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Winter wasn’t Hilda’s favorite season, but she enjoyed it nonetheless. What better excuse was there to stay inside and do nothing all day than ‘oh noooo, there’s too much snow outside’? Winter was great, filled with festivals, and holidays, and all sorts of excuses to wear cute outfits! Plus most of the threat of getting all sweaty and gross was gone (providing there was no stupid training in the cold, Professor). Garreg Mach’s winter wasn’t like the winters she was used to back home, but they weren’t too bad. Despite being on a mountain, there wasn’t much snow. At least, there hadn’t been much snow. Until last night. Last night, it snowed multiple feet of snow all at once! This was good, actually. It meant classes were canceled.
Stretching out on her bed, she rolled around and debated over what she wanted to do today. It was totally gonna be an inside-day. She could work on her projects. She’d promised Lysithea a set of earrings to help the girl feel more mature. Oh, and she also needed to finish the hairpin she was making for Marianne! A certain prince was hanging around Marianne a lot recently, and that certain prince made Marianne laugh and smile more than even Hilda could manage. A cute accessory was exactly what Marianne needed to urge the prince into making his move. There was also the (second) necklace that she was making for Raphael’s sister (Raphael wanted to pay her so bad, but like, that would be unfair! It was a gift after all, plus his life savings were pennies to a rich girl like her). She also had the owl-feather that Ignatz had been entranced by, that was gonna be turned into a brooch. Down at the marketplace, she found cute little rose-shaped beads, so those were gonna get turned into a gift for Lorenz. And she had to make something for Leonie too, couldn’t leave her out!
There was also the earring she was making for Claude. Technically that was done. She could give it to him any day now. Just… had to work up the courage. Which was silly! So what if he didn’t like her earring? It probably looked dumb anyways…
She shook her head. Fretting was no way to spend her lazy-day! Yawning, she rolled out of bed and peeked out the window. Pretty white covered the whole monastery. She smiled to herself. Ignatz must be painting it all right this second.
Movement drew her eyes lower. Not far outside the dorms, there were people shoveling snow. Ew, they were trying to make a path to the classrooms! Hopefully that took them forever. One of the workers — Prince Dimitri — was shoveling massive piles at once. She should really go stop him. Maybe she could distract all of them? Hmm… maybe not all of them. One of the shovelers flopped over into the snow face first, his tiny shovel-full of snow plopping right back where it started.
Oh. That was Claude who just face-planted into the snow. With no one around to hear her, she burst into giggles. When Claude pulled his head out of the snow, some of it stayed on his head. He sneezed. Aww, poor guy was shivering so hard that even his shovel shook! Compared to the Faerghans bustling around outside, Claude stuck out like a sore thumb. A really, really cold thumb. Everyone else had scarves and hats on (except for Sylvain and Dimitri. Those two didn’t appear to be touched by the cold in the slightest. Sylvain was actually dressed down in order to show off). Claude wore his usual cotton jacket and pants. Judging by the way it clung to him, he was probably wet.
Claude shoveled two more pathetic piles of snow, then slipped and made a little Claude-angle in the snow. She had the perfect view of his expression as he stared up at the sky, utterly miserable. She cooed. Poor guy! It occurred to her that Claude was shoveling snow a little ways away from everyone else. Probably because he didn’t want to be seen like this.
After watching him fall down three more times, she’d had enough. It wasn’t funny anymore (actually, it was still hilarious), it was just sad. Claude obviously needed a rescue. He was gonna owe her so many favors for this.
Grabbing her most fashionable (but warm) scarf, she made her way down the stairs. Judging by how pathetic Claude was, she expected the weather to be ‘arctic frigid’, but it was just ‘kinda uncomfortable’ levels of cold.
“Claaaude,” she called out to him, hiding a smile as he scrambled to hide how cold he was.
“H-hey H-H-Hilda.” Yeesh, she could hear his teeth chatter! Despite how cold he was, he smiled at her anyways. “C-come to w-w-watch th-the s-suffering?”
“No, not at all.” She pouted. “I need your help. Can the others spare you? I know it’s a super important job, but—”
“YesWhatDoYouNeed?” he said so fast that she barely understood him.
