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Annette tugged at the hem of her floral crop top (Hilda Goneril had insisted that it was the cutest and that she absolutely had to wear it) and wondered if everyone genuinely liked the local tavern or if they were all pretending because there was nowhere better for them to hang out. Garreg Mach was a small university and it sat in the middle of an even smaller town, so the night life options were…minimal. Which meant most of the students spent their Friday nights on wobbly bar stools, ordering hoppy pints of pale ale and trying to remember the rules of shuffleboard before moving on to beer pong.
Peggy’s (short for The Pegasus Tail Pub) wasn’t a bad place, just dilapidated and mysteriously sticky. The beer wasn’t particularly good but no one ordered the cocktails, which all seemed to have a very generous base of particularly cheap tequila. It was also full of students seeking out fun new connections as the school year kicked off in earnest. Annette had done her undergraduate degree at Garreg Mach before moving on to a grad program so she was familiar with some of the faces, but there were newcomers too. Dedue was one of the latest to join the ranks of the International Law students, and she hadn’t been the only one to take note of their new peer. Mercedes had been glancing his way for weeks with a subtle interest that Annette found adorable.
“You should talk to him,” she encouraged, laughing as Mercedes’ cheeks burned when she realized she’d been caught out.
“I couldn’t possibly—” Mercedes started, but Annette nudged her toward the edge of her stool.
“He’s peeking over here at you too. You should go get his number.”
“I’m sure he’s got a girlfriend. If he isn’t dating someone here, there’s got to be someone back home. He’s friends with the crown prince and he’s on the rugby team, he’s studying law—”
“Please? For me? Because all the longing glances are slowly killing me?” Annette said, trying to pout through her laughter and failing. “If you go say hi, I won’t bug you about him again all year long, I promise.”
“Pinky promise?” Mercedes asked with narrowed eyes, and she thrust out her hand with the smallest finger sticking straight out. Annette wrapped her own around it and shook, sealing their pact, and smiled in triumph as Mercedes slid off of her stool, smoothed down her summery dress, and made her way over to Dimitri and Dedue. At least one of them was going to have a whirlwind college romance.
Annette loved romance, but as a spectator. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to fall in love—she very much did—but having that experience seemed so unlikely that she had made herself comfortable on the sidelines, willing to cheer on her friends’ romantic endeavors without seeking any of her own. Besides, her crushes tended to be disastrous. Just last year, she’d been completely derailed by her attraction to Felix Fraldarius. The entire thing had been ridiculous. He was smart, aloof, and utterly gorgeous, and she had fallen hard for his bright amber eyes and leonine prowess. Even the way he moved was casually dangerous. He looked like every bad boy in every romance movie she’d ever seen, and her heart hadn’t stood a chance.
Thankfully, his acerbic attitude had soon cured her. That, and his unfortunate habit of sneaking up on her in vulnerable moments. She could proudly say she was free from her attraction to him. The fact that she was acutely aware of his location in the room—just off to the left, rolling his eyes at Sylvain’s overly enthusiastic attempts to play foosball—was of no consequence.
She drank her beer slowly, and then when it was clear that Mercedes was going to be talking to Dedue for a while, ordered a second and drank it more quickly. She was a small girl that didn’t drink often, so the room was just growing pleasantly fuzzy when a stranger appeared.
She hadn’t seen him at the school before. He was about twenty-four, probably in a Master’s program, and blonde. He’d grown an awful little mustache and had introduced himself as Acheron before he’d slobbered a kiss over the back of her hand.
“I couldn’t help but notice your beauty, even from across the room,” he said. “Let me get you another drink.”
“Oh, no—that’s okay. I really shouldn’t have any more. Class in the morning,” Annette replied, trying to keep her voice light and cheery despite her discomfort.
He ordered the drink anyway, still talking as though she hadn’t said a word. “Do you like to dance? I know of a great club. It’s in the city, but I brought my car, I could drive us over there.”
“Maybe some other time? I really do have a class in the morning—”
“Or we could go to my place.” Acheron’s smile would have been predatory if he weren’t so ridiculous. And yet, ridiculous as he was, a jolt of fear went through Annette. This guy didn’t seem like the kind that would take no for an answer. He would force the issue if he could, which meant she had the unpleasant task of trying to slip away without causing too much of a scene.
“No,” she said.
“It’s very close.” Acheron had drawn uncomfortably near, trying to trap her between himself and the bar as he grinned down at her, eyes a little too wide. “You’ll like it.”
Her mouth opened to say no again, and she was trying to psyche herself up toward really getting in his face about it, when a hand dropped onto her shoulder.
“Back off,” Felix said, not bothering to mask the disgust in his voice. “She said no.”
“Who are you?” Acheron asked as Annette twisted in her seat, eyes huge, to look up at her savior.
“Her date,” he snarled, and a gentle pressure on her shoulder urged Annette to lean back against him. She did so, feeling as though she was having an out of body experience as her back connected with his chest. His hand dropped from her shoulder to her waist as he stared at Acheron with cold eyes.
