#AND THE AFTERMATH OF FELIX AFTER THE CRASH

[kadens-a-bee]

WALTEN FILES ENJOYERS HOW ARE WE FEELING!!!!!!

[felixravinstills]

Ravinstill Extended Family Lore: The Deaths of Gnaeus and Marius

For the uninformed, Marius and Gnaeus Ravinstill are (in my worldbuilding) Felix's two older cousins. Marius is the eldest surviving Ravinstill cousin and the heir presumptive.

I have for the longest time just handwaved their deaths as a part of a confusing mess that happened in the aftermath of Felix's death via Coriolanus orchestrated car crash, but I have recently been privately rotating them in my head:

I have always known that Coriolanus uses Felix's death to try and turn Marius and Gnaeus against each other.

After giving this some thought, I don't think it works against the Ravinstill cousins, but it does work on their supporters.

Marius' position as Ravinstill heir has always been tenuous in that Gnaeus has always been the better pick. There are a lot of people who would support Gnaeus if he wasn't himself supporting Marius.

I don't think it would take much to convince Marius' supporters that Gnaeus is a threat. The ones that are solely loyal to Marius and see Gnaeus as some encroaching relative who's bullying the Ravinstill heir

Maybe, Coriolanus helps them along with rumors and by slipping something into their communications, but there was always going to be suspicion

Marius and Gnaeus are probably dealing with their great-uncle's grief and their own (and an upcoming state funeral), but when a call comes saying that Gnaeus needs to meet with a few advisors about something, well, it doesn't raise that many questions, Gnaeus was always the one with a better head for politics

And it doesn't matter if Marius' supporters decide to call him themselves after the deed is done or if Marius gets impatient waiting to pick out what coffin they're putting their younger cousin in, he shows up to whatever office or home that Gnaeus has been called to either way (although I lean more towards the latter)

Marius is more impulsive than the average Ravinstill, but I think he's stunned into inaction by the dead body of the cousin that he tried to replace two brothers with. EDIT: Marius is presented with the sight of Gnaeus’ severed head

I think he leaves that night and retires home numb, but the next day, he jumps into action

And what does it say, that as the news breaks, he doesn't seem to contact his great-uncle?

I think Marius purges his own followers and then waits. I don't think he really knows what he's waiting for, but well, Gnaeus was always the better schemer. Marius just avenged his cousin, and he knows that Gnaeus had a lot of friends too. Marius has gotten rid of anyone who would want to protect him.

He's not in the right headspace, so I think Marius greets whoever comes for hims with a smile.

...

I wrote Pater Patriae before I fine-tuned this idea, so this isn't entirely intentional, but what does it say that Max doesn't know the exact details of what exactly transpired? He knows the same version of the story that the public hears: after the death of one grandnephews, the other two pointed fingers at one another and died. I hate that man (I love him and show it by destroying his life)

Fun fact: I was thinking that maybe Marius' supporters might bring him Gnaeus' head, but I don't think they're putting that much work in (to cut off a guy's head). This was to further the fact that this thought I've been rotating started off as a reference to Gnaeus' namesake Pompey (Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus) who sought asylum from Julius Caesar in Egypt and was then beheaded because the Egyptians feared him taking control and also sought to win Caesar's favor.

Anyway, I thought the killing someone for someone else's approval was enough of a reference. Beheading didn't fit Capitolites doing a semi-quiet little murder...

EDIT: I changed my mind. Canonically, (in my canon,) Gnaeus Ravinstill’s head gets cut off and presented to Marius.

I should make a death recap for my Ravinstill extended family. I think it would emphasize the tragedy and would be fun for me. Anyway, Marius and Gnaeus get a tag now! I used to just lump them in with the ravinstill extended family lore tag!

[prophecydungeon]

fic: no quarter

fandom: red vs blue relationship: felix/locus rating: E total word count: ~43k total chapters: 11

One month after the not-so-civil war on Chorus crashes to a halt, there are still fires to put out. One of them in particular refuses to be smothered. (Or: the fall, the aftermath, and a climb.)

chapter 1: lazarus words: 5,895

→ read on AO3

[skz-streamer]

A Lost Cause -3/3-

<-Past - Finish

Pairing: Felix (skz) x fem!reader

Genre: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, slight smut?

Warnings: mentions of suicide, scarred wrist, pain, car crash, PTSD, abusive/toxic boyfriend, substances, abuse, bruising, crying, um... lmk if I missed anything else❤️

Notes: Finishedddd!!!! i am really bad at endings so you gotta use a bit of your imagination at the end;) Thank you for all the love!!!!

Summary: After an abusive relationship you head to the bar for refuge...only to find yourself in another relationship, but is this one "A Lost Cause"?

-please read responsibly, and remember that this work is fiction and meant strictly for imaginative fun. the idols used in fics are more accurately faceclaims and personality outlines for imaginary characters, and should not be interpreted as factual representations of existing people

Word count ~1.5k ;)

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

Present

The aftermath of your kiss with Felix was awkward, in fact really embarrassing, the doctor had walked in on the two of you, making you and him jolt backwards. You and him both realized at the same time what actually just happened, making Felix excuse himself from the room. The doctor, not fazed at all, had simply told you your report and that you would get out the day after tomorrow.

Felix didn’t really come back after that incident, the only thing you received from him were small bouquets of flowers every day. But seeing him now made you a little flustered, and you found yourself staring right at his lips once more. The contact of Felix’s hand touching your arm snapped you out of your trance, “let me help you, ill walk you back to your apartment” he says while putting his coat over you.

“Oh, I live pretty far away from here” you lie. You didn’t want him to see the state of your apartment and think you were untidy. After a moment he thinks and tells you to come to his. He turns your body around to face your apartment complex. He points over to your building and says “I live there, it’s really close”. You point to the same building “There?” you say questioningly. “Yup!” he says. Felix lived in the same complex as you? What a turn of events.

—-

You couldn't help but feel a mix of excitement and nervousness as you entered Felix's bathroom. The shelves filled with skincare products and neatly organized bottles gave you a glimpse into his meticulous nature. As you closed the door, you let out a soft sigh, trying to calm your racing heart.

You took off your coat, still feeling the warmth from Felix's touch, and carefully hung it on the back of the door. Your mind wandered back to that unexpected kiss, and you couldn't deny that a part of you hoped it wasn't entirely accidental. You shook your head, trying to focus on the present moment.

Unfolding the plain white shirt he gave you, you noticed how soft and comfortable the fabric felt between your fingers. It smelled faintly of his cologne, which sent a delightful shiver down your spine. Taking a moment to collect yourself, you began to change out of your hospital gown.

Meanwhile, Felix had returned to the living room and sat on the sofa, fidgeting with his fingers. He couldn't believe how foolish he had been earlier, kissing you without any warning, and then inviting you back to his apartment. He was scared he had made you uncomfortable, but the sight of you in his shirt made his heart skip a beat. He had always admired your beauty and grace, but now, with the shirt hugging your form, it was like seeing you in a new light.

Minutes passed, and you finally emerged from the bathroom, wearing Felix's shirt and your own pants. Your hair was slightly damp from a quick wash, and you felt refreshed after the hospital stay. Felix's eyes widened a little at the sight of you, and he offered a shy smile, trying to hide the evident blush on his cheeks.

"You look great," he said softly, his voice gentle and sincere.

"Thank you," you replied, feeling your cheeks heat up at his compliment. "Your shirt is really comfortable."

"I'm glad you like it," he replied, gesturing for you to sit beside him on the sofa. "Can I get you anything? Water, maybe?"

"Water sounds perfect," you said, feeling grateful for his hospitality.

Felix returned with two glasses of water, and you both sat together, engaged in light conversation. The initial awkwardness from the hospital incident seemed to have faded away, replaced by a more relaxed and comfortable atmosphere.

As you talked, you discovered shared interests and found yourselves laughing at each other's jokes. It felt so easy being with Felix, and you wondered why you hadn't taken the time to get to know him better before. But perhaps this unusual twist of fate was meant to bring you two closer.

The evening turned into night, and you realized the time had flown by. "I should probably head back to my place now," you said reluctantly.

Felix nodded, understanding but not wanting the evening to end either. "I'll walk you to your apartment," he offered.

As you both stepped out of his apartment and headed down the hall, you felt a mixture of gratitude and anticipation. Felix ended up realizing that you literally only lived two doors down from him. Making you and him burst out in laughter at the coincidence.

—-

The laughter eased any lingering tension, and you found yourself feeling more at ease with Felix than ever before. As you reached your apartment door, you turned to him with a smile, "Thanks for the lovely evening and for walking me home. It was really nice getting to know you better, Felix."

"The pleasure was all mine," he replied, returning your smile. "I'm glad we had this chance to spend time together."

You hesitated for a moment before speaking, "Felix, about what happened at the hospital… I hope you know I didn't mind the kiss. It was just… unexpected."

He blushed slightly, looking down for a moment before meeting your gaze again. "I'm really sorry about that. I didn't mean to be so impulsive. It's just that being around you… it's hard to control my feelings."

You appreciated his honesty and reached out to touch his arm gently. "It's okay, Felix. I understand. It was just a surprise, that's all. But, um, I actually didn't mind it either."

His eyes widened in surprise, and a hopeful smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "You didn't?"

"No," you said softly, feeling a little bolder. "In fact, I kind of liked it."

Felix's smile grew wider, and he took a small step closer to you. "Well, then, maybe I can be a bit more intentional about my actions from now on," he said playfully.

You chuckled, feeling a flutter in your heart. "That might be a good idea."

The two of you stood there for a moment, the air thick with unspoken words and emotions. Finally, Felix spoke up, "Would you like to go out with me sometime, like on a proper date?"

You looked into his earnest eyes and felt a surge of excitement. "I'd love to."

Felix beamed, and you exchanged contact information so you could plan your first date. As you unlocked your apartment door, you turned to him with a smile, "See you soon."

"Definitely," he replied, and with a quick wave, he headed back to his own apartment.

Inside your apartment, you couldn't help but feel a rush of happiness. The events of the day had taken unexpected turns, but you were grateful for them. You changed into your pajamas, settling into your cozy bed. As you laid there, thoughts of Felix filled your mind.

Over the next few days, Felix continued to bring you small bouquets of flowers, and you found yourself eagerly looking forward to his daily surprises. Your text conversations became more frequent, filled with playful banter and meaningful conversations.

—

Finally, the day of your post-surgery checkup arrived. As you stepped out of the office doors, Felix was there, waiting with a smile. "Congratulations on getting out of there!" he said, offering you a bouquet of flowers.

"Thank you," you replied, accepting the flowers with a smile of your own. "And thank you for being there for me throughout this whole time."

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else," he said sincerely. "So, about that date… how about we go out tonight? I know this little Italian place that serves amazing pasta."

You chuckled, charmed by his enthusiasm. "Sounds perfect. I'll see you there."

That evening, you arrived at the restaurant, feeling a mixture of excitement and nerves. But as soon as you saw Felix's smiling face, all your worries melted away. The date was filled with laughter, heartfelt conversations, and shared dreams for the future.

As the night came to an end, Felix walked you back to your apartment. It felt like time was moving too fast, but you didn't want the evening to end. As you reached your door, you turned to him, feeling a little reluctant to say goodbye.

"I had a wonderful time tonight, Felix," you said sincerely.

"Me too," he replied, taking your hand in his.

Before you could say anything else, Felix leaned in and kissed you softly, this time with intention and tenderness. Your heart skipped a beat, and you wrap your arms around his neck, pulling him closer. His lips are hot, and soft, you find yourself nibbling and gasping, pulling onto each other for more and when you stop, he has his eyes closed, heavily exhaling, hair ruffled, and he looks like the prettiest mess ever.

As you finally parted, Felix rested his forehead against yours. "I'm really glad I kissed you that day," he whispered.

"Me too," you murmured, feeling the beginning of something beautiful and exciting. Maybe, just maybe Felix wasnt a lost cause. 

Permanent tag list: @eee5533 @mixtape-racha @ot8skz-wifey

Click here to be added❤️

[katalist]

Some immediate thoughts: Oh there's SO MUCH aftermath that is going to result from this and I've got theories.

BIGGEST TAKEAWAY: Marinette already sent a voicemail to Chat Noir explaining that Gabriel was Hawkmoth. Maybe this will be hand waved. But even so, she's decided not to tell Adrien, but we haven't seen if she'll tell Chat Noir or not. And if she doesn't?

Adrien already has negative feelings about his father. Even in the end scene, he's conflicted. I'm not sure if HE believes the lie he's being told. Just a few days ago, he threatened/tried to kill his father as Chat Noir. Being told his dad defeated Hawkmoth right after this? There's some conflict, there.

Not only that, but as Chat Noir? He's bound to pester Ladybug. Who was Hawkmoth in the end? How did Gabriel help? How is Ladybug supposed to respond?

Also, Felix and Kagami both are in the know about Gabriel as well–they know that something's up with Gabriel being "celebrated." And maybe they realize that it's all in the interest of protecting Adrien–theres a reason Felix didn't let Adrien in on this stuff before–but how long can that last? Plagg also knows. And Lila. And Nathalie! (And I wouldn't be surprised in Alya finds out, as well.)

The point is, too many people know the full details of the situation. And too many of THEM know Marinette's identity, as well. There's a lot of stress on the situation, and no one there besides Plagg knows that Chat Noir is Adrien. And why would Chat Noir be kept in the dark?

And then, what's the excuse for Chat Noir to have been missing for the final confrontation, and how is ADRIEN dealing with not having been there? There will be whispers behind his back. He's going to catch wind of /something/ if the idea of being sheltered from the truth doesn't eat away at him first.

There's too much weight on a shaky foundation, right now. This shit is going to come crashing down. At the very least, it's going to be a lot of angst.

----

Additional thoughts: There's some debate on whether it was Emilie or Amelie in the end scene. She's wearing clothing associated with Amelie, but apparently some folks are saying the script referenced Emilie? If it's Emilie I have a lot of questions, but I'm not going to outright deny that possibility. It felt vague on purpose.

