Work Text:
It started with flowers at her door.
Severa was rushing out, late for morning training, and nearly crushed the bouquet with her boots. She stopped in her tracks, evaluating the bundle of lilies by her feet. One of every color, and a small note tied to them with twine. Training nearly forgotten, she scooped them up, careful not to damage any of the blooms.
To my darling, the note read. The handwriting was a scrawl, a cursive that would have been beautiful if it weren’t so forced. Severa recognized the hand. She scrunched her nose, grasped the flowers in her hand, and stomped off.
Inigo’s face of surprise was nearly worth how she hurt her hand pushing the flowers into his chest.
“I am not your darling!” Severa hissed. “How many times have I told you that, you thick-headed dolt!”
“S-Severa,” he stuttered, wide-eyed. “You don’t like them?”
“No!” She knew she was overreacting; in all the times he had flirted with her, she had never been so rough in her rejection. But her heart boiled – just last week she had seen him sitting and laughing with lady Robin. How was he so quick to turn around and want her? Was she just some second choice, a fall back for if the woman he truly wanted rejected him? Severa was worth so much more than that. She refused to be a back up plan.
Even if Inigo had remembered her favorite flower from when she’d mentioned it months ago.
“But, darling-“
“Stop calling me that!”
Severa took a step back, ready to walk away, even as heat rushed to her face. That shit eating grin she hated took Inigo’s features, and he narrowed his eyes. “You’re embarrassed.”
“I am not! I’m angry! You’re a daft, skirt-chasing bastard, and I don’t want your flowers!”
“The pet name embarrassed you.”
“I am not your anything, you dense-“
“I’ll find one you like.”
It was an eager promise, one that rolled off Inigo’s tongue with ease. He was a sweet talker, always had been, but it was always so easy to tell when he was ingenuine. Strange how this time, his eyes had resolution.
“Don’t waste your breath.”
With cheeks to match her auburn hair and fists clenched, Severa spun on her heel and stormed off to train.
That night, Severa crawled into bed early, her hair still wet from her post-training bath. Robin had pushed her harder than ever before, and her sword arm still burned with exhaustion. Afterward, the tactician had complimented her, noting that her hard work was paying off. She had rolled her eyes. Of course she was talented with a sword. The nerve to act surprised was astonishing!
That woman Inigo seemed to care so much for was always so honest in her compliments, though. Genuine. And when no one was there to see, Severa relished in the feeling of being seen.
Sleep evaded her, and her mind spun, eyes wandering her room. It landed on her desk, messy and disorganized. Scraps of paper littered it, ink bleeding through parchment and onto wood. Severa was harsh in her grip of quills, and it poured ink along pages, blurring her words. Not that it mattered – she had only ruined unimportant things. Stupid poems she had tried to write. Release emotion her ass. Her hands had failed to scratch down the words on her tongue, the feelings wrapped around her lungs. It was so stark, rough. Ironic, she supposed. Her journal read the same way. Perhaps that was just her nature.
It was almost sad to see a potential hobby discarded on the desk, paper thrown about. Such a sad desk.
It would look better decorated with fresh blooms, she mused.
Sleep finally took her, and she rose the next morning with sore wrists and light fatigue. It was a free day, no training scheduled for her, and so she dressed in more casual clothes, a loose white shirt tucked into dark pants. When she had buttoned her sleeves around her wrists and slipped her boots on, she headed down to the dining hall.
Severa had hoped to find Owain alone so they could speak (or, her rant about everything and him listen loyally as he always did), but Inigo had found him first. They were talking, and as she grabbed her breakfast, she listened in.
“I swear, I don’t know what to do. She never takes me seriously.”
“Well, dude, in her defense, you do flirt with everyone.”
“I know, it’s just – she should know me well enough to know when I’m serious – hey, don’t give me that look!” Inigo looked at Owain with exasperation, clearly at a loss. She snorted. His endeavor for Lady Robin seemed to be failing. Good.
“Don’t fret, Inigo. Owain, the mightiest of all wing-mans, is here for you! Together, we can vanquish any foe and capture the hearts of any woman. We shall conquest-“
“Morning, Severa.” Inigo cut in, finally spotting her. He flushed, clearly embarrassed they’d been caught.
She sat down next to Owain, facing Inigo. Her anger from the day prior was building up again, and she glared as she bit into her apple.
“Inigo.”
“Owain!” Owain added.
She held out a bagel to her blonde friend. He always ate two for breakfast, but was too shy to grab both. Insisted he’d be judged for grabbing so many. It was ridiculous, but she complied with his request that she get one for him. It was a ritual now, a mark of their friendship. He listened whenever she needed an ear, and she dealt him bagels. It was unfortunate Inigo was there now. Severa could use a good venting.
“How are you this morning, buttercup?” Inigo rested his face in his chin and grinned at her.
“Gods, you’re relentless. Shut up already!” Severa’s redness returned.
“You don’t like it? How about… sugar?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Honey bun?”
“No!”
“…Sugar bear?”
“Quit!”
“Daisy?”
“Will you stop?” She threw her apple down on the table. Several heads around them shot up. Laurent shot her a knowing look from across the room. He understood her frustration – Inigo, in his recklessly bisexual glory, had tried picking him up in the past. “We always do this,” she hissed at him. Inigo stared up at her, mouth agape. “I am so sick of being your fallback! I am more than someone to toy with when your heart is broken!”
