A/N - This is a 5 + 1 Fic written for the JaySteph STAY Discord Server 2020 Winter Exchange as a gift for shauds02 based on her prompt snowed in and getting cold.

Five times Jason was too cold and one time Steph was too hot.

Chapter 1

Jason was in bed, burrowed under every blanket he owned, when he heard the rattling at his window.

He groaned and rolled over to look, but of course the curtains were pulled shut to keep the drafts from Gotham's first blizzard of the season as far removed from Jason's already heatless room as possible.

The rattling turned to pounding, so Jason sighed, scootched under the covers to the very, very, very edge of his bed, took a deep breath, and slid out onto the floor, immediately jumping to his feet and bolting for the window. Rather than open the curtains, he slipped behind them - Spoiler alert, it was Steph, which was kind of a surprise - but, no time to waste on thoughts when the winter wind was nipping through the cracks in the window frame, so Jason quickly unlocked the window, shoved it open, and dragged Steph inside before she could even get a word out.

"Hi -" Steph started to say, but Jason was already slamming the window shut, clicking the locks, and spinning them both around to the other side of the still closed curtains.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Jason demanded as he dove for the bed and slid back under his twenty-two covers.

"My heat's out," Steph said, her teeth chattering as she slipped out of her parka and pulled off her wet hat and gloves. "I thought yours might be working, but I guess not," she said, taking in Jason's snow hat which was peeking out from under the covers.

"Nope," Jason said. "I think the power's out all across the Narrows."

"Well, that sucks," Steph grumbled, now sitting on the floor and pulling her wet boots off, followed by her wet socks.

Jason didn't want to expose his chin to the frigid air, but he had to admit to being slightly curious as to how many clothes, exactly, Steph was planning to take off, because he had caught sight of a sweater being tugged over her head, so he inched his head the slightest bit up just in time to catch the wet jeans coming off.

"Dude!" Jason said, his eyes going wide before he realized Steph had sleep shorts on underneath.

"Dude yourself," Steph said. "I'm not staying in my wet clothes."

"But you are staying here, I take it?" Jason groaned.

"Uh, yeah," Steph said, giving him a look. "You think I'm going back out in the snow just to go home to no heat? Where are your extra sweats?"

"Second drawer down," Jason grumbled.

"Socks?" Steph said.

"Top drawer," Jason sighed. "What about your mom?" he reluctantly asked.

"She's working tonight," Steph said. "Believe me, I would rather have crawled into bed with her to keep warm," she added snarkily.

Jason spluttered.

"You're climbing in bed with me?" he said, actually starting to sit up before the cold air hit his neck.

He yelped and retreated again.

"Two is warmer than one, dummy," Steph said with irritation. "It's a blizzard. People freeze to death in these with no power, you know."

"I wasn't freezing to death," Jason pointed out.

"I was," Steph muttered.

Clothing layers achieved - and geez, how many sweats had she put on? Her arms and legs were stuffed like a turkey - Steph unceremoniously pulled the covers back - "Hurry up!" Jason snapped - and then - what the hell? Steph was snuggling - was she snuggling? - into his side.

"Oh," she mumbled against his shoulder. "Your bed is much warmer than mine was. I had a lot of covers on, though, too," she said, worming her way under Jason's fucking arm until it was wrapped around her and she was curled up against his chest.

"Were your covers wool?" Jason asked her, raising an eyebrow in the dark.

"No," Steph said, sounding puzzled. "Who has wool blankets? But I had like five fleece ones and mine and my mom's comforters."

"Cotton doesn't retain body heat," Jason said in a voice that yes, was rather snarky. "Survival Skills 101, Blondie."

"Excuse me for living in the fucking Narrows instead of going camping every year like a fucking rich kid," Steph said meanly.

That wasn't really called for, was it? No. No, it was not.

"Right, because my life was so great before Bruce adopted me," Jason said. "And then it was really great, because I -"

"OHMYGOD," Steph yelled in his ear. "I died, too, dumbass. Can you stop with the pity party?"

"I will have a goddamn pity party whenever I fucking want to if you're going to use Bruce against me," Jason boldly declared.

