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Ingrid felt like an overgrown goose dressed up in peacock feathers. She resisted the urge to run her hands through her hair. Annette had spent so long helping her style it that the guilt of destroying it would eat her alive. She also knew that she couldn’t touch her face or the precariously applied make-up would slide all over and turn her into a clown. That meant that the only place she could trust herself to put her hands was directly on the teacup in front of her; the porcelain shook. She debated getting up and just running away. Dorothea would be upset, but Ingrid would figure out an excuse (maybe there was an emergency with her horse?). It was better than the incoming disaster that was about to happen.
As Ingrid mentally weighed all of her equally distressing options, her name was shouted across the courtyard. Ingrid looked up and there she was: beautiful, graceful Dorothea. Her hair was perfectly arranged across her shoulders. Ingrid caught the slight hint of her perfume in the wind as she approached; it was a soft, sweet scent that Ingrid loved. “Dorothea, you made it!”
“Oh, I wouldn’t have missed this for the world! There’s nothing I adore more than tea with my Ingrid.” Dorothea pulled out a chair and slid into it gracefully, not a hair out of place. “This smells absolutely divine.”
Ingrid wrapped her hand around the handle of the teapot and leaned over to pour some tea into Dorothea’s cup and then her own. “I hope it tastes as good as it smells. If it does, then I brewed it. Otherwise, you can blame Sylvain. I can’t take credit for the pastries, though. Those are from Mercedes.”
Dorothea held up the cup to her lips and took a hearty sip. “Absolutely delicious! I never doubted you. Thank you, this is wonderful!”
Ingrid blushed. “It was nothing. I just wanted to do something special for you since you’re always helping me out. Plus, congratulations are definitely in order since you’re going to be reopening the Mittelfrank Opera Company.”
“Oh, Manuela deserves most of the credit, but I absolutely can’t wait to be back on that stage! Don’t get me wrong, I’m always grateful for the Professor and Dimitri for making space for me here in the capital, but the feeling of putting on a show is incomparable. I hope you’ll come once we’re performing again.”
Ingrid didn’t understand the first thing about the opera. The few times her father would drag her to a show during her childhood, she would struggle to keep her eyes open. Even though she was the one from a noble house, Ingrid often felt that Dorothea was much more suited to the role. “Of course! I wouldn’t dream of missing it.”
Dorothea clapped her hands in delight. “Oh, I’m so happy! I’ll make sure to leave you a ticket at the booth every night.”
Ingrid felt her heart skip a beat and her cheeks warm up. She gripped her tea cup tighter as the words she wanted to say were lost in her mouth. “Oh! I’ll definitely try to be there! But Dimitri keeps me really busy… and…” Dorothea started to visibly deflate. “No… I mean… I want to be there! I’ll definitely try to come when I can, but I don’t want to make promises to you that I can’t keep.” Oh goddess, it sounded bad even as Ingrid was saying it. Her brain started running a mile a minute as she tried to grasp for something, anything, that could save this.
Suddenly, a shadow fell over the table and Ingrid looked up at the imposing figure of none other than King Dimitri Blaiddyd. “Hello, Ingrid, Dorothea,” he said with a smile. “Lovely day we are having, aren’t we?” Ingrid practically choked on her own tongue. How much had Dimitri heard?
“Oh, yes, it’s an absolutely gorgeous day! Would you like to join us, Your Majesty? Felix?” said Dorothea, flashing a charming smile in return.
Ingrid’s eyes flickered to Dimitri’s left to see none other than Felix standing there like a fish out of water. At least he wasn’t frowning, which was certainly an improvement over their Academy days. But if Felix was here, that likely meant someone else was not too far away. Just as expected, the ear-grating, singsong voice of Sylvain Gautier hit her ears. “Dorothea, sweetheart! You’re as dazzling as always!” He appeared behind Felix, wrapping his arms around the smaller man, and grinning down at Dorothea and Ingrid.
Dorothea rolled her eyes. “Sylvain, I don’t think it’s appropriate to flirt with women in front of your husband.”
Felix sighed and patted Sylvain’s arm. “Don’t worry, he’ll get an earful later.”
