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Viva loved lots of things. She loved strawberry milkshakes and candy necklaces and fresh fries. She loved braiding hair and surprise dance parties with Mr. Clay and her adorable baby sister. She loved so many things, but she thinks that she might love her boyfriend most of all.
They’d met in Pop Village. Viva was visiting her sister, finally taking her up on her offer to see Trollstopia after hearing so much about the project and her new best friends that she’d made from it. They’d been walking past the lake, laughing over a story about their dad and his million secrets, when something big shot up out of the water and landed at her feet in a lump.
“Ow.” The lump had said.
That lump had turned out to be the king of Techno, King Trollex. He laughed, said that Synth had gotten a little too excited to see him and had flung him with a whirlpool, and started to pull himself up off the ground.
“Aww, lemme help you.” Viva had said, grabbing Trollex by under his armpits and lifting him to his feet (or rather his flippers) with ease. The guy barely weighed anything!
Trollex had stared at her with wide eyes and flushed cheeks for just a beat too long before stammering out his thanks.
The rest after that was history, and now she had a very adorable boyfriend who she loved so much. She loved his cute freckles. She loved the way the thumping heart on his chest sped up when he looked at her. She loved the way he bounced around a rave, the absolute life of the party. She loved him so much.
What she didn’t love, however, was how stubborn he could be when he got an idea in his mind!
“C’mon, it’ll be fun!” Trollex said, floating through Viva’s house, following her along as she sorted through her candy piles.
It was winter in the golf course, which meant piles of thick, fluffy snow that Viva loved to play in when she didn’t have work to do. Trollex was very aware of this fact, and had suggested the two go outside to play around for a bit during one of his very rare visits (the cons of being leaders being that it made meeting up very difficult). If Trollex were anyone else, she would have accepted in a heartbeat and raced them to see who could make the most snow angels.
Trollex was not anyone else though, he was his (very loveable) self, which was not usually a problem…
…except Techno Trolls and cold temperatures went about as well together as strawberries and mustard. Viva could say from experience of both scenarios that that was a bad combo.
“Mhm, for all of two minutes, until you pass out in the snowbank and I have to carry you back inside.” Viva replied, not even bothering to look up from where she was stacking Pez candies.
“I think I can last a little longer than that,” He said, “And besides, you can pick me up no problem, so is it really a big deal if you have to carry me back?”
“Oh, so this is just an excuse to have me carry you again.” She teased.
“No, because I’m totally not gonna pass out in the snow! I wouldn’t suggest this if I didn’t have a super great plan that was totally foolproof.”
Viva grabbed a sucker, tossing it so it did a flip in the air and catching it in her hand as she leaned against the shelf, “Alright, you have my attention. Let’s hear this great plan of yours.”
“I can do you one better! I can show you my super great plan.” Trollex said, “Just uh, close your eyes real quick.”
She rolled her eyes and smiled, “Alright, let’s see this amazing plan.” She closed her eyes and covered them with her hands.
“Okay, one second.” He quickly added, “And no peeking!”
There was a shuffling sound, like the sound of a heavy blanket, then a loud crash. Before Viva could ask if Trollex was okay he quickly shouted, “I’m okay! All part of the plan.”
“I’m beginning to have doubts about this plan.” She said with a smirk.
“Trust me, it’s a really good plan. It’s Poppy approved, so if you don’t trust me, trust Poppy.”
“Going behind my back and conspiring with my sister, how very devious of you.”
Trollex grunted like he was struggling with something, then let out a relieved sigh, “Whew, okay. You can open your eyes.”
Viva uncovered her eyes, greeted to the sight of Trollex posing with his arms out. He was now decked out, head to flipper, in wool knit clothes. A sweater with a star on it, a pair of rainbow mittens, socks that went all the way up his flippers and a green hat with a purple puffball at the top. “Pretty great, right?” He asked, pride seeping into his voice.
She squealed, “Aww, you look so cute in your sweater! We’re matching now!”
“I told you it was a great plan!”
“It’s definitely better than I thought it was going to be.”
“With all of this, I will stay warm and toasty while we enjoy the snow, which means there’s no reason why we can’t go out and play for a bit.” He said.
“So instead of accepting that I said we can just sit inside and drink hot cocoa and listen to old BroZone mix tapes, you got some grandma to knit you an entire wardrobe?” Viva asked, flicking the puff ball on his hat.
Trollex blushed and rubbed the back of his neck nervously, “Okay so I can’t really take full credit for the idea. Branch said he was worried about me coming to visit you during the winter, so he made me this stuff so I could keep warm and also play outside in the snow with you.”
“Branch did?” She asked.
“He said he’s trying new hobbies.”
Viva hummed, then remembered she had a sucker and chomped down on it. Instantly she felt the buzz of sugar-induced energy buzz under her skin. “Alright, I accept this plan, with one teensie weensie adjustment to it.”
“What’s that?”
Viva walked over to her hat rack and pulled off a scarf, wrapping it around Trollex’s neck and ensuring it covered his mouth and nose, “There, now you’re perfect.” She paused, staring at him, “One second.” She pulled the scarf down and gave him a quick peck on the lips, then moved the scarf back. “Okay, now you’re perfect.”
Viva put on a hat and a pair of gloves, then walked out into the winter wonderland that was the golf course. She loved how the golf course looked in winter, with a hefty layer of snow on top of everything. The lights of the course would reflect off the snow, making the whole place look magical.
Trollex was trailing behind her, floating in the air. He looked silly (and cute) all bundled up like that, but hopefully it would help him enjoy the snow for once. It must be so sad to see all this white, fluffy snow and not be able to play in it!
