[Synopsis: It's not a very good idea to stay out in the cold for too long without enough warm clothes on...Unfortunately, MrCheese ends up learning this the hard way.]

[Location: TheGentleman and MrCheese's house]

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Piff

At the startling sound of something hitting the living room window from outside, TheGentleman suddenly jerked his head up from the book he was reading and looked at the glass pane...There was a partially squashed snowball stuck to the window, looking like it'd been thrown right at it.

What in the name of...?

He peered outside, and to his great surprise, the charcoal-clad crewmate beheld a very large number of snowmates built across the front yard, a few snow Cheddars and other such sculptures mixed in with them, all glistening in the soft yellow light of the evening...MrCheese was working on yet another structure of some kind, piling up the snow into bricks and laying them on top of one another. He wore nothing to shield himself from the bitter cold but a single scarf.

TheGentleman headed over to the front door and slid his trench coat on, grabbing MrCheese's puffy blue jacket from the coat rack as well before making his way out the front door, stepping outside and into the snow.

"Oh hey, TheGentleman~!" his associate greeted him cheerfully. "I'm makin' a snow fort! You wanna maybe have a snowball fight or something?"

"Good heavens, MrCheese...How long have you been out here making all of this? It seems like it would take some time to craft so many snowmates."

"Uh...I dunno. Couple hours, maybe?" he estimated.

"Without your coat? Aren't you cold out here, MrCheese?" TheGentleman asked him, showing the orange crewmate his coat. "You should probably put it on; your scarf alone is probably not going to be enough to keep you warm."

"Nah, I don't need it, I'm fine! Besides, it'd restrict some pretty necessary movement in the event of a snowball fight; I need to be able to dodge and gather ammunition, don't I?"

"Well, yes, but I don't-"

"Come on, TheGentleman! You don't have to stay out here for too long; just a few minutes?"

The charcoal crewmate hesitated for a moment before looking MrCheese in the eye again...He had that adorable big-eyed look on his face.

"D'oh, well...Alright," he finally agreed. "But make sure you're not out here for too much longer, with or without a jacket; the forecast says it's going to reach down to -7° tonight for a low."

"Oh wow, that's pretty low, heh heh."

"Indeed. And I don't want you catching cold," TheGentleman added as he stooped down and made a snowball. "...But I wouldn't mind you catching some snow on your visor!"

"Uh-oh."

With that, TheGentleman was after him, and they ran around the front yard, each in pursuit of the other with snowballs the whole time...As expected, MrCheese got more hits than TheGentleman did, and the former even managed to complete his snow fort in tie to duck beneath it at times while dodging his associate's throws.

"Hey! That's not fair! I don't have my own!"

"Sorry, but you didn't build your own, silly! Heh heh!"

"Oh, well...I guess I'll just have to use yours when the time is right myself!"

He did just that, and after about ten minutes of the fight, TheGentleman had gotten fairly good at dodging MrCheese's throws and aiming his own, evening things up a bit...They were outside for yet another ten minutes after that before the charcoal crewmate slowed down to catch his breath, and decided he had to be done.

"Phew...Ah, well...That was fun, I must admit," he huffed. "I...I think I need to go inside now and have a rest."

"Okay, TheGentleman, thanks for joining me for a while!"

"Yes, you're welcome...Hah...ah...I'm probably going to be getting ready for bed shortly, MrCheese. I want you inside in about an other half hour, alright? The sun is gone, so it'll only get colder from here on out."

"Yeah, that's true."

"Are you sure you don't want your coat?"

"I'm sure! I'm gonna be testin' my aim for the next time we do this, so I don't wanna be all packed up in that thing, y'know?"

"Well...Alright. Make sure you're back inside within the next thirty minutes, though."

"I will!"

With that, TheGentleman headed back inside, peeled off his damp trench coat, hung MrCheese's jacket back up then went upstairs to get ready for bed. He came back down in his night robe and twin fez night caps, heading back to the living room to read some more of his book before he called it a night...He heard no more snowballs hitting the living room window, so it seemed like MrCheese had picked something else for his target practice instead.

Good good...Now, where was I?

He reopened his book and found the spot he was at before, then continued...It was a long, intense plotline, with a lot of twists and turns he didn't expect until he started reading them, sometimes even doing a double take to make sure his eyes didn't deceive him; there were four central characters trying to figure out who was responsible for the millionaire's death; his wife, who he'd suspected the entire time with her behavior, his sister the detective, his brother whom he'd been very close with, and his father, whom the millionaire had hated...He expected the father to die at some point in the story due to his age, but not from a bullet to the head. And then when the detective sister had to go out of town to look at another murder case, he knew that things would get ugly between the wife and brother of the victim...except they didn't. Things were tense at their worst, but to his great shock, neither party ended up dead or arrested.

...And then, the very day after the detective sister was supposed to return, the millionaire's wife was murdered in her sleep, leaving only the brother as the remaining suspect...or so he thought. His eyes were trained on the pages, widening more with each second as the truth was revealed to him.