There's also a reason Gabriel didn't verbalize his wish, and I don't just think it was for dramatics. That was DEFINITELY ambiguous on purpose. I think that there's more going on here than self-sacrifice. I'm personally still hung up on the line where Gabriel mentions he won't sacrifice a real "human being," potentially alluding to the sacrifice of one of the senti-humans, but that could be me reading too deep. Something is up with Gabriel's wish, though. It wasn't just himself to save Nathalie. I'm having a hard time believing that, there's still something really off about what his ORIGINAL wish/sacrifice was going to be that was never explained in full.

[therhythmafterthesummer]

Ik you don't take requests so I'm here to share more thoughts on Spider Monster Girl x Minsung🤭 Firstly, her name is Silky because Jisung definitely came up with that name. He definitely did, not me🙂✨

Her wanting to eat them at first made me think of how they'd get into that situation in the first place. Answer, they lost a bet. So it's the start of September. There's a house deep within the woods of this town NonIdol!Skz are staying in for the holidays that's rumored to house multiple terrifying monsters.

They're most active around Halloween and around that time they aren't afraid to venture out the woods and into the town to look for easy pickings among the townspeople. But they usually stay deep within the woods most of the year.

It's said that anyone who goes to deep into the woods late at night gets snatched up by those monsters and are never seen alive again. Usually what's left of their remains are found scattered somewhere near the edge of the woods, almost as if the creatures are saying "Here you can take it back now"

Skz were beyond bored one night and they ended up just playing games all night. Eventuality they made a bet that the loser/s had to take a walk in the woods and stay in there for 30 minutes. Jisung, being the impulsive chaotic he is agreed, especially since he didn't at all believe the rumors. Felix, Changbin and Hyunjin protested strongly but ultimately had to agree with everyone else.

#JusticeForLoveTriangleRacha✊

In the end though, Jisung lost the game and so did Minho. Jisung took the loss like a champ and dragged Minho to get changed so they could go. Now imagine seeing a group of 8 men walking around at 2am😭 They all headed for the woods and Jisung and Minho went in.

Not even 15 minutes after crossing into the much deeper, denser part of the woods Minho literally gets snatched up into the air. Jisung freaks out and the rest of Skz just hear their screams from outside the woods and are looking at each other like "...We fucked up." And they all run into the woods to find the two.

Maybe we can discuss what happens to all the other members and find out which monsters live in that forget besides our lovely Silky

Now back to Minsung. They both get grabbed and dragged towards and inside the old house in the woods. Which was so deep in, it would've been impossible to find the edge of the forest again from there.

I can imagine Silky has them wrapped in her silk the same way spiders does all their pray except she leaves their heads unwrapped. Jisung is screaming almost crying and Minho is throwing curses at whatever he can😭 they're just so loud!

Silky at this point is wondering if these two are really worth the headache. She drops from the ceiling and the boys effectively shut up when they see her in all her 6 armed, 6 eyed glory. Only now that they're staring at her does she realize how...pretty these two are. You could compare them to butterflies.

They looked delicious. In more ways than one.

Minsung give eachother that "Oh no...she's hot" kind of look when she walks over to them.

Ultimately ALL of Skz have their own encounters that night with the rumored monsters in that forest and I'd LOVE to hear your thoughts on who would be solos or who'd be in pairs like Minsung. And your ideas on the type of monsters in there because I haven't really thought much about the others yet😅

Also funny idea for the aftermath. Skz all walk out of the forest at the same time from the same area they went in. Our monsters dropped them near the entrance so they could get out the forest easily. Some were limping, they were all covered in purple and pink splotches, maybe some had feathers on them, maybe some had slime on them, some maybe had bite marks on them. Overall they all looked fucked up and fucked out.

They looked at eachother when they got out and all were like "...I don't wanna talk about it" and they all silently went home, got cleaned up and all just crashed in their rooms for the day

- 🦁

this ask has been sitting in my inbox for a few days and i honestly haven't been able to stop thinking about it 😵 i'm dizzy...

like... if i had to choose a creature for each of them i'd go with:

chris: a werewolf that hunts him through the woods because she wants a warm meal, but decides she prefers to get a completely different warmth from him instead.

changbin: a centauride that almost snaps him in half when he picked from her reserves of food, but ultimately didn't when she saw how built he was and figured she could have some fun.

hyunjin & felix: two faeries that swap them out several times in the craziest foursome you've ever seen.

seungmin: a shy dryad that is immediately infatuated with him, enough that that shyness melts and she kinda wants to have her tree swallow him whole.

jeongin: a selkie that is desperate to find a good man to breed her, and upon seeing jeongin, decides that's exactly the man she wants.

[bayalexison]

“Overnight Stay” for anTiquity Tuesday!

Alright, so I got tagged by the kind @evilbunnyking (thanks a bunch!), who wanted me to post an older fic for anTiquity Tuesday. Let's ignore that today is a Wednesday lol. I'm still pretty proud of this Felix/Annette fic I wrote back in late 2020! It's been a while since I posted a full fic to tumblr.

I won't tag anyone for this, but for those that want to do this go right ahead!

Title: Overnight Stay (Fire Emblem 3 Houses) Characters: Felix/Annette Summary: Felix gets frustrated with Dimitri in the aftermath of the Battle of Gronder Field. He's about to leave the Blue Lions until Annette catches him in the act and comforts him.

(AO3 version here!)

Felix had mixed emotions over his father's death. A part of him felt that it was the only way to show why the concept of chivalry was worthless. However, he was outraged that his father had thrown his life away for the boar prince.

Instead of Fraldarius territory, Rodrigue was buried in Gronder Field with the rest of the soldiers that fell in that battle. He, Ingrid, and Sylvain gathered around his casket, covered in cloth with the Fraldarius House sign sewed in and his sword set aside. As they were in silent prayer, Felix heard footsteps and turned to see Dimitri.

He told him bitterly to get out, and to his surprise Dimitri peacefully left. Both Ingrid and Sylvain voiced their concerns, only for him to respond that he didn't have any right to come.

Upon returning to Garreg Mach, those feelings still persisted. He couldn't stand the presence of Dimitri anymore, so the only logical thing to do was to leave.

He waited until nightfall to sneak out. A bright moon hung over the monastery, the sounds of crickets and an owl filling in the eerie quietness. Felix passed by a few guards, each one giving him funny looks but then ignoring him. So far he hadn't ran into anyone, which was good as they would be likely to stop him.

After a long walk, Felix reached the stables. All the horses were still awake, snorting and shaking their heads. He glanced around to make sure no was around and was about to approach one of the horses before—

♪Click-clack, click-clack, all the pretty horses♪ ♪Click-clack, click-clack, roaming in rolling fields crying in joy♪

Already Felix recognized that to be Annette's voice. She'd sung that song to him before when they were in the greenhouse. It was supposed to be about ponies playing with their mother horses and getting hungry. He wasn't able to stop himself from listening, captivated by her voice as always.

♪Hurry, hurry, they're getting away! The ponies can't catch up to their mommies!♪ ♪Come back horsies, I got all the yummy apples for your tumm♪—BAH!

Annette's song was interrupted when a crashing noise was made. Worried that she might be hurt, Felix rushed to the corner. Annette was on the ground with a bucket of spilled water nearby.

"Annette?" he asked with a raised brow. Annette gave out a pained groan and gazed up with wide eyes.

"Felix!" she said in a shocked voice. Felix stretched out his hand to her, which she accepted, and helped pick her up. "I didn't think I would run into you like this."

"Me neither.” There was tightness inside Felix’s chest. He was happy to see her and glad that she was okay. On the other hand, he didn’t want to run into anyone while he was leaving, especially her of all people. He pulled in and released a deep breath. “What are you doing here so late?"

"Oh, well I was on stable duty today and almost forgot about it until a couple hours ago." Annette went to pick up the bucket and set it aside. "I'm also curious as to why you're here."

A lump formed inside Felix's throat, and he turned his gaze away from her. He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

"I'm just about to go for a late night horse ride."

With a furrowed brow, Annette said, "Late night horse ride? Since when have you ever done that? You practically live in the training grounds!"

Felix jerked his head back and made a "tch" sound. It shouldn't surprise him that Annette would see through his bluff. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Okay fine, you got me. I'm actually going to leave. I'm not sure when I'm coming back."

"You're leaving? To where?"

Felix hung his head down and bit the bottom of his lip. When he didn't respond, Annette spoke again.

"Don't tell me... You're actually going to Fhirdiad and side with Cornelia?"

Felix's heart dropped at Annette's sad voice. He raised his head and his eyes met hers.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm about to do."

Annette's face fell and she took a step back.

"Why?" she cried out. "Why would you do that?"

"Ever since the boar came back, everything's a mess and I can't stand his presence anymore."

"What if Cornelia doesn't accept you?"

"Then that's the risk I'm willing to take. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll make my leave."

Felix turned around and made several steps. He stopped when Annette grabbed his wrist, his heart almost skipping a beat.

"I won't let you throw your life away like that, nor have someone else special to me leave," Annette pleaded with tears in her eyes. "Can we at least talk about this a bit more?"

Felix's stomach jumped at the mention of him being special to her. While they had been getting closer, he didn't realize Annette thought of him that way. Now he felt bad for not thinking she would take his leaving badly. After regarding her a moment, he forced himself out of Annette's grip and sighed.

"Alright, I won't leave just yet. We can talk about this in my room and get more privacy."

With a small smile, Annette sniffled and nodded. "That sounds good."

Felix gave a short grunt, and then he and Annette headed out. While walking, he took a quick glance at the stables. He restrained himself from going back for now.

xxx

Felix's room was in the second floor of the dormitories. Luckily he and Annette didn't bump into anyone, especially Sylvain as he would pester them if they were dating; even if they were, it would be none of his business. Once they reached the door, Felix glanced to make sure no one else was here and opened it.

His room wasn't much different from the other dormitories. Several of his swords were piled up on the floor, and the books on tactical strategy were left messily on his desk instead of the bookshelf. After he and Annette stepped inside, Felix closed the door and lit a candle to light up the room.

"Um, do you want some tea?" Annette asked with both hands behind her back.

"That's fine," Felix said as he sat down on his bed and took off his boots and gloves.

He watched as Annette picked the tea leaves and brewed the tea. Several minutes passed until she finished and handed him a small cup. Felix inhaled the drink, picking up the four-spice blend armora. He thanked her and took a sip, warm and soothing inside his throat. Annette took a seat on his chair with her hands on her lap.

"So, are you upset that your father had passed away?"

Felix almost choked while drinking another sip of his tea. He glared at her.

"Why'd you ask that?"

"Well... To be honest you give the impression that you don't like him very much."

"You're right that I don't think highly of my father. His death was a huge blow for me, though." After another sip, Felix set his tea on the small dresser next to his bed and clenched his fist. "Both him and Glenn died thanks to the boar. I wish the Tragedy of Duscur never happened."

Annette frowned. "My father would've stayed with my family and we would be much happier. Not only that, Dedue would've lived a normal life."

Felix swallowed hard at the mention of Dedue. He hummed and crossed his arms against his chest.

"Back then I had called him the boar's lapdog. Not long after his return, we talked about Glenn for a bit. Perhaps the people of Duscur do deserve some resolution."

A short silence fell between the two. Annette then asked, "What's going to happen between you and Dimitri, then?"

"It depends if I leave or not. If I do, then I'm certain that our swords will clash."

"Oh, I see." Annette lowered her gaze, clutching the hem of her dress. "Remember the time we went to see my uncle to get my Heroes Relic? It got bad real quick because of how he sided with the Empire." Annette closed her eyes and sighed. "I don't want anyone to hurt each other."

Felix pressed his lips together in a slight grimace. "I don't want to either, but there's a chance I'll have no choice."

Another awkward silence stretched between them. Felix stared at the ceiling while Annette averted her gaze and rubbed her arm. When he shifted to see her, she looked sad with the way her shoulders shook and her chin trembled. After a moment, Annette's face lit up and she jumped out of the chair.

"I'm going to stay in your room tonight so that I can see you leave at least," she said, slamming her left first into her right palm.

Narrowing his eyes at her, Felix said, "I might leave before you wake up."

"In that case, I'll just have to pull an all nighter!"

Felix gave her a blank stare. Once again he imagined Sylvain teasing him and Annette if they did anything in his bedroom. After fine with letting him think what he wanted, Felix shrugged. He lay down on the bed with his arms over his head.

"Suit yourself."

Annette grinned at him and she went to clean up Felix's books on the desk. Shortly after, she pulled out a blank piece of paper and quill and began writing. Her humming and the scratchy noise of the quill filled the room.

As he listened to Annette's humming, Felix felt at ease. He was thrown back in time to when he was a young boy having nightmares and running into his mother's arms for comfort. She then would sing a lullaby to him and feel safe again. A small smile formed on his lips.

"Your singing reminds me of my mother's."

That caused Annette to stop and looked over her shoulder at him. "Your mother?"

"She would sing to me to sleep whenever I have nightmares. After Mother died, Father and Glenn did the same but their voices weren't as good."

Annette giggled and turned the chair around to face Felix. "I can imagine that."

"You would probably agree with me if you've heard them." Felix sighed and his smile faded. "There was one time I struck my old man while he was teaching me swordplay and he got angry. I regret not apologizing to him while he was still alive."

With a softened expression, Annette said, "Sounds like you still care about Rodrigue."

Felix's throat turned dry. He pressed his lips and snorted.

"I forgot that he can be a good father when he wants to be. Those two memories struck me the most."

Annette regarded him a moment, and then she grinned. "You sound tired. Want me to sing you a lullaby?"

Flustered at hearing that, Felix's cheeks flushed and his heart raced. If he were to leave, then this would be the last time he would hear her sing. He cleared his throat.

"Yes please, if you don't mind."

Annette's grin widened. She took off her shoes and gloves, hopped off from the chair, and joined him in bed with her back against the headboard . Annette reached for him and gently pulled his head into her arms, which made Felix's spine tingle with electricity. He hesitated at first, but then made himself relax. Her fingers twisted a strand of Felix's hair, which he didn't mind.

She sang him a lullaby about a baby wolf who wasn't able to sleep when its mother went away to hunt and then passed away. It was an old Faerghus song that Felix knew by heart which taught children about death and mourning. Annette's silly songs worked well with her voice, but so was that lullaby.

