Dinner that night was… funky. To say the least. For some reason Nightmare had decided to cook, prompting a delicious smell to waft through the Rainbow House. It was the amazing smell of stew that lured Light into the kitchen.
Only upon entering did he realize two things: One, Dark was also there helping his father. Two, he was alone with the two villains.
Suddenly Light felt a little awkward. What now? He couldn't just quietly shuffle back out. That would've been mean. So he stepped closer to the less intimidating one of the two. Dark.
The ladle clinked quietly in the pot as Nightmare stirred the stew. Light quietly watched Dark chop some carrots. The raven haired steve gave him a subtle side-eye with a 'hm?'.
"You cook?", Light asked, fiddling with the hem of his sleeves.
Dark shrugged in response. "Not really. I'm just helping out, I guess."
"Ah."
Awkward silence. "Um… It looks good." Light tried his best to keep the conversation going. Strangely enough he wanted to hear more of Dark's voice. He wasn't sure why.
"Thanks. It's dad's classic beef stew." Dark mumbled, finishing with his carrots. He brought them over to Nightmare and added them to the pot before setting the cutting board down in the sink. He returned to Light and lazily leaned against the counter. Light's heart jumped to his throat briefly, not having expected this.
"And you? Any cooking endeavors you want to share?"
"Well…", Light fiddled with his sleeves again, tugging them over his hands, "Not really. I mean, I help Lucas sometimes, but not often…"
Dark chuckled. "No fault in that."
"Dark, can you pass me the rosemary?", Nightmare suddenly asked, his back still turned to them.
"Sure." Dark moved to oblige, leaving Light at the kitchen counter. The brighter steve decided it's time to go and slowly moved back to the door.
"Um, I'll get going…"
"Alright, see ya." Dark said over his shoulder. Out in the hallway, Light couldn't help but feel… odd. His heart was racing, he was nervous for unclear reasons and he felt as if he had… failed something?
Light worried about having embarrassed himself. Why would that matter though? He didn't really embarrass himself, did he? That was a pretty decent conversation still, right? A little awkward maybe, but not embarrassing.
... Right?
What he didn't know was, that - while his worries knawed at his mind - Dark couldn't help the smile playing on his lips. As he helped his father set up the table, his thoughts kept drifting back to Light and how refreshing that whole conversation was.
YOU FELL VICTIM TO ONE OF THE CLASSIC BLUNDERS. The most famous is never be the character who caused Hypno Steve's pained existence. But only slightly less well known is this: never go in against a Sicilian when DEATH IS ON THE LINE.
December was probably the most magical time in the Rainbow Town. Everything was covered in a clean layer of fluffy snow, more of the white flakes lazily twirling from the sky. There was a crisp to the air, that made cheeks prick with the cold and noses and ears turn red at the tips.
It never came as a surprise whenever Light Steve mentioned that winter was his favorite season. Perhaps it was because he was created during December back then. Or perhaps it was because his powers, his entire being, was centered around ice and snow.
Either way, he could be seen outside a lot more during the winter season. I guess you could say the cold never bothered him anyway.
Just like today. All he needed to be comfortable was his favorite sweater and scarf. The frosty air nipped at his cheeks and turned the frozen ground beneath his feet rock solid as he strolled around the town.
Each morning Light awoke to a new layer of untouched white snow outside of his window. And every morning it lured him outside to admire the quiet beauty of it all. He loved walking through the pristine snow. There was something incredibly satisfying about it.
And each morning either Lucas or Sabre would join him, armed with snow shovels to clear the paths in the town that needed to be regularly traversed. Light typically tried to help them as much as he could, although the physical labour always tired him out very quickly. And his powers, well… They were more useful in creating more snow rather than getting rid of it.
Today was different though. Light had woken up at the crack of dawn, a lot earlier than usual. So no Lucas or Sabre had joined him yet. He was currently on the hill with the Light Shrine. The pale golden sunrays shining past it had lured him up there. Dawn's light twinkled on the frost covered branches of the light trees and in the icicles hanging from them. Now that the sun had risen, he was still up here, admiring the enchanted appeareance of the ice and snow. A little bit of commotion at the front gates distracted him, causing him to direct his attention toward the noise.
Sabre and Rainbow Steve stood at the gate. Sabre had his hands propped up on his hips, something the human always did when displeased. His voice, carried over by a gust of wind, reflected that impression. "…don't know… probably bad idea…"
That's it. Light's curiosity was piqued, so he flew over, landing softly besides Rainbow. The snow crunched quietly beneath his boots. And what Light saw on the other side of the gate, surprised him greatly.
There, in stark contrast to the bright snow, stood the three dark and golden figures of their arch-enemies. Nightmare Steve, Shadow Steve and Dark Steve. Each with a suitcase or other bag in hand. Neither of them seemed thrilled to be there.
The self-proclaimed king especially. Despite him trying to keep it together in his typical stiff manner, Light could clearly see that he was already sick and tired of having to deal with the Rainbow Town's folk. Despite only having a meager five minute conversation with them.
"What's going on?", Light asked quietly with a side glance at his friends.
It was Nightmare, who answered, straightening the fur of his cloak around his shoulders. "The damn snow caused some of the roofs on the castle to collapse. Now we can't heat the place properly."
"Yeah, no. I call bullshit on that, man. What happened to all the lava?" Sabre was thouroughly unimpressed and crossed his arms.
"Dad removed it all for better 'winter vibes' around the palace. Now look where that got us." Shadow chimed in with a teasing undertone in his voice. He put air quotations around the words 'winter vibes', his eyes gleaming in amusement under the furred rimb of his hood.
He quickly masked his following chuckle with a cough, thanks to the glare he recieved from Nightmare.
"Anyway," the king grumbled, "I'm going to ask you again: Would it be possible for us to stay over until we fixed our roofs?"
During the conversation Light found his attention repeatedly drawn to Dark Steve, who had been stoicly keeping quiet the entire time. Light wasn't sure what drew his gaze over to the raven haired steve so much - he just had this strange feeling this wouldn't be the last time his eyes found him.
Was it the sheer opposing difference between Dark's color and his own? Was it the way he tightly wrapped his black winter coat around himself? Or was it the way his sleek hair covered half of his almost feline facial features, that made him look like he was constantly brooding?
Sabre's ditrustful voice dragged Light's mind back to reality. "Like I said. I don't think it's a great id-"
"Oh, come oooon!" Rainbow suddenly interrupted with a whine. "It's Stevemas! the season of love and forgiveness! Of course they can stay!"
Sabre sighed in exasperation. "Rainbow, that's not how it wor-"
Rainbow simply gave him the biggest puppy dog eyes he could manage. And a pout. In an instant, Sabre's resolve was crumbled.
"Hhhh, okay! Okay! Fine! They can stay…"
"Yas!!" Rainbow fist bumped the air in victory.
Nightmare watched the whole scene unfold in utter bewildernment. But he didn't dare to interrupt as long as it was going in his favor.
"BUT!" Sabre raised his index finger warningly, only to get interrupted by Shadow's quiet 'hehe, he said butt' and Dark's snickering. After an unsuccessfully suppressed groan, he continued. "Only if we can all agree that there will be absolutely no physical fighting."
Now it was Nightmare's turn to heave an overly dramatic sigh. "I suppose we'll be able to put our differences aside… For the time being."
Light was slightly surprised by this outcome, yet he didn't mind oddly enough. As long as there would be no fighting, this would surely be a very… intruiging Stevemas season for them. He wondered how the three villains would intergrate themselves into the Rainbow household, if at all. Maybe he would get the chance to get to know them a little better too. Surely he would, when the villains (temporarily) moved into the town.
