The clouds were pink. Like a blanket, they covered the morning sky, which glowed an indigo colour as the blue of the morning crept through the night's dark purple. Sun had kissed the bright white of the clouds, however, turning them the colour of cherry blossom as they streaked the atmosphere above Dimitri's head.

He took his usual detour to class. Preferring to wind his way around the quiet corners of Garreg Mach in the morning, the Prince of Faerghus breathed in the fresh, cool air of the dawn, his thoughts wandering like his feet as he dawdled his way to class.

One thing had taken over his mind as of late. One person always worked their way into his thoughts when he let his mind run free - someone whom he'd never really expected to care so much about. Dimitri did not know why, but his most recent fascination had been Felix.

Felix Hugo Fraldarius - somebody he'd known since childhood. With his handsome pale skin, dark hair, and narrow, irritable eyes, Dimitri could not help but feel that the man was beautiful. Of course, purely from an aesthetic point of view; Dimitri almost laughed at the prospect of his admiration being anything more than platonic. Yet, still, he could not stop a strange smile from working its way onto his lips as he thought of the man. What was it, recently, that had created this fixation? The Prince knew not, but he did not complain. The warmth that Felix brought to his chest was comforting.

As Dimitri rounded a corner, however - at the last part of his journey to class before entering the monastery - he was caught by surprise. At the bridge stood Felix, both of his arms leaning upon the short brick wall, looking up at the mesmerising morning sky. As if sensing Dimitri's approach, he turned, and faced the other man.

"Felix!" Dimitri blurted upon reaching him, both taken aback and happy at his presence. It brought a silly smile to his face. "What are you doing here? You look like you're waiting for something."

Felix's eyebrows wavered slightly. "What else would I be doing?" he asked in his drawling voice. "You always walk to class this way." Without another word, he turned his back, beginning to cross the bridge to head into the building. Dimitri blinked after him for a second, dumbfounded, before jogging to catch up.

"You were… waiting for me?" Dimitri asked.

"That's what I said, isn't it?" Felix responded, as the two of them passed under the archway that led into the monastery.

"But, why? I thought you liked getting to class early."

Felix turned his head to Dimitri, the sudden dark of the monastery's low light casting shadows across his sharp face. He waited a second before responding - something Dimitri had noticed him do a lot, as though he were calculating the answer. "I wanted to see you."

His words were like getting slapped in the face. Dimitri had to smile at him in his elated shock, hoping it didn't look as embarrassingly full-hearted as it felt. "I… am honoured!" Dimitri told him sincerely. "The Felix, waiting for somebody else? That's unheard of!"

Felix rolled his eyes in return as they each turned down a corridor. "Don't get all emotional on me."

Dimitri chuckled. Felix using humour - even when it was so dry it seemed sincere - was a rare sight.

As the two men walked in silence, Dimitri began to think once again. He watched the man navigate the halls of Garreg Mach - watched his lip curl as a younger student almost knocked into him, and watched his eyes light up with interest as the sound of a sword leaving a scabbard could be heard ringing somewhere deep within the monastery. He truly was beautiful. Dimitri had only ever regarded women as beautiful before - had only ever noticed the beauty in fine, feminine features. He recognised some of them in Felix, however; the plump to his cheeks despite his sharp cheekbones; his smooth, powerful jawline.

For a man so handsome to want to spend time with Dimitri - a blundering, socially-awkward fool - was beyond his comprehension. While at the start of their academy days a year ago Felix had acted almost estranged around him, Dimitri thought that he'd begun to make progress with the man. Since the death of his brother, Felix had changed; he was colder - crueller. Dimitri had expected to be upset by this change, but somehow, it had made him feel even more attached to Felix.

And, over the past couple of weeks, Felix had seemed more attached to Dimitri, too. He paid more attention to him - started conversations more. Maybe he'd even call Dimitri his friend.

On the other hand, Felix had plenty of other friends. He'd always been closer to Ingrid and Sylvain than he had to Dimitri, and the rest of the Blue Lions had begun to warm up to him too, now. Despite knowing him since childhood, Dimitri had always felt like the heir of Fraldarius was somewhat out of reach: so aloof that he seemed unfriendly. It could well have been that Dimitri was nobody to him. While mulling it all over, Dimitri realised: he didn't really know Felix at all. He didn't know who he considered friends, his favourite colour, his favourite animal… Dimitri didn't even know if he was Felix's friend. Eighteen years they'd known each other, and the Prince still felt no more than a bug flitting around him, serving nothing more than to annoy him.

There was only one way to find out, Dimitri supposed, as the two men reached their classroom and Felix took his seat. "Say," Dimitri said before he could stop himself. Felix looked up at him with those hard golden eyes. "Are you doing anything after our classes are over?" Immediate regret sank in his chest as he watched Felix cock his head at him, eyes narrowed.

"Are you asking me on a date?" he asked in response, with not a single hint of a joke.