Before Felix could finish listening to the song, his eyes grew heavy and he drifted to sleep.

xxx

The next morning, Felix woke up to the sound of birds chirping outside. The beam of sunlight traveling through the window caused his eyes to flutter. In front of him was Annette, who was sleeping peacefully.

Felix's eyes grew wide and he sat up. How did Annette get into his room? Oh right, they had a long conversation over his feelings towards his father and Dimitri and then she sang him to sleep. His face burned at that memory.

Dimitri. Thinking about him still made his heart ache. And yet, there was a part of him that still cared about him and missed the old Dimitri. He needed to have at least one conversation with him to see who the real Dimitri was; sometimes he wore a boar’s face while other times a man’s with a genuine smile.

It wasn't long until Annette also woke up. After yawning and stretching her arms, she froze and her mouth fell open.

"Bah!" Annette immediately jumped off the bed and her cheeks blushed. "Oh no, I'm so sorry! It's very inappropriate of me staying with you overnight."

Felix shook his head and gave her a weak smile. "It's fine. You were the one that wanted to make sure that I didn't leave."

"Oh yeah, I did that, didn't I?" Annette chuckled, and then her expression changed. "Wait, you haven't left yet."

"No, I haven't." Felix rose from the bed. "Perhaps I'll stay here a bit longer."

"That's great!" Annette squealed. When she embraced him, Felix froze and his breath caught in his throat. She tucked her head against his shoulder, and her hair was against his chin. After some hesitation, he put his arms around her. He liked the warmth of her body against his. Eventually she let go. "Wait, how about Dimitri?"

"I'm willing to hear the boar out. If he makes a misstep, though, then I won't hesitate to cut him down."

Annette squeezed her forehead in a furrow, and then her face softened. "I still don't want anyone to hurt each other, but I"m glad you're willing to give Dimitri a chance." She then said, "I better get going before someone figures out where I was. Also, I'll be taking that song I started last night."

That piqued Felix's interest. While Annette put back her shoes and gloves on, he asked, "Oh? You won't let me read it before you leave?"

"I'm not even halfway done! You'll just have to wait until I finished it," she said with a wink. "I'll see you around."

Annette went to the desk, folded the paper with the song written in half, and put it away in the pocket of her dress. As she headed towards the door, Felix felt his heart was about to burst for not saying anything yet.

"Annette, wait!" he yelled, and that caused her to freeze with her hand hovering over the doorknob. He offered her a small smile. "Thank you for being by my side last night."

Annette gasped, and then she beamed at him. "You're welcome!"

Once she left the room, Felix walked to his window and gazed outside with the sunlight bathing his face. He mused over what happened last night and smiled. He was glad that Annette convinced him to stay.

[griffin-wood]

all's well that ends well

pairing: Adam x Lya, Nate x Lili, Felix x Irene and Naya x Mason.

summary: post-mission celebration with a bit of chaos with the whole gang together.

prompt: Day 7 - ✨ celebration ✨ for @wayhavensummer

a/n: we reached the end of the prompts, thank you to the mods for creating this event ! sending much love and goodness your way, and I hope all of you enjoy this! Its quite...rusty and long, but its definitely one of my proudest one yet. Happy final wayhavensummer! 💙

"Okay, here's the plan...." Naya's voice boomed through the warehouse - her commanding tone somewhat matches Adam who nods at her.

"Wait, are you sure this is safe? We have like one chance to take them out and you plan to just barge right in Naya?" Irene raised an eyebrow in disbelief, as Naya crossed her arms.

"well, do you have a better plan than Leyva?" She snickers at her - earning an amused look from the red-head herself.

"You bet I do! We use the guns, I have a few of my inventions that might help to take them down. It makes the job much easier than risking ourselves to get hurt." Irene took out one of the techs she brought with her and place it on the table earning a whistle from Mason and Felix who looks intrigued by the whole situation.

Naya scoffs and took a seat by Mason's side on the velvet couch where he placed an arm around her waist as she leans into his touch, letting out a tired sigh.

"Lili, anything from the research that might help lighten up the situation here?" Lya asked as Lili nods with her notes in hand.

"From the research, we did earlier - Unfortunately, the group of supernatural we are coming up against are very very strong. There was stated somewhere that certain guns can take them down for a certain period..." She was cut by Nate's voice joining into the conversation.

"and they also can leave quite a pretty painful mark on their victims. If we are careful, we can take them with the agency tranquilizer gun and... unfortunately, dead man's poison." The sour tone that left him made the room quiet - somehow leaving them no choice other than to annihilate them.

"We gotta do whatever it takes, even if it's DMB." Lya states with a solemn tone in her voice - as her eyes met with Mason, who gave her a supportive nod from afar.

"Alright then, it's settled. We will take the DMB, the guns, and anything that we could use to take them down. They've been quite a menace in the town, so let's get ourselves prep and we leave at midnight." Adam's commanding tone fills the room once more, as everyone nods in agreement - before leaving the room to prepare for tonight's mission.

-

Lya and Adam were the only ones left in the room, as the others left for lunchtime. The girls decided to have lunch at Lya's apartment later to taste her 'exquisite cooking' which was quoted from Naya herself.

"How are you feeling about the mission tonight?" She took a seat beside him on the couch, as placed a hand on his back.

"I hope we can take it, it's our last chance, and - I believe we can do it tonight." His gaze softens as it's met with hers before he takes her hand and squeezes it.

"I hope so too. I can't wait for it to be done, and we can at least take a break for the weekend." She lays her head on his shoulder, letting out an exhausted sigh.

Adam nods in agreement, as he places a kiss on her forehead - a smile creeps on Lya's face at the gesture.

"I'll see you tonight, the girls and I are making lunch together." Lya stood up from the couch with adam following by her side, his hand never left hers.

"Let me walk with you there." He replies as she smiles at his words, as they walked into the common area of the warehouse where the others are having quite a fun time together.

-

Mason and Naya were talking in a hushed tone, as the smile on his face tells Lya everything she needs to know. Felix and Irene are in the middle of a battle with Nate in a fuse ball match , which earns a whoop of victory from them both as Nate tries his best to catch up on a win. Lili is stood on the side playing as the referee who lets out a fit of giggles at her boyfriend's antics.

“Who’s winning here mate?” The excitement tone in Lya’s voice is evident as Irene and Felix let out a whoop at another goal as Nate sighs with a small smile on his face.

“Team Irene and Felix leading forward, with 2-0.” Liliana announced as Lya stood beside Nate, joining him in the action.

Both teams manage to pick up their pace, as they ended up with 3-2, with Irene and Felix leading in as always.

“Good game everyone!” Liliana announces excitedly before making her way towards Nate and hugging him, and a kiss as a congratulation.

As Felix and Irene spun each other excitedly, as he kissed her - a victory kiss they say.

“Good job teammate,” Lya said as he pulled Nate into a wide hug also, with Irene and Felix taunting excitedly at their victory.

“We will come back for vengeance soon!” Lya replies in an exaggerated tone in her voice, as she gave them both a victory hug – before Naya and Mason join in the conversation.

“What is this the physical affectionate festival?” She teases the group, as Irene fires back.

“Speak for yourself, Naya.” She raises a teasing eyebrow her way before Naya lets out a laugh at the statement.

“Shut up.” Irene just smiles, as Naya scoots forward as she ruffles her hair making her let out a groan with the smile still intact on her face.

“Let’s get going, we will see you all tonight alright? Anything just calls us, we will get here as soon as we can.” Lya reminds them, as the four of them left the warehouse together in a fit of laughter.

“Our lives certainly has become more interesting with them around huh?” Felix stated with a wide smile, as Nate nods in agreement.

“Interesting is one word to say it. Now, let's get ourselves some rest before tonight.” Nate leads all of them back into the warehouse with a wide smile, as they prepare together for the mission.

-

Lya stands behind the counter, preparing their meals with Liliana by her side. Lili found herself setting the tables while Naya and Irene are making their way to the table.

“So, how are we feeling for tonight?” Lya asked, before taking a sip of soda.

“I’m pretty excited, those guns are prepared and loaded; ready to use!” Irene exclaims excitedly as she took a seat in one of the chairs, with Naya joining her on to opposite.

“Honestly, I feel like we will finally win something today. Well, hopefully.” Liliana said hopefully, as Lya nods in agreement.

“Let’s hope our plan and prepare enough, I don’t want any of you to get hurt,” Naya stated suddenly, as Lya smiles at the statement while Irene lets out a gasp (mockingly) as Naya rolls her eyes.

“Naya does care about us guys!” Irene wipes a fake tear that has fallen from her eye with a form, as Liliana lets out a fit of giggles.

“Guys, enough – stop teasing her. We love you too N.” Lya replies, as they started to eat together, talking about everything and nothing at once.

-

“Okay guys, let’s do this!” Naya took the lead, as they all are in position. Everything is ready, as they fought – as much as they could. They released the dmb, every weapon and skills were use as Everyone played their part. Everything falls according to plan - the bruises and cuts were proven as the aftermath of the situation.

-

“So, I think that’s the last of them….” Lya stated as she gestures upon the rest of the supernaturals which have been fought by them all.

“Lili, any sign of other beings tonight?” Adam asked through the agency radios as they split up with Lili and Felix at the other side, guarding it all.

“Nothing – the coast is clear. Good job guys! Felix and I are on our way.” Lili’s voice echoed from the agency radio, as Lya, Irene, and Naya pulled one another into a group hug.

“We did it, and we survive!” Irene yells before was met with a glare from Adam which says, ‘tone down’ as she zips her mouth immediately which follows with a fit of giggles from the others.

“Are you guys hurt???” Felix came and made his way to Irene who shakes her head in excitement.

“We are fine Felix, a bit battered and bruised – but, we came in one piece. Thankfully, the number of supernatural has decreased from tonight, but we should still be careful in case there’s more hiding in plain sight.” Lya replies as the others turn their heads around their environment, as Mason scoots forward using his hyper-senses to sense any unusual activity which thankfully is none.

Naya stood beside Mason, as they walked together forward.

“You okay?” He asked her, as she nods – letting out a yawn.

“Just exhausted, and I’m ready for this day to be over.” The tiredness can is true, as Mason stops her before offering a ride on his back, which shakes her wide awake from her sleepy situation.

“Are you sure?”

“Sweetheart, I’m sure. Let’s go, climb up here.”

"Wait, I forget one thing" she said, before giving him a kiss, as he smiles happily before she climb onto his back, as they lead the crew back to the SUV.

-

“Those two look very much comfortable there.” Irene wiggles her eyebrows as Lya nudges her shoulder.

“Naya deserves to the urm…special treatment, as she did took down a lot of them.” Adam states as Lya nods in agreement.

“Babe, if you wanna be carried as well – you should just ask.” Felix raised an eyebrow at Irene before a smug smile appeared on her face.

“Well, you need to catch me first babe.” Irene speeds down the road with an unexpected surge of energy in her.

“You’re on!” Felix yells before following her from behind – as they race their way to the SUV almost colliding with Naya and Mason far ahead.

Nate lets out a fit of laughter at the pair,

“I am confused on how much energy those two have even after battling a supernatural.”

Lili smiles before explaining,

“I think it’s the caffeine she took earlier before the mission – she might have the boost of unexpected energy despite it being…4 in the morning.”

“She’ll crash as soon as we reach the back, I’m very much certain of that.” Lya continues, as Lili stays behind with Nate.

-

“How are you feeling, did anything hurt?” Liliana asked with concern in her tone.

“Love, I’m okay. A bit exhausted but, we did our best and we survived.” Nate replies happily as he places an arm around her waist pulling her close to him.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t much help tonight, combat wasn’t very much my specialty.” Lili’s voice was filled with a hint of sadness, which Nate noted right away.

They both stop in their tracks, as Lili turns to face him – he is smiling at her.

“Lili, it's okay. We all have our strengths and weaknesses – and you did help us today. Both you and Felix played a vital part in our mission as well.” He grazes her cheek, as she smiles before leaning up with her tiptoes reaching his lips.

After pulling away, they walk hand-in-hand with a smile on her face as they spoke in hushed whispers together, making their way towards the others.

-

“C’mon slow-poke, we’ve been waiting for an hour now.” Felix teases Adam who took out the keys for the SUV, as they went their separate ways with the detectives taking Lya’s car.

“We should stay at the warehouse tonight, it's much safer there,” Lya states, as they follow the SUV from behind – making their way back to the warehouse.

As they arrived, they went on separate paths – as Naya joins Mason, while Irene and Felix walking together to their respective rooms – with Irene still teasing Naya along the way.

“Good night Lya, we will see you tomorrow.” Liliana hugged both Lya and Adam who is still getting used to the sudden gesture, as they bid goodnight.

-

“So, how are you feeling after everything?” Lya asked Adam, as they walked together back into his room where they will share for the night. As they start to finally be together, they have gotten comfortable with one another – and she enjoys the time she spends with him. Sometimes they would talk about their stories or anything – there was laughter behind the closed doors and it's their secret moments that made her smile.

“I’m glad it ended up the way it should – nobody was hurt and, well…you are safe.” He says the last bit slowly, as Lya smiles at the words.

“I am capable Adam, you need to trust me on that.” She sighs, as they stopped in front of his door.

“I know, I do. Always.” He says, as they ended up cuddling together – as Adam tells her a story about the knight's tale from the past, which intrigues her until they both fall into a slumber.

-

“A celebration!”

“A…celebration?” Lili asked stumbling into the kitchen while a yawn escapes her.

“Yeah, a celebration! Lya can cook and we can have a fun celebration with smores – we been fighting them for a while now, we deserve a celebration.” Irene explains as Naya joins the gang, as she saunters the group in a good mood.

“Good morning, yes – let’s celebrate.”

Lya raised a knowing eyebrow at her, before agreeing.

“Let’s do this. I’ll call Adam and we can divide and conquer.”

-

As the evening rolls, they are sat in front of a bonfire with the courtesy of Adam and Nate.

The food was set, there were also smores on the side as they all sat down together around the bonfire – as the stars above them shine brightly.

Felix and Irene were cuddled up together with a blanket around them, as the others follow suit.

“So, this is the end of a good mission then,” Naya said from her seat, as a smile is present on her lips.

“All’s well that end’s well.” Lya raised a glass of her drink with a smile on her face.

Lili pop a marshmallow in her mouth, as they all settled.

