#im not even finished with GD route but i love him deerly

[ayuyikes]

Secret Admirer (4/?)

Part 1 part 2 part 3

Sorry I’m on vacation right now and this ones a bit long so it took a while ^^;

Enjoy!

———————

When they came back to the classroom, Claude sighed. “Well, I didn’t see any odd reactions aside from when Dorothea complimented your earrings. Did you see anything, Teach?”

She shook her head. She did see a few odd looks, sure...

But for some reason they seemed to be aimed more towards Claude than towards her.

He ran a hand through his hair. “Well, I guess we will just have to wait for the next gift. I don’t suppose your ring size is common knowledge, eh Teach?”

It was teasing, but the thought of being gifted a ring made her mind go blank.

“Teach?”

He was still beside her, looking a little worried when she didn’t outright respond, but she snapped herself out of it and muttered, “He better not be getting me a ring.”

“What would you suggest he got you, then?” He asked, as nonchalantly as he could.

That made her silent. “I don’t know,” she eventually settled on. “I’m not really one for gifts. I would be happy receiving anything.”

“Well, sure, but he seems set on impressing you, isn’t he? What would you like to get?”

Why couldn’t she shake the feeling that he was inquiring what to get her?

Should she even answer that? What if he...

No, he wouldn’t give himself away giving her a gift she suggested herself, though. He’s too cunning for that.

She met his expectant eyes. “I would appreciate thoughtful gifts, not necessarily expensive ones. A box of my favorite tea would already be a welcome surprise, really.”

He hummed in understanding. “So you’re a secret sap, Professor.”

“Perhaps.”

He grinned. “Let’s hope your admirer knows you well, then.”

Ah. Watching him smile made her realize that every moment they spent together after she got the bracelet she slowly got more certain that he might be the culprit. She was terrified of it being wishful thinking. They have been pretty close so far, even if he was her student... she never had someone as close and dear to her as he was. Not like this.

But even taking status and the taboo of their situation out of consideration, she knew that if she ever wanted to confront him about it she’d need evidence or he’d duck out of questioning. So she sighed. Two can play this game.

“I just wish I had more of a lead,” she said, trying to sound disappointed. Of course it still came out a little flat, but Claude seemed to take notice anyway.

“You really want to know, huh?”

“I don’t know what to make of this,” she admits, the statement holding more truth than she’d like. “Such expensive gifts- they’re a little overwhelming, if I’m honest.”

“Especially not knowing where they came from... what if they expect something from me?”

“People can’t expect something for just being nice,” Claude said, looking surprisingly serious. “If they do, they’re terrible people.”

“Even so... I don’t know them at all. What if they keep giving me expensive things to buy my affection?”

He seemed to think it over for longer than anticipated. “Well, if it makes you uncomfortable, we should scare him off then, right?”

“I’m not that uncomfortable,” she said after the thought popped into her mind that she might’ve scared _him_ off entirely. “I just- knowing who it came from would already ease my worries.”

“Hmm how about...” he put his hand to his chin, “We put a message to your mystery lover on the bulletin board? Perhaps he’d be willing to throw us a bone?”

“It would be a risky move, from his side,” she admitted. “But if he wants to get recognition... he would respond.”

“Wouldn’t hurt to try, right?” He grinned. “I think at this point the rumor is going around anyway, and it’s not like Seteth can do anything about it as long as there’s no lead either. But what should we put in the message?”

Byleth glanced at her desk, taking in the rest of the classroom in the process. It wasn’t as if they were alone, but the other golden deer present were just minding their own business. At least, that’s what it looked like.

“We could compose a draft at my desk?” She offered when she turned back to him again. He smiled back eagerly. “I’ll get another chair, Teach.”

She sat down behind her desk while he went out of the room for the extra chair. While looking through her drawers for paper, a letter caught her eye.

It was the letter that came with her birthday present, near the start of the year. She almost forgot she still had that.

That did give her an idea...

She took out the letter and opened another drawer where she had put the note attached to the earrings. Opening both, she squinted and observed the handwriting.

Granted, the note had been a lot neater, no doubt taken more effort to write, but the way the L’s looped and the crossing of the T’s seemed to match...

