The Start of a Lovely F-f-friendship (Juney & Lei)

[Amos Freeman]

Amos's eyes swept over the Hammel grounds from his dorm room window. It had snowed again last night; several inches, in fact. The rolling hills were blanketed in it, and from this angle, it looked very pristine.

It made him want to ruin it a little.

He whipped his phone out of his pocket and composed a new text message to Juniper.

Let's go make a snowman

It took a few seconds, but his phone buzzed merrily in response. He checked the reply.

oooooh okay!! Um, can Lei come too? I don't want him to be lonely

Amos sighed. He re-read the message. He sighed again....

Sure. I'll be in the south yard in front of the pond

He supposed if they were going to have to start pretending to be friendly with each other, they should start as soon as possible. If he waited too long, the feeling of obligation might fade.

Fully bundled in a puffy jacket, gloves, and his penguin hat, he trudged out to meet his... friends.

[Juniper Birdsong]

Juniper had been working so diligently on a Christmas gift for Willow that she hadn't taken the time to look outside yet - it was very unusual for her to do so, but she needed to get the gift done before Christmas. She had just finished up the last of the sewing when her phone buzzed, and she glanced down to read the text Amos had sent.

Snowman!? She leapt out of her seat and peered outside, gasping in delight at the snow. It looked so perfect!

She quickly typed out a reply, pausing before she pressed send as the thought of Leiken popped into her head. This would be the perfect opportunity for them to try to be friends again, right? She added the question into her text and sent it off. She began to brush out her hair and dress in her warmer clothes, sending a quick text to Lei after getting the reply from Amos:

Hey, Amos and I are going out to build a snowman and have fun in the snow. Come join us! We'll be by the pond :]

She stuffed her feet into a pair of warm snow boots and headed out, skipping happily down the stairs and outside towards the pond. As she walked, she sent the wind into the snow, causing the fluffy white stuff to lift off of the ground and fall to the earth once more. It made her giggle, and she was still laughing and playing with the air as she reached the pond.

Seeing Amos there, she waved giddily, skipping over to give him a hug. "Hey!" she greeted him. "Lei should be here soon, I think. I sent him a text a few minutes ago." Her cheeks already had a happy flush on them, although whether that was from the cold or the mentioned name was hard to tell. "How are you?" she asked, bending down to pick up and handful of snow in her gloved hands.

[Leiken Chu]

Lei was curled up in blankets sitting infront of his computer. He'd been working on some things and ideas for others that would take place after the holidays, but that was another matter entirely. Lei wasn't feeling the greatest that day, but seeing that he had a text message from Jun had almost cheered him up.

However, then he read it.

A frown fell upon his lips at the thought that Amos would be there and a snowman? Lei could only imagine a life-sized man made entirely of snow.

To Princess:

Alright, i'll be there in a few.

He took the time to dress himself from head to toe in a large jacket, a scarf that would cover his face nearly completely, a pair of slacks, and his good boots. He would pick up two packages from a nearby mini tree on his desk, sliding them into a bag before he would head out to the pond.

The snow crunched beneath his feet, the soft sound of music echoed from his headphone's earbuds, but he pulled them out of his ears as he arrived closer to the pair. "Yo." he stated plainly as he looked to them both, then directly at amos, not saying anything more. Just staring awkwardly.

[Amos Freeman]

Amos had already started packing some snow together for a base when Juniper arrived. He gave her a small, wordless smile. It was freezing.

He plopped the large snowball down on a fresh snowy spot; much to his satisfaction, the snow was wet enough that it stuck together. He started rolling downhill.

"'M good," he called over to her, considering he was now a few feet away. "What about you? Did you, uh, get your presents done?"

He pulled the penguin hat over his ears more fully, wishing that he had worn some thermals or something.

At the sound of footsteps packing snow somewhere behind him, he peeked around.

Sure enough, there was Lei, staring at them creepily and wearing his scarf over his mouth like he was about to rob a bank.

"Hey," Amos said. As far as he was concerned, that was the extent of his duty. Juney could handle the rest. He resumed pushing the growing snowball.

"How big, do you th-think?" He called over to his best friend.

