Tess awoke with the slow dawn of morning. Winter mornings were always the slowest. Tess never wanted to leave the warm cocoon of their blankets, bundled up and cozy, yet always found themself hauled out of the dorms by the noise of waking classmates.
This morning was different.
The first thing Tess noticed was the silence. They didn’t dare crack their eyes open, fearing that they slept in, and listened. They could hear a small commotion from the common room downstairs.
They opened their eyes to an empty room. Heaving themself out of bed, they dragged their blankets behind them on the floor and looked outside. It was snowing.
They threw their blankets back on the bed, slid into their slippers, and rushed down the stairs two steps at a time. The common room was packed with students, and there, on the bulletin board near the door, was a snow day notice.
Tess inwardly whooped with excitement. They navigated the room full of students, avoiding those with hot chocolates and stepping over huddled reading groups in blankets, and plopped themself down beside a messy head of black hair and blankets they knew well.
“G’morning, Nick,” they said, leaning into his blanket-covered side. He yawned in return and gave them a sleepy smile. If Tess was a night owl, Nick was a raccoon. He rarely woke up on time and would rather sleep the daytime away. But today was special: it was the first snow day ever. In the history of Hogsworth. He would save the sleeping in for another morning.
“Got any plans this morning?” Tess asked, a little nervous. Even though they had been queerplatonic partners for a year, there was a thought in the back of Tess’ mind that Nick would one day stop wanting to be with them. Day after day, Nick proved that voice wrong.
“Of course,” Nick responded, finally shrugging off his blankets. “First, we sneak into the kitchens and steal some cookies.”
“Ah, I like that train of thought. Then we’ll go out and build a snowman.”
“Sounds like a deal,” he said, reaching out a hand. They playfully shook on it but kept their hands together as they stood to throw on some jackets. After all, what was the point of a snow day if not to wear pajamas all day?
The halls were cold as they walked side by side and hand in hand to the kitchens. Their slippers padded across the floors, jackets cozy and warm. There were other students wandering about, enjoying the sleepy morning.
Tess smiled and glanced down at their intertwined fingers and the matching rings adorned on each. On days like today, they were still amazed that Nick was their queerplatonic partner.
No students were in the kitchen when they arrived, only bustling elves. The two came in through a secret painting propped open by one of their friends and snuck into the main room. There was a table of holiday cookies and treats tucked to the side. They beelined for it, and with the permission of a kind elf, ate one. Or two. And maybe Tess stuffed one in their pocket. Nick just shook his head fondly.
“That tree needs some love,” Tess pointed out between cookies. Indeed, a bare tree sat in the corner, decorations hidden in boxes under the tree.
“You know what that means,” said Nick knowingly.
Tess did know. They left the cookies at the table, thanking the elves, and began to decorate the tree, lifting baubles with their wands and wrapping tinsel around the leaves. More than once, Nick had to pull out a stray piece of gold paper from Tess’ hair.
When they finished, warm tea was waiting for them, a silent thank-you from the elves. They left the kitchens warm and content, bundled up in their jackets and drinking peppermint tea. Huddled on a window sill, they finished their tea and went outside. Snow was still drifting down from fluffy white clouds.
“Where do you want to start building?” Tess asked, staring around at the prime snowman-building grounds. They were in a smaller courtyard, and the entire place was empty.
“I wouldn’t know,” Nick said. “I’ve never built one.”
It took Tess a moment to process that, but when they did, they were stunned. “You’ve never built a snowman before? How have I never known of this?”
Nick shrugged. “I don’t think there’s been enough snow before, and if there was, I was sleeping in.”
“We have to fix this,” Tess declared. They walked over to a fresh patch of snow, piled up a ball of snow in their hands, and began to roll it along the ground. “You do the head. Just roll it around until it’s big enough.”
Soon, they had two large balls of snow. They stacked them proudly together. For the nose, Tess triumphantly held out a carrot from the kitchens, shoving it into the snowman’s head. For the eyes and mouth, Nick scrounged for some rocks on the ground. Finally, for the hat, Nick tugged Tess’ beanie off of their head and fit it around the snowman. It was perfect.
(Maybe the head was a little too big, and the eyes a bit lopsided. But it was perfect.)
“His name is Snowy,” said Tess.
“Snowy the Snowman,” Nick agreed.
They went inside then and sat around the fire of their Common Room. It was warm and comfortable, and their friends soon joined them on the floor with mugs of hot cocoa. Surrounded by their best friends and partner, Tess felt incredibly and truly happy.