Not everything, however, but she wouldn’t put it past Claude to try and alter his handwriting to not get caught. The ‘secret admirer’ note has more elegant writing, while her birthday letter was more nonchalant. However, some core elements still seemed to match.

It wouldn’t be enough evidence, though.

She quickly put both papers in her top drawer as she expected Claude to come back any moment now with a chair, and sure enough: when she took out a few blank sheets from another drawer, he returned with a simple chair he stole from another classroom.

“So I was thinking,” he mused as he put the chair down backwards and sat down, leaning his arms on the backrest, “there’s a couple things you could do...”

He put a finger up. “Number 1: tell him to fuck off.”

Byleth was ready to write his suggestions down but gasped before her quill hit the paper. “Claude, language.”

“Well it boils down to that, really. You’d just say it nicely, like ‘I’m sorry but I’m not interested’ or ‘I got a boyfriend’ or something,” he explained, mimicking her voice in a high pitched manner. She just raised an eyebrow to that.

“But I don’t have one.”

“That might be true, but they don’t know that.” He stretched out his arms. “It is a surefire way to get them to back off, plus if they really need convincing you can use my name for it, if you’d like.”

“Why would I use your name?”

“Some people are plain persistent and won’t leave you alone otherwise. And I really don’t mind helping you out, Teach,” he explained nonchalantly.

“You do realize if we put this on the bulletin board, we will most likely have to explain ourselves to Seteth? At the very least we would be lectured on how our relationship would be improper.”

“Ah, so you’re entertaining the idea?” He teases. “But that’s a fair point. It’s still a plan B for if we have a better idea of who it might’ve been.”

“I don’t think it will be necessary,” she shakes her head, tapping the quill on the table as force of habit. “I don’t want to simply tell whoever sent me these to leave me alone. I want to at least be able to thank them for the gifts and return them if necessary.”

“They’ve been given to you, so you’re allowed to keep them even if you don’t return the affection, Teach,” he insisted while rubbing the back of his head.

“Yes, you’ve told me as such before.”

“It doesn’t make it less true,” he shrugs. “If you want to return them, sure, but don’t feel obligated to.”

“Even so...” she looked at the still empty paper. “You said I had more options?”

“Ah yes,” he leant his chin on his hands. “Option number 2: you can just ask ‘em to give you a clue. It’s likely he’ll indulge you since he already has shown fondness towards you, and he probably wants to reveal himself later anyway, if he wants to win your affection with these gifts.”

“Option number 3,” he splayed his fingers out against his cheek as he was leaning his chin in his palm, “Indirectly ask him. Try and get a correspondence going, and see if he gives you some clues during that. You could place a public request and then maybe he’ll arrange something so you can personally write him letters. We can either try to catch him while he comes to collect the letter or see what he writes back.”

She listened to his suggestions and waited for him to finish, so when he looked at her as if to say ‘so? What do you think?’ she said, “I think I like option 2 the best so far.”

“Ah, direct and to the point, as expected of you, Teach,” he grinned. “I’d be inclined to go for option 3 myself, just to see what kind of reaction I’d get. Oh, and don’t forget the thrill of the chase, of course.”

She dipped her quill into the jar of ink. “Which one would most likely get me an answer?”

He mused, tapping his fingers on the backrest. “Well, definitely option three. But that isn’t to say that option two wouldn’t get you a response, though. I think your anonymous lover would be glad to see your interest in his identity no matter what route you go, to be honest.”

He shrugged. “Hypothetically, if it were me, I’d be glad to feed you a hint about my involvement anyway at some point. So might as well hasten it a little by taking initiative, right?”

She nodded and quickly went to work. He leant forward, tipping the chair to watch what she was writing. Ah, their closeness was comforting. The letter she was writing was making her slightly nervous if she was honest, and even if it wasn’t as much as she _should_ be feeling, his presence soothed her worries. She briefly imagined aiming her letter at the boy sitting beside her- but that just made her nerves return tenfold. She shook her head and continued writing her letter to the nameless receiver and when she finished she looked at Claude for approval.