[Juniper Birdsong]

"Oooh, you already started," Juniper breathed, clapping her hands together excitedly. She couldn't wait - she hadn't built a snowman since last year, and she absolutely loved the snow.

"I'm great!" she replied, beginning to roll another ball of snow, though she planned on it being smaller than Amos's, as the middle section. "Yeah, I did! I just finished up Willow's this morning, so I'm all ready for Christmas." She loved the fact that her gifts were handmade - it made it seem so much more personal.

As she stopped talking she heard the same footsteps Amos did, and turned around to see Lei approaching. A smile lit up her face and she dashed over to him, giving him an enthusiastic but gentle hug, so as not to bump any remaining bruises that he might have. "Hey Lei!" she greeted him. "Thanks for coming out!"

She led him over to where she was rolling her own ball of snow, looking back at Amos as he questioned her. "Hmm," she mused, biting her lip. "As big as you can make it!" she decided with a laugh. She continued rolling out the ball of snow she was working on, heading towards Amos as she looked back over at Leiken. "You've built a snowman before, right?" she asked, realizing she shouldn't necessarily assume that he had. "You can work on the head, if you'd like!"

Juniper hadn't missed the very few words that had passed between the two boys, and hoped that once they started working, they might warm up a little more to each other. "After we build the snowman and make snow angels or whatever, we can go inside and have some tea," she suggested to them both, shooting them both looks out of the corner of her eye as she began to struggle to push the snow. She was so small, and not very strong, and she didn't think she would be able to get is as big as she liked without help. Darn.

[Leiken Chu]

"No problem." He stated from behind that scarf. Stepping over toward them though he observed Amos for a moment. As he reached Juniper he'd pull his scarf down for a moment, leaning to her, pressing his lips softly against her cheek. "Thanks for inviting me along." He told her gently before wrapping the scarf back around his face.

He took a wrapped present out of the bag, it wasn't very large, but given his financial crisis currently he didn't have much of a choice. He hoped she would like it either way. The present inside the box was a small snow glob that had a silver base, it played the song from beauty and the beast that played during the ballroom dance, inside was a couple ice scating. Instead of snow falling when it was shook small star shaped material would glitter down like falling stars. It wasn't much but it had meaning to him and he hoped she would understand.

Though he was not done with all of that right then, awkwardly, he took a slender and flatter package from the bag. Holding it out toward Amos. Though he didn't say anything, he simply held it out to the other man, expecting him to take it.

Inside Amos' package was a leather-bound notebook. Inside of the notebook he had placed a folded piece of paper with a rabbit drawing on it that was drawn by hand that said 'hoppy holidays.' A peace offering perhaps? or maybe a tease? who knew.

[Amos Freeman]

Amos realized what was about to happen mere moments before it did, and he turned back to his snowball so that he wouldn't have to watch it. He didn't think he could handle that yet.

It was a process.

When he could no longer push the giant snow mound by himself, he turned to rest against it and realized that Lei was holding something out to him silently.

Since he had turned away, he had nearly missed it.

"Oh, er," he said quietly. "Um, you didn't... I mean... you didn't have to."

He was kind of shocked that the other boy had thought of him at all. He felt a little guilty that he hadn't considered the same thing.

He rubbed his gloves together to get the packed snow off of them. He didn't want it to melt on the paper and get it all wet.

"Th-thanks," he said finally. He tucked it into his jacket; he would open it when his hands were drier.

He looked back at the snowman base he had made; it came up to roughly his waist. He looked at the snowball that Juney was pushing, motioning to the other boy and pointing to it.

He hadn't said whether or not he had ever made a snowman. The look on his face implied, to Amos, that whole concept was a little lost on him.

"If you, um, help us lift this onto that, we can make the head next," he said. "I brought two prunes and a carrot."

[Juniper Birdsong]

Juniper gazed up at Lei as he approached her, letting out a giggle as he pulled back his scarf to give her a sweet kiss on the cheek. "Any time," she replied. "I'm glad that we can all get together to do something fun," she added, making a small emphasis on the 'all'.