"You started it," Steph sulked.

"Did not," Jason pouted.

"So did," Steph said, but she cuddled closer against him and wrapped a puffy arm around his chest. "You're warm," she murmured as she nestled her head into his shoulder.

Jason didn't want to admit it, but Steph was adding to his body heat, too, and despite his army of wool blankets, he'd still felt a little chilly, and, well, Steph was kind of like a giant heating pad.

"You're leaving tomorrow," he insisted, though, against her forehead.

"Not if the power's still out," Steph said sleepily.

Jason sighed, very loud and long, but Steph ignored him in favor of closing her eyes, and she did actually feel pretty cold to Jason's touch, even through all her layers, so Jason found himself tugging her a little tighter into him and wrapping his other arm around her back, and when she tried to be sneaky, pretending to be asleep so she could tangle a leg up in his still much warmer ones, he didn't even kick it away.

Chapter 2

Steph woke up feeling cozy and warm and rather deliciously snuggled.

She peeked out under her eyelids into Jason's very awake gaze looking straight back at her. Oh. Right. The blizzard.

"Is the heat still out?" Steph mumbled.

"Yep," Jason said, making no effort to move or dislodge Steph from the catlike way she'd managed to entwine herself in his limbs.

Oh. She was kind of all the way on top of Jason now, wasn't she? Hm. Well, if he wasn't going to shove her off, who was Steph to lose her best source of heat?

Jason hadn't said another word, and Steph was still kind of sleepy, so she closed her eyes and let herself drift off back to sleep. Was that Jason shifting around and squeezing her waist just a little bit tighter right before Steph completely lost consciousness?

When she woke up again, it was because Jason was (surprisingly gently) shaking her.

"I have to pee," he said. "And we need to eat."

"Ok," Steph sighed.

Ugh. Getting out from their blanket nest was not on Steph's Top Ten List of Things To Do In A Winter Snowstorm. Even if she had to pee, too.

"Ready?" Jason asked her, and oh, his hand was stroking her back a little bit as he spoke. It felt… surprisingly nice. Hm.

"If we have to," Steph said, noticing that Jason's eyes looked a little kinder this morning than usual, too.

"Count of three?" Jason said with a grin and Steph groaned, but she nodded.

"Onetwothree," Jason said quickly and flung the blankets backwards.

"Agghgghghghgh!" Steph cried out as the icy air hit them. "Too cold! Too cold!"

Jason, however, rather than wasting time on moans of misery, had already hit the bathroom where the telltale sounds of tinkling were coming through the door.

"Pee fast and get back in bed," Jason said, banging the door open as he bolted for the kitchen. "I'll grab food."

"Ok," Steph said, waddling to the bathroom as fast as possible given her extra layers of clothes.

By the time Steph made it back out, Jason was depositing an armful of protein bars and poptarts on the bed and getting back under the covers, although in a seated position this time so he could eat. Steph quickly scampered back to join him, mentally cursing the cold floor that froze her toes even through her double layer of socks.

"Sit in front of me," Jason ordered, spreading his legs open. "It'll be warmer," he said innocently.

"Ohh-kay," Steph said slowly.

She hesitantly crawled forward on the bed, meeting Jason's sparkling eyes (when did his eyes start sparkling instead of glowering all the time? she wondered) as she carefully climbed over his muscular thigh and settled herself in between his legs.

Jason's hands brushed Steph's as he helped her pull the covers up over their lap, and then his legs were squeezing her tight and his arms were wrapping themselves around her waist.

"Grab me a powerbar?" Jason said, and oh my, it was getting a little warmer in the room, wasn't it?

Jason kept an arm slung tight around her waist so that Steph had no choice but to lean back against his chest as they ate, and, well, that did help her warm up, so if Jason kept them snuggled like that after they'd had their fill of their crappy breakfast, Steph couldn't really object.

Especially since her tummy was feeling so especially warm and lovely under Jason's arms and Steph's whole body was feeling like a melty marshmallow.

"How did patrol go last night?" Jason asked after a few minutes of awkward silence.

"No crime," Steph said. "I spent most of the night helping homeless people get to winter shelters."

