Work Text:
The fact that the majority of the Blue Lions overdid it and got overheated at the beach was something that surprised exactly no one. Sylvain was passed out under Marianne’s umbrella, his face as red as his hair while Hilda scolded him for not relaxing enough (because skirt chasing all the way up and down the beach was most certainly not relaxing). Mercedes had gotten Ingrid to settle down with an ice pack atop her head after she got pinched on the toe by a crab during one of her sprints two and from the water’s edge. And as for Prince Dimitri…
It had been Edelgard who finally remarked on getting Dimitri out of the water before he wore himself out and accidentally drowned. The fact that the Prince was overdoing it when he announced he was going to swim out to the rocks all the way on the sandbar and back for exercise totally slipped Claude’s notice. Not that it was a bit of an extreme workout, of course – he thought Dimitri was insane for proposing such a thing. ‘Working out’ and ‘getting exercise’ was not the purpose of the beach! …but how was he supposed to stop Dimitri when he was so busy watching? Claude didn’t think the weather was particularly hot, but gods Dimitri definitely was. He was lucky that almost everybody else was too busy staring at the Professor in her swimsuit to notice him mooning over Dimitri. (To be fair, Hilda and Marianne were too busy mooning over each other, not the Professor, but that was neither here nor there. If Hilda had noticed the way he was looking at Dimitri, she would have said something by now for sure.)
But speaking of saying something, Edelgard was probably right. It was about time someone told Dimitri to get out of the water. Claude hadn’t even known Dimitri could swim, and yet he was out here gliding through the water like a fish, strong arms cutting through the surf as though it provided absolutely no resistance, his hair sparkling with the sheen of the sun’s light off the wet locks, strong and handsome and why had no one ever told him Dimitri was hiding a six pack under his uniform?
“Did you hear me, Claude?” Edelgard called. He startled, and when he blinked at her like a startled owl, she rolled her eyes and motioned back towards the water. “I said, I’m not going to drag him back to shore. So you had better do it,” she insisted. There was something in her expression that seemed even more shrewd than usual. Ah. It seemed like there was one person who had noticed him pining in-between all the Byleth staring. He cleared his throat, stood up, stretched his arms over his head, and played it cool.
“All right, Princess. If you insist, I’ll haul him in. Then the three of us can do some kind of House Leader bonding-”
“Oh, no thank you. I am quite certain that the two of you will be happier entertaining yourselves if I’m not around,” she said, standing up alongside him and pointing vaguely in the direction Claude had seen people going to get ice cream. “I’m going to see what’s happening further inland. Good luck keeping that workaholic entertained in the meantime,” she said. Claude crossed his arms and shook his head as Edelgard wandered off. If anyone had told him before today that he’d see Edelgard taking it easy before Dimitri, he would have laughed. Yeah right, he’d have told that person, like either of those two know how to relax. As it turned out, the Princess apparently did. She had no interest in imparting that wisdom to Dimitri, however… which meant Claude would have to do it himself.
The thought made him just a little giddy. Dimitri, all to himself. They didn’t get opportunities like this back at the Academy! Time to just chill and hang out. There was always something to do: class, chores, training. He had no idea how long they had in Askr, but he would be damned if Dimitri didn’t spend even a single second slacking off. The guy just didn’t know when to quit! Well… Claude would simply have to show him how.
He headed down towards the water, the white sand scorching the bottoms of his feet and making him quicken his pace. Okay – that was a bit of a fancy way to say he hopped all the way down to the surf where he found the wet sand a lot cooler on his poor toes. He just hoped no one was watching. (They probably weren’t. Most people, it seemed like, had settled down for naps in the shade. Maybe he’d get Dimitri up there soon enough, too.) He cupped his hands around his mouth to project his voice as far as possible when he shouted, “Hey! Dimitri! You going to play in the water all day and leave a lonely guy to entertain himself at the beach?”
He didn’t know why he thought that might work. He had no reason to believe Dimitri would come in from the water just to make sure he wasn’t bored. After all, it wasn’t like he and the prince were best buds or anything. They barely got to hang out at all, and so this was Claude’s big chance! But with no prior ‘hanging-out’ experience, he worried that Dimitri might just find him annoying or something. Asking him to cut his training short and take it easy… well, yeah, of course it was something Claude would usually do. But that didn’t mean Dimitri would respond to it.
