Chapter Text
Edelgard wakes up on Christmas Eve with equal feelings of excitement and dread.
On one hand, she’s going to spend the day with her family and girlfriend, enjoying the holiday together.
On the other hand, Dimitri is here and Edelgard doesn’t know how to feel about that or what to do about it.
Byleth draws her out of her thoughts by poking her forehead, “You’re thinking very hard for so early in the morning, especially if it woke you up before me.”
“Sorry,” Edelgard says.
“There’s nothing to be sorry about,” Byleth insists. “Are you really doing alright?” Edelgard doesn’t respond, just tucks her face into Byleth’s chest to avoid looking at her. She begins to run her fingers through Edelgard’s brown hair, “You can tell me anything.”
Edelgard knows this, but it’s nice to be reminded that. With a deep breath, she admits, “I don’t know what to do about Dimitri being here.”
Byleth doesn’t say anything, just continues combing through Edelgard’s hair. The familiar gesture is comforting, so she continues.
“It’s much easier to avoid him at Garreg Mach, the campus is so big. But now we’re in cramped quarters. There’s going to be no getting away from him.”
“Why are you avoiding him?” Byleth softly asks. She’s always able to cut to the core issue of the problem, and never holds back.
“You know about my family,” Edelgard says.
“I do,” Byleth nods. “But, you yourself have said that he isn’t a bad person. We both know that. You two might have more in common than you realize, you both survived your families. Maybe it’s time to extend the olive branch. It is the season for peace and love, after all.”
Deep down, Edelgard knew that that was what Byleth was going to say. She closes her eyes, “But what if he rejects the olive branch? What if he rejects me?” Just like her siblings, her mother, and the rest of her blood family? And like always, she’ll be alone.
“Well, then fuck him,” Byleth admits. She continues, and it’s almost like she can read Edelgard’s mind, “But you won’t be alone. Your real family will always be here for you. I’ll be here for you. Now is just the time to take the chance and see if he’d like to be a part of your family.”
Edelgard doesn’t know what to say, so she leans up and kisses Byleth. When they need to part for air, she mutters, “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Byleth says with a smile. She goes in for another kiss, but stops when they’re interrupted.
“Aw, you two are cute.”
Edelgard jumps in surprise. She forgot that Dorothea is now sleeping on their floor because Ingrid is staying in the office. She asked to stay in their room to avoid her crush.
“Good morning, Dorothea,” Byleth says, acting like Dorothea just didn’t ruin a tender moment. “How was the floor?”
“Uncomfortable,” Dorothea admits. “But Edie, I think you should just talk to Dimitri. Nothing bad happened the last few times you’ve shared small talk with him, maybe you two need to just clear the air.”
“That’s funny advice coming from you,” Edelgard counters. “Ms. Changes-Rooms-To-Avoid-My-Crush.”
“Now, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she insists. “It was getting crowded in the office and it’s a bit unfair that you two get a whole room to yourselves.”
“Dorothea,” Byleth says. “You should really just ask Ingrid out.”
“Now that’s a ridiculous proposition.”
“Really?”
She lets out a deep sigh, “Fine. Maybe I should. But . . .”
“All your other romances ended badly?” Edelgard rolls over to look her friend in the eye.
“Bad is putting it politely,” Dorothea mutters. “It’s clear you know my track record with my past flings. I really like Ingrid and I don’t want to mess it up.”
“I know,” Edelgard says. “But you might miss out on something great if you don’t try.”
Dorothea pouts, “Really? You’re hitting me with my own advice?”
“Hey, it worked to get me and Byleth together,” Edelgard smirks.
“Uhg, that’s fair,” Dorothea groans. She runs her hands down her face, “Alright, I’ll consider asking her out.”
Edelgard sighs, “I guess that’s a step in the right direction.”
Byleth’s stomach growling cuts into the conversation, “Are you two getting hungry?”
After a pause, Dorothea admits, “I could eat.”
Unlike yesterday, Byleth and Edelgard are some of the first people down to breakfast (Dorothea decides to take advantage of the free bathroom so she is delayed). Sitri and Jeralt greet them, and the former is already brewing tea for them.
Slowly, everyone else comes down and joins them. Edelgard stays down there until Dimitri descends from the attic, which is when she excuses herself to go get ready. In the shower, she tries to hype herself up, repeating Byleth’s and Dorothea’s words: just go talk to him.