She snickered. Her eyes drifted to the others hard at work. Ugh, they should be digging a path to the dining hall, not the classrooms! “Well,” she said loudly, “it’s just that the dorms are so cold! I totally wanted to go to the dining hall for some soup, but there’s too much snow in the way!” She glanced to make sure she was being overheard. “Poor Marianne is too cold to get soup, so I was gonna go get her some, but I can’t with all this snow in the way!”
Claude raised an eyebrow. “How am I s-s-supposed to h-help with th-that? The d-dining st-staff c-can’t get t-t-to the h-hall either.”
“I couldn’t help but overhear you,” came a voice from behind her. Score. “If you allow me, I will carve a path to the dining hall for you.”
“Oh, thank you so much, Prince Dimitri! I dunno why you guys are trying to get to the classrooms so hard anyways. Like, shouldn’t food be more important?”
“H-Hilda, I a-a-already t-told you that no on-ne can get to the dining h-hall, so there’s n-n-no point,” Claude chattered.
Dimitri nodded. “That was the rationale. The great hall is right by the classrooms, and going that route was deemed most efficent.”
“No, it’ll totally be faster to go through the front! Trust me, forget the classrooms. Just dig a path to the stairs, they’re so much closer.”
“I suppose you are correct. Though less efficent, it will get us to the dining hall faster. I’m certain soup would do well for everyone’s morale.” Dimitri spared a brief glance at Claude and winced. “You said Marianne desires some soup, Hilda? I’m sure Dedue would be happy to make some for everyone.”
“Thank you! That would be amazing, you’re the best. You’ll deliver it to her too, won’t you?”
“Oh, ah, I suppose I can? But—”
“Thanks, you’re the best. I’m gonna borrow Claude now, I need his help.” Heh, Dimitri was so head-over-heels for Marianne. A Hilda-little push would do the pair well. "I'll tell her to expect you, so you better hurry and get to that soup!" Grabbing Claude’s wet sleeve, she tugged him towards the stares. Winking back at him, she mouthed ‘You so owe me.’
She dragged Claude into her room and shut the door. “There! So long as you’re in here, helping me out, then you won’t have to shovel snow.”
“Y-y-you’re a l-life s-saver.”
She cringed. “You’re sopping wet.” Getting on her toes, she grabbed his (wet) shoulder and reached for the top of his head. Fwop went the clump of snow that she brushed off his hair. “Wait, that was dumb. Now it’s gonna melt on my floor. Hey, since you’re here, can you clean that up…?”
“S-sure, i-i-it’s my f-fault anyways.” He bent down to pick up the snow, then seemed to realize he didn’t know what to do with it.
“Gosh. Your brain is frozen, isn’t it.” She opened her window and gestured for him to toss it out.
“Eep!” came a shrill cry from down below when Claude dropped the snow. Oops, sorry Bernie!
Claude quickly shut the window as soon as he was done. He reached for one of her blankets but she swatted his hand away. “Just hold on a second! You’re soaked, you need different clothes.”
“O-oh? G-gonna let m-m-me borrow y-yours?”
She opened her mouth to say ‘ no, idiot.’ Then closed her mouth. “Actually…”
“H-Hilda, your s-s-stuff won’t f-fit me.”
She booped his frozen nose and smirked. “Sit on the chair over there, not my bed! And don’t drip anywhere else, you’re making a mess.” He did as she said, crumpling onto the chair and curling in on himself. “Yeesh, don’t you have some winter clothes? You aren’t even wearing gloves.”
“T-t-these a-are my w-winter clothes,” he muttered. He was wearing the same thing as ever.
Digging out her sauna towel, she threw it at him. Digging a little deeper, she grabbed one of her favorite night-shirts. It was actually from Holst, though it had been in her possession so long that it didn’t smell like him anymore. It would more-than fit on Claude. “Here, you can wear this.”
Claude held the pink shirt and raised an eyebrow. “M-my own r-r-room isn’t f-far, Hilda.”
“You gonna risk someone pulling you away to shovel snow again if they see you aren’t helping me any more? Aha, here, I found a pair of shorts too. They should fit you.”
