CHAPTER THREE
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i. warm of heart !

— WHEN ANTHONY WOKE THE NEXT MORNING, tangled in his emerald green bed sheets, he was surprised to find the house so warm. Not warm in the sense of temperature- this was a different sort of warm altogether. It was more of an enchantment; a content and jolly magic that seeped through the wallpaper and into the very structure of the Swan residence.

Like a breath of hot air against icy cold hands.

Icy cold hands.

Thinking about that now, Tony realised he was cold, and as he sat up, he took the blankets with him, wrapping them around himself like a cocoon as he lazily tore off his oxygen mask and hobbled awkwardly to his closet.

Cold, Tony thought, but warm.

He decided to dress to combat his cooled temperature, and found himself comfortable in his usual solid coloured button down shirt and a sporty sweater he'd borrowed from Emmett the previous week, when the vampire had driven him home from the Cullen house and noticed the shiver than ran along his arms despite the heat in the Jeep being cranked to almost sauna-like intensity.

Tony intended to give it back, so he grabbed an extra hoodie he could throw on later and tossed it over his shoulder.

Eventually he was tugging his oxygen tank down the stairs with a little bit more difficulty than usual, his muscle mass not quite being the same as it had been.

Now that this thought crossed his mind, maybe that was why he had developed a constant chill.

Though, even with his laboured breath and the slight fire in his chest, it burned and crackled with more happiness than maliciousness when he saw Charlie and Bella sitting at the kitchen table, chattering quietly.

He could hardly remember a time when there had been such a feeling of togetherness in the house.

"Good morning, Swans." He saluted, earning a couple of mumbled 'good morning's in return.

Tony shoved his extra sweater into his school bag, thankful that it fit between his binders and loose crumpled math assignments laying piled near the bottom.

He put his bag by the door, next to Bella's, before returning to the kitchen to grab a quick breakfast of toast and butter, just as Charlie put his bowl in the sink and grabbed his keys.

"Stay safe, kid." The man briefly clapped a hand on his son's shoulder as he made his way to the front door.

"You too, dad." Tony called through his mouthful of toast.

Bella grimaced at him, clearly disproving his lack of manners as she took another bite of her cereal.

Tony simply smiled at her, sitting across from her at the table where their father had been mere moments ago.

Bella hummed, "Are there any plans for dinner?" She asked as Charlie laced up his boots.

"Suppose I could barbecue something." Charlie groaned, a bit as he struggled with the frayed laces.

"It's raining tonight, dad, no way you're barbecuing in the rain." Tony reminded, using his thumb to wipe his mouth of excess butter.

"I could make something." Bella suggested, "Tony and I could get groceries after school."

Tony nodded in agreement, knowing it'd be easiest on their father and would probably be more healthy than takeout for the fourth time this week.

Charlie seemed to agree too, as he pulled out his wallet from his back jeans pocket and brandished a small wad of cash, making sure Bella saw it as he placed it on the counter, "At least a little bit of meat would be great, thanks Bells." He joked.

"Garden salad," Bella retorted with laughter in her eyes, about to take another bite of cereal. "Take it or leave it."

"I'll have you know, I'm perfectly healthy." Charlie chuckled, sliding his jacket on.

"Regardless, a break from takeout and TV dinner would do you some good." Bella shared a look of mirth with her brother, clearly both excited and glad that she had been holding conversations so well with him and their father, where before she had only been too awkward or emotionally distant.

Charlie playfully dismissed her, "Yeah, yeah." He mumbled as he opened the door and stepped out, "Have fun at school, I'll be home around eight."

With that, the door shut, and both Swan siblings were washed in silence as Anthony waited for Bella to finish her cereal.

— THE RIDE TO SCHOOL WASN'T AS UNCOMFORTABLE AS IT HAD CONTINUOUSLY BEEN THE PRIOR YEAR. Anthony was glad Bella had finally accepted the consequences of loving him- and continued to love him anyway. He could only assume that was the reason they'd been getting along so well.

A small smile stayed plastered to both their faces as they arrived, slamming the doors of the old truck shut as Tony began fumbling with his oxygen tank.

"Need any help with that?" A kind, fluttery voice asked.

"I'm alright, Angel, thanks though." Tony coughed lightly into his fist, hiking up his backpack and turning to face the small pixie-like woman who had approached them.

Alice smiled lightheartedly, hiding the smallest hint of concern in her gaze before burying it even further, not wanting Tony to become uncomfortable with her sympathy.

"Edward is over by the car." Alice pointed out the bronze-haired man across the parking lot, causing Bella to nod slightly before awkwardly shuffling away in that direction.

"See you in class, loser." Tony called out after her.

"Bitch." She returned jokingly.

Anthony simply flipped her off as he put a gentle arm around Alice's shoulder, using his unoccupied hand to pull his oxygen tank behind him.

"How are you doing, Tones?" Alice asked carefully as they made their way to the two familiar cars that were just now arriving.

She tried not to focus on all the weight he was leaning into her- as if he was now subconsciously using her as a sort of crutch for his tired and broken body.

"As I said," Tony grinned, pulling his arm away for only a moment to adjust his nasal cannula, "I'm alright, Angel."