No no no, this could not be happening, her crush on Felix Fraldarius could not be flaring back into defiant life as he stood there, glaring down this creep while his hand burned like a brand against the bare curve of her hip.
“But I’ve been watching her for half the night, and you never—”
“Do you want to go?” Felix asked Annette, ignoring Acheron completely, and she could do nothing but nod and peel herself off the cracked upholstery of her barstool. He left his hand on her waist and she tucked herself into his side as he steered her away, heading for the patio where rowdy games of beer pong were underway.
He found a spot outside where they weren’t jammed up against anyone else. Acheron hovered a dozen or so feet behind them, unsure of what had just happened, perhaps waiting for another shot. But Felix would have to leave her if he was going to get one, and there didn’t seem to be much chance of that happening any time soon. Felix seemed aware that they were still being watched because he didn’t let her go. The feel of his palm was imprinting itself so deep in her skin that she didn’t think she was ever going to forget it.
“Thank you,” she said at last. “He was—that was—”
“You don’t have to thank me. He was out of line. He’s lucky I didn’t break his nose.” Felix wasn’t looking at her. His eyes followed the arc of a ping-pong ball as it dropped toward a red cup. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” she said. “But he’s watching.”
Felix’s lip curled. “I could still break his nose,” he offered, but she shook her head.
“He’ll get bored,” she told him with more confidence than she felt. She chewed her lip for a moment and watched as the ping-pong ball was fished out of the red cup and the beer inside was chugged. “How did you know I needed help?”
Felix froze for the merest hint of a second. Then a faint blush crossed his cheeks. “I—ah—I just happened to look over and—”
“Oh. Yeah, that makes sense.” But did it? Wouldn’t he have had to pay close attention for a moment or two to realize that she was distressed? Had Felix been watching her? Her stomach swooped.
“And he’s got a reputation. Some of the guys from Leicester know him. No one likes him.”
Annette nodded, though she wasn’t sure if he could see since he hadn’t once glanced her way since leading her out here. A quick glance over her shoulder told her that Acheron was getting ready to swoop back in, so she tugged Felix around to face her and linked their hands together. He surprised her by not protesting in the slightest, and there was no hesitation in the way he laced his fingers with hers though the blush lingered and he wouldn’t quite meet her eyes.
“He’s persistent.”
“I don’t think he believes us about the date yet,” Annette said, worrying her lower lip between her teeth.
“I…have no idea what to do on a date,” Felix admitted. “I’ve never wanted to go on one before. I mean.” He coughed. “I still think they’re stupid but if, if we—we were—what do people do on dates?”
“To places like this?” Annette glanced around. “Play drinking games or make out, from what I can see.”
He paled. “Ah.” There was a long pause and then he asked, in a strangled voice, “Are those the only options?”
Suddenly she couldn’t hold back a smile. He was just so out of his element. Even the look he shot her was irritated but bashful, a quick glance from lowered eyes as he tried to decide what to do next. She tightened her grip on his hands, wishing she didn’t find him so cute as he struggled to find his footing in this unfamiliar territory.
“Well, no. It’s not like our personalities would change if we were really dating and I don’t really see you doing either of those things, so…what do you want to do?”
“Leave,” he said at once.
“I had a feeling you’d say that.” She sighed and glanced back into the bar. “I can’t leave without telling Mercedes. Help me find her and then we can get out of here.”
Felix nodded and she took the lead. She would have dropped both of his hands, but he kept hold of her left as they plunged back into the crowd.
Sylvain found them first. He took one look at their linked hands and broke out into a huge shit-eating grin which only widened as Felix’s cheeks went from pink to crimson. The taller man looped his arm over Felix’s shoulders and gave his hair an affectionate ruffle, which earned him a sharp jab in the stomach from his friend. Sylvain didn’t let his physical discomfort keep him from this golden opportunity for a little teasing, however.
“Ah, Fe—finally. I’ve been trying to get him to ask you out for years, Annette, but he was always way too shy. I didn’t think he’d get a chance when you graduated but then you both came back for grad school. I told him it was fate.” Sylvain leaned over to her like a conspirator, though he only dropped his voice the merest fraction in volume. Every word was still completely audible to Felix. “My favorite part about it is that if I ever need to distract him, all I have to do is mention how pretty you look. It works every time.”
Annette turned huge eyes on Felix, but he was glaring at his feet. “Shut up, Sylvain,” was all he managed to choke out, but his face was flaming brighter than she’d ever seen it and he wasn’t denying any of it.
“Well, this calls for a celebratory drink!” Sylvain announced. “Ingrid, help me grab some beers.”
“Oh, no—we were just getting ready to leave,” Annette said, and Sylvain’s eyebrows shot up with scandalized delight.
“You dog. I can’t believe you always yell at me for moving too fast,” he said.
“I will stab you,” Felix shot back, but this must have been a familiar threat because it didn’t phase the redhead at all.
“Drinks!” he demanded again, and he linked his arm through Ingrid’s and dragged her off to the bar.
“If we hurry, we can escape,” Felix said to Annette.
“At least Acheron has backed off. Come on, let’s look for Dedue. Mercedes was with him the last time I saw her, and he’ll be easier to spot in a crowd.”
