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Sylvain took a deep breath, the meeting was wrapping up, the affairs of state seen to for the moment. It was the time for more personal petitions to the king. A village requesting his presence for the opening of a new church and Dimitri quickly throwing Byleth under the horse to go deal with that. Byleth’s face was as calm as ever, but they all saw Dimitri’s wince when she clearly kicked him under the table. But a whisper from Dedue had the archbishop smiling a bit, and she agreed to go.
There were a couple other things, and then Dimitri stood. “Thank you, as ever for your counsel, I do believe -”
Sylvain stood up, “I’m sorry, sire, but there is one other request, from the Faerghus region, particular to the Gautier House.”
“Of course, dear friend, what is the request?” Dimitri is smiling at him, ready to help him.
Sylvain very carefully doesn’t look to his right, “I have a petition that the Margrave Gautier seeks to court and wed another of the Fodlan nobility.” There was a great deal of shouting from the whole table, well most of the table, Byleth was just giving him that weird I know everything small smile she sometimes did. And Felix wasn’t shouting because well obviously he wasn’t shouting - this was not a surprise to him. He was going to give everyone a minute to calm down, but they were all getting louder. “Right, why are you all freaking out? You had to know that this was coming, I’ve been pretty obvious about my intent, for like the last two years?” That got silence.
And jaw drops.
Ingrid’s jaw had actually dropped. He was going to dream about that later and relish every second. “I figured there wouldn’t be a problem, but just consider our ranks, it was better to make the formal petition.” Sylvain kept watching Dimitri who looked like he did whenever he took a blow to the head. “Sire, do you approve the petition?”
“You haven’t named the woman, who is mad enough to have you,” Ingrid snapped.
Sylvain began to laugh, “Woman, that’s funny.” He giggled a bit more. “Good to end the five hour meeting on a light note. Why I saved this for last, we could all use the joy of formally acknowledging what we all know.”
“We all know?” Marianne was seated next to Dimitri, and she was looking around. “I don’t know. Do you, Dimitri?”
“No my beloved, I do not,” Dimitri had settled back into sitting, and reached out for Marianne’s hand. It was adorable and a little gross how he couldn’t not touch her if she was in reach. “I have no idea who Sylvain is talking about.”
“Really?” Sylvain looked around at everyone gathered. No one seemed to have a clue. Well not everyone. Byleth and that smile. “Archbishop, you know.”
“I do. But other than yourself, I think I am the only one here who does. The only one.”
“Well aside from my intended,” Sylvain was watching Byleth who just shook her head, that almost smile on her face. “What, you are suggesting that Felix didn’t know I was going to do this? I mean sure it is a bit of a surprise to do a formal announcement like this but we’ve been together since the war, no one should be shocked by this.”
Then all the yelling started again. Even louder, and then Felix just got up and left, having never once yelled at him. That couldn’t be good. He looked at Byleth who tilted her head a bit and he didn’t even offer a bow to Dimitri just took off after Felix. He was impressed how far Felix had gotten. His legs were a good few inches shorter than Sylvain’s, but he had almost made it to the royal training grounds. Sylvain fell into step beside him. “I am sorry, grand romantic gesture was a bit much?” Still not a word. This was not good. Sylvain stepped to the side and waited as Felix destroyed a couple practice dummies. Really not good. “I’m sorry, Felix. I thought it would be a good way to do that.”
Felix spun and was approaching him, sword still well in hand. “Do what, exactly? Play a prank? Make a fool of yourself? I am sure there were ways to remind everyone of your uselessness that didn’t involve me.”
Sylvain nodded, accepted the cruel words, because Felix didn’t mean them, in the way they came out. What he meant was that he should have been consulted, and they could have privately approached Dimitri with the petition. Sylvain had done this wrong, and he knew that. “I am sorry, Felix. I shouldn’t have tried to make it a surprise like that, in front of everyone. Promise when I propose after the official courtship period, it will be in private. Or since I cocked this up so much, you could propose?” Sylvain was rather taken with that idea. He was thinking about champagne and Felix on one knee saying beautiful things.
