#ferdinand would probably fit the ruthlessness thing

[likesdoodling]

Kind of spoilers? But also not really? Eh. If you've read the last volume you'll understand more of it.

*shrugs

This idea was stuck in my head, so I did something about it :D

[gascon-en-exil]

What do you think Dimitri and Hubert’s dynamic would be like if Hubert had been his retainer instead?

Retainer swap AUs are so strange, because the circumstances for all of them are so different. Does House Vestra take the place of House Fraldarius in this AU, or is Hubert a Fraldarius? Does he have a Crest? Did the Tragedy never happen and land Dedue in that spot at Dimitri's side? How do dedicated mages even fit into Faerghus's culture of knighthood, or does this Hubert do his best to hybridize like Sylvain? I ask because I genuinely can't see a scenario where everything is the same up until Dimitri saves Hubert's life as a teenager somehow and earns his undying loyalty, because Hubert's been into Edelgard since he was six.

I don't think they'd work together well at all. Dimitri would recoil at Hubert's ruthlessness, and without the Tragedy to establish Dimitri's revenge motivation that would never change. If the Tragedy did happen anyway (and Dedue is out of the picture - does Hubert outright murder him in a way that Dimitri can't pin on him?) they'd start to see more eye to eye, but Hubert would uncover Thales much faster and he'd be fighting again with Dimitri who wouldn't just want his enemy quietly kidnapped, tortured, and executed. They might make it to the monastery before taking care of it, although who knows where the plot would head from there since Hubert is essential to starting Edelgard's war by setting up the Agarthan alliance - and it's not like Felix in his place would ever consider the same thing, or be able to coordinate it even if he did.

Possibly Hubert catches sight of Edelgard at Garreg Mach, instantly falls in love, and approaches her with a plan to deliver all of the continent into her hands because honestly the Faerghus prince is just killing his vibe. Edelgard is too busy sighing over her teacher, so she ignores him. Hubert then moves on to Ferdinand, who's loud and obnoxious but seems more morally flexible than Dimitri and is weirdly kind of open to the idea of the two of them working together. Hubert and Ferdinand go on to become a flamboyant supervillain duo that menaces the entire continent in increasingly ridiculous ways.

Also, while I ship both Ferdibert and Dimidue/Lions OT5 I've had the headcanon for a long time that they would fundamentally not understand one another at all owing to cultural differences. A Faerghus-based Hubert would probably be more understanding of the Kingdom's homoromantic martial culture, but as mentioned he might be on the outside looking in anyway if he's too physically frail for actual knighthood. The handjobs and blowjobs in the knights' halls just don't do it for him, and while he knows that they're not supposed to (everyone says that particular feeling is supposed to be what a man shares with his wife, and with Dimitri not undergoing extreme trauma bonding with Dedue he never learns differently either) Hubert figures out that he's also into guys in a completely different way from how it is with Dimitri, Sylvain, et al.