Author's Notes: Fire Emblem Awakening has so many combinations of possible Parents-Spouses-Siblings-Aunts (Aversa and Lissa)/ Uncle (Chrom) that no fanfiction written by anyone else has your exact combination. So, I'd challenge anyone interested to find a way to fit in any of the above selections into a fic exactly as it turned out in game, be it about couples or parents or whatever other multiple choice scenario the game offers you.
Let's start with the kid's Second Gen Romances as I wound up with them, in really short-story collection format.
P.S. If you don't like any of the pairings below to the point you can't read them, just skip that section. Each one is completely self-contained.
Laurent & Morgan
Laurent's hand shifted to adjust his glasses with decided precision, his every tiniest movement seeming precise and pre-planned. The light creeping into the tent from its slightly parted flap reflected off his spectacles' lens and the resulting glare shielding his calculating eyes from his unnervingly perceptive opponent.
His fingers twitched as his hand extended over his black dragon rider, its position leaving it directly in line with a white cavalier. Seeing no change in Morgan's normally cheerful obliviousness, Laurent felt a sudden tightening in his stomach and a cold sweat built on his brow.
Nervously scanning the board and running through every possible move he could conceive, he faltered and his rook moved leftwards rather than straight towards the opposing equestrian statue.
Morgan giggled at that and moved her own piece, the one modelled after a pegasus knight, three spaces diagonally so that it was next to his Lord.
"Check and mate," she said airily as Laurent's head lowered a fraction of an inch in disappointment.
"Five games and four losses… your tactical acumen continues to amaze me," Laurent said with a friendly smile.
"Aw, that's so sweet," Morgan cooed while reaching across the table to take his Mage's hat and place it atop her head. "Most guys get annoyed after losing to me but you're really sticking it out. I bet in a couple of years you might actually be winning three out of five games every once in a while."
Laurent had his pride and probably would have been offended if the words had come from a stranger but he knew she meant it as a sincere compliment (it helped that her prediction was likely accurate). Still, Laurent didn't entirely trust the purity of his deduction.
He had a theory that the possessive feeling that overcame him every time his hat fell slightly askew atop the tactician-in-training's blond hair made him temporarily incapable of staying angry at her.
This was doubly true when she crawled atop his lap afterwards and snuggled against his chest.
Yarne & Noire
"You… you're joking… right?" asked a decidedly pale looking Noire, the anaemic girl's usual lack of colour fading even further as she sat with a bent posture against a tree.
Yarne's toes gently raked the grass, the beautiful green pastures of the past something many of the children had been completely mesmerised by, Yarne included. His ears twitched slightly and his lips curled upwards mischievously when he responded, "Nope, dead serious. Taguels usually give birth to litters just like normal rabbits. I was a strange exception."
"Oh, that's… worrying," Noire hands clenched one another tightly and she began subconsciously rocking back and forth.
Her eyes were narrowing slightly and she was biting her bottom lip in frustration, warning signs that Yarne was completely unaware of as he continued lying through his teeth about his biology.
"Hungry little guys too. If you try to feed them one at a time, they'll probably get real upset, so you might want to work on that," Yarne couldn't contain his mirth anymore and burst out laughing, the sound ringing clearly into the sky. "Woo, I really had you going there. That'll teach ya about guilt tripping me into combat!"
"Yarne…" the half-rabbit's neck hairs stood on end at the deeper tone her voice had taken on, his neck cautiously peering to the side to catch a bloodcurdlingly terrifying grin upon her features.
"Hehehe, come on Noire, I… I was just kidding around," Yarne chuckled insincerely while his eyes involuntarily widened in horror.
Noire's thin frame suddenly leapt forward with a surprising force that would have made Yarne's Mother tip her hat and crashed directly into her Taguel beau.
Pinning his arms down and eyeing his quivering form like a hungry predator, Noire made a point of licking her lips in anticipation.
"BLOOD AND THUNDER! NOW YOU'VE GOT ME EXCITED, SO AS PUNISHMENT… I'LL MAKE YOU PRODUCE A LITTER!" Noire's psychotic laughter resembled her white haired father's as she yelled, "EVEN IF I HAVE TO LEAVE YOU A DRIED HUSK TO DO IT!"
Brady & Cynthia
"Cut it out already! I told ya I was fine, ya crazy dame!" Brady objected despite the sharp pain stinging his ankle.
The frail healer was currently being carried bridal style by a pixie-like girl whose bright smile indicated she was enjoying the situation far more than he. Her white Pegasus trotted behind the two amicably, the unusually intelligent animal whinnying lowly in amusement at Brady's protests, her tone reminding Brady of his mother's teasing whenever she caught her son with Sumia's youngest daughter.