“Hey! It’s not flirting, it’s simply the truth. I am nothing if not a man of honesty.”
Ingrid rolled her eyes. “Hello to you, too, Sylvain. You’re welcome to leave now. Dimitri, let me get you a chair.” She moved to stand, but Dimitri stopped her.
“Please, you don’t need to do that on my account. We can certainly find our own chairs.” True to his word, he was back within moments with one chair under each of his arms. Ingrid watched Sylvain take one of the chairs from Dimitri and slide it under Felix only to disappear and return with a third chair. Ingrid’s knuckles turned white as she gripped her tea cup; it took all of her self control to not throw it at one of the three intruders.
The conversation carried on and very soon, it barely felt like Ingrid was spending time with Dorothea at all. Dimitri had engaged Dorothea in a very long conversation about the opera house, his questions much more excited and earnest than Ingrid’s. Ingrid drained the last of her tea and began gathering up the dirty dishes. “I should really be getting back to my duties. I’ll see you all later. Enjoy the rest of your afternoon.”
“Oh! I suppose we have been sitting here for a while. I’ll see you later, Ingrid?” said Dorothea.
“Of course! I’ll probably be at the stables later.” Ingrid turned to go when she locked eyes with Felix. He gave her a pointed stare and she nearly tripped over her own two feet as the shame of what she’d said settled in. Asking Dorothea to come to the stables was basically like spitting on her shoes. “Or… dinner! There’s always dinnertime! See you later!”
Ingrid didn’t stay much longer than that, all but running away from the table. She sped to the kitchen, years of riding allowing her to stop herself from dropping any of the dishes. She stumbled through the door and breathed a sigh of relief as she put the dishes in the sink.
“Oh, Ingrid! How did your tea with Dorothea go?” Ingrid turned to see Mercedes organizing a cabinet. Behind Mercedes was Annette with some spices in her hands.
Ingrid sighed and finally ran her hands through her hair. “Men are absolute idiots.”
Annette giggled. “Well, yes, we knew that, but what does that have to do with you asking out Dorothea?”
“Who was going to ask out Dorothea?” called out a familiar ear-grating, singsong voice behind Ingrid.
Ingrid balled up her fists and spun around. “Sylvain, what are you doing here? I thought you were done sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong and ruining my afternoon!”
Sylvain held up a plate. “You left Dorothea’s plate, and you should have told me you were going to ask her out. I would have helped!”
“You did plenty of helping today, thanks.” Ingrid glared at him as she grabbed the plate out of his hand.
“Oh, come on! If I had known, I would have wingmanned you. I did go on a few dates with Dorothea back at the academy and I’m a bit of a dating expert. Let me help!”
Annette snorted to try and stifle her laugh. “Is that what they call sleeping with half the school?”
Sylvain went bright red and waved his hand in Annette’s direction as he placed the dish into the sink. “I’ll remind you that I was the first one of us to get married even before Dimitri and the Professor!”
“Hey! What are Mercie and I? Chopped liver?” Annette pouted.
“Sorry, sorry, but you eloped during the war and none of us were there so I forget.” Sylvain turned back to Ingrid and said, “Listen, I know you’ve had a soft spot for Dorothea for as long as I can remember and I’m proud of you for finally trying to ask her out. I’m sorry things got ruined today, but I promise I will play my part in making it up to you.”
“Oh, Sylvain, I wouldn’t feel too bad about it. Ingrid has been trying to ask out Dorothea for many moons now. I wonder if it will ever happen at this point.”
“Mercedes!” Ingrid squawked indignantly.
“How many moons exactly?” Sylvain arched his eyebrow.
Annette sighed dramatically. “Far too many! We’ve tried everything! But Ingrid always comes back crying about how something ruined the scene or she doesn’t feel like she’s good enough for Dorothea. It’s honestly just getting painful to watch.”
“Annie! Don’t tell him that!” Ingrid tried to dive at Annette, but a firm hand on her shoulder stopped her and she looked back at Sylvain.