Claude reluctantly peeled out of his jacket. His undershirt wasn’t too wet, but it was wet enough that it needed to be changed too. There was also a long wet spot down the back, like someone shoved a snowball under Claude’s jacket. Claude stopped undressing and stared at her. Oops. She was staring. She turned around and fussed with her dresser while Claude changed.
“N-now c-c-c-can I b-borrow a b-blanket?”
She turned around and snickered. Holst’s shirt was like a dress on her, and it even hung loosely on Claude. He was kinda cute drowning in a shirt like that. The shorts she found for him were tighter, cupping his cute butt nicely. Not that she was staring. “Nope, afraid not.”
“Hildaaa,” Claude groaned. “What d-d-do you want, then?” He would probably sell his first-born for a blanket right now.
“You can’t borrow a blanket, but you can lay down in my bed. Seriously, do that. You probably have hypothermia.” Though he gave her a funny look, he didn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Before he could fully get on her bed though, she stopped him and made him duck his head. Taking her sauna towel, she scrubbed his wet hair. He squawked — literally squawked — in surprise. “If you’re gonna make cute sounds when I surprise you, I need to surprise you more often.”
Claude grumbled something under his breath. She let him go and he scrambled under the blankets.
“Comfy?”
“You’re a blessing to h-humanity, Hilda.”
She snickered. “I am, aren’t I! Sit tight. I’ll make some tea. The Professor gave me some earlier. Hope you like mint tea.”
“So long as it’s warm, you c-could give me boiling water.”
Laughing, she pulled out her teapot and set it on the hotplate. The expensive magical plate was so worth not having to boil water over a hearth. “You really don’t like the cold.”
“I’m a child of s-summer, Hilda! I’m n-not meant for this, n-not like those insane Faerg-ghans.” His voice was muffled.
She turned around and had to slap her palm over her lips so that she wouldn’t laugh in Claude’s face. He was nothing but a shivering lump, not even his head was visible. “Do you need me to get in there to help you warm up?” After the words were out of her mouth, she cringed. That didn’t come out how she meant it to.
“Gods, please…”
What? She cleared her throat. “Does Mister Leader-man need a cuddle-buddy?”
He peeked his face just barely out of the blankets, only enough to show his eyes. “D-don’t phrase it like that.”
Was he serious? “How else do you want me to phrase it? Let me try again: shall I act like a heat-source for you to cling to? Your human bear-stuffy to ward away the Big Bad Coldness?”
Being unable to see Claude’s mouth, all she saw was the way his eyes seemed… hurt? “Hah hah,” he said, his voice normal (though shaking from the chill), “doubt I could e-ever repay the d-debt that would rack up for me. I-is the t-t-tea almost d-done?”
Her brow furrowed. “Claude, do you want me to help you warm up?”
He tucked his face back under the covers. “I-I’m fine, i-i-it’s just a ch-chill.”
“Pff, you are so not fine.” She patted the Lump von Riegan in her bed. “Can’t believe you went out into the snow dressed like normal. What happened to that big brain-bowl of yours?” Whatever Claude grumbled in reply, its petulant contents were between him and the blankets. “Tea’s almost done.” He popped out in an instant. “Oops, my bad! Not done yet.” His expression was agonized. She doubled over in laughter.
“G-glad that s-s-someone is en-joying my s-suffering.”
“Aww, poor Claudie! Still shivering.”
“Because I’m c-cold.” Maybe her teasing was going too far, he was glaring a hole through her.
“Yeesh, don’t get cranky with your savior. Here, I’m pouring the tea now, see?” She did just that, then paused. “If I hand this to you, you’re not gonna chug it, right? It was just boiling.”
“I-I’m cold, n-not an id-diot.”
“An idiot who underestimated the wrath of winter.”
Claude pouted at her. Ugh, that pout! He had no right to look so effortlessly cute when he pouted. She passed him the water. He immediately spilled a fourth of it on himself and her bed with his shakes.
“Er, maybe we should wait a minute.” She took the tea away from him. He whined. Whined! Literally whined! And then he looked at her like he was a kicked puppy! “I’ll give it back to you soon! Don’t look at me like that. You’re gonna burn yourself. And get my bed wet.”