But honestly if Felix was the one to propose it would likely be in the middle of routing bandits trying to make inroads on one of their borders. Shouting in the middle of battle. Sylvain would cherish that as much as he would the champagne. “You think I’m going to propose to you?”
“Not really, not with a ring. Mostly you would give me a sword and to get to training, which you know I hate swords, and then idly mention mid kicking my ass about how you intend to kick my ass for the rest of our lives, if that interests me, and then I would swoon at the romance of it all and agree with a tear in my eye at the depth of our love, and because you have me aching from several hours of training I don’t see a need for since we haven’t been at war for a year and a half now.” Sylvain grinned. “So, you forgive me for going about this poorly? We’ll go back in sign whatever it is we have to sign?”
There was a sword against his neck.
Really, really not good. “Felix? I am sorry.”
“Why would I sign courtship paperwork with you, Sylvain?”
“Because I thought we were ready? I mean we’ve been together a couple years now and - and why are you laughing?” There were fully belly gut busting chortles coming from Felix. Seiros save them, he was actually reduced to giggles, so much so he had dropped his sword. There was once on the battlefield that Felix’s arm had almost been severed and he still hadn’t let go of the sword. But he had now. Felix was on the ground and Sylvain sat next to him. “Want to share the joke?”
“Together,” there were more giggles, “See that is a good joke, much better than that display at the counsel meeting. Together.” Felix was calming, and Sylvain sat there lost. “Sylvain, that is what you should have said in there, not the petition. You took it too far, like you do everything. That would have been a joke that made everyone laugh.”
“How is us being together for a couple years a joke?” Sylvain was confused. “Wait,” he began to laugh, “Oh my god, wait. This is so us. When do you consider us as having been together? Because for me it is the fight at Gronder field, when I was unseated and then you were there like a devil protecting me.”
“Sylvain, how does me saving your life when you took a stupid risk, equal a relationship?”
“Because you were always saying, if I fell you’d leave my dumb ass to die, because it would be my own fault for not training like you told me to. You helped me up and we looked at each other. You came to save me, Felix, a thing you swore you would never do, figured it was a rather obvious declaration of love, and that is why I set that as the start of the relationship. But you?” Sylvain had to think about it. “The final battle right? That is so you, when we were collapsed against that outer wall, exhausted, beaten bloody. I had what four broken ribs, you had the shakes from being hit by that magic lightning and you said when the boar becomes king we’ll have so much work to do. We’ll, you emphasized that. That is when for you we got together, making it about 20 months instead of a couple years. We can set that are our anniversary, not picky, still the longest relationship I’ve had.”
“You fool, we are not together,” Felix snapped.
“Yeah, we are.”
“No, we are not!” Felix was glaring at him, the giggles forgotten. “What have we ever done that makes you think we are together?”
Sylvain raised a finger, “We’ve established the whole saving my life after you swore you never would.” Another finger, “you write me letters, you hate writing letters more than anything.” Another finger, “you are an asshole to everyone all the time, and you aren’t one to me every third or so time we are together.”
“Wait, my ability to tolerate you every one in three days is somehow a declaration of love?”
Sylvain just shrugged, “I mean, yeah from you, kinda is.” He rather enjoyed that Felix had no response to that. “Now where was I, you let me touch your hair, is there anyone else in Fodlan who is allowed to do that? You even cut it yourself!” He held up his pinkie, “and you trust me at your back. Felix, is there any more obvious way of telling me you love me than having me at your back?”
“You-” Felix was quiet, scowling. “If we’ve been together for two years, why then haven’t you seduced me? You’ve been in bed with people you’ve known two minutes?”
“You know, I did kind of wonder why we hadn’t had sex yet, but I figured again there were a few reasons.” Sylvain held up his hand.
“If you tick them off again, I will cut your fingers off, and that is the hand you like to jerk off with.”
“I do like to jerk off with this hand, how’d you know?”
