Weekly Oneshot #15: Snowflakes in Winter

"Whoa! That snowstorm last night was a short one but...dang. It covered the city pretty good," Ratchet said, shoving his gloved hands into his dark blue winter coat. His gray scarf blowing slightly in the wind. He jumped a bit when he became a bit unsteady, but he caught himself quickly. The steps in front of the apartment building has yet to be salted, so they were covered in a thin layer of ice, and Ratchet was relying on his black snow boots to keep him place. Clank on the other hand was having a lot of difficulty. Because his feet are made of metal, they have absolutely no traction on the ice, so he was sliding all over the place. In fact, he was about to fall down the steps before Ratchet quickly bent down and scooped up the robot by the torso. The Lombax would have felt Clank's cold metal through his glove, but the Zoni was wearing a tiny brown winter coat with his black scarf so his internal heater could keep up. Ratchet held Clank in his hands, "You should have invested in some boots, pal. You're all over the place."

"I would not be 'all over the place' if the building's janitor would put a layer of salt on the ice so it will melt. Please be careful when going down the stairs, Ratchet."

"Don't worry, I will," Ratchet said as he began going down the staircase with extreme caution. When he made it to the bottom step, he slid around a bunch and loosened his grip on Clank. "Oh no! I'm gonna fall!"

"Oh dear!" Clank yelled as he grabbed onto his friend for dear life. But he calmed down when the slipping and sliding suddenly stopped. He looked up and noticed that Ratchet was laughing.

"Just kidding!"

"Ratchet!"

"What? It was funny!" Ratchet tried to pull of an innocent face, but the unamused look that Clank was giving him made him give up. Clank wasn't really one for jokes that involved the two nearly getting hurt. But Ratchet wasn't going to let his friend's sense of humor ruin the awesome snow filled day. So he poked Clank on the head as his ears twitched, "Alright Mr. No Sense of Humor, let's see how you like this."

Ratchet got down onto the ground, right on a large patch or ice. He then made Clank tuck in all of his limbs and put him on his back right against the icy ground, which made the robot give a mad and confused look, "What are you doing?"

"I'm robot curling," Ratchet said as he placed a hand on Clank's chest and moved the robot back and forth a few times.

"Robot curling? Are you implying that you are going to-AH!" Clank yelled as Ratchet slid him across the ground and into a snow pile, where the robot's vision was drowned in cold and his body became cold.

"And Ratchet wins the gold medal!" The Lombax yelled, raising his hands in the air triumphantly. He stood there with a smile on his face and waiting for Clank to emerge from the snow pile with an angry look on his face. But, when his friend failed to show himself, Ratchet's ears lowered a little. Was...was Clank hurt? He didn't accidentally throw him into a rock or something, did he? Concerned about Clank's well-being, he walked over to the snow pile and tried to find the small robot by looking for a red or green glow inside the snow. But, when he got close enough, he got the fur scared off of him as his face was met with an airborne snowball. "AHH! What in the world?!"

Clank climbed up from the back of the snow pile and laughed at Ratchet, "Hehehehehehe! You wanted me to have a sense of humor, correct? Well I thought that I would show you how humorous I can be by throwing a-AH!" Clank was cut off by taking a snowball to the chest compartment. He then placed a hand over the black door and shuddered, "Oh dear, some of it got into the compartment! It is cold!"

"One does not simply throw a snowball at a Lombax and gets away with it!" Ratchet said, his fur starting to sag because of the water left by the snow. Clank narrowed his eyes and then dug into the snow pile. A few seconds later, he popped back up and chucked another snowball at Ratchet, and it hit the Lombax in the ear. Ratchet shuddered as cold snow covered his sensitive ear. He shook his head and glared at Clank. "Alright, that's it! You come here!"

Clank's eyes went wide and he quickly dug into the snow pile, hoping to escape the Lombax by hiding somewhere in the snow. Ratchet jumped into the snow pile and started digging through it, taking snow into his arms and tossing it somewhere else. While he did this, he felt a large sense of deja vu. It was like he had done something similar before, but in a different environment. But he couldn't really think about the similar event because a snowball came and hit him in the back of the head.

