"Alright, in five, four, three, two-"
"One!" Skye yelled out, starting the game. She immediately took control, pushing her teammates to get their heads in the game. "Go, go, go!"
While Hunter hid behind a car and made snowballs for his teammates, Skye and Nini used all their might to throw the snowballs as best as they could, seeing as the distance between their side of the street and Levi's side made it more difficult to aim correctly. Nonetheless, the two girls would pull through.
In a surprise attack, Danny throws a snowball right at his girlfriend, hitting her right in the forehead. Nini lets out a gasp, now angry at her beloved man. "Baby, how could you!"
"I'm sorry, I-" Danny began as he immediately felt bad, but Nini thought that if he would play dirty, then so would she. She then throws a massive snowball at his face with no hesitation, knocking him out cold, quite literally. Danny falls to the ground, meaning he was out of the game, which left team Levi to only two of its members.
"And he's down!" Skye cheers. She goes for a victory throw, feeling lucky by aiming at Levi, but he ducks down and avoids getting hit. It would've been a really good hit if he managed to not see it coming, but unfortunately, he did.
"Dammit!" She cursed.
The game continued with team Levi having two people and team Skye still having its original three, but that would soon change as Levi aims for Skye, hitting her back, which pissed her off as she didn't want her hair to get messed up.
"Hey, watch the hair, watch the hair!" Skye yelled.
"Yeah, dude, watch the ha-" Xavier said, completely distracted, which gave Hunter the opportunity to kick Xavier out of the game.
Hitting Xavier's ear, Skye high five's Hunter, taking a premature victory. "Nice, Hunter!"
"I'm not down yet!" Xavier yelled out, throwing a snowball at a now distracted Hunter, who couldn't stand the cold any longer.
"Shit, that's cold!" He complained, then immediately gave up. "Screw this, I surrender."
"What? No!" Skye pouted. Now both teams were even, but Skye had a plan down her sleeve, one that Nini would immediately be down with.
"Just me and you, girl," Nini said as they hid behind the car.
"Don't worry, I have a plan," Skye assured her. "You go sneak to the other side and pull a sneak attack on Xavier while I try to get Levi from the open."
"I'm on it." She replied, then began to walk down the line of parked cars, crouching as she snuck along.
Skye, who hid snowballs in her hood, walked out into the open, holding up her hands to convince Levi that she had nothing. "Uh, hey."
"What the hell is she doing?" Xavier furrowed his eyebrows. He was tempted to throw as many snowballs as possible at her, but Levi said it would be unfair to do so while she seemed to be empty-handed.
"I'm empty-handed, so no worries." She said.
"Why are you standing out in the street?" Levi asked.
"I thought we could make a deal." Skye lied, making sure to keep an eye out for Nini so she could drag out the act for as long as possible.
"What deal?"
"Since there's only two on each side left, we can call it a tie?" She fake proposed.
"A tie?" Levi raised an eyebrow, then immediately shook his head no. "No way, Simmons."
"Really?" Skye questioned.
"Really." He replied.
Eyeing Nini successfully crossing the street, Skye puts down the act, giving them the real show that she had planned all along, confusing the shit out of Levi and Xavier. "Good, cause that was all bullshit."
"What-"
Nini attacks Xavier, who screams and immediately accepts defeat as he couldn't bear Nini repeatedly throwing snowballs at him. "I'm down, I'm down!"
Levi immediately sees what's going on, but Skye was already one step ahead of him, pulling out a snowball from her hood and getting perfect aim to his face, which takes him by surprise. Seeing as there was no way he could win now, Levi pretends to make a dramatic fall, obviously making sure he didn't mess up his shoulder any further.
Skye furrows her eyebrows in confusion, unsure of what was going on from behind the car. "Is he down?"
Nini looks over at Levi, who nods at her as a way of saying he's accepted defeat. "He's down!"
"And we have a winner!" Skye exclaims, jumping up and down in a moment of joy. Nini immediately runs to her, wrapping her arms around Skye and jumping and down with her. Hunter tries to join in on the celebration, but the two girls push him away as he didn't contribute much to the game before surrendering like a chicken.
Levi stands up, watching how Skye happy was with a smile on his face. To be honest, he didn't really care that much about winning. Just seeing the pure joy in Skye's face made him feel like a winner already, even if she didn't have a clue whatsoever.
Levi walks over to Skye, who was just finishing up her celebration, congratulating her on her team's win, which would've happened whether Levi surrendered at the end or not, by the way. She and Nini kicked ass together.