“We shared a tent during the war dumbass, I was pretending to be asleep to give you some dignity. You know the dignity you don’t have in your waking life?”
“I have dignity! I have spent the time since the war getting all the dignity in all of Fodlan. I’m even debating growing a dignified beard, I’m so dignified. But back to the point. I just figured we were going slow, I mean we’ve been apart six months of the last two years getting our lands in order. Wasn’t going to rush you into bed, and I thought maybe you were testing me a little?” Sylvain shrugged a bit. “Making me prove that I wouldn’t cheat, no matter how desperate I was getting for sex. Bit of a jackass move, but we’ve established you are an asshole two out of three days.”
Felix was quiet and Sylvain could wait. “Have you?”
“Have I what?”
“Cheated?”
“Sometimes I switch hands? Is that cheating? When you switch which hand you jerk off with?”
“But it was your hands, you really haven’t so much as kissed anyone else in two years?” Felix scoffed. “You once had three different people in the same night.”
“Same time once too, Seiros that was a night to remember,” Sylvain sighed in reminiscence, and a rock was thrown at him. It missed, yet more proof that Felix did love him. “And to be fair, end of the war, when there was partying, I maybe kissed a couple people because everyone was kissing everyone. Byleth gave me this weird forehead kiss, and told me she was proud of me. I hugged her. It was like the most soothing hug ever? I swear years of trauma and pain gone because of that hug.”
“I’ve had two of those, they are disturbing.”
Only Felix would find support and affirmation disturbing. Fuck, Sylvain loved him so much. “So, what now?” Sylvain looked at Felix, waited.
“If you were in love with me, why weren’t there any stupid gifts? You always give girls stupid gifts like flowers, and candy and -” Felix looked down at his hands, at the gloves that Sylvain had sent him, of the thinnest, finest Sreng leather. When he had visited some of the clans to try to make peace he had spent an outrageous amount of money on goods as a gesture of goodwill. He had sent Felix the gloves, a dagger, a few other practical things.
“You hate candy,” Sylvain smiled a bit as Felix stared at the gloves. “I love you, Felix. Have since we were kids.”
“You are stupid, love is stupid,” Felix got up. “You don’t love me, you are just -” There was scowling. “Fine, prove it!”
“How?”
Felix went over to a wall, and picked up a lance. “You’ve gotten sloppy about your training again.” He tossed it and Sylvain managed to catch it, with only a bit of a fumble. “Beat me in training.”
Sylvain blinked. “Me kicking your ass will somehow prove that I love you and honestly believed we’ve been in a relationship for two years? HOW?” Even for Felix that was a head scratcher.
“Just shut up and fight me.” And then Felix was charging at him, and Sylvain lost handily, because it was Felix - only Dimitri and Byleth were better than him. Felix laughed and walked away.
“Oh it is fucking on,” Sylvain muttered. He had no problems pulling Dimitri from his bed in the middle of the night to help him train. Dimitri rather objected letting go of his wife, but Marianne thought it was all very romantic when he explained and ordered Dimitri to help him. Sylvain mocked him endlessly for immediately bowing to his wife’s pleas like that.
“You are out under the full moon having me practice with you so that you can knock Felix on his ass to prove you love him. And I’m the pathetic one?”
That was a fair point.
Three days later when he met Felix in combat, it at least took Felix a little bit longer to hand him his ass. And when he hauled Sylvain up there was a pause, “You’ll try again right? Not that I care.”
Sylvain kissed his cheek and dodged out of the way in case Felix tried to stab him. Which he didn’t, and it made Sylvain smile even more. “I will prove I love you, by almost murdering you. I swear it.”
Dedue was much less gracious than Marianne about losing his bedmate, but Byleth joined him without a word, and fine, maybe he had missed her teaching. She was just so steady and patient, but unrelenting. “How is being archbishop of a religion that you don’t even really believe in?” He asked as he ducked under a swing.
She gave that faint smile. “It is going well enough. The robes are comfortable.”
