#asking with a wink 'How do I look?' and expecting Mercedes and Annette (and Ingrid) to laugh it off

[unxpctedlygreat]

/whispers/ nb sylvain

[motherrussianelichika]

Ingrid, makeup your mind.

I haven’t publicly shared my writing in 5 years but I finished this last night and what the heck  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Sometimes you want Petrathea, sometimes you want Dorogrid but all the times you just wish Ingrid could be herself Intsys.  

For the third time since I had started at the academy there was a girl in my room trying to teach me how to use makeup. At least when it was Mercedes and Annette I could run and not have to worry about their feelings, but this was Dorothea. I wanted to get close to her...in a platonic way of course. She saved my hide with my most recent suitor, so when she offered to do my makeup, how could I refuse? She was a commoner and I was hoping her perspective on all this girly stuff would be different and help me understand it better. 

I was not so lucky.

The first step is the worst. A thick substance called foundation suffocates every one of my pores. Their gasps for air manifest as a grating itching sensation that makes me want to claw at my face. Every subsequent step adds another layer to the torture. It gets even worse when Dorothea asks me to close my eyes and my other senses sharpen and I become acutely aware of how ungoddessly annoying this experience is. Have I truly gone insane? Did I think this would be better just because it was Dorothea's soft hand cradling my chin as she lined my eyes?

Wait, what.

"Ingrid dear, please stop furrowing your brows." Dorothea scolded. She was so close to my face I could feel every puff of air as she spoke. I cracked open one eye and she was a lot closer than I was expecting. I reeled back in my chair.

"S-sorry, I just...I just wasn't...expecting you to be that close." I rushed out, my face getting redder by the second still thinking about how her lips were so close to mine.

"Aw, don't fret my lovely Ingrid," hearing those words again sent my heart racing even faster than it already was, "I would never do anything untoward until I had asked for permission first." She winked.

There was a knock at my door and I immediately shot up to answer it. For the first and only time in my life I prayed to the goddess that it was Sylvain. 

Again, I was not so lucky. 

In my doorway was the princess of Bridgid looking at me strangely. Or maybe she was just mirroring my own expression. Petra and I had never spoken beyond basic pleasantries, and I had no desire to change that because I was quite jealous of her closeness to Dorothea.

"Oh sorry Ingrid, I forgot to mention I invited Petra to join us. She is so talented at hair styling! I wanted to see what she could do with yours." Dorothea explained. 

"Hello Ingrid! You are looking…" Petra trailed off searching for her words. "There is a word I have heard you described as before but I am having difficulty recalling it."

"Is it 'ravishing'? I did a pretty good job with her make-up don't you think?" My heart was trying to evacuate my chest again. 

"No, I am believing it is something negative. Something that has to do with not using the toilet?" 

"Petra are you trying to say I look constipated?" I was not offended, she did not know any better. Sylvain on the other hand, did.

Her eyes lit up. "Yes that is it! You are having the look of constipated!" Petra strides over to where my wash basin and washcloth are. "You should remove the face paint if it is causing much discomfort".

"It is uncomfortable," I sighed "but as a noble lady it is something I do need to get used to."

"This part of your culture I have great difficulty understanding. You all care much for how your outside looks but do not listen to the inside."

"My inside?"

"Your spirit….your…" Petra trailed off searching again.

"Soul?" Dorothea offered.

"Yes, what is your soul speaking to you?"

"Honestly? To get this crap the hell off of my face..." And that I should cut off all this unmanageable hair, and that I should tell my father where he can stick his next proposal, and that I should become a knight and when all the women in the town I just assisted flock around me and ask for me to remove my helmet they will all fawn over how handsome I am and I will have to remind them I am a married woman and my gorgeous wife is awaiting my return...

I was jolted out of my...soul searching...by a cold washcloth pressing on my face.

"I'm sorry Ingrid. I had no idea you were so uncomfortable, I didn't mean to pressure you into this." Dorothea apologized as she wiped the makeup off.

"No, please do not apologize. It was somewhat worth it, though, because I got to spend time with you." As I said that I laid my hand over the one she was using the washcloth with. The floodgates had opened and inside Ingrid needed to slow down. Or not, judging by the blush on Dorothea's cheeks.

"Perfection!" Petra exclaimed. "Now that Ingrid is Ingrid, we have the same foot." 

"Huh? Do you mean we are on equal footing? For what?" I questioned.

"Our battle!" 

"Battle!?" Petra was one of the last people at the academy I wanted to face on the battlefield.

"Our battle for Dorothea's heart!"

Goddess save me.

[kumeko]

A/N: For the Sylvgrid Big Bang! I wanted to write something fantasy-esque, since I’ve always loved the genre, and with a slight homage to a series I’ve loved for a long time. I might(?) add more chapters later on (I have a general idea for the next section). I was originally planning for this to be like…5k max, and now it’s 8k and counting. Perhaps I too can write chaptered fics.

You should check out @ oclear0 on twitter for their amazing piece for the fic!

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…

Leaning out her window, Ingrid took a deep breath of the sweet, clean air. Well, mostly sweet. The countryside wasn’t the countryside without the occasional pungent whiff of manure. As Annette drove down narrow, dirt lanes, humming some silly ditty or the other, Ingrid quietly observed her surroundings.

 She had expected Ireland to be cramped. Back when they were in university together in Toronto, it was the number one thing Annette couldn’t get over. Canada was big. The United States was big. You could drive for hours without reaching another town. At the time, Ingrid had thought her quirky roommate was exaggerating things, but now that she was here…

 Well, she understood. Highways merged in and out of small towns seamlessly, and what should have been an hour journey at most took hours because of local traffic. The distance between places was tiny; she still couldn’t believe that another country was only a stone’s throw away. Even tinier were the cars, the roads, the houses, the people.

 Well, person. Ingrid grinned as she averted her gaze from the blurring countryside and turned back to her old roommate. Annette’s nose scrunched as she concentrated on her driving, looking as though she was about to fight a war or argue with Lysithea instead of just driving down a nearly empty road. “You know, Lysithea’s taller than you now.”

“She’s what?” Annette gaped, tearing her eyes from the road to stare at her for a long minute. Like a fish, she opened and closed her mouth a few times. “Seriously?”

 The car shook slightly as they went through a pothole and she quickly focused on the road.

 “It’s not by much,” Ingrid consoled, chuckling. Back in university, Lysithea and Annette had been competitive over everything. Well, it might have been more one-sided on Annette’s part; just like her fiery red hair, she got caught up in her emotions sometimes. Still, Lysithea had crowed over her height the second she’d noticed, and maybe it had been more mutual than Ingrid had ever realized.

 “If yer lyin’…” Annette warned. Her Irish lilt was more noticeable now that she was back home and maybe it’d take a few years before it would be impossible to tell what she was saying when she was angry. “I’ll tell Mercie you want a makeover.”

 “That…” Ingrid swallowed at the thought of her old schoolmate. Despite appearing to be the ‘Mom-friend’ of the group, Mercedes had been surprisingly aggressive and persistent when it came to getting her way. Such as wanting them to all dress up for any parties she hosted.

 Ingrid could solidly claim that she had memorized the steps to putting on makeup because of that. Which had come in handy during her job interviews, but she would never admit that aloud.

 Instead, she asked, “How’s she liking Ireland?”

 “Oh, she loves it sure!” Annette giggled, a happy blush spreading across her cheeks as she thought about her long-term girlfriend. “Everyone loves herself and she’s even got a job at the local pub on her. We’re goin’ wait like, an hour, for her shift t’ end, but then we can head on home. You good for that? Or do you need sleep?”

 “Slept enough on the plane.” Ingrid rubbed her neck. It might not have been the most comfortable sleep, but it was more than enough to fight off the jetlag for now. “Though I wouldn’t say no to a shower.”

 “You definitely smell like it, sure,” Annette teased in a sing-song voice and Ingrid had a bad feeling about what the subject of her next song would be.

 Ingrid huffed, crossing her arms. “I wasn’t on the plane that long.”

 “Airplane breath—”

 “Annette!” Ingrid growled, blocking her ears before she could hear the rest. The worst thing about Annette’s ditties was how catchy they were. Sure, they were the silliest things on the planet, but once they were in your head, they didn’t get out easily.

 And she really didn’t want to unconsciously hum about how stinky she felt.

 Laughing, Annette poked her arm. “I give, I give. But yeah, Merce’s friends with everyone now. She’s even has my grandparents wrapped around her finger.”

 Giving Annette a suspicious look, Ingrid lowered her hands. “That’s not surprising.”

 It was impossible to hate Mercedes. That was a scientific fact.

 “They all say her accent is sexy,” Annette added, sounding mildly traumatized. “And I think my mum likes herself more than me.”

 Ingrid smiled wryly. “Don’t you like her accent too?”

 “Well, yeah, but that’s because it’s funny, sure.” Annette turned the wheel, taking a sharp right at the next intersection. It was a paved road now and the empty countryside slowly melted into a more crowded city. “And I don’t want t’ know what my grandparents think is sexy.”

 It took Ingrid a whole minute to process that. Horrified, she shrank into her seat, staring at Annette with wide eyes. “Your grandparents?”

 There were some things you couldn’t unhear, and that was one of them.

 -x-

 Ballyvaughan was small. Not small in a ‘small town’ kinda way, but small in a ‘tiny, you could fit everyone into a banquet hall’ way. There were less than 300 people in the whole town. Ingrid was certain that she had more people in one of her first-year classes in university.

 That meant it was immediately obvious that she was a stranger the second she went anywhere. Even before she spoke a word, people asked if she was “Annette’s American friend—not that girlfriend, but th’ other one.”

 And then a few jabs and sly winks about how “Annette sure likes ‘em big for such a tiny girl.”

 Considering that her own family were the most uptight people she’d ever met, Ingrid wasn’t sure if she was jealous for such easy (if nosey, clearly wrong, and a little creepy) acceptance, or if she was just glad that her grandparents never did more than just pinch cheeks.

 Judging by how hard Annette sputtered from each of these remarks, a lifetime of hearing them wasn’t enough to get used to it.

 “It’s a nice place,” Ingrid said, slipping back into Annette’s compact car. They’d explored enough of the town’s hub; she wasn’t sure if Annette could take it anymore. If she could take it anymore. It was better just to wait for Mercedes in the parking lot. “I can’t believe you know so many people.”

 “It’s a small town and they’re all busybodies.” Annette groaned, resting her forehead on the steering wheel. “I’m sorry. They’re all really excited and no one knows what t’ say and—” She broke into an unintelligible sound.

 “It’s fine.” Ingrid patted her back gingerly.

 “I really do love it here and they’re all really nice people and I love ‘em but…” Annette lifted her head, resting her chin on the steering wheel. “They’re all too much sometimes. It was so nice and quiet when we lived together. Just the two of us.”

 “I remember Mercedes staying over quite a bit,” she added wryly. Curious, she asked, “Is your house crowded?” Annette had often spoken of her extended family, a chain of aunts, uncles, and cousins that had enough characters to fill a book.

 “Kinda. I mean, mum and pap live there, and both sets of grandparents. My aunt sometimes stays when she’s fighting with her husband, sure. It’s crowded, and a little awkward sometimes. Especially because of sex—” Annette bit her tongue, flushing a bright red that could rival her hair.

 Ingrid felt her skin burn too and she looked away.

 Clearing her throat, Annette continued like nothing had happened. “ANYWAYS, there’s a lotta us. So mum insisted we’d get the place remodeled so there’s enough space. They’re all staying with my aunts and uncles until it’s done, while we have the run of the house for ourselves.”

