Snow fell delicately from the frost gray sky like cold, white petals. Around them, the trees were bare and the wind blew with a sharp chill through the silent neighborhood. It was a peaceful snow day, perfect for hours of fun.

And John was with just the person he wanted to spend it with.

Working with care on her nearly completed snowman, Rose was brushing excess snow off the head with her gloves. He had to hand it to her. It looked great so far, but he couldn't help but wonder what plans she had for decorating it.

He hoped it was a slime ghost.

"Hey, Rose. Whatcha making there?" he inquired slyly from behind her.

The blonde hardly stirred from her work, diligent as always. "You'll just have to wait and see, now won't you?"

Egbert crossed his arms. "Aw, you're no fun--Hey!"

He yelped when his glasses were snatched without warning and tried blindly to get them back, but to no avail. He heard Rose chuckle softly and watched through narrowed eyes and blurry vision as she placed his frames delicately on the snowman's face. Even without them, he noticed it looked familiar.

The blonde stepped back to look on with him, admiring her own handiwork with a sly smirk. "Well, what do you think? It looks just like you in my opinion."

John scoffed, "I could see it a lot better if I had my glasses," and moved to retrieve them.

"Oh, how silly of me to have forgotten..." she murmured with some sarcasm.

"Yeah, yeah. Very funn-eee!" John ended up squealing when a good amount of snow was stuffed down his jacket, the sheer cold startling

Once again, Rose was the culprit, but he wasn't going to let her get away for long. He hurriedly shook out the snow from his blue jacket and retrieved his glasses. Now that he could see clearly again, he realized the other teen was ready for more, her pinkish eyes sparkling with discreet mischief.

And you know what? He was ready for more too. He would show her how he was the true prankster of the snow.

"Alright, Rose. You want a fight?"

Lalonde said nothing, but took a wide-legged stance. She peered at him from beneath her pale bangs and her gloved hands flexed, prepared to grasp for ammunition.

A cold wind whistled through the yard and he felt as if it had suddenly snowed on an Old Western movie set; all that was missing was a tumbleweed and John was pretty sure it was just lost in the snow somewhere.

It all cracked down on who would make the first move as they stared each other down, standing shin deep in the snow. However, both refused to be the one to break the stillness and the minutes ticked by. Before long, an unannounced third opponent decided to do it for them.

"Gah!" John yelped when a rouge pile of snow assaulted him from above, having fallen from the yard's only tree.

He sulked and coughed, trying to recover from the cold mush that was seeping through his hair. Consequentially, however, that must have been the signal, for Rose was now on the move. She grinned impishly as she ducked to make her first snowball and he realized quite quickly that he was in the line of fire.

"H-hey! I didn't say go!"

"The tree did."

"Wait, what?"

Egbert didn't even have time to make a face before it was covered in snow. The force of impact knocked him back on his ass, but the feeling of cold seeping through his pants had him back on his feet in a heartbeat. He soon decided he was taking more than his fair share of the beating, while Rose stood unscathed and giggling at him from behind her white glove.

With intent, he scooped up a good handful of snow. "That's it, Lalonde. It's your turn."

"I haven't the slightest idea what you are talking about, John," she claimed innocently, before bolting without warning.

"H-hey! Get back here, missy!"

She only laughed and he did too as he briefly gave chase. He then threw his weapon once he was certain he had her in his aim. However, the girl tucked and rolled before flinging her own snowball in his direction. It seemed she was good, but so was he.

Their battle seemed to go on forever, but they didn't care. They were having way too much fun, even as they dragged in icy breaths and ignored the tingling of numbness in their fingers and toes. Finally, John went for the final blow, having gathered a huge snowball that he had to hold with both hands. He rushed over while she was distracted, but Rose knew him way too well.

Not about to let him win this, the blonde tackled him around the middle and sent them both stumbling backwards into the snow. Breathless, they laughed and rested in the white mush, effectively wiped out from their games.

"Fine..." John panted as Rose's weight laid on his chest. "Shall we consider it a draw?"

Lalonde rose carefully with a small, yet genuine smile, "Yes, let's," before kissing him square on the mouth.

His cold face instantly rose several degrees and lit up like the Christmas lights that decorated his house. But he had no time to ask questions, for she was quickly on her feet again. John followed her with his eyes before rolling back over and noticed his dad was standing in the open doorway.

"Come on, John," he called. "It looks like you two had a lot of fun, but it's time to warm up. I made hot chocolate for you both."

The concept of warmth and chocolate was more than enough to have him scrambling to his feet and hurrying after his friend, who still looked beautiful after that hard fought war. Hell, she would always look beautiful, he swore. She was Rose after all.

Realizing what he had been thinking, he tried to hide his red face. But once he was curled up under a blanket with Rose on the couch, a mug of hot chocolate for both of them, he decided it wasn't so bad. He even let himself snuggle a little closer, discreetly of course.

Rose did the same, however, and, soon, the night was perfect.