“Y’know as much as I love the madness of our missions together – this is the highlight,” Irene admits, as she leans into Felix’s shoulder as he places a kiss on top of her forehead.

"Look who is emotional now huh" She teases her, as Irene stuck out her tongue to her with the smile become much wider than before.

“It’s a peaceful night, and from what we have been doing – we deserve this,” Mason speaks up, as Naya smiles at him.

“I longed for more nights like this, just us together – no missions, no equipment, just us,” Lya adds as the others agree.

“Let's make a promise then, every once in a while – we would do this all over again. Tonight, the stars have aligned for us, and who knows when will it be next.” Nate stated as he attempts on making smores with Liliana as his assistant.

“I very much agree, it's not every day we got to be together like this. It feels…” Lya paused for a moment, meeting Adam’s eyes who nod at her in agreement.

“It feels right.” As Adam's words ring into the air. The night continues as they celebrate their wins and mistakes. Laughter fills the night, as the stars become the witness of the night - the sky shines a bit brighter for them all tonight.

As the definition of the celebration itself is to celebrate an important day or event. Tonight was a night to remember, a moment of celebration for the whole gang and they wouldn’t have it any other way.

THE END.

Tags: @wayhavenots @homeformyheart @takemyopenheart @winterkeys @mevnraels @coldshrugs @nathanielhsewell @detectivehathaway @lalizah @kelseaaa

[alecxaheart]

Sunshower | Lee Felix Oneshot

✎ Genre : Friends to Lovers AU, Idol AU, Fluff, Angst

✎ Pairings : Lee Felix X Reader

✎ Word Count : 2.5k words

✎ Synopsis : We all know that sunshines together with the rainfall makes a rainbow. And that is exactly like how you fell for the freckled sunshine.

✎ Warnings : Explicit Language

✎. . . Sudden change of plans for the title. :P Enjoy!

In an early afternoon, Felix had to stop by for lunch at this wonderful bakery near the Hangang Park. Where they serve many delicacies such as bars, breads, desserts, cookies, muffins, and more. His personal favorite was their fudgy brownie bites, so favored that he's inspired to make one of his own.

As soon as he opened the door to the bakery, he felt the stress he had from practice a while ago were completely relieved. The bakery gave off a warm welcome when he stepped in. Contrasting to the cold breeze of autumn outside. The aroma of newly baked goods lingered around the room that it felt like Felix's being lured immediately to the cashier. It almost smelled like heaven, thought of Felix.

The moment that he got his desired lunch in his hands, he took a seat near the window. He savored each bite of the pastry, eyes rolling to the back of his head at it's deliciousness. Although a ring from his phone interrupted him from his feast.

" Oi Felix, " Chan greeted as soon as he answered his call. Felix first dabbed his mouth with the provided tissue before replying to Chan, " What's up? ".

While he's into the conversation with his friend, something – or rather someone on the streets captured his eyes. You were aimlessly running after a piece of paper caught in the wind. The breeze carrying locks of your silk hair. Your eyes reflecting the sun and eyebrows knitted as you continue to struggle. When the time that you've had it in your hold came, you accidentally slipped on the autumn leaves. Causing you to painfully land on your butt. A groan fell out of your lips as you rubbed your butt to ease the pain. All of the commotion that Felix saw from you made him break out a giggle, which left his friend confused on the other line.

" Ah yeah, yeah. Let's defo have a barbie this arvo. "

Felix thought that you were adorable.

" (Y/N)? " Called out by the person on the other line as soon as you picked up the call. Your phone was pressed against your right ear while you continued searching for the remote underneath the pillows. It surely has been a while since the last time you interacted with your boyfriend, Park Jongsuk, and God knows how much you missed him. Just hearing his soothing voice at this moment sent butterflies into your stomach. His voice is enough for you to make your day better. " Yes, love? " You asked, smiling to yourself. Also noticing how his tone sounded more requesting. As much as you wanted to beam at him a ' good afternoon ' and ask how is he, you decided not to.

Once you've found the remote to your television, you turned the volume down so that your conversation with him wouldn't be interrupted. You've been just passing some time by watching Netflix for about a week now. Actually, not only for passing time but it is even for avoiding yourself to overthink your current situation - especially about your relationship status with Jongsuk.

" Could we.. " He first trailed off for a moment, contemplating if he should persist with the plan. " Could we meet up later? " That question alone made you joyful and excited, smiling from ear to ear. You give him your enthusiastic approval before ending your call by telling one another that you're both anticipating for your meet up. Turning off the television, you were off to your room to fix yourself. Afterall, this is your first meet up with him ever since the day you were parted by long distance — that's been like roughly 8 months. Him achieving his dreams as a model and actor, away from your home country, Australia. He did brought you with him though. The first months you shared the same apartment, every moment filled with happiness and love.

That is until everything drifted apart. It began with him moving to a dorm nearby and supported by his Entertainment. His weekend visits turned to none at all. Everything that became a habit with him vanished one by one. Leaving you only with memories. But it seems like today's the day you'll start to get everything back.

Oh how you are so oblivious to your bittersweet fate.

Arriving to the said location, Hangang Park. It runs through thousands of miles and has many parks along the way. An environment friendly place for people to enjoy nature, sports, foods, entertainments, fountains, and more. You personally just adore how comforting it is to be there and to have a breath-taking sight of Han River, especially at night. Every locals and tourists savor their time to be here the same as you do. Although as of today, you couldn't help but notice that the park isn't as packed as it usually is.

You sat down on a nearby bench, waiting for Jongsuk to make an appearance. He did told you to come in the late afternoon and you did get there in time. Leaning onto the bench, you let out a sigh. Eyes finding itself staring at the sky covered with gray clouds. The cold wind crashing into your figure, making you shiver. You were sure that you checked today's weather forecast before leaving your household, told you that it'll just be a cloudy day.

Children's hearty laughs soon began turning to murmurs and whispers. The sound of silverware and plates clinking rang through your ears. It sounded like the family's starting to pack up and clean up their picnic space. " Come on, let's go! " Called out by a woman in her late 20's, assumming that she's the mother. You grew anxious when you noticed how everyone seemed to abandon you alone. Why is everybody departing out of the blue? You've just arrived.

" (Y/N), " You heard your own name being mentioned and it came from  behind you. Recognizing the owner of the cordial tone of his voice, you turned around to meet a pair of eyes wearing misty gray contact lenses. Seeing him washed away all of your worries. Your heart's about to instantly jump out of your chest due to the fact that it's filled with pure happiness. Unconsciously smiling brightly at him.

" Love! " Running towards him, you hugged his tall form securely. Mumbling the words, " I missed you. "

However, to your surprise, he never returned the hug. In fact, Jongsuk gently removed your arms around his waist. " (Y/N), I missed you too, " He started, crouching a little bit to face you better. " Although I have something to tell you. Something important, that's why I came. " Something's starting to creep into your guts. As if it's warning you that there's something off about today. He stated that but he never smiled back at you ever since he made an appearance. Plus, he always addresses you by your real name. Not your shared endearment which is strange.

You hummed in response, your smile slowly fading from your lips. " What is it? " Jongsuk saw how your eyes sparkled with hope. He knows that you're yearning for him to tell you that your gut feeling is wrong. Which made him more guilty for what he's about to do.

" (Y/N), let's.. " He hesitated, hating the fact that he has to see you in this state. However, he does know better for what's best for the both of you. " Let's end this here. " To be better off with someone else. Those words were enough to shatter your heart into million of pieces. Your face fully turning into a gloomy countenance with a hint of confusion. Your lips starting to quiver. For a second, you were frozen into place. You dislike how you couldn't control yourself right now.

" I'm sorry, we just didn't work out anymore. " He continued. Thoughts were flooded with denial, that this is happening at this very moment or you must've misheard everything. But no, Jongsuk's facial expression says it all.

" I understand, " Your voice sounded brittle, holding back the tears. Pity is one of the things that's written on his face. That's the least thing you wanted from anyone, to pity you. As if it's telling that you're incapable of overcoming the worst situations in life, that you're fragile and being belittled. And you clearly despise it. " I'll take my leave now. "

With that, you walked away from him. Your arms found itself wrapping around your own figure, trying your best to calm down. Your mixed emotions of fury and agony almost getting the best of you. Although each second that's passing is killing you. Heart aching, lips quivering, you were just in the worst state ever. And once that first tear broke free, the rest followed in an unbroken stream. Resulting you to run away aimlessly. To wherever your feet may take you.

One drop, two drops fell from the skies that made you slow down until you come to a total halt. You looked up to the sky, seeing it covered with dark clouds. A droplet landed on your cheek, a simple gesture from the heavens of wiping off your tears and you'd like to think of it that way. It wasn't long after the drizzle transitioned to a downpour. As if the heavens are crying and mourning with one of its beloved (you) at what tragedy it witnessed. Unfortunately, you haven't brought your umbrella with you due to the fact that you believed at the false weather forecast. So, you let yourself get drenched in the rain. Not giving any piece of shit about the aftermath. You're currently already exhausted and under the weather.

You closed your eyes, body shivering to the cold air being left out from under the showering water. For a few minutes, you stayed there. Not even minding any comments from the people passing by. That is until you didn't feel the rain landing on your body out of the blue. Strange that you could feel a warm presence to your right. However, you could still hear water coming in contact with the pavement.

When you've parted your eyelids, you were greeted by a black fabric instead of gray clouds. " G'day mate, " A familiar deep voice laced with Australian accent greeted. Glancing to your left, he beamed a sweet smile at you. It was as warm, bright and blinding as the sunshine that it could possibly change the whole weather. To be honest, he's the least man you expected to see today since you thought he's as busy as your ex-boyfriend was.

Lee Felix.

" You know you'll get ill with what you're doing and that's least thing I wanna know from my mate. So, that's defo a no no from me, " He pointed out, handing you his umbrella. You timidly accepted it anyway, hand brushing pass his warm ones. Eyes instantly staring at the wet pavement as soon as it's in your grasp. Sighing, Felix took his jacket off and placed it on top of your shoulders. He also handed you a handkerchief after that, receiving a small thank you from you. Then took the umbrella handle back into his grip.

" You know, your ex-boyfriend's a dick, " That being stated by Felix, you let out a belly laugh while drying your face. Seeing your face lit up also made him laugh with you. Ever since the beginning, you both just clicked when Jongsuk first introduced him to you. The time one of you spoke the first " Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! " call, you felt the connection between the two of you while harmonizing at " Oi, Oi, Oi! ". And honestly, he's better at handling long distance friendships than your ex-boyfriend was. He made sure that he gives time for your friendship despite of his busy schedule from being an Idol. Which is impressive because that's just friendship, what more if he's in a relationship?

" I'm sorry, it's just – That came out from you very unexpectedly. I never saw that coming but I like the change. " You chuckled, now walking down the streets with Felix.

" Well, it's still true though, " Felix began, taking out his favorite fudgy brownies he bought from Sunny's. " How could he be so impatient and ghosted you for straight 8 months? And love is known to be patient. He let himself get defeated just by distance. " He took a bite at the brownie, chewing it thoroughly before continuing. " I even heard rumors of him and this make-up artist from his drama recently. "

" What the fuck, " You cursed under your breath, the last part surprising you. Avoiding the chances of you overthinking, you shook your head then changed the topic. " So you're admitting that you've been spying on me, huh? "

" Hey, it's not my fault that I was at Sunny's because my stomach's craving again for those pastries when I witnessed it, " Felix defended, earning a hum as a response from you.

" Though, it felt like I was watching a K-drama, " He jokingly added which ended with you smacking him upside the head playfully.

Reaching back home, you invited Felix for dinner and he gladly accepted the offer. As long as you agreed to his terms of conditions. Let him play League Of Legends on your PC and buffalo wings for dinner.

Coming out of the bathroom fully dressed and hair slightly damped, you saw Felix already busy playing on your PC. The headphones plugged into his ears. You're probably gonna kill him if you found out that he gave you a losing streak. Leaving the room, you went down to the kitchen. Preparing his desired meal. As you were doing so, you occasionally heard faint screams from upstairs which made you chuckle. It was quite odd how well Felix knows to immediately make your day better. Like as if nothing, no tragedy, ever happened earlier.

By the time you called Felix for dinner, he dashed down the flight of stairs and towards the dining area. His eyes sparkled and mouth almost drooling at the delicious sight plus taste of the meal. He didn't hesitate to dig in, taking one into his lips and you followed. While eating, Felix's eyes landed on a picture frame unintentionally, making him glare at it. " You should find someone better, " He suggested, his chocolate orbs meeting your own.

When you're always this close to him, you could see his charming points well. From his distinctive features to his gorgeous freckles. You still continued to believe that it was a constellation map drawn by the Gods so that people could never forget what the heavens looked like especially on cloudy days like today. It must've took a lot of patience, dedication and love to sculpt him. How blessed he is to be one of God's greatest masterpiece. Maybe, the heavens loves you so much that they sent him for you. Afterall, the heavens did show affection to you in a form of rainfall.

" Yeah, as if there's someone as better as you. " You murmured while continuing to feast onto the meal. However, Felix heard it clearly.

" Hmm.. " Felix pondered for a moment, chin resting on top of his hands. " Too bad there's only one of me. "

" Although this one does like you. "

End.

[skitter-kitter]

Fic Recs

Here are a few fics I’ve read recently! They’re all in my bookmarks on ao3. There’s only a few, but I’ll probably make more of these lists! There’s a lot of fandoms I’ve put in the list, so they’ll be sorted by that.

They Let Him In by Shay_Nioum

Sanders Sides

Logan dwells in the aftermath of his plans being pushed to the side once again.

A really interesting logan-centric fic! I really enjoyed the use of the orange side in this, and the ending was really well done.

Orange Eyed Delight by Shay_Nioum

Sanders Sides

Virgil finds out about Logan's orange eyes.

Honestly loved this!! I wasn’t expecting it to be Virgil’s POV at first but it really shows his perspective well. I love his panic, and how it evolves from his normal paranoia to the decision to be there for Logan. Him comforting Logan was a really nice end! Plus the parallels with him leaving the dark sides with him thinking Logan would leave the light sides was really good!

My Darlin’, What Did You Expect? by Cultivation

The Walten Files

Five times Felix pines for Jack and one time Jack notices.

