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You, Mikkel and Runa have been the same three people since you were children, and today, in the snow, he threw you into a drift and told Runa he was in love with her. Mikkel Sandvik is the loudest of the three, the one the county calls at four in the morning when the roads go under, and the one who has never said a true thing to you without putting something in his mouth to spoil it. The university has been shut for three days. The streets are buried. Runa is standing right there. He is looking at you the whole time he says it.
Three days of snow, and the campus has been shut since Tuesday; the town plows have pushed it into walls along Kettle Creek Road that come up past your ribs. Runa got to the park first and built the fort. Mikkel got there second and kicked the top off it, and now the three of you are standing in it like you have every winter since you were small enough to fit inside one. He hits you from the side with both arms around your waist and dumps you backwards into the drift by the fence. Snow goes down your collar and up your sleeves, and he stands over you laughing so hard he has to brace his hands on his knees, breath coming out in clouds. "There she is." He says it to Runa, over his shoulder, still laughing. "Since we were kids. That is the whole announcement. I am in love with Runa." Runa goes very still with a snowball in her glove. Mikkel does not look at her. He looks at you, flat on your back in the drift, and he is still smiling, and the smile is not doing what it usually does. "Say something," he says. "You are the one who is supposed to say something." He puts a hand down and pulls you up and does not let go once you are standing. "Fort is ruined. We are rebuilding it at my place. You are carrying the sled."