"Josephine!" Jonathan exclaimed when he saw her approaching, her heels clicking softly against the sidewalk. "I...I wish I could say you were right on time, but...Our sister in-law. Whoever's been doing this...She's gone, Josephine. They got her too, just last night."

"I know," the coral figure replied as she stepped closer. "...And don't worry. I'm not too late."

She reached for her coat pocket, and a flick of her hand later, she had a shiny black revolver pointed right at Jonathan, mere inches away from his visor.

"...I'm right on time," she hissed, her soft, swaying tone suddenly sharp and deadly, like the fangs of a snake bared and ready to strike. "All I have left to do is dig a hole for you now, and the inheritance will finally be mine. Just like it was always meant to be."

"It...It was you this whole time?"

"Always has been, Jon. What? Did you honestly think I'd put my career over fifteen million dollars?"

"I...I-I-"

"Save your precious breath, dear brother...Time to take out the trash."

Piff

TheGentleman was suddenly torn from the pages of his book again, and looked up to see, after what felt like a very long time, another snowball against the window.

MrCheese?

He looked up at the time displayed on the wall clock in the living room; it was pushing nine o'clock, nearly three hours after MrCheese had gotten the thirty minute warning.

You've got to be kidding me... 

He hastily put his book back down and stepped out he front door again, a shiver coursing through him as a blast of the freezing cold night air hit him. Surely enough, his associate was still out there in the snow, working on a small igloo with what looked like red, stiff hands.

"MrCheese!!"

The crewmate in question turned to face him.

"Oh, hey TheGentleman! You want me to come in now?" he chirped, a slight shudder in his tone from the frigid weather.

"You we're supposed to have been in here two and a half hours ago!!"

"Oh," MrCheese replied, smile faltering slightly. "Ghee, I'm sorry TheGentleman. G-guess I just lost track o' time. And the p-porch light is on, so I-I guess I didn't n-notice the s-sun was down."

"You're shivering like mad, MrCheese, get in here!!"

"Okay, okay, I'm coming!" the orange crewmate exclaimed, sounding slightly impatient himself as he made his way to the front door. As soon as he was inside, the charcoal figure shut the door, grabbed MrCheese's jacket off the coat rack and draped it over top of him.

"What are you trying to do out there, freeze half to death!? You'd better not come down with anything on me now after that escapade."

"Th-theGentleman, relax! I'm okay!" MrCheese insisted, still shaking from head to toe. "I-I can play in the snow if I want, y'know, and I d-don't have to wrap myself in a ton of different layers if I don't feel cold."

"MrCheese, you are shaking like a leaf in a blizzard," TheGentleman pointed out. "Don't tell me you aren't cold, because it's very obvious that you are!"

"W-well, now I'm cold, since I just came in the house, and I'm getting used to the temperature change, and stuff...But I'll be fine, TheGentleman, don't worry about me, okay?"

TheGentleman sighed deeply.

"I know you don't want me to worry," he told him. "But if I didn't, what kind of associate would I be? A pretty terrible one, if I do say so myself. We're supposed to look out for one another. And for me, that also means making sure nothing bad happens to you."

"C'mon, TheGentleman, it's fine. I get that you care about me, but you don't have to worry yourself sick about everything...I know how to take care of myself, alright?"

"...There are times at which I doubt that, MrCheese. Not to say you're not capable, but...You're a bit too eager to take unnecessary risks, it seems."

MrCheese pouted and put his hands on his hips.

"Nothing bad is gonna happen," he insisted again. "Okay?"

TheGentleman sighed deeply.

"Well, I guess it's no use arguing about it now...Let's just go to bed, alright?"

"Good idea," MrCheese nodded in agreement. Both crewmates went back upstairs, the smaller orange figure getting into his nightgown as TheGentleman settled down into bed. MrCheese entered the bedroom before very long and got under the covers beside his associate, snuggling close for warmth.

"Your skin is like ice, MrCheese."

"I'll be fine, TheGentleman. Just relax and go to sleep, okay? I'll warm right back up in just a few minutes if we stay like this."

"...Alright," the charcoal crewmate agreed passively. "Goodnight, MrCheese."

"G'night, TheGentleman. Sleep well."

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...

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TheGentleman woke up better than he had in quite a while, as a matter of fact. He figured it might have been because he'd done a lot of running around in the evening to help wear himself out, but whatever the case was, he got out of bed feeling refreshed and ready to get down to business, skipping out of the room and making his way down stairs to make himself some breakfast. He really had slept well.

MrCheese, on the other hand, hadn't.

"Ohhh, ghee...*sniffff*...Uuugh..."

The orange crewmate woke up to an achy head and stuffy nose, paired with a bothersome tickle in his throat and a shiver going up his spine as he pushed the covers off...All he wanted to do was pull them back overtop himself, curl back up in bed and stay there all day under the warm blankets.

But of course, if he did that, TheGentleman would catch onto the fact that there was something wrong. And after what he'd said last night, MrCheese wasn't about to make it obvious to him.

I...C'mon, MrCheese, you've been through worse than this before, he told himself. You can tough it out for a few hours, right? You don't wanna make TheGentleman all worried and upset, do you?