Really loved the descriptions in this! You can really tell how deeply in love Felix is with Jack. Plus, as always, love the author’s use of the time period!

Since You Don’t Remember by Cultivation 

The Walten Files

“How much is left ‘till we get home?”

Edd’s voice sounds… afraid. He swallows.

“Not much. I’m just kinda lost, I think.”

“Uncle Felix?” Molly says. “Were you drinking?” His fingers are still at the wheel. The radio fills the silence. “Our teacher says drinking is not good—”

“No, no, no— I’m just— I’m just— I’m just feeling dizzy. It’s not that big of a deal, alright?” Molly shifts nervously in the rearview.

“Alright,” says Edd.

“I wanna go home.”

Felix repeats the day— again and again.

And, he can never forget what he did the first time.

Little Molly and little Edd… left to rot in shallow graves.

He can never forgive himself. No matter how many times he tries to fix it.

(CW/TW in the tags!)

This fic is amazing. One of my all-time favorites for the fandom. It’s a time-loop fic of Felix going through the day he crashed the car, and him desperately trying to save the kids. Fucking adored the repetition in this! Can’t hear “It’s ringing, ringing… and ringing” without having flashbacks. 

Revenant by Bee_4

Dream SMP

Jack Manifold will keep the fire burning in his chest, or he will die.

This proves to be a problem when Tommy has been the thing keeping him burning for so long, but there is a solution to that, isn't there? Why not just... go back to hell, and pull Tommy out himself? What, like it could be that hard? (And hell, as always, reaches terrible hands back out for Jack.)

Honestly, I adore the descriptions in this fic. The way Jack throws himself into his goal of getting Tommy back is honestly terrifying to watch. Loved this fic!!

These steep woods and lofty cliffs by Rimeme

Harry Potter

He lets himself think about it—what a life without magic, without Voldemort, without this constant looming expectation to perform at the whims of the wizarding world might be like—and he feels little more than relief and an itch to get going already.

---

Overcome by grief and guilt after Sirius’s death, Harry leaves the wizarding world behind for a new life across the pond. As an unassuming Muggle, his life is ordinary and unglamorous, but fate eventually has its way of drawing him back to where he’s meant to be.

AU after Order of the Phoenix

A really enjoyable Harry Potter AU. I really love how they completely shifted the script, but manage to explain Harry’s life leaving without boring the reader. Honestly, I’m loving everything with voldemort and Harry in this fic!

running through the darkness with his own becoming light by imadetheline

Star Wars

His troops have already been through here, clearing out any remaining rebels and important information that may have been left behind. The transports are already taking off outside. Vader can hear them, feel the rumble beneath his feet, as well as sense the life forms moving towards the Executor waiting in orbit.

He is the only one here, standing like a spectre of death in the rubble and ruins that have been his companions for years. Only now are they beginning to wear on him and join the swirling emptiness his chest cannot contain.

Or: Luke leaves pieces of himself in every evacuated base and Vader is left trying to piece together the clues of his son's life without him.

Love the character study of luke through Vader’s POV. It’s the little details that Luke himself would never notice. I really loved this fic, the descriptions of everything luke leaves behind really manages to create a story of Luke’s life without ever truly having him in the story.

Keep quite still and wait by dimtraces

Star Wars

Decades after his brother’s death, there is little else left for Maul to seek but revenge—against Sidious, Kenobi, the galaxy—and the power to exact it with. He’s found a rumor of one such weapon. He should have expected a trap.

God. This fic. I’ve thought about it for MONTHS. It’s so good, it has Maul’s angst about his brother. Someone trying to help maul, only to fail. It has a monster taking on Savage’s face to manipulate Maul!!

That was just a hint of some of my bookmarks. Hope you enjoyed!

[musicfren]

This single day

This morning, @nottesilhouette decided to unload on me the most exquisite, perfect, breathtakingly heartbreakingly beautiful plot idea I have ever seen for this prompt, and then I had to work out how to write something myself in the aftermath :P I think she’s inspired me cause I like this one a lot and I like her a lot so they match <3. Happy @felinettenovember y’all. Go find yourselves one day to be happy. You deserve this <3

It had been Chat’s idea, because of course Ladybug would never suggest something so downright irresponsible. She had agreed to it, though. In truth, she was exhausted, battered, and being the responsible one was starting to wear on her. Maybe some shenanigans would do them good. After all, they had already saved Paris nearly a dozen times that week. Maybe just this once, Paris could wait. This bug was going on a vacation.

Being with Chat Noir made it so easy to believe this was right. He had a casual self-assurance about him that calmed her, convinced her that maybe it was okay to put down the heavy mantle for a few seconds. The heavy weight of duty never seemed to hamper his spry shoulders.

“Come oooon,” he’d said one evening, as they leaped across the city, their city, like they were the highest points in the whole world, just two specs of dust drifting across an endless sky. “You’ve given them so much. I can see how much it’s dragging you down. You deserve this.”

She envied Chat, the way he could just relax under his mask, like if they messed up everything would be okay the next morning. When she was with him everything felt possible. But when she was alone, standing atop the Eiffel Tower as the wind tore through the thin fabric of her costume, staring down at the city, her city, her self-confidence started to crack. What would they do without her? Who would protect them? Sometimes, standing there at the very top of Paris, she was afraid to close her eyes for fear of what might happen to it when she wasn’t looking.

Even though she’d agreed to Chat’s idea, it had taken her almost a month of preparation before she felt like she was ready for the single day off. She had worked with the police and the city council, making sure that they would be ready for every eventuality. She’d trained and drilled them for so many hours she felt like one of her teachers. Chat had helped, of course. In fact, Ladybug didn’t think she’d ever seen Chat Noir work this hard at anything in her life. There were nights when, long after she had de-transformed from exhaustion, he remained up, running late night Akuma Drills and preparing lessons for the next day. This was going to be his vacation too, but Ladybug suspected that it wasn’t for his sake he worked himself to baggy-eyed, sleep-deprived exhaustion. The thought made the small speck of confidence in her stomach curl into a warm happy ball.

They set the date for their little vacation one day before the anniversary of the first Akuma attack. It was Felix’s idea, to mark the last day either of them had had a break with their first in nearly two years. Everything was set up. New defenses had been established, new safety protocols put in place. Paris was as safe a city as it had ever been. They had both poured thousands of hours, dozens of sleepless nights into creating space for this single day. Surely, this was enough.

They got a solid half-day together before the attack happened. They went to the library together like they’d always joked about, curling up with a book together in the warm sun through the window. They’d gotten breakfast at a café. They’d visited the Eiffel Tower, from the ground this time, as citizens. It had been a good day. They’d just barely made it to the beach.

The Akuma was strong, stronger than any they had ever seen before. It was on the other side of the city, but sound travels far and they had both become well-tuned to the sound of crashes and screams. It wasn’t until the evac alarms (newly installed just last week) sounded that they realized how bad it was.

Marinette, as herself for the first time in close to two years, turned to him. Her voice was trembling “We… we have to help them.”

Felix looked at her, and the sadness in his eyes nearly swayed her. “Mari, it’s not your responsibility today. We did all this work so it wouldn’t have to be. Let’s just be happy.”

Something in Marinette snapped. “No, Felix! It is my responsibility! It always is! You get to be the carefree one, but I don’t!”

The silence hung thick between them, interrupted only by the distant wail of sirens and the Akuma’s bellowing roar.

“I… I have to go Felix,” she said, pushing to her feet and refusing to look him in the eye. “My city needs me.”

She started to turn away but Felix reached out to stop her. Lit by the red glare of the evac alarm, his face was oddly calm. “Okay, but… maybe I can go instead.”

His calm was infectious. “I… no, Felix. You can’t do this for me.”

He was smiling now, that same wicked confidence he always got when a fight was coming. She shouldn’t let him do this. She shouldn’t. She couldn’t. But she was so tired. The sand was warm and the blanket comfortable beneath her, and a small and growing part of her wanted nothing more than to sit there forever.

“Mari, do you trust me?”

She looked into his eyes and found herself reflected there: and, with a resigned sigh, realized that she did.

As the cat rushed off to save the city once more, Marinette settled back into the comfortable sand and closed her eyes. Maybe, just this once, things would be okay when she opened them again.

[penniesforthestorm]

“I’ve never seen such beautiful horses!”-- Justified Season Three, Episode One: “The Gunfighter”

On the internet, no one knows when you take an unintentional month-long hiatus... (Everything’s fine, by the way; I was just busy.) But I’m back and ready to dive into another season of murder, mayhem, and wisecracking shenanigans. Recaps and notes for Seasons One and Two are tagged ‘#did you miss my heart on purpose’, and I’ll follow the usual procedure here: first and final episodes of the season will get individual entries, and everything in between will be grouped in threes. I’ll confess right off the bat, having seen the show in its entirety, the 3rd season is my favorite, so I’m looking forward to it-- as always, comments, questions, and conspiracies are welcome!

“The Gunfighter” picks up with the aftermath of the S2 finale, “Bloody Harlan”: Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) is in the hospital, being treated for the bullet wound he received in the firefight outside Mags Bennett’s house. Deputy Chief Art Mullen (Nick Searcy) reassures the frantic Winona Hawkins (Natalie Zea) that Raylan will pull through, and, as she attempts to thank him, he waves her down the hall. Three weeks later, Raylan is on his feet again, but still recovering-- after a dissatisfying round of target practice, Art recommends another week of light duty, and, on his way out the door, informs Raylan, “Crowder’s here.”

There are, of course, two conversations happening during the following scene: as Raylan casually mentions that all of Mags Bennett’s marijuana drying sheds have been cleaned out and searched, and oh, by the way, there’s a chunk of Bennett money missing, he’s trying to suss out Boyd Crowder’s potential involvement. (Raylan describes the amount as “somewhere in excess of... ten dollars”. Boyd jokes that, with that kind of money, he’d run off to Mexico. Raylan responds with a more pointed joke: “I don’t think you’d like it. There’s a lot of Mexicans down there.”) Boyd (Walton Goggins) also has an agenda, though we don’t see the full import until the final moments of the episode. As Raylan’s departing, Boyd brings up Dickie Bennett, claiming that a bargain was made: Boyd would let Dickie go with Raylan to save Loretta McCready, and Raylan would leave Dickie at Boyd’s disposal. This inflames Raylan’s self-righteousness, and he takes a swing at Boyd. The camera switches to Art Mullen, on the phone in his office, who looks over his shoulder just in time to see Boyd and Raylan crash through one of the glass panels of the interview room. (Art’s reaction is priceless--something along the lines of you kids don’t make me have to come over there...) The other marshals swarm in to haul Boyd off to jail.

The next scene finds us in the Frankfort office of Emmitt Arnett, last seen agreeing to Gary Hawkins’ land-development scheme. He’s meeting with a stranger (later named as Robert Quarles, played by Neal McDonough)-- an imposing man in an expensive pinstriped suit, all the more menacing for his enthusiastic cheerfulness, expounding on the beauty of the Kentucky countryside. Arnett sits him down, and his pretty secretary Yvette brings in the coffee with her signature gimmick-- offering a “lil’ kick” of bourbon. Quarles refuses, and as he watches Yvette leave, lectures Arnett, telling him, “You’ve lost her respect.” Furthermore, he notes, “Detroit is concerned”-- Arnett’s land holdings have lost value, and Quarles has been sent to collect on a loan: $250,000, to be exact. Arnett tells him the money will be there tomorrow, and, as Quarles leaves, he turns his attention to the other stranger in the room: a lean, dark-haired man in a grungy leather jacket. “You said you were looking for work,” Arnett remarks.

Back in Harlan, we discover what’s happened to at least some of Mags Bennett’s marijuana-- it’s sitting in garbage bags, piled up in Arlo Givens’ parlor and tool shed. Arlo (Raymond J. Barry) and Devil (Kevin Rankin) have called Hot Rod Dunham, to give him the right of first refusal. As Hot Rod and his boys inspect the product, Ava arrives, and Devil brags about the arrangement, claiming to be acting on Boyd’s behalf and more or less shoving Ava aside. Things go south quickly-- Hot Rod informs them that the plants are rotting and attracting vermin, and refuses to take them, and Devil gets snotty. Ava is able to intervene and send Hot Rod on his way, sarcastically noting to Devil and Arlo, “Did that go about like you expected?”

The major business of the episode centers around the wolfish stranger in Arnett’s office-- a.k.a. federal fugitive Fletcher “The Ice Pick” Nix (Desmond Harrington). We find out how he got the moniker in a tense burglary scene-- he ends a standoff over a suitcase full of expensive watches by stabbing his adversary in the hand with the titular weapon and shooting him in the head. Over at the Marshals’ Office, Deputy Tim tells Raylan that he thinks Nix might be linked to Wynn Duffy. Raylan reluctantly agrees to accompany Tim on a fact-finding mission to Duffy’s motor home, where Duffy gives a revealing non-answer to a direct question about Nix, and dismisses them by mentioning his urgent schedule of “watching women’s tennis”. Duffy calls Arnett, warning him that the Feds are on the scent, and sure enough, an oblivious Raylan encounters Nix in the elevator on the way to Arnett’s office. Arnett isn’t there, but Yvette is, and Raylan takes her for a drink at the Sheraton, where she coyly ‘reveals’ that Nix and Arnett will be meeting later that night. As the marshals prepare an ambush, Raylan confides to Art that he suspects Yvette’s information was not on the level.

Meanwhile, Ava has visited Boyd in jail, where he informs her that he’s being transferred to the state facility, and she asks what to do about the weed. Boyd tells her to burn it (Boyd’s disregard for anything to do with marijuana will come up again, much later down the line). As Ava prepares supper for Arlo and Devil, she relays Boyd’s orders, and once again, Devil gets lippy. Ava, carefully setting down a sizzling pan of greens, sweetly advises him that her patience is about to run out. “What’re you gonna do? Spit in our food?” he sneers, as Arlo cackles in the background. (I don’t know how Rankin managed such a beautifully bitchy facial expression, but boy, it’s effective.) Without a second of hesitation, Ava whacks him with the pan, sending him sprawling over backward with a bloody nose. (Don’t hit people with cast-iron pans unless you really, really mean it.)