Together they wound through people, moving away from the bar into the slightly less populated space in the center of the room. Annette’s heart was pounding and a strange giddiness was making her thoughts flit around too fast for her to catch, but she tried to focus on her search. Felix, still holding her hand, trailed after her in silence.
“Oh, I see them,” Annette said.
“Annette, listen—”
“They’re making out.”
“—I’m sorry about Sylvain, he shouldn’t have said that stuff. He knows it pisses me off but he shouldn’t have dragged you into it.”
“Wow, she is really going for it.”
“If you want me to leave you alone I will. I know I just came across like some kind of creep.”
“Is he lifting her off of the ground?”
“Are you even listening to me?” Felix demanded, and Annette turned to him at last. Now she was the one with red cheeks, and if her chest squeezed any tighter around her lungs she was going to suffocate, which would be just dandy because she was pretty sure if that didn’t take her out, embarrassment would.
“I’ve liked you for over a year,” she told him, right to his face, and her heart stopped but between the embarrassment and potential suffocation, it didn’t seem to be a pressing issue.
He seemed to choke on thin air. “You—what?”
She nodded and her heart gave a huge, painful thump, perhaps making up for the way it had stopped just now. “Yeah. Big crush. It was really embarrassing. Mercedes is the only one I told, but Hilda and Marianne figured it out, and so did Claude and Byleth and Ashe, and I’m pretty sure Mercedes told Dedue. Come to think of it, Flayn knows so I’m sure it’s common knowledge by now. I think you might be the only one that didn’t put it together, actually.”
Felix’s grip on her hand was almost painful, but she was holding him back just as tightly. Her palm was starting to sweat which was not ideal, but he didn’t seem to notice.
“Why me?” he demanded, looking almost mad about it.
“Well, you might be a villain but…you look out for people. You’re passionate. You’re smart. I like your…” she gestured at his face. “I just like you, okay? I didn’t make an itemized list.”
She had, back when it had first started, but she wasn’t about to admit it to him.
“I’m not good for you.” He was glaring at her like she’d somehow offended him by not wanting someone else.
“That’s patently ridiculous, but also…I didn’t think anything would happen! I didn’t even think you’d find out,” she replied, knowing that her volume was rising but unable to do anything about it.
“I’m not—I’m not boyfriend material! I don’t like romance and I never wanted a girlfriend,” he told her, drawing her closer by their linked fingers so she could hear him over the music and the crowd. All at once they were nose to nose, glaring at each other warily.
“It’s not like I could help it! I just thought it would go away on its own, and then you told Acheron we were on a date and now I—I can’t believe we’re fighting about this!”
Felix finally let go of her hand, but only to grab her waist. “Just kick me if I’m crossing a line and I promise you’ll never have to see me again,” he said.
That statement was odd enough to stop her in her tracks before she could keep yelling at him. “What?” she asked, just as he swooped down and kissed her.
Were her feet still on the floor? She couldn’t tell. Everything in the room had gone white and the only thing she could really feel was his mouth, slanted over hers in a kiss that was both firm and strangely tentative, like he didn’t know what he was doing but figured the best way to learn was by trying it out. His free hand was slowly beginning to cup the back over neck since she hadn’t pulled away.
Suddenly that white shock was replaced by a desperate need for more of this, more of him, and she grabbed his shirt somewhere near his shoulders and jerked him forward so they were pressed together from lips to lithely-muscled thighs. He lifted his lips off of hers just a fraction and they both sucked in shuddering gasps of breath before she pulled him down again, forgetting that there was a world outside of this.
They only broke apart when Sylvain and Ingrid found them and Sylvain began whooping in celebration. Felix lifted his head and shot such a violent glare at his friend that Annette was slightly worried about the future safety of his person, but Ingrid stomped on his foot and began dragging him away.
“We’ll have drinks some other time. Have a good night, you two,” she said over her shoulder, clamping her hand over Sylvain’s mouth before he could add something crude.
Still feeling dazed, Annette turned her head back to Felix. Her hand left his shoulder so she could touch her lips, which were still tingling from the force of his kisses. He watched her fingers with sharp, hungry eyes that made her feel as though the room had instantly grown ten degrees hotter.
“You just—”
“I did.”
“But—you don’t want a—”
“I want you.” He leaned in, touched his forehead to hers as their ragged breathing slowed into something more ordinary. “Date me, Annette. Be my…be my girlfriend.”
She couldn’t help the giggle that burst from her lips, and she cupped his face in her hands when he lifted his head long enough to give her a bemused look. Nervous laughter clearly hadn’t been the answer he’d been expecting, but before bemusement could turn into hurt she lifted up to her toes and pressed a her lips to the corner of his mouth.
“I’ll be your girlfriend,” she told him, watching as tentative joy began to seep into his expression. “But I demand a real first date.”
“Mm.” He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I demand the right to break Acheron’s nose if he bothers you again.”
“Deal,” she agreed cheerfully, and the butterflies in her stomach took vibrant wing as he sealed their promise with another kiss.