"Nice job." He said.
After seeing Levi, Nini immediately goes to give them their moment, walking over to Danny who was ready to apologize his ass off, but Nini was too happy about her win to care about it. Besides, he didn't really hurt her, so it wasn't a big deal.
"Hey," Skye said, still grinning from before. "I didn't hurt you too bad, right?"
"Nah, my face is just very cold now." Levi chuckled.
"Thank god. I'll help your face get warm though." She replied, getting on her tiptoes to hold Levi's face with her hands. The gesture made Levi's heart beat rapidly, but as much as he loved what was happening, Skye's gloves were soaking wet from the snow, only making the cold feelings on Levi's face worse.
"Um, your gloves are cold and wet from the snow." He said.
"Sorry!" Skye exclaimed, immediately retracting her hands and shoving them in her pockets. "I didn't realize."
"Hey!" Xavier called out, running towards them as he yelled for them. "Can we go back inside now?"
"Uh, yeah!" She replied. "Maybe we can make some hot chocolate?"
"We're living like The Polar Express! Let's go" He exclaimed, immediately getting excited at the thought of hot chocolate and running towards the front door.
Skye and Levi decided to not keep everyone waiting any longer by walking back to the house, Skye not forgetting to bring up her win once more. "So, do I get anything for winning?"
"I'll get you something," Levi smirked. Skye wasn't sure what it would be, but Levi definitely had an idea in mind.
"It better be good, Daniels, or I'm gonna have to kick your ass again." She threatened.
"Don't worry, it will be." He assured her.
Skye pulled out her key and unlocked the door, urging everyone to leave their wet boots by the door. "Leave your shoes at the door, people! I will not get in trouble because of y'all leaving wet footsteps on the floor!"
"You got it, boss," Levi said jokingly.
Everyone stepped in, immediately feeling much warmer compared to the outside. But when you're Xavier, a wave of heat was not enough for him. "Yo, where's the heat up in here?"
"There's a fireplace in the living-" Skye began.
"Say less." Xavier interrupted, walking to the living room with Danny, Nini, and Hunter following him.
"Want help making hot cocoa?" Levi asked Skye.
"Uh." She paused. "I guess I could use a little assistance."
While the two went to the kitchen and began prepping the hot chocolate, Hunter went up to Skye's dad, ready to kiss up to him by shoveling the driveway for free. "Hey, Mr. Simmons! Where's your shovel?"
Scott stood up, letting out a groan as he didn't really want to deal with Hunter, but he wanted to not have to do any work regarding the snow.
"Hold on, I'll show you where. I have a bag of salt if you could pour some salt as well."
"Aye, man. Anything for Skye, including the fam." Hunter said.
"Right..." Scott cringed, showing Hunter to the closet under the stairs. Skye eyed her dad as they walked by, receiving a look from him before he turned his head away. After handing Hunter the shovel and salt, Scott sent him on his way, going upstairs for a nap so he could relax while Hunter shoveled his driveway.
"It seems that Hunter is attempting to kiss up to my father so I can forget the whole ass staring scandal," Skye said.
"Hey, kissing up to your dad is my thing." Levi jokingly pouted.
"You don't even have to try though. My dad really likes you for some reason." She replied. Although Skye clearly knew the reason why, she would spare herself the embarrassment by not going into those details, but Levi would joke about the reason without realizing that he was in fact right.
"It's because I'm husband material of course." He smirked.
"I wouldn't even consider you boyfriend material." Skye rolled her eyes. "Or any material for that matter."
"Ooo, my heart." Levi groaned, pretending to clutch his heart as if he were hurt, although he wished Skye would stop playing that way with him.
"Levi, I wouldn't consider myself girlfriend material either." She turned to him, turning her attention away from the stove. "You're better off finding a girl that's perfect like Nikki or Megan."
"But you are perfect." He said.
With her heart skipping a beat and her cheeks turning red, Skye tried so hard to accept the compliment, but she simply couldn't. Maybe it was because of years of self-deprecation and not feeling good enough, or maybe it was because it was so hard to believe Levi. Having someone as popular as him showing even the slightest bit of interest in her always felt too good to be true, and that would prove to be the biggest downfall.
Skye and Levi shared a look, one that was nothing but a longing stare. A stare that wouldn't lead them anywhere in the present moment, but no matter what happened, there would always be some sort of flaming fire between the two, a fire that could never fade or be blown away.
