Copyright March 9, 2001 by Matthew Haldeman-Time

Rating: PG-13ish

Pairing (so to speak): Nick Carter/Drew Lachey/Brian Littrell

Disclaimer: The young men who comprise 98 Degrees and the Backstreet Boys are their own people.  The author has not met anyone here described, nor does the author mean to suggest that these people act this way in real life.  This writing is a work of fiction.  I make no money from this venture.

Dedication: Ewan, slashers of Darren and Daniel, aradia.

Wherein Bruce needs Mark, Nick goes for help, and Drew wears a hat.

---

Erica

        Nick could make some snow angels and ask them for help, but he wasn't very good at snow angels.

        Hmm.  He looked towards the cabin.  Snow angels.  He knew where to find some snow angels.

        Drew was holed up in the second bedroom, behind a closed door, eating Pringles and writing lyrics and talking to Jeff long-distance.

        Nick entered the cabin, passing Brian, who was taking another turn around the kitchen table with the phone against one ear, and went to the first bedroom.  Let's see.  Coat, gloves, boots, hat.  Hat.  Heh.  Drew in a hat.

        The door to the second bedroom was closed but not locked.  Without bothering to knock, whistling merrily, Nick opened the door and walked in on Drew.  Ignoring whatever Drew was saying, he crouched beside Drew on the floor and started to unlace Drew's sneakers.  Boots first.  Drew didn't have a snowsuit.  That was too bad.  Drew would look really cute in a snowsuit.  Nick would have to look into buying one.  And then he could peel Drew out of it for sex.  That would be lots of fun.

        Nick finished lacing Drew's boots and took Drew's hand, trying to fight Drew into the coat.  Drew needed the coat.  He didn't want Drew to be cold, or to get sick.  Drew was being unreasonable, so he knelt over Drew's lap, wrestling Drew's arms into the sleeves.  There.  He slid the zipper up to Drew's chin.  Whistling aimlessly, ignoring Drew's meager protestations, he got Drew's hands into the gloves and cheerfully fitted the hat snugly over Drew's ears.  There.  All bundled up for the cold.  He'd done a good job.

        Nick took Drew's hand and rose, heading outside for the snow.  He led Drew over to his snowman.  "Drew, this is Bruce."

        "Nick.  Nick, I can't believe you...  You can't just make a normal snowman?"

        "Normal?" he asked, puzzled.  "Yeah, I guess this one's sort of...Jeffish.  But he's lonely!  We need to build another one.  Bruce needs Mark."

        "Mark?"

        "His boyfriend."

        "Right."

        "Get started.  I'm going for help."

        "What?"

        "Start!  Bruce needs his boyfriend!"

        "Right."

        "Here, I'll help."  Nick started a snowman.  "I'll do the base, you do the torso."

        "Okay."

        Nick smiled.  He recognized Drew's tone of voice.  It was the one that said that Nick was crazy, but that Drew loved him enough to be crazy with him, and have fun doing it.  So while he rolled the first snowball, Drew rolled the second.  They put those two together, and then Nick ran off to get help.

        He needed an angel.  He knew where to find one.  He'd seen one in the cabin.  Right there.

        "Mr. Carter Littrell Lachey is being called away on urgent business.  He'll get back to you as soon as he can."

        Oof!  This angel was sort of heavy.  Nick did his best to carry it outside, dragging it out the door.  He dropped it into the snow.  Snow angel!

        Oh, maybe a snow demon.  Snow angels weren't supposed to use those words.

        Or throw snowballs.

        Nick threw a snowball back at the snow demon, just to see what would happen.  Then he hid behind Mark.

        "Nick, he's going to freeze - - hey!  Stop that!  Hey!  That's it!"  Drew castrated Mark and pelted Brian in self-defense.

        Nick ducked behind a tree, then ran to the next.  While the snow angels held their glorious battle, he circled around them.  Seeing an opening, he tackled and rolled.  The snow angel shouted and struggled, but he held onto it mightily.

        The poor snow angel was half frozen.  He kissed its cold mouth and let it warm its cold, wet hands on his body.  He knew all of the good ways to warm up angels.

        But they were interrupted.  He opened his eyes just in time to see Drew stuff snow down the back of Brian's shirt.

        The angels started fighting again.  At this rate, Bruce would never get a finished Mark.  Nick had to do something.

        They'd been wrestling, but one had escaped, and now they were holding a snowball fight.  One was crouched behind a group of trees, and the other was using Bruce and half-Mark for cover.  Nick considered his options.

        He crept up to the snowmen, or castrated snowman and almost-snowman, to find the bright-eyed cold angel.  He kissed its cold nose and put his own gloves and hat on it.  There.  That was better.  It gave him a nice, sweet angel kiss.  Nice angel.  Then he picked it up and hauled it out into the open.

        "Peace!" he shouted.  "We must join together for a greater cause!"  He ignored the snowballs the bad angel was throwing at them, and he ignored the struggles of the angel in his arms.  "Bruce needs to get laid!  You come out here and finish making Mark.  You make snow angels for us."  He dumped Brian in the snow again.  "I'm going to get Bruce a new pair."

        Oh, the poor cold angel was looking irritable again.  Maybe it was getting frozen.  He helped it up and put his coat on it.  There.  Now it would be nice and warm.  Oh!  Bad, stupid angel got snow up his nose!  He was never playing with angels again.  They were too much trouble.  He pushed this one back in the snow and went to track down the other one.  It tried to run from him, but he caught it and wrestled it into submission.  It gave in and followed him back to Bruce and Mark, where they got to work.

        Everything was peaceful.

        For thirty seconds.

        Then Brian started throwing snowballs again, and Drew helped, and they ganged up on him, and he tackled Drew, and Brian tried to save Drew, and they wrestled into Mark and Mark fell on top of them and they were covered in snow and Nick was freezing and Bruce was never going to get laid at this rate.

        They managed to get out of their impromptu snowfall and Nick warmed his hands inside Drew's coat and Brian rubbed his ears for him.

        "Poor Bruce," Drew said.

        "You castrated him," Nick said.

        "Sorry."

        "You should be."

        "He looks a little overexcited," Brian said.

        "Nick's projecting," Drew said.

        "Hey!" Nick protested.  "It's just hard to work out snowman proportions."

        "Would you really want to be that well-hung?" Brian asked.

        "Yes," Nick said.

        "Jeff doesn't like it," Drew said.

        "I do," Nick said.

        "It does have its drawbacks," Drew said.

        "You'd know," Brian teased.

        "What are we going to do about Bruce?" Drew asked, quickly changing the subject.

        "Give him a blowjob," Nick suggested.

        "No," Brian said.

        "Give you a blowjob," Nick said.

        "How would that help Bruce?" Drew asked.

        "Who cares?" Nick asked.

        There was a moment of thoughtful angel silence.

        Nick took matters into his own hands.  "You get two choices.  Sex in the snow-"

        "In the snow?"

        "We're not doing it in the snow."

        "I don't want frostbite on my-"

        "Talk about freezing yours balls off, literally."

        Nick finished, "-or in front of the fireplace."

        "Fireplace," the angels said, and marched him into the cabin.