"Get up, Hugh," Morris Baldwin commanded his son and drew the curtains covering the window aside. The bedroom was instantly showered with bright light. "I sure hope you're not getting lazy, son," he added and turned to look at the young man lying in bed. "Nathan's already out training."

"Ugh." Hugh drew the blanket over his head, irritated by the sudden light. The room felt cold, and he sure as hell didn't want to get up. "Yes, yes..."

His father waited until he sat up and reached for his clothes. Despite the fact that the window was covered in frost, the light was hurting his eyes, and he had to wonder what time it was. He could guess the sun had probably risen just a moment ago, as it certainly wasn't unusual for his father to drag him and Nathan up from the bed early in the morning. Being forced up in the middle of the night wasn't that unlikely either. The old man called it "learning how to fight the creatures of the night"; both Hugh and Nathan called it "torture".

He got dressed fast enough, and his father smiled at him before leaving the room. Hugh sighed; he had not slept that well. His hair was a mess, but he wasn't in the mood to do anything about it, so he simply tied it back, took his sword and exited the room. Breakfast sounded nice.

He didn't waste too long eating; if Nathan was already out he wasn't going to sit around here. His parents were discussing something, and he ignored them and looked for his coat. The last few days had been pretty chilly, and he wasn't about to freeze outside while training. He was rather irritated at the thought that Nathan had gotten up before him, and told himself that he'd get back at him in a practice fight later.

Once he got outside he had to blink a couple of times. The whole scenery was white; there was snow on the ground. He laughed to himself. Of course! This was why the light from outside had been so bright earlier. He had thought it to be somewhat unnatural when he had opened his eyes...

...And then his thoughts were interrupted in a very uncomfortable manner as someone threw a snowball on his face.

"Goddamn you Nathan," he yelled, looking around for his friend. Nathan was nowhere to be seen, but there were footsteps all over the snow and Hugh could guess where he was. "I'm going to kill you!"

Nathan laughed. He was apparently hiding behind a nearby tree, and Hugh dashed towards it. He would so teach that little annoyance some manners once he caught him.

"You'll have to catch me first!" Nathan called out to him. He then ran out of the yard, towards the nearby hills. Hugh cursed and followed. Nathan sure was being energetic this morning while Hugh was not in a good mood. All the more reason for him to beat Nathan up once they got into practicing. That reminded him of the fact that his father had more than once said that he was a little hot-blooded, but then again Nathan didn't seem to think so; they were just training, and had to learn to do their best regardless of the situation.

They ran up a slope. Hugh almost caught up to his friend at the top of the hill when Nathan suddenly slipped and fell flat on his face and then rolled downhill for about seventy feet. Hugh froze and then ran after him. He got halfway down the slope before he slipped on the wet snow as well and shared Nathan's fate. He ended up rolling down to where the other young man was before he came to a stop.

They both lay still for a little over half a minute, and then Nathan raised his head and looked at his friend who was lying a few feet away from him. "You okay?"

"Gruh," Hugh muttered. "Ow, my side... I think I hit myself on a rock or something..."

"Yeah, me too. Except that I hit my back on it..." Nathan gritted his teeth and lowered his head back to the ground. "But hey, could be worse. I'm still in once piece at least, and I don't think anything's broken."

Hugh crawled over to where his friend was. There was only a thin layer of snow here, and it melted under them. His coat was already partly soaked through, and Nathan's clothes didn't seem to be in a good shape either. It didn't matter really; it only meant that they'd have to return home and get some dry clothes.

"You know," Nathan said. "Should probably get up. The ground is cold and- ack!" That was as far as he got, as then Hugh suddenly got on top of him and pinned him against the ground.

"Sure is, with the snow and all..." Hugh replied with a grin. He stared down at his training partner. "But you're up for a punishment before I let you get up."

"Aww, jealous of my unrivalled skill with snowballs?" Nathan asked in a cheerful tone. He struggled playfully, knowing quite well that his friend was not serious or trying to hurt him. Although Hugh was the stronger of the two of them and sometimes tended to be a little rough while practicing, he tried not to cause injuries to his partner.

Hugh laughed. "Of course I am. You're going to pay for that."

"Also, I hope you are aware that this position is quite compromising, and if someone saw us now..." Nathan gave his friend an innocent smile and stopped his resistance.

"Ah, really now?" Hugh stated. "This is compromising?"

Nathan shook his head slightly, still smiling. "Hugh..."

His friend didn't reply; instead, he shifted up a little and then forced Nathan's legs apart. Once he got that done he lay back down, grabbed Nathan by the jaw and pressed a kiss on his lips.

"Mmph." The kiss took Nathan by surprise, and he found himself helpless. Once Hugh broke the kiss he gasped for breath and then laughed. "Okay, you win."

Hugh looked into his friend's eyes. "Indeed. So, what were you saying again? Something about someone seeing us like this...?"

Nathan didn't get a chance to answer right away; someone called their names and there was some movement at the top of the hill. They both glanced towards the hilltop and then at each other, knowing quite well who was heading their way. Hugh gave his friend one more quick meaningful look and moved to sit next to him right in time before Morris Baldwin fully emerged from behind the slope.

"...Yeah, something about that," Nathan mumbled and sat up as well. He waved to Morris. "We're here, Master!"

Hugh wiped some snow off his clothes. "You know, about that punishment..." He said. It was mostly a whisper, not that his father would've been near enough to hear what they were saying. "I'll get back to that later."

"Is that a promise?" Nathan asked with a grin.

"Yes."

Author's notes:

So sue me, I like Circle of the Moon. There's one oh so obvious yaoi pairing in it, too. Castlevania Fanfiction community challenge fic as usual.

- Elmina (November, 2005)