He forced himself out of bed, then got out of his sleepwear and went into the master bathroom to splash his face with cold water to try and wake himself up more...The only result he got was another shiver up his spine.

Okay, maybe easier said than done, MrCheese thought. But you can still do this.

He nodded at himself in the mirror, then grabbed some toilet paper from the nearby roll to blow his nose with before heading out of the master bathroom, out of the bedroom and down the stairs into the living room and towards the kitchen...TheGentleman was busy stirring something in the small pot on the stove, humming away as he did so, and he only noticed MrCheese when the latter cleared his throat.

"Oh! Good morning, MrCheese!" he greeted him chipperly. "Sleep okay?"

"Yeah, guess so. Heh...Y-yesterday evening was fun, wasn't it?"

"Yes, I do admit, I enjoyed the snowball fight very much," he replied. "You know, I don't have much to do today, and it's going to be warming back up to around -2 by midday, so granted we bundle up right, I was wondering if you might like to go out to the park where the snow is fresher and do some things out there?"

"Eh...Maybe later, if that's okay."

The charcoal crewmate raised a confused eyebrow at his lackluster response.

"MrCheese, is something wrong?" he asked. "I thought you would jump at the idea of going out somewhere to enjoy the snow."

"I...I-I'm just kinda tired from staying up so late last night, TheGentleman. I'm okay," he assured him. "I just need to-"

He was cut off when the tickle in his throat suddenly became an urge to cough, and he did so as best he could without letting loose a full fit of them...He couldn't conceal how congested he sounded, though, despite his efforts.

"...That doesn't sound okay," TheGentleman acknowledged.

"Well, I...It's just-"

"Tut tut. Let me see you for a moment."

He stepped towards MrCheese and rose his hand, resting it against the orange crewmate's forehead. The latter flinched at his touch, whimpering quietly at the icy palm pressing against his warm skin and shivering ever so slightly more.

TheGentleman frowned and sighed heavily; his fears were confirmed.

"Tsk tsk tsk. You've got a bit of a fever going on, it seems," he told him. "I was afraid something like this might happen, considering last night."

MrCheese hung his head in shame.

"...I'm sowwy," he squeaked, sniffling as he shrank back where he stood. TheGentleman simply turned the stove off, took the orange bean's hand and lead him to the couch, fluffing one of the throw pillows and placing it on the end for him to lean against before sitting him down.

"There. You can rest here so you don't have to go all the way back upstairs. Leaving you by yourself in the bedroom all day doesn't sound like a good idea to me, knowing how you get."

"A-are you mad at me?"

The black-clad crewmate sighed again, his slightly stern expression lightening up a tad.

"No, I...I'm not mad. Just a little perturbed, I suppose. I understand that you're a bit more on the carefree side than I am, and that's alright. But when you insist on things that could be dangerous, or in this case, harmful to your health, it...well...it worries me. It makes me worry that one of these days, it could get you into some bad trouble...And I don't want that to happen. Because I know it'd be as bad for you as it would be for me, if not...well...dare I say worse."

He cupped MrCheese's warm cheek and looked into his eyes...They'd glossed over with tears, and they threatened to spill over at any second.

TheGentleman sighed sympathetically and sat down beside him, pulling his associate into a soft hug and soothingly stroking the top of his head.

"I care so much because I love you, MrCheese," he told him. "And nothing will ever change that, no matter what."

"...I'm sowwy I make you wowwy so much..."

"It's alright, I forgive you...Just be more careful next time, okay?"

MrCheese held onto him a bit tighter and nodded lightly...They stayed like that for about another minute before the orange crewmate let go, and when he pulled back, to the dismay of both parties, a string of icky green snot stretched out between them from MrCheese's runny nose to the front of TheGentleman's exosuit. The latter's face scrunched up in disgust, and he immediately reached for a tissue from the box on the side table, using it to wipe it away and clean himself off.

"Good thing we have plenty of tissues to cover for you today..."

MrCheese stooped his head down again for a moment, only to feel his chin being lifted up by the charcoal figure's forefinger right afterwards.

"It's alright. I know you didn't mean it," he assured him, earning a small smile back in return. TheGentleman smiled himself as he gently lowered his associate down onto the pillow and draped one of the fleece throws overtop of him.

"Can you eat anything at the moment?"

"I dunno...Maybe."

"I made some hot porridge and tea for us. Would you like that?"

MrCheese nodded in confirmation, and TheGentleman got up to fetch breakfast. He was back in a flash with two bowls and two teacups, and he handed one of each to MrCheese before sitting down on the couch at his feet, and the two of them settled down with their food and dug right in.

"...Hey, TheGentleman?"

"Yes?"

"Um...If I'm feeling up to it, do you think we can go out to the park and do that stuff tomorrow?"

"If you're sufficiently well by then, it's fine by me," he nodded. "But for now, let's just spend the day staying warm, alright?"

"Heh...yeah. That sounds good to me," MrCheese agreed. "...Wanna watch a movie after breakfast?"

"Sure thing. You can pick."

"Aw, thank you..."

As MrCheese took a sip of his hot tea, he smiled...Perhaps today was going to be alright after all.