 “Oh.” Ingrid nodded, pressing her cold hands to her neck as she tried to keep her voice even. “That’s good.”

 A rapping noise interrupted them and Ingrid had never been more grateful for a break in the conversation. “Who—”

 Without warning, her door yanked open and two arms wrapped around her tightly, half-pulling her out of her seat. “Ingrid!”

 It took all of Ingrid’s reflexes to turn her head so she wouldn’t die of suffocation. Mercedes hugs were as tight as ever and she gasped, “It’s good to see you too.”

 “I’m glad you’re here.” Mercedes squeezed her again. “Did I keep you waiting?”

 “Mercie!” Annette leaned over, scrambling over the car seat as she tried and failed to pry open her girlfriend’s arms. “Yer killing herself.”

 “Oh.” Mercedes looked down and relaxed her grasp. “Oh sorry, I can’t have that.”

 “It’s…” Ingrid panted, chest heaving as she tried to get some oxygen. “Fine…”

 Patting her head, Mercedes coddled her. “Oh, you poor dear. You look so exhausted—let’s get you back to our place for some food and rest.”

 “That…sounds…good,” Ingrid breathed, certain that her state was more due to Mercedes than anything else. “I’ll…move…back…”

 “It’s fine, you stay here.” Mercedes poked her head into the car, pressing a chaste kiss on Annette’s cheek before stepping out. “I’ll sit in the back and you can tell me everything.”

 Her hand curled on her chest, crumpling her shirt as she slowly calmed down. “Everything?”

 “Everything,” Mercedes insisted, sliding into the backseat. “Starting with darling Lysithea’s height.”

 Annette spluttered. “Mercie!”

[fandom-meanderer]

hi! i’ve been reading your work aND I LOVE ALL OF THEM idk if you’re willing to write another one with felix but can you please??? i just can’t stop thinking about fluff involving him with the reader djdksksks thank you!

I’ll do as many Felix asks as you ask me to and more, dear!

~

Felix groaned as you ran into yet another store.

Why was he here? How did you get him to come with you again? Oh, that’s right.

~

“Felix! Please come shopping with me! I’m afraid to go on my own,” you whine. Felix rolls his eyes and continues to hack at the dummy with his sword.

“Then get Sylvain to go with you.”

“He went with me last time then he ditched me for a girl!”

“Take the boar.”

“He’s busy training with the Professor!”

“Ashe.”

“He and Ingrid are on stable duty!”

“Dedue.”

“He never leaves Dimitri’s side!”

“Mercedes.”

“She and Annette are cleaning the library today!”

Felix pondered for a moment, before finally turning to you.

“Alright, I’ll go if you can beat me in a sword fight.”

~

Needless to say, you completely demolished his stubborn ass.

Now he’s here with you, one arm lined with various shopping bags, the other resting on his hip, and you just continued to buy more and more. You walk up to him in a completely ridiculous hat.

“What do you think about this, Felix? Isn’t it cute?”

“You look like you’re wearing a flower pot.”

“I know, right?!”

“Goddess above...” he curses. You run up to the register and pull out your coin purse. The old lady smiles.

“You and your boyfriend are so cute,” she gushes. Your mouth opens slightly and you quickly look at Felix, luckily it looks like he didn’t even notice, before looking at the owner.

Oh, but he did notice. And if it weren’t for the twenty bags in his arms he’d be a complete mess right now. Then he noticed a sign on the door.

“Oh, um, actually-” you start to correct her.

“We are, aren’t we?” Felix musters out through a forced smile. He nudges his head towards the door and you understand.

“Mmhmm,” you nod with a wide smile.

“That’s 50% off your purchase then! Have a wonderful date you two,” she smiles. You wave behind her.

“Will do!” Felix closes the door with his foot and the two of you walk back into the market place. “Good thinking, Felix!”

“Don’t mentioned it. I figured you have to be almost out of cash with all this crap you’ve bought.”

“They’re not crap, they’re things that make me happy!”

“Yeah, yeah, same thing,” Felix groans. You stop in front of a store and he couldn’t help but notice your eyes sparkle at the small glass figurines.

“Oh, look, Felix! Isn’t that pegasus just adorable?” You gush. “Oh, I just know Ingrid would love it. Wait here, I’ll be back!” You say. You run into the shop and Felix leans against the wall.

He watched people move in and out of the other stores, he almost laughed, he’s been doing that all day. He watched couples walk hand in hand down the busy streets and scoffed. Couples? Who would waste their time with such trivial matters? Not him, that’s certain.

Soon, he noticed the sun start to set.

How long have you been in there?

He walks in to the shop and notices the pegasus figurines in the front, pristine and untouched, then he spots the owner.

“Excuse me, sir, have you seen an annoying girl?”

“What?” Felix sighs.

“She’s probably as tall as up to my shoulder, she has (Hair Color) hair, and (Eye Color) eyes, ring any bells?”

“Oh, yeah, she wandered to the back to look for a figurine.”

“Right, mind if I leave these bags here for a second?”

“Not at all, good luck,” the owner took the bags and Felix walked off to the back. Felix moved slowly, listening for you, and after wandering down a few aisles, he finally caught wind of your voice, albeit only a few broken words.

“... I... no... I don’t...”

‘You don’t? Don’t what?’ Felix moved closer.

“Oh, come on, it’ll be fun,” an unfamiliar voice spoke up. “We’ll take real good care of you, darling.”

“No, no thank you,” your voice wavered.

“Ugh, just grab that bitch already,” another voice whined.

“Oi, fuck off,” Felix stepped out from his spot. He made eye contact with you and nodded slightly.

“Mind your own damn business,” one of the ruffians spat out. “Who the hell are you anyways?”

“Her boyfriend.”

 It’s a good thing he always brings a sword with him.

“Okay! Okay, we’ll back off!” The other one said. Felix continued to press the cold steel to one of their necks, his hand gripping the other one’s shirt. Felix sighs and releases both of them, watching them scramble out of the store. Finally, he turns to you. He takes a step closer and you squeeze your eyes shut, moving your head down. Felix clicks his tongue and flicks your forehead.

“Ow!”

“Next time, just call for me and I’ll come running.”

“Okay...” You nod your head. He reaches above you and pulls down the small box. He easily pieced the scenario together. Since you’re hilariously short, you probably asked one of those men to get it down, then they both ganged up on you.

“Here.”

“Oh, thank you,” you take the figure and the two of you walk to the front. Before you could pull out any form of cash the owner speaks up.

“No need, it’s on the house,” he smiles.

“Oh, I couldn’t possibly-” The shop owner winked at you and you understood.

“I’m just glad you got rid of those thugs who loitered in my shop. I’m much too old to get rid of them myself, take that as your pay,” he insists. You smile.

“Thank you so much!” You see Felix half out of the door. “I’ll come back again soon!”

“Goodbye,” the shopkeeper waves as you follow Felix out. The moon was high in the sky now, some shops were closed, others were lit up in a way that made the now sparsely populated street charming. Felix looped his arm with yours.

“Huh?”

“Those men might still be around.”

“Oh, right.” You and Felix continued to walk in silence. Despite how awkward you expected it to be, it was actually rather comforting. It was a serene, welcome silence. Like an unspoken conversation. Finally, you found yourselves in front of your dorm.

“Well?”

“What?” Felix eyes the door. “Oh, yeah...” you rest your hand on the handle. You shake your head and turn to him, pulling out the box from the shop.

“This is for you!” You thrust the box into his hands and open the door. “Goodnight, Felix!” You shut the door. Felix blinks for a few seconds then looks down at his hands.

It wasn’t until he was sitting on his bed when he decided to finally open it.

“Why would I want a pegasus figurine?” He scoffs. He opens the box and immediately blushes. He opened one eye and glanced down at it. “Maybe being a couple isn’t so bad an idea...” he smiles warmly. He places the box down and goes to bed, an unexplainable warm feeling settling in his chest.

~

Sylvain threw himself on the chair in his best friend’s room.

“Of course we have to fight bandits again! One day, just one day! That’s all I ask for,” he cries. Felix rolls his eyes.

“Quit whining.”

“I’ll quit whining once I have a woman to love and cherish me for me.”

“You’re being too dramatic.”

“You just don’t get it, Felix,” Sylvain sighs and looks to the side, then, he notices it. A glass heart on the window sill. He immediately pushes himself off the chair and grabs it. “WHAT IS THIS, FELIX?!”

“Let’s just say I do get what you mean.”

“Felix! Now you have to tell me!”

“Nah.”

“Felix!”

“Bye, Sylvain.”

“Wait!”

[ezrisdax-archive]

wedding bells

Everyone in Garreg Mach overhears the "engagement" and has ideas for the wedding. Ingrid just wants to correct this. Dorothea's just amused. (over here on ao3)

~~

“Oh Ingrid…I accept your offer! We’ll be together forever!”

 It was a mistake to have done this in the dining hall as soon as they’d returned because at Dorothea’s sudden exclamation everyone turned towards them.

 “No way…” Sylvain said, the first to approach them and grinned at Ingrid as he swung an arm over her shoulder. “Ingrid you never said you were going to propose to Dorothea, I’m a little hurt you cut us out of this.”

 “This isn’t-” Ingrid tried to say to defend herself but was cut off again.

 “You sure she’s worth it?” Felix asked, coming up beside them, in that brash tactless way he had.

 “Felix!” Ingrid scolded, “Anyone would be lucky to marry Dorothea.” She was certain her face now matched Sylvain’s hair the way she was flushing.

 “Just making sure.” Felix scowled at Dorothea and in that moment Ingrid realized it was his awkward attempt at vetting to make sure Ingrid was happy.

 “Ingrid just got to me first.” Dorothea said, giggling and winking at Felix. “No need to be jealous.”

 “Now hang on-” Ingrid tried again but this time was interrupted by Ferdinand swooping over and pulling Ingrid out of Sylvain’s grasp and into a hug.

 “A momentous occasion! The Black Eagle’s own Dorothea engaged to a worthy noble.”

 She’d never realized how loud Ferdinand was before.

 “Oh Ferdie, put my fiancée down.” Dorothea frowned at him until Ferdinand pouted and put Ingrid down.

 “My apologies, I was merely overwhelmed by this glorious news!”

 “Thanks Ferdie.” Dorothea said, but it was dry.

 “Ohhhh, Dorothea! Please say I can do your make-up the big day.” Hilda had made her way over while dragging Marianne with her. “Please, please, please!”

 “Of course Hilda! There’s no one I’d trust more. Petra,” Dorothea beckoned her fellow classmate, “Do you think you could braid my hair.”

 “I would be most grateful to be chosen for this honour, Dorothea.” Petra said and smiled widely at Dorothea.

 “I can do Ingrid’s! Mercie will help, right Mercie?” Annette came up behind Ingrid, making her jump a little in surprise.

 “Of course, Annie!” Mercedes smiled softly at Ingrid. “Congratulations Ingrid, I had no idea you were going to propose to Dorothea.”

 “She didn’t tell anyone? Guess I’m not so left out of the loop then. I still call being a man of honour for Ingrid.” Sylvain grinned, “Felix does too.”

 “Leave me out of this. And since when do you have any honour?”

 “Guys!” Ingrid tried to get their attention but no one was listening still.

 “Talk about breaking down the class barriers Ingrid, who knew you had it in you.” Claude clapped a hand on her shoulder and winked and without a doubt Ingrid got the feeling he knew this was a misunderstanding but wouldn’t help her clear it up.

 “Indeed.” Edelgard was standing next to Claude with Hubert hovering behind her as always. “Though I may have to duel you, to ensure you’re right for Dorothea of course. As head of her house I believe I’m owed that honour.” There was the barest hint of a smile on her lips to show she was joking but Ingrid took a step back just in case.

