Work Text:
“Yuri, can I see you after class?”
He rolls his eyes as Claude and Sylvain both let out a chorus of drawn out ‘ooohhhhs.’ It amazed him that these were the heirs of two very powerful noble houses.
“You’ve got it, friend,” he says, offering up a nonchalant shrug as a dozen different reasons as to why Byleth might want to see him pass through his mind.
He’s finding it hard to concentrate on the words of his textbook, because what did she want to talk about? His quill repeatedly taps the surface of the desk, causing Felix to shoot a glare over his shoulder.
It couldn’t be something pertaining to his academics. He’d been a student here before, and he could navigate the curriculum like the halls of Abyss. His grades are pristine, and he’d aced his most recent certification exam.
Maybe it was because he’d been late to lecture today? That must be it, considering she hadn’t asked when he’d come in. He needs to come up with an excuse, because he can’t tell her that it was because he’d been hunting gang members until the early hours of dawn. She’d just try to stick her cute little nose in his business again.
Or maybe...she wished to elaborate on the conversation they’d shared a few days ago, where Yuri had revealed a bit more about his past than he intended. It certainly wasn’t like him to slip up like that. He’d never told anyone the story behind his notebook. It was a private memory, tucked safely away and hidden with the rest of his true identity.
He really hoped it wasn’t about that.
There was just something about this mysterious mercenary turned professor that was so... He wouldn’t go as far as to say maternal, but around her, one’s thoughts just came tumbling out. Maybe it was her predilection for listening rather than reciprocating that made himself and many of her students so willing to fill the void of silence.
She’d certainly gotten Claude talking that way, prompting him to reveal more than Yuri ever could. To know the secrets of the Leicester Alliance’s conniving future leader...
The monastery bells toll, marking the end of lecture and bringing Yuri’s building anxiety to a head. What did she want to talk about? He prayed to the goddess that she wasn’t going to prod him about his name.
As the rest of the class files out, Yuri gathers his things and hands them off to Hapi as Byleth wipes the board and cleans up her materials. She sends Claude off when he tries to linger, his nosy intentions clear as day.
“Come with me,” she instructs, once she’s rid the room of her house leader. Yuri dutifully follows her out of the classroom, studying her face for any hints as to what was coming. Alas, he finds nothing, her features schooled into that irritatingly blank expression.
He’d been coming to class more often, drawn above ground not for lectures, but moreso for the lecturer. Byleth wasn’t as he’d previously thought - an emotionless, ruthless killing machine - he knew through careful observation that she did feel things.
Such moments where she let her guard down were fleeting. A slight, upwards curl of her lips at one of Claude’s practical jokes, the knotting of her brows when Lysithea asked a long-winded question, a ghost of a grimace when Felix’s training sword glanced off her skin.
Byleth wasn’t emotionless. It’d be better to say that she just didn’t feel quite as strongly as others. Or at least not strong enough to elicit a full-blown visceral reaction.
“Are you going to sit down?”
Her voice drags him back into reality, where it appears he’d followed her out to the gazebos. Byleth is already seated at one of the tables, pouring him a cup of tea. She doesn’t say anything more as he sits across from her, simply pushing the dainty looking porcelain in his direction.
Yuri was...at a loss.
The last thing he’d expected was to be greeted with a freshly brewed pot of tea and a tempting assortment of sweets.
It was suspicious, to say the least. What did she hope to achieve by softening him up with his favourite tea and a mouthwatering assortment of treats? Was she preparing to ask him something? Perhaps cash in on her favour?
“You called me here for a reason, yeah?” He sighs, leaning forward on his elbows and hoping that his smirk effectively masks his uncertainty. “Are you finally going to request that which you desire from yours truly?”
She looks somewhat surprised. “It’s just tea,” she says, and he swears that he detects a hint of amusement in her tone. “No strings attached.”
No strings attached, he thinks, eying her warily. This must be one of those exclusive teatime invitations he’d heard so much about from Constance. Time spent lounging about outdoors and casually conversing about anything and everything.
Yuri didn’t do things casually. Everything was done for a reason, with a greater goal in mind. He glances down at the cup, taking note of the pinkish-red tint and tart scent.
“You’ve got some refined taste. This is my favourite tea.” One of his favourites at least. It was probably just a lucky guess...Right? Surely she couldn’t have been studying him as closely as he’d been studying her.
He watches as she takes hold of the teacup and saucer, pinky raised as she takes a small sip of her tea. He wondered who taught her such basic teatime etiquette. Surely it couldn’t have been the Blade Breaker, or any other member of her father’s mercenary group. Mercenaries on the road didn’t have time for such trivialities.
