"Here you are Aurora, enjoy." Cordelia said as she placed the bucket of oats in front of her hungry pegasus. With a happy whinny, Aurora dug her nose into the bucket and began munching on her lunch. Cordelia smiled and began absentmindedly brushing out her mane as her thoughts began to wander.
She had a lot on her mind lately, mostly revolving around a certain mercenary that she had become close friends with. When Gregor had first approached her and offered to help her with her feelings for Chrom, she had been skeptical, and a bit put off. However, she quickly learned that Gregor was a genuinely nice person, and she enjoyed being in his company. She found herself being drawn to him even when she didn't need any love coaching, just because he was a funny and interesting person. He always had something fascinating to talk about, and he also enjoyed listening to whatever was on her mind as well. They had become very close in a short amount of time, and she now found herself thinking more about him than she did about Chrom.
Cordelia sighed as she moved to brush Aurora's flank. She was more confused about her feelings now than she had ever been. She had always had this wild idea that eventually Chrom would have an epiphany and realized that he loved her too, which she was now slowly beginning to accept the fact that it was nigh impossible that things would turn out that way. First of all, Cordelia knew very well that Sumia was in love with Chrom, and Chrom seemed to slowly be leaning towards reciprocating those feelings. Cordelia would be lying to herself if she said she didn't see that coming, and she could never fault her friend for her feelings, for she knew Sumia hesitated to confess to Chrom while her best friend still harbored feelings for him.
Second of all, Cordelia had come to the realization that she might have fallen for Gregor instead.
At first she had dismissed the feelings as a rebound from her unrequited feelings for Chrom. As she thought about it more, however, she concluded that these feelings had grown from the fast friendship that she had formed with Gregor, and were very real. She found herself thinking about him before she fell asleep every night, and he would sometimes make appearances in her dreams. She always felt happy when she was around him, and any innocent physical contact that they made left her heart fluttering and her face flushing. These feelings were quite genuine, and she did not know where to go from here.
Cordelia thought about telling Gregor her feelings for him, but she was hesitant. She did not want to make things awkward between them if he did not feel the same, for her friendship with him was something she treasured very much. She decided to hold off on telling him for a little longs, just to see if he might give some sort of distinct signs that he was interested as well. He did compliment her a lot, but she wasn't sure if that was because he was attracted to her, or if he was just trying to boost her confidence levels. Cordelia frowned and let out a deep sigh.
"Oi, Gregor never see someone sigh as much as Cordelia. Breaks his heart to witness such a troubled soul."
Cordelia was startled into dropping her brush, earning an annoyed sniff from Aurora, as she turned and found Gregor grinning at her.
"Oh, hello Gregor," Cordelia said, laughing nervously as she retrieved the brush from the ground. "I assume that you're training session with Lon'qu and Vaike is finished?"
"Ah, yes. Little men underestimate Gregor and live to regret it. Sent both off to lick wounds in shame." Gregor said with a laugh. Cordelia found herself smiling brightly.
"They really should know better. You have quite the impressive reputation." Cordelia said.
"True, true. Gregor not shy about fighting skills." he said. He paused and stared at Cordelia for a moment, causing her to tilt her head curiously. "Oi, hold still." he said as he reached out towards her. Her eyes widened as his hand went to her hair. His fingers lingered lightly over her hair before he pulled something out of her hair. Cordelia blushed as she let out the breath she didn't realize she had been holding.
"You have straw in hair. It really stands out from Cordelia's beautiful red hair." Gregor said as he pulled the piece of straw away. Cordelia became flustered as her face turned red, and Gregor tilted his head curiously. "Is Cordelia feeling well? Face is red like ripe tomato."
"N-Nonsense, I'm fine Gregor, you don't-" Cordelia began, but she was interrupted as something slammed hard into her back. Aurora apparently did not like that she was being ignored, so she had angrily slammed her head into Cordelia's back.
"Ahh!" Cordelia exclaimed as she fell forward. Gregor did not have time to react as she slammed into him, knocking them both to the ground. Cordelia's eyes closed instinctively as shes landed on top of Gregor, who grunted as he took the force of her weight. Cordelia moved her head to the side and her lips brushed against something soft.
She opened her eyes and froze. Her face was pressed up against Gregor, who was staring up at he with wide, shocked eyes. She then came to the realization that her lips were pressed against his. She was kissing Gregor.
Cordelia finally snapped out of her daze as he scrambled off of Gregor. "Oh-I-Gregor! A-are you okay?" she said quickly as she reached down to help Gregor to his feet. He did not answer right away, a dumbfounded look plastered on his now bright red face. He cleared his throat and smiled nervously.
"Y-yes. Gregor is fine. Is Cordelia okay?" he said, his eyes avoiding contact with hers. They stood in awkward silence for a few moments before Aurora whinnied in annoyance.
"Aurora! That was mean! Bad pegusus!" Cordelia said as she turned around to glare at her. Aurora sniffed and flicked her tail moodily. She then stole a glance back at Gregor, who was staring blankly at her. Cordelia felt mortified.
"Er, Gregor, I-" but Cordelia was interrupted as Sumia came running up to them, a serious look on her face.
"Cordelia! Gregor! Risen are attacking from the west!" Sumia said as she ran past them to fetch her pegasus. Cordelia nodded as she pushed this recent, awkward encounter to the back of her mind. She grabbed her lance and hopped onto Aurora's back.
"Come on Gregor, I'll give you a lift to the battle." she said, offering her hand to him. He nodded and took it, causing both of them to flush at the touch. She pulled him up to sit behind her and they were off, and Cordelia was low-key wondering if dying in the battle would be better than the impending awkward conversation that would happen sometime in the future.