Chapter Text
Felix didn’t want to admit it, being an intimidating man of great strength and minimal compassion, but he was still capable of feeling flustered. Under very specific instances, believe it or not, the almighty Felix, blood rushing to his cheeks, chuckles leaving his mouth, and smiles forming on his face, only found two specific things in this world cute: cats, and Annette. He was struck by this realization after catching her singing in the green house, and days later begging Felix to forget about her singing and dancing. He simply couldn’t, however. Her little feet moving over each other, her smile, how her sunshine-positive energy gave the plants themselves energy and life. Felix himself didn’t understand why he was so curious and encapsulated with her. As of late, the only thing he’s been thinking about, when he isn’t training, was Annette and her singing. Another thing he’s noticed is how his eyes tend to move towards Annette… or so he originally thought.
Really, Annette is naturally a positive and social girl. In the words of Sylvain, “Annette, even Felix likes you. What the hell?!” Dimitri is often talking to Annette about past memories, Mercedes about sweets and baking and the other students, Ingrid with teaching her makeup, and so on. Because of this, it wouldn’t be a surprise that everyone would gather and talk with one another: laughing at each other’s jokes, ridiculing Sylvain, and comfortably poking fun at Dimitri when everyone feels comfortable doing so. It wasn’t just Annette that Felix liked, but everyone else.
Sadly unlike Annette, he’d been doing a lot of staring instead of actually spending time with his friends. He didn't want to admit it, but during this time, he was lonely. Nobody wanted to talk about it, but the Tragedy of Duscur has ultimately affected most of everyone in the Blue Lions, and this trauma had changed everyone and their relationship, in a way, for the worst. Felix never felt comfortable with his friends ever since the tragedy. He found it difficult to casually spend time with his friends anymore. His naturally stubborn personality can’t help but cause Felix to get angry at, well, his life and everyone. He lost his best friend Dimitri, who he fears more than anything turned into a murderous boar monster, and Ingrid fails to take care of herself, to actually live her life free from her parent’s wishes without her feeling guilty - don’t get them started on Glenn. The only exception is Sylvain, since he honestly acts the same compared to before, but the boy just recently saw his bully of a brother die right in front of him. He can tell how his complex towards crests still scars and traumatizes him to this day. What was Felix supposed to do with this information? Help them? Let them vent? Listen to their problems? Be a good friend? Please, Felix doesn’t even know how to take care of himself.
The only chance of forming another friendship anymore was if Felix spoke with someone not from his past. That left out about half of the Blue Lions in the picture. Well, Felix couldn't help but feel angry when talking to Dedue, even though the two weren't close by any means. His frustration towards the retainer built up the more he looked at that retainer, not having the courage or will to speak up against the prince, failing to see the inner demon that lies dormant within him - Felix couldn’t stand anyone praising that false prince. For Ashe, Felix couldn’t bear another minute of the boy speaking about his idea of knighthood and his dream of serving the king - seriously, why does everyone love that boar? - and then there’s Mercedes… he already screwed that up. Mercedes, possibly one of the kindest souls in all of Fodlan, was obviously opening herself up to Felix about her little brother - showing that she still bears the scars of them being separated, missing him deeply - and what does the swordsman do? He tells her to go away. The only blue lions left to comfortably befriend Felix at this point was Annette... and he possibly screwed that one up as well.
...
“Wait, Felix said what?!” Annette yelled. She was outside of the dining hall talking to Mercedes. The singer noticed her friend upset and alone, walking through the monastery alone.
“Hush Annie! It’s not his fault. I was the one bothering him,” Mercedes said in a strong whisper. The last thing she’d want is to start a scene in the middle of the dining hall. The tense unwanted attention from the student’s eyes would be unbearable with how depressed and concerned Mercedes was feeling then.
“Do you want me to talk to him?” asked Annette,
“Oh, you don’t have to Annie.”
“But, Mercie-”
“I’m sure I will feel better by tomorrow. It’s my fault that what he said is still bothering me.”
