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“Ashe, it is rather late.”
“Oh!” Ashe’s head snapped up, looking out the window to see the moon high overhead. “I did not realize,” he answered with a soft laugh.
Dedue frowned at him. To be fair, his face did not change over much, but Ashe saw the slight downturn of his lips, knew it for what it was. He laughed again, trying to pass it off. “You have been getting caught up in work quite often of late,” Dedue pointed out.
“Ah, well,” Ashe started, going back to his task of wiping down the bar top. He had long ago sent home his bartender for the night, and the guests had either cleared out to the rooms on the second floor of the inn or gone back to their own dwellings. Besides the night watch, Ashe was not sure if anyone besides himself and Dedue were awake in the entire town. “There is just so much to do. The inn is doing so much better than I could have hoped.”
A slightly rise in Dedue’s brows, not quite shock, but certainly not the mocking disbelief someone else might mistake it for. “You did not think that an inn run by one of the heroes of the war, someone who turned down the chance of becoming a knight for His Majesty, would attract attention?”
“Not so much,” Ashe mumbled, eyes focused on the swirling patterns within the wood he was determined to clean. “I had hoped certainly, but I thought the novelty of it would wear off after a year or so.”
“And yet you have as many customers as when you started, if not more.” Ashe could have sworn he heard notes of pride in Dedue’s statement, and looked up just in time for a plate of food to be waved in front of his face. “You forgot dinner,” Dedue pointed out.
Ashe opened his mouth to protest, but his stomach cut him off with an embarrassingly loud growl. His cheeks flushed, but Dedue just set the plate down, the corners of his lips turning in the opposite direction this time. “I am glad you have helped spread a part of my culture I care so deeply for, but I wish you would take better care of yourself, Ashe.”
Ashe’s stomach sank. “I didn’t mean to disappoint you, Dedue.”
Dedue’s eyes widened in visible surprise and he shook his head. “Never, Ashe. You are one of the kindest, most dedicated people I know. You cannot disappoint me.”
Ashe’s heart did a funny little flip flop in his chest. He had to force himself to take a deep breath, to swallow against the lump in his throat. Ashe picked up the fork offered to him, taking a tentative bite of the offered food. He moaned softly before he could stop himself, spices bursting with flavour across his tongue. The rich cream that settled on his tongue had the slightest touch of heat to it, but it followed with a smoothest that eased before the spice became overpowering. Ashe quickly took another bite, his hunger reasserting its presence, but he made sure to savour each bite.
“I don’t think I’ve had this dish before,” Ashe pointed out as he speared a few vegetables on his fork. They were baked in a combination of seasonings that made them both sweet and spicy at the same time. “It’s delicious!”
“It was one my mother made only for special occasions,” Dedue explained. There was that little smile on his face, the one he got whenever he talked about his family and cooking in the same thought. “Some of the spices are a bit expensive, I do apologize for depleting your stock of them, but I felt you deserved a treat.”
Ashe was blushing even as he waved off Dedue’s concern. “Dedue, I’ve told you before, you are free to use anything in the kitchen. This place would not be here without you after all.”
They fell into an easy silence, Ashe continuing to munch on his food. Dedue leaned against the bar, his eyes scanning the room. The fire had nearly gone out, the low light licking across his face. He was beautiful.
Ashe choked on a piece of fish, coughing as Dedue turned concerned eyes to him. “Are you all right?”
“Y-yes,” Ashe wheezed out. “I’m sorry, I think I just got a little overeager there.”
Dedue did not seem swayed, continuing to stare at Ashe. “Please, Dedue, I’m fine. Really,” Ashe insisted. “It’s really good. I just bit off a little more than I could chew.”
Dedue hummed, the sound deep and rumbling, but his shoulders relaxed as he finally accepted Ashe’s words. He settled back down, but this time his eyes did not turn back to the room. They lingered on Ashe, and Ashe could not stop the heat he felt burning against his cheeks. “I am serious, Dedue,” Ashe said, searching for anything to distract him. “You taught me so much. I wouldn’t have made a menu I love so much without you.”
Dedue tilted his head slightly. Curious. “May I ask you something, Ashe?”
“Of course,” Ashe answered quickly.
“Why did you not take the knighthood when His Majesty offered it to you? It was your dream for so long, or so I thought.”
Ashe tore his eyes away from Dedue, twirling the fork in his hand to keep himself from fidgeting. “Well, yes it was. But, I guess at the end of the war, I wanted something else. I didn’t want to hold a weapon any longer. And when I thought of following in my father’s footsteps, of having my own kitchen and sharing my food with people, it just felt right.”
“And you chose Duscar cuisine?”
“Ah, yeah.” His head tilted up again, breath catching at the sight of Dedue’s face and that low light again. It cast him in shadow, but that light made him shine so brightly. “I...I remembered what you told me about cooking with your mother and sister, about how you were able to keep them close. I thought about it, about how I wanted to keep my own family close. And, ah, I don’t think I’m keeping my explanation very clear.”
“It was what you thought of when you made Duscar cuisine?” Dedue asked to clarify.
“Yeah,” Ashe nodded.
“I am glad,” Dedue said after another long beat of silence. “Teaching you has been...pleasant.”