After doing her best to not hog the shower, Edelgard heads back downstairs, head held high. Byleth is at the foot of the stairs, talking with Hubert, but stops to say, “Are you going to talk to him?”
“Who’s him?” Hubert questions.
“I’m going to talk to Dimitri,” Edelgard says with unwavering determination.
“Talk to me about what?” Dimitri asks as he rounds the corner.
Edelgard blinks. She would have liked another second to prepare, but she steels herself and says, “Dimitri, can we talk? Maybe out on the porch, where it’s private?”
Dimitri raises an eyebrow, but nods, “Of course. Let me grab my jacket.”
As he walks away, Byleth pulls her into a hug and gives her a kiss, “Good job! I’m proud of you.”
“Thank-you, Byleth,” Edelgard kisses her back. “But let me grab my jacket.”
“Oh right.”
Byleth releases her, and Hubert says, “I don’t quite know what’s going on but . . . good luck.”
“Thank-you, Hubert.”
When Dimitri returns, the two of them step out onto the porch. Despite grabbing a jacket this time, the cold still bites. Edelgard opens her mouth, but Dimitri beats her to it.
“Before we start,” he says. “I’d like to apologize. I . . . don’t quite know what Hilda is up to, but if I had known that we weren’t formally invited we wouldn’t have come-”
“It’s fine, Dimitri,” Edelgard says with a small smile. “To be fair, technically Byleth’s parents were only expecting me and her, so everyone’s uninvited. However, they’re very accommodating.”
“They are very nice,” Dimitri nods.
The only thing that fills the air is their breath, turning into vapor as the silence settles. Edelgard decides to take the lead, “They are nice, unlike our own parents.”
Dimitri’s eyes go wide. He knows that she doesn’t like talking about their family, considering how many times she deflected the topic back in their freshman year at Garreg Mach. She’s sure he had given up on this long ago.
“I don’t like being that harsh, but I know that they’re not the . . . greatest people,” Dimitri agrees. “But I also don’t know much about your father’s side of the family.”
“You probably shouldn’t get me started on that,” Edelgard admits. “But, just, after a while I got . . . tired of being rejected by them. My parents, my siblings . . . that I was afraid to let anyone else pass my walls. To hurt me by leaving again. That has changed, the Black Eagles and Byleth are my family now but . . . I realized that I never gave you a chance.”
“What are you saying?” Dimitri asks.
“You’re my step-sibling,” Edelgard says. “Maybe it’s time we start to act like family rather than strangers.”
Dimitri smiles, “I would like that-” CRASH! “-What was that?!”
Edelgard steps over to the window and glances in, “. . . I think Caspar introduced Felix to concept of mistle-foe.”
“Wha-what’s mistle-foe?”
“You fight instead of kissing under the mistletoe.”
“. . . Okay, I see why Felix would agree to that. Do we need to step in?”
“It looks like Jeralt is pulling them apart. And they haven’t destroyed the Christmas tree, that’s good.”
The front door opens slightly and Byleth sticks her head out, “Everything’s fine in here, please continue your family reunion!”
She disappears as soon as she comes, but some muffled shouting comes through the walls. Edelgard turns to Dimitri and sighs, “So, where were we?”
“We were talking about fam-” Dimitri gets cut off again, as he looks down the drive. “Is that another car pulling up?”
“Fucking Sothis,” Edelgard hisses. The car is nice, more expensive than any poor college student can afford, but she still asks Dimitri, “Are any of the other Blue Lions coming up?”
“No,” Dimitri says. “It kinda looks like Lorenz’s car?”
“If it’s Lorenz I’m forcing him to drive back home.”
It’s not Lorenz. Instead, the car door opens and it’s the last person either of them expected: Rhea Seiros, the Dean of Garreg Mach University.
“What is Rhea doing here?!” Edelgard hisses to Dimitri.
“I don’t know,” Dimitri shrugs. “A prank from Claude?”
“No, he wouldn’t want the Dean here,” Edelgard insists.
The door to the farmhouse opens again but this time Sitri steps out. She glances over at Edelgard and Dimitri and asks, “What are you two doing out here?”
“We just wanted to talk in privacy,” Edelgard says. “But, uhm, hopefully you don’t mind me asking but why is Dean Seiros here?”