 “Ingrid!” Dimitri of course was next, rushing over with Dedue. “I just heard the strangest rumour!”

 “How?!” Ingrid asked indignant, annoyed at how fast things were spiralling out of control.

 “I wonder if I can get Bernie to help me make a dress…” Dorothea mused.

 “Oh I’ve seen her work,” Leonie piped up, “She’s a good choice for that!” Leonie tugged at her sleeve showing a mended embroidered patch at her elbow, “Fixed this right up for me.”

 Ingrid heard a thud she could only assume was Bernadetta fainting at the compliment.

 “This is just like in the stories!” Ashe exclaimed, squeezing through the crowd to reach Ingrid. “You saw how fervent Dorothea was fighting for you not get married to that one noble and as the gallant knight you couldn’t help but fall in love!”

 “No Ashe, that’s not what hap-”

 “They’ll need a wonderfully tasty cake.” Lysithea was bouncing a little as she said it but Ingrid knew better than to point out how young that made her look.

 “And an even better feast.” Raphael boomed from above her.

 “I believe I can offer my services if such are needed.” Dedue said, bowing a little in Ingrid’s direction.

 “I-I’ll paint you a picture, of your wedding day, a memory for the both of you. It might not be any good…” Ignatz trailed off when Raphael smacked him on the back to assure him his pictures would be fine.

 “All this noise…I may pass on the reception, Dorothea.” Linhardt said between yawns.

 “Aw c’mon Linhardt, this is for Dorothea!” Caspar nudged him. “I bet Ingrid had to fight for her hand in marriage and it was an awesome battle.”

 “That’s not what happened!” Ingrid managed to get out.

 “No, she just asked me, so matter of fact.” Dorothea sighed a little dreamily. “Not quite the engagement offer I imaged but who could say no to my lovely Ingrid.”

 “Dorothea!” Ingrid was blushing again and she knew it.

 “You certainly can’t go wrong with having roses for the wedding.” Lorenz offered, brushing his hair back somehow haughtily, “My expertise will be invaluable then.”

 “Look this is all a mistake.” Ingrid said but was drowned out by everyone shouting out various offers and ideas.

 She buried her face in her hands and pulled away from the crowd, aiming to sneak away.

 “We can’t use black as a colour for the wedding, it’ll look more like a funeral then!” She heard Hilda arguing to Ferdinand who had declared their colours should match their respective houses.

 “Make sure there’s lots of meat dishes.” Raphael was saying to Dedue who was nodding solemnly.

 “Can I be the cake tester? I mean, I assume you’ll need one.” Lysithea was begging Mercedes.

 “I think if this is a merging of the Black Eagles and Blue Lions it should be held on Golden Deer lands to show we’re all involved. Something that really unites us.” Claude said over Dimitri’s offer to host the wedding at his grounds.

 She finally reached the end of the dining hall, bursting out into the gardens and groaning loudly as she collapse on the bench.

 “How am I going to explain this one?” Ingrid asked to herself, blowing her hair of her eyes in annoyance.

 “Oh don’t worry,” A voice said above her and she jerked her head up to see Dorothea standing there with her eyes twinkling a little with mirth. “I’ll make a grand statement that we realized we needed to wait and then over time our love just faded.”

 “I don’t think it’s possible to fall out of love with you Dorothea.” Ingrid said, surprisingly them both.

 “Oh,” It was nice to see this time that Dorothea was blushing. “That’s sweet Ingrid.”

 “I mean it.” She insisted, clearing her throat and looking down a little. “You have this amazing charm about yourself, you always look so well put together and can talk to just about anyone. I’m envious a little.”

 “Don’t count yourself out, you’ve got a grace about you, it’s very clear you were cut out to be a knight. Ashe was right about the whole gallant part.” Dorothea was winking at her when Ingrid looked back her way.

 Ingrid laughed, “I think he’ll be the one most crushed we’re not getting married.”

 “A shame to break everyone’s planning like that.” Dorothea said and then took a seat next to her. “Though it was fun to pretend at least for a little while.”

 “Oh? I’m sure you’ve gotten offers before, you’ve never pretended with one of them?”

 “They were only interested in voice or my looks.” Dorothea sounded bitter and angry, so unlike her usual cheery self that Ingrid immediately felt bad for bringing it up and wanted to fix it.

 “Well I’m not.” Ingrid said and then flushed at how it sounded. “I mean interested in your voice or looks. Not that they’re not lovely, I mean you’re lovely.” This wasn’t going at all as she planned. “But I care more about you as Dorothea the person is what I meant.”

 Dorothea’s smile was blinding and only made her blush deepen. “You’re adorable Ingrid. I almost wish this was real.”

 At that moment Ingrid almost wished it too. But her father would never allow it.

 She opened her mouth to say that but what came out instead was, “I should at least court you first.”

 Dorothea raised an eyebrow, “Really?”

 “Well,” Ingrid swallowed, “A knight doesn’t go back on her word.” Her father didn’t have to know, this might not go anywhere after all but with the soft look Dorothea was giving her she really didn’t care either way just then.

 Dorothea’s lips curved upwards, “I accept your proposal.” She said and then after a moment added, “Can I keep the ring?”

 Ingrid snorted in amusement, “Sure Dorothea, think of it as a courting gift.”

 “I’ll be expecting something better later.” Dorothea nudged her lightly, leaning in and then pressing a kiss to Ingrid’s cheek. “C’mon.” She stood up and offered Ingrid her hand, “Let’s go correct everyone’s assumptions. I promise not to lead them on this time.”

 Ingrid took her hand and let herself be pulled up but didn’t pull her hand away afterwards, awkwardly holding on. She lifted their joint hands up so she could press a kiss to the back of Dorothea’s hand, feeling silly as she did it but she’d always felt it was romantic in the books she had read of knights who courted maidens.

 “Oh Ingrid...” Dorothea said softly, smiling at her.

 “Maybe we can let them plan a little while longer.” Ingrid relented, looking back at the dining hall which was still loud with everyone shouting things. “Or at least tire themselves out to the point they can’t talk back when we correct them.”

 “And in the meantime?”

 “I hear the Goddess Tower has a lovely view.” Ingrid squeezed Dorothea’s hand that was still in her grasp.

 Dorothea giggled and used their clasped hands to pull Ingrid along. The ring she’d put on her finger brushed against Ingrid’s fingers, the metal warmed from Dorothea’s skin.

 Maybe one day, if her father could ever be convinced or maybe she just wouldn’t care, the ring could be replaced with another.

 But she wasn’t going to let Sylvain or Felix plan one second of that wedding.

[nicolewrites]

are these helium balloons

the roommate au makes a glorious return...

Rating: G+ Genre: Friendship Characters: Sylvain Jose Gautier & Ingrid Brandl Galatea Words: 2,035

Ingrid and Sylvain have to pick up some party decorations. It goes about as well as planned.

AO3

“No, Sylvain, we are not going to spend forty dollars on balloons,” Ingrid grumbled. She was leaning her head against the steering wheel of the car to avoid looking at her roommate.

“Oh, but come on! Can you imagine the look on his face when he sees all those balloons?”

She lifted her head and stared at him, feeling both annoyed and just in total disbelief. “Sylvain. Where are we going to keep forty dollars worth of helium balloons before Felix gets home?”

He laughed. “Oh, ye of little faith! I promise this will be one hundred percent worth it.”

Ingrid sighed again. “Sylvain, Dimitri asked us to buy reasonable party decorations. What part of reasonable do you not understand?”

Sylvain winked and opened the car door, climbing out. Ingrid huffed and undid her seatbelt, climbing out after him. They stared at each other over the roof of Ingrid’s car and Ingrid narrowed her eyes.

Sylvain batted his eyelashes at her like she was one of his stupid one-off girls. “Come on Ingrid, Ashe is like a big kid anyway. He’d love the balloons.”

She smacked her forehead. “Sylvain, why does it have to be forty dollars worth of balloons?”

“Because Ashe’s name has four letters and they’re ten bucks apiece for the big ones,” he replied immediately.

Ingrid spun on her heel and walked away from her car, lifting up her hand to lock it behind her. The car beeped, confirming that it had locked and Ingrid shoved her keys back in her pocket. She kicked her toe through a pile of leaves on the ground and shoved her hands in her pockets. It was only October, but that didn’t mean that the fall chills weren’t already starting to sink in.

“Ingrid!” Sylvain called.

She didn’t turn around, but she heard his footsteps approach as he jogged after her, pursuing her to the edge of the parking lot where they stood in front of the party goods store. Before they walked inside, Ingrid poked his shoulder with her finger, hard.

“Serious decorations first, okay? We can argue about the balloons later.”

Sylvain braced his hands behind his head, grinning slyly at her. “Alright, alright.”

The doors to the party goods store opened and they walked inside only to come to an immediate halt in front of a massive display of fake gravestones. Ingrid blinked at the display dumbly and then immediately jumped when an automated witch cackled.

“Oh my god,” she muttered. “It’s October and we’re at a party store. There isn’t going to be anything here but Halloween stuff, is there?”

Sylvain looked just as struck as she felt. “You know what? I agree with you on that one. I think we’re going to be hard-pressed to find decorations that aren’t orange and black.”

Ingrid took a deep breath and grabbed Sylvain’s arm, dragging him into the store. “If I’m going to suffer through cheap plastic masks and displays that laugh at me in horrible robot voices, you’re coming with me.”

He chuckled and let her drag him towards the first aisle, one that was labelled “Tablewear and Serving”. Sylvain scooped up a basket from the entrance to the aisle and they walked down it. Thankfully, once they left the very front of the store, the Halloween insanity of the store lessened a bit. There was still an abnormally large number of orange and black and white plastic and paper plates, but at least there were some blue ones and normal patterned things.

Ingrid had never been so relieved to see “Birthday Princess” branded cups.

She grabbed two sleeves of blue solo cups and one of yellow ones and dumped them into the basket Sylvain was holding. She moved on to grab a package of cocktail napkins and a stack of blue and white polka-dotted paper plates. She hesitated before placing the plates down, but Sylvain just rolled his eyes and grabbed them, adding them to the basket.

“It’s fine, Ingrid. Dimitri and I are covering the costs and a few paper plates aren’t going to hurt the environment that much.”

She rolled her eyes. “I just hate buying stuff like this when we have perfectly good dishes back at the apartment.”

He shrugged and walked past her towards the end of the aisle. “If you wanna break out the breakable stuff while we’re all drunk, be my guest, but you’ll be cleaning the shards out of the carpet and also possibly people’s hands as a result.”

Ingrid frowned but walked after him. “And this is why we are buying the plates, even if I don’t particularly want to.”

“Oh, hey, look at this!” Sylvain said suddenly, turning left at the end of the aisle and pointing at the wall of the store.

Ingrid rounded the corner and immediately slapped a hand against her face.

“No,” she said immediately. “You are absolutely not allowed to be ghost-decorated anything. Ashe is terrified of ghosts and since it’s his birthday, we are going to respect that, okay?”

Sylvain laughed and held his hands up defensively. “Just relax, Ing, it was a joke. I would never do that to him.”

She turned and walked the other way towards the sign that said “Birthday Essentials”. Sylvain followed her, his shoes squeaking on the linoleum floors. They turned into the birthday aisle and Ingrid groaned.

It was almost entirely taken over by Halloween decorations.

“Seriously, don’t these places understand that people still have birthdays in October?” she complained.

“Note to self,” Sylvain said, “buy supplies for Ashe’s last-minute surprise party in September or even August before the entire country decides that it’s already Halloween.”