To his surprise, Dimitri stopped swimming. His head bobbed at the surface of the water for a moment as he looked around to see who’d called his name. When he spotted Claude, his expression brightened (which made Claude’s heart go thud-thud-thud) and he began swimming for shore. Claude plopped himself down in the wet sand to wait, letting the waves lap at his toes as Dimitri got closer and closer. The prince finally washed up on a wave, letting the tide carry him in and pushing himself up out of the wet sand as the water ran back out. For a moment, there was a Dimitri-shaped imprint in the sand. By the time the prince stood and got to his side, the water had washed it away.
“Claude, you called for me?” he asked. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear very well out there. What did you need?” he asked. Oh. Claude’s heart sank a little. Dimitri thought he needed him for something. Which he did. He needed Dimitri to take a break with him! But that didn’t strike him as the sort of thing that Dimitri would like his training interrupted for. “Are the others starting that watermelon smashing contest?” he asked, only cementing Claude’s realization that Dimitri didn’t come back just for him. The prince thought the group was doing something. And as much as a ‘watermelon smashing contest’ sounded fun, it also sounded like something Dimitri could turn into exercise. Which would suck the fun right out of it, in Claude’s opinion.
“Oh, no,” he answered. “I just thought you looked like you needed a break, your Princeliness,” he said. It was wholly unfair that Dimitri hardly seemed to be out of breath. Not even a little! His face was red, but he couldn’t have gotten too overheated out in the water. That might change if they did something out here in the sun, but that was not the objective. Even though overheating Dimitri would definitely get him to relax… no! Bad Claude! That was not a good scheme!
“Ah,” Dimitri answered in the meantime. “Well, if they do begin, let me know. I would like to participate,” he said. Claude figured that now the prince would probably turn around and walk right back into the water. So it was a shock when Dimitri just kept… standing there. Until it became just a little bit awkward. The prince cleared his throat. “Was there anything else?” he asked.
Claude’s mind scrambled. Edelgard said that in order to keep Dimitri, he’d have to keep him entertained. Dimitri wasn’t just the sort of guy to sit still. But there were plenty of activities to do at the beach that weren’t training! He had to remind himself that Dimitri had no idea how to relax. This was going to be like an introductory course for the poor guy. So, what sort of relaxing thing could they do?
“You wanna build a sand castle with me?” was the thing he blurted out. He nearly smacked his hand over his face. That was something kids did! Dimitri definitely wouldn’t go for that-
“I would love to help you!” interrupted him. Claude blinked up at Dimitri, surprised. For a second, he thought the prince was just humoring him. Dimitri was definitely the sort to just help out with anything if he was asked. Even if it was for something silly. But, no. The way Dimitri was looking at him… it reminded Claude a lot of an eager puppy. Like Dimitri was just waiting to be told something to do, just to hang out with him…
…wait a minute. It couldn’t be possible that Dimitri wanted to hang out with him, right?
Maybe he needed to give himself a little more credit. Sure, he didn’t have a six pack, but he worked hard to stay in shape and he was proud of the way he looked. Not that Dimitri had to find him attractive or anything to hang out with him, but he was curious. He stood up and stretched his arms over his head, watching how Dimitri’s eyes swept up the long, tan line that was his body as he did so. Oh-ho! That was interesting. And realizing that this was not as one-sided as he thought gave Claude a big boost of confidence.
“O-kay! Sand castle building it is!” That certainly hadn’t been his plan when he reeled Dimitri in, but hey, he was good at doing things on the fly. And Dimitri seemed eager to follow him. Huh, this was easier than he thought. He definitely needed to give himself more credit if he could land a catch like Dimitri so quickly!
He really needed to stop with the fishing metaphors before he blurted one out. Or maybe he should say them. From what he remembered, Dimitri liked puns. They were one of the only things that seemed to make him laugh. And Dimitri had a lovely laugh. So maybe…
“I, ah, hope I wasn’t too difficult to fish out of the water,” Dimitri said, beating him to the punch. Claude turned to look at him with bright eyes and a bright smile. Then, he laughed.
