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Night 1
It was friggin’ cold.
They had stopped in a one-road town in the evening to get some provisions. Not for long, just in case they were recognized. There was one public building, a combination gas station/convenience store/restaurant, that was made entirely of wood. It was almost too warm inside from the wood burning stoves, but that was a welcome relief for Jigen. He sunk back into the chair at one of the tables and ordered the soup to warm up.
The soup came, and it was cold.
“Cold soup! What the fuck is wrong with this country?!” Jigen groused.
“It’s borscht,” Lupin said, eating his soup with no complaint.
Jigen grumbled and slurped down the cold soup, quickly, shivering. “I hate it,” he announced.
Lupin laughed.
This damn place didn’t even have an inside bathroom, just a freezing outhouse, which Jigen begrudgingly used before climbed back into the car.
They had driven a little further from town to set up camp. Lupin had brought them a little off-road, to an overlook that looked out on pine forests and snow-capped mountains. This far north, the sun never really set. It just dipped behind the mountains and colored the sky a dim purple.
Once the engine was off, the car rapidly began to lose heat.
Jigen curled up in the leather backseat of the car, shivering. “Cooooold…” he complained, taking a swig of vodka.
“Careful not to drink from the piss bottle in the dark,” Lupin teased.
“Keh!” Jigen huffed. “I ain’t blind!”
Lupin laughed, leaning the driver’s seat back as far as it would go. The seat bumped into Jigen’s legs.
“Watch it!” Jigen growled.
“Not much room in here,” Lupin commented, somewhat passive aggressively.
“Friggin’ Pops,” Jigen huffed, his breath coming out as a pale cloud in the cold air. “I could’ve been on the train right now, cozy in my bunk…”
“Just use your imagination,” Lupin said, closing his eyes. “I’m personally imagining myself pressed between Fujiko’s warm, soft tits.”
“Gross,” Jigen said, turning around so he was facing the back of the chair. Jigen’s hair was still just a tiny bit wet and stuck to the leather.
There were a few moments of silence.
“What are you thinking about to keep warm?” Lupin asked.
“Hmm,” Jigen considered. Anything to take his mind off of how miserable he was. “I’m remembering when I was a merc, in the jungle. Never thought I’d miss my hot, sweaty bedroll.”
Lupin laughed.
“No more pleasant, warm memories?” Lupin asked. “No beautiful woman you can conjure up?”
Jigen sighed. All the memories he had of spending the night in someone’s arms had ended in betrayal or heartbreak. Those would only leave him feeling even more cold.
“No,” Jigen answered.
“We have gotta get you laid, man,” Lupin said.
“Shut up,” Jigen growled, curling even further in on himself.
“Sweet dreams, Jigen-chan,” Lupin said.
Silence. Sweet silence.
Night 2
The day had been warm by Roviet standards. The sky was clear and blue, strikingly beautiful against the white and grey mountains. Brilliant wildflowers occasionally broke through the ice, dotting the land with pops of color. When they stopped in a small town for dinner, the air smelled of fresh pine and lupine flowers.
Even Jigen found it difficult to be grumpy, despite the cold.
The restaurant they stopped at was blessedly warm, a roaring hearth set into a stone fireplace keeping the whole building toasty. They had pelmeni for dinner, little dumplings filled with minced meat, served with sour cream. This, Jigen could get behind. Maybe, Jigen thought, this entire country wasn’t terrible.
They drank a little too much vodka over dinner. The friendly waiter had given them shot after shot. Luckily, they weren’t going far. Lupin, slowly, meandered the car just outside of town and into a little glen full of wildflowers, tucked behind some thick evergreen bushes. The snow had melted, just a little bit.
It was an idyllic place to sit and drink, so that’s what they did.
As the sun went down, as far as it ever would, they sat together in the front seats of the car and passed a bottle of vodka back and forth, hardly speaking, but content. Jigen fell asleep leaning back in the passenger seat, vodka bottle in hand, a small smile on his face.
Night 3
The next day, Jigen had woken with a major crick in his back. Not ideal. The weather was back to its Roviet usual, gloomy and cold, and Jigen was back to his Roviet usual, grumpy and cold.