Ingrid sighed again. “Let’s see what we can find.”

They picked their way down the aisle, finding two rolls of blue streamers and a package of green and yellow crepe paper that could be used for decorating. Ingrid quickly added all of them to the basket. At the end of the aisle, she stopped in front of the last shelf and stared at all the options in front of her.

“Will you shut up and stop complaining if I buy a pack of regular balloons?” Ingrid asked. “These are only a few dollars.”

Sylvain flashed her a thumbs up and Ingrid grabbed a party pack of balloons and tossed them to Sylvain. He caught them and added them to the basket. She strode over and looked into it, checking on their collected supplies. She looked up at Sylvain to ask him something and almost bashed her head against his since he had also been looking down.

Ingrid was suddenly flustered at how close she was to Sylvain, so she stepped back hastily and bit the inside of her cheek, hoping that the spark of pain would prevent her from blushing over the encounter. Sylvain didn’t seem to notice her awkwardness and she quickly collected herself.

“Do we need snacks or candy or anything?” she asked.

Sylvain shook his head. “Not that I can remember. Mercedes is doing the cake and Dedue is handling the food. Annette and Felix are distracting Ashe until,” he paused, checking his watch, “eight, so we have three hours.”

Ingrid mentally ran over her list in her head again. “Well, I think we got everything we need here, so should we check out?”

Sylvain nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

The check out was busy, as expected, and filled almost entirely with people buying last-minute Halloween decorations or costumes. The young boy in front of them in the line-up actually gave them a funny look when he noticed that they weren’t buying any Halloween decor. Ingrid just crossed her arms and stared right back at him, daring him to say anything.

Sylvain nudged her as they stood in line and pointed up at the wall of helium balloons above the check-out counters. “I still think that would be amazing.”

She elbowed him. “We’re buying the regular balloons. That’s more than enough. We’re already going to have a chaotic night ahead of us. Annette and Ashe are both sentimental drunks so I hope you’re ready for a lot of hugging.”

Sylvain laughed. “Well, Dimitri will just fall asleep half-way through and we all know that Dedue and Mercedes are the most responsible of all of us so they’ll make sure that nobody dies.”

Ingrid scoffed to hold back a laugh. “Well, just try to make it back to your bed this time, okay?”

“If I recall,” he replied, “you were the one who fell asleep on top of me.”

“Neither of us remembers anything from Die Hard night, don’t even pretend like you do,” she rebuffed immediately.

Sylvain just smirked in reply and followed the blinking lights through the check out lane to a cashier. They unloaded their basket onto the counter and asked for bags as the cashier started scanning all of their items. In total, they were probably over-priced, but at least they had managed to get everything in one place.

As they left the store Ingrid took one bag and left the other for Sylvain. The mechatronic witch by the door cackled and they both jumped, even though they totally should have seen it coming. Sylvain shoved Ingrid out the door on reflex and they speed-walked about halfway to the car before they both burst out laughing.

Ingrid shoved his shoulder, but she couldn’t help the smile on her face. “Why are we like this?” she asked.

“Maybe shopping for Ashe’s birthday rubbed off on us and we’re now just as scared of everything as he is,” Sylvain suggested jokingly.

Ingrid laughed. “I can do without his fear of ghosts honestly.”

Sylvain adjusted the bag he was carrying and held out his hand to take the one she was holding. Ingrid tilted her head confused and Sylvain just wagged his fingers, gesturing for her to hand over the bag.

“To get your keys out,” he explained.

“Oh, right,” she said.

She handed over the bag as they continued their walk to Ingrid’s car. She unlocked the car and pushed the button to pop the trunk. Sylvain dumped both bags in the trunk and closed it, but he hesitated as Ingrid walked to the driver’s seat. She stopped, hand on the door handle, and stared at him.

“I just remembered one more thing that Dimitri asked me to grab. I’ll just run back in and get it,” Sylvain said.

He was turning and jogging back towards the store before she could stop him and Ingrid just sighed to herself, shaking her head. She opened the car and got inside. She put her seatbelt on and started the car, connecting her phone to the Bluetooth before Sylvain would get the chance to do something ridiculous like playing the High School Musical Soundtrack again.

She had just turned on her new favourite Indie album when the trunk opened and Sylvain dumped something heavy in the back with a grunt. Ingrid twisted in her seat, trying to see what he had grabbed, but her view was blocked by the seats in the back. Sylvain closed the trunk and quickly moved around, getting into the passenger seat. He grinned at her and Ingrid was immediately suspicious.

She turned and looked back at the trunk before looking back at Sylvain. “What did you just buy?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Ingrid shut the car off. “Sylvain. As far as I’m concerned, we’re not going anywhere until you tell me what you just bought.”

His grin widened. “So you know how you said we weren’t going to buy forty dollars worth of helium balloons for Ashe’s birthday?”

“Oh no,” she said reflexively. “What did you do?”

“I did not buy the giant foil balloons,” he defended. “I just bought a small helium tank so we can fill up all the balloons we did buy with helium and have many, many, smaller helium balloons.”

Ingrid groaned loudly and dropped her head onto the steering wheel. Her horn blared loudly and the mother and daughter getting out of the car next to them both jumped and stared at Ingrid’s car. Ingrid lifted her head up and glared at Sylvain.

“You suck.”

“The tank was only twenty-six dollars. It’s fine.”

[yuuchre-moved]

Love Me in Spite

Sylvain x Felix (Fire Emblem Three Houses)

Summary: With the Garreg Mach Ball fast approaching and all the girls at the monastery giving him the cold shoulder, Sylvain realizes that he's going to have to get creative if he wants to maintain his dignity and snag a date for the occasion. Enter Felix: hostile, unamused, and utterly confused, he's somehow dragged into becoming Sylvain's fake boyfriend for the better part of a month. During their time together, the two might just learn to separate love from lies and turn hopes they didn't know they had into realities. 

Ao3 Link

chapter one under the cut

“Hey, pretty lady. Want to go to the ball with me?” Sylvain smiled, silently praying that the girl he’d approached at one of the courtyard tables would accept and he could finally stop this day-long activity of begging girls to go out with him. Ever since he’d cut ties with a disgruntled caramel-haired girl, he’d been hearing snippets of rumours about himself and suspected that she was the one who’d started them as revenge. 

Some of the stories were, unfortunately, true—damn Ingrid for yelling about that incident where he hit on her grandmother they were kids—and others were wild, unflattering exaggerations that caused girls to stare and giggle at him when he walked by. It seemed the entire female population was against him, and he looked like a moron for bragging that he was going to bring the cutest girl in the school to the ball to everyone he came across. It was terrible—every girl he turned to rejected him, usually while laughing or glaring at him. 

His grin slipped for a moment when she rolled her eyes and giggled. “Uh, no thanks. Aren’t you into older women, anyway? Much, much older?” 

Sylvain had to actively sustain his smile to keep his disappointment from showing. “That’s just a dumb rumour.” He gestured to the whole table and amped up his smile. “Come on, don't one of you ladies want to be the lucky girl on my arm at the Garreg Mach Ball? Anyone up for it?” 

The table of girls exchanged glances. He knew he’d screwed up again when the first girl cleared her throat. “Did you really just ask my friends out just seconds after I rejected you? Really? People really are right when they call you desperate.” 

“Well, I see you ladies aren’t interested. But know that I’ll be waiting if you change your mind.” He made eye contact with each of them and winked before he turned away, only then allowing his face to fall. 

This sucked. He’d asked over two dozen girls around the monastery to the ball, but it seemed that his reputation had been tarnished because not a single one accepted. There was some hardcore girl teamwork going on here, which would’ve been impressive if it wasn’t working against him to make his life miserable. Showing up without a date wasn’t an option, especially after all that bragging he’d done. He’d look pathetic. There was hardly a point in going if he didn’t have someone with him, but who would still be willing at this point? 

As climbed the stairs leading to his room, he was suddenly struck with an idea. Maybe it was true that no one wanted to date him, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t ask someone to pretend to be his date. If he could beg or bribe a girl to pose as his girlfriend, he’d keep his dignity and maybe even eliminate some of those weird rumours floating around. All he needed was a girl to agree to the plan.  

Sylvain ran back down the hall until he reached Ingrid’s room. He knocked rapidly, mentally filing through all the tactics he knew to girls over. When Ingrid opened the door and saw who was standing there, her expression soured. 

"Sylvain. What a pleasure. What do I have to get you out of now?" she asked flatly. 

"I have a huge favour to ask. Will you pretend to date me so I can act like we're going to the ball together?" 

Ingrid's eyes went wide. "Excuse me? Date you? No thanks. Anyway, were you not aware that I’m already going to the ball with Mercedes?" 

She tried to shut the door, but Sylvain stuck his foot inside before she could. "Really? Sorry, I didn’t know. Do you happen to know anyone who would be willing to fake being my date so I don’t get laughed at the entire night of the ball?"  

"No. Solve your own problems, Sylvain. You’re going to end up hurting someone if you play with people’s feelings like that." 

“Not if I find the right girl for the job. Which I really need help with…” He frowned and gave Ingrid his best puppy dog eyes. 

“Oh look! There’s Felix. Go bother him instead of me.” Ingrid crushed his foot with the door until he drew it back and shut the door on him. 

"The hell was that about?"  

Sylvain turned around to see Felix staring at him, a hand on his hip and familiar annoyance glinting in his eyes. 

And suddenly, Sylvain had an option he hadn’t considered before. He smiled and shook his head. “You’ll find out soon enough.” 

"Whatever." Felix stared at him for a moment, then frowned and brushed past him as if it wasn’t worth his time. 

Sylvain let his gaze drift after him as he disappeared into the stairwell, wondering if he’d actually be able to pull this plan off. Sure, things might get a little weird, but it would be worth it in the end. It might just be ridiculous enough to work. 

✿ ✿ ✿

Sylvain strutted into the dining hall, a bouquet of anemone clutched in one hand and a grin plastered on his face. Nervousness had crept under his skin in the time before dinner, sowing tiny seeds of doubt in his mind and telling him that maybe this was a completely idiotic and terrible idea and he should turn around before he did something he'd regret. But he took a deep breath and shook his head, shoving those thoughts away for now. 

"Felix!"  

As Felix turned around in his seat at the dining table, Sylvain leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. Felix recoiled, eyes wide and lips slightly parted, but Sylvain handed him the bouquet and started to talk before he could say anything.  

"Tomorrow, let's do something together. I know a great place in town where we can have lunch, or I can just watch you train if you want. Hit me up, babe." He winked and leaned in, his lips brushing against the curve of Felix’s ear as he whispered, “Sorry. I’ll explain later.” He leaned back and turned without waiting for an answer, ignoring the whispers and stares he'd attracted from people at various tables as he left the room. 

The air was cool on his skin as he made his way through the courtyard, but it did nothing to quell his growing embarrassment. This felt weirder than he’d expected. Much weirder. He didn’t think it would be easy, of course, but still… that look on Felix’s face after the kiss… Sylvain pressed his lips together, suppressing a sigh. It had to be done. All would be well after this plan played out. Felix wasn’t his first choice in this scenario, but he didn’t really have any other options. Sylvain had known him for years, so it wasn’t like their ‘relationship’ would be totally out of the blue. Maybe pretending to date a guy would even turn out to be a fun change. It would be a learning experience, at the very least. And it wasn’t like this was a permanent arrangement. Things would be fine. 

All that was left to do was explain the plan to Felix and beg him to agree, the latter of which much easier said than done. He’d probably have to do a lot of grovelling and pleading, but he was pretty sure that he could get Felix to say yes somehow. And he’d be sure to make it up to him—he could find a gift in town or buy him a meal or two sometime. 

