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Edelgard’s chest puffed out as she let out another heavy breath. Turning her face from side to side as she inspected her face for the fifth time on the vanity mirror.
She had a date planned out with Byleth today. At first she was all flustered and excited for her date. But now, even her cat— Aymr, could figure out the slight crease on her forehead starting to deepen.
The bicolor ragdoll trained her eyes towards her owner, standing up momentarily to jump from her comfortable spot on Edelgard’s bed, she padded softly towards the frowning heiress, eyeing her carefully.
Letting out a shaky breath, she dropped both of her hands on her lap, bunching up her pencil skirt in-between her fists. Aymr went ahead and nudged Edelgard with her head, purring lowly as Edelgard bent forward and scratched Aymr’s fluffy ears in return.
“Oh, Aymr...are you trying to cheer me up?” Edelgard asks quietly, her cat purred into her hands in response, making her smile.
“To be quite honest with you, i’m feeling incredibly nervous for today’s date. I mean, what if i mess it up somehow?” Edelgard ran a hand through Aymr’s shining coat. “What if i accidentally went to the wrong place or i scare her away with how i normally eat—?” Her words got cut off by a soft mewl from Aymr. The ragdoll’s steely blue eyes stared at her, as if she was questioning Edelgard’s worried thoughts.
Breaking the silent staring contest, Aymr mewled at Edelgard, nudging her head at Edelgard’s palm.
By now, Edelgard was no longer sitting on the soft plush chair of her vanity, opting to slide down to the floor, bringing her nervousness down with her body.
“I guess you’re right, Aymr. It hasn’t even happened yet, and i’ve already worn myself out. Sorry for worrying you...” she sighed softly, smiling as the feline stood up in its four legs, circling Edelgard slowly before jumping up and plopping down onto the chair that was previously occupied by her owner.
Edelgard shook her head as she chuckled at the way her cat’s antics. Cupping Aymr’s ears in her hands, she kissed her forehead a couple of times, saying, “You are the most spoiled cat in history, do you realize that?”
Aymr responded with another mewl.
Edelgard clicked her tongue while watching the clock tick on her bedside table. It was almost time for her scheduled date with Byleth. In just mere minutes, she would have to leave her penthouse and walk towards the place they decided to go to on their first date.
To say that she wasn’t excited or happy was an understatement. It was all Edelgard has been thinking about for the past few days, and no, she couldn’t possibly forget about it. Heck, she even scheduled the day of the date on all of her calendars; journal, phone calendar, and even her office’s calendar. It was hard to even finish any of her work when all she has been thinking was her upcoming date with Byleth.
Dorothea and Hubert had came over to help her to get ready. Of course, she was the one who invited them over, although Ferdinand definitely wasn’t supposed to be there. Ferdinand did help with deciding which beret Edelgard should use though; a simple red beret, Edelgard’s favorite one. It was a start.
When Dorothea opened the door to Edelgard’s gigantic closet, all of them had the same exact reaction, well except for Hubert that is— he had gone to Edelgard’s place more than a few times to not ignore the ridiculously large selection of designer clothing, not to mention the amount of things kept inside; like her secret teddy bear stash, for example.
Hubert shook his head when Dorothea mentioned that she could literally live inside Edelgard’s closet and was earned by a round of laughters as she exclaimed so.
They did managed to make do with whatever Edelgard had sitting around her closet though— which was not an easy or an exciting process, by the way.
Edelgard was nevertheless satisfied by the results of her friends’ work. She smiled at her reflection in the floor-length mirror, she felt so... different. But in a good way, she thought to herself.
———•••———
Edelgard walked steadily upon the all too familiar road ahead of her, humming a lullaby that her mother once used to sing to her before she went to sleep. The thought of her mother singing it to her had made her heart beat even more. And even though Edelgard had just called her mother last night, in an attempt to take her mind off things, she still felt bad that she didn’t informed her mother about her seeing someone. Oh, well... she would just have to tell her after the date was over.
Edelgard took a deep shaky breath as she stopped outside the bakery shop, adjusting the strap of her bag, she closed her eyes to pray for her mother and father’s blessing. The heiress entered the small building and looked around her surroundings. The bakery— although small, was pretty packed with customers. Probably because it’s the start of a long weekend.
Edelgard’s eyes kept searching for a woman with teal hair, squinting at the massive crowd in front of her, she could see a hand waving towards her in an excited manner. Peeking from the side of a person’s shoulder, Byleth called out to Edelgard. Gesturing her to stand beside her in the atrociously long line.
“Hey, glad you could make it.” Byleth says, handing out a small tray to Edelgard for her to put her own selection of desserts.
“Of course, i wouldn’t miss it for the world. Hope you weren’t waiting for too long.” Edelgard thanked her as she took the tray, holding it close to her chest, before the both of them moved a tile forward. Byleth dismissed her with a simple wave of her hand.
Byleth looked over to Edelgard and smiled cheekily, leaning over to whisper in her ear, “You look great by the way. That beret suits you.”
Edelgard blushed as soon as Byleth’s soft breath left her ear, she gripped the tray underneath her chin, and muttered a thank you, before mustering up enough courage to glance at her date.