"Oooh," she breathed as he pulled out a wrapped package, taking it into her hands carefully. "Thank you so much, Lei! I can open it later - I have your gift, and Amos's, in my room. We can open them all together later, if you'd like." She watched as he handed Amos a gift as well, her smile widening at the gesture. She went to put the package carefully in her bag, before going over to them again.

"Oh, that looks good, Amos!" she told him, nodding approvingly. She gave him a grin before looking over at her own snow ball, which was probably a little over half of the size of Amos's, and then up at the two boys again. "We might need to all work together to lift it," she replied. "It's gonna be heavy."

"You did?" Juniper asked Amos, smacking her head lightly. "I didn't even think to bring them. It's a good thing you did, otherwise our snowman would be faceless!" And that just wouldn't be right! She went over to the smaller mound of snow, glancing at them both and motioning to it. "So, can we do it?" She bent in preparation to offer what little help she could, shoving her hands underneath the snow and waiting.

[Leiken Chu]

Lei gave an awkward nod when the other man took the present and tucked it away for the time being. He didn't really expect him to really open it honestly. Though who knows? Maybe he would one day. Either way he was trying to make an effort just for jun's sake.

He didn't want to see her cry because of their dislike for one another.

"okay.." he stated with a confused expression. Two prunes and a carrot? They were making the snowman anantomically correct? Well, he didn't mind that really, but wouldn't it have been more appealing if they actually made it out of snow too?

"A gift for me?" he questioned with surprise to Jun. Seeming a little surprised that anyone had even got him a present. He felt a little touched. Lei didn't understand any of this, but he nodded to her. "We can. Just lift with your legs, not your backs, I'm not strong enough to carry anyone to the nurse." he muttered as he moved to the snow ball. Waiting for the others to join him in lifting it.

[Amos Freeman]

Amos looked off to the side a little uncomfortably. He had Juney's present ready, but he hadn't gotten Lei anything. He didn't want to tell them that after Lei had already handed him a gift.

"Er, I haven't, um, wrapped mine yet," he murmured. "Sorry. Um, after New Hampshire, if you guys don't mind... I'll have them...."

What the hell he would even buy for the other boy was the more pertinent question. He didn't know anything about what Lei liked other than Juniper, kissing, and sex. The former was not under his jurisdiction and the latter two were, of course, out of the question.

He pondered this, then shook it out of his mind and turned his attention back to the snowman.

"Okay, one... two... th-three," he stammered, lifting the large snowball from the bottom and scurrying with some difficulty over to the massive one. They plopped it on top, and Amos busied himself with packing the snow around the junction between them.

It was a little crooked, but it would be fine.

To be fair, it was a fantastic snow peanut.

"Okay, um, we should... I guess... make the face now."

He looked at Lei expectantly. He was the only one who hadn't rolled any snow yet.

[Juniper Birdsong]

"Of course that's okay, Amos!" Juniper chirped, smoothing off some of the unneeded snow from her part of the snowman. "Christmas isn't about materialistic things, after all, it's about being with those you care about." Of course, that didn't stop her from making gifts for her friends, but still. "Yes," she replied a little shyly to Lei's question. "I made it, too, so I hope you like it."

"Legs, not back~" she repeated in a sing-songy voice, waiting for Amos's count before lifting with all of her (little) might, shuffling her feet through the snow to place it on the larger ball of snow. Why hadn't she gotten it closer? Oh well. As soon as she let go of her handle on it, she accidentally misjudged her balance and slipped backwards and landed with a small 'oof' on her butt, sinking a few inches into the snow.

She sat there for a stunned moment, before breaking into giggles. "Oops," she laughed, brushing snow off of herself. She glanced up at Amos as he spoke, then looked over at Lei as he did. "You should probably make it about half the size of the middle one," she suggested. Then, with another laugh, added,"And try to end it a little closer to the body so we don't have to carry it as far."

With that, she placed her hands behind herself and pushed herself out of the snow, using a breeze to help keep her from falling over again as she caught her balance. Once complete, she gave them both an embarrassed grin.