The Prince felt his cheeks burn immediately, and from his mouth came a pathetic, panicked burst of laughter. "No!" he exclaimed, praying desperately that his face hadn't turned red, as it was wont to do when he was embarrassed. "I-I was just wondering if you'd like to do something!" "Hm." Felix cast his eyes back to the front of the room, where the professor was preparing the class. Dimitri was just beginning to fret arduously over whether he'd just made the gravest mistake of his life, when Felix spoke up at last. "I'm free. What for?"

Dimitri swallowed. He had no plans - nothing interesting to suggest. He'd merely hoped to spend some time with the other man, to finally get to know him just the slightest bit better. He would have been lying to himself if he denied the strange fluttering feelings that erupted in his chest whenever he was around Felix; he wanted to feel them again. He didn't know what they were, but they felt good. "Maybe… we could have tea?"

Felix waited another moment before responding, never once taking his eyes off the front of the room. "Fine. Meet me on the bridge once our classes are over."
Dimitri felt his heart positively leap at the words. "O-Of course!" And, with delight in his chest, he crossed the room to find his seat.

As he continued with the rest of his day, Dimitri could barely contain that excitement. The end of his final class rolled around quickly - the painstaking lecture he'd had to endure alone and Felix-less - and he physically restrained himself from running to the bridge to meet his friend yet again.

As promised, Felix was there, with his back against the wall and his arms folded, looking debonair in his academy uniform. The material hugged his chest, accentuating his handsome shape and making the Prince swallow a strange lump that had formed in his throat. Felix turned as Dimitri approached, placing one hand upon his hip. "You still want to do this?" he asked.

"If you are!" Dimitri replied, feeling his voice begin to shake. Felix made a gesture with his head for the Prince to lead the way, and Dimitri's feet took him aimlessly across the bridge. "I, uh… I don't know where to go, if I'm honest," he explained. "Are you sure you're okay with tea? It… doesn't feel like much."

Felix didn't respond, merely giving Dimitri a resigned look.

Unsure of what to do, and more than a little nervous, Dimitri found himself talking senselessly as they walked. He brought up the new tea he'd bought at the market: chamomile and Almyran pine and a fancy four-spice blend. He was trying more in the hopes he'd be able to taste again.

He might as well have been speaking to himself, however - Felix a silent shadow next to him, his gait powerful and overawing, as if he owned the paths he walked down. Dimitri felt his chest swell in some sort of strange, prideful emotion feeling the man's presence next to him. Felix was so mysterious, so sought-after - it amazed the Prince that he was the person Felix had chosen to spend time with.

After a few minutes of walking, receiving whispers from some students as they walked past, the two men reached Dimitri's dorm. He tried to shake away the apprehension rising inside him as he unlocked the door - the small, niggling feeling of shame and embarrassment. For some reason, he found himself wanting to impress Felix - to give him reason to want to stick around: a reason to be his friend. Dimitri stole a quick glance at him as he walked through the door, but - as usual - Felix's face gave away nothing except a slight sense of boredom.

Once inside, however, a look of mild curiosity lit up those honey-drop eyes.

"It's not much," Dimitri shrugged, closing the door behind him and looking around at his truly boring room; scarcely-furnished, and undecorated from how it had been given to him at the start of the academy year. It was at times like these that Dimitri appreciated his own cleanliness, but oh, how he wished he was more interesting.

Felix walked in and stood in the centre of the room. "This isn't what I expected…" he muttered.

"Wh-what?" Dimitri asked him, closing the door behind them. What does that mean?

He straightened his shoulders. "Nothing."

The Prince chuckled uneasily in response - the man always found new ways to puzzle him. Dimitri headed over to his desk, and turned to look at his guest. Just as he was about to offer tea, however, Felix spoke.

"So, why did you want me here?" He helped himself to a seat at the bottom of Dimitri's bed.

"Well," Dimitri sat down upon his desk chair opposite him, at eye level with his piercing gaze. "Honestly?" A heat rose in his chest. He couldn't actually admit the real, terribly-embarrassing reason, could he?

"Obviously."

Dimitri shrugged and donned an awkward, tight-lipped smile. "I wanted to get to know you better."

"Oh." Felix's face fell. "You know me pretty well already."

The Prince had to laugh. "I do not!"

His stony eyes never flickered, keeping dead-set on Dimitri's own. "Better than anybody else does."

"… Seriously?"

"Yeah." Felix leant back on both hands, looking dark as he stared at Dimitri through the hollow sockets of his eyes. "What else could you possibly want to know?"

Dimitri blinked at him a couple of times, working up a sweat as he tried desperately to figure out whether he was joking or not. If the Prince knew Felix better than anybody else - and he didn't know the first thing about him except that he liked swords and fighting - then he must have been the closest thing to a friend Felix had. Then again, he probably should have expected as much: Felix gave off the strongest 'lone wolf' vibes of anyone Dimitri had ever known. "I don't know," he said, swallowing and returning to the question. What did he want to know? "Your favourite colour? Your favourite animal? What you want to do after the academy…?"

"You invited me to your dorm to quiz me?"

"N-No! Not necessarily—"

"You have to realise that questions like that mean nothing to me, right? There's no point to favourites. There's no point dreaming of the future when you might die tomorrow." His face was so cool - so impassive - but he kept those enchanting eyes locked on Dimitri's own.

