Work Text:
Atlas training had been exhausting, from shadowing the Ace Ops to constant training, it was difficult to get decent sleep, let alone spend time with one another. Tonight was an easy night to sleep, the snow fell quite heavy outside, the wind adding to the peaceful white noise, Blake slept like a baby.
At least, before feeling Yang squeeze her arm awake, purple shimmering in her eyes,
“Have you ever built a snowman?”
Blake groggily blinked herself awake, “Menagerie never had snow fall, so no.”
Yang got up and tossed Blake her jacket, she chuckled to herself as she got out of bed to put it on. “Yang, It’s almost 2 in the morning.”
“I’m well aware, Belladonna,” Yang smirked, already dressed to go out in her huntress jacket, “perfect time to go out and build a snowman.”
Inches of fresh snow had already settled in the courtyard, blanketing everything in pearly white, a haze of falling snow blurring their vision. The rectangular hedges outlining the pathways were squished under the weight. The fountain in the center indistinguishable from the white of the snow. Lights from the lampposts illuminated just enough to differentiate the shapes of the courtyard, symmetrical and tidy. The fluorescent humming of the lamps adding to the white noise of the winter wind and flurry. It was easily below freezing outside, but being next to Yang already made Blake feel warmer .
Yang began eyeing the area, before settling on a spot close to the entrance, near a lamppost and a corner to a pathway, with a small bench next to it. She grabbed Blake's hand and speed-walked to it, trying her best to stay stealthy .
“This is it, this is the perfect spot.” Yang turned to her partner, her nose and cheeks already tinted red.
Blake may have stared at her a little too long, the way the snowflakes hit Yang’s face before melting into her skin. She mentally shook her head, “Well, where do we start?”
“Hmm, I can start rolling the body. I’m not sure if we can manage a full blown snowman before we get caught, could you try finding some sticks and rocks?”
“Any shapes you want in particular?”
Yang rubbed her thumb and forefinger on her chin, pouting her lip and scrunching her nose, feigning thinking, before shooting Blake a finger gun. “Surprise me.”
Blake nodded, and headed off to work. Following the glow from the lamps, she headed for the fountain. A coat of snow filled the inside, and the Beowolf in the center was covered with inches of snow. Blake moved the snow close to the ground outside the fountain, feeling rocks and miscellaneous gravel between her fingers and in between her fingernails. Pulling handfuls of rocks at a time, her eyes caught on the shine of two rocks, which sparkled purple under the lamplight. She continued pulling more rocks out, of all different sizes and shapes, and placed them into her free arm, before covering her hole with snow. An effort to hide her tracks.
She swerved around, watching Yang hunched over in the ground, rolling a ball of snow, and sporadically lifting her hands and shaking them, grimaced, then rubbed them on the fur parts of her jacket, before resuming. A larger ball was already sitting next to the bench. She was a natural at this.
She returned to the spot, carefully dropping the rocks onto the bench. She ripped out a few dead branches from the bushes near them and put them on the pile. Yang approached carrying the smaller ball of snow in her arms, before dropping it atop the other one. She rubbed her hands together and breathed on them.
“Do you wanna help roll the head?” Yang asked, hands still in front of her mouth.
“Of course I would, It's just… I’ve never built one before.” Blake left Yang’s eye contact, scratching her neck and eyeing the base that Yang had left for them.
“It’s easy! Watch.” Yang took a few steps away from their spot, Blake close behind. Yang poked the snow and rubbed her fingers together. “You don’t want it to be too soft, or it’ll crumble as you roll, but not too hard that you can’t roll it at all in the first place. Here, I can start rolling and you can pick up after me.” She quickly grabbed a fistful of snow and squeezed it into a ball, dropping it back in the snow, rolling it a few times and watching the surrounding snow stick to it like a magnet. Blake paid close attention to her hands, the way they moved in muscle memory and delicateness. Not too weak to lazily push the ball around, but not too strong to break it. Just right .
Blake copied her, rolling the ball until it was about the size of a basketball. She picked it up and gently cradled it in her arms. “Is this fine?” She asked.
“It’s perfect.” Yang’s expression softened, meeting her eyes, not even checking the snowball.
The two walked back to the spot, Blake gingerly placing the head onto the body. It wasn’t as big as she expected, barely reaching above her knee at best, but they weren’t here to stick around for too long. “You can do the honors of adding the eyes first,” Yang said. Blake looked into the pile, and pulled out the two rocks that shimmered in the light before, and placed them in. As she moved her head, the purple shimmer moved. Yang took out two somewhat pointy rocks, and placed them atop the snowman’s head. The two added teeth and buttons wordlessly, enjoying the presence of the other.
After adding the arms, their work was done. They stood back to admire their work. Blake slid an arm around Yang’s waist, letting her head rest on her arm. “She has your eyes,” Blake said, barely a whisper. Yang exhaled sharply through her nose, dropping her head down atop Blake’s, wrapping herself around her neck, a grin spread on her face, “And she has your ears.”
The two stood there for what felt like hours, before Yang raised the question, “What’re we gonna name her?” Blake let the question hang for a while, deep in thought,
“I think we have time to figure that out.”