Curling into a tight little ball, he sank below the sheets once more. She bit her lips. He wasn’t actually mad at her for taking the tea away, was he? He rolled over so his back was to her.
“Claude?”
“Mmmrgh.”
“Are you really that cold?”
Claude’s only reply was to scrunch tighter.
Great, now she felt bad. “Okay, well, scooch over a bit. You’re hogging the whole bed.”
He wiggled his way to the corner of the bed. This was a wholly different side to Claude. Usually, he weathered pain and discomfort with a smile. Claude hated when people saw him when he was weak. The fact that he wasn’t claiming he was ‘fine’ or whatever was more of a tipoff than anything.
“You really do not deal well with being cold.” She sighed. “Guess I have no choice.” She slid into bed with him. Though they weren’t touching, the bed wasn’t exactly all that large. After a beat, Claude’s head popped up. He stared at her. “What? It’s a little chilly, I want under the covers too.”
Claude seemed to accept that excuse and hid back under the blankets, shivering pathetically without another word.
“Just come here already, you big baby.”
“Mmnntahaby.”
“Huh?”
“I’m not a baby,” he grumbled. “Just let me warm up on my own.”
“Do you want to warm up alone? When I’m right here, offering my own home-grown warmth?”
A long sigh shuddered through the blankets. “I don’t need your help.”
She winced. Maybe she’d been laying her teasing on a bit too thick. Usually Claude gave as good as he got, but this kinda seemed like a sore point for him. She didn’t know he had sore points. His total inability to tolerate cold was totally a sore point though.
Searching with her hand, she found Claude’s head. She poked around until she found his cheek, then poked his cheek a few times. “What?”
“Don’t mind me, just trying to check your temperature.” She poked his cheek again. He rolled over with a grumble. This resulted in him laying his cheek on her hand, somewhat trapping her there. “Eee! Your cheek is cold! Get off, that’s my hand.”
“I dunno, kinda seems like it’s my hand now.”
“Oh yeah?” With her free hand, she reached out and snagged one of his hands. “Then I’m taking this hand as compensation.”
“Not my hand, nooo…” That hand latched onto her arm with freezing fingers.
“Aah! Not fair, you’re like an ice cube!” She wiggled away from him, breaking free of his grip and taking both hands back for herself.
That long, sad whine echoed from the blankets again. After a moment, Claude cleared his throat. “It’s fine. Don’t need you anyways…”
“Wow, the cold turns you into a brat.”
“No, it turns me into an ice cube.”
“That too!” She kinda felt bad (again) for withdrawing. He was shivering really hard.
The lump wiggled, then started moving. Closer to her.
“Do you want a hug, Claude?”
“...No.”
“Kinda looks like you want a hug.”
“...We should s-switch places.”
“You just want to lay in my warm spot.”
“Yeah.”
“Are you suuure you don’t want to cuddle for warmth?” She wasn’t gonna tease him further, but it was hard! Claude was so hard to tease, this was like, her one chance! Also he was kinda cute when he was petulant like this.
Claude mumbled something under his breath.
“I didn’t hear that, speak up.”
“I s-said, I never said I didn’t want to… c-cuddle for warmth.”
“Oh.” Right, he’d kinda danced around the subject, but he hadn’t claimed he didn’t want to cuddle. “Come here, then.”
“...N-no, you come here.” Claude sounded almost shy? It was a weird tone. She couldn’t see his face though, so maybe she misheard the tone.
“Ugh, you’re making me do all the work.” Slowly, she found his body under the blankets and curled her arms around him. He was scrunched up into a tiny ball, so it wasn’t too hard. Her cheeks were warming up faster than the rest of her. Ugh, this wasn’t the first time she’d hugged Claude! She hugged all her friends. Hugging him in bed didn’t have to be weird unless she made it weird.
Claude wiggled a little closer, then a little more closer. Then he uncurled and started wrapping around her, his limbs like vines as they entangled around her. It was fine right until he shoved his freezing nose into her neck. “Hey!”
