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“Your Majesty!”
Felix finished cutting down a foe before pausing to watch Dedue, in full armor, clank futilely after Dimitri, who was ‘boar’ing ahead as usual. Dimitri did break through the enemy’s front line, but there were still plenty of soldiers filling the space left by his charge that could get him from behind. With an annoyed growl, Felix changed course to remove anyone who might stop Dimitri.
Dedue barreled through enemy troops with his shield, but eventually gave up trying to catch up with Dimitri when, despite his valiant effort, their king faded into a blue dot in the distance. In the end, Dedue focused on slaying the enemies within his reach and, to Felix’s displeasure, focused on guarding him as well.
He had to admit that Dedue did make a good shield. He moved with Felix instead of against him, and took care of a soldier that would’ve landed a nasty blow. Still, the very thought that Felix might need protecting irked him.
“What are you doing?” Felix eventually snapped. “Stop getting in my way!”
Dedue didn’t bat an eye at him, likely because they both well knew he wasn’t getting in Felix’s way. That only pissed Felix off further.
“You know there’s no good way to actually guard the boar when he’s dead set on charging ahead, right? Especially when you’re weighed down by all that armor. You’re slower than my old man.”
“I would think that is expected, given that Rodrigue is on a horse,” Dedue said blandly.
“You know what I mean!” Felix snarled. “Ugh, if you’re going to be like that, then you’re better off cleaning up here while I go ahead and actually keep the boar safe.”
Felix then left Dedue behind in the dust, and he did not feel a smidgeon of guilt whatsoever.
Felix only saw Dedue a handful of times since that battle, hovering around Dimitri or crossing paths as Felix left the training grounds. It wasn’t until their next battle that Felix saw Dedue’s new outfit and promptly choked on his own spit.
Gone were the axe, shield, and plate armor Felix associated with him. In their place were iron gauntlets, buckles and leather straps, and way too much bare skin to be appropriate on the battlefield.
“What are you wearing?” Felix demanded.
Dedue raised an eyebrow at him. “I am only following your suggestion, Duke Fraldarius. You were correct in that I was too slow to protect His Majesty as an armored knight, so I trained to be a brawler.”
Felix reflexively said, “Don’t call me that,” without looking up from Dedue’s infuriatingly eye-level chest. Why did his outfit leave half of his torso uncovered? Surely he didn’t need to show that much rippling muscle to brawl effectively. His skirt was insanely short too (he will not think about it further). And what was the point of those thigh straps?! They did nothing to protect his massive thighs, only accentuated them. Maybe the outfit was all in the name of flexibility, but Felix did just fine in his whole Duke getup, even if he was starting to overheat while doing absolutely nothing.
“Very well. Stay safe, Felix.” With a curt nod, Dedue turned and walked away, giving Felix a good look at his back muscles whether he meant to or not. Felix tugged uncomfortably at the collar of his shirt.
At least all his staring meant Felix got a clear view of Dimitri’s similar double-take at Dedue.
Dedue certainly fought differently as a brawler. Felix had to wonder what kind of speed exercises he did, because now he kept pace at Dimitri’s shoulder as they barreled towards enemy lines, and threw punches and kicks at whoever dared to attack His Majesty. He was an intimidating sight even when he was half-naked.
Felix still stuck to his typical strategy when the boar charged ahead like this, which consisted of clearing out any enemy that might impede his mad dash. Yet afterwards, he stuck around a little longer than he usually did. After all, the boar may have his lapdog around to protect him this time but Dedue was more vulnerable as a brawler.
“Your Majesty—!” Just as that thought crossed Felix’s mind, Dedue lunged in front of Dimitri with his gauntlets raised. An enemy fighter swung his lance at Dedue in Dimitri’s place, and instead of deflecting off of a shield, the spearhead snuck past Dedue’s guard to bite into his right side. Dedue made an unfamiliar noise of pain.
“Dedue!” Dimitri cried out. He cut down the foe a second too late and immediately turned his back on everyone to tend to him, forcing Felix to jump in and protect them both with a curse under his breath.
“Keep your guard up, boar! Don’t expect us to be your living shields all the time.”
Dimitri didn’t answer him, having eyes and ears only for his vassal at the moment. He put pressure on the wound despite the way Dedue hissed, and uncorked a vulnerary with his teeth to tip it against Dedue’s parted lips.
Felix spared a glance for the tender scene before diving back into the fray. And if there was a swell of some unrecognizable emotion in his chest, he channeled it into his sword to cut the rest of the enemy down.
By the time the area was clear, Dedue was ignoring Dimitri’s protests to push himself back onto his feet. Once it was clear he wouldn’t listen, Dimitri helped him up instead, one hand on his bare shoulder and the other on his hip.
“It is only a minor wound, Your Majesty. And the vulnerary had stopped the bleeding.” Dedue tugged at the tear in his tunic to show Dimitri the reddened wound, now mostly healed due to the vulnerary.
Dimitri sighed and dropped his hands. “If you say so, Dedue. Yet, this should not have happened in the first place. I am more armored than you are at present; I would've taken the blow just fine."
Felix let out an annoyed huff at the both of them. "Or how about neither of you get hit in the first place? There is a thing called dodging, you know."
Dimitri blinked at Felix like he had forgotten his presence. "Ah, yes, that’s true. But you of all people should know a charging boar cannot turn on a dime."
He beamed at Felix, which forced him to look away with a scowl and a “Shut up, boar.” Yet, at the same time, that stupid smile somehow burned away the unpleasant emotion in his chest to nothing.
Dedue was fingering the tear in his clothes with a slight frown on his face. “If I am to be a shield for Your Majesty, it would be best if I wore more protection,” he mused aloud. “Leather armor, at least, to reduce the number of inevitable injuries and how often I need to make repairs.”
Felix finally got a better look at Dedue’s chest and sucked in a sharp breath. The slice in Dedue’s tunic gaped such that the underside of his right pec was exposed, along with a tantalizing glimpse of his nipple. His muscles also shone with the sweat they’ve all worked up, and though Dedue’s breathing was slowing down, his chest still expanded with each deep inhale. And, as Felix watched, a bead of sweat trailed down the valley of his pecs towards his abs…
Obviously the recent fight was the cause for the flush spreading across his cheeks. Felix turned his head away from the both of them, only to look back at Dimitri when he loudly cleared his throat. He wore an odd expression that Felix feared might match his own
“Yes, of course. You should consult the armory on that matter, though. It would be a shame to sacrifice the, um, flexibility and speed your outfit provides.”
Dedue nodded. “I understand, Your Majesty.” He looked off into the distance, where the noise of continued fighting echoed. “We should continue towards the gate. Sylvain and Ingrid will have likely made it there by now.”
He took a step forward, then stopped to lay a hand on Felix’s shoulder. Felix twitched, but didn’t shrug him off for once.
Dedue gave Felix a faint smile, the first in all the years they’ve known each other. “Thank you for protecting us, Felix.”
Felix’s mouth hung open, but he couldn’t think of anything to say before Dedue strode off, leaving Dimitri and Felix to watch his departing back.
A second later, Dimitri leaned forward into Felix’s field of view with a shy, pleased smile. “He is a sight, isn’t he?” he said.
Felix remained frozen for a beat too long. Dimitri got out a laugh before Felix shoved him hard enough to make him stagger.
“Shut up. Sylvain is rubbing off on you,” Felix growled, garnering only more ridiculous laughter. He stalked ahead, leaving Dimitri behind and overtaking Dedue so neither fool could see the obvious blush on his face.