The sun rose in a glorious bloom of golden rays over the magnificent Swiss Alps. Shenanigan-laced whispering paired with footsteps out in the hall of the private ski lodge, and the door to Bennett's room creaked open...

A quiet snicker was followed by a noisy SHHH!!

Two figures made their way over to the sleeping Bean, the one with the shaggy, red hair reaching out to shake his shirtless shoulder. "Psst! Hey!"

They knew better than to jerk him awake.

"Mmh?" Bean rolled onto his back and reached up to rub his eye.

"Hey!" Matt whisper-yelled. "You awake??"

Bennett scrunched his eyes in a yawn, then his bright blue eyes fluttered open. "Hm? Mm... yeah... I'm awake..." he croaked, sounding confused.

"GOOD." Matt leapt on top of him, Mello grabbing his legs.

"What the-???" Bean was definitely awake now.

Matt hooked his arms under Bean's armpits, and Mel had his ankles. The two big brothers carried him out into the hall, the poor Bean trying in vain to wrestle free.

"What are you DOING??" he asked frantically, his morning voice low and froggy.

The boys carried him swiftly over to the open front door. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" they both yelled, and they tossed him harmlessly into a cold and fluffy snowbank.

"HEY!!" Bennett yelled, scrambling to his feet with frozen powder sticking all up in his hair and on his bare back and shoulders.

The Ms were just cutting up laughing and fist bumping, Matt taking pictures with his phone. Matt had on flannel pajama pants and a Kingdom Hearts tshirt, and Mello was wearing grey sweatpants and a ribbed black tank top.

Bennett hurried inside, holding his upper arms with chatteting teeth, his nose and fingers already turning bright red. The melty snow clung to his skin and hair, and he laughed along with M2 as they continued the rowdy horseplay.

Watari smiled fondly, his eyes creasing above the little square spectacles on the end of his nose. His feathers were completely unruffled by the hooliganism as he continued mixing sprinkles into the pancake batter. He wore a black suit, as usual, with a blue and white apron atop it.

"Bozhe moy, kholodno!" Bennett ducked his head and shook it like a dog, wet droplets flying outward from his crazy hair. His pointed nose was all red, along with his long fingers and prominent shoulder blades.

L came down the stairs then, and the tomfoolery only continued through breakfast. It was Bean's fifteenth birthday, and the weekend trip to a private ski lodge in Switzerland was L's gift to his son.

The boys then hurried to get ready, and before long, Bennett came thumping out of his room in his snowboard boots and snow gear. L had already gone upstairs to the loft, where he had his computers set up to continue his never-ending detective work. Watari was pulling on a warm peacoat.

"They're waiting for you," the old man smiled, pleasant lines appearing around his soft, blue eyes.

Bean grinned. He opened the door and stepped outside into the frosty air.

Mello had his snowboard standing beside him with his arm draped over the top, and Matt held his horizontally behind him.

"Come onnnnn!" Matt whined, jumping up and down like a misbehaving child.

"I'm coming, RELAX..." Bennett snorted.

Matt bent down and formed a snowball, a look of pure mischief on his face. With his tongue tucked into his cheek, he pulled his arm back and then hurled the snowball up to a second story window. It landed against the panes of glass with a THWACK! and a powdery explosion.

L appeared at the window, holding a folder in one hand and a cell phone to his ear in the other.

"IT WAS YOUR KID," Matt accused loudly, pointing.

"Wha-! No it wasn't! Papa, eto byl ne ya, eto byl etot idiot!"

L just rolled his eyes in a sigh and turned away from the window.

Bennett quickly formed his own snowball and sent it flying toward Matt, who managed to dodge it, laughing like a gleeful child.

Bean ducked down and ran with full force toward Matt, then leapt like a flying squirrel with his arms out in front of him. He tackled his redheaded big brother, the both of them landing with a POOF into a snowbank.

"HEY!" Matt tried to wrestle free, but Bennett had him in an actual martial arts hold.

Bean snickered mischievously as Matt sputtered and jerked beneath him.

Just then, a powdery grenade detonated right against the side of Bean's head, knocking him off Matt, who scrambled to his feet.

"MELLO, my man!" Matt pointed at him, his nose bright red and his bangs wet and slushy. "I knew you had my back!"

The shenanigans continued until a whirring sound was heard, and the ski lift started up.

"Yeahh-eehh, Watari!" Matt thrust a thumbs up toward the little building housing the ski lift controls.

They rode up together, taking in the magnificent view as the sun's golden rays gleamed down on the sparkling powder and the evergreen boughs.

The ski lift reached the top, and the boys dismounted. They took the main slope and started down it, each of them gliding along the fresh powder with speed and ease. A ramp appeared up ahead after a few minutes.

"This one's you, Bean!" Mello called out as they approached the jump, and Bennett gave him a thumbs-up, his grin concealed by dark red fleece.

Lifting his toes and then his heels, he carved toward the ramp, picking up speed on his approach. Then, with a soft scraping sound, his board glided swiftly and smoothy up the incline and sent him airborn. Turning 180 degrees immediately on takeoff, he then reached back and bent his knees to grab the edge of his snowboard, his other arm held out to the side. Suspended in air for only a fleeting few seconds, he returned to earth with another 180 degree rotation, his board smacking the mountainside in continuous descent.

"WHOO, yeah!" Matt cheered, then he bent his knees and jumped up to ride a rail backwards. He jumped again at the end, landing amid a poof of fluffy snow as he lifted his heels to make a turn.

The boys rode the slopes all day long, taking a short break for lunch only to head right back out again. By the time the sun was beginning to disappear behind the silhouetted peaks amid a fiery orange sky, the three were exhausted, and yet happy, thumping inside with slushy, wet hair and sniffly, red noses.

"Hot cocoa," Watari said calmly, turning from the counter to place three mugs on the kitchen table. "Whipped cream for everyone... sprinkles for Bennett, chocolate syrup for Mello, and..."

"...Lucky Charm marshmallows!!" Matt enthusiastically finished the old man's sentence.

"Precisely," Watari chuckled.

After the snow gear had been removed and hung up to dry, the boys sat down to their hot cocoa. L joined them then, taking his familiar sitting position on the wooden bench built into the wall under the window beside Bean. The other two sat in the straight-backed chairs across from them.

"Did you have a good birthday?" L asked, looking at his son as Watari placed a fourth mug of hot chocolate along with a sugar bowl in front of the quirky detective.

Bennett wrapped a long arm around L's shoulders and tightened his grip. "I did," he said contentedly. "And the best part was sharing it with my favorite people." He grinned at his two big brothers.

Mello smiled at him, the ever-present spark in his narrow, teal eyes.

Matt slid his mug toward himself, then held it up. "Happy Birthday, kiddo." He winked with a toothy grin.

Bean returned the big smile as he clinked mugs with Matt.

"Yeah, Happy Birthday." Mello then did the same.

Bean couldn't help but grin as he took a sip of the richly sweet hot beverage. He set the mug down, and his tongue swiped back and forth over the whipped cream mustache on his upper lip. His slender, blue eyes beneath damp, black bangs took in the cozy scene around him.

Matt was cutting up and making some ridiculous joke, the back of his hand smacking against Mello's arm.

Mello was sitting with his arms crossed, shaking his head and pretending not to be as entertained by Matt's antics as he actually was.

L was stirring sugar into his hot chocolate, not quite understanding what was so darn funny, but seeming quite content all the same.

And Watari was icing a birthday cake, his white mustache twitching amusedly.

Bennett smiled. They were a motley crew, to be certain...

But they were a family.

(Art by @herbalsingularitea on Tumblr)