Chapter Text
“Goddess damnit…” Felix muttered to himself upon seeing his current predicament.
It had only been a few days since he had arrived at Garreg Mach Monastery and he was not very enthusiastic about it. While he did find himself rather pleased with the Training Grounds and found himself liking his Professor, Byleth, nothing else was particularly satisfying to him. In fact, he had a massive list of things that REALLY got on his nerves, be it the fact that there was barely anywhere that he could avoid a conversation of some kind or how the people here were generally VERY annoying. What made matters worse was his classmates, all too cheerful and outgoing (save for Dimitri and Dedue, but he had his own problems with them) wanted him to ‘join in on the fun!’ and ‘stop being so gloomy!’
It's not that he hated everyone, but they seriously need to learn that he didn’t want to socialize much. And plus, it wasn’t just them; his experience with the other house’s members were far from pleasant, be it forced conversations or pranks.
So how does this all tie to his problems at the moment? Well it was lunchtime and every table was occupied. He didn’t even understand how it got to this point, as the first few days here were perfectly fine due to at least one table being available at this point of time.
He sighed and, with his plate of food in hand, left the lunchroom to peacefully eat elsewhere.
Of course, life is just so cruel at times.
Maybe he could sit by the pond and eat with no one bothering him? Nope, Alois’s loud voice as he talked to Captain Jeralt was more than enough to deter him. Perhaps he could try the Main Hall? Unfortunately not, as it was crowded with far too many people for his comfort. He had hoped his room, the Greenhouse, or the Training Grounds might be places for him to find his sought after solitude, but all of those prohibited him from eating lunch at all.
So he came to the one place where he might be able to eat in peace: the Courtyard.
It became immediately clear that it was his fated spot. Sure, of the three benches one was preoccupied by a bunch of sleeping cats, the other, a sleeping Lindhart, but the one right in the middle practically had his name on it.
He would soon learn that his name wasn’t the only one present on it, as when he approached the bench someone else had started to do the same.
He looked at his competition with a glare to make them back off, only stopping when he saw who it was.
“Bernadetta?”
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“This can’t be happening to me…” Bernadetta whimpered to herself, looking at the problem at hand.
She REALLY didn’t like it here at the monastery for a multitude of reasons. People always wanted to talk, they were all too nice to her, some students wanted to hit on her, her Professor, Hanneman, kind of scared her, and so much more! She couldn’t even happily stay in her room, as so many of her classmates were just so...pushy and energetic!
Of course she didn’t hate a single member of her group, it’s just that they knew literally NO boundaries when it came to interacting with her. Heck, even the ones that didn’t push her to do stuff had their own things that made her want to stay away from them (naimly Hubert and the absolutely horrifying aura that he emitted). Even other house members terrified her, but at least they didn’t try to make her leave her room for the most part.
So of course she was going to have a problem sitting when every table was jam-packed with tons of students all socializing. It was practically what hell would look like if Bernadetta were to ever end up there.
“All right Bernie, guess you gotta find somewhere else to sit.” She grumbled to herself as she swiftly left the Mess Hall in search for a place where she belonged.
Fate was really cruel to her…
She would have made a beeline straight towards her room, but she remembered that eating lunch there was prohibited, so her best option was out. The Greenhouse was the exact same story, making her lose another place for her to find peace. Eating by the pond wasn’t too bad of an idea at first as Alois didn’t terrify her one bit; however, Captain Jeralt REALLY scared her. The Main Hall was just WAY too crowded, the short girl retreating moments after witnessing the sheer amount of people there.
She eventually went to the one place that she hoped might have no one: the Courtyard.
What a great idea it was, as there was a bench all alone right there! She didn’t care for the cat and Lindhart sleeping on their respective benches, the one in the middle was all hers!
Unfortunately it really wasn’t, as someone else had reached the bench as soon as she had. The person had glared at her, making her flinch violently and almost drop her food.
Upon looking at the person again, she realized who it was.
“F-Felix?”
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The two stood still in an awkward bit of silence, neither too sure of what their next course of action they should take. It was absolutely silent, save for Lindhart’s snoring, until Felix finally broke the silence.
“I’ll just go sit somewhere else.” He said with and upset sigh, getting ready to walk away. He always found Bernadetta to be a rather odd girl, what with her fear of everything and over the top reactions, he thought he would hate her right away...yet he couldn’t deny that he can relate to her in the fact that he absolutely hates company.
“N-No, you can take the seat! I-I was getting in your way, sorry.” Bernadetta apologized before trying to make an escape. She had always thought of Felix as a terrifying person, but one that was relatable due to him wanting to be left alone all the time. Still, she found him rather scary.
“You weren’t so just shut up and take the damn seat.” The swordsman said to the small archer, hoping she’d do as she was told so that he could search for a new seat.
“I was! J-Just take the bench a-and sit, I’ll find somewhere else to sit!” Bernie said, hoping the intimidating loner would take her offer so that she could go find a seat.
The argument between the two of who should take the seat would go on for a few more minutes before the two of them finally found a compromise.
"Do you want to just...share the bench?" Bernadetta asked, unsure of what she just said. It was so stupid! She was trying to get away from him and now she had just invited him to join her! But why worry? It wasn't like he was gonna join he-
"...sure..." Felix said as he sat down, silently smacking himself and asking why he agreed to sit. He was attempting to sit all alone as he ate his food, and now he had to deal with someone who also clearly wanted to be left alone.
'She’s gonna ask me something any second now, I can feel it…' Felix anxiously thought to himself, not in the mood for any type of conversation, especially after the annoying dispute the two had had. He didn’t even spare her a glance, as that would make it look like he was wanting to talk.
'Oh goddess he’s going to say something to me, I know it! He must be mad after that argument! I can’t handle this pressure!' Bernadetta nervously thought to herself as she tried to avoid any form of communication, not wanting to even look at him in fear that he would say something.
Both of them waited for what they believed to be the inevitable moment when the other would try and force a conversation…
But that moment never came.
Eventually the two finished their respective lunches, walking back together to the Mess Hall while being careful not to be seen together by anyone they knew. Once they reached their destination they deposited their dishes and went their own ways.
'...that wasn’t so bad, I guess…' Felix thought to himself as he returned to the Training Grounds, lost in his thoughts as he made his way there.
'...huh, that was actually nice…' Bernadetta thought to herself as she withdrew into her room, not sure how to feel about her first interaction the intimidating swordsman.