“Byleth didn’t tell you?” Sitri asks. “Rhea’s my cousin. I suppose I forgot in all the chaos to tell you all that she was coming up for the holidays too.”
Rhea scans the porch as she walks up, looking slightly confused as she sees Edelgard Dimitri (as they are the leaders of two of the biggest coed fraternities on campus), but turns to her cousin first, “Hello Sitri, it’s been too long.”
“Ah, it’s good to see you too Rhea!” Sitri pulls her into a hug. “I’m glad you could come up; I know how busy you are.”
“I’ll always have time to see family,” Rhea insists. She glances back at Dimitri and Edelgard and says, “But I must ask . . . why are some of my students here?”
“It’s good to see you too, Dean Seiros,” Edelgard sighs.
“Well, Edelgard is dating Byleth,” Sitri begins. “And . . . Byleth decided to bring some of her friends up for the holidays.”
Rhea raises an eyebrow, so Edelgard suggests, “You should see it for yourself.”
“What does that mean?”
“Why don’t you come inside?” Sitri asks. She opens the door and heads in before Rhea.
Like so many before her, Rhea falls victim to the icy patch and slips. Dimitri runs forward and manages to catch her before she hits her head, but Edelgard doesn’t do anything. As he helps her up, Rhea hisses, “I always forget about that damn icy patch.”
“It’s there every winter!” Sitri insists as the door closes.
Edelgard turns to Dimitri and laughs, “How many people back at Garreg Mach will believe that we ended up spending Christmas with the Dean?”
“Very few,” Dimitri says. “But, if we don’t get interrupted again, we were talking about family.”
“Yes,” Edelgard nods.
“I’d like to act more like step-siblings, rather than strangers,” Dimitri admits. “I miss having family.”
“You do have Ingrid, Felix, Sylvain and the rest of the Blue Lions too,” Edelgard reminds him.
He smiles, “That’s right, I do. And now we have each other.”
“We do,” Edelgard smiles.
The door creaks open for a third time, and Byleth sticks her head out, “So, are you too good?”
“Yes, we’re good,” Edelgard laughs.
“Good!” Byleth wanders out and hugs Edelgard. “Also, I forgot that Rhea was coming and Claude’s out on the back porch losing his mind because he didn’t realize I was related to her.”
“To be fair, we didn’t either,” Dimitri admits.
“Oh. I guess I never brought it up,” Byleth shrugs. “Anyways, Hubert brought out Dice Throne because Lysithea and Dorothea wanted to play more. Wanna join us?”
“Dice Throne?” Dimitri asks.
“It’s one of El’s favorite games,” Byleth interjects.
“It’s very good,” Edelgard sighs. “I’ll admit, it doesn’t quite make sense until you play it, but you might like it. Sylvain played with us last night.”
“Sounds like fun,” Dimitri admits. “I’ll play.”
The three head inside, and Edelgard now has another member of her patch-work family.
After a brutal 2v2v2 battle of Dice Throne, they had lunch, but Edelgard noticed that Claude and Hilda were both absent. She doesn’t think too much of it now, since there’s other things to pay attention to.
Mainly the fact that Dorothea’s still avoiding Ingrid.
It got so bad that Ingrid even came to Edelgard to make sure that she’s alright. Edelgard did her best to explain to them without outing her friend’s crush, but this is getting ridiculous.
After lunch, Byleth and Edelgard remain in the kitchen, sitting at the table while everyone else is in the living room watching a movie.
“I hate to meddle in my friend’s love life, but we need to do something,” Edelgard says.
“She needs a push,” Byleth suggests.
“Like what?”
Byleth shrugs, “Don’t know.”
Their private conversation is interrupted when Claude enters the kitchen through the back door, carrying a large, unwrapped box and a smoothie.
“Hey Claude,” Edelgard asks. “What do you have there?”
Claude smirks and waves the hand holding his drink, “A smoothie.”
He continues walking, and Edelgard says, “I don’t like that look on his face.”
“That is his scheming face,” Byleth admits.
Then, Hilda enters through the same door, carrying an identical box. Edelgard wants to get to the bottom of this, but she is surprised to see that Hilda’s carrying a big box of . . . something, since she usually pretends that she’s allergic to any form of work, “Hilda. Come over here.”