After his shift driving the car, first thing in the morning to get it over with, he spent the rest of the day in the back seat getting drunk, occasionally passing Lupin the piss bottle when he needed it. The car was beginning to stink like stale cigarettes, spilled vodka, and body odor. Not ideal.
That evening, they stopped in a depressing little city. A newer construction, with the gray, no-nonsense architecture typical of Roviet construction.
When they topped off on gas, both of them took a moment to “bathe” in the sink at the gas station in the single-person restroom, and then change into clean socks and underwear. Better than nothing. They grabbed some canned beef, pirozkhi, and black bread for the road, and left. They didn’t dare stay long; police presence was greater in this larger settlement.
They drove about another hour, until they were well past civilization, and pulled off the main road into an icy, muddy, miserable little stretch of woods.
They played cards for a bit by the dim, grey sunlight, drinking and smoking. Jigen lost hand after hand, until Lupin seemingly took pity on him and let him win, that coy little smile of his on his face. How could he be smiling, even now? Jigen wondered.
He slept fitfully that night, cold and achy.
Night 4
The next morning, the car wouldn’t start. The icy mud had gunked up the engine, somehow. Jigen and Lupin had crawled out into it and fiddled with the engine for about an hour before the car finally roared back to life, as Lupin had turned the key, splattering Jigen in mud. Jigen growled as he slammed the hood shut, and Lupin laughed at him as he carefully sloughed off mud before crawling back into the car, miserably.
The heater never came back online, however, and the car remained an icebox as it shuddered along the icy roads.
Somehow, the day had been even colder, because of course it was. The sky had been dark grey and stormy, a light dusting of snow coating the windshield as they traveled, slowly, along the winding mountain roads.
They hadn’t been able to stop anywhere, that day. They had slowed down in one small city, but there were a few too many Roviet police cars for their liking. Luckily, they had a canister of gas to refill the car with, miserably, in the deepening snow off to the sides of the road.
They ate prepackaged pirozkhi for dinner. The bread was stiff from the cold.
They parked in small clearing not far from the road. Both of them had trudged out into the snowy woodland to relieve themselves before hunkering down for the night. The ice clinging to their clothes melted in the relative warmth of the car, and the cold water stuck to their skin.
That night, Jigen was shivering so intensely his teeth were chattering. His body was stiff and painful, and even copious amounts of vodka weren’t doing much to numb him to it. He huddled up to the leather back seat, smoking a cigarette that lightly singed the fabric with its proximity. He didn’t give a shit. If he was gonna freeze to death in the backseat of a car, he at least wanted a last smoke.
Something warm, or warmer than him at least, crawled into the backseat with him.
He felt Lupin’s arm wrap around him, pulling him close.
“What the h-hell, m-m-man?” Jigen groused, his voice cracking as he shuddered. “I’m not f-friggin F-Fujiko!”
“You’d rather f-f-freeze to death?” Lupin said, shivering against him.
“Tch!” Jigen huffed, curling farther into himself. “D-don’t make it w-weird, man!”
“Jigen,” Lupin said, chattering. “Gimme one of th-those cigarettesss…”
Jigen sighed, shaking hands lighting another cigarette as he held his first between his lips. He passed it back to Lupin, and could feel the warmth of it near his neck.
“Don’t ruin my friggin’ coat, man!” He grumped.
“I’ll be careful,” Lupin promised.
The warmth wasn’t unwelcome, neither from the cigarette nor Lupin, but he would never admit that.
Night 5
They survived the night. Jigen awoke to Lupin still wrapped around him, even moreso than he had been the night before. Their legs were intertwined, and Lupin’s face was buried into the crook of his neck from behind.
In the haze of sleep, it was pleasant. He felt safe, and despite the situation, almost cozy.
Then he felt Lupin’s boner pressing into his back and it was all over.
He wriggled free of Lupin’s grip and pushed him away. “Ugh!”
The thief fell onto the cold floor of the car, startling awake.
“What the hell did you do that for?!” Lupin barked, rubbing at the spot on his head where he’d bumped it against the floor.
“Your friggin’ boner was pressing into my back!” Jigen growled. “I told you not to make it weird, man!”
