Hearthside Harmony

The first time Mercury was pulled from his sleep, it happened because something cold landed on his face. He forced his eyes to open, but he could only see a distinct, Zara-like shape through his eyelashes. This was, then, nothing unexpected, and he pulled the blanket around him tighter and kept sleeping.

The next time he was conscious, it was entirely by Zara’s demand. He had decided, apparently, that Mercury was taking up too much space, and had decided to reclaim some of it by sitting on Mercury’s legs. Well, Mercury supposed that it was supposed to be next to him, but it wasn’t.

“Zara,” Mercury tried to go for his best I’m so disappointed tone, one that Zara knew well, but it came out slurred. “Get the hell away from my legs.”

“I won’t bother you,” Zara said, and Mercury failed to tell him that he was already bothering him. He was too sleepy to be dishonest. “Besides, the cabin is tiny. The others will want to sit somewhere.”

“They can sit on the floor,” Mercury wasn’t sleepy enough to skip that quip. “And besides, you know Andrea will want to sit all over Merritt. There will be plenty of space. Marcel keeps sitting on the floor anyway.”

“Oh, you should’ve seen the snowball fight!” Zara said with a lot more enthusiasm than Mercury appreciated. “He kept sitting on the table outside!”

“He sat on the table when he was inside, too, that’s nothing new,” Mercury scoffed, though he wasn’t being ordinarily loud about it. He didn’t know Marcel too well, after all. They’d just met recently and, despite all the familiarity and friendliness Marcel displayed, Mercury didn’t want to offend him. Then he added, even more quietly: “Did Anetta stutter through their every interaction?”

“Of course she did,” Zara leaned in, decidedly conspiratory. “She was so red, it was so obvious. She claimed it was from the cold.”

Of course, it could’ve been from the cold. Some of it, perhaps, was. But there was the issue that only a day ago, Anetta claimed that she was red in the face because the heat of the hearth was getting to her. Mercury couldn’t relate at all. He was bundled in his blanket tightly despite the fire crackling softly just a few feet next to him. The thing was, Mercury wasn’t much of a “winter holiday” person at all. But their friends had organized a trip and Zara was going, and so he went along because the snow was better than an empty apartment. And he did have fun. He just had very low tolerance for very low temperatures.

“I think they’d be cute together,” Zara said, and Mercury, though sleepy levelled him his best ‘I can’t believe you’ look.

“Don’t. Meddle. I mean it, Zara,” he said with a soft sigh.

“I won’t!” Zara scoffed as though offended, but his mismatched eyes twinkled with mischief. “I can’t promise the same about Andrea and Merritt.”

“Oh come on!” Mercury said before he could help himself. Then, he turned around quickly, just to see if he’d startled anyone with his outburst, but the ground floor of the cabin was deserted save for himself and Zara. Outside, he could see the snow falling. It was nearly dark out. “You can’t just influence our friends like that.”

“They’re doing enough of that themselves,” Zara shot back, then leaned towards the table that separated the couch from the hearth. Mercury couldn’t help but note that other sofas were free of occupants. Where was everybody? Was he going to have to be a babysitter again? “Here, take this. I’ll bribe you with cocoa.”

“I’m going to become cocoa at this rate,” Mercury grumbled, as he always did when Zara worked his bribes, but he took the cup and sipped from it immediately. The taste was exquisite. This was just about the only thing he liked about the winter — how he could fluff up, board himself inside, get a hot beverage and enjoy not being outside. After their recent escapade with camping, Mercury never wanted to be outdoors again. Still, Zara could always drag him out of his shell; he’d always had that talent, and Mercury had a hard time telling him no.

“So, Merritt and Andrea…” Zara started, eyes shining.

“Are going to get together on their own, if they want to, because they’re adults,” Mercury droned. The cup was hot between his fingers, but he didn’t mind. He shuffled around on the couch, and each time he moved, Zara moved with him, fitting around the space Mercury left empty. “And you’re not going to interfere with Anetta’s crush, because we don’t know if that’s what she wants, okay?”

“Fine,” Zara pouted a little, but he must’ve seen that Mercury was being serious about the matter. “I’m just saying it’s sickening, how they cling to each other all the time. Must we all watch it?” As he was talking, he leaned on Mercury’s shoulder. Then, as he concluded, he decided that Mercury was ruining all of his fun and bit him. To Mercury’s credit, he didn’t even hiss, even though it had hurt. He just shrugged, and flinched Zara’s ear away from his face. Zara took his cup and drank a sip of his cocoa, much to Mercury’s feigned indignance.

A strange thought came over him then. The two of them, sitting together — cuddling? — so close to the fire, drinking from the same cup. That, too, was a little domestic, wasn’t it? And the others, they were nowhere around despite the heavy snowfall and the entire day spent outside?

Maybe it was a coincidence. Still, Mercury liked to think the knew better than that.