“Mmmm…”
…How could she get mad at him when he made such a sweet little content sound? “Awww, you’re like a cold little kitty-cat,” she cooed, worming one of her arms free so she could pet his fluffy hair.
“‘M not,” he whined. The whining was not helping his case. “Just cold.”
“Cold and cute.”
“I’m not cute, you’re cute.”
“Aww, I know I’m cute, thanks! We’re both cute.” He grumbled at her, but notably did not stop clinging to her. He really was cute like this. “Wow, your hair is super soft. Can’t believe you kept this a secret from me! It always looks so messy.” Claude just hummed in reply. Using her nails she scritched his scalp a little, paying close attention to how he reacted.
“Mmmm—” The mixed groan-sigh didn’t sound intentional considering how Claude abruptly cut himself off. The way he butted into her hand slightly and leaned into her touch didn’t lie, though.
“That feels good?”
“...Mmmhm.”
She kinda liked this side of Claude. Both the bratty side and the soft, pliant side. She could do without the whole ‘there is an ice cube attached to my body’ aspect, but otherwise… Claude was kinda sweet like this. She doubted he even realized the way he was nuzzling her neck in slow, rhythmic patterns. “Has anyone ever told you that you give good hugs?” she teased gently.
“I’ve been told I give awful hugs,” he mumbled back. She was the one to tell him that because usually it was true. He got all tense and tight and stiff whenever he was hugged! And when he tried to return a hug, he clearly had no idea where to put his arms. It was sorta like being hugged by a mannequin. Not now though. This was the opposite of stiff. Mushy-Claude gave great hugs.
“Well this hug is a nice one. You should hug like this more often.”
“Like I’m in the process of freezing to death?”
“You’re not freezing to death, silly.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes I do.”
“I’m freezing to death, Hilda. Snow is so cold, I hate it.”
“Obviously snow is cold! See, you aren’t freezing to death, because your good pal Hilda has you in her arms.”
Claude didn’t verbally reply. Instead, she felt his little nod against her neck. His arms tightened slightly.
“There there, Hilda will warm you up.”
“...Sorry,” came the near-silent whisper.
Her eyebrows shot to her forehead. “Sorry? Why?”
His melty-hug turned less good as his whole body tensed. “Never mind.”
“Hey, Claude, what’s wrong?” She drug her nails against his scalp again. “Why are you sorry?”
“Should’ve known snow would be cold,” he mumbled. “Obviously it’s cold, it only happens in cold places. Just didn’t realize how cold.”
“Aw, don’t apologize for getting cold, Claudie. It’s okay, I don’t mind.” With the hand that wasn’t massaging his scalp, she hugged him a little tighter. It wasn’t like Claude to need reassurance like this. Replaying his words in her head, she couldn’t help but note his words. “Claude, is this your first time seeing snow?”
“...”
“Oh my gosh, it is, isn’t it! You’ve never seen snow before?!”
“I have.”
“Yeah, today, right?”
“...Yeah.”
“Don’t sound so sad, stop that. This is a great thing! I’m no Faerghan, but I know my fair share of snow-activities. And you get to experience them all for the first time. C’mon, it’ll be fun! I know, tomorrow I’ll take you down to the markets! Oooh, it’ll be so fun, I’ll help you pick out some snow clothes. Then you’ll stay nice and toasty. And if you get cold, then I’ll be right there to keep you warm. Heh, so long as you keep me warm too. I bet you’d love snow-sledding, Claude. It’s not really my thing, but so long as you carry my sled for me, I don’t mind. Gosh, and on a mountain like Garreg Mach? There has got to be some great sledding spots. Maybe we can take the other Golden Deer with us too, Raphael would totally carry our sleds.”
“Are you sure you want to do that tomorrow?”
“Yes, absolutely. I’ve made up my mind! You better not have anything planned for tomorrow, because we are going shopping and then sledding!”
“Nothing planned but your birthday party.”
She blinked. Oh. Right. Gosh, how could she forget?! “Oh yeah… I guess we can go sledding the day after? The snow might be melty by then, though.” She mulled it over. “You know what? I don’t want a birthday party! We’re going sledding instead. My birthday happens every year, but you only get one first-time when it comes to snow!”
