Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Categories:
Fandoms:
Relationships:
Characters:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Stats:
Published:
2019-08-31
Words:
1,931
Chapters:
1/1
Comments:
109
Kudos:
3,502
Bookmarks:
321
Hits:
27,949

the company's fine

Summary:

"Is it even statistically possible for all of us to be gay?" Dorothea wondered aloud.

Notes:

hi! this is something i wrote at 2 am just for fun bc i felt happy. it's literally just the black eagles hanging out in the dining hall & bonding over being gay. like that's it. there's a lot of teasing and blushing and light pining and i hope you guys like it! also, i'm using gay as a general term and didn't specify in the fic if any of them are gay or bi, so feel free to read them whichever way you like!

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

Caspar slammed his hands on the table so hard it made a bit of Edelgard's soup slosh over the rim of her bowl.

She looked down at the puddle of broth in front of her and up at Caspar's face, lit up by the light coming from the impossibly tall windows of the dining hall. She looked at Linhardt standing next to him, smiling serenly, one hand settled on Caspar's shoulder. She sighed.

"What is it, Caspar?"

"Me and Linhardt are dating," he announced, grinning proudly as the two of them slid onto the bench in front of her.

Oh, thought Edelgard. And then, Aw. It was rather sweet, actually. She knew they were best friends and spent most of their time together, but she hadn't realized that it had become something more. Childhood friends who grew into lovers—it was like something out of a romance novel (not that she'd ever read any, but that was beside the point). Edelgard supposed she'd been too preoccupied with her own matters to notice. And with a particular blue-haired ex-merc, her mind supplied helpfully. She told her mind to shut up.

"I'm happy for you two," she said, pleased to find that she was genuinely happy for them. "I hope you find comfort in each other."

Linhardt rolled his eyes up to the ceiling good-naturedly. "He's a pain, so I don't know about comfort, exactly—" ("Hey!" Caspar protested) "—but I love him anyway." (Caspar stopped protesting and blushed so hard his cheeks clashed with his hair.)

Dorothea looked up from where she'd been speaking with Petra, their heads tilted together and hands resting on the table so closely Edelgard felt she might lose her mind. She'd been holding herself back from grabbing both their hands and pressing their palms together for the last thirty minutes.

"Wait, you love who?" Dorothea asked.

"Caspar," Linhardt said. Caspar leaned into him as if to emphasize his point, their shoulders brushing softly together. Linhardt's eyes glittered. He looked more awake than Edelgard had even seen him.

"Oh!" Dorothea exclaimed, looking absolutely delighted, as if someone had just handed her a wonderful gift. "Seriously? Congratulations!"

"Congratulations," echoed Petra, smiling softly so the violet tattoo under her eye curved upwards. "Can I be asking—can I ask—a question?"

"Thanks! And sure," said Caspar.

"Are couples of the same gender…common in Fódlan? Do you see it a lot?"

Linhardt shrugged. "Does it matter whether it's conventional or not?"

"No, no," Petra said. "I was just wanting to know."

"I would not say they're too common," Ferdinand said. He had a book open in front of him and a half-eaten flatbread cooling on his plate; Edelgard hadn't thought he'd been paying attention to the conversation at all. "But you do see some same-sex couples now and again. It is accepted, if that's what you mean."

Petra nodded thoughtfully. "It is more common in Brigid, I am supposing. But still, that's good."

"Why do you ask?" Caspar said. He leaned his head on Linhardt's shoulder, the perfect height to rest against the curve of his boyfriend's throat. It occurred to Edelgard that they had always been affectionate, tactile friends, but knowing they were together now, doing this sort of thing romantically made her feel stupidly fond. And maybe—if she dared admit to it—a little bit jealous that affection came so easily to them. That they had each other to share it with. Edelgard wished she had—

"Just curiousity," Petra said. Her tanned cheeks flushed a charmingly suspicious shade of pink.

Dorothea scrutinized her for one long moment before realization bloomed on her face. "Aha! Petra, baby, why didn't you tell us?"

"Wh—"

"Who's the lucky lady you've got a crush on?" Dorothea leaned in closer and wiggled her eyebrows exaggeratedly, her lips quirked up in a playful smile. She'd always been quick to get to the heart of these things.

Petra blushed deeper and stared down at the table, as if she had suddenly become incredibly interested in the pattern of its wood grain. "No one."

Ah, realized Edelgard, taking in the proximity of their bodies, tilted into each other, the pleasantly flustered look on Petra's face, the way the teasing curve of Dorothea's mouth belied a subtle hope that had sparked behind her eyes. So she had been right; they did like each other. She'd started suspecting it about a month earlier, when they had been deployed to fight off bandits in a nearby village. They'd been fighting back-to-back, Petra slashing viciously with her sword and Dorothea blasting shafts of light from her palms, and then Edelgard had caught they way they'd looked at each other over their shoulders, tender and concerned despite the violence unfolding around them.

And then Byleth had come up and put her hand on the small of Edelgard's back and shaken her back into focus. Come on, she'd said, her eyes burning bright with adrenaline. The leader's this way. We can take him down together. And Edelgard had nodded and turned away from Petra and Dorothea, had slung her axe over her shoulder and watched the way the light glinted off the glossy blue strands of Byleth's hair. Had followed Byleth through a thatch of trees and realized she would follow her anywhere, probably. Had realized that somehow, the thought didn't scare her.