“Oh, Dimitri, that was terrible,” he said fondly. The prince smiled back at him.
“Yes, well… I apologize. But I wondered if I might be able to make you laugh,” he said. Thud-thud-thud went Claude’s heart again. Maybe (probably) he was reading too much into it. But could it be possible that they were thinking the exact same sort of thoughts about each other? If he questioned it too much, he was liable to believe it out of existence. So Claude decided to quit questioning it right there. Dimitri wanted to hang out with him. He wanted to hang out with Dimitri. That was fun! And that meant it was sand castle time! No need to get any more serious about it than that, right? (Even if he would maybe possibly potentially like something more serious, but those were thoughts for way down the road from now, probably back in their own world where they had real life to deal with, and not here in this crazy fantasy place. But if he was in a fantasy place, why not indulge in just a little fantasy? He imagined himself living with Dimitri in a cottage on the ocean’s shore…)
Focus, Claude!
Once again, he plopped down in the sand. This time in the shade of a few palm trees growing close to the water. They didn’t provide much cover, but they were better than nothing. “Okay! Ever built a sand castle before, your Princeliness?” he asked as he glanced around. He didn’t have any sort of buckets or shovels or tools for this prepared and ready to go, but that was fine! He could be creative. There were all sorts of shells around, he bet they could make something nice!
“Not exactly,” Dimitri replied. “The beaches around Faerghus are cold, even in summer. But I did go, once. The water was too cold for swimming, but the others wanted to build sand castles. They let me help by digging up lots of sand piles for them,” he said. Claude’s lips pursed in a little coo as he imagined it. Baby Ingrid, Felix, and Sylvain commanding Dimitri to make piles of sand for them to build with. But even cuter in his imagination was baby Dimitri, eager to help and happy to be included… it was such a sweet image.
“Well, we’ll start with that,” he agreed. “If you want to make a pile for us, I’ll go collect some shells,” he said, standing up to look around the water’s edge. “There’s a lot of pretty ones here. I’ll see what I can find!” He took his capelet off of his shoulder to use as a makeshift container as they both got to work. It took him three minutes to find his first Claude-approved shell, and that was when Dimitri shouted for him.
“Is this enough sand, Claude?” he asked. He turned back in surprise to see that already Dimitri had made a pile that was probably hip-height on him, and as thick as Dimitri’s (very pretty) torso. His jaw dropped.
“Uh, yeah! Wow, that was fast,” he said, murmuring the second part under his breath. He was awe-struck. Dimitri beamed at him.
“Excellent! What shall I do next?” he asked.
“Uh…” Claude glanced around. He really hadn’t expected Dimitri to be done so fast! “Why don’t you just chill in the shade for a bit?” he asked. Dimitri blinked at him.
“Chill…?”
“Yeah! You know, relax? Take a little nap? I might be another fifteen minutes finding all the shells I want!” he said. Dimitri pursed his lips in a little pout. Oh, Edelgard had been right. Dimitri really wasn’t good at being idle, was he?
“What about a moat?” he proposed instead. “I can dig a moat!” Claude exhaled a little laugh.
“You know what? Sure. Sounds like a plan,” he said. “Ooh, maybe you can use the sand you dig up from that to make a boundary wall or something?” he suggested. Dimitri’s eyes brightened at the idea. He nodded and got back to digging. This time, Claude scrambled to get the shells. He knew it wasn’t going to take Dimitri long, so he needed to be less picky and move faster, too!
“Done!” Dimitri called barely two minutes later. Claude was out of breath from speed-collecting, but this time he had an armful to return to Dimitri’s side with.
“Great job!” he said, watching as Dimitri packed down the sand for the walls. “Now, let’s see… we just need to fashion a few towers, find a piece of wood for the drawbridge, and decorate!” he said. Oh, he could certainly be a lot pickier about his sand castle designs. But he didn’t want to go too elaborate. This was Dimitri’s very first sand castle! It didn’t need to be complicated to be memorable.