“I’ve never seen you in them, you still wear your usual gear.”
“I know.” There was a thrust of her sword, and it almost got him. “You are approaching this wrong.”
“Yeah, I know, I am obvious with my lead foot.”
“No, you are trying to think like he does, that the only way to best someone in battle is with steel. What was the point of all the magic lessons I made you sit through if you were going to think the same way he does?”
“Oh,” Sylvain paused, “Ohhhh. Teaching us even now, your worship.”
“I am going back to bed.”
“Seriously when do we get to see you in those robes?” Sylvain called after her.
“When I marry you to Felix,” she replied without turning around.
Marrying Felix, yeah he liked the sound of that. But that meant he had to wake someone else up, the scariest of them all. Luckily Annette’s fireball only lightly singed him when he sneaked into her room to poke her awake. “What, Sylvain?” she yawned and burrowed deeper into the blankets.
“To prove I love Felix, I need to almost kill him.”
“That is crazy.”
“Yes, yes it is, but it is Felix. With a weapon I’ll never win. But there are more weapons than steel. Only I haven’t cast a lot in the last year. Help?”
“Why? At this time of night? What’s in it for me?”
“Helping true love find it’s way?” That got him a pillow to the face. “I’ll give you tips on how to make women feel really good?”
“I already do that, thank you.”
Good on Annette. “Please, Annie, I love him so much and want to court and marry him, and be as happy as our king, as happy as the people in Ashe’s stories. And I’ll pay you stone cold coin. Goods from my lands, whatever you need.”
“I’m going to be teaching at the sorcery school. I want to set up a program for students where they spend a few months out in the world practically using their magic. You get to take two a year.”
“Fine,” he agreed immediately. They went to training ground and he was desperately out of shape when it came to magic.
But three days later his gale wind tossed Felix across the training ground and he ran forward, held his lance to Felix’s throat. “Yield,” he said in his coldest voice.
“You beat me,” Felix was clearly stunned.
“I did. Because I love you.” Sylvain didn’t move a muscle. “Yield!”
“I concede,” Felix said and only then did Sylvain move the lance. He held out a hand and hauled Felix up. Only to find his arms full of angry swordmaster giving him kisses that would leave bruises. Sylvain dropped the lance and they toppled to the ground, Felix still kissing him. “You idiot,” was said in between kisses.
“Why am I an idiot now?” Sylvain rolled and held Felix down. He was so gorgeous, Sylvain was lost in him. “What’d I do?”
“Never actually ask me out on a date?”
“You date?” Sylvain snorted. “I assumed every time I hung out in the training ring and you didn’t kick me out was a date. Every battle where you changed Byleth’s strategy to be in formation next to me, was a date.”
“A battlefield is not a date.”
“Felix, you just had me try to kill you to prove I love you. For you, it is absolutely a date.”
“Stop knowing me.”
“Never,” Sylvain swore and gave a far gentler kiss. Felix bit him, and he bit Felix back. He lifted his head and Felix was smiling. “What now?”
“How should I know?” Felix shifted, and Sylvain was flat on his back. “Two out of three.”
Six months later at the next counsel meeting when it was time for personal petitions, Sylvain blinked when Felix stood. “Yes, Felix a request from your lands?” Dimitri nodded for him to bring the matter forth.
“The Duke of Fraldarius and the Margrave Gautier request that the paperwork for uniting their lands begin as the archbishop will be marrying them next month.”
“I will be?” Byleth smiled slowly, that small little barely there smile.
Sylvain’s was much bigger. “She will be?”
“She will be,” Felix muttered, and dropped a ring on the table and sat down, scowling at everyone.
Sylvain put the ring on and didn’t stop smiling for the rest of the meeting. And he noticed that Felix was also smiling. Well, not frowning, which was a smile for him. “I want to pick what we wear for the wedding,” he whispered to Felix.
“Then you better beat me in the training ring later,” Felix whispered back.
“I love you too.”
Dimitri cleared his throat and Sylvain pretended to pay attention to the meeting.