Indulging myself a bit, and writing a one-shot about a pairing. Was originally going to a two-shot, but I couldn't put enough in part one before the time skip.

Growing Up

Ricken looked over at Lissa shyly. The young mage had felt a rapidly growing attraction to the girl the longer the war had gone on. It had gotten to the point where the poor boy ended up blushing and stuttering every-time the girl even approached him. All he wanted to do was protect her and be the guy she loved. Was that too much to ask? Now that the war with Plegia was over, the time seemed as good as any to Ricken.

Ricken steeled his nerves and approached the delicate heir. He had waited until both Chrom and Frederick were out of hearing range, knowing of their over protective tendancies. Especially Frederick's.

"Um... Lissa?" Ricken tapped her on the shoulder nervously, "Could I speak to you for a moment?"

"Sure Ricken!" Lissa smiled at him brightly. Suddenly Ricken's courage vanished like a leaf in the wind. How was he supposed to approach a girl as radiant and beautiful as Lissa? He almost chickened out, and would have too, but suddenly Virion was there. The archer wrapped his arm around Ricken's shoulder and held him in place.

"What have we here?" Virion grinned widely, "A romantic love confession from a son of a disgraced noble family to the sister of the exalt?"

Both Ricken and Lissa turned cherry red.

"Virion." Ricken cried, trying to remove himself. Virion was too strong though, and Ricken was stuck. Ricken sighed. He figured it was out now, so he'd better get it over with.

"Well the truth is..." Ricken coughed nervously, "I love you Lissa. Have for a while now. Really I just want to protect you and be your hero. Kinda like something out of a fairy tale I guess. I know you might not necessarily want me since I'm not that cool, and I'm kinda shrimpy but I'd love if it you'd have me."

"Well Ricken." Lissa replied shyly, "I'd l-"

"But my dear boy," Virion shrugged, interrupting Lissa's response "You're hardly a hero from some fairy tale. Just a short, talented mage. Of course that doesn't mean th-

Ricken interrupted Virion with an angry yell. The boy mage was shaking in anger. Even if Virion's words had been with kindness, they picked at Ricken's most sensitive point. Not being tall, strong, and cool like Chrom or other members of the Shepherds. Ricken finally managed to shake a surprised Virion off, and backed away slowly.

"Just you wait!" Ricken proclaimed, pointing a quivering finger at Lissa and Virion, "I'll grow tall and big enough to protect you in a few years, and then I'll come back and ask you for your hand in marriage!"

Ricken stormed away, his cape swishing in the air angrily. He just barely missed Lissa muttering under her breath

"But I don't CARE how big and strong you get. You're my hero just the way you are now Ricken..." Lissa glared up at Virion, "This is all your fault you know!"

Virion chuckled nervously and slowly backed away from the infuriated heir.

Two Years After the Plegian War (Several months before the war with Valm)

Ricken grinned a bit to himself. The young mage had actually grown like a weed since going off to train after the bad incident with his confession to Lissa. As such, the master at the academy had actually found him worthy of being a dark knight. That was why Ricken was now clad in black armor and riding a horse. He grinned widely and gave his new sword a few practice swings as he rode down the hill towards the capitol of Ylisse.

'I wonder if Lissa will be impressed with how much I've grown!' Ricken sheathed his sword, 'Hopefully she hasn't found some pretty boy noble and gotten married to him.'

Ricken dismounted from his horse and walked briskly up to the mansion that the Shepherds called home. He chuckled to himself, wondering if anyone would even recognize him. He knocked on the door and waited patiently. Patience that had been taught to him by the knight instructor that had taught him mounted combat.

The one to answer the door was Vaike. The big warrior was decked out in much fancier armor than before, and had one of those strange arm shields Ricken had just raised one eye at the first time he saw one.

"Who're you?" Vaike raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Teach doesn't remember you. What are you doing on the grounds of the Shepherd's base?"

"You really don't remember me Vaike?" Ricken grinned even wider, "It's me! Ricken!"

"Ricken?" Vaike guffawed, "There's no way you're that shrimpy mage that was always pinin' after Chrom's sister."

Ricken felt his face redden, and just a little bit of his inner child surfaced, "Aw c'mon did you have to put it like that!? I AM Ricken you big idiot."

Vaike's face suddenly shown with recognition, and he began laughing even harder. He patted Ricken on the back and pulled the poor dark knight inside.

"Ah now the Vaike recognizes you. Same orange-red hair and face. You just look so much older to Teach that he almost didn't recognize you."

"R-right" Ricken sturggled in Vaike's grip, but did eventually extricate himself. The poor teen brushed himself off with a slight bit of red in his cheeks.

"Well no one's here right now." Vaike replied with a glint of something in his eye that made a chill go down Ricken's spine, "They're all out and about doing their own thing in the realm since it's been so peaceful. Ol' Teach has been kinda bored all by himself."

'Uh-oh.' Ricken took a step back as Vaike began grinning widely

"The Vaike noticed that you're carrying a sword, and he was wondering if you'd have a duel with him."

