The name I made up for Hugh's little sister was "Valerie", so I'm using that.

Hugh - Hue

Valerie - Value

...I don't know enough about painting to understand what I'm making puns about, but whatever works!

Posting stuff for the European release date, which... I meant to have finished yesterday, but... Anywho, considering I'm fairly certain that at least some parts of Europe are six hours ahead of my time zone, it might already be the 12th in some regions. In which case: Exact release date fanfiction instead of one day prior!

It took approximately five minutes of serious schoolwork before Nate threw his hands up in frustration and began whining. Nothing particularly unusual there.

"I hate Spanish! Tell me again: Why did we have to take this class?"

"Just try to live through it," Hugh sighed.

He looked tentatively at his little sister playing across the room. If Valerie heard Nate complaining about school, Hugh was worried that she might start as well. Whether any of them would admit it or not, she looked up to Nate. And she was also far too young to start picking up on his lack of enthusiasm toward school; she had enough bad habits thanks to Nate already.

Not that Hugh enjoyed it a whole lot more, but at least he realized that homework had to be done and did so without complaining as much.

Hugh watched her for a while before he could safely determine that Valerie seemed too interested in her dolls to pay any attention to them for the moment. In case that failed, she was sitting on the couch with the television in front of her turned on to to some cartoon movie that she'd just convinced her parents to buy for her, but that Hugh had already forgotten the name of. Hugh was relieved – she had absolutely no reason to take notice of them.

Nate, on the other hand, was actually supposed to be paying attention. Instead, he threw his head down onto his text book and grumbled, voice muffled by pages that had been passed down by Arceus only knew how many hands.

"...What is the point of all this anyway?" It was a question that it seemed like Nate would never tire of asking. "I have all this energy, I really want to go for a jog, and instead I'm stuck here with you working on this..."

Nate spat out the final word as if the mere thought put poison in his mouth. Well, if he didn't get his face off that book soon, that might not be far from the truth...

Hugh wasted no time in telling him this, pointing out that he had no idea what kind of germs were hanging out on those pages. He didn't know why he bothered, since clearly he was the only one in this room who cared so deeply about what was sanitary and what wasn't. Nate turned his head just enough to frown at him, but the side of his face was still pillowed by the pages of Lesson 2.1, "¿Que Hora es?"

"I'm pretty sure there's a word for people like you..." Nate commented dryly. The tone of his voice was flat – he wasn't really annoyed, but he was great at making pretending he was.

For anyone who didn't know him as well as Hugh did, anyway.

"You're not going to get some kind of crazy lip fungus the next time we kiss, I promise."

Hugh flushed the instant he knew what was coming, which was just before the end of the sentence, and sent another anxious glance in the direction of his little sister. Just in case, he snapped at Nate to shut up as loud as he could, in the hopes that she wouldn't hear the word, "kiss".

Nate grinned wide, in a way that annoyed Hugh even when Hugh couldn't bring himself to annoy Nate back. But there was a slight difference between blurting a secret out loud to his younger sibling and nagging over homework; Valerie was barely six years old yet, and there were certain things she didn't need to know about. Least of all that he was dating, and especially that he was dating his male best friend since elementary.

She would probably react to it better than their parents would, but there was still something awkward about a six year old knowing the private, intimate details of his life.

The background noise from the movie suddenly gave way to an abrupt silence; Valerie paused it, put down the remote, and then began to totter off toward the kitchen, dolls in hand. She paused at the doorway to provide an explanation, and ask if they wanted anything.

"This movie is starting to get boring," she complained, which somehow amused Hugh enough to make him smile. Nate frowned indignantly in response. "I'll be back in a few. There's left over pizza in the fridge, and I need to use the toilet. Are you guys hungry?"

Before Hugh could say no and excuse her, Nate cut in. "Definitely. "I want three slices of pizza, some chips, a soda to go along with it, and some salsa to go on top, if you have any. And ranch dressing. And remember to wash your hands after you use the bathroom, okay? Your dollies too. They have no excuse for skipping out on proper hygene."

Where his sense of humor would have normally been appreciated, Hugh's sister just glared at Nate. She wasn't the only one, but Hugh waited for her to leave before he said anything.

"I can't believe you. Can you even eat all of that? And my mom's in her health nut stage again – I don't think she bought soda and chips the last time she went grocery shopping."

The other boy knew that. By now, Nate knew his family fairly well. Sometimes, Hugh had to wonder why he bothered asking.

Nate closed his Spanish book and smiled coyly. "Neither of those things actually matter, Hugh. The whole point was to buy us some time."

"...I guess that explains one thing," Hugh grumbled.

"What?"

"Never mind."

Hugh flushed again, in some mixture of embarrassment and indignation at the thought of someone walking in on them. It was risky. "My parents are home right now," he reminded Nate curtly, "and my little sister..."

Before he could continue, Nate leaned forward and Hugh felt a soft pair of lips on his own.

"I know..." he pulled away briefly. "But we're doing Spanish homework, remember?"

Hugh decided it was safer to cut him off than to listen to Nate attempt some ridiculous pick up line about showing him the trilled r or something. Which may have sounded incredibly stupid, but knowing that boy, it would be inevitable if he didn't do something about it now.

Nate welcomed the opportunity for another kiss, dropping what he was about to say immediately, just as planned.

…

…

…Just outside the doorway, a giggle slipped out of a little girl's mouth, and she quickly stifled it with her hand. In front of her were two dolls, their hair cut ragged and short with a pair of safety scissors weeks ago. One had black hair, and she'd dressed it in a makeshift track uniform – it was really a pair of pajamas, but with a little imagination they served well for a pair of runner's sweats. The other wore a tennis uniform and, sorry Nate, but she only had the kind for girls, because most of her dollies were girls, so he ended up wearing a skirt. Never mind the fact that both dolls were girls to begin with, because that too could easily be fixed with a little imagination.

Valerie peered back around the corner, watching her brother kiss Nate for a third time. Then she picked up both dolls and gently pressed their faces together. They made a very cute couple.

This was the very first GreySkyShipping story I wrote, but I purposely waited until I could play the game to post it.

...Sibling admiration...