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Annette crawled into bed beside her boyfriend, wearing his old tshirt and his old gym shorts. Felix had begrudgingly given her space in one of his drawers when she had started spending the night more often, but she still insisted on sleeping in his clothes. He wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Goodnight Felix,” she murmured as she nestled herself against his chest. There was a time this would have seemed abhorrent to him. He had never really been a big relationship guy, but Annette had changed all that. Who would have thought bubbly, goofy Annette would be his dream girl. Now he had to ask her a nightmare question.
“Hey Annie, what are you doing this summer?” Felix asked, trying to sound casual.
“Mercie and I were going to hang around here for the summer. It seemed kind of silly to pay for the apartment if we weren’t going to use it. Why do you ask?”
She was onto him.
“I just thought if you weren’t going home for the summer if maybe you wanted to go on a beach trip with me and friends. It’s fine if you don’t want to. It’s really not a big deal.”
It was actually a very big deal.
“A beach trip?” Annette said, bolting up excitedly in bed. “With your friends? Who all would be coming?”
“It’s our friend Dimitri’s family’s beach house. I’ve known him forever so we’ve been going since we were kids. It was always me, Dimitri, Sylvain, our friend Ingrid,” he let out a sigh before continuing. “Sometimes my brother Glenn would come too, but since he married Ingrid he usually comes every year.”
“Your brother will be there?” Annette’s eyes lit up. “I get to meet a member of your family? And all your childhood friends?”
“You already know Sylvain,” Felix gestured to their shared wall.
“This is a big step for us,” she squealed. “I can’t wait to meet everyone. Especially your big brother!”
“Feel free to invite Mercedes too,” Felix offered, trying to divert attention away from the stress of this—despite being a casual beach vacation—being a very big deal indeed.
“Are you sure that would be okay? She wouldn’t be intruding?” Annette asked.
“Not at all, it’s a pretty big house and the number of people keeps growing. Dimitri started bringing his girlfriend, Byleth. Then Dimitri invited his friend Dedue, and last year Dedue brought his boyfriend Ashe. Sylvain is forbidden from inviting anyone ever again, but Dimitri insisted you come and that your roommate not be left out.”
“That sounds like it will be a lot of fun. I’ll ask Mercie about it tomorrow, but I’m definitely in!” she squealed and gave him a kiss.
Felix had actually been trying to find a way out of inviting Annette. Not that he hadn’t wanted to be with her, the thought of having her there had been terrifying. Inviting her meant their relationship was getting serious. This was a bigger move than rearranging a drawer to make room for her. This was introducing her to the people who knew him best.
When the group text from Dimitri had come through asking for a head count, Felix had intended to ignore it. Maybe he could come up with a reason Annette couldn’t come. There would be other times for her to meet his friends, perhaps a day trip scenario and they could work their way up to the week and a half long trip. It might be a lot for her to take in all at once. Sylvain had other plans.
Dimitri: Beach trip is planned for Blue Sea Moon 6-12. Can I get a headcount and what days you’ll be arriving? Byleth and I will arrive a few days early to prep.
Ingrid: Glenn and I will be there the first day, probably a little later in the day, but before dinner.
Sylvain: Ingrid would never miss a meal
Glenn: Sylvain, don’t be so mean to my wife, but you’re right she would never miss a meal
Dedue: Ashe and I will be there. We will aim for midday so there will be plenty of time to cook the first night’s dinner.
Glenn: Ingrid and I will be arriving earlier so we don’t risk missing out on Dedue and Ashe’s dinner
Dimitri: Please don’t feel pressure to cook for us, Dedue. Though your meals are exquisite.
Dedue: It’s the least we can do. We appreciate being included in the trip.
Glenn: You’re both a welcome addition to the group. It was getting a little stale.
Sylvain: Can I take this as an invite to bring someone new with me?
Ingrid: no
Glenn: No
Dimitri: Absolutely not.
Dimitri: You and Felix are coming though, I assume?
