Summary:

[Mod!AU] It's not the way he laughs, or the way she smiles, but it's the way they enjoy each other's company that makes the world seem a whole lot brighter.

Author's Ideas: HOLLAH HOLLAH GUESS WHAT MY FIRST LEGIT (NOT A TWO-SHOT) MULTI-CHAPTER FIC IS

IF YOU GUESSED PERCEVAL/CECILIA YOU'RE RIGHT

Jokes aside this has been sitting in my WIPs since like… March? To be fair, there's another WIP that's been there since June last year, but we're going to ignore that ha ha ha ha ha

*hint hint that might be my next one-shot hint hint*

Also, I tried out a new style of writing with this chapter, and I like it a lot. It's a little more casual and a lot more playful, but since all my fics are so somber [as y'all know], I'll hardly get to use it. Ah well :p

Disclaimer: What's owning Fire Emblem? Obviously something I'm not a part of.

Brighter

~ / . / . / ~

I: Sunrise

~ / . / . / ~

She shoots up like a sprout over the fifth Christmas break of work, and Perceval's genuinely shocked that she can't serve as his armrest anymore (yes, she used to be that short, and yes, she is a really late bloomer).

He didn't know what to say when she appeared on that first day back at work and marched over to him, her nose touching his cheek as she grinned up at him, standing tall on her flat feet.

Cecilia changes in more ways than her height, though.

Perceval always knew her as Miss Alessandra's daughter, who was his father's friend. She was the girl who worked hard for everything she got, and loved nature more than anything. She was the girl who helped him on his literature homework when he'd almost flunked the class on accident, the girl who sat under or, Miss Alessandra forbid, in the tree, flipping the pages of books containing medieval stories. She was the girl who had that sort of natural hand in economics and business, she was the girl who had always had her sights set on the Elibean Leagues. Yet, when did she start to grow into a woman?

Her voice gets deeper. What used to be a high and soft pitch turns into a sweet, slightly deeper tone. Her eyes grow wiser, more attentive. The curves in her body grow more obvious, and she looks much more feminine, like a real woman, and not like a short girl who tries her best to look like one.

She can do makeup like a pro now, and often does it in his car on the way to work, although she's always done that. What's changed is how well she wears that coral-colored lipstick, how nice her eyes look under that thin eyeliner and mascara she's known for. Her taste in fashion doesn't change, but she wears her clothes more naturally.

It takes more than a while for Perceval to register it: she's a woman.

There's still downsides to her growing up, though. There always are. First and foremost, he doesn't get to tease her anymore. He used to grin and muss her hair, laugh whenever they went shopping together and she had to get the smallest things in the petite section, or buy larger clothes hopefully. He doesn't get to do that anymore, and scrunches up his face whenever she stands on the tips of her toes and ruffles his hair, or how comfy she looks in his sweaters whenever she comes over, instead of looking like a mess of cloth and limbs.

Everyone takes her so seriously now. They look nervous when they approach her, and they stammer when they talk to her. She's expected to act mature, she's expected to present herself appropriately when Perceval knows that she's the same as before.

He becomes worried for her, though. When they walk down the sidewalk, he can see men, staring at her ravenously from the corner of his eye. Their hands twitch, and he doesn't want to think about what would happen if he wasn't there.

"It's ridiculous," Pent interrupts Perceval's aggressive train, or multiple trains, of thoughts.

He nudges Cecilia, who's sitting beside him. "What were we talking about?" he whispers.

"Promotions and business trips," she answers, glancing at him beneath long lashes lined with thin mascara. "Were you not paying attention?"

"No," he mutters back, and she gives him a playful punch on his leg under the table.

"Well, pay attention."

"Actually…" his mother's voice interrupts their banter, and Perceval looks up. "There is one more thing I would like to bring up in the Security Department."

"Go on," Douglas nods from his seat beside her. Amber Eques stands, a determined look in her eyes.