Raylan’s suspicion of Yvette turns out to be well-founded-- the marshals’ attempt to ambush Nix and Arnett is a bust, though Deputy Rachel Brooks manages to tackle one of the decoys. Raylan drives Winona back to his motel room, and the two of them discuss baby names. (Raylan suggests “Felix”, Winona jokingly supplies “Jiffy Pop” and/or “Palmolive”). They have an unexpected visitor-- Fletcher Nix, who, in his marble-mouthed drawl, introduces himself as “the one with the gun”. Of course, Raylan is also armed, but Nix persuades him to take off his holster and sit down. He tries another round of his favorite game, but Raylan is prepared-- he grabs the tablecloth and pulls Nix’s pistol toward him before Nix has time to get the ice pick ready. (I’m a little sorry Nix didn’t get to stick around; Harrington’s weird charisma fits right into the show’s goon menagerie...) Back in Frankfort, Quarles gives Wynn Duffy quite an introduction: he shoots Arnett and Yvette with a pistol rigged up his sleeve, Travis Bickle-style. Duffy looks genuinely unnerved.

And finally, we get some hint of what Boyd was up to during his seemingly unprovoked spat with Raylan: as he’s led down the hall of the state prison, he passes by two characters with whom he has unfinished business--Dickie Bennett and Dewey Crowe. They appear to have taken quite a shine to each other-- Dewey has been describing the relative pros and cons of getting tattoos in various places, espousing it as one more way to pass the time. Boyd makes no verbal greeting, but the look in his eyes as he marches into his cell speaks volumes--after all, he’s more or less on his home turf now. Stay tuned...

[graviste]

After Office Hours

@houseofreglay

The seconds ticked away in relative silence as Seteth awaited the arrival of his summoned guest. Funny how noiseless moments still sometimes passed like lifetimes even for one who had been through so many already.

So many years and still so much he could never get used to.

“Professor! Come quick! At the training hall-- It’s Felix, he’s--”

Gone. Whisked away to the infirmary with critical injuries sustained just before Seteth could get there -- before he could interrogate the person in charge.

‘Where was Professor Reglay?’ he remembered thinking as he read through Pent’s report some time after the last witness had left his office. ‘Where did he go and where had he been when such a powerful spell left in the hands of still just a child required so much attention...’

The minutes rolled by impassively. Somewhere outside his office door -- he could swear it -- was the sound of roaring waves crashing onto the shoreline.

And just like they could span lifetimes the moments that came thereafter were all just a blur. Seteth could feel himself going through the motions at every step -- send word to the family, ease the students’ anxieties, excuse the notably plenty of absences in the aftermath. Every night praying in earnest that the young Fraldarius would soon awaken.

And he did -- thank the goddess. But even so, Seteth’s job was not over. Things such as this soon to be meeting were never easy, but they were so wholly necessary.

With arms held firmly behind his back, the austere clergyman willed his gaze from the stained glass window to the empty seat before his desk, wondering when it would ever be filled -- if it even would be at all.

[prophecydungeon]

fic: no quarter

fandom: red vs blue relationship: felix/locus rating: E total chapters: 12/12 total word count: 51,765

One month after the not-so-civil war on Chorus crashes to a halt, there are still fires to put out. One of them in particular refuses to be smothered. (Or: the fall, the aftermath, and a climb.)

→ read on AO3

[qvill-s]

hello! hope you're doing well! could I have #1 from the "right to the good part" list with Felix from 3H? or if not Felix then Dimitri? keep up all the great work, I love to see you in my notifications! 💞💞

NOTES: *goblin voice* yessssss… yessssss…….. yE—

felix + “i have you shoved against the wall but now i can’t stop looking at your mouth” under the cut !!!

Sweep the leg, you think sardonically to yourself, sweep the leg and you’ll get an advantage against your opponent. 

Whoever told you that wasn’t technically wrong—the few seconds of Felix stumbling in his footing and dropping his sword with an almost panicked look in his eye was well worth it—but they failed to mention the aftermath of such an action.

Currently, as fate’s cruel series of events dictated so, you lie on the cobbled floor of the training grounds, the uneven slopes of the stones digging into your back, with the warm weight of Felix’s body lying over you.

Yes, that’s right, over you, and you’re finding it terribly hard to breathe.

Not because its the weight of another person on your chest and compressing your lungs, no, but rather because it’s Felix. It’s Felix, and he’s on his elbows hovering over you and his chest is against yours and oh goddess his face is closer than it should be—

To uphold some semblance of propriety (and to keep your wits about you), you crane your head back against the floor, trying to keep a respectable distance between the two of you to the best of your ability. Craning your head against the floor, regardless of how an uncomfortable position it may be, also allows you to avoid staring at his face for too long, should your childish crush act up and give away your affection through the warmth that is surely spreading across your cheeks.

In the back of your mind, you’re thankful for the fact that training is a strenuous physical activity that could potentially, hopefully, explain the redness of your cheeks.

“Hey, Felix,” you say, your voice managing to keep steady somehow, “you okay?”

In true Felix fashion, he prefaces his next words with an exasperated click of his tongue and a downward quirk of an irritated brow. “You’re the one who fell on your back, and you’re asking me if I’m okay?”

It does not sound unkind (you think), and you assume it’s because he’s at least the slightest bit worried about you (you hope). You give him a tentative smile in response, starting to feel the unpleasant effects of hitting the ground the way you did. There’s a specific part of the floor that seemed to rise higher than the rest, and it is currently pressing a jagged point into the space between your shoulder blades.

“Good,” you tell him, “because I’m going to need you to get up.”

His mouth forms itself to resemble the shape of an ‘o,’ and you find your gaze drawn to his mouth, to the plush pink of his lips as it curves around the unsaid vowel, to the teeth that bite down on his bottom lip as he hauls himself off of you. You almost miss it, if you’re being honest with yourself, and you have to refrain from pulling him back down onto you. Preferably on a more comfortable surface.

All too soon, his weight lifts from your body and a hand thrust between the two of you breaks your (not so) subtle fixation on his mouth. 

(You surmise his kisses would be hard, more bite than the softness of your past flings, calloused fingers pressing into your waist and pushing you into your mattress; an insistent tongue, making up for his inexperience with his eagerness and the fierceness of his touch, stoking a fire in you that only ignites for him and him alone.)

He interrupts your thoughts with a sharp call of your name. When you respond with nothing more than an eloquent “Huh?” and the action of slipping your hand into his, he rolls his eyes. 

“Do I have something on my face?” He asks blithely. With a tug that your body has little luck protesting, he pulls you to your feet, exertion showing itself only in the exhale of breath that leaves him. 

Unfortunately for him, his tug is a little more forceful than it needed to be, bringing you crashing back into his arms when you lose your footing over your abrupt change in position.

By some measure of fate, the action brings his lips to brush against your own for the briefest of moments. The connection is no longer than mere seconds, no more than the slightest of touches, but it’s enough to have you following after him when he breaks away.

“What,” he asks, his biting tone turning the question into a statement, “was that.”

In your current predicament, ‘that’ could mean a multitude of different things. It could mean the way you were staring at him earlier. It could mean the way your eyes fluttered shut in the brief moments your lips met his, the way your hand snaked up the stretch of his arm, fingers curling into the fabric of his shirt. It could mean the way you leaned in as he leaned back, instinctively chasing after another taste of him. 

So, in the face of the overwhelming amount of definitions of the word, you settle for a timid “I’m sorry,” as you move to disentangle yourself from him.

He doesn’t budge. “That’s not an answer.”

You squirm, hoping to loosen his grip enough to move away. After a few moments, when he makes clear his intention of staying put, you let out a frustrated groan, tugging at the arm locked around your waist. “I said I was sorry, Felix, what more do you want from me?”

His eyes narrow, the curtain of his lashes coming down over the honey brown of his irises, and in his answering reply, he presses his lips to yours.

You were right, you think blindly, because Felix kisses with the same intensity with which he wields his blade, with the same controlled ferocity he shows in the battlefield—and you think he knows your thoughts are wandering because he presses against you more fully, commanding wordlessly that you focus on him and the moment the two of you are locked in. 

The arm around your waist turns to fingers gripping tight at your hips as he walks you back into one of the columns that surround the training grounds. This time, the discomfort of the uneven stones against your back is forgotten, your body happily ignoring it in favor of the bruising kiss that Felix is all too eager to give you. His fingers reach into the hairs at the back of your neck, bringing your head back with a sharp tug that has you gasping against him, craning your head back to angle his mouth more firmly against yours.

Just when your lungs are about shrieking out for air, he punctuates his kiss with a final nip to your bottom lip, soothing over the bite with a surprisingly gentle sweep of his tongue—

And he breaks away.

In the midst of your pants for air, you echo his earlier question back to him with an anger whose source you can’t quite place, “What was that?”

You should be happy, you think, that he kissed you eagerly, fervently, confirming your suspicions about the things his mouth and sharp tongue could do, but it feels... wrong.

Granted, the two of you shared an almost-kiss in the moments prior to your actual-kiss, but it feels wrong for him to kiss you so suddenly, so out of the blue. It feels wrong for him to kiss you with the intensity he displayed, with his heated touches and his insistent contact. It feels wrong for him to kiss you when you know so little about where his feeling lie, about what exactly he thinks of and feels for you.

When he doesn’t reply, his mouth slightly ajar, you push him away and out of his arms, feeling more than a little hurt over his lack of answer. You shake your head. “Fine, don’t answer.”

You turn to leave, but before you can even make a step towards the door, a hand closes around your wrist. His grip is loose, and it’s one you can easily break out of, but you see it as he intends it to be: a wordless plea for you to stay. Your gaze shifts back to him over your shoulder, waiting for him to begin.

He wets his lips (and the action is not lost on you, for you follow the trail of his tongue with a curiosity you couldn’t hope to suppress), as he notes, very bluntly, “You’re attracted to me.”

You resist the urge to roll your eyes. “Yes.”

He clenches and unclenches his fist, steps closer to you, his eyes darting this way and that before he resolutely meets your gaze. “I am.” He swallows. “Attracted to you, too.”

You blink, and he follows suit. After some moments of silence, a smile spreads across your lips, and you turn to face him head on, sliding your wrist out of his grip to twine your fingers with his. “Really?”

He groans, eyes refusing to meet yours. “Don’t make me repeat it.”

(Later, after much begging and puppy dog eyes, he does. He mumbles his confession once more into the crest of your hair with an arm wrapped around your shoulder and a red blush to his cheeks.

You file away that memory, of the uncharacteristic softness of his actions, for another time. For now, you content yourself with snuggling further into his embrace.)

[nicolewrites]

what’s got to give

I didn’t intend for this to be so long, but again, any time I try to do anything my brain is only Sylvain and Hilda (+bonus Ingrid because love). We Stand pt 4 is coming, I promise, but I had to get these kids out of my head.

Rating: T Genre: Romance, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort Characters: [Sylvain Jose Gautier & Ingrid Brandl Galatea], Hilda Valentine Goneril, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd Words: 6,540

Ingrid takes a blow for Dimitri. Sylvain doesn't know how to handle the aftermath. / sylvgrid + bonus Hilda being the friend we all wish we had

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He sees it happen in flashes.

Sylvain swings his axe wide and bats aside the Imperial officer who stood in his way. His wyvern roars in approval behind him and bites at a soldier who comes to close. Sylvain turns back to remount his wyvern and through the chaos of battle, he sees them: Dimitri and Ingrid, fighting back to back and hopelessly outnumbered.

A soldier cuts in front of him and Sylvain doesn’t even think before he takes the man’s head off. His blood is pounding in his ears as he watches from sixty feet away as Ingrid spins Lúin and jabs at one of her attackers. Faintly, he can hear Felix and the Professor yelling, trying to get to their outnumbered friends.

A Kingdom priest steps in front of him, casting a white magic spell on him to heal his wounds, but Sylvain pushes her aside and breaks for his friends. He’s thirty feet away when it happens. Dimitri says something to Ingrid and she scowls. An enemy breaks the circle around the pair and lunges at the prince. Ingrid, stalwart and protective, bashes him back, but his sword glides past her defences.

A cavalry unit charges past Sylvain, heading goddess knows where and it takes all of his concentration to not get trampled temporarily. In a spark of cool-headedness that comes from somewhere Sylvain doesn’t even recognize, he spins and basically throws himself onto his wyvern. His mount responds–thank the goddess–and he’s whipping through the air towards his friends before he can think.

From the air, he sees them clearly. Dimitri is on his feet, wielding Areadbhar like the beast that Felix claims he is. Ingrid isn’t standing. She’s crumpled on the ground and seems to be barely holding onto Lúin. Sylvain descends toward them, ignoring the shouts of his battalion behind him. He hasn’t even landed by the time he throws himself off his mount. The two-foot drop jars his knees, but he doesn’t flinch. His vision has tunnelled to Ingrid, his dear friend who is no longer moving.

The professor has broken through to them and she and Dimitri are pushing back, going on the offensive now. The professor, to her credit, spares Ingrid a worried look, but Dimitri doesn’t allow her that courtesy. Sylvain doesn’t have time to be annoyed or angry about it as he kneels in the blood-soaked earth next to his friend.

“Ingrid,” he urges, sliding a hand to the back of her neck and tipping her head towards him.

Her eyes flutter weakly and Sylvain makes a quick assessment. The sword wound in her chest is deep and still bleeding and he doesn’t know the first thing about white magic, but he knows that her being here is incredibly dangerous.

“Dimitri?” Ingrid asks weakly. Her voice tremors when she speaks and her green eyes are filled with both worry and pain.

Sylvain risks a glance toward the prince, but he and the professor have turned their attention elsewhere. “With the professor,” he says. Ingrid’s features relax slightly and she closes her eyes. Panic rushes through Sylvain. “No, no, Ingrid, you need to stay awake!”

She doesn’t reply to him and instinct has him sliding his other arm under her knees and hoisting her up into his arms. He doesn’t have the free hand to grab Lúin, but the pressing concern of Ingrid’s still bleeding wound distracts him of that. He manages to get them both onto his wyvern and, holding her tight to him, he takes off, flying to where he knows Mercedes and the other bishops have set up their base for healing.

