Jay closed his eyes and curled up into a ball, feeling a cold that he never thought possible as it shot through his bones and down the back of his neck. He screamed, but only succeeded in being silenced with yet more handfuls of snow being rubbed into his face. His fists threw wild punches and he squirmed relentlessly, but Adam let him up off the ground only when he saw fit.

Breathless from the attack, Jay rolled onto his side; he coughed the snow out of his mouth, brushed it off his face, and finally climbed to his feet. He looked at his best friend, whose cheeks were bright pink with the frosty air and dimpled with an exultant smile. He tried to seem annoyed.

"Had I known you were going to white-wash me the second I walked out the door," Jay said, tone full of accusation as he narrowed his eyes at his companion.

"Such is life, pal," Adam shrugged innocently, the smile never leaving. "I guess you better watch your back."

Jay smirked, shook his head, and went back to shaking the snow from the inside of his jacket and his hair. Adam took the opportunity to lean down and pack a handful of snow into the palm of his gloves. He attacked again, nailing Jay on the top of the head as the already-frozen victim was looking down to brush his coat off. Jay yelped as the snow again snuck into the inner folds of his sweatshirt and fixed Adam with a look hungry for revenge. Unexpectedly, Jay leapt into motion, sprinting for Adam and tackling him into four inches of snow.

They scuffled madly in the drift, rolling, yelling at one another and fighting for control. Adam smiled faintly to himself as Jay wrapped arms around his waist, squeezing tightly. Once distracted, Adam found himself facedown in the snow.

After cackling wildly from atop Adam's back, shoveling snow into his face, Jay climbed off and triumphantly sprung on his feet. "How do you like it now?" he crowed, laughing.

Adam picked himself up out of the impromptu snow angel session, quite had with getting a taste of his own medicine, and glared at Jay. "I see how you're playing it, Reso," he said in a low voice.

The two laughed at one another and headed around to the back of their school's residence hall. After having roomed together at the university for over two years now, they knew exactly where the best sledding hills were.

Their winter snow days were always similar; they would sit in their dorm all morning, listening to the radio or watching the news to see that classes were cancelled. Then, they'd put on their warmest clothes, their biggest sweatshirts, their thickest gloves. They'd break out the trash bags, slip on their boots, and head outside, around the back of the building to go "sledding." Essentially, the time just consisted of seeing who could get in the last attack before they returned to their room to strip out of their wet clothes and take a nap.

Standing at the top of a fresh, untouched stretch of white, the two friends nearly drooled at the temptation to mar its perfection with crooked runs and spontaneous patches of upheaval, where falling or spur-of-the-moment wrestling matches may occur. They each pulled a fresh black trash bag from the pocket of a soggy jacket and shook it out amongst the snowflakes that continued to spiral down around them.

Jay looked up at his companion, who was busy adjusting a ski cap to better cover his ears. "You wanna go first?"

Adam glanced at Jay and then down to the hill that lay before them. "Let's go at the same time," he replied, holding the bag in front of his body with both hands and getting ready.

Jay grinned and nodded his approval of the suggestion, doing the same with his bag. He looked at Adam and then counted off. "Ready? One, two, THREE!"

Together they took off with a couple of quick steps and leapt onto their stomachs, allowing the flimsy plastic to guide them down through the snow. Much to the dismay of both, they slowed down rather quickly, coming to a halt as their bodies, like snow plows, built up a wall of white in front of them.

"Well that was less than thrilling," Adam laughed, panting in the cold. He reached out with his tongue and took a mouthful of snow from the pile in front of him.

"No kidding," Jay agreed, averting his eyes with caution. Slowly he got up and shook the snow from his store brand, I-Can't-Afford-A-Sled-Nor-Do-I-Have-Room-For-It-In-My-Dorm trash bag. "This is gonna take a while."

After a few more runs, the boys had created decent pathways all the way down the hill and to the desolate sidewalk below. Grunting and sliding in the slippery snow, they trudged back up to take their first run straight from top to bottom with no interruptions.

They stood positioned to jump, just like every other time before, and hit their respective trails at the same time. Adam was instantly slammed with adrenaline at the wind that rushed into his face and over his body. He looked at Jay momentarily, who was slightly behind him on the hill. As they began to near the street, Adam grinned and heaved his body to the side, colliding with Jay. They tumbled across the paths, coming free of their tattered bags and landing mangled in a nearby bush. They burst into laughter, and Jay shoved a handful of snow in Adam's face. They helped each other up and wearily headed back up the hill for another go.

Lagging behind, Jay looked up at his best friend's stumbling and tired form. He wondered if their lives would always be like this; he wondered if one day they'd be fifty years old and sledding down hills, crashing into each other for no good reason other than ritualistic habit. He smiled at the thought, and then grabbed Adam by the coat and hurled him backwards. Adam gave a shout of surprise and the two careened back down the hill, rolling together like a human snowball. Jay landed on top, pinning Adam to the ground not for the first time this afternoon.

Cold, shivering, wet, and caked with fresh snow, Adam looked up into Jay's flushed face and warm, teasing smile. The closeness of their friendship had given away to an affection that had always been there, but it was never as strong as right now. He had to admit that he loved these moments when they were alone together, away from the rest of the school, away from the world. His arm moved to circle Jay's neck.

Jay warmed instantly at the feel of being held by Adam. He took a finger of his glove between his teeth and pulled it off, discarding it at his side and using bare fingertips to push Adam's ski cap back from his eyes. His breath caught as a slow smile worked its way across Adam's face, and he could only think of one thing to do at the sight. He thought about it only for a second before the natural urge drew him down to his best friend's mouth. They kissed sweetly, with snowflakes sticking to their cheeks and fluttering on their eyelashes.

Jay pulled back only minutely and their lips rested comfortably against one another, smiling. "Wanna go back inside now?"