“I’ll work on the towers,” Dimitri said. “If you want to go find a flat piece of driftwood.” Claude gave a mock salute and laughed.
“I’m on it,” he said, getting up and racing down the shoreline in another hunt. He left his cape and all his shells back with Dimitri. If he took too long, maybe the prince could sort through those and make plans for where they would go. He hoped he got back before Dimitri finished the entire thing by himself! Who knew that the prince had such amazing sand-sculpting powers? (Oh, he knew it was just the Crest of Blaiddyd making it easy for Dimitri to dig. But in his head it sounded more fun this way!)
He searched around the bottom of the palm trees, but these looked to have been recently cleaned. Probably by someone wanting to make cups out of coconut shells. He ran farther down the beach to the next cluster of trees and this time was able to find a piece of bark the right size and shape for a drawbridge. He hurried back with it in his hands, unsurprised to find Dimitri finishing up the fourth tower on the castle’s corner already. “Got it!” he announced, waving the bark in the air as he approached. Dimitri grinned and, finally, sat back on his haunches.
“Then I suppose it’s all yours from here,” he said. “My hands will probably break the shells if I try to push them into place… so I’ll just watch you work.”
“You handle the construction, I handle the decoration? I like it,” Claude agreed. It played well to their respective strengths. Power and finesse. They worked nicely together, didn’t they?
He supposed he’d find out for sure when the castle was completed. He sat down next to his cape and began picking out shells to decorate the castle with. A few became windows. Smaller, less impressive ones just became a little border around the bottom of the castle. And the large, pretty conch shell that was his first pick… well, it didn’t really have a good home, so Claude just stabbed it into one of the towers and smiled.
“Impressive, right?” he asked. Dimitri smiled right back at him.
“I like it very much,” he said, red in the face. For a second, Claude thought he was blushing. Then he remembered how hard Dimitri had been working – not just digging, but the workout before that. In saltwater! The poor guy was probably dehydrated and overheated by now, and Claude should do something about that immediately!
But, well… the sand castle was so close to being done. And if he acted panicked or upset, that’d only upset Dimitri. And it really wasn’t that big of an emergency… it could wait a couple minutes. They’d finish the castle. And then he would get Dimitri hydrated.
“Want to do the final piece?” he asked, offering the piece of bark to Dimitri. “Just sit the drawbridge in place, and I think it’s done. Our first sand castle,” he said. Dimitri, with a sort of careful reverence, nodded and took the ‘bridge.’ He carefully sat it down so it spanned the moat and led to the entrance of the castle. “There,” Claude said with approval ringing in his tone. “Now the King and all his knights can get home.”
“It’s beautiful,” Dimitri said, admiring it for another minute. Claude did so as well, in silence. They really had done pretty good work, hadn’t they? And even if he hadn’t been able to get Dimitri to relax, per se, hanging out with him like this had been nice.
Relaxing, of course, was next on the agenda. With a smile, Claude stood. He offered Dimitri both of his hands. “Thanks for helping me,” he said.
“Thank you, Claude,” Dimitri interrupted with more seriousness than Claude expected. “This was fun.”
“I had fun, too,” he agreed, pulling one of Dimitri’s arms over his shoulder. Dimitri blushed even more. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to be as red as a strawberry soon. “We can do another one later, okay? For now, I think it’s time to get you into the shade… maybe with a drink, and a towel, and a nice nap. How’s that sound?” he asked. Dimitri, flushed, gave a little nod.
“I think… I think that sounds good, Claude,” he answered. Claude grinned.
“I bet it does,” he said. “So come on! Lesson two in relaxing: I’m about to show you the art of naps.”
“Wait a moment… I am having lessons in relaxing?”
“Ah, ah!” he scolded. “Thinking too much, relaxing too little! Now, let’s go!” He sounded way too enthusiastic for someone who was about to go lay down, but Claude didn’t care one little bit. This seemed like the start of something beautiful between him and Dimitri. And he really hoped that it didn’t stay forever-and-only on the beach. “Time for you to make the acquaintance of the sleepies!” he announced.
Happily, Dimitri went along with it.