"Hehehehehe!" Ratchet looked behind him and saw Clank standing there, laughing at him. Then he sunk back into the snow, but Ratchet wasn't going to let him get far. He quickly pounced on where his friend had gone back under and he immediately felt Clank underneath him. He grabbed the robot and brought him out of the snow, where he looked at him with innocent green eyes. "What?"

"You're a little cube of trouble," Ratchet said, poking Clank in the spot where his nose would be.

"You are just saying that because I managed to hit you with a snowball three times," Clank said, folding his arms. Ratchet shot him an unamused look, and then the Lombax scratched the spot where his finger was. Clank's eyes twitched as a weird feeling came upon him, "ACHOO!"

"Ha! It still works!"

"I was hoping that you would have forgotten about that ridiculous magazine article..."

"Well I didn't..." Ratchet was going to say something else, but something caught his eye. A single snowflake gracefully danced as it fell into his vision, and it landed flawlessly on top of Clank's antenna. "Is it...?"

The duo looked up and saw that the once blue sky was now covered in clouds. And coming out of those clouds were tiny snowflakes. It was snowing again already.

"It is snowing," Clank said.

"Must be some sort of snowstorm aftershock," Ratchet said, watching the tiny snow crystals float down onto the land. He held out his hand and watched some of the flakes land and melt on his glove. The Lombax laughed when Clank sneezed again because one had landed right where his nose would be, "Bless you."

"Thank you," Clank replied, wiping off some of the oil spittle that came out when he sneezed. He then looked up at the sky, and then at Ratchet's hand where several snowflakes were melting. "It is strange. Who would ever think that frozen water particles could appear so beautiful?"

"I know, right? And each flake is a different pattern. You'll never find two snowflakes that are exactly alike...though it's unbelievable because there are only so many designs in the universe." Ratchet closed his hand after getting quite a bit of snow in it. He smiled, "But you know what I love about snow?"

"What?" Clank asked innocently.

"When it melts in my hand, I can do this!" Ratchet took his now water filled hand and wiped his palm against Clank's face, making the robot squirm and make noises of discomfort. "I told you that people who throw snowballs at Lombaxes do not get away with it!"

"Well, even if that is the case, I feel no fear as I do this!" Clank said as he opened his chest compartment and fired a snowball at Ratchet's face. "Hehehe! I bet that you did not see that coming!"

"Hahaha...that was clever, I'll admit that," the Lombax said, wiping the snow off of his face. "Now come here ya little troublemaker!"

Clank laughed as Ratchet tackled him into the snow and nuzzled his antenna playfully. Ratchet then laid down and placed the robot on his chest. He let out a large sigh, "I freaking love winter. It's as cold as Grelbin out but I can mess around in the snow, which is always fun. And with my best pal no less."

Clank let out a small giggle, but then he shuddered a tiny bit and looked at his friend. "I agree with you about the joys of winter but...I believe that the downside of the cold season is beginning to take over. My internal heater is starting to fade, and this coat is barely doing anything for me."

"Yeah, I'm getting pretty cold too. And the snow looks like it's getting a bit heavier," Ratchet replied, sitting up (which made Clank fall into his lap). He then placed a hand on his friend's head and smiled as he thought of something. "How about we head inside? I can make hot chocolate...er, hot oil for you, and we can watch a funny Christmas holofilm. Christmas is only nine days away, so we have to start getting in the mood for it. What do you say, pal?"

"That sounds very nice," Clank said, hugging himself and shivering.

Ratchet took his scarf off and wrapped it around Clank so he could be a bit warmer. After picking up and patting his friend on the head, he headed inside with Clank in his arms, looking forward to a day of watching Christmas movies with his best friend.

I know that this one was shorter than Leaves in Autumn, but it was still cute, right? Next Weekly Oneshot's (beta) name is: Christmas Medley! It's gonna be a good one!

Nine days until Christmas! And that means that it's nine days until I get my PS4! And only two days of school left until Winter Break! WHOO! Y'all excited for your Winter Break? I know I am!

Also: robot curling...that is all.

Make sure to leave a review while picking up your complimentary toaster!

This is Amberdiamondswords, Lordess of Diamond Swordness, pledger to Tobuscus, signing off!