Claude snickered. “Hilda, your birthday party is in the evening. Surely sledding won’t take that long, will it?”
“A-ah, no, probably not.” She winced, grateful that Claude’s head was under the covers. She was blushing. It was silly to get so excited about this, wasn’t it. “We don’t have to go sledding if you don’t want to. I got ahead of myself.”
Claude poked his head up into fresh air. Big green eyes stared up at her. Something was different about them when he looked at her like that, but she couldn’t place how. He smiled. It was a soft little thing. “I’d love to go sledding with you, Hilda. You were ready to cancel all your plans just for me, how can I say no after that?”
Oh great, she was blushing even harder now. That was totally a new smile on his lips, she’d never seen him smile like that before! It was a really, really nice smile. “Heh, yeah, it’s a date, then! A plan, I mean. We’ll go tomorrow.”
“After you take me shopping.”
“After shopping! That’s very important too. I’m gonna pick out your outfit too.”
“Gonna dress me in pink?”
“No way, I’m gonna make you look super handsome.”
“So long as I’m warm, you can dress me in whatever.”
Smirking, she picked at the hem of his pink shirt. “Like this? You do look cute in pink, you know.”
“Not as cute as you.”
“Psh, that’s an unwinnable contest!” She booped his nose, making his face scrunch up. She couldn’t help it! He was so open right now, his eyes were so earnest! Maybe she needed to get him cold like this more in the future. Apparently that was the only way to melt his walls. He was really cute like this. ‘Handsome’ was also correct, but he was always handsome. With his red nose and cheeks, his open eyes, his silly pouts… Gosh, he was even wiggling around her! It was a subtle wiggle. It reminded her of happy-wiggles. She hoped that was why he was shimmying like that, because it wasn’t caused by being cold. “You look happy, you know,” she said softly.
He raised an eyebrow. “I’m not as cold anymore, so sure, I’m happy.”
“You should smile like this more often.” Her thumb traced his peachy lip. She’d always wondered if he used lip balm or something, his lips were always so pretty. They felt soft. His pretty lips formed an o shape. He was just so stupidly cute right now, ugh! All fluffy curls and big green eyes and soft lips!
“H-Hilda,” he began, nibbling on the corner of one of his lips.
She wasn’t thinking when she leaned down to kiss him.
She kissed him.
When she pulled back, Claude’s ‘o’ lips were now in an ‘O’ shape. His eyes also resembled that shape.
“Uhh…” she eloquently explained herself. “Can we forget I just did that?”
Claude’s eyes were still so wide and shocked. Hey, at least she surprised him? That was rare and she managed to do it twice today! “Do you want to forget about it?” he slowly said.
“Yeah, sorry, uh, I dunno what came over me! Ahaha, hah, wow, i-it must be the cold getting to my brain! Silly me, can’t think straight!” Aaaa, that was an awful excuse!
He slowly licked his lips, which did not look like ‘forgetting’ to her eye. “Sure, let’s forget about it. I’d like a do-over.”
“A—You want a do-over?!” She blinked rapidly. He wanted to kiss her again?! He wanted to kiss her again! Aaaaa. “I see, you just don’t want to remember that you were too surprised to return our first kiss! Silly Claude, your firsts don’t get a do-over.”
“That was your first kiss too?” he quietly asked, all doe-eyed and adorable.
“O-oh, it, uh.” When she said ‘our first kiss’, she meant their first kiss together, with the both of them! But, well, it was her first kiss. “Yeah. You’ve never…?”
Were his cheeks still reddish from the cold, or was he blushing? “Me neither,” he softly admitted. “So, do-over?”
“Firsts don’t get do-overs, but I’ll give you a second kiss.”
“My first snow-day is getting a do-over tomorrow. That’ll be a better first than today. If I can get a snow do-over, then how about a—mmph?!”
“That was a better first kiss!” she cried with a smirk. Got him again, hah! “Hope that one was satisfying, because there’s no second do-overs! Besides, do-overs aren’t real. I think you’re having a great first-ever snow day. We wouldn’t be cuddling otherwise.”
He pouted at her. What else was she supposed to do but kiss that cute pout? This time he was prepared enough to kiss back.