For now, Sylvain retreated to his room, too ashamed to go back to the dining hall for dinner. Hopefully, things would look brighter in the morning. 

✿ ✿ ✿ 

The first thing Sylvain thought when he woke up was how glad he was that it was Saturday. The second thing he thought was oh shit. 

He'd actually done that, huh? Sashayed up to Felix and kissed his cheek, given him flowers, the whole shebang. Felix was going to be so pissed. Sylvain hoped he wouldn’t be angry enough to refuse even considering faking a relationship with him. 

He rolled out of bed and got dressed, last night’s doubts evaporating in the air of a new day. He had nothing to worry about—he was just going out with one more person, and not even for real. So there were obviously no problems. It would be over soon enough.

Though, it occurred to him that if he wanted people to believe that he was interested in Felix for now, he probably shouldn't be flirting with girls like he usually did. He wouldn't be taken seriously if he split his attention like that. So as much as it pained him, he supposed he had to try and resist. 

When he opened his door, something caught in the bottom from the outside. He stepped out and laughed aloud when he saw a bouquet of abused and dying flowers lying on the ground, the same ones he’d given Felix yesterday. He picked them up and gently removed the paper bound to the stems by the ribbon. 

Fuck off was all it said, in Felix's delicate handwriting that never failed to surprise him no matter how often he saw it. He didn’t seem the type to have such charming penmanship with that hostile demeanour of his. 

"No can do," Sylvain said in response to the note as he ducked into his room for a moment to toss the flowers in the trash. He chuckled again and started to make his way to the dining hall, relishing the idea of a meal after going to bed hungry. 

He almost sprinted to the dining hall and pushed open the door with a relieved sigh, looking around and letting out a little breath of relief when he didn't see Felix. Curious glances seemed to follow him as he got his breakfast, but he pretended not to notice. He took his seat and smiled at Annette and Mercedes across the table, about to compliment them before he remembered his promise to himself not to flirt with girls. It wasn’t like they’d respond well, anyway… plus, Mercedes was taken already. It just wasn’t his day. 

"Hey. Have you girls seen Felix today, by any chance?" 

Annette glanced worriedly at her friend before responding. "Not today, no. Um, not that it's any of my business, but—" 

"Annie! You shouldn't," Mercedes scolded, glancing between her and Sylvain, eyebrows furrowed. 

"I just want to know what's going on between him and Felix! You have to admit that incident last night was kind of… unexpected."  

Sylvain chuckled and waved his hand dismissively. "It's fine, I get it. I guess the feeling sort of snuck up on me, you know? With the ball coming up, I realized that he's the one I want to go with. As much of a shocker for me as it probably is for everyone else." 

The girls exchanged a glance, their expressions unsure. 

"So you aren't trying to trick everyone? And you’re not getting desperate because you can’t find a girl who wants to go with you?" Mercedes was playing with the ribbon in her hair, her eyes worried. 

"Yeah, I thought maybe you were just messing with Felix or leading him on or something. Sorry, I guess it was kind of mean to assume that, but we couldn’t figure out why you suddenly showed so much interest in him." 

Well, this was certainly less than a positive interaction. Sylvain hadn't expected to be accused like that, especially not by two of the nicest people in the class. Yeah, it might seem a little strange that he came onto Felix so suddenly, but it wasn’t the weirdest thing to ever happen at the monastery by a long shot. 

"Come on, I’m not that horrible," he said, trying to keep his tone light and teasing. Were the girls were worried about him or worried about what they thought he was capable of? He couldn't think of anything to follow up with after a few moments, so he distanced himself by picking at his food and trying to keep his smile from slipping. 

✿ ✿ ✿

"Felix, baby!" 

As Sylvain approached from behind him, Felix visibly stiffened. He dropped his mock sword and spun around, storming up to him with such a dark expression that Sylvain stopped in his tracks and was tempted to back up. Well, at least Dimitri and Dedue were right across the grounds, right there if he needed someone to save him from Felix’s wrath. 

"You!" Felix grabbed Sylvain's collar and jerked his head down so their eyes were level. Yeah, he might just need that backup. "You jackass. What the hell was that in the dining hall? What were you trying to accomplish by making me look like a fool?" 

His amber eyes burned with fiery anger as he searched Sylvain's face, lips drawn tight as he waited. 

"Look, I’m really sorry about that. The thing is…” He glanced up to make sure no one was eavesdropping. “I need a favour.” 

“No.” 

"Felix, my sweet." Sylvain lifted one of Felix’s hands and kissed his knuckles, causing him to rip both his hands away and hold them stiffly at his side. "You’re my only hope. I haven’t even told you what the favour is." 

“I don’t want to hear it. My answer is no.” 

“Just hear me out. I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend and go to the ball with me so I can win back the hearts of all the misguided girls of this school.” 

Felix’s face went through half a dozen indistinguishable expressions before he settled on one with narrowed eyes and a tight jaw. “Are you joking?” 

“I’m being completely serious. I need your help.” 

“I don’t even know where to start with that. How—why me? What the ever-loving fuck possessed you to think asking me that would end well?” 

Sylvain realized that maybe it was in his best interest to leave out the part where Felix was essentially his last resort. “Because I trust you, Felix. I’m scared to ask anyone else because they’ll laugh in my face, and I can’t take any more of that. I know that even though you might want to punch me or strangle me for asking, you won’t laugh. Not like them.” Slightly dramatized, but true nonetheless. 

Felix stared at him for a long moment, his face going almost blank aside from the way he dropped his gaze for the briefest moment, giving away his uncertainty. 

“Well, I don’t trust you. Leave me alone.” 

He still sounded just as angry, but Sylvain could tell by his slip that there was a tiny crack in his foundation. All he had to do was find a way to keep breaking that down. “Come on, you’re not scared, are you? Think of it as a little competition—or, hey, I’ll pay you back. I’ll scout out the market every weekend, looking for merchants selling swords you’re interested in—anything you want.” 

“I’m not going to be bribed like that.” 

Wrong tactic. “Think of it as payment for doing me a favour. Please help me out? Hey, this way, you won’t have to deal with people bothering you to go with them to the ball because you’ll be taken.” 

Felix stared sceptically at him, silent. 

“By the Goddess—Felix, please. I’m begging you to do this one thing for me. I can’t bear the idea of going to the ball alone. Please go with me.” Sylvain bit his lip, holding his gaze and trying to plead with just his eyes. 

Felix groaned and rolled his eyes. “I despise you. How long would I have to do it?” 

Sylvain tried not to break into a relieved laugh. “Only about three weeks, until the ball—then we can stage a break-up and the girls will flock to comfort me.” 

“I don’t think I’m going to be able to stand this. Don’t forget about buying me that sword. I deserve compensation for going through with this idiocy.” 

“Of course. Now, let’s do this for real.” Sylvain got down on one knee and smiled up at him. “Will you go to the ball with me, Felix Hugo Fraldarius?” 

“What are you—yes, I will, now get up! You’re going to attract unwanted attention. I’m regretting this already, stupid bastard.” 

Sylvain jumped to his feet and took Felix’s hands in his. “Thank you.” 

Felix stared at him for a long moment before tugging his hands away and shoving them in his pockets. “Yeah, whatever. Now can I finally get back to my training?” 

Sylvain smirked. “Only if I’m allowed to stay and watch, babe.” 

✿ ✿ ✿

Felix's head spun as he made his way up to his room after a day of rage-fueled training, feeling hot all over in the worst way. He couldn't believe Sylvain—what kind of horrible, oblivious, insensitive asshole did someone have to be to act like that? Felix shouldn’t have said yes. That, he could admit, was a huge mistake on his part, but Sylvain had been looking at him with those soft, pleading eyes and he’d lost it. How was he supposed to say no? Stupid fucking Sylvain. 

The night before, when Sylvain had embarrassed him in the dining hall, Felix had wondered for just a moment what it would be like if Sylvain actually did have feelings for him—but he knew better than to dwell on such ludicrous thoughts. He knew there had been something fishy about that dinner scene and now his suspicions had been confirmed. Sylvain was just using him to get girls. It was just as he expected, which should have made him relieved and glad. So why… why did he feel so crushed by the realization? 

He tried to push the thought away but kept coming back to it, unable to face the feelings blossoming in his chest but also unable to ignore them. Okay, so he could admit that he felt a pinprick of hurt because Sylvain expected him to act like he was in love with him just to win back some girls. Honestly, did he even consider for one second how Felix felt? How badly it would hurt when Sylvain inevitably dropped him for a girl? Then again, why should he consider them? Felix knew Sylvain had never felt like he had to consider if Felix liked him or not. The unknown part of the equation was how Felix himself felt. 

He was no fool. He saw the pesky signs: how his chest felt tight every time he saw Sylvain flirting with a girl, how his heart jumped whenever he gave Felix that caring, knockout smile of his, the one that appeared when he dropped his playboy front, and even how some nights his mind refused to let him sleep, instead keeping him up and sickening him as his thoughts orbited around one stupid redhead that refused to leave his mind. It wasn’t a new feeling. He’d been acquainted with it for years, at this point. But he’d never had a reason to address it until that dumbass opened the floodgates with a bouquet of flowers and a kiss on the cheek. 

By the Goddess—he took it back, he really was a fool. He didn’t have time or energy for this ridiculousness. He felt… something for Sylvain. Unfortunately. But it wasn't like it mattered. It would never go anywhere—as if he would ever choose Felix over the dozens of girls lined up in front of him. It wasn't worth thinking about. 

Felix fell back onto his bed as soon as he entered the room, his head aching. This was fine. In three weeks, he’d confirm that he couldn’t stand dating Sylvain and things would go back to normal. Just like he wanted. 

✿ ✿ ✿

See you at breakfast, buttercup. p.s. I'll clean up the petals so don't freak out too much :) 

Sylvain’s note ricocheted in Felix's mind even though he'd trashed it right after he read it. He almost couldn't believe Sylvain would decide to sneak into his room while he was sleeping and scatter snow-white rose petals over literally every open surface. The only thing that kept him from strangling the idiot was the fact that he promised to clean it up, though his room would probably still smell like perfume for a day or two. And Felix wasn't sure he wanted him traipsing around his room unsupervised. Again. He grimaced at the thought of Sylvain being in his room when he was asleep and defenceless. Yes, they were supposed to act like they were dating, but this was going too far. No one was going to see the petals, so it wasn’t like they were cementing the lie. He probably just did it to get on Felix’s nerves. 

As he angrily pushed his breakfast around on his plate, someone touched the back of Felix's neck and, to his horror, planted a kiss on his cheek. 

"Don't do that!" he spat, whipping his head around to shoot Sylvain an unamused glare.  

Sylvain gave him a relaxed grin and slid his hand under Felix's chin, pushing it up a bit and running his thumb along the skin just below his bottom lip. Felix felt his face heat up almost immediately, suddenly finding it hard to look Sylvain in the eye.

"Get off." He swatted his hand away and turned back to his food, ignoring the looks he was getting from the other students at the table. "Don't touch me." 

"You're cute when you're mad. Hey, what did you think of the rose petals? And do you always keep your room unlocked, or were you just expecting me?" Sylvain took the seat beside him and bumped him with his elbow. 

Felix lowered his voice to a low hiss. "No, I was just distracted and forgot to lock it. What you did was completely unnecessary. Honestly, what were you thinking? Let’s just keep it to mildly affectionate public interactions, okay? Don’t cover my damn room in flowers again, dumbass." 