"Me, too," Jason said. "If it's this cold inside, it wasn't anywhere close to safe to be out. I hope they get the power back on in the neighborhood soon, though," he said. "There's a lot of old folks living alone who are super vulnerable."

Steph hummed in agreement before Jason added, "And, a few sexy singles who don't know to keep wool blankets in the house."

"Excuse me?" Steph said, her mouth dropping open as she turned her head to the side to face Jason, and oh, that made her cheek brush against his morning stubble, which was not exactly an unpleasant sensation.

"What?" Jason grinned at her. "You are single, aren't you?"

Steph raised her eyebrows and was about to answer, when Jason's phone rang.

He groaned and stretched to the side to grab it off his nightstand.

"Yeah?" Jason said, sounding super annoyed, as was pretty normal for him, which was why his tone this morning had been throwing Steph for a loop.

What was Jason doing sounding so damn friendly? The butterfly flip in Steph's stomach was trying to suggest the answer, but Steph resolutely closed her ears to her inner monologue in favor of listening in on Jason's phone call.

"I saw the power was out in the Narrows," she heard B's voice saying. "Tim's on his way over on a jetski to pick you up since there's too much snow for the plows to get the roads cleared. Have you heard from Steph?"

"She's over here," Jason said. "Her mom was working last night."

"Good," B grunted. "Both of you bundle up for the ride over to the Manor."

"Ok, Dad," Jason laughed at him.

"Haha," B said. "Alfred said he'd have hot chocolate waiting, but if you're too old for coddling, I'll tell him to give it all to me and Damian."

"Hey, Alfred is allowed to coddle," Jason snarked right back at his father. "Grandparent's privilege. If there's no hot chocolate when we get there, you and Damian are getting coal for Christmas."

"And pelted with snowballs in your sleep tonight," Steph chimed in loudly.

"Ooo, good call, Blondie," Jason smiled at her as he hung up on Bruce, and Steph's tummy wanted to tell her something else, but yeah, no, she definitely wasn't ready to hear it yet. Definitely not.

"I guess we should get up and get ready," Jason said, but he made no effort to move Steph, and Steph definitely had no intention of getting out of their warm bed until she absolutely had to, so she leaned back harder onto Jason's chest and smiled up at him while his hands traced snowflakes on her stomach.

"Tim can wait for us when he gets here," Steph said calmly. "We're the ones without heat. Why should we have to expose ourselves to potential hypothermia any sooner than needed?"

"You're right," Jason nodded firmly, and holy fuck, that was an actual smile quirking up the corner of his mouth.

Wow.

Steph was right and Jason was smiling at her about it.

Interesting.

Chapter 3

Alfred had indeed plied Jason and Steph (as well as Tim) with hot chocolate when they finally made it to the manor, as well as with warm clothes toasty from the dryer and heated slippers.

"Thanks, Al," Jason had smiled at him quite nicely.

Hey, he knew who in the family deserved buttering up and his undying loyalty. Jason was no fool.

"Todd," Damian said once Jason and Steph had changed and had steaming mugs of homemade chocolate in their hands. "We require you and Stephanie's presence in the movie room."

"What are we watching?" Jason asked, letting a hand drop to the low of Steph's back as they started following Damian through the hallways of the manor.

Steph's eyes had jumped to his face in surprise, but Jason casually pretended not to notice, and just as casually kept his hand on her back as they walked. So he'd always been a little grumpy around Blondie before today. That hardly made her special; Jason was grumpy around everyone.

Which may have had rather a lot to do in general with his lack of a love life, he supposed. Not that Jason normally cared about it that much - until last night, that was, when he'd suddenly realized how nice it could be to have another person in his bed.

And if it was maybe an extra nice revelation because that person happened to be Steph, who Jason was maybe always a little bit extra grumpy around, because maybe Jason might have had a small crush on Steph that he hadn't quite known what to do with (see: always grumpy; no love life) well, Jason was nothing if not a go-getter once he'd made his mind up about something.

Especially since Steph hadn't been resisting his earlier cuddles - quite the opposite, in fact.

"Richard insists we watch some foolish drivel known as Elf," Damian was sulking. "He says my childhood will be incomplete if I have not seen it."