“Wingman Sylvain is at your service! I will charm the pants off of Dorothea on your behalf and you’ll be thanking me at your wedding!”
“Don’t you dare! Sylvain, I’m warning you!”
Sylvain turned to walk away and stuck his fingers in his ears. “I can’t hear you! I’m too busy dealing with your love life for you!”
Ingrid chased Sylvain out of the kitchen and across the palace grounds, but had to admit defeat when they ran into Dimitri again, this time with a smiling Byleth attached to his arm. Sylvain quickly made an exit with a, “Sorry, Dima, but Felix will have my head if he realizes I’m goofing off. All of the Sreng defense planning won’t do itself!” and Ingrid was left with a king who looked like he wanted to jump out of his own skin and an (ex-)professor.
“Sylvain bothering you again?” asked Byleth, their expression as unreadable as ever.
Ingrid sighed, “When isn’t he? But it’s fine, please don’t worry about it.”
“Oh, I wanted to apologize for interrupting your tea with Dorothea. Byleth has informed me that I was likely crashing a date. I really didn’t mean to, and I do hope you will accept my apology.” Dimitri bowed to Ingrid, who blushed immediately and prayed no one saw them. A king bowing to his knight during a stroll in the courtyard would be the talk of the castle immediately.
“No need for an apology! It wasn’t a date!”
Byleth blinked at Ingrid. “Really? I thought you two were together.”
Ingrid sent a second prayer to the goddess asking for the ground to open up and swallow her. When it didn’t, she said, “Oh, what gave you that impression?”
Byleth and Dimitri shared a look before Dimitri said, “Pardon me for my frankness, but I was under the impression that your feelings for each other were well known.”
“Well known? Oh goddess, am I really that obvious? Dorothea hasn’t said anything to me about it. She must think I’m pathetic!”
Dimitri dropped his hand onto her shoulder and said, “Nonsense! I will remind Dorothea how great you are and you’ll finally get that tea date.”
“You’ll do… no! No no no! Please, you don’t have to do anything like that!”
“I insist! I ruined a perfectly good time with your beloved and I aim to make it up to you,” said Dimitri. Ingrid’s blood ran cold as she turned to look at Byleth for guidance, but her former professor just stared back at her with their signature blank expression.
Giving up on finding an ally, Ingrid sighed. “I can’t stop you as you are the king, but please… don’t do anything drastic.”
“I promise that anything I plan to do I will run by Byleth first.” Dimitri patted his spouse’s hand, who gave him a soft smile. Ingrid was far from reassured, but before she could say much else, Dimitri said, “Now, I’m very sorry, but we must be off. Hope you have a good rest of your day, Ingrid.”
Ingrid was finally left alone in the courtyard and with her biggest sigh of the day, she finally walked in the direction of the stables. When she made it inside, she began brushing out her pegasus’ mane. After what could have only been a few minutes, the door to the stable opened and none other than Felix strutted inside, a predictably sour expression on his face. Ingrid rubbed her forehead in exasperation, no longer caring what happened to her carefully applied make up, and wondered when her childhood friends would stop crashing through her day. “If you’ve come to apologize for ruining my tea time with Dorothea, it’s fine. You don’t have to worry about it.”
“I’m not here for you. Sylvain asked me to check on his horse while he has to deal with business from his father.” Felix paused mid-stride to send Ingrid a sharp glare. “What do you mean I ruined your tea time?”
“Well, I was trying to have tea with Dorothea, just the two of us, but it’s no big deal. It’s just tea after all.”
“Well, yeah. You and everyone else in this stupid castle constantly interrupts my time with Sylvain so I would call us about even.”
“Come on, Felix. I’m not mad at you, but you know it’s not the same. You and Sylvain are already married.”
“Yes, and in order to maintain a successful marriage, we have to spend quality time together, which you have ruined on multiple occasions. It’s much harder to maintain a marriage than a simple courtship.”
“Courtship? Really, Felix? Also, Dorothea and I aren’t dating.”
Felix arched his eyebrow at her. “You’re really going to lie to me? I spent years pining over Sylvain like a lovesick idiot. I know what those looks that you give her mean.”
