai sat there for a second. Zane wondered if he had fallen asleep again.
“Yeah, I can help,” he yawns again, “C’mere,” he holds his hands out to Zane.
Zane places his hands on top of Kai’s. Immediately, warmth seeped through his fingers.
Kai hissed at him, “Dude, your hands feel like ice!” A beat, “that sounded stupid, of course they feel like ice, you’re basically ice,”
The warmth was nice. Listening to Kai talk was nice. It felt the same as his hands on Kai’s but deeper in his chest. Like his words were warming up Zane’s heart.
Zane lay his head on the bed, still sat on the ground, hands in Kai’s.
“Can you keep talking?” He asks, eyes slipping close.
“You can lay on the bed,” Kai muttered, “It’ll be more comfy,”
Odd. Not expected. But Zane wasn’t opposed.
“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to make you uncomfortable-“
“You’re fine. Just come on so I can go back to sleep,”
Zane listens, climbing on the bed and sitting beside Kai.
Kai laid back down on the bed, hitting the pillow with a soft thud.
They were still holding hands. That was enough for Zane. He leaned against the bed frame and closed his eyes again. The others thought it was odd how he could sleep anywhere, but it was normal for Zane. He felt he could just turn himself off and fall asleep.
“You don’t have to sit,” Kai said into his pillow. It was a miracle Zane could even understand him.
“I will be fine, I can sleep like this-“
“Nope. Come one,” Kai pulls Zane down onto the pillow with him.
Their faces were close together. It was warm. Zane finally felt like the cold in his bones was scared off.
Kai threw one of his arms around Zane’s shoulder. He was warm. It was comfortable.
Zane stayed awake like that for a few minutes, watching as Kai started snoring the minute his eyes closed again. But it didn’t take long for Zane to follow him to sleep. Finally warm.