Chapter Text
Serra’s musing disrupted the relative peace of the Emblem U library, as usual.
“He has the chad jawline, Lyn, you know that, right?”
Because, apparently nobody could go thirty minutes into their study without being rudely interrupted by their friend, Lyn caught more than a few annoyed glares of other distracted students as she turned to Serra.
The cleric had a knowing sparkle in her eye as she continued on, unheeding of the brewing hostility from their irritated peers surrounding them. “I didn’t know you were interested in him, anyway. What got you so intrigued to have a lovely little chat outside the dorms?”
Of course she was there. Of course she had to watch … that. (Or perhaps Matthew had been lurking, as usual, and couldn’t keep his lips sealed about what he viewed as juicy gossip, also as usual.)
Serra was referring to this morning, where Hector (!!!) her boisterous, annoying neighbour, had cornered her in front of the staircase, bright, irritating smile and all. The loud Ostian prince had become a frequent source of consternation not long after she’d moved in, bringing girls home until late hours of the night, and playing music that echoed and travelled through the thin wall they both shared. No amount of banging her fist on the wall seemed to dissuade him, and he always greeted her with a bright smile the day after, never rumpled or hungover, in contrast to her usual sleep-deprived, exhausted self.
In short, Hector of Ostia irked Lyn immensely. So when he’d cornered her in the stairwell that morning, asking her to tutor him in swordplay… it had taken her by surprise.
“All the girls, music and partying finally caught up to your grades, Hector?” she’d said then.
His sunny expression still didn’t budge. “Nah, just never had the affinity for swords to begin with.”
She’d turned her head away then, unable to meet his gaze that seemingly burned holes through her. “Fine. But only if you pay me well.” She knew he had the typical riches of a prince, and as she was an exchange student, she was always hard on money. Depending on how well he paid her, she might be able to quit one of her several part time jobs and focus more on studying … but perhaps that was a pipe dream.
Hector’s booming voice, echoing in the stairwell, broke Lyn out of her temporary reverie. “Deal! How about we start with two sessions a week?” He thrust a (huge!) hand out in her direction.
Lyn cautiously took the proffered hand and shook it slowly. This was going to be painful.
The sharp jab of Serra’s elbow into her ribs jolted Lyn back into the present.
“Lyn! Look!” Serra’s harsh whisper into her ear was quieter, mercifully. “It’s your new paramour and his bro friends.”
Lyn ducked her head behind Advanced History of Elibe. She really didn’t need a second distraction from her studies, Serra was already enough, and she silently prayed that Hector and his friends didn’t spot her or come their way to study. Indeed, students were either waving at their advancing group or moving away, already anticipating a sudden onslaught of noise.
She glanced over at Serra, ducking behind Anima for Beginners . The cleric shot her an annoyed glare. “What?” she whispered. “I don’t wanna talk to Matthew right now.”
So it was like that, then.
Keeping her head low, Lyn continued to focus on her series of arrow physics problems, continuing to hope and pray to whatever gods were out there that Hector and his group wouldn’t come over to their table … it was too small to hold such a large group anyway, there were better spots in the library more suited for groupwork…
A shadow fell over her, and Lyn inwardly groaned. She wouldn’t look up, she would continue working, she’d had enough distractions for the day and was already behind on classwork-
“Hiding?” A large finger flicked the cover of Advanced History of Elibe, and it toppled with a soft thump onto her hands and over her worksheet. At this, the last stragglers on the floor gave them one last irritated glance and left for quieter grounds.
She looked up.
Hector stood in front of their table, wearing an offensively blue EMBLEM U hoodie, flanked by Eliwood and Matthew, while a short, blue-haired girl cowered behind them. At Lyn’s glare, Matthew and the girl seemed to shrink backwards, but Eliwood and Hector paid no care. In fact, Hector’s teasing smirk only seemed to grow in size.
Lyn felt Serra tense to her side, and decided to cut this interaction short before it could spiral.
“I’m studying. Not that you’d know what that is, anyway.” Someone in Hector’s entourage let out a low chuckle at her retort, and Lyn only bristled further.
They remained at a standoff, neither side daring to say anything, Hector’s face locked in that irritating smirk, Lyn’s facial muscles steadily hurting from the scowl she was restraining. Out of the corner of her eye, Lyn saw Eliwood and the rest of his friends begin to slowly retreat to a larger table, until the doors burst open in a flurry of sound.
“L-Lady Lyndis! I’m so sorry I’m late!” Florina stood in the entrance, red-faced and panting, after presumably dashing up the spiral staircase.
“The pegasi were quite rowdy today, and wouldn’t calm down until I fed them all… O-oh…” She trailed off as she spotted Hector and Lyn locked in their standoff, and grew even redder.
(Earlier in the semester, she’d fallen off her pegasus out of the sky after a stray arrow had whizzed near her, and landed neatly in Hector’s arms below. He’d winked at her, which only seemed to exacerbate Florina’s crippling fear of men.)
Serra drew herself up primly, and patted the seat next to her, the idea of hiding from Matthew forgotten. “Florina, come sit here. Let’s get some work done.”