“Oh, before I forget, I have something for you.” She reached into a basket that Yuri hadn’t noticed before, sliding the lacquered wood box across the table.
Doing his best not to let his surprise show, Yuri takes the box, lifting the smooth lid to reveal a board game, complete with beautifully crafted chess pieces.
“You and Claude stirred up quite a commotion during your last match,” she says as Yuri picks up and studies a pawn. “I thought you might like a set of your own.”
“I…” he swallowed hard, unsure of what to say. It wasn’t like him to trip over his own tongue and fumble with his words, but she just made him so...uneasy.
“Thanks,” he settles on.
Byleth nods, continuing to slowly sip her tea as Yuri reviews the confusing whirlwind that the last couple minutes were.
To recap, she’d not only prepared his favourite tea, but she’d gone out of her way to find and purchase a board game that she thought he might like.
Lilac eyes narrow sharply. What game was she playing, with her seemingly infinite knowledge and eerily accurate readings of his character? Yuri had always kept his cards close, as he didn’t like others knowing anything about him beyond what he deemed necessary. Especially not those whose intentions he had yet to properly ascertain.
Close as his cards were, it seemed that Byleth kept hers closer. Already she’d proven to know more about him than he did about her. This was...a rare occurrence in Yuri’s books. Her tendency to be unreadable not only bruised his ego, but it also gave little indication as to who she was as a person.
Byleth suddenly sighs, setting her half-finished cup of tea down onto its saucer and beginning to pour tea into a new cup. Confused, Yuri looks around for a third guest, but spots no one approaching their table.
“Excuse me for a second,” she sighs again, rising from her seat and taking the cup of tea with her. Yuri watches as she weaves through the other tables to stand in front of a nearby pile of barrels.
Claude suddenly pops out from behind the pile, smiling with only his mouth as a pained laugh makes its way past his lips. Byleth says something that Yuri can’t hear, but the roll of her eyes as she hands Claude the cup of tea is enough to entertain him.
He now understood why she’d chosen this particular table. She’d set them up at the one furthest from the entrance and claimed the seat that had her back to the hedge, giving her the perfect vantage point to observe who came and went within the immediate area.
Amazing. Though one could argue she was settling into a life of ease, it was clear her instincts hadn’t dulled in the slightest.
“So,” Yuri starts, pushing porcelain cups and saucers aside when she returns to the table. He refused to voice his praise. “Now that you’ve seen to your dear fawn, are you up for a quick game, friend?” He asks, patting the top of the box she’d just given him.
She picks through the selection of pastries, picking up a simple cookie. “Sure. Fair warning, I don’t have much experience.”
Oh, he was more than alright with that.
She nibbles quietly on a pastry as Yuri sets up the board. “Games aren’t fun if you aren’t playing for a reward,” he states, watching Byleth’s eyes flick to his momentarily. He realized then that he couldn’t quite decide what colour her eyes were.
“Must everything you do require compensation?”
“Yes,” he chuckles, ignoring the bite of her sarcastic tone and sliding the board into the center of the table. “Life is just more fun that way. If I win...you tell me a secret. None of that 'once I stole an extra cookie from the jar' crap either. I want to know something that makes you vulnerable. I'll want a real secret.”
Like favours, secrets were a currency better than gold. Gold could only get a person so far in life. Secrets, on the other hand, had the power to influence powerful people with a little thing Yuri liked to call blackmail.
“Fine,” she agrees, not looking worried in the least and displaying the same look of grim determination she often wore on the battlefield. Either she didn’t have anything to hide or she was sure that she wouldn’t lose. He wondered which it was. “What if I win?”
Yuri opens by moving his pawn to f4. A fool’s move, but he wanted to see what kind of player he was up against. “Then I’ll tell you a secret of my own.”
Byleth eyes his pawn warily, as if trying to figure out if it was a trap. Yuri decides then that her eyes are a very lovely shade of blue. “No, if I win, you’ll just owe me another favour.” She moves her pawn to e5, challenging him head on as he’d anticipated. “I think I know enough about you already.”
“Is that so?” He asks, voice measured as to mask his excitement. “Do enlighten me.”
“You like to take risks,” she says, unreactive even as Yuri takes her pawn and sets it aside. “I’ve noticed it on and off the battlefield.”
“Heh,” he certainly couldn’t doubt that. High risk often meant high reward in his world. “Why do you think that is?” She moves another pawn to d6, and Yuri wonders if she wants to lose, or if her inexperience is getting the better of her.
