This is for HelloSweetyMerryChristmas's (formerly Rowana Renee) Secret Snowman Challenge. Hope you guys (and the person I wrote it for) like it!

Oh, and this is less...frolic-ish than I meant it to be.

Ferris was crying. This wasn't new; Ferris was always crying. For trivial reasons too: his soup was too hot, his porridge was too cold, his cocoa didn't have enough milk. All that stuff that crying wasn't going to fix.

This time, it was because Caitlyn dumped a bucket of snow on his head.

"Ferris, it's only snow."

Ferris turned to Halt, his cheeks wet with tears and melted snow.

"She didn't hafta dump it on me!" With an aggrieved sniff, Ferris turned and shoved Caitlyn. She stumbled back a few steps, then sat down hard in the snow. She glanced from Ferris to Halt, then started wailing.

Halt gulped and rushed to comfort his little sister. This was the first time he and his twin were allowed to play outside since winter started, and the first time Caitie, who had just turned three, had ever played in the snow. if their parents thought that something was wrong, they'd all have to go back inside (which wasn't much warmer than outside sometimes), and, by the gods, Halt wasn't going to let that happen.

"Shh, Caitie, it's okay."

Ferris watched darkly as his seven-year-old twin comforted their baby sister. His dark brown eyes stony, he announced, "It's cold. I wanna go inside."

Halt turned to his brother, dismayed. "But…it's winter!" He accentuated this statement by spreading his arms wide, as if to embrace the entire season.

"So?" Ferris shook some of his black hair out of his eyes. According to his parents, it was too long, but since Halt seemed to disappear whenever the barber came, Ferris' hair hadn't been cut recently either. "That means it's cold and it gets dark early. What's so special about it?"

"Well…" For a second, Halt was at a loss. "You can do stuff with the snow."

Ferris though, knelt down, scooped up a handful of snow, packed it into a ball, and threw it at Halt, hitting him squarely in the chest. "Like that?"

Halt was unfazed. "Yeah, like that." Then he saw Ferris eyeing Caitie while making another snowball. "Um, there are other things you can do with snow."

"Yeah. I can throw it at Caitlyn."

Caitlyn looked up at the mention of her name, but Halt stepped in front of her. "No. I meant that you can build stuff. Like snowmen and snow forts."

Ferris gave Halt a puzzled look. "Why?

"'Cause it's fun. Here, I'll show you."

It was getting dark when the king of Hibernia and his wife went out to collect their children. To find them, they followed the laughter.

"Well, at least Ferris isn't crying," The queen said.

"Someone will be soon, mark my words," The king replied.

He was wrong.

The first child the king and queen saw was their daughter. She toddled towards them and tugged on their clothes excitedly.

"Lookit what Fe'is did!" Then she toddled away.

The king and queen glanced at each other and hurried after their daughter, expecting to see Halt buried in snow. Instead, they saw Halt and Ferris sitting on top of a pretty well-built fort, for a couple of seven-year-olds.

Halt grinned and waved at his parents. "Hi Mama, hi Papa! Lookit what Ferris did!"

"Ferris did all this?"

Ferris shifted uncomfortably. "Um…Halt and Caitie helped a lot…"

The queen smiled. "Alright. Come inside now, it's getting dark."

As you might think, she was just happy nobody was crying.

Halt and Ferris sat next to each other, sipping hot cocoa.

"Halt?"

"Yeah?"

"…You were right." Ferris smiled. "Snow is fun."

"Told you."

"Halt?" This time Ferris didn't look at his twin.

"Yeah?"

"How come…how come you don't get mad at me and yell like Mama and Papa do sometimes?"

Halt sipped his cocoa before he answered; he was pretty much addicted to the stuff. "Because, you're the only brother I have. I don't get any do-overs, so it's better to get it right the first time." He sipped his cocoa again and stared into the fireplace, then said in a rush, "And-I-love-you-and-don't-like-seeing-you-sad."

"Oh." Ferris hesitated, and wrapped his arms around his brother. "Then I won't be sad this winter."

Halt hugged his brother back.

"Ferris?"

"Yeah?"

"Careful, 'cause if you move your left shoulder, I'll spill cocoa on it."

"…Oh."

"Yeah."