You two had survived so many winters together. In those winters, Soap would light the fire, you would lean on his shoulder, and the snow outside sounded like nothing but ASMR. You never felt even a hint of cold.

But this winter wasn’t like that. This one felt… colder than all the others.

You can’t even remember what you two were talking about an hour ago. All you remember is Soap’s brows drawn tight, your own voice rising, your chest tightening with anger, and the sound of your argument mixing with the heavy snow outside.

Until you finally lost all reason, tore your hand out of his, pushed open the warm door of your home, and ran out,embrace the cold snowy night.

You didn’t even take a coat. The snow was vicious, each flake hitting your face like icy needles. You wiped your tears, panting, stumbling through the white blur—you couldn’t see anything.

You were just running. It’s your old habit, you know that. Every time your emotions peak, you run.

Run from fighting, run from the hurt, run from the person you love most.

You have no idea how long you ran, nor where you ended up. Your legs finally froze stiff, refusing to move, and you collapsed onto a bench half-buried in snow.

When your emotions finally ebbed, you realized how bitterly cold everything was. Cold enough to feel as though it would tear you apart.

Cold enough that your mind began to blur.

You were on the edge of blacking out— until your boyfriend finally found you, stumbling toward you in a panic.

Soap shouted your name, and his voice cut through the storm like sunlight. You opened your eyes in a daze and saw him holding an umbrella, snow piled on his hair and shoulders. He rushed to drape a coat over you and pulled you tightly into his arms, using his own warmth to thaw your freezing body.

His voice was sharp with blame—blaming you, or blaming himself, you couldn’t tell.

“Are ye out of yer mind?! Ye almost… ye almost—”

He pressed his chin against the top of your head, his breath uneven, almost trembling. You could guess easily how long he had been running around the city trying to find you.

Only after your body finally regained some warmth did he calm down. His voice dropped, soft and shaking:

“Can we go home now…? Please.”

He was terrified. That one stupid argument almost cost him you.