Ingrid blushed. Oh goddess, even Felix knew? “Well… I mean… I want to date her! But it’s easier said than done. I wanted to tell her today, but… ah, forget it.”
Felix’s eyes widened. “Oh, that’s what the tea was for. Well, let me help you ask her out, then.”
“Felix, you really don’t have to do that.”
“I don’t have a ton of experience considering that I married the first person I dated, but I’ve watched Sylvain make a fool of himself for years, including his embarrassing attempts to date Dorothea, so I at least know what not to do. Once you get a date with her, we can call it even.”
Ingrid pinched the bridge of her nose. “I really wish people could stop reminding me that Sylvain tried to date Dorothea. Fine. I mean, whatever you end up doing can’t be worse than whatever Sylvain and Dimitri have planned.”
Felix nodded. “Exactly.” He awkwardly reached out to pat Ingrid’s shoulder, but she shifted out of his way. Without another word, Felix walked towards Sylvain’s horse. “Hey, Ingrid, do you know where the spare horseshoes are?”
Ingrid pointed. “Over there.”
A few days passed without incident and Ingrid began to wonder if her three idiot friends had just been making empty promises. Eventually, Dorothea invited her to the local market. Ingrid watched Dorothea try on dress after dress, never tiring of how beautiful Dorothea looked in each one. Dorothea even managed to convince her to try on a few dresses, although she didn’t end up buying any in the end. However, Dorothea’s comment, “Don’t we look like the most beautiful pair?” while they looked at themselves in a mirror made Ingrid’s face redder than a tomato. She ended up quickly changing the subject by asking Dorothea about perfume (as if she would ever start wearing it).
As the week went on, Ingrid started to let go of her worries that something terrible would happen. In retrospect, that was a terrible decision.
On one sunny morning, there was a knock on Ingrid’s bedroom door. Ingrid was finishing up her morning routine and she quickly straightened her skirt before answering the door. Dorothea stood there with a soft smile on her face. “Oh, Ingrid, I’m so glad I caught you!” Dorothea was wearing a new summer dress that Ingrid recognized from their shopping trip. Just like when Dorothea had initially tried it on, she looked absolutely stunning in it.
“Hi, Dorothea! It’s so lovely to see you.” Ingrid gave Dorothea a quick hug, trying her hardest not to think about how soft and warm she felt in her arms. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, I was wondering if you’d want to go on a walk around the countryside with me since I know it’s your day off.” She raised her arm to show Ingrid the basket balancing in the crook of her elbow. “I brought us breakfast.”
“Yes, absolutely!” Ingrid stepped into her boots and leaned down to tie the laces before strapping her lance to her belt. “Okay, I’m ready to go.”
Just as Ingrid closed the door behind them, none other than Sylvain rounded the corner. “Oh! Ingrid, Dorothea, good morning!”
Dorothea smiled. Was Ingrid imagining it or was it stiffer than the smile Dorothea had given her just a moment ago? “Good morning, Sylvain!”
Ingrid cocked her head. “Yes, good morning, Sylvain. Fancy running into you here.”
“Well, Ingrid, it’s good to see you as beautiful and radiant as ever, right Dorothea?” Sylvain locked eyes with Dorothea as he dropped his arm around Ingrid’s shoulders. Ingrid bristled and tried to wiggle out of his grasp, but Sylvain tightened his hold. “Surely you haven’t seen anyone more beautiful, right, Dorothea? Not a hair out of place and unlike me, she’s still in war-ready shape. How do you do it, Ingrid?”
“What are you yapping about this early in the morning?” said Ingrid, glaring at him.
“Well, he isn’t wrong. You look beautiful today, Ingrid,” said Dorothea.
Ingrid blushed and was about to respond, but Sylvain beat her to the punch. “I’m sure she trains even more than Felix does and looks better in a skirt. Oh, don’t tell him I said that!” Sylvain winked at Dorothea, who cocked an eyebrow at him. “I just wish I could snap her up. I’m surprised a catch like her is still on the market!”