“Edie, I’m kinda busy,” Hilda insists.
“Too bad.”
With a loud sigh, Hilda walks over, “Fine. What do you want?”
“Whatever you and Claude are doing to get Dorothea and Ingrid together,” Edelgard begins. “Byleth and I want in.”
“Oh jeez, I thought you were about to bust my balls over it,” Hilda sighs.
“Dorothea is getting ridiculous about all of this and she needs a push.”
“What’s in the box?” Byleth adds.
“I’m glad you asked!” Hilda deposits the box in Byleth’s arms. Edelgard curiously opens one of the flaps.
“Mistletoe?” Edelgard questions.
“Yep,” Hilda nods. “That needs to go everywhere. Dorothea and Ingrid can’t avoid kissing one another if the entire house is covered in a social convention.”
“What about everyone else?” Edelgard asks.
“Listen,” Hilda puts her hands on her waist. “Do you want to try and get those two together or not?”
“Fine,” Edelgard sighs. “This’ll work.”
“Great!” Hilda claps her hands together. “You two get started on that and I’ll-”
Edelgard grabs Hilda’s shoulder as she tries to turn around and leave,” Oh no. You’re not getting out of this.”
“I think you just wrenched my shoulder-”
“No. I didn’t. All three of us-four if Claude is still in on this-will be putting up all this mistletoe,” Edelgard states. “No worming your way out of this.”
“Uhg,” Hilda sighs. “Fine.”
They join Claude in the living room, who has already rallied Hubert and Ferdinand into lending a hand as well. After they cover the living room in mistletoe, more join in, and within an hour the entire house is decked out in mistletoe.
Rhea looks up from the couch at the ceiling, nursing a mug of hot chocolate, and asks, “Do I want to know what’s going on?”
“No,” Edelgard says. “Probably not.”
Byleth comes up from behind her and kisses Edelgard’s cheek as she wraps her arms around her waist, “Even if this mistletoe idea is a bust, I’d still consider it a win for us.”
Edelgard turns around and smiles, “You just like having an excuse to kiss me a lot.”
“Maybe,” Byleth admits, and leans in for another kiss.
“Can you two please not do this in front of my hot chocolate?” Rhea asks.
“Oh, come on Rhea,” Sitri says. “They’re young and in love. Jeralt and I were like that once.”
As if on cue, Jeralt stops by her side and kisses her cheek. He looks at the ceiling and sighs, “Do you really need this much mistletoe?”
“Okay, now this is weird now that my parents are here,” Byleth admits.
“We can just go into another room,” Edelgard suggests, tugging on her arm.
“Hold on!” Hilda marches into the living room. “I need you two to stop being gross for like five minutes. This isn’t working.”
“What do you mean?”
“Dorothea and Ingrid are still avoiding each other,” Hilda says like Edelgard should be able to read her mind. “Therefore, they are never in the same room, or under any mistletoe.”
“Is that what this is all about?” Sitri asks. “Getting your friends together?”
“Yes,” Hilda says. “It’s our civic duty to get those two dumbasses together.”
“You were right, Edelgard,” Rhea stands up. “I didn’t want to know what’s going on.”
As she leaves, Sitri eyes the ceiling and suggests, “Well, I think you have the mistletoe part covered. You just have to get them in the same room.”
“That’s easier said than done,” Edelgard points out. She gets momentarily distracted when the front door opens and Dimitri and Sylvain come in. An idea forms in her head and she calls out, “Dimitri, can you join us for a moment?”
“Is everything alright?” he asks.
“Yes,” Edelgard says. “But could you do us a favor?”
“Like what?”
“Can you get Ingrid to come to the living room in about twenty minutes?”
Dimitri raises a brow in confusion, but Sylvain asks, “Does this have to do with all the mistletoe?”
“We’re gonna get Ingrid and Dottie together,” Hilda reveals.
“Uhg, finally!” Sylvain exclaims. “You haven’t had to deal with them mooning over Dorothea but doing nothing about it.”
“No, we’ve just had to deal with Dorothea doing the same,” Edelgard sighs. “So, you’ll help us?”
“Of course,” Dimitri agrees. “We all want our friends to be happy, so I don’t see why not.”
“Perfect, me and Byleth will go get Dorothea, while you two get Ingrid,” Edelgard says. “Hilda, make sure the living room stays clear to give them privacy.”