He’s so distracted by the fact that Ingrid’s blood is now staining his armour that he nearly crashes into the medical tent. The priests his wyvern nearly plows through look furious at him, but their anger turns quickly to shock when they note that he’s cradling Ingrid.

“Sylvain?” Mercedes’s voice cuts through the static and clamours around him and his head whips towards it.

“Mercedes!” he calls.

She pushes towards him, her brows knit with worry and Sylvain slides carefully off of his wyvern, still cradling Ingrid in his arms. She’s gone completely still and he’s too terrifying to check if she’s still breathing. His own blood is burning in his veins with fear.

“Mercedes, please help her,” he begs once the healer makes it to his side. His voice comes out frailer and more concerned than he is expecting and he might normally be embarrassed by it, but he has no energy to dedicate to that feeling right now.

Mercedes gasps in shock and instantly casts a Restore spell. Sylvain watches Ingrid’s face carefully and some of her unconscious tension fades and her chest rises more deeply with breaths. He exhales in relief and looks back at Mercedes to thank her, but the healer’s expression is grim.

“Bring her here, Sylvain, this fight isn’t over yet.”

For a moment he’s confused because the battle raging around them is clearly on its last legs and will be over soon, but then he realizes Mercedes is talking about an entirely different fight. Ingrid’s life is still at risk and the realization of that causes ice to flood through his veins and adrenaline pumps through him so quickly his vision darkens before clearing.

Mercedes has him place her on a stretcher inside one of the medical tents and then she shoos him outside, needing space to, literally, work her magic to save their friend’s life. Sylvain stands dumbly outside the tent, staring at the flaps uncertainly until he hears his name being shouted.

He turns back and sees Annette and Ashe running towards him. Their battalions are nowhere in sight and they both look incredibly worried.

“Sylvain! Is she okay?” Ashe asks. He’s clutching his bow with both hands so tightly that his knuckles are bone white.

He shakes his head uncertainly. “She’s with Mercedes. I don’t,” he trails off because fear catches the rest of the words in his throat.

Annette relaxes a little. “Well, Mercedes is our best, Sylvain. They’ll save her, I know it!”

For once, the redhead’s enthusiasm doesn’t quite elicit a smile from Sylvain because he’s still worried. Even now, standing outside the medical tent, the adrenaline pumping through his body starts to fade and a sudden dizziness hits him. He stumbles and Ashe and Annette both lunge forward to steady him.

“Sylvain, you’re hurt too!” Ashe says worriedly.

Sylvain blinks and glances down. He had completely forgotten about the arrow he had taken that had originally grounded him, but sure enough, it’s still half wedged in the gaps between his armour plates. The pain comes back to him and he is forced to put more of his weight on Ashe as he grits his teeth.

“Oh,” he mutters dumbly.

“Marianne!” Annette yells, waving to catch the girl’s attention from nearby. Marianne looks their way sharply, turning away from Ferdinand and Hilda who she had been speaking with.

The battle around them has died to almost nothing and the Kingdom-Church forces are settling down. Sylvain starts to pick out more of his allies emerging from the bloodied fields, but he doesn’t see the professor or Felix or Dimitri yet. His attention is pulled back to his own space as Marianne hurries over to him to inspect the arrow wound. Hilda trails after her, watching the scene with mild interest.

“Oh no,” Marianne murmurs. “I need to get this out of you.”

“Do it,” Sylvain grunts, gritting his teeth.

Marianne hesitates and Hilda scoffs and steps around her timid friend, reaching for the arrow shaft. “Don’t scream,” she says pleasantly and pulls the arrow out with a sharp tug.

Sylvain nearly buckles against Ashe and Annette as it comes free and instantly Marianne and Annette are scolding Hilda about removing arrows from wounds carefully because she could have just made it worse. Hilda holds the arrow out to Ashe, ignoring the lectures.

“Check this for poisons, would you?”

Ashe, with the arm that’s not supporting Sylvain, takes the arrow and furrows his brow. “I’m not an expert with poison. I could ask my battalion I suppose, but that might take longer than we have.”

“I can figure it out,” Annette says quickly. She glances up at Sylvain and then back at the tent where Mercedes is tending to Ingrid. “I don’t know if,” she starts, but Hilda cuts her off.

“Excellent.” She steps forward and shoos the former Blue Lions away. “I’ve got him,” she says, regarding Sylvain.

“Are you sure?” Ashe asks.

Hilda rolls her eyes and bumps him away with her hip. Sylvain nearly buckles onto her and he bites into his lip hard enough to draw blood as the pain from his injuries catches up with him. Still, Hilda is much, much stronger than she appears so she takes his weight and hardly flinches.

“Come on pretty boy, let’s get you cleaned up,” Hilda says.

Marianne casts a quick Heal spell and Sylvain feels the white magic restore some of his drained energy. He gives her a weak smile and she glances between Hilda and Sylvain before turning back to the injured soldiers that seem to be pouring in now that the battle seems to be over. Sylvain doesn’t want to leave Ingrid even though he knows that she’s in good hands with Mercedes, but Hilda doesn’t give him much a choice as she tugs him towards one of the healing tents towards the edge of where they are set up.

She opens the flap and leads Sylvain in. There are three monks inside the tent who look up, startled, as they walk in. “Can I get the room?”

There are no arguments from the others as they dart past and out into the post-battle chaos. Since Marianne healed him, most of his pain has faded, leaving only a dull ache, but Hilda had still been able to strong-arm him away from Mercedes’s tent. She stops supporting them once they’re inside the tent and crosses it to where there’s a bucket of water and a rag.

“Sit,” she says firmly.

Sylvain raises an eyebrow. “I’m fine, now. Can’t I go wait for news on Ingrid?”

Hilda shakes her head. “Definitely not. You hovering out there will only make more people like Marianne and Mercedes nervous and for the sake of the people who are badly hurt, we can’t afford to have them distracted.”

“I wouldn’t hover,” Sylvain says even though he knows he had every intention of doing exactly that.

Hilda rolls her eyes. “Look, you’re covered in blood and you’ve still got cuts on your face bleeding. If you let me clean them up, I’ll let you go back to bothering people.”

Sylvain frowns but relents, sitting down in the chair that Hilda gestures to. She perches herself on the arm of the chair, draping her legs across his lap as she lifts the damp rag to his face. She starts wiping at his hairline and he hisses when it stings. She rolls her eyes and continues. She stays half in his lap for a few minutes as she cleans up his face and neck before she swings out and moves behind him.

She has him shift in the chair so that his head is leaning back over the bucket she places behind him. Hilda pours water in small handfuls through his hair, washing the blood out of it. Her nails scrape against his scalp pleasantly and Sylvain shoots straight back into a memory of the time that the two of them did a little more than flirt in the library one day.

“Why are you helping me?” he asks quietly when the sloshing sound of water slows as she works the last of the blood out of his hair.

“You needed to be distracted,” she admits carefully. “Worrying about people just riles us up more. Besides, I owe you, don’t I?”

Sylvain pauses, thinking on what the Goneril noble could possibly owe him. He blinks as he recalls something. “The books? Hilda, that was over five years ago. How is that?” he trails off when she laughs.

“I pay back my debts, silly,” she replies shortly.

Her nails scrape against his scalp one last time before she steps back to dispose of the bloodied rag and pink water as well as to wash her own hands. Sylvain leans forward and looks over his shoulder to watch her.

“Why are you helping us, then?” he presses. “You hate fighting. You hate war. You could have gone home after Derdriu.”

Hilda doesn’t answer his question. “That’s enough storytime. You no longer look like you cut down an entire battalion on your way to the medical tent.” She skims him with her eyes again. “Although, with how worried you were over your sweet Ingrid, I’m not entirely convinced you didn’t.”

Sylvain presses his lips together. Hilda is digging at a nerve to dodge a question and he knows it. She sighs when he doesn’t react.

“I’m going to go check on Marianne,” Hilda says and then she brushes past him.

Sylvain watches her go for a minute before he leaves the tent himself. He pushes aside the flaps and immediately sees Byleth, Dimitri, and Felix conversing nearby. Upon seeing Dimitri, he sees Ingrid on the ground bleeding out and Dimitri and Byleth cutting through soldiers nearby. Ingrid, loyal and protective, who had taken the attack for Dimitri and Dimitri who hadn’t spared her a glance after she had fallen.

Rage bubbles up in Sylvain so suddenly that it catches him off guard. He’s walking towards them before he can stop himself. He’s not usually this hotheaded but the memory of Dimitri not stopping to even check on his childhood friend after she had been struck down sits so wrong in his stomach it hurts.

“Sylvain!” Byleth exclaims when she sees him. “Are you alright? How’s Ingrid?”

Areadbhar is across Dimitri’s back but he’s holding Lúin as he looks concernedly at Sylvain. “You got her here alright?”

Dimitri is holding her lance. He can’t restrain his anger this time as he draws back and punches Dimitri square in the jaw. Byleth and Felix recoil and Dimitri keeps his head turned away, shock painting across his face. Sylvain’s chest heaves with a deep breath as he realizes what he just did. He spins on his heel and immediately walks away.

He hears Felix yell after him, but the rage is buzzing in his ears and he just needs to get away from him. Sylvain is not Felix. He’s not the hotheaded one in their friendship, but he had just been so blinded by anger that he had acted without thinking. In all his friendship with the prince, Sylvain has been annoyed with him plenty, but he can never recall a time where he was this genuinely furious.

In fact, the only time he has ever truly been this mad was when he found out that Miklan had stolen the Lance of Ruin and was wreaking absolute havoc with it.

Sylvain dodges through soldiers setting up tents and barracks after the battle as he pushes for the edge of camp where he knows there’s a training tent set up. It’s usually only ever used by Caspar or Felix or Byleth, but he really needs to blow off some steam and taking out his anger and nerves on a training dummy seems as good of an outlet as any. He stalks into the tent still seething and the two soldiers present exchange glances before immediately peeling out of his way, leaving him alone.

Sylvain flips a training lance into his hand and immediately starts beating at the dummy in the centre of the room. He gets through the whole hour-long training routine Byleth has taught him and most of the axe one he knows as well before someone finally finds him.

He’s expecting Felix. Felix knows him best and he knows what being angry at Dimitri is like, especially since Dimitri came back to himself after Gronder. Sylvain has found Felix in here many, many nights in the past, so all things considered, it should be Felix who finds him.

His second choice would have been the professor since she could have just followed him immediately after he left. But, he knows Byleth and he knows what’s brewing between her and Dimitri will have caused her to stay and check on him. Sylvain is strong, but Dimitri’s stronger so he’s not too worried that he seriously hurt the prince, but he certainly hadn’t pulled the punch.

He’s not expecting Hilda who he had just parted with an hour and a half ago to be standing at the entrance to the tent, her hand on her hip and an eyebrow quirked. Sylvain lets out a deep sigh at the sight of her and spins his axe in his hand before turning back to his admittedly cut-up, mostly-destroyed training dummy.

“You caused quite a stir back there by punching the Crown Prince of Faerghus in the face without an explanation,” she calls out to him.

Sylvain pauses and turns to face her, letting the axe drop to his side. “What do you want, Hilda? Didn’t we just have this conversation?”

She laughs and cocks her head at him. “Sylvain, I thought we had agreed not to be fake with each other. That was our agreement back in school, wasn’t it?”

He narrows his eyes. “How’d you find me?” he asks instead. “It’s been long enough that someone should have found me. Why was it you?”

Hilda smirks at him. “I know why you punched Dimitri. It took me a little bit of piecing together to get the whole story, plus I had to convince Felix to tell me where you would have gone, but I’ve got it now.”

Sylvain crosses his arms. “I don’t know why I hit him, so you couldn’t possibly know.”

“It’s because you’re in love with Ingrid,” Hilda answers simply.

Sylvain’s jaw drops and he’s certain he must look like a slapped fish. Ingrid is one of his best and closest friends. She is just Ingrid, the one who would make a better knight than Felix and Dimitri and Sylvain combined and the only one of the three of them who always kept a level and a clear head, even if she was a bit naggy.

He’s not in love with her. He just thinks that she’s really beautiful whether or not she’s playing with whatever makeup that Annette gave her. She’s passionate and talented and funny and clever and important to him. If his heart skipped more than a few beats while he was worried about her, that’s a normal, friend-induced feeling.

Hilda laughs at him. “You didn’t even know, did you?” She steps further into the tent and takes a seat on one of the benches by the training ring. She leans back on her hands and studies him. “It’s all over your face when you look at her. It’s why you abandoned your formation to fly in and save her today and it’s why you got so mad at Dimitri because she went down protecting him.” Hilda twirls a lock of her bubblegum pink hair. “She’s going to be fine, by the way. Mercedes announced that while everyone was scurrying about looking for you.”

“Why did Felix tell you where I’d be? Why didn’t he just come himself?”

Hilda shakes her head. “Come on, Sylvain, would you really want to talk feelings with Felix? He’s got the empathetic abilities of a wooden crate. Besides, you and I at least have something in common: we’re both fighting this war for other people.”

Sylvain feels insulted. “I’m fighting this war for my country, Hilda. What Edelgard’s doing is wrong. I’m in this battle to fight back against that.”

She levels an even look at him. “You’re in it for your friends. For the Blue Lions, for the professor, and especially for Dimitri, Felix, and Ingrid.”

Sylvain catches that she notably leaves out why this is paralleled for her. “Who are you fighting for?”

Hilda’s smirk fades to a small smile. “Marianne,” she says easily. “And Claude, wherever his stupid ass ran off to.”

“Marianne?” Sylvain questions.

The healer had switched to their class back at the Officer’s Academy along with Lysithea and Linhardt. The rest of the Black Eagles, minus Hubert, had deserted to join the Church forces once Byleth had reappeared. None of the other Golden Deer had switched sides as they chose to remain with their home forces. After Derdriu, when Claude surrendered, Hilda had requested to join the march the rest of the way to Enbarr.

Sylvain had known that Hilda and Marianne were friends, but he hadn’t known exactly how deep the friendship had run if it meant that Hilda was willing to step back into a war for the other woman.

Hilda shrugs. “I care about her.”

Sylvain’s arms drop to his sides as he realizes exactly what Hilda means. “Oh,” he mutters dumbly.