“Okay, that’s enough of that.” Ingrid finally managed to wiggle out of Sylvain’s hold. “Sylvain, I’m sure Felix or Dimitri or someone else can entertain you right now. Dorothea, shall we go?” Ingrid lifted up her elbow and Dorothea locked arms with her. “Take care, Sylvain.” Ingrid pulled Dorothea away. Sylvain babbled something after them, but Ingrid no longer cared enough to pay him any attention. They made it out of the building and the sun hit Ingrid’s face, warming her cheeks. “I’m so sorry about him. I don’t know what that was.”
“Trouble in paradise, maybe? Perhaps Sylvain has been secretly in love with you this whole time. That, or he’s trying to go back to his womanizing ways, who am I to say? Oh, but poor Felix.”
Ingrid rolled her eyes, but couldn’t stop the smile that crept onto her face. “Well, as much as I want nothing more than to be a homewrecker, I don’t really want to be murdered by Felix in my sleep.”
“I don’t know, it sounds like Sylvain was making a pretty compelling offer.”
Ingrid’s mouth dropped open, but Dorothea immediately broke out into a laugh. Ingrid glared at her. “Don’t say that, even if you’re joking! I’ve known Sylvain my whole life. I promise you I will never be charmed by him.”
“So who are you charmed by, then?”
Ingrid turned bright red. “N-no one. Come on, Dorothea, I don’t want to talk about this.”
Dorothea pouted. “Okay, fine, but I’m sure whoever they are, they’re crazy about you.”
Ingrid knew that was impossible, but she wanted the conversation to end. She slipped her arm out of Dorothea’s and said, “Let’s find somewhere to eat our breakfast. I’m sure there’s a shady spot around here.”
Not too far away was a large oak tree. The two of them sat down under it and Dorothea opened up the basket. Inside was a handful of pastries, still warm, and a pitcher of coffee. Dorothea poured them each a cup and Ingrid bit into a donut, warm strawberry jelly coating her mouth. “This is delicious, Dorothea!”
“Dedue and Ashe made pasteries this morning. I made sure I grabbed us some before they were all out.”
“Thank you, Dorothea. You’re too sweet.”
Dorothea leaned over and ripped a piece off of the donut in Ingrid’s hand, popping it into her mouth. Ingrid stared at her indignantly. “I’m not that sweet, but this is. I’ll definitely have to complement the bakers later” said Dorothea.
The two of them spent a pleasant morning under the oak tree. As the sun began to climb in the sky, they finished up their breakfast and headed back to the palace. Ingrid thanked the goddess that Sylvain was nowhere to be seen.
Ingrid’s day off ended up being the calm before the storm because the next day, she was swept up in a sea of duties. As the week continued, Ingrid barely saw Dorothea or anyone else that wasn’t Dimitri or the other knights. Halfway through the third day, Ingrid finished up her morning drills with the new recruits and made her way to the dining hall. Her body ached, but it made her happy that it was from being busy making sure her kingdom was well protected.
“Oh, Ingrid, are you heading to lunch?” Dimtiri appeared on Ingrid’s right, towering over her.
“Oh, Your Majesty, yes, I am. Would you care to join me?”
“Ingrid, you know that you’re allowed to call me Dimitri.”
“I know, but I don’t want the other knights to get ideas. There’s rules to these things.”
Dimitri didn’t say anything for a moment and then, “Yes, you’re right. I’m sorry.”
They entered the dining hall and almost as if it was magnetic, Ingrid’s eyes immediately locked onto Dorothea. She was walking towards a table close to the entrance and looked over at Ingrid. “Oh! Ingrid! Want to join me for lunch?”
Ingrid turned to look at Dimitri, but he just smiled and said, “How about all three of us have lunch together?” Ingrid looked back at Dorothea and nodded. The three of them sat down at the table, Ingrid inbetween Dorothea and Dimitri. “It’s such a pleasure to see you, Dorothea. I feel like we don’t get much time to talk like this,” said Dimitri.
Dorothea smiled. “I completely understand. The duties of being a king must be endless, but I am very grateful to you for allowing me to stay here before I return to the opera.”
