Work Text:
As with all grand schemes, it started with a suggestion from Hilda.
“You know Professor, the best way for all of us to bond together would be a camping trip. Just think about how close we would have to be, all together in the woods, bunched up next to each other, roughing it up outside!”
Byleth set down the sword she had been brandishing and sighed, “Hilda, please keep your comments to yourself until after my lesson is finished.”
“Yeah, but you’re always talking about how important it is to raise support and morale when you’re on the battlefield. There’s no better way for us all to mingle it up than when we go camping! Just think about how much learning would happen when we’re actually out in the field instead of a stuffy, old classroom like this.” When Byleth didn’t respond, Hilda took the opportunity to elbow Lorenz in the ribs, releasing an undignified “oof!” from his mouth.
“I must agree with Hilda, Professor,” Lorenz claimed, rubbing his side with a grimace. “It is most pertinent that we are able to go out and gain real-world experience. After all, you heavily emphasize that we get hands-on experience instead of merely reading from textbooks.”
Lysithea turned around from her front-row seat and yelled, “What’s wrong with textbooks, Lorenz?” but when she turned back to the front, she said, “It would be really nice if we did go out into the woods, though.”
Byleth was shocked. What was going on with her students? She had never seen them all agree to something like this before.
She narrowed her eyes at the likely suspect, the golden mastermind himself. Claude von Riegan sat in his usual spot, the middle-left desk, and grinned wildly with his hands behind his head. “Hey Teach, what’s up with your face? You look more pissed off than you normally are.”
“Claude…” Byleth started, but the Golden Deer had already started waving his hands at her.
“Now, I know what you’re probably thinking. ‘That darn Claude, always so handsome and always scheming up something. He probably got all the other students to hype up a camping trip so we would all have to go on one.’ And to that I say, wow, thanks for the compliment, Teach, it boosts my already inflated ego. And I would also say, it would be a great idea, wouldn’t it? Just think about all the tactics you could teach when we’re out in the woods.”
Byleth scrunched up her face, ready to argue with Claude over his dramatic arrogance, but then Marianne spoke up.
“It would be really nice if we could all go,” she said in her soft voice. “There are birds that you can only see in the forest that I want to go meet.”
“Yeah, and think about all the fresh game we could hunt!” Raphael shouted. He pumped his fist in the air. “Venison and quail, maybe we would find a bear! And don’t forget about the fish, I’m sure the forest lakes and rivers would have plenty of types you can’t find here at the monastery!”
Ignatz nodded his head in agreeance. “Yes, the wildlife alone would make this trip worth it. Nature is truly beautiful, and it would be a refreshing sight to see.”
Leonie joined in the battle. “There’s a huge lake and forest in east Fódlan; if we go there, we could pass by my village!”
Byleth was stunned. There was no way to counter all their arguments. Hilda sat at her desk, beaming. “So what do you say, Professor? Surely you can’t say no to allll of us.”
She had been defeated.
And thus, the Great Golden Deer Camping Trip had begun.
They would set off in a week to the woods in east Fódlan and camp by the lake that dotted the border. Byleth agreed to the trip only if the students promised that they would work extra hard on their assignments during this week leading up to the trip, to which they all reluctantly obliged. What she couldn’t understand, though, was why the students – or rather, Claude – wanted this trip in the first place.
She couldn’t deny the practicality of the trip. In truth, she did want to eventually take the students out away from the monastery to give them real battle experience. But it seemed to her that this trip was focused on leisure, and while she wasn’t a stone-cold professor that preached all work and no play, she was dubious of their intentions. Hilda had spoken about marshmallows of all things, and when sweets got involved, Lysithea was sure to follow. They were a hard duo to say no to.
Byleth wasn’t going to let Claude off easy with his little scheme, though. When she said she was going to work them hard this week, she was going to work them hard. Every student had double the practice sessions with their weapons of choice, which threw Hilda into a fit, and every student had extra assignments from their books, which had Raphael sobbing. Even Lysithea was fazed by all the extra work, shouting “I don’t have time for all this!”
Byleth almost felt bad for her student’s suffering, but she didn’t want them to feel like they could just get whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. She wanted to teach them that it feels rewarding when you earn something. Battles didn’t have to just be on the battlefield, after all.
