Work Text:
Winter was probably Leland's least favorite season. Not because of the snow, he loved that part, rather the fact that he had no one to throw the snow at. All because of that one time when he was seven and got invited to some snow ball fight, only for it to end in an argument and a fight. Which he won by the way, fair and square. Nobody really wanted to be his friend due to it and it only got worse once he got himself in more trouble with the adults. He didn't have any friends to do anything with.
So now he simply stared through the kitchen window as he loudly sighed for the twelve time in less than seven minutes. The outside was covered in a nice blanket of snow, perfect for a snow ball fight or a snowman but he would rather eat the snow than build a snowman. They were boring, took too long to make properly and were just stupid in his opinion. But other than the two activities, he didn't have any other one in mind, so he just stayed inside. When he started to sigh loudly again, his mom hit the counter with her hand that held the knife. He jumped and looked at her, her gray eyes staring at him with intense annoyance and frustration. "For the love of God Leland. Would you stop sighing like some goddamn abused puppy." "I'm sorry mama." He responded quietly and somewhat quickly. "Jesus Christ. You've been staring through that window like an idiot for the past half an hour. What? Want to freeze your ass out there?" She started to cut the veggies again. "No mama I just-" He tried to respond to her but was cut off. "Be my guest. Because if I have to hear one more sigh from you I swear."
Leland knew that tone well. Don't even say a word, otherwise it will be seen as you arguing back, so he just looked at the ground. His mother looked at him and put her hand on her hip. "I'm serious. You should go out there and get some fresh air, make some friends, anything! Not act like some bird in a cage." He knew she was serious when she said it. And he knew that meant him being out the house for few hours, no matter if he would freeze his ass out there or not. With that he went to his room, he knew he couldn't even stay in it because his mom would get pissed. "Get some fresh air." He muttered under his breath in a mocking tone as he dressed himself in something warm. Once he was done, he quickly went to put his boots on and open the front door but not before his mom's voice came out of the kitchen. "And don't cause any trouble. I don't want hear more shit from any of our neighbors." With that, he went outside and closed the door behind him.
Leland thought about what to do now. He could simply annoy the cattle, but he learned his lesson when one of them kicked him a month or so ago and it still hurt just thinking about it. And even if he stayed on the farm, there wasn't much to do. The only thing left to do was to just go out and to town, so he did just that. He didn't even bother calling out to say where he was going, his parents would still know where he went. This wasn't the first time he did something like this after all. The snow crunched under his boots as he walked, his arms held closely to his chest as few people walked around him, not at all paying attention to him or where he's going. His hand scratched his nose as he sighed. Few kids were out but they were already hanging out with each other and he knew they wouldn't allow him to join. "Bastards..." He muttered under his breath at two boys who were currently making snow angels. Everyone was having fun and he was left in boredom.
He picked up some snow from under him as he molded it into a ball, looking around for something to throw it at. A fence, someone's house or even their mailbox would be good but he didn't throw it anything, just holding onto it as he kept moving it around in his hands. He just kept walking around before he noticed something from the side of his vision. A girl. She was building a snowman but only had the lower part of the body finished. He didn't remember seeing her around that much, probably the new person that his parents mentioned moving into this town. Something about her dad being a dentist and his own father's comment about them being from a big city and being Jewish. She didn't notice him staring as she started with the chest.
He stood there, staring, as an idea suddenly popped up in his mind. His eyes looked down at the snowball that was in his hand, back at her and few more times as a big smile appeared on his face. It was a funny idea, a great idea to him as a little welcome to the town for her. The smile turned to a toothy grin as he adjusted his position and threw the snowball right at her, not even thinking about where it would hit her.
It was pure coincidence that it hit her in the face, unsurprisingly startling her before he started to laugh. The laughter was loud as he pointed at her. This was the most amusing thing to him right now, simply because of how startled and scared she looked. But the laughter would immediately die the moment he suddenly felt something hit his own face, immediately feeling the coldness coming from it. That made him jump and try to get rid of the cold feeling from his face as he heard giggles. It was the girl, and she was holding her hand over her mouth as to not laugh too loudly.
