Hubert eyes opened automatically. He always woke up at the exact same time every day. He was ready to get up and greet the day; however there was a problem with this course of action. Pascal was draped over him, her hand resting on his chest, her legs intertwined with his and her head resting on his shoulder. He wasn't sure how they ended up like this. But he knew he couldn't move. She was snoring slightly, her chest rising and falling against his. He couldn't disturb this scene. So he didn't. She was sure to get up soon. Probably. But soon minutes stretched into half and hour and Hubert was getting tired of waiting. He tried to move her hand but she was holding on too tight. Hubert took a deep breath. He tried shaking her a little bit but she didn't even stir. She started mumbling something about banana pie.
"Pascal." He said softly.
There was no response. Hubert weighed his options and he thought it was time to get out of bed. He just rolled Pascal over, a little more forcefully this time. She didn't seem to notice. Hubert rolled out of bed and tried not to step on anything. He slipped some clothes on and exited the bedroom. He had only moved in yesterday. He saw a letter that was slipped under the door. Hubert went over and picked it up. It was addressed to Pascal, so Hubert put it on her desk. Hubert sat down at her desk, wondering what to do with himself.
Hubert had an idea. He walked into the kitchen and started to hatch a plan to wake up Pascal. He started to make banana pancakes. He had a lot of practice making simple meals for himself. He was busy cooking when he thought he heard a noise coming from the bedroom. He heard a voice coming from the door way, it sounded dead tired.
"Hu… I love you." Pascal said.
"I love you too" Hubert said.
Hubert looked over at Pascal, she was only wearing a T-shirt, but it was his Sun Screen Ranger T-shirt so it went down to her knees. Pascal managed to make it to her desk. She put her head down on the desk.
"Pascal there is a letter on your desk." Hubert said.
No answer.
"Pascal? You can't have fallen asleep already."Hubert said.
Pascal groggily looked up at him. Her hair was all messy and unbrushed.
"Huh?" she said.
"Theres a letter on your desk. For you." Hubert said
"Pancakes first. Letter later." She said.
Pascal and Hubert sat down and they devoured their pancakes with vigor.
"Ok" Pascal said. Obviously more awake now after food.
"Man how are you up right now? Aren't you tired after last night" Pascal said.
Hubert started to blush.
"This is the time I always wake up." Hubert said,
"I don't usually wake up till like 11. But if you're going to be making pancakes. I guess I'll just have to change that." Pascal said.
"Let's see what this letter says."Pascal said.
Pascal stood up and walked over to her desk and opened the letter. Hubert walked over as well.
"Oh! It's from Fourier!"She said.
As she continued reading her mouth opened and her face turned a deep shade of crimson.
"We are going to have to sound proof our apartment it seems."
"….."
"Hubert?" Pascal said.
"You look really pale. Are you okay?" she asked.
"What do you mean?"Hubert exclaimed.
"I asked if you were okay."
"No, I mean about the sound proofing thing."
"Oh…well, you know we woke her up in the middle of night when we-"
"Okay okay, I understand." Hubert said.
There was a brief silence between them. Hubert was on edge with worry and Pascal was still waking up.
"So what are we going to do about this?" Hubert asked
"Well I'm just going to soundproof the room. I dunno what you're gonna do." Pascal said.
"Wait you know how to do that?"
"Yeah. Doesn't everyone?"
"No Pascal, not everyone knows how to soundproof a room."
"It's pretty easy. Maybe I can teach you how to do it."
"I think I'll pass. Shouldn't we go talk with Fourier?"
Pascal tilted her head.
"Why?"
"Well you know to make it up to her and apologize." Hubert said.
"Oh okay. If it will make you feel better, then let's go do it." Pascal said.
"Thanks"
"No need to thank me. You'd do the same for me."
Pascal moved toward Hubert, she stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. She spun past him and took him by the hand, pulling him to the door. They both went over to Fourier's house. Hubert knocked on the door. No one answered. He knocked again. Pascal moved Hubert out of the way and opened the door and stuck her head in.
"She isn't home. She must have gone to her lab. We can talk to her when she gets back." Pascal said.
"Well what should we do in the meantime?" Hubert asked.
"Hu have you ever been sledding?"
"I've heard of it but I've never been."
"Then let's go!"
"Right now?"
"Yeah!"
Hubert smiled.
"Alright"
The two of them got dressed to go sledding. Luckily before coming to live with Pascal, Hubert invested in some heavier winter clothing. They were both decked out in their winter gear. The layers of clothing made them look fatter than they actually are. It added a good inch of fluffiness.
"Well we sure will be warm." Hubert said.
"Nah we will probably still get cold" Pascal said.
"Shouldn't we put more clothes on?" Hubert asked.
"No, the clothes will keep us less cold then we are supposed to be but it doesn't keep us warm."
Hubert gave her a look.
"I don't think I follow."
"It will be fun!"
She giggled her face a glow with that childlike wonderment.
"Alright then let's go" Hubert said.