"I love Elf!" Steph happily chirped.

Damian glanced back at her, which gave him opportunity to notice Jason's hand which was still riding along quite comfortably on Steph's low back. Damian's eyes narrowed. Jason narrowed his own right back and glowered threateningly at his younger brother from behind Steph's head.

"Tt," Damian scoffed, turning back to face forward again.

"You'll like it, Damian," Steph insisted, thinking incorrectly that the scoff was for her. (Perhaps not completely incorrectly; it was Damian, after all, but a good eighty-five percent of the scoff was for Jason, he was quite sure.)

Bruce and Tim were already sitting on one of the two padded leather loveseats in the front row of their screening room, and Dick was waiting for Damian on the other, so it was quite easy for Jason to pull Steph along with him onto the couch in the back row.

"Where's Alfred?" Bruce said, frowning as he turned around.

"Just coming, Master Bruce," they heard the butler's voice from the hall.

Jason smiled as a toasty warm blanket was draped over him, but - uh oh, red alert, Steph was getting her own blanket from Alfred, who then sat on her other side. Jason waited until Damian turned the lights down and curled into Dick's side before calmly tugging Steph's blanket half on top of his before spreading his out underneath until they were both wrapped up together. Again.

Steph had turned to look at Jason curiously while he fussed with the blankets, but she didn't protest, so he simply smiled down at her.

"I'm still cold," Jason whispered in Steph's ear as he raised his arm and draped it around Steph's shoulders, tugging her in close.

It was too dark to see if Steph was blushing, but Jason had a feeling she was. Especially because it took her a good few minutes to win her battle of wills and shift sideways, laying her head down on his chest.

By the time that Zooey Deschanel's character made her appearance, Jason decided that it was safe to sneak his left hand under the blankets towards Steph's, and the way she squeezed his fingers back heated him up way better than Alfred's blankets.

Chapter 4

"Come in," Steph called to the soft knock on her bedroom door late that night.

"Steph…?" Jason said slowly as he entered the dark room, shutting the door behind him.

"Jason?" Steph said. "What's up? Why on earth are you here right now?" she said in a completely, totally innocent voice.

"Someone," Jason said in a very measured voice, "opened all the windows in my bedroom and now it's freezing in there."

"Oh, my God!" Steph said, sounding Absolutely Horrified and Shocked. "Who would do such a dastardly thing? Do you think it was Damian or Tim? My money's on Tim."

"Oh, absolutely," Jason said as he approached Steph's bed. "Had to be Tim. No doubt. Who else could possibly have a motive to freeze me out of my room?" he said.

"Exactly," Steph nodded. "I'll help you get him back tomorrow."

"How generous of you," Jason said. "In the meantime, however, I am very cold and my bedroom is freezing so I need to sleep in here with you. If that's all right, of course," he added magnanimously.

"Well," Steph said back, equally as regal as she deliberated the merits of Jason's request, "I suppose since your room is freezing cold, I have a duty to warm you up. Since you did help me out last night, and all."

"Indeed," Jason said somberly as he pulled the covers back and climbed under next to Steph. "It's only fair."

"Yes," Steph agreed. "Really, there's no polite alternative," she said.

"None at all," Jason said, gently pushing Steph onto her side and tugging her into his big spoon.

Steph half hoped that Jason couldn't hear the cozy sigh that fluttered out of her chest when he nestled her close. But only half hoped.

Maybe not even half.


Waking up wrapped in a snuggly Jason was a lovely start to the day, Steph had to admit. Something that perhaps she could get used to. Was already getting used to. Wanted to get more used to.

Anyway.

The most well-mannered course of action would obviously be to lay totally still and let Jason sleep for as long as he wanted to. And if that meant that Steph got some extra cuddles, well, it was a fate that she supposed she could suffer.

If she had to. For the sake of manners.

Steph was a very polite person.

And if there was a rather big smile on her face, and if a few of her fingers were idly tracing over Jason's hand that was resting on top of her stomach, and if she was more than a little turned on by feeling Jason's morning wood pressed up against her back, well, no one needed to know.