Leland simply stood there before he frowned at that. He didn't like that. Was it in some way hypocritical of him to hate the feeling of the snow on his face while the girl laughed at him when he did the same? Maybe. But he didn't care. He hated the fact that she kept giggling like some idiot for doing that to him, he hated the fact that he got snow thrown at his face. And before he could think twice he quickly picked up some snow and threw it at her in frustration, which made the girl stop laughing and do the same to him. They both saw this completely differently. Leland was doing this due to pure anger and frustration, and the emotion showed greatly on his face, while the girl kept smiling and laughing a bit, finding fun and amusement in it. To her it was just a game, to him it was a war. And a war that he had to be the winner of otherwise it would make more frustrated and embarrassed over losing to a... A girl! They both ran around the place, hiding and throwing the snowballs at each other. But after a while, they both seemed tired from it.
He was sitting on the ground, his back resting against one of the sides of the girl's house, trying to catch his own breath. He could feel just how cold his nose and cheeks were, both from the wind and from the snow. His brain didn't even register the snow crunching under someone before the girl's voice spoke up, making him jump. "That was fun!" Her voice was slightly high pitched and he could tell that she was taller than him even if he was sitting. Curse the girls and the fact that they were the first ones to get taller. "Yeah... Sure was." He spoke with annoyance and a smile but it seemed like the girl didn't notice the tone, or simply didn't care. "I'm Phyllis Futterman." Phyllis stretched her hand out for a handshake which he simply stared at. "What about you?" He looked back at her when she asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "... Leland Coyle." Her hand was still held out but she put it down once she realized he wouldn't shake it.
"You're... You're new here, right?" He asked. "Yeah! My daddy thought this place would be better for business, you know." That caught his interest, just slightly though. "Business? What, like fixing teeth and stuff?" "Well yeah. He's a good dentist after all. But I think there might be something more to it but." She shrugged at the last part. Silence followed between the two, neither of them knowing what to say. He kicked the snow away when Phyllis spoke up again. "You want to help me build a snowman?" That made him frown. "A snowman? Seriously?" His annoyance was even more evident. But to his small suprise, she simply nodded. "I started building it before you threw that snowball at me, which wasn't nice that you threw it at my face," he rolled his eyes at that, "but I'll look past that. Soooo.... You want to help me?" She stretched her hand again, wanting to help him get up from his position. He stared at the hand again. He didn't want to build a dumb snowman, but he didn't vocalize it surprisingly enough. But even more surprisingly, he took her hand and got up. "Fine. I'll help you with it." That made her smile and she walked towards the lower part of the snowman's body while holding his hand.
He didn't know why he went with it, probably because he didn't have anything better to do and could terrorize her a bit more but he didn't do that. Surprisingly, he actually just did what was needed, helping her roll the snow to make a big ball while half listening to her talking about her dad, helping her put it onto the bigger ball and before either of them knew it, it was finished.... Expect for the face. They didn't have a carrot, or even rocks to make his buttons so it was just a faceless snowman with no accessories. Still, it wasn't as boring or as bad as he thought. It was actually... Fun. But he wouldn't admit to anyone ever. She giggled again, which made him turn to her. "You like to giggle a lot, huh." That made her turn to him with a smile. "I just had a lot of fun. None of the kids really wanted to play with me before, so this was nice." Ah. So both of them weren't exactly popular around the other kids. Before he could respond to her, a raspy, unwelcoming voice came from the front door.
"Phyllis. Who is that?" A tall skinny man stood there, one of his hands behind his back as he had a frown on his face. The line between his eyebrows was extremely noticeable, as if his face only knew how to frown. Leland strangely didn't feel comfortable, something bothering him about the man. "It's... It's just my new friend Leland, daddy..." A friend was an over exaggeration to him but he didn't interrupt. The man simply hummed and immediately responded. "Leland, I think you should go home now. It's getting late and colder. Don't want you to get sick, do we?" A smile appeared on her father's face, a smile that only made him even more uncomfortable. "Of course... Bye, Phyllis. See you later or whatever." Leland walked off as Phyllis walked inside her house. His hands were held close to his chest as he finally came home, only to notice his mother right in the front door, her hands folded in front of her with a frown on her face. He simply looked down as he walked towards her, knowing damn well that she would question him about why he was this long outside. If she didn't start screaming at him first that is.