Ha, as if Serra was capable of getting work done when around friends.
Hector gave up, and leaned back to recline on some invisible wall, supporting his huge frame with seemingly nothing but his own strength.
Typical. Flexing for the girls again.
“Well, seeing as you’re working on…” He leaned over once more to peer at the book he’d unceremoniously flicked onto Lyn’s work. She still hadn’t removed it, so fixated at trying to restrain her disgust at his appearance. “ History of Elibe , might I join in?”
Of course, his question was rhetorical, as he opted to wait for nobody’s approval before settling into the seat next to her, pulling out a satchel laden with crumpled sheets.
“Don’t worry about me, Eliwood, I’m behind on History anyway. You work on your Advanced Mathematics with Ninian,” Hector said, seemingly swatting Eliwood and the girl away. Lyn sighed; while she had been working on Arrow Physics problems earlier, she did share a History of Elibe class with Hector, and might as well get some work done for that class, right?
Wrong.
Hector was ridiculously behind on classwork, as almost every sheet he pulled out of his satchel seemed to be incomplete, and Lyn spent the remainder of her afternoon focusing on getting him up to speed than working on her own classwork, to her annoyance. Serra wasn’t enthusiastic to help, either, as she’d subtly inch away from the two of them every time Lyn looked away from her, taking away Florina and her last hope of getting work done.
By the time Hector had caught up to where she was in class, the sun had set, and she’d watched Eliwood, Matthew and the rest of the group exit the library long ago. Serra and Florina had long migrated to a different table, and Serra lay dozing on Florina’s shoulder, work long abandoned.
Lyn reached for her coffee cup once more and lifted it to her lips, but found it empty. She blinked blearily, taking in the assortment of sheets in front of her; her handwriting had degraded in quality as time went on, becoming more and more like Hector’s indecipherable scrawl. A sprawl of various textbooks lay around them, most half opened, the words blurring together to become incoherent blocks of text.
The Ostian prince in question wasn’t unaffected either; his rigid smile and enthusiasm had dimmed as the hours stretched on, and his posture had gradually become more and more hunched over.
Lyn turned to him, painfully aware of the exhaustion that seemed to permeate her body. “As an Ostian prince, surely you should know this stuff already,” she said sourly.
Hector huffed out a laugh. “My youth was misspent being a problem child in the Ostian private schools my parents would send me to. There’s a reason why Uther was groomed as the heir, not me.”
Lyn shut her eyes, trying desperately to not slump against the desk. “Why are you even here, then? Couldn’t you continue wasting your youth like every free-spirited second born heir to ever exist?”
“I’m a legacy admission. Uther said I shouldn’t waste that.” This was punctuated by a hollow chuckle. “In truth, I’m not sure what I want to do afterwards. I’m glad I don’t have to shoulder the burdens of a royal heir, but being of noble parentage means I will eventually end up in the spotlight when I’m older, and I have to be prepared for that. But for now? Fuck it, we ball.”
Lyn scoffed, and gave in to tiredness. Her head finally hit the desk with a soft thunk. “You’re lucky you get the freedom of waiting to make decisions about your future.”
Hector didn’t reply, so she continued. “I’m one of the few remaining members of my tribe. My grandfather sent me here but didn’t tell me why, my people are scattered to the wind after a bandit attack, and I must succeed if I’m to…” She helplessly gestured with her hands.
“Ignore me. I’m tired and rambling. Let’s get back to work.” She felt Hector’s gaze on her, no longer weary but contemplative, and endeavoured to ignore it.
They’d stumbled wearily through another hour of work before dragging themselves back to their respective dorms; by then, the sun had well and truly sunk below the horizon, and the fluorescent lights affixed to the ceilings casted their weak glow, illuminating each of their faces in sharp, coloured planes.
“Hey, uh…” Hector dug around in his pocket, pulling out a wad of cash. “I know it’s not much, but, thanks for today.”
Lyn blinked. Hector bereft of his usual fervour was foreign to her, and she stared at the money like it was from another continent. The exhaustion had dulled her too, her usual acerbic replies coming slower to her tongue.
“I haven’t started tutoring you yet,” she said.
“You caught me up on classwork. You didn’t have to. I appreciate it,” Hector said, thrusting out the money towards her again. A multitude of possible retorts whizzed through her mind, like Of course I had to, you sat down next to me, and You practically demanded it, marching into the library like that and disrupting me, but she kept her mouth shut.
She takes the money. Her bank balance had been dipping precariously low as of late; her finances would appreciate an injection of cash.
“No problem,” she says finally, and shuts her door.
No loud music or girls’ voices filter through the walls that night, and Lyn slept fitfully for the first time in ages.
Of course, the next day everything was back to normal. Normal being that Hector paraded through the campus, loud and boisterous as ever, snoring through classes loudly Serra had resolved whatever spat she had with Matthew, and was back to snickering and passing on tidbits of gossip with him. No doubt she’d relayed the events of last night at the library to him.
Lyn grimaced at the idea of rumours floating around about her and Hector. Late night library confessions aside, it was clear her work ethic was vastly different to his.
Yes, perhaps keeping him at arms’ length was the best course of action for the future.