“Of course. Your help during the war meant so much. You’ll always have a home in Fhirdiad as far as Byleth and I are concerned. I’m sorry there’s not a lot of time for all of us to spend time together like we did in our academy days, but I know Ingrid has been keeping you company.”
“Yes, Ingrid has been lovely company over these last few months. I couldn’t have asked for a better person to spend time with.” Ingrid willed herself not to blush as her heart skipped a beat.
“Yes, well, I’m sure you know Ingrid and I go way back to our childhood days and she’s always been an amazing friend to me. She’s an irreplaceable knight, that’s for sure, and anyone would be lucky to have her in their life.”
“Well, I’m glad that the king of Fodlan thinks as highly of Ingrid as I do.”
“Oh, no, please stop with the complements!” begged Ingrid, her face bright red. “I don’t know where this is coming from, but please stop!”
“It’s quite a pity that you keep Ingrid so busy, though. It does get in the way of us spending time together,” said Dorothea, completely ignoring Ingrid.
Dimitri nodded and Ingrid felt him tap her shin with his foot under the table. She gave him a pointed look. “Unfortunately, things are a bit hectic right now, but I promise I’ll do anything I can to make sure we can all get some well deserved rest and relaxation,” he said, not making eye contact with Ingrid.
It was at that moment that Dedue approached their table and tapped Dimitri on the shoulder. “Your Majesty, I’m sorry to interrupt but an urgent message has just arrived for you.”
“Dedue, we talked about this. It’s Dimitri.”
“See, even your vassal still upholds decorum,” said Ingrid.
Dimitri frowned. “Well, I’m not happy with him doing it either. Now, ladies, if you’ll excuse me.” With that, Dimitri stood up and followed after Dedue.
“Hmm… interesting,” said Dorothea, tapping her chin.
“Huh? What is?” Ingrid turned to look at her.
“His Majesty is singing your praises as well. It would be rude of me to speculate, but you don’t suppose that his marriage is on the rocks as well? You seem to be the homewrecker of choice lately.”
Ingrid groaned. How was she supposed to explain what was going on? “I don’t know. I certainly hope not because a rocky royal marriage is bad for the entire kingdom, but if that’s what’s going on, I hope they keep me out of it. I promise I’m not secretly involved with Dimitri… or Sylvain.”
“Yes, it would be rather unfortunate if you were. In any case, I found this adorable little flower shop in town and on your next day off, we should go there.”
The two of them fell back into a normal conversation about the comings and goings of the palace. All too soon, her lunch with Dorothea came to an end and Ingrid was forced to return back to her duties. Dorothea waved her off with a, “Don’t forget about me when you’re flirting with all of the married men of the court!” which caused Ingrid to stomp away with an eye roll. Dimitri and Sylvain were lucky that she was dragged back into her duties for the rest of the day because otherwise she would have plotted to have them both killed for making things even more difficult with Dorothea.
Stumbling back to her room that night, Ingrid stripped down to her underclothes and collapsed straight onto her bed, falling asleep immediately. Every muscle in her body hurt and she was thankful Dimitri had given her the following morning off. In the morning, however, she was awoken by a loud banging on her door. She sat up in bed, blinking the sleep out of her eyes, and quickly threw on a robe. “I’m coming, I’m coming!”
She pulled open the door to her room to see none other than Dorothea, dressed to the nines as usual, and clutching a sword to her chest with the most baffled expression on her face. “Ingrid, what is going on? Why did you leave this sword as a present for me in front of my room?”
“What?” Ingrid blinked at her in confusion, wondering if this was all a dream, and then it clicked. “Oh my god, Felix!”
“Felix? What does Felix have to do with this? And if it’s his doing, then why does it say it’s from you?”
Fuck. What was Ingrid supposed to say? That this was Felix’s part in the “Ingrid’s idiot male friends try to woo her crush for her” plan? “I uh… I mean… I assume, right? It has to be Felix. He proposed to Sylvain with a sword. He’s the type of person to just give people swords.”
“So… is this some weird cheating revenge thing where Felix flirts with me to get back at Sylvain because he thinks Sylvain is trying to cheat on him with you? Is that why it says it’s from you?”