A good half hour had gone by, and Jason hadn't stirred, which meant that Steph hadn't moved either, when there was a sudden pounding on her bedroom door.

Steph and Jason both jumped.

"What the hell?" Jason muttered sleepily.

"Stephanie Brown!" they heard an insistent voice yell from the other side of the door. "Alfred has forced me to inform you that breakfast will be ready in ten minutes. If you fail to appear, you will forfeit your portion."

"Pretty sure that last part wasn't on Alfred's script," Jason murmured in Steph's ear as he tightened his arm around her waist while Damian's stomping footsteps faded away.

"Doesn't mean it's not true," Steph giggled, relaxing into Jason's touch and even wiggling herself a little bit closer into his chest.

She happy-sighed louder than she had last night when Jason flat out nuzzled her neck before pressing a kiss to it, but this time there was not even a slight percentage of hope that Jason wouldn't hear it.

"So sweet of you to let me sleep in here last night," Jason said as his hand on Steph's stomach slid the tiniest bit lower.

"Totally sweet, yes," Steph agreed easily as her breathing sped up.

"You know," Jason said in a husky voice that sent shivers down Steph's spine, "you didn't need to freeze me out of my room if you wanted me in your bed."

Steph's words caught in her throat and only the tiniest little strangled sound came out.

"Just saying," Jason added, pressing one more kiss behind Steph's ear before suddenly rolling away from her and sliding to his feet.

"Better hurry up," he said over his shoulder as he headed for the door. "Damian'll eat your breakfast."

Chapter 5

"No way in hell," Steph said calmly.

"What she said," Jason said.

"But guys! A snowball fight will be so much more fun with five of us!" Dick whined.

"We almost froze to death yesterday," Steph dramatically declared. "Hypothermia, Dick! We could have turned blue! Because we had no heat! In a freakin' blizzard! I am not voluntarily going back outside to get covered in snow."

"Me neither," Jason said.

"Wusses," Tim said with a playful grin.

"I didn't see you coming out to get us in the middle of the night on the jetski, Timmy," Steph said pointedly, putting her hands on her hips.

Damian cackled.

"Or you, pipsqueak," Jason added, nudging Damian's leg with his toes. "You know how to drive one."

"Or you, Dick," Steph chimed in, giving him a completely unsympathetic look. "You three have fun in the freezing, wet cold without us."

"Fine," Dick grumbled, trudging out of the kitchen with Tim and Damian at his heels, but not before giving Jason and Steph a thoughtful look.

Silence fell in the kitchen. Bruce had gone down to the Batcave, because of course he had, and Alfred was off butlering around the manor.

"So…" Steph said awkwardly after a long minute passed.

"I'm gonna go read in the library," Jason abruptly announced.

"Ok," Steph said, not quite sure how to take that.

Steph watched Jason leave the room, coffee in hand, before refilling her own cup and trying to decide how to spend her inside-where-it's-warm-and-toasty-snowed-in-day. She didn't really feel like watching TV or reading, and she could always play on her phone but she wasn't really in the mood.

The bottom line was, Steph felt restless. There were altogether too many fluttery, uncertain feelings butterflying around her body this morning, and while they were kind of nice, they were a little nerve-wrackingly unsettling, too.

Her cheeks reddened against her will, and Steph shook her thoughts off and determinedly left the kitchen, wandering haphazardly through the manor halls for a little while until an idea struck her.


Steph had been lost in the music, her fingers traveling across the keys, when the eyes she turned to hit a certain high note caught sight of a figure leaning against the conservatory doorway.

"Don't stop," Jason said when Steph abruptly pulled her hands away from the piano in embarrassment. "I didn't know you played," he said as he pushed off the wall and walked towards her.

"Not very often, anymore," Steph mumbled.

"Why not? You sound so pretty," Jason asked her as he seated himself backwards on the bench so he was facing her.

Steph shrugged.

"I just -" she stopped and bit her lip.

"What?" Jason said, nudging her shoulder. "You can tell me."

"We had a piano when I was growing up," Steph said slowly. "An old upright, it had been my grandparents' and my grandma wanted me to have it so she could teach me to play."