Sylvain: my grouchy roomie and I wouldn’t miss it for the world. We’ll be there whenever Felix gets us there. He better bring his girlfriend though.
Dimitri: Girlfriend?
Glenn: girlfriend???
Ingrid: there’s no way Felix has a girlfriend
Byleth: 🐟
Byleth: sorry didn’t mean to send that
Byleth: good job felix 👍🏻
Sylvain: she’s real, I’ve met her
Ingrid: she’s probably just Sylvain in a dress
Sylvain: she is a redhead like me (our boy has a type) but even I must admit she is much cuter than me
Felix: You all know I’m in this chat. Yes I have a girlfriend, maybe I just don’t want to subject her to all of you.
Dimitri: We’re sorry Felix, don’t let this discourage you from bringing her. She is certainly welcome.
Ingrid: I’m not sorry, but please bring her. We will behave to the best of our ability.
Glenn: if she can put up with you, she can handle us
Felix: I’ll ask her and see if she is interested. She has a roommate she is close with. They may have already made summer plans.
Dimitri: If they haven’t already made plans her roommate is welcome as well
Felix: Fine, I’ll ask her.
Mercedes had happily agreed to join them on the trip and as it grew nearer, Felix’s dread only grew. He knew in his heart everything would go well. Everyone loved Annette, his friends would probably vote for Annette to come back instead of Felix, but he was still terrified of something going wrong.
What if someone told a story about him that made him look bad and changed Annette’s perspective of him? There was certainly no shortage. What if he said something stupid to her because they had never had this much time together? He certainly didn’t know when to keep his big mouth shut.
His phone chimed and brought him out of his worry spiral. It was a text from Annette. She was shopping for swimsuits with Mercedes. She had sent pictures of herself trying on three different bikinis. There were also some upsides to having Annette on the beach trip.
Annette: which is your favorite?
Felix: teal one
Annette: okay 😊 Mercie likes the floral one so I’ll get those 2
Felix: can’t wait to see them
Annette: if ur free tonite I can come by and model them 😘
Felix: I am, please come over
Felix blushed as he messaged her. He hated being this flustered over her, but Annette had changed something in him. He was under her spell.
“Hey buddy,” Sylvain’s voice rang out, once again breaking his concentration. “What are you smiling about?”
“Nothing,” Felix tried to rebuff him.
“You were texting Annette, weren’t you?” Sylvain teased. “I’m really proud of you, I thought you were going to be single forever. Now you have this great girl. I think she’s really been good for you.”
“Does this have a point?” Felix muttered.
“My point is, I’m happy for you asshole,” he gave Felix a playful smack on the shoulder. “My other point is, tell me about her friend.”
“Mercedes is her roommate,” Felix began and then narrowed his eyes. “Don’t even think about it. Mercedes is a nice girl and she means a lot to Annette. I’ve seen how you operate. She is off limits. She would never go for you anyway, she’s super religious and stuff.”
“Fine, fine, I’ll stay away. I won’t promise she won’t be captivated by my Gautier charm,” he bragged. Felix scoffed. “You’ve met her though, right?”
“Yes, I’ve met my girlfriend’s roommate,” Felix gave an eye roll.
“She’s also Annette’s best friend, as I’m sure you know. I was looking through her pictures online. For one thing, she’s a total babe. I know you said she’s off limits, but I would love to hit that. More importantly, she and Annette are really close. They have been friends and roommates since undergrad and now they’re going to grad school together and living together? They’re like sisters. I know you’re all worried about Annie meeting your friends, but she’s probably just as nervous to meet everyone. It’s good she has someone with her to help break the ice.”
“Yeah, I guess I hadn’t thought of that,” Felix mused.
“Also, she’s not a bummer, right? Like Mercedes will party? I know you said she’s really religious, but she’ll be cool?” Sylvain asked.
“Yes, she’s cool,” Felix sighed. “She might judge your lifestyle, but that’s just because you deserve to be judged. You can ask Annette about her when she comes over later. Make it quick though. She did go swimsuit shopping today.”