"At the urging of my husband," she lifts her head courageously, "I wish to step down from my position as the Head of Security-"

Perceval is on his feet at once, slamming his hands on the table in front of him. "Mother-"

"-And pass my post on to Perceval." Amber interrupts him.

He shakes his head as everyone's eyes swivel to him, pursing his lips together.

"Amber is right in appointing Perceval." Cecilia speaks up then. "He's experienced in the field, and will serve well."

Perceval looks at the green-haired woman, who stares at Douglas. Pent nods from his place next to the brunette.

"I trust Perceval. I've known him long enough to know he'll do better than any other candidate."

Louise smiles. "Pent is right, Perceval. I'm sure you're reluctant, but we all believe in you."

Cecilia places a hand on his then, ignoring the blatant stares. He stares down at her pale hand, and glances over at her. Her face is glistening with a smile, and he bites his lip before nodding hesitantly.

"Very well. If my mother believes me to be the one most capable for the job, I will accept it."

He gets a round of standing ovation, and Perceval shoots Cecilia his best "please help me what have I gotten myself into" look.

Amber Eques is waiting for her son outside of the meeting room, and she grins, snagging Perceval's elbow and reaching up, ruffling her son's hair.

"Don't let me down, kiddo."

"Thanks, Mom," Perceval rolls his eyes. "Way to put on the pressure."

Cecilia jabs her elbow into his bicep, and he glares at her playfully, a smirk on his lips. Amber lets out a boisterous laugh, rubbing her son's back.

"You can do it, Perceval. Your dad and I believe in you."

Perceval groans. "Right. Dad persuaded you to do this."

Cecilia grins. "Just shut up and be happy."

He doesn't see her for the rest of the weekend, too busy to meet up with her because of his new responsibilities that warrant attention from the public media. She sends him paragraphs and broken messages between interviews, wishing him luck and reassuring him it'll be okay.

The first day in Elibean Leagues on Monday is a circus. The minute Perceval pulls up in the parking lot, he's showered with "congratulations" and presents. He's pulled into a party, then piled up with work, and all this time, he's never seen Cecilia, only catching a glimpse of green behind Douglas's grinning face.. Eventually, he shows up in her office through the connecting door of their offices, and the reaction he gets from her is interesting, to say the least.

"Cecilia? Douglas said something about needing documents in a red folder, I think. I'm here to get them."

"Hold on, let me…" she spins around in her chair, then trails off. "...get through these…" She looks him over once, a grin on her face before turning her back to him, sorting through her cabinet of files and folders.

"I didn't know the first day of being Head of Security required cufflinks and a suit," Cecilia teases. Perceval rolls his eyes.

"I didn't either, so you're two for two for not knowing about how formal we have to be on the first day of work."

"Hey, my first day was your fault and you know it."

Perceval gives her a doubtful look that she knows he's giving her, and she sprays her bottle of perfume in his general direction.

"Cecilia!" he scolds, scowling. She turns to look at him, a red folder in her grasp.

"Great! Now I get to tell everyone how I made the Head of Security smell like peaches on his first day!" Cecilia beams, then pushes the spinning chair in front of Perceval, dropping the folder into his hands. "Now go on! You have work to do now, don't you?"

"Shut it," Perceval brushes off his suit, but grins. She smiles back and stands, giving him a tight hug.

"Congratulations," she murmurs. He rests his cheek on the top of her head and pulls her closer.

"Thanks."

When he goes to Douglas's office, the older man takes the folder from him and asks him, in an insinuating tone of voice, why he smells like the peach perfume that Cecilia uses so often. His only response is to flush as red as a ripe strawberry and swear incoherently under his breath. Douglas snorts and tells Perceval to scram and pick up the pieces of his scattered love life. Perceval glares at the older man before exiting his office, leaving Douglas hollering over how "young'uns these days don't seem to know what love is" and how "Perceval is the most oblivious bloke I've ever met".