“Mercie, you talk like this happened years ago. This happened just the other day,” Annette quickly put on a fake stern face to mockingly mimic Felix, “Can’t you find someone else to bother?” She said with a deep voice. Mercedes laughed quietly at her impression.
“Haha, please Annie, that is rude to Felix!”
“Oh, so Felix can be mean to you, but I can’t call him out on it?” Annie said seriously. Mercie’s smile disappeared as she pondered on her best friend’s comment. The little girl obviously saw the healer struggle to come up with an excuse to brush off Felix’s comment. An idea for a response then flashed across the woman’s eyes.
“Annie, you know I’ve gone through much worse in my life than a few rude words. It was my accident projecting my brother onto Felix. I simply don't have to make that same mistake again, and then both parties will end up happy, yes?”
Annie was admittedly a bit annoyed at Mercie’s sound argument. It’s just… the lack of justice against Felix’s harsh attitude. The girl was trying to find another reason to confront the swordsman. Mercedes patiently waited for a rebuttal… and nothing was said.
“I’ll be find Annie, don’t worry about me.” Even with this assurance, Annette still looked concerned. “Oh dear, it seems that something is still bothering you.”
“Well, of course! Felix hurt you!” Annette said, as if trying to convince herself of the severity of the situation.
“Annie, I already told you, I’ll be fine. If it makes you feel better, having my best friend talk to me and care about me so much is already making me feel better!” Mercedes reassured Annie. Again, Annette looked as if she’s struggling to find an excuse to confront Felix about this… to talk to Felix at all. She continued to look down at her feet, lost in concerned thought.
“... Annie, I have an idea,” this had Annette look up at Mercedes caring, soft eyes, “how about you wait until tomorrow, and see if you think it’s still necessary to talk to Felix about this.”
“Why wait until tomorrow?” Annette usually energetic and perky voice was starting to emit life again. This relieved Mercedes, knowing that her best friend won’t be losing sleep over worry about her.
“I want you to wait until tomorrow to see if you still find yourself upset over the situation. If you feel the problem still requires you to confront Felix, then by all means talk to Felix tomorrow. If you do end up speaking with him, I'd rather you do it after a day of thinking and calming down, and not now in the heat of the moment.” Annie looked a bit disappointed and troubled, as if she was secretly hoping to find a reason to talk to Felix. The swordsman was a naturally mysterious boy, with how stern and emotionally closed off he was. His harsh words sliced through anyone’s throat when he was serious about something. His dry speech mannerisms made it so that he had no filter. Many couldn’t help but wonder what made him this way, and why he acted so cold to everyone, no matter what scenario. Since the green house incident, and Annette speaking to him in his dorm, she was secretly flattered that this was the kindest and least harsh she’d seen him. Even though Annette told Felix that he was a “meanie”, it was simply a case of her being childishly embarrassed and panicking a bit. However, it surprised Annette how Felix didn’t chastise her for it, and her singing even sparked conversation between the both of them. She found it cute that this serious, cold, admittedly handsome teen boy was entranced by her silly little songs. For a while, ever since their conversation, Annette had wondered what made it that Felix was nice to her, but mean to everyone else.
“Ok, Mercie. You win. I’ll wait to see if it’s still ok to talk to Felix about this.”
“Good, I’m glad that you’ve calmed down and thought this through. I’m going to my dorm now to do some work, but know that you helped and made me feel a lot better today. Thank you, Annie!”
“Anytime, Mercie! You’re my best friend.”
“You too, Annie.” Mercedes began to walk away from the dining hall, while looking back at Annette still smiling. The baker waved at the little girl, and the singer waved back, smiling. When Mercedes was out of sight, Annie put her hand down as her smile disappeared. She let out a big sigh.
“Oh, Mercie, Felix…” Annette said under her breathe.
Felix, why would you say such a mean thing to Mercie? I thought you were better than that. After that talk we had about my songs and dances, and how you didn’t make fun of me, and made me feel accepted, I thought you were a nice guy. I thought you would finally start to act more kind to the other blue lions. I thought you would start to… care. Why... why me?