Work Text:
“What are you doing, Hubert?”
Hubert sat on the porch of the small cabin, scribbling some documents to send off to the city. Byleth gave him a stern glare with her eyebrows askew as she caught sight of the hastily scribbled notes he was working on. He tried to shuffle them back into his notebook, but he failed miserably, as the general-turned-spy had the quickness of a hare. She snatched one of the notes from his hand.
“ Make sure to send another message to House Gillingr to ensure that their grain shipments are prompt this time ?” Byleth read out the note, in a mock questioning tone. “What is this, Hubert? Didn’t Her Majesty ” – she spoke the Emperor’s title in the way he always said it, and took a mock bow – “explicitly command you to not work this week? I don’t think Edelgard arranged this lovely vacation cabin by a lake just for you to turn it into your second workplace.”
“There are some matters I failed to attend to while I was back in the capital,” he said simply, but he felt like a fox robbing a chicken coop. Hubert had indeed promised Her Majesty and his partner that he would only occupy his mind with frivolous matters during this week. He deserved a break, Edelgard argued, after his war in the shadows had been completed. Not that it seemed that taking this vacation had been optional, between Her Majesty and Byleth’s urging.
Byleth was standing above him, and gave him a big smile as she ripped the note in half. Then, she folded both of her legs together and curled up in his lap. Her lips were pouty. “Am I so boring that you have to preoccupy yourself with work?” Her scent filled his nostrils, and it was all over. He could not resist her, and no longer would he even attempt to do so. She brushed her fingers along his freshly-shaven jawbone, and he responded by grabbing her chin and bringing her in for a full throated kiss.
“My love. You know that is not true. You enrapture me,” Hubert spoke as he felt a lump in his throat form. He hoped she did not think otherwise. He knew he could be a challenging partner, secretive and lacked social graces. But this was one relationship he did not want to imperil.
She tugged on the straps of his suspenders. “Then show me.” Letting her breasts naturally fall in his line of sight, with a tight-fitting shirt; she knew his weakness. His heartbeat started to quicken. She moved closer to him, and gave him a poke on the nose. “You’re looking a little flustered, my love. Maybe we should head inside.”
“Absolutely,” he said, grabbing her by the hand and kissing it. Hand in hand, they headed into the main room of the cabin together.
–
Byleth and Hubert laid on the couch together, entangled in each other’s embrace. His arms were wrapped around her torso. It made her feel warm and safe inside, a feeling that she had rarely felt before. Perhaps he was not the only one who was overworked; she had hardly taken time to pause after the war, what with Hubert’s insistence that the Agarthans be dealt with swiftly after the war against the church.
But as they had worked together, she realized that he made her heart feel… full. It was a strange feeling, to have these emotions trickling inside of her. She had wandered through her whole life, confused about who she was, unsure of why she seemed so vexingly different from everyone around her…
When she had learned the truth, that she had been experimented on by Rhea, it horrified her. Her personality had been … never fully hers, not until the day the Crest stone burst inside of her. She had never fully understood why Hubert had distrusted her so much until then.
Byleth felt Hubert’s lips on the back of her head. He had never given a damn that she was ‘eccentric’; he himself was one of the most unusual people she had ever met. She had once believed him to be solely fixated with Edelgard, but he had proven to be full of surprises. He had told her that he did not have a life to dedicate to her, given his devotion to Edelgard, but it seemed to her that his affections had changed shape over the last four years.
She had won his heart.
Hubert could not see it, but she smiled longingly, thinking of his affection for her. “Hubert, my love. Are you enjoying this time together? I know that being away from Enbarr for too long makes you uneasy.”
Hubert’s deep, aristocratic voice boomed from behind her. “I cannot help but worry. It has been my life’s work to keep Her Majesty safe. But… yes, I am enjoying myself here. How could I not, with you here with me?”
She turned around and faced him, her arms wrapped around his shoulders. “Do you know how to dance, Hubert? I have always wanted to learn, but have never known who to ask.”
“I admit, I am not much of a dancer. I was forced a few times to dance with Her Majesty, who was quite a demanding child” – his voice took a bemused turn, and there was a smirk on his lips – “but the Vestra family spends most of its time watching for threats in the shadows of parties, rather than at the center of attention. However, I do remember some of the basic moves, if you are interested.”
Byleth hopped up from her relaxed position and grabbed his hand, lifting him from the couch he was resting on. She put her arms around him, trying to imitate the people she had seen dance before. He hovered over her, fear in his eyes. More fear than when they had fought the Empire’s enemies, that was for certain.
She let out a playful laugh. “Are you nervous?”
Hubert looked a little sheepish and ran his fingers through his black hair. It was a rarity to see him without his signature gloves. “I do not wish to disappoint you, my dear.”
“For you to merely indulge me is all I need. I don’t care how good you are at dancing.” She kissed him on the cheek.
He locked hands in hers; they felt soft and smooth on her skin. He leaned her down for a kiss before lifting her back up, looking rather satisfied with himself. “Like this?”
The rush of adrenaline from him swooping her down like that was amazing . Was this how people always felt when they danced? Byleth’s eyes widened. “That was breathtaking, my dear. Can you do it again?”
He gave her another one of his smirks, kissed her, and then swooped her down again.
What she had not expected was how close their bodies came as they danced. Hubert was probably not as good a dancer as Edelgard or Ferdinand, but in her eyes, he was wonderful. They locked hands for several minutes as they treated their cabin like a dance floor. After both of them had had enough, they sat back on the couch, still holding hands. She could not keep the smile from plastering her face. This was what being in love was like!
“Next time, it might be nice to have music to dance to,” she said, curling up on the couch next to him. “And I’d love to see other people dance as well.”
“If you are proposing that we dance at one of the imperial balls, I…” His face twitched into a grimace. Byleth felt a twinge in her heart. Would Hubert truly deny her this? “I would consider dancing, but only if it would make you happy.”
“It would. I want everyone in the world to know that we are happy and in love.”
“Then we shall. I will have to detail my best officers on how to maintain proper security at the party, of course.” Hubert put his hand on his chin, rubbing it. “We must not allow security to become lax.”
Despite Byleth’s instinct to roll her eyes at his predictability – thinking about security over romance – it was one of the things she loved about him. He was diligent in his duties and gave his all to everything he did.
Byleth squeezed Hubert’s hand. “I’ll hold you to it, then.”