The little moment was interrupted as the hot chocolate began to bubble up, meaning Skye had been neglecting it for too long. "Uh, the hot chocolate."
"Right!" Skye exclaimed, snapping out of the trance she shared with Levi. "Right, yeah, um, gotta turn off the stove."
"I'll go get mugs," Levi murmured, putting his head down for a moment before reaching up into the cabinet for mugs for everyone.
After pouring hot chocolate into each mug, Skye called out for everyone, announcing that their drinks were hot and ready. "Hot chocolate's ready!"
Xavier, Danny, and Nini walked into the kitchen in a conga line formation with Xavier in front, reciting the lyrics to the famous lyrics to the hot chocolate song from The Polar Express before interrupting the song after seeing their hot chocolates were lacking in marshmallows.
"Hot, hot! Oh, we got it!" Xavier chanted. "Hot, hot- hold up, where are the marshmallows?"
"Didn't have any, sorry." Skye shrugged. Lie. She just wanted to keep the bag to herself so she could eat the entire bag whenever she felt sad again.
"Awe, dammit." He frowned.
"Don't worry, you won't need them after you take a sip of this," Skye said. Only Scott taught her best, so anything she made after being taught by her father would be almost as good as Scott's own cooking skills.
"Bet, lemme-" Xavier began, immediately going for a mug to take a sip, but Skye stopped him to prevent Xavier from burning his mouth from the scorching hot liquid.
"Pause, are you trying to burn off your tongue?" She interrupted.
"Uh, yes." He sassed.
"Just go sit down and wait for a few," Skye ordered, receiving a groan from Xavier, although he complied anyway.
Everyone grabbed their mugs and sat at the dining room table, blowing on their hot chocolate and letting it cool for a little before taking that first sip. Once they all did, Skye was met with tons of praise.
"Holy shit, Skye, this is perfect!" Xavier exclaimed.
"Yeah, this is amazing." Danny chimed in, going in for another sip.
"Thanks, guys," Skye said, sharing a quick look with Levi then reverting her eyes away from him.
Skye looked down at the table for a moment, then looked back up to thank everyone for spending time with her. "Actually, um, thanks for all hanging out with me today. Including Hunter, even though he's shoveling my driveway right now. It can get kind of lonely sometimes, but you guys have helped me out a lot these past few months."
"Hey, we'll hang out with you anytime," Danny assured her. "You're really cool, Skye."
"We could always have a sleepover too." Nini offered.
"Even better; a squad sleepover!" Xavier proposed, which Nini was immediately all for.
"Yes! We should totally do that! We can all have matching sleeping bags!" She exclaimed.
"Sounds perfect." Skye grinned.
"Alright, we're gonna have to make a group chat so we can plan a weekend that perfect for all of us," Nini said, immediately pulling out her phone to plan everything.
"Preferably after the holidays because we all know how chaotic that is," Danny added, which Nini agreed with.
"Yes, that's perfect! God, you're so smart." She cooed, making Danny blush.
While Nini began making a group chat for a future squad sleepover, Skye turned to Levi, asking him if he was down with this future endeavor. "Levi? You in?"
"I'm in." He softly smiled, and Skye did the same, sharing yet another look.
•••
Dear Future Me,
Let's talk about the topic of boyfriend and girlfriend material. Tell me, do you know? Of course, you do. You're probably sitting pretty with a ring on your finger. I'm sure adulthood will treat us well. Whoever our future man is, I hope he's a good one.
Back to the topic of boyfriend and girlfriend material. I think of that concept as to whether someone is perfect or not. If you're perfect, you're boyfriend/girlfriend material. If you're not, you might as well just count your blessings and pray someone will want you. I feel like the latter. I mean, it's why I've never had a boyfriend. My first kiss was from a stupid game of spin the bottle and I couldn't even get a guy to willingly spend time with me until Levi came along.
God, why does Levi come up in everything? Do you know? Wait, why am I even asking that again? Of course, you know the answer.
I hope the answer is worth it.
Sincerely,
Past Me.
•••
MARIA TALKS!
when you only get 7 votes on the chapter before this one 🥵🥵🥵
the attack on titan manga ended recently and i'm kinda in ruins and confused over it (while still happy that my fave character lived) but we vibe anyway! i have hopes to actually write a fanfic one day when i have the time, but this story remains my priority (plus i'm on like chapter 46 as we speak and i'm getting to the final story arc lol)
as always don't forget to vote ! originality does not happen overnight xx