"Ok," Jason said, looking into Steph's troubled eyes with some concern. "What happened?" he said.

"My grandma died not long before my dad lost his job," Steph said softly. "And then he became Cluemaster, you know, and our life went to hell, and it all seemed related," she said. "I stopped playing for a really long time. It reminded me too much of happier times that I'd never get back."

Jason regarded Steph thoughtfully.

"You're playing today, though," he said with a slight crinkle at the corner of his mouth.

"Yeah," Steph whispered, bravely meeting Jason's eyes.

"Do you think you could help me out with something?" Jason asked Steph suddenly as a slow smile spread across his face.

"What?" Steph said, raising her eyebrows.

"My lips are cold," Jason said.

Steph's mouth flickered into a smile.

"Is that so?" she said, leaning forward to wrap her arms around Jason's neck while his smile grew.

"Uh huh," Jason said as he dipped his head lower towards Steph's and slid his hands around her waist. "So cold," he mumbled before catching Steph's lips in his.

Steph decided that she had never felt less cold in her life as their gentle kisses turned to longer, wetter ones, but she and Jason were suddenly rudely interrupted by a loud hacking sound coming from the hallway.

"Excuse you," Jason said to Damian, turning to stare at his little brother, who was gagging and covering his eyes.

"Excuse you, Todd," Damian shot back. "You have scarred my eyeballs."

"With some making out?" Steph said skeptically. "Which you, by the way, were not invited to witness?"

"Tt," Damian said. "Father sent me to fetch you for another holiday movie. Richard insists that we bond as a family while we are snowed in and we have finished our snow battle."

"How'd the snowball fight go?" Jason asked.

Damian puffed up with pride.

"Naturally, I was the victor," he said.

"Naturally," Steph nodded.

"A fact I can no longer take pleasure in due to the atrocity that has just marred my vision," Damian pouted.

"Knock next time before you look," Jason shrugged. "Or make more noise when you're coming down the hall."

"Assassins do not make noise," Damian snapped as he turned to go.

"Then they all must have scarred eyeballs," Steph cheerfully called after him.

She looked hesitantly up at Jason once they were alone again.

"Movie?" he sighed, pressing his forehead to hers.

"Movie," she agreed, fingering the edge of his sleeve.

Jason smiled down at Steph and gently cupped her face with his hands to give her one last, deep kiss, before drawing back with a slightly disgruntled groan and pulling her to her feet.

"At least we can snuggle under the blankets," Steph pointed out, unable to stop the happy squee in her heart when Jason threaded his fingers through hers as they walked.

"There is that," he agreed.

Steph would have preferred more - hell, she would have preferred to have not been interrupted at all - but when one was snowed in with one's family, she supposed that certain amounts of personal time had to be sacrificed.

And she couldn't deny that she had come to appreciate the value of a good blanket snuggle.

Chapter 6

"Steph?" Jason said when the door to his bedroom creaked open that night and a certain blonde figure crept in, shutting (and locking) the door behind her.

"I have a problem I really need your help with," Steph said, climbing on top of his covers and crawling towards him as he sat up.

"What's that?" Jason said, his mouth quirking up into a grin as Steph drew closer.

"I feel so hot and I can't cool off," Steph complained with great flair. "What should I do?"

"Well," Jason said thoughtfully, "if you're overheated, I think the best solution would be to take off your clothes."

Steph moved forward and straddled Jason's lap.

"Will you help me get undressed, then?" Steph said, raising her arms up over her head.

Hell yes, Jason would help.

The End


A/N - I hope you all enjoyed it! The title is from the lyrics to "Let It Snow!" (seemed appropriate!)

I hope you'll check out more of my fics - tons and tons of JaySteph, who the awesome shauds02 was the first one to get me hooked on, so definitely go check out her JaySteph stories, too! You will NOT be disappointed!

You can follow me on Tumblr as River9Noble. Come say hi!

If you'd like to join the JaySteph STAY Discord server, message dn-ky on Tumblr for an invite link. We welcome new shipmates!

Also, there's an fyeahjaysteph blog on Tumblr (run by shauds02) featuring fic recs, fanart, incorrect quotes, and monthly challenges. Come check it out!