Never Have I Ever…lost a snowball fight

As I glare out the window at the snow, I sneeze loudly and bring a hand up to my nose.

It's snowing as usual, the cold white snowflakes falling to the ground and piling up more than ever as I watch the gray clouds in the sky. While I watch, I feel Rio's arms slip around my waist, and looking back a bit I watch her lean against me before she murmurs sleepily, "It's still snowing, huh?"

Turning back to the window, I sigh and lean my head to the right just enough that my head is resting on hers.

"Snow…no wonder it's so damn cold."

"Stop complaining!" Rio murmurs, before turning her face to give me a quick kiss on the neck. I blush a bit at her as she lets go and says, "We'll have fun with the snow after I finish my chores, okay?"

As she heads towards the bathroom to start getting ready for the day, I glance outside once more before sighing and turning on my heel after her.

"This? This is your idea of fun?"

Rod pouts at me playfully, pretending to be hurt as he complains, "That's not very nice to say, Neil! I'd like to think I'm plenty of fun!"

Tina giggles at that, her arm looped in Rio's as the two girls watch us. As Rod practically pounces on me, sending us flying into a nearby pile of snow, Allen shakes his head and Michelle giggles before I finally struggle back to my feet.

While I get up, brushing snow from my shoulders, Iroha orders calmly, "Let's all decide the teams then."

Moving forward, I pull Rod to his feet and the two of us join the rest of the young adults as we all gather around the tough blacksmith. Iroha pulls a coin out of her pocket, before looking around and asking, "Who will be the captains then?"

For a minute we all murmur quietly, before Allen volunteers himself with a grand wave of his hand. Stepping forward, the stylist declares, "I'll be a captain. Who will be the other one?"

There's more murmuring before it's decided that Rod will be the other captain. The two old friends exchange grins before Iroha asks, "Alright, Rod, heads or tails?"

"Tails!"

Everyone falls silent as the coin is tossed in the air, and when it lands heads down Rod does a little victory dance before he and Allen step away from the group and stand on opposite sides. As they get into position to choose teams, I quickly make my way to Rio's side.

Putting an arm around her waist, I glare at both Allen and Rod as if daring them to choose us separately. Both seem to get the picture before they shake their heads and look back at the rest of the group.

Rio, Rod, Tina, Amir, and Sanjay all stand next to me while the others all stand next to Allen on the other side of the bank near the river. As we all turn and begin building snow forts, I lean over and whisper to Rod, "Who convinced Soseki to join us?"

Glancing back over his shoulder at where the journalist-reporter-whatever-he-is seems to be enjoying himself, Rod shrugs before admitting quietly, "I think he came when Rio asked if he'd play with all of us. She said something about him needing to act his own age…"

I can't help but smile at that; it sounds like something Rio would say, especially to Soseki as he almost never wants to hang out with anyone in our age group despite the fact that he's most likely only a year older than us at most.

He never really was clear on his age…

My musings are interrupted when Tina whoops and thrusts a fist of victory into the air, proclaiming, "The fort is all done and ready to go!"

To my surprise, while Rod and I were chatting the snow fort for our team has already been built in entirety; Rio smirks proudly while the others on our team all pat her on the back and move to start making piles of snowballs.

After we've made a substantial amount of ammo, we hear Allen's voice call, "Are you guys ready to start?"

Peeking out from behind the fort, everyone watches as Rod and Allen both walk solemnly to the middle of the battlefield, the atmosphere tense as we all wait for the signal to start chucking snow at each other.

When the two meet, everyone holds their breath as they shake hands and stare at each other for a few minutes. After a minute or so, they let go and hesitate until Rio calls out, "Let's go already!"

With that one single phrase, everyone begins to throw snow, regardless of the fact that our captains are still in the middle of the battle zone. With yelps of surprise, Rod and Allen turn and quickly run back to their respective teams, Rod calling, "Come on guys, let's win!"

As he leaps over the wall of our snow fort and joins us in throwing snowballs, he and I exchange grins before I lean out to survey the situation.

For awhile it looks as if we are all equal in this fight; for every inch they knock off of our fort we knock two from theirs only to be cut down again. I'm throwing snow as hard as I can, actually enjoying myself as I watch it hit Allen on the chest and causes him to step back with a yelp.

As this starts to feel like a real battle, our wall crumbles and Rod leaps to the top of it, pointing at Allen's team as he screams, "CHAAAAAARGE!"