She rolls her eyes. “Marianne is important to me. Claude was a dear friend, but Marianne is important to me. I wanted to see this through so that I could keep her alive. She’s been struggling since the Great Bridge of Myrddin.”

“Lorenz,” Sylvain fills in.

Hilda’s lips flatten into a line. “There was a time where I think if the professor had gotten through to Lorenz, he and Marianne would have been something. She’s still grieving him and so am I. I figured we could support each other through that.”

Sylvain inhales deeply and shuts his eyes. “Why did you tell me that?”

“You asked,” Hilda answers. “Plus, you and I promised to be real with each other, right?”

He chuckles lowly and pulls both of his hands up and runs them through his hair. His side aches where the arrow wound was still healing and his muscles groan in protest from the back-to-back battling and then training. “I guess we did.”

“Then why did you punch Dimitri, Sylvain?”

He sighs and walks over. She slides to her left and he sits on the bench next to her. “I was mad at him. I was mad that Ingrid took the blow for him and he just left her there and didn’t cast a second look at her after she fell.”

Hilda nods slowly. “Alright, well, I’m not going to stick myself in places where I wasn’t actually, but maybe you should mention that to Dimitri. He’s a good guy, Sylvain.”

Sylvain drops his head into his hands and tugs at his hair again. “I know,” he mutters. “I’m not mad anymore, I just want to see her.”

Hilda pats his back awkwardly. “Well, you definitely need to go wash and talk to Dimitri and stop the camp from spiralling further before you do that. But then, you should go talk to Ingrid. I think in doing so you’ll finally be able to stop lying to yourself.”

Sylvain lifts his head warily and looks at her. She’s smirking again. “It’s obvious you’re in love with her. I’d pester you more, but I’m not the one you need to be having this conversation with.”

She stands, without further conversation, and heads for the entrance to the training tent. Sylvain watches her for a moment, but before she exits, he calls after her.

“I won’t tell anyone about Marianne.”

Hilda looks back at him, a much more genuine smile curving up her lips. “Thanks, Sylvain.”

Then she’s gone and Sylvain is left, aching and in pain, in a training tent by himself. He takes a bracing breath and stands, following where Hilda left. He heads to the designated wash-up tents first and cleans himself up, setting aside his combat armour and donning his Gautier colours. He drops his stuff off at his tent and makes his way to the central command tent.

He hears both the professor and Dimitri’s voices from inside the tent and he takes a moment outside to gather his confidence. He pushes aside the tent flaps and steps in, catching the prince and professor in a slightly awkward moment.

Byleth is sitting in a chair, studying one of the battle maps they have for the routes to Enbarr. Dimitri stands directly behind her with one hand on the back of her chair and the other placed against her upper arm. They both start when they see him standing in the tent entrance.

Byleth stands up immediately. “Sylvain! Where have you been? Felix said he had it handled, but he ate with Annette and Ashe and no one had seen you.”

He gives the professor a tense smile. “May I have a word with His Highness alone please?” he requests evenly.

Byleth’s lips purse and she looks back at Dimitri. Sylvain looks at the prince too and sees no malice or anger in his face. Dimitri looks calm as he waves aside Byleth’s cautious look. “It’ll be fine, Professor. The worst he could do is punch me again, but he’s not here to do that. We can finish this tomorrow.”

Byleth nods and heads for the rear entrance of the tent. She gives Sylvain a tentative last look before she slips out into the camp, leaving Sylvain alone with the man he had punched just over two hours ago. Dimitri slips into Byleth’s vacated chair and motions for Sylvain to sit next to him.

Sylvain sits and stares blankly at the map for a moment. “I’m usually good with words and smoothing things over,” he admits.

Dimitri laughs. “I understand, Sylvain. You don’t need to apologize to me. Emotions were running high. We were all worried about her.”

He turns to look Dimitri in the face. “Were you worried? When she went down you didn’t give her a second look,” he explains.

Dimitri looks startled for a moment. “Of course I was afraid,” he says. “I am not a healer, and,” he pauses, looking at his hands. “I was afraid that I might make something worse if I stopped to help her.”

Sylvain recalls one late-night conversation after the battle at Gronder Field where Dimitri had confessed that his Crest gave him strength he didn’t know what to do with. It certainly accounted for the broken needles and weapons and spoons all through their childhood and Sylvain hadn’t even considered Dimitri was afraid of harming people too.

“I didn’t know,” he admits for Dimitri’s sake.

The prince nods. “I preferred it that way. When she fell I just thought that if I could get rid of the immediate threat, it would be okay. I saw you coming and since you’re flying, I thought you had a better chance of getting her out of there.”

Sylvain rubs his temples. “I overreacted,” he confesses. “I was afraid that we were going to lose her and I couldn’t lose her, Dimitri.”

The edge of Dimitri’s lips twist upward. “I know the feeling.”

Byleth falling. Sylvain remembers how devastatingly broken Dimitri had been after the Battle for Garreg Mach at the start of the war. He had seen her fall and hadn’t been able to do anything about it.

“For the record, I am sorry I punched you,” Sylvain adds.

Dimitri shrugs. “I honestly think it’s good to have some sense knocked into you every now and then, though I would appreciate next time if you did it verbally.”

Sylvain chuckles. He is about to apologize again, for doubting that he cared about Ingrid, but Dimitri’s gaze is focused on the tent entrance behind him. The prince’s shocked expression is what makes him hold his tongue and he turns around to see what caught Dimitri so off guard.

Ingrid is standing just inside the tent. Her short blonde hair is hanging loose around her face and she’s wearing riding leggings and a cream shirt that is a few sizes too big on her slender frame. She’s supporting herself with a single wooden crutch and is eyeing her two friends with a curious green-eyed gaze.

“Ingrid!” Dimitri exclaims, rising so suddenly he bangs his knees on the underside of the table so hard he nearly sits back down. “What are you doing out of the infirmary?”

She walks towards them slowly, supporting herself only partly on the wooden crutch. “Mercedes cleared me to leave. I’m not supposed to do any fighting or strenuous activity, but the wound has closed and there’s no risk of infection anymore.”

Sylvain finally recovers from his surprise and he scans Ingrid over again. She notices, of course, and levels him with a heavy look.

“Marianne told me you were shot,” she says bluntly.

“What?” Dimitri demands. “When were you shot?”

Sylvain straightens in his seat to hide the slouch he had been sitting with to alleviate the pain in his midsection. “Before,” he answers Dimitri evasively. “And Marianne healed me so I’m all good,” he adds for Ingrid’s benefits.

Her lips purse and she looks between the two men again. “Did I interrupt something?”

“No,” Sylvain replies quickly before Dimitri’s not-so-silver tongue can reveal all of his blunders. “Your well-being takes priority over any trivial conversation we were having.”

The suspicion lingers on Ingrid’s expression, but thankfully Dimitri doesn’t take issue with Sylvain’s white lie and fills in the gap.

“Ingrid, thank you for taking that blow for me today. I do dearly wish you hadn’t been hurt, but I am grateful nonetheless.”

Ingrid dips her head and shoulders into what is probably supposed to be a bow, but it comes across as stiff and uncomfortable due to her crutch and her injury. Dimitri gives a light chuckle, but he glances back at the rear entrance of the tent and Sylvain recognizes the longing in his expression.

“Go find the professor, Dimitri, we won’t be offended,” Sylvain assures.

Dimitri’s cheeks flush a bit, but he doesn’t argue as he makes a lame excuse to Ingrid before giving her a brief hug. Ingrid and Sylvain watch as Dimitri leaves the tent through the rear entrance, leaving them alone.

“Find Byleth?” Ingrid questions him once Dimitri is out of earshot.

“We were talking and we ended up on the subject of that battle and I think it brought up some part of him that is afraid she never came back. I get it.”

And he does get it. Because even seeing Ingrid standing mostly healed in front of him is not enough to soothe the remaining nerves he had felt in seeing her hurt in the first place. It doesn’t chase away the lingering panic he had felt cradling her in his arms while she had bled out. Because he cares about her. A lot.

And maybe Hilda is more correct than he wants her to be.

“You get it?” Ingrid presses.

Of course he couldn’t have expected her to let a comment like that slip. She was too sharp and now he had backed himself into a corner he had no idea how to maneuver out of. His first instinct is to wink and flirt, but the compliment that rises in his throat is bitter tasting and wrong so he pushes it down.

“You scared me today,” he admits instead. “I don’t like seeing you on the ground and I especially don’t like seeing you literally on the ground and bleeding.”

Ingrid shifts and presses her lips together. “It was a lucky shot that took me down in the first place. The rest of it was me doing my duty to protect Dimitri.”

Sylvain stands up and walks so he stands directly in front of her. She’s much smaller now than she used to be, but that’s probably because he and the others have grown, while she has not. Even Felix, who was always the smallest, is taller than her now.

“You promised you’d stay close to me,” he says lowly, his voice coming out much softer in their close proximity.

Ingrid’s cheeks turn the tiniest bit pink. “And I believe you said you’d stop being so reckless in battle.”

As if guided by fate, her hand comes up to press at his ribs where the arrow had struck and he sucks in a breath sharply at the spark of pain. Sylvain gently pulls her hand back, but doesn’t let go of it so he’s just holding it as it dangles between them. Ingrid glances at it and then up at his face, but she doesn’t pull away.

“You’re being weirdly sincere about this whole thing,” she notes.

Sylvain forces a laugh. “I can make it not,” he offers.

She frowns. “Don’t ruin it.”

There’s a moment where neither of them says anything and the silence grates at Sylvain. He remembers his fear and Hilda’s advice and the easy way that Dimitri and Byleth are around each other. He takes a deep breath and meets Ingrid’s steady gaze directly.

“Have you heard from your father lately?” he asks.

Ingrid drops his hand and steps around him, limping with her crutch to sit at the table. There’s a brief flicker of something that looks almost like disappointment across her face, but she hides it quickly.

“A week ago,” she admits. “Now that the Alliance has dissolved and Fhirdiad has been retaken, he wants me to come home. He wants to bottle me up in Galatea like he did for the beginning of the war so that he can just sell me off to the highest bidder.”

Sylvain winces at the malice in her tone at the mention of marriage. “And you’ve told him otherwise?”

“I’m staying until we see this through,” she says firmly. She angles her body so that she’s facing him even though she’s sitting.

Sylvain takes the seat next to her and pulls it close enough that the arms of the chairs are nearly touching. “And after?”

“After, I don’t know,” she confesses. “I still want to be a knight, but I love my people and I want to do right by them. Maybe I’ll have to take the whole situation differently when there’s not a war to fight.” She gives him a weak smile. “I suppose your father will want you to get married too, won’t he?”

Sylvain’s mind catches on her emphasis on the war. “What if you didn’t have to? What if you could just sort everything out right now so you didn’t have to deal with it later?”

Ingrid looks a bit surprised, but she taps her chin thoughtfully. “I don’t see how that could happen,” she muses, but then she falls silent. Sylvain watches her gaze turn from neutral to almost suspicious. “Unless this is your way of asking me to marry you?”

“No!” Sylvain says quickly but then winces. “Yes?” That doesn’t feel right either. “I don’t know,” he admits instead. “I guess I’m trying to ask if you would consider me at all. In any strange, world-ending situation. If, and this is entirely your choice, you would want to marry me.”

Ingrid’s green eyes are wide as she takes in his bumbling question. “Sylvain, what do you mean?” she presses. There’s an underlying nervousness to her tone that almost makes him back out, but he’s too far into it now and damn, he really doesn’t want to prove Hilda right, but if this is going where he thinks it is going, he doesn’t really have a choice.

“You need to get married to someone wealthy and I want to marry someone I won’t hate for the rest of my life,” he offers.

The energy that had been building in Ingrid deflates and she drops her eyes to the map on the table in front of them. “Oh,” she murmurs.

Sylvain grimaces. “That came out wrong.” He reaches for one of her hands and she lets him take it between both of his. He draws her eyes back up and musters every bit of courage he has in him. “I didn’t want to say anything because I couldn’t ensure that I would survive this and I won’t let you go through that alone.” Her gaze is sad at the allusion to Glenn. “Ingrid,” he presses on, “I want to ask you to marry me and I want you to say yes if it’s what you want to do, not because you think you should or because you’re trying to spare my feelings.”

She gives him a very small smile as she twists her chair so their knees are pressed together and they are face to face. “Your feelings?” she teases lightly.

Sylvain smiles. “You hadn’t noticed? My blundering about the fact that you’re beautiful and talented and amazing and driven and how comfortable I feel with you hadn’t tipped you off?”

She bites her lip to suppress a smile. “I was just hoping at that point it wasn’t all a line,” she admits and that one stings, but he definitely deserves it.

“I wanted to let all of this sit until the end of the war when there was no more danger, but after today, I couldn’t. I was so scared of losing you today. I was so alarmed I scared Mercedes half to death by bringing you to her and I scared Ashe and Annette by ignoring my own injuries to look after you and I startled Felix, the professor, and Dimitri by punching Dimitri.” Ingrid looks affronted at the mention of him punching Dimitri, but he continues on. “I couldn’t lose you. And I couldn’t do it without telling you everything.”

He brings a hand up to cup the side of her face. His calloused hands feel rough against the smooth skin of her cheek, but in the flickering lamplight of the tent, he feels like he’s holding the whole world in his hand.

“I love you,” he says quietly to her. “I’m sorry if you don’t want to hear that.”

Instead of replying to him, Ingrid leans forward and knocks their knees together. She leans across the divide between them and kisses him softly. Her lips are chapped and the touch is light, but it feels like Ingrid and for Sylvain that is enough to lighten his heart of more than a few burdens.

She leans away quickly, her cheeks flushed pink. She stands up and shifts her crutch under her arm. “You’ll have to try that proposal again after the war with my father’s permission and your mother’s ring.”

Sylvain’s lips quirk into a smile. Of course, she remembers the time where she visited Gautier lands and his mother had tried so hard to get Ingrid to take her ring and to become betrothed to Sylvain, nevermind the fact that she was already betrothed to Glenn at the time.

He watches her hobble towards the entrance of the tent, but she pauses right at the door. She looks back at him and there’s a fondness in her green eyes that is both familiar and alien to him.

“For the record, I love you too, Sylvain,” she says and then she disappears out of the tent, leaving him alone with tingling lips and a pair of very important letters to write.