That little episode elicits a response in Pent and Louise, who pull the new Head of Security out of a meeting one day to give him The Talk. Cecilia's mother, Miss Alessandra, takes an hour off of work just to join them, and by the time the trio are finished with Perceval, he is an unimaginable shade of crimson, from his face to his neck, even to his hands and feet, and there's a mental image in his mind that doesn't go away for the rest of the two hour meeting he clambers back into clumsily, muttering "I'm fine" to anyone who asks questions as to why the Head of the Financial Resources department, his wife, and Miss Cecilia's mother were lecturing him in said Head of Financial Resources's office.

"What were they talking to you about?" Cecilia raises an eyebrow over her lunch, and Perceval coughs, swallowing.

"I'd rather not think about it right now."

"What did they do now?" Cecilia rolls her eyes, standing. "I should go talk to them…"

"No, wait, Cecilia, you don't have to-"

She ignores his half-protests and stalks over to her boss, a fiery look in her eyes.

There's a collective moment of silence, then Pent bursts into laughter.

"Perceval, I thought you were tough!" he yells, and the Head of Security rolls his eyes, adjusting his tie.

"Technically, this is all your fault!" Perceval calls back, cupping a hand around his mouth. Pent waves him off, covering his mouth with his hand.

"Shut up and come get your girl!"

That hits both of them, and Cecilia kicks Pent in the shin, making a face while Perceval covers his face with his hands. Louise laughs.

The whole time, they're being recorded by Mildain, who's working the register at the Western Isles Café.

The next day, when everyone gets the video in a company inclusive e-mail, Perceval feels like curling up under his desk and never coming back out. He knows he's never going to hear the end of it, but his co-workers drop the subject as soon as the Elibean Leagues announce their next project at the annual company wide meeting.

"We're going to be starting a branch of Elibean Leagues in Lycia. They've agreed to send in candidates for employees and leadership positions, but for now, we're going to need some people to go over there and make sure the company can run itself while some people need to teach them," Pent clarifies.

"Which brings us to our current situation," Mordred rasps. "I have a list of people who will be going to the new branch in Ostia. They have already been informed of their qualification, and have agreed to go along. They will be leaving one week from today, on May 4th."

Some intern sitting behind him shouts out, "May the fourth be with you!"

Perceval pins him with his best glare, and he quickly shuts up. Perceval sighs, turning around, and Cecilia stifles a giggle beside him.

"Eliwood Pherae, Hector Ostia, Lyn Sacae. You have served us well, and I'm pleased to tell everyone that you three will be heading the development of the new branch of Elibean Leagues, and are thusly allowed to move from Etruria."

There's a large round of applause for the three veterans of the company, who scuffle on stage looking a little more than intimidated by the task laid out in front of them.

"At least you get to yell at your kids again," Pent murmurs offhandedly into the microphone, and everyone laughs.

"You will not be alone in your efforts, I promise," Mordred chuckles reassuringly. "Guinivere Desmond, Melady Sarkan, Zealot Sniegs, and Cecilia Icae."

Perceval's head shoots up at the mention of Cecilia's name, and he stares at her.

"You're going?" he whispers. She nods, standing to take to the stage.

The rest of the meeting is a blur for him. There's something pounding in his heart, growling at him whenever he sees Cecilia up on that stage.

Pent and Louise jump at the chance of sending their pretty much second daughter off to a new branch of Elibean Leagues, and the last time Perceval sees her is when they're at her house, head-deep in her closet and her wardrobe.

Cecilia disappears from his life for an hour, and then a day, and then a week, and that's exactly when Perceval realizes he has no clue how long she'll be gone.

It's also while she's gone in Ostia that he realizes how boring his life is without her, and he tells Douglas, who just pats him on the back and says, "Congratulations, Perceval, my boy, you've discovered love."

His workspace seems so lonely. The wooden door inside Perceval's office that connects to her office in Financial Resources gets rusty, and he can't help but want to clean away all the dust that's settling on her shelves, chairs, and books whenever he looks inside. He takes home the bomber jacket that she'd accidentally left on the coat hanger, and isn't surprised to discover that it smells like lavender and peach with a dash of vanilla, her favorite smells.

