Lucas was curled on the couch between two of his best friends. Ness was fast asleep, having nodded off an hour previously. The book he had been reading lay abandoned on the floor. Red was nestled into multiple pillows, busy also reading, and Lucas himself was sewing - a skill learned during those lonely days after Mother passed and Claus vanished. Now he mostly sewed for fun. It was incredibly calming.

The holiday season was in full swing, and it showed. The entire mansion was decorated. Nearby where they sat was the Christmas tree, decorated in shining lights and at the very top, a doll of Pit. (No one was claiming responsibility for that, though Lucas had a sneaking suspiscion it was Ness's doing.) It was the first time in years Lucas had participated in festivities. He was getting quite excited about it, if he was honest. The amount of paper snowflakes covering the wall in his bedroom was absurd. Thankfully, his roommate, Red, didn't seem to mind. His friends seemed to find his excitement amusing.

Red suddenly touched Lucas's shoulder, pointing out the window with his other hand in excitement. Lucas glanced up from his sewing and saw what the other was so excited about. "Snow!" He gasped, grinning. Red was up at once, pressing his face against the window in childlike wonder- not often seen on the stoic Pokemon Trainer.

"It looks like it's been snowing for a while- I don't know how we didn't notice!" Red said, voice barely containing his glee. Lucas gave a small laugh.

"You sure are excited, Red. I thought you'd be sick of snow, living on a freezing mountain!" He gently teased, getting up and joining his friend at the window. Red shook his head.

"I love snow and cold weather. You know me." He grinned. "I wonder how deep the snow is." His dull-coloured eyes suddenly lit up. "Let's go find out!"

"All right." Lucas agreed with a nod. "Let's wake up Ness first. He's going to be irritated if we went out without him."

Red practically bounded over to Ness, shaking the psychic awake. He sat up with a yawn. "I'm up, I'm up..." He muttered sleepily.

"Hurry up!" Red punctuated his sentence with a bounce. "Snow!"

Now he was awake at once. "Snow?" The psychic exclaimed, springing up.

"Snow!" Red replied again, grinning like a madman. The teen ran from the room, bolting down the hallway, still calling out, "Snow! It's snowing!"

Ness blinked as he ran out of the room. "I don't think I've ever seen Red this excited in my life. I didn't even know it was possible for him to feel anything but varying degrees of indifference. I don't think I've ever seen him smile before this."

"Ness, quit exaggerating." Lucas rolled his eyes, though he smiled. "Clearly you've never talked to him about his Pokemon. He lights up if you mention those."

"True." Ness agreed. The psychic picked up his book off the floor. "Let's go put on our coats." The duo walked along to their rooms. Unlocking his door, he went to the dresser and opened it up. He pulled a sweater out embroidered with the name "Leo-Leo" and tugged it on over his shirt before grabbing his coat and slipping it on. Seeing Red's coat slumped on a chair, he sighed and shook his head before grabbing it. Of course Red ran out without a coat.

Lucas met Ness in the hallway. The other had dressed warmly in jeans and a heavy winter coat, as well as as a violet scarf that Lucas had made for him. The only thing he didn't trade was his cap, hanging slightly lopsided on his head. Seeing Red's coat in Lucas's arms, he rolled his eyes. "Dang, he was so fricking excited he ran out completely unprepared. Let's get that to him before he dies of frostbite or somethin'."

They traveled down the stairs until they reached the foyer, exiting out the front doors. Red was running around like a maniac, tossing snow in the air and laughing.

"R-Red! It's freezing out here!" Lucas said through chattering teeth. He held out the black coat to the trainer. "Put on your coat!"

"It's not that cold." Red laughed, shaking his head. He accepted the coat and tugged it on, however. He usually did what Lucas told him to. "Honestly, you have zero tolerance for cold."

"I grew up on an island! What do you expect? I don't live on a freezing mountain, unlike you." Lucas retorted.

"Well, get used to it." Ness suddenly hit Lucas with a snowball, causing the blonde to fall backward into the snow, sputtering. Ness howled with laughter, nearly falling over into a snowbank.

Lucas sprang up and threw a handful of snow at his friends. "It's on!" Ness exclaimed, eyes gleaming. And like that, a snowball fight broke out. Red swiftly dodged Ness's snowball, and with the expert's hand coming from tossing Pokeballs so often, nailed him in the chest in retaliation. Lucas took his chance at once, hitting the psychic who lay on the ground from the force of Red's snowball. Ness sputtered in surprise.

"That's low, hittin' a man while he's down!" He complained, shaking snow off of his head.

"Guess you better get up, then." Lucas responded, hitting him again.

"Why you-" Ness snapped his fingers suddenly. "Hope you like this!" The blonde didn't have a chance to escape as snow rained down on him from a branch overhead, the result of Ness knocking it down with telekinesis.

"Eep! Cold!" He squeaked, shaking off the snow. Red took advantage of his guard being dropped and hit him from behind. Ness gave a whoop of glee and readied another icy projectile. This time, Lucas managed to dodge.

Sprinting, the blonde avoided a snowball from Red, and tossed one back. A satisfying smack resounded as the trainer was hit. The trio of friends were so busy trying to hit each other that they didn't notice another exiting the building.

Marth was walking by when a wayward snowball struck the prince in the head. Red, the perpetrator of the act, held up his hands in apology as Marth slowly turned to face him...

...before breaking out into a smile and grabbing a handful of snow himself, molding it into a ball and tossing it at Red. He was so surprised that he was hit, even though he had ample time to move. Like that, the older boy joined their fight.

Marth was extremely nimble, dodging hits as he aimed. As quick as he was, however, he wasn't terribly skilled at aiming. Many of his shots missed the elusive Red and Ness. Lucas, however, unused to snow, had a harder time dodging and fell victim to many a snowball from the young prince.

Lucas wasn't sure how long the fight lasted, if he was being honest. He knew it was the four of them for a while, eventually joined by Nana and Popo, and even Ike and Pit after a while. He supposed it must have been hours, because after many snowballs and shenanigans, shivering from cold and shaking from laughter, they all went inside as the sky darkened and the Christmas lights in the front of the mansion came on, illuminating the snowy night. That night, Lucas showered and reflected on the day and its joy.

Before he went to bed, he looked out his window. Their tracks were already fading as the snow fell, and all was quiet. But this night...and this first Christmas here at the mansion...he would remember it forever.


Alternative title: EBC should be updating Way Back When but instead opts to write a random drabble.

Idk, I just wanted to write some Brawl-era shenanigans, something resembling those fanfics from 2008-2014. It felt like the fandom was more alive back then. Authors seemed to know each other and everyone seemed really happy. I miss it. That was back when I was mostly a Guest and hadn't yet made an account. I wish we could go back to those times, you know?

So have this.

-EBC