She didn’t want to admit it, but as the week drew to a close, she was actually starting to get excited about the trip. It had been a long time since her mercenary days, and she was itching to get back on the road again and see the world outside the monastery. She even allowed herself to think about how fun it would be to simply relax with her students, especially one in particular. It was hard to deny how nice it would be to sit by the campfire with Claude by her side.
The royal heir of House Riegan was a thorn in her side, but it didn’t come without its roses. Claude’s cheeky, conniving self came with a plethora of charisma and charm, and he was one of her most skilled students in their mock battles. His skill at archery was unrivaled, only matched by Shamir, and he was a natural-born leader. Whenever a student fell, he was the first at their side, making sure they were okay and cracking jokes to get their mind off the pain. He was a good-hearted person hiding under a layer of wise-assery.
Claude tore away Byleth’s attention most of the time, but none of the other students seemed to mind. There was an unspoken truth that Claude and the Professor had this natural chemistry together, and no one wanted to interfere with it. When the two shared meals together, the hierarchy between them shed, and they talked naturally as friends would. The conversations flowed, and Byleth found herself expressing her emotions more than she ever had. They were very close in age, and had she not been his teacher, she could imagine them being something more than just friends. She was almost certain Claude felt the same way.
When the day arrived for their departure, the students cheered at the termination of their work. Even though Byleth chided them, saying that they still would be studying while out in the woods, no one paid her any attention, and they all began speaking enthusiastically about the upcoming trip.
“I’ve brought along my best paints so that I can paint the lake in all its beauty,” Ignatz said. “I’m hoping to find some berries to make more pigments, too. I hear the blackberries there make for a beautiful purple hue.”
“My little sister and I used to go to those woods all the time when we were kids!” Raphael beamed. “It’s gonna be so nice to go back there again! And pushing around logs and rocks that get in our way is a great workout for my muscles!”
Lysithea brought along a spare notebook. “I want to document all the local flora and fauna in the area. I didn’t find much material about these woods, so I want to be able to contribute to the research there.”
Leonie started talking about her village again. “I can’t contain my excitement!” When Lorenz overheard her, he replied, “It is a nobleman’s duty to stop by the commonfolk’s villages once every now and then. We simply must be able to see how the commoners are doing and let them know that their nobles are watching over them.” It took Raphael and Ignatz holding Leonie back to prevent her from slapping him.
Marianne didn’t say much, but she glowed with a small aura about the upcoming trip. She stayed close to Hilda, who babbled on and on about what kind of activities they could do in the woods, and a small pouch of birdseed found its way in her bag.
As they loaded up the wagon that would be carrying their supplies, Claude sauntered over to his esteemed professor.
“So, Teach, are you finally excited about this trip?” He was grinning from ear to ear, and his eyes were scanning the wagon.
Byleth truthfully had been eagerly anticipating what would happen, but she didn’t want Claude to have his coveted satisfaction. “It will be a great learning opportunity,” she merely said.
“Aw, come on, I know you’re more interested in it than that! Think about the stars.” He put his arm around her shoulder and gestured to the sky with a flourish of his other hand. “They’re gonna be so beautiful when we’re away from all the lights at the monastery.” It was then barely a whisper, but Byleth caught a hint of, “It would be nice to see it with you, Teach.”
When the wagon was deemed ready, the class started off on their journey. Claude took it upon himself to be master of maps, and he lead the party in front with a big display of the huge map of Fódlan they brought along. “Just call me the mapster!” he said, followed by a “Boo!” from Lysithea.
Hilda sat in the back of the wagon, determined to not let her feet touch the ground like the rest of her classmates and claimed that someone needed to keep an eye on all their stuff. Marianne walked with the horses, speaking with no one but them. Ignatz and Raphael got into a discussion about the various wildlife (and how they would taste over campfire), and were only interrupted when Raphael needed to suplex a boulder out of the way of the wagon.
Lorenz surprisingly also walked alongside his peers instead of riding in the wagon like Hilda, but he commented how it was a noble’s duty to walk alongside the commoners so that they could understand their struggles. Well, that got into a heated argument with Leonie yelling about how completely ignorant he was about everything, and it took Byleth shouting, “I will turn this wagon around!” to get them to stop. Byleth later tried turning their journey into a lesson about Fódlan’s geographical nature, but the students were so preoccupied with their own endeavors that she promptly gave up.