His weekends are suddenly free. Every Saturday afternoon, he usually goes up into the mountains for a hike with her, they go out to dinner afterwards, and then head to the Reglay house for Movie Night. Instead, his mornings (which were already dull because he spends them in the café at the office) become even duller when he realizes that he has nothing to do during the afternoon. He finds himself staying at the Western Isles Café longer than he usually does, and Mildain grins at him.

"You've been here for a while. Don't you usually do something with Cecilia in the afternoon?"

"She's in Ostia. Business trip. She's teaching a class or something," he shrugs angrily. "I couldn't be bothered to listen in on what she was doing. Something about Roy and Lilina was all I caught."

"Oh? Is Perceval being a lovesick boy?" Mildain asks, and Perceval reaches over the counter to swat him with his folder of paperwork.

"Just get me my damn coffee," he grumbles, scrunching his face up as he looks down at the paper in front of him.

"Echidna!" Mildain calls, and a few seconds later, a tall aqua-haired woman pokes her head out the backroom. "Get the grumpy Head of Security his coffee, please."

"Aren't you nice?"

"When did you rediscover your sassiness?" Echidna asks as she reaches for his mug.

"I don't think it's him rediscovering his sass, but it's more so the fact that Cecilia isn't here to tell him to be nicer and not sass everyone."

Perceval just sighs, and everyone's laughing when Geese walks in and promptly asks, "Did I miss something?"

Cecilia stays in Ostia for three months, and Perceval thinks the three months she's gone are the worst thing he's ever been through, and it's like his cat Calico agrees because every morning when Perceval wakes up, Calico's always in the guest room because Cecilia always stays over during her late-night business trips to Chanchester even though her house is only an hour away in Valkin.

Thankfully, she's called back to Aquelia before he loses his sanity, and he tells her over the phone that she's going to be taking Pent's place as the Head of the Financial Resources Department and that "Narcian looked like he had swallowed a live fish" when Galle was also to be promoted alongside her as the Vice Head of the Department. She tries not to laugh because she's stepped out of class to take his call, but he keeps jabbing at it and she ends up having to hang up on him mid-description because she can't teach class with the image of "just swallowed a live fish Narcian" in her head.

He's assigned to go pick her up from the airport when she arrives, and for the rest of the day, every time he walks by his subordinates, they all whoop and cheer like he's trying out for the god damn Olympics, when all he's really going to do is pick up the girl he's loved for twenty two years from the airport. Sain tries to get him to write some fancy poem, and he vehemently denies it in favor of his wife's advice, who just looks at him and says, "Tell her, you prick."

Turns out her advice was actually a message from Mildain.

Douglas sees him off like he's going to college or something, and even insists that he come along (to which Perceval denies). Perceval honestly doesn't know how to feel about it the entire ride towards the airport until he pulls up and sees her, waiting under the shade of the airport, and then he's suddenly grateful that Douglas didn't come with him.

She's beautiful, he thinks, and it's the only thought buzzing through his mind aside from the whole "I love you" thing.

She's wearing the white trench coat they bought in Europe together, and underneath is the open-sleeved, shoulder-cut black silk shirt that he gave her for her birthday. She has on the white jeans they found while cleaning out her wardrobe, and the slip-on black heels he bought for her while they were finding outfits for the class reunion just months ago. Her green hair still looks the same, but it's grown longer, frames her face perfectly, and he loves it.

She spots him and smiles, and he's suddenly seeing stars. She makes her way through the mass of cars towards his and slips her suitcase into the trunk of his car before getting into the car. He has to chide himself mentally that "you're not a kid, goddamnit, just tell her".

He blurts out "I love you" when she shuts the passenger door, and she stops and looks at him, and he's so scared that he can't breathe until he sees that familiar look in her eyes, that look of "I know, damn it, why didn't you tell me earlier", and then she smiles and whispers "I love you too", so he kisses her and kisses her until the cars behind them honk, and he never lets go of her hand during the drive back to Valkin.