Pascal said it was a twenty minute walk from the enclave. Hubert felt like she said that forty minutes ago, she failed to mention that they would be walking through the snow drifts. But she insisted on going this way because she said it leads to the "absolute best hill" and that they really had to go. Pascal was leading the way, she was a fair bit ahead of Hubert because she was so used to walking in the snow, but Hubert was stumbling every couple steps. He only face planted a couple times. It was impressive that Pascal was so far ahead because she was also carrying the sled. And not just any sled but the "super duper mach sled". She designed and built it herself. It was about as tall as she was, and it looked sleek and aerodynamic.
Pascal stopped when she reached a clearing. She looked back and saw Hubert was way behind her. She waved to him and he waved back. Hubert now understood what Pascal meant by keeping less cold. When he got to where Pascal was, he looked around and was surprised. The hill was a lot bigger then he imagined it would be. You could hardly call this a hill, it was more of a mountain.
"You want to sled down this!?" Hubert said.
"Of course! It's the best hill for sledding!" Pascal said.
"If you say so" Hubert said
"You sound scared. Are you scared? We don't have to do this if you don't want to" Pascal said.
"I'll do it." Hubert said firmly.
"It's okay if you're scared. I'm scared. Well just a little bit, mostly just excited, but it's that little bit of fear mixed in that makes it worth it."
"Here!" Pascal threw the sled at Hubert. She ran up to the top of the hill.
"I carried it all the way here. You can carry it up!" She shouted down.
Hubert made his way up the hill. He didn't run because he knew if he ran like Pascal he would fall down the hill. Hubert slowly made his way to the top where Pascal was impatiently waiting.
"Alright you're here! Let's go!" Pascal said
Hubert handed the sled to Pascal.
"You can go first" Hubert said
"You don't want to go together?" Pascal said.
"I didn't realize that was an option!"
"Of course!" Pascal said.
Pascal put the sled down, adjusting so that it would be just right.
"What are you doing" Hubert asked.
"Sit right on the front of this and don't move forward." Pascal said.
Hubert managed to climb into the sled without much trouble but Pascal nudged the sled bag to its original position.
"Okay now stay there and don't look back. I'll be right back" Pascal said.
"Why? Where are you going?" Hubert asked.
But he didn't look back because she told him not to. In the distance he heard running, and as the sound got louder and closer Hubert gripped the rope that was connected to the helm of the sled tightly. Pascal started pushing the sled and before it was too late jumped in behind Hubert. She wrapped her arms tightly around him. And off they went. They went flying down the hill. The wind seemed to pushing them forward. At times it felt like they were completely airborne. They felt the weightlessness mix with the speed and the adrenaline. That unique mixture of feelings only lasted a few seconds but it was worth every moment.
Hubert noticed that the bottom of the hill was approaching rather quickly.
"Pascal! How do we stop!?" Hubert said
"Like this!"
Pascal with her arms still tightly wrapped around Hubert's waist, threw all of her weight to the right. Causing them both to fly off the sled and fall into the snow. They rolled for a couple of seconds. They ended up lying next to each other, looking up at the sky. They were both trying to catch their breath, as they watched their breath climb upwards. As the adrenaline wore off, he felt the cold sink in. They both sat up, smiles on both of their faces.
"How'd you like that!" Pascal said
"It was pretty amazing" Hubert said.
"Wanna go again?" Pascal said
"Yes!" Hubert said.
"But you can carry the sled back up."
"Aw man. Alright. Fair is fair."
A few hours later, they were pretty exhausted and cold and they headed back to the enclave. Pascal promised that she had hot chocolate somewhere back at her house; though she looked doubtful as if she would be able to find it. They discarded their snowy clothing in the corner. After ten minutes of digging around, Pascal found the cups and the hot chocolate mix.
"Do you want me to make it?" Hubert asked
"Nope. You already made pancakes, and you would mess up my secret recipe, and it wouldn't taste right." Pascal said.
"I wouldn't mess it up if you told me how to do it." Hubert said
"Then it wouldn't be a secret!" Pascal said.
Hubert remained quiet, realizing this is one argument he wouldn't be able to win. They sat quietly at the table, slowly sipping hot chocolate. It was a nice silence.
"Hey didn't we have to do something?" Pascal asked.
"I-I think that we had to talk to Fourier"
"Oh yeah. Right right"
Pascal tilted her head and looked at Hubert quizzically.
"Hu. Your face is all red. Are you feeling alright?"
"I-I think so."
"You probably aren't used to all this snow and cold and stuff. I mean you just got here from Stratha and that's like the opposite of here. Maybe you should go rest."
"What about talking to Fourier."
"I think I can manage to talk to my sister by myself. You go rest."
"But-"
"No buts Mister. Off to bed. March!"
Hubert sighed an inner sigh of relief. Maybe Pascal knew the real reason. Maybe she didn't. In the end it didn't really matter. All that mattered is she cared enough to send him to bed and Hubert climbed into bed and fell asleep. Now he knew why she woke up at noon, if he tried to keep this kind of pace all day he would exhausted by dinner time. But now he dreamed of sleds, banana pancakes and Pascal.