Byleth shrugs. “It makes you unpredictable, but that doesn’t mean you’re entirely impossible to figure out. Any tactician worth a damn could read your intentions clear as day.”
Yuri sets his jaw. She had, once again, proved more perceptive than he gave her credit for. “Got me all figured out, have you?”
“I’m your professor, it’s my job.”
Though he didn’t necessarily consider her to be his teacher, he had to admit that her lessons were...beneficial. “Is it also your job to treat us with tea and sweets?” He questions, raising a brow. “I mean seriously, what do you even get out of doing this for everyone aside from a lighter coin pouch?”
She’s hardly paying attention to him, assessing the board closely as she debates her next move. “Nothing. I just want to get to know you all outside of the classroom.”
Surely it had to be more complex than that. When her situation was stripped down to its bare bones, she was a commoner that had the heirs of the most influential noble houses (not to mention the Archbishop of the Church) wrapped around her dainty little finger. She could quite literally pick and choose who she affiliated herself with in the future, establish alliances, or pull the little nobles’ strings like marionettes for her own personal gain.
But as far as Yuri could tell, she didn’t do any of that. She wasn’t the type to play with people like he was.
“So you just...buy us gifts and expect nothing in return?”
Byleth tilts her head a little. “Not everything has to be an exchange.”
Her tone was mild, but the words were judgemental, clearly some sort of petty snipe. It made it difficult for Yuri to come back with a satisfactory rebuttal, so he settled on taking her pawn instead.
Apparently she’d been anticipating that, immediately taking his pawn with her bishop and setting the piece down with what would have been a satisfying tap if it didn’t mean both her bishop and queen were now poised to attack .
If his jaw weren’t clenched so tight, his mouth would have fallen open. She’d baited him with her words, and depended on him reacting like some empty-headed fool. She’d depended on him acting like Balthus, choosing fight over flight.
He looks up at her briefly to gauge where her head was at. She certainly didn’t look like someone who was on the verge of winning. She almost looked...bored. Maybe it hadn’t been a trap, but a coincidence? It was entirely believable that she just saw a chance and took it.
Regardless as to what her intentions were, there were still only a limited number of ways he could play this now. But with Byleth quite literally staring him down, he was finding it a little hard to think clearly.
As usual, Yuri refused to let his discomfort and uncertainty show, flashing her a grin when his gaze met hers. “Are you doubting my altruism, Professor?” He drawls, fingertips hovering over the pieces on the board.
Byleth shakes her head slightly. “Hardly. Questionable as your methods may be, you said yourself that all you want to do is help people. That’s all that matters to me.”
“Despite what you think you know,” he scoffs, picking up his knight and moving it to c3. “Don’t make the fatal assumption of thinking I’m soft.”
“You’re a bleeding heart, it’s okay to admit,” she says flatly, the corner of her lips quirking upwards when she eyes the new position of his knight.
“As long as you don’t go and expose it.” It was odd how his carefully crafted reputation had crumbled in the presence of the Ashen Demon. Under her wholly disinterested but keen gaze, he felt more like a common pigeon than a savage mockingbird. “Preened as this bird may be, I try my hardest not to show that side of me to those who wish nothing more than to cut it out of my chest.”
“Fair,” Byleth hummed, picking up and moving her queen to h4…
...Which put her directly in line with his king.
He’d been so focused on raising his personal defenses that he hadn’t put an adequate amount of thought into the game.
Shit.
“Not bad,” he acknowledges, moving his pawn block the check, the move only serving to delay the inevitable. “I thought you didn’t have much experience.”
“I was part of a mercenary company, Yuri. Physically skilled as they might be, I’ve hardly played anyone I couldn’t beat in eight moves or less. I’ve dealt with enough unintentional Bird’s Openings to know how to beat them.”
Huh. He really should have expected that.
“Also, I know you still underestimate me,” she adds after a long moment, taking his pawn with her queen. Yuri takes her queen next, though it's a futile move. “Perhaps next time you won’t,” she grins.
Her smile is pointed and sharp, and when combined with the deeply dark and satisfied look in her eye, is altogether dangerous as she moves her bishop to g3 and leans back in her seat.
“Checkmate.”
Yuri not only owes her one, but two favours now. How unexpected.
In all honesty, he couldn't even bring himself to be sour at the loss. She was certainly a tricky one to properly assess, but he really felt as if he were making progress now.
Behind that poker face was someone almost as conniving and cryptic as he was. A little bit of a smug asshole when she wanted to be.
Heh. Takes one to know one.