Work Text:
Snow crunched under his boots as Milford Meanswell made his way towards the sports fields. He found Stephanie lying on the ground, staring blankly up at the grey clouds. It had stopped snowing a little while ago but the sky still looked threatening.
Milford gulped at he got closer. He was clutching a card which had been opened before he got to it. Tugging nervously at his scarf with his free hand, Milford stood over his niece.
“Er, hello there, Stephanie!”
She didn’t turn towards him, “Hello.”
Milford dropped the fake cheer, “I see you read your parents’ letter.”
“Yeah.”
“They, um, can’t make it up this year.”
“Again,” Stephanie added bitterly, “I knew it. They never come.”
Her expression stayed blank, apathetic, but Milford could see tears pooling. His heart ached at the sight of her disappointment.
For lack of any better idea, he sat in the snow next to her and lay down. “I’m truly sorry, Stephanie.”
“S’not your fault.” She rubbed at her eyes with a mittened hand.
Milford was tempted to add “Maybe next year!” But that would just give her false hope. Stephanie didn’t deserve that.
He wasn’t sure what to say. However, lying in the snow did give him an idea what to do. Milford shifted away from Stephanie and began waving his arms and legs up and down in the snow.
Stephanie sat up, finally looking at him, “What are you doing?”
“Well, we decorated Lazytown,” Milford explained with a goofy grin, “but we didn’t decorate out here! I thought some angels might do the trick. Want to help me?”
With a small smile, Stephanie lay back down and joined her uncle in covering the sports field in snow angels. The laughed and tossed snow at each other and drew halos over their angel imprints.
Over an hour later, after Stephanie made the final angel, Milford lead the way inside for hot chocolate.
Left on the field, beside the first snow angels, was the letter from her parents. Neither of them thought much about it for the rest of the day.