He quickly finished reading after and he he gave her a look. “Teach, you know that this is all very formal right? You gotta throw the fella a bone here, you know?”

“A bone?”

“You know,” he took the quill from her hands, fingers brushing and while he didnt noticeably dwell on it she felt a quick jolt go through her fingers. He took another empty paper and quickly scribbled his own note. He did get a word smudged, but when he showed off his version of the letter with a “Like this” she immediately was reminded of his birthday card to her.

He had written quickly, but the same loops and t’s stared her in the face and she couldn’t help but smile faintly while she read his letter. Her smile dropped when she finished reading.

“Absolutely not.”

“Aw but Teach,” he whined. “It’s more fun this way. Besides, a little wink and a flirt like this will make him more likely to indulge your request.”

“This will get me fired.”

“I’m sure Rhea won’t permit that.”

“Alright. I will not get fired. But Seteth will have my head if I hang this in a public place where Flayn could read it.”

“Fine,” he sighed resignedly, not without a smile. “We can use your letter. As long as we get the message across it will be fine, I imagine.”

She smiled. “You couldn’t help but want to tease, didn’t you?”

“Ah, you caught me,” he grinned. “But yeah, if they’re so bold to leave you gifts I can’t help but want to tease them right back. It’s our beloved Teach he’s making a move on, you know.”

“That may be so,” she said, not sternly but her eyes would make people that didn’t know better think otherwise, “however I should handle this my own way.”

“Yes yes,” he agreed slyly. “I think you got it handled then, Teach.”

She nodded. “I think so. Where should I put this?”

“How about the bulletin board near the classrooms? The knights of Seiros don’t often go near there so if he responds it’s likely to be a student.”

She tapped her quill in thought. “How about we give him a way to respond? I can tell him to write a letter back to shove under my door.”

“That’d be risky for him,” Claude pointed out. “I know I wouldn’t wanna risk getting seen either by other dorm goers or you accidentally opening the door on me.”

“How about he puts the letter in the advice box?”

“What if Seteth decides to empty that? Besides, Teach, still a public place. The church is always under careful watch.”

“You’re not exactly making it easy for me here,” she sighed. “Fine. What would you suggest?”

“Personally,” he stretched out his arms before resting his chin on the backrest of his chair, “I’d suggest asking him to drop the letter on your desk. So far he has delivered everything to the classroom, right? It wouldn’t go out of his comfort zone.”

“I think I’ll leave the delivery up to him,” she answered and stood up from her chair. “If he wishes to respond he will come up with whatever he is comfortable with.”

“Sure thing,” he wobbled with his chair. “So you’re gonna put it on the bulletin board now?”

“Yes. Hopefully I’ll get a response somewhere in the next week.”

“I’m sure he will send you one,” Claude grinned. “He’s probably eager to have some feedback on his gifts so far.”

He got up himself and spun the chair on one of its legs.

“Who knows? He might already reply tomorrow.”

————

That he did.

The next morning, she came early into class to be greeted with a perfumed envelope put neatly in the center of her desk. It smelled of pine needles and lavender, and since she didn’t have any onlookers she went ahead and opened it, not missing the pretty ‘to my dearest detective’ written on the back.

‘Hope this letter finds itself in your hands before anyone else touches it. I can’t say I’m not flattered by your interest in me, so I put another surprise on your chair. Hopefully you look before you sit down.’

The letter continued, but before reading on she decided to pull back her chair to see what he had planned.

Instead on her seat she found a bouquet. Daffodils, daisies & gardenias. It was a stunning bouquet, and she took it in her hands and smelled it. It was lovely. How did he know she loved daffodils?

She sat down, bouquet in her arms, and continued reading.

‘As for the hint to my identity: give me a little more time. I want to do this right. I will slowly but surely paint a better picture of myself, but it will take me a little more time to get there.’

She sighed before reading the final bit.

‘Meanwhile, enjoy the flowers. Maybe a little hint could be hidden in the meaning of them? Who knows.‘

‘With love, your secret admirer.’

She folded the letter up again, taking another sniff at the envelope. It reminded her of a tea blend. She wondered if that was another clue.

She just figured she’d have to spend her free day in the library.

But first a vase.