Sylvain whistled and raised his eyebrows. "Not a fan of roses, then? I was just trying to set the mood. White flowers are a good look for you, though. They give you a splash of purity, you know? Innocence. It’s almost cute.” He cleared his throat and gave a short laugh, like he was nervous. “What's your favourite flower?" 

“Don’t ignore me when I talk to you.” 

“Don’t ignore me when I ask you a question. But fine, I’ll find other ways to show you my affection. He reached out to touch his face again, but Felix shoved his hand away. 

"Stop that." He shifted uncomfortably and looked down at his plate. He couldn’t do this. He really couldn’t do this. His chest was tight as he took a deep breath, fingers clenched tight around his fork. 

“Felix.” He looked over at Sylvain, then down at his hand as the fork was gently eased out of hand and placed on the plate. Sylvain placed his hand over Felix’s and rubbed his knuckles with his thumb. “You know, you don’t… you don’t have to do this. Don’t force yourself.” 

Felix squeezed his hand, hesitantly looking up. And there it was: that soft, exposed smile that he could lose himself in if he stared for too long. The smile he both hated and cherished. He blinked and shook his head. “I keep my promises.” 

[lapinbunwrites]

Lion’s Gift Exchange

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: None

Fandom: Fire Emblem Three Houses

Characters: Byleth, Dimitri, Dedue, Sylvain, Felix, Ingrid, Annette, Ashe, Dedue, Mercedes

Word Count: 2,444

Ao3 Link

As Byleth watched the snow fall, it reminded him of all the times he played outside in the snow with his father’s mercenary group. His father often told him that he loved playing in the snow whenever they were in Faerghus. He would often whine when they would leave. Maybe he’ll move there one day. After a few minutes of watching the snow, Byleth walked to his classroom. 

“Welcome Professor,” Dimitri greeted him. 

“You’re just in time!” Annette said, excitedly. 

“In time for what?” Byleth asked. 

“The gift exchange!” 

“Gift exchange?” 

“It’s a pointless event,” Felix said. 

“It’s a tradition in Faerghus we call Sothis Day. At the beginning of the Red Wolf Moon, we put our names in a hat and pick a piece of paper. Whose name is on the paper we get a gift for. Once we do, we put it under a tree and open them on the last day of the month.” Ingrid informed. 

“And the best part is that nobody knows who got who,” Sylvain said. 

“That sounds lovely,” Mercedes chimed in. 

“We need a tree or something to put presents somewhere,” Byleth said. 

“We can use the one that Sylvain has,” Ingrid said. 

“Wait-That’s a gift for someone!” 

“What kind of woman wants a tree as a gift?” 

“Uh..I’ll get the tree.” 

While Sylvain went to go get the tree, and while the students bickered back and forth, Byleth wrote down their names and place the paper in a hat. He walked around, watching his students pick one by one. Once Sylvain was back, Byleth instructed him to put the tree by the window. He was then given the last name that they had. Sylvain smirked and knew what to get the person. 

                                                -----x-----

Each and every day for the past week Byleth would stare the tree. It was so plain and not very festive. His students became increasingly concerned. A few of them stood around the tree, trying to figure out what was wrong with it. 

“There must be something wrong with this tree,” Ashe said. 

“Yes, but what?” Mercedes asked. 

“Ooh, I don’t know. I don’t see anything wrong with it,” Annette said. “It’s just a plain tree.” 

“Maybe it just that,” Dedue said. 

“What do you mean?” 

“Maybe if we put some decorations on it, it would liven up the tree.” 

“What a wonderful idea Dedue! Maybe I can sew up a couple of things!” 

“Oh, like a tree skirt!” 

“Heehee! Yeah!” 

“Ashe and I can find ornaments or something!” 

“That’s a great idea!” 

Both Annette and Ashe walked out of the classroom and into town. 

“Would you like to help me with sewing?” Mercedes asked. 

“I’m afraid that my sewing skills are less than adequate,” Dedue replied. 

“That’s okay! Sometimes it’s better to make something yourself than buying it!” 

Dedue faintly smiled and followed her back to her room to help her with sewing. 

Ashe and Annette walked around town, trying to procure some decorations. Every store the went to, and every store they passed by, didn’t have any. 

“Awe, no store has anything,” Annette said. 

“I didn’t think finding decorations would be so hard,” Ashe said. “We can keep searching around.” 

“Hm..I don’t think we would be able to find anything.” 

“Hm…” 

“Hm…” 

A few seconds of silence. 

“Oh! I have an idea!” 

“What’s that?” 

“We can make our own ornaments!” 

“Ar-Are you sure? Would it better to keep searching around?” 

“I think it would be to make! Plus, if we look for too long it’s going to get dark, then...then...gh…” She trailed off. She was starting to scare herself. 

Ashe was starting to shake. He knew what she was going to say. “D-Don’t say it!” 

“Ghosts will come out!” 

“Ah!” He screamed as he held onto Annette tightly. “Yo-You’re right. Let’s make them ourselves!” 

When the two calmed down, they stopped at a few craft stores and a bakery to pick up some supplies. They picked up strings, hooks, apples, and some pastries. Once done, they made their way back to Garreg Mach and Mercedes' room. 

“Wow Mercie,” Annette started, “your tree skirt looks amazing!” 

“Thank you! Dedue and I also made a garland to go on the tree!” 

“Wow that’s amazing,” Ashe complimented. 

“I think it could have been sewn better,” Dedue said, referring to the portion he sewed. 

“Don’t say that! I think it looks amazing!” 

“He’s right!” 

Dedue gave a soft smile to his friends. 

“What do you have there?” 

“We have some stuff to make ornaments!” 

“Annette and I couldn’t find any shops with decorations.” 

“Did you try Anna?” 

“Surprisingly, she didn’t have anything.” 

“Oh, but at least we have something!” 

They all dug into the bags, each grabbing a few of the items. Dedue and Ashe made ornaments in the shapes of stars and flowers with the apples while Mercedes and Annette made ornaments in to shapes of hearts with the pastries. It to them most of the night to make, and instead of going back to their rooms, they decided to have a sleepover. In the morning, all four of them rushed to the classroom. Lucky for them, Byleth wasn’t there. Only Sylvain and Dimitri. 

“What are you guys doing?” Sylvain asked. 

“We are putting decorations on the tree!” Annette said. 

“They don’t seem to be any ornaments out of tin or anything,” Dimitri said. 

“That’s because they are made out of food!” 

“We should probably notify Ingrid not to eat them.” 

“We don’t have to tell her that they are made of food. She’ll never know.” 

“Sylvain, you know that will not work.” 

“It’s only a suggestion.” 

Dimitri sighed. “At any rate, we should put these decorations on the tree before the Professor arrives.” 

They took the next twenty minutes put everything together. When Ingrid and Felix walked in, Felix sighed an audible sigh of irritation at the sight of Sylvain sitting on top of Dedue’s shoulders. Ingrid felt the same, but she was at the point where she was expecting this. 

“What’s going on?” Felix asked. 

“Putting ornaments on the tree,” Sylvain replied. He got off Dedue’s shoulders and pointed at it. “Looks nice right?” 

“No.” 

“Oh come on! People worked really hard on this.” 

“So? Why even bother? We have more important things to worry about.” 

“Oh, is someone grumpy because they didn’t get someone they wanted?” Sylvain teased. 

“No! I got dragged into this stupid event when I didn’t want to participate this year!” Felix yelled. “If it weren’t for the Professor, I wouldn’t be caught up this mess.” 

“Well then. I thought it would be fun to have this little event to cheer you guys up,” Byleth said, walking into the room. “Especially after the past few months.” As he walked to the front of the room, he noticed the tree. “I like what you’ve guys done to the tree.” 

Annette, Ashe, Mercedes, and Dedue smiled with validation. 

“What’s up with the ornaments?” Ingrid asked. “Why is there food on the tree?” 

Sylvain looked over to Dimitri in disbelief. He shrugged. He knew Sylvain was a smart man, but the fact he couldn’t predict a long-time friend's actions was rather astonishing. 

After the day's lecture, the eight of them discussed whether or not if they should get Byleth a present. Everyone was in agreement that they should. It took them some time, but they were able to figure out what they wanted to get him. They all pulled their money together and gave it to Dimitri. 

Within the next couple of days, there were a few gifts under the tree. It wasn’t all that hard to figure out what to give each other since they’ve grown so much with each other. Sylvain walked into town with a smile on his face and a whistle coming out of his mouth. He was all too happy. He was thrilled that he got Dimitri. He walked up to a merchant and looked at what they had. Books. That’s exactly what he is looking for. 

Sylvain skimmed over each and every book title, hoping to find one specific book. His smile got bigger when he found the one he wanted. He paid for it and walked back to Garreg Mach. On his way back, he saw Mercedes. He noticed that she looked confused. 

“Hey there Mercedes,” Sylvain greeted. 

It took a few seconds for her to react. 

“Oh, hello Sylvain,” she said. 

“Whatcha looking at?” 

“Some daggers.” 

It didn’t take long for him to realize who she got. Felix. 

“Go with the Toothed Dagger. It’s cheap and he’s been eyeing this for a while.” 

“What?” 

“You got Felix, didn’t you?” 

“How did you know? I thought this was all anonymous.” 

“Technically, yes. But sometimes you can guess who someone got by the things they are buying, if you are paying attention.” 

“Oh.” 

“Also, every time someone gets Felix with this exchange, they always give him a dagger.” 

“Oh, I see. Maybe I should get him something else,” she sighed. 

“Nah. He’ll love it all the same.” 

Mercedes giggled and got him the dagger. The two walked back to the Monastery. They wrapped the presents and placed them with the others. There were now five gifts under the tree. 

                                                 -----x-----

It was only a few days left until the end of the month. Sothis Day was quickly approaching. Felix still didn’t have his present for his giftee. He was putting it off so he could focus on something more ‘important.’ It wasn’t until Sylvain pestered him about it that he decided to go buy a gift. He walked to Anna’s shop and looked at what she had. She didn’t have much of anything that his giftee wanted or needed. She showed him one last thing. Sewing supplies. It was a perfect gift. 

“A present for someone special?” Anna asked with a wink. 

“No! It’s for a gift exchange for a tradition Faerghus.” 

“Ah, well, it’s a perfect gift nonetheless.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” 

Felix paid for the supplies and went to the classroom. He quickly wrapped the gift and left it under the tree. 

                                                -----x-----

Twas the night before Sothis Day and both Dedue and Ashe were baking their gifts. They took most of the night making them to perfection. The wrapped them nicely and made sure the gifts had the correct names on them. 

The next day, everyone gathered around the tree. There were eight presents underneath it. Byleth walked in and looked at his students. They were all so eager to open them. He walked closer to the tree, grabbing a couple of gifts. 

“This one is for Ingrid,” he said, giving it to her. “This one is for Annette, Felix, Ashe.” He then looked at one of them, squinting at the handwriting. “D-Dimi, Dimitri.” It was Sylvain's terrible handwriting. “Here you go Sylvain, Dedue, and Mercedes.” 

“Oh, wow,” Ingrid started, “my favorite treats.” She took a bit of one of them. “It’s sooo good!” She shoved some more of the treats into her mouth. “Thabk youb!” 

Dedue smiled. He was happy that she loved his gift. He opened his present and saw the gardening supplies. He felt warm inside. 

Dimitri knew he would love his gift. He opened his and sighed. It was a book that was titled, “How To Pick Up Girls And Pick Up Lines.” He looked over to Sylvain with a glare. 