"Nope, I don't want you getting hurt anymore," Cynthia answered cheerfully before her incredibly expressive face fell dishearteningly. "Besides, you only got hurt because you were racing to heal that cut I got on my leg. Even though it totally wasn't a big deal…"
"I told ya that I didn't mind that already. And of course I'm nervous with you," Brady bit back while crossing his arms. "You're so clumsy that ya trip over your own feet about as often as I end up in the healer's tent."
"Can't deny that." Cynthia pondered her words for a minute before her eyes lit up and mouth made a little 'o' shape, "Hey, I just thought of something."
"And what's that?" Brady asked, his non-scarred eye locking onto the Mark of the Exalt behind Cynthia's right.
"Can you imagine if our kids had my attitude and your bones? How awful would that be?"
Cynthia laughed at her own silly thought but Brady went bright red at the hidden suggestion.
"What kids?! Ain't it way too early to be thinking about stuff like that?!"
Owain & Nah
Their stroll into the busy town had been uneventful and pleasant at first. Owain bought some food from a local merchant and they wandered into various shops with no real goal in mind. Owain even agreed to not speak in his usual manner and, despite the occasional slip (usually begging his sword hand to relent), his efforts were a sign of just how much he cared about her.
However, problems arose when the crowds became thicker due to a travelling band of merchants coincidentally passing through at the same time Chrom's army had been in the area. Nah's steadfast claims that she wasn't a child didn't change her physical limitations and it was obvious that she and Owain would be separated if they pushed through.
Nah wasn't sure she could even get inside the crowd if she was being honest.
So Owain, thoughtful and (reasonably) straightforward as he was, saw no issue in 'solving' the problem by placing her atop his shoulders and moving about like before to see the new arrivals. Nah had screamed with a mixture of embarrassment and rage for him to put her down but he'd pointed out that the only alternatives were to either sit in one spot for a few hours or to go back to camp.
She'd been pouting while leaning her crossed arms atop his head (making her look even more like a sulking child than her position required) when he eventually spoke up, apparently having been deep in thought about how to defuse the situation.
"You know I'd rather do this with you than hold any other girl's hand, right?" his face twisted uncomfortably while he waited for her response to his sincere declaration.
Thankful he couldn't see the deep blush creeping across her features or the goofy smile she couldn't supress, Nah sighed contentedly.
She'd been about to tell him that she did know that when two girls in their mid-teens (i.e. somewhere just between Owain and Nah's physical ages) nearby pushed through the crowd so that they were both walking on either side of the theatrical swordsman.
"Aw, that's the sweetest thing any older brother could say," one of the girls cooed while her friend piped in, "You don't have a girlfriend by any chance, do you?"
"I'M NOT HIS LITTLE SISTER, I'M HIS GIRLFRIEND!" Nah roared, startling the two other females and nearly bursting Owain's eardrum.
Gerome & Severa
The Outrealm Hot Springs were a blessing for the weary Ylissean forces after months of battle and, save for a Risen attack, the experience proved a great way to unwind. Some couples even took turns in the Mixed Baths to spice things up (a necessity when methods of physical intimacy were limited by fraternisation restrictions).
Severa and Gerome were one such couple.
The incredibly shy couple had been slowly moving closer to one another after their confession, one or the other always growing flustered and backing off before they could take their relationship a significant step forward.
In her desperation, Severa had read through a copy of 'Make Him Fall For You In A Fortnight' she'd found in her mother's tent. After wondering why her perfect mother's tent contained such drivel (it couldn't be her father's, she sincerely hoped it wasn't anyway), she'd come across an article on bathing together (after the relationship had started) to "stoke the fires of passion. Bleh… who writes this crap?"
The Hot Springs trip occurred a short month later and, despite many previous failures to find the guts to join Gerome in the stream, this time they'd made it to the steamy, romantic waters while each wearing little more than a towel.
The key flaw in Severa's plan was soon revealed when she immediately sunk into the water so that anything below her chin was completely submerged due to her embarrassment. Gerome fared little better, turning his head away to obscure his currently maskless face and the obvious red tinge he'd developed when he thought about looking at his semi-naked girlfriend.
They'd sat that way for what must have been a good twenty minutes when one of the Anna sisters popped her head in to say something… something that was quickly forgotten when both teens glared at her so intently that a lesser saleswoman would have burst into flames… according to her sales quote of the pictures she subtly took just before fleeing for her life.
Neither Severa or Gerome could work up the guts to do anything adventurous, leading Gerome to quip, "Father may be a fop but I now see that his flirting takes courage."
"Did you just call your Dad 'Father' instead of the usual 'idiot'?" Severa asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No. You heard wrong."