“Wanna see who can make the most snow angels?” Trollex asked.
“You read my mind, cutie pie.” Viva said, then dropped down and began making her first snow angel before Trollex had a chance to react.
Trollex followed quickly after, flapping his arms and kicking his flippers. Viva would never ever tell him this… but he was so bad at making snow angels. It wasn’t his fault! It wasn’t like they got snow in Techno Reef, and up until this point Trollex would fall asleep as soon as he touched snow, so he was lacking in experience… but still. He didn’t even kick his flippers the right way to make the dress of the angel, he kicked them straight up in the air!
Viva quickly stood up and moved to a fresh patch of snow, dropping down to make another angel. When she looked over at Trollex, he was totally cheating by floating up when he finished so that he didn’t have to stand up and trudge through the snow to a fresh patch of snow!
After a few minutes, Viva called out, “Okay, freeze! Time to see who had the most!”
Trollex floated up and began counting his snow angels, “Okay, I had fifteen!”
“...six, seven, eight– what?! Fifteen?! Aww, I only had eight!” Viva pouted.
Trollex whooped and pumped a fist in the air, “I am the snow angel king!”
“Alright Mr. Snow Angel King, how are you feeling? Cold at all?” She asked worriedly.
Trollex waved a hand dismissively, “Oh, psht, not even close! I’m all warm in my sweater.”
“If you say so.” She said, packing a small snowball together. She set it down and began to roll it around in the snow, watching it gain size quickly. It was already up to her knees and getting hard to push by herself. Thankfully Trollex had been watching her with curiosity in his eyes, and he rushed over and began to help her push.
Once that snowball was up to her chest, Viva stopped pushing and started a new snowball. This one she rolled only until it reached her knees, then she hefted it up onto the other snowball. She rolled one last snowball, this one only about as big as a melon, then picked it up and handed it to Trollex.
“Cutie pie, can you float up there and add the head?”
Trollex held the head in one hand and saluted with the other, “Right away!” He floated upwards a foot or so and set the head on top of the pile. “So what is this?”
“It’s a snowman! He just needs a little bit of…” She reached under her hat and dug around in her hair, pulling out a handful of candy. “Aha!”
A piece of liquorice for the mouth, some gumdrops for the nose and buttons, and two peanut butter cups for the eyes! She handed them to Trollex and watched as her snowman came to life—sadly not literally. Wouldn’t that be really cool if it did though? It’d be so neat to have a snowman friend, but he wouldn’t do well when spring arrived, so maybe it was best that her snowman hadn’t come to life.
There weren’t any branches around for the arms, so Viva took out two of her sticky hands and hung one from each side. They dangled down, just barely brushing the ground they were so long.
She took a few steps back and admired their handiwork, “He’s perfect!”
“He has your smile.” Trollex said with a laugh.
“He has your big eyes.” Viva grabbed his hand, “Are you still warm?”
“I’m fine, Viva! Now, let’s see if we can make Beat Drop Button next!”
Trollex and Viva began pushing snow up into a square shape, patting it to smooth out the sides and faces. Once it was somewhat of a rounded square Trollex carved out a face into the front of it. It was really lopsided, and Beat Drop Button’s eyes were drastically different sizes, but the resemblance was definitely there.
“How about now? Are you still warm?”
“Yes!” Trollex said, exasperated, “I’m fine! And you know what else?”
“Wha–”
“Splat!”
A snowball hit her square in the face, and she reached a hand up to brush the snow off. “Oh, it’s like that, is it? Cutie pie, you’ve got a storm coming.”
Viva quickly grabbed a handful of snow and packed it into a ball, launching it at Trollex. He floated to the right, and Viva was quick to launch another snowball that hit him in the side of his head.
Trollex squealed, rushing for cover, but other than their snow creations, there wasn’t much cover to be had. Trollex threw a snowball at Viva, which went sailing past her head, then began quickly pushing snow up into a pile.
Viva took shelter behind their snowman, throwing another snowball at Trollex, this time getting him right in the face.
“Payback!”
“You’re cheating!” He yelled back.
“You’re cheating by flying!”
He threw a snowball that harmlessly hit the snowman, “It’s not flying, it’s floating! There’s a difference!”
Viva threw another snowball, but Trollex had very quickly constructed a snow wall that was protecting him. “Come out of the snow wall with your hands up and nobody gets hurt!”
A snowball came flying over the wall, landing at her feet.
She laughed, “Hah! You missed! Surrender now and I am willing to negotiate for cuddles and a warm cup of cocoa.”
She waited for his retort, but nothing came. No joke, no funny one liner, not even a snowball.
“Trollex?” Viva slowly came out from behind the snowman and took a few steps towards the wall, “Cutie pie?”
She nervously walked around to the other side of the wall, waiting for a surprise ambush that never came. Instead she peeked around the wall to see Trollex slumped over, face first in the snow, snoring lightly.
“I told him.” She tsked.
She gathered up her boyfriend in her arms and carried him back to her cozy little corner of the golf course, depositing him on the bed and tucking him in under her thick winter blankets. She briefly left him alone to make two cups of hot cocoa, then returned to the bed. She sat Trollex’s cup down on the bedside table for when he woke up, then took a sip of her own before sitting it down next to his. She lifted Trollex’s head up and moved him onto her lap, slipping his hat off and running her hands through his hair.
She’d rate that plan a solid 8/10. Maybe she’d rank it higher once her boyfriend woke up, but for now she was content to pet his head as she hummed BroZone songs.