He laughed it off, knowing he will pay for that later while they train. As for his gift, it wasn’t much different than the one he gave the prince. It was a book titled, “How To Be A Gentleman.” He looked over Ingrid. She smiled at him, fully expecting him to read the book. She was tired of chasing him around. Though, it still wasn’t going to stop him. 

Annette opened her gift and was amazed at her gift. It was brownies in the shape of snowflakes. She started to eat them and became pleasantly surprised. “Ooo, so sweet! These are so tasty!” 

Ashe was really happy and proud of the sweets that he made turned out fantastic. He was really nervous about how they turned out. But thanks to Dedue, they turned out great. He opened his gift and saw the ghost charm. Annette giggled when she saw his face turn red. It was like Ashe was trying to hide his fear of ghosts. 

Felix opened his gift. The Toothed Dagger. He showed a small, almost unnoticeable smirk on his face. On this inside, though he will not admit it, he was happy to get it as his gift. 

Mercedes looked over to him and took his small smirk as him loving his gift. When she opened hers, she was absolutely thrilled. “Oh, wow! These are such beautiful colors! I can’t wait to sew new things!” Felix would still never admit it, but it felt nice to see a big smile across Mercedes’ face. 

A smile grew across Byleth’s face when he heard his student's joyous conversations and happiness. It had been a long while since he felt a warm feeling inside his chest. His students looked at him and smiled. They gathered around him, handing him a gift. 

“What’s this?” He asked. 

“A gift,” Dimitri said. “From all of us.” 

“Since you’ve become our professor, it’s kind of like you’ve become apart of our family.” Ingrid smiled. 

“Our terrible, messy family,” Felix commented. 

“A family nonetheless.” She said. She looked back over to Byleth. “You’ve taught us, trained us, grown with us these past few months, we’ve decided to get you a gift!” 

“We know it’s not much, but we hope it’ll suffice,” Dedue said. 

“I-I don’t know what to say.” Byleth smiled. This was a whole new feeling for him. He didn’t know how to describe it other than happiness. “Thank you.” 

“Please open it!” Annette said. 

Byleth let out a sigh. “I wish I could, but I’ll have to after my mission with my father.” 

“Awe!” 

He patted Annette’s head and gave her a soft smile before he left the classroom. Later that night, after his mission, he picked up his gift. 

“What’s that?” Jeralt asked. 

“A gift from my students.” Byleth replied. 

He opened his gift and smiled a big smile. It was a light blue necklace in the shape of a lion. Jeralt smiled as the necklace reminded him of something that his son made for him not so long ago. He kissed his child’s head and told him to go to bed, only to be told the same thing. Byleth took one last look at the necklace one last time before placing it on his desk and going to bed. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is my @nagamas gift to meryuukan on Ao3! I got a few prompts and the one I did was the Blue Lions class gift exchanging! I based it mostly off of a secret Santa. I hope you enjoyed!

[ayma-nidiot]

The Ride - Sylvix fic Chapter 26

Also on AO3.

Chapter 26 – Surprises, Surprises

“So… Remind me how I ended up being the bridesmaid of honour?” Ingrid pouted the entire time Annette, Mercedes, and Dorothea tended to her appearance.

“You and me both.” Cyril happened to walk by. “How I ended up as the ring bearer, I will never know. I’ve hardly even spoken to the lucky couple today.”

“That’s because Rhea and our new archbishop trust you,” Annette replied with a smile.

“And you, my lovely Ingrid, are you really surprised?” Dorothea continued to braid Ingrid’s short hair. “Not only were you the first one to find out about their relationship, but you’re also the best friend of them both.”

“Whatever. I just think you three are using this wedding as an excuse to douse all the women with makeup.”

“The flower girl thinks she did a good job!” Flayn, with floral barrettes and even rosier cheeks, gave Ingrid a thumbs up as she walked by. “Say, are we going to get started soon? I heard there will be a lot of fish dishes at the reception. Which of course is half the fun.”

“There’s just one problem… We’ve got a couple of late guests.” Mercedes thought as she heard two men shouting outside. “Ah, here they come now!”

The late guests in question sped right past the women and straight to Sylvain’s quarters. “Hey! Where’s the man of the hour, huh?”

“You mean one of the men of the hour,” Sylvain corrected. He was embarrassed not just at his father’s late arrival, but also at his behaviour. It didn’t suit someone of his age. “No, let me guess why you’re late… It’s because of the pretty women around the monastery, isn’t it?”

“No… It’s um… because it’s been a while since I attended the Academy, and I had to ask for directions.”

“In other words, it’s because of the pretty women around the monastery.” Even though the margrave still acted like a womanizer all these years, Sylvain couldn’t ever really be mad at him. Sylvain bowed at the waist to Felix’s uncle. “Duke Fraldarius, it’s an honour to meet you. I am Sylvain Jose Gautier, the son of Margrave Gautier.”

“Yes, I’ve heard about you from my older brother before he died. Thank you for taking care of my younger nephew all this time.”

“Speaking of which, where is the blushing bride… er, groom?” Margrave Gautier asked.

“You’ll see him soon enough…” Sylvain got up as the bell of the Goddess Tower rang. Before he stepped onto the stairs, he looked up the tower and the golden sunrise backdrop. “And he will look wonderful.”

An hour later, Dorothea had just finished styling Felix’s hair into a low bun, letting a few strands hang at the sides. Annette and Mercedes stood back to look at the traditional Fraldarius clothes they worked hard to put on him. “Aww, you look so handsome! Sylvain is soooo lucky!” they squealed in unison.

“Okay, I’m handsome.” Felix started walking hastily to the Goddess Tower. “I’m handsome and very late for my own wedding. Ah!”

“Felix, watch out!” Ingrid tried to warn as Felix tripped on his cape. “Oh!”

A 10-year-old boy saved Felix from an embarrassing face plant. “Hey mister, are you okay?”

“Yes, thank you.” Felix knelt at the boy’s level. He could tell from his clothes and appearance that he was a common boy from Fraldarius. “You saved me, young man.”

The boy just now noticed Felix’s regal attire. “Hey, are you by chance Felix Hugo Fraldarius?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, man, this is the best day ever!” The boy happily jumped up and down. “Mom and Dad used to tell me all kinds of stories about you and what an awesome soldier you were!”

“They did?”

“You bet!” The boy did a few air punches. “They told me one time that you killed a boar with your bare hands.”

“Oh, that was probably just some gossip from your friends.” Felix chuckled, and was surprised when the boy didn’t laugh back.

“I… didn’t really have many friends growing up. When my mom and dad died, all my classmates thought it was because they had enough of me.” The boy began to cry. “I never really had any kind of cool parental figures after my parents’ deaths, either. I… had to live on my own. You were really the only role model I’ve had.”

“Well, I’m about to change that for you!” Felix declared proudly. “There’s going to be a really cool wedding at the Goddess Tower, and I’d love for you to come. There will be lots of yummy food and fun games. And there certainly won’t be any of those mean bullies that you’ve met.”

“Really?” The boy not only stopped crying, he lit up.

“Of course!” Mercedes took the boy by the hand while giving Felix a sidelong stare. “Now come, you don’t want to be late like a certain someone.”

The sun had arisen completely now while the birds fled from their previous hiding places. A spacious crowd gathered under the balcony of the Goddess Tower as Flayn tossed flowers from there. Mercedes couldn’t contain her excitement at the wedding about to commence. “Aww, I should have put some concealer on him at least…”

“Maybe you’ll find a chance to if you visit Fraldarius,” replied Ingrid, lifting Felix’s long cape off the ground while he walked.

As he stepped out from the shade, Felix shielded his face from the sun and the oncoming doves with his arm. Even as he walked to the balcony, he could hardly look at his soon-to-be husband in the eye.

Sylvain brushed aside Felix’s bangs and spoke softly, “Hey. Don’t be shy now of all times; let me see your beautiful face.”

Byleth, the newly appointed archbishop of the Church, grinned at this adorable display as she gestured for silence from the excited crowd below. “O holy Sothis! We stand before you today to ask for your blessings upon Sylvain Jose Gautier and Felix Hugo Fraldarius as they become joined in marriage. May you shower them with many years together, filled with love, light, and fortune. May their homelands become more prosperous with each passing day as the people will grow to respect them.”

Byleth’s conclusion of her speech prompted Sylvain to begin stating his vows. “I have lived a life full of unsavoury tendencies. I thought that I could never find true love because of my Crest. I thought that it was my only redeemable quality. But the day I met you, I started to believe that maybe, just maybe, I really do have worth. I’ve grown to love myself – and you – in all these years we’ve known one another. I’ll protect you with everything I have; this I swear.”

How am I supposed to top that? Felix had rehearsed his vows several times but at that moment, his mind drew a blank. “I… don’t have a way with words like you. People never forgot to remind me of it, and for the longest time, I didn’t care what they thought of me. What need for pretty words have I, a swordsman so dedicated to his training? It took all the practice in the world just to prepare me for this moment… But for me, it was worth it, to let all of Fódlan know how much I love you. It was worth it to be able to tell you that I will cherish and protect you for as long as I live.”

After a short pause, Byleth continued, “Do you, Sylvain Jose Gautier, take Felix Hugo Fraldarius as your husband?”

“I do!” Sylvain answered with a wink as he put his family ring on Felix’s finger.

“And do you, Felix Hugo Fraldarius, take Sylvain Jose Gautier as your husband?”

“I do.” Felix did the same, and there was no shyness in his voice now.

“Then by the power invested in I, Byleth Eisner, archbishop of the Church of Seiros… I now pronounce the two of you spouses for life.” Byleth gave Sylvain a wink and whispered, “Go on, hotshot, give him a big kiss.”

Don’t need to tell me that, Professor, Sylvain thought as he clasped the back of Felix’s head and kissed him for a long time.

“Aww!” The ten-year-old boy from earlier cheered, along with other monastery residents from the ground. “So this big wedding was for Felix, huh?”

Felix finally broke the kiss gently and now faced the crowd. “Oh, and I thought I’d like to take this opportunity to make an important announcement, particularly to my fellow citizens of Fraldarius. I accept the title of the Duke of Fraldarius… and so does my husband.”

“Whoa…” A few citizens were surprised, but most appeared to accept it.

“But wait…” A young man from Gautier spoke up. “Then who’s going to inherit House Gautier?”

Sylvain expected and feared for this topic to come up, but he didn’t want to lie to his people. “I pass that title to my brother Miklan.” Sylvain turned to his best man. “That is, if he is willing.”

“What?” The mention of Miklan’s name sparked whispers throughout. “He’s alive?”

“Yes.” Miklan turned around. “Though at times I don’t think I deserved to be… I am glad to be now, if only to atone for what I have done. If at any time the people think I don’t deserve this title, I will willingly step before a jury, and you may do what you will. But all I ask is this chance to gain your trust.”

“Miklan…” Margrave Gautier hadn’t seen his son in such a long while, not even after the Battle of Enbarr. To make sure that his elder son was not an apparition, he ran as fast as he could up the Goddess Tower’s stairs to get a good look at him.

Miklan didn’t expect this to occur, and didn’t really want it, either. He shifted uncomfortably before saying, “H-Hello, Father. It’s been a while.”

“You’re… alive.” The margrave’s voice sounded void of emotion. “How?”

“It’s a long story.” Miklan secretly brandished his Crest. “So, um… about the title-”

“I can’t say I’m 100% comfortable with it yet, but if Sylvain approves, then I will approve too.”

“I’m… um… glad, I guess.” Miklan could look at his father now, and noticed the margrave shedding a few tears.

“Oh, haha… Don’t mind me. I’m just… hoping… that we can at least try to get along as a family. I’m glad to have the chance.”