Maybe Robin didn’t want him, and maybe that hurt, but that didn’t mean he had to hurt her. Owain said something to her, but she didn’t hear it as she gathered her things and ran off. Her feet carried her faster than her breath could catch, and when she finally stopped, her eyes stung with tears and her throat was raw with air. Looking down as she began to cry, Severa saw she was sitting in the garden of the castle. Among the lilies, the flowers her mother used to tend to. A few flowers on the nearest plant were missing. She laughed as the sobs racked her.
She wasn’t a stupid girl. She knew why her heart hurt so at the idea of being unimportant to Inigo, just another conquest. But she refused to speak it aloud, manifest it into truth. He would never reciprocate. He was nothing but a helpless flirt, and she was just a victim. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to force the crying to stop and failing. By Naga, she was such a stupid girl to fall in love. Not now, not during a war. How could she be so foolish? This wasn’t one of her mother’s romance novels, where the man would vanquish the evil and come back to sweep her off her feet. People would die. She could die. Inigo could die. And any romance aside, he was one of her best friends. She had to focus on being stronger, keeping the three of them safe. Not crying among the lilies and longing for a boy she couldn’t have.
Severa refused to look over as a body sat beside her. She knew who it was. She didn’t want him to see her like that.
“I didn’t mean to make you cry,” Inigo said softly, putting a gentle hand on her arm. She wanted to pull away. She didn’t.
“Y-you’re an ass,” she choked out. “You have no right to treat me like this!”
Years of feeling slipped from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. He had no way to know his flirting hurt so much. But she had a right to feel, a right to hurt. And in her bones she trusted him to understand that.
“What did you mean?” He asked, gentle as before. “When you called yourself a fall back?”
She rubbed her eyes angrily, certainly making them a harsh red. “You only ever flirt with me when you’ve been rejected, and it’s not f-fair to me. If you really wanted me, you would be genuine, not running off to the next floozy the second she-“
“Hang on,” he interjected. “What do you mean? I haven’t even been rejected recently.”
“…Robin?” She finally met his gaze, arms wrapping around herself again.
He laughed. “No, Severa, no… I’m not into Robin. She’s just a friend. She asks me about our future a lot. That’s why we’re together often.”
Severa huffed, turning away. But if he didn’t want Robin…
Another volley of tears silently fell. Damn it all.
“Severa,” Inigo whispered, wrapping his arm around her. “Don’t you ever wonder why I always come back to you?”
She looked down at her feet. She hated herself for being such a stupid girl.
“I… it doesn’t matter, I suppose. I hurt you. I promise, I’ll stop. I never meant to make you feel like I didn’t care. Not you.”
She leaned into his touch. “Why do you do this to me?”
For a moment she let herself have that moment, eyes drying and his heart on his sleeve, before a bitter rage took her again. She was falling right into his stupid trap.
“Get off!”
She shoved him away and jumped to her feet.
“Sev-“
“You,” she pointed, “are a selfish, womanizing, desperate, no-good dossy! You have no right to just assume I’ll fall for anything you say! We’re too good of friends for you to do this.”
“I had no idea some flowers would do this.”
“Oh, shut up!”
“That’s not the problem, is it?” He stood up as well, brushing some pollen off his shirt. “What has you so upset? You don’t usually react like this.”
She spun around to face him, tongue angry.
“Because I love you, you moron!”
Soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted them. Hands clasped over her mouth to prevent any more projectile confessions, Severa watched as Inigo processed what she said. His countenance wandered all over, from shock to confusion to smug to pleased.
“Sev,” he murmured after a long moment of silence. “Why do you think I always come back to you?”
She didn’t answer. If she spoke, it would be to ridicule him. Perhaps now wasn’t the time.
He stepped closer to her, avoiding trampling any flowers, and gently pushed her hand from her mouth.
She could see in his eyes what he intended to do. She stepped closer.
His hand cupped her cheek as he leaned into their kiss, the other brushing through her loose hair. She shuddered at the touch, hands taking fistfuls of his shirt and tugging him into her. She’d never kissed anyone before, and she was sure it was a poor one, but Inigo knew what he was doing and took the lead. They only split when she was gasping for breath and noted with pleasure he had slipped a flower into her hair.
“You- I mean, you-“
“I love you, Sev,” he whispered, pulling her into a hug. She clung to him, even as happiness bloomed like a vine in her heart. “Always have.”
“You… why didn’t you tell me, jerk?”
“Would you have believed me?”
That was a fair point. Not that she’d admit it.
She held on to him for a long, silent minute, desperate to have him close. If they were going to do this, it had to be true. She couldn’t stand to lose him now.
If he died in this stupid war, she swore she’d kill him.
“Owain will be happy,” Inigo remarked. “He was getting irritated with me talking about you all the time.”
“You told him and not me?!”
“He’s my best friend?”
“We’re all friends, jackass!”
“I know, I know,” he muttered as he pulled out of their hug. His hand took hers at the same time, intertwining their fingers. Her heart fluttered like a school girl. Pathetic.
“Let’s go,” Inigo said. “People could see us here.”
Severa nodded. She wanted to tell people in her own time. Also, this would be embarrassing to be seen. She wasn’t touchy, not in public.
“So…” he mused as they walked. “How about cinnamon?”
“Seriously?”
“Baby doll?”
“Absolutely not.”
“…My love?”
Her cheeks flushed at that one.
“You like it!”
She rolled her eyes as he cheered, but in truth, there was nowhere else she wanted to be.