#have a silly & cute thing from danny to counter that on the dash i guess- fsdbj

[meatriarchived]

a shut of truck door behind him, keys getting shoved into pocket, and danny rounds the back of pickup, stepping up onto sidewalk and then onto snow-covered grass. can make out connie and her vibrant red hair standing outside the dorm house, on the steps as she finishes off a cigarette, a smile passing across face as she calls out in greeting. danny's arm raises, giving a small wave in return as she asks how the drive had been.

shoulders shrug as he slows his stride, " people can't drive for shit, you know how it is. it was fine though. feel much better being back up here though. " he gives her a gentle, lighthearted smile, " missed ya'll, y'know— "

and then smile turns mischievous.

her face falls when she spots it and she's already spilling out a don't you dare— before danny leans in, arms wrapping around her and lifts her up with ease into a warm hug, eliciting a not-exactly-pretty sound from her — some sort of heaved HRRK — before she's demanding him to drop her, wriggling in his arms, til the both of them are laughing and he flashes her a playful grin — a sight not too common on daniel.

" okay, okay, relax, i'm gettin' you down, " and he does, careful to make sure she's steady on solid ground before letting her free from his hold.

however, danny brings his arm around her shoulder, drawing her back in — for a proper hug, this time. and drops head to kiss the top of hers. " — did miss ya though, connie. " before she could say another word, a dull thump hits against the back of danny's shoulder, and he turns his head and spots other familiar face, some feet away, head twisted in other direction — playing off airs that the snowball that just made contact with danny totally did not come from him.

grin now gone, brow raises at leland, eyeing the obvious snow-coated gloves keeping hands warm. he shoots a look down at connie, to make a little quip, when another snowball gets hurled at him...

only this time, it hits the side of danny's face.

he can hear connie's attempt to not laugh get stifled. danny turns back to leland, whose eyes are widened and his hands are up in front of him, sheepish and apologetic — didn't mean to hit you in the face, dan, i'm sorry-

jaw clicks as danny breathes in deep, eyes narrowed back at him, before he ducks down, scoops a pile of snow in his own hands, turns body and hurls it through the air, hitting leland's shoulder as he just responds in time to flinch it upwards to tank the blow rather than it hit his own face.

from there, tension dissolves and the two scramble at the ground, scooping up handfuls of snow at a time, packing them enough as they ducked and ran from each others' in time to throw their own back in return.

the two stumbled about in the snow, grins plastered and only growing across laughing faces, curses and feigning cries of pain when they each are hit with another packed clump of snow — their voices echoed around the dormhouse grounds.

connie watched on, eyes no doubtedly rolling at their playfulness. as their clothes progressively became whiter with the lingering snow clumps from every landed hit. the puffs of air float from their noses and mouths as they laughed, as they shouted after one another.

until they paused, briefly to catch breath, take a moment to affirm a truce. for danny to come up beside him, land palm against leland's back and then pull him into hug, " missed you, too, chico de oro*, hope you've been alright. its good seein' ya. " and its the brief surprise on lelands face at his words, before happy grin brightens flushed face from their little snow fight, and mouth opens to say something when, in rapid succession, both of them are hit one after the other by a pair of snowballs.

leland in the chest, danny square in the face this time.

daniel's head knocks back from the impact, and leland lets out a startled cry of connie's name. danny brushes snow from his face, looking across back at connie, smugly smiling back at them both, before the boys share a split-second glance, and both immediately drop, scoop up snow once again, and the fight continues—

this time, however, pelting at not only one another, but at connie as well, as they all scatter and scramble to dodge and duck, laughing and cursing and calling out each others names into the air as snow darts all over, as chilled breath puffs past laughing lips.

and as he drops down and cusses leland out, as connie hits them both with another rapid-fire set — stupid great aim, goddamn she's got a good throwing arm — danny's eyes flick;

from connie, to leland, to her, back at him.

with their pink-tinted cheeks and noses from the cold air and them running about. rounded from the smiles on their faces. eyes brightened, almost childlike. sweet.

from her, to him.

he really had missed them.

@fcused & @lifesver | [ snowball ] senders throw snowballs at receiver & [ lift ] + reverse / now if i said danny could pick up connie as a treat even though she's like HRRK.