Now, Linhardt narrowed his eyes at the two girls. "Wait a second. How many of us are gay, exactly?"

Dorothea dragged her eyes away from Petra and tapped one red-lacquered nail at her chin. "Well, you two are—"

"Not straight," said Caspar.

"Together," said Linhardt, at the same time.

"Right. And I'm certainly not straight either. Petra?"

Petra hesitated, then shook her head. "You…are right. I like a girl."

Dorothea whistled lowly, the note coming clear and smooth from her lips. "Four out of eight! Who would have thought?"

Ferdinand's face worked through a few complicated expressions—was that apprehension or relief? was he amused or affronted?—and then settled back into its usual breezy confidence. "Make that five out of eight."

Dorothea gaped at him, both her eyebrows arching upwards to disappear under her hat. "You too?"

"You can't seriously tell me you thought I was straight."

Caspar made a triumphant crowing noise at the back of his throat. "I knew it!"

The hairs at the back of Edelgard's neck prickled familiarly, and she swiveled around to find Hubert looming over her shoulder. Edelgard had gotten used to it years ago, but to those unaccustomed to him, his sudden appearances might have been startling. Might even have seemed supernatural. She had secretly found it funny when she'd overheard some of younger students speculating that he was a vampire. 

Bernadetta stood at his side; evidently they had walked to the dining hall together. Edelgard looked at her closely to make sure she was alright. Sweet but concerningly quick to spiral into hysteria, she was one of the few matters Edelgard did not trust Hubert with. Last time she'd left the two of them alone, she'd come back to Bernadetta hyperventilating in the corner of their common room and Hubert watching her melt down, face carefully blank. She seemed fine now, though.

"You knew what?" Hubert asked Caspar. He made no move to sit down. Edelgard suspected it was because he liked the sensation of towering so far above the rest of them.

"That Ferdinand was into men!" Caspar said.

The tips of Ferdinand's ears went bright-red at Caspar's forwardness. He said nothing, though, just lifted his glass and took a sip of water, ever polite.

"Oh, good," Hubert drawled. His expression was passive. "I'd been wondering if I was the only one."

Ferdinand promptly choked on his water. The next few minutes passed by in a flurry of zealous back-pounding and cries of Can you breathe? Are you okay? Ferdie! When Ferdinand did not meet an untimely demise in the middle of the dining hall and could, in fact, breathe again, Dorothea turned to Hubert and scowled darkly. "Give a guy some warning!"

"My apologies," said Hubert. "Next time I won't come out at all."

It was funny, and Edelgard couldn't help but snort softly. Seven faces turned to look at her, curious, just as it occurred to her that she hadn't contributed much to the conversation. That she hadn't revealed anything despite the vulnerability and overall silliness of it all.

Edelgard felt her face burn. She cared about these people; they cared about her. Surely it couldn't hurt to reveal to them something so inconsequential about herself. Surely it was fine to participate in what was nothing more than a lighthearted conversation about crushes. Surely it would only strengthen their bonds to know that she was like them, too. Surely it was okay.

After all, they would be the ones at her side in the future, soon to be her advisors and knights and lords and ladies. Or, no—that wasn't quite it. Before that, they were her friends, and she wanted to share things with them, she realized. It was a new, foreign thought—she'd never really thought of herself as the sort of person who had friends—but Edelgard felt its truth in her bones.

"I am…also attracted to women," she offered.

One specific woman especially, she did not add. Did not add that she was drawn to Byleth like she had never been drawn to anyone before. That despite the survivalist streak that had been ingrained in her from childhood and despite Byleth's strange, inscrutable smiles, Edelgard trusted her. She did not add that she had probably been falling for Byleth since the day they'd met, when Byleth had, without a second thought, thrown an arm in front of Edelgard and stabbed a blade into the chest of the bandit who had been trying to lunge at her. Did not add that she'd revealed more of herself to Byleth than she had to anyone else. Did not add that some days, her feelings felt so profound and powerful it was difficult to remember any of her goals besides love Byleth.

Linhardt nodded sagely, and the others either followed suit or smiled at her; Edelgard felt a sudden, stupid rush of gratitude that they had all reacted so nonchalantly. "So," he said. "Seven out of eight, then."

Bernadetta peeked over Hubert's shoulder. "Well. Me too, so that means…" Her voice wavered, but she showed no other signs of panicking, her face uncharacteristically calm and earnest beneath her choppy purple bangs.

The table fell silent as this last piece of information clicked into place.

"Is it even statistically possible for all of us to be gay?" Dorothea wondered aloud after a beat.

Petra laughed under her breath at that, a soft, delighted giggle. Dorothea giggled too, more loudly, and then the two of them were falling into each other and laughing heartily. Caspar joined in, and then Ferdinand, and then Bernadetta. Linhardt allowed himself an exasperated smile and an eyeroll, and even Hubert's mouth tilted upward in amusement. They laughed and laughed and eventually, Edelgard couldn't help but laugh too, harder than she had in a long time, so hard her stomach hurt, so much her eyes started to tear up. She sat up and swiped at her eyes as the others gasped for breath and clutched at their sides. It was all so absurd.

So, Edelgard thought, her face pleasantly warm, her mouth still settled in a smile. Beyond allyships and accords and allegiances, this was friendship.

She found she rather liked it.

Notes:

thanks for reading & i hope you enjoyed it! i have some more serious fe3h fics planned out and if anyone has any requests, feel free to let me know! comments and kudos are always appreciated 💓