“That sounds like a lot of work,” Hilda groans.
“This was your plan.”
“I can lend a hand,” Sitri offers. “You kids went to all of this effort; I’d don’t mind helping you see it through.”
“This is where I tag out,” Jeralt declares. “I’m gonna go dig out the record player, since the mistle-foe fight broke the radio.”
“So, we’ve got a plan,” Edelgard smirks.
“Operation Dorogrid is a go!” Hilda declares.
“Dorogrid?” Byleth questions.
“It’s their ship name.”
Jeralt sighs, “I don’t understand you kids.”
Twenty minutes later, everything falls into place.
Dorothea was in Byleth’s room. Edelgard lies and says that they’re planning on playing Dice Throne again. That’s enough to get her to come down.
Ingrid was out back, engaged in a snowball fight with Felix, Caspar, Petra, Leonie, and Bernadetta. Edelgard isn’t sure what Dimitri and Sylvain had to do to get them away, but she doesn’t see Sylvain for a while.
But now, it’s showtime.
“So, who else is playing?” Dorothea asks as they walk downstairs.
“Hubert,” Edelgard says. “And Claude.”
“Okay.”
They enter the living room at the same time Dimitri and Ingrid enter from the kitchen. Dorothea freezes and tries to back away, but Byleth and Edelgard stop her.
“You’ve got this,” Byleth insists her. When she turns to Edelgard, she gives her a reassuring nod.
Dorothea takes a deep breath and steps into the living room. Edelgard and Byleth step back to give her privacy . . . but still peek around the corner to watch.
“Uh, hey,” Ingrid begins. They’re still wearing their winter jacket and they fidget with the zipper.
“Hey,” Dorothea replies with a small smile. She nervously begins to twirl the edge of her hair, a clear tell of how she’s feeling.
“I . . . haven’t really seen you around,” Ingrid says.
“I know, sorry,” Dorothea apologizes. “I didn’t mean to avoid you . . . or, well-”
“JUST KISS ALREADY!” Hilda interrupts, shouting from the kitchen. Dimitri steps in, picking her up and carrying her away. Despite her thrashing, she cannot break free from his bear hug.
“Ignore her,” Edelgard pokes her head out. “Just take your time.”
“But just so you know,” Byleth adds. “You are standing under mistletoe. Lots of it, actually.”
Ingrid and Dorothea stare up at the ceiling simultaneously. The former gasps, “That’s so much mistletoe.”
“Oh Goddess,” Dorothea hisses and face-palms. “Hilda!”
“She can’t get to you at the moment!” Dimitri shouts from the kitchen.
“So, well, I guess with all this mistletoe,” Ingrid is blushing so hard their face looks like a tomato. “We should kiss?”
Dorothea’s mouth drops and her eyes go wide, but it morphs into a smile, “We should. Can’t break tradition, after all.”
Ingrid leans in and kisses her, both of them smiling through it. When Ingrid steps back, Dorothea follows them for another quick kiss.
“So,” Dorothea begins. “Once we get back to Garreg Mach . . . would you like to go on a date with me?”
“Yes,” Ingrid says immediately and with wide eyes. “Wait, did I say that too fast?”
“No, you’re perfect,” Dorothea says before kissing them again. She giggles, “I’ll admit, I’m a bit impatient too.”
“FUCKING FINALLY!” Hilda shouts, now standing in the kitchen doorway.
Dimitri looms over her and says, “Sorry, she bit my hand.”
“Hilda!” Edelgard scolds.
“I wanted to see the kiss!” Hilda exclaims.
“Did you all really have to watch that?” Dorothea demands. “Can’t a girl get some privacy!?”
“We went through all of this effort to put up this mistletoe and get you two together,” Hilda says. “Of course, we want to see it through!”
“You all are incorrigible,” Dorothea sighs.
“Well . . . maybe we did need a push,” Ingrid admits.
“You did,” Edelgard says.
“Congratulations,” Byleth adds.
“Alright, I found the record player,” Jeralt interrupts as he comes downstairs, carrying an old, bulky record player. He stares at everyone and turns to Byleth, “Did your plan work?”
“It did,” Byleth nods.
“Is there anyone that didn’t know about this?” Dorothea asks.