[Leiken Chu]

"You don't have to." He assured him. Knowing that usually when someone said they hadn't finished wrapping this late it meant that they'd yet to purchase a gift. Though it was only an assumption. Though when Jun said she made his gift his cheeks turned beat red over the edge of his scarf. He was thankful it hid the cheesy and awkward grin that had spread his lips.

he lfited with them, stacking the snow ball ontop of the others, though he felt as if he hadn't done much of anything given the fact that he was likely weaker than them both physically. Though lei made a startled sound when Jun fell to the ground. He had started to ask her if she was okay when she raised herself up a bit. "Careful not to blow away, Princess, I'll have to tie a string to you if you start to." he told her in a joking tone.

He hadn't really been paying attention to what he was supposed to make so he assumed they meant the part he knew about the most. "okay." he replied before sitting in the snow infront of the snowman. Gathering a pile of snow splatting it against the base of the snow man. He began to shape out male genitals in the snow of course and once he'd finished he would stand up. Rubbing his head a bit. "How's that?" he asked with bits of snow in his hair at that point.

[Amos Freeman]

Amos couldn't suppress a laugh as Juney fell backward, shaking his head. He made to offer her his hand, but she picked herself up before he had the opportunity.

"Doooooofus," he teased, grinning. "Now you're gonna have to change pants."

Lei bent down to start forming something in the snow, and Amos was slightly relieved. Maybe he was normal after all, he thought. Everybody loved snowmen. Surely there was no possible way that Lei could make it awkward and inappropriate.

"Er," said Amos.

He allowed himself a moment to marvel at how realistic it was, but on the other hand....

Amos thought it was a little on the big side, especially considering the wind chill.

"So, right, uh, anyway, that's," he tried again. "Good. I guess."

There was a long, awkward pause.

"Juney, make the head?" Amos pleaded.

[Juniper Birdsong]

Juniper was glad to see that the boys seemed to be getting along. She couldn't help but wonder what Amos had gotten for Lei, since she had gone along with the belief that he just hadn't wrapped it yet. A happy smile lit up her face - well, that was, until she fell backwards into the snow.

"Meanie," she replied sticking her tongue out at Amos. She stood and winced slightly as she felt the dampness in her pants. "Ehhh.... I can deal with it. Just don't stare at my butt, okay?" She was talking to both of them. Juniper shot a look at Lei, giggling lightly. "I'll try not to," she promised.

She watched a little curiously as Lei seemed to move to the base of the snowman, and while he worked on that she went to a nearby group of trees to gather some sticks for the arms and such. When she came back, Lei was just finishing up, although what it was... She was a little confused at first.

He hadn't made the head. He made....

Her eyes widened with shock and the sticks sort of fell out of her hands as her fingers went a little limp. "Er, um," she replied. Unlike Amos, she wasn't exactly familiar with that part of a male's anatomy, so she had no idea whether it was really anatomically correct or not.

"That's... Yeah," she replied weakly, going to gather up the sticks and place them next to Amos before she nodded at him and went to roll out the head. She was finished in a few moments and, with great care and effort, lifted it up to place on top of the middle part of the body. With that complete, she took two of the sticks and poked them onto either side of the snowman, before looking to Amos once more as a silent offer to let him finish the face.

"Well... At least Dr. Neville might be impressed with the accuracy," she finally said into the awkward silence. After another moment, she broke into uncontrollable laughter, wrapping an arm around Lei's and pressing her forehead against his shoulder. "You've never made a snowman before, have you?" she asked, still giggling.

[Leiken Chu]

"Stare at your butt? Okay." He stated staring toward her butt for a moment. Though he looked back to her a moment after laughing softly. His eyes squinting slightly as he did so. Though the actual smile was hidden behind his scarf.

"Tch. Who cares about that prick." he stated aloud. Perhaps it wasn't the best time to be spiteful, but he couldn't help it. He gave an embarrassed sound as he lowered his hand as he felt her pressing to his shoulder. "Hnn Is it that obvious?" He asked before looking toward Amos.

"See? Better than using two prunes and a carrot. Prunes are two wrinkled and carrots are to pointy. Have you ever looked at yours?" he questioned with a raised brow.