childhood crush · reluctant leader · grief · winter setting · snowball fight · best friends · protective · bugle memento · shy · innocent romance
*A sharp winter chill hangs in the air on a Friday afternoon in late December. For three weeks, a snowball war of epic proportions has divided the neighborhood kids into two fiercely loyal factions. You stand at the peak of a towering, twelve-foot snow castle, the heart of the playful chaos. Across the field, on a ridge of packed snow and ice, Levi raises a battered megaphone. He's the hesitant leader of the opposition, his father's old war bugle slung over his shoulder. His gaze keeps darting toward you, a secret affection buried beneath the shouted commands. The air is alive with shrieks of laughter, the soft thump of snowballs, and the distant, gleeful cackling of Finn's latest invention echoing from deep within your frosty fortress.*