Edelgard briefly wonders whether it's a good idea to tell her that the Dean of Garreg Mach also knows, but is thankfully stopped as Sylvain trudges in, his face red from the cold and covered in snow. He stares at Ingrid and Dorothea and huffs, “Did you two kiss yet?”
“Yes,” Ingrid answers.
“Good,” Sylvain smiles. “Don’t say I don’t ever do anything for you.”
“Did Felix destroy you during the snowball fight?” Ingrid guesses.
“No, this was Caspar’s massive-ass snowball,” Sylvain sighs. “It was half the size of him and he tossed it over his head like it was nothing. I thought I was gonna die for a second.”
“That’s one way to win a snowball fight,” Dimitri sighs.
“Now that . . .” Jeralt waves one of his hands in the air. “This is all done, can you kids give me a hand? Let’s get this place set up for Christmas Eve.”
“Does that involve taking down all the mistletoe?” Hilda checks.
He glances up at the ceiling, “That can stay for now.”
About two hours later, after dinner had been served, everyone had squeezed into the living room to celebrate Christmas Eve together.
A fire is roaring, the Christmas tree is lit up, and though it is dark outside the falling snow makes the woods glow. Jeralt turns the record player on, and music fills the room.
I’ll be home for Christmas
He smiles as he watches the record player spin, before returning to the couch to sit next to his wife. Since there’s still plenty of mistletoe on the ceiling, he kisses Sitri’s cheek and she smiles. Sharing the couch with them is Byleth and Edelgard, both of them are as close together as they can manage, with the former practically sitting in the latter’s lap. Edelgard blushes and insists that this is embarrassing, but Byleth quells her with a kiss.
You can plan on me
Hubert doesn’t quite know how he’s losing this game of Dice Throne, since this is only Dimitri’s second game. Hubert is, as always, the Shadow Thief, Claude is the Tactician, Sylvain is the Gunslinger, Hilda is the Vampire Lord, Ferdinand is the Paladin, and Dimitri is the Barbarian. He levels his cold glare at Dimitri as the taller man rolls, and when he gets all sixes, Sylvain and Claude edge him on to take out Hubert. Despite the upsetting turn of events, Hubert knows that’s a smart move since he is the most seasoned player. When Dimitri does so and the Shadow Thief falls, Hubert chalks it up to luck. Ferdinand pats Hubert on the back and insists that Dimitri is a natural. He frowns.
Please have snow and mistletoe
Sitting on the ground are Ingrid and Dorothea, and both of them are still taking advantage of the mistletoe. They sit shoulder to shoulder, their hands tentatively overlapping each other, but every so often one of them turns and kisses the other’s cheek. Hilda sits across from them, smugly smiling every time she catches them kissing until Claude pulls her back into the game of Dice Throne that she definitely doesn’t get. At least the Vampire Lord is hot and Hubert’s out of the game.
And presents by the tree
Despite Bernadetta’s best efforts, she is not able to get away from the festivities, especially when Felix is trying to figure out how she won the snowball fight. He’s still trying to wrap his head around her aim when Caspar laughs and insists that she’s always had a good arm and it’s no surprise that she decked Felix in the head thrice. Felix scowls and criticizes Caspar’s giant snowball, insisting that a snowball fight was about skill. Caspar fires back, saying a snowball fight was about fun. Bernadetta speaks up, saying that she had fun earlier, which is really all that matters. It seems that Felix can’t argue with her and grumbles something under his breath. Caspar couldn’t catch it, but Bernadetta is able to just make out his admittance that he too had fun.
Christmas Eve will find me
Leonie and Lysithea are explaining an important tradition to Petra: shaking gifts to try and figure out what’s in them. The presents under the tree are plentiful and overflowing, all covered with pretty paper. Petra argues that shaking the present undermines the purpose of it being a surprise, but Leonie tries to insist that it’s just something you do. Lysithea adds that the guesses are usually wrong anyways. Grabbing one of the gifts with her name on it, Petra carefully shakes it and holds it up to her ear, looking very confused. Linhardt, who was napping nearby, says that it’s a new hunting knife. The three girls stare at him as he justifies himself, talking about the sound and shape of the gift. Lysithea sighs, as apparently everyone except Linhardt is wrong.