“Well… when you put it that way, yes, that’s exactly what’s going on.”
Dorothea stared at Ingrid, mouth wide open. “Ingrid, you know I adore you, but that might be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. What’s actually going on?”
Ingrid gave a deep sigh and resigned herself to her fate. After all, it was only going to be a matter of time before Dorothea got tired of her, anyway. “Okay, come in and I’ll explain. It’s too embarrassing to talk about out here.”
Dorothea followed Ingrid into her room and sat down on Ingrid’s ottoman while Ingrid sat at the end of her bed. “What’s going on, darling?”
“This whole thing is super dumb and I’m so sorry it even happened. You’re going to hate me after this.”
“Oh, Ingrid, I could never hate you. Well, unless you did something truly vile, but I promise I’m here to listen.”
Ingrid took a deep breath and started talking. “So you remember when I invited you to tea about a week ago?” Dorothea nodded. “Well.. I uh… I was going to confess my feelings for you and ask you out that day.”
“Ask me out?”
Ingrid nodded. “Yeah, I know, I’m sorry. But then Dimitri, Sylvain, and Felix interrupted us and I didn’t get the chance. When they figured out why I was mad at them after that, they offered to “wingman” me - Sylvain’s words. I begged them not to, but obviously they wouldn’t listen. So Sylvain and Dimitri made weird comments to you when we ran into them and I guess Felix gave you a sword on my behalf in a misguided effort to get you to date me.”
“That does explain why, for the last week, the three of them would bring you up every time I talked to them.”
“Oh, goddess, I’m so sorry.”
Dorothea stood up and sat down on the bed next to Ingrid. “Ingrid, darling, that stuff hardly bothers me. I know those boys have good intentions, but there’s truly just rocks between their ears. There’s just one thing that’s confusing me, though.”
“What is it?”
“What do you mean you were going to ask me out?”
“What do you mean what do I mean?” Then Ingrid gasped. “Oh goddess, you don’t like girls. I’m so sorry!”
“What? No! You saw me go on dates with female knights at the academy.”
“Oh… right.”
“Ingrid, we've been dating for the last month! Haven’t we?”
Ingrid blinked at her. “Wait, what?”
“I mean, you spend all of your free time with me. You’ve even been dressing up sometimes for when we spend time together - don’t think I haven’t noticed, you’ve looked so lovely! Is that not dating?”
Ingrid’s brain spun around in circles. Dating? How? When? How did she miss this? She had so many questions and no idea where to start. What did Dorothea consider their first date? Was that why she was upset at the implication that Ingrid could be involved with married men? How long had Dorothea liked her? But the thing that came out of her mouth was, “But we haven’t even kissed!”
It was Dorothea’s turn to go scarlet, the blush traveling all the way down into the neckline of her dress. “I… I knew this was your first relationship… well, since Glenn. I figured you’d want to take it slow and you’d kiss me when you were ready.”
“Wow, that’s.... actually really sweet.”
“Yeah, well, I suppose it was for nothing because I guess we haven’t been dating.”
“It’s not for nothing! I’m sorry I didn’t figure it out, but I do like you and I would definitely love to date you.”
“Alright then, next day off I’m treating you to a fancy dinner so you know it’s a date, and if I have to spell it out for you, you’re coming to every opening night at the opera as my supportive girlfriend. Complementary tickets, Ingrid!”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Good.” Dorothea leaned in close so that her breath was tickling Ingrid’s cheek. “Now, you said something about wanting a kiss?”
Ingrid bridged the centimeters of air between them and pulled Dorothea in. Her lips were warm and soft and Ingrid could taste a slight hint of strawberry in her lipstick. Kissing Dorothea was better than Ingrid had ever imagined. All too soon, Dorothea pulled away and pressed her forehead to Ingrid’s. Ingrid’s lips still buzzed from the adrenaline. “So now you can tell your dumb boys and everyone else in this castle that you’re my Ingrid.”
Ingrid’s heart raced. “I like the sound of that.” Then, she pulled Dorothea into another kiss.