“Aaaand here come the waterworks!” Sylvain took the both of them in for a group hug, spurring many members of the crowd to also cry. Just as he was getting caught in the family bonding, he noticed a young black-haired boy standing just inside the shadow behind the balcony. “Oh? Who might you be, young man?”

“Ah, he’s a citizen of Fraldarius,” Felix cut in. “He actually saved me from damaging my ‘pretty face’ earlier.”

“So what brings you here?” Sylvain knelt down.

“I just… wanted to say to Felix that… Congratulations.” The ten-year-old boy grinned. “You’re right about having fun. I’ve already met a lot of really nice kids just now. I’m thankful.”

Felix pondered a while before asking the boy, “Young man, what is your name?”

“I’m Remy, sir.”

“How would you like to live with Sylvain and I?” Felix gave a quick glance to his husband for approval, which Sylvain readily gave. “We will give you the life that was stolen from you too soon.”

“I can have a family again?” Remy started crying tears of joy. “I… I… I would love to!”

“Oh, quit your crying!” Sylvain chuckled as he carried the boy, letting the crowd see him. “Everyone, I present to you Remy, the third in line to Fraldarius’ throne!”

“Aww, right!” Remy did a little victory pose, getting a huge confidence boost from the approving crowd. “Look out, world, I’m going to be a great soldier just like Papa!”

After the crowd had died down, and the wedding festivities had already started, Sylvain and Felix descended the stairs. Sylvain wasn’t surprised that Dorothea had caught the bouquet Felix had thrown, and now she bragged that one day she would be with her “beloved Ingrid.”

“Sylvain?” Felix took note of how silent Sylvain had become after they got back to the ground level. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Sylvain watched as Remy played with his new friends from the monastery. He was especially friendly to an 8-year-old Gautier girl and her 1-year-old sister who just started learning how to walk. The two older kids flew a sewn-up doll around, much to the 1-year-old’s amusement. “I’m just… I don’t know, I didn’t take you for the type to want kids someday.”

“Surprises, surprises.” Felix smiled as he gripped his husband’s hand. “That kid has been through a lot… I figured that I’d give him a fresh start. A new life.”

“Maybe this is wishful thinking, but… I hope we will live our lives in sheer happiness, for years without end.”

[fandom-meanderer]

The Perfect Disney Princess

Pairing: Dimitri Alexandre Blaidydd x Reader (Modern AU)

Part: (2/2) [First]

Genre: Romance, Comedy

Fandom: Fire Emblem Three Houses

P.o.V.: 2nd

Word Count: 1,729 Words

Warnings: None

Further Notes: Okay, okay, I know I have a shit ton of requests, but I just saw Chris Hackney’s post on insta and my hands just moved by themselves!

~

“Look, Dimitri, look!” Juliet hopped off of the couch and ran up to the TV. “Can we watch this? Pretty please?” Dimitri looked at the screen.

“Mulan?”

“Yes! It’s one of my favorite movies!”

“I though you said Beauty and the Beast was?”

“I like that one too!”

“Oh, well, alright then,” Dimitri picked up the remote and clicked on the movie, waiting for Netflix to load while Juliet pranced around the apartment.

It’s been a few months since the incident in Discussion, and since then you had agreed to move in with Dimitri in his apartment and boy was Juliet overjoyed. Now, she was really expecting more of a castle rather than a two bedroom and one bathroom apartment, but according to Dimitri his real house back where he came from was huge, so Juliet settled with this. On the topic of you, you happened to be stuck in a group study with Sylvain and Felix, so you wouldn’t be home for a few more hours. In that time, Juliet’s mother called you to ask if you could take care of Juliet, and fortunately, Dimitri happened to be home.

Juliet was practically rocking back and forth in her seat as the movie played, and Dimitri could tell how ecstatic she was, what with her singing every song that came on and with her expressive emotions throughout the movie.

“Oh! Oh, I love this song!” Juliet chimed. Dimitri chuckled.

“Let’s get down to business, to defeat, the huns…” he sang. Juliet turned around.

“You can sing!” She jumped off the couch and sang with him, trying to do the same stunts the others did in the movie. Dimitri, truly, couldn’t mask his laughter at the small girl hopping around. And once the song finally ended, she skid to a stop in front of Dimitri, wearing that oh so familiar determined look in her eyes. She took his hands, and whilst her face remained resolute, she said, “You are the Perfect Disney Prince.”

“Yes, I believe we established that,” Dimitri says, his face reddening as he remembers her very loud proclamation.

“So that means (Name) must be the Perfect Disney Princess.”

“Well, of course.”

“Are you sure?”

“I am quite certain, yes.”

“10000% Sure?”

“Uh, yes.”

“You hesitated.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Yes you did, don’t worry! I have a plan to make (Name) the Perfect Disney Princess!”

~

“Claude, I have no clue as to why you’re making me do this with you,” Dimitri frowns, watching as Claude rolls a strike.

“Just for good times with a good friend,” he smiles. Claude brushes off his letterman jacket and hands Dimitri a bowling ball with one hand. “Come on, unless you want to show us that Dorothea is a better bowler than you?”

“I’ll do it because you offered,” Dimitri pouts. “I hope you know that I skipped discussion for this.”

“Oh, I know,” Claude smirks. Before Dimitri could press further, Ferdinand wails behind him, something about his bowling ball stopping half way through. “Don’t worry, I’ll get you back before class ends, just relax a little.”

“Fine, fine,” Dimitri grumbles, walking up to the alley.

~

“Okay! Here’s the game plan!” Juliet stood on a stool while pointing to the blank board. “Mr. Ashe is going to draw for me since I can’t reach.”

“Hello!”

“Okay. When Ms. Byleth walks back in with (Name), we will begin station one! Miss Ingrid is going to focus on cleaning her up. Station two! Mr. Felix and Mr. Sylvain are in charge of hair!”

“Why do I have to do it?” Felix scoffs.

“Because your hair is always so nice! And Mr. Sylvain is there for moral support.”

“That’s right!” Sylvain winks.

“Next is for Ms. Annette and Ms. Mercedes who are in charge of makeup!”

“Yes! We are so excited to do that!” Annette smiles, holding her brushes up.

“And, by the time they’re though, Mr. Dedue should be back with the jewelry that I asked him to buy and we’ll be set!” Just so you know, Dedue is currently at a mall right now showing various jewelers a crude, but adorably drawn picture of a necklace.

“Once the finishing touches are done, then Mr. Claude will bring Dimitri into the room and everything will be perfect!” Juliet smiles.

Just as a quick note, let’s talk about how Juliet convinced the whole class plus Byleth to go along with her idea. She, at first, went to the teacher before class started, catching them while they were at the school market, and since you and Dimitri were busy figuring out what to buy, Juliet wandered up to them easily. Once she got their approval, Byleth emailed the other students of the class for an earlier meeting to explain what had to be done.

Now, why Byleth agreed to this? Simple, since Juliet showed up the overall class average skyrocketed. And the other classmates said yes primarily because they love Juliet, but they would also pay good money to make Dimitri embarrassed honestly who wouldn’t?

But, as the door creaked open, it became clear.

It’s show time.

“What is this?” You gasp, the entire discussion room turned into a makeshift Salon. A curtain is drawn around you and Ingrid presents you with a few wipes and perfume.

“Just go with it, (Name),” Ingrid laughs. You smile.

“Did Juliet put you up to this?”

“Yeah, but we figured, why not? We just finished midterms and we’re all tuckered out,” she explains. She finishes cleaning you up and pulls back the curtain. “Good luck with those two,” she says.

Just as she said that, Felix sat you down on the chair and pulled out a comb.

“If this hurts, suck it up and deal with it.”

“You can do it, (Name)!”

Needless to say, Felix was a lot better at styling your hair than you thought, or at least you’re assuming, Juliet didn’t want you to see the final product until you were fully done.

In no time at all, Mercedes was applying foundation to your face as Annette got to work on your eye shadow.

“What’s this all about?”

“Oh, you know Juliet,” Mercedes giggles. “Don’t worry, it’s all in good faith.”

“Oh geez, does this have something to do with Dimitri?”

“Maybe,” Annette smirks. She finishes your mascara and the two of them step back, giving each other a quick high five. The door opens and Dedue walks in, holding a small box.

“You actually found it?” Ashe asks. Dedue shook his head.

“No, but I did have it custom made instead,” he says. “The jewelers didn’t understand the picture,” he whispers. He hands you the box and you open it.

Inside was a simple but elegant necklace with a small lion charm attached to it. It was the lion’s head, specifically, but the spaces inside were filled with a glistening sapphire.

“Dedue, how much was this?” You ask.

“Don’t worry, I took it out of Dimitri’s (Name) fund.”

“His what fund?”

“No questions!” Juliet rushes up to you. She tugs on Ashe’s hand and he helps you put the necklace on. “Wow… you’re so pretty!” Juliet beams. She runs over to stand next to Byleth, who is wearing a soft expression.

“Ready for the big reveal?” They ask.

“Sure,” you say. They pull the cloth aside and your eyes lock with a familiar blue.

“H… Hi,” Dimitri musters out.

“Hey,” you smile. He looks over to Juliet, who is smiling expectantly.

“You really want me to say it, don’t you,” he slumps his shoulders. Juliet nods enthusiastically as Dedue walks up next to Dimitri. Sylvain snorts, trying to hold his laughter in, and Felix scoffs.

“Just do it already!” He says. Dimitri takes a deep breath in.

“(Name), you are a…” Dimitri stops for a second, the ever so noticeable pink rising higher in his expression. “A Perfect Disney Princess.”

Silence.

You’re processing his words.

“Oh… my… god!” You double over in laughter. “So that’s what all this is about!” You walk over to him and Dedue hands you a paper.

“While I was out I took the liberty of reserving dinner for you.”

“Thank you!” You tug on Dimitri’s sweater. “We’ll drop by the apartment to get him fixed up and we’ll head over,” you say.

Then it became painfully obvious that while you were dolled up, Dimitri looks like he just finished hibernating for the winter and his embarrassment only grew.

“Goddess above…” he mumbles.

“We’ll watch Juliet!” Ashe calls.

“Yes! You two have fun,” Mercedes waves at you.

“We will!” You wave one last goodbye and you shut the door. You and Dimitri look at each other. Finally, you spoke up. “Mulan?”

“Mulan,” he cracks a small smile.

~

Juliet looked up at the two students in front of her, in her hands was a large lollipop and in the hands of a certain black haired student was another.

“You remind me of Yzma and Kronk!” Juliet laughs. Edelgard gasps.

“How dare—“ Hubert is appalled, to say the least. Edelgard holds him back.

“Wait, let her speak,” she says.

“Can I have that lollipop, Mister?”

“Finish the one you have first, little one,” Hubert snaps. Juliet pouts.

“Can you tell us about the green haired people?” Edelgard presses.

“The one with really long hair?”

“Yes, her.”

“Oh! Okay,” Juliet smiles. “She kind of reminds me of Mother Gothel and Maleficent all rolled into one.”

“Yes, and why is that?”

“Because—“

“Juliet! That’s where you are!” You walk over to the trio. “I see you met Edelgard and Hubert.”

“Mmhmm! I like them a lot,” Juliet smiles. Edelgard’s mouth hangs slightly ajar and Hubert scrunches his eyebrows in slight confusion.

“Well, say bye to your friends now, we have to get you home.”

“Okay! Bye, Ms. Edelgard! Bye, Mr. Hubert!” You pick up Juliet and walk away, the little girl waving at the duo until they were out of eyesight.

“That little girl knows something.”

“That she does, Hubert, that she does.”