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VIII. LET IT SNOW

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DECEMBER 21ST

THE BROTHERS REFUSED to admit that Eira was right. The mere idea that what she had said held a semblance of truth made their stomachs quench with absolute disgust. Having lived for thousands of years without any kind of progress between the brothers despite their mothers futile attempts, they believed it was impossible for anything to change between them, and in such a short amount of time no less.

They were meant to be naturally born enemies.

There was nothing that was capable of changing that.

But, there was one thing that they could both admit, and that was that humans were beginning to grow on them as they had with Gaia when they first came into existence.

Before arriving on Earth, the thought of even associating with humans seemed almost beneath the brothers, but they'd give them a chance not because of each other or Eira, but for their mother who believed there was still a chance for them. They thought there was no chance that things would turn out like their mother was hoping, yet there was progress every single day with little pushes and shoves every so often. It might not have been much or very noticeable, but it was still there. And if they brothers weren't so stubborn, they would've realized it as well; starting with the fact that they were willingly sitting beside each other on the ledge of the roof as they peered out into the city; it was best left a secret as to how they managed to get back up there after Sunny had subtly returned the key to its rightful owner.

The snow shower from the day before hadn't lasted very long ━━━ mere minutes if even that long ━━━ yet white still coated the city from just those few moments. It was incredibly chilly with the sun hidden amongst a thick cluster of clouds, but Blaise didn't mind the chill; it made him feel more alive. Noel was thriving in the cold conditions as had been expected, partially thankful that their mother had chosen that season to send them to Earth rather than during the summer. He almost felt bad seeing his brother so miserable, having to constantly adjust in order to keep some kind of warmth in his body while Noel simply got to relax and enjoy the cold.

They weren't even sure how they'd managed to get along just enough to agree to go outside for some fresh air that hazy afternoon, but there they both were, and surprisingly, it wasn't going as terribly as they had thought it would.

The silence they were in was rather welcoming, allowing them to collect their thoughts while their eyes took in even more parts of New York they'd failed to notice. Nearly half an hour had passed since they'd headed up there, and it was Blaise's voice who broke the comfortable silence.

"What do you enjoy most about winter?" Noel, who'd been absentmindedly gazing into the city while his legs dangled over the side of the building suddenly faced his brother with his peculiar question. He wasn't sure how long they'd been sitting in silence as he'd gotten lost in his many thoughts, yet it was comfortable. It seemed Blaise's mind had been occupied with thoughts of the weather before them and decided to speak to his dear brother about them. Blaise shifted a few inches away from Noel, clearing his throat. "And don't say it's because it's part of you ━━━ that's an easy answer. What do you actually find fascinating about this kind of weather?"

Noel slowly furrowed his brows together, carefully eying Blaise. "This is a trick, right?" he wondered with a fake smile curling on his lips. "You'll use whatever I say against me and━━━"

"When have I ever done that?" Blaise objected. Noel simply gazed back at his brother; he could name at least a dozen instances where Blaise had done so. Blaise quickly remembered too, breathing out a laugh. "Okay, but I won't do that this time. I'm genuinely curious."

"Since when are you interested in what I like?" Noel suspiciously queried.

Blaise puffed out his cheeks, rubbing his gloved hands together to warm them up more. "I. . .I don't know," he murmured, gazing down at his hands. His attention shifted, falling on the street just below them as cars and people filtered through the streets without a single glance towards the daring brothers above. "Ever since we were forced to come here. . .without our powers and only each other. . .it's. . ."

"Wait a second," Noel interjected, an amused expression on his face. "Are you trying to be sentimental right now?"

"What? No, of course not! Don't be stupid, P━━━"

"I'd never thought I'd see the day that Mr. Hothead would━━━"

"You know what, forget it!" Blaise snapped, eyes flaming with sudden anger. He swung his legs over onto the roof, stomping away from Noel.

Noel heavily sighed, hurrying after Blaise. "Blaise, wait, come back━━━"

"No, and screw you, Noel," Blaise hatefully sneered, pointing his finger at his brother. Noel halted in place, face falling at the cruelness in Blaise's voice. "You. . .I-I thought. . ."

Noel waited, growing impatient when Blaise stopped speaking, his words slipping from his tongue so that they wouldn't spill from his lips. "Thought what, Blaise?"

"It doesn't matter what I thought," Blaise sharply replied. "We were sent here to 'learn about brotherhood', 'become brothers', but mother should've known better than to believe that this would work."

"Blaise━━━"

"We're hopeless, don't you get that?" Blaise tirelessly continued, using his hands and arms for emphasis as he angrily spoke. It was the most emotion Noel had heard Blaise put into words ━━━ the first time he'd ever opened up to his brother; it was also a sign of progress that Noel was seeing for himself. "There's no hope for us becoming what we hardly are."

Blaise sharply turned on his heel, but Noel had yet to be allowed to say his piece. He wasn't going to let Blaise just walk away without hearing him.

"You don't get to just walk away from me, hot dog," Noel shouted after Blaise, his anger bubbling inside becoming one that could rival Blaise's. Blaise turned his head, sucking in a shaky breath as he glared at Noel. "I have something I need to say to you and you're going to stand right there and listen to me just as I did."

Blaise opened his mouth to protest, but instead, he closed it. He fully faced Noel once again, facing his younger brother with a disinterested glint in his darkened eyes. Noel ignored it and sucked in a deep breath, puffing it out a few moments later in hopes that it would blow out some of his anger.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe there is no chance for us to be real brothers like Mother desperately wants us to be. But. . ." Noel heavily sighed, lowering his gaze to his feet. "I can't deny that these past few weeks. . .they've been some of the best I've ever had."

"Does that include your night with one of Frigga's ha━━━"

"I'm being serious, Blaise," Noel coldly snapped. "When was the last time you were able to just forget about all of our responsibilities and be. . .be us, ourselves? To not have to fret over if you were doing too much or not enough, or if I would try to mess with your plans? Huh?" Blaise didn't answer, but his silence was enough. "Never. We've gotten to live without anything anchoring us to-to anything! I know you hate this, and yeah, I. . .I hated it at first, but just these last few days, things have changed. I'm not saying Eira is right in the slightest, but we have to admit things are at least different between us now, and━━━"

"And you can't help but wonder if it might be for the best," Blaise softly finished for Noel. Noel lifted his head, meeting Blaise's gaze with a small smile etched on his lips. Blaise twisted his lips, unable to shield the curling of his lips. "Maybe ━━━ just maybe ━━━ you are actually onto something."

Noel scoffed under his breath, faintly shaking his head. "Still can't admit when I'm right?"

"For me to do that, you'd actually have to be right," Blaise playfully countered, a smirk etched on his lips. Noel rolled his eyes, glancing towards the city. He did despise it when he first arrived, but then he actually spent time there and interacted with multiple humans. "Do you think there might actually━━━"

Blaise's voice was interrupted by a thunderous bang, echoing down the streets and nearly rumbling the ground beneath them.

Their eyes widened in horror and they rushed towards the ledge, looking around for any sign as to where the commotion had originated. Sirens blared through the streets moments later, red and blues lights heading towards a block not too far from where the brothers were where smoke was effortlessly spewing into the air.

They stole a glance towards one another, both already having the same idea.