"Excited for art?" Alice smiled, tucking closer to the boy in an attempt to subtly support more of his weight with her enhanced strength.

"You know it."

It wasn't much of a surprise that the two would be sharing an art period again, considering there was only one art teacher in the school. Still, they took it as a small victory, happy to once again have a semester full of poorly-disguised whispers and laughably bizarre drawings.

"Hey, Texas." Anthony greeted as they drew nearer to the Cullens who had just arrived, Tony's own boyfriend leaning casually against Emmett's jeep.

"Hey, Darlin'." Jasper chuckled, kicking off the wheel of the vehicle in order to stand at full height.

Emmett let out a teasing groan when Tony placed a chaste kiss at the corner of Jasper's lips, "PDA much."

Tony simply flipped the man off with a slight smile at the boy's antics, fully used to Emmett's childish mockery.

"Hold on, that's my sweater." Emmett pointed out lightheartedly, wrapping an arm around Rosalie's shoulders as she joined the group, absentmindedly locking the doors of her convertible.

"Yeah, and if you aren't careful it'll become my sweater real soon." Tony laughed, tugging off his backpack in order to return the article to its rightful owner.

"You don't have to give it back now, it's freezing out." Emmett assured, already putting up his hands in an attempt to stop the boy from willingly exposing himself to the chilly Forks air.

"I've got another one in my bag."

Alice silently offered to hold Tony's backpack, helpfully pulling out the spare hoodie as he tugged off Emmett's sweater.

"If you need it though, you know my locker combo, yeah?" Emmett asked, unwilling to take the sweater back when Anthony needed it so much more.

As a vampire, he could handle Forks' incredibly cold weather- and he knew Tony's temperature tolerance was beginning to plummet worryingly low.

"I think so?" Tony put his hoodie on and adjusted his nasal cannula, his nose twitching uncomfortably at the itchy feeling it gave him.

"I'll text it to you." Emmett nodded tightly, making sure there would be no argument.

Anthony shrugged as he shouldered his backpack on once again, rubbing at his arms and tucking closer to Jasper's side, despite knowing full well that a vampire's skin radiated an icy essence that wouldn't help warm him in the least.

With a slightly upturned lip, Jasper reached over and hesitantly linked their fingers in a loose holding of hands, gently drawing the boy nearer.

When the boys' shoulders met, Alice breathed an almost unnoticeable gasp, staring blankly into an unseeable void.

The rest of the group shared worried glances, staying quiet and waiting for the pixie-like woman to see whatever it was her power was inflicting upon her, before inevitably asking her about it.

Slowly, Alice blinked back into reality, still hearing the echoes of angry voices and verbally violent arguing.

The first thing she did was turn to meet Edward's familiar golden-eyed gaze across the parking lot, a mutual look of confusion and shock hidden in their concerned features.

"Alice?" Rosalie asked gently, "What did you see?"

She was quiet for a moment, trying to come up with a way around the situation she found herself in, "Um... I'm not sure, it- it was sort of disorienting."

This wasn't necessarily a lie, in any sense. Her vision had felt as if she'd been plunged into the unwelcoming depths of a frigid sea. It had been hostile- antagonistic.

Alice had never seen Jasper look so scared- in the dozens of years she'd known him, she had never seen that inexplicable gleam of terror.

It frightened her.

"Nothing stuck out to you?" Emmett asked disbelievingly.

Alice shook her head, "Not really."

That was a lie. Thankfully, they all seemed to believe it, acquiescing with half-hearted shrugs, settling comfortably into a quiet flow of small talk.

"You hear there's some new transfer students?" Emmett instigated a new topic of conversation.

"Oh, yeah?" Tony asked, secretly pleased that students may finally stop referring to him and his sister as the 'new' kids.

Forks was a wonderful little place. Anthony adored the weather, the interesting shops, and a select few of the people- but nothing could ever make him appreciate the low-level chatter and gossip of an exceptionally small town.

"Apparently one guy's named after half the Beatles." Emmett chuckled, thoughtlessly running his hand along his wife's arm.

"John and Paul." Jasper nodded, a smirk blooming on his face, matching Emmett's amused grin.

"We've barely been here for ten minutes, how do you know that?" Tony furrowed his eyebrows.

Rosalie made a brief gesture to a distant huddle of students talking animatedly amongst themselves, no doubt nattering about the transfers, spreading the news like a festering disease.

Tony turned back to the group, "Y'know that super hearing thing is just unfair."

author's note

i promised a mass update for when a certain Thankmas fundraising goal was met and you guys absolutely crushed it! thank you so much to everyone donating, sharing, and supporting— remember we're gonna be fundraising all throughout December so keep up this incredible energy up and more incentives such as this are coming your way!

also please cut me a little tiny bit of slack if the chapter isn't great, I decided a week before the Thankmas launch that I would update every one of my stories so that was 6 total chapter in 7 days with a lot of extremely late nights 😓 I did my best though I really hope you enjoyed

I'm really sorry I haven't been updating this book as often as many of you would like, it takes a lot to get back into Tony's mindset because I was in a much different place mentally when I first wrote for him. I don't intend to give up on him though! Just have patience and be gentle with me as I navigate his story please! Love you all, thank you for reading 💕