"I don't thin-" Too late did Ricken notice that they were in the training grounds.

"Come on!" Vaike jumped at Ricken with axe in hand. Ricken gulped and brought his sword up just in time to manage to block the heavy blow. The last year and a half of swordplay training kicked in for Ricken. Knowing he wasn't stronger than the much larger man, Ricken let Vaike's blow slowly slide past his guard, and slipped to the left. With a grunt, Ricken hammered his elbow into Vaike's back and let the older man fall to the ground with a huff.

"Ugh." the man rolled to his feet and hopped back a few feet, "Teach wasn't expecting you to be as nimble as Chrom."

"My master was very demanding." Ricken crouched into a stance, "We did swordplay day in and day out. He taught me how to handle opponents stronger than me."

"Hah hah!" Vaike laughed happily, "Maybe Teach'll find another rival in you. Chrom's always to busy to get a beating from the Vaike these days!"

'I hope not. Maybe I'll throw this fight so he doesn't bug me everyday.'

Ricken had a newfound pride though, so in the end he didn't throw the fight. He still lost however. He was more used to mounted combat, and Vaike was so much more experience. The two of them ended up laying on the ground panting, and covered in sweat on the front lawn of the Shepherd's HQ. Ricken might've passed out, had he not heard a very familiar female voice. The teen mage sat up and looked down the dirt road. It was Lissa. Her and Chrom were walking down the path to the mansion, talking with each other.

"Hey Lissa!" Ricken cheerfully waved at the girl as she walked up to the Shepherd's HQ, "Long time no see!"

Ricken took a small bit of pleasure with the way Lissa's cheeks pinked when she look in his direction.

"Who's the new recruit brother?" Lissa looked up at Chrom with a confused look, "And how does he know my name?"

"New recruit?" Chrom looked over at Ricken in confusion, "That's Ricken. Don't you remember him? I DID tell you he was coming back today."

"That's Ricken!?" Lissa turned even redder.

Ricken hopped down from his horse and wiped the sweat off his brow. Ignoring Lissa's protests, he wrapped her in tight hug, dwarfing the now much smaller girl in his arms. After a few moments, he dropped her to the ground, and winked at her

"Well I got taller didn't I?"

"Y-yeah." Lissa nodded.

"That you did." Chrom looked him up and down, "If I didn't know you were a mage, I'd peg you for a paladin and not a dark knight. You've really grown up Ricken."

"Heh-heh." Ricken grinned and scratched the back of his head, "Thanks captain. I don't think you'll have to save me from bullies anymore."

"I should think not." Chrom chuckled, "Well I'll leave you two to catch up then. I know Lissa's been wanting to talk to you. I'll assess your skills later Ricken."

"Right captain." Ricken did a quick salute, and then sat down on the grass. With a grin, he motioned for Lissa to join him. She sat next to him shyly, not acting like the Lissa Ricken remembered.

"So Lissa." Ricken looked over at the girl, "I know this is sudden, and we just reunited with each other, but about what I asked two years ago...am I good enough now?"

"You know." Lissa pouted up at Ricken, finally coming out of her uncharacteristic shell, "You were good enough back then. I loved you just the way you were. If you hadn't been so wrapped up in your own self hate, you probably would've saw that."

"Really?" Ricken sighed and looked down at the ground sadly

"Yes really." Lissa giggled, "You could've been happily together with me for the past two years if you hadn't been so stubborn."

"So you...?"

"Yes Ricken. I love you from now until the day I die my dear." Lissa grabbed Ricken by the back of his head and pulled him down into a loving kiss. After a few moments, they broke apart, Ricken grinning like an idiot, and Lissa staring down at the ground shyly.

"So does that mean you don't really care that I've grown up so much?" Ricken questioned

"Well..." Lissa rubbed one of Ricken's now fairly muscular arms, "This is a plus. Believe me I'm not complaining. The last two years have been realllllyy good to you."

Ricken coughed and could feel his face heating up at Lissa's tone. Not to mention the predatory look on her face.

"Ricken."

"Y-yes."

"We're going to get married right?"

"Y-yeah." Ricken nodded, "I want to put a proper proposal together though."

"Good. Come with me."

A confused Ricken let Lissa drag him off to a private room. The girl had two years of romantic frustration she really just wanted to let out. Two years of her imagination of her future life with Ricken had gotten her more than a little frustrated. That and all the stories Maribelle had told her about her and Frederick's (whether or not Lissa was willing to listen) love life.

The cool thing about writing this one-shot is all the interesting things I learned from supports I never did (shoutouts to FE wiki for having 90% of the supports in text form). I'll probably do more of these in the future just to get characters more down in my mind. Plus it's good romantic writing practice. One last note. I really do imagine Ricken sprouting like a weed during the time skip. He is a really capable DK, and I can't imagine him having such high str and def stats (for a mage) without getting to a decent size. Hell my Ricken had higher defense and strength than my Chrom in my first playthrough. I get really good rolls for characters most people discard as not top-tier (I know most people choose Miriel over Ricken even though Ricken is versatile as hell).