Jigen noticed, horrifyingly, that he was also sporting a bit of morning wood. Fuck.
He opened the door to the car and stepped out into the cold, grey morning.
“Where are you going, man?!” Lupin demanded.
“I gotta take a piss!” Jigen said, slamming the door shut behind him.
He stormed off into the woods, ice crunching beneath his feet. The wind ruffled his long hair, and he shivered. He wished he were the sort of man that would let himself remain comfortable and happy and held, instead of the sort that trudged alone into the icy woods to avoid an awkward conversation.
The cold, at least, got the blood flowing away from his erection. By the time he returned, bladder empty, it was gone.
Lupin was sprawled on the backseat, eating cold, hard black bread for breakfast.
“Hey,” Jigen said, taking the driver’s seat. “I’ll drive first shift, ya?”
Lupin grunted his assent, looking pointedly down at his bread.
Jigen sighed and turned on the car, and drove, and drove, and drove through miles of wilderness.
They didn’t talk much that day.
That night, they found another small town with no police presence, and they found a warm little cafe that served delicious chebureks, deep-fried turnovers full of minced meat and onions. Jigen happily ate a plate full of them, willing the warmth of the food to warm him enough that he wouldn’t have to repeat the awkwardness of the previous night.
No such luck. It was another bitterly cold Roviet night, and Jigen found himself shivering not long after Lupin had parked the car off the road. Wordlessly, Lupin crawled into the back with him. The thief gave him a look, as if asking permission. Jigen sighed and nodded, and the thief settled down next to him. They sat side by side, quietly smoking and passing a bottle of vodka back and forth.
They fell asleep sitting up, leaning against one another.
Night 6
The next morning, the sun was shining when they awoke. A soft warmth came in through the windows. After a quick breakfast of leftover black bread, Lupin asked if they should take a crack at fixing the heater. Jigen heartily agreed.
After a few minutes of tinkering around, Lupin had figured out the problem and fixed it. Jigen sat beside him in the passenger seat, basking in the warmth from the vents as they traveled. The day remained beautiful, blue and sunny, as they drove through the pines.
That evening, they made a quick stop at a gas station near a city, refueled, bathed, and picked up a few provisions. They bypassed the city, and the potential law enforcement, and drove on through the mountains. They stopped at a remote overlook, where they could see the lights of Vorokwa sparkling in the distance. Tomorrow, they would arrive in the capitol.
They ate their dinner, black bread and doktorskaya, and played cards for a bit, smoking and drinking, smiling and laughing.
That night, when Jigen crawled into the back seat to sprawl out, he expected he’d have it to himself. He laid back against the window, long legs kicked out, cigarette hanging from his lip. He closed his eyes, half drifting. He felt Lupin crawl over the chairs and into the backseat. He opened his eyes, cocking an eyebrow at him.
“What do you want?” Jigen asked.
“You,” Lupin said, smiling.
Jigen startled, drawing his legs up and sitting back against the window. “What the hell, man?!” He gasped, panicked. “What about Fujiko?! Remember, boobs? I don’t have those! You like women!”
“Well, yeah,” Lupin laughed. “But I like you, too.”
“You’re drunk, man,” Jigen said, pulling his hunting cap down over his eyes. “Go away.”
“Y’know, I noticed why you left the car the other day,” Lupin teased, kneeling in front of him.
“That didn’t mean anything,” Jigen said. “I didn’t realize who you were, it just felt good, y’know…”
“It could feel good again,” Lupin winked.
“Friggin’ hell,” Jigen grumped. “Y’know what? Fine. Get over here. But just to cuddle, yeah? For warmth.”
Lupin smiled his smug little cat smile and crawled into Jigen’s lap, burying his face into the crook of Jigen’s neck as Jigen kicked his legs out, stretching. Lupin kissed him on the cheek.
Startled, Jigen looked down at him.
The fucker was pretending to be asleep.
Fuck it.
Jigen relaxed under him, too tired to give a shit anymore. He huffed out a laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation. He wasn’t about to overthink things. Lupin probably wouldn’t remember this in the morning, and Jigen would give him the courtesy of pretending he didn’t, either.
He was finally warm, and comfortable, in this shitty car in this shitty country, and he would take it.