"Liar," Severa teased, sticking her tongue out and rising higher in the water without thinking, exposing her upper body wrapped tightly in a yellow towel.
Gerome smirked at the accusation, having grown slightly used to Severa's more playful side. He turned to face her, revealing his muscular abs, much to her pleasure.
"You're hardly one to talk. I thought you planned to make this 'romantic'."
"Gawds, how impatient can you be? I'm just waiting for the right moment to strike," Severa drawled while rolling her eyes and moving closer.
Gerome had no objections to this as he too approached his fiancé with an uncharacteristically smouldering gaze. Their lips were growing nearer with each passing second, just one little push forward and they'd meet.
It was the man who made his living riding on the back of Wyverns and dive-bombing often heavily armed soldiers that felt it first, a frightened shiver running up his spine as it had the first time one of the Risen had pierced his flesh. Severa was shaking uncontrollably, the terrified voices in her mind readying their host to hurl abuse as it had when Severa developed a childhood crush on Owain.
In an impressive display of camaraderie and unity that most married couples could only dream of, both of them turned away in the same moment and sunk beneath the bath waters, their eyes staring dead ahead at the bathhouse's walls. They even had reasonably similar thoughts.
"Gawds, how pathetic can a girl be, Severa?! How ashamed would Mother be if she knew you were shy around the guy you liked?!" "Father would be laughing so hard at how pathetic I'm being that he'd never hear Minervy-kins coming. If he finds out about this, I'll have to convince her to eat him alive; it's the only sensible option."
Kjelle & ?
Kjelle raised a hand to wipe the sweat from her brow following an intense training session, her proud smirk obvious at over a hundred a paces.
A single man dressed in the standard Ylissean uniform rubbed his gloved hands together, chanting words of encouragement silently to himself before taking the first steps towards Kjelle.
The General turned at him and her eyes narrowed in displeasure. Despite the reaction, the Ylissean did not divert his path.
He steeled his nerves, held his head high… and walked right past Kjelle as if he'd always meant to.
Kjelle blew some stray hairs out of her eyes and quickly resumed her training after the annoying distraction.
Lucina & Inigo
Lucina had spent many a night under the stars in her early childhood and found it relaxed her like nothing else. Even now, she found it difficult to stay upset under the faint glow of the distant suns.
Although, she mused bitterly, Inigo could certainly test that patience when too many of his quirks piled together. Or when his most obvious quirk reared its head at the wrong time as was the current case, she supposed.
She had taken her lover out to enjoy the view and they'd lain in contented silence for quite a while, side by side with their hands crossed under their heads as makeshift pillows. It had been a perfect night right up until he started talking about a girl he'd met in a nearby village.
"She had very beautiful eyes, I'm certain. Only one prettier set comes to mind," Inigo had babbled, although his expression was less enthused than normal when it came to the fairer sex.
Lucina was barely resisting the urge to run him through with Falchion for ruining the moment (and reminding her why she had her reservations about entering a relationship with the man she liked in the first place) when his continued ramblings took on a different tone.
"I honestly don't understand why I had no urge to flirt with her. I could think of reasons for the other girls I've been able to hold my tongue for yet this one stumps me," Inigo tilted his head backwards, his eyes rolling upwards as if the answer was written just above his head. "The only thing I can think of is that it's your fault."
Lucina's anger, palpable though it was, couldn't quite survive the sheer oddity of the statement. Inigo hadn't even blamed a girl who broke his arm once (according to Cynthia), although he did cry about being rejected, so there was no way he was accusing her of anything.
"My… fault?" she questioned hesitantly, positively baffled by the choice of words.
"I mean nothing negative, my darling," Inigo assured with the boyish grin that made Lucina's heart temporarily forget its rhythm, the organ banging against her chest desperately like a flailing musician trying to force out the forgotten notes. "It's just that you don't really give the other ladies a chance. They're all special in their own ways, of course, but I can't really think of one better than you."
Lucina, unused to compliments she could actively compare against other people (as opposed to his usual sweet nothings), considered stuttering out a response but gave up the idea when she realised that her voice was failing her.
"I guess anyone would look plain next to your beauty, huh," Inigo winked flirtily as he finished his praise, having noticed the effect his words were having on the realm's princess.
"You've… you've been practising, haven't you?" Lucina said bashfully as buried her hand in her face to cover the heat flaring up on her face.
"Just for you," Inigo quipped as he turned over to drape an arm over Lucina's svelte form, pulling her into a tight hug.
Author's Notes: Not sure how I feel about this or if it's worth continuing but I probably should meet my own challenge. All feedback is appreciated as always.