Snow arrived overnight, within a blink, replacing the warm autumn colours with a permanent monochrome chill. The world was either black with night or white with the snow of day and everything was cold.

Luhan was very excited to see the snow. Once he had looked out of the window, he immediately began to hurry to get outside. He grabbed his coat off of the hook by the front door. As he put it on, he noticed a hook with Xiumin’s red scarf that he must have left behind yesterday. He ran a gentle hand over it then pulled it carefully off the hook. It was very soft and Luhan knew that he wouldn’t mind if he wore it. After putting it on, he opened the door, locking it behind him. He shivered as he stepped out of the house and onto the pathway, his feet crunching under the snow. He yawned widely then blinked at the frozen world around him. Everything was covered in a layer of bright white and the sky was bold and blank to match. 

‘You should really cover your mouth when you yawn.’

A voice not far away sounded clearly above the silence of the icy forest and Luhan looked in the direction of the noise. His face lit up when he saw Xiumin perched in a tree, his cheeks rosy from the crisp winter air.

Xiumin jumped down to land in the deep snow just past his knees and walked up the gates. ‘Also, that is my scarf.’

‘Oh, am I not allowed to borro-’

‘No. You’re not.’

Luhan crossed the front garden and stood the other side of the gate, facing Xiumin and meeting his eyes.

‘Well, that is just too bad because I think I am going to keep it.’ He poked Xiumin’s chest through the bars of the gate and grinned.

Xiumin quickly bent down and grabbed some snow throwing it between the bars and straight into Luhan’s startled face before he could even react. Luhan pulled the gate open and threw himself into Xiumin, pushing him over into the snow and landing on top of him. Both of them ended up in fits of laughter and covered in snow.

After ending the fight with a truce, they decided to make their way down to the river to climb the pine. The walk was difficult through the deep snow but they were so engrossed in conversation that they hardly noticed.

They reached the clearing where the river was and came across a beautiful sight. The familiar sound of the rushing water was replaced by the deafening silence of the snowy world. The water had completely frozen over with the cold, a thick layer of ice now covering it. The pine tree was an immense snowy structure looming above them, like so many other trees there.

The first thing they had to see was the river. Xiumin hurried over with a long stick in his hand and knelt down to prod at the ice. It was solid.

Cautiously, he stood up and placed a foot on the ice, testing it to see if it would carry his weight. He then placed a second foot and stood completely still. Luhan followed him and soon they were skidding up and down the frozen river, their echoing laughter happily replacing the morbidity of the silence.

‘Can you do this?’ Xiumin challenged spinning messily on the spot.

Luhan copied with neater technique.

‘Okay, how about this?’ Xiumin said as he skidded on one foot, juddering slightly.

Luhan copied, again outdoing Xiumin’s moves.

Xiumin huffed and skidded away,

‘Fine,’ he said grumpily with crossed arms, ‘You win.’

Xiumin kept gliding away from Luhan until he reached the pine tree. A few of its lowest branches were stuck, frozen from where they had dipped into the water. He began to climb before Luhan could catch up with him. It wasn’t long before he reached the top and peered down at the tiny Luhan of the frosty floor beneath.

‘Xiu-miiiinnn,’ Luhan called up at him.

‘What?’ He called back.

‘Have you stropped off because I am better than you?’

‘Go away show-off!’

Luhan began to climb the tree and Xiumin turned his back on him, choosing to look out of the tree instead. It didn’t take long before Luhan reached Xiumin in the tree and he began to poke him repeatedly in the back of his ribs to get his attention.

‘Yah! Stop that!’ he snapped, turning around. Yet his anger immediately slipped away when he saw the face of the angel. Luhan’s cheeks were rosy from the cold and his large eyes glinted with innocence. How could he possibly be mad at that?

‘Don’t pull that face…’ he began, but it only made Luhan pull the face even more.

‘Ohhh, dammit Luhan –come here!’ Xiumin moaned.

Luhan placed himself on the branch, next to Xiumin, who wrapped an arm around him with a gentle huff. Luhan giggled and Xiumin squeezed him tighter.