Tumbling over the snow wall, we all rush forward, even the normally gentle Sanjay caught up in the excitement as he laughs and tosses snow at the enemy team. In retaliation, Allen rushes over his own fort with the other behind him, and soon enough it becomes an all-out brawl in the snow.

As agreed before the fight, we all throw snow as hard as we can without holding back; the girls all told us it would be a lot more insulting to them if we held back. Accordingly so, when I hit Michelle in the arm I can't help but grin a little; she yelps and trips, landing face down in the snow.

I can't entirely say that I wasn't aiming for her on purpose-more than once the magician has made it clear that she thinks all the guys in this town are stupid and just need to be manipulated.

With Michelle out of action, I look over to see how our team is doing when I see Sanjay and Amir tangling with Felicity and Iroha; surprisingly, it's the prince that seems to be having conflict throwing something at a girl while Sanjay is reveling in what appears to be battle spirit.

Just when I think our team is going to win, I hear a shrill cry. Recognizing Rio's voice, I whip my head around to see Allen holding onto her-with one arm looped around her shoulders, he holds a snowball up to the back of her neck. Seeking out my gaze, Allen calls out, "You'd better surrender if you want her to survive this fight, Rod!"

Rod looks over at me, where I stand frozen before he cries, "NEVER! I'll never give up!" Looking back at me, he apologizes, "Sorry, Neil, but sometimes in war there must be sacrifices!"

With that, Allen shrugs and pushes a huge lump of snow down the back of Rio's shirt. My wife squeals in shock at the cold and begins to wriggle around in the stylist's grasp before she catches my eye and yelps, "Neil! HELP ME!"

Ignoring everyone else as they continue fighting, I push through the crossfire and fight my way to Rio's side, even pushing my own teammates aside as I strive to reach my wife.

By the time I get to her, she's thrown her coat off and is shivering as she tries to warm herself and laments over her now-wet coat. Still ignoring the fight, I practically rip my own coat off and drape it over Rio before turning back and narrowing my gaze on Rod.

With a yell, I charge into the fray and grab some snow. Rod doesn't even see me coming, and he screams in surprise as I literally jump on him and push some snow into his face.

"Gwwahhh!" Rod gurgles as snow goes down his throat and I yell, "If Rio gets sick because you didn't save her I'm going to make you pay all of the medical bills!"

"TRAITOR!" Rod manages to yell back, but we're both half smiling as the battle around us comes to a stop and everyone begins to laugh.

As they all gather around where Rod and I are still on the ground, Felicity and Tina throw their arms around Rio and tease her, "You're really loved by your husband, aren't you?" Shaking the snow out of my hair, I watch my wife blushing as she protests and tries to shake her friends off before a hand is thrust at me and I look up to see Allen giving me his customary smirk.

"I knew if I baited you with Rio you'd throw the fight," Allen crows as he pulls first me, then Rod to our feet. "Let's all go to Clement's and get some drinks to warm ourselves up, okay?"

The whole group begins to walk towards town, all of us laughing and talking as we leave the forgotten snowball fight behind us. Looking around, I duck out from under Allen's and Rod's arms and allow myself to linger at the back of the crowd where Rio is clutching my coat around her slim frame and still blushing.

When she looks up at me, she mutters, "I can't believe we lost the fight because you did that to Rod…"

"Hey," I tell her seriously, "No fight is worth sacrificing my wife, especially now that you're pregnant. I told you I'd do whatever I could to take care of you, didn't I?" That earns me a smile, and as Rio slips her hand into mine I sigh.

Losing the snowball fight was definitely worth it.

Hey guys! It's been a bit, but here's an update for you :)

While most pregnant ladies don't usually engage in snowball fights, Rio seems like the type who just does whatever she wants whether it's healthy for her or not. I mean, look at her. She runs a whole farm by herself while she's pregnant and can still do things like heavy lifting and building houses despite the fact that you're not supposed to strain yourself during pregnancy XD

That being said, Neil still probably wouldn't be happy if she got sick...it IS Neil's nature to be protective of her whether she's stronger than him or not :P

Anyways, thanks so much for the reads and reviews! I'll try and update while I'm in school (I start next week lol) but no promises on how much I'll get done.

I hope to see you all on the next update :) Until then, have a nice day and thanks for reading!