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Escape And Evasion
by Dorinda
http://thechicagoloop.net/dorinda/
Kelly grabbed one fold of the thick woolen muffler wrapped from brow to collarbone around Scotty's head and yanked him inside, closing the door behind them and shooting the heavy bolt with a satisfied slam. The clipboard on the table confirmed that no one was due back until the end of the week; it was supposedly a sporadically-manned weather station, but of course it was really run by spies listening for other spies. There probably weren't any actual weather stations up here anymore.
"Hey, man!" Scotty's protesting voice was lost beneath the orange and yellow-striped wool monstrosity he was wearing. Kelly grabbed one fringed end and started to unwrap. He wondered if he could just pull hard and spin Scotty like a top.
"You can come out now," he said to one of Scotty's eyes as he uncovered it.
The eye squinted at him. "Break it to me gently--how lost are we?"
"We're not lost," Kelly said, unwrapping the other eye.
"Excuse me, Columbus--" He stopped to sputter for a second; it sounded like he had sucked in a fold of scarf. Kelly stuck two fingers into the wrappings and pulled gently down to reveal Scotty's mouth. Damp yellow and orange threads clung to the dark chin, and Kelly carefully brushed them away as Scotty finished: "--this station is way out of bounds. It's not even on the training map."
"That's why it's perfect." He watched Scotty's mouth for just a second more. Hello there. So nice to see you. Wish you were here. Like here here.
"Okay, now I'm scared. The cold has gotten to you. You're not planning on inviting me to no Donner Party now, are you, Kel?"
Kelly unwrapped the last couple of layers with a flourish, and there was Scotty's face in all its glory. "Listen, man," he said, whipping the giant scarf completely free and tossing it onto the table, "I know what I'm doing."
"Uh huh. I'm not even sure you know what day it is. Look, this refresher course is called 'Escape and Evasion.' Remember?" Scotty gestured vaguely with one parka-and-mittened arm. "Short for running around and hiding like crazy people. Very crazy people. Very crazy and very cold people."
Kelly pulled off Scotty's mittens, and then his own gloves. "Exactly. We're off the map, right?"
"Right," Scotty said, eyeing him warily from beneath his red stocking cap. Okay, at least it wasn't orange and yellow-striped, but the cap had to go. Off it came.
"So, have we or have we not successfully escaped from their little exercise in frostbite?" He ran one thumb up the seam of Scotty's parka until he found the zipper. It came down with a few brisk tugs.
"Ah," said Scotty, brows lifting. "Yeah. And tomorrow morning we're gonna circle back, sneak into home base, win the game, and evade responsibility."
"By George, I think he's got it."
"I think I got it."
Kelly moved in closer, unzipping his own coat, and grinned as Scotty reached up to push off his cap. Scotty's big hands felt so good in his hair, cool against his scalp. "You can go to the head of the class."
But they weren't going much of anywhere for a while.
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Notes: Thanks to elynross, for beta-reading. Written for the 2001 multi-fandom challenge, "101 Ways To End Up In A Canadian Shack," http://www.trickster.org/speranza/ShackedUp.html
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