Despite the seemingly-disappointing answer, however, Dimitri's heart stopped momentarily as he realised what was happening. The answer had not been what he was hoping for, but at least he'd received one. A laugh escaped his lungs and a grin crept across his lips. Dimitri was getting just what he wanted; he was getting to know him.

"Ugh. What have you found to laugh at?"

"Just… maybe I do know you better than I thought."

"Hmph." Felix rolled his eyes, and stood up. Dimitri, still buzzing with excitement from his discovery, watched him meander over to the bookcase, beginning to inspect his collection.

Standing up himself, Dimitri joined him. "You don't read, do you?"

He watched the dark eyelashes flutter gently, scanning the titles and tilting his head so as better to read them. "No." His voice sounded far away.

Something about his tone kicked up butterflies in the pit of Dimitri's stomach. "Always so mysterious," he said aloud.

"You think?" Felix's eyes focussed on the ceramic lion that sat upon the shelf in front of him. With delicate fingers, he turned it around to get a better look, and Dimitri noticed a definite curl to one corner of his lips. Poking it back into place, Felix turned to the Prince, eyes flicking quickly up and down his body in a way that set his stomach alight once more. "Dimitri…" He said the name in a low, sonorous voice, but didn't seem to want the attention of the Prince; it was as though he were confirming something to himself, analysing the other man in some way.

"Y-Yes…?" the Prince responded just in case. Despite being a few inches taller, Dimitri still felt so small in Felix's presence. The eyes of amber bored deep into the pools of blue, seemed to flicker towards his lips, and then came up again. Dimitri felt paralysed; was he searching for something? Was he going to do something? Standing so still and so close - Dimitri felt almost scared to breathe, as though he was in the presence of a predator.

Slowly, Felix began to close in on him, not taking his gaze away from Dimitri's. With eyes glowing in a way that looked almost hungry, he took a step towards the blonde, and in response, Dimitri stepped backwards. His own eyes widened as Felix paced - one foot at a time - in his direction, leading him backwards until he hit the wall.

"Dimitri," he said again, his voice a hiss.

"Yes?" The response was a whisper this time, getting caught in his throat as he beheld the shorter man, centimetres away from his face.

"Tell me."

"…What?"

"You've thought about it."

Dimitri's heart threatened to pound out of his chest. No. Felix couldn't read minds. He couldn't possibly be talking about the thoughts that had begun plaguing Dimitri's nights as of late. The images that appeared beneath his eyelids as Felix's phantom voice whispered to him… How could he possibly know?

As Dimitri felt his lips part slightly, a low, wicked-sounding laugh came from within Felix's throat, which he let out in a breath that heated the Prince's skin. His scent was minty, stirring something deep inside Dimitri for reasons he could not explain. Somehow, Felix managed to step even closer, practically pressed against the other man, and Dimitri found he had to breathe through his mouth for fear of suffocation.

Felix was so close that every imperfection in his skin could be seen; the tiny craters in his forehead and cheeks from blemishes long passed, a white scar along his jaw, presumably from a spar long ago. Most of all, though, Dimitri saw fire: fire in those eyes that seemed to flow like a river of molten gold.

"I knew it," Felix breathed.

As quickly as anything, Felix leant in, and their lips collided. Dimitri's stomach exploded in a flush of shock, excitement, fear, anxiety… But, strongest of all: desire. He'd dreamt of this for months - ever since they'd joined the academy together, spending each day together, Felix had done something to the Prince. No longer was he the young, wide-eyed boy from their childhood; now, with his chilling glares and sour moods, he made Dimitri feel small and powerless - like he had full control over the Prince.

That was accentuated tenfold now; one pale hand came up to Dimitri's face and held the back of his head, his fingers tightening in the blonde hair and threatening to draw a squeal from Dimitri's throat as his tongue parted the Prince's lips. Felix was a man. He had a man's lips - hard and powerful, pushing against him as if trying to domineer him. This was like nothing Dimitri had ever dreamt of; all his life, he'd been taught that he should be kissing girls - be the one trying to assert himself, initiating the kisses, and doing the pressing against walls. To feel so small - so powerless - felt... good. It felt better than initiating.

There was a break in Felix's kiss; he pulled away from Dimitri and pierced him with those predator's eyes. It made the Prince's stomach flip yet again. Everything was so strange - so new. Dimitri had never felt this way about anybody - he'd never even been attracted to men—

Somehow, though, that made it so much better.

Dimitri realised he was breathless, but had no time to resolve it as a hand on his hip pulled him, directing him towards him bed, which he was thrown down onto.

Dimitri's question - the question he'd asked himself time and time again at night within his impure dreams - had been answered. Felix was into men - and damn, had he done this before. How much experience did he have? To control Dimitri as easily as if it were second nature - to manipulate his body as if it were fluid? He'd done this before - Dimitri was nothing new to him. Perhaps Felix didn't even consider this a big deal. Perhaps this had been why Felix had waited for him at the bridge; perhaps this had been his plan all along.

Dimitri didn't care. His fingers found Felix's hair tie and pulled it loose, feeling the azure tresses fall around his face. He kissed back with fervour.