Ashe was grateful for the low lighting, hoping it hid his blush that was only worsening. He would be a liar if he said he had not dreamt pleasant thoughts of Dedue before now, had not felt Dedue’s hands linger on his own when teaching him a new technique and longed to hold them without a reason. He wanted to see the field of flowers Dedue had described, walk through them side by side.
But mostly, mostly he wanted to keep cooking with Dedue. Ashe wanted those moments when it was just them, and Dedue’s quiet voice instructed him on the next steps of the dish. Or when they simply talked about fond memories.
Ashe laughed softly to himself, remembering the last time Dedue was here the majority of their conversation was about the times they had cooked together at Garreg Mach.
Dedue raised a brow, silently questioning. Of course he had heard. There was no one to cover it up, and such a soft sound was easily heard in the open room. “Ah, sorry. I was just remembering.”
Dedue nodded, seemingly understanding the vague explanation. “I have been doing quite a bit of that lately,” he admitted.
“Ashe.”
Something in the way Dedue said his name made Ashe’s breath whoosh right out of his body. He held it there, suddenly forgetting how to take all that air back in.
“I wanted you to know how important you have become to me,” Dedue began, his voice low and steady. “These times I have spent with you, they have become very precious to me.”
“Dedue,” Ashe breathe out, not sure where he had gotten the oxygen from in the first place at this point.
But Dedue held his gaze, did not turn away from him. “When I cook now, I remember you by my side. Those are the memories I put on that plate today.”
What was he saying? Ashe’s mind was a tornado, unable to pick out one thought before it was torn away. “Dedue, I-I did not mean to replace-”
“You have not,” Dedue countered, cutting him off. “My memories of my mother and my sister are still here beside me. That does not mean I cannot have new memories alongside them.”
How was he supposed to respond to that? It was as if Dedue had read his mind and suddenly felt the need to let him know his feelings were reciprocated. Or, at least, that was what Ashe thought was happening.
Screw it! The best things in his life had happened when he took a chance: breaking into Lonato’s estate and being adopted by him, entering the monastery and finding friends who stood beside him through the best and worst moments of his life, opening this inn and finding peace after so long in conflict.
Ashe moved his hand to cover Dedue’s, his heart hammering against his ribs. But Dedue’s face softened with relief, his larger hand engulfing Ashe’s as he took it into his grasp. “Dedue,” Ashe whispered, his voice strained and desperate as it echoed in his ears.
He leaned forward, standing on tiptoe, just as Dedue was opening his mouth to speak again. It was incredibly clumsy, more teeth than lip. Certainly it could not be categorized as an actual kiss. Catching Dedue’s mouth open threw Ashe off completely.
Ashe’s face was blazing with heat as he quickly pulled back, embarrassment sending his body into a full blown panic as adrenaline released into his veins. “Dedue, I-I-” Ashe stumbled, no idea how to finish the thought.
But Dedue was patient as always, that solid bulwark of comfort and reliability he always was. His hand reached up, resting right under Ashe’s chin and keeping his gaze on Dedue. It was gentle, Ashe could turn away at any point, and yet it softened the pounding of his heart. And Dedue’s other hand, he had not let go, Ashe realized with a start. Dedue had held onto Ashe’s hand through the whole clumsy exchange.
“Shall we try that again?” Dedue asked, the barest note of delight trailing off in his words. “Now that we are both expecting it?”
“Yes,” Ashe rushed out before he could even think. “Yes, please.”
The pounding was back, for a completely different reason, as Dedue leaned forward. His green eyes slid shut as he pressed his lips to Ashe’s, Ashe doing the same as he savoured the sensation of their first shared kiss. Dedue tasted of the spices he had used in the dish, combining to make all those wonderful flavours Ashe had enjoyed. He sighed happily, wrapping his arms around Dedue’s neck. The sigh was immediately turned into a squeak when Dedue’s arms wrapped around Ashe’s waist in turn and pulled him close.
Dedue laughed softly against Ashe’s lips as he placed his feet back on the floor. “Forgive me, I became a bit overeager there.”
“No,” Ashe somehow managed. “No, that was wonderful.”
He stood there, Dedue’s arms resting against his own, holding on gently as the last of the firelight finally sputtered out. “Ah, I guess that would be our cue to say goodnight.”
“Would you stay with me?”
He had asked it because he did not want to be alone, not after this. But the words were falling out of his mouth a split second after he realized how they would be interpreted. He could not see the look on Dedue’s face, but Ashe scrambled all the same to explain himself. “I meant in bed! Ah no! I mean, yes that is what I meant, but to sleep. Ididn’tmeantheotherthingjustyet!” Why had he added the ‘just yet’ part? “Or at all, if you’re not comfortable with it!” He forced himself to slow down, breathing between words, but he was still talking double the speed he usually did.
Dedue laughed, and Ashe, pressed up against him, felt the rumble of it throughout his entire being. “Let us go find some sleep for the night,” he said softly. “We can go from there in the morning.”
Ashe nodded, relief giving way to giddiness. Dedue shared his feelings! Dedue had kissed him!
“That sounds like a fine plan,” Ashe said, the smile on his lips stretching his face wide.
He followed Dedue into his own rooms, walking side by side with him, hands firmly clasped together.