Where the love light gleams
Rhea isn’t quite sure how it ended up like this. When her cousin extended an invitation to spend Christmas together, she was expecting a small family gathering, like usual. Jeralt and Byleth would go out to the pond to play some hockey, while she and Sitri could catch up. She did not expect a bunch of her frat students to be here, spending the holidays with her. But, as she glances around the room and sees how happy everyone is together, she can’t help but smile. That or, her spiked eggnog is finally kicking in.
I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams
If only in my dreams
As the song ends, Sitri stands up and announces, “May I please have all of your attention?”
The room quiets, expect for the record player, which begins to play the next song.
“I’d like to propose a toast,” Sitri says. “I know that this wasn’t quite the Christmas that I was expecting, but it feels like it’s been so long since their house felt so alive. Thank-you all for making this one of the best Christmases we’ve had in a while, and for becoming part of our family.”
“HERE, HERE!” everyone shouts, raising their own drinks.
“However,” Sitri continues. “Next year, we’re doing this at Garreg Mach. There’s not enough room here.”
“That’s fair,” Claude shrugs. “Christmas with the Golden Deer!”
“Oh no,” Edelgard sits forward. “Your dorm is a mess. There’s more than enough room with the Black Eagles.”
“Yes, but the members of the Blue Lions can actually cook,” Dimitri counters. “We’ll make a lovely Christmas meal for you all.”
“You’re all very generous,” Sitri laughs. “But Rhea’s place is big enough for us all.”
Everyone turns to Rhea, who’s eyes go wide and simply says, “No.”
“Don’t be a grinch, Rhea,” Sitri frowns. “But we have a year to plan this. Merry Christmas, everyone!”
As the festivities continue, Byleth leans down and whispers in Edelgard’s ear, “Hey El, do you wanna . . . step away for a bit?”
Edelgard furrows her brows, “Is everything alright?”
“Yeah,” Byleth nods, “I just . . . wanna have you to myself for a bit.”
“Alright,” Edelgard smiles.
The two excuse themselves, and Edelgard watches as Byleth grabs their coats with a raised brow. The latter only smirks, and leads Edelgard through the kitchen and out to the back porch.
Outside, it’s cold enough to freeze your Winnebago but the view is perfect. Snow continues to fall, making a perfect blanket of white. The moon breaks through the clouds, and the still forest seems to gleam for a moment.
“Wow,” Edelgard gasps. “It’s so beautiful.”
“And so are you,” Byleth says, staring directly at her.
Edelgard smiles as she steps closer to Byleth, taking her hand, “So why did you want to come out here?”
“I really did want to be alone with you for a bit,” Byleth says. “And I wanted to give you my Christmas gift early.”
“You couldn’t wait?” Edelgard teases.
“I wanted it to be just us,” Byleth says. She lets go of Edelgard’s hand to reach for something in her pocket, “So, I know we’ve been talking a lot lately, about the future and stuff. We both want to get college done before we take the next step in our relationship so I thought that, uh, a promise ring would be a nice gift.” Edelgard gasps as Byleth pulls out the ring box, opening it to show her a golden band with two gemstones, one red and one blue. Byleth grins, “I hope it isn’t too cheesy.”
“With the pick-up line you said earlier, it’s the perfect amount of cheesy,” Edelgard admits. “Byleth, I love it.”
“I’m glad,” she takes Edelgard’s hand and removes one glove, so she can slide the ring on. “And I’m also glad it fits. But I promise that I’ll stay by your side, and the next steps we take, that I’ll take them together with you.”
“Byleth,” Edelgard mutters, trying to do her best to not cry (mainly because the tears might just freeze to her face). For the longest time, Edelgard thought that she might be alone forever, learning to wall herself off after her family taught her the meaning of loneliness. Byleth was the one who started to break down those walls, and this promise means a lot to her.
“I love you El,” Byleth says, squeezing her hands.
“I love you too,” Edelgard leans in and kisses Byleth.
The two of them stay on the porch for a while, holding each other and watching the snowfall.
“So,” Edelgard begins. “I’m guessing you didn’t want to do this inside because everyone was going to get the wrong idea.”
“Oh yeah,” Byleth says, and Edelgard laughs. “I love our family but they can be dramatic.”
“No kidding,” Edelgard sighs. “But let’s head back inside before they do get the wrong idea.”
“Okay, and we don’t want to miss the Christmas pinata.”
“Yeah . . . wait, what?”