And by the goddesses, why does Byleth still look so good even when she’s only wearing a graphic tee, jeans, and a bomber jacket on top.
Edelgard felt her breath stolen away as she stared at Byleth, mindlessly chewing her lip. Good goddess. Why is she so effortlessly cool?! Everything about Byleth had seemed so cool and attractive before but, there’s this one thing that made the taller woman even looked more attractive to Edelgard. And that was her jacket. Yes, her jacket.
It was almost too impossible for Edelgard not to get distracted by her broad shoulders, and not to mention, Byleth’s arms. They were a lot muscular than she thought. Edelgard knew that the woman must have used a lot of arm muscle in her workplace. Maybe Byleth even went to the gym, who knows, well not Edelgard that is.
Edelgard silently wished that Byleth would feel hot enough to shrug her jacket off and—
“Edelgard?” Edelgard’s thoughts were cut off momentarily by Byleth’s voice. Muttering an apology she didn’t dare to look at the number of customers behind her or even Byleth to that matter. If she would just look up at Byleth for just a second, she could see the satisfied wolf grin on Byleth’s face. But, she didn’t. Instead, she was entranced by the variety of desserts to choose from. Forgetting all of her wild fantasies, she began to scan for her sacrificial lamb.
Not wanting to make the other people angrier, she quickly picked out her favorites. An advantage for being a usual customer at the bakery, she single-handedly memorized all of the different types of pastries and puddings that the little store had.
Byleth however, only stood beside Edelgard with a still baron tray. Edelgard raised a brow, earning a respond from Byleth, “I just don’t know what to get. There are so many to choose from, unlike our café, this bakery’s menu is like... ten times bigger!”
Edelgard gave a light chuckle, offering Byleth a smile, she took a brochure, listing everything they had in stock right now. Edelgard stepped closer to Byleth, “Here, let me help. It’s easier to pick from the menu, then you can tell one of the employees to hand them out to you,” As Byleth nodded understandingly, Edelgard pursed her lips together, “What flavor do you prefer? Maybe i can recommend some of my favorites.” Byleth hummed thinking for a moment before answering, “Green tea.”
Edelgard smiled, pointing several choices for Byleth to choose from. “I didn’t pick you for a green tea lover.” Byleth shrugged, “I’m not.” She answered as the both of them sat in opposite ends at a secluded table. Edelgard blinked before tilting her head, “...you’re not?”
“Nope.” Popping the ‘p’ enthusiastically, “I usually go for vanilla or chocolate. I don’t know, i guess i wanted to get out of my comfort zone for once,” Edelgard nodded thoughtfully, placing both trays aside. “It also kinda looks like my hair a little.” Edelgard choked on her drink, gulping it slowly before she stared back at Byleth’s innocent gaze.
“Did— did you just made a joke about your hair?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Byleth smiled amusingly at her. Edelgard laughed quietly, sighing as she shook her head, before slicing through her favorite dessert, saghert and cream “You never cease to amaze me, Byleth.”
“Well, i have to, for you.”
Edelgard suddenly bit her fork as she puts the dessert inside her mouth. Wincing as she could feel her teeth clatter a bit.
Byleth laughs at Edelgard, earning a glare from the smaller woman.
“Having fun there, Byleth?”
Byleth leaned towards Edelgard, grinning at her teasingly, “Oh, yeah, lots of fun.”
Edelgard rolled her eyes at her playfully, “You know, your friend— Dorothea was the one who told me about this place.” Byleth says.
Edelgard hummed thoughtfully, “I know.”
Byleth raised a brow, as Edelgard gulped down the last bit of her cake, she continued, “I kind of figured it out when she visited me back then. Also, this place has a lot of branches, and this particular one is my favorite to go to. So, i guess it wasn’t that hard to piece everything together.” Shrugging as she finishes her sentence, she wiped her mouth for any cream left on her outer lips, careful not to wipe off the makeup that Dorothea had helped put on for her.
Byleth gaped at Edelgard, amazed. How could she not though? This woman, the so-called heiress was too amazing to be true. Byleth knew Edelgard was a smart woman from the very first time she met her, but she didn’t expect her to be this brilliant. Her choice of words, and how she interpreted them were like poetry, songs. Almost like a series of tunes inside her head, her voice is something like a dignified and collected woman would use, well not to say that she isn’t, Edelgard’s were somewhat... soothing, and soft.
Byleth gave her a grin, “El, you’re amazing, you know that?” Clasping both of their hands together, her calloused ones on her surprisingly similar texture, probably a result from all of her field work. Edelgard did told her that even though she is the head and owner of her company, she likes to dive down to the field with her other employees, in contrast to the other previous leaders in the company, or to any CEO Byleth knew for that matter.
“You never cease to amaze me. Maybe, that is one of the reasons why i fell for you in the first place, El...” voice falling to whispers, she retracted one of her hand to finish her orders, while still holding both of Edelgard’s hands in one of hers.
Edelgard could swear that she felt a steam coming out from her burning ears. Face equally as red. Edelgard couldn’t exactly remember what happened after that, but it was sure to be on her mind for a while...