Claude’s map reading skills were quite astute, and they made good time to their campsite. They stopped by Leonie’s village for a brief moment of respite as she greeted nearly every member there. The gracious villagers, pleased to see their Little Leo again, filled their wagon up with vegetables, much to the delight of Marianne and the horror of Raphael. Their arrival at the campsite was met with great joy, and everyone took a moment to plop down on a rock, log, or the grassy ground to catch their breath.
“I can’t believe we’re finally here, guys,” Claude grinned.
“I can’t believe your little scheme actually worked,” Hilda retorted back.
When everyone had caught their breaths, they began unloading their wagon. Byleth instructed where to set up the tents, where the ideal place for the campfire was, and the best place to keep the wagon and horses. Marianne would be in charge of them this trip (“I-I’ll do my best not to disappoint you.”), and Raphael got into a bet with Claude to see who could pitch their tent up the fastest. Lorenz spent most of his time finding the perfect spot to place his tent in order to best see the sunrise before coming back to the spot he initially chose. Lysithea and Leonie started setting up the campfire, and Lysithea practiced different spells to produce flames that would burn for a long period of time. Hilda delegated all of her tasks to Ignatz.
As her students worked to set up the site, Byleth rummaged through the supplies on the wagon. Where was her tent? She was certain she brought it. It was unlike her to be so careless. There was the blanket she brought and her extra clothes and supplies. But as she moved things around and checked again and again, her tent was not there. Okay, think back to when the wagon was being loaded. She remembered watching the others load up their items. She had walked back to her room to get some things. When she came back, she was distracted by someone. Her body froze.
Claude.
She didn’t know how, but that boy had something to do with her disappearing tent. He was scheming something big.
When the campsite was finished, the party stood huddled up around the campfire. It wasn’t dark enough yet to roast marshmallows or tell ghost stories (“No way, I’m not listening to those!” Lysithea moaned), but it was a good communion point. Byleth was about to begin her first lecture of the trip with everyone gathered, but Hilda cut her off immediately.
“I’m so glad you’re dedicated to our teaching, Professor, but I think I speak for all of us when I say it’s time to get started with the fun part of our trip. Let’s save all the lecturing for tomorrow, what do you say?”
The rest of the students nodded along in agreement, and Byleth was about to protest when Claude and his award-winning smile said, “That’s a great idea, Hilda! I’ve been dying to jump into that lake for a while now.”
The moment Claude said the word “lake,” the whole class scurried to their tents to go change into their bathing suits. Byleth, although annoyed by their lackadaisical attitudes, knew her lectures would be ineffective this trip, and silently agreed to just allow them all to have fun.
The boys were first to change; it was almost instant. They ran to their tents, and the next moment, they were running back out in nothing but their trunks. Byleth tried not to stare at Claude’s bare chest, revealing toned muscles under his clothes all along, and she swore they locked eyes, but he ran into the lake faster than she could be embarrassed. Leonie came next, sporting a cute halter top swimsuit with trunks, and Lysithea wore a modest one-piece. When Hilda came out, she bounced around in her flirty bikini, which Lorenz’s eyes seemed to be glued to. Claude took this opportunity to dunk him underwater, yelling, “Never take your eyes off your opponents!” and the Gloucester boy came back up spitting water everywhere, thoroughly red in the face.
Only Marianne and Byleth stood off to the side as the others played in the lake.
“Do you not wish to join your classmates in the water?”
“Oh, no, that is fine. I like being over here on the land. I don’t want to get in the way of anyone, anyways.”
“Marianne, surely you must know by now that you are not a bother to anyone.” The poor girl was always so hard on herself.
“Thank you, Professor. But truly, I am happier here. I was thinking I might go see the birds now.”
Byleth nodded. “Of course. Stay close to our site, and be sure to signal if something happens.”
“Yes, Professor.”
As Marianne was walking off, Byleth called out, “Actually, I have a favor to ask of you. May I borrow your tent to change in? Admittedly, I seem to have misplaced my own.”
“O-oh! Of course. I don’t mind at all.” Whatever judgment Marianne might have had at the professor’s seeming carelessness, she did not show it.
Byleth grabbed her things and wandered over to Marianne’s tent, where she changed into her practical one-piece swimsuit. She hadn’t been swimming since Jeralt and herself were mercenaries, so it was lucky the piece still fit. When she exited, she noticed Claude looking around nonchalantly before laying eyes on the professor, and he promptly gave her a thumbs up and a wink.
Byleth blushed.
When she stepped foot into the water, Raphael cheered, “Finally, Professor, you’re able to join us!” and the others swam closer.
“We were just about to start a round of water ball, Teach,” Claude smirked, dancing a ball on the tips of his fingers. “Of course, yours truly will be leading the Manly Men team.”
“Well, the Professor is going to lead the Fantastic Females team!” Leonie shouted back. “Isn’t that right, Professor?”
All eyes turned to her. There was no other option. “Bring it on,” Byleth challenged.
The ladies cheered, and Ignatz muttered, “Oh, this is not going to end well,” under his breath, but Claude and Raphael were fired up. They started a round of pumped up warrior cries, each yell louder than the next, which persuaded Leonie and Hilda to start shouting their own cries as well, and soon both teams were consumed with their own yells before Lysithea stole the ball and smacked Lorenz right in the face with it.
“He was your goalie, so that counted, right?” she asked eagerly.
“No, it does not!” Lorenz shouted indignantly, straightening out his hair to its original flatness. “We had not even begun the game!”
“Point one for the ladies!” Leonie cried, and their team cheered. Even Byleth started to smile at their antics.
“Well, the men shall not be defeated so easily!” Claude declared and spiked the ball back to the other side. Hilda smacked the ball back over with grace, which was returned with a power punch by Raphael. Byleth lunged forward to receive the ball, and Hilda called out, “Hey, Lorenz, look over here!” before bouncing up and down in the water.
Lorenz turned a bright red and was distracted enough for Byleth to easily send the ball in behind him. “That’s not fair at all!” he protested, and Hilda began chanting, “Hilda, Hilda, Hilda!”
“Hey, no use of feminine wiles while on the court!” Claude chided, before setting up his service shot. It almost reached the girls’ goal, but Leonie lunged just in time to protect their goal. The shot came flying at Ignatz, who let out a girly cry and flinched at the sight of the ball, but he hit it hard enough to pass it to Raphael, who spiked it into their opponent’s goal.
“Al-right!” he cried. “That’s what I’m talking about!” The men started flexing in ridiculous victory poses, and Lysithea let out a huge, dorky snort. Claude caught Byleth’s eyes and flexed a huge ripple of his bicep at her, causing her to roll her eyes but also turn slightly pink in the cheeks.
Their game continued until they were neck and neck, 6 to 6, with the next point deciding the winner. Everyone was soaked from their lunging and diving, and the occasional swim away from the playfield when the ball flew too far away. It was the ladies’ serve, and Byleth fiddled with the ball in her hand, preparing for the ultimate serve. Claude treaded in front of her, his mischievous eyes following her every movement. When they locked eyes, he gave her a wink that sent shudders down her back. That boy was arrogantly handsome.
Byleth lunged up and spiked the ball to the other side, but Lorenz was prepared this time. He swatted it back over, and it came flying towards Lysithea. She smacked it to Hilda, who slapped it just in front of Ignatz. He took in a deep breath before punting it to the ladies, and Leonie lunged in front of her goal to return to the men. When it landed in front of Claude, Byleth knew it was now or never. Claude prepared his shot, readied his body, and jumped to spike it into the goal.
But Byleth was faster. She jumped out of the water like a dolphin to block his throw. Her hands hit the ball, sending it back towards the men, but that wasn’t what concerned her anymore. Claude’s hand had kept traveling. It was too late to stop himself. It was moving too fast.
His hand connected down onto Byleth’s chest, giving him a fistful of breast.
Thankfully the ladies were too busy cheering over their victory to notice, and the men were already yelling their protests, that by the time Byleth and Claude were back underwater, no one had seen a thing. Lorenz, the sophisticated player that he was, swam over and said, “That was a good game, ladies. I am honored to have been your opponent.”
“Yeah, that was a fun game ‘cause we beat your ass!” Hilda cackled, and the ladies cheered again.
Only Blyeth and Claude treaded in silence. They were both beet red in the face. They refused to look one another in the eyes, and Byleth hated how nicely Claude’s hand felt on her chest. His hands were calloused and rough against her soft, ample figure. It made for a nice contrast.
The sun was starting to set, so the lake-goers exited the water and began preparing their evening meal. No one really excelled at cooking, but Raphael took charge of roasting the preserved meats they brought, and Claude himself roasted the vegetables. Marianne came back to the campsite looking disheartened, and when Byleth asked her what was the matter, she sighed. “I-I’m afraid Raphael’s loud shouts while you were in the water had scared off all the birds.”
The meats were sizzling away with an intoxicating aroma, so much so that Hilda’s mouth began to drool. Lorenz pointed out how unladylike it looked, and Hilda was so angry, she began bouncing around again and chasing Lorenz around the campsite, which threw Lysithea and Leonie into fits of laughter. Leonie was laughing so hard that she fell off the back of the log, which only increased the volume of Lysithea’s cackling snorts.
When the meal was prepared, Ignatz made sure everyone had washed their hands with the soap Leonie brought along, and Marianne gave a short blessing to the goddess, which Claude did not join. Everyone jumped in to grab a plate and the food off the rock where it was served, which Claude lovingly called Platter Rock. One by one, they got their meats and veggies and returned to the campfire, until only Byleth and Claude remained. They had not interacted since The Incident, but when they got their food, only one empty log remained, so it became an unspoken rule that this was to be their spot for the rest of the trip.
Perhaps Claude had schemed this into action as well.
The group was surprisingly quiet as everyone was hungry from the day’s activities. Raphael got up for seconds, and then thirds, before everyone else eventually went back for seconds, save for Ignatz and Marianne. When they reached their seconds, the group began lively conversations about how the day had gone on, how quick the journey had been, and how delicious the food was. Byleth chose to continue eating her food quietly, but listened to the eager voices of her students. She was secretly very happy they went on this trip.
Claude got into their conversations and talked about how tomorrow, they were going to beat the girls for sure (“Don’t say it like that!” Leonie protested), and was so enthusiastic that he shifted around on his log seat, and his leg brushed against Byleth’s. He let out a soft “oh!” and looked apologetically at her, but when Byleth did not move her leg, Claude gave her a grin. Their legs continued to touch for the rest of the meal.
When everyone had finished, and even Raphael had had his fill, the students cleaned up their plates and put away their cooking supplies. Leonie went for a quick dip in the lake to freshen herself up, and Marianne went to go check on the horses. Once everyone had returned to the campfire, Hilda announced that it was time for marshmallows.
“But Hilda, we’ve just eaten our dinner,” Ignatz pointed out.
“Quiet, Ignatz!” Lysithea cried. “There is always room for sweets!”
“And then,” Hilda said, “we can start telling ghost stories!”
Lysithea’s face turned as pale as her hair. “D-do we have to ruin the marshmallows with ghost stories though?”
“Yup! It is simply a necessity to tell ghost stories at a campfire.”
The class went out to the woods to find the perfect roasting stick, and Byleth went along as well. None of the sticks satisfied her, though. They were too thick, or too weak, or covered in mysterious bug goo. She was going to give up and just ask to borrow one of her students’ sticks when Claude came up to her and said, “Hey, Teach, look at this. I found a pair of perfect sticks.” He held one out. “You can grab my stick, if you want.”
Byleth was glad it was dark enough to hide her dirty-minded pink face, but she gladly took Claude’s stick.
They all returned to the fire, and one by one, each student grabbed a marshmallow from the bag they passed around. Lysithea, eager to get started on eating the gooey treat, stuck hers immediately in the fire, which promptly lit the marshmallow ablaze. The sticky cylinder was burnt to a crisp, but Lysithea stubbornly ate it, claiming, “I like my marshmallows roasted this way!”
Raphael also burnt his, claiming his muscles got in the way of perfect roasting. Lorenz chided him, saying that roasting marshmallows was an art, and one needed the upmost patience and attention to create the perfect roast, but his, too, burnt.
Leonie got too eager to eat her marshmallow and it was undercooked, so she grabbed another marshmallow from the bag and shoved it into the fire, finding the same fate as Lysithea’s marshmallow from before. Ignatz tried to offer to roast one for her, but Leonie was so fired up in getting the perfect caramelization that she went through five more marshmallows before copping out from a stomach ache.
Hilda began roasting her own, but when she became discouraged from her own techniques and noticed the mastery Marianne possessed, she promptly decided that the bluenette would be in charge of all marshmallow roasting procedures henceforth.
Claude was hasty in his marshmallow roasting like the others, and burnt his first, but he saw Byleth’s patience at the fire, and followed suit. Their marshmallows roasted side by side, rotating every now and then to create the perfect shell. When they raised their sticks to investigate their treat, the marshmallows were coated in a perfect toasty brown. They glanced at each other, and with a smile on their faces, bit into their toasty treat. The soft fondant crunched under their teeth and released a messy of ooey, gooey goodness that strung out from the sticks to their mouths, like a string of melted cheese. Claude smiled wide at his teacher, but when he noticed she had a mouthful of goop in her mouth, he burst out laughing and dropped his stick onto the ground.
“My marshmallow!” he sobbed, and Byleth could not suppress a giggle. Claude smirked at her and said, “Glad you’re enjoying my misfortunates, Teach,” and to her horror, he picked the marshmallow off of the dirt and ate the whole thing whole. He gave her a shrug and a sticky smirk, and immediately reached for the bag to roast another one.
Once everyone had gotten into the groove of roasting, and Leonie recovered from her stomach ache, she declared that it was time to begin telling ghost stories. Lysithea squealed and tried to run back to her tent, but Hilda grabbed her by the shoulders and trapped her on her log.
“Have I ever told you of the Ghost of Almyra?” Leonie began (“I don’t want to hear about the Ghost of Almyra!”), and everyone shifted forward on their logs.
“Oh, if this is the story I think she’s about to tell, we’re in for a treat,” Claude chuckled. He turned to Byleth, and a soft expression overcame his face. “Hey, Teach, you’ve got something there.” He pointed to a corner of her mouth.
Byleth raised a sheepish hand to her lips, but Claude was faster. He took his hand and placed her face in his palm before delicately brushing away some marshmallow with a slow touch of his thumb. “I got it for ya,” he whispered.
Their legs were still touching. If there weren’t a bunch of students around them, Claude likely would have kept his hand on her face. Maybe it was time to take a private lesson camping trip.
Leonie continued her tale, a story of a forgotten general of Almyra who came back from the grave to haunt the thieves that burned down his village. She had an amazing talent for storytelling; she paused at all the dramatic moments, talked fast when the action got heavy, and right before the great climax of the story, she talked in a whisper… just a quiet voice… everything was silent… and then yelled when he jumped out screaming with his axe!
Lysithea shrieked and buried her face in Hilda’s chest. Ignatz jumped into Raphael’s arms. Even Claude, as stoic as he normally was, grabbed onto Byleth’s hand in shock. She gave him a smirk, but Claude unapologetically looked back and gave her a huge grin. They didn’t release their hands.
When Leonie finished, she stood up and gave a huge bow, and all her peers gave her a huge round of applause. “Who’s next?” Hilda asked eagerly, and Lysithea sobbed, “Please, no more!”
They all agreed it was best for them to turn in for the night as the moon had risen quite gracefully in the night sky, and Marianne had let out a subtle yawn. When Hilda noticed her sleepy friend, she demanded they all go to sleep to prevent anyone from being too tired the next day. Ignatz poured a bucket of water over the flames to douse the fire, and they all retreated to their tents for the promise of sweet sleep. Only Claude and Byleth remained.
“Are you not going to your tent like the others?” Byleth asked. The air was still, and the world was quiet now that their friends had gone into their tents. The only sounds they could hear were the lazy waves the wind rippled on the lake, and the quiet chirp of a cricket off in the woods.
“Nah, I thought I’d stay up for a moment longer. You can really see the stars well out here in the woods. I haven’t seen the sky this clear since I was in Almyra.” They were still on the log together, their legs touching, their hands clasped even after their applause. “Besides, Teach,” he said softly, “I’m having a good time on this trip with you.”
Byleth couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Is this what you had been hoping for all along, Claude? To spend some time with me?”
Claude feigned a look of surprise. “What, me? Are you saying that I created a scheme to spend some time alone with my professor in the woods under a starry sky? Why, Teach, I’m hurt that you think I had some ulterior motive. I definitely was only trying to get to bond with my other classmates.”
“Mmhmm, sure. And you aren’t responsible for my missing tent, either.”
“Your tent is missing? Oh, man, that’s such a shame!”
“Claude, if you really want your schemes to work, you’re going to need a better shocked voice than that.”
Claude gave her a reassuring grip of the hand, and smiled at her. “Okay, maybe I’ll admit I had a part in your missing tent. But you were the real culprit all along! All I did was see that your tent wasn’t on the wagon, sooo I just didn’t say anything.” He pointed at her with a gotcha! kind of waggle. “You created your own part in the von Riegan scheme.”
“So you admit it was a scheme then.”
“Ah, fine, Teach, you got me. It was a scheme. But come on now, is that really a bad thing? After all, I haven’t seen you have this much fun since… well, since ever. Usually you look like this.” He stared at her with a blank expression, not a shred of joy to be found on his face. Byleth furrowed her brow at his imitation, and he broke out laughing, and Byleth couldn’t help but giggle as well.
“I want to thank you, Claude,” Byleth eventually admitted.
“Oh?”
“Initially I was hesitant about this trip. I didn’t want our class to be distracted by a vacation and I was disappointed how they weren’t taking things seriously. But all of your hard work leading up to this trip proved to me that you guys earned it. I think I have been too strict on you all lately, and I don’t want you all to come to resent me. And I think I’ve forgotten to allow myself moments of peace from time to time as well. It’s easy to forget that I’m still around the same age as you all are.”
“Aw, Teach, you don’t have to be so hard on yourself!” Claude gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulders. “We all love you as our professor. You’re the best thing the Officers Academy has seen in years. You should see Edelgard’s and Dmitri’s faces when I talk about all the awesome things that you have us do. Dmitri almost lost his cool when I told him you were taking us on a camping trip.” He dropped his head a bit, and his voice lowered, a sign that he was taking things seriously. “I hope you know how instrumental you’ve been in shaping me as a person. I used to think that I wasn’t good at anything, that I was just some kid who could shoot an arrow at a moving target, until you came along. Now I feel like if my grandfather passed away tomorrow, I could take his place as ruler immediately. You’re just that kind of person, Teach.”
Byleth almost had tears well up in her eyes. No one had spoken to her like that before. She didn’t know what to say, so she didn’t say anything. She squeezed his hand, and Claude squeezed back.
They spent the next few moments, or maybe the next few minutes or even an hour, staring up at the stars in complete silence. It wasn’t awkward, and there was no pressure to say anything. They simply sat together and looked up at the sky and reveled in the beauty that nature created while enjoying the company of the other. Their bodies did not part, and in fact, the cold air the night brought had them snuggle up closer.
Byleth thought about how nice it would be to gaze at the stars with Claude again. And again. And maybe every night after.
It was Claude who broke the silence first. “So, uh, Teach,” he began. “I have to admit; I actually am getting pretty tired. And you still don’t have a tent, either.” He paused, but Byleth did not respond. He continued. “So I was thinking. You can say no if you don’t want to! But, if you’re comfortable with it, you can just share a tent with me.” He quickly babbled, “But of course, if you don’t want to do that, I’ll just sleep in my own tent and you can just sleep outside, or if you really want to, I can sleep outside and you can just borrow my own tent and I won’t have a problem with it at all, or– ”
“Sharing a tent with you sounds lovely, Claude.”
He let out a sigh of relief. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
Once Byleth grabbed her things from the wagon, Claude led her gracefully to his tent, and pulled back the entrance with a cheeky flourish. She crawled in, and Claude followed suit. She spread out her blanket next to Claude’s, and they both laid down on the sheets.
Claude, taking in the situation, suddenly asked, “Should we have changed out of our bathing suits?” and Byleth gave a “nah” shake of her head. They were silent for a moment before he said, “Thank you, Teach.”
“For what? Staying in our bathing suits?”
“Wha-? No, just – for everything, I suppose.” He paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. “I don’t think I’d be who I am today without you. I no longer see my future alone. I think of you with me now, too. You’re always there in my thoughts. Don’t take that in a creepy way.”
“Don’t worry, Claude,” Byleth said softly, placing her hand on top of Claude’s. “I feel the same way.”
The air was still, their chests rising and falling in sync. In this moment, the world was perfect.
“G’night